Made With Pink

Diamond Jubilee Petit Fours

2012-06-01T00:47:00.002+01:00

By now it's no secret the Queen's Diamond Jubilee is coming up next week. Over here in the UK we're in full BBQ and street party planning mode.

To be honest, I've never actually been to a street party before - I guess they're kind of like the North American block party, although to be honest I don't think I've ever been to one of those either. I don't think they're as popular there as they are here.

A traditional British Street Party (Image Source)

It's being reported that there will be over 10,000 official street parties throughout England and Wales, and that's not counting unofficial parties that haven't gone through the proper approval process through local councils.

On Sunday I'm hoping to attend one of the larger parties in my area that will take place in our favourite park. Monday and Tuesday are public holidays here, so the parties and celebrations will continue for a few more days.

In order to help make your street party look it's best all of the major stores have released their own lines of street party gear including the essentials such as bunting flags, paper plates, cups, napkins, cupcake cases, etc.

Each of the jubilee product lines are very patriotic and obviously incorporate everything British and royal such as union jacks and crowns, but they're also very different from each other.

Lakeland was kind enough to send me some products (above) from their Jubilee range, so I've featured some of them here with my latest street party inspired creations.

My street party snacks are the perfect addition to your Jubilee table - they're patriotic, three out of the four are quick and easy, you can make them all ahead of time, they're all very transportable, and best of all they taste great!!!

I've decided to split the recipes for my Jubilee treats into two separate posts, otherwise you'd be reading this post forever!

First up I'll start with my Diamond Jubilee petit fours. I've always wanted to make petit fours so when I was given some cute little London themed sugar decorations in a Waitrose goodie bag, I knew they'd be perfect to add on top. I used the traditional Victoria Sponge recipe that I came up with last year to celebrate the Royal Wedding, but this time I replaced the strawberry jam with black current jam - something I consider very British as it wasn't something I'd really ever come across in Canada.

Diamond Jubilee Petit Fours

Ingredients:

3/4 Cup + 2 Tbsp (200g) Castor Sugar

3/4 Cup + 2 Tbsp (200g) Butter, room temperature

4 Eggs

1.5 tsp Vanilla extract

1.5 Cups + 1.5 Tbsp (200g) Self Raising Flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

Blackcurrant Jam
Vanilla Buttercream

Ready to Roll Fondant - I used Renshaw Regal Ice White Chocolate flavour

Liquid Fondant - (I used the Silver Spoon powdered version that you mix with water)

Liquid Glucose - optional
Red and Blue gel colouring

Decorations of your choice - I used Jubilee decorations from Waitrose and a couple of left over crowns I made for my Dome cake here.

Instructions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350ºF (175ºC). Line two* square 8"x8" cake pans with parchment paper and set aside. Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy (about 5-8 minutes).

*I divided my batter up, and made 6 cupcakes for another project and used the rest in a 9"x9" pan which made 16 petit fours approx 1.5"x1.5"

2. Add in the eggs 1 at a time to ensure they don't curdle the butter and sugar mixture. Beat well before adding each following egg. Beat in the vanilla extract.

3. Gently fold the self raising flour and baking powder into the butter, sugar and egg mixture until just combined. Don't over mix. Divide the batter equally between the two pans, making sure that the batter is as flat and even as possible. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes.

4. Let the cakes cool in their pans at before lifting them out by the parchment paper. Leave the parchment paper on your cake, and wrap it in cling film before placing it in the freezer for about an hour to firm up slightly.

5. While your cake is chilling in the freezer make your buttercream icing according to your favourite recipe. (I don't have a recipe for my buttercream - I just cream a block of butter and keep on adding icing sugar (with a nit of milk and vanilla) until it tastes right.

*The instructions below are for one 9x9 cake (as I mentioned above). If you've made two 8x8 cakes, follow the instructions below twice.

6. Take your cake out of the freezer ensuring that the bottom of the cake is facing upwards (this ensures you'll have a perfectly flat top) and slice it in half so you end up with two layers. I used a Wilton cake slicer, but a steady hand and knife should do the trick. Open your cake so that the freshly cut sides are facing up. Spread a thin layer of the balckcurrant jam on one half of the cake (remove any large currents), and a layer of buttercream on the other half (make sure it's as smooth as possible).

Sandwich the two layers together so the fillings are in the middle, making sure that the edges are aligned. Next, trim the edges of your cake to ensure it's perfectly square with nice sharp edges. Spread another layer of buttercream on the top (which was once the bottom) of your cake, making sure it's as smooth ad level as possible.

Roll out your fondant so it's about 3mm in thickness. Cut a square of fondant out the same size as your cake (you can use the bottom of your cake pan as a guide, and trim the edges later). Place the fondant over your buttercream covered cake top and smooth it out, ensuring you don't have any trapped air under the fondant. Trim off any excess fondant so that the edges are flush, and it's exactly the same size as the cake.

