Merīkurisumasu! Happy Christmas 2015

Merry Christmas to all my readers and faithful followers! It's been an interesting year, and one that I'm glad is over. Even if my professional and personal lives have been a mess, I will say that this year my blog reached over 9,000 views, and I have written nearly 200 articles.

I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has been reading, commenting on, and supporting my blog and my Facebook page. It means a lot that my little cookery blog is nearing 10,000 views! In the New Year, there will be a lot more Sweetie Pie goodness, including a photographic exhibition in my home town and proper actual videos that aren't just promises this time! I know right? Amazing.

I hope everyone has a happy and blessed Christmas! Remembering those who will not eat, have a home, get any gifts, or who have lost loved ones, let us all be grateful for what and who we have. I know that even though this year has been very hard with job difficulties, health issues, depression, family troubles, and relationship breakdown, I am certainly very grateful for--

• having all of my siblings, both my parents, both my father's parents, my cousins, aunts, uncles, and a lot of very good and close friends; 
• the new people I met this year who have become important parts of my life;
• being able to eat well and indulge a very first-world hobby revolving around food; 
• employment even if it is challenging sometimes;
• somewhere comfortable, warm, and spacious to live
• all the opportunities I was giving through my job for networking, travelling (especially to Brussels), and experience;
• the great sense of community and achievement I get from being involved in Taekwondo, and for Mr Lenihan's great tuition to get me to third kup (three belts from Black).
• and finally, for having earned enough to have a nice amount of savings, so that next year I can have greater freedom in future choices of employment, education, leisure, and travel.

I hope that all my readers are grateful for things that have happened this year, too, and that I'll see ye all in the New Year!

Lots of love,

Sweetie Pie x

Gingerbread Pandas (Wheat Free with a Dairy Free Option)

For my little sister (well, not so little now: she is eighteen after all), I indulged in her somewhat avid fascination with pandas and made her some gingerbread versions!

This was my first foray into dipping in thinned royal icing. I had considered dipping them completely in white chocolate, but I thought I'd give royal icing dipping a go instead; I felt that dipped fully in white chocolate, then dipped in certain places in dark chocolate, would be super chocolate overkill. Besides, the crunchy sugary coating in these ones makes me think of ice, which is appropriate.

To make the bears, I used this dough recipe, using golden syrup and adding a pinch or two of ground nutmeg. I then chilled it for about an hour before rolling out to about a quarter inch (3 millimetres) thickness and cutting out with a bear cutter. I baked them for about 10 minutes, until they were a little browned around the edges

I used some royal icing that I had made to ice the Christmas cake (these days, blasphemously, I use packs of instant royal icing because it's so much more convenient), and thinned it out with some cold water, a teaspoon at a time, until it resembled melted chocolate; a nice, running consistency. I dipped the front of the bears in the glaze, let the excess drip off while gently tapping the hand holding the biscuit off the side of the bowl, then put in on a wire rack. I cleaned up any uneven edges with a cocktail stick.

It took about an hour for the glaze to dry, and I then used melted dark chocolate to add details: dark legs, torso, ears, eye patches, and facial features. I used some royal icing at piping consistency to add eyes.

I was very pleased with how these little guys turned out! I hope my sister thinks they're as cute as I do...

Poppy Seed Kołaczki

Sometimes, eating the same kinds of food every year for Christmas can get boring, so this year I decided to take last year's Polish experiment one step further and make some (almost) proper kołaczki (pronounced co-watch-key).

Of course, these aren't properly authentic: real ones are made with cream cheese pastry, of which I'm not a fan whatsoever. So, I make them with good auld shortcrust. Although, my shortcrust pastry is more like shortbread, with an addition of some icing sugar.

The poppy seed filling, called masa makowa in Polish, has an unusual flavour: it's somewhat peppery and aromatic. The filling is basically poppy seeds, milk, sugar or honey, dried fruits, and chopped nuts. It's not spicy in the sense that mincemeat is, that is with cinnamon and cloves and such, but it's definitely full of character.

