bit of baking

No Knead Bread recipe! I've tried to bake bread so many times - never quite cracked it. Almost gave up. Then at our family boxing day picnic, Sooz brought this bread - it was delicious and reportedly simple to make so I baked it today. The secret is beer and dutch oven - I didn't use the latter so the loaf was a bit heavy and tacky right in the middle. We have a dutch oven though that just needs a clean, so next time I'll bake in that. But the flavour is fantastic and it was really easy to make! The recipe can be found here.

The little tarts are blackberry/ blueberry and almond in puff pastry. I just cut up the pastry sheets into squares big enough to fit into cup cake tins, pre baked them a bit before filling them with berries and the following;

200g Almond meal
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
vanilla essence
teaspoon baking powder

Mixed well and poured into each tartlet. I baked them at 180 for about 20 minutes, then took them out of the tin and baked them loose on a tray for another 10 minutes to cook the bases a bit more. They are really yummy.

 New Years Eve. The world around us is quiet though it seems the neighbours diagonally behind are up for a big one. We are just relishing the time at home, which is rare during Uni/ School term. This is longest I've lived in the one place since I was 19! That's 26 years ago. We've been here 2 and a half years with no desire to move. Finally a place where we dig in, watch trees grow and fruit, know our neighbours, local shop keepers and will have a history, memories. Our third New Year's Eve, our third Christmas, our third jam-making season etc.

Happy New Year!!