handsome betty

A busy time...and time for tea!

2009-06-17T11:16:00.000-07:00

As summer kicks in lots of other projects take over and Betty stays to the way side...fear not she'll be back later in the year with her friendly bakerettes!
We'll be teaming up with the Craft Guerrilla for a one off event.
Our pop up* vintage tea party will be on hand to quench those thirsty crafters.
So ladies and gentleman make sure you keep those diaries free and come have some tea and cake with us at the East London Craft Guerrilla "Craftea party"! Lots of bunting,sweet tea and delicious cakes to help you keep up your strength while crafting....oooh heaven!!!
Check out our last Vintage tea party blog entry from 2007 http://handsomebetty.blogspot.com/2007/09/saturday-22nd-of-september.html
More info to come soon.

*Please note that the term "Pop up" refers to events that happen sporadically and in unusual venues that otherwise would host other types of events. There seems to be a question of it being a Japanese VS American trend but further reading shows it to be American in the way that it is there ,in the States,that it was made popular. About a year ago or so (but articles date back to 2007) POP UP events made it BIG and many New York based companies and independents hosted many types of events ranging from boutiques/shopping to restaurants. It's now come to the UK and it's prooved to be quite popular. Other London based entrepreneurs host similar events. Please do not confuse us with them. We don't want to take anything away from their endeavours as well as take away from ours.
We are hosting an independent,one off event. Our first was 4 years ago before it was even called a "pop up" event. We're not bothered that others want to take ownership of the name and idea. We wish them luck! Unfortunately with technology and the web ideas spread and get noticed quicker then ever! So to call "pop up" ventures original and belonging to someone in specific is a little bit arrogant.
I'm sure if it were properly researched that we'd find that it was a pre war, post war,medieval (these are only examples) trend that's made a resurgence. It's a fab idea and we love that so many people have embraced and shared it. The amount of joy and liberation such events give not only to the hosts but also to the visitors is amazing.
Many pop up events have been used as an extra way of publicizing companies and we think that's a fantastic publicity idea...pure genius!
Below are a few articles you might want to read so to get a sense of what it's all about and how it started...

Related articles http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/food_and_drink/eating_out/article5388955.ece
http://www.nrn.com/breakingNews.aspx?id=346974
http://www.craftscouncil.org.uk/about-us/press-room/view/2009/pop-up-shops?from=/about-us/press-room/

Easy condensed milk pudding!

2008-11-28T04:31:00.000-08:00

This has got to be one of the easiest deserts to make,especially when you have unexpected guests as all of the ingredients are usually in your cupboard!It's so simple to make and really quick.Chill for a couple of hours and you're done!

you will need:
1 UHT carton of cream cream (or fresh whipping cream)
1 large tin of condensed milk
Juice and zest of 1 lemon
4tbsp of crushed Marie biscuits (or digestives)

With a pestle and mortar crush your biscuits into a fine but still crunchy powder.
In a large bowl beat a carton of UHT cream into stiff peaks. Add the zest of lemon and mix well. In another bowl pour in the condensed milk and add the lemon juice. Add a little bit of the cream and mix well. Now fold in the beaten cream so it's light and fluffy.
Pour into individual bowls or pretty cocktail glasses and sprinkle over the crushed biscuits. Chill for at least 2 hours.

Top tip...this recipe is a nice refreshing pallet cleanser. You can add more Lemon juice to taste. I always add at least the juice of 2 lemons because I do like it quite zingy. Also the lemon juice thickens up the mixture so no need to use horrible stuff like gelatine!

Variations: Coconut- add dessicated coconut to the mixture and top with flaked roasted almonds.
Mocha- remove the lemon and add a small measure of coffee liqueur,dash of vanilla essence,1 tsp of chocolate flavouring (the kind you use to add to coffee) or cocoa powder and top with chocolate shavings or chocolate covered coffee beans.

a few of my favourite things

2008-11-28T04:24:00.001-08:00

Fruli, Candy Candy and condensed milk!
Fruli because it tastes nice...too nice to be an alcoholic drink! Candy Candy because she too loves to bake and condensed milk because it's such a great ingredient!!!
I'm still trying to find a sweet recipe that uses both Fruli and condensed milk!Maybe Candy Candy can help?

absent without love...

