Beanies Coffee set bloggers an Easter baking challenge - use Beanies coffee in your recipe and showcase the different flavours available, and what can be done with them.

It was actually really hard to choose because the range is massive, but I decided on Vanilla Coffee, Cinnamon and Hazelnut Coffee and Death By Chocolate Coffee, and I've chosen to use these to make a classic that always entertains, but is considered outdated and rarely seen these days...



Baked Alaska has several steps and that can make it seem really complicated, but it's not really. You just need sponge, ice cream and meringue put together in the right way. 

Mine is an adult recipe, it has coffee and 2 units of alcohol. It's not suitable for young children without adaptation. As my young children don't like the smell of coffee anyway, it's not a problem and they can have their own version.

Vanilla Coffee Ice Cream

 

I wanted to cheat and make a really simple ice cream using whipped cream, and I'll be honest, I've had 3 attempts and haven't quite got it right. The taste is gorgeous and I've removed any 'grainyness' but I'm not entirely happy with the texture as it's a little brittle. However it works really well in Baked Alaska (you actually couldn't tell at all).

Ingredients

200ml Full Fat Milk
3 Heaped Teaspoons Beanies Ground Vanilla Coffee
5 Heaped Teaspoons Sugar (50g)
1 Teaspoon Salt
3 Tablespoons (45ml) 40% proof alcohol e.g. Vodka
600ml Double Cream


Method

Heat the milk and 3 heaped teaspoons Beanies Ground Vanilla Coffee to almost boiling for a couple of minutes, stirring in the sugar and salt. Remove from the heat, cover lightly and leave in a cool place to steep for at least an hour.

Whip 600ml of double cream.

Add your alcohol to the coffee mixture and then sieve to remove coffee granules before adding it to the double cream. Whip it in gently until evenly mixed. Your mixture should now be fairly runny, but thick. Unsurprisingly just like melted ice cream.

Place in a suitable lidded container and freeze. Stirring shouldn't be necessary, but if you do stir it after 30,60 and 90 minutes you should remove any possibility of some of the coffee settling to the bottom.

Excuse the spoon!

The alcohol is to help prevent your ice cream setting to a solid lump and having crystals of ice throughout. When I didn't add it my ice cream tasted slightly grainy.

Death By Chocolate Coffee Sponge

I'm using a square 9inch cake tin and a 2 egg cake mix.

Ingredients

125ml Milk
3 Heaped Teaspoons Beanies Ground Death By Chocolate Coffee
120g Caster Sugar
120g Butter
2 Eggs
120g Self Raising Flour



Method

As with the ice cream this is made using an infusion, but of 125ml milk and 3 heaped teaspoons of ground coffee. Prepare that in advance as before by heating and leaving to steep.

Preheat the oven to 160c/320f/Gas Mark 3. Grease your cake tin and line.

Cream together the Butter and Sugar. Add the Eggs bit by bit, mixing in between. Add the Flour. Add the cooled Milk and Coffee mixture.

Bake for around 20-25 minutes until the cake springs back when you lightly press the top. Leave to cool.

 

Cinnamon & Hazelnut Coffee Italian Meringue

 

This was really a trial, but what we ended up with worked really well. I'm first using an Italian Meringue as that is made using beaten egg whites and sugar syrup, so it makes adding brewed coffee really easy. The recipe I'm using is freely available online including on BBC Food. HOWEVER, because you add coffee rather than clear water it actually doesn't whip up and hold shape as it should and will separate and lose volume, which is why you have 2 mixtures that you add together.

Meringue part 1

Ingredients

150g Caster sugar
50ml Strong brewed Beanies Ground Cinnamon & Hazelnut Coffee
2 Free-range eggs, whites only

Method

Prepare an infusion of coffee using 2 heaped teaspoons of ground coffee and 50ml water. Heat until near boiling for a good 5 minutes, leave to cool for at least an hour before you sieve to remove grounds. 

Whisk the egg whites until stiff and peaks form when the whisk is removed.

