Scotproof

A lot of stuff:

Here’s the recipe for the Christmas fairy cakes:

Ingredients:
4 oz butter or margarine
4 oz caster sugar
2 eggs, beaten
4 oz self-raising flour
1/4 tsp cinnamon
a little freshly ground nutmeg
zest of 1 clementine (optional)*

For the icing:
4 oz icing sugar
juice of 1 clementine

To make:
1. Cream together the fat and sugar in a large bowl until pale and fluffy.
2. Gradually add the eggs, beating well after each addition.
3. Sieve the flour, cinnamon and nutmeg into the bowl and gently fold in.
4. Place 12-16 paper cases on a baking sheet and fill each two-thirds full with the mixture. (The cases in the picture are slightly larger than usual.)
5. Put in oven at 190C (170C fan) for 15-20 minutes, until risen and golden.
6. After a few minutes, transfer to wire rack to cool.
7. Once completely cool, sieve the icing sugar into a bowl and gradually add the clementine juice until icing has a thick, spreadable consistency. You might not need all the juice.
8. Ice the cakes.

*Adding zest makes the cakes much more clementiney - nice but maybe verging on sickly.

Wet ingredients
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 cup golden syrup (or 1/4 cup maple, 1/4 cup golden)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Dry ingredients
3 cups porridge oats
1/4 cup sesame seeds
2 tbsp granulated sugar (or demerara, or a mix)
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup raisins or sultanas
1/2 cup chopped dark chocolate

1. Warm wet ingredients in a pan until runny.
2. Mix the oats, sesame seeds, sugar and cinnamon in a bowl.
3. Add wet ingredients to dry and mix.
4. Spread mixture across 2 baking trays and put in oven at 150C (130C fan) for around half an hour, until golden brown. Give the trays a shoogle mid-way.
5. Remove from oven and allow to cool, stirring regularly to avoid sticking.
6. Add the raisins and chocolate, then put mixture in an airtight container to store.

Serve with milk and fresh fruit.

Eight weeks to Christmas and the perfect time to bake the cake. Here it is just before going in the oven:

And here it is three and a half hours later:

Special mention should go to Jura for assistance with the cake tin liner:

And here’s the two of them getting their extra hour of sleep:

Norwegian pancakes and chicken casserole in the rain:

And a walk on Sunday night:

From The Great Scandinavian Baking Book:

“The formal Finnish coffeetable…is served in three courses. The first course is always a sweetened yeast bread, often a braid, and often flavored with cardamon. With the first course you have a cup of coffee and sample a cookie or two. The second course is a pound cake or another unfrosted cake baked in a fancy tube pan. You sample the cake and a couple of cookies with another cup of coffee. The third course is a fancy filled cake, which you sample by itself, with a third cup of coffee. With the fourth cup of coffee, you sample anything you haven’t already tasted, or go back for seconds. As with the flowers in the centerpiece, there should be an uneven number of choices on the table. Seven is considered perfect.”

Shore:

Plate (bit blurry):

Method:
Wait for the tide to go right out. Identify scallops by their intermittent spitting (see video, above). Take home and scrub thoroughly, then put in a pan of boiling water. Put lid on pan and wait until the shells open (not long); discard any whose shells don’t open. Prise from shells and get rid of all the gunk (brown beardy bit, dodgy black bit - I get rid of the orange roe as well, though it can be eaten), leaving just the white flesh. I give them a quick rinse at this stage, just to get rid of any rogue bits of gunk or sand. Heat some butter in a frying pan and throw in the scallops. Fry on a high heat for just a couple of minutes, turning occasionally until nicely browned. Salt and pepper; ready to eat. Good on their own or with bacon.

Stages in between:

Avoid curious cats: