Haggis Soup, what else?

For some odd reason, I volunteered awhile ago to help with our little newsletter at work. So far, we have only had one edition!  This was partly because the three people doing this got extremely busy, and of course, Christmas and then there were a lot of changes going on so the newsletter was put on the back burner for a while.  But it will be back soon!  And we all agreed to have a theme with this one, and maybe all the rest that follow!  Due to the area we live, you cannot escape that January is Robert Burns' birthday month and Burns' Suppers and other celebrations surround us.  So that will be our theme.  It will be interesting to see how it all plays out.

Since we are not a huge company, our mission is to fill our few pages with interesting and relevant items.  We came up with some good ideas but then I suggested adding a recipe section. This was not a totally off the wall suggestion,  one of my favourite recipes was taken from a company newsletter when I worked for my first real job in Scotland - over 20 years ago.  A recipe I still use!  This suggestion was welcomed and then I suggested soup; great idea for this time of year.  What I had not factored on was the next suggestion to me, which was for me to make Haggis Soup and share that recipe.   Haggis Soup? Seriously?

So I did!  I located a few recipes online, one was even from a Texas blog written by an expat Scottish person.    I must admit I was surprised though, I thought you could not purchase Haggis in the US?  So I don't think I will link that blog here, just in case I draw attention to something!  In the picture, it was in a can, so it should be ok, but not going to risk it!

I found a very simple sounding recipe on BBC Food Recipes.  Having never even owned a Haggis before, I was not sure how to proceed. This recipe says to add the Haggis at almost the end of the process and boil/simmer for 5 minutes.  The packaging on the Haggis says to either boil for 45 minutes, microwave for 5 or bake in the oven, I don't have the packaging in front of me and I can't remember the timing for that.  However, I read this only at the time that I should have put the Haggis in the soup for 5 minutes!  So I just boiled/simmered the actual soup after adding the Haggis for 45 minutes!  Soup is soup, extra cooking time is not going to hurt it, in my opinion!

The soup is actually delicious, tastes just like a liquid Burns Supper. But who wants to drink a Burns Supper?  It was too rich for me!  I often take soup to my in-laws and they were the happy recipients of what was left of this experiment.  I have not yet heard if they enjoyed it or not, but will add that when I hear!

I also doubled this recipe, who makes soup for one?  And to be honest, it ended up making about 3 - 4 bowls of soup in my doubled version!   Recipe with no photos or comments follows at the end.

Haggis Soup 

Ingredients

1 tbsp oil
½ leek, diced
½ potato, peeled and diced
¼ swede, peeled and diced
¾pint chicken stock  (1 1/2 cups)
salt and freshly ground black pepper
85g-110g/3-4 oz haggis (The haggis I bought weighted a pound so I had to cut the very small amount suggested)



Just a note about what a Swede is, I had no idea when I moved to Scotland there there are turnips and swedes and these terms can be interchangeable - or not!  There are huge yellow turnips, which is what is commonly referred to as "Swede" and there are little white turnips that look more like what I grew up with.  And then, there is the Rutabaga!  This, in my opinion, is actually what a Swede would be to an American. But I will never be certain!  Let me correct that, I have only heard the term Rutabaga in the US, mainly the Midwest - and once in  a pub quiz here in Scotland!


Preparation method

Heat the oil in a pan and sauté the leek, potato and swede for a few minutes, to soften. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Pour in the chicken stock and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat, add the haggis and simmer for 10-12 minutes.

Remove from the heat and spoon into a soup bowl to serve.

Less than 30 mins
preparation time

10 to 30 mins
cooking time  (unless you make the decision I made to really overcook everything because you didn't know how to cook haggis to begin with!)

I think this would be a great way to use leftover Haggis, if there ever is such a thing!

Serves 1

This is a Nick Nairn recipe from Ready, Steady, Cook and was found on http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/haggissoup_82603

“Some hae meat and canna eat,

And some wad eat that want it,

But we hae meat and we can eat,

And sae the Lord be thankit.”

― Robert Burns

Haggis Soup 

Ingredients

1 tbsp oil
½ leek, diced
½ potato, peeled and diced
¼ swede, peeled and diced
¾pint chicken stock  (1 1/2 cups)
salt and freshly ground black pepper
85g-110g/3-4 oz haggis (The haggis I bought weighted a pound so I had to cut the very small amount
                                         suggested)

Preparation method
Heat the oil in a pan and sauté the leek, potato and swede for a few minutes, to soften. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Pour in the chicken stock and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat, add the haggis and simmer for 10-12 minutes.
Remove from the heat and spoon into a soup bowl to serve.

Less than 30 mins
preparation time

10 to 30 mins
cooking time

Serves 1

This is a Nick Nairn recipe from Ready, Steady, Cook and was found on http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/haggissoup_82603

My First Peanut Butter Bash!

The bars became part of my dessert party selection!

While innocently looking at other people's food blogs, I come across various challenges like the Christmas Cookie Swap where you have to qualify as a food blogger yourself before being able to participate.  I really enjoyed the cookie swap, even though it did not go as well for me as other years, and was delighted to discover the Peanut Butter Bash!  In the first instance of posting this, I did not know to put the link to the group so here it is:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/peanutbutterbash/

The rules for this are simple, there is a monthly vote on what ingredient to add to peanut butter and then publish your own creation on the 1st Thursday of the month.  Well, the first Thursday of the month unless that day falls on the first day of the year!  This year, after a frenzy of folks understandably saying that they could not meet the deadline due to holidays, the date was changed to the 8th!




Our son had come home from London for Christmas and I had planned my baking around sending him home with something on the 29th.  The deadline of the first of January seemed challenging but achievable.  Although I did manage to bake these bars, to have to meet the original deadline would have been stressful and I am very grateful it was pushed back a week!

After looking at the other members of this group, it appears that I may be the only non-US resident!  So I decided to focus only on British cookbooks and recipes for something different!

I do try to convert measurements from British to American systems, but I always put a disclaimer because it is only my estimates.  On one of my pages is a link with someone else's very hard work and converting a massive number of items!  Here is the link!  She and I exchanged Christmas cookies her last year living in Scotland. She has since moved back to the US and the blog name is changed is changed to American Cupcake Life, and is well worth a visit!

Taken from The Hummingbird Bakers "Cake Days"  Recipes to make every day special cookbook.

Chewy Monkey Bars   - the footnote states you can vary the nuts and dried fruits, but stick to the same weights and proportions indicated in the recipe.

Makes 12 bars depending on how you cut them of course!

120g (4 oz) 1/2 cup honey
  60g (2 oz) 1/4 cup unsalted butter
  60g (2 oz)  1/4 crunchy peanut butter
160g (5.5 oz) 3 cups white mini marshmallows
    1 tsp vanilla essence
100g (3.5 oz) 1 cup rolled oats
175g (6 oz)  5 cups puffed rice cereal (I used Rice Krispies)
175g (6 oz)  1/2 cup desiccated coconut
  40g (1.5 oz) 1/4 cup unsalted peanuts, roughly chopped ( I had to use hazelnuts because I could not find unsalted peanuts)
  40g (1.5 oz) 1/4 cup glace cherries, roughly chopped
100g (3.5 oz) 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips (minimum 70% chocolate)
  50g (1 3/4 oz) 1/2 cup chopped mixed nuts

One 22 x 31 cm (9 x 12.5 inch) baking tray  (mine was 9 x 13)

1.  Line the tray with baking parchment.  Place the honey in a saucepan with the butter, peanut butter, marshmallows and vanilla essence and melt together over a low heat.

As a result of doing this in a hurry, there are 2 problems evident in this picture:
1.  Pink mini marshmallows!  It is hard to find mini marshmallows in Scotland, so any colour will do!
2.  I added the Rice Krispies before reading that I shouldn't have done that.  I did pick most out, but another reason not to bake in a hurry!

2.  In a bowl, mix together the oats, rice cereal, coconut, peanuts, cherries and 2/3 of the chocolate chips.  Pour the warm, melted ingredients over this dry mixture, stirring together thoroughly to make sure all of the dry ingredients are evenly coated.  Press the mixture into the prepared baking tray.

3.  Melt the remaining chocolate chips in a microwave or in a glass bowl over a pan of simmering water.  Drizzle the melted chocolate over the top of the monkey bar mixture and sprinkle withe the chopped mixed nuts, then leave in the fridge for about 1 hour to set.  Once the mixture has set, it can be turned out on to a chopping board and sliced into 12 bars.

Another result of doing this too quickly, I chilled the mixture
before melting the chocolate to drizzle on top!
As a result, I have chunks of chocolate, which you will
see later, and no chopped mixed nuts on top!

3.  Melt the remaining chocolate chips in a microwave or in a glass bowl over a pan of simmering water.  Drizzle the melted chocolate over the top of the monkey bar mixture and sprinkle with the chopped mixed nuts, then leave in the fridge for about 1 hour to set.  Once the mixture has set, it can be turned out on to a chopping board and sliced into 12 bars.








Even with all the problems and mistakes, these bars were delicious! A very grown up version of those Rice Krispies bars!  I had not really noticed that was what they were when I chose this recipe, but everyone liked them and that was the important thing.

I was able to package some up and send off with Martin as he left for London.  On the way to the airport, we made a planned detour of attending the Glasgow Rocks basketball game at the Emirates Arena.  My husband is registered as one of the league's photographers so we thought this would be a nice way to end the visit.

The next day, I hosted  a dessert party and the rest of the bars made their appearance at this event! 

"Man cannot live by bread alone; he must have peanut butter."  James A. Garfield

Peanut Butter Bash  

Taken from The Hummingbird Bakers "Cake Days"  Recipes to make every day special cookbook.

Chewy Monkey Bars   - the footnote states you can vary the nuts and dried fruits, but stick to the same weights and proportions indicated in the recipe.

Makes 12 bars depending on how you cut them of course!

120g (4 oz) 1/2 cup honey
  60g (2 oz) 1/4 cup unsalted butter
  60g (2 oz)  1/4 crunchy peanut butter
160g (5.5 oz) 3 cups white mini marshmallows
    1 tsp vanilla essence
100g (3.5 oz) 1 cup rolled oats
175g (6 oz)  5 cups puffed rice cereal (I used Rice Krispies)
175g (6 oz)  1/2 cup desiccated coconut
  40g (1.5 oz) 1/4 cup unsalted peanuts, roughly chopped ( I had to use hazelnuts because I could not find unsalted peanuts)
  40g (1.5 oz) 1/4 cup glace cherries, roughly chopped
100g (3.5 oz) 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips (minimum 70% chocolate)
  50g (1 3/4 oz) 1/2 cup chopped mixed nuts

One 22 x 31 cm (9 x 12.5 inch) baking tray  (mine was 9 x 13)

1.  Line the tray with baking parchment.  Place the honey in a saucepan with the butter, peanut butter, marshmallows and vanilla essence and melt together over a low heat.

2.  In a bowl, mix together the oats, rice cereal, coconut, peanuts, cherries and 2/3 of the chocolate chips.  Pour the warm, melted ingredients over this dry mixture, stirring together thoroughly to make sure all of the dry ingredients are evenly coated.  Press the mixture into the prepared baking tray.

3.  Melt the remaining chocolate chips in a microwave or in a glass bowl over a pan of simmering water.  Drizzle the melted chocolate over the top of the monkey bar mixture and sprinkle withe the chopped mixed nuts, then leave in the fridge for about 1 hour to set.  Once the mixture has set, it can be turned out on to a chopping board and sliced into 12 bars.

Christmas Baking with Corbyn - Empire Biscuits

After having the pleasure of watching Corbyn perform in his school's Nativity Play (he was a sheep with one line!), I also got to pick him up from school the next day for an overnight stay!

I must admit it is a bit daunting to watch this little man grow up before our very eyes, but it is also a wonderful privilege to be able to spend so much time with him.  After moving so far away from my family, I know how precious this time is.  But to hear how he had his whole schedule planned with precision was a surprise!  Corbyn wanted to bake, of course, watch a movie we just bought as a result of Christmas shopping on the way home and he also wanted to play Zoo Tycoon.  This was all accomplished with enough time for a lovely bedtime story!

Corbyn originally requested baking chocolate muffins but then grabbed his "My Baking Journal" and found the Empire Biscuits recipe instead.  Once I told him they were his grandfather's favourites, it became a mission for Corbyn to make these for a Christmas gift for his GaGa!

I must admit, these biscuits are one of my favourites also.  However, I never expected them to be so easy to make, requiring very little in the way of ingredients too.  My only complaint about  the way the recipe is written is that it didn't say how many biscuits to expect.  I got 8 altogether, And I had to guess how big 1cm is!  Today I put a ruler on my cookbook shelf so I can refer to that next time!

When baking with Corbyn, it is always fast and furious, so there are not equivalents or US measurements.  I apologize for that.  But we did have fun baking!



Recipe with no photos or notes follows at the end.

Empire Biscuits

Ingredients:

170g Butter
  55g Caster Sugar
225g Plain Flour
Strawberry Jam

1.  Preheat oven to 150C and grease two baking tins.

2.  Cream the butter and sugar together.

3.  Gradually mix in the flour until the mixture forms a stiff dough.

4.  Roll out the dough to 1cm thick and use a round cutter to make an even number of biscuits.  My round cutter seemed too big, so we used a wine glass!

5.  Bake for 20 - 30 minutes.

6.  Place on a wire rack to cool.

7.  Once cool, stick together two biscuits using a dollop of jam.

Ice with Glace Icing:

125g Icing Sugar (Powdered Sugar)
1 Tablespoon warm water

1.  Sift sugar into bowl.  Slowly add water until the icing becomes thick enough to cover the back of a spoon.

2.  Add more water if needed - one drop at a time.

Empire Biscuits often have gum drops on top but I don't like them, so we put M&M's on them.

Joke taken from the "My Baking Journal" - 

"What do elves make sandwiches with?

Shortbread!"

Empire Biscuits

Ingredients:

170g Butter
  55g Caster Sugar
225g Plain Flour
Strawberry Jam

1.  Preheat oven to 150C and grease two baking tins.

2.  Cream the butter and sugar together.

3.  Gradually mix in the flour until the mixture forms a stiff dough.

4.  Roll out the dough to 1cm thick and use a round cutter to make an even number of biscuits.

5.  Bake for 20 - 30 minutes.

6.  Place on a wire rack to cool.

7.  Once cool, stick together two biscuits using a dollop of jam.

Ice with Glace Icing:

125g Icing Sugar (Powdered Sugar)
1 Tablespoon warm water

1.  Sift sugar into bowl.  Slowly add water until the icing becomes thick enough to cover the back of a spoon.

2.  Add more water if needed - one drop at a time.


Empire Biscuits often have gum drops on top but I don't like them, so we put M&M's on them.

And so the Christmas season begins!

Looks like I have missed over a month since last posting!  That does not mean I have been doing nothing!  I have one post ready and waiting to go for the Christmas Cookie Swap post we all have to post on the same day.  And I have been travelling with my niece and my husband to Germany for Thanksgiving with my friend and also a massive amount of Christmas markets - here is one of the blogs from that trip.  The one I did for Thanksgiving Day.

We also had a day trip to Dublin last week.  This was a girls' day out with my Daughter and my Niece - A Day in Dublin.  If you read this, you will realise I was a bit under the weather following this day, but not for the expected reason.  No I was not hungover, but suffered from either a very abbreviated flu as a result of getting a flu shot and not getting really, really ill, or having a virus as one of my more medically experienced friends is convinced happened.....either way, this weekend of lunches and parties could have come a bit later as far as I am concerned.  That is not to say I did not enjoy every minute though!

First was a 3 course festive lunch with my oldest friend in Scotland, at Beresford's.  We used to meet once a week for coffee, but after 25 years and life itself, she now lives on the other side of Scotland, so we meet when we can....





On the same day, a few hours later, I was part of a group of 8 at Prestwick Airport Aviator Suite at a party to support our local and beautiful Gaiety Theatre.

The night started so slowly that all these adults began to act like bored children and I was very concerned since this was my idea....

but the entertainment turned out to be amazing, as well as the company, and we all had an amazing time.

Some of the men sporting new "hats" as a result of raffle prizes.

I



including phenomenal luck with the raffle - 7 out of 8 of us won a prize!

Alan collecting the star prize!

We danced the night away, which was totally unexpected, and with all the photographers in our crowd, we got some fun shots!   I gave up and let Alan and Bill do all that work!

I wonder what everyone else thought?  Selfies on the dance floor! What fun it was!  

                             And we even got a family group shot before we left the building.

As if I had not had enough fun for a weekend, I was expecting to host another festive event on Saturday, lunch for 6!

Baked a little chicken- stuffing with one lemon and a bay leaf, on top - sea salt with Scottish Heather mixed in

So I planned very carefully to ensure I had time.

after roasting!  looks yummy just like that!

I also cut the vegetables and had the stock all ready just to dump in at the right time.

Playing the Christmas Gift dice game after dinner

So there was time to relax and enjoy the company!  Plus they all loved it!  Easy, tasty, not too high in calories dinner, does it get better than that?

Corbyn examining his Mum's winning cookie maker kit!

Here is what we ate:

Starter - pate, doesn't get easier than that, plus Sue brought some frozen goodies to add to this.

Main course - Believe it or not - taken from Weightwatchers "The Complete Kitchen" cookbook!  Zippy Chicken and Broccoli Tagliatelle.  This was  tremendous hit!  And it was so easy!

Dessert - Brownie sundae, using a mix the day before and chopping up some peppermint Hershey's kisses I was lucky enough to have on hand!  Catherine also brought an amazing Banoffee Pie. It was so delicious - I begged her to take it away with her when she left, but she didn't.  Ok, there isn't any left now!

Zippy Chicken and Broccoli Tagliatelle

10 Propoints Values per recipe
10 minutes preparation
10 minutes cooking

Serves 2

125g (4 1/2 oz dried tagliatelle)
125g (4 1/2 oz Broccoli, cut into small florets
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 garlic clove, sliced
1/2 red chilli, de-seeded and diced
2 ripe tomatoes, chopped roughly
150ml (5 fluid oz) chicken stock
150g (5 1/2 oz) skinless cooked chicken breast, diced
grated zest of 1/2 a lemon + 1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
15g (1/2 oz) freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1.  Bring a saucepan of water to the boil, add the pasta and return to the boil.  Cook for 10 minutes until tender or follow the packet instructions.  Add the broccoli for the last 3 minutes.

2.  Meanwhile, place the oil, garlic and chilli in a saucepan and heat for 1 minute or until the garlic just starts to turn golden.  Add the tomatoes and cook for 1 minute so they start to soften then add the stock and chicken and simmer for 3 - 4 minutes.

3.  Drain the pasta and broccoli then mix with the tomato sauce.  Add the lemon zest, juice, basil and Parmesan cheese and toss together.  Divide between warmed bowls and serve straightaway.

“Christmas? Christmas means dinner, dinner means death! Death means carnage; Christmas means carnage!”
Ferdinand the Duck in the Australian film 'Babe' (1995)

Christmas Cookie Swap 2014 - White Chocolate and Cranberry cookies

My packages for the Great Food Blogger Christmas Cookie Swap 2014 are freshly in the post as I begin to compose this blog!  What a super feeling of accomplishment! This might be my third year doing the Cookie Swap, but it seems like I was more excited about it than ever before! Possibly discovering a delicious cookie recipe a few weeks ago helped.  Normally it is down to the deadline before I know what I am doing!

I got my three partners in swapping and was delighted to be able to help out with yet another person from Ireland when they didn't have enough participants in that country. The extra postage is not sufficient to dampen the fun of helping someone be involved, and to also support the lovely activity which raises money worldwide for Cookies for Kids Cancer.

However, I am not certain she or one of my other matches received their cookies!  I know the name of the Irish blogger was incorrect because I looked at her blog and was able to correct that, but if the name was wrong, what about the rest of the address?  If this is the first year doing the cookie swap, maybe the two I have not heard from don't realise they were supposed to let me know they got them.  I have emailed them to ask, but had no response either.  I did hear from Rebecca from Really Pretty Useful and she enjoyed the cookies I sent her!

I am still waiting on one more box of cookies, not sure what has gone wrong this year....but I have thoroughly enjoyed my Chocolate and Candy Cane cookies from Ally at Digital Diva and the amazing Orange Chocolate Chip and Walnut cookies from Angela from the awkwardblog.com.


When I made the recipe I sent originally it was for our trip to London to see our son. I have never made a chocolate cookie dough though and had no idea how much I personally would love these cookies!  I think they are the best ever.....however, they are so chocolaty they need a health warning. Well, at least for our niece who is staying with us, sort of as a gap year.  She is allergic to high percentage chocolate and these will hurt her.  So why did I make them twice? Sorry, Morgan!

Before reading the recipe, I have a request!  This blog has been going on for over 2 years and I really enjoy doing it, but I am very frustrated because I get no comments at all!  I would love to hear from you, any thoughts, comments or questions would be wonderful to receive.  With readers all over the world, it would mean a lot to me to hear from you!  I have also re-started my Pat's Kitchen Facebook page, so if that is the best way for any of you, please "like" that!   Here is the link to "Pat's Kitchen".


Taken and adapted from a package of Nestle Premier White Chocolate Chips I bought in the States.

White Chocolate Chip Cookies   

(or An assortment of ingredients, including any type of chocolate chip or dried fruit Cookies!)

I have done my best to convert the US measurements to metric and I hope they work as well for you as they have for me!   With the exception of figuring out the butter, there is an excellent online butter conversion website, it is listed in my Pages, but easily found just by typing in the name.

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cup / 383g plain flour

2/3 cup / 70g cocoa

1 tsp baking soda  (bicarbonate of soda)

1/4 salt

1 cup (2 sticks) / 227g butter or margarine, softened

3/4 cup / 201g granulated sugar

2/3 cup / 167 packed brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 large eggs

2 cups white chocolate chips*,  however I used 1 cup white chocolate chips and one cup dried cranberries for a more festive look!

*The first time I tried this recipe, I used one cup white and 1 cup very dark chocolate chips.  The cookies could have hurt more than just my niece with the massive amount of chocolate they contained, but they were amazing!  This time, I decided to be a bit more festive and added a 170g package of dried cranberries. This ended up being exactly one cup!  I intended to add one package of white chocolate chips, but the package was 100g and did not fill a whole cup.....what to do?  Open another small package or finish off the already opened dark chocolate chips just sitting there and begging me to eat them in one gulp?  Best to get them out of temptation's way, so there is a hint of dark chocolate chips in this cookie swap.



Oven temp -  350F  180C

Combine dry ingredients in small bowl.

Cream butter and the two sugars together, then add vanilla and beat until very creamy.

Beat in the eggs, one at a time.  

Add the flour in a little at a time. This will get more difficult to mix and using an electric mixer helps!

Add the chocolate morsels and dried cranberries, or whatever you have decided to use.

Using awell rounded teaspoon, drop cookie batter onto ungreased baking sheets.

Bake for 9 - 11 minutes.

Makes about 5 dozen cookies

"Christmas cookies and happy hearts, this is how the holiday starts."  

Unknown

Playing with Nigella's Banana, Cherry and White Chocolate Cupcakes Recipe!

It must be one of my missions in life to never throw away over ripened bananas!  I was lucky enough to find a recipe that called for 3 ripe bananas and decided this was the one to use.  Only problem was that it called for cherries and white chocolate and I had neither one!   Not that I would be deterred from trying this new banana cupcake recipe.  I just substituted frozen raspberries and milk chocolate chips.  they were delicious too!

I own the UK version of Nigella's "How to be a Domestic Goddess"  but looked up the American version on the internet to see if I could use both versions simultaneously to help me do this as fast as possible.  Using cups is much easier and faster, but I do believe using measurements gives more consistent results.  One roadblock though, how to weigh frozen raspberries?  I am not sure, but I would guess frozen berries weigh more, but a quarter cup is just a simple quarter cup!  

One thing I have learned to be very helpful since starting this blog is the advantage of having all the necessary ingredients together before starting.  Many times before I started doing that, I would be in a mad panic in the middle of a recipe, at a crucial moment and unable to find an essential ingredient.   This no longer happens, but on occasion, something worse happens as a result of all those little bowls of ingredients ready and waiting for me.  Those little bowls can move, seemingly on their own......

Being unfamiliar with this recipe, I did think the batter was really runny when I put them in the cupcake liners and into the oven to bake.  Thankfully, I began to clean the kitchen right away which is not my usual practice!  And lurking behind the kettle was one cup of plain flour just sitting there waiting to become part of the batter......I whipped those cupcakes out of the oven and contemplated just throwing it all away.  But instead, I took each and every soggy cupcake out of the pan and dumped the batter into a bowl.  I wish I had thought to take a photo of the mess of those liners dripping on the saucer after I managed to salvage the process.  Who knew those cupcakes would survive and come out tasting wonderful, even after such a stupid and careless mistake!

Not to reinvent the wheel, I am sharing the recipe I found on the internet with both measurements!   Many thanks to dinnerdujour.org for doing all the work!    The few notes I added are in purple.  Recipe on its own follows at the end.

Banana, Cherry and White Chocolate Cupcakes

adapted by dinnerdujour.org from How to Be a Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson

Makes 12 cupcakes

See the bowl just under the butter?  That is the one I missed!

1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon (125 g) unsalted butter

1 cup (200 g) sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 ripe bananas, mashed

1/4 cup (60 ml) sour cream or natural yogurt

2 large eggs, beaten

2 1/2 cups (300 g) plain flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/3 cup (40 g) dried cherries, chopped (you could substitute dried cranberries or even raisins)  I substituted frozen raspberries
1/4 cup (50 g) white chocolate, chopped, or use chips or buttons  - milk or dark chocolate works too!

Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Line a muffin tin with paper or silicone cases.

Melt the butter in a saucepan big enough to eventually hold all the batter. Off the heat, add the sugar, vanilla and mashed bananas. Stir in the sour cream or yogurt and the eggs and beat to mix with a wooden spoon. Sift in the flour, baking soda and baking powder, then fold in the cherries and chocolate. Mix until everything is just blended (don’t overmix!), then divide the mixture between the 12 muffin cases. Cook for 20 minutes, until golden and springy on top and a tester comes out clean. Remove the cupcakes in their papers to a wire rack and leave till cool.

"Laughing at our mistakes can lengthen our own life.  Laughing at someone else's can shorten it."  Cullen Hightower

Banana, Cherry and White Chocolate Cupcakes

adapted by dinnerdujour.org from How to Be a Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson

Makes 12 cupcakes

1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon (125 g) unsalted butter
1 cup (200 g) sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1/4 cup (60 ml) sour cream or natural yogurt
2 large eggs, beaten
2 1/2 cups (300 g) plain flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/3 cup (40 g) dried cherries, chopped (you could substitute dried cranberries or even raisins)
1/4 cup (50 g) white chocolate, chopped, or use chips or buttons

Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Line a muffin tin with paper or silicone cases.

Melt the butter in a saucepan big enough to eventually hold all the batter. Off the heat, add the sugar, vanilla and mashed bananas. Stir in the sour cream or yogurt and the eggs and beat to mix with a wooden spoon. Sift in the flour, baking soda and baking powder, then fold in the cherries and chocolate. Mix until everything is just blended (don’t overmix!), then divide the mixture between the 12 muffin cases. Cook for 20 minutes, until golden and springy on top and a tester comes out clean. Remove the cupcakes in their papers to a wire rack and leave till cool.

Chocolate Chip Bars for our trip to London!

I must admit, I love baking and will jump at any excuse to do this!  One of the best is when I know our son will be the beneficiary of my efforts!  A few weeks before our trip to London to see him, our daughter, grandson and niece took a bus, fully loaded with banana muffins and a new cookie I had not baked before.  Here is the link to the blog I am keeping about Morgan's stay with us and how that weekend went.I am not going to publish the recipe for that cookie yet, because it just might be the one I do for this year's Christmas Cookie Swap!

