Event: Cheese

Sorry for the long delay in arranging our next meeting.  Life has been pretty hectic so some things have had to be on the back burner for a while.  Anyway, I'm pleased to announce our next meeting will be on Sunday 2nd July 7:30-9:30pm.  Unfortunately The Pig & Butcher can't host us that evening so I'm looking for an alternative venue.

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The theme for our next meeting is Cheese.  This gives you a huge range or ideas to choose from, think sweet or savoury - cream cheese icing (so red velvet, carrot or Guinness cake), cheesecakes, cheese scones or muffins, cheesy tarts, cheesy biscuits...

You could use cream cheese, cheddar, goat's cheese, mozzarella, halloumi, Stilton, Parmesan, brie... the list goes on.

I'm going to bake pear & blue cheese muffins, email me with your choice of bake to reserve your place!

I really fancy some cheese now!

Event Preview: Autumn Vegetables

We have lots of new members attending this month with 13 bakes in total!  Details have just been sent out so please get in touch if you haven't received the address.

We will be enjoying the following bakes:

Becky M	Parsnip & Ginger Cupcakes
Lilian T	Courgette & Orange Cake
Holly M	Pumpkin & Maple Muffins
Helen C	Kale & Apple Cake
Laura D	Sweet Potato Cake
Suzanne D-W	Pumpkin Scones
Sharon W	Beetroot Chocolate Brownies
Emma J	Carrot Cake
Lynda W-S	Mini Spinach & Feta Pies
Katie U	Vegetable & Goats' Cheese Tart
Helen C	Butternut Squash & Ginger Teabread
Rose H	Parsnip & Spiced Orange Cake
Hemina P	Savoury Gujarati Cake

They all sound so interesting, I can't wait to try them, quite a few different things I've never tasted before!

See you all on Sunday, please bring a knife (if required) and plate to display your bake.  Tea & Coffee and water will be provided, feel free to bring along something else to drink if you wish.

Event: Autumn Vegetables

Our next event will be on Sunday 20th November at 19:30 - 21:30.  The theme is Autumn Vegetables.

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Think root vegetables like carrots, beets and parsnip or pumpkins and squashes (although technically fruits) or even greens like broccoli.  Remember, your bake doesn't have to be sweet nor a cake, anything baked is allowed.

As always, to come along and take part, just email Becky with your choice of bake (first to email gets first choice if there are any duplicates).  Details of the venue will be emailed to participating bakers a few days before the event.

A few ideas:

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Of course, there's the obvious carrot cake (please no walnuts as I love carrot cake!) or perhaps a parsnip version with ginger.  (I've made this Pear & Parsnip cake before and loved it!)

Image Source - Pear & Parsnip Cake

Or there's beetroot cake, with or without chocolate.

 And courgette cake is another vegetable based cake:

Image Source - Courgette & Orange cake with cream cheese icing

Or there's traditional American pumpkin pie:

Image Source - Pumpkin Pie

And a few savoury options:

Parsnip & Leek Tarte

Courgette, Pine nut & Ricotta tart

Beetroot, red onion & goat's cheese tart

Beetroot & Goat's Cheese Pie

Recipe: Feta & Herb Savoury Muffins

For our GBBO themed meeting, I made a recipe by Nadiya, last year's winner, which just happened to feature in July's edition of WI Life.  They are supposed to be Feta & Dill Muffins but I hate dill with a passion so substituted a few different herbs (detailed below) and made some other minor adjustments too like adding Parmesan to the top, although I plan to change them again next time - there are so many things you could add to them.  They are also super easy to make!

They went down very well at the club, it's nice to have a savoury bake for a change and we all enjoyed them hot as I only just got them in the oven before everyone arrived! (I forgot to preheat as I'd prepped all of the dry and wet ingredients earlier in the day ready to mix!)

Ingredients:

175g Plain flour

50g Wholewheat flour

2 1/2 tsp Baking powder (I only used 2 as I could only find self-raising wholemeal flour)

1 tsp Fine salt

1 Medium egg

275ml Whole milk

100g cottage cheese (I only had fat free)

75g Unsalted butter, melted & cooled

50g Feta cheese, crumbled

2 tbsp Dill or (1 tbsp Chives, chopped, 1 tsp Thyme leaves, 1tbsp Basil, chopped)

1/2 tsp Wholegrain mustard (I added 2 tsp instead but next time I plan to add Dijon as well)

1 tsp Ground black pepper

8 Sun-dried tomatoes, chopped 

25g pumpkin seeds

Parmesan, finely grated (optional)

Method:

Prep 15 mins.  

