Skip to main content

Monthly Munch: December 2016 (pre-Christmas edition)

Well, I know it's not the end of December yet, but I thought we'd have a whole bunch more photos once we'd got through Christmas.  So here's the rest of the month (also quite Christmassy).

Christmas lights at Calke Abbey


Toby


- has been really struggling with illness, poor boy.  He's had several occurrences of being sick in the night, plus hives and swollen eyes, plus a cold.

- was pleased to meet Marshall and Chase from the Paw Patrol at Markeaton Park.


- enjoyed a Christmas-themed Inspire Day at school - I got to go and do lots of crafts with him for a morning.

- managed not to eat all the sweets before making a christingle with them.



Theo


- was a sleepy shepherd in his first pre-school nativity.


- describes anything he likes as "so beautiful".

- carefully hung as many baubles as possible on the bottom branches of the tree.



- can tell you all the names of the Paw Patrol characters, but was not so sure about having his photo taken with them!

Thankful for:

- a lovely time at the Radio Derby carol concert, which I went to at Graham's suggestion (my husband has some of the best ideas).

- celebrating my friend Vivian's birthday with some delicious Indian food.  We went to the restaurant at 5:30pm which was brilliant - even after a leisurely meal I was still home before bedtime!

- both boys behaving perfectly at the barbers, resulting in some very smart haircuts.



Recipe of the Month:  Marzipan Cake


This is from a Nigella Lawson recipe which is very handy for using up leftover marzipan, should such a thing ever occur in your household.  The original recipe uses six eggs, which seems extravagant unless you're also trying to use up lots of eggs, so this time around I thought I'd try four instead.  It turned into one of those times when nothing is quite correct -  not enough butter, the last few drops in the almond essence bottle - but it still worked.  So much for all that stuff about baking being super-scientific.  Nigella's recipe is here (with a pretty picture); this is my adapted version.

200g softened butter
250g marzipan
120g sugar
1/2 tsp almond essence
4 large eggs
150g self-raising flour
1/2 tsp baking powder

Chop the butter and marzipan into rough cubes.  Put in a food processor with the sugar and whizz until fairly smooth.  Add the eggs a couple at a time, blending between each addition, then put the flour and baking powder in and whizz one more time.  Pour into a greased 25cm Springform ring pan, or similar-sized round cake tin.  Bake at 170C for about 45 minutes or until firm.  Leave to get fairly cool in the tin.  It usually takes some gentle persuasion to come off the ring, if that's what you've used, but it should get there eventually.
Labels:

Comments

John Evens said…
Funnily enough I'm always trying to use up eggs! Rarely have unconsumed marzipan in the house though.
21 December 2016 at 12:14
Rebecca said…
Ah thanks for this much needed recipe. I haven't had a chance to make a Christmas cake so this might be a last minute Christmas cake.
22 December 2016 at 11:04
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mr White Watson of Bakewell

Once upon a time, back in 1795 or so, lived a man who was always asking questions.  The kind of questions like, "Why is glass transparent?" or "Why do fruit trees grow better in that place than in this place?" or "What does the earth look like underneath the surface?"  This last question was one that he was particularly interested in, and he went so far as to work out what the rock layers looked like where he lived, and draw little pictures of them.  Now he was a marble sculptor by trade (as well as fossil hunter, mineral seller, and a few other things) so he thought it would be even better to make his little pictures in stone.  That way he could represent the layers using the actual rocks they were composed of.  Over the course of his lifetime he made almost 100 of these tablets, as he called them. Then he died.  And no one else was quite as interested in all those rocks and minerals as he was.  His collection was sold off, bit by bit, and the table...
Post a Comment
Read more

Laid-back Lille and Bustling Brussels

After a night in a tiny AirBnB in Canterbury , where there were chocolates on the table and artwork on every inch of the walls, we boarded a ferry with an absolute minimum of fuss, enjoyed a smooth crossing of the channel, and were deposited in the decidedly unscenic surroundings of the port of Dunkirk two hours later. Once we got past the cranes and shipping containers, though, the countryside was flat but pleasant. We stopped at a small town called Cassel, reached by cobbled roads winding up a hill. On the summit was an old windmill and a topograph telling you the distances to various improbable places; St Omer may have been visible in the haze, but Manchester was surely over the horizon.  In Lille, we found our apartment, unpacked the luggage (one rucksack apiece), and set out to find food. Our first choice was fully booked, so we embarked on that kind of aimless wandering where everyone is hungry and no one wants to actually choose a restaurant. We reached a Lebanese place call...
Post a Comment
Read more

Canterbury Cathedral

We were booking a trip to France, and I persuaded the family that it was madness to drive four hours to Dover and get straight on the ferry. "We should definitely stay overnight somewhere," I said. "Oh look, Canterbury is very handy - just twenty minutes from Dover." Of course, my suggestion was not influenced in the slightest by the fact that Canterbury contains England's most famous cathedral. On the way down, we stretched our legs on Dunstable Downs, an area of chalk grassland owned by the National Trust. I was pleased to spot a scarlet pimpernel for my 100 Plants Challenge . We also enjoyed watching gliders ascending and descending. We turned onto the M25 and made our way through busy traffic to the Dartford Crossing. This is one of those mythical points on the UK road network, like Scotch Corner and Watford Gap: the name familiar from traffic reports on the radio; the reality - for someone who grew up west of London - a hazy blur of imagination. It turns ou...
Post a Comment
Read more