Wholewheat fudge brownies {Baking with my babies}

Sophie and I have been getting up to lots of baking mischief in the kitchen recently. She's now at an age where measuring, tipping, and stirring are really fun activities, and she also really enjoys eating the cakes afterwards! We've tried a few recipes. I keep things simple because we have to fit in the entire process (except the actual baking) within 45 minutes, as that's how long Matthew tends to sleep in the afternoon.

We made wholewheat brownies which were really delicious, more like a slightly fudgy cake than a brownie really but I'll still call them brownies because of their shape.

Wholewheat fudge brownies
Makes 16 squares

175g caster sugar
60g wholewheat flour
30g cocoa powder (I use Green and Black's)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
125g butter
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
100g plain chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Butter a brownie dish (I used a 9x9 inch tin).
2. Gently melt the butter.
3. Mix together the dry ingredients. Tip in the eggs and vanilla, give it a quick stir, then gently pour in the butter and mix thoroughly.
4. Add in the chocolate chips and fold in.
5. Tip it into the dish and flatten the top. Bake for about 30 minutes until a wafer-like crust forms on the top. Cool completely before cutting into squares.

New blog!

See my new blog at http://twolittlebabies.tumblr.com/

I haven't yet decided what to do with this here blog... life is a little crazy... we just had a new baby and we are moving house within the next two months... so we'll see what happens!

XYZ are for Xmas, Yule, and Zzzz

It's Christmas Eve! And I'm left with the final three letters of the alphabet. So...

X is for Xmas - a reminder that the Christ in Christmas ended on a cross

Y is for Yule - an old word for Christmas, but one which actually stems from a pagan midwinter festival - which is basically what Christmas has become again - which is why I wrote about Jesus in many of these advent posts

Z is for Zzzz - I'll be offline for a while now. My blog will be moving to a new site soon so I'll be spending a bit of time setting that up, which means I won't be posting as much, if at all, for a while.

So, all that remains is for me to say Happy Christmas, and I hope you will know the peace and grace of Christ this season and in the coming year.

Laura x

W is for Wrap

One of my favourite things about Christmas is wrapping all the gifts. I love all the paper, ribbon, tissue, and tags! This year I have gone for a brown paper theme, with parcel paper and pretty ribbons. I also bought some brown paper sandwich bags to use for the hand-made gifts, as I thought it would give a nice earthy touch.

Wrapped and ready to go!
{Ribbons, Hobbycraft; brown bags and coloured tissue,
 eBay; brown parcel paper, Rymans; tags, WHSmith}

It's important to me that the wrap that I use can be reused or recycled easily. The brown paper and tissue can go into household recycling, and all the ribbons can be reused for other gifts. I also use a lot of gift bags which get reused until they no longer look the part! Then I take the handles off and put what I can into the recycling. Some of my relatives have been known to iron wrapping paper and reuse it, but I don't go that far!

Happy wrapping, everyone!

Laura x

V is for Vacation {Recipe: Christmas pudding}

We're off on our vacation today, so this and the rest of the advent posts have been pre-written and will appear as if by magic while I am far away from a computer!

We will be having a French Christmas this year, with family in north Brittany. Oui! I have packed all the essentials: Christmas pudding, brussels sprouts, mince pies, pigs in blankets. How do the French survive without these annual delicacies? (To be fair, they do feast on fruits de mer, foie gras, and a strange ice-cream concoction which they go ga-ga over for dessert, so they've got their own flavours to gloat over.)

I made my Christmas pudding, as is traditional, on stir-up Sunday, the last Sunday before advent. I can't wait to try it!

My Christmas pudding
Serves 8-10

90g self-raising flour
125g chilled butter
30g flaked almonds
125g carrot, grated
250g raisins
125g currants
125g sultanas
125g breadcrumbs
60g Italian mixed peel
90g light muscovado sugar
Zest and juice of a lemon
A whole nutmeg (you'll use half)
2 eggs, beaten
75ml brandy

Grate the butter into the flour and rub together to a breadcrumb texture. Add the almonds, carrot, raisins, currants, sultanas, breadcrumbs, mixed peel, sugar, and lemon zest. Grate in half of the nutmeg. Mix these ingredients together. Add the lemon juice and eggs, and mix well until fully combined.

Butter a 1.25-litre (2-pint) ceramic pudding bowl, or several smaller bowls (this year I used a 1-litre bowl and two mini pudding moulds). If using a large bowl, cut out a circle of baking parchment to fit in the top of the bowl, butter it well, and place it in the bowl. (This helps the pudding to stay together when you are releasing it from the bowl.) Spoon in the pudding mixture almost to the top. Flatten the surface, pressing down well.


Cut out a circle of baking paper and a circle of foil, each two inches bigger than the diameter of the bowl. Butter the baking paper. Make a pleat in the middle of both the baking paper and the foil. Lay the baking paper buttered side down over the bowl, and the foil on top. Tie them tightly with string under the rim of the bowl.

Put the bowl in a steamer or in a pan of simmering water which comes halfway up the side of the bowl. You now have two options:

1. Steam the pudding fully, for 8-9 hours. Afterwards, remove the foil and baking paper. Pierce several holes in the pudding with a skewer and pour over the brandy. Cover the bowl. with clingfilm. Store in a dark place. On the day of eating, replace the clingfilm and pierce it several times. Microwave on full power for 5 minutes, stand for 3 minutes, microwave on low/defrost for 7 minutes, and stand for 5 minutes before unmoulding.

2. Steam the pudding for 6 hours. Afterwards, remove the foil and baking paper. Pierce several holes in the pudding with a skewer and pour over the brandy. Then put on fresh baking paper and foil, buttered and pleated as before. Store in a dark place. On the day of eating, steam the pudding for 2-3 hours, then rest for 3-4 minutes before unmoulding.

Whichever method you use, you must make sure that you keep topping up the steamer/pan with boiling water.

Serve the pudding with traditional brandy butter, custard, or (my favourite) extra thick cream.