Primula Cheese and Chive Oaty Biscuits for Autumnal Snacking

This autumn, Primula have challenged me to come up with a tasty autumnal snack using their famous squeezable, spreadable cheese.

My family love Primula in lots of ways, but I'd never tried using it as a baking ingredient. I really enjoy baking for my family, making healthier and higher quality alternatives to the products found on the supermarket shelves. So I decided to create my own take on the humble oat cake: a crumbly, oaty, wholemeal savoury biscuit, made using Primula Cheese with Chives, that can then be topped with some more squeezy Primula. The cheese and chives give an added richness and flavour to the oatcakes. A delicious cheesy treat for snacking.

This is such an easy recipe, using just four simple ingredients. You can quickly knock together a batch and serve them warm from the oven. Perfect for an after school treat, an evening snack or even for a grown-up cheese and wine party.

Savoury biscuits are a great alternative to sweet snacks that the whole family will enjoy. The wholemeal flour adds extra fibre and nutrients and oats are a good source of slow release energy. They will keep for a few days in an airtight tin, so will be great for the kids' lunchboxes. Just add a little pot filled with Primula for the little ones to dip their savoury biscuits in.

Primula Cheese and Chive Oaty Biscuits Recipe

Ingredients

2 oz of Primula Cheese with Chives 

1 oz  oats

4 oz butter or margarine

6 oz wholemeal SR flour

Method 

Cream Primula and butter together in a mixing bowl.

Add oats and flour and mix with your hands to form a dough. Bring together with a little extra flour if too sticky.

Roll out dough on a floured surface and cut into twelve equal shapes using a cookie cutter.

Cook at 180 degrees for 15 minutes.

Serve topped with Primula and garnished with tomato, cucumber, sweetcorn or any other seasonal salad vegetables for a colourful, tasty snack.

For a really grown up, sophisticated snack, in keeping with the Primula idea of adventurous pairings, how about topping a Primula Cheese and Chive Oaty Biscuit with a good squirt of Light Primula cheese and finished with a slice of juicy fresh pear and a twist of ground black pepper? It is a great combination of flavours and textures. 

I am a member of the Primula Blogger Club, a paid for partnership with Primula.

Home Baking with Aldi Specialbuys

With Easter just around the corner, Aldi’s Family Home Baking range has everything bakers need to cook up a whole host of treats for the family, from a retro designed Classic Food Mixer (£34.99) in cream, red or duck egg blue, to fun baking sets designed for little budding bakers including cookie cutters, mixing bowl and icing set (£12.99).

Aldi sent me some items from their home baking range, which will be in stores from March 6th, and they are really fantastic.

An accurate set of scales is an important kitchen tool when it comes to home baking. Aldi have Digital Kitchen Scales (£6.99) in flat, bowl or jug styles and are available in a range of colours. I received the jug scale, which has a 1 litre capacity, for measuring both liquids and solids. It has an LCD reading and is perfect for weighing flour, oil, water or milk with ease.

The Crofton 5 pack of Premium Pantry Containers (£14.99) is the perfect set for sorting out cupboards. The see through, square and rectangular jars make it easy to organise rice, pasta, cereals or nuts. The lids are lockable for an airtight seal to keep food fresher for longer. They are practical, stackable and make it easy to see exactly what is in your cupboard at a glance.

These ceramic Measuring Cups and Spoons (£7.99) are as cute as they are functional. They make measuring ingredients easy and also look great on display. They come in the following sizes: 1/4 cup / 60ml, 1/3 cup / 80ml, 1/2 cup / 125ml, 1 cup / 250ml, 1/4 TSP / 1.25ml, 1/2 TBSP / 2.5ml, 1 TSP / 5ml and 1 TBSP / 15ml. They are a great original gift idea for mums if you are looking for a very last minute Mother's Day gift!

For home made Easter goodies, Aldi have some excellently priced chocolate moulds. Made from quality silicone, you simply pour in melted chocolate and once it's set, you'll have some cool 3D egg lollies or 3D bunny or egg models.

I was particularly impressed with the lolly mould set, which consists of two 5 x lolly moulds and ten plastic lolly sticks (£2.99). Great fun for making with the kids this Easter.

