Kentish Pudding for National Pie Day!!....huh??

This is Kentish Pudding...and yes it is a pie or tart, it's one of those English colloquial anomalies that continue to confuse us all but rest assured it is quiet, simply elegant and most delicious!

This recipe is from Yorkshire TV's "Farmhouse Kitchen 2" and is attributed to Mrs. M. White and Mrs. Sue Marshall of St. Michale's, Tenterden, Kent...thank you ladies!!

My formatting is being VERY strange today so I apologize for the odd spacing...blogger doesn't want to let me change it, I have tried a couple of times and have now accepted my odd layout...apologies readers.
 

EASY PEASY SWEET TART CRUST:

Enough for one tart case about 9” diameter…nice and thin,

I am not a chunky crust personage so if you like a thicker pie crust make this for a smaller diameter pan:

1 1/2 cups/6ozs of unbleached white flour

1/2 cup/2ozs confectioners/icing sugar

1 stick + 1 tablespoon/ 4 1/2ozs butter VERY COLD

1 large egg yolk

a tad of milk or cream if your dough doesn't stick together

1. Sift dry ingredients together into a medium sized bowl.

2. Grate the butter into the dry ingreds., and rub in until like breadcrumbs.

3. Add egg yolk and blend carefully until the dough sticks together

4. Mine didn't stick together with just the egg yolk so I added baby drop by baby drop some cream until it did start to come together...be careful once it does start to come together it does so quite quickly...don't let it get sticky!!

5.Tear dough into big chunks…..place strategically in pie pan and start squushing to a create a smooth even covering of the entire pan…

The beauty of this crust is that it does NOT shrink at all…it stays put…good crust!!...and it tastes like a really good shortbread…yum!!

I did not pre-bake the crust but you can use a pre-baked crust if you are short on time...in which case the baking time will probably be quite a bit less maybe 20 minutes
so keep your eyes peeled on the pie.

Have your oven heated to 350F

FILLING:

1oz/scant ¼ cup ground rice…I found Fiddlers Green Brown Rice flour in bulk

at the Belfast Coop so I got a bit more fibre in there…just a bit

1/2pt/10US fluid ozs + I tablespoon milk or half and half (I used the latter as it

was the only thing in the fridge!)

11/2oz/ very scant 1/4 cup sugar

1/2oz/1 tablespoon butter

1 well beaten large whole egg

A grating of nutmeg (I like a lot of nutmeg)

About 2oz/ ½ cup currants

Pinch of salt


RECIPE:

1. Put ground rice in a bowl and slake with a couple of tablespoons of milk i.e.

mix it to a smooth paste.

2. Put remainder of milk (or ½ and ½), sugar and salt in a saucepan

and heat to boiling.

3. Pour a little of the boiling milk onto the rice paste, cream well and make

sure it is smooth, add a bit more and cream again and repeat until

finished and very smooth… I usually use a whisk for this instead of a spoon

which helps break up any attendant lumpage.

4. Return mix to pan and simmer gently for about 5 minutes..it will get

very thick and you need to stir it constantly again to prevent

lumpage and catchy burnage on the bottom.

5. Take off the heat and stir to cool for a couple of minutes,

then add the butter and blend well, then add the egg and nutmeg

and blend well.

6. Allow to cool to room temperature.

7. Strew the currants all over the base of the pie case (the recipe said to

strew them on the top of the pie but I have found if the currants

aren’t covered by the mix they can burn and that’s a taste I am not fond

of so I put them in the bottom instead…

not traditional but more to my own personal liking..…use as many or as few

as you like, I love currants and raisins so I covered the whole bottom

and actually would have liked more on reflection after eating the pie.

8. Pour the cooled rice mix over the currants.

9. Pop the pie pan onto a tray and off it goes into the oven.

10. I cooked the pie for about 35 minutes…it needs to be set and

slightly risen to be ready…it colours very little except on the air bubbles.

11. Remove from the oven and cool and EAT!!

Happy Pie Day everyone!!!

