Baking day!

I hope all you mummies (and daddies!) enjoyed the half term holidays with your littlies. What did you get up to? It can be a nightmare organising childcare if you work never mind trying to find things to keep them entertained. So the fact that I am able to work weekends does come in useful. I guess I should think myself lucky for that.

Himself had a week off too, and it was so nice to be able to spend time together as a family. We had several days out planned and even though the weather wasn't great, it didn't really spoil anything.

As well as the trip to the museum, soft play (I was more shattered than the kids on that one, chasing round after a fearless Teaghan!) and a very poorly considered trip to the Trafford Centre (really, in half term, what were we thinking!) we had some fun at home with a couple of jars of mincemeat.

If you thought that mince pies were all you could make with mincemeat then do yourself a favour and let your imagination run. It is actually quite versatile, as I have found over the last few years. By far the favourite use of it has been to add a few generous tablespoons to pancake mix to make christmassy pancakes, delicious with vanilla cream or ice cream. If you're keen to try this (and please do, you won't be disappointed!) then might I suggest using a thick American style recipe for the pancakes and not thin pancakes. Although the mincement would make a lively filling if warmed a little rolled up in flippy pancakes as Caoimhe calls them. Mmm might have to try they. Watch this space!

This year I attempted my first lattice mince pie,  which Himself declared as delicious. But easily the biggest hit was when I introduced mincemeat to Herman. Ok you know me well enough by now so I bet you saw that coming didn't you!

For the benefit of my good friend Sharon (you can find her fab blog Chasing Art  here ) here's the recipe.

To 1cup of Herman starter add 2 cups of plain flour, 1cup of sugar, 2heaped teaspoons baking powder, sprinkle of salt, generous teaspoon of mixed spice, 2 eggs and 2/3 cup of oil.

When all are combined, and as with all muffin batter don't go mad beating it, a few lumps are not only acceptable but necessary in my experience!, add the mincemeat. You can add as much as you want according to your taste. I started with 4 very generous tablespoons, although did add slightly more for the second batch. After mixing in you can add a chopped apple, which I have found to be a necessary addition to all my Herman cakes so far.

The batter will make 12 muffins or 2 1lb loaves. Or a mixture of the 2. Bake at 200c for 25 min for the muffins and 35-40 for the loaves. You may need to cover the loaves towards the end of cooking as they may burn.

As it's Monday don't forget to get yourself over to Wendy's blog for  handmade Monday and I hope you all have a fab week.

Til next time!