Baking

Hello Readers

 Chocolate Truffle Cookies

I know I missed a day - it was down to the real world.  Some of us still have to earn a crust.

Talking of crusts, I thought I would blog about some of my baking exploits.  I love cooking and I am constantly clipping recipes from magazines which I intend to try.  The recipes are stored in a folder under headings such as SOUPS, PARTY FOOD, CHEESE and VEGETARIAN.  By far the biggest section though is the one called BAKING.

With a lot of cooking I usually look at the picture.  For me a recipe simply has to have a colour picture.  Words don't stimulate my taste buds enough.  I can look at the picture and imagine what it tastes like and if it is a savoury dish I can go straight into the kitchen and make it.  OK, it may not end up being what the recipe has suggested it is but the end result is always edible.  

It is a different story where baking is concerned.  I see baking as more of a science, a chemical process if you like.  There has to be accurate measures, timed cooking, specific ingredients and perfect temperatures.

  

I recently made a selection of biscuits for some friends who told me they were delicious. Well,  I already knew this as I had sampled quite a few of them before they were delivered.  They were bagged up so they would travel well and  I printed labels with the ingredients so that everybody knew what was in them. 

The Chocolate Truffle Cookies are crammed to bursting with chocolate. They also contain home 'grown' eggs from the family hens, Poppy, Lin, Sesame and Henrietta. Good work girls.  The biscuits crack on top during the cooking and if you measure the mixture out carefully with a small scoop they all come out the same size.  It is the consistency on size that makes them look professional I think.  

Traditional Shortbread

The Shortbread is of course 'all butter', non of that butter substitute that claims to be just like butter.  It isn't, so I don't even bother using it.  It really does make a difference buying good quality ingredients.  I use unsalted butter which is great for sweet dishes as well as savoury.

Nobblers

The Nobblers are oaty and feel like they are doing you some good. They are my version of the commercially available oat biscuit with a very similar name.  They are quite crisp when they first cool but become softer and chewier with keeping - if you can resist them. Either way they taste great. 

My idea is this, if you want to see one of the recipes you will need to leave a comment saying which one you would like to see more of and the one with the most comments will be published next week. Cheeky I know but worth a try right?

Till tomorrow.  Take care.

Kim x