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Sainsbury’s Comic Relief Cookie Challenge!

Posted on by Abi

As a member of the Sainsbury’s Bank Family Blogger Network I was recently asked if I would like to create a cookie design in aid of comic relief 🙂

I’m always keen to get creative so I was happy to join in the fun. Five runners up will be picked from all the designs, Sainsbury’s Facebook fans will then vote for their overall favourite design to feature on the Comic Relief baking page.

This year Comic relief is all about Dinosaurs (with toes), so with this in mind….

Watch out there’s Dinos about!

Two of these dinos are sporting red noses and one has taken inspiration from the aptly name T-Spex red nose character.

Make your own Di-nose-saurs

150g/ 51/2 oz Butter (or Stork)

225g/ 8oz Plain Flour

125g/ 4 1/2 oz Caster Sugar

1 Tsp Vanilla Extract

For the Icing

The easiest way to ice biscuits is to use a Royal Icing, Sainsbury’s sell this ready to mix in a box 🙂

Small smarties or Silverspoon Coloured Choco Beans

Method

Rub together the butter and flour until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add in the vanilla extract and caster sugar and bring together with your hands to form a dough.

On a lightly floured surface roll out the dough, then cut out your Dinos.

Bake for about 10 mins in a 170C/350F oven, keep an eye on the biscuits to make sure they don’t burn.

Cool on a wire rack.

Mix up the royal icing. I usually devide this between several pots so I can mix up multiple colours. Using a fine piping bag ice the background colour onto your Dinosaur, you can also spread it on if you’d prefer. Leave for several hours to harden.

Once dry add a small white blob of icing to make the eye and leave to harden. Once dry add any final details such as smile, toes and pupil.

Finally using a blob of royal icing attach a red chocolate bean/smartie onto the nose of your Dino 🙂

The biscuits can take several hours to dry out completely, but it’s worth the wait as they can be stacked into a tin once finished without sticking together or damaging all your hard work!

Of course you can also customise your biscuits to make many other red nose characters. Our very own Spotty Crocodile made it into biscuit form sporting a dashing red nose!

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Rachel’s Organic Apple & Cinnamon Yogurt & Apple & Cinnamon Fudge Recipe!

Posted on by Abi

As any longtime reader of this blog will know I’m a huge fan of Rachel’s Organic yogurts. Last Christmas we made their fabulous Christmas Ice Cream Bombe, so when I heard they had brought out a new Limited Edition yogurt I was only too keen to try it. We also created our own recipe using the new flavour, Apple & Cinnamon Fudge!

The brand new Apple & Cinnamon yogurt is unfortunately a limited edition. I say unfortunately because it’s absolutely delicious and I could happily have a pot in my fridge at all times. The fresh tang of apple mixed with the dreamy creamy yogurt and spice of cinnamon is like Christmas in a pot! I sincerely believe that everyone should try this new flavour before they lose the opportunity, it’s just that yummy!

I love the Rachel’s Organic website for the recipes they provide, so I eagerly browsed for a recipe using my favourite new flavour. When I discovered that none existed I turned to my husband and his fudge making skills and he created this scrumptious Apple & Cinnamon fudge.


Festive Apple & Cinnamon Fudge

5 Tbsp Double Cream

5 Tbsp Rachel’s Organic Apple & Cinnamon Yogurt

25g Unsalted Butter

450g Granulated Sugar

Heat the cream, sugar and butter in a pan on a low heat until the sugar is completely dissolved. Add the yogurt and heat until 120C, making sure to continue stirring while heating so the mixture does not catch on the bottom of the pan. Remove the pan from the heat and beat until the mixture begins to thicken. Pour into a prepared pan and leave to cool.

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Chicken, Leek, Port Salut and Mushroom Fricassee, with Wholemeal Croutons

Posted on by Abi

Today I am sharing another wonderful recipe by Jean-Christophe Novelli and Port Salut. Having made this recently we can certainly recommend it! 🙂

Ingredients:

4 x skinned and boneless chicken breasts (cut into thin strips)

2 leeks, trimmed, washed and cut into thin slices

2 x spring onions (trimmed and chopped into thin roundels)

1 clove of garlic (peeled and crushed)

100g chestnut or button mushrooms (sliced)

100g Port Salut (thinly sliced)

50g Port Salut (cut into cubes)

50g breadcrumbs

75ml double cream

25g butter

1 bunch of chives (chopped)

4 slices of wholemeal bread (cut into fingers)

25ml olive oil

1/2 tsp dried herbs

1/2 glass white wine

1 tsp paprika

For the wholemeal croutons:

Place the bread fingers on a baking tray. Brush with olive oil and dried herbs and season with cracked pepper.

Bake in a hot oven until crisp and golden brown, serve on a side plate alongside the fricassée

Method:

Heat a griddle pan, brush the chicken strips with a little olive oil and season with salt, pepper and paprika.

Char-grill the chicken until well coloured and cooked through, remove from the pan and keep warm.

In a large saucepan, melt the butter over a low heat and then add the leeks and spring onions and sweat until tender.

Add the garlic and mushrooms and continue to cook until the mushrooms are tender and soft.

Add the white wine and cream, and bring to the boil.

Add 100g of Port Salut (thinly sliced) and simmer until the cheese is melted and the sauce is thick, and then sprinkle in the chives.

Add the strips of chicken and stir until coated with sauce.

Place in an oven proof serving dish and set to one side.

In a bowl combine the remaining 50g of Port Salut (cut into small cubes) with the breadcrumbs and scatter over the top of the dish.

Bake in a pre heated oven (160⁰C) until the crumbs are crisp and golden and the cheese has melted (approx. 15 minutes).

 

 

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