School holidays are nearing an end. I didn't think I'd make it this far without holiday club (school during the holidays) or babysitting, but I have. We have. We've done days out, adventures, sleepovers, play dates, painting, slime-making, finger-painting, gardening, swinging and sliding, swimming, crafting and baking.

Oh, the baking.

We've baked everything - bread, this apple cake using our own apples, cakes in various guises, brownies, these cheese scones (a lot), and these chocolate biscuits. It's Nigella's recipe for Granny Boyd's Biscuits. It's available in various places online, but I got mine out of a very well-used copy of How to be a Domestic Goddess. 

They're delicious. Properly yummy melt-in-the-mouth ala chocolate shortbread delicious. The only way that you could improve this recipe would be to add chopped hazelnuts. Finnlay loved these so much that he carried around the airtight container everywhere he went, shaking them with an insistent chant of mama to get my attention so that I might just possibly open up the tub and give him one or two. They didn't last long at all!

Granny Boyd's Biscuits

Ingredients:

300g Self-Raising Flour
30g Cocoa Powder
250g Unsalted Butter (room temperature)
125g Caster Sugar

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 170 degrees C.
• Sieve Flour and Cocoa Powder and set it aside.
• Cream butter and sugar till light and pale in colour.
• Mix in flour mixture, it might look like it needs liquid, but keep working the ingredients in and it will form a dough. [Just keep going. Don't give in to the temptation to add something. It's going to work out, I promise.]
• Roll into walnut-sized balls and arrange these on the baking sheets.
• Flatten these balls with the back of a fork.
• Bake for 5mins at 170 degrees C and then turn the temperature down to 150 degrees C for a further 10-15mins.
• The biscuits should feel firm on top although not hard. Remove from the oven and transfer to cool on wire rack, before storing in air-tight container. [or eat straight away. I won't judge you.]

We've been back in London for just over a week now, and my, how things have changed. The sun is only half up by 8am, and it lazily goes back to bed by 3pm. Temperatures are dropping down to 1'C, and the first snow fell this morning.

But the thing is - I kinda love this time of year in London. It's festively alight with fairy lights and glitter, and the whole world looks like you're viewing it through a bokeh filter on a camera.
















See what I mean? (The pic, above, is by Axel Bührmann and seems very fitting for this time of year!).

And what's more christmassy than gingerbread and egg nog, minus the egg nog (ew)?

Gingerbread cookies!
















As you can see, I'm still very much in the wedding swing of things. I can't resist adding an iced heart to the batch when baking cookies!

These came about when shopping for Christmas gifts for our UK-based family. I needed something suitable for an arty 5-year old that would keep him busy with novelty value. Phew. So, after much deliberation, I chose a gingerbread making kit from Mason and Cash that comes with a lovely gingerbread cutter, a mini mixing bowl and a mini rolling pin and wooden spoon set.


And while I was there, I also noticed these. A family of gingerbread cutters! Those were for me. As it happens, I also got the little 'un a book called 'Dress Your Gingerbread' which looks like heaps of fun, and a selection of Dr Oetker cake decoration goodies.






















I particularly like the back cover which features the Lion with the caption: 'Eat me! I'm Roarsome!' The recipe in the book makes 4 large biscuits which is more than enough for little hands, but I was after something spicy with extra ginger, so I used the recipe on the side of the Gingerbread Kit box (which just so happens to be this recipe, from the BBC). I didn't use a food processor - I used my hands, the old-fashioned way! - and I added in an extra sprinkling of ginger.






















I wanted 'old fashioned' gingerbread decorations, so I gave the big ones stitched lines on their legs and arms, with giant Smarties buttons for the boys. The girls got aprons and dainty pink pearl buttons because they like to bake and look glamorous. The little ones were done much the same way, without the appendage detailing and with silver balls instead of Smarties for the boys.















... and hearts. I was so tempted to make one with a grumpy face, but nothing could dampen my festive baking glee. Okay - and, I was also tempted to add just one with a skeleton painted on instead of the normal cheery grin.

But that's not all. Oh no. If you call now, you also get - gingerbread cake. Egad, gingerbread in cake form? Fantastic.
















It is a rich, sticky, treacle-y cake iced that needs to be nibbled on with a cup of tea or coffee. It reeks of Christmas with a combination of cinnamon and ginger that would make an excellent addition to a Starbucks Brew.