FREE FROM

☑ Soya
☑ Yeast
☑ Eggs

CONTAINS
☒ Nuts
☒ Gluten
☒ Dairy (see ingredients for a dairy substitute)
☒ Refined sugar products

INGREDIMENTS:
Makes about 30 kołaczki

For the pastry,

• 12 ounces (340 grammes) white spelt flour
• 6 ounces (170 grammes) butter, cut into cubes, or margarine
• 3 ounces (85 grammes) icing sugar,
• Cold water, to bind
• Optional: zest of half a lemon

For the poppy seed filling,

• 3 ounces (85 grammes) poppy seeds
• 5 fluid ounces (150 millilitres) milk
• 1½ ounces (45 grammes) caster sugar, or honey for a more authentic flavour
• 1 ounce (30 grammes) raisins, cut roughly
• 1 ounce (30 grammes) nuts of your choice, chopped into small pieces
• 1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) vanilla essence
• Zest of half an orange

HOW-TO:
The night before, make the filling:

• Put the poppy seeds into a food processor, a blender, or into a pestle and mortar in small batches, and grind them until powdery. Chop the dried fruit and nuts up into small pieces.
• Mix the ground seeds, nuts, dried fruit, and all the other ingredients in a bowl. Cover the bowl with clingfilm and refrigerate overnight to allow the seeds and fruit to absorb the liquid.

First, make the pastry:

• In a large mixing bowl, mix the icing sugar and flour together. Add the butter, and rub the butter and flour between your fingertips until it becomes a fine, crumbly mixture.
• Using the tip of a knife, mix in cold water a teaspoon at a time until it become a soft dough.
• Lightly sprinkle the work surface with more flour, and tip the mix out onto the surface. Gently squash the mixture together until it comes together as a dough ball. 
• Wrap up in clingfilm, flatten into a disc, then put into the fridge. Chill for about an hour.
• Once chilled,  preheat the oven to 170ºC (325ºF/Gas Mk. 3).
• Sprinkle some flour on the work surface and roll the dough out to a quarter inch (3 millimetre) thickness.
• Using a fluted pastry wheel, a pizza wheel, or a knife, cut the pastry into two inch (5 centimetre) strips down and across, to make squares.
• Put three-quarters of a teaspoon of filling in the middle of each square, wet the edges, then squash opposite corners together to make a little parcel.
• Place the parcels about half an inch (1 centimetre) apart on an un-greased baking sheet. Bake in the centre of the preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the filling has dried and the edges of the pastry have turned golden brown.
• Allow to cool and harden slightly on the tray before transferring to a wire rack to cool.

To serve, pile them up on a plate and dust with some icing sugar. Whenever I dust mince pies, I usually mix in a hint of ground cinnamon; you could do that if you like with any ground sweet spice you like.

Peanut Brittle (Dairy- and Gluten Free)

For more festive sugar craft: peanut brittle! A good and simple treat, made with only two ingredients (or three if you want a little buttery richness).

My oldest brother seems to subsist almost entirely on dry roasted peanuts, crackers, and the odd bowl of curry and rice. I have no idea how he is as alive and fit as he is, but he manages somehow. So, for this Christmas, I decided to make him some lovely sweet and crunchy brittle,

This is a very simple sugar craft project that even people who have never worked with sugar can make: only two ingredients, a frying pan, and no sugar thermometer.

FREE FROM

☑ Soya
☑ Yeast
☑ Dairy
☑ Gluten

CONTAINS
☒ Nuts
☒ Refined sugar products

INGREDIMENTS:

• 7 ounces (200 grammes) roasted salted peanuts
• 7 ounces (200 grammes) caster sugar
• 1 tablespoon (15 millilitres) water
• Optional: 1 tablespoon (15 millilitres) butter

HOW-TO:

