Butterfingered Chef Bag !

Hi everyone !

Today's post is short and, weirdly, not about food ! I've spend a day after Christmas having fun connecting my hobby (this blog and food) with a course I'm studying at university (costume design, which is mostly sewing).



 I made this 'Butterfingered Chef' bag ! I am so proud of it ! Hand made and hand-painted, nicely finished on the inside, has a lot of space and a zipper. I use it everyday !


In the future I'm thinking about trying to sew oven mitts and an apron and maybe some other things. I was also thinking about maybe trying to hand-paint wine glasses and plates and making some kitchen decorations etc.


 For now I am happy with just the bag cause I have too much other work to do but I have a lot of ideas for recipes, sewing and decorations ! I am so inspired !

Hope you had great Christmas ! 

Butterfingered Chef

Plain, Almond and Peanut Butter Christmas Biscuits

Busy, busy, busy. Little elves are running up and down, worrying if they'll manage to finish up all the toys for good children. I am as busy as they are. I've spend a whole day baking star-shaped biscuits in 3 different flavours : plain, almond and peanut butter. The oven has been working all day long without a break and it's proud of what it achieved !
These biscuits are great for getting your family in a christmas mood. They can also be used as a beautiful and edible decoration for your Christmas tree ! Come on ! No time to waste; heat up your oven and let's get this baking started !



Ingredients : Plain Biscuit

- 250g plain flour
- 125g demerara sugar
- 125g softened butter

- 1 roughly beaten egg

Ingredients : Almond Biscuit

- 250g plain flour
- 125g caster sugar
- 125g softened butter
- A tsp of vanilla powder
- A handful of almond sticks
- 1 roughly beaten egg

Ingredients : Peanut Butter Biscuit

- 250g plain flour
- 125g demerara sugar
- 125g softened butter
- 2 tsp of peanut butter
- 1 roughly beaten egg
- black sesame seeds to sprinkle on top



All the flavours follow the same pattern. First, you beat the butter with sugar in a bowl. Then you beat in the egg and the flavouring (vanilla/almonds/peanut butter). Next it's the time for flour. I find it easier when I add the flour bit by bit and also mix it in with my hands. When the dough becomes fairly soft put it onto a floured surface and knead it gently until smooth. Wrap it in a cling film and put it in a fridge for 1,5h-2h to cool.

Heat up your oven to 170°C with a fan. 

On a lightly floured surface roll the dough so it's 0.5cm. Use your cookie cutters to cut out shapes from the dough. Decorate with anything you want but I personally prefer simple almond sticks or almond flakes sprinkled with sugar. Lay the biscuits on a sheet of baking paper that you previously laid on a baking tray. Bake it in the oven for around 8 minutes. Keep checking on the biscuits. They should be ready when the sides are turning golden.

Take them out and let them cool down. They're ready !

If you want the biscuits to also be a decoration for your Christmas tree simply make a small hole on top of a biscuit with an end of a paintbrush. A ribbon will fit through there perfectly. Just tie it and it's ready to hang on your Christmas tree !

I just realised it's 3 a.m where I live and with the last tray of biscuits I also realised how long I have not been sitting. My legs are dying.

I hope you'll like this recipe and have as much fun making those delicious biscuits as I did !

Merry Baking from,

Butterfingered Chef !

Homemade Christmas Muscovado Biscuits

Ho Ho Ho Everyone ! Well, not Ho Ho Ho yet but it's time to start getting ready for Christmas ! Many people are walking around wondering what to buy for their loved ones and find it very difficult. Well, let me make it easier for you. Christmas is about love and spending time with your family and what would ever be a better gift than spending time and energy and putting in all your love in making delicious homemade Christmassy biscuits. Yes ? Great ! Let's start baking ! 

Ingredients :  

- 2 teaspoons baking soda

- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger 
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1/2 cup baking margarine at room temperature
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup muscovado sugar (buy 2x500g - the rest will go for making a sugar syrup)
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup of sugar syrup 
- dry demerara sugar for sprinkling the biscuits before baking
- baking sheets

Sugar syrup will take a while to make and to cool down. Prepare it before hand. What you need to do is to pour a little bit more  than 1/2 cup of water into a pot and bring it to boil. Then turn the heat to small and start adding sugar bit by bit. Keep stirring ! Your syrup is ready when no more sugar is able to dissolve.

Start of by combining dry ingredients : baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, salt, cayenne pepper and flour together in one bowl. 

