Tag: Rose

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Bath Vinegar – Make your own Christmas presents

With Christmas drawing closer it’s time to start thinking about those all-important presents. If you’re anything like me, you’ll have noticed that unique gifts are getting harder to come by – so why not change things up this year and make some of your own? This is our tried and tested, easy recipe to make your very own bath vinegars. Unique, beautiful and great for balancing the ph of the skin, these are a failsafe present for the hard to please.

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– Start by collecting your flowers. We made ours with beautiful pink roses, but you could also use pelargonium flowers, carnations or even lemon slices, depending on the scent you’d like to end up with.

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– In a sterile bottle or jar, gently arrange your flowers. This is much easier to accomplish in a jar, though if you like the look of the sauce style bottle then be sure to take care when pushing the buds through the neck.

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– Pour in enough cyder vinegar to cover the flowers, before adding a few drops of essential oil. Again we have used rose essential oil to complement the flowers. If you’ve gone for pelargonium then geranium oil works best here, freesia oil with freesias and of course lemon oil with lemon slices.

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– Cap and shake gently and you’re pretty much done! Leave the vinegar to infuse for one month to really get the best scent for your bath. Then just decorate the bottle by wrapping with ribbon or raffia, add a hand made tag and your handmade gift is ready to go!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Rose Cupcakes!

To celebrate the launch of our latest fragrance, dreamy Summer Rose, we’ve whipped up a batch of gorgeously fluffy, super easy Rose Cupcakes. Adapted from this recipe on bakingmad.com, we’ve tweaked until it’s even simpler and just as rosily delicious!

Ingredients:

 

For the Cupcakes

200g unsalted butter

200g golden caster sugar

30mls St Kitts Herbery rose syrup

4 medium eggs

200g plain flour

1tsp baking powder

 

For the Topping

200g cream cheese

100g unsalted butter

600g icing sugar

10mls rose syrup (plus extra for drizzling)

5 drops pink food colouring (optional)

 

Method

– Preheat the oven to Gas mark 4 (180C)

– Beat together the butter and caster sugar until light and fluffy

– Add the eggs one at a time, stirring well until fully combined

– Sift in the flour and mix well

– Fill your cupcake cases with the mixture and bake for 20minutes or until golden brown and firm to the touch

– Leave to cool on a wire rack

– Drizzle the top of the cupcakes with some rose syrup (this is optional- it does make them taste very strongly of rose!)

– To make the icing, put the cream cheese, butter, rose syrup and icing sugar in a bowl and mix until light and fluffy (this is easiest in an electric mixer but a fork works just fine)

– If using, add the pink food colouring and mix well

– For beautiful results, place in a piping bag and ice (for those like me who run out of patience, they taste just as good with the icing spooned on)

 

That’s all there is to it! If you’re after something a bit more chocolate-y, replace 50g of the flour with cocoa powder and top with a rose chocolate ganache!

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Pip McCormac’s Violet Scones

Have you seen this fantastic new book from Pip McCormac?  We have and it is choc full of wonderful recipes. In fact, we loved it so much that, following a chat with Pip, we have the privilege of being able to share one of his recipes with you, so here are Pip’s Violet Scones!

 

Violet Scones with honeyed cream

50g butter, plus extra for greasing

225g self-raising flour, plus extra for dusting

25g sugar

150ml milk, plus extra for glazing

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 violet flowers, chopped, plus extra petals for serving

100g clotted cream

2 tbsp runny honey

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I’ve never been a fan of the soapy taste of parma violets, but if you use violet flowers sparingly and bake them they are far subtler – a clever floral note rather than an overpowering flavour. The honeyed cream is what provides the real sweetness here; it’s thick and indulgent and removes the need for jam or butter… although a dollop of lemon curd goes well if you have a really sweet tooth.

Preheat the oven to 225C/Gas mark 7 and line and grease a large baking tray. In a food processor, mix together the flour, butter and sugar until it resembles breadcrumbs. Pour in the milk and vanilla extract and beat into a stiff dough. Add the violet flowers and give a final few pulses of the processor to combine them into the mixture. Lightly dust your worktop with flour and place the dough in the middle, sprinkling a little flour over the top. Using a rolling pin, work the dough until it’s about 2cm thick. Take a 5cm round cutter and cut out discs, placing them onto the baking tray. Roll the leftover dough out again and cut out more rounds, repeating until all the dough is used up. Try not to roll the dough too many times as this will lead to tough scones. Brush the top of each with a dab of milk and place the tray in the oven for 12–15 minutes until golden. Transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool.

Just before you are about to eat the scones, place the cream in a small bowl and briefly fold in the honey – do not mix until combined, you want it to have a rippled effect – and top with a few violet petals. Cut open the scones, spread a bit of cream on top and serve.

 

This recipe is taken from The Herb and Flower Cookbook by Pip McCormac (Quadrille, £16.99)

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Pip McCormac’s “The Herb & Flower Cookbook”

Photograph © Yuki Sugiura