Friday 28 August 2020

Mixed Berry Pie Recipe

Assalamu Alaikum everyone!
It's Hanifah here with another recipe. I love baking pies, both savoury and sweet ones. This is a new recipe which I found on YouTube and decided to try out. It turned out really good masha'Allah, so I will link the video here - don't forget to mute the music! It's not an overly sweet pie and has a nice lemony zing to it. I did alter the recipe slightly - I hardly ever stick to the book!

Ingredients:-
For the Pastry you will need:

2 1/2 cups (320g) All-Purpose Flour
1 tsp. Salt
2 tbsp. Sugar
1 cup (226g) Unsalted Butter (chilled and cut into small cubes)
1 Egg, beaten
4 tbsp. Icy Water

For the Berry Filling you will need:

4 cups (600g) Frozen Berries - (I used 300g blueberries and 300g raspberries)
2/3 cup (135g) Granulated Sugar
1/4 tsp. Cinnamon
1/4 cup Corn Flour
1 tbsp. Lemon Juice
Zest of 1 Lemon

1. To make the pastry, whisk together flour, sugar and salt.
2. Then add the butter cubes and use a fork to press until crumbs are formed. This took me a long time - you could use a food processor if you prefer.
3. Next add the beaten egg and the 4 tablespoons of icy water.
4. Start to combine to form a slightly crumbly dough.
5. Divide in half and wrap each in cling film.
6. Roll out and flatten using a rolling pin; then refrigerate for half an hour or more.
7. Now it's time to make the filling! Combine sugar, corn flour, cinnamon and lemon zest in a bowl.
8. Place the frozen berries in another bowl and then add the sugar mixture and lemon juice. Use a spoon or toss to combine.
9. Preheat your oven to 200 degrees Celsius, 400 degrees Fahrenheit, Gas Mark 6 and prepare a 9-inch pie pan.
10. Take out one of the pieces of dough and roll on a floured surface until it is big enough to cover your pie pan. Mine ended up breaking (probably needed more butter?) so I just sort of put it together jigsaw-style!
11. Next add the filling and refrigerate.
12. Meanwhile, take the second dough piece out of the fridge, roll out and cut into strips. Take the pie back out and create a lattice on top using the strips. I also used the excess dough to decorate the pie.
13. Bake for 20 minutes on a middle shelf. Then reduce the oven to 180 degrees Celsius, 350 degrees Fahrenheit, Gas Mark 4 and bake for another 25-30 minutes until golden-brown.
14. Allow to cool completely for a few hours. I dusted mine with icing sugar afterwards.
15. Finally remove from pie pan, slice and serve - preferably with vanilla ice cream.
Enjoy!
I hope you liked this post and we will see you soon, insha'Allah.

Wassalam,

Hanifah



Tuesday 25 August 2020

DIY Paper Heart Card Décor

Assalamu Alaikum!
Today's post is an unexpected one, but altogether a delight! Yesterday, Maryam received this lovely handmade card from Sumayyah, masha'Allah. It was a complete surprise! Allahhumma Barik!
Sumayyah had come up with the idea all by herself and even took photos (with Zainab's help) with the intention to show you all how she made it.
So let's dive in!

You will need:
Different coloured paper
Scissors
Glue Stick
Pencil

Method:
Firstly, draw and cut out a heart.
Then cut out strips of different coloured paper.
(Here Sumayyah advises you cut out slightly thicker strips than she did, because it makes sticking them down easier)
Stick them onto the heart overlaying them in different directions.
Sumayyah says, because her strips where a little to thin, the heart got sticky with glue. So she went over it with Mod Podge, to act as a kind of seal.
Next choose your card and bend a thick strip of card like below.
Stick the heart onto the thick strip and then stick the other end of the strip to the card. This makes the heart pop a little.
Then decorate how you like! Sumayyah outlined the heart with a glitter pen and added some jewels to the edges.
Masha'Allah it turned out lovely. And here is the final product and the message she wrote inside for Maryam, masha'Allah!
Alhamdulillah Maryam is very grateful and has hung it up on a noticeboard in her room. 
We hope you liked this DIY and we will see you again on Friday, insha'Allah!

Love and wasalaam,



Friday 21 August 2020

Nature Drawing Fun

Assalamu Alaikum everyone!
Insha'Allah you are all feeling well. For today's post we wanted to share with you some of the drawings we have done, relating to nature and animals. You all must be aware by now that we have loved drawing and sketching for as long as we can remember, and we don't think we will ever stop, insha'Allah! These drawings are all recent, apart from a few by Maryam which are from a couple years back.
Well, here they are!

Sumayyah's Spread
Sumayyah drew a picture of Cata (our cat!) and Romeo (a neighbour's cat). Cata is white and Romeo is Grey.
Masha'Allah, she captured them well!

Zainab's Spreads
Zainab wrote the same quote in two different styles.
For the first picture she used colour pencils and a black pen.
The second picture is painted and outlined with a black pen. She used watercolour for the background and acrylic for the flowers.

Maryam's Spreads
All Maryam's spreads are sketched with a basic HD pencil. However the flowers where done with proper drawing pencils.
The big spread of the woods took days to complete!

Hanifah's Spread
Hanifah first sketched out her page, then outlined everything with a black pen and lastly coloured everything in using fine-tipped colour pens.
Well, that is all for this Friday. Alhamdulillah we think they turned out nice, masha'Allah. We hope you liked looking at our drawings, and that it might put you in the mood to sketch or draw.
Insha'Allah, we will see you again on Tuesday!

Love and wasalaam,