In another bowl put butter, margarine and muscovado sugar. 
A tip : don't put massive chunks of butter and margarine in a bowl. Cut them in smaller pieces. If the sugar has bigger chunks in it use a hand potato masher to smash it and mix it with butter before using a mixer. 

Mix the mixture with a mixer until fluffy. It should take around 3-4 minutes. Add an egg and the sugar syrup. To avoid making a mess add the flour mixture bit by bit each time mixing it in with a fork. This way ,when you finally use a mixer on a low speed to combine the ingredients properly together, the flour dust won't go everywhere. 

Preheat the oven to 200°C.

Take a small amount of dough in your wet hands and roll it until round and smooth. Put it on an ungreased baking sheet (place the sheet on a baking tray). Place the dough balls around 4-5cm (aprox. 2 inches) apart from each other. Sprinkle some dry demerara sugar on top of the dough balls. 

Now here comes a tricky part. When I was making my biscuits I had to "feel" my oven. Some of my biscuits burned a little bit when on a certain tray. I had to figure out if they come out better when baked 8, 10 or 12 minutes. Also an important role plays the position you place them in the oven. For me the biscuits came out the best when baked on a teflon baking tray on a top rack  for 8 minutes. I suggest you make sample biscuits and 'feel' the oven. 

After the baking time take the biscuits out and cool them down. They may feel a bit soft 
when straight out of the oven but do not worry they get crunchy when they cool down. 

Now the only thing left to do is figuring out how you want to wrap them up and putting them under a Christmas tree !

I hope you and your loved ones will enjoy this recipe. 

With Love, 

Butterfingered Chef

Pizza made with Love and Care

Hi ! I apologise for not posting any recipes recently but as a university student I concentrate mostly on my studies and I simply don't have much time for cooking. Well, except for today !

























 



 My friend from my course is staying over and I want to surprise her with something delicious (besides, I myself want something that is not from a take-away), but the problem is she does not eat any vegetables and apart from that the list of what she likes is very short...

- Meat
- Chocolate
- Water
- Tea
- Mushrooms
- Tomato if they're a sauce
- Raw Peas
- Potatoes (as chips and crisps)
- White Wine
- Bread
- Cheese

... and that's more or less about it. From this list I see only a couple of options and because it will be a girly night with movies and probably sewing (we're studying Costume Design and our Final Crit is coming to us with big steps) I decided to make a Mighty Meaty Pizza with Mushrooms and Chocolate Muffins. Also another friend of mine is coming and he doesn't eat pork so ham and pepperoni cannot make an appearance on the pizza. Let's get it started !

For a muffin recipe click here http://butterfingered-chef.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/quick-easy-and-delicious-muffin-recipe.html 
To make a fully chocolate muffin melt chocolate and add to the mixture.


Ingredients for the pizza : 

- Slices of beef
- Champignons
- Cheddar Cheese
- 7g of Dried Yeast
- Tbsp of Sea Salt
- Tbsp of Golden Caster Sugar
- 1kg of Strong Bread Flour
- Lukewarm Water (650ml)
- A can of Peeled Tomatoes
- Oregano
- Pepper
- Sugar
- Damp Cloth

Start of by pouring lukewarm water into a large bowl. Slowly add yeast, caster sugar and sea salt while stirring with a fork. Add flour in small amounts. Keep stirring. Keep adding the flour until it creates a spongy dough. On a dusted with flour surface knead the dough with your hand until smooth. Put a dough into a flour-dusted bowl and cover it with a damp cloth (the cloth should touch the dough). Keep it in a warm room until the dough doubles in size. It can take around 30-40 minutes for the dough to expand. Pour the can of peeled tomatoes in a small pot and cook it on a medium heat. Add in normal white sugar, pepper, salt and oregano (the measurements for this are up to you). Preheat the oven to 200°C. Dust a baking tray with flour and pop the dough in. Depending on how big is your tray and how thick you like your pizza this portion of dough can be enough for two trays of pizza. Normally you should stretch and flatten the pizza dough before popping it on a tray but for those who like really thick pizza base I suggest skipping that part. I skipped it and popped my dough straight on a tray and spread it around it with my hands. This created a very thick and delicate base. Spread a thin layer of the sauce on a pizza dough. Now add the toppings. Cheese goes first, then beef and mushrooms. On top of that add more cheese. Pop the pizza in the oven. It should take around 20 minutes for it to be ready. 

Voila ! Very thick, super delicious and as my friends described it "awesome !" pizza. A delicious way to show your friends that you truly care about them. 

I hope you'll try this recipe out and that your friends will love it as much as mine did.

With Love,

Butterfingered Chef