Vanilla sugar cookies with sprinkles

This morning I got wocken by the sun. I knew it would be a wounderfull day. So I went down stars and saw my mom make a delicious cake. I thoght why would I not do something today I looked throw some of are old recipes and found this recipe and I would love to share it with you enjoy the recipe.

Total Time: 40 minutes              
Amount 25 cookies aprox

Ingredients

600 g all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

226 g unsalted butter, room temperature (let the butter from refrigerator sit on the counter for about an hour or so), not melted but softened

200 g sugar

1 large egg (Medium would do it as well)

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Instructions

1.In a medium bowl, combine together flour and salt and mix them together.

2.In a separate bowl using an electric mixer beat softened butter and granulated sugar until light in color and fluffy. Add an egg and vanilla – continue beating for a couple of minutes. Turn off the electric mixer, add flour-salt mixture and then continue beating on low speed until well-combined but without over mixing the mixtur.

3.Roll dough into approxamitly 1-inch balls. Roll these cookie balls in sprinkles. Arrange on baking paper, space them apart. Freeze until firm, for about 20 minutes.

4.Bake at 180C for 20-25 minutes. Do not over-bake the cookies. Remove from the oven, and put them on to a wire rack to cool down completely.

Be careful when you spread the cookies. I didn't spread them very well but don't worry if they are still warm you can cut them with some cookie cutters.

Enjoy your cookies. Your blogger Alexander

ST. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick’s Day

Hello my dear follower's as you all know tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day. Every March 17th the irish come togather to celebrate St. Patrick. It has become an international festival celebrating Irish culture with parades, dancing, special foods and a whole lot of green.St.Patrick is known as the patron saint of Ireland. True, he was not a born Irish. But he has become an integral part of the Irish heritage, mostly through his service across Ireland.in my free time i made some resarch about Saint Patrick and Wikipedia spat this out Saint Patrick was a fifth-century Romeo-British Christian missionary and bishop in Ireland. Known as the "Apostle of Ireland", he is the primary patron saint of Ireland, along with saints Brigit of Kildare and Columba.But the best thing about St. Patrick's Day is the funny green clothing i will go out and look for some funny St. Patrick’s day clothing

Let’s Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland!

St. Patrick’s Day in Belfast is unlike anywhere else! It is the day when everyone wants to be Irish!

Wherever you may be, a happy St Patrick’s Day to you all!

I made  Video how to make St. Patrick’s Day cupcake enjoy the video and here is the link for the recipe 

Everyday Meatballs In A Creamy Gravy Sauce

I came across some pre-made meatballs at the supermarket and  I thought I’d try and recreate the delicious little morsels of Swedish heaven swimming in their rich, creamy bath of gravy.

The following is my recipe for Swedish Meatballs with a Creamy Gravy. If you are a fan of the same famous dish at IKEA – and let’s just admit that we ALL love IKEA’s version – this recipe is an even more delicious, yet homemade, version.

I don’t know why it took me so long to make it – it’s so easy to make and it really tastes a million times better than the Ikea version (Sorry Ikea).

And the sauce – you can’t forget about that creamy, heavenly gravy sauce that these meatballs are smothered in with the browned up meatball bits. Those meatball bits stuck to the bottom of the pan really make the gravy what it is. I could practically drink it – you’ll really want a portion to slurp down!

I’m rather excited to share my Ultimate Swedish Meatball recipe, I think you’ll really enjoy them.

The number of servings depends on what you’re serving it with. If you’re going to spoon them over a lovely bowl of pasta then this recipe serves 4. If *ahem* you’re going to sit cross legged and eat them right out of the pan with a spoon and then drink the gravy like soup… it serves 2.

You’ll need:

Around 500g free-range pork meatballs 

Knob of butter

1 tbsp plain flour

300 ml chicken stock

1tbsp mustard

1-2tbsp Worcester sauce

1 tsp honey

300 ml double cream

Salt n pepper

Big pinch of dried parsley

Heat a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat. Drop a knob of butter in, you want enough so that when it melts it covers the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle salt & pepper over your meatballs and when the butter’s melted add them to the pan. Fry and keep moving them around until they’re brown almost all over. Not beige, properly browned. While they’re cooking preheat your oven to about 100C/200F. When your meatballs look done, transfer them to an oven-proof dish and pop them into the oven to keep warm.

