Great Kitchen

Easy Jam Tarts Ingredients: For the pastry: 140g all purpose flour (1 cup) 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 1/2 TBS butter 2 1/2 TBS lard 3 to 4 tablespoons of ice water You will also need: jam to fill them (I used apricot, cherry, plum and strawberry) Instructions: First make the pastry. Mix flour with salt, and cut in butter and lard, until you have pieces of fat in the flour about the size of peas. Add ice water, one TBS at a time, tossing it in with a fork until pastry comes together. Form in to a ball, flatten, wrap in cling film and chill in the refrigerator for about half an hour. Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6.  Have ready some tart tins. I sprayed mine with some canola cooking spray to keep anything from sticking.  As I was using individual tins, I placed them onto a baking sheet. Roll your pastry out, using a floured rolling pin, and on a lightly floured surface to 1/8 inch thickness.  Using a 2 inch cutter (I used a flower shaped one) stamp our rounds and use t...

Old Fashioned Sour Cream Doughnuts Ingredients: For the dougnuts 175g plain flour (1 1/4 cups) 1 tsp baking soda 1 tsp cinnamon pinch of salt 75g fine sugar (1/3 cup) 30g sour cream (1/4 cup) 1 large free range egg 1 TBS butter melted oil for frying Basic sugar glaze: 150g icing sugar, sifted (1 1/2 cups) 3 to 4 TBS milk or water few drops vanilla Instructions: Sift together the flour, soda and cinnamon.  Stir in the salt and set aside. Whisk the sour cream, sugar, egg and melted butter together in a medium sized bowl until smooth.  Add the flour mixture a little bit at a time until you get a smooth dough.  Wrap and chill in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes. Roll out on a lightly floured surface until 1/2 inch thick.  Using a 2 1/2 inch round cutter cut into rounds. Cut the centres out with a thimble.  Reroll any scraps and cut as required. Heat 2 inches of oil in a heavy bottomed pan until a thermometer registers 180*C/350*F.  Carefully place the doug...

Earl Grey Tea Loaf Ingredients: 150g self rising flour, sifted (1 cup plus  1 1/2 TBS) 150g unsalted butter at room temperature (2/3 cup) 110 g icing sugar sifted (1 cup less 2 1/2 TBS) 2 tsp golden syrup (corn syrup) 3 large free range eggs pinch salt 5g Earl Grey Tea (can use from tea bags, about 2 TBS) 15g ground almonds (3 TBS) 1 TBS milk For the glaze: 100ml water (3 1/2 fluid ounces) 50g granulated sugar (1/4 cup) 2 TBS lemon juice Instructions: Preheat the oven to 160*C/325*F/ gas mark 3.  Butter an 8 X 4 -inch loaf tin and line the bottom with some baking paper.  Set aside. Cream together the butter, icing sugar and syrup until fluffy.  Beat in the eggs one at a time, stopping to scrape the bowl every so often. Add the salt, tea and almonds. Beat for one minute. Add half of the flour and beat at a low speed to amalgamat.  Beat in the milk.  Beat in the remaining flour until all is well blended. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan.  Smooth o...