Duck tales #2

A (not) very sad farewell was said to four fawn runner drakes today.

Of the six duck eggs hatched in the incubator, only two were ducks. Could have been worse...

It was impossible to tell the boys and girls apart until they began to moult. The drakes then developed the give-away curly feather on their tails.  They were much bigger than the ducks and developed beautiful plumage.

The other way to tell them apart is by their quacking, or lack of. Drakes make a characteristic rasping noise and ducks quack. Loudly!

Anyway, the boys are off to their new life on a pond with lots of other ducks. And I am looking forward to making duck egg sponge cake in the spring.

Chocolate cake for Arlene

This is a first go to perfect a chocolate cake. My friend Arlene is hunting for a recipe so thought I would give it a go. Of course if I was any sort of decent friend I would have taken her some to try.... But it didn't last long enough!

I will just have to make another one.

This recipe is from Cake Icing and Decorating, another from the St Michael cookery library circa 1978.

Cream 100g of butter with 100g sugar until pale and fluffy (as always I did a bit extra due to my addiction to the mixture).

Beat in 2 eggs, a little at a time. Then, sift in 100g self raising flour and 4tsps cocoa powder.

Fold on the flour then place mixture in cake tin, which is lined and/or greased appropriately.

Bake at 160c for about 20 minutes or until cooked. Turn out into a cooling rack.

The cake didn't rise as much as I thought it might but my cake tin might have been a bit big.

To decorate I used buttercream icing.

Cream 100g butter then add 200g sifted icing sugar. Beat together but if not coming together add 1tsp milk. If you need to add more milk then do it 1tsp at a time.

Spread over the cake. Lick the bowl so as not to waste any!

Enjoy.

Cranberry and clementine chutney

Much as I try to avoid anything Christmassy until at least the 1st December, this needed to be made so it has time to mature.

While most chutney turns a shade of brown, this is a lovely red colour. I'm looking forward to my turkey sandwiches already!

The recipe is based on one from November 2012's Good Housekeeping magazine. I only ad libbed a little....

To a large pan add:
650g chopped apples (I didn't bother to peel them)
6 clementine oranges (peeled and roughly chopped)
2 large onions (peeled and chopped)
200g sultanas
700g cranberries
15 peppercorns (approximately!)
500mls red wine vinegar
500g light brown soft sugar
1tsp chilli flakes

Bring to the boil, stirring, and then simmer for about 45 minutes until fairly thick.

Stir in 300g cranberries and cook for another 5 minutes until they have softened.

Put into sterilised jars and open at Christmas.

Give extra jars as Christmas pressies.

Enjoy!

Choccy Halloween buns

The correct title for this post should be badly decorated Halloween buns but not to worry. They taste good!

Cream 100g sugar with 100g butter. Beat in two eggs. Sift in 100g self raising flour and 3 tablespoons coco powder.

Bake in individual bun cases for 15 minutes or so at 180c.

Decorate and enjoy!

The pumpkin turned out better so there is a pic of him guarding the back door too :-)

Baby biscuits #1

Miss Maisie loves food and hasn't refused anything yet! Now that she is on three meals a day the next problem was suitable snacks. I don't want to give her sugar or salty snacks with any additives.

So, I came across this easy peasy biscuit recipe here and made them for the first time this morning.

They are a huge success! They take less time than getting packed up to go to the shops to buy sugar loaded baby rusks so give them a go. I'll try them again and experiment with flavours.

Heat oven to 180c and line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.

Wizz a couple of handfuls of oats in a food processor. Mash a banana.

Add oats to the banana to make a thickish paste then shape on the baking tray.

Bake for 15 minutes or so. The longer you bake them the harder they get.

Cool and enjoy.

Seriously, that's it!

Sweet peas (at last)...but no strawberries

Its been a pretty rubbish summer and the sweet pea refused point blank to flower. However thanks to a few days of warm weather at the end of September there are approximately 15 blooms. Hurrah!

They're now in a vase in the living room and smell fabulous.

The strawberries are worse. Masses of flowers and zero fruit. The plants aren't even putting out runners to get new plants for next year.

Its as well we're not trying to be self sufficient!

Irish marrow chutney

This is my favourite! It's won prizes at Saintfield Show and it is great on a bacon sandwich. However it varies year on year as inevitably I don't have some of the ingredients.

This year I used courgettes from my chum's garden, as well as apples from the orchard. And I pretty much followed the recipe as I remembered to buy all the other ingredients!

The recipe is adapted from Home Preserves by Jackie Burrow (St Michael Cookery Library 1979).

3lb marrow (or courgettes or both), chopped
3lb apples, peeled and chopped
8oz onions, peeled and chopped
1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed
4oz sultanas
4oz raisins
4oz dried apricots
1 tbsp ground ginger
2oz ground almonds
4 tbsp mustard seeds
1 tbsp ground chilli powder
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground nutmeg
11/2 pints malt vinegar
4lb sugar
5 tbsp whiskey

Hint: if you are putting in a glug of your hubby's Glenfiddich, make sure he's not watching!

Put everything into a large pan, bring to the boil and simmer for about 2 hours until thickened. Stir occasionally.

Spoon into sterilised jars while hot and seal.

Let the chutney mature for a few months before enjoying.