I used Nigella's recipe for Fresh Gingerbread with Lemon Icing, doubled the amount of ginger and cinnamon (I was feeling festive) and grated orange zest into the cake batter. I also replaced the lemon in the icing with orange. I don't own a baking tray big enough for a cake this size so I used a glass Pyrex dish and learnt, through frantic Internet research before baking, that to compensate for the glass you should lower the cooking temperature by 25'C. It worked perfectly.

The gingerbread cake was delicious, although a bit heavy on the treacle which seemed to overpower the other tastes in the cake The (doubled) cinnamon and ginger combination came as an afterthought when tasting the cake but it still had a distinct gingerbread taste (and smell!) about it that rocked my kitchen. Yum.

Here's a link to the Gingerbread Cookie Recipe: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/christmas_gingerbread_84244
- very tasty biscuits. Don't overwork the dough, and do add in more spice!

Here's a link to Nigella's Fresh Gingerbread with Lemon Icing: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Fresh-Gingerbread-with-Lemon-Icing-105095
- my version of the recipe, in How to be a Domestic Goddess uses golden syrup instead of corn syrup, so I'd use that.

Long weekends are lovely things. They're late-sleepy, catch-uppy and friendly. I like them very much.

I've been scouring the shops around here in London looking for a pork-free gelatine. It's much more difficult than it sounds: pork is the preferred medium of the English, it seems. Luckily, the cheaper range of Dr Oetker delivers a beef-based gelatine which, while sounding particularly revolting, works just as well.

And so it was that I found myself stirring away at boiled sugar this weekend, with Delicious Magazine's marshmallow recipe and a flurry of internet searches to investigate measuring melted sugar without a sugar thermometer.






















With a cover as beautiful as this, how can you resist? This is one of the few magazines I buy and hold on to - their photographs are spectacular in every issue, and they always have something that I want to try. Perfect for building a good recipe collection, and perfect for lie-ins on a Saturday morning when you want something nice to page through in bed. With coffee.

















So here we are - back to this weekend - melting golden (maple) syrup with castor sugar, panicking about measuring the temperature accurately without a sugar thermometer (which I have now ordered! Turns out Nigella's sugar-thermometer-less-test is to drop some mixture into ice water and see if it turns into a malleable, soft ball of goo. If it does, you're ready. If it dissolves, let it boil for longer, and if it is immediately solid and immovable, you've gone too long) ... and wondering how this could possibly be the recipe for 'plain' white marshmallows with all that brown syrup ...

















It turns out that the longer it whizzes around in the mixer, the cloudier it becomes. It's like magic -- or science.

















This is a giant slab of marshmallow. I flavoured it with Innocent Smoothie (strawberry and banana) which makes it a rather peachy shade of orange. According to the recipe, you whizz the marshmallow mixture until it becomes perfectly bubblegummy, and then you pour it carefully into a clingfilm-lined baking tray to set. When you take it out of the tray, you have one enormous marshmallow that you slice into smaller blocks.


Once you've sliced it, you dust it with corn flour to get it smooth and dusty or roll it in dessicated coconut if you prefer a coconut coating. I tried both. I think that the buildings of Oompa Loompa Land must be made of marshmallow bricks -- they have a lovely sense of rigidity about them, whilst retaining that sweet, squishy marshmallow goodness that you expect.

















They turned out rather well! Although, I must admit, strawberry and banana Innocent Smoothie is definitely not the best choice: I'd rather make them again using plain water for the liquid, or something a little less sweet like Baileys. 


That, in the background, is a plate piled high with delicious Blueberry Muffins straight out of Nigella's book How to be a Domestic Goddess. It's a simple recipe (recipe here on Nigella's website) but it's fairly quick to put together and the resulting muffins are delicious.






















I added in some orange zest to give it a bit of zing - I suspect that vanilla extract would be equally delicious though. Robyn, thank you again for my grater - I hardly ever bake without it!

















... and stir in the blueberries. I'd definitely, definitely use smaller blueberries if you have the option. When you bake them, the blueberries burst and make the surrounding muffin dough a bit gooey. It is rather delicious, but not so much if your blueberries are enormous and take up half the muffin!


I love my muffin tin, but I'd definitely like to get a nice, extra deep tin that gives you tall, narrow muffins and cupcakes. I think that's the secret to the perfect baked cupcake (or in this case, muffin).

















