Hello everyone!

Well over on the advent calendar I showed them my recipe for Mince Pies and then I remembered that I was supposed to put the recipe up on here too.

Still enough time to make some for Christmas!

Have a Merry Christmas!

from Mrs MacCready x

Mrs MacCready’s Mince Pie Recipe!

150g cold unsalted butter

230g plain flour

67g golden caster sugar

250g mincemeat

One greased 12-hole baking tray

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Method

1. Add the flour to a large mixing bowl, then cut the butter into small cubes and put them in with the flour. Rub in the butter and flour with your fingertips and then add the sugar. Mix together until you can shape the pastry into a ball.

2. Preheat the oven to 200°C/Gas 6. Roll the pastry on a floured surface until it is about 0.5cm thick and use a cutter to cut circles. Press the circles into the baking tray and then fill with the mincemeat.

3. For the lids you need a slightly smaller cutter they fit perfectly over the top.

4. Brush the tops of the pies either with a beaten egg or milk and bake in the oven for about 20 minutes until the tops go golden.

5. Remove the tray from the oven and leave the pies to cool.

Then share them with some friends…Or eat them all yourself!

Hello all!

Well yesterday was a fab day – I accompanied my creator, the lovely Julie Fulton, to the Festive Gift Fair in Birmingham.  Maverick has a stand there (Stand K22 if any of you want to pop along) and it looks lovely and christmassy.

Julie was signing copies of Mrs MacCready Was Ever So Greedy, whilst I was off shopping!

They had stands with everything – the food stalls looks rather lovely and I found myself thinking of some new recipes to tell you about.

Maybe next week I will tell you all about my mince pies?  Or perhaps I should save that for December?

Anyway I do believe the festive gift fair is well worth a visit to anyone in this area.  Pop by and take a look at my book – a ‘romp of a read’.

Have a good weekend!

Mrs MacCready xxx

Hello everyone!  Mrs MacCready here!

As you know Christmas is one of my favourite times of year (on account of the food!) so I start doing everything early, which includes my shopping.

I love going to London and seeing the Christmas lights and I love going to the Spirit Christmas Retail Fair…It is perfect place to go to get into the Christmas Spirit Early on in the season.

All the Maverick books are going to be there…Including Mrs MacCready Was Ever So Greedy – let’s hope it sells really well.  Of course I will be found mainly upstairs where they have the food stands!  Yum!

So if you want to pop over and see the Maverick stand they are at F99 – same place as last year.

Hope I may see some of you there!

Hello everyone!  I thought, as it is such a foul day, that I would show you how to make Macaroons…a lovely colourful cake-like treat.  Yummy!

You will need:
- 125g ground almonds
- 200g icing sugar
- 3 free-range egg whites
- 2 tbsp caster sugar
- ½ tsp cream of tartar
- pinch of powdered food colouring

For the chocolate filling:
- 200g dark chocolate, chopped
- 200ml double cream
- 15g unsalted butter

1.Put almonds and icing sugar in a food processor.

2.Slowly whisk the egg whites in a large bowl until stiff peaks. Slowly whisk in the cream of tartar and caster sugar.

3.Put in the food colouring (any colour you want!) and almond/icing sugar mix.

4.With a pining bag, pipe 5cm circles onto the baking tray. Set aside for 60 minutes

5.Preheat the oven to 160C/315F/Gas 2½. Bake the macaroons in the oven for 10-15 minutes. Set aside to cool for 5 minutes. Carefully peel away the greaseproof paper.

6.For the chocolate filling, heat the double cream and chocolate in a saucepan over a low heat. Add the butter and stir until smooth, then take off and leave to cool completely.

7.Use the filling to sandwich the macaroons together then out in the fridge for 30 minutes.

And voila – Mrs MacCready’s Macaroons!

