Showing posts with label "bonfire night". Show all posts
Showing posts with label "bonfire night". Show all posts

Friday, 18 November 2011

A Bonfire Night Repeat

It's Friday!! I'm so excited for the weekend this week, more so than normal! Adam and I have finally got a full weekend off together, which is a rarity. On Saturday we're going to go wedding ring and log fire shopping, then off to watch the new Twilight film! And on Sunday we'll have a long walk with Izzy, followed by a drink in the pub and a delicious Sunday dinner as I have a new recipe that I'm itching to try. I can't wait!

I just thought I'd take some time now to share a few photos from last weekend. The week before had been Bonfire night but Adam's nephews couldn't come to our little bonfire party as they were on their holidays, so we had a repeat last weekend too. There were less people, so I felt I was able to relax a little more and spend a bit more time taking photos things in!

bonfire night

bonfire

Everything was pretty much the same, apart from I had time to make some amaretto hot chocolate, which was absolutely divine!

hot chocolate

The photo with the half-full mug and marshmallow doesn't really do it justice, but I think I'll be making some more this weekend, so will take a nice photo and pop the recipe up next week hopefully!

I hope you enjoy your weekend too, let me know what you have planned!

Thursday, 10 November 2011

Peanut Brittle

Every Bonfire Night when I was younger, my parents would have a fireworks party, and my grandma always used to bring some peanut brittle, and it was my favourite thing about the day. This year I decided I would try to make some for my party! It wasn't quite as good as my Grandma's (is anything ever?!), but it was still good!



Ingredients:

50g soft brown sugar
400g granulated sugar
125ml water
½ teaspoon liquid gloucose
230g golden syrup
200g roasted peanuts (I bought the roasted, salted ones from the supermarket, and just rinsed the salt off and dried them. If you do this, make sure to dry them!)

Method:

1. Combine all the ingredients in a pan.
2. Line an A4 sized baking tray with greaseproof paper.
3. Bring ingredients to a boil, and boil until the mixture reaches 150 C/300 F, aka "hard-crack" stage. I don't use a thermometer, to check if the mixture is ready I drop a small amount into a cup of cold water. Test the mixture, and if it is brittle like toffee then it's ready. You can also read this guide for a better explanation!
4. Turn off the heat, add the peanuts to the pan, and tip into your prepared baking tray.
5. Leave to cool completely - the mixture will be VERY hot and don't attempt to pick the tray up for a while either as this will become hot too.
6. Once cool, smash up with a toffee hammer or rolling pin.
7. Keep in an airtight container - it will last for a couple of weeks

Now that Christmas and the holiday season is just around the corner, this would make an ideal homemade gift! Just put it in a pretty jar, and perhaps add a bow!

Monday, 7 November 2011

Bonfire Toffee

Hello! How was your weekend? If you're reading from the UK, did you go to any bonfires this weekend?

In England, we celebrate Bonfire Night on the 5th November each year. We do it to remember that in 1605, Guy Fawkes plotted to blow up the houses of parliament but his plan was found out and stopped and so we all have bonfires and light fireworks.

Some people have firework displays at home, and others go to big organised bonfires. This year, as it was on a Saturday, Adam and I decided to have a little party ourselves. We had a bonfire because our garden is a bit of a mess at the moment, and we're having it landscaped next year, so we figured it wouldn't hurt to have a bonfire on the lawn!

We invited some family and friends over, and we lit fireworks, gathered by the bonfire:

Photobucket

Toasted marshmallows:

Photobucket

And ate. A lot. Pie and peas, parkin, and toffee!

bonfire toffee

Bonfire Toffee

Ingredients:

450g dark brown sugar
125ml water
½ teaspoon liquid gloucose
115g golden syrup
115g black treacle

Method:

1. Combine all the ingredients in a pan.
2. Line an A4 sized baking tray with greaseproof paper.
3. Bring ingredients to a boil, and boil until the mixture reaches 150 C/300 F, aka "hard-crack" stage. I don't use a thermometer, to check if the mixture is ready I drop a small amount into a cup of cold water. Test the mixture, and if it is brittle like toffee then it's ready. You can also read this guide for a better explanation!
4. Turn off the heat, and tip into your prepared baking tray.
5. Leave to cool completely - the mixture will be VERY hot and don't attempt to pick the tray up for a while either as this will become hot too.
6. Once cool, smash up with a toffee hammer or rolling pin.
7. Keep in an airtight container - it will last for a couple of weeks (if you can keep your hand out of the jar that is! The Classic Wink Smiley)

Later this week, I'll have another recipe for you - peanut brittle!

Thursday, 6 November 2008

Remember, remember...

...the 5th November!

Or Bonfire Night, as we so lovingly refer to it in the UK! If you don't know what it is, you can read Wikipedias definition of it! And I know, I know I'm a day late but we had our celebrations today. It's not my favourite time of the year I have to admit, I'm not overly fond of watching fireworks but I had a good time eating all the traditional bonfire night foods (jacket potatoes, hot dogs with onions, toffee apples and parkin!) and I had a good time taking photos too! I even managed to capture writing my name with a sparkler, look!:



And I also enjoyed eating my home made parkin!:



Not quite as good as my Grandmas parkin, but it's getting there!

Ingredients:

8 oz S.R. flour
8 oz oatmeal
2 teaspoonsful ginger
4 oz margarine
4 tablespoonsful sugar
8 oz treacle
1/2 pint milk.

Method:

Rub margarine into flour and oatmeal.
Add sugar and ginger, mix thoroughly.
Warm treacle and mix to paste, adding milk if necessary.
Put into greased tin, it needs to be fairly deep.
Bake for one hour in an oven about 150°C

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...