This Kentish Pudding is part of the Lavender and Lovage and Hedgecombers Tea Time Treats bloghop

Happy Baking - if you try this recipe please let me know how it turns out and feel free to post pictures of such on my FACEBOOK PAGE - thanks, Patricia

Green Hive Honey Farms Valentine's Special Edition packaging..."Honey BEE Mine"

 

Here is the finished product "Honey Bee Mine" how can you resist buying this for YOUR Honey for Valentine's Day? A jar of Green Hive Honey Farms Raw Honey with 4oz of delicious Honeycomb, a special label, a heart shaped tag, a cellophane bag, dried rosebuds, a sparkly ribbon and the inestimable addition of a handmade tissue paper

paeonia on the top?

 I started by designing a special label based off the original design I created a few months ago...of course it still had to be on a pastel pink background but this time we choose a round label because of the softness of the shape...no sharp corners here!

Next I created a heart shaped hang tag which is tied with a ribbon to the package - you can write your love note on the back...how sweet!

Above is one of the first try-outs which was greatly liked but not practical for packing or shipping and the label was just to get a feel for the direction 

My work surface covered in Valentine's accoutrements.....

My first two tissue paper paeonias - so easy to make - and some lovely dried rosebuds

from the Belfast Coop

 

and more paeonias...I need to make quite a lot but they are very satisfying and soothing to make... did I EVER mention how much I like pink?

 I couldn't resist sharing this picture....my favourite colour combination...YUM!!

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Flapjacks, British Country Living and a cup of tea!!

 British Flapjacks, an oaty biscuit/cookie….not pancakes which are sometimes called flapjacks in the US and Canada….you'll love them!!

I don’t remember eating too many Flapjacks in Blighty…AND WHY NOT I now ask myself…they are really delectable!! They are crunchy, chewy, buttery, sugary and oaty…they are very caramelly and I have added an extra bit of salt to give them that wonderful counterpoint against the rounded sweetness of sugar and butter.

This is about the easiest cookie/biscuit you will ever make, this recipe doubles easily, if not quadruples...you may want to go that far!!

From “Farmhouse Kitchen 2” Yorkshire Television

INGREDIENTS:

3oz/6Tbsp butter...I use salted

1 Tbsp of  honey

1Tbsp of molasses/treacle/maple syrup

(you can do 2 Tbsp of either honey or molasses or golden syrup or maple syrup whatever combination of those you like…I liked the honey with the molasses to give a depth of flavour BUT if you have Golden Syrup on hand that would be excellent too…it is a little harder to find…actually you’ll be making these more than once I almost guarantee so try it a different

way each time!)

3oz/a very scant ½ cup sugar…I used a blond organic sugar because I used molasses but if you don’t use molasses then use brown sugar of some form.

5oz/1½ cups oats…I used quick cooking organic oats…you can use regular, rolled - the result will be more chewy AND more traditional, just don’t use instant.

A goodly pinch of salt

METHOD:Pre-heat oven to 350F

1. Lightly grease a round baking tin…this recipe is good for a 9” diameter one
2. Melt butter, salt, sugar and liquid sweeteners gently until sugar has melted.
3. Stir melted butteriness into oats and coat evenly.
4.  Spread mixture evenly into tin.
5. Bake in centre of oven ‘til nicely golden browned and a little dark at the edges and slightly bubbling all over, see photo, this should be about 20 minutes at 350.
6. Remove from oven even though the mix looks too loose if you jiggle it…it will quickly set up as it cools.
7. After about 10 minutes run a knife around the edge of the tin to loosen the flapjacks.
8. Leave in the tin to cool, if you take it out before it is completely cool it could be really sticky in the pan - before you remove from the pan cut into four sections with a sharp knife - then gently pry one quarter out and put on a board and then cut in two or three with a seesaw motion of the knife - I have found this is by far the best way to get them cut into nice clean edged pieces - some recipes say to cut whilst still warm but that leaves ugly squushed edges - cutting when they are almost cold is more effort but the flapjacks look so much better..
9. It does seem/look a bit greasy before it is cooled completely.
10. Eat and smile…I defy you to eat just the one…

Happy Baking!!

 I LOVE British Country Living magazine, it is my favourite mag in the world and I recommend you take a look if you see it for sale anywhere. My January copy arrived today and the flapjack along with a cuppa was the perfect complement to my reading.

Please follow these links to some other wonderful Tea Time Treats :)

Lavender and Lovage

What Kate Baked