birthday cake with norman

valentines day and a birthday afternoon spent with norman the cat and a slice of jamaican, date and coconut cake from new roots..

i think he wanted some too!

sweet potato nutty beany thingy

1 sweet potato

handful of spinach

1 clove garlic

small handful of hazelnuts, chopped

a few spoonfuls of pinto beans 

(i made a sauce for the beans too by mixing with water, tomato puree, a little soy sauce, cinnamon, nutmeg, black pepper, a sprinkle of salt, and a tiny bit of vinegar too)

Peel, chop and boil the sweet potato in a pan. In another pan, mix together the beans and spinach and heat up with the garlic. When sweet potato is cooked, drain the water and mash with a spoonful of soy marg, add a little rosemary. Then mix together with beans and spinach. Toast the hazelnuts for 5 mins in the oven and add to the sweet potato nutty beany thingy.

And then enjoy!

:)

happy hermit's hearty snacks

yum! :)

Teapot

A cosy afternoon was spent pot decorating with two lovely lassies in Sheffield a couple of weeks ago.

Amy painted a cup (a Queen of Hearts cup) and Kate painted a plate (decorated with a lovely mermaid lady) and I painted a teapot.

It was a nice and peaceful atmosphere and we had a good old natter filled with intriguing stories and gleeful cackles..shall definitely be venturing there some time again soon!

I decided to make the teapot for mi mum as a moving in gift for her new flat.

I found I had one cherry bun left over from the woodland eve the other night too..and thought it would be a good combo gift set..

Teapot and bun..all that's needed now is tea!

X

White Winter's day Feb..

...filled with daffodils and cake..

''For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills

And dances with the daffodils.''

(William Wordsworth)

Cakes for the woodland creatures..

In preparation for my woodland guests arriving the following evening, the night before I rustled up some cakey treats, for I knew these little creatures each shared a taste for something sweet.

With a little help from some beautiful fairies, here is what I made..

Coconut and Pear cake

I made this cake with rice flour, this was the first time I'd used it and it's quite a nice flour to bake with, nice and light and fluffy. 

Ingredients:

2cups rice flour

8tbsp soya marg

3 small pears

1 cup dessicated coconut

1/2 cup muscavado sugar or demerara sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1 tbsp lemon juice

Method:

Peel and chop pears, add them to a pan of boiling water and simmer until soft, then mash to a puree.

In a bowl, mix together marg and sugar, beat until light and fluffy.

Add the rice flour and coconut and stir. The pop in the pear puree, stir again.

Add baking soda and lemon juice and mix until all combined.

Put the mixture into a greased cake tin and bake in the oven for 25mins at 180oC

The cake was very nice indeed, it was a tad crumbly but it still had a nice soft and fluffy texture..

..which some woodland lassy had her eye on in no time :)

I then decided to rustle up some earthy, oaty biscuits..

I made these using the rice flour again, and also ground oatmeal.

Ingredients:

1 and 1/2 cups rice flour

1 cup ground oatmeal

1 cup raisins

1/2 cup brown sugar

1tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

8 tbsp soya marg

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup soya milk

Method:

In a small pan melt the butter and sugar.

In a bowl combine the rice flour, oatmeal and spices, add the melted butter and sugar and mix well. 

Add rest of ingredients and mix.

Using a tablespoon take bits of the mixture and form into balls, place onto a greased baking tray, then flatten and make sure there is at least 2inches apart between them.

Sprinkle them with a little cardamom if desired and bake in the oven for 15-2mins at 170oC.

They came out a cross between a scone and a rusky biscuit, and go lovely with a cup of tea either in the evening or for breakfast.

(The fairies were very impressed with these biscuits, I think I'll make them some more when they next visit)

Lastly I made some buns!..

I filled half with cherry jam and half with dark chocolate and almonds..

Ingredients:

2 cups spelt flour

8 tbsp marg

a handful of almonds(grated, or use ground almonds)

1/2 cup soft brown sugar

1 tsp mixed spice

1/2 cup soya milk

1 tsp bicarb of soda

cherry jam

dark chocolate

Method:

In a small pan melt the marg and sugar.

In a bowl mix together the spelt flour, bicarb of soda, mixed spice, ground almonds.

The add the melted butter and soya milk. Mix until all combined.

Spoon the mixture into buns cases and bake at 170oC for 20-3mins.

When the buns have cooled completely, chop a circle out of the top of them, and fill half with the cherry jam and half with some melted dark chocolate and a sprinkle of almonds.

Pop in the fridge to cool and enjoy!

These were really tasty, the spice and the dark brown sugar gives them lots of flavour and goes well with the cherry jam and dark chocolate.

My woodland friends seemed to enjoy them muchly too..these will definitely be made again.

The fairies were a great help that cakey evening, and gave some good tips and advice with the baking. They also left some gifts for our woodland friends, including fruity lollies and tea..which they'd kindly wrapped in these lovely bags..

..each bag also had a message saying how to enjoy the tea..

and tea was just what I needed after an evening of busy, bun and biscuit baking.

x

Twas a lovely evening indeed..:)

xx