Spiced Raisin Loaf

I do enjoy a nice, moist slice of raisin loaf with coffee from time to time and this one fits the bill nicely. 
 
Ingredients
1 cup of water
1 cup of sugar
1 cup raisins
1/2 a cup of chopped walnuts
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1 tablespoon of butter
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 large egg
2 teaspoons of mixed, ground spice
Pinch of salt
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Method
Mix water, sugar, raisins, walnuts, baking soda and butter in a saucepan and stir over heat until melted.  Allow to cool off.

Sift flour and salt into a large bowl.  Beat egg and mixed spice together.

Combine mixture from saucepan and the egg and spice together and stir into dry ingredients and until combined.  Do not overmix.

Cut baking paper to fit a loaf tin and grease, then place in tin.  Spoon mixture into tin.

Bake for around 45 minutes at 180C (350F).

Serve in slices or spread slices with butter to serve.

Pumpkin Scones

If you're making pumpkin scones it's easy to go into pumpkin overload and make pumpkin scones.

Simply keep back a cup of that cooled, mashed pumpkin. Alternatively boil and mash a cup of pumpkin especially for the purpose.

Place it in a large bowl with 1 fresh, free range egg and ¼ a cup of sugar. Cream them together (just beating them together works fine too).

Add 2 tbsp of melted butter and mix.

Next add 2 cups of flour, 4 tsps of baking powder and a little salt and mix it all together. Add a dash of milk if necessary to bind it a little more and then transfer the dough to a lightly floured board. Knead very lightly (it won't take much) and roll out till it’s about 2.5 cm or 1 inch or so tall. Use a cooker cutter or glass to cut the dough into round scones. 

Put scones onto a lightly floured cooking tray. Cook in a hot oven (200C or 390F) for 10 to 15 minutes, watch they don’t burn!

Let them cool off a little on a baking rack and when they're still warm and fresh they're just perfect to eat, especially with a bowl of good soup on a cold, winter's day.  Simple, quick, cheap, tasty and really good.  

Course there are other ways to play with pumpkins too......

Pikelets

When I was growing up it was quite common for my mother or the lady of the house to "whip up" (as they said) a batch of fresh scones or pikelets for morning or afternoon tea or for unexpected visitors.  They were quick, filling, very cheap to make and when they're fresh and just cooled - delicious - especially with lashings of butter and homemade jam.  Of course if you were especially impatient or starving as us kids would cry,  you could even butter them hot and have butter and jam dripping all over you!

My sister and I loved convincing our mother to let us use the last of the pikelet mixture to make our own "gingerbread man" - or perhaps she would do it for us.  Either way the "gingerbread man" could range from a reasonably elegant and well defined chap to Mr Blobby!  I also used to enjoy watching the bubbles form in the pikelet mixture as they cooked - you're very easily entertained when you're ten years old!

If we wanted to get really fancy we would whip fresh cream and have jam and whipped cream on the pikelets or scones, at which point - if served with tea - the scones would be designated a Devonshire tea. 

My recipe has changed a bit from my mothers over the years but I still think it's good fun to make fresh pikelets - and I notice they still vanish just as fast as they did forty or so years ago!

To Make Pikelets

Beat 2 fresh eggs, ½ cup of sugar and 1 tbsp of melted butter in a large glass bowl until thick.

Add 2 cups of sifted flour, 2 tbsp of custard powder (or more flour if you have no custard powder), 2 good teaspoons of baking powder and 1 teaspoon of salt. Mix till combined (don’t overstir).

Add ¼ of a cup of sofa-type dry ginger ale (or other soda type drink), 1 and a ¼ cups of milk and 1 tsp of vanilla essence. Mix till combined (again, try not to overstir).

Set a large frying pan on a low to medium heat - a stainless steel or non-stick pan seems to work better than cast iron - and lightly grease it with butter. Drop about 1 tablespoon of mixture into the pan for each pikelet and cook a few minutes on each side until brown. I use my old electric frying pan and usually do 4 at a time.

Eat them as soon as they are cooled, the fresher the better - with butter and honey or golden syrup or raspberry, strawberry or some other kind of jam.

If you want to fancy them up for visitors or just for more of a treat let them cool right down and then spread them with some jam and freshly whipped cream on top, or you could do what I did above - spread them with strawberry jam, add some whipped cream, some sliced strawberries and a sprinkling of icing sugar.

Below : Pikelets in the pan and then cooling off.

Cheese, Chutney, Corn And Salami Muffins

Mmmm muffin break, what's not to love! - and these simple but tasty savoury muffins fit the bill perfectly.

Ingredients

2 medium sized red onions, finely chopped

2 and a half cups of flour

4 tsps of baking powder

1/2 tsp of salt

1/2 tsp of ground black pepper

1 cup of grated cheese

1 and a quarter cups of milk

1 cup of diced salami (or use ham or bacon)

1 tbsp finely diced fresh chives

1 x 410 gm can of creamed corn (about 2 cups)

2 tbsps of melted butter

4 tbsps of chutney (mango or tomato work well)

2 eggs, beaten

Method

1. Combine onion, flour, baking powder, cheese, salt and pepper in a large bowl.  Make a hole in the centre.

2. Add all the other ingredients and combine. Do not overmix.

3. Spoon into greased muffin tins.  Bake at 200C for around 20 minutes for large muffins or about 15 minutes for medium sized or mini muffins.

The mixture makes about 20 medium sized muffins.