Caitriona Redmond

Thrifty Tasty Bites

Category Archives: Sweet

17 Apr

Gur Cake

It’s always the chef’s prerogative to cook what they like to eat. In our house it means that mushrooms never cross the threshold as I really, really don’t like them.  Luckily I have found a kindred spirit in my husband.  It was the same when I was growing up.  Mam never cooked cabbage which holds memories of that smell permeating the house and a big pot bubbling on the stove for hours on end. There are a couple of other dishes that she didn’t cook or serve while I was growing up that I can remember (Mam if you’re reading this I said remember!). One of which was Gur Cake.
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11 Apr

PB Chocolate Bread Pudding

It’s the Wednesday after Easter and himself has taken the 3 year old off for the day to help digging a garden. This leaves me on my own with the baby, who has just fallen asleep.

Sitting on the kitchen table are a number of Easter Eggs, unopened and while I would really like to crack 1 open and demolish it on the spot I’m craving something a bit more filling so I wander to the cupboard to check out the bread stock.  I was originally intending a crisp and chocolate sandwich which would marry the two salty and sweet flavours in a savoury bit of bread. I begin to salivate a bit.
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29 Mar

Tea Raisin Scones

I love my 3 year old (E) to bits. He is possibly the funniest person on the planet. His favourite phrases at the moment include “that sounds loike a gwreat idea mammy” (no clue who taught him that one, ahem) and “you’re a codfwish” (courtesy of Captain Hook). There are some days that I’m not his favourite person, like days when I have to clean or when the baby is niggling so much that I find it hard to dedicate some time just to him.
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27 Mar

Cheat’s Semi-Freddo

The hour went forward in Ireland this weekend and the change in daytime brought a run of incredibly sunny days with it. Everyday since Sunday we have been treated to temperatures of up to 20 degrees celcius (and sometimes more) and glorious sunshine. I live in County Dublin so while I’m close enough to the city centre to be able to get there within 1 hour’s journey, I’m also beside farmland, and the seaside. In fact if I open my windows on a quiet day I can hear the waves crashing on the shore and/or the cows in the next field over. Yes, that close.

With the sunny weather it has heralded the arrival of the ice cream vans. Not just the odd one hoping to get a bit of business on a chilly day (I spotted a van here over the Christmas holidays), but sometimes more than 4 vans in the one day. If we were to buy ice cream from these vans even once a day we’d be broke and at this point I hang my head in shame. This is because this very mean mammy has been known to inform the toddler with much confidence that ice cream vans only make music when they are empty. But there is something about the tinny sound of “O Sole Mio/Just One Cornetto” being piped through the tannoy along with the chug of the diesel engine that powers the vans that makes me feel like I want something cold and sweet straight away.
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25 Mar

Rhubarb Tagliatelle

Okay I admit it, I have a bit of an obsession with Rhubarb.  It is one of my favourite fruits and because it’s in season at the moment it’s very easy, and cheap to get a hold of. I will do some chutneys towards the end of the season but at the moment it’s so tender there is very little cooking to do with it.  The only ingredient in this recipe that isn’t Irish is the fruit sugar that I used to poach the rhubarb, however if you can get your hands on a decent Irish apple juice then that would be perfect instead of sugar.

Since January close friends and family of mine have been on a health kick.  Not in a New Year resolution sort of way, more in a life-changing way. Himself has lost nearly 2.5stone at this stage and his pals and my two gorgeous friends, A & S, aren’t too far behind. Their diet can be restrictive when it comes to sweet treats. Since they started this journey towards a healthier self when I cook or bake something particularly bold I get admonished, just a little bit, but all the same it’s very unfair of me to taunt them when they are doing so well.
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18 Mar

Rhubarb and Thyme Tartlet

Today is Mother’s Day in Ireland, or to give it the old title, “Mothering Sunday”. Traditionally celebrated in our home by me being given free license to cook what I want in the kitchen as I have a very able sous-chef (my husband) and visiting/commemorating the mothering figures in our lives. While yesterday was St Patrick’s Day we didn’t mark it in the traditional way of going to watch a local parade or cooking dishes on a green theme. Instead we went to a family reunion in memory of some close family members who are no longer with us. It was a refreshing way to spend St Patrick’s Day and probably just as well because I believe we would have been very wet if we had gone to the parade.

However I am signed up to participate in the Very Good Recipes St Patrick Challenge and so I did need to cook something a little green this week.

There is little in season in the outdoor kitchen garden by way of fruit but rhubarb is just coming into season. The rhubarb plant we cut from is very young and very pink right now. I’m almost afraid to cut from it as I really want to make some chutney and perhaps some wine later on in the Spring. I did get 5 small stalks on Friday and while I was cutting them I noticed a thyme bush nearby and caught the light fragrant scent on the air. The thought struck me then that perhaps the two ingredients would be a good combination providing the thyme wasn’t too overpowering and this is where this recipe started. The thyme flavour lingers in the background and breaks up the sweetness of the tartlet.

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09 Mar

Baked Doughnuts

Many of my food memories are woven around my paternal Grandmother, and they are normally sweet ones. I refer to her now as Granny Ma to our children as she passed away while I was still pregnant with my first child; but to me, all her other grandchildren and her own children she was simply “Ma”. For a while when we were younger we shared her home and then later she moved to live right beside us. You would pass her door every morning on the way to school and do so quietly, so as not to wake her. On the way home from school you’d often hear a tap-tap on the window and see her beckoning you in to share a cup of tea, watch Countdown and a sneaky treat before dinner.

I only remember her making doughnuts once but my Mam tells me that she always made them at Halloween. The time I do remember her making doughnuts it was a weekend and once the word went around to all of our Aunts, Uncles & Cousins that there was a batch on the go her kitchen filled with family members. The smell of warm sugar filled the air, many cups of tea were drunk and we scoffed the lot between about 20 of us. Ma didn’t do things by halves; something I think I’ve inherited.

Doughnuts are something that even now I don’t eat without the memories of that day. The thing is that I’m not a fan of hot pans of oil, even if it is a deep fat fryer, when I have such small children in the house and a small kitchen. So I’ve taken a basic doughnut recipe and tweaked it so that they can be baked in the oven which is far safer and probably a little more heart healthy too. I prefer these jam filled doughnuts without the sugar on top but the kids had to have the real deal. Oh and apologies to my neighbours, as I dropped over a batch of sugar coated doughnuts at their childrens’ bedtime on a Sunday evening. I will try in future to give you advance warning! My name is mud now I think.

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13 Feb

Simple Icing / Frosting

This simple icing / frosting recipe is the easiest I have in my home recipe book. It’s my “go-to” when I want a reliable, consistent flavour and result.  I use it for sponge sandwiches, covering cupcakes and on this occasion sandwiching 2 of my everyday cookies together.

My basic rule is twice as much icing sugar as butter. Use a small amount of milk if you find the mixture is too stiff.  Apart from that flavour it as you like.  This time around I’ve used vanilla but you could equally flavour it with mint, the fresh rind of a lemon or an orange with a small amount of juice, cocoa powder or whatever you want to. This icing mix keeps in the fridge for up to 3 days in a covered bowl or equally if you put it into a freezer bag it will keep for up to 1 month in advance of icing.
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13 Feb

Anytime Cookies

This is a great recipe for light, crisp cookies that I baked this week for St Valentine’s. The cookies without any decoration will keep for up to 7 days, if you don’t eat them all, in a dry sealed box in your cupboard.
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