Promotion: Bah Humbugs

Hi guys, I'm back! I've been on a longer than intended hiatus thanks to a new job, new projects and various other life type things getting in the way.

So, let's get back on track shall we?

I'd like to introduce to you a lovely little business based in North Yorkshire called Bah Humbugs Sweet Shop and to Lucy, the brains behind it all. Bah Humbugs opened in 2004 after Lucy reminisced with friends about classic British sweets from their youth. Soon, Lucy found herself a shop in the Yorkshire Dales and having roped in friends and family to help, sourced the best classic sweets around and started a booming business! Bah Humbugs now has an online shop so you can get your retro sweets wherever you are!

Bah Humbugs sells over 200 different sweets including suckable rhubarb and custards (a personal favourite), chewy Wham bars, soft fudge and fizzy sherbets! They are especially proud of their amazing collection of over 50 liquorice varieties! As you may know, Yorkshire is synonymous with liquorice so Lucy and Bah Humbugs are definitely staying true to their roots! They also offer hampers and party bags so you can share your sweeties with your friends and family (if you can bare to!)

Now, I got a parcel of sweeties from Lucy this morning. Look at them all! I'm so lucky! I've got some plans to bake with some of these delicious treats (but I might have to fight Al for the space dust!)


Bah Humbugs have a great online presence with their blog and their YouTube based Sour Challenge! (I might have to get Al in on that - he's a pro with sour sweets!)

Visit Bah Humbugs at the following address:

Bah Humbugs
2 The Market Place
Masham
Ripon
North Yorkshire
HG4 4EB
United Kingdom

Visit their website at www.bahhumbugs.com. You can follow them on Twitter or Facebook too!

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Candied Pomelo Peel

I may have mentioned before how much I love citrus. I just love how the tart, sharp flavours work so well in desserts and sweets, they combine perfectly with a little sugar to make a fresh, flavourful treat in almost any form!

Anyway, when I was shopping one day I spied a honey pomelo lurking amongst the fresh fruit. It was a weird looking beast, like a large grapefruit but in the shape of a pear. It has a greeny-yellow skin and no strong scent from the outside. I just had to buy one!

After doing some research, I found mixed reviews and decided to just go ahead and get on with it! There's a lot of white pith inside and the actual fruit part is probably the size of a large grapefruit. the flesh is a pale yellow and quite dry to the touch (unlike an orange for example). The flavour is delicate with a sharpness akin to grapefruit but with a subtle sweetness too. It's really hard to explain but the lot was gone within an hour or so... Every time I (or my mum) walked past the bowl in the kitchen, another piece was devoured.

It was quite laborious preparing the fruit. The pith has to come off and the membrane between segments is tough and dry so that has to come off too. But, as a huge pomegranate fan; I'm okay with labour intensive foods. I wouldn't buy one very often (I've only bought 2 ever) but they're nice for a change.
In order to get the most out of the £1.49 I paid (another reason why I wouldn't splurge too often) I looked into the process of candying the peel. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be and yielded really delicious results.

You start by cutting the peel into strips about a centimetre wide, you can keep them fairly long but basically, they need to fit in the saucepan and they need to be a size that you'd want to serve.

Next you need to blanch the peel to rid it of some of its bitterness. Bring a pan of water to the boil, plunge the peel in for a minute and then take them out. Repeat this twice more with fresh water each time.

Next, heat equal quantities of water and sugar (a cup of each) in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Place the peel into the syrup and turn the heat down until the syrup is at a simmer and leave to candy for around about an hour. Keep checking on the syrup to make sure it doesn't boil away completely and allow the peels to burn.

Once the syrup has been absorbed into the peel, remove from the heat and spread the peel on a wire rack to cool. Once cool, stuff them into your face quickly and eat them. They are delicious.

You can also take this a step further and cover the candied peel in chocolate. I cannot be held responsible for the effects these gorgeous little treats may have on you... They are amazing.

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Perfect Chocolate Truffles

It's Christmas. I cannot ignore it any longer (though in real life I've been embracing it) on this blog. I've got lots of wonderful things to post about but it's all been about preparation so far. I have rounds and logs of cookie dough in my freezer waiting to be baked, I have things cooling on racks, hiding in tins and wrapped in paper and foil. I'm really not ignoring Christmas... I'm just waiting for the right time.

