Maids of honour

It feels like spring has taken a long time to arrive in Cumbria this year. With May Day last weekend it was time to cut some blossoming branches, fill a large le Parfait jar with water and pop the branches in, bringing a little bit of spring in to the house.

With spring arriving again it feels like its the right time to start-up Springtime again. And what better way than with a traditional May Day recipe.

Maids of honour are often associated with stories of Tudor courts, Henry VIII and of course, maids. I do not doubt that these stories may be based on grains of truth, but similar versions of this recipe were common during medieval and post-medieval times. The reason being that maids of honour are a seasonal, springtime recipe often associated with May Day. But why May Day? The obvious link is the term ‘maids’ being associated with young women and May Queens, etc. But looking at the actual recipe, the tart makes the most of new sweet milk from cows that had recently been let-out to pasture, giving another reason for their popularity on May Day.

May would have been a lean time of the year in terms of fresh fruit for cakes and puddings. Although one ingredient which was plentiful, and at its best, was milk. Many sweet  dishes were made from milk or curd cheese at this time of year in the past, so it is no surprise to find that the filling of a maid of honour is mainly curd cheese and jam (or lemon curd from fresh eggs). The combination of cheese when it’s at its best and jam from the store cupboard is not only wonderful, but also firmly rooted in the agricultural calendar of the past.

Recipe

Ingredients

• 1/4 pack of puff pastry
• 120gr cottage or curd cheese
• 20gr caster sugar
• zest from 1/2 a lemon
• 15gr ground almonds
• 1 medium egg
• a little bit of jam or lemon curd (I’ve used homemade lemon curd, blackcurrant jam and apricot jam –they all taste good!).

Method

1. Take your pastry out of the fridge to come up to room temperature.
2. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
3. In a bowl mix the cheese, sugar, zest, almonds and egg. Don’t worry about the lumps if you use cottage cheese, this melt when the tray goes in the oven.
4. Roll out the pastry, then using a cutter, cut out circles about 9cm. Don’t twist the cutter, just press down sharply.
5. Put the rounds in to the holes of a muffin tin.
6. Put barely half of teaspoon of jam or curd into the base of the case, followed by the cheese mixture. Do not over fill the cases.
7. Put in the oven for about 20 mins.

Wheat and dairy free peanut butter and chocolate biscuits

We’ve adopted a wheat and dairy free diet. I think this might be quite a challenge.

Nick used to be on a diet of no dairy, no yeast and no-lots-of-other things for health reasons. Then, medication was prescribed and for the last five years he has eaten more-or-less whatever he chooses to. However, over the last couple of years he has been battling with depression (it’s ok – he’s given me permission to mention this!). 

With the news earlier in the week that there appears to be a link between depression and diet, and with my slight intolerance of wheat and diary, we decided to go back to restricting what we eat. My addiction to all things bad, pastry (especially pies), cakes and cream (particularly homemade ice cream) is not to help…

On my last visit to our local Sainsbury's I was surprised by how much 'free-from' food was available. Certainly, there were far more products than 5 years ago. My best find so far has been goat's milk. Yesterday, I gingerly sipped at my first cup of tea with goat's milk, I have to say that I could not taste any difference. Amazing. St Helens’ Farm also produce cream, so maybe I'll be able to survive after all!

 
This afternoon I tried to make some cookies, this recipe is just a slight variation of one from the back of a packet of Dove's Farm rice flour. They turn out very crisp (unless you eat them straight from the oven), a bit like the texture of a gingernut. So I think ‘biscuits’ is a better name for these little bundles of yumminess, rather than ‘cookies’.

Wheat and dairy free peanut butter and chocolate biscuits

• 125gr goat’s butter
• 90gr light brown sugar
• 90gr dark brown sugar
• 125gr crunchy peanut butter
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp wheat-free baking powder
• 175gr rice flour
• 50gr dairy and wheat free chocolate

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees centigrade and  grease two baking sheets with a little butter or olive oil.
2. Cream the butter and sugar.
3. Add the peanut butter and egg and mix thoroughly.
4. Mix in the flour, chocolate and baking powder.
5. Take a teaspoon of the mixture and make it in to a ball. Place on the baking tray and push down slightly to squash it flat. I put 8 on one tray, 9 on another and froze the rest of the dough.
6. Place the trays in the oven for 15 mins.
7. When they are cooked, place on a rack to cool.

Victoria Sponge – how hard can it possibly be?

Sometimes there are days when everything works out, and occasionally there are days when everything goes wrong. This was one of those days – the later sort.

A box of duck eggs had been sitting on the counter for a couple of days, just asking to be used. Then I remember a comment by neighbour’s husband, ‘they make a wonderful Victoria Sponge’. After a quick phone call to my mum to get her recipe, I set about making my sponge. First problem – how many duck eggs are equal to 4 hen eggs?

