There's a Christmas Baking festival...

funkypixie · Thu Dec 21, 2006 9:19 pm

in my kitchen!

I seem to be going a bit mad this year. So far I've made 100 or so gingerbread biscuits (stars, hearts christmas trees, apple and flower shapes), 60 mini mince pies, 50 mini meringue nests and 24 peppermint slices.

Tomorrow it's jam tarts, chocolate tarts, caramel shortcake and truffles!

I may the size of a small house by the end of New Year - if I get a look in that is

Ah well, off to do the washing up now.

Anna x

Wombat · Post: # 44241Post **Wombat** » Fri Dec 22, 2006 1:09 am

Well......................*taps foot*

Where's my invite!

Nev

funkypixie · Fri Dec 22, 2006 8:45 am

Come on over Nev - there's always room for one more

Chickpea · Post: # 44321Post **Chickpea** » Sat Dec 23, 2006 2:27 pm

I love Christmas baking, it really puts me in the mood. Yesteray I made a spiced pumpkin cake that was beautiful and moist, and my daughter polished off about half of it before it had a chance to cool. It'll definitely become a regular part of our repertoire.

Wombat · Post: # 44329Post **Wombat** » Sat Dec 23, 2006 8:58 pm

funkypixie wrote:Come on over Nev - there's always room for one more

Cool, Let me know your address (I may take a while to get there

)

Nev

Millymollymandy · Sun Dec 24, 2006 6:30 am

I have to make more mince pies today. They don't last long in this household - only 2 of us but we adore them!

Millymollymandy · Sun Dec 24, 2006 6:31 am

Chickpea wrote:I love Christmas baking, it really puts me in the mood. Yesteray I made a spiced pumpkin cake that was beautiful and moist, and my daughter polished off about half of it before it had a chance to cool. It'll definitely become a regular part of our repertoire.

Don't suppose you have the recipe handy do you? I've only tried one pumpkin cake recipe (French) and it wasn't very exciting, so need something else to do other than pumpkin pie!

Chickpea · Post: # 44365Post **Chickpea** » Sun Dec 24, 2006 4:48 pm

The recipe is at:
http://www.dianaskitchen.com/page/favorite/pmpbrd.htm

Don't worry that it's called "pumpkin bread", it's not bread, it's cake. I didn't bother with all the different spices, I just used 2tsps of ground mixed spice. I also used SR flour instead of plain (all-purpose) flour and baking powder.

But apart from that I followed the recipe to the letter!

Millymollymandy · Sun Dec 24, 2006 5:46 pm

Thanks a lot Chickpea! That sounds great - so does the one that's similar with walnuts in it.

I'll be trying this when I've eaten all the Christmas goodies

. Help!

Happy Christmas!

Millymollymandy · Tue Jan 02, 2007 1:34 pm

I'm going to make this cake this afternoon as I made some pumpkin puree yesterday.

Will report back later!

Millymollymandy · Thu Jan 04, 2007 12:13 pm

Hmmmmmm. Well, it tastes divine, but it's more like a stodgy slab of bread pudding than any kind of cake or loaf. It managed to rise up all of about 1.5 inches as well!!!

I was concerned about the single teaspoon of baking powder right from the start. Also I really don't understand the need for the water in the recipe.

Will carry on looking for another cake recipe which uses pumpkin and spices, but they are not easy to find!

Chickpea · Post: # 45148Post **Chickpea** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 2:56 pm

Well, like I said I used SR flour instead of what the recipe said. Mine rose fine and was cake-y, like a moist slightly stodgey cake, a bit like a Jamaica ginger cake, but not pudding-y definitely.

I invented a pumpkin recipe last night and Mr Pea and I enjoyed it:

Pumpkin Griddle Cakes

1lb pumpkin pieces simmered in a little water, strained and lightly mashed with a fork. make sure you strain them well, squeezing a bit if need be to remove excess water.
2oz butter - melt into mashed pumpkin and mix well
Salt, pepper, nutmeg - mix into buttery pumpkin mash
4oz wholemeal plain flour - stir into other ingredients.
This makes a sort of sticky dough. Heat a frying pan and oil with a little butter. Then using your fingers make a few walnut-sized pieces of pumpkin dough and drop onto the frying pan. Fry until golden on one side (only about a minute if pan is hot enough) then turn over, and squash down a bit with the back of a spatula to make flattened cakes about 1/4" or so thick. Fry until golden on that side, then remove from pan and keep them warm whilst you cook the remaining batches of pumpkin griddle cakes.

Millymollymandy · Thu Jan 04, 2007 5:36 pm

Mmmmmm that sounds nice too! I've tried Ina's potato scones (which are griddle cakes) which I really enjoyed but with pumpkin sounds delish!

Oh dear looks like I will just have to make that pumpkin cake again only this time with more baking powder. What a shame.