I have a love of baking sadly I wouldn't say I'm the best baker or opening my own bakery just yet! As I have had some 'disasters' (I put far too much milk when making scones the other month when you're only meant to put a drop in to help make it more fluffy & soft. I kinda poured a whole glass in... Oops! But they did turn out alright & edible as you'll see in the photos below!)
Most things I've tried have turned out ok & look nice. Everything I have made has been edible which I've eaten myself & my family so that's always a good thing even if there have been some mistakes along the way! You just learn & improve for the next time that's for sure!
Peanut Butter & Banana Oatmeal Squares
Yesterday I decided to try making Peanut Butter & Banana Oatmeal Squares again which I tried in the summer but didn't turn out that good as it's an American recipe where they measure things awkwardly in cups! Everyone should just measure things the same in grams & ml! This time I made sure I converted all the measurements as accurately as I could & it did turn out a lot better! It could have done with a bit more sugar but they're suppose to be healthy so don't have that much sugar in it!
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| Mix before it went in the oven |
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| Once it was baked & taken straight out of the oven |
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The first attempt I made it in the summer
This is the recipe for it...
1 & ½/cups/128g/4 & 1/2oz - Oats
¼/55g/19oz - Light Brown Sugar
1 tsp - Baking Powder
1/2 tsp - Salt
1 tsp - Cinnamon (both attempts I didn't have any!)
1 tsp - Vanilla Extract½/125ml - Milk
1 Large - Egg
1 Large - Banana
¼/65g/2.3oz - Crunchy Peanut Butter
Mix all the dry ingredients together with the vanilla extract, milk & egg. Then mix in the banana & peanut butter. Once all mixed, spread it out evenly on baking paper (I recommend Tesco own's baking paper as it's the best one & really doesn't stick unlike the others) on a baking tray then put it in the oven for about 20 minutes 200°C
Coconut Scones
I also made coconut scones. They were meant to be sultana scones but we couldn't get any sultanas so used desiccated coconut instead for more flavour! (You can always keep them plain then put butter/margarine/jam on it!)
Nanny Wing's recipe I learnt the other month whilst she also taught me & my cousin to make apple pie & her pasta with her 2 secret ingredients! :-)
½lb/8oz/227g - Self Raising Flour
Drop of Milk (Save some to brush over the top)
Pinch of Salt
Just mix all the ingredients together to make sure it turns into a nice dough.
Then using a rolling pin sprinkles with flour roll out the dough to make it flat & using a cutter, cut the dough into even size & even thickness. Place on a tray lined with baking paper (Tesco own baking paper recommended)
Bake for 10-15 Minutes at 180-200°C
If you want to make the coconut ones just pour in desiccated coconut into the mixture (as much or as little as you want depending on how coconutty you want it to taste) & sprinkle some on top before it goes in the oven.
That easy! But make sure you only put a tiny drop of milk in otherwise they'll look like this...
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| Looks like a dog's head! |
As the mixture was too wet from the milk it was really sticky! Scones are meant to be quite dry so they ended up looking like this! One of them looks like a dogs head a bit like my little dog! Can you see it?
They were meant to look like this...
This was when me & my cousin went to Nanny Wing's & she taught us how to make them clearly I couldn't even follow a simple recipe properly!
Apple Pie
We also learnt how to make apple pie!
This recipe actually makes 2 apple pies
1lb/16oz/454g - Self Raising Flour
6oz/170g - Lard or Magarine/Butter
Sugar - Up to you how sweet you want it as you'll probably have it with custard!
Pinch of Salt
Drop of Water
3 Large Apples - Chopped, Skewed & Cooled
Milk - To brush over the top to give it a nice golden glow
Mix all the ingredients together (apart from the apple) to make a pastry. You can blind bake the pastry if you want it to be crispy but we didn't & the base wasn't soggy!
Cut out 4 big circle for the base of the pie & put onto a pastry lined tin then fill it with the apples & place the top over it & pinch the edges with a fork & cut 2 slits in the middle to let steam out. Then brush over with milk!
Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes at 200°C
Easy as! & Of course we ate it with a lot of custard! :-) Mmm
I've baked a lot of different this year attempting, almond macarons, a giant fairy cake, flapjacks, sultana cookies, ginger bread dinosaurs & white chocolate rice crispy cakes!
You can see photos of them on my tumblr page tagged my baking
While you're there you can follow me on all 3! :-)
If you haven't baked you should really try it! It's so much fun & really isn't that hard when you find a really good recipe! Start with something simple like scones or rock cakes or fairy cakes! I'm sure once you start you won't be able to stop! & you have to try them once they come straight out the oven warm & fresh that's when they're the nicest. Left for a couple or hours/next day just isn't the same :(
Happy Baking! :-)
Also would like to say congratulations to Prince William and Kate the Duke & Duchess on their wonderful news! They're having baby!! They're going to be amazing parents & of course Uncle Harry & Great Nanny Queen Liz! I'm so happy for them.
I really hope it's a little girl so the new law of it is a girl she will automatically be 3rd in line to the thrown even if she has a younger brother!
2012 really has been Great Britain's year with the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, The Olympic & Paralympics I am definitely proud to be British!
Julie
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