Peppermint Creams

Perfect for a gift!

These are a super easy introduction to confectionary, and definitely worth a go!

Start by mixing 350g icing sugar one spoonful at a time into 150g condensed milk, until it forms a sticky dough, this will take a while and give you a good work out! Knead a few drops of peppermint extract.

Once you got a dough that cleans the bowl and isn’t too sticky, dust a flat surface and a rolling pin with icing sugar and roll out to roughly 5 mm. Using a very small cutter, or improvise and use something the size you want them, bottle caps are good, cut out lots of circles in the dough.

Pop them on grease proof paper on baking trays and stick in the fridge until they have set, about 3 hours. Once they’ve set, melt 100g dark chocolate over a ban-marie and drizzle over the peppermint creams

Eight-Strand-Plait Loaf

Whilst at Claire’s we wanted to make some bread, but wanted a bit of a challenge, so we thought we’d give an eight-strand-plait a go. The bread was also a first attempt a using wholemeal spelt flour (has a different flavour than normal flour) and my first time using fresh yeast.

In a large bowl, mix together 300g Spelt, 200g Strong White Flour (we used a mix to ensure there was enough gluten for a good crumb) and 5g salt. Rub in 30g butter until there are no big lumps. We used fresh yeast in this recipe (dried active yeast would do (there’s not much difference) preprepared by being crumbled in a little amount taken from 340ml of warm water. Make a well in the flour and pour the remainder of the water, using one hand mix until the dough comes together. Knead for 15-20 minutes ours ended up being a very sticky dough, possibly because of the lower gluten in the spelt flour. Place into an oiled bowl and cover with a damp tea towel and leave to prove for 1-1 1/2 hour.

Knock back the dough, and divide into 8 equal pieces (its best to weigh on some scales, just to make it more accurate), roll into sausages about 50cm, we ended up rolling it out too long so when we came to but it onto the baking sheet, it was a tad too long! Now, the plaiting!

Lay the strands next to each other and number 1-8, and join at one end by pinching them all together.  The key bit to these instructions is that the numbering resets after each move. To begin with take strand 8 over strand 7, and then over 1, then repeat the next steps:

Take 8 over 5,

Take 2 under 3 and over 8

Take 1 over 4

Take 7 under 6 and over 1

Repeat till you reach the end of the loaf.

The finished plait…it ended up being a wee bit to long!

Transfer to a baking sheet, cover with oiled cling film and prove for 1 hour. Remove clingfilm and bake in a preheated over at 200c for 25mintues or till golden brown, and hollow sounding when tapped on the bottom.

Enjoy with cheese and homemade chutneys.

Karlsbad Wreath