2008-10-09T04:10:00.000-07:00

I have to say that life is a funny old thing and as usual I have several fingers in several pies...excuse the pun... but baking has fallen to the way side and my time has been taken by other projects!
Unfortunately there are not enough hours in the day and what little time I have left over is taken by other not so interesting tasks.
I do feel that I have suffered for not baking as much as I normally would because apart from having lovely treats to eat it's damned relaxing!!! I love baking and I feel like it's time to get some LOVIN back into my kitchen!!! The cooker's on the blink but I still manage to make basic sundries though I'm hoping St. Nick will bring one down the chimney this Chrimbo.Well a girl can dream!!!!
BUT I will resume very soon and fill this blog with lots more recipes. I have had time to make a few "new" recipes so...keep checking because I shall post them very soon!!

Fool proof Dark Chocolate and Cherry cup cakes

2008-01-17T10:54:00.000-08:00

I love making up recipes and adapting old favourites.Cup cakes are really nice and versatile.They look pretty at children's parties but can also be sophisticated and grown up.For a friend's wedding I made a main sponge cake for the wedding party and dotted around were cascades of gorgeous gold dusted cup cakes for the guests.It's a really easy and fun way to serve large amounts of people and make sure that everyone gets a slice of the action!
A while ago I rediscovered "Spelt" flour which is a wheat flour that was widely used during the Roman Empire and all over Europe through out history.
The gluten content is high but tolerated by many people with allergies...I have a slight wheat intolerance and since discovering "Spelt" Flour I can stuff my face with cakes and bread without feeling ill! For more info read:http://www.dovesfarm.co.uk/organic/info-spelt.htm
Spelt is a slightly nutty flour and mainly used for flat breads.I decided to experiment and make something sweet.So with the addition of lush 70% cocoa dark chocolate,tinned morello cherries and topped with chocolate frosting I made a mean tasty and absolutely gorgeous treat.

Here's the recipe:
preheat oven 190c/375F/gas mark 5
For the cup cakes (makes 12)
125g of Spelt Flour (optional.you can use wheat flour if you wish)
1tsp baking powder
100g 70% cocoa dark chocolate
1tsp vanilla extract
1tsp cocoa
125g caster sugar
pinch of salt
2 eggs
50ml of rapeseed oil
2tbsp of freshly brewed coffee cooled
tinned morello cherries

Line the cup cake/muffin tray with paper cases. In a bowl break the chocolate and place over a pan of boiling water(bain marie)until completely melted and glossy.Leave to cool.
In another bowl beat the eggs with the sugar until light and fluffy.Add the rapeseed oil,vanilla extract and stir well.
Mix all the dry ingredients together and sift.Do not remove the husky bits from the Spelt Flour as these will not pass through the sieve just put them back into the sifted flour.
Mix the cooled chocolate into the egg mixture and stir until smooth.Stir in half the flour mixture and fold.
Add the coffee and the remaining flour. Spoon the cake mixture into the paper cases but only half way because now you need to add the cherries.
Place one or two cherries in the middle of each case and top with the remainder of the cake mixture so it covers the cherries.
Place in the preheated oven for 12 minutes or until risen.
Leave to rest for 5 minutes in the tin before placing them to cool completely on a wire rack.

For the frosting:
225g of icing sugar
60g of cocoa powder
pinch of salt
1tsp vanilla
3tbsp hot coffee
3tbsp soft unsalted butter

Mix the Cocoa with the icing sugar salt in a large bowl. While whisking constantly with an electric whisk add the vanilla, butter and hot coffee until smooth.
To keep you frosting moist wet and squeeze the excess water out of two kitchen paper towels and cover the bowl with these until you are ready to decorate your cup cakes.
Top with a morello cherry.

