Mince Pies for Those That Hate Mince Pies

First things first, as we draw close to the New Year, I hope everyone had a great time over the festive period. I am feeling considerably fatter, lazier, and really looking forward to detoxing in the New Year. But before the healthy eating and exercise commences, it may be a good idea to use up the leftovers accumulated from the obligatory ‘big shop’ where I bought more food than could possibly get eaten in the few days that Christmas actually lasts for.


If you are looking for an interesting way to use up any leftover mincemeat that you may have hiding at the depths of your cupboard/fridge/gift hamper, then these homemade pies are a great alternative to the regular pastry-topped offering.  I prefer to call them mince tarts, seeing as they are very similar to the traditional British treat - Bakewell Tarts. The thin shortcrust pastry case is filled humbly with mincemeat and topped with frangipane and flaked almonds.  They are light, extremely morish, and a crowd-pleaser. Even those that are adamant not to like mince pies love them!

Makes 24

For the pastry

225g plain flour (plus a little extra for dusting)
100g lightly salted butter, diced
2-3 Tbsp of water (or brandy if you prefer)

For the frangipane

100g sugar
100g ground almonds
2 eggs
2 Tbsp flaked almonds for sprinkling
1 Tbsp corn flour
½ tsp almond extract (optional, if you prefer a more marzipan-like flavour)

Start with the pastry - sift the flour into a large bowl, add the butter, and rub in with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the water gradually until you have enough to form a firm dough. Knead the dough gently and briefly on a floured surface. Wrap the dough in cling film and chill in the fridge while you prepare the filling.
For the frangipane – use an electric whisk to beat the butter and eggs until smooth and creamy, add the eggs and continue to mix to a fluffy mixture (it may look as though it has curdled but this will change once you add the rest of the ingredients). Fold in the corn flour and the ground almonds to create a ‘batter’.
Heat the oven to gas 4/180C and roll out the pastry. In my opinion, these are best with a very thin base (around 2mm) as this highlights the frangipane. 

Once rolled, use an 8”round cutter to make 24 bases. Press these in to two 12-hole Yorkshire pudding trays and fill. Spoon 1tsp of mincemeat in each pastry case and top with 1 Tbsp of the frangipane mixture. Top each one with a sprinkling of flaked almonds and bake for 15 minutes.

These are best served warm but are also great once they have cooled. But be warned – you will not be able to eat just one of these so make plenty!

Tea With Biscuits, Biscuits With Tea

I have always been a lover of tea and biscuits; not only is it ‘oh-so-British’ but a pairing that is truly tried and tested (I mean all those builders wouldn’t lie would they?). I decided to make shortbread rounds and flavour each batch with a different variety of loose leaf tea. After lots of careful consideration, I plumped for four different batches: Chai, Chamomile, Green and Earl Grey. When choosing tea as ingredients for baking, there are two simple rules: It must be loose, and it must be good quality.

Makes 20-24 biscuits
•    125g/4oz butter
•    55g/2oz caster sugar, plus extra to finish
•    180g/6oz plain flour, plus extra for rolling
•    2 tsp dried loose-leaf tea of your choice

I followed this shortbread recipe and simply added two teaspoons of steeped tea leaves to each batch before rolling it out. The leaves were steeped in just two teaspoons of freshly boiled water and allowed it to cool slightly beforehand.

My favourite batch was the Chai version. As I am a complete cinnamon fanatic (especially at this time of year) I made a second batch but added ½ tsp of ground cinnamon to the steeped tea. This just gave it an extra spicy kick!

These make great gifts and are the perfect size to enjoy with a cup of the hot stuff.

What to Expect When You Apply for MasterChef

Around four years ago I was lucky enough to be selected to take part in Series eight of MasterChef UK. To this day, hands down, it remains the most challenging thing I have ever done. If you are thinking of applying yourself then read on, but please don’t let this post put you off. Boy was it grueling, but I enjoyed every minute of it! And although I no longer work in the food industry, the experience truly confirmed my love of cooking.

