Baking the blues away.

That’s not a football reference. In case you were worried.

I was hit by a sudden attack of the lonelies last night. In these situations nothing cheers me up more than baking – and even this baking took until this morning to fully take effect. Nice biscuits though. I shall share*.

Ginger Biscuits
Makes a tray of 12, which is 1 serving for a grumpy female.

4oz self-raising flour
2oz butter/marg
1/2 tsp bicarb of soda
1/2 tsp ground ginger
2oz soft brown sugar
1 tbsp golden syrup
1/2 tsp water**

Rub the butter into the flour, soda and ginger. Add the sugar, syrup and water and mix well. Roll into walnut-sized balls, place on a tray with room to spread and flatten. Bake for ten minutes. Leave them on the tray to cool.

*The recipe. Not the biscuits. I ate all them pretty quickly.
**The original recipe didn’t call for the water, but it’s so hard to mix it nearly made me cry. Add the water.

Paprika Mushrooms

I love paprika. Absolutely adore the stuff. Back when the folks lived in Cambridge, I would always buy my paprika in 75g bags from the Daily Bread co-op across the road, buying them two at a time because I went through it so quickly. Yum. This recipe is the veggie equivalent of my favourite way of cooking chicken, and is brilliant with a huge jacket potato with loads of butter. I’ve just eaten it and I could have another one right now. Yum.

Incidentally, and this is more a note for me than anything else, they run an online store from the Northampton store… www.ecofair.co.uk. Might have to get me a 500g bag of paprika.

Paprika Mushrooms
Serves 2

1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
150g mushrooms, sliced
a splash of vegetable stock
1 tbsp paprika
dash of dried chillies
4tbsp plain yoghurt

Sauté the onion and garlic in a little oil until soft; add the mushrooms and sauté until they’re just short of how you like them. Add the stock, paprika and chilli, and bubble for a bit. Remove from the heat for a minute or so and stir in the yoghurt (if the pan’s too hot when you put it in, the yoghurt will separate. Doesn’t taste any different but looks a bit icky.). Ta-daa!