More recipes coming soon...

2008-01-07T08:29:00.000-08:00

New year new recipes!
Happy 2008!

Keep your peepers peeled as I'll be
adding more tasty recipes to my
page.
Lots of cakes,jams,biscuits,sweets and savory...

COMING SOON...
Blue Cheese and walnut cake/loaf.

Let me tweak it,bake it,photograph it
and I'll be ready to share it with you!

Happy New Year!

2008-01-07T08:19:00.001-08:00

"Ester...I've just opened my last jar of fig jam!"
Her she is,the lovely Ester with a couple of jars of
Spanish fig jam she made from my recipe.
Check out the recipe:
fig jam
www.pennyfieldingbeautifulinteriors.blogspot.com

Top tip for jam makers

2007-10-10T08:56:00.000-07:00

As the jam making season is well upon us I find it important to share a few family secrets.
I use a lot of recycled jars for my jam making and all this talk of "sterilizing" and "sealing" used to through me into frenzied episodes of doubt, "OH,that sound's complicated, I 'll never be able to do that!" So I ended up putting it off until the next year and the next. But fear no more. It's not complicated or scary! Once you know what to do it becomes apparently easy and you wonder why you've never tried it before. My mum who is a master jam maker told me about this one.There is science behind it and it works so I'm happy with that!
The sterilization process can be very straight forward. Wash and clean your jars and lids in warm soapy water and rinse. Place them on a baking tray and place them in a warm/hot oven for 15/20 minutes. I usually do this just as the jam is finishing off.
Now...sealing the jam. You need to do this to expand the life of your jam. It should in theory if done correctly last until the next year. Wax lids and paper are messy and a pain... a little bit of trapped air under these and mold sets in.
Once your jam is ready don't wait for it to cool. Ladle the hot jam in to the pre-sterilized jars just up to the ridge under the neck of the jar but not up to the rim (leave about 2 cm or so).
Make sure it's closed tight. Careful when handling hot jam and hot jars, good oven gloves and a kitchen towel are essential to have near by. Turn the covered jars upside down and as the jam cools in the jar this forms a natural vacuum and once it's completely cool turn it back up the right way up and the jam and gravity work their magic. Hey presto!
For my fab fig jam recipe visit:
www.pennyfieldingbeautifulinteriors.blogspot.com

Death by Chocolate Cookies

2007-09-27T11:16:00.000-07:00

These beauties are easy to make and very tasty to eat.
A firm favorite in my household they tend to not last very long.
There a mixture between a biscuit and a cake...like a Jaffa Cake.
That same dilemma, is it a biscuit or is
it a cake? Their soft cake like richness and quantity of chocolate in this recipe lead me
to give them their very appropriate name.They kind of
reminded me of the Cake version but without the frosting and with a little bit more bite.
If you love dark chocolate then this is the one for you otherwise if you find it all
too rich you can use milk chocolate or white chocolate instead. Also don't be shy...I use this recipe as a base and add other ingredients like nuts, crystalized ginger, and what ever takes my fancy. They keep pretty well but I doubt they'll last more then a couple of days...they are deadly moor-ish!
This recipe makes about 24 large biscuits

You will need:
150g unsalted butter
75g dark chocolate broken in small bits
1tbsp of strong black coffee
75g caster sugar
75g brown muscavado sugar
2 eggs beaten lightly
30g good quality cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
225g plain flour
150g dark chocolate pieces (high quality and high cocoa content)

For dipping:
75g dark chocolate melted

In a sauce pan melt the butter and 75g of dark chocolate pieces over a low heat. Stir until smooth and remove from heat. Stir in coffee ,stir until incorporated and set aside for 5 minutes until cool. Stir in the eggs and the sugars.
In a large bowl sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Mix in the melted chocolate mixture. Stir in the 150g dark chocolate pieces. Using a spoon drop dough into rough rounded shapes onto lightly greased cookie sheets. They will spread so don't pack them in too tight. Bake in a preheated oven 350F/170C for 10 to 12 minutes. Remove tray from oven and leave to cool for 1 minute before removing from sheet. They look pretty soft but will harden slightly when cold. Place on a wire rack to cool completely.