Heat the sugar and brewed coffee in a saucepan. Use a spatula to make sure no sugar is on the side of the pan as it'll be grainy in the meringue, and stir well throughout to prevent sticking and burning. As soon as the sugar syrup reaches 121C/250F (after around 3-4 minutes of boiling if you don't have a thermometer) remove the pan from the heat.

Immediately pour the sugar syrup in a steady stream into the egg whites whilst whisking very gently. Don't let the stream of syrup touch the beaters or splash on you in any other way as it's vicious and takes no prisoners. It'll stick to your skin and burn you badly. Continue beating the mixture for about 5 minutes until it's tepid, smooth and shiny.

Italian Meringue With Coffee mixture after 24 hours

This mixture should be left until cold before use, and will thicken on cooling before separating slightly. It can be covered and stored in the fridge for up to around 24 hours until needed.

Meringue part 2

Because the coffee meringue won't retain shape I found this was necessary. Do this step only when you're ready to assemble the Baked Alaska.

Ingredients

2 Eggs, whites only

Method

Whip the egg whites until really stiff - good enough to turn the bowl over. Add to the cooled coffee meringue mixture by folding together, don't whip it furiously as you'll lose stability.

Assembly of Baked Alaska.

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas Mark 6


Place the cake on an ovenproof dish or tray. Pile the ice cream on top leaving a gap around the edges. I just dropped mine out of the flimsy plastic container it was in, it's more normal to remove it with a spoon.


Cover with the meringue, making sure it completely covers all of the ice cream and reaches the cake all around. I didn't risk a piping bag, so mine's a messy nest. Ensure you have a plateau on the top to add Easteryness afterwards.


Bake for 8-10 minutes until just golden brown.


Add Easter treats....and serve immediately.

Everyone liked this. The meringue carried the flavour really well, the ice cream was still well frozen as it should be and the coffee tastes were quite light, but distinct. The different flavours of coffee made for an interesting variety of smells. I'd have made my own job a lot easier by using instant coffee, which would have been easier to adjust for strength too, but the ground coffee is a really nice treat for us to enjoy as a drink, and I prefer a fairly subtle coffee taste to let all the flavours of the other ingredients come through.

I do think it looks more like a dinosaur nest than a bird's nest though.... but it's still Easter eggs!

There are points in everyone's life when we realise we have to be a bit grown up and adult. With Blog On and Britmums Live coming up, it was time to get business cards.

I was offered the opportunity to review StressFreePrint, and the timing is perfect. I must admit I thought it would be a bit blah and boring and I wouldn't really have a lot to say other than, "Ooh, look, new business cards. Shiny". I was very wrong. I didn't actually realise what I'd let myself in for.

First of all I had a phone call to discuss my needs, what information I'd want on my cards and explain how everything would be done, and to let me know that Susana would be personally responsible for sorting my order. I felt really quite spoilt.


My partner and I couldn't find the original high resolution image for my Brick Castle logo, so it didn't get off to the best of starts. The image I had (above) is fine for websites, but wasn't good enough to print nicely and my partner has been working long hours, coming home and sleeping, so he didn't get a chance to redraw it. I panicked, StressFreePrint didn't.

"Not a problem" they said, "we'll do it". And they did. Within half a day. They even amended it slightly for me....and it's so much better. I actually shed a tear with delight and whooped a bit - well, okay, a lot.

They sent me 3 different card designs to look at - all of which were far better than anything I could have come up with myself with what I had. I just had to choose which front and back I wanted. This is the front image I chose, using my usual background as a background image to keep everything consistent and familiar.


They checked and double-checked it was all okay and I was happy, and advised me on the best finish for my cards. 350gms silk paper with matt lamination on both sides. This is all Dutch to me, so it was great to actually have the expert explain it.

I was informed when my cards were ready for printing, and then when they had been dispatched, and they arrived within 4 days of my order being finalised. I could also track exactly what was happening at every stage of design and print, and my parcel delivery, using my online account on their website.


I was actually very excited when my package arrived - the photo of Keith included is exactly what I'd expect from them, it really seems like an incredibly friendly place to work, and I was told everyone's names all the time. 


