Irish Buttermilk Scones (with raisins)

 

I love this recipe- is so easy to make and the scones turn out perfect 🙂 Good luck!

710 g Self Raising Flour
130 g Sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
120 g Raisins
225 g Butter
2 eggs
300 ml Buttermilk

What to do;

1
Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius

 

2
Line baking sheet with tinfoil (I find it better than baking paper) or just grease and dust with butter and flour.

3
In a large bowl measure the flour, sugar, and baking powder.
4
Add in the butter and rub together with your fingers until it turns crumbly; make sure is thoroughly crumbled (equalish sizes)

5
Mix in the raisins (or any other type of dried fruit eg blueberries)

 

6

mix buttermilk and eggs together and then add to dry mixture.

 

7
Using your hands, form dough into large ball and place on floured surface.

 

8
Knead lightly (not for long) until it all comes together

 

9
Roll out into 1 1/2 inch thickness, about 3-4 cms

 

10
Cut into 2 1/2 inch rounds and place on the baking tray

 

11
Brush with milk to glaze.

 

12
Bake scones for 20-25 minutes.

 

Ta-Da! you now have lovely lovely light crumbly and moist scones; Irish style 🙂 cut in half and enjoy warm or cold with butter and jam or clotted cream yum!

A Filler-In Blog Post; more to come in the next week

Hey all,

This is only going to be a short lil post today; feeling quite unwell, and not only due to the ridiculous amount of chocolate consumed 😛

There’s been a lot happening recently, interviews for a job next year in my college, lots to do with my Sister being away, and alot to do with actual college work (just fyi; an arts degree, contrary to popular belief, is hard! If you don’t believe me, try writing my paper on Modern Architecture without suffering a nervous breakdown)

The job i’ll find out about next week sometime; so there’s probably be a post on that.. My sister., what can i say, its getting more and more difficult to come to terms with the fact that she’s over the other side of the world and there’s nothing I can do to give her hugs and make her feel better when shes sick or scared… we’re quite a huggy touchy duo;  my sister and I always communicated more by touch than through words (Strange for an English major i know) and its so difficult not being able to hold her hand to cheer her up or curl up next to each other to watch some rubbish on telly. Skype has its advantages for sure, but sometimes its simply not enough.

 

I know I’ve been remiss in posting blogs recently ; I’ll stick up a few recipes I’ve tried in the past few weeks; including my amazingly light and delicious scones 🙂

I’ve started studying for exams now, they draw ever larger and more menacing.

I meant to write quite a bit more but my laptop is seriously lagging and it means that what it write takes forever to come up on the screen- very very annoying

I promise future blogposts on Baking, Men and Art, very soon!!

 

‘Till then, Adieu, Adieu

 

~~~TItlesnake~~~

This made me physically sick… I don’t want to live in a world where this happens. I dont want my children to grow up in a world where this happens. How did everything go so wrong? and more importantly; how can it be stopped, NOW?

Rethink the Rant

TRIGGER WARNING:

The following includes descriptions, photos, and video that may serve as a trigger for victims of sexual violence.
Please be advised. 

Someone asked me today, “What is ‘rape culture’ anyway? I’m tired of hearing about it.”

Yeah, I hear ya. I’m tired of talking about it. But I’m going to keep talking about it because people like you keep asking that question.

Rape culture is when a group of athletes rape a young girl, and though there are dozens of witnesses, no one says, “Stop.”

Rape culture is when a group of athletes rape a young girl, and though there are dozens of witnesses, they can’t get anyone to come forward.

Rape culture is when a group of athletes rape a young girl, and adults are informed of it, but no consequences are doled out because the boys “said nothing happened.”

Rape culture is when a group…

View original post 1,115 more words

What is wrong with the way I pray??

Today I’d like to talk about something that’s rather close to my heart, and that has been bugging me quite a bit recently. It’s to do with religion. I happen to be a practicing Roman Catholic, and not ashamed of it (I wonder if you’re still reading after that).

And that, in a nutshell is what bugs me; these days it seems to be open season on Catholics; a person can be atheist, agnostic, muslim, hindu, buddhist, whatever and there will always be a mixed view; some support and some hate. With Catholicism though, I’ve noticed a trend, hugely increased since the Pope’s step down from office, of nothing but hate.

I am currently one of the only practicing Catholics my age that I have met; this may be because a lot are confused, a lot may be hiding what they really feel, a lot may be just lazy. Regardless, if the subject turns to religion within most of my social groups, everyone seems extremely surprised that I believe in God, Jesus Christ, Communion, the Virgin Birth etc etc..

Occasionally, often actually, it goes beyond surprise. It turns to incredulous questions, it turns to derision. People begin arguments, anger starts to grow, and I end up leaving feeling like crap; all for believing in something? I don’t preach to anyone, or try to convert them. I am happy to talk if asked, but I always make sure to respect other people’s beliefs, people’s sexual orientation, people’s life choices regarding abortion and any other matter.

Why then, does it seem to be considered such a crime to be Catholic??

In my college recently, a tutor in one of my friend’s English tutorials went on a rant. He ranted about great men, great atheist men, who converted to Catholicism on their deathbed. He ranted about how disgusted and disappointed he was in them. How terrible it was. How, as an atheist, he could not understand nor condone what they did. Now, many might agree with him, and this is their choice. However, I am glad that I was not in that tutorial; I don’t think I could have handled the hate.

Make no mistake; I am not upset that he has these views or beliefs. What I am upset about is that he voiced them to the class in such an aggressive manner as to make anyone who didn’t agree with these beliefs feel persecuted, upset, worried and perhaps even scared.

Imagine for a moment that it was a Catholic, in a university, who was saying this about Athiests. Can you imagine the uproar and anger towards someone in responsibility saying these things towards students? Can you imagine the complaints and the demand for punishment? Now ask yourself, why does it not go both ways? Why is it ok to persecute one way, and not the other?

and think; If I had different beliefs would I feel safe going back into that classroom?

I understand that many people have issues with the Church. I understand there is a lot that has been done wrong, and has been continued to be handled wrongly.

All I ask is that you give the same respect to Catholics, as you do to all other religions. I don’t want arguments, I just want to be able to celebrate my faith, without feeling like a scummy piece of crap.

I didn’t mean to rant quite so much, but it is something that has been building quite a while, and I guess I needed to let it out.

Thanks for listening

