Lemon & horseradish potato salad.

When Brent and I were in England, I discovered lots of new things. These were mostly foods that I've heard about through my love for British television, but had never had the chance to try. Horseradish on roast beef sandwiches. Mushy peas with fish and chips. Yorkshire puddings with a Sunday Roast. Brown sauce with pretty much everything.
The only one that I brought back with me was horseradish. I'm still trying to find other ways to use it and salad dressings are my favourite at the moment. The idea for this potato salad came from a recipe that I stumbled across, but I decided that I'd just make up my own. I love potato salad, and as my Dad says, "you can never have too much potato salad."
In the past 5 days, I've made this twice, two different ways. One with a mayonnaise base and one with a yoghurt base. They were both good. It just depends on what you're looking for.
I didn't measure any of my ingredients out, because I was just making it up as I went. So if the levels aren't quite right, just taste it and add whatever else you think it might need.

Recipe:
Serves 4 as a side.

4 medium potatoes, peeled, cubed.
3 eggs
heaped tsp horseradish
1/2 cup Greek yoghurt, or mayonnaise
juice of half a lemon
2 tbsp of white vinegar
salt and pepper
chives

Boil the potatoes. In a separate saucepan, boil the eggs. I like to do them for the same amount of time.
Mix all the dressing ingredients in a jar. If the dressing isn't runny enough, add a little bit of olive oil. If the dressing is too tart, add half a tsp of white sugar.
If you're not eating the salad right away, leave the dressing off until you're ready to eat it, otherwise it soaks into the potatoes.

Cupcakes on impulse.

I had a super morning today. I had breakfast with my brother and sister and went shopping. My sister was meant to be going on a picnic, and had to make something to take, so we went back to my house to make some cupcakes. Actually, I didn't make them, Caitlin did. All I did was get the ingredients out of the cupboard and take photos. How good of me!
I didn't even get to taste a cupcake. Caitlin ran off to her picnic as soon as they were iced. But that's ok, I don't mind. I'm cool like that.

This is our basic cupcake recipe. It's from Nigella Lawson's "How to be a Domestic Goddess." We use this one because it's a simple one-bowl recipe (They're always the best, aren't they?). And when you've only got 20 minutes before you have to be at a picnic, they're the perfect thing to make. This recipe has been made so many times that the page in the book has become worn; greasy and floury with age. I often add another flavour to the cakes, lemon for instance, just mix the zest in before you put them into the paper cases and use lemon juice instead of milk.

Recipe:
From Nigella Lawson's "How to be a Domestic Goddess"

Oven 200C
Makes 12

125g butter
125g sugar
2 eggs
125g self-raising flour
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2-3 tbsp milk

Put all the ingredients, except milk, in a bowl, and mix with electric mixers until smooth.
Slowly add the milk, not all at once, until you get a "soft, dropping consistency"
Bake for 15-20 mins.
Cool before icing.

Sugar & spice biscuits.

Obviously if I'm icing biscuits for fun, I've got too much time on my hands. But anyway, they were tasty and fun to do, and that's the main thing, right? I'd like to tell you that my childhood was filled with making biscuits like this, but alas, I was no such child. I'll definitely be the kind of mother that makes these biscuits for her children.
Next time I make these, I'll up the spices, because I think they need to be more spicy.

Recipe:
Adapted from an old 'Gourmet Traveller' magazine.

Oven 170C
Makes about 30

for the biscuits:
180g butter
100g dark brown sugar
3/4 cup golden syrup
1 egg
3 1/2 cups plain flour
1 tsp bicarb soda
3 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp mixed spice

In a saucepan, melt the butter, golden syrup and sugar. Stir until butter is melted and sugar is dissolved.
Let mix cool, then stir in the egg. (If you don't let the mix cool, the egg will get cooked in the hot liquid. If this happens, whisk like crazy, then try to take out as much cooked egg as you can. Or just wait until the liquid is cool a bit to save you this hassle).
In a bowl, mix the dry ingredients.
Pour the liquid into the dry ingredients. Stir to combine.
When combined, turn out onto a floured surface and knead for a bit.
Cover in cling wrap and put in the fridge for 30 mins.
Roll tablespoon sized balls of the mix with your hands and place on lined baking trays (I made half circles and half 'fingers').
Bake for 10-12 mins, they'll be golden on the bottom. Let cool before icing.

for the icing:
1 1/2 cups icing sugar
2 tsp plain flour
1 egg white
1 tsp lemon juice
food dye.

Mix icing sugar and flour.
In a separate bowl, whisk egg white until frothy.
Gradually mix in icing mix.
Add lemon to make a thick paste.
If you want to do two colours, like I did, put 3/4 of the icing into a separate bowl. Colour this lot and use the other lot for piping.

Chocolate crackle cookies.

When my mum moved recently, she gave me some of her cooking books. After flipping through one of them, I found a recipe for some biscuits that I'd been trying to find a recipe for for ages. Success!
The recipe specified nuts, but I didn't have any, so told myself that they'd be fine without them. They were, but I think they would have been better with them. Anyway, use what you have!
I halved the recipe because I hate having lots of biscuits in the house (I'm too tempted to eat them, and seriously, I'm worried about my waistline), but I'll give you the full recipe and you can decide for yourself.

Recipe:
From "Sweet Food"

Oven 180C
Makes about 60

125g butter, cubed
2 cups dark brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 eggs
60g dark chocolate, melted
1/3 cup milk
2 3/4 cup plain flour
2 tbsp cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp cinnamon
2/3 cup chopped nuts (i.e pecans), optional
icing sugar to coat

Cream butter, sugar and vanilla.
Add the eggs, mix.
Stir in the chocolate and milk.
Add dry ingredients, except nuts, and mix.
Add the nuts (if using).
Refrigerate for at least 3 hours.
Roll tablespoons of the mixture into balls. Coat each ball in icing sugar. Don't flatten the balls! They do this by themselves in the oven, they're very clever.
Place apart on the tray and bake for 20-25 mins. They'll be brown on the bottom.