Gingerbread men are definetly a favourite of mine…I love just their cute little noses and sweet little toes.  S0 I thought I would tell you how to make them (which I learnt from this website):

(Makes 20 little yummy men)

350g plain flour
1-2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
100g butter or margarine
175g soft light brown sugar
1 egg
4 tablespoons golden syrup

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• Put the flour, ginger and soda into a bowl and rub in the butter.
• Add sugar and stir in the syrup and egg to make a firm dough.
• Roll out to about 5mm thick and cut out your gingerbread men. If you don’t have a gingerbread man cutter then use whatever you have – stars and hearts are just as tasty.
• Bake at 190 C /Gas 5 on greased baking trays (spaced out, as they will spread) for 10 to 15 mins until golden brown. Leave to firm up for a couple of minutes before placing on a wire rack to cook.
• Once cooled, decorate with icing and smarties!  Then eat!

Not only do I love Pancake Day and Christmas I also LOVE Easter.  All that chocolate…Yum!  But I’ll tell you what – my absolute favourite Easter snack is chocolate nests with mini eggs!  Perfect to make on a bank holiday…So I thought I would share my recipe with you.

• Get some shredded wheat and crumble it into a bowl (preferably a nice big one, so that you can make lots of them!)
• Melt some chocolate (you may want to get your mummy or daddy to help you) in a microwave and pour it in with your shredded wheat.  Then lick out the chocolate left in the melting bowl (no point wasting it!).
• Mix it all together and spoon into bun cases.
• Put some chocolate mini eggs on the top (you may want to buy an extra packet to eat yourself).
• Put in the fridge for at least two hours (don’t eat before even if it is tempting).
• Take them out and enjoy!

So there you have it Mrs MacCready’s Mavellous, Munchable, Mini-egg Nests!  Yum!

To find out more about all my favourite foods, you can pre-order Mrs MacCready Was Ever So Greedy by clicking here.

Well it seems there has been quite alot of high profile stuff on the Maverick website this week.  So I thought I would share with you my favourite event…

There is a huge big red circle around the 8th March in my calendar…Why? Well it’s pancake day…One of my favourite dates! It was originally all about eating all your food and then fasting but personally I just like the eating all your food bit!

So on pancake day this year I have stocked up my cupboards ready to eat it all!

Then to top it all off i’ll be making pancakes….Then covering it in golden syrup. Yum yum yum!

I just can’t wait!

Mrs MacCready x

To preorder Mrs MacCready was ever so greedy, click here

Well with New Year well behind me, so is my resolution.   I started today with a full English…yum yum yum!  I just love sausages, beans, mushrooms, tomatoes, hash browns, chips, fried bread, a slice of toast covered in butter,  bacon, onions and of course the all important fried eggs.

There is nothing better than a full English breakfast to start the day…Now lunch is a whole different matter.  My neighbours say “Mrs MacCready is ever so greedy” but I don’t think so, i’m just fond of food.

To be one of the first to buy the book click here!

Hello my name is Mrs MacCready and i’m ever so greedy! Did you have a good Christmas? I did. It started with breakfast. Not too much. I wanted to leave room for lunch. Some porridge, bananas, toast, marmalade, a muffin and a teeny-weeny bit of chocolate. Then I opened my present. I always give myself a big hamper full of my favourite things to eat.

Next it was time for Christmas lunch. Scrummy! You can eat as much as you like on Christmas Day and nobody tells you off! I had turkey and stuffing, bread sauce and gravy, roast potatoes, mashed potatoes, sprouts (I love them!), peas, carrots, cauliflower, parsnips, broccoli, Yorkshire puddings, horseradish sauce, mint jelly, bacon and a sausage. I still had a little room left for Christmas pudding. I thought it would be a shame not to try the Christmas cake and I always like to finish off with a mint chocolate or two. I did feel rather full, but it seemed rude not to eat some of the things in my hamper.

Now it’s New Year. Should I make my resolution? ‘I will try to eat less this year.’

Last year I managed to go a whole day just having breakfast, lunch, tea, dinner and supper. It was hard work!