They cook in about 20 minutes, so that gives you enough time to make a cup of coffee and get out the butter for a 'hot muffin tea'. Gosh, I'm English.





















I'm very happy with the way these turned out. The recipe gives you just enough batter to make 12 tall-ish muffins that are bursting with blueberries and are very easy to look at with a great sense of baking success. Ideal for tea, perfect for showing off a bit.

I've been craving Coffee and Walnut cake ever since reading Andrea's blog post and seeing her pictures here. Yes, you can get one from Tesco for about £1.00, but there's something so mass produced about the generic loaf with minuscule smatterings of espresso icing - and something so decadent about being in control of the amount of butter or icing sugar that goes into your very own cake. Besides, there's none of that cake panic that accompanies buying a Tesco cake. It has already risen. It has already done battle with the fluctuating temperature demons that lurk in the oven. This lack-of-panic may be seen as a good thing but sometimes - sometimes - you want to verify your baking genius or karmic good luck and actually watch a sponge grow to the right size with the right texture.

And so, I started hunting for a recipe. As luck would have it, Nigella came out tops again. It was in the second book I consulted: Nigella's Kitchen. You can get an online version of her recipe here.






















Here's my cake. It looks like a cake. I'm not sure you understand the profundity of that statement. For the first time since forever, I've baked a cake that, without much effort, turned out looking like a real cake with all the trimmings! Best of all, it even looked like the picture in the book! *chuffed* Did you happen to notice the yummy banana bread hiding in the background? G's favourite and a staple in the bakercourt home.

















It was a decadent cake full of icing and walnut chunks. The dollops pictured here are completely outrageous and completely necessary for a cakey confidence boost. Monday? Pssshaw - I have cake.






















Finally, here's the inside of the cake. It was moist, spongy, filled with walnutty goodness and iced with the most delicious buttercream icing. Yum. See how please Nigella looks in her red apron on the front of her book? Make this cake: you would be too!

I've been looking for a madeleine tin for the last six months, since I first happened upon Nigella Lawson's How to be a Domestic Goddess. She has a recipe for 'rosebud madeleines' which are beautiful little dainty baked goods that are the sugar-coated lace doilies of the baking world. So, you'd think that it would be fairly easy to happen upon a madeleine tin in London - the land of the baked goods, really - but oh no, that won't do at all. John Lewis, you might think. No, they've been sold out for the last six months. Robert Dyas, perhaps? No, they don't stock those - although the rest of the baking tins are on a 'buy one get one free deal', does that help? Marks and Spencer? Selfridges? No, and no again. If you want a madeleine tin, it seems, you have to resort to the internet. But that's sooo expensive, and so full of inferior baking tins and silicon whats-its.

Or, maybe, just maybe - Bath.

Because Bath has the most amazing store in the world: Kitchens. We discovered it last year as we were walking around the beautiful streets and shopping arcades. And, as a back-up plan, they also have a Lakeland store with two levels. And we all know what that means.

















It means that I'm the delighted owner of a Faringdon Madeleine Tin (which I had to travel 206km to find). It also means that after much moping, I've finally whipped together a batch of Rosebud Madeleine batter.

















I'm a messy baker, but it makes the baked goods taste better, I promise.

And you know what? They came out beautifully.

















They're light and spongy and dusted with icing sugar magic. They're flavoured with rosewater essence which is light and fragrant and particularly nice with coffee (surprisingly), but I think they'd be considerably nicer with orange or lemon zest, or a thick vanilla extract. (G says the rosebud madeleines smell like potpourri, not terribly flattering!)

















They're beautiful baked goods, I'm rather pleased I happened upon them. Here's another picture in case you wanted a second look. Just in case. I thought that the madeleine tin was going to be a whim purchase, something I wouldn't use that often, but they're so quick and easy to make that I think I'll happily bake these fairly often. Besides, they're particularly good for using up the leftover ingredients with the largest quantities of ingredients weighing in at 1egg, 50g of butter, 40g of sugar and 45g of flour! Recipe here.

I've been slowly baking my way through Nigella's recipe books. Like a lower-budget and less ambitious version of Julie & Julia, I plan to bake all of her earthly delights as we progress through 2011. I don't want to boil a lobster alive or tackle the famous beef bourguignon (although I  might just, for the sake of adding it to my repertoire), but the baking... Oo ... the baking. It helps having an office full of friendly people who always appreciate a little baked good here and there.