It's getting tough out there. Feeling the pinch?

sammy_kaye18

London_1 said:

As asked for  by Spendless, here is the recipe for Melting Moments but you can adapt it for almost any flavour biscuits you want by adding perhaps some cinnamon, or mixed spices  or ground ginger or coconut, really what ever flavour you would like.

                                         
                            My late Mum's recipe for Melting Moments. as taught to me in 1949

Courtesy of the late Mrs Catherine Bearn (1900-1962) my Mum xx (She didn't have a blender though for the sugar)

I'm of the ...older generation so my measurements are in ounces but I'm sure the younger folk can work them out  



5 ozs soft marg (Stork) or butter (I save my unsalted block butter for shortbread )

3ozs caster sugar. (or whizz up ordinary granulated in the blender if you haven't any caster sugar in stock )

 2  teaspoons of Vanilla essence. OR 1 teaspoon of Vanilla extract. ( I do have both in my cupboard, and the extract is more expensive, but you use less so its swings and roundabouts really)

5 ozs self raising flour  (sieved) force of habit as I have alwasy sieved the flour )

dessicated coconut or oats for rolling in and a couple of glace cherries to decorate,  (When I'm making them for my great granddaughters I decorate with those tiny chocolate chips, as they are not keen on the 'red bits' )

Method:

Heat oven to 175c or gas mark 4.

grease two baking trays.

 Should make about 24 biscuits depending on the size you want them. I like them around the size of a ginger nut shop-bought biscuit, just sits nicely on the saucer of your cuppa  

Cream the marg/butter together with the sugar until light and fluffy

 Beat in the vanilla essence OR extract

add the sieved fflour
 and just keep mixing with a fork until you have a stickyish dough.

take a teaspoon and a small amount of dough (about the size of a walnut and roll with your hand into a small ball.
Toss in either oats or dessicated coconut, or leave as it is for plainer ones .

Place on the tray and press the middle down with a fork to flatten it slightly.
Decorate with a small slice of glace cherry in the middle, or three chocolate chips 

Bake in the oven for around 11-12 minutes until just starting to go golden .
keep an eye on them  
Not too long, or they will go too brown.

Remove the tray, and leave to cool for a few minutes on the tray, then carefully, using a palette knife slide the biscuits onto a wire cooling rack to harden off

You may think they are not cooked as they should be pale yellow but they do crisp up as they cool. 

I store mine in a rectangular take-away box, not that they are in there for long
These are cheap as chips to make, and you can make a batch in about half an hour from start to finish .

I have been making these for the past 70 plus years and my children,grandchildren and great-grandchildren have grown up liking them. So I think I could probably do these in my sleep If you want to vary the flavour a bit add a teaspoon or two of mixed spice or cinnamon,ginger etc when you sieve the flour. 

Hope you enjoy them 

JackieO xx

Thank you Jackie! 
These sound lovely. 
I have quite a few recipes from these boards that I make regularly. Particularly Twinks hobnobs which my son and husband take with them when they are going Mountain biking so I think these may get added to it too but they may get renamed Jackie O's in our household. :-)

sammy_kaye18

London_1 said:

Excellent well done Wicked_Lady, its all trial and error sometimes. I thinkif you have the time, and the oven is on anyway, why not knock up a few cakes for the cake tin.

Great for children to have as a snack after school, instead of a packet of crisps which I believe are getting more and more expensive.

JackieO xx

Exactly! My daughter Holly is 11 now and seems to be developing hollow leg syndrome at the minute and is shooting up so I like the idea of having something freshly baked in for her so 1. I know the ingredients (she has a nut allergy) and 2. That its not filled with rubbish and E numbers. 
Both mine love home baked stuff and making them so between these, hobnobs and my thumbprints I think they will be well stocked. 

sammy_kaye18

ChihiroSen said:

I need to express my shock somewhere and sorry if this is the wrong place, but My food bill has trebled and its unsustainable, I just spent £113 for two people. No meat or fruit, just basics like frozen fish veg, pasta, cheese salad veg, bread and toilet roll. It’s insane. I’ve been watching it creep up and up. Every week it seems to cost more. Do they expect prices to rise even more. Because we are going to have to start skipping meals. 

Totally agree lovely. 
I have literally just sat and done a small food shop for us ( 2 adults, 18 year old and an 11 year old) and where it use to cost us about £60 - £70 todays has come in around £110. My sons 18th birthday is coming up but nothing excessive or extra has really been added.
I've tried to focus on meals rather than snacks etc and have barely any household items - only a cheap toilet cleaner and washing up liquid. I have had to put a thrush treatment on there thanks to some antibiotics Im taking but everything else is just a basic essentials list. Its quite scary. I have a few small joints of meat in the freezer - pork and gammon and a few pies but I will cook the gammon up tomorrow and then try to stretch it as far as I can. 
Im hoping my garden will get a much needed boost with the rain and sunshine thats coming so I can start to harvest and freeze some of that too. 

sammy_kaye18

Haha 
Sorry all - went through a bit of a phase of catching up and replying to people so I will write my actual post now and leave you all in peace. 

