Monthly Meeting - 'There's Always a Reason to Bake'
Tuesday 10 November – “There is always time to bake”
Without wishing our lives away – there are a LOT of people looking forward to Christmas this year! Ruskie’s November session was joined by over 50 Ruskie members and extended family, members from other institutes, friends (former or perhaps future members!) all virtually packed in to watch our speaker Hannah Carpenter-Jacobs demonstrate how to make and decorate her fabulous Gingerbread Men Brownies! The recipe sheet is available to download and Hannah shared her top tips for successful brownies
· Max out the chocolate chips (100g out of the 200g in the recipe!)
· Use strong spices for better taste
· Sifting flour is not necessary for brownies
· Line your tray, but no need to grease it
· Use your favourite chocolate, but not cooking chocolate
· For ‘jiggly’ brownies, check after 20 minutes cooking time
· Doves Farm gluten free flour works well
· Melted chocolate topping should be a thin layer – it is not needed for flavour, just to keep the decoration in place – and work fast before it sets!
· Decorations should reflect the filling – Chocolate orange, caramel, peanut cups or even Ferrero Rocher!
· Make the brownies the day before needed as they cut better when fully cold!
· The recipe makes 15 yummy brownies – the original recipe stated these were 105 calories each …. But cut the tray into 36 not 15 … and didn’t have a decorative topping! (It’s for Christmas … who is counting calories?!)
Hannah also shared some photos and videos of finished cakecicles and beautifully decorated cakes – which impressed us all. A suggestion was made that we have a Federation baking competition and share photographs for judging (the results may not be at Hannah’s professional standard but are sure to taste good!)
https://www.instagram.com/bakingwithhannah/
https://m.facebook.com/bakingwithhannah/?ref=bookmarks
Before we got carried away with Christmas and Hannah’s demonstration. Anne Artis had welcomed the group from far and wide and shared a brief summary of rural and federation business – the SC&WP Federation meeting on 28 November via Zoom which members are welcome to join; the Warnock Trophy Competition – submit a limerick beginning “There was a young woman … “ by post or email before 26 February and the good news that our subscription has reduced – members who have already paid will receive a refund, those still to pay should submit the lower amount.
The disappointing news is that our planned Ruskie Christmas ‘knees up’ has been cancelled because of the current regulations (and common sense!) – there will be no Secret Santa this year; if members wish to make a personal donation to the Salvation Army they should organise that individually. We will be hosting an online Christmas event, and our January musical meeting (open to all) will also be online … Anne is not sorry to avoid making haggis for 40 this year!
In the words of one of our Honorary Members, Anna Burnett – good wishes to all, take care, stay well and be safe!