I love the bamboo handled silicone spoons (£2.19), which come in a variety of colours and a floral design. They have a real country kitchen vibe and are lovely to use. The corner spoon is designed to get into the edges of cookware making it great for scraping out batter. They are a large size, sturdy and perfect for homebaking.

When it comes to kitchen linens, Aldi always has great quality products at really excellent prices. The 3 pack of tea towels (£2.99) are made of thick, soft, durable 100% cotton. The blue floral design is really attractive.

Aldi’s Family Home Baking range is in store 6th March and available while stocks last. But be quick; with Aldi Specialbuys, once it’s gone, it’s gone.

Product List

Classic Food Mixer £34.99

Premium Pantry Containers £14.99

Children's Baking Set £12.99

Ceramic Mixing Bowl Assortment £7.99

Ceramic Novelty Measuring Cups and Spoons Set £7.99

Digital Kitchen Scales £6.99

Cake Container £4.99

Pastry Board £4.99

Double Oven Glove / Apron £2.99

Easter Chocolate Moulds £2.99

Printed Tea Towels, 3 Pack £2.99

Silicone & Bamboo Kitchen Utensils £2.19

Cake Pan Assortment £1.99 

Find the Aldi Specialbuys online at www.aldi.co.uk.

Getting my Bake On with Bacofoil

It's the grand final of the Great British Bake Off next week and we are all extremely excited to find out who will take this year's crown. I'm hoping that Tamal will take first place. Watching the series always inspires me to get baking, although the show stoppers and technical challenges are a bit out of my league!

I love baking some good, home made goodies for the family. Whether I'm making Oreo brownies or Red Velvet cupcakes or a vegan chocolate orange cake, home baking always go down well with everyone.

Bacofoil have sent me some of their Easy Bake Non-Stick Paper and their 2 in 1 Parchment and Foil to try out when I bake. I am already a convert to the Bacofoil Non-Stick Kitchen Foil so I was very interested in trying out their other baking products. I now have a drawer full of Bacofoil products in my kitchen!

The Bacofoil Easy Bake Non-Stick Paper is non-stick on both sides so there is no need to grease tins or baking trays, simply line with the paper. It means nothing you bake is going to stick and washing-up is a breeze. It's time saving and gives you confidence in the end results. The paper is also great to use as a non-stick surface for rolling out pastry or dough and it can even be used to make a piping bag.

The 2 in 1 Parchment and Foil can be used in a host of creative ways. The non-stick parchment is lined with foil to insure an even bake. It also acts as an insulator to keep heat in if cooking something in a wrapped parcel. It also allows you to scrunch or shape the paper to create any shape needed for a recipe. The 2 in 1 parchment and foil is freezer and oven safe and the non-stick lining stops food sticking. It's a very useful product to have in the kitchen.

Even Mary Berry would be impressed I'm sure!

The Non-Stick Paper is £2.50 for a 10m roll and it is available in Morrisons stores. Find out more at www.bacofoil.co.uk.

Keep an eye out for a Cranberry and Sunflower Seed Cookie recipe, baked using the Non-Stick Paper, coming soon to the blog!

Decorating Gingerbread Christmas Trees #Project52

We have been making and decorating gingerbread.  Freddy has been enjoying helping out with the mixing, rolling and icing.  He has also enjoyed helping out with taste testing!

Apple Cakes Recipe

Flora Cuisine recently sent me their new Let's Get Cooking recipe book and the ingredients to make one of the recipes, Apple Cakes.  So we got busy baking and made these delicious autumnal cakes!

Apple Cakes

Ingredients

115ml Flora Cuisine

115g caster sugar

115g self raising flour

2 free range eggs

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 dessert apples chopped

Method

Preheat oven to GM5.

Mix together the Flora Cuisine, sugar, flour, eggs and cinnamon until smooth.

Fold in chopped apples.

Divide between 12 - 18 cake cases.

Cook for 12 - 15 minutes until they spring back when lightly touched.

They were light, moist and had a delicious flavour.  They really are perfect for autumn with the inclusion of apple and warming cinnamon.  They were so easy and quick to make using the Flora Cuisine and the all in one method.  I'll definitely be making these again!

Blueberry Cupcake Recipe

With Kizzy's birthday this week, I have have the perfect excuse for baking lots of goodies to celebrate and share with all our friends and family.  One of the cakes I made were these Blueberry Cupcakes which look really impressive and taste lush!!