• Cut out a large sheet of non-stick paper, about a foot (30 centimetres) long. Brush lightly with flavourless oil.
• Place all the ingredients in a large frying pan over low heat. Heat gently until the sugar has dissolved into the water and become a syrup; if using the butter, heat gently until the butter and sugar melt together.
• Increase the heat to medium-high, and cook while continuously stirring. The mixture will go through a few stages: first, the sugar will melt, then it will seize up into a crumbly mess, and then it will melt again, turning a golden brown colour. Please be patient, and don't think it's gone horribly wrong when it goes crumbly.
• Once the brittle starts turning brown, be very careful not to burn it. Cook it to a nice, deep, nutty brown colour, but no further: the sugar will burn, turn black, taste disgusting, and possibly catch fire. 
• Pour the mixture out onto the oiled paper and spread out thinly, making sure the peanuts are all touching off each other and compact. Neaten the edges into a rectangle. Do this quickly, because it doesn't take long to set.
• Score the brittle into squares or rectangles with a long blade sharp knife. Allow to cool completely and set; about an hour.
• Snap into pieces and wrap well in either clingfilm or cellophane, then keep in an airtight container; this brittle gets sticky quickly on exposure to air.

Homemade Chocolate Box Strikes Back: 8 Flavours!

For another Christmas gift, that requires good care and attention: homemade chocolate selection box!

As many of you may have guessed, I'm fascinated by chocolate boxes. When I was a small child, I remember watching the film Matilda, an American adaptation of a Roald Dahl classic. The villain, Miss Trunchbull, has a box of chocolates that only she can eat. I remember seeing that scene in the film and thinking "those look so nice!", and thinking that a box of chocolates was such a grown up thing to get.

Over the last few years, I've made a few different kinds of chocolate boxes: some that are dipped, some that are moulded, some that are vegan, some that are milk and dark, and all took a lot of time and effort. But one thing is universal for all the different kinds: chocolate is Hell to work with.

Chocolate is very fickle: if you don't melt it properly, or mix it too much or not enough, it sets as a soft, streaky mess. I've had good and bad luck with chocolate, and this time it was particularly difficult. Humidity, air pressure, and temperature all play a big part in making or breaking good chocolate tempering. The first batch of milk chocolates I made this time around bloomed horribly: all grey streaky and spotty, I was heartbroken.

First batch of milk from the mould bloomed a lot, which made it unusable.

Bloomed chocolate; disaster.

Tempering chocolate without a thermometer is a matter of patience: you must use a bowl over warm water, and 'seed' the melted chocolate with un-melted chocolate. There are many videos available on YouTube about this process, which I recommend that you watch.

To make the chocolate shells, I melted the chocolate correctly to keep it in temper. I half-filled each hole in the mould, then using the tip of the teaspoon, I spread the chocolate up the sides. Placing a sheet of non-stick baking paper underneath a wire rack, I then put the mould upside-down on the wire rack, allowing the chocolate to dribble out of the mould, coating the sides, the excess spilling onto the paper. Once the dripping stopped, I turned the mould right side up and scraped the excess chocolate off the surface of the mould with a palette knife. I allowed the shells to cool at room temperature before filling, because putting in the fridge would run the risk of blooming the chocolate. I filled the individual shells leaving about 2 millimetres of a gap to cap with chocolate.

This chocolate box includes 5 moulded and filled flavours (in both milk and dark chocolate), and 2 dipped milk chocolate flavours:

Soft Caramel
To fill these chocolates, I used the same caramel recipe that I used for my banoffee pie: 7 ounces (200 grammes) light brown sugar, 7 ounces (200 grammes) evaporated milk, 2½ ounces (60 grammes) of butter, and 1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) vanilla essence. I mixed all the ingredients, except for the vanilla essence, in a medium saucepan, and cooked it gently over a low heat until the butter and sugar melted together fully, then brought it to the boil. I boiled it gently for about 5 minutes, until the mixture thickened into a creamy saucy consistency, and darkened slightly. I allowed it to cool before using it to fill the shells.

Pecan Nut Praline
To make the praline for the truffle filling, I put 2 ounces (55 grammes) of pecan nuts, 2 ounces (55 grammes) caster sugar, and 1 tablespoon (15 millilitres) of water into a frying pan. Over a low heat, I heat the mixture until the sugar dissolved, then increased the heat to medium-high. I cooked the mixture until the sugar became thick and dark brown. I poured this mixture onto some oiled non-stick baking paper, and let it set completely. I pulsed the praline pieces in a blender to a powder, then mixed it into some chocolate truffle mixture (see below) before using it to fill the shells.

