Strawberry Tart

It was such a hectic weekend that I wasn’t sure if I was going to get time to do this week’s Martha Mondays project, but knowing how much dad likes strawberry jam, strawberry tart, strawberries and cream and strawberries, there was not much chance of me not finding time to make them, and so on Friday night after a very long week at work, I set about making them.  The recipe is here.

 

These were easy to make and although the strawberries in the shops weren’t that great and I ended up mascerating them to bring out their flavour (and therefore my tart doesn’t look as pretty as the Martha Stewart one), they had a lovely feel of summer and I am most certain that they helped to bring out the sunshine at the weekend.

Thanks for a great pick!

Fancy joining us for Martha Mondays?  A super-friendly group of us get to pick a Martha Stewart recipe or craft and then we make it and tell each other what we thought on our blogs.  No pressure, but I can tell you that I have tried so many new things by joining this group.  Go over to Brette’s blog to find out more.

 

~ Pru

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Slutty Brownies

A friend was asking where I find some of the recipes I cook from and more and more I’m not using cookbooks but I find myself printing recipes off from the internet.  Just like this recipe.  It went something like this:

Article about Beyonce wearing flat shoes now she’s had the baby / ooh – article on Jessica Simpson wearing high heels whilst pregnant / mention of ‘slutty brownies / Google / whatsgabycooking.com

And there you have it, the reason why I was buying packets of Oreo cookies and then baking them with a brownie mixture and with cookie dough.

Now these are bad.  Click away now if you are dieting.  These things will suck you in, you’ll think about the combination of cookie dough, Oreo cookies and brownie and then you will want to make them and then you will want to eat them, and the eating is so good but also so bad but more good than bad if you know what I mean.

Cookie dough

Oreo cookies – I crumbled mine but you don’t need to

And finally, brownie mixture

Find the recipe here:  http://whatsgabycooking.com/slutty-brownies/

When I was looking at the recipe again it turns out that the original on The Londoner website was made with cake mixes, but I never like using cake mixes so I advocate making the mixtures with proper ingredients from the cupboard – so much nicer and they didn’t take long to make either.

These brownies are soft but with such great chocolate taste (anything with an Oreo in it is going to be good) but then you have the chocolate from the cookie dough, and honestly, this is the best brownie I have ever eaten.

This was one of those things that I had to get out of the house as quickly as possible, I took some round to a friend’s house and the others to work (leaving a few, of course, at home).

Please let me know if you make them.

 
~ Pru

Cinnamon Bun Bites

Evening all!

 

Its a bank holiday today and I have enjoyed a peaceful day – the cinema to see this great film and then lunch with mum and dad at Byron Burger – seriously the best burger in London.

 

I needed this extra day.  Finally, Grandad moved into a care home on Saturday and mum and I were up in Norwich to clean his house and then see him in his new home.  I used to work for a housing association in the care homes department so I know quite a bit about them and I was so pleased to find that it is a lovely home where I am sure the staff will take care of him and that he will settle in well.  He decided to stay in his room on his first day and I thought it was a fine idea, the staff will be encouraging him to come downstairs to the lounge and meet other residents and to eat his dinner in the dining room.

 

But anyway, a three day weekend was needed.  It’s Martha Mondays day and it was Brette’s turn to pick and she chose something that our family absolutely loved.  This was a joint effort with mum helping to roll the balls of dough in sugar and cinnamon and placing them in the baking dish.  It is still cold here and so I kept them in the living room where we still have the fire turned on whilst they grew again in size  – they grow soooo big!

I love this Instagram photo I took of the dough after it had risen.

After rising.  They cracked slightly with the sugar and cinnamon making a great crust.

Crusty on the top and then soft in the middle.  They had a good hit of cinnamon and were gorgeous!

We loved them.  I didn’t use all of the vanilla glaze and kept some stored in a little jug which we used the next day when we warmed the bun bites in the microwave.

 

My only problem?  These are too good.  We kept on picking at it and although I know I will make it again, I need a big crowd of people around to eat it so that I don’t eat it all! And I still think these would be a great pot-luck brunch idea.

 

 

~ Pru

Are you following me on Twitter or Pinterest?  If not, then click on the links.  Also search for me on Instagram my user name is PerfectingPru. It would make my day, possibly my week too!

Lemon and Extra Virgin Olive Oil Cake

With my new found ‘Love it/Make it‘ mantra, as soon as I saw this cake on Dorie Greenspan’s website I knew that I needed to make it.  Our house was full of lemons and I had some good extra virgin olive oil which I had received as a gift which would be perfect.  I was set.  Of course, when I arrived home it turned out that mum had made a cake.  A lemon cake.  I was mortified. Annoyed actually.  I hate it when a plan doesn’t come off.  But it was meant to be as mum’s cake hadn’t turned out that well.  Result!

This is a very good cake.  I don’t think its going to be great if you use a cheap olive oil (not that you would) but a fruity extra virgin olive oil will be very good.  And I have decided that loaf cakes are the best.  Now, the recipe didn’t call for any icing, but I wanted an extra hit of lemon (and it made good use of the juice from the lemons too).  I just mixed the lemon juice with icing sugar until I had a pouring consistency.

Here’s the recipe.  If you fancy trying something a little different (and have some spare olive oil) then I highly recommend this cake.

Have a great weekend!

~ Pru