Skip to main content
WHO ATE ALL THE PIES?


Well, we did actually.  I bought a box of twelve last week and there are only two left.

Now some might find that quite restrained, but for us it's positively naughty.   Mr. as I've previously mentioned, doesn't have an overly sweet tooth, but at Christmas, he morphs into an eating machine.

Today, I decided to have a go at homemade, again. I have not had much success producing the kind of mince pies I like to eat. Last year's offering, a good example, had excellent tooth chipping properties. They would have gone down well on a clay pigeon shoot (as clays, not edibles).

This year I decided to use a pastry blender, instead of the food processor as I thought this might help with a lighter pastry. So armed with said trusty blender and a new pastry recipe,  orange and almond pastry, I set to work.

How did that Snowball get there, hic!

Well I have to say that my arms and wrists are the weakest part of my body.  I'm like a Tyrannosaurus Rex, mahoosive leg strength and tiny puny arms!  On top of this, I injured my wrists last year, and they didn't like using the blender .  I'd also doubled the ingredients, but found that it wouldn't come together properly so  I thought, sod it, put it in the processor and it came together with the juice of a whole orange.  I taste tested it raw and it was really delicious.


I used shop bought mincemeat that I doctored with booze.  I have recently just found a recipe that is suet-less on Fenland Lottie's blog, which I have now added to my recipe collection and will use when I've used up what I have.


Now again, the pies were not a success, in my view, as my pastry/mincemeat ratio was off. I was trying to be healthy and rolled my pastry too thin, It's Christmas, what was I thinking! Mr. said they were lovely though and liked the thinner pastry,  bless him (I think it was the 70% mincemeat myself).  He's already polished off three of them and I only made them an hour ago, yep he's a  human hoover,











Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

SPRING HAS SPRUNG! Windows and doors have been flung open in the last few days,  to let in the unusually warm air.  I'm breaking out my summer clothing already!  Can't last Mr says, as there is a cold snap coming.... what a happy little soul! We've  moved the bench to the top of the garden again, as the lengthening days mean the sun remains there the longest.  It was still light at 6.00pm yesterday and we made the most of it sitting watching the birds on the feeder,  robins,  great, tufted, blue and long tailed tits, sparrows, when suddenly a sparrow hawk swooped straight across the garden and sadly that was the last of the bird activity, as they all had the sense to stay hidden.  Last year a sparrow hawk did this, again right in front of us, but it took a bird, which although is only nature at its rawest,  was still quite shocking. It's much the same when we walk the dogs, with skylarks swooping about in pairs, performing what I...
Post a Comment
Read more
TULIPS,  SOURDOUGH,  MANDALAS...OH, AND SNOW! I cannot believe we are already almost halfway through February.....where did January go for goodness sake? I've been treating myself to tulips, for which I'm a bit of a sucker, with this delicious bunch reminding me of rhubarb and custard sweets f or some reason. My affection for tulips at this time of year stems from the fact that they don't elicit itchy watery eyes and snotty, sniffly noses, symptoms that daffodils do.  Having said that, I have some Tete a Tete in the kitchen that will be coming into flower soon, so better stock up on the tissues. This bunch also called to me.....well, you can't have too many can you? I thought how nice they would look with  some sort of matching doily underneath them and a mandala sprang to mind.  I chose to this pattern one for it's design and colour palette and it proved to be an easy little make. The photo does not show the true colours, quelle suprise, as...
2 comments
Read more
The house felt a little nude, once Christmas had been removed, so I had a good tidy and clean, and up went the little twinkly lights and out come the candles. The weather here has been lovely for this time of year,  a bit of sunshine most days and the odd gorgeous sunset, this one taken from my bathroom window this week. I usually find January quite a hard month, like many people, so to remedy this we embrace the hygge.   I treated myself to this little book a while ago,  a lovely little read, just right for this time of year.  It's recommendations are really nothing new to this household. but it's nice that it now has a name. We're making time for long, bracing walks every afternoon, then coming home, lighting the fire and candles and snuggling down with very contented and tired dogs, for the evening. Sofa hogs! We 're eating lots of  comfort food,  last nights offering being free range sausages, puy lentils, peppers, ...
Post a Comment
Read more