I'm incredibly pleased with my business cards. They're lovely. Good thick card with a really nice feel to it. The coating is splash-proof, so even handing out a couple last weekend at Little Fun Fest in the pouring rain I wasn't giving people a soggy bit of card that was going to be useless to them.

The colours are really bright and true to the original, and the printing is sharp.  I can't fault them at all and I'm going to feel very proud handing them out. And very grown up!


StressFreePrint are a lovely bunch of really helpful people and nothing is too much. Prices start at only £29.99 for 1000 business cards and putting together your order online is really simple - as long as you haven't lost your artwork! They can print onto virtually any size or shape you wish, including stand up cards, and have a range of finishes and papers including recycled.

As well as business cards they print just about anything, A1 posters start from only £2.49 and A3 leaflets from £48 per 1000, and 50 Christmas cards with your own design and words printed on recycled paper would cost you less than £62. Having the designers create your image for you adds around an extra £50, which is very fair price for a professional's time and ideas, and they do a great job.

At Easter my children's school have an Easter Egg Competition. Not with chocolate, but with boiled eggs. The whole school take part and it gets really competitive. People have even had to be disqualified because their eggs were clearly entirely the work of the parents...

All of the children from year 1 and up make a huge pun-fuelled diorama, complete with boiled egg characters. I'm proud to say we've previously had 2 class winners - The Abominable Eggman and Egg-Cercise - both of which then sat on a shelf in the living room for just slightly longer than I could bear before we were able to discretely remove them to the bin.

Because my 2 little ones are in the Foundation Stage of school they don't have to make a stunning miniature land of 'L-Egg-O' or 'Egg-citement' just yet, but still effort is expected, by not only the school, but the other pupils. The little ones in Foundation have to decorate their egg and then take it to school and care for it for a whole week.

So on Sunday night at about 5pm when we suddenly remembered, it was all systems go....

The 5 year old wanted to make Darwin - the goldfish from 'The Amazing World Of Gumball'.

Colour blindness may have played a weeny part, he actually spent ages getting just the right colour for his fish...and painted it egg-coloured. Brilliant.


He drew a very sweet little face and then some overly-large teeth which did confuse us a bit, but hes very happy with it. An empty Ferrero Rocher tub and some tissue paper and voila, a tank.


Our 4 year old is a bit of a breakeriser. He can think about things in a different room and they're already broken. The idea of him caring for a boiled egg for a week isn't a reassuring one. He wanted to make a Ben 10 egg, and my partner immediately had a plan.


 Inside, nestled in bubble wrap. Ben 10 Egg himself....


So off we went to school, I carried them all the way. I gave them back to my children inside the school, as they were going into class. Delivery successful...

The precious eggs spend the time children are working in the Egg Hotel, where they also spend their nights. At designated times the children take their eggs with them and hold them carefully, or carry them to a new location. It's a great exercise in being careful. Should any minor disasters happen the eggs have to go to the Egg Hospital, where they have plasters very carefully applied by a teacher. The parents are charged for visits to the Hospital and stays in the Hotel, and the money goes to charity. Last year cost me 65p.


This year, with 2 eggs to worry about I actually cheered when found out that both eggs survived Monday unscathed. It was short-lived.

By the end of day 2 today we have had 3 visits to the Egg Hospital and in spite of his protective case, Ben 10 was looking decidedly shattered. I think by Friday I'm likely be taking home 2 lumps of white boiled egg and a handful of plasters....but at least we'll have a cool Ben 10 pot for storing treasure......I hope....

UPDATE - Here's how the week ended! 

A few weeks ago I was introduced to a lovely LEGO fan named Brett by a mutual friend.  As you do we then swapped LEGO photo's until 1.30am and got on like a house on fire. Some of his stuff was absolutely amazing, and I couldn't help but think it was way too cool to be hidden away.

Last week he came round with 'a few bits' - luckily for us that turned out to be an entire modular house street, including a modified Emporium and his own Apple Shop.

The Grand Emporium set 10211 is a big LEGO set with 2182 pieces, a 3 storey department store which lives on a corner. Brett didn't feel it was grand enough, so he has put together 4 Emporium sets into one immense build. I'd heard about it and seen a photo, but watching him unpack it was really something else.


