Slow Cooker Baked Potatoes

Apologies, I know it’s been a while since I posted here but life is just plain crazy at the moment!  However, I came across a wonderful idea on a blog this morning and just had to share it.

The idea is for cooking baked potatoes in a slow cooker.  Such a simple idea, yet in all my years of cooking I’ve never tried it.  The original blog post was on the wonderful SkipToMyLou.org so please do take a look: Crock Pot Baked Potatoes

Disclaimer – I only read about this today so I’ve not tested it yet myself, but I will do so and post back with my results!  If you’re going to try this, I strongly suggest doing it while you’re at home the first time so you can keep an eye on them, and have a backup plan should they not turn out well!

The method is quite simply to wash and dry the potatoes, wrap them tightky in foil, place them in the crock with the lid on and cook on high for 8 hours.

Exact cooking times will of course vary depending on the temperature of your slow cooker, and the size of your potatoes.  Reading through the comments on that blog it seems that they must be done on a high setting and well wrapped, though some people reported good results from coating in oil rather than wrapping in foil.

Anyway, I thought it was interesting and worth sharing.  If you try this, please leave a comment to let people know how well it worked.  I’ll certainly be trying it myself, and if the results are good I’ll have to add a short note next time I update my Slow Cooker Magic Recipes book in Kindle!

Sensational Smoothies

I don’t usually review other books here, but I wanted some different smoothie ideas and found this last night.  It’s no messing around, just a ton of simple to follow smoothie recipes.

Don’t expect any fancy techniques, it’s simply throw all the ingredients into a blender and pulse, but there’s a nice variety of different flavours such as Carrot, Papaya and Passion Fruit Smoothie, Peanut Butter Chocolate Smoothie, Wheatgerm and Banana Breakfast Smoothie and even some “boozy smoothies” such as the wonderful sounding Pina Collada Smoothie which I’m sure would go well with my pina collada cupcakes at a summer barbeque!

Anyway, I liked the book and thought it might appeal to some readers here so thought I’d share!

Link on Amazon : 101 Sensational Smoothies – Issy Jones 

Converting weights, measurements and temperatures

Recently I’ve been putting all oven temperatures, weights and measurements in both metric and imperial in my books, and I’m in the process of going back and editing some of my older books so they also have both units.

This came to my attention recently when a reader left a review on Amazon for one of my earliest books saying that the book was good, but they would have to convert all the measurements to use any of the recipes.

So, while it won’t be long before all of my books have both Imperial and metric units, I thought it might be useful to write a quick post showing how easy it is to switch between either, for use with any of my older recipes or when you find a great recipe online or in an old book. When you come across a recipe which uses a system of weights and measurements you’re not used to, you basically have 2 options:

1. Use As-Is

Unless you’re using a really ancient set of scales, it almost certainly supports both Imperial and Metric. Analogue scales have both sets of numbers on the dial, while digital scales normally require a simple button push. It really doesn’t matter if you “know” or “understand” the “other” system, just read the number off the scales as you measure, and match the number on the scales to the number in the book!

2. Convert

This is actually pretty easy. For weight, think of 1 oz as 30 grams. It’s actually 28.35 grams, but go with 30 and you won’t be far off.

Same for fl oz which is roughly 30 ml (actually 29.57 so even closer than for dry weights!)

So, if a recipe calls for 150g of flour, that’s 5 oz (30 * 5 = 150)

Going the other way, if a cake needs 4 oz of butter, that works out to 120 grams… pretty easy huh!

Well, it gets even easier. Good old Google has a conversion tool built right in which converts pretty much any weight or measurement for you. For example, type “convert 150 g to oz” into Google and you’ll get “150 grams = 5.29109429 ounces” as the result! Obviously you don’t need anywhere like that level of accuracy – so let’s just call that 5 ounces. Here’s a screenshot to show what the results look like in Google:

It works for pretty much any type of weight or measurement, including temperatures so give it a try.

