Gingerbread Henna Hand

Gregory's Gingerbread Henna Hand

Great job Greg - high five!!!!!

Ingredients

• 350g/12oz plain flour plus extra for rolling out
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
  
• 2 tsp ground ginger
  
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 125g/4½oz butter
• 175g/6oz light soft brown sugar
  
• 1 free-range egg
• 4 tbsp golden syrup

To decorate

• writing icing (Henna colour)
• cake decorations

Method

• Sift together the flour, bicarbonate of soda, ginger and cinnamon and pour into the 4ltr Stainless Bowl.
• Add the butter and rub together until the mix looks like breadcrumbs. 
• Using the Small Mix n Scraper stir in the sugar.
• Lightly beat the egg and golden syrup together using a Bamboo Spoon, add to the Stainless Mixing Bowl and stir until the mixture clumps together. 
• Tip the dough out, knead briefly until smooth, wrap in clingfim and leave to chill in the fridge for 15 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. 
• Roll the dough out to a 0.5cm/¼in thickness on a lightly floured surface. 
• Using cutters, cut out the gingerbread shapes and place on Rectangle Baking Stone, leaving a gap between them. 
• Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until lightly golden-brown. Leave on the stone for 10 minutes and then move to a Stackable Cooling Rack to finish cooling. 
• When totally cooled decorate with the writing icing or cake decorations.

Pampered Chef Spring Roadshow 2012

Terrified!  Why, when I've done almost 600 Cooking Shows during the past 8 years, was doing a demo infront of 150 of my peers different? Well, that's just it isn't it?  All 150 of them know what I should be doing so I have to do it well - no, just good isn't good enought for me, nothing less than brilliant would do!

Introduction, recipe and wrap-up in 30 minutes - ok that's do-able; pushing it - but do-able!  Recipe choice, hmmm a tricky one;  no cooking facilities and ingredients need to survive in a cooler bag for most of the day and still look presenatable (thank goodness it's not likely to be eaten after that amount of time out of the fridge!)

In a flash of culinary inspiration - no-cook pizza sprang to mind!  Easy... cook base in advance - chop, assemble and grate it's done (that is meant to be grate - as in cheese) but, even if I say so myself, it was a  great success!!!! 

A good old Pampered Chef favourite fitted the bill - chilled fresh croissant dough forms a crust and bakes to perfection with Athenian style toppings adding a cool twist to this tasty appetizer - perfect!

Cool Athenian Wedges

• 1 packet (240 g) chilled fresh ready to bake dough for six croissants
• 1 packet (200 g) full fat soft cheese, softened
• 1½ tsp mayonnaise
• 2 tbsp green or Italian basil pesto
• 1 clove garlic, pressed
• 4 sundried tomatoes, drained and finely chopped
• 4 tbsp chopped green pepper
• 50 g/1 ¾ oz pitted black olives, sliced
• 25 g/1 oz fresh Parmesan cheese, grated
• 2 tbsp fresh parsley or basil leaves, minced

1.      Preheat oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas 6. Unroll croissant dough and divide into triangles. Arrange triangles in a circle on Medium Round Stone with narrow ends toward centre. Using lightly floured Baker’s Roller, roll dough to form 30 cm/12-in circle; press to seal perforations. Bake 12-15 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool completely.

2.      In Classic Batter Bowl, combine soft cheese, mayonnaise, pesto and garlic pressed with Garlic Press; mix well.  Spread soft cheese mixture evenly over top of crust. Finely chop sundried tomatoes using Utility Knife. Chop green pepper using Food Chopper. Slice black olives with Egg Slicer Plus.

3.       Sprinkle tomatoes, green pepper and olives over soft cheese mixture. Grate cheese over top using Fine Microplane Grater. Mince parsley using Manual Food Processor or Crinkle Cutter. Sprinkle over top. Cut into wedges using Pizza Cutter; serve using Mini-ServingSpatula.

Serves 4 as a meal
Serves 8 as an appetizer
Serves 20 as a canape

  .

Berry hearts

Sunday afternoons are meant to be lazy, leisurely events... A cup of tea in the sunshine and these attractive - and very simple to make -  Berry Hearts make me think of long summer days and the delicious juicy fresh flavours that are so abundant!  Once again this recipe is from Debbie at Slimming World and is absolutely scrummy!

Serves: 4

Syns per serving:   5.5 Syns on Extra Easy, Green or Red

Ingredients 

100g/3½oz puff pastry
100g/3½oz fat free natural fromage frais
57g/2oz quark
2 tbsp artificial sweetener
a few drops of rose water
340g/12oz mixed berries
icing sugar to dust

• Preheat the oven to 220°C/425°F/Gas 7. 
• Divide the pastry into 4 equal portions and using the Baker's Roller, roll each one to make a 4-5in square. 
• Cut a heart shape from each pastry square and place on a Rectangle Stone.
• With a sharp Utility Knife score a border, about  ¼ - ½ inch from the edge of each heart. 
• Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes until the pastry has risen and is slightly golden. 
• Remove from the oven and place on the Stackable Cooling Rack to cool, push down the centres of the hearts gently to make a case for the filling.
• Place fromage frais, quark and sweetener into Classic Batter Bowl and using the Double Balloon Whisk beat them together.
• Measure the Rose Water using the Adjustable Measuring Spoons and add to fromage frais mixture.
• Using the Easy Accent Decorator pipe mixture onto the bases of each heart. 
• Top with the berries and serve dusted with a little icing sugar (use the Flour/Sugar Shaker to do this for ease).

Chef's tip: Prepare the pastry case and the creamy filling in advance, and then assemble when you are ready to serve.

Gregory's Bear Biscuit - decorated cookie

A big thank you to Miss Lamb at school for teaching Gregory to decorate his bear biscuit beautifully. He had so much fun! (It was yummy too.....)  Check out Miss Lamb's cake creations, she's very clever!

Cookies

Ingredients

• 250g/9oz unsalted butter, softened

• 250g/9oz golden caster sugar
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten

• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• 500g/1lb 2oz plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 200g/7oz ready-to-roll fondant icing
• 1 tbsp apricot jam, warmed with 1tsp water

Preparation method

1. Beat together the butter and sugar in a 4lt Stainless Mixing Bowl, until the mixture is light and fluffy.
2. Beat in the eggs and vanilla extract (measured with Adjustable Measuring Spoons). (If the mixture looks a little curdled, add a spoonful of the flour.) If you’re using food colouring, add a few drops to the mixture.
3. Sift together the flour and baking powder in a separate bowl. Stir the flour into the butter mixture and work into a dough using floured hands. Turn onto a floured work surface and knead into a ball (the dough will be quite wet). Divide the dough into two portions, wrap in cling film and leave to chill in the fridge for at least one hour.
4. Preheat the oven to 170C/325F/Gas 3..
5. Roll the dough out to a 0.5cm/¼in thickness on lightly floured work surface. (It’s best to roll out one portion of the dough at a time, leaving the remainder in the fridge.) Cut shapes out with the your favours shaped cutters.
6. Place the cookies onto a Rectangle Stone or Medium Sheet Pan, leaving a gap between them in case they spread a little.
7. Bake for 12-15 minutes, leave on the tray for 10 minutes and then move to a Stackable Cooling Rack to finish cooling.
8. Once cool, let your imagination go crazy!
9. Using the Bakers Roller, roll the fondant icing out to a 0.5cm/¼in thickness on a work surface dusted with icing sugar and cut out shapes using the same cutters as the cookies.
10. Using the Chefs Silicone Basting Brush, brush the cookies with the warmed apricot jam and stick the icing onto the cookies.