Scones for Paula

My granny was a proficient baker who thankfully passed on more than just her recipes, she also imparted some of her baking wisdom learned with trays of experience. Here's how she and now I make scones*, she'd be so glad her tips were being shared. Paula, I hope these are a baking success, if not I'll happily make you an emergency batch!

Makes 8-10

225g self raising flour

pinch salt

pinch baking powder (for added rising power)

50g margarine

25g caster sugar

75g sultanas (dried apricots, dates, cranberries also work well and, you can pre soak the fruit in apple juice so it's extra moist)

1 medium egg, beaten with sufficient milk to make 150ml

Pre heat oven to 220 degrees C and grease a baking tray.

Mix flour, salt, baking powder and rub in margarine, then stir in sugar and fruit.

Add the egg and milk, little by little, and combine until the mixture is a light, doughy texture. If it's too sticky, add more flour; if it's too dry add more milk/egg. Keep a little egg wash back to brush the tops.

Sprinkle flour on to your worktop and gently knead the dough. It should be soft not overworked. Roll out to about a 3cm thickness (for good deep scones) and cut into rounds.

Re roll and cut the trimmings.

Brush the tops with egg wash and bake for about ten minutes.

Serve warm, best shared with friends. If you manage not to eat them all, any remaining can be frozen.

And, if you want to get technical about it, Felicity Cloake has done a great experiment with different recipes/rising agents here, so you don't have to.

*Recipe adapted from Bero Flour Home Recipes 40th edition.

Sausages for a not so summery solstice

The weather here is far more like November than June, the heating and the lights are on and I'm in the mood for comfort eating. Something like sausages and mash except...I'm not a big fan. While onion gravy definitely helps, my preference for a hearty, sausage based meal is one with big, fresh flavours which Italian cooks use simply and there's no way I'd be heading out to the shops in weather as horrid as this, so what can I do with what I have in the cupboards/freezer?

The starting point is George Bower's excellent pork sausages, store cupboard tinned tomatoes (I would have used homegrown if we had a greenhouse) and rosemary from the soggy garden. And, as I seem to be somewhat addicted to it, Bower's smoked streaky bacon.

As a replacement or alternative to mash, I also found several odd tins of beans lurking in the cupboard- this time canellini, red kidney and borlotti but I've also tried it with black eyed, so really whatever you have in the way of beans (maybe not baked). You can of course use dried as long as you soak them first.

I first made this on a similarly rainy evening and this seemed a fitting day to post.

Here's my how to:

Serves 6.

You will need:

10 pork sausages, pricked

5 rashers of smoked streaky bacon, chopped roughly (optional)

2 tins of plum tomatoes

1 (400g) tin borlotti beans, drained

1 (410g) tin red kidney beans, drained

1 (410g)tin canellini beans, drained

300ml vegetable or chicken stock

5 sprigs of fresh rosemary

2 carrots (shredded savoy cabbage also works well if you have some lying around), chopped in chunks

2 sticks of celery, chopped roughly

1 clove of garlic, finely chopped

1 teaspoon of dried chilli, finely chopped

Lashings of Italian olive oil

Gently fry the sauasges alone in a frying pan (this gives them a good chance for proper browning before adding them to the stew).

In the casserole pan, heat the garlic, chilli and a glug of oil.

Add the bacon, give it a few miniutes.

Add the celery and carrots, allow them to cook until softening.

Add the beans and tomatoes along with the stock and heat to simmering. Simmer for ten minutes then add the sausages and rosemary and allow the stew to thicken on a low heat.

This should take ten - 25 minutes or enough time to clear up and set the table or settle a good baby to sleep and write a quick blog post.

You don't need to be too precise with timings at the last stage as long as you keep an eye on it, the stew won't spoil, it'll just be thicker if you leave it a little longer.

When you're ready, serve up with some garlic bread and a large glass of red.

Tis the season for elderflower cordial

For the last week or so in Edinburgh, creamy white elderflowers are bursting into bloom in gardens, woodlands and wastelands alike. If you're feeling resourceful, not too bothered by bugs and fancy some easy foraging, go pick some and boil up this delicious sweet, summery cordial.