You should have a little fat and butter left in the pan. Tilt the pan to one side so it makes a pool. Add your flour and stir it in until you have a pretty smooth paste. Now add your stock, turn the heat up a little and bring it to the boil while stirring and scraping all the flour from the bottom of the pan.

Let it bubble away for a couple of minutes and thicken. While it’s working its magic, add your mustard, honey and Worcester sauce. Turn the heat down to medium again, remove your balls from the oven and pour your cream into your sauce. Stir it all together and add your balls to the gravy.

When you think it’s perfect, sprinkle your parsley over the top and serve!

Of course, the moment of truth is the taste test - I think I have the meatball battle won.

Bon appetit!

Happy Pancake Day

Today is Pancake Day,  we all love pancakes in our house and I often cook them for breakfast, but Pancake Day is still a very important date on the calendar for me.

It's definitley a good idea to be in a relaxed sort of mood. So be prepared. Then a sense of fun is definitly requird for the fun of pancake tuesday. The smells in our house is unbeliveable. Because my lovely mother makes the best pancakes throughout Portadown.They are gluten-free and low cab so as you can see we are a very healthy family.But i did not tell you the best bite it's the easiest thing to make.A bit of lemon, sugar, nutella, jam, banana, and pear – whatever gets you through the bite.

And pancakes have to be flipped! I felt my flipping went pretty well (note my look of satisfaction in the photos)!  Fairly successful....not true?

Makes: Enough for even the largest family to lose a few while throwing them in the air and still enjoy a pancake or two. 

Recipe for gluten-free & low carb banana pancake; HERE 

Enojy your meal! 

7-Up Bundt Cake

I again had the chance to prove myself as a baker.

I was looking for a possible simple but delicious cake recipe for two greenhorn and two adults. I chose the 7 Up Bundt Cake, from the book of my pastry chef. Cheerful, I started looking to get all the ingredients together. Then i was ready to start . In a bowl, I stirred together cream, butter and sugar, that was so far easy,  at next  then I stirred in eggs for egg one after the other what ended with a huge tennis elbow and elbow pain! Could not know that stir dough is so stressful. But -happy faces are the reward for all the trouble, especially when everyone says: This is the best cake I have ever eaten.

7-Up Bundt Cake

INGREDIENTS

¾ lb butter

400g white sugar

5 eggs

600g all purpose flour

2 tablespoons lemon extract

¾ cup 7 Up or any carbonated lemon-lime beverage

Glaze

75g powdered sugar

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Cooking Instructions

Pre-heat the oven to 325 degrees. In a large bowl cream butter and sugar for 20 minutes. Add eggs one at a time beating after each one. Add flour and lemon extract. Fold in 7 up. Pour into a greased 12”-cup Bundt cake pan.

Bake at 325 F degrees for 1 hour and 20 minutes or until a tooth pick comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow to cool.

To make glaze- in a bowl mix powered sugar and lemon juice. When the cake has cooled drizzle the glaze over it.

Hello All

Hello All

Welcome to my food, travel and lifestyle blog.  I'm Alexander, a happily thirteen guy from Northern Ireland, who share a passion for travelling, cooking and eating.  I want to share my adventures with you through my blog.  I'm fortunate to live in one of the most picturesque areas of the UK – Portadown, Co. Armagh.

My food, travel and lifestyle blog will mainly discuss recipes that we prepare in our home kitchen. I love watching cookery programmes (Masterchef Australia being our favourite), reading cook books and travelling around the UK & Ireland, and Europe when I and my family we get the chance.  Some of our favourite travel destinations include Dublin, Galway, Paris and Austria.

I hope you enjoy reading through my ideas and experiences and can find some inspiration from my blog.

Looking forward to the summer already,

See you soon!