Conversion tables

If you would prefer a conversion chart, here are approximate conversions for metric and Imperial weights, volumes, oven temperatures and “cup” measurements. You might want to bookmark this page to come back to, or print these off!

Weights
Imperial	Metric
½ oz ¾ oz 1 oz 1½ oz 2 oz 2½ oz 3 oz 4 oz 4½ oz 5 oz 6 oz 7 oz 8 oz 9 oz 10 oz 12 oz 1 lb 1 lb 8 oz 2 lb 3 lb	15 g 20 g 30 g 40 g 55 g 70 g 85 g 110 g 125 g 150 g 175 g 200 g 225 g 250 g 275 g 350 g 450 g 700 g 900 g 1.35 kg

Volume
Imperial	Metric
2 fl oz 3 fl oz 5 fl oz (¼ pint) 10 fl oz (½ pint) 1 pint 1 ¼ pint 1 ¾ pint 2 pint 2½ pint 4 pint	55 ml 75 ml 150 ml 275 ml 570 ml 725 ml 1 litre 1.2 litre 1.5 litre 2.25 litres

Oven Temperatures
Gas Mark	°F	°C
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9	275°F 300°F 325°F 350°F 375°F 400°F 425°F 450°F 475°F	140°C 150°C 170°C 180°C 190°C 200°C 220°C 230°C 240°C

American Cup Conversions
1 Cup	Imperial	Metric
1 cup flour 1 cup caster sugar 1 cup soft brown sugar 1 cup fat (butter/margarine) 1 cup sultanas/raisins 1 cup currants 1 cup ground almonds 1 cup golden syrup 1 cup uncooked rice 1 cup grated cheese 1 stick butter	5oz 8oz 6oz 8oz 7oz 5oz 4oz 12oz 7oz 4oz 4oz	150g 225g 175g 225g 200g 150g 110g 350g 200g 110g 110g

Free Cupcake Recipes

Sorry I’ve not posted in a while, life has been quite crazy! Apart from all the general day to day hustle and bustle I’ve been entering baking competitions (and winning first prize in a pie competition!), working on a couple of new books, and going back and updating some of my older books.

One of those books I’ve updated is Cupcake Recipes – How to bake cup cakes and fairy cakes Like A Pro. A couple of people left reviews/comments on that one that while they liked the recipes, they wish there were more of them and more decorating tips! So, I’ve gone back and added some more delicious recipes, and also extended the icing and decorating section at the back.

To celebrate the launch of the new second edition, readers of this blog can download the book for free this Friday! Just visit this page on Amazon any time from 8am to midnight GMT (which is about 1am to tea time if you’re on the other side of the Atlantic!) and you can grab the book absolutely free.

If you already have the book, you’ll also be able to download the updated version at any time at no extra cost.

If you do download it (or already have it) and like it, please take a moment to leave a review on Amazon to let other people know. The couple of slightly negative reviews on there are now out of date (referring to the old edition) and I don’t want that to put people off!

And I promise to try and find more time for sharing some new recipes on the blog here soon

Perfect Pancakes

It’s pancake day tomorrow, one of my favorite celebrations of the year! Shrove Tuesday marks the start of lent, and of course it’s traditional to eat pancakes so here’s a simple batter recipe that will have you turning out perfect pancakes…

Ingredients

120g (4oz) plain flour
2 eggs (free range)
200ml (7 fl oz) milk
100ml (3 fl oz) water
1 tbsp vegetable oil
Pinch of salt

Method

Place the flour and salt into a mixing bowl, make a well in the center, and crack in the eggs. Beat with a wooden spoon to incorporate the flour, and slowly pour in the milk and water, beating all the time until you have a smooth batter.

Transfer into a jug and leave this to stand for 30 – 60 minutes at room temperature.

When you’re ready to cook your pancakes, use a non-stick frying pan that doesn’t have deep edges. Get it nice and hot, add a little knob of butter and then pour in a little batter, tilting the pan to coat the bottom. Cook for around 30 seconds, until the pancake is loose when you shake the pan. Either flip it, or turn with a spatula and cook the other side for 15 – 20 seconds and you’re done!