We followed Pam Corbin's recipe (originally from River Cottage) in her book Preserves.

Makes about 2 litres.

You will need:

About 25 elderflower heads (best when just blooming)

Finely grated zest of 3 unwaxed lemons and 1 orange, plus their juice

1kg sugar (more or less to taste)

1 heaped tsp citric acid (readily and cheaply available from pharmacies)

What to do:

Vigorously shake the elderflowers, outside, to get rid of most of the bugs (resist rinsing).

Place the heads in a bowl with the zest.

Boil 1.5 litres of water and pour over the flowers and zest.

Cover and leave overnight to infuse.

Strain the liquid through muslin (or a pair of tights if you don't have any) into a saucepan.

Add the sugar, fruit juices and citric acid (this is optional, it adds a slight bitterness and helps the cordial to last longer).

Heat gently to dissolve the sugar, then simmer for a couple of minutes.

Use a funnel to pour the hot syrup into sterilised bottles and seal.

Will keep for a couple of weeks as is.

Chris's top tips

• Gather the flowers when dry.
• Don't get too carried away (or there'll be no berries later in the year).
• This is really easy and inexpensive to make.
• Suitable for freezing.
• Don't be too fastidious about the bugs, any that don't escape with shaking, will be boiled up and strained out! You really won't notice...
• Don’t be put off by colour when soaking the elderflowers – once drained it looks better and tastes great!
• Try serving with fruit salad, dilluted with water (still or sparkling) or even cava or champagne.
• Apparently, you can also make delicious ice cubes, granita or ice lollies (if the sunshine ever returns). Here's hoping...

Please share your tips or serving suggestions too.

The one with no running water and some belly dancers

After food, and maybe babies, wedding are definitely my most favourite thing to daydream about.

Seeing the huge variety and individuality other people display as they celebrate a marriage is a wonderful source of inspiration.

It's also a pleasure to work with brides, grooms and in this instance bridesmaids to be to create a personal and apt feast for a gathering of sophicticated and fun hens. We do hen dos, don't you know.

Here the food needed to reflect the bride to be's food passion, she runs a bakery you see (no pressure). We knew in advance that a seated dinner for the hens was not going to be possible due to space but a help yourself buffet wasn't what the chief hen had in mind either. We also needed to accomodate hens travelling from far and wide and arriving at various times throughout the evening. Although we didn't know it in advance, we'd also be working with no running water (arrghh) and serving under and over veiled dancers!

We started with a canape and cocktail hour. Each hen got to keep their cosmo glass as a momento!

And moved on to starter, an anti pasti plank which included Manchego cheese and quince jelly, aged Parmesan with chestnut honey, bread sticks with rosemary hummus and Dolcelatte mousse, rosemary flatbread, roasted Mediterranean vegetables, lemon courgettes.

This was followed by bowl food, a duo of risottos - Squash, sage, Dolcelatte risotto and

Prosecco, asparagus risotto, parmesan crisps, simple green salads and homemade ciabatta.

And finished with affagoto (in line with the Italian theme)...

...and then, with full bellies, some dancing!

Rocky buns in memory

Tomorrow, I will gather with my family to pay tribute to a wonderful, dear lady, my sweet, gracious, loving and greatly loved Granny. I will miss her so much and her amazing home baking.

I’m going to follow her often used recipe and take comfort from the sticky, sweet, imperfect dough.

Children, grandchildren, neighbours, colleagues, friends and even a friendly pheasant came tapping at her window for these tasty cakes. She also believed every home should have a Bero book, so if you don’t have one, invest in some flour and send away! Simple pleasures.

Makes 10 ish.

You will need:

225g Self raising flour

pinch salt

100g margarine (my Granny used Stork, you can of course use butter if you're feeling flush!)

75g dried fruit

25g mixed peel (not essential, you can add glace cherries or dried apricot as a variation)

50g caster sugar

1 medium egg

milk to mix

Heat oven to 200’C and grease two baking trays (my Granny gave us ours as an engagement gift).

Mix the flour and salt, rub in the margarine.

Stir in the dried fruit, mixed peel and sugar.

Mix to a stiff dough with the egg and milk.

Place in rough heaps on the baking tray and bake for 10-15 minutes.

