Claire | Things we make

Browsing All Posts filed under »Claire«

Pierniczki

December 17, 2011

Today I made some Piernickzi from a recipe that I had seen on Ren Behan‘s Fabulicious blog. They are spiced Polish gingerbread biscuits that also work well as decorations and they are flavoured with ginger, cinnamon, mixed spice and all things nice. It’s a lovely dough to work with and the recipe made 5 trays […]

Wreath 2011

December 13, 2011

Last year my efforts to make Christmas festive were a bit lacklustre as I documented in my post: ‘List for Christmas Future.’ I am working my way through my self improvements and so far I think I am doing pretty well for 2011. One of the things on my list involved making, or improving on a bought, […]

Brandy Christmas Pudding Pops

December 9, 2011

Have you had enough of cake pops yet? I think I have. But I decided to share these anyway. I know how you like it when baking goes bad. I had good intentions. I decided to make them for a New Years Eve party and I thought I could make good use of a McVities […]

Slow Cooked Massaman

December 5, 2011

I had long thought that stewing beef would work well in a slow cooked curry, but it was only recently that I tried it out. I’m pleased to report that it works very, very well. The meat is soft and delicious, the potatoes take on the subtle flavours of the spices and the coconut milk […]

Cornflake Cookies

December 3, 2011

When I want to bake something I sometimes ask Ed and George what they fancy. Often Ed will say “Can you make cornflake biscuits like we used to have at school? They had cornflakes mixed into them and a cherry on top. I liked them.” I vaguely browse around the internet and can’t find a recipe […]

Sunday Dinner – Roast Beef

November 20, 2011

You can’t beat the flavour of a rib of beef. This was about the best we’ve had. It’s from the cows that live at the end of our garden, farmed by the farmer at the end of our road and cooked by me. There are only 2 and a half people in this house, so a […]

Let’s Make Christmas (Pudding)

November 14, 2011

I am heading down (or is it up?) to London on Friday for the ‘Let’s Make Christmas’ Blogger Gift Swap at Fortnum and Mason arranged by Vanessa Kimbell. Each year my Mum used to take me Christmas shopping in London on the train. We finished the day at the theatre watching something like West Side […]

Tiny Toffee Apples

November 10, 2011

I was going to save this until next Halloween, but what’s a little hot toffee apple between friends? 1 Bag of Small Cox Apples – about 10 1 Handful of stolen McDonalds Coffee Stirrers 400 g Caster Sugar 100 ml Water 1 Teaspoon Vinegar 4 Tbsp Golden Syrup A Jam Thermometer Wash the apples in […]

Bun Round Up

October 29, 2011

Over the last month members of ‘Fresh From The Oven‘ have been baking my Cinnamon Bun recipe. The FFTO site now shows all the entrants here but I wanted to show you my pick of the bunch. I am delighted that so many people put their own slant on the recipe. After all that’s how recipes are developed […]

Pickle Post

October 25, 2011

So we’ve ridden the chutney wave and come out the other side. This year we are on a chutney break as we still have some of our own creations left and a few from family members and friends to work through. But late in the season we ended up with a couple of mini gluts. […]

Sweet Coconut Milk Risotto

October 20, 2011

The days are getting shorter and the nights are getting colder. It makes me want to hibernate. Failing that I want to light the fire, curl up under a blanket and eat something like this. This is the creamiest of puddings. It’s made with coconut milk, nothing desiccated in here, that would jar with the texture. […]

Inside our kitchen

October 15, 2011

I read Sally’s post on My Custard Pie this morning and it reminded me of one by Katherine and Greg on Rufus’ Food and Spirits Guide. They both show a little glimpse into someone else’s kitchen and it made me want to show you inside ours too. BUT…this is going to be little vignettes of ‘things […]

Appletini

October 12, 2011

So this is how it went. Our neighbours came up trumps again by donating a big basket of beautiful little Discovery apples from their tree. I must send George round to fetch his ball back more often. The colour of the apples is so vibrant even the flesh has streaks of red running through it. George […]

Child Free Pumpkin

October 2, 2011

Every year we get a pumpkin or two and have great plans of what we are going to carve into it. Every year George get’s bored after about 10 minutes of seed scooping and goes off to do something else. I end up standing in the kitchen with pumpkin goo up my sleeves wondering why I […]

Apple Pie

September 28, 2011

My Grandma’s apple pie was always my favourite. The crust was almost like shortbread. Soft, but not soggy. The pastry was sprinkled with sugar, yet not too sweet. In the last 20 odd years I have tried to find something to compare, but the pastry has always been too heavy, the apples too hard or […]

Pretty Pear Jelly

September 20, 2011

Last week I found myself with a surfeit of pears. The one and only William pear from my own little tree, plus a whole basket of mixed pears from my friendly neighbours. I used the soft William pears in another Pear and Almond Cake but still had lots of conference pears left. I knew that […]

Damson in Distress

September 18, 2011

I was disappointed, to say the least, when the damson jam and damson cheese that I made turned out to be very tasty, but slightly grainy damson toffee. I scoured the internet for a solution and found people with the same problem were given only vague suggestions of how to solve it. It’s a common […]

Random Bake of Kindness

September 7, 2011

Vanessa Kimbell’s post suggesting we take part in random acts (bakes) of kindness was compelling. She suggested we think about who deserved a spontaneous thank you, a kind word or some recognition…and that we bake an extra batch of something just for them. I love a bit of random kindness. My mum always taught me […]

Plum Frangipane Tart

September 1, 2011

Today I made a tart. OK, so I can’t deny it looks like a tomato quiche. George picked the plums from Louise Housley’s tree. The pastry was a packet of ready made all-butter puff. The frangipane was made out of ground almonds leftover from the failed macarons. I rolled out the puff pastry, lined a […]