Cranberry Sausage Roll Garland

Sick of Black Friday deals yet? I actually thought it was last week because there were so many offers around, but then today morning my inbox has been rammed full of 'deals' to remind me that it is indeed today. Then, just as we think it's all over, then come the 'don't worry we've extended our Black Friday offers' and then Cyber Monday follows swiftly after. It's never ending. Who wishes we could go back to the time of January sales, when sales were in January and only in January.

If you're looking for a Black Friday deal here then I'm sorry to disappoint, but if you've come here looking for quick & easy home cooked food then you've come to the right place! 

Ta-da.

Ready made puff pastry with ready made sausages and cranberry sauce, all bundled together to make this sausage roll wreath which will be devoured in minutes at the family Boxing Day buffet or festive get together with friends.

I have a little confession to make about sausages. I buy a bag of 20 frozen sausages every week for 99p, and the family love them! My husband has never commented on a sausage as much as he's commented on these so now they get them every week in one of their favourite meals - bangers and mash, and I use frozen ready made mashed potato too!  Winning!

Yeah the sausages might not have a very high pork content, but they are a lot lower in fat than many other sausages, and they work perfectly in sausage rolls, so as long as everyone is happy and they enjoy eating them I'll continue to buy them. I'll still buy the lovely flavoured sausages for the bbq in the Summer, but when they all want 4 or 5 sausages (and more) for a meal, it's a lot more cost effective to buy these.

5 Halloween Party Treats {using SKIPPY peanut butter}

 

Autumn is well and truly upon us, and Halloween is fast approaching. Over the past decade or so Halloween in the UK has become a much bigger deal, but I'm not sure we'll ever catch up with America, who manage to celebrate the Halloween/Fall season so much bigger and better.

Another thing that seems to be a lot more popular in America is peanut butter. Whether it's peanut butter cups, peanut butter crackers, or pb & j sandwiches (peanut butter & jelly [jam] for those that were wondering), there's no escaping the peanut butter in America. I absolutely love peanut butter, as do all 3 children, and I'll add it to my cooking at every given chance (TIP: stir a spoonful of smooth peanut butter into a curry to thicken the sauce).

SKIPPY is an authentic American peanut butter that's widely available in the UK, in both smooth and crunchy varieties, including a whopping 1.1kg jar that I recently spotted on a trip to London. 

These Halloween treats all use SKIPPY smooth peanut butter, and they can be made quickly, as well as being prepared in advance, leaving plenty of time for trick or treating.

Spider Cookies - makes approx 18

240g smooth SKIPPY peanut butter

160g caster sugar

1 medium egg

mini peanut butter cups

edible googly eyes

black icing

• beat the peanut butter, caster sugar & egg together until combined
• roll into balls and place onto a baking sheet, spaced well apart
• press down gently with the back of a fork to flatten a little
• bake in a preheated 180C oven for approx 12-15 minutes
• cool on a wire rack
• decorate by sticking the eyes to the peanut butter cup with icing, and sticking to the centre of each cookie
• ice the legs on either side of the body

False Teeth

slices of red apple

smooth SKIPPY peanut butter

mini marshmallows

• spread one side of each pair of apple slices with peanut butter
• stick marshmallows onto half of the slices, and top with the other apple slice

Graveyards - makes 6

2 tbsp smooth SKIPPY peanut butter

4 tbsp double cream

2 tbsp cream cheese

1 tbsp caster sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 Oreo cookie, roughly crushed

3 Lotus Biscoff (or similar shaped biscuit)

black icing

• beat the peanut butter, cream, cream cheese, sugar & vanilla together until smooth
• divide the mixture between 6 shot glasses
• top with dirt (Oreo cookie crumbs) and a gravestone (half a Biscoff with 'RIP' iced on)

Bloodied Mummies - makes 8

ready rolled puff pastry sheet

smooth SKIPPY peanut butter

raspberry or strawberry jam

caster sugar

edible googly eyes

• cut 8 rectangles from approx 2/3 of the pastry sheet
• slice the remaining pastry into thin strips, approximately the same length as the width of the rectangles
• spread each rectangle with peanut butter, and top with jam
• lay the strips of pastry onto each rectangle to look like Mummies bandages
• sprinkle with caster sugar & place onto a baking sheet
• bake in a preheated 200C oven for approx 15-20 minutes, until lightly golden
• whilst still warm, press the eyes into the sticky jam

Ghastly Ghosts - makes 6

3 small bananas
1 tbsp smooth SKIPPY peanut butter
1 tbsp coconut oil
desiccated coconut
edible googly eyes

• slice the bananas in half, making sure that they stand up
• warm the peanut butter and coconut oil in the microwave for a few seconds, and stir until smooth
• spoon the peanut butter sauce over the bananas and coat with coconut
• stick the eyes onto the ghosts and place in the fridge to set

For more Halloween inspiration, take a look at my Halloween Pinterest board and follow the #SPOOKYSKIPPY hashtag on social media

this is a commissioned post for SKIPPY

Sprinkle Party and a 5 layer Sprinkle Covered Ombre Cake

How do you keep eight 11/12 year olds happy?

