Angelina Xmas and Co.

                                                          My very first Tilda style Christmas angel.
                                                 Following instructions from  Sew Pretty Christmas 
                   

                                                                       Miss Lavender

  With Miss G`s  embroidery  

                                                 

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake « Spoonful of Sugar Free

Day 5: Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake « Spoonful of Sugar Free:

'via Blog this'

the worlds best gluten-free vegan beet donut with cashew frosting

the worlds best gluten-free vegan beet donut with cashew frosting:

'via Blog this'

Smallholder`s discoveries

discovered over the fence, suspended in the air, obviously well socialized with all the nettles.
 Our very FIRST own grown pumpkin!!!

 a wooden apple decorated with Kuretake pens

 and yet another glorious morning

Autumn is upon us

Extra warm and sunny but that`s Autumn alright!
 With first colds ( Ooops!) and colours, conkers  and cute things to do :)

We planned to go head towards  Chieslehurst delivering some homemade cookies etc for tearoom at an Art Exhibition but with my cold and minibus`s exhaust pipe issues we ended up in a nearby village just a mile or so from home.
 So here we are, enjoying ( well .... ;) ) a glorious  evening, collecting conkers and  taking photos.



Autumn nostalgia or sore throat blues?

 CONKERS!!!

and yet MORE conkers

Dividing the spoils

 a chickens` heaven

And that`s about it, I believe as Ophelia`s tail is bringing us a definite end of balmy weather

 Heavy winds spell end of warm autumn

Leaves will be swept of the trees as gales sweep in from the West, meaning that winter will start in earnest, especially in Northern England, Northern Ireland and Scotland.
They will bear the brunt of the gales, which in some places will see winds gusting at about 65mph for much of today.
Meteorologists said it was unlikely that any region would escape the gloom.
And the longer term forecast fails to lift the dark skies, with storms expected towards the end of the week as well.
Rachel Vince, forecaster at MeteoGroup, the weather division of the Press Association, said: "There is a deep low moving in from the north west bringing very strong and gusty winds across the whole of the UK."

 oh well...

Indian Summer- one glorious morning

With temperatures soaring to 30C we had a beautiful Summer for a week or so, this Autumn with some extra delightful mornings, rather scorching middays and again, pleasantly warm and full of sunshine evenings.


 Early morning -Oct.1 2011
Venue: back garden
PJs photography :)

One last hay making

The very secret of this belated Summer:

What has brought the warm autumn weather to the UK?

Over the next few days we are expecting a spell of very warm weather for this time of year across much of England and Wales and even parts of Scotland too. The reason why we are seeing this unseasonable warm spell is due to an area of high pressure which has developed across much of central Europe, centred on Germany and Poland.
This draws up very warm air from a long way south, from parts of France and Spain. That comes across a dry continent removing most of the moisture out of the air. As a result we see very little in the way of cloud with blue skies and plenty of sunshine. As a result the sunshine warms the ground and the ground warms the air so we see high temperatures for this time of the year.

Slice of sunshine - apple, walnuts and raisins

  Ingredients


 Base
4 cups flour ( self-raising or plain with 2 tsp baking powder)
5 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
370 g unsalted butter

Apple layer
2 kg apples (cooking apples ideally)
a handful raising
a handful chopped walnuts
cinnamon ( optional)
1 tbsp  potato starch/cornflour
sugar ( to taste)

 Meringue topping
5 egg whites
 1 tbsp potato starch/cornflour
1 tsp sugar
vanilla extract
icing sugar

heat the oven to 180C
 prepare a large( 26 x 38 cm), rectangular cake tin (greased and floured)


 Directions 
  Base:
 flour (with baking powder with using plain flour), egg yolks, sugar, butter place in food processor and mix until well combined. Leave in a fridge for 1h min.


Apple layer

 wash, peel and chop apples ( roughly). Place in a large pan with a very small amount of water. Cook for a few minutes, adding sugar at the end. Lower the heat and cook until most of the water evaporates. Add some cornstarch/potato starch dissolved in a very small amount of cold water and mix well.. Add raisins, walnut pieces and cinnamon if used.

Meringue topping
 whip egg whites  until stiff,  vanilla add sugar and corn starch and whip for a few moments.

Further directions
use 2/3 of dough and grate it to cover the surface of cake tin, place in the oven and bake for 10-15 min until golden brown.
 Remove from the oven, prick with fork and cover with apple layer.

Top up with meringue layer and grate the remaining dough over the top.
 return to the oven and bake in 180-200C until golden brown.

Remove from the oven Leave to cool. Sieve some icing sugar on the top if required.