Visiting my neighbour to ask her opinion resulted in me leaving with a fresh goose egg to use instead (and apparently 3 duck eggs = 4 hen eggs). Goose eggs were even more unfamiliar to me, but the prospect of cooking with one was quite exciting! Armed with the knowledge that a goose egg is equal to 3 hen eggs and the advice that I would really need to whack the shell to get it to break, I hurried back to the kitchen.

If 1 goose egg = 3 hen eggs, then by my calculations I would need a hen egg too. In my haste to get started, I mixed the beaten egg with the butter. This was the source of my second problem. I should have creamed the butter and sugar, not the egg, I must have written it down wrongly. Luckily, I saw the magimix at this stage so the egg, butter and sugar, were duly blitzed. The third problem, was slightly more serious: an absence of self-raising flour. OK, this should have been easily remedied, I just needed some plain flour and baking powder, easy when you’ve got plain flour (how could I possibly be this disorganised?). A root-around in the cupboard and I found some local stone-ground flour - great! After sifting the flour to remove some of the coarse bits and adding the baking powder, I was back on-track. Making a cake really shouldn’t have been this difficult. The mixture rose wonderfully, but then I couldn’t get the sponge out of the tins, why had I even started baking this morning? I’d greased them thoroughly, but next time I’ll use greaseproof paper in the bottom.

The stone-ground flour gave the sponge a coarser texture than usual and I felt the sponge was a little too dry and crumbly (I think I may have cooked it for a few minutes too long). The result was certainly not the prettiest of cakes I’ve ever made, but it tasted good. With the number of things which wrong, I couldn’t really have ask for anything more – especially as most of my problems were brought on by me, and me alone! (You’ll be glad to know I’ve now stocked-up on both plain and self-raising flour).

Apart from the sugar, all of the ingredients turned out to be Cumbrian: the butter and the damson cheese were bought from local producers at Damson Day, the eggs were from the hens and geese behind the house and the flour was from a local mill. This wasn’t the original aim of making the cake, but it was a wonderful side-product of my comedy of errors!

Ingredients

8oz butter (at room temperature)

8oz sugar

8oz self-raising flour

4 hen eggs (or one goose egg + one hen egg)

2oz butter (at room temperature)

4oz icing sugar

a few tbsp of jam

Method (this is what I should have done – thanks mum!)

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2. Cream the butter and sugar together, add half the egg and a tablespoon of flour.
3. Then fold in the flour, this is important as it keeps the sponge fluffy.
4. Split the mixture between two sponge tins (lined with greaseproof paper) and put in the oven until risen and firm to touch, about 20-25 mins.
5. Turn out onto a wire rack and allow to cool.
6. Make the butter icing by mixing the remaining butter and the icing sugar.
7. Smooth the butter icing onto one half of the sponge, spread the jam on top of the icing, and then place the second half of the sponge on top. Dust with a pinch of icing sugar.
8. Enjoy with a cup of tea.

Apple and cinnamon hot cross buns - recipe

Life still seems like it is a bit of a rollercoaster, I’m desperately trying to catch-up with everything which has been put to one side over the last few months like bills (oops!), cleaning, work, seeing friends and trying to spend a bit of time relaxing. Things are slowly coming together and beginning to settle again.

Despite the busyness, I couldn’t possibly let Easter pass without some baking, so what better to make than hot cross buns!

This recipe is a slight variation on the Richard Bertinet’s recipe in last month’s Sainbury’s magazine. I really like M&S apple and cinnamon hot cross buns, so I thought I’d try to make my own using this recipe as the base. The result was good!

Don’t expect these for breakfast (unless you get up at 4am). I started at about 8.30 am and we ate the first one about 3pm.

Ingredients:

500gr strong bread flour

60gr butter, cut into small cubes

7gr dried yeast

80gr caster sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbs mixed spice

2 tbs ground cinnamon

175gr sultanas

75gr dried apple rings, chopped

3 eggs

250ml milk

50gr plain flour

Method:

