Irish Tea Brack

We went to my friend Louise' house for dinner the other night, after the boys had been out fishing, and when we left she gave us some Tea Brack. It was delicious, and a good winter warmer! Made with sultanas soaked in tea, and baked into a loaf, a famous Irish cake! I grilled it and put (probably way too much) but LOADS of butter, too good!

What is your favourite thing to eat in winter?

Autumn and Apples

Autumn has to be my favourite time of year. It is still a little warm, but the days are getting colder...I can wear my jeans again (hooray) and pull out my funky stockings, leg warmers and hoodies. I can cuddle up on the couch in a blanket. I can almost bear lying next to My Husband to be without feeling like im lying next to a furnace, I swear he was a hot water bottle in a previous life. Food is starting to change, soups and stews and curries...all those warming things!

There are so many different varieties of apples at the supermarket this time of year. Apples are one of those fruits mum gave us as kids, and they would end up bruised and rolling round in our school bags....and never eaten..ever! Now as an adult I've come to realise how good an apple is, and how much I took them for granted. They are my favourite. I love the taste of pink rose apples. I love the colour of Red Delicious, and the sourness of Granny smith. Years ago as a freshly trained chef I tried to make a deep dish apple pie. I used the wrong apples. It was a mess. I was utterly disappointed, and it is one of those silly memories I will never get rid of. So this week I tried it again ( only 9 years later!) and i'm happy to say it stood high and proud...and tasty!

I also cannot reccomend more this wee bottle of Heilala vanilla syrup...the vanilla beans are grown in Tonga and made into this little bottle of syrup in Tauranga, NZ... close to my home town. If you can manage not to smear it all of yourself thinking that its perfume, add it to a bit of whipped cream for your pie... Heavenly!

Happy Autumn, and Happy upcoming easter to all of you! xxx

Chocolate whoopie pies with peanut butter frosting

I saw that you can now buy pre mix whoopie pie mix at the super market... which got me thinking, that I dont even know what a whoopie pie is meant to be like! I did a bit of research, although I am a tad confused... some recipes state that the whoopie pies are to be chewy, some are to be soft and cake like? I settled on a "cake like" recipe that Bakerella herself used, just for fun..... and well I have had this major craving for peanut butter lately, and this recipe definately put that to rest!!

Find the recipe at  Whoooopie!

Delicious!!

I just made a rediculous amount of brownies.....

Rich Chocolate Mousse

I had some old friends over for dinner last night and made this chocolate mousse recipe for the first time. I have a bad habit ( or possibly a good one) of searching the internet or books for recipe's and stubbornly changing them to how I think they should be! It has not failed me yet, so it cannot be a bad thing. So here's a recipe for chocolate mousse... which trned out great. I was slightly camera shy last night so took an ultra budget phone pic in all its fuzzy low light gloriousness....

Rich Chocolate Mousse

250g dark chocolate ( I used Lindts new cooking chocolate 70%)
80 mls strong black coffee
3 eggs separated, room temp
2tbs caster sugar
200mls cream, soft whipped

- Finely chop chocolate, pour hot coffee over top and continue melting over hot water bath, set aside.
- Whisk egg whites to soft peak and gradually whisk in sugar.
- Add yolks to chocolate mixture, making sure the chocolate is warm but not hot.
- Fold in a small spoonful of whites into chocolate mix. Then start folding in gently both the white and the      cream. Mix should be thick but slightly runny.
- Pour into 6 moulds ( I used glass coffee mugs)
- Set in fridge. this should only take an hour to set.

I decorated my mousse with a quenelle of marscapone and fresh raspberries... delicious!

Christmas Feast

So I had to share these photos of my 3 course breakfast we had for christmas morning... yes you heard me correctly 3 courses!

The feast, including coffee, o.j and champagne!

alans secret orange scrambled eggs, rye toast, smoked salmon and avocado

French toast with caramelised walnuts, cinnamon ricotta and strawberries

I don't have a good photo of it but we also had Chroizo and baby pea bubble and speak with a poached egg on top! I made just enough of everything so we could all have a bit of each and not be too stuffed!

Highlight of the day has to be the french toast of course! delicious! Don't ask me how I managed to fit in christmas lunch! I am definately going to have to start going back to the gym!!

Gx