  Szarlotka/plesniak


na spod


4 szkl maki
 2 lyzeczki proszku do pieczenia
5 zoltek
1 szkl cukru
370g masla

na mase jablkowa

 2 kg jablek
cukier ( do smaku jesli jablka kwasne)
 po garsci rodzynek i orzechow wloskich
 cynamon ( niekoniecznie)
1 lyzka skrobii

 na wierzch `bezowy`
5 bialek
 lyzka cukru
 lyzka srobii
wanilia

Przygotowanie

 piekarnik ustawic na temp 180 st
 przygotowac duze naczynie zaroodporne/blache ( ok 26x38 cm) -wysmariwac tluszczem i podsypac maka/bulka tarta

spod
 make, proszek, cukier, zoltka wymieszac mikserem lub recznie zagniatajac ciasto.
 Odlozyc do lodowki na ok godzine minimum ( lub do zamrazarki na krocej)

masa jablkowa
jablka pokroic niezbyt drobno, przelozyc do duzego rondla i podlac odrobina wody, zagotowac dodajac cukier, rodzynki i orzechy (cynamon) .
 Na koneic dodac skrobie rozpuszczona w odrobinei zimnej wody i chwile gotowac mieszajac.

piana
 bialka ubic na sztywna piane, dodajac pod koniec cukier, skrobie i wanilie


 Ciasto wyjac z lodowki, 2/3 zetrzec na tarce ( na wiekszych oczkach) pokrywajac dno blachy.
Wstawic do piekarnika na ok 15 min az sie podpiecze na zloty kolor.
Wyjac, nakluc powierzchnie widelcem i wylozyc mase jablkowa.
 Na jej powierzchni rozsmarowac piane i zetrzec reszte ciasta.
 Wstawic ponownie do piekarnika i piec na zloty kolor. Wyjac i pozostawic do wystygniecia.

 Wierzch mozna posypac cukrem pudrem. Pokroci na kawalki ( kwadraty lyb romby).

Chocolate chip cookies plain and basic

 Preparation time : 10 min
 Total cooking time: 15 min
 Makes 24
 150g unsalted butter
 1/4 cup  unrefined sugar
 1/3 cup molasses sugar
1 egg yolk
 1 tsp vanilla essence ( optional)
 1 1/2 cups self raising flour
1 cup (200g) choc dots

 Preheat oven to moderate 180C. Line a 32x 28 cm biscuit tray with baking paper

1 Using electric beaters, beat butter, sugars and yolk until light and creamy.
 Add essence, beat until combined.
2 gradually add flour and 2/3 of the dots. Change the food processor`s attachment and mix well until ingredients are just combined.
3 roll 1 tbsp of  mixture at a time into a ball
 4 press remaining chocolate dots firmly on top of balls. Arrange on prepared trays, allowing room for spreading ( more than you think). Bake 15 min. or until crisp and lightly brown. Cool biscuits on trays.

czas przygotowania : 10 min
czas pieczenia: 15 min
 na 24 szt. :

 150g niesolonego masla
 1/4 miarki* nierafinowanego cukru ( ew rafinowany w wersji mniej zdrowej)
 1/3 miarki cukru z melasy ( lub brazowego)
1zoltko
 1  lyzeczka  ekstraktu waniliowego (niekoniecznie)
 1 1/2 maki samorosnacej ( lub zwyklej z dodatkiem proszku do pieczenia)
1 miarka ( 200g) kawalkow czekolady

 Nagrzac piekarnik do temp 180 st
Przygotowac blache wylozona papierem do pieczenia lub teflonowym wielokrotnego uzytku.



1  zoltka, cukier i maslo ubic na puszysta, jednolita mase . Dodac wanilie i ubijac do momentu polaczenia.

2  Wymienic mieszadlo, stopniowo dodac make i  2/3 kawalkow czekolady i  wymieszac skladniki do momentu ich polaczenia
3 nabierajac ciasto lyzka formowac kulki ( 1 lyzka= 1 ciastko)
 4 w kazda z kulek wcisnac kilka kawalkow czekolady i rozlozyc na blasze pozostawiajac odpowiednie odstepy. Piec 15 min.  lub do momentu az nabiora zloto-brazowego koloru. Pozostawic do ostygniecia ( i az stwardnieja) na blasze.
 Mozna przechowywac do 3 dni w  szczelnym pojemniku

miarka =  220 ml


 Polish _pls
Chocolate chip cookies 
czyli hamerykanskie ciastka zwykle takie:)
czas przygotowania : 10 min
czas pieczenia: 15 min
na 24 szt. :

150g niesolonego masla
1/4 miarki* nierafinowanego cukru ( ew rafinowany w wersji mniej zdrowej)
1/3 miarki cukru z melasy ( lub brazowego)
1 zoltko
1 lyzeczka ekstraktu waniliowego (niekoniecznie)
1 1/2 maki samorosnacej ( lub zwyklej z dodatkiem proszku do pieczenia)
1 miarka ( 200g) kawalkow czekolady

Nagrzac piekarnik do temp 180 st
Przygotowac blache wylozona papierem do pieczenia lub teflonowym wielokrotnego uzytku.

Ja sie Kenem  wysluguje, ale mozna recznie rzecz jasna.

1. zoltka, cukier i maslo ubic na puszysta, jednolita mase. Dodac wanilie i ubijac do momentu polaczenia.

2. Wymienic mieszadlo, stopniowo dodac make i 2/3 kawalkow czekolady i wymieszac skladniki do momentu ich polaczenia
3. Nabierajac ciasto lyzka formowac kulki ( 1 lyzka= 1 ciastko)
4. W kazda z kulek wcisnac kilka kawalkow czekolady i rozlozyc na blasze pozostawiajac odpowiednie odstepy ( wieksze niz nam sie wydaje). Piec 15 min. lub do momentu az nabiora zloto-brazowego koloru. Pozostawic do ostygniecia ( i az stwardnieja) na blasze.
Mozna przechowywac do 3 dni w szczelnym pojemniku ( ale w sumie to dluzej suchym miejscu)


miarka = 220 ml