Homemade Parmesan Crackers
Recipe:
Makes approx 72 crackers
Equipment:
Medium size mixing bowl
Sieve
Rolling pin
Knife
Cheese grater
Baking sheet
Wire rack
6 Jam jars with lids
Dollies, small x 6
Labels
Ribbon
Ingredients:
250 grams self raising flour
Large pinch of salt
Pinch of cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon of black pepper
250 grams unsalted butter
3-4 tablespoons of water
160 grams of freshly grated Parmesan
Method:
Sift the flour into the bowl, add the salt and spices. Rub in the butter and add enough water to
give a firm dough. Knead the dough on a
floured surface and roll out into a rectangle.
Divide the Parmesan into 6 equal amounts.
*Sprinkle one portion over 2/3 of the rectangle. Fold the 1/3 that has no Parmesan on it over
onto the middle 1/3, now bring the remaining 1/3 of dough over onto the middle
1/3. Press the sides with the rolling
pin to seal them. Turn the dough by a quarter
turn and now press the rolling pin onto the dough 3 times thus forming air
pockets.**
Repeat from * to ** until the Parmesan have been used.
Roll the dough out into a rectangle of about 1 inch thickness. Cut the rectangle into 1 ¼ strips.
Cut each strip into crackers of approx. ¼ inch thickness.
Place the crackers onto the baking sheet and chill for 30 minutes.
Whilst the dough chills
put the oven on; Gas mark 7 (220° C).
Cook the crackers on the
centre oven shelf for 5 minutes, then remove from the oven, flip them over and
put back in the oven for a further 4 or 5 minutes.
Allow to cool completely
before putting them into the jars, stick on your label and pretty up the jar
lid with the dollie and a nice colourful piece of ribbon.
Homemade chocolates
Recipe:
Makes approx 72 buttons in total. This equates to 6 bags of chocolates, each bag containing 4 white, 4 milk and 4 plain button chocolates.
Equipment:
Medium size saucepan
Large heatproof glass bowl
Stirring spoon
Silicone chocolate button mould (purchased from Lakeland)
Teaspoon
Wire rack
Cellophane bags (purchased from Lakeland)
Labels
Ribbon
Ingredients:
150 gram bars of cooking chocolate: 1 x white, 1 x milk, 1 x plain (350
grams total)
Small bag of miniature marshmallows
50 grams dried cranberry’s, cut in half
50 grams of flaked almonds
50 grams crystallised stem ginger cubes, cut up into thin strips
Method:
Sit the large bowl over a pan filled with a couple of inches of
simmering water. NB: the base of the
bowl should not touch the water.
Break up 70% of the white chocolate bar into the bowl and keep stirring
until the chocolate has melted.
Remove the bowl from the pan.
Break up the remaining 30% of white chocolate and put it into the bowl
of melted chocolate. Stir the chocolate until
it has melted and has a smooth consistency.
Put the mould onto the wire tray and fill each button recess with 4 or
5 marshmallows. Now using the teaspoon,
spoon chocolate into each button. Once
filled I tend to poke the marshmallows around in the chocolate with a cocktail
stick to make sure the chocolate get to all the areas of the button shape. Now carefully lift the mould off the work
surface by about 4 inches and drop it, this should bring any air bubbles up to
the surface to disburse.
Place the filled mould in the fridge to set.
Repeat the above using:
milk chocolate with cranberries and almond
plain chocolate with ginger
Once the chocolates are thoroughly set push them out of the mould and
pop into the cellophane bags and seal with the wire twist. Stick on your label and pretty it up with a
nice colourful piece of ribbon.