Stack them on a place covered in greaseproof paper, and cover with a clean cloth to keep warm while you cook the others, and serve with your favorite toppings of fillings.

If you want to try some more interesting pancakes, or some more exotic styles like Swedish Pancakes, Scottish pancakes or fluffy Canadian pancakes, and get a tone of lovely filling and topping ideas, plus hints on flipping, check out my concise guide to pancakes – Perfect Pancake Recipes – How to Make Pancakes Like A Pro!

Get a FREE COPY of Bake Like A Pro Volume 2

The second volume in my “Bake Like A Pro” compilation series is due to launch tomorrow, and I’m giving you the chance you get your hands on a copy absolutely free!

This second volume contains collections of recipes for scones, buns, chocolate cakes, carrot cake and pancakes, and it includes my best selling “Super Scones Recipes” which shot to the top of the best seller lists earlier in the year.

So what do you need to do to grab a free copy? Simple – I want to know what recipes my readers would like me to include in my next book. Just leave a comment below this post, either for a theme for a book (i.e. “Chocolate Desserts” or “Simple Appetizers”) or for a specific recipe. Everyone that gives a suggestion will receive a free complimentary copy of Bake Like A Pro Volume 2, and the best suggestions may find their way into future books!

2 ways to win

Can’t think of any suggestions? No problem, just share this page by Twitter or Facebook and you’ll also get a copy of the book! (just be sure to let me know where you shared it and i’ll contact you to send the books out)

This offer ends at midnight on Sunday, so get your thinking caps on, or get sharing to grab these freebies!

Disclaimer – Free books will be sent out as Amazon Kindle “gifts” so you’ll need to let me know your email address that you use with Amazon. I will not share that email address with anyone, and it will ONLY be used for the purposes of sending the freebies. If you also want to receive my free email newsletter, you will have to sign up for that separately HERE.

Carrot and Honey Cake

I’ve always been a big fan of carrot cake, in fact I’m such a fan that the middle layer of our wedding cake was carrot and walnut!

But I guess I’m not alone. Apparently in 2001 the Radio Times conducted a survey and found that carrot cake was the UK’s favorite type of cake, and it’s easy to see why. Not only is is delicious and exceedingly “moorish” but it’s also very easy to make (and more to the point, very hard to get wrong!)

Carrot cakes tend to use oil, rather than butter and can usually be simply mixed without having to “gently fold” in the flour and worry about keeping the air in the mixture.

Anyway, this recipe is from my latest book, Carrot Cake Recipes – How to Bake Carrot Cake Like A Pro! and I hope you love it!

Honey Carrot Cake

Ingredients

For the cake:
3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
1½ cups honey (place the jar in a shallow bowl of hot water for 5 minutes to loosen)
¾ cup buttermilk
3 eggs
½ cup oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups carrot, grated
1 (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained
1 cup walnuts, chopped

For the frosting:
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese (at room termperature)
¼ cup honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4 and grease a 9×13 inch baking pan. I like to also wrap a double layer of brown paper around the outside of the pan and tie off with string, which prevents the edges from getting too brown!

In a large mixing bowl, combine together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger.
In a separate bowl, beat together the honey, buttermilk, eggs, oil and 2 teaspoons of vanilla. Mix well until all the ingredients are combined. Add the flour buttermilk mixture to the flour and mix well. Then add in the carrot, pineapple, and walnuts. Give this a good final stir, making sure all the ingedients are evenly mixed and there are no pockets of flour left. Transfer the mix into the prepared pan.

Bake for 50 minutes. The cake is done when a skewer pushed through the middle comes out clean. Cool for 20 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a cooling rack and allow to cool completely before frosting.

To make the frosting

In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese, honey and 1 teaspoon of vanilla. Mix until smooth, then use a palletet knife to spread over the cake.