Strawberry Fare

I have not had a chance to go to the fruit and vege markets in Sandringham since I started my holidays due to a very busy start and then time away. This morning after a much needed coffee at Atomic, Isabella and I stocked up at the market - including a couple of huge bunches of coriander which I can't wait to cook with.
The produce for sale all looked a bit worse for wear, no doubt due to the very wet summer we have had.
Our main mission was to find strawberries - despite being told by several sources that this might be difficult due to the weather. We found 2 stalls selling them, neither were as cheap as they usually are this time of year but Isabella had her heart set on making strawberry cupcakes for her friend Jaime who is coming this afternoon.

We made the cupcakes and then a big pot of strawberry jam.
The cupcakes were ok but I'd use the vanilla cup cake recipe I've posted previously and just add 1/3 cup of chopped strawberries in the future.

The jam was made using 'jam sugar' which had added pectin to make it set. I've not really made jam before so decided to cheat a bit.

Thank you Rachel for the cup cake stand for Christmas.

This recipe is from the back of the Jam Sugar packet and is also on the 'Chelsea Sugar' website

Super Quick Strawberry Jam

Ingredients
1kg Strawberries (hulled and rinsed)
1kg Chelsea Jam Setting Sugar
A Knob of Butter (10g)

1. Crush strawberries coarsely with a potato masher or blender.
2. Place strawberries and sugar in a large, heavy based 6 litre pot.
3. Heat mixture over a low heat until sugar is dissolved. Do not allow to boil.
4. Add a knob of butter then increase heat and bring to a full boil (a boil that cannot be stirred down).
5. Boil for 4 minutes only. Remove from heat, skim off any foam, test for set and bottle in pre-sterilised jars

Vanilla Cup Cakes and Savoury Muffins - recipes

With the big 4th birthday party only 2 weekends away, preparation has started to TRY to reduce work and stress on the day.
One of the things I am doing in advance and freezing is cupcakes that will be decorated on the day and savoury muffins that will also be finished on the day.
Both recipes are being made in mini muffin pans...not much more than a mouthful for an adult, but a perfect size for a little person.

The savoury muffins will be split halfway down the centre and then have a dollop of pesto or a slice of brie and halved cherry tomato in them.

The vanilla cupcakes will be decorated with little people in mind - bright icing and sprinkles! We had a practice on some big ones today - it's too hard to cope with baking muffins only to see them go into the freezer when you are 3...or in your 40s!

Savoury Muffins

• 1.5 cups self raising flour (or regular flour and one teaspoon of baking powder)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup milk
• 1 egg
• 200 gm cheese (a little less is ok, you can alter this to a cheddar/blue cheese mix, and fresh parmesan is also recommended).
• Savoury fillings: caramelised onions, chopped up cooked chorizo, spinach, roasted red pepper, roasted pumpkin/kumara, feta cubes. You can add almost anything you like. (I used red and yellow pepper, ham and spring onion)
1. Mix the dry ingredients, this includes the cheese and savoury fillings. Mix carefully to avoid mashing all the ingredients together. You can add a pinch of paprika or black pepper to the mix to taste.
2. Mix the wet ingredients well.
3. Mix wet and dry ingredients together. Don't over mix, it should be a stiff mixture.
4. Spoon into greased muffin tin, garnishing the top. (A slice of tomato and some grated cheese works well, as do pumpkin seeds)
5. Cook at 190 degrees celcius for 20 minutes or until muffin coloured.

Basic Vanilla Cup Cakes

Serving Size:

Makes 12 muffin size or 24 small cupcake size
Ingredients:

• 125g unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup caster sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 ½ cups plain flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ¾ cup (185mL) milk

Method:

Preheat oven to 180°C. Place muffin papers in one 12-hole muffin tray or cupcake papers in two 12-hole cupcake trays. In an electric mixer, beat butter for 2 minutes until pale in colour and creamy. Add sugar one third at a time, beating well between each addition. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for about a minute between each addition. Add the vanilla essence and beat until combined.

Sift flour and baking powder and add half to butter mixture with half the milk, mix until well combined. Repeat with remaining flour and milk.

Fill cupcake papers ¾ full (an icecream scoop is perfect for this). Bake muffin size cupcakes for 20-25 minutes and small cupcakes for about 15 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle of a cupcake comes out clean. Transfer to wire racks and allow to cool completely.

Icing
Cream butter until pale and smooth. Add the milk and half the sifted icing sugar. Beat until well combined. Add the remaining icing sugar and beat until mixture is light and fluffy. The mixture should be a spreadable paste; if it is too dry add some more milk, if too wet add more icing sugar.

When cakes are cold, spread generously with icing and dip into sprinkles or decorate with small lollies.