Dr Oetker Cake Decorations....not just for cakes

Dr Oetker (pronounced Urtker) , founded in 1893, has a massive range of home baking products including baking powders, chocolates, icings, cake decorations and mixes.

I was sent a variety of cake decorations to use out in my baking, so, as you do,  decided to make some fancy ice creams with them.

These are decorated with Soft Shimmer Pearls, Wafer Daisies and and Chocolate Hearts  , so pretty. 

I have been sent a selection of Dr Oetker products to use in my baking

Getting that hour back

Dreams recently ran a competition asking the nation what they would do if they could win that hour back that we lost when the clocks changed at the end of March. There were answers such as 'stop playing Candy Crush', 'have a meal with a partner', 'get pampered' and 'spend extra time with a recently lost loved one'.

As a special treat I went here to spend my hour that Dreams kindly gave me back...

myself and a friend did a little bit of indulging, perfect for a Friday afternoon.....

The service was excellent, as was the food - do you see the size of those scones and we had 2 each! We of course asked for a doggy bag (is that the done thing in such establishments?) and the lovely friendly waitress popped a couple of cupcakes in the top of the bag too.

Time ran away with us and we didn't just enjoy our hour but instead spent a lovely blissful 2 1/2 hours relaxing and chatting whilst the husband held the fort at home with another sick child.

If you ever find yourself in the heart of Staffordshire with an hour or two on your hands I would definitely recommend checking out Weston Hall, it's a gorgeous location.

Thank you Dreams!

Cinnamon and Raisin Bread

After watching a few episodes of Paul Hollywood's 'Bread' series I vowed I would get to grips with making bread by hand. I was then asked if I would like to put a Panasonic breadmaker through its paces so the handmade bread quickly went out of the window...I mean, why have a dog & bark yourself.

Feeling a little under the weather and in need of comfort food I wanted to get a loaf made straight away. Thankfully I had already stocked up on bread flour and yeast in preparation and decided upon a fruited bread, adapting a milk bread recipe from my Complete Book of Bread & Bread Machines, which has some great recipes in.

After a quick glance through the instruction booklet for the Panasonic machine it seemed straightforward enough, I just had to remember to add the dry ingredients to the pan first, unlike the machine I'd used previously. This one also has a yeast dispenser, to add the yeast only when it's needed, as well as a nut dispenser which adds nuts and dried fruit to the dough later in the process, to avoid being chewed up by the machine.

I was surprised that the loaf was going to take 4 hours to bake, rather than the 3 hours in my previous machine. I suppose breadmakers are a little like slow cookers, they are a great convenience but you do need a little forward planning & organisation.

I was a little confused when I started up the machine as it didn't appear to do anything, but after checking the booklet again it would seem that for the majority of the cycles there is a rest period of around 30 minutes before the kneading begins, I believe this is to regulate the ingredients.

Anyway, after the 4 hours (perfect timing just as we walked in from the school run) I was presented with this little beauty...

I say 'little' but it was actually huge - a whopping 8 inches in height! There are options to make smaller loaves, the quantities just have to be adjusted accordingly.

Cinnamon and Raisin Bread

675g Strong White bread flour
2 tsp salt
1 tbsp granulated sugar (I used Truvia baking blend instead)
2 tbsp melted butter
280ml milk
130ml water
3 tsp ground cinnamon
7g dried yeast
100g juicy raisins

• Add the dry ingredients apart from the yeast and raisins to the loaf pan
• Add the wet ingredients to the loaf pan
• Insert the pan into the breadmaker
• Add the yeast to the yeast dispenser & the raisins to the nut dispenser
• Close the lid and start the machine - I used the raisin bread setting (03), with a medium crust and size XL
• Once baked remove immediately from the pan

 

The raisins in the bread stayed completely whole & were well distributed. I think I will add additional cinnamon next time as it could've done with a little more flavour. Still very enjoyable sliced and buttered, or toasted, or as a banana or jam sandwich, or even toasted with caramelised bananas over and served with ice cream...

I have been sent the breadmaker to trial for a period of time

Chickens, Morris Dancers and Golden Syrup Cookies

I've just returned from a great weekend with some of my amazing friends. There was lots of laughter and talking until the early hours, along with possibly too much eating and drinking.

Magaluf may be a bit tacky in places but it's not all burgers and chips and we found a nice little beach bar that served us morning, noon & night with salmon & scrambled egg, spicy chicken salads, fishfinger wraps with jalapeno tartare sauce (very nice) and even accommodated me with my requests of toast with sliced apple and a banana toastie with cinnamon.

We also took a short taxi ride to the very exclusive marina of Puerto Portals where the rich & famous hang out. We never spotted any but did enjoy some very nice food and drink overlooking the Marina. 

  

Of course we ate some junk food as well and it became a bit of a ritual calling in at the chicken shop on the way back to the hotel, if only to take a break from the hill known as 'cardiac hill'.

Daytimes were spent lazing on the beach, laughing about the previous evening and catching up on gossip from home.

We all took supplies of food for eating on the balcony and beach, from apricots to tinned sardines (just don't ask!) and cheesy balls to homemade cookies, we had a good selection of snacks.

Oh and there was the costumes....one night we all dressed as chickens /flamingoes and the next as Morris Dancers. Well you can imagine the reaction to seeing 14 yellow chickens and 5 pink flamingoes walking down the street!

oh and if you're wondering how my husband & kids coped without me, they managed just fine - they went through sickness, a swimming gala, trip to a market (where they got lots of bargains) and a birthday party....who needs Mum hey!

Now back to those cookies. This is a recipe that I adapted slightly from one given to me by one of the Mums at school after she made some for Preschool afternoon tea a couple of weeks ago. I doubled the batch and took half with me and left the other half at home to keep the kids fed whilst I was away.

Golden Syrup Cookies - makes approx 20-24

115g Butter, softened
230g Caster sugar
35g Golden syrup
1 Egg
230g Self Raising Flour
1 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

• Beat the butter and sugar together
• Mix in the golden syrup & egg
• Stir the flour and bicarbonate of soda together and add to the butter/sugar mixture
• Roll mixture into small balls (approx tbsp) and place on a greased baking sheet, spaced well apart
• Bake in a preheated 170 C oven for approx 10-12 minutes, until golden brown
• Cool for 10 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack
• Store in an airtight container