The different floors come apart, and he's designed it so that it separates easily in the middle, so in fact it travelled in 6 sections. The original has only one escalator, but you can't go up without coming back down, so his modification includes 2 escalators to each floor.


Seeing this, you do tend to agree with Brett that the original LEGO Emporium wasn't quite so grand as it could be....


The original Emporium set appears at either end of the build. Part of the Modular Buildings series, and designed to be an end corner building. His build doesn't use all of the 4 sets, but it still has around 7000 bricks standing on 4 x 32 stud baseplates.



It's an incredibly impressive piece - so large in fact, that I completely failed to get a straight on photo of the whole thing! 


Impressive as the Emporium redesign was on it's own, Brett then started unpacking the rest of his boxes of  LEGO....
 


He has a host of the modular buildings - including the Palace Cinema 10232 and  the Cafe Corner 10182, which he has populated in his own very unique style.

Brett also has a love of Dr Who, as the Character Options figures appear on his Market Street 10190 building - much to the delight of my little boys, who were never far away throughout....pocket check each time they tried to leave the kitchen!


Having such a huge street scene on the table was truly amazing, when you get down to minifigure level everything takes on a whole new outlook and you really can immerse yourself into the LEGO. It's something you dream about when you're a child, at least, I certainly did when I was building my 8 brick high buildings with half a roof!



However the buildings are laid out, the dominant feature in the middle of the street opposite the emporium was always the Apple Shop.


Brett designed the Apple Shop from scratch himself using the LEGO Digital Designer and bought all of the necessary bricks through the LEGO shop pick-a-brick and then through Bricklink  - a fantastic resource if you lose parts or want to make yourself something you can't readily buy the parts for. Bricks are bought and sold in a marketplace with starting prices around 2p for common small elements.

In total the build cost around £150, which is actually a fairly standard price for a build of this size, although it contains less actual elements than you'd usually find because it has so many large pieces.


It truly is a really imposing building. The laptops and other items in the shop are fantastic, it's incredibly hard to get all of the detail into one blog post.


It was a rare thing to meet another adult fan of LEGO as keen (if not even keener) than we are, so we did ask him a few burning questions -


What was your first LEGO set?
The 6630 Bucket Loader and 6631 Steam Shovel bought for me by my Grandparents.
What are your biggest childhood memories of LEGO?
Playing with Space LEGO - the Moon Buggy, Space Digger and Sismobile
What was the first set you modified?
The 6605 Road Racer or the 6824 Space Dart which I changed from a rocket to a launch pad.
When you came back to LEGO as an adult after the dark ages, what was the first set you bought?
When I was at University I bought the 8880 Super Car, then the 8480 Space Shuttle and then I got the 5600 Radio Control Racer because it was a proper remote control car and I could sit on the sofa and drive it about the room passing stuff to my housemates.
How much LEGO do you have?
834 different sets and minifigures. In total 2094 minifigures.
Are you Emmet or Lord Business?
Both - one on either side of my head.
Tell us something great about you and LEGO?
I bought my God-Daughter her first LEGO set, the 3177 Small Car. I bought two, so that when she's an adult I can give her the second one, because it would be brilliant if tomorrow someone gave you the exact same set you'd owned first as a child.


You can find Brett on Brickset - he's under the username Brett, if you message him, he will reply eventually!

We've been sent Back tO Your Roots! recipe book to review from Parragon Books and I've cooked a really easy Winter warming meal of Colcannon, Vichy Carrots and Caramelised Swede, Onion & Ham Pie...



When I think of home cooked food it's impossible not to think of root veg and potatoes. Good solid food that is incredibly cheap and will fill you up and keep you warm on cold hard days. The Back To Your Roots recipe book from Parragon is full of recipes you wish your Mum had made.


Colcannon (page 102) is an Irish classic, and like most root veg recipes, incredibly simple yet requires a bit of elbow grease to prepare.