Strawberry Fondant
I mixed some strained strawberry jam in equal weight quantities with icing sugar to thicken it slightly, and used this to fill the shells.

Lemon Truffle
To make the lemon filling, I used 1 ounce (30 grammes) of caster sugar, 1 fluid ounce (30 millilitres) of milk, 1 ounce (30 grammes) of butter, 3½ ounces (100 grammes) white chocolate, chopped into pieces, 1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) vanilla essence, and the zest of half a lemon. I heated the sugar, lemon zest, and milk together in a saucepan over low heat until the sugar dissolved. I brought it to the boil and cook for about a minute or two until a little syrupy. I removed it from the heat and stirred in the butter, chocolate, and vanilla essence, then returned it to a low heat, mixing until smooth. I allowed it to cool before using it to fill the shells.

Coffee Crème
To make the lemon filling, I used 1 ounce (30 grammes) of caster sugar, 1 fluid ounce (30 millilitres) of strong coffee, 1 ounce (30 grammes) of butter, 3½ ounces (100 grammes) white chocolate, chopped into pieces, and 1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) vanilla essence. I used the same technique to make it as the lemon filling, and allowed it to cool before using it to fill the shells.

Almond Marzipan
I made some marzipan using this recipe, and used it to make 1 inch (2½ centimetre) balls, pressing them into ovals, and dipping them in properly melted chocolate.

Turkish Delight
I made some Turkish delight using this recipe, and cut it into 1 inch (2½ centimetre) pieces, dusted very lightly with icing sugar (brushing off any excess) and dipping it twice in properly melted chocolate, allowing to set fully after the first dipping, and sprinkling on some coloured sprinkles.

White and Dark Truffle
These ones were a bit of an experiment, but they turned out nicely. I mixed equal quantities of melted dark chocolate and buttercream icing together until it became a thick mixture, then chilled it overnight. I allowed the mix to return to a cool room temperature before rolling into balls. I chilled them thoroughly before dipping in melted white chocolate. These ones were very tasty,

Egg-Free Marzipan

One of my all-time favourite bakery and sugar craft staples, and something I have touched on surprisingly seldom in my blog, is marzipan! I forget about it all year, and then Christmas comes around and I'm marzipan mad.

Marzipan is one of my most favourite things: I could eat blocks of marzipan until I felt very ill, and still like it. When I was in school, I had a good German friend who one year got a solid marzipan Easter egg from her father back home in Germany. She gave me some, and it was some of the nicest marzipan I had tasted; she told me it was by a company called Niederegger, and that the factory shop was in Lübeck, which was a town close to her own home. I visited her home in 2008 (my first foreign holiday) and asked her to take me to the shop, where I bought a nice amount of the delicious marzipan to nibble on and bring home.

Despite my love of marzipan, I'd never tried to make it before this year. In May, I made a circular Battenberg layer cake, which was my first attempt at making it. I never realised it was so easy! It is a little fragile because it lacks those good egg white proteins, but it's easily moulded like clay and sets quickly.

FREE FROM

☑ Soya
☑ Yeast
☑ Dairy
☑ Gluten
☑ Eggs

CONTAINS
☒ Nuts
☒ Refined sugar products

INGREDIMENTS:

• 7 ounces (200 grammes) ground nuts of your choice: almonds, hazelnuts, pistachios, etc.
• 7 ounces (200 grammes) icing sugar
• ¼ teaspoon (2 millilitres) almond essence, or to taste
• Cold water, to bind
• Optional: 1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) lemon juice
• Optional: 1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) lemon zest
• Icing sugar, for dusting

HOW-TO:

• In a large mixing bowl, mix together the ground nuts and icing sugar until well combined. Add in the almond essence (and lemon juice and zest if using), and stir with the tip of a knife.
• Continuing to mix with the knife, add in water a teaspoon (5 millilitres) at a time until it comes together in a soft dough.
• Dust the work surface with a little icing sugar, and turn out the marzipan. Knead and squash the dough together very gently until smooth; if you over knead it, it becomes oily and unworkable.
• You can use the marzipan straightaway, or wrap it in cling film and keep in an airtight container in a cool, dark place.