The process begins with a simple online application form – what a doddle! If you are shortlisted, a friendly member of the team will call you with some more questions. At the time, this simply sounded like a friendly chit-chat about my original application. I didn’t discover until after that this was actually the second stage of application, and clearly, I was being ‘judged’ on said chit-chatting as to whether I had included enough of the notorious clichés required of a MC candidate. It turns out that I did - slightly mortifying!

I was then invited along for a filmed interview and I was asked to prepare a dish at home and bring it along with me. So off I trotted to the studios in Primrose Hill with my Pork Cheek Rillete tucked safely in my bag. I answered their questions - mainly about my preferred style of food and my type of personality, and not about my ability to, well...cook - and then went home and waited eagerly by the phone to hear if I had made it through to the next stage. At this point I had no idea how many applicants I was up against (Only a few tens of thousands), or how many stages there would be before filming would begin. But alas, I got the call.

The final stage before filming began was for the ‘chosen 100’ (which actually turned out to be only 80) to cook a dish for John and Gregg to taste ‘blind’. I maintain that this was the best dish that I cooked on the show. I went for a dessert – yes, we all know how much Greg Wallace loves a pudding – and I was given only one hour and fifteen minutes to get it on the plate. I went for a twist on ‘Boule de Berlin’ – ginger sugared doughnuts, with rhubarb jam and custard filling. Apparently it was one of their favourite dishes! (yes, that old chestnut). But I did note when my plate returned to me, it was so clean that it could’ve been put straight back in to the cupboard. Again, more waiting for the phone to ring...and it did! I was in the final 24 and would begin filming a few weeks later *cue yhe sleepless nights.


And here is where it gets a little controversial...Filming days are purposefully long, tense and tedious. It felt as if the producers intentionally created an atmosphere where the contestants felt immense pressure to compete with each other – yes, I know it is a competition – but I felt that I had spent the day in a pressurised container. We were prompted to begin discussions about x, y, z and then told to stop talking and not look at each other so that those infamous ‘staring-off-in-to-the-distance’ shots could be captured. And if a spontaneous conversation did happen, we were then asked to repeat it over and over again, word for word; so that they could capture it on camera – it’s no wonder contestants never look natural.

The next thing to address is a question that I get asked most often...”How do John and Gregg manage to taste all the food whilst it is still hot?” The simple answer is - they don’t. Lunch is normally served immediately after each cooking challenge so that all of the birds-eye stills can be taken of the food. The judges then taste all of the food STONE COLD (an important detail that is not revealed too often) meaning contestants need to be quite strategic in their menu choice; Whilst meat dishes are simply given more resting time, a piece of fish can very easily over-cook and dry out in the two hours it takes for filming to commence. Still, I suppose it keeps a level playing field if ALL dishes are tasted at the same temperature. And if anyone dares argue that their dish really would be best eaten warm, the judge’s defence is simply “we have been doing it this way for years” and of course this is true.

I had a bit of a disaster in my final round on the show and ended up going home after a classic ‘soggy bottom’ situation (yet another cliché I managed to conform to). I was devastated to be out of the competition but I also felt an immense sense of pride in having even taken part in a show such as MasterChef - It was practically an institution in my house growing up. 

If you are thinking about applying, then my suggestion would be to just go for it! If you’re lucky enough to make it through, there will be intense highs and devastating lows, but you will have culinary opportunities that wouldn’t be possible otherwise.

There is one downside...You will probably no longer be able to watch the programme once you have appeared on it. To me, it now seems like a spoof or parody of a superb show that I once loved.

My Picks for Bold Red Lips

I adore rocking a red lip all year round but I tend to find that in the warmer months I opt for a sheerer, more ‘wearable’ formula that leans to the pink or coral side of the colour palette.

There is just something about the Autumn/Winter season that make us feel a little more daring and I love seeing all of the gorgeous berry toned, matte lips that have been popping up...well everywhere, recently. 
I have some favourites that I crack out year after year, and I have just purchased a newer ‘bold matte’ from Nars that I cannot wait to rock ASAP.

Clockwise from Left...

Mac Lip Pencils in ‘Redd’ and ‘Burgundy’ – Both favourites because of how extremely versatile they are. Matte in texture, and as they are in pencil form, it makes achieving a sharp, defined edge a whole lot easier than using a lipstick bullet.
Burgundy is true to its name. It can be worn under other colours to darken them, or it can be worn alone for a real vampy look.
Redd is a true neutral red, neither too blue based nor orange, which makes it great for layering. Again, it can be used on its own, drawn over the whole lip, or under other colours - such as a bright pink or an orangey coral - to add more of a red tone. 
Both pencils used together make a berry colour that is going to stick around for most of the night – even through drinking and eating.

Rimmel Kate Moss Lasting Finish Lipstick #107 – An oldie but a goody! The formulation of this is Matte, yet rich and creamy. Like its name, it really does last and for a matte texture is not too drying at all. It’s a true berry which sits smack bang in the middle of deep purple and red. I like to apply this with a lip brush or lightly dabbed over a combination of the lip liners featured below.

 Revlon Super Lustrous Creme Lipstick #720 Fire and Ice – I love this colour! It is a perfect bright red that in some lights can appear orangey, and in others pinkish. I think it would suit most skin tones and really adds radiance to the face that seems to draw in the compliments whenever I wear it. Its formula is nourishing and plumping, yet fairly long lasting. There is a reason why this shade has stood the test of time and is still selling after being in Revlon’s collection way back in 1952. Yes Revlon, ‘the legend lives on’.
YSL Glossy stain #10 Red – Code name for ‘Yves Saint Laurent Rouge Pur Couture Vernis à Lèvres’ but what a mouthful! This is a truly unique texture, a long-lasting stain formula with a glossy shine. I find that I need to apply two or three coats, allowing them to dry in between and then this is set for the majority of the night. It feels light and not too sticky and stays glossy for a good 4-6 hours. You can top up throughout the night but not too many times as with more layers it can begin to feel ‘gloopy’.

Topshop Gloss Ink in Relentless – This is a more affordable offering in the same ‘glossy stain’ formula. The colour is a bright red leaning slightly on the orange side. You may be able to tell from the swatches that the formula of this is more rich and opaque than its higher end contender and I actually prefer the more affordable option. It holds its ‘glossiness’ for as long as the YSL stain and requires fewer layers so feels lighter on the lips. I have a terrible feeling that these may now have been discontinued, as on my last visit to Topshop I discovered that there were none of these on the shelves. I am praying that lots of others have realised how wonderful this product is and bought every last one*crosses fingers. I will be using mine sparingly just in case!

Nars Velvet Matt Lip Pencil in Cruella – This is my newest purchase, and yes I can now see that it is just another matte berry shade that I probably already own in several forms. But I have to admit, this was an impulse purchase, made after hearing this lovely lady gush about them for weeks. Anyway, I am not disappointed! The formula is great, not drying at all but looks ultra-matte and stays in place. I got the shade Cruella which is more of a red-toned burgundy and I found it extremely easy to apply due to it being in a handy pencil form. I will however need to purchase a larger sharpener, as (annoyingly) it is just too large for my usual one.

Autumn Eats - Parsnip, Apple and Stilton Soup

This is one of my favourite recipes that always seem to make an appearance at about this time every year. I think it’s because parsnips are bang in season and the fact that a steaming bowl of soup is just perfect for Autumn.
It is a rich, creamy soup with a perfect balance of earthiness, sweetness and acidity. It isn’t for everyone, as the mix of flavours is quite complex, but I love how different it is.

Curly Hair 101

As you probably guessed from the blog name, I am a curly gal. And a long-suffering curly gal at that! You could say that I have struggled to ‘tame the mane’ for many years but now at the good ol’ age of twenty eight I think I’ve finally cracked it.

 I thought it would be fitting for my first post to be a hair related one, so here are my top tips and picks for curly, unruly hair...