Cut your fondant covered cake into small squares - once trimmed, my 9x9 cake made 16 squares.

7. Prepare your liquid pouring fondant according to directions on the package - I added in about a teaspoon of glucose to mine to help make it spread easier. I used Silver Spoon brand which is available in most supermarkets, but you can also buy other bands at speciality cake stores. One 500g box was just enough to cover my 16 petit fours.

Place a 1/3 of your cake squares on a wire rack that's been placed over a baking dish. Start by pouring a tablespoon or two of the uncoloured white fondant on the top of one of your cake squares. Using an offset pallete knife, spread the fondant to the edges so it starts to flow down the sides of the cake. Using the back of the knife, scoop out a bit more fondant from the bowl and spread it down each side, starting from the top. Let the fondant run down the sides until all of the cake is covered.

Once the cakes are covered, place a sugar decoration in the middle of each one and let the icing dry for at least half an hour.

Ignore the random white one with sprinkles!

Divide the remaining fondant icing in half an colour one half red, and the other blue. Repeat the steps above for the rest of your cakes.

8. After the fondant has surface dried, use your palette knife to move each cake onto a paper liner. You can press the paper onto the fondant to help it form to the shape of the cake.

Leave your petite fours uncovered until they're thoroughly dry. I made mine in the evening, and I don't know what on earth possessed me to cover them in a sealed container but I did, and because my liquid fondant hadn't dried completely my sugar decorations absorbed some of the moisture which discoloured them. Obviously I wasn't thinking clearly!

These petit fours will keep at room temperature for up to 5 days if they're properly covered with liquid fondant to prevent them from drying out.

I hope you like these petit fours - I loved them - especially with the addition of the blackcurrant jam! I can't wait to make more of them. Don't let all the steps detour you, because although they do take a bit of time to make them, the final results are not only pretty, but also delicious!

Check back later for my other Diamond Jubilee street party recipes!

Thanks to Lakeland for the Jubilee products (cake stand, napkins, cupcake cases and jam jar covers are featured), and to Waitrose for the Jubilee sugar decorations.

May Foodie Penpal Reveal

2012-05-31T08:00:00.000+01:00

This was my second month as a Foodie Penpal, and I received a great little box of goodies from Fiona of the blog Fee Hates Rain. I told Fiona how I liked snacky type stuff as well unique things or ingredients that I don't come across in my regular mainstream supermarket. Fiona did a great job selecting some unique products - none of which I've ever tried or seen before.

Along with a pretty note card, Fiona sent me some Lap Snacks - these are roasted broad beans coated in a spicy batter, and they are delicious! They've got just a hint of spice in them without being too hot, They're great to snack on at my desk - nice and crunchy!

Also included was some Scrummee brand Yorkshire Rhubarb, Lemongrass and Ginger dessert sauce. I haven't tried this yet, but it sounds absolutely amazing. I can't wait to try it - either in a recipe or on top of some vanilla ice cream.

Fee also sent a really unique bar of chocolate - Madecasse Pink Pepper and Citrus Chocolate. The label says it's 63% cocoa with pink pepper and combava fruit. I've never heard of combava fruit before! I haven't tried this yet. It's so unique I don't know what to expect, but I love the fact that she managed to incorporate Pink into it!

Last but not least, she sent a fancy little packet of Peri-peri chicken spice that I cannot wait to try! My husband and I both love peri-peri chicken, and I'm saving this for a special meal when we can both sit down together and enjoy it - something we rarely get to do!

A huge thank you again to Fiona for sending me such a great package that was so thoughtfully put together!

As for myself, my Foodie Penpal was Sarah from the Blog North West Nosh. Sarah told me that she ate a lot of Eastern foods, and was really into spices like cardamon and cinnamon, as well as rose flavours, and also like snacky stuff too.

Sarah's package suggestions gave me the perfect opportunity to explore the new Asian market that recently opened up near my office. It was filled with so many neat products I hadn't seen before and many that I'd used before, but needed to make a special trip to another store far away to find.

I bought Sarah some Moroccan spiced couscous, rose flavoured Turkish delight, several different types of nougat and 4 different flavours of sesame snaps.

Waitrose had recently sent me a package filled with a selection of their Jubilee goodies, but I decided to pass some of them along to my Foodie Penpal this month as an extra little bonus because it was so near to the Diamond Jubilee. I had been sent so much Jubilee product that there was no way I could ever use it all. Hopefully Sarah can have fun with it this weekend. The Waitrose Jubilee items were: cupcake cases and toppers, 4 different tubes of festive icing and some street party Royal Trivia cards.

If you're new here and haven't heard of Foodie Penpals you can check out my first Foodie Penpals post here.

If you'd like to become a Foodie Penