Bernie's Basic Bun Mixture

This bun mixture is my granny, Bernie’s, recipe. These buns are extremely easy to make and they are very delicious too.

Bernie’s Basic Bun Mixture

Ingredients

225g (8oz) Flora Light/butter

225g (8oz) caster sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 free range eggs

280g (10oz) self-raising flour (sieved)

30mls milk

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/390°F/gas mark 6.

2. Place the flora, sugar and vanilla extract into a bowl and cream together until it is a pale yellow colour.

3. Add the eggs, one at a time with a little flour- to prevent the mixture from curdling. Mix well.

4. Add the flour little by little then mix well. Stir in the milk. If it drops off easily in a dollop then it is ready.

5. Take a spoonful of mixture, with a dessert spoon and scrape into the bun case using a teaspoon. Don’t fill the case to the top.

6. Bake in the oven for 20 mins or until golden brown in colour. Cool on a wire tray.

Enjoy!

Ready for the oven

Cooling on the wire tray

Pancakes

In times gone by it was traditional on Shrove Tuesday to make pancakes to use up flour, butter and eggs. This pancake recipe is based on Jamie Oliver's recipe. There are a lot of toppings that are very tasty on pancakes such as Nutella, maple syrup or even just a knob of butter. 


Jamie Oliver's Pancakes


Ingredients

150g (1 cup) self-raising flour
200ml (1 cup) milk
1 egg
pinch of salt

Method
1. Put the flour and salt in a bowl.
2. Add the egg and combine with the flour.
3. Very slowly add the milk, whisking well with a hand whisk or fork.
4. When the batter is nice and smooth, cover with cling film and refrigerate for at least an hr. (The batter can be used straight away but tends to have a better consistency when left to rest)
5. Heat the frying pan and add a little sunflower oil.
6. Either pour a thin coating of batter or thicken ones into the pan. When golden, turn the pancake over and brown the other side.
7. Add topping of your choice and enjoy!!

Movie Night Popcorn

 The Late Late Toy Show is tonight and I'm really excited. Hopefully I'll decide what I want for Christmas. My Mam made some treats for us tonight, but I wanted to make something myself.






Movie Night Popcorn

Ingredients

50g popcorn
handful of M&M's
50g milk/white chocolate
handful of smarties

Method

1. Put the popcorn and the sweets into a bowl.
2. Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water.
3. Pour the chocolate over the popcorn mix and stir.
4. Spoon the the mixture into a large container and place in a fridge for a hour.
5. Remove for the fridge and enjoy

Potato & Fresh Herb Soup

We are just back from an astonishing family holiday in East Cork. There was so much to do, from bowling to cinemas, from beaches to cliff walks together with all my family and my cousin Caoimhe. On one of the nights, my Mam and Dad went to Ballymaloe for their 11th Anniversary (I really wanted to go too!). My Mam and Dad's starter was this soup and they both loved it. My Mam found this recipe in Darina Allen's Book "Ballymaloe Cookery Course" and decided to make it.  I helped my Mam to make it but first I had to dig the potatoes in the garden and pick the herbs. It's very filling and full of flavour.

Potato & Fresh Herb Soup

Ingredients

50g (2oz) butter

425g (15oz) potatoes, peeled and cut into 1cm (⅓in) cubes

110g (4oz) onions, cut into 1cm (⅓in) cubes

1-2 tbsp of Parsley, Thyme, Sage and Chives

900ml (1½ pints) Chicken or Vegetable stock

125ml (4fl oz) Creamy Milk

1 tsp salt

Freshly Ground Pepper

Method

1. Melt the butter in a heavy saucepan. When it foams add the onions and potatoes, and toss in the butter until well coated.
2. Sprinkle with salt and a few grinds of pepper. Cover with butter wrapper or paper lid and the lid of the saucepan. Sweat over a gentle heat for about 10 minutes
3. Meanwhile, bring the stock to the boil. When the vegetables are soft but not coloured, and the freshly chopped herbs and stock, and continue to cook until the vegetables are soft.
4. Purée the soup in a blender or food processor. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Thin with creamy milk to the required consistency. Garnish and Serve.

Banana Shake

At last, its Summer and the weather is getting a lot warmer. This milkshake is a perfect drink for a hot day like this and it's so easy to make. Just get some help with the hand blender from an adult.

Banana Shake


Ingredients
650ml milk
3 ripe bananas
½ tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp glenisk organic yougurt
1 tbsp honey


Method

1.           Blend all the ingredients together in a large jug with a hand blender until smooth.

2.           Pour and enjoy.

Polka Dot Cookies

This cookies are from Rachel Allen's Food for Living. They are remarkably straightforward to make. They are crunchy on the outside and chewy in the middle . Cookies would absolutely be one of my favourite treats.

Rachel Allen's Polka Dot Cookies

Ingredients
225g (8 oz) Butter
375g (15 oz) Soft Brown Sugar (or light muscovado sugar)
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 Eggs, beaten
350g (14 oz) Plain flour
½ tsp Salt
1 Level tsp Baking Powder
1 Level tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
150g (5 oz) Smarties / Chocolate Chips

Method
1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 ̊C / 350 ̊F / Gas Mark 4 /
2. Cream butter and sugar together. Add in the vanilla extract and eggs.
3. Mix the flour and salt into a bowl. Sift in the Bicarbonate of soda and Baking Powder and mix well.
4. Add the dry ingredients into the wet.
5. Add the smarties last.
6. Roll into little balls (walnut size if you want small ones or golf ball size if you want larger ones. I pressed in a smarty on the smaller ones so that there would definitely be a smarty on the top of each cookie.
7. Bake for 12 – 16 mins. If you want chewy cookies, bake until the edges are turning brown but the middle is still pale. If you want crunchy all the way through then bake until golden all over.
8. Cool on a wire rack.

Dig-In Beef Fajitas

A few weeks ago, my Mam got Donal Skehan's new book, Kitchen Hero. When I was flicking through the book I found these beef fajitas and they sounded delicious so I made them for dinner. Then last night Donal's show Kitchen Hero was on RTÉ 1 and he made these fajitas also!! The first episode was great and if you missed it you can watch it on Donal's Website.

Donal Skehan's Dig-In Beef Fajitas


Ingredients
400g (14oz) striploin steak, thinly sliced
4 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
Juice of 1/2 lime
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tbsp sunflower oil
2 red onions, peeled and thinly sliced
3 peppers (red, green and yellow), sliced into strips
A small handful of fresh coriander, roughly chopped
Sea salt
8 wholemeal tortilla wraps

To Serve
Guacamole
Salsa
Soured cream
100g (31/2oz) Cheddar cheese, grated


Method
1. In a large bowl, combine the garlic, lime juice, Worcestershire sauce, chilli powder, oregano, cumin and black pepper then add the beef and toss until coated. Cover and place in the fridge.
2. Heat half the sunflower oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat, add the onion and peppers and fry for 3-4 minutes until caramelised. Set the vegetables aside in a dish.
3. Add an extra drizzle of oil to the pan and fry the marinated beef for 3 minutes until cooked but still tender. Make sure the pan is hot before cooking the beef.
4. Add the reserved onions and peppers and the coriander and stir through then season with salt to taste.
5. Heat the tortilla wraps in the microwave for 40 seconds and cover with foil to keep warm.
6. To assemble, spread a little guacamole on a tortilla, add some steak, peppers and onion and then top with soured cream and cheese.