Tuesday 21 June 2011

Sunshine baking on a grey day

The endless sunshine we had a month ago has become a little more elusive over the past ten days.  But on a grey morning there is sunshine in the kitchen, as I bake and bake in order to try and tame the abundance of eggs.

Sunshine baking on a grey day

This morning I've made lemon buns, which will be topped later with lemon icing, and cheese gougères (little savoury choux pastry puffs, flavoured with strong cheese and mustard).  I managed to use up four eggs altogether, but the hens have laid three this morning, so my glut has only decreased by one.

The gougères come out of the oven beautifully puffed up and smelling incredible, but they deflate very quickly, like soufflés.  If you want to photograph them in their full glory, you have to be quick!

Puffed up cheese gougeres
Cheese gougères, straight from the oven. Recipe from Harry Eastwood's Skinny French Kitchen

The buns and the gougères are both destined for packed lunches and after-school snacks for C and O this week.  Little, easy things to eat, and sometimes share with friends.  The last time O had an iced bun in her lunchbox she managed to trade the empty bun case (for scraping off with a fingernail) for one whole finger of a twix, which I think was a very unequal trade indeed.

Lemon buns, ready to bake

6 comments:

  1. Your daughter clearly has entrepreneurial tendencies!

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  2. Oh those look amazing! We could definitely use some more sunshine here in Teddington. And what a trade!

    K x

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  3. Lol - your daughter will go far!! Lovely cheery post xx (p.s. has your son got started with Warhammer yet???)

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  4. How beautifully summery! If you like chocolate mousse, Jamie Oliver has a recipe that uses eight eggs. I almost leapt up with excitement when I saw that on TV.

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  5. Love the trade! I need to bake too, to get the egg basket down! I've got lemons too... hmmm...

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  6. Kids trade the oddest things. Eldest was very excited the other day about receiving a broken pencil sharpener.

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