Posie’s Place

I’ve never made Mince Pies before but this year I thought I would make some to give as a gift and to enjoy at home.  When I tried to get the right size cutters I drew a blank so they’re not as neat as I’d hoped they would be but I guess that just adds to the rustic homemade charm.

I looked at several different recipes and this is the one which I liked the sound of the best, it’s from Ainsley Harriot and I found it on the BBC food website.  It’s a little bit cheaty since it uses shop bought mincemeat, but I decided that conquering the shortcrust pastry was enough of a challenge for this year so maybe next time I’ll try making the mincemeat too!

According to Ainsley this makes 18 but I think my muffin tray must be much deeper than his as I only got 12.  I also refridgerated the pastry overnight in a zip lock bag and that may have contributed to my pastry cracking quite alot.  All in all though I thought it was a pretty sucessful first try.  Give them a try and see what you think.

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On Saturday our son’s nursery had an open day and they asked if the parent’s wouldn’t mind bringing something along to be sold.  I volunteered to bring a cheesecake since I’m not the greatest baker in the world and this has got to be my favourite dessert and also one of the easiest!  See what you think.

This recipe is a combination of a Nigel Slater recipe and my friend Sue’s recipe.  It’s deliciously naughty!

This version I flavoured with orange and lemon but you can omit the orange juice and rind and top with freshly chopped strawberries for a really delicious alternative.

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It’s that time again! Meeta over at What’s For Lunch Honey is hosting another round of her Monthly Mingle, with Valentine’s Day on the way the theme is – Sweet Love!

What a great chance to indulge my sweet tooth and make something very special. I don’t do much baking and so this recipe is the perfect solution for me. Apple Crumble is a classic recipe and it was one of my childhood favourites. When I was young Sunday afternoons were often spent in my grandmothers kitchen watching her and my mother making the traditional Sunday lunch and usually a dessert of some form. I really looked forward to those Sundays when it was apple or rhubarb crumble, the combination of tart fruit and the crunchy topping with a side of creamy custard was heaven!

So here is another family recipe I would like to share with you and I have submitted this to Meeta for inclusion in her Monthly Mingle #7 round-up. I really hope you like it!

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I was delighted when Sara over at I Like to Cook asked me if I would like to take part in a great blogging event and get my hands on a a fabulous new glossy copy of Dorie Greenspan’s new book “From My Home To Yours”, I jumped at the chance.

I am a complete novice baker, I’ve never really spent any time baking and since Stewart doesn’t have a sweet tooth there has never really been any point but I REALLY LOVE cheesecake and decided this was the perfect recipe to try.

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It just had to happen. Another blog swap with Pam! It was so much fun the last time that we had to do it again.

Yes, Pam is over at my place again cooking up something refreshing for this blog swap. We decided to keep the theme similar to my Monthly Mingle. The summer’s been a great one. We’ve had great warm or rather hot weather and as I see on a lot of blogs the trend is pretty much worldwide. So, we thought we would inspire you with something cooling to Beat The Heat.

I am serving up a delicious and refreshing dessert, that is not only simple to make but scrumptious that it’ll leave you licking your fingers. What’s more it uses the perfect ingredients for the summer – berries.

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