Bernie's Basic Bun Mixture

This bun mixture is my granny, Bernie’s, recipe. These buns are extremely easy to make and they are very delicious too.

Bernie’s Basic Bun Mixture

Ingredients

225g (8oz) Flora Light/butter

225g (8oz) caster sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 free range eggs

280g (10oz) self-raising flour (sieved)

30mls milk

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/390°F/gas mark 6.

2. Place the flora, sugar and vanilla extract into a bowl and cream together until it is a pale yellow colour.

3. Add the eggs, one at a time with a little flour to prevent the mixture from curdling. Mix well.

4. Add the flour little by little then mix well. Stir in the milk. If it drops off easily in a dollop then it is ready.

5. Take a spoonful of mixture, with a dessert spoon and scrape into the bun case using a teaspoon. Don’t fill the case to the top.

6. Bake in the oven for 20 mins or until golden brown in colour. Cool on a wire tray.

Enjoy!

Ready for the oven

Cooling on the wire tray

Jamie Oliver's Pancakes

In times gone by it was traditional on Shrove Tuesday to make pancakes to use up flour, butter and eggs. This pancake recipe is based on Jamie Oliver's recipe. There are a lot of toppings that are very tasty on pancakes such as Nutella, maple syrup or even just a knob of butter. 

Jamie Oliver's Pancakes

Ingredients

150g (1 cup) self-raising flour
200ml (1 cup) milk
1 egg
pinch of salt

Method
1. Put the flour and salt in a bowl.
2. Add the egg and combine with the flour.
3. Very slowly add the milk, whisking well with a hand whisk or fork.
4. When the batter is nice and smooth, cover with cling film and refrigerate for at least an hr. (The batter can be used straight away but tends to have a better consistency when left to rest)
5. Heat the frying pan and add a little sunflower oil.
6. Either pour a thin coating of batter or thicken ones into the pan. When golden, turn the pancake over and brown the other side.
7. Add topping of your choice and enjoy!!

Polka Dot Cookies

This cookies are from Rachel Allen's Food for Living. They are remarkably straightforward to make. They are crunchy on the outside and chewy in the middle . Cookies would absolutely be one of my favourite treats.

Rachel Allen's Polka Dot Cookies

Ingredients
225g (8 oz) Butter
375g (15 oz) Soft Brown Sugar (or light muscovado sugar)
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 Eggs, beaten
350g (14 oz) Plain flour
½ tsp Salt
1 Level tsp Baking Powder
1 Level tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
150g (5 oz) Smarties / Chocolate Chips

Method
1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 ̊C / 350 ̊F / Gas Mark 4 /
2. Cream butter and sugar together. Add in the vanilla extract and eggs.
3. Mix the flour and salt into a bowl. Sift in the Bicarbonate of soda and Baking Powder and mix well.
4. Add the dry ingredients into the wet.
5. Add the smarties last.
6. Roll into little balls (walnut size if you want small ones or golf ball size if you want larger ones. I pressed in a smarty on the smaller ones so that there would definitely be a smarty on the top of each cookie.
7. Bake for 12 – 16 mins. If you want chewy cookies, bake until the edges are turning brown but the middle is still pale. If you want crunchy all the way through then bake until golden all over.
8. Cool on a wire rack.

Rachel Allen's Baked Eggs with Chorizo and Cheese

Rachel Allen's Baked Eggs with Chorizo and Cheese

This recipe is from Rachel Allen's Food for Living. This is definitely my favourite recipe with eggs.

Ingredients
2 tsp tomato purée,
4 tbsp double cream
freshly ground pepper and sugar
16 thin slices Chorizo
8 eggs
2 tbsp grated Cheese, such as gruyere or cheddar

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 230°C/450°F/gas mark 8. Mix the tomato puree (if using) with the cream and season with pepper and a pinch of sugar.
2. Spoon half of the cream mixture into the base of four ovenproof cups, bowls or ramekins. Add two slices of chorizo to each dish, then crack two eggs into each, season with a little more pepper, and top the cups with the remaining two slices of chorizo.
3. Spoon over the remaining tomato cream, then sprinkle each portion with the grated cheese. Bake for 9-12 minutes, or until the whites are set and the cheese is bubbling. Serve the eggs on their own or with fingers of buttered toast.