Ingredients

4oz Self Raising Flour

4oz Butter

4oz Golden Caster Sugar

1 tspn Ground Cinnamon

4 oz  Blueberries

2 Free Range Eggs

3 1/2  fl oz milk

3oz Butter

6oz Icing Sugar

Blue Food Colouring Gel

Blueberries to decorate

Method

Preheat oven at 180 degrees and prepare a muffin tin with cup cake cases.

Beat together sugar, butter, eggs and milk with a hand whisk.

Slowly add flour and cinnamon.

Fold in berries.

Divide into cases and bake for 20-25 minutes.

When cool make the topping by beating together the butter, icing sugar and blue food colouring.

Pipe in swirls and top with blueberries to decorate.

Enjoy!!

Coffee Muffin Recipe

Coffee Muffins For Father's Day

The two most important and amazing men in my life (excluding my two precious sons!!) are my Dad and my husband/baby daddy Ian.  Father's Day is the time to honour their role in my life and the best way of doing so is through the medium of cake!

Both of them love coffee cake..it is after all a manly flavour!  So in honour of them both I have made my totally delicious Coffee Muffins.  They are the lightest muffins ever and the fudgy  icing is just a little taste of coffee heaven.  Here's the recipe in case you want to make some for the man in your life too!

Coffee Muffins

Ingredients

150g butter

150g unrefined sugar

3 egg whites

4 egg yolks

1 tblspn hot water + 1 teaspn coffee granules

150g plain flour

1 teaspn baking powder

1 1/2 tblspn milk

knob of butter

200g icing sugar

2 teaspns coffee granules

half walnuts and chocolate covered coffee beans to decorate

Method

• Preheat oven to GM4 and line muffin tin with paper cases.
• Melt butter and sugar in saucepan , bring to boil and cook for 2 minutes stirring constantly.  Leave to cool.
• Whisk egg whites until stiff.
• Add egg yolks and coffee to sugar/butter mix.
• Stir in flour and baking powder.
• Fold in whisked egg whites.
• Spoon into muffin cases and cook for 15-20 minutes.
• When cool make icing by heating butter, coffee and milk in a pan then remove from heat and beat in icing sugar.
• Pipe or spread on top of muffins (add a drop more milk if too thick) and top with a walnut half or a chocolate coffee bean.

Step by Step Photos

Easter Baking with Rachel's

Vanilla Easter Cup Cakes

Simple cup cakes, decorated with a delicious swirl of butter icing and decorated with chocolate mini eggs.

Ingredients 

220g butter or margarine, room temperature 

220g caster sugar 

2 large eggs, beaten 

220g self raising flour, sifted

2 tbsp Rachel’s low fat vanilla yogurt

Icing 

80g unsalted butter, room temperature

250g icing sugar  

25g Rachel’s low fat vanilla yogurt 

Serves: 12 Preparation time: 15 minutes Cooking time: 20-25 minutes

Method

1.Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 5.

2.Line a cup cake or muffin tray with paper cases.

3.Beat together the butter and caster sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs a little at a time.

4.Fold in the flour and yogurt.

5.Spoon the mixture into the paper cases until half full.

6.Bake in the oven until golden brown and springy to touch or test using a skewer, if it comes away clean the cakes are ready. Leave  them to cool on a wire rack.

7.Meanwhile prepare the icing. Begin by beating the butter and icing sugar until pale and well mixed, ideally using  an electric mixer.  Add the yogurt and continue to beat on medium to high speed until the icing is fluffy. The longer you beat the lighter the icing.

8.Spoon the icing into a piping bag fitted with a star piping nozzle. In a circular motion swirl the icing around each cake.

9.Decorate with mini eggs.

PER SERVING: 345kcal, Protein 2.6g, Carbs 43.4g, Fat 17.7g, Sat Fat 10.9g, Fibre 1.2g, Sugar 33.5g, Salt 0.4g

COST PER SERVING: £0.15


We will be baking these when we get back from holiday over the Easter weekend!  Rachel's sent me some of their delicious yogurts to get creative in the kitchen with.  I love using their thick and creamy yogurt as an ingredient in both sweet and savoury dishes.  


