As the evenings are getting that bit darker and pumpkins have started appearing in the supermarket, it got me thinking about Halloween and trick-or-treating. I love jellies and sweets, but sometimes you have to wonder what actually goes into these colourful jems- emulsifiers, weird E numbers, and lots of other unpronouncables. So, I decided to make some of my own home-made jellies. At least that way I would know exactly what I am eating. Continue Reading…
Plums are at their very best right now, juicy and bursting with flavour. My Dad has a plum tree in his garden with a small crop of plums this year. Trouble is, they were all very high up in the top branches. The other problem is that the wasps had gotten to most of them before we had. Undeterred, we got a ladder and poking stick (an old brush handle) and salvaged a few delicious organic plums from the very top. Continue Reading…
I promise these are the last biscuits for a while. I am going to turn into a biscuit if not! The weather has been spectacularly drizzly in Ireland so far this summer. I wore a polo neck and winter boots the other day. It is turning into yet another Irish summer – rain with intermittent showers. When the weather is like this, it’s hard to drag yourself out of the slump. So, to cheer myself up I made these extremely bright and colourful rainbow cookies. How can you resist them! I especially like the fact that they are lying on a blue table cloth, so it looks like a glimpse of blue sky. Hope these rainbow cookies cheer you up, wherever you may be. Continue Reading…
It’s mad when you think about it, someone tucking into a bourbon biscuit and a cup of tea during World War 1. But, it’s entirely possible as the humble bourbon biscuit has been around since 1910, making it a whopping 102 years old. The original bourbon was apparently called Creola, but was changed to the name Bourbon, in order to make it sound more appealing. Apart from the name change, it doesn’t appear that a lot has changed with the bourbon biscuit. Continue Reading…
Jammie Dodgers are another old school classic. When I was a kid I would always try and prise them open into two halves, but I never could because they were always glued together so tightly with jam as strong as super glue. We never seemed to have them at home for some reason, so I loved it when we were at someone else’s house and I could sample the super-sweet Jammie Dodger goodness! I think the bright red love heart of jam always appealed to me. It’s a simple idea, but it was an effective one to attract a little girl’s attention. They tasted sweet and crispy, with sticky jam like raspberry toffee. I remember the packaging so well too– It was bright red and yellow, with the appearance of jam oozing all over the packet. Somehow it spoke to me and I always wished we had Jammie Dodgers at home in our cupboard. Continue Reading…
We’re just back from a really enjoyable week in sunny Madeira. We dined in lovely restaurants, enjoyed great food and of course had some Madeira wine! In ways, it was nice to be back though. Back to normal food and cooking in the kitchen. When I go away, I always come back craving something simple. This week I was craving tea and a custard cream. Custard creams are the kind of biscuits that are so common place in Ireland that they are often overlooked. They are the type of biscuits that are found on plates in Church halls, school meetings, hospitals and canteens all over the country. They’re not posh or fancy, they’re even a little outdated and unfashionable. They are simple, they’re plain but, there is something remarkably comforting about a custard cream. They are not too sweet, not too chewy and light enough to have a second one. They are yummy with a flask of tea, when you’re on the side of the cold mountain, which is where I usually seem to eat them. So I decided to try and recreate my own custard cream, and somehow, they tasted better than any custard cream I’ve ever eaten. Sweet, slightly salty, crunchy and creamy at the same time, these are custard creams to die for. I adapted this recipe from a BBC Good Food recipe. Continue Reading…
