Snack

Rosewater, Pistachio, Cranberry, Blueberry & White Chocolate Oat Cookies

18th October 2016 by Rosie

Wow! That’s a mouthful of a recipe title for sure! However, it does tell you exactly what’s in the cookies I made, doesn’t it?

Inspired by the original recipe by the finalist of the Great British Bake Off, Holly Bell, which is incredibly versatile and can easily be altered, depending on your mood and fancy. Last night, I decided to go a little Persian with some wonderfully fragrant Nielsen Massey Rosewater, some delicious green pistachios from Sainsbury’s, along with some cranberry & blueberry mix which I’d bought from Holland and Barratt and some creamy chunks of Callebeaut white chocolate. The recipe made about 21 cookies (I forgot to count before we started eating them, still slightly warm from the oven, sorry!)

250g Butter, room temperature
150g Soft brown sugar
1½tsp Nielsen Massey Rosewater
150g Self Raising flour
230g Quaker Porridge Oats
100g Cranberry & Blueberry mix
100g White chocolate chunks
100g Pistachios, chopped

Preheat your oven to 160ºC.
Line your baking sheets with parchment paper (I used 4 baking sheets and baked them in pairs).
Cream the butter and sugar, along with the rosewater until light and fluffy. (I was watching The Fall on BBC iPlayer as I was baking, can you tell?!) It’s much easier to use a hand mixer when creaming your butter and sugar, and I use my Kenwood K-Mix one.

Add in the flour and oats and stir to combine fully.
Gently stir in the cranberries, blueberries, chocolate chunks and chopped pistachios.

Take out plum sized balls (I used a level table spoon measure for my cookies).
Place the cookies on to your baking tray and flatten them out roughly to about 1cm thick. You need to leave about 2cm between them to allow them to spread a little.

Bake for 16 minutes.
The cookies will still be soft when you remove them from the oven, so allow them to cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes.

Remove the cookies to a cooling tray and leave until cold.
Store in an airtight container, but you won’t be able to resist them for too long!

This recipe uses Nielsen Massey rosewater which had previously been sent to me as a gift, along with other vanillas and flavourings.

National Sandwich Week with the Central Co-Operative

2nd May 2016 by Rosie

Having previously managed the payroll for a very large food manufacture of about 100,000 sandwiches a day many years ago, the invitation from the Central England Co-Operative to create a great sandwich combination using tasty ingredients that could be found in your local store to celebrate National Sandwich week was was right up my street!

As the weather has been very changeable recently, including snow, hailstones, ice, wind and sunshine (and all in one day too!) I decided on a combination of a hot, toasted, sandwich and a lovely salad to go with it. I bought a variety of ingredients including a pack of sandwich thins, Mozzarella cheese, tomato pesto, mixed salad leaves, beautifully sweet Piccolo tomatoes, sweet baby peppers and some delicious mixed root vegetable crips to make my lunch.

After preparing a really quick salad using the leaves, peppers and tomatoes, I simply tipped some of the root vegetable crisps into a small bowl and set about preparing my toasted sandwich.

Drain the Mozzarella and slice about 5mm thick.

The Sandwich Thins are pre-sliced so it’s very quick and simple to separate the two halves. Place a couple of generous teaspoons of the tomato pesto on one side of the bread.

Spread the pesto over the bread into a relatively even layer. Repeat with the other sandwiches as required. I made two for lunch today; one each for my husband and myself.

Tear the mozzarella slices into strips and cover the pesto. I’ve left a small gap around the edges to stop the cheese oozing out (and being wasted) on to my sandwich press. Top with the other half of the Sandwich thin.

Preheat your sandwich maker (I have an Antony Worrall Thompson for Breville flat sandwich press that I’ve had for many years).

Place your sandwich onto the sandwich maker and close the lid.

Toast for a few minutes until the top is nicely browned and the mozzarella has started to melt.

Slice diagonally using a sharp knife.

Serve with a helping of salad and some of the root vegetable crisps.

Tasty (the sandwich that is!)

I was sent a voucher from the Central England Co-Operative to buy my ingredients to participate in the creation for National Sandwich Week.

Cheat’s home made sausage rolls

5th January 2014 by Freycob

Do you love sausage rolls?

Don’t you dislike the poor quality meat used in shop bought ones?

Do you prefer a better tasting sausage roll?

Do you want to make them quickly and fool your friends with your culinary talents?

If you’ve answered yes to the above questions, then let me show you how using just 4 simple ingredients:

1 pack good quality shop bought sausages

1 500g pack ready made puff pastry

1tsp Maile Dijon mustard

1 egg, beaten

1. Preheat your oven to 200C.

2. Remove the sausage meat from the skins and place it into a bowl. Discard the skins.

3. Add the Dijon mustard.

4. Using your hands, squidge the sausage meat and mustard together until thoroughly mixed.

5. Lightly flour your work surface and roll the puff pastry out to a rectangle about 50cm x 40cm.

6. Roll the sausage meat between your hands into lengths and place them approx 2cm from the edge of the pastry, along the longest length.

7. Fold over the 2cm of pastry to cover the sausage meat.

8. Brush the remaining pastry with the beaten egg and roll up your sausage roll, fairly tightly and evenly, pressing the edge to seal.

9. Cut into equal sized pieces.

10. Place on a baking tray on some baking parchment (easier to throw the parchment away than to scrub a tray!) Leave a little bit space between them to allow the pastry to expand without them sticking together.

11. Score the tops of the sausage rolls once/twice.

12. Brush the tops with beaten egg.

13. Bake for 20 mins until golden brown.

14. Serve warm or cold, sit back and accept the praise!

Rosewater, Pistachio, Cranberry, Blueberry & White Chocolate Oat Cookies

This recipe uses Nielsen Massey rosewater which had previously been sent to me as a gift, along with other vanillas and flavourings.

National Sandwich Week with the Central Co-Operative

I was sent a voucher from the Central England Co-Operative to buy my ingredients to participate in the creation for National Sandwich Week.

Cheat’s home made sausage rolls

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