Marzipan is used very often in Northern European bakery and sweet-making: Denmark, Holland, and Germany all produce a lot of almond based delights. I will be exploring all of these things in the New Year.

Turkish Delight (Naturally Free From Everything)

Here's another recipe in the Christmas gifts series: Turkish delight!

I'm going to be honest: I really don't like Turkish delight. I think it's vile: flower flavoured jelly. However, I do know that my brother really likes it, and it's associated with the festive season. Even thought I don't like it, it's a good simple and quick homemade sweet to give to someone as a gift.

Traditionally, Turkish delight is made my boiling a sugar syrup to soft ball stage, while simultaneously cooking cornflour, lemon juice, and water in another pot until it becomes gluey. The syrup is added bit by bit to the flour, mixing all the time, and then when fully incorporated it is cooked on a low heat for about an hour until pale yellow. The long slow cooking allows the acid in the lemon juice to work on the cornflour, chemically changing the starch. It takes forever, and uses a lot of equipment. I had given up on making Turkish delight when I found out that it was so complicated. But then I found another way of making it in a manner which I didn't expect.

I follow a lot of Indian cookery blogs and YouTubers: what can I say, I love curry and Indian sweets. Usually, when I watch a video that's suggested to me on the YouTube homepage, I also end up watching a load of other related videos that are shown in the sidebar, even if I don't know what they are. I came across a video for Bombay Halwa, also known as Mumbai or Karachi Halwa, which is remarkably similar to Turkish delight, but a lot simpler.

Bombay Halwa has more cornflour than Turkish delight and also uses a lot of ghee, but a quicker technique that doesn't require a thermometer, sugar testing, or multiple saucepans. So, I used the cornflour to sugar ratio from the Turkish delight recipe, and the water quantities and cooking technique from the Halwa recipe. The results were very good!

FREE FROM

☑ Soya (check for soya lecithin)
☑ Dairy (use substitute in italics for dairy free)
☑ Gluten
☑ Nuts

CONTAINS
☒ Refined sugar products

INGREDIMENTS:

•  7 ounces (200 grammes) caster sugar
• 1 ounce (30 grammes; 4 tablespoons) cornflour
• 5½ fluid ounces (160 millilitres) water, or the syrup
• 8 fluid ounces (240 millilitres) water, for the cornflour
• 1 tablespoon (15 millilitres) lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon (15 millilitres) rosewater, or 2 teaspoons (10 millilitres) lemon zest if you don't like the rose flavour
• Red or yellow food colouring
• Icing sugar for coating
• Cornflour for coating

HOW-TO:

• Line a loaf tin with non-stick baking paper, and brush the paper with flavourless oil. Alternatively, you can use a sillicone loaf tin and brush it with oil.
• In a bowl, mix together the cornflour and the according water together until all the cornflour has dissolved and there are no lumps.
• In a large saucepan, heat the sugar, lemon juice, and the according water until the sugar dissolves . Once dissolved, bring to a boil and cook until it had slightly thickened.
• Remove the pan from the heat, and add in the cornflour slurry (making sure to give it a little stir first to lift any cornflour that's settled on the bottom of the bowl). Stir until combined.
• Turn the heat down to medium, and return the pan to the heat. Cook, gently but definitely bubbling, until the mixture has become transparent, thick, and gluey; about 20 minutes. You must stir often, otherwise it will burn.
• Once it has become thick and jellyish, take it from the heat and stir in the rosewater and enough red food colouring to tint it pink.
• Pour the mixture into the tin and allow to set at room temperature overnight, or at least 8 hours.
• Once set, mix some icing sugar in equal parts with cornflour (about 3 tablespoons (45 millilitres) each) and sprinkle some of this mixture onto the work surface. Turn the jelly out onto the dusted surface, peeling off any paper.
• Cut the jelly out with a long oiled knife. Coat each piece in the icing sugar and cornflour mixture. Keep in an airtight container with any leftover coating mixture.
• You can also coat the jellies in chocolate. Dust off any excess icing sugar, and then dip in tempered chocolate.