First of all you let them hang around in trees for 90 minutes at Go Ape, working up an appetite. You then let them loose on sandwiches, crisps and a whole lot of sugar, then you send them home to work the sugar off in the comfort of their own homes!

Last weekend Hanna and her friend had a joint birthday party, and my part was to provide the party food. I've wanted to make a sprinkle cake for ages but have never been brave enough before. So what do you do when you're nervous about making a sprinkle cake? You make two of them, of course!

Once I'd decided on the cakes, a quick browse on Pinterest (if you can ever have a quick browse on Pinterest) led me down the path of other sprinkle covered party foods.

chocolate covered breadsticks


chocolate covered Oreo pops


chocolate covered marshmallows on cocktail sticks


 chocolate covered pink wafers


cake pops (made from off cuts of birthday cake and leftover buttercream)


chocolate covered Rice Krispie bars (cut into 3 pieces)


chocolate covered strawberries 

The 5 layer ombre cake was made using a Wilton layer cake pan. They are only 6" pans but it makes a cake which is plenty big enough to go around 8-10 people. I used ingredient quantities as below :

250g butter

250g caster sugar

4 eggs

250g self raising flour

This was then divided between the 5 pans, and once the cakes had cooled I sliced the tops off to level them (and used the off-cuts to make cake pops).

TIP : I see many recipes for Ombre cakes telling you to divide the cake batter into separate bowls (5 bowls in this case), but that really isn't necessary for an Ombre cake - a rainbow cake then yes, but not an ombre cake. What you need to do is weigh your cake batter - the easiest way to do this is to weigh your bowl before starting and then weigh it once the batter is made, and deduct the weight of the bowl. I divided this by 5 (5 layers), and this is the quantity of cake batter that would go into each greased and lined tin (give or take a couple of grams). Once you've made your calculations you need to colour the batter - add a little colouring to the whole batter (this will be the colour of your palest layer), and then weigh out the batter into one tin. Then add a little more colouring, and weigh the batter out into the second tin, and so on, until all tins have been filled - saves washing 5 extra bowls unnecessarily. 

The cakes were then sandwiched together and covered with vanilla buttercream, which I then left for a few hours (and overnight for one of the cakes) before rolling in sprinkles - not as easy as it looks (lots of tutorials on Pinterest)! The confetti dot covered cake took 3 full tubes of dots, however the 100's & 1000's covered cake took less than 2 tubes.

We also had sandwiches, crisps and teapots filled with pink lemonade, and Jack made some place cards and tucked a napkin into each tea cup.  It was a party very heavy on sugar, but that's ok once in a while, and especially when it's possibly the last party of this kind for this group of primary school friends, now they're all at high school.

Christmas Party Food - Mini Falafel Pies

With Christmas descending upon us rapidly I'm thinking more and more about food, not just food for the big day itself but also for Christmas Eve when we have family coming. We have plans for the day and I don't want to spend too much of it in the kitchen cooking, and plan to make the bulk of the party snacks and appetisers in advance.

Supermarket sausage rolls are often a good party staple to have in the freezer ready for any unexpected guests but these mini falafel pies are a great alternative for vegetarians, or if you prefer home made sausage rolls with a little twist - no sausage, ha!

They are very simple to make and the the falafel mix can be made in advance and kept in the fridge.

Mini Falafel Pies - makes 8

250g chickpeas

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp chilli flakes (optional)

handful of fresh coriander

drizzle of olive oil

250g puff pastry

1 egg, beaten

• Add the chickpeas, spices & olive oil to a food processor and blend until smooth (ish)
• Roll the pastry out to a large rectangle approx 25cm in length
• Straighten the edges of the pastry if necessary and cut into 8 equal rectangles
• Spoon some of the falafel mixture onto one half of the rectangle
• Brush around the edge of the pastry with beaten egg and fold over the mixture
• Seal the edges with the prongs of a fork and place on a baking tray
• Repeat with the remaining mixture and pastry
• Brush all the pies with beaten egg
• Place in a preheated 200 C oven for approx 15 - 20 minutes, until golden brown

Serve warm with mango chutney and yoghurt for dipping