Lillie-B's first fruit purée

I can't believe it's this time already, Lillie-B is becoming accustomed to the world of FOOD. So far it's going without a hitch last week we tried sweet carrot purée, this week we moved on to a scrummy sweet potato & parsnip purée and you'd swear she'd been gobbling food forever...

Sometimes still feels like Lottie-Daisy should be still gobbling down all this. So today iv decided to go wild and make her my yummy apple purée.
For this you will need:

5 small children's apples
3 table spoons of water

Firstly I peeled the 5 small apples and chopped them up, the reason I used these cute teeny apples is the flavour, they have such a soft sweet flavour. Which is spot on for babies and children of all ages.

Next pop your chopped apples in a pot and add your 3 tablespoons of water. Cook this on a low heat for 8 minutes exactly .

The tip of your knife will pierce through your apple chunks with ease at this stage. I used a hand held blender to purée the apples and I blended them in the pot(saves on the washing up)...

I divided the purée up into little pots and froze them they will keep perfectly for a few weeks..

For Lillie-B I added a few baby spoons of the purée to her baby rice and it was a hit, a great way to introduce the flavour to a baby...

My super decadent brownies

What is it about brownies, it's like they have some super magnetic force that draws you to them. And when there baked well by god do they hit the spot...

Now iv had my fair share of brownie disasters iv curdled the mixture and even over baked them so when I finally perfected my brownie recipe I had to share it with you guys...for this recipe you will need:

100g butter
100g plain chocolate
100g milk chocolate
250g of caster sugar
4 large free range eggs
70g plain flour
50g cocoa powder

First of all fill a pot 1/4 the way full with boiling water and sit a heat proof bowl over it making sure it is not actually touching the water.

Dice your butter and break up all your chocolate and pop them in the bowl stirring occasionally, while your chocolate and butter is melting away, crack your four eggs in another bowl and whisk until pale and frothy. Next add your caster sugar to your frothy eggs and whisk like mad until well combined.

Once your chocolate mixture has melted take it off the heat and allow it to stand. Sift your flour and cocoa into your egg mixture and gently fold it in, you put the effort in to making your eggs and sugar all fab and frothy don't ruin it by lashing it together.

Once you have mixed that its time to pour your melted chocolate into your batter and once again fold it in.

Now for this recipe iv used an 8" round silicone cake mould, iv greased the base and sides before pouring in the mixture. Pop it in your over @ 180' forgot 30mins the time will vary if you are using a different tin and if the mixture is more shallow.

After 25mins check your brownie we want to centre to be gooey but not raw. Once baked leave to cool before removing and cutting

I like to dust mine with cocoa and icing sugar before dividing it up into bite size squares...YUM

ENJOY
Rebecca

Martha Stewart's New York cheese cake

So here's another tried and tested recipe from the cooking genius herself Martha Stewart. I think when it comes to her recipes if you follow them exactly your in for a winner.

So I decided I would try something more technical this time, now I know when you hear cheesecake your probably thinking that's not very technical but this cheese cake is super big in size and instead of popping it in the fridge you bake it. So here we go you are going to start off with the yummy biscuit base. What you will need:

12 digestive biscuits
2tbl sugar
6tbl butter melted
Pinch of salt

Firstly crush up the biscuits nice and fine in a bowl sprinkle in the sugar and salt before pouring in the butter. With your wooden spoon combine it all really well.

Next get your 11" spring form deep cake pan which you have lined with grease proof paper and pat the biscuit mixture evenly on the bottom.

Pop in the fridge for 10 mins to set, then pop it in the oven @ 160' for 15 mins

While that is setting/ baking lets get on with the creamy cheesecake mixture. For this you will need:

56oz of cream cheese(room temp)
1/2 cup flour
2 1/4 cup sugar
1 cup sour cream
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
5eggs

Firstly make sure your cream cheese is at room temp, you get a much smoother consistency when it's not cold

In your mixing bowl pop in all the cream cheese and give it a good stir, next add your sieved flour, sugar and sour cream to the mixture and combine well

In a separate glass/bowl whisk your eggs and vanilla together i do this so the flavours are evenly combined and distributed through out your cakes. Add to mixture and stir.

I like to have the cake tin out and cooled slightly before I pour in the mixture. Also what I like to do is spray the sides of the pan with a baking spray so with any cakes the mixture won't stick to the side.

Next place out two large sheet of tin foil on your counter and sit the tin in the middle, bring the foil up the sides and higher than the top. Now what you are meant to do next is sit your tin in a large roasting tray and surround with hot water but little old me didn't have a whopper roasting tin that would fit an 11" pan, so been a mini mc guyver that I am I popped the roasting tray with hot water at the bottom of the oven so steam would still dance around the oven!!!

Bake for 45 mins @ 160' then reduce to 150' for a further 30 mins. Turn off your oven when this is all done and let cool in there for an hour...

This cheesecake was out of this world I served it at my wee ones christening and I was raging because it was gone in a flash not one slice left for me with my tea the next day ha ha good complaint I suppose.

Raspberry and lemon frangipani tart

What is it about a slice of tart that washes all your cares away...this weekend was my wee ones christening and I baked up a storm for it.

One of the tarts I made was this raspberry tart I had been researching this recipe for a while on the google box and for a lot of the recipes I looked at the quantities just didn't add up, so I ditched them and decided to do what I should have done from the start and go old school on it...work it out myself.

For this recipe you will need:

Pastry crust:
175g flour
25g icing sugar
100g cold butter
1 egg yolk
1 tbl water

Like in my previous blogs combine your pastry crust by hand, roll it out nice and thin, carefully pop it in your flan tin. Blind bake @190' for 10mins remove the foil and bake for a further 8mins.

While that's in the oven get cracking on your frangipani batter, for this you will need:
250g butter/stork
250g sugar
4 eggs
200g ground almonds
Zest 1 lemon
2 punnets of raspberries

Firstly melt your butter, then add the sugar and beaten eggs and combine until pale in colour. Next add the zest of 1 lemon and then your ground almonds, mix well.

Gently dollop out your frangipani mixture onto your pastry crust and spread out evenly making sure it doesn't go over the edges.

Now the fun part ,decorate your tart with your raspberries however you choose I went for the nerdy look and did circles and more circles. Don't press them down as they will sink in themselves.

Pop your tart in the oven @180' for 35-45mins

This is such a moist yummy cake and is perfect for breakfast lunch and dinner lol...

My all American pancakes

For me if I had to choose breakfast over lunch there would be no contest I just love breakfast if you make an occasion out of it that is....so for me there is nothing nicer than a fluffy stack of American pancakes with crispy bacon and maple syrup YUM.

For this super quick & yummy recipe you will need;
1 cup plain flour
1 cup milk
1 egg
1 teaspoon baking powder

Whisk the egg, add the milk and then combine with your dry ingredients and whisk enthusiastically for a moment or two until your mixture is bubbly.

In your frying pan pour a small splash of oil. use a mild oil like sunflower or vegetable so the flavor does not overpower the pancakes yummyness.

With a ladle pour out a small amount of the mixture at a time so each pancake turns out the same size. If their to big they can taste quite doughy so if you keep them small they are browned on the outside but super fluffy on the inside.

Go wild and jazz up your pancakes by incorporating slices of bananas in the batter or even chocolate chips...