The Efx3 Recipe Collection

This is a recipe for fairly easy homemade bread,  I didn’t write the original recipe(that can be found here) but I have altered it to my tastes.

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This recipe is for very yummy pumpkin and spice drop cookies, they are very easy to make and taste quite good, they might be too “spicy” for younger children but they are a hit around my house. This cookie is very soft and moist, almost like pumpkin bread or muffin in bite size form(and easier to make) they look like brown blobs but they taste like harvest time. It’s the cookie on the right

1 cup shorting(I used part butter for flavor)

2 cups packed brown sugar

2 eggs

2 cups Pumpkin Puree

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 cups flour

1/2 cup whole wheat/graham flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon EACH Nutmeg, Cinnamon, and Clove

Cream together the sugar, shortning and egg.

Add in the pumpkin and vanilla extract.

Sift together the flours, baking soda and spices.

Gradually add the flour/spice mix to the wet ingredients.

Chill for at least 1 hour

Drop by rounded teaspoon full onto lightly greased baking sheets.

Bake at 400f for 8 to 10 minutes (I found 10 to be just right)

Makes about 6 Dozen cookies.

These are very tasty pumpkins and spice cookies that you can roll out and cut into cute fall shapes then decorate as you like, I did fall leaves and acorns here but last week I made some that were Jack-O-Lanterns. This cookie is firm almost like thick sweet pie crust(but moister) they have a good flavor to them and don’t really need the frosting if you wish to leave that off.

1 cup butter(it is safe to use half shorting if you want them to have a longer shelf life)

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 Tablespoon Orange Zest OR 1 Teaspoon Orange Extract

1/2 cup packed pumpkin puree

1 egg yolk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2  1/4 cups regular flour

1/4 cup whole wheat/graham flour

1/2 teaspoon each Ginger, Cinnamon, Nutmeg and Clove

Prep time: 1 hour

First Cream together the butter, sugar and orange zest/extract.

Then add the pumpkin, egg yolk and vanilla.

Sift together the flours and the spices.

Carefully mix the flour/spice into the wet ingredients.

Chill the dough for 30 Minutes.

Roll out on a well floured surface and cut into desired shapes, place slightly apart on lightly greased baking sheets.

Bake at 375f  for 10 minutes. Makes about 2  1/2 dozen cookies.

Let them cool, and frost with Simple Icing. (1 cup confectioners sugar, 1/2 tsp vanilla and 1Tblsp milk)

I can’t take credit for this one, but I can confirm that it works very well. It’ll make enough for two medium-large pizzas, depending on how thick or thin you like your crust. You can also use one half and freeze the other.  Be sure to take off all your rings and have a small dish of flour ready for the kneading process because it’s a little messy at first and your hands will be covered in dough and flour.

Ingredients

1 package (2 1/4 tsp) active dry yeast
1 1/3 cups warm water
3 1/2 – 3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (unbleached bread flour or all purpose will be fine)
2 tbs olive oil
1 tbs salt
1 tbs sugar (optional, I didn’t use it and had no complaints)

Preparation Time: 10 minutes to mix, approximately 90 minutes for dough to rise.

Cooking Time: Bake dough for 7-15 minutes (depending on thickness of crust and if you’re using a stone or a metal baking pan) or until edges are beginning to brown at 450 F

Method

1: Combine the yeast (and sugar if using) in the warm water, stirring gently to dissolve the yeast. Let stand for 5 minutes.

2: In large bowl combine all other ingredients, adding yeast mixture once it’s ready.

3: Mix. Mix. Mix. Use your hands if you like.

4: Take dough out of the bowl and place dough on a heavily floured surface. I found the recipe makes a sticky dough and added probably another 1/3 to 1/2 cup of flour during the kneading process. It should be slightly tacky but not sticky. Adjust your flour accordingly. More flour = dryer dough.  Knead for 10 minutes .

5: Lightly grease a bowl with olive oil and put dough in, covering lightly with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise for 90 minutes or until it’s doubled in size. If you put it somewhere warm it’ll be quicker. I turned the oven on for 5 minutes then put the metal bowl over the vent to heat it up a little. Removed the bowl from heat after 10 minutes and waited another hour.

