Baking Day.

Today is the first day of my Christmas holidays and I am thankful for the fact that many years ago, without a lot of deliberation, I decided to get a teaching qualification after my degree. That was after I had failed to get the grades to take up my place at vet school, spent 3 years doing a degree in biology and was wondering what to next. Teaching has made it possible for me to fit my work around my family rather than vice versa. I was able to go back to supply teaching once Romas started full-time school. I don't know of many other jobs where you can work different days each week to fit around your children's appointments or be free for the school holidays. Even now I enjoy being in class though there are many aspects of the job that are too stressful so I am thankful also to be working part-time and not be responsible for a class.
Once again I have succumbed to the feeling that Christmas should be all about home cooking and attempted to bake biscuits (cookies). I never remember that this is not my forte and that baking biscuits (or cakes) in an oven that has no temperature control is asking for disaster. There is a gauge on the outside of the oven door that tells me how hot the oven is but then I have to adjust the cooking time or where I put things in the oven. Most years I struggle through a batch of biscuits and then promise myself that next year I will just buy some good biscuits. And then I forget.


I had a go at baking Snickerdoodles. First problem was that all the measurements were in cups so I had to convert them into ounces. Then, although I had looked at the recipe earlier and seen that I needed Cream of Tartar, when I bought some I picked up the wrong tub from the shelf and came home with baking powder which I already have. When I discovered this I simply used extra baking powder which might even have been the right thing to do as the recipe said baking soda(?) and Cream of Tartar. The first couple of batches spread all over the baking sheet and were too buttery so I added extra flour and now I have a tin of biscuits to offer my guests. (There was still a batch cooling in the sitting room.)



I also had another attempt at baking a Christmas cake using a recipe from Woman's Hour on R4. It is a lighter fruit cake being made without brown sugar or treacle and the mix tasted a bit sweet to me but hopefully the cake will be OK. Fruit cakes need long slow cooking so following the advice of someone at work I put the metal sheet, that has always sat on the bottom of the oven, half-way across to reduce the heat. Even with that and the baking parchment collar it still got a little dark on the edges. The only adjustments I made to the recipe were to use extra sultanas and peel to make up for the fact that I didn't have any currants or raisins. Also I didn't have any brandy to soak the fruit in, couldn't open the malt whiskey so used rum instead. I don't think I'll ice it as hardly anyone likes the marzipan or icing. That's my excuse anyway. Just as I was about to start baking the repair men turned up to fix our satellite TV as the high winds had affected the signal. That's what happens when you put the dish on the most exposed corner of the building.


The cats have been a dreadful nuisance through all my baking until I locked them all out of doors. No food is safe when Speedy is around. He also rips through plastic carrier bags to tear into bags of flour , sultanas or oats. Just now there was a crash in the kitchen and all the cats had ripped open a bag of peanuts which were bought for the birds, and were feasting on them. Arrgh!