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Making Food Taste Amazing – Flavoured Butter

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A simple steak can be transformed by a disc of herby butter popped on top in the last minute or so of cooking.

A warm. pancake with a little maple syrup or honey butter popped inside just before rolling up crepe style. Ahhmmmmazing.

I was chatting to some friends recently and not one of them had tried making flavoured butters before. Some had bought some ( typically garlic butter) or tried some in restaurants but considering its so easy to do I was amazed none of them did it.

So I’m doing what I always do. Blogging about it.

To make flavoured butter all you need is a stick of butter and your choice of herbs/flavour. Make sure first of all that your butter is soft. Wash and chop your herbs finely or use dried herbs. Here are just a few suggestions of butter/flavour combos:

Tarragon Butter – perfect for chicken or steak dishes
Rosemary & Garlic Butter – great for chicken dishes or potatoes
Honey Butter – great for spreading on warm, homemade bread. It’s delicious.

You could also do spiced butter:

Cinnamon Butter – lovely on top of toast or to use in a special bread n butter pudding
Ginger Butter – haven’t tried this yet but like the idea

Hot butters:

Chilli butter – great for lots of dishes but be sparing with the chilli flakes!

Or a zesty one:

Orange zest butter – great for basting a roast chicken
Lemon zest butter – brilliant for fish.

Soften your butter in a bowl and add your diced herbs or spices and mix thoroughly. Turn out onto a section of cling film and using the cling film ( or it will get messy) make into a sausage shape and completely cover with cling film. Twist or tie both ends. Place in the fridge or freezer. I tend to freeze mine and cut off a section as and when I need it.

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Garlic & Herb Butter:

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Cinnamon butter:

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I used Kerrygold for my rosemary, thyme and garlic butter and for my cinnamon butter.

Kerrygold butter has had a bit of a makeover with the helpful of renowned Irish fashion designer Orla Kiely so why not pretty up your fridge while using the gorgeous Irish butter.

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I’m sure there a are a million and one different flavour combos for you to try so go wild and experiment a bit.

* I was sent a voucher to try out the new Kerrygold.

I Heart Cookbooks – Marshmallows Made Marvellous Parragon Book Review

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The tagline of the book is ‘Anyone can make these’ and I have to agree because I made these on a day where I was existing on about 2 hours sleep with a newborn and a toddler demanding attention.

Homemade pillows of sugar – doesn’t that sound delightful?

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This book has over 30 recipes ranging from a vanilla to fancy mojito or amaretto crunch flavours.

We decided to master the basics first with the vanilla marshmallow recipe.

It’s a really straightforward recipe to follow and we ended up with some gorgeously gooey vanilla marshmallows:

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Next up we want to try the cookies and cream marshmallows. I will let you know how we get on.

Recommend this book to anyone who has a sweet tooth and likes to get creative in the kitchen, could make some wonderful gift wrapped sweetie presents.

* I received this book as part of the Parragon Book Buddy scheme.

DIY Christmas Hampers

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Last year I made Christmas Hampers for my family and also sold some to friends to give as gifts to their families. I had a fabulous time making them and really wish I’d had the time and energy to do it again this year but unfortunately not. Luckily for you lovely lot I am going to share what I put in the hampers and easy tips to do it yourself. A homemade hamper is such a lovely gift for someone special and so much cheaper than buying in a store although not as easy or convenient I admit.

So here is a pic of last years hampers:

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I included:

Vanilla sugar – find how to make it here.
Spiced Salt – A Nigella recipe which you can below.
Orange and Vanilla Marmalade
Shortbread
Miniature Green & Blacks chocs
Candy Canes
Mixed fruit soaked in rum
Epic Hot Chocolate – Jamie Oliver recipe which I will blog tomorrow
Garlic and Chilli Oil
Chocolate marzipans
Chocolate nuts

Firstly what I would change if I was making them this year:

1. I would replace the cake tin with a basket. Although I liked the cake tin and its very handy and reusable I like the look of a basket.

2. Shortbread – I would make my own as so much tastier and a nicer touch I think. You can find my recipe here.

3. I would add some alcohol ..now I did actually include alcohol in some of the hampers I gave as I made flavoured Irish Cream using Plain Irish Cream with orange or peppermint flavoured extract but I would perhaps also add a small bottle of bubbly or wine depending on how thrifty I wanted to be.

The items my family loved:

1. The flavoured oil: my mum in particular loved this and I’ve refilled her bottle several times this year.

2. The epic hot chocolate – my sister loved this and I’m probably going to be roped into making some this year too. It makes a gooey thick drink perfect for dipping churros or waffles into.

3. The marmalade – Izzys great grandparents loved this.

4. The spiced salt/vanilla sugar – EVERYONE enjoyed these.

So how easy is it to do? Fairly easy, you just need some time.

Aside from the sugar, shortbread and hot choc recipes which I have already shared here are a few more recipes/tips to get you going:

Flavoured oil:

Firstly depending on how many hampers you are making buy your olive oil in bulk and as high a quality as you can afford as it makes all the difference. A simple garlic and chilli oil is easy to make.

Using fresh red chillies and whole garlic cloves gently heat with your oil in a heavy based pan for around 15 mins on your hob to get rid of any bacteria which may be lurking on your garlic/chilli. You could use dried chilli flakes instead if you prefer but whole chillies look more effective in the bottle. Wait until cool and then pour into your sterilised bottles, seal immediately and they are good for a few months.

* I bought my bottles from Lakeland and they were reasonably priced.

Chocolate marzipans/nuts:

For this you will need really good quality chocolate ( I went for dark) a block of marzipan and a packet of hazelnuts. Roll your marzipan into small balls then simply melt the chocolate ( I used the old Pyrex bowl over a saucepan method) and then dunk/roll your balls of marzipan and your hazelnuts into the choc and put on greaseproof paper to set. Whilst choc was still melted I added some little decorations ( white choc stars) but they aren’t necessary. Make small bags out of cellophane and add 4/5 chocs and tie with ribbon. Extremely easy but effective and tasty.

Festive spiced salt:

Mix together sea salt, pink/red peppercorns, dried chilli flakes and star anise in jars. This looks so incredibly pretty and tastes divine!

Tips:

*Look out for special offers on luxury chocs such as Green & Blacks and throw a few into each hamper.
*Always add a candy cane or two for visual effect.
*Buy large packs of caster sugar and sea salt to make up your flavoured sugars/salts and mix them at least 1 month prior to Christmas to allow the flavour to develop.
* Tie pretty festive ribbon around jar and bottle necks.
* Buy labels from craft shops and handwrite the description/date of creation on them.
*Make sure you sterilise your jars.

Coming up later this week…recipe for Epic hot choc and peppermint creams!

Cooking in the kitchen – No food involved. Candle making.

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A butcher, a baker and candlestick maker … Well 2 out of 3 ain’t bad!

Does anyone else get really annoyed when their (sometimes expensive) candle runs out of wick but still has a ton of wax left in the jar? What a waste right? I love candles. I’m a little obsessed. If anyone is ever stuck for a gift idea for me they know they can buy candles and I will never be disappointed. Ever. Last year we decided to start saving the leftover wax with the aim of at some point making our own. This was more my OH’s idea than mine-he’s pretty creative but I was definitely on board so a few nights ago when Izzy was safely tucked up in bed we got to work.

I’m sure there are many more detailed instructions on the Internet if you wish to look and this may even be the completely wrong way to do it but this is what we did. And it worked.

You will need:

A heavy bottomed large pan
A load of leftover candle wax
Wick ( we bought a meter off eBay for £1.70)
Some old candle jars or cups – I used cappuccino cups and some plastic tubs to mould my larger ones
A silicone spatula to stir
A jug
A funnel
Some knives
Some Sellotape

Chop your wax up into small chunks, try to make sure you get rid of any leftover bits of wick or the metal discs at the bottom. Place into a large pan and place over a low heat, stirring often.
Whilst your wax is melting measure and cut your wicks to size and using a little tape at bottom of cup/jar stick the wick down and tie the top of wick to a knife placed across the top of jar/cup -try to keep the wick in the center.

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Once your wax has completely melted, being very careful pour into your jug and then use a funnel to fill your jar/cup. Leave to set – don’t push your finger in or jiggle about. Try to leave it overnight to set.

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Tada you have made your very own candles. They smell delicious…a rather mixed scent!

I’ll still be buying candles .. I’m addicted but I will definitely be doing this again.

The Hungry Caterpillar 1st birthday cake

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Firstly apologies, I’ve been meaning to write this post for weeks and Izzy is now 13 months old!

Anyway here it is! I had wanted to make Izzy a Hungry Caterpillar cake for her first birthday since spotting one on Pinterest when she was only 3 months old, when she was a little older her aunty & uncle bought her The Hungry Caterpillar pop up book and she LOVES it so it was definitely a go.

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The cake I saw on Pinterest is here and that’s more or less what I was planning to do. I made a batch of cupcakes and then my piping bag broke and well I got really annoyed and frustrated as it was the night before her party and ended up rethinking the whole idea and what I ended up with was this:

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And I actually preferred it this way in the end although as someone who is far more into the taste of food than the look of food I did find it harder than it needed to be but I enjoyed it.

Heres how I did it:

You will need :

The ingredients for one Mary Berry traybake ( recipe can be found here ) I added green colouring to my traybake to make a vibrant green flesh for my caterpillar.
500g of fondant icing sugar
Icing colour ( I bought red red and kelly green from Hobbycraft)
Basic buttercream using icing sugar and butter with vanilla extract (Nielsen Massey is best) – I used leftovers from cupcakes I was making for the party so unsure of quantity.
1 cake board or piece of cardboard covered in white paper.
Cadburys chocolate fingers
Chocolate sprinkles

Follow instructions for traybake and when cooked leave until completely cooled.
I cut out a basic caterpillar body and head from my traybake – reserve the leftover sponge in case of errors or just to munch on later.
Mix up 1/2 of your fondant icing following instructions on packet and split into two, using a cocktail stick put green colouring into one 1/2 of the icing and knead to mix the colour through making one a dark green and the other 1/2 paler. Roll out and cut into strips. Spread a little buttercream over your cut out caterpillar body and then wrap in your green icing alternating between the darker and lighter colours. Reserve any leftover icing for extra decorations such as fruit for your board.
Mix up the rest of your fondant icing and split into two, use your red colouring to make a very vibrant red icing for your caterpillar head and leave the rest white.
Spread some butter cream and wrap your caterpillar head in red icing and attach to body using more buttercream if necessary. Use cadburys fingers to make legs and antenna as well as the body for your butterfly. Use leftover icing to make fruit, leaves and a butterfly as well as to make name or message for cake. I used chocolate sprinkles to make the seeds on my strawberries and my apple stork. Use dark green icing to make eyes and a chocolate chip for the nose.

To make your cake have a little sheen brush on some lemon extract or juice with a pastry brush.

I used some leftover sponge and buttercream to make a patch of grass but I don’t think it’s necessary.

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She did like the cake although looked a little shocked at first, and kept wandering over to look at it every chance she got:

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All in all it was a success although far from perfect which you will notice if you look closely but I loved the fact that I made her a special first birthday cake. I’m guessing as the years go on I will have to become more elaborate!