Elderflower Champagne Recipe

This champagne is a delightfully refreshing drink for those hot days or on special occasions. It is alcoholic so don't drink and drive.

Elderflower Champagne

3.5 cups elderflowers (packed firmly)

1 lemon sliced

3.5 cups sugar

150ml vinegar

5l water

Mix altogether in a clean bucket, cover tightly with a clean cloth and stand for four days. Bottle in plastic cool drink bottles and allow to sit for a week to 10 days and drink before six weeks. Again this drink may be quite gassy, so chill before opening and either open it over the sink or outside.

Happy New Year

Just to wish you all a Safe and Happy New Year, I'll share my easy to make Rhubarb Champagne recipe with you. This recipe is so easy to make you'll all probably think that it can't be so, yet it tastes delicious and is just the thing for the end of a hot day. It is alcoholic, so do the right thing and don't drink and drive, although I have seen it as declared a refreshing drink for children. Hmmm, probably refreshing for the children's parents as the children lie around asleep. We are extremely pleased as we grew this rhubarb in our hydroponic system.

Rhubarb Champagne

3.5 cups (1kg) chopped rhubarb

1 lemon, sliced

3.5 cups sugar

150ml vinegar

5l water

Mix in a bucket, cover with a cloth to keep the ferment flies and dust out, and stand for 48 hours. Strain and bottle in sterilised cool drink bottles. It makes about 5l. A note about the bottles, they will expand greatly. Do not keep for too long as it gets very gassy. Start drinking it after about a week and before about 6 weeks. It does get bitter after a length of time. It is a short lived, easily to consume drink. Chill well before opening and either open outside or over the sink just in case it spurts.

I used to make this is glass bottles and it was too dangerous with them exploding at the drop of a leaf.

Tomorrow I have to find my Elderflower Champagne recipe so I'll share that one with you as well. That is what we had at our wedding for our drink, very nice and refreshing too.

Muffins

We went to a beautiful native, low water garden on Saturday. A very restful garden too. Mostly local species with some absolute show stoppers thrown in, like this Blue Leschenaultia. Many of the plants have been propagated by the owner either from seed or cutting.

The muffins pictured are a recipe that comes from my friend Maxine. Very easy to make and eat.

FRUIT MUFFINS

Mix makes 12 large HEALTHY moist muffins with chunks of fruit.

Preheat oven to 180 C or 170 C fan forced

In a bowl place

2 cups SR flour

1/2 cup sugar (scant)

2 eggs

1/3 cup oil

1 cup yoghurt

1 cup fruit

Mix until combined and then stir in the fruit (if tinned, strain) of your choice. Spoon the mix into 12 large muffin tins with paper insert for serving and washing ease.

Bake for 20-25 minutes until cooked through. It is very easy to double or quadruple the mix and then divide and make an assortment of muffins by simply adding different fruits.

Serve warm.

Shortbread Recipe

Swooze asked for the recipe for shortbread. Very easy to make, as long as I remember to soften the butter. Don't ask me how I know this.

SHORTBREAD

250g butter

1/3 cup castor sugar

2 cups plain flour

1/2 cup rice flour or ground rice

Have butter at room temperature. Beat butter and sugar in an electric mixer until combined. Adding large spoonfuls of sifted flours (I don't sift) to the butter mixture, beating between additions. The recipe says to press it all together and then knead on a lightly floured surface until smooth. I do all the mixing and kneading with the electric mixer. Use a dough mixer or the 'k' mixer on your Kenwood mixer.

Divide into two portions. Make into a ball and place on the tray, already lined with Glad Bake, and push out to an 18cm circle. I just push it out until it is the thickness that I want. Pinch a decorative edge, mark wedges and then prick with a fork. Bake in a slow oven 150C/300F for about 30 minutes. Cool, on a rack, for 10 minutes and then cut when cool.

I always double the recipe as there are some very tall, voracious mice here who can open biscuit jars.