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Festive Fayre - Oasis Academy Salford - Student Creations - (Dec 2012, 2013) (1 Viewer)

Well, today has been eventful, to say the least, we've had more kitchen dilemmas than you can shake a stick at and dealt with everything from floods to burnt biscuits. Lol! There was plenty of laughter and Christmas cheer which more than made up for it! :D It was also lovely catching up with a few old friends and meeting new ones too.

We made an array of homemade goodies including mince pies; these were sold to raise money for 'Help for Heroes'. Thank you to everyone who bought them, and those that came back to buy seconds!

Mince Pies (2).jpg


I met a lovely young man whilst we were selling mince pies. He told me he also loves making mince pies. I've told him if he practices with his new cutters he can be my assistant next year. I look forward to that.

I only managed to get a few last-minute pictures of some of the creations that were made, however, I had a thoroughly enjoyable day.

Gingerbread2.jpg



Ginger1.jpg
Gingerbread1.jpg


Millionaires Biscuits.jpg


Mince Pies 2.jpg


A BIG thank to Linda as well for the lovely presents and the lift, cheers hon you're a STAR!

I look forward to next year!
 
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It was the festive fayre again this weekend (blimey that has come around quick) so as always I volunteered to help Linda on day one of the two-day events. I really enjoy this course as it gets me in the festive spirit. :D Not only does it give Linda an extra set of hands, but it is also another chance to for me to help individuals with their baking requirements and offer advice and tips if required. I must say that this was our busiest weekend to date. I'm never too sure how much assistance will be required, so I took lots of ingredients with me just in case I got the chance to make lots of goodies. We were that busy that the only things I did manage to make this year were mini Mince Pies and Peppermint Creams. It wasn't as much as I'd hoped to make but very worthwhile as I got to help out lots of people this year, which is what it's all about! :D

Linda started the course off with her shortcrust pastry demonstration and then went through the different techniques & methods of baking that would be used throughout the course. They learned about different stages and what baking does and about methods such as all in one and rubbing in. I did the demonstration on the peppermint creams so the ladies would know how to make the sweets on day two of the course.

It was great to see a familiar face to Claire; she has been a few times to the course and this year returned with some of her friends. We had Nina, who is a life long friend of Claire's and was visiting from Germany, and we also had Laura, who is a primary school teacher. Claire was unfortunately full of a cold again, but that didn't stop her baking up a storm and creating lots of wonderful goodies for her friends and family. She made chutney, sausage rolls and Viennese whirls, whilst Nina and Laura made mince pies with a little help from me and then made jams and chutneys of their own. Laura was also asking my advice on cupcakes and buttercream and the best piping techniques.

Katie and Sarah also made lots of mouth-watering treats such as the millionaire shortbread, vanilla slices, brandy baskets. The oven and the puff pastry didn't get along too well (one lot had risen but the other hadn't) and we had extra chocolate leftover, so I encouraged them to do a little taste testing. :wink: Well as Linda would say it would be wrong to waste perfectly good ingredients!

When all the ladies were making the caramel for the shortbread, I showed them the best technique to test if the caramel is done properly. Susan, who is also a tutor at the college who participated on the course, thanked me for the helpful tip and for the help throughout the day along with Linda. She had thoroughly enjoyed the course and was keen to make even more treats at home. She also made the peanut cookies which looked delicious!

Sheila made millionaire biscuit; unfortunately, she bought evaporated milk instead of condensed milk, so Linda advised her to add more sugar to it to help it thicken up, she also made some beautiful Eccles cakes. Naomi made millionaire shortbread along with some Viennese whirls. She then wanted to make her buttercream, but for some reason, the icing sugar was all cracked and an odd colour, so after two failed attempts we finally got her a decent batch of buttercream using my icing sugar. She then dipped the Viennese whirls into melted chocolate for added decadence.

From start to finish we had a hectic enjoyable day with very limited disasters! I would like to say a big thank you to Linda for picking me up and for the home-made lunch, although I never actually got her verdict on the brownie I made her, must ask! I do know that my peppermint creams don't stand up to her version as she likes them very minty! She told me after taste testing mine! LOL!

It was a wonderful day that went very quickly, but it was a lovely event and great working with the ladies.

I look forward to doing it again!

Here are the goodies!

Angie:
Angie.jpg


Susan:
Susans Peanut Cookies.jpg


Susan Millionaire.jpg


Sheila:

Sheilas Eccles Cakes.jpg


Sheila Millionaire.jpg


Naomi:

Naomi.jpg


Millionaire.jpg


Nina:

Ninas Mince Pies.jpg


Claire:
Chutney.jpg


Claire.jpg


Laura:

Laura.jpg


Katie:
Katies Vanillas.jpg


Katie Millionaire.jpg


Sarah:

Sarahs Baskets.jpg


All in all, we had a very fabulous festive day!
 
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