For best results, eat warm with tea served in a china cup.

Be comforted.

Let them eat cake

After seeing and eating such an epic amount of cake with my lovely cake buddy (we managed amazing cheesecake, lemon layer, tower of sin and apple and cinnamon) and meeting so many passionate bakers, it seems right that this blog post should be written while munching leftovers for breakfast.

Lynn, the bakelady welcomes us all.

Staring, drooling, waiting patiently...

Last night's Clandestine Cake Club was delicious and delightful. Brought together by Lynn and hosted by the lovely Alana at Fredericks. The real stars of the show however were the cakes, all baked to the theme of Homespun Harmony which ignited imaginations and resulted in classic and new creations. Be prepared, these photos will make you want cake, now. My memory is a haze of sugar so the titles are largely guessed, apologies if I get it wrong.

Lemon and raspberry roulade made by Edinburgh Foody.

Lemon Polenta cake with Limoncello syrup by Edinburgh Eats. See her post on the event here, and get the recipes too.

Classic Victoria Sponge by Stephanie of Sunday Brunch Club fame, following a Delia recipe.

I snapped this beauty and when I went back to check what it was, it was gone... can anyone identify?

Tower of sin by Great British Bake Off contestant, Bakers Bunny, lurking in calorific glory in the shadows!

A pink treat, white chocolate and raspberry by Ideas Spotting.

The cake line up.

Apple and olive oil cake (not sure who made it) in the background and unidentifed in the fore...

Tucking in at last.

Apple and Cinnamon Cake made by Lynn, the recipe is here, happy baking!

What it says on the tub.

The final piece of my rough and ready raspberry and white chocolate cake.

A pimped up, grand version of the raspberry and white chocolate cake with raspberry buttercream.

The end. Well, not quite.

Here is the take away plate which I duly shared with C and still had some for breakfast. Rather than simply stuffing my face, I tried to take a bit more time over the flavours back home. Next time, I'll take notes at the event too!

Clockwise from white sponge - Angel cake with rhubarb and strawberry compote, Apple and olive oil cake, cinnamon and apple cake with cinnamon cream frosting, sour cream and blueberry cake, Dundee marmalade cake, lemon polenta cake with limoncello syrup and candied orange.

Here are our tasting notes:

Angel cake - as light as angel's wings, delicious texture (not unlike milk roll), easy to eat in vast quantities, intensely fruity compote. In all, rather like a deconstructed summer pudding. Great alternative to more traditional cake.

Apple and olive oil cake - a hybrid cake - somewhere between a sponge and a fruit cake, bold juicy flavours, perfect with tea.

Cinnamon and apple cake - made to an original recipe by Lynn (above). This is a dense cake as you might expect from an adopted muffin recipe, apparently easy to vary by replacing the apple with choc chips, finished with a super smooth frosting so tasty you could devour by the spoonful.

Sour cream and blueberry - a delicious, moist cake, with a zingy blueberry filling which contrasted well with the sugary icing.

Dundee marmalade - a real classic, looked inviting and tasted moreish. Job well done.

Lemon polenta - the polenta gives an intriguing texture to this sticky, sweet sensation. One of the most inventive flavour combinations and Katey even made her own limoncello - now that's homespun harmony if ever we saw it.

Desperate to get my hands on some more recipes so please share with Lynn, with me, with all! And please leave your comments, how many slices of cake did you manage? Did you have a favourite? Which one did you make? I'm curious.

30

Delving into our archives, we thought we'd share a very special celebration with you, a wonderful gathering in a fabulous setting to mark a friend's thirtieth birthday.

This was a rare event for us as it combined creating the canapes and enjoying them as guests (without the pressure of creating dinner as well). After we dished up the tasty morsels below, we simply enjoyed the party and the fireworks! Lucky us.

Hot smoked salmon mousse, lemon zest, homemade buttery oat biscuits.

Stilton gougeres.

The beautiful dining room.

And the "unbelievable" fireworks (almost enough to send me into labour!)

Sparkling sparklers (still as much fun as you remember).

Finally, plenty of bacon for breakfast (apologies for the blurry i phone shot) and a short walk in the fresh country air (to the pub for rugby watching). Happy days.