baking & the store cupboard

lynzpower

Hello all

Please can you experienced bakers help me out a bit here! its the biuscuits/ cakes puddings bit of the storecupbaord I just cant fathom. I seem to rifle through unlimited recipes and either they involve something I dont have, so i cant make them, or they are well above my skill/ time committment level, so I dont bother.

I have a fairly sweet tooth and I have been buying a LOT of chocolate biscuits and so forth. NOt really on is it However, I stare at the contents of my storecupbaord and get overwhlemed & confused. I do have a BM, although it is a bit temperamental :wall:

This is what I have in:
plain flour
self raising flour
host of strong flours for BMing, malthouse, white, wholemeal, granary
honey
hovis yeast
milk powder
sesame seeds
glace cherries
bicarb
baking powder
arrowroot
jar of blackcurrent jam
jumbo tub of mincemeat ( got from Xmas)
ground ginger
caster/ icing/ granulated/ muscovado sugar
tiny bit of ground almonds
porridge oats ( weve already overdone the flapjacks im afriad)
olive & sunflower oil
butter, marg, olive spread
3 eggs
skimmed milk
tin of sainsburys custard powder ( cant get this to make custard try as I might- any other uses for it before it heads binward?)
1 jar of half sugar marmalade style fruit spread ( )
tiny bit of oatmeal
bag sultanas
half bag dried mixed fruit.
muffin & cupcake paper cases & cocktail sticks
freezer- ice cream/ dessert pastry/ puff pastry/ short pastry

Im not a particularly competent baker, but would like some nice easy QUICK ideas for things I can make to use some of this gear up.

the level i bake at is the jam donut muffins & flapjacks- so nothing involving a sugar thermometer please LOL

anniebooklover

lynz

I'm not much of a baker (especially since I'm diabetic :rolleyes: ) but I reckon you could easily use the dried fruit as a replacement for the bananas in the banana bread.

You could also make muffins based on this and then split them in half horizontally and sandwich them with the marmalade or jam.

A victoria sandwich (or individual mini sponges) can be made and sandwiched with some jam and cream.

I have a very seedy, fruity loaf recipe (courtesy of Gillian McKeith) that I could give you but I would have to PM the details. Apparently it is beneficial to women who are prone to PMT. :rolleyes:

celyn90

You could make chelsea buns from the bread flour, but use the mincemeat instead of dried fruit if you wanted to use that up. Or you could make a bread dough, roll it out into a rectangle, spread it with jam/fruit spread, throw some fruit on, roll it up swiss roll style, leave it to rise a bit, then cook.

thriftlady_2

You can make a variety of muffins with that lot.

Basic recipe (sorry US cups -1 cup = 8 fl oz)

Makes 12

mix in a bowl
2 cups plain flour (use half white and half wholemeal if you like)
1 level tbsp baking powder
half a tsp salt
half a cup of sugar - any kind

in another bowl mix
1 egg (you can replace this with 3-4 tbsp of milk -I always do and they come out fine)
1 cup of milk
a third of a cup (about 2.5 fl oz) of veg oil or melted butter/marge

Add to the dry mixture dried fruit/ seeds/ glace cherries/ mincemeat (use about a cup)

Mix wet ingredients into dry, making sure you don't overbeat.
Fill muffin cases about two thirds full and bake at 200 c for 25 mins.

Blackcurrant jam muffins - make up plain muffin batter and fill the cases half way. Make a hollow in the batter and put tsp of jam in, top with the rest of the batter. you can also use up the marmalade spread stuff too

If you prefer to use the sesame seeds in a savoury way make savoury muffins. Leave out the sugar add the seeds and maybe some cheese too.

AussieLass

As well as other suggestions with those ingredients you could make:

Jam Drops

Gingernut Biscuits

Custard Cream Biscuits (using custard powder)

Gingerbread cake

lynzpower

all these things seem to be quite tricky! biscuits in particular I have a real struggle with- burnst little crisps welded to a tray with a mug of tea anyone?

Nicki

Muffins are the easiest thing in the world to make, and if you can't manage these, then its not worth trying anything else to be honest! Give them a go and see how you get on.

As for your problems with biscuits sounds like you are cooking them for far too long. Remember when they come out of the oven, they should still be soft to the touch, and they harden to biscuit consistency as they cool.

anniebooklover

lynz the only fiddly thing about Gillian McKeith's Happy Chick Cake is the measuring. After that you pretty much chuck it all together (after warming the milk with the honey and apple puree) and throw into a loaf tin and cook for 75 mins. I figure that's very easy to make.

I can't give the recipe here but can PM it to you if you like.

Annie

P.S. are you just sick of the flapjacks or didn't they work out?

twink

invest in a copy of mary berrys fast cakes, you just bung everything in a bowl, mix and bake, there is traybakes, big cakes, sponges and biscuits

Seakay

If you like biscuits but have problems with them sticking to the baking tray then you might consider investing in one of those "magic" reusable liners - they are siliconised so no greasing required, flexible and can be cut if you want to. I have seen them priced at anything from £3.50 to £8.00.

sianb84

what about fairy cakes? butterfly cakes? bakewell tart? biscuits?