Pay it Forward

Following the lead from Juanita

The first three people to post a comment in my blog get a handmade gift :)

You will have to email me your address at perdy129@live.co.uk

:)

Chocolate

Mmmmmmm we all love chocolate and the best time to enjoy it is the Easter holiday. A holiday hell bent on loading your hips with chocolate delights. Easter eggs are the order of the day, so get the big and little kids involved in the chocolate holiday.


Little Kids
All kiddies love chocolate especially an Easter Egg. Instead of simply buying and delivering one why not get involved for an hour and help a kiddie decorate one. Its fun, shows off your artistic flair (or not in my case) and wiles away a fun-filled hour with a little one.

Buy an Easter Egg, then buy some candy and jelly sweeties. Make a small batch of icing sugar and pipe little bits on your egg and fix on your sweeties. You can make lots of designs and patterns from lions faces to flowers, or simply just stick em on lol. Pipe on a name and your done :)


Big Kiddies

Chocolate Mousse

Ingredients
150 gms marshmallows
50 gms butter
250good quality chocolate
4 table spoons hot water
280 ml whipping cream, whipped
Flaked almonds

Directions
On the stove, put together the marshmallows and the butter and the chocolate the hot water until the marshmallows and the chocolate have melted down.
Remove from the stove and carefully fold in the whipped whipping cream.
Cool for 1 hour.
Garnish with nuts or crumbled amaretto biscuits (or both) and serve immediately..
NOTE: do not cool overnight as the mousse will harden.

Hot Cross Buns

Ingredients
625g strong white flour
45g chilled butter
45g golden caster sugar, plus 2 extra tbsp
1 tsp each salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
11/2 tsp fast-action dried yeast
1 egg
275ml milk, plus 4 extra tbsp
100g raisins
25g chopped mixed peel
Oil, for greasing


Method
Sift 500g of the flour into a large glass or ceramic bowl. Cut up the butter and rub in with your fingertips until it resembles breadcrumbs. Stir in 45g caster sugar, salt, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and yeast. Beat the egg in another bowl, then mix it into the dry ingredients with 275ml milk, until you have a soft, pliable dough. Tip the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 5 minutes, until smooth and elastic. Gradually work in the raisins and peel. Return to the bowl and cover loosely with oiled cling film. Leave in a warm place for 1 hour, until doubled in size.


Tip the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead well to knock out all the air, then cut into 12 pieces. Put your lightly floured hand – slightly cupped, with fingers open – over 1 piece, then rotate your hand in a circular motion, pressing down on the dough to create a neat ball. Repeat with the rest of the dough. Put on 2 greased trays, spaced apart. Cover with oiled cling film and leave in a warm place to rise for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 200°C/fan180°C/gas 6. Sift the remaining flour into a bowl and stir in about 125ml tap water to make a smooth wet paste. Spoon into a freezer bag, snip off the corner and pipe a cross over each bun. Bake for 15 minutes until golden.

Meanwhile, put the extra milk and extra sugar into a pan. Heat gently to dissolve the sugar, then boil for 2-3 minutes until syrupy. Brush the glaze over the warm buns. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Serve split open and toasted with lots of butter.