Cook 20-25 mins.  

Can be frozen.

Preheat the oven to 200oC, fan 180oC, Gas 6.

Mix together the flours, salt and baking powder in a large bowl.

Add the milk, egg, cottage cheese, melted butter, feta cheese, mustard, herbs and black pepper.  (I also added half of the sun-dried tomatoes here.)  Mix it all together and spoon into muffin cases.  (I prefer not to use muffin cases so you get a nice golden edge, it works especially well if the muffins are cheesy!)

Top each muffin with a little chopped sun-dried tomato and sprinkle with the Pumpkin seeds and grated Parmesan.

Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.  (I find this hard to judge when there's melted feta in them as that can leave a streak on the skewer.)

They are delicious when eaten hot & fresh from the oven!

There are so many ways you could adapt this recipe.  I decided that next time I would mix some Parmesan in to the mixture as well as putting it on top.  I would put all of the sun-dried tomatoes in rather than on top.  I'd use more mustard, maybe even some English as well for more of a kick.  Lynda also suggested sliced green olives which would also work well, or even just a few sliced black ones.

Nadiya says they are particularly nice when eaten sliced, with cream cheese and smoked salmon - I tried this for breakfast this morning with a couple of my leftover muffins and it's delicious!  The twins also enjoyed them for breakfast, ideal to have ready for a busy morning or even a picnic lunch.

Recipe: Red Velvet Heart Whoopie Pies

For our Love themed first event, I made red velvet whoopie pies.  I've never made whoopie pies before but decided it would be easier than trying to bake a red velvet cake and decorate it (which is just as well as someone else made an amazing one anyway!)  I found this recipe on a American blog and have listed the conversions I used below with the method as I made them and a few tips. 

This recipe was supposed to make 18 sandwiched pies but I must have made my template twice as big as I only had 18 hearts making 9 once they were assembled.

Ingredients:
280g all purpose flour
15g cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
115g butter
215g light brown sugar (I ran out so used 129g with 40g of light muscovado sugar and the rest golden granulated!)
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
120g buttermilk
1 bottle of red food colouring (I was hesitant to put so much in but after half a bottle the mixture was still a dirty red-brown so I did use 3/4 of a bottle!)

For the cream cheese filling:
230g cream cheese
70g butter
300g icing sugar (I had to add a lot more as it went very runny when I added the sugar to the cheese/butter mix!)
2 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

Preheat the oven to 190oC.  

Cut out a heart template and draw around it on baking paper to give you rows of evenly spaced hearts which fit your baking trays.  Place drawn side down on the trays.

Cream together the butter and brown sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Beat in the egg until incorporated, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.  Blend in the vanilla.  In a separate bowl, sieve together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt.  With the mixer on low speed, beat in about a third of the dry ingredients, followed by half of the buttermilk, beating each addition just until incorporated.  Repeat with another third of the flour mixture and the remaining buttermilk and then mix in the final third of dry ingredients.  Do not over beat.  Blend in the food colouring.

Transfer the batter to a pastry bag fitted with a large plain round tip.  (I didn't have one of these so just used the bag without a tip).  Pipe the batter onto the parchment paper using the heart tracings as a guide.  (Mine were a bit of a mess but came out OK in the end!)

Bake for 7-9 minutes or until the tops are set, rotating the baking sheets halfway through.  (I'd stick to the lower end of timing as mine were a little dense and dry, although I have to admit, I'm not sure how they're supposed to be as I've never eaten them before!)  Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheets at least 10 minutes, until they can be easily transferred to a cooling rack.  Repeat with any remaining batter.  Allow cookies to cool completely before proceeding.

To make the cream cheese icing, cream cheese and butter on medium-high speed until well combined and smooth, about 2-3 minutes.  Mix in the vanilla extract.  Gradually beat in the icing sugar until totally incorporated, increase the speed and then beat until smooth.

Transfer the frosting to a clean pastry bag fitted with a plain, round tip.  Pair the cookies up by shape and size.  Pipe frosting onto the flat-sided cookie of each pair, leaving the edges clear.  Sandwich the cookies together so the flat sides are facing each other and press gently to help the filling reach the edges.  

To store, refrigerate in an airtight container.