Pasta Bake Topping


The Rachel's Organic Natural Yogurt makes a healthy alternative to cheese sauce to use on Pasta Bakes.  Simply mix with an egg and a sprinkle of herbs.  Pour over pasta mixed with a Quorn Bolognese sauce. Top with grated cheese and bake in the oven at GM 6 until golden brown.  It is delicious, quick and easy.

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Banoffee Muffins Recipe

It is just so quintessentially English to partake in elevenses!  That little drink and snack that we indulge in between breakfast and lunch, keeps us going and gives us a lift.  In the cold, grey month of January I for one need a bit of comfort food (in moderation of course!!).  I am therefore wholeheartedly supporting Anchor's campaign to bring back elevenses!!

At 11am the kids are at school, I've spent 2 hours running around after Freddy/ blogging/ shopping/doing a bit of housework and I need to sit down to recharge myself!  A rest and a treat restores the calm and gives me the boost I need to carry on with a busy day!  Anchor want to empower those people like me, who feel the need to enjoy a mid morning snack, to embrace the concept of elevenses in all its glory. 

To help get the Eleveneses ball rolling, we've taken to the kitchen to whip up some delicious Banoffee Muffins.  They are an indulgent treat that embodies the joy of elevenses.

Banoffee Muffins

300g SR Flour

1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder

1 teaspoon Bicarbonate of Soda

1 teaspoon Mixed Spice

110g caster sugar

1 egg

75g Anchor Butter -melted 

6 tablespoons milk

3 Large Mashed Bananas

1 can of Carnation Caramel

My Little Helper 

• Preheat oven to GM5.
• Sieve flour into bowl adding bicarb, baking powder and spice.
• In a bowl mash the bananas.  Add the melted butter, egg, milk and sugar.
• Mix the wet and dry ingredients together.
• Put into a greased muffin pan or into silicone muffin cases.
• Cook for 18-20 minutes.

Turn out and serve with caramel blobbed on top.  Pop in microwave for 10-15 seconds for an indulgent warm Banoffee Muffin to make your Elevenses extra special!

Warm Banoffee Muffins...Yum!

The Real Cupcake Company

There is nothing in this world as delicious as a freshly baked cupcake topped with lashings of frosting.  Little bakeries and tea rooms have sprung up across the country on the back of the rising popularity of the cupcake, and they are being sold at a premium!  Imagine being able to make your own quality, gourmet cupcakes in your own home for a fraction of the cost!  Well...imagine no more.  The Real Cupcake Company have created a range of dairy free gourmet cupcake kits using real fruit and no artificial ingredients, colourings or flavourings!  Designed with the home baking experience in mind, you just need to add egg.  It is quick and easy to make a dozen gorgeous cupcakes.  I was sent a Strawberry Kit to try out for myself.

The kit arrives by post and needs to be refrigerated until you use it.  Inside is everything you need (except for two eggs) including a ready-to-bake plain cake mixture, ready-to-pipe real fruit icing mix, decorations, 12 cupcake cases, two piping bags, piping nozzles and instructions.

The contents of the cupcake kit.

You add two eggs to the cake mixture which then simply needs to be whisked for 30 seconds on slow then for 60 seconds on high.

Whisk with 2 eggs.

The mixture is then divided into the 12 cupcake cases and then popped into the pre-heated oven at GM4 for 12-15 minutes.  Simple!  Once they are cooked and cold, you are ready to ice them.  The piping bags and nozzles can be used to create a swirl or rose frosting effect with the ready-to-pipe strawberry icing.  To be honest, my skills were not quite up to the illustrations in the instruction book, but once the decorations are on it doesn't really matter!

The Real Cupcake Company

Strawberry Cupcake

The cupcakes were indeed gorgeous, with light, bouncy, airy sponge topped with soft, sweet icing bursting with real strawberry flavour.  They are deliciously fruity and it is so nice to taste real fruit in the icing rather than synthetic flavourings.  It is a touch of culinary genius!!

Yummy!

The Real Cupcake Company stock kits in Lemon, Orange and Strawberry  flavours, each made with real fruit.  Perfect for parties, they will really impress your guests.  For a more decadent treat, there are Strawberry & Champagne and Blueberry & Bourbon cupcake kits available.  They make 12 devilishly delicious cupcakes, made with premium wines or spirits, perfect for grown-ups.  What a great idea for Valentine's Day!!

Prices start at £9.99 with free postage.