~~~~Titlesnake

A Quick Update with Chocolate Cake

Hey,

So things have gotten pretty hectic around here lately- have been in no mood to blog but that all changes now! 😛 my sister is now in NZ, and is varying between being very very happy and very very homesick, but I’m sure she’ll end up being happy 99% of the time after a little while. Things back here at home are decent, most people have been very supportive, and are making sure we stay as close as possible; even my extremely large machine-like college is giving me a bit of a breather!

I’ve been doing what I really love the past week- baking!! Have twice this week made my super decadent chocolatey chocolate cake, and thought I might share it here; the recipe was once Jamie Oliver’s Party Cake from his Return of the Naked Chef, but I’ve added a few tweaks here and there.

Ingredients!

For the CAKE
200g Butter or Stork
200g Caster sugar
200g Self Raising Flour
3 tablespoons of cocoa powder
1 rounded tablespoon of baking powder
3 large eggs (or 3 medium eggs and an extra yoke)
dash of vanilla extract or essense

For the FILLING AND ICING
340g of Chocolate (can be plain, milk or mixed- dairymilk or tescos is fine- dont use cake covering tho- has to be actual chocolate!)
240g of double cream

To BAKE
preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius and grease two 7 inch cake tins (or one 8 or 9 inch tin)

METHOD
I find making the ganache filling first works best- that way you can let it cool while you bake the cake 🙂

So, to make the ganache-
break up the chocolate into a large bowl, and pour the cream into a saucepan.
heat the cream until it boils and IMMEDIATELY take off the heat and pour over the chocolate pieces. stir until it becomes thick and glossy. leave to cool on the shelf, and pop into the fridge after about ten mins until you need it 🙂

to make the cake:
using an electric mixer, mix the butter and sugar till fluffly (pretty much white and cloudy like)
mix the 3 tablespoons of cocoa with 4 tablespoons of boiling water until smooth (add more water if you need to, but not more that 2 tbsp extra)
add cocoa mixture, eggs, flour, baking powder, and vanilla extract to the fluffy butter and sugar mix
mix with a WOODEN spoon gently- try and nearly fold it in to keep in as much air as possible.
Pour into either two 7inch tins or one 8/9 inch tin (if you choose the larger tin, be prepared to cut the cake in half)
bake in the oven for about 20 minutes, longer if in the larger tin. use a toothpick to see if its ready- if it is, the toothpick will come out clean
let cool on the counter and check on the ganache- it should be thicker now 🙂 If it’s too thick stick it in the microwave for about ten seconds 🙂

Finishing the cake
after the cake cools spread some of the thickened ganache between the two slices and put them together. get the rest of the ganache and whip it using an electric mix (or a reealy strong arm) the whipped ganache should become a lil bit lighter in colour and turn the texture of buttercream. Spread all over the cake omnomnom.
if you have any chocolate left, grate it onto the top of the cake for a pretty finish.

 

Hope any bakers will enjoy this!!

 

 

 

Here’s one i made earlier 😛

 

Enjoy all, take care 🙂

~~~~Titlesnake~~~

 

First blog post

So… this is my first blog- it’s probably going to be more of an online diary than information-style readings. I’m setting this up because it’s a way for me to keep track of the good, bad and ugly of this year.

I’m nearly up out of the reaches of a serious depression after 3 years of therapy, I’m settled in a college I feel I belong in (at last!), and have friends who seem to like me for who I am. Life is a rollercoaster however, and being such, my twin sister will be moving away to the other side of the world in about 2 weeks, so getting through this life shift, dealing with some friendships and relationships (love interests) and figuring out what I want to do with my life is kind of an up and down journey. I’m hoping this blog/diary/rant page will help sort out everything nice and clearly in black and white; and maybe even allow a connection between anyone that feels like reading this, and myself.

There’ll be a fair few art and English literature rants and obsessions popping up here, I’m a second year English/Art History student and it’s starting to direct my life in new and beautiful directions I previously had only dreamed of 🙂

I hope to be blogging at least twice weekly,- i know myself that saying I’ll blog every day is just a resolution waiting to be broken, so I’ll be realistic with this one

Expect a lot more information and probably a few rants along the way with the next few entries, but for now I think I’m finished- will leave this short and sweet and ready to be continued in the next few days.

Ta-Ta for now,

Titlesnake~~~