Ingredients

8oz green cabbage, shredded
8oz floury potatoes, diced
1 large leek, chopped
3 tbsp milk
Pinch of nutmeg, freshly grated
Knob of butter
Salt and pepper

Method

Cook the shredded cabbage in a saucepan of boiling salted water for 7-10 minutes, drain thoroughly and set aside.

Bring another pan of salted water to the boil and add the potatoes and leek. Simmer over a medium low heat for 15-20 minutes until cooked through.

Drain the potatoes and leek and stir in the milk and nutmeg. Mash it thoroughly.

Add the drained cabbage to the mash, season to taste and stir well.

Spoon the mixture into a serving dish, make  hollow in the centre and place the knob of butter in the hollow - serve immediately.

I'm serving my Colcannon as an accompaniment to a pie, so I'm also trying out another side dish recipe...

Vichy Carrots With Parsley (page 120) - not just any old carrots, carrots with style.



Ingredients

2 tbsn unsalted butter
1lb carrots, cut into 5mm slices
1 tbspn sugar
1 bottle of Vichy mineral water (I'll be using corporation pop)
Salt and pepper
2 tbsp chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Method

Melt the butter in a large, heavy saucepan, stir in the carrots, then stir in the sugar and seasonings.

Pour over enough water to cover the carrots by 5cm and bring to the boil. Reduce to medium heat and leave to simmer until all the liquid has been absorbed and they are coated in a thin glaze.

Transfer to a serving dish and stir in the parsley. Serve immediately.

Caramelised Swede, Onion & Ham Pie (page76), was our main dish, but as I don't eat ham I substituted it with the nearest veggie equivalent I could find, which is a kind of lightly beef flavoured soya chunks. I have included the recipe here, but obviously mine is not true to the recipe.


Ingredients

600g cooked ham, cubed (or in my case 600g veggie soya chunks).
85g butter
2 onions, chopped
450g swede, cubed
1 tsp chopped fresh sage
25g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
600ml milk
325g ready made puff pastry
Beaten egg to glaze
Salt and pepper

Method

Put the ham in to a large bowl and set aside.


Melt 55g of butter in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the onion, swede and sage and season with salt and pepper. Stir well and cook over a medium heat occasionally turning until golden brown, around 35-40 minutes.


Meanwhile, melt the remaining butter in a saucepan over a medium heat. Add the flour and stir for 1-2 minutes. Gradually add the milk, stirring all the time to make a smooth sauce. Remove from the heat and season to taste.

Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas Mark 7.

Roll out the pastry to a rectangle slightly larger than your pie dish (pie will fi a pie dish around 26cm x 18cm).


When the veg are caramelised, add to the bowl with the ham, then add the white sauce and stir gently. Transfer to a pie dish, brush the rim with beaten egg and then lay the pastry over the filling. Press the pastry to the rim, trim off excess and brush with the beaten egg.


Cook in the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until the pastry is puffed and golden. Serve immediately.

The instructions are really easy to follow and nicely laid out. I love good wholesome food that's full of flavour and these recipes were. The meal was a hit. I would have liked a little less white sauce in my pie, and the Colcannon seemed a bit short on potatoes actually, but everything was eaten and the carrots were deemed the best ever.

We love Swizzels Matlow and I always think of them as locals as they're only about 20 miles from me and I practically drive past whenever I go back down to Derby. They haven't always been in New Mills though, they only moved during the war because  of the bombing. Our good fortune...


One of Swizzels Matlow's biggest sellers are LOVE HEARTS, and this year they celebrate their 60th birthday, so Swizzel's are celebrating in style!


Over the next few weeks Swizzels Matlow LOVE HEARTS are running a competition on their Facebook page. As with their Valentine's competition, you can win your own design printed onto LOVE HEARTS Sweets and an amazing VIP tour of the factory to watch your sweets being made. Entry is through the Facebook app. and all you need to do is decide exactly what message you want on your sweets.

There will be 10 winners and they will have their message inserted into rolls of LOVE Hearts for a limited time. The tour of the New Mills, Derbyshire factory will include travel expenses equal to standard class train fare, 1 night's accommodation nearby, travel from the hotel to the factory and £100 spending money.(Full terms and conditions can be found on the Facebook app.).