1. Rub the butter into the bread flour in a mixing bowl until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.
2. Warm the milk so that you can hold your little finger in it.
3. Stir in the yeast, 40gr sugar and salt.
4. In a separate bowl, mix the dried fruit with the spices so that they become completely coated. Add this to the flour mixture.
5. Add the milk and 2 eggs and mix them with your finger tips. When they are completely combined you should end up with a really sticky dough. Turn this out onto a lightly-floured surface (but don’t add any more flour until I tell to you to!).
6. Knead the dough for about 15 mins by pulling, stretching, pushing the heel of your hand into the dough and slamming the dough onto the surface. (The slamming part I found quite therapeutic – especially as I had some bad dreams last and was in a strange mood this morning).
7. You’ll know when the dough is ready as it will no longer be sticky, but smooth. It shouldn’t stick to the board/work surface. You can now add a little bit of flour, shape the dough into a ball, place this back in the mixing bowl, cover with a clean tea-towel and place in a warm place to rest for a couple of hours.
8. When the dough has risen, split it into 16 pieces and make each one into ball. Place these close together on a baking tray. Take the last eggs (beaten) and brush on to the balls of dough (keep any remaining egg, we’ll use it later!). Cover. Leave to rest again somewhere warm (I took them outside in the sunshine)for at least an hour and half, or until the balls start to squish into one another on the tray.
9. Preheat the oven to 220 degrees Celsius.
10. Mix the plain flour with 2 tbls of water, adding the water slowly, until a paste is formed. Transfer the paste to a piping bag (or a plastic food bag with the end snipped off) and pipe crosses on the tops.
11. Place in the oven for 15 mins.
12. Lastly, you need to make the glaze. Place the remaining 40gr sugar with 40ml of water in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Don’t let it boil for too long, just a minute or two (mine turned to caramel because I let it boil too long…)
13. When the buns are cooked, brush the sugar glaze on top, then remove to a wire rack to cool.
14. Serve warm, cut in half with butter!

Speechless (but not wordless, thank God!)

Wow. Surprised. Honoured. Amazed. Confused?

I was just flicking through Oyster Food and Culture’s latest post while enjoying a cup of tea, waiting for my chocolate to set on top of my Peanut Butter Crispie Bars (thank you The Spiced Life!) and about to go back to my waiting Word document, when I suddenly spotted the name of my blog. Double take. Was that really ‘Springtime’ written there?

Before I go any further I should probably explain my flicking, or skim reading. It’s a habit that I’ve picked up from my research. But with academic stuff it’s usually done with questions in the back of my mind: ‘do I actually want to/have time to/need to read this?’ With blog posts I flick for a completely different reason. It is just like an hors d’oeuvre before a sumptuous meal. I like to get a sense of the post, see the pictures and of course see if there are any comments! These whet my appetite for reading the whole thing.

So, having been completely wrong-footed I went back and read from the beginning, albeit impatiently! Then it dawned on me, my blog had actually been nominated for a Kreativ Blogger Award. Thank you so much oysterculture, I am completely dumb-founded. The blog has only existed for little over a week!

Research skills kicking-in again, I tried to find out a little more about it and the thing that has struck me most (apart from all the wonderful blogs, it has been awarded to) is the number of different rules that exist for passing it on. One holds true – you must nominate other blogs upon receiving it. But exactly how many blogs seems to be open to interpretation slightly, 5, 6, 7, 10 or 12. Another rule I found was that you should name six of your favourite things. I think I’ll go for nominating 10 blogs and miss out the favourite things.

Now, to the best of my knowledge these websites have not received the award before, if you have - sorry! (Can you receive it twice?)

So, in no particular order, here we go – have fun looking!

1. Domestic Goddess in Training
2. The Spiced Life
3. A View from Carmine Superiore
4. A Slice of Cherry Pie
5. A Self Sufficient Life
6. Gastroanthropology
7. The love of photography, food and paper art
8. Horticultural
9. Manor Stables Veg Plot
10. Musings from a Stonehead

P.S. Make sure you have a peek at Oysterculture’s blog. She has some wonderfully insightful comments about food and some of the cultural issues associated with it from around the world.

Bakewell Tart

After reading How to Help Eradicate the Battery System and getting over the initial shock that Cadbury's (and many others) still use eggs from battery hens in their products, it got me thinking.

Although time is of the essence at the moment, convenience food really needs to packed-up and shipped-out of our lives. Just because I have limited time shouldn't mean that we unquestionably eat whatever is easiest.

We are definitely at our worst when we are back at the house we are trying to sell. It is looking all spick and span so whenever we are there we succumb to eating microwave ready-meals and (I hate to admit it) Mr Kipling's Bakewell tarts. I'm not the world's tidiest cook, so I have effectively been banned from using the kitchen there. It would be a shame to make a mess of the place - hence the reason for convenience food. Although I think this rule needs to be broken; after all isn't that what rules are for?

The post on the battery hens really made me stop in my tracks.

When I revealed on Thursday night, that we were going to stop buying (wherever possible) any product that might contain hidden 'bad' eggs. This didn't go down very well, as it turns out that someone (who shall remain nameless!) had developed a taste for those little Mr Kippling's Bakewell tarts in the cake tin at the other house.

Well, how hard can it be to try to make a proper Bakewell tart? I had a quick search through Domestic Goddess in Training's blog and lo and behold there was recipe for a proper Bakewell Tart! I won't repost the recipe, as you can just follow the link, but I would thoroughly recommend doing just that...it is superb. I made it with locally-ground flour, local free-range (of course) eggs and some of my mum's homemade raspberry jelly - all of which made it taste and feel 100 times better one of Mr Kipling's!

I think it's been a hit in our house, but it still received an initial comment of, 'Where's the icing and the cherry?' (But he took a lovely photo for me!)