6:Once risen, punch the dough down and cut in half.

7: Make pizza as desired.

Chocolate cake with chocolate sauce and cream

I use this basic formula whenever I’m making a sponge cake; however many eggs you use, use twice the quantity (in oz) of flour, sugar and butter (for chocolate cake, substitute around 1/4 of the flour for cocoa).  My mum taught me how to make cake and I think the most important part of the recipe is that everything is done by hand – no machines, no packet mixes. Just you and the spoon. ;p

For this recipe I’ll list the quantities you’ll need for two 6″ cake tins (6″ diameter, 1″ deep or thereabouts).

Before you start, pre-heat the oven to Gas Mark 6 / 400F / 200C, and grease both of your cake tins (use greaseproof paper – the wrapper of a stick of butter will do – scoop up a little butter or margarine and rub it over the tins so that they’re well coated).

Ingredients:

3 eggs, whisked
4 oz self-raising flour
2 oz cocoa powder (NOT hot chocolate powder!)
6 oz caster / granulated white sugar
6 oz unsalted butter or margarine at room temperature
1/4 tsp baking powder

Preparation time: 15-20 minutes
Cooking time: around 15 minutes

Method:

1) Cut the butter into cubes. In a large mixing bowl, combine the butter and sugar. Using a wooden spoon, ‘cream’ (drag the butter into the sugar with the back of the spoon) the butter and the sugar together until the mix is fluffy, light and pale. Your elbow will hurt. Your forearm will hurt. No pain, no chocolate cake.

2) Pour a little of the whisked egg into the butter/sugar mix. With a fork, beat the egg into the mix until it is thoroughly mixed and not curdled. Pour a little more of the egg in, and beat again. Continue bit by bit until all of the egg has been whisked into the butter/sugar, and the mix is smooth without any ‘lumps’. This takes a lot of vigorous beating. Your elbow will hurt. Your forearm will hurt. You might sweat like a pig-dog. Remember – no pain, no chocolate cake.

3) Balance or hold a fine mesh sieve over the bowl, and sieve the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder into the bowl. Use a metal spoon to encourage the flour/powders through the sieve. Using the sieve to introduce the dry ingredients in this way ensures that your flour and powders are fine and full of air.

4) Using the edge of a metal spoon, ‘fold’ the flour/powders into the runny mix. Do this slowly, and only with the edge of the spoon. This will take a while, but eventually the ingredients will all be mixed together evenly and you will see no ‘bubbles’ of flour. This ‘edge of a metal spoon’ technique keeps the air in your mixture, helping it to stay light and fluffy so that your cake will raise nicely.

5) Distribute the mixture evenly into your cake tins. Try not to ‘handle’ the mixture too much, but spread it lightly over the base of both tins.

6) Place both tins in the center of the oven (if you have room on one shelf; otherwise, don’t worry too much) and bake for 15 minutes. It is very important that you do not open the oven door in the middle of the baking, as this will interrupt the rising process and make your cakes ‘collapse’.

7) This is perhaps the most vital part of the whole process. LICK THE BOWL!

After 15 minutes, open the oven door and, if you can do it without removing one of the tins, slide a metal knife or a toothpick into the middle of one of the cakes and if it comes out clean, your cakes are cooked. Otherwise leave them for another five minutes and try again.

Turn your cakes out onto a metal cooling rack (if you don’t have one, any clean flat surface will do – or even the ‘grill’ part of your grill) and let them cool off for 10-15 minutes.   When they’re cool enough, spread one of the surfaces of the cake with a filling of your choice, and place the other half on top of it. Spread the top too if you like.  There’s a recipe for the chocolate sauce I make here.

If you want to make a vanilla sponge instead of chocolate, use 6oz of self-raising flour, leave out the baking powder and cocoa powder, and add a teaspoon of vanilla essence. We only use the baking powder in the chocolate cake recipe because we’re substituting a part of the self-raising flour and the baking powder it contains, and because cocoa powder is heavier than flour.

Other yummy alternatives are making the plain (non-cocoa) sponge and grating the zest of one lemon or orange (or both) into the mix. Lemon and rosemary is lovely too.