Sweet Potato Bread

Oops, a little bit late with this week's Sweet Melissa Sundays! I actually baked it on Friday evening but there's a whole heap on our plates right now - going to have to be a bit cryptic about it for the time being but needless to say if only it were just the wedding invitations keeping us busy!!! We have FINALLY gotten around to planting some seeds so (if we don't suffer the terrorism of the local wildlife again) we should have some homegrown veg this summer. Which might be the best thing if the UK can no longer transport produce to our shores via plane! The volcanic ash cloud is such a surreal phenomenon but one which really drives home just how dependant the UK is on imports. I'm sure my favorite local produce suppliers will be seeing a huge surge in business though so definitely not all bad news.

Back to Sweet Melissa and her sweet potato bread! I've never used sweet potatoes in a sweet treat before, only ever as a side to a main meal, so I was keen to try it out. Being the huge fan that I am of carrot cake, I figured this would be right up my street. And it was! Wonderfully moist, great spice flavours and impossibly easy to make. And in a bundt tin! I heart my bundt tin. It would've been even easier had I been able to source canned sweet potatoes. Instead, I just threw a few large sweet potatoes in the oven whilst I was cooking dinner and let them roast in their own skins. Once nice and soft, I simply pulled the skins away to reveal the super soft, sweet flesh to use in the recipe. Got to say, a whole lot easier than my attempt at making pumpkin puree!!! Yeah, that didn't go so well...

Anyway, this tasted great and it's still gorgeous several days later! A few things I think I might change next time... I think I'll use at least some brown sugar to add a little depth to the sweetness and I also might try using less sugar as the cake was quite sweet. Also, I'd probably add some raisins and maybe miss the glaze but add cream cheese frosting. This would work so well with cream cheese frosting! Granted, cream cheese frosting makes rocks taste good, but it really would take this cake to a whole new level. Or of course, just use loaf tins for portability.

Thank you so much to Lorelei of Mermaid Sweets for a fantastic pick and head on over to her site for the recipe (and some great news!!). And, as always, have a look see over here at the other bakers' posts.

Rosy xx

Pecan Shortbread Cookies

I've been a little rubbish with posting Sweet Melissa Sundays for a few weeks now but wow, I definitely couldn't miss pecan shortbread cookies! I love shortbread and I love love LOVE pecans. And these were wonderful - not a typical shortbread texture but buttery and much much lighter. Delish!

Thank you to Lara from The Lab for hosting this week. And, as usual, don't forget to check out the other bakers' cookies.

Rosy xx

Butter Toffee Crunch

It's Sweet Melissa Sundays time again! On a Monday... There is a reason for this - the recent break in left us laptop-less at home so I have to be in the office to upload any photos. But normal business should resume soon.

Anyway, back to the more important subject of toffee!! Kaitlin from Kait's Plate picked this week's choice and I for one was really looking forward to making it. I'm organising our church christmas coffee morning this year and the plan is to have lots of crafty stalls with bits and pieces of christmassy goodies. So I thought that me and one of the Sweet Supper Club groups could make up lots of little bags of sweeties and gingerbread to sell. These were super easy to make and delicious so a definite addition to the stall! And super cute in their little bags, don't you think?

The only very minor modifications I made were using pecans on the base (but still almonds on the top) and I used granulated sugar rather than brown. I've heard that brown sugar is a lot harder to make caramel and toffee out of as the impurities in it tend to burn. I didn't want to risk it!

Many thanks to Kaitlin for hosting this week and check out her blog for the recipe and all the other bakers' blogs for their take on the toffee.

Rosy x

Apple Orchard Pecan Crumble

Ok, so I actually have a REALLY good reason for this being a bit late this week -

Jon PROPOSED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So we're getting married which is just about the most exciting thing in the world EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So I was a little tied up this weekend what with all the accepting of engagement rings and all...... But I did manage to bake up these little beauties a few days ago so as not to let the SMS side down!! I did modify the recipe slightly - of course they are individual ramekins (as the photo shows!) and yep, that caused a huge volcano of treacley fruit juices to permanently affix themselves to the bottom of our oven, but worked really well (other than that!). The other modification that I did was switch the flour with half wholemeal and half oats. I really liked that - complimented the nuttiness of the pecans and was a definite hit.

Many thanks to Cristine from Cooking with Cristine (you can find the recipe on her blog) for choosing this week's Sweet Melissa Sundays recipe and don't forget to check out the other bakers.

Rosy xx

PS WE'RE GETTING MARRIED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Orange scented scones and some jam-related antics

I have a confession to make - recently I really seem to have lost my baking mojo. I came home from work the other night and had visions of a sweet, moist apricot frangipane tart. A couple of hours later, I had the toughest crust known to man in front of me with a heavy, eggy filling. Not what I had in mind at all! Then my attempts at a thin, crisp pizza base last night resulted in something much more like a large cracker. And pancakes this morning? Disaster! I mean, pancakes??! How can I mess those up? Hmmm. Not good.

So there was a part of me that was dreading this week's Sweet Melissa Sundays recipe. But I persevered! Not wanting such fearful follies getting the better of me, I bit the bullet. It helped that I had a group of close friends coming over for a jam making sesh (the first meeting of the Sweet Supper Club founders but more on that another time) and what goes better with jam that orange scented scones??

A sunday afternoon of jam making fuelled by tea from pretty cups and glasses of pink bubbly! What could be better? Here are some of the lovely ladies in question...

And here's Laura dutifully munching away on the scone. If only they'd been edible! But I fear the fault is TOTALLY mine. The dreaded baking curse strikes again! I did something I've never done before - I misread the recipe and added too much salt. Ew. Ew ew ew. Salty scone, anyone??! Didn't think so. But I have to say, the texture was divine! Once piled high with clotted cream and JJ's mum's greengage jam (ours wasn't quite ready) they were yum. But then cardboard is yum with that much cream and jam...

So many thanks to Robin of Lady Craddock's Bakery and I'm so sorry to have messed them up! I have to move on now otherwise I'm going to start sobbing over my keyboard...

The jam! Look as these furry fleshed beauties...

We made two jams - cinnamon peach (yes! Sweet Melissa's cinnamon peach preserve!) and plum jam.

Ooo, bubbly, peachy, cinnamon scented yumminess...

Here's Laura stirring the plum jam. Did feel a little bit like a coven of witches gathered around a steaming cauldron, but I get the feeling that if the only thing witches did was produce sweet preserves they might have a slightly better reputation.

I was less impressed by the plum jam. If I'm totally honest with you, the curse struck again (seriously, how much can I mess up in one week??!) and it's not really jam, more of a slightly gloopy plum sauce. Oh well!

The brightside is how darn cute they look!!! What a feeling of satisfaction, looking at rows and rows of homemade jams.

Sky requested that we fill up these mini jam jars. Aren't they just about the most adorable things ever?

Just perched happily atop its bigger brother. Too cute.

So apologies again for being a total muppet and messing up this week's SMS - hopefully the new week will bring better cooking vibes and I shall create some food to be proud of. I'll keep you posted!

Rosy xx

Ps Don't forget to have a look at the other SMS bakers!