Bake With Bree: education

Sunday, 24 July 2016

Gypsy Sue Creams

A recipe inspired by Gypsy Sue, the fortune teller in Bree McCready and the Realm of the Lost

Junior has returned home from his holiday!

I think it's safe to say he is glad to be 'home sweet home'. Baby the cat was beyond ecstatic to see his boy. It was like a love-fest when Junior walked through the door. Very cute indeed.

I've missed you, crazy boy!

I think Junior missed my home cooking as he texted me all through the week to put in orders for what he wanted to eat when he came home!

He put in a special request in for Mrs Oxter's Oaty Crumbles as these are his very favourite. But I like to try new things and I was well overdue posting something on the Bake With Bree blog so I made some Gypsy Creams instead. They are similar enough to the Oaty Crumbles to put a smile on my boy's face - more of a biscuit than a flapjack.

I had also been feeding a friend's cats over the weekend so I made a few extra to leave for their return.

The inspiration for my Gypsy Creams came from a character in the third novel in the Bree McCready series.

Bree, Sandy and Honey visit a fortune teller called Gypsy Sue at the funfair and get a little more than they bargained for!

Here is an abridged extract from chapter 1 of Bree McCready and the Realm of the Lost.

'The top half of the wagon door swung open with a creak. A plump lady appeared, her black hair peppered with grey and mostly concealed under a shimmering headscarf.

"I am Gypsy Sue," she smiled, her hoop earrings swinging from side to side.

"Hello," Bree said awkwardly. "Can you tell me my future please?"

Candles and fairy lights lit the inside of the caravan. It was a tiny space, so small that Bree could touch either side without stretching. Bree admired the walls, which were decorated with gold scrollwork and carvings of birds.

Gypsy Sue gestured to a pack of cards lying face down at the centre of a table.

"Pick them up and shuffle them," she said to Bree with an encouraging nod.

Bree picked up the pack of cards, shuffled them clumsily and put them back, face down. Gypsy Sue fanned them across the table with a graceful sweep of her hand.

"Now choose one."

Bree pulled a card from the middle of the deck. A skeleton, carrying a black flag emblazoned with a white flower, was riding a horse. Her eyes were immediately drawn to the bold lettering along the bottom.

DEATH.

She dropped it quickly, as if it had burned her fingers."

Here are the ingredients you'll need to make about 10 medium Gypsy Sue Creams.

For the biscuits:

100g of butter

50g of caster sugar

150g of self-raising flour

1 tablespoon of chocolate powder

100g of rolled oats

2 tablespoons of Golden Syrup melted in 1 tablespoon of hot water

For the butter icing:

50g of butter

100g of icing sugar

A few drops of vanilla essence

1 tablespoon of chocolate powder

I used my electric mixer but this recipe can easily be prepared the old fashioned way.

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 170 degrees.

Mix together until light and creamy.

Thank you, big sis for my terrific new mixer!

Meanwhile...

Sieve the flour and chocolate powder together to get rid of any lumps...

Weigh out the oats...

And melt the syrup in the hot water.

Add the flour, chocolate powder, oats and syrup to the creamed sugar and butter. Mix again for a short while. I did this on 'pulse' as the mixer seemed to struggle a little with the thick mixture.

It looked like this at the end...

I did a little stirring with a spatula to make sure all the ingredients were properly combined and then I rolled dollops of the sticky dough into little balls using the palms of my hands.

I then flattened the balls onto a well greased baking tray with the back of a fork. I have to confess to thinking they resembled little hamburgers at this point!

Space them well apart on the tray as they do swell and spread during cooking.

Bake for a total of 20 minutes. I did 10 minutes - flipped - then another 10 to get a nice even bake. The biscuits will still be soft when they come out of the oven but they will crisp up on the cooling rack.

Don't worry about the cracks as the buttercream will fill these.

While the Gypsy Creams are cooling you can prepare the butter icing. Again, I did this in my mixer but you can just as easily whip this up by hand.