So I'll begin with these simple chocolate truffles to ease you in gently to the multitude of yummy things soon to be coming your way. Chocolate truffles are deliciously rich and smooth. They have an intense chocolate flavour and they melt as soon as you put them in your mouth. There isn't an easier recipe than this one I assure you.

Ingredients
450g good quality dark chocolate (preferably no higher than 65%)
240ml double cream

Method
Chop the chocolate into small even pieces and place in a heatproof bowl and set aside.
Pour the double cream into a saucepan and warm on a medium heat until it just reaches a boil (this is called "scalding"). You'll need to stir it to prevent it from burning and forming a skin.
When the cream has been scalded, pour it onto the chocolate and leave to stand for 5 minutes.
Stir the cream and chocolate together until smooth and creamy and the chocolate has melted. If the chocolate doesn't melt completely, place the bowl over a pan of barely simmering water and stir until melted.
Leave the mixture to cool and then place in the fridge until firm.
Once firm, scoop the mixture using a melon baller or two teaspoons and place on greaseproof paper. Roll in cocoa, icing sugar or chocolate strands.

These will keep for a few weeks at room temperature in an airtight container, they can also be frozen for longer term storage.

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Marshmallow Toasties

I was at my brother's house last weekend and spied (from across the room) a book called "The Cookie and Biscuit Bible." I just had to go and have a look through it. Within moments I'd asked if I could borrow it and sure enough it is now in my possession.

I had a look through and decided that practically everything looked delicious. With colour photographs of each recipe and easy, clear instructions too I found this to be an excellent quality recipe book. Not only are there recipes for biscuits and cookies there are also muffin, brownie, bar and cracker recipes too. It really covers all the bases!

I was looking through the pages and came across an interesting recipe where a fairly plain biscuit base is baked and then topped with strawberry jam and marshmallows. The marshmallows are then toasted under the grill until the melt and brown. Yum. I love toasted marshmallows. I was the one at camp that used to set theirs on fire to make sure they were really toasted and melty on the inside before extinguishing and eating. I had to make this recipe for its sheer novelty value.

It was quite simple. The mixture includes ground almonds which make the base have a delicious texture and a hint of nuttiness. I subbed the lemon zest for lime as it's all we had in but it gave a delightful citrus note that cut through the sweetness of the marshmallows. I should have used the required 9x9 pan but we don't have one. Using a 9x9 would mean that the base would be more biscuity and less cakey. I think this would be much nicer even though the cakey one was quite good. You need the texture contrast between crispy biscuit and soft chewy marshmallow.


Ingredients
130g butter
75g caster sugar
Zest of a lemon or lime
2tsp vanilla
75g ground almonds
1 egg
115g self raising flour
150g strawberry jam
200g marshmallows

Method
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add the citrus zest, vanilla, almonds and egg and mix well.
Place the mixture in a lined 9x9 pan and bake in a preheated 180C oven for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
Allow to cool for 10 minutes in the tin and then spread with strawberry jam.
Cut the marshmallows in half horizontally and place on top of the jam.
Brown the marshmallow top under a moderate grill for 2-3 minutes. Gently press the marshmallows down to form an even layer and then grill for another minute.
Allow to cool before slicing.

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Real fudge

I've messed around with fudge making in the last few months. So far I've only made faux fudge using things like cream cheese or marshmallows to get the soft texture. This time I thought I should try it the proper way. I picked up a new bottle of milk on my way past the shop and decided to just get on with it.

The recipe I used was from James Martin. The only ingredients are milk, sugar, butter and vanilla with a little oil for greasing. I also planned to use my brand new sugar thermometer that I got for christmas but it didn't quite work out. My pan wasn't tall enough for it to be clipped to the edge so we tried to hold it at an angle into the liquid. The marker still wasn't covered so we used the trusty water method to gauge the stage the sugar was upto. It seemed to work well but I think I could have left it a few more minutes to be sure. Mine was a lot paler than in the picture on the website.

The finished result is delicious. It's very sweet and smooth with a nice vanilla flavour. I'm tempted to dip some of them into chocolate too. I sent some of these to my brother and am looking forward to finding out what he thinks of them (he loves fudge).

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Edible gifts: Fudge and Coconut Ice

I love to give people home made treats as gifts. I like to be able to say "I made that" and I also like feedback from them too. I made small gift bags of treats for a few friends that came over on Christmas Eve. Along with a large chunk of the tea loaf featured in this post, they got small bags of chocolate fudge and coconut ice.

I love fudge. The chewy and sweet squares of extreme dairyness never fail to comfort me. Having done a little research it seems that in the US fudge is made with chocolate whereas over here in the UK fudge is generally flavoured with just a little vanilla or left plain. Scottish tablet is also plain in flavouring but doesn't have the chewyness of fudge. It's a crumbly sweet treat that is traditional and holds fond memories for many people.

This fudge is none of the above. It's a simple combination of icing sugar, cream cheese and chocolate and while it doesn't really resemble the dairy filled fudge of my dreams it is still quite delicious. It's very simple and this batch made enough for 5 small gift bags with a little left over.

Coconut ice evokes similar warm feelings within me. My dad loves coconut ice and it reminds me of him so much. This simple super-sweet confection has a good coconut flavour and a lot of texture from the coconut. It's really easy to make and again makes enough for about 5 small gift bags.

I found the following recipes in a book called "Chocolates and Sweets to Make" by Rebecca Gilpin. It's a kids book but that just makes things more fun!



Easy Chocolate Fudge

Ingredients:
75g full-fat cream cheese
350g icing sugar
1tbsp cocoa powder
75g plain chocolate
40g butter

Method:
1. Grease and line a 15cm square tin with greaseproof paper.
2. Put the cream cheese into a bowl and sift in the icing sugar and cocoa. Mix together well (Note: this can tak a while but persevere!)
3. Melt the chocolate and butter together in a double boiler and stir in a tbsp of the cream cheese mixture.
4. Pour the chocolate into the the cheese mixture and beat them together until creamy.
5. Spoon the mixture into the tin and push it into the corners (you may need to use your fingers). Smooth with the back of a spoon and place in the fridge for 2 hours or until firm.
6. Turn the fudge onto a chopping board and cut into squares. Let the squares harden in the fridge for a further 2 hours and store in the fridge in an airtight container.


Coconut Ice

Ingredients:
2 egg whites mixed from dried egg white (according to package instructionss)
450g icing sugar - sifted
175g desiccated coconut
4tsp water
Food colouring

Method:
1. Grease and line an 18cm tin with greaseproof paper.
2. In a large bowl, stir the egg whites with a fork until frothy. Stir in 2 tbsp of the sugar.
3. Add the rest of the sugar a little at a time until all combined.
4. Add the coconut and water and stir to mix everything well.
5. Spoon half the mixture into the prepared tin and press down with your fingers.
6. Add a few drops of food colouring inti the rest of the mixture in the bowl and stir until coloured evenly.
7. Spoon the dyed mixture on top of the white layer and leave to set overnight. Cut into squares and leave those to harden for two hours. Store in an airtight container.

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Mmmm honeycomb...

Well, it's not really honeycomb but it is known as such (it is also known as Cinder Toffee and Hokey Pokey... think I'll stick with the honeycomb).

I've always loved honeycomb. Al will vouch for me choosing Cadbury's Crunchie bars when given the choice. I love how the bubbles melt on your tongue and the slightly burnt sugar hints. The way the texture of the honeycomb and the texture of the chocolate are so different from each other is almost impossible to resist.

This recipe was taken from Nigella Express which I got for christmas and was a lot easier than expected. Alas, it is not chocolate coated but you can cover yours in chocolate if you wish (and if it lasts that long).

Ingredients

100g Caster Sugar

4 tbsp Golden Syrup
1 ½ tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

Method

Put the sugar and syrup into a saucepan and mix together, you mustn't stir while the pan is on the heat.

Place the pan on the heat and let the mixture first melt, then turn to goo, then turn to a bubbling mass the colour of maple syrup (approximately 3mins).

Remove from the heat and whisk in the bicarbonate of soda and turn immediately onto a piece of reusable baking parchment or greased foil and leave to cool.

Once set, bash up into chunks and enjoy. Store in an air-tight container.

It's so simple and takes no time at all! I think mine was cooked ever-so-slightly too long and tastes a little burnt, it's not unpleasant but it's something to note for next time. Delicious and really good for gift-giving.

**The pictures are a bit rubbish because they are taken on my phone**

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