Golden Syrup Dumplings....mmmm winter comfort food

Ok I made these the other day I havent had them for a few years now and they are a childhood favourite and they were as good as I remember. So I thought I had better share them with you. If you are not a sweet tooth don't bother because they are sickly sweet and disgustingly divine and you must have double cream with them to cut down the sweetness....ooohh my mouth is watering just thinking about them again.

Sauce

40g butter

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup golden syrup

1 2/3 cups water

combine all ingredients in pan with bottom about 18cm wide. Stir over heat without boiling until sugar dissolved. Bring to boil without stirring reduce to simmer

Dumplings

1 1/4 cups SR flour

30 g butter

1/3 cup golden syrup

1 tbsp milk(with another to spare in case the mix is too dry)

Sift flour into bowl, rub in butter, gradually stir in syrup and milk. Drop heaped teaspoonsful into simmering sauce. Simmer covered for approx 15 minutes or until dumplings are cooked through. Serve with sauce and double cream or ice cream(or both if you are piggies like us)

Muffins the UNBOUGHT way

ok my peeps here is a great muffin recipe without all the hype. I was a muffin disliker myself until I disovered that muffins don't have to be dry and tasteless. Give this recipe a go it works, I have made them hundreds of times. You can add any sort of fruit or spices for sweet muffins or leave out the sugar and add some savoury elements eg bacon , onion, ham sundried tomatoes, any sort of cheese & herbs.

Muffins by Lavendah

2 1/2 cups SR flour

100g butter(my preference always)or margarine

1 cup castor sugar

1 1/4 cups milk

1 egg

1 grated apple(the apple is to keep the muffin moist when you add other fruit you dont really get the apple as a flavour so use 2 if you want more apple flavour.

Once you have your ingredients together then grease your muffin tins or use muffin wraps or large patty pan cases, make sure you do give the tin a light spray even if you are using patty pans(which I highly recommend anyway) as it stops the muffin tops from sticking to the tin. Turn your oven on to preheat to 160

Rub the butter into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add the sugar and mix through, mix the egg and milk together and then mix into the dry ingredients with the apple. Don't overmix it but dont be scared to mix the ingredients in. Add whatever fruit you wish for your flavourings.

Fill whatever size muffin tins you are using 3/4 full if you want an overflowing effect(how a muffin should look) or half fill if you want them to be the same size as the actual tin. Bake in a moderate to oven for 20-25 minutes the muffins should bounce back when you touch them, if it leaves an indent when you push them, put them back in for another 5-10 minutes keeping an eye on them but not opening the oven to let the heat escape.

Remove from oven and let cool for about 5 min in the tins then carefully run a butter knife around the edge of the muffin to losen it from the tin and put them on a cooling rack. Eat when hungry!!

An easy dessert is to make a berry sauce or a caramel sauce and serve the muffins warm with cream and ice cream.

Some of my sweet favourites are; raspberry and white chocolate, blackberry honey and apple, banana date and walnut, blueberry, apple & cinnamon.

savoury faves are fetta and herb, ham cheese and tomato, pumpkin & fetta...(generally anything and fetta I will like)

Gluten free Lemon curd tarts...for people more commonly known as "glutards"

Ok here is a gluten free tart recipe that is mine...I thought seeing as there were so many people out there with this gluten intolerance I would try and make some pasrty that tasted nice as well as not having gluten. And of course anything with lemon curd is always going to be divine!!.

I must tell you this was a bit of a hit and miss and the pastry I went with my "chefs feel" for the texture.

1/4 cup cornflour

1/4 cup rice flour

1/4 cup almond meal

100 g butter cold

pinch salt

Put all dry ingredients together in a bowl then grate the butter in the middle. Rub in butter with fingers until it resembles thick breadcrumbs. Add 2 tbsp cold water and mix gently. It depends upon your dry ingredients on how much water you will need. You want the dough firm and slightly tacky but not wet knead it slightly to combine ingredients properly, then refrigerate for half an hour.

Lemon Curd

This is enough to fill approx 12 mini tart cases if I make more I will eat it with a spoon and my hips will not be happy although my mouth is singing just thinking about it.

2 egg yolks

1/3 cup castor sugar

60 ml lemon juice

2 tsp lemon zest

75 g butter

Add the sugar tp the egg yolks and mix up til its all incorporated. Put into a heavy based small saucepan on low heat. Add the zest and lemon juice and a few small knobs of butter gradually increase heat slightly and keep stirring. As your stirring add the rest of the butter in small amounts stirring and let it thicken without boiling or burning it, this whole process shouldnt take longer than 3 or 4 minutes. Remove from heat and put aside to cool. Remove pastry from fridge and have some cornflour to use to roll out pastry(so it doesnt stick) I use patty pan cases for my mini tarts so I just spray them with non stick spray(sometimes when feel nostalgic I butter and flour and boy it does make a difference to the taste...ahh I remember the old ways) and get a scone cutter ready that is slightly bigger than the area of the tart cases. Roll out pastry (using lots of sprinkled cornflour) to approx 2.5mm thick and cut out with scone cutter. Press gently into greased patty pan tray. dock the pastry so it doesnt rise . cook for 15-20 min oven @ 155 degrees

make sure they are golden brown underneath. This is a very crisp shortbread like pastry. While they are still warm add the lemon curd into the tart cases and put into warm oven for another 5 minute remove from oven and serve with cream or on their own and cooled down or hot.