Incey mincey pies

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Rachel Allen's Fudge

375g condensed Milk
450g golden caster sugar
100g butter
1tsp vanilla essence (if required or 75g of chocolate chips)

1. melt the butter then add milk and sugar, cook for 10 to 15mins on a high heat (soft crack on jam thermometer)
2. fill the sink with some water and place this pan on and mix this mixture with some minutes.  this will make the mixture hard quickly.  when grainy, its time to put into a baking tray.
3. then put this mixture on the tin and spread out about 1cm think.
4. let it cool for about 5 minutes and you have to cut the shape within 3 to 5 minutes otherwise this mixture will very hard.

Elderflower Champagne

This summer beauty is perfect for Bar-B-Q's and long hot summer days so get your pruning scissors out and start chopping those summer blooms! The flowers should be cut on a sunny day to get them in the best condition and should smell like sweet summer nectar and not like dog widdle, which means they're probably past their best.
Dusting the back of your hand with the tiny blooms should leave you with a haze of golden pollen which indicate that they are in optimum condition, so get busy with the pruners.

You'll need about 13-15 flower heads which should yeild about a pint of flowers and should'nt take too long to gather.

Removing the flowers is quite simple by using a fork to rip the flower heads from the wiry stems. Alternatively you can leave the stems in an air filled bin bag for 24 hours. Just fill the bag with air and tie an knot in the open ends.
Give the bag a good shake after about 24hours and youll be left with the stems cleanly separated from the flowers. Simples!

Ingredients

• 1pt of Elderflowers
• About 1kg of sugar
• 1tsp of yeast (bakers will do)
• 2 Lemons (juice and zest)
• 2 Tablespoons of vinegar

Method.

1. Add the flowers to a fermenting vessel (a bucket or 5litre plastic water bottle is fine)
2. Melt the sugar into a about a litre of water and add the lemon juice and zest, you neednt boil it as it may melt your water bottle but your bin or bucket should be fine.
3. Pour the water infusion over the flowers and stir until mixed.
4. Fill your bin/bucket/bottle upto about 5 litres and add the vinegar and yeast and cover with a clean tea towel or if you have a bung and airlock put them into your bottle.
5. Keep in a warm place (kitchen/airing cupboard) and stir/agitate daily for a week
6. You should see some yeast action with hours but if not add another teaspoon of yeast.
7. After a week strain the brew through a seive to remove the flowers, but try an leave the "lees" (yeast mud in the base of your bin) behind.
8. You can sweeten your brew with artificial sweetner as this is non fermentable. Dont use sugar as the remaining yeast will consume it.
9. Bottle the brew into P.E.T bottles (old pop bottles) and add a tsp of sugar (the real kind) per 500ml of brew. This will feed the yeast to create more Co2 and carbonate your drink.
10. Check your bottles daily to see if they are stiff with Co2. The bottles should "ping" when tapped.

Your drink should be ready after a week so kick back, enjoy the summer and pour your hard work down your neck.

Alcoholic Ginger Beer

Heres an insight into my latest concoction, alcoholic ginger beer! I started it yesterday so should be ready for my Christmas "Whiskey Macs" or just lazing infront of the Chiristmas day showing of  Dr Who.
You can play with the spices and sugar levels to get your favourite flavours in there. Star anise and cardamom are good but i dint have any so have only used what was in the pantry.

Recipe

• 200g of root ginger
• 150g of treacle
• 1tsp of cinnamon
• 1tsp of dried ginger
• 6 cloves
• Juice and zest of 1 orange
• 1tsp of yeast nutrient (a tsp of tomato puree will surfice if you dont have any to hand)
• 1tps of yeast. (plain old bread yeast will do but ive used brewers yeast)
• 350g of dark muscavado sugar
• half a grated nutmeg
• 1tps vanilla extract

Method

1. Grate the ginger into a pan along with the lemon rind and juice with about 500-700ml of water. Just enough to cover the pulp and bring to the boil. Add the treacle and all the other ingredients except the yeast nutrients and yeast and continue to boil for about 10 minutes. This should be long enough to infuse the liquid.
2. Pour your stewed pulp into a sterilised fermenting bin ( a sanitised bucket will do or 5 litre water bottle) and make up the liquid to about 5 litres with cold water.  You may need to add some hot boiled water to make the temperature upto blood temperature.
3. When the liquid is at blood temperature (between 18 and 25 degree) add the yeast nutrient (or tommy puree) and then add the yeast and stir.
4. Cover your fermenting bin losely or your bucket with a teatowel, or your water bottle with some kitchen paper/cotton wool. This will prevent any airbourne beasties from entering the "must". It doesnt have to be too precise as your brew will only be standing for a few days.
5. Store your bin/bucket/bottle in a warm place for the yeast to start working. This could be as little as 20 mins or as long as a few hours. You'll know when you see your grated pulp starting to float on the surface.
6. Stir daily for about a week then strain off the upper liquid from the pulpy mess at the bottom of the bin/bucket/bottle. You can do this by syphoning it out or simply carefully pouring  the liquid out.
7. Bottle the brew into "STRONG EMPTY CARBONATED BOTTLES".
   Ill be using 1 Litre pop/soda water bottles as the pressure can get extremely high. Old beer bottles with the swing top are perfect.
8. Add 5grams of sugar to the bottles per litrel of brew for "priming". This is food for the yeast to produce extra CO2 to carbonate the drink.

Store for about a week then you're free to drink at will! You can tell when your brew is pressurised as your plastic bottles will be very tight and "ping" when tapped. You may need to release the gas slowly to stop your beer escaping.

N.B


The strength will depend on the sugar content but about 20g of sugar per litre will give 1% alcohol. So for a 5-6 percent ABV (Alcohol by Volume) you'll need about 120g of sugar per litre. so if you're making a gallon as I am youll need to multiply that weight by 4.5. (4.5litres make 1 gallon) which is about 550 grammes of sugar. If you have  a hydrometer you're looking for your brew to have a Starting Gravity (SG) of around 1040.
If you bottle the brew at about 1.000 it should taste just about sweet enough and not too dry.

Enjoy

Hairy Bikers Chocolate and Macadamia Brownies.

Heres a recipe from this weeks Hairy Bikers Cook Off which my girlfriend had just knocked up, and is the best brownie recipe ive ever tasted.(She ditched the raisins which is fine by me!)
Orginal recipe link here

Chocolate and macadamia brownie
 Indulge with this gooey, chocolatey mega brownie packed with chocolate, raisins and macadamias.

Ingredients

• 280g/10oz unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
  
• 500g/1lb 2oz caster sugar
  
• 5 free-range eggs
  
• 2 tbsp golden syrup
  
• 200g/8oz plain flour
  
• 100g/4oz unsweetened cocoa powder
  
• 185g/6½oz raisins
  
• 185g/6½oz, chopped
  
• 90g/3½oz unsalted macadamia nuts, chopped
  
• icing sugar, to dust
  

Preparation method

1. Preheat the oven to 150C/300F/Gas 2. Grease and line a 30cmx23cmx4cm/12inx9inx1½in baking tin

2. Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy then beat in the eggs, one at a time, until well combined. Stir in the golden syrup.

3. Sift the flour and cocoa into the mixture, then fold until well combined. Stir in the raisins, chocolate and macadamias.

4. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 45-50 minutes, or until firm at the edges but still slightly gooey in the centre. Remove the brownies from the oven and set aside to cool in the tin. (The brownies will firm up as they cool.)

5. To serve, cut the brownies into large squares, dust with the icing sugar and serve plain or with ice cream or clotted cream.