Showing posts with label snacks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label snacks. Show all posts

Saturday, February 9, 2013

Pa de llet

Pa de llet with sunflower seeds
WORTH THE EFFORT 
BREAKFAST,LUNCH,SNACK
CAN BE FROZEN
Hands on & cooking time 2 hours

It really isn´t as hard as you may think making your own Pa de llet.I am still mastering how to get a good shaped roll and I like experimenting with different toppings, I love poppy seeds but my daughter and husband like sunflower seeds the best.(without salt) I make these with my daughter she helps me knead the dough.  I have no machine, we do everything by hand. These are great for breakfast with a little jam, for an after school snack or in the lunchbox with cheese spreed. I make about 10 rolls and freeze some.  You need to eat them on the same day or the following morning.

Saturday, December 22, 2012

Christmas Biscuit Treats



 
TREATS,SNACKS,PARTY, BISCUITS
Prep & cooking time 22 mins 
Plus chilling time


Everyone is doing it.....so I thought why not. Biscuits or cut-out cookies are now in fashion in Barcelona.
I have been to a couple of workshops for handy tips and to see how the professionals do it...and it´s really not too difficult.  Bearing in mind I have no fancy equipment, no mixer (maybe Santa will bring me one!!) and no special rolling pin to ensure the thickness is the same and look they have turned out quite well.  I have made these for gorgeous edible tree decorations, for friends & family gifts and for my daughters teachers too, a lovely treat!



You can freeze the dough sheets to make the biscuits later.




I brought some lovely Christmas cookie cutters and some ready to roll icing, some special edible glue and a small brush.








Don´t over cook your biscuits - keep an eye on them. They are perfect with a slightly golden edge.











**Tips**
This recipe mixes up quickly and it keeps well.  The dough freezes perfectly, it makes a very large quantity of biscuits so either roll out a few sheets of dough and freeze flat in the freezer between wax paper for quick cut-out biscuits later. Or simply half the ingredients.
Make sure you chill the dough before cutting for at least an hour  (I chill mine for a couple of hours)
If you roll the dough at least 1/4 inch (or  2 pound coins) thick children should have no problem cutting and picking up the biscuit shapes. I roll mine out on parchment paper so they are easy to remove. You can re-use the parchment paper.  The biscuits can be kept up to a couple of weeks in an air tight tupper without icing. If you want to use for Tree decorations make a small hole in the biscuit before cooking with a skewer.

INGREDIENTS

250gr unsalted butter at room temperature
250gr icing sugar (sucre glas)
500gr flour (farina de rebosteria)
2 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla extract
*ready to roll icings / or icing sugar for decorating, edible glue*

 

METHOD

Cream together the butter and icing sugar (sieve first) in a bowl, until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and the egg whites. Add the flour gradually until it forms a dough, wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for at least an hour.
Pre - heat the oven 180·C. Roll out the dough on top of parchment paper (about 1/4 inch, cut out your Christmas shapes and place on a baking sheet on top of parchment paper. Bake for about 10 - 12 mins, I prefer mine not to have much colour. The cooking time will depend on your cooker, and the size of your biscuits.
Let the biscuits completely cool before decorating. Decorate as you wish, you could keep it simple if you have no ready to roll icing, simply add a few drops of water to icing sugar ( a drop of food colouring ) and spread over biscuits.


LET ME KNOW HOW YOURS TURN OUT AND MERRY CHRISTMAS !




Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Courgette and chocolate muffins

Courgette and chocolate muffins
EASY
SNACK, LUNCHBOX PARTY

Prep & cooking time 1 hour








These are lovely and chocolaty you would never guess they have courgette in them.  I put a good quality cocoa powder in mine and they are quite fudgey too.  Like almost all of my baking and cooking I make these with my daughter.  She helps me grate the courgette so it´s no secret to her the ingredients and yet she never normally eats courgette. I take the skin off the courgette so there are no ¨green bits¨, but you can leave it on if you wish.  Courgette has no strong flavour it helps to make the cakes lovely and moist. My daughter and husband love these and my neighbours!

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Number Biscuits


VERY EASY
SNACK, LUNCHBOX, PARTY

can be frozen
Prep & cook time 25 min approx

I'm not a big fan of giving biscuits to children,I have never carried biscuits in my bag for snacks and I never buy biscuits. But these are a little different , it´s a nice activity to do together and beats play dough...least you can eat it.

My daughter is only four and we often make these biscuits together so she can practice numbers.  You can make any biscuit shapes, we use our number cutters, this dough makes lots of biscuits so I freeze some too. They are great for birthday parties or to make with your child's friends.  My daughter likes to play shops with them as well as eat them.

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Pastissos de Pastanaga


FACIL
ESMORZAR CARMONYOLA 
20  MINS

Aquests són perfectes per congelar







Ingredients

  • 175 g de sucre moreno
  • 100 g de farina integral
  • 100 g de farina blanca
  • 200g (mig paquet) de llevat en pols
  • 1 culleradeta de bicarbonat de soda
  • 2 culleradetes d'espècies barrejades
  • ratlladura d'1 taronja
  • 2 ous
  • Oli de gira-sol 150 ml
  • 200 g de pastanaga ratllada


Per al glacejat
  • 100 g de mantega
  • 300 g de formatge fresc tipus Philadelphia
  • 100 g de sucre glacé
  • 1 culleradeta d'extracte de vainilla


Preparació

Escalfa el forn a 180ºC (160ºC si té ventilador). Prepara un motlle
per a 12 muffins. En un bol, barreja el sucre, la farina, el bicarbonat,
la mescla d'espècies i la pela de taronja. Bat els ous i l'oli i afegeix
la mescla als ingredients secs amb la pastanaga ratllada. Reparteix la
preparació entre els motllos i enforna els pastissos durant 20-22 minuts,
fins que, si hi claves un escuradents, aquest en surti net. Refreda els
pastissos sobre una reixeta abans de glacejar-los.
Per al glacejat, bat la mantega fins que sigui tova. Després,
afegeix-hi el formatge fresc, el sucre glacé i la vainilla. Utilitza una
espàtula per glacejar a la part superior dels pastissos. Després, després
empolvora'ls per decorar-los.



Monday, September 3, 2012

Raspberry Cupcakes




EASY
BREAKFAST LUNCHBOX SNACK
MAKES  12
COOK TIME 20 MINS
CAN BE FROZEN








This simple recipe was kindly given to me by my sister in England. My sister is not the best of cooks, she will tell you that herself, but she makes amazing raspberry cupcakes. They always rise and she even pipes different coloured frosting on top too. I keep mine simple they never rise as well as my sisters but they never last long in our house! My daughter loves to help put the raspberry's in the centre whilst eating lots! I love to buy fresh Rasberry´s but  if you cannot find any in season then frozen berries work just as well.  I always have in my freezer a bag of Frozen Berries (La Sirena) which are great to use for smoothies or crumbles. These are so quick and easy to make, when cooked the raspberry is like gooey jam in the centre (but a lot healthier) and so much more interesting than a plain magdalena. Try them and let me know what you think?


Ingredients
  • 150g butter
  • 150g sugar  ( I sometimes use a mixture of white and brown sugar)
  • 3 Eggs (free range)
  • 150g flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • Rasberrys 
Method Cream together with a wooden spoon the butter and sugar until the colour changes from yellow to white. The mixture should be soft and fluffy. Break the eggs, one at a time into the mixture with 1tbsp of flour - beat thoroughly. Continue until all the eggs are added. Fold in the remaining flour with the baking powder (sieve the flour) Cook for 20 mins 190 C


Frozen berries.