On this journey, we made the difficult decision to fly Ryanair from Glasgow to Stanstead Airport just outside of London.  When I say just outside London, it is almost a 2hours trip by bus to get into central London.  Not a fun journey at all. And this flight used to leave from Prestwick, which is only a 15 minute drive from our house.  To leave on the first flight from Glasgow, we had to get a hotel room near the airport.  Not nice when we have been so spoiled in the past.

There were two reasons for this trip, the first and most important was to see Martin, but we also wanted to see the Tower of London poppies.  Since Martin had seen this 2 weeks earlier with his sister and everyone, he really did not want to face the crowd of visitors once again!  So we went straight to the Tower before meeting him at St Paul's Cathedral later that afternoon.

The sight of all those poppies is breathtaking, and very much worth a visit, even if having to fight the crowds.  In fact, it was much too crowded to see it all properly, especially with also wanting to find Martin sooner rather than later.  In addition, the traffic congestion and maintenance work on the tube lines we needed made transport incredibly difficult and time consuming too!   But worth all this!

a close up so you can see the way the individual poppies are placed

Could not get a decent angle on this iconic view of the window

How lucky were we with the weather?

Whenever we are in London, we tend to walk and walk and walk and walk......here I am on the riverfront with the Tower Bridge behind me on the way to meet Martin.  When flying Ryanair, you have to pay extra for a case, so all my worldly goods, including cookies, are in my trusty, pink backpack!

Once we found Martin, we spent some time around Westminster to catch the evening light.

We were having a great time and took the train back to Chiswick, where our hotel was.  Then we got a phone call that almost ruined the whole trip.....our poor Bailey had not been well when we left, but the vet thought she would be ok until Monday. Unfortunately he was wrong.  Morgan phoned us to let us know, we phoned the vet's assistant, she phoned the vet, he phoned us, he then phoned Morgan.....then he went to our house to collect Bailey.  Late Saturday night she got an emergency hysterectomy and was brought home at 1:30am Sunday.

Somehow, once we knew things were under control, we managed to salvage the night and went to the George IV Comedy Club.  It seemed odd to be sitting there laughing after only about an hour ago we were contemplating Martin taking the night bus home to take care of his ailing dog!  I am writing this exactly one week after her surgery and Bailey is doing just fine!  I will always be grateful to our fabulous vet and my superstar niece for handling this stressful situation so well.

Look how busy it is here!  Corbyn would love to see this dinosaur skeleton!

On Sunday, after meeting for a delicious breakfast and getting absolutely soaked in the rain we decided to go to the Natural History Museum to see the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition. But we never thought to book tickets and there were none available for the time we needed.  Oh well, still a great place to visit!





It wasn't until Sunday morning that I was able to deliver these cookies, and they had survived all the hours and miles of this trip.

I have this recipe hand written in a little cookbook I received as a gift years ago.  I do not remember what I copied it from, but my notes show that the first time I tried it was in January 2001.

There are conversion charts on my "pages" to find equivalent butter weights and pan sizes.

Championship Chocolate Bars   (recipe on its own follows at the end)    
 

Preheat oven to 350F   180C       makes about 36 bars

1/12 cups flour
1/2 cups light brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold butter
2 cups chocolate chips
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Stir together flour and sugar, cut in cold butter
Stir in 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Press into the bottom of 13 x 9 inch pan.
Bake 15 minutes.
While baking, combine milk, egg and vanilla
Add remaining chocolate chips and nuts
Spread mixture evenly over baked crust

Bake 25 minutes or until golden brown
Cool completely before cutting into bars.

I had 4 of these boxes in my backpack all day!

"Everyone has a story, but no one would make it to the happy ending if they didn't have the help of the other characters."  Levita Charin

Championship Chocolate Bars      

Preheat oven to 350F   180C     makes about 36 bars

1/12 cups flour
1/2 cups light brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold butter
2 cups chocolate chips
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Stir together flour and sugar, cut in cold butter
Stir in 1/2 cup chocolate chips
Press into the bottom of 13 x 9 inch pan.
Bake 15 minutes.
While baking, combine milk, egg and vanilla
Add remaining chocolate chips and nuts
Spread mixture evenly over baked crust
Bake 25 minutes or until golden brown
Cool completely before cutting into bars.