Things are quietly mulling along here. Thankfully my freezer has managed to stretch us through the weeks whilst husband is waiting on a pay - so its been almost 6 weeks now but we are ok like i said in a previous post. I have learnt from family and the amazing ladies on this board that having a pantry (or a stockpile however you call it) helps immensely. And NO I am not talking about stockpile /panic buying etc but rather buying a few extra things a week, putting any BOGOF to one side for later use etc so that if occasions like this arrive I know I have food in to see us through. 

My garden seems to be mulling along nicely. I have a load of pea plants outside now and all netted up so I am hoping they will grow well and I can have a good harvest and freeze some. My runner beans are finding their way up their arch too so they are on the way as well. Lettuce and rocket have grown lovely and I need to do my next lot of succession planting but I think I will make it a bigger patch this time as I have two lizards and they have been enjoying it too. Greenhouse is looking like it will be filling up nicely with tomatoes and peppers at the rate they are sprouting. 3 courgette plants are now outside, along with a box of carrots, a box of potatoes and a load of radishes too. And hopefully I will be putting out cucumbers soon as well and moving on some rhubarb plants. Mother in laws saved strawberries have also got a few flowers on so Im hoping they will put out runners before long so I will get a proper little strawberry patch. Im hoping this will be the best way to not feel the pinch as much and keeps me active and enjoying the fresh air outside. I will try my best to preserve them the best I can so it will see us through and Im looking into winter planting of more root hardy vegetables too so they garden can produce all year for us. 

Its crazy too. Thursday is my son Benjamins 18th birthday. It is a shock to the system for me but I know others will be shocked that it has gone so quickly too since I joined this site, having just had my baby and I was struggling as a 19 year old new mum. The things I have learnt along the way on this forum have certainly stood me in good stead. I am baking his birthday cake tomorrow night after my food delivery comes and he fancies a takeaway for tea which is a bit of a tradition now in our house. :-) 

Right off to take out a gammon joint to slow cook tomorrow and may get some baking done this afternoon to try out Jackie recipe and get some home baked goodies in. 

Also just seen it announced on the ITV news that the head of the energy regulator OFGEM has announced there will be another increase in energy prices, and the cap is expected to rise to £2,800 in October. More than double what it was last October and nearly £1000 more than it is now. 
Thats scary. 
We are on a meter and already I am watching our gas and electric dwindling away. 
Will have to sit down later and go back through the gas / electric saving threads again! 

Have a good day all 
x

London_1

Hi sammy-kaye18 nice to 'see' you again. Things have certainly changed an awful lot from when i first came on here I had a couple of years break as i wasn't keen on the new format but persistant coaxing by various folk made me change my mind but I had to change my user main name, but i'm still to potty old dear from back then ,just a bit older  and decrepit

I just logged on as I have just made a batch of melting moments as my eldest Dd is popping in for a cuppa after work. my grandsons are all huge young men now and the baby Mikey is 18 on the 1st June how the time flies by.i'm a great granny now as well of two little lasses of 4 & 2 But still frugalling along as much as I did back then 

twinks are still made in my house as well a great and inexpensive way to have a snack and you know exactly whats gone into it .Riht my timer has just gone off so I'd better get the biscuits out and stick another batch in.its hailstones here in north Kent and the sky is really dark and horrible looking 
take care 

JackieO xx:) 

Toonie

I love gammon done in the slow cooker, that was Sunday night's dinner with new potatoes. Then it got sliced up and so far has been used for ham, egg, and chips, sandwiches for DP, I've had some diced with my salads, and I've frozen some as even a small joint (750g) is too much for me and DP. We probably have it every other week as it's so economical for us. Depending on how salty it is I'll sometimes use the liquid for making some pea and ham soup as well.

Siebrie

I calculate our fruit in cost per serve, and try not to go over €0,50 per portion. Which means that at the moment pineapples are the best buy! I can get 6 to 8 portions from 1, which costs €1,99.

euronorris

Well, I just got 6 tubs of double cream reduced to 12p each in morries (the woman was reducing several trays full!). I'll be turning that into butter later. Am I right in thinking that buttermilk is a by product? If so, I'm sure you lovely lot have got some wonderful suggestions for using the buttermilk?

It was DDs first proper sports day this morning (thanks to covid) and it was so lovely. Jubilee themed and parents all invited to watch and then have a picnic at lunchtime with the kids too. Pure chaos haha. But lovely. Weather stayed dry and even became sunny, but was so windy so I've caught the sun a bit without realising. Whoops!

EssexHebridean

It's not what I'd really class as buttermilk - not like the thick stuff you get in the cartons you might buy. More like whey I'd say - thin and watery, but I believe there are things you can do with it regardless.  we've not seen reduced cream for absolutely ages which is a pain - annoyingly our local stores seem to be getting better at the order quantities. 

SadieO

euronorris said:

Am I right in thinking that buttermilk is a by product? If so, I'm sure you lovely lot have got some wonderful suggestions for using the buttermilk?

Marinate chicken pieces in it then dip them in seasoned flour and/or breadcrumbs. Fry them or spray with oil and cook in the oven. The buttermilk makes the chicken really tender and moist.

Also soda bread is really easy https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/simple-soda-bread