89. Millionaires Shortbread

This is one of my favourite things to eat, so when I was scanning my list of child-friendly bakes, looking for something for us to make in the run-up to my birthday, this was the clear winner. Plus, I knew there'd be cake imminent, so didn't want to 'over-cake' us!
I've made this before, but not to Mary's recipe. It's so easy, you just need to commit some time in order to fit in the three stages. Elizabeth was very involved in stage one: the shortbread bit. She loves making biscuit dough, but also liked pressing the mixture into the tin and then pricking it with the fork. We were both surprised that there was enough dough to fill the tin - a 13 x 9 inch swiss roll one. The shortbread layer didn't take too long to bake, and I kept a very close eye on it so I could catch it before it got too brown.
Next it was time for what I think is the most sinful part: the caramel. Two tins of condensed milk, plus butter and sugar were measured into a saucepan, complete with spoon-licking (by both of us), and this was all very carefully heated so as not to burn it. I thought I was doing well until the dissolved sugar seemed to start to re-form. I'd not noticed any sticking, but brown flecks started to appear, and I'm really not sure why. Given that the mixture had thickened, I took it off the heat and poured it over the shortbread. I wasn't worried about the aesthetics - the chocolate would cover any flaws!
So then, the chocolate. 200g of milk chocolate, melted over simmering water, and another treat for the resident spoon-licker. Again, it didn't look enough to cover the whole tray, but I was proved wrong, and didn't even make a mess spreading it out.
I left it on the side to set, but the sun moved round and made its position a warm spot, so I decided to risk the chocolate looking pallid by putting it in the fridge. It didn't take long to set at all, and was very easy to slice, even into smaller pieces, to suit Joe's idea of an adequate portion. We tried some after having eaten a big plateful of curry and decided it was very rich and sickly, so, given the quantity, I donated the entire middle section to his colleagues. Apparently it went down very well, despite there being an influx of cake in the office that day. I also delivered some to a lovely neighbour, and there's still one piece left, four days later!
Baker's verdict: easy and enjoyable to make, but as much as I love it, I'd only make it again if I had a large group to make it for. It's too calorific to plough through over several days!
Husband rating: 7.5/10 - really well-made, very luxurious, just a bit sweet for me. Nice, crunchy thick chocolate on top.

88. Cornish Fairings

When I still had my own very special 'bun in the oven', I decided that I would try and reserve a weekly baking slot with my eldest daughter. I trawled through the list of bakes still to be completed, and highlighted those that looked suitable for her to be involved in the making of. Turns out, there are loads! She might not fancy eating all of them (she won't touch anything with dried fruit in, for example), but I know she'll still enjoy the process of making them, and licking the spoons.
So, last week, I decided to get cracking on our list and gave her the choice of two biscuit recipes for which we had all the ingredients. These were the ones she chose, and they turned out to be ideal for us to make together. She enjoyed doing the measuring and rubbing the butter and flour together. She also helped out with rolling the biscuits into balls and lining them up on the baking tray.
They didn't need very long in the oven as they're very thin once they spread out, and I reduced the baking time to suit our unreliable oven. She got to see the fruits of our labours before her interest was diverted elsewhere, which was good. I baked in two batches and got over 30 biscuits out of it. They turned out like thin gingernuts (and tasted like them) and were very crispy, with a bit of chew at the end, without getting too stuck in the teeth.
Baker's verdict: easy to make and I was impressed with how they turned out looking like shop-bought biscuits. I'll definitely make these again, but give some of them to other people. We're still ploughing through them 4 days later!
Husband rating: 7/10 - very nice, simple biscuits. I enjoyed the crunchiness and chewiness at the same time. Would be nice if they were twice as thick.

87. Iced Animal Biscuits

I've been really getting my daughter involved in my baking, but we've mainly been sticking to tried and tested recipes, like the banana loaf and various sponges and buns. I homed in on the 'Baking for Children' section of the book to see what else we could tackle, and, because I was given a bumper tub of cookie cutters one Christmas, decided that these biscuits would be good fun.

It was Halloween, so instead of 'animal' biscuits, we did witches, pumpkins, cats and ghosts, and used the rather unappetising black and orange food colouring to decorate.

The biscuit dough was easy to make but very wet and need quite a bit of flour on the worktop to roll it in. I found that the dough stuck and was hard to lift off the surface once the shapes had been cut out, so it was quite frustrating and made the participation of a little person quite challenging. Again, they were a little over-baked, but I've made these since and keep a closer eye on them.

We had fun decorating them, but I need to get used to the required consistency of the icing, as it was a bit tricky for my daughter to work with. In the end, I iced and she sprinkled!

Baker's verdict: easy recipe but faffy to roll out and cut because the dough was so sticky. Not great for young children to work with, so best to just let them loose at the decorating stage. Also a little flavourless, so I'd add some extra vanilla extract, or another flavour like almond or lemon.

Husband rating: he's had these biscuits recently and prefers them un-iced.

86. Devonshire Apple Cake

This was baked as a result of being given some cooking apples and not really wanting to make several crumbles. Again, this was made last Autumn and before baby, so I can't remember much about it! However, it was easy to make, using the all-in-one method. The apples were placed on top of half of the cake mixture (in some sort of neat arrangement) so that they were 'sandwiched' inside.
It was meant to be baked for an hour and a quarter and I can't recall if I adhered to that, but as you can see from the photo, the edges were rather dark when I took it out. I've made a note in the book to bake it for 1 hour next time.
Baker's verdict: simple and tasty. Best served as a dessert and warmed up, with some cream on the side.
Husband rating: he won't remember this!