I chilled the butter icing for about half an hour as I find it easier to work with when it's a little more solid.

Wait for the biscuits to cool completely before icing them or the buttercream will slide right off! Spread some of the butter icing over half the biscuits...

...then sandwich them together.

Using a fork to press down the dough gives a nice finish

Chill the Gypsy Sue Creams for about an hour (if you can wait that long!) to set the butter icing.

Put the kettle on and enjoy!

I left a few 'open-topped' ones and added some sprinkles

We'll enjoy these a little later when Junior has finished Pokemon hunting with his best mate and my washing machine isn't in overdrive!

Holidays are fun but there's no place like home.

Until next time...

Monday, 8 February 2016

Ponderoma Pancakes

A recipe inspired by the Ponderoma - the strange, shadowy servants who inhabit Castle Zarcalat

It's Pancake Day tomorrow. Yay!

I do love a pancake.

Junior and I got busy this evening and knocked up a few delicious, fluffy pancakes for supper. Not the large, thin kind but the chunkier crumpet variety.

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Served with a hefty squirt of lemon juice and lashings of runny Maple syrup, they were absolutely stunning.

In Bree McCready and the Half Heart Locket Bree, Sandy and Honey find themselves trapped in a medieval castle. They meet a man called Don Daines who takes them into the castle kitchen and it's here where they see the Ponderoma for the first time.

"As soon as they opened the door they were met by the sounds of clattering dishes and sizzling hotplates. Inside was a large well-lit kitchen where an army of cloaked people were so busy stirring, tossing and kneading that they did not even look up. The scent of herbs and spices mingled with the heavy aroma of food frying. Fresh fruit and vegetables were lined out on a long wooden table and great billows of steam rose up from huge black cauldrons hanging over raging fires. Loaves were turning brown in an open furnace, filling the air with their mouth-watering aroma. Huge chunks of raw meat were being rolled in crystal salt before being strung up on metal hooks.

The strange, shadowy servants scuttled to and fro, carrying dishes and platters. Bree could see that their hands were red and blistered. Cavernous hoods concealed their faces, making the floor length robes look empty, as though they were floating around the kitchen like canvas ghosts.

Don glided over to a huge stove where two Ponderoma were using a giant spoon to stir a thick batter. The smell of hot fat filled the air as they watched a servant pouring a ladleful onto a gridle. It instantly started to bubble, eventually solidifying into a plump round pancake."

Want to make those plump round pancakes? Here's what you'll need:

1 and a half cups of plain flour

A quarter of a cup of sugar

3 teaspoons of baking powder

A pinch of salt

1 egg

1 and a half cups of milk

3 tablespoons of butter

Measure out the butter and melt it in the microwave for 20 seconds. Keep a close eye on it, you don't want it to burn.

Set the melted butter aside while you prepare the other ingredients.

Measure out the flour and add it to a large mixing bowl.

Sprinkle in the baking powder and a good pinch of salt.

Measure out the sugar. You don't need much as the Maple syrup topping will offer much sticky sweetness.

So, you now have all your dry ingredients in the mixing bowl. Now it's time to prepare the wet stuff.

Crack an egg in a small mixing bowl and whisk

Add the milk and melted butter to the beaten egg and whisk together with a fork. Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture and pour in the egg mixture.

Whisk!

The batter should be slightly thick and lumpy

Now that the batter is ready let it sit for a few moments while you heat the frying pan. You'll need a fairly high heat and a knob of butter for each pancake. Heat the butter until it's frothy and sizzling.

Use a ladle to get equal sized pancakes

I always find the first pancake is a little wonky. Is that just me? Still tastes good but it usually takes the second or third attempt to get things perfect. Perhaps it takes that long for the frying pan to get to the correct temperature? One of life's little mysteries I suppose.

Cook on one side for around two to three minutes. You'll know when it's ready to turn when little bubbles appear on the top. Turn it over using a fish slice and cook for a further two/three minutes. The pancake should be nice a brown with a slightly crispy edge.