Place the final 75g of dark chocolate in a "Bain Marie" (bowl over pan of boiling water)
and stir chocolate until it melts.
With some cooking tongs hold biscuits by the sides, dip the bottom of the biscuits so to coat only the under side and leave to set with the dipped chocolate side upwards.
Once cool place in a biscuit tin or container...
Ok, Who am I kidding? Have a cup of tea and enjoy they're very hard to resist!

Saturday the 22nd of September

2007-09-21T08:42:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow Handsome Betty baked Goods will be in store, at Beautiful Interiors (Walthamstow,London) with her fab outdoor cafe for the last of the Summer Garden Art and Craft Markets.
I've been baking lovely,fresh cakes this morning and all that's left to do is ice the fairy cakes!
There is also free tea and coffee served in vintage crockery to have with your cake so don't be shy...help your self!
On the menu this Saturday:
Lemon Bundt cake
Wheat free carrot cake with lovely cream cheese icing
Chocolate,pear and almond French Tart
Iced Fairy cakes
and Death by Chocolate Cookies.

All baked by my fair hand the evening before,100% vegetarian, natural,no nasties, no e numbers...just tons of love!
Come down and sit under the fig tree and enjoy the last of the good weather!
I'll be posting my EASY Death by Chocolate Cookie recipe next week. Why not try it for yourself?
There's nothing more satisfying and relaxing then baking...it's easy,fun and best of all
you can eat your creations!

Welcome!

2007-09-19T08:57:00.000-07:00

From a very early age my grandmother introduced me to baking passing on to me a deep rooted family tradition. All the women in our family were cake makers! My fondest memories are of helping her place pineapple rings in the bottom of the tin for upside down cakes that seemed to permanently reside in my gran's sideboard. She would look after us every summer and it seemed that everyday without fail there would always be a cake to go with our 5 o'clock tea. Moist, yellow, fluffy, buttery cake flesh...I can still smell it and it bring me feelings of joy, of being safe and loved.
My gran was an Anglophile and absolutely loved the whole "cream tea" thing. She would always say: "Do you know who introduced tea to the English? It was our queen Catherine of Braganca!". Being a proud Portuguese lady she was proud of many other national traditions but this was actually the one she was most proud of.
By the age of six I started baking my own in my favorite toy ever...a mini plastic plug in , cooks with the heat of a light bulb toy oven. Ahhhh..."easy bake oven"! It actually worked. The cake tins were pretty small and there was a knack of getting them out without burning yourself...dangerous toys, hey those were the 1970's but that put me well on my way to experimenting with recipes and making up my own!
Unfortunately my grandmother is no longer able to bake as Altzheimers has taken hold and all her recipes have been misplaced,forgotten or thrown away by relatives. A great inheritance and treasure lost forever! I just wish I had paid more attention or written it all down.
As an homage to my beautiful grandmother I decide to set up a blog with recipes of some of my favorites. Feel free to try them and send me some of your own if you like. It's all about sharing! My cake recipes are never difficult or very labor intensive ...I like to keep it simple yet delicious.
E mail me and I'll bake/cook them, try them out and post them for everyone to see. I'll be giving away a few of my closely guarded secrets but...it's great to share what you've learned from others and pass on your own creations so they live on in someone else's kitchen!
handsome.betty@yahoo.co.uk
I bake and sell my cakes in a shop "Beautiful Interiors" in their Craft Market on weekends once a month. They're 100% vegetarian, using free range eggs and freshly baked with only the best ingredients...so no nasty additives or e numbers! Also I do on occasion bake special cakes like "Wheat Free" and "Sugar Free" treats.
I've just made a lovely fig jam with figs from the shop garden. Isn't it crazy how they grow in London? Check the shop blog page for the recipe for this delightful jam:
www.pennyfieldingbeautifulinteriors.blogspot.com
Kind regards.
Betty