Recipe • Custard Creams

February 24 2012

These custard creams are the second thing I made on my 5 hour baking rampage. Custard creams are my husbands fav, so I thought I’d give them a go, and you know what? They were pretty tasty!

Custard Creams
Makes around 20 biscuits.

Ingredients
Biscuit
100g margarine or butter
100g plain flour
50g caster sugar
50g custard powder
A few drops of vanilla essence or flavouring

Filling
100g icing sugar
50g custard powder
75g margarine or butter

Method
001. Preheat your oven to 200°c
002. Cream together the sugar and butter, before folding in all the other biscuit ingredients.
003. Roll out your dough to about 5mm thick & use your fav cookie cutter to cut out some shapes. Ensure you have an even number!
004. Place on a baking tray covered in parchment and put in the oven for 10 minutes.
005. Cream your butter, custard powder and icing sugar together, then use to sandwich the biscuits together, once cool.

Recipe • Cinnamon Rolls

February 17 2012

Before & After The Oven!

When my husband asked me at the beginning of the week to “bake some sweet treats”, I don’t think he quite expected the 5 hour rampage I went on in the kitchen, a few days later! So not wanting to disappoint, the first things I made, were the cinnamon rolls, above— I love a bit of cinnamon!

I first found this recipe through Hayles when she posted it last year, and they’ve been on my ‘to bake’ list ever since. Now that I’ve made them, I’m a bit ashamed they sat on their for so long, as they’re so easy to make!

Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients
1 pack of pizza dough mix
70g granulated sugar
1tbsp cinnamon
3tbsp of butter, melted
icing sugar
water

Method
001. Make your pizza dough as per the packet instructions
002. Roll out into a rectangle on a well floured surface & spread the butter all over
003. Mix the cinnamon & sugar in a separate bowl, then sprinkle over the butter evenly, with a spoon
004. Roll up, starting from the shortest side, so you have a nice chunky roll! Roll it as tight as you can.
005. Slice up & arrange in a greased tin
006. Bake for 15-20 mins in the oven at about 200°c
007. Mix some icing sugar with water as per the instructions on the packet, and drizzle over the rolls
008. EAT!

Step 7 is optional— I had mine without & they were still lovely! This recipe makes bitesized rolls, but next time I’d be tempted to double the ingredients to make them really chunky. Anyone could make these & it’s definitely a mum-friendly recipe— you could make these while prepping baby’s bottle, pop them in the oven, feed baby & they’d be done! Thanks for the recipe, Hayley!

If you make these, let me know what you think!

Life at 24-25 Weeks Pregnant

November 14 2011

It’s only when I look at photos of myself (profile view in particular!), that I realise just how pregnant I look now— & so I should when I’m almost at my third trimester! It’s all well and good people at work telling me how much he is growing, but you don’t quite see it when you’re looking down at your belly everyday! He’s getting big now though, isn’t he? I love having a big bump to show off. I’m quite surprised just how bulbous I am, to be honest! I usually put weight on my thighs, hips and love-handles, so I was convinced I would generally be quite round throughout pregnancy, so it’s great that I don’t look like an enormous lump! There’s still time yet though— I’m starting to get hungry so quickly. It’s hard to fight the urge to “eat for two”!

He’s moving / kicking / elbowing / punching me daily now and doesn’t shy away from his dad trying to feel him now either! He seems to love it when I lay down, although luckily he’s not quite strong enough to disturb my sleep just yet. It’s his opportunity to play and use my womb as an adventure playground, it would appear. I finally managed to capture him on video last night, making my belly ripple around. It’s so bizarre to see and feel, especially when I put my hands on my tummy and feel his head / bum when he rolls over! I can’t wait to be able to define what body part it is that I’m feeling.

My backache is really starting to kick in now, probably not helped by all the broken springs, lumps and bumps in our mattress!

In other non-pregnancy news, I’ve almost finished my Christmas shopping! I can’t quite believe it myself. I’m sure I must have forgotten someone, but the extensive lists I’ve made in my Filofax tell me otherwise! I’m so prepared this year, I might even write out my Christmas cards soon. Blimey. And the whole flat is clean and tidy. what’s going on?! This isn’t the normal procrastinating me that I know so well!

Thank you for all your comments recently. I do try to reply to them all, but for some reason I’m not always getting the notifications that they’re there!

Pregnancy Cravings

September 26 2011

Before becoming pregnant, I always assumed that I’d crave things I usually hated when I had a baby in my belly. My mum for example, used to hate peanut butter, but when she fell pregnant with me, she craved it & hasn’t looked back since! She’s a peanut butter fiend. So, I thought maybe I’d crave marmite. Or brussel sprouts. Or gherkins. Or you know, maybe all three – together?!

Oh, how wrong I was! I haven’t found anything weird, wonderful or exotic particularly appealing. Instead, I went off of food for a while – the thought of chocolate made me heave (and the thought of rocky road even now, is not a pleasant one!), I couldn’t gulp down milk or any drink for that matter, I went off of tea and lived on a diet of plain crackers, biscuits, sandwiches and potatoes. I couldn’t handle much flavour or spice, which does not a happy Aimee make! I love my food.

My appetite is slowly but surely coming back now, and I’ve started to make a list of all the cravings I’m having. They’re all complete impulses though and tend to be something I want to eat right there and then, not something I have/will want throughout my pregnancy.