Making & Baking

The new washing machine turned up at 5pm last night and has today been fixed in, had its trial run and is now washing its first proper wash - quite a lot quieter than the last one.

Having made my mincemeat a few weeks ago (adapted from a Delia Smith recipe), I have today baked 12 mince pies. I like to use muffin tins, that way you get a decent amount of filling inside them. Have also made a batch of sloe vodka. Yes, I know, not very frugal but the sloes were free, I already had the sugar and although the Vodka cost £10, I know this drink will last us several years. So all in all I think that is quite good. I made sloe gin 3-4 years ago and it is still being drunk and getting better each year. My mini Christmas puddings have already been made and are in the freezer as the recipe I use (another DS recipe) is very light and they won't keep unless frozen.

Final batch of baking for today was our bi-weekly loaf of bread. This one is made with white flour but I vary the mix, sometimes adding brown, rye or using white and adding a large amount of wheat-germ.

Home made bread is so nice that we only bake it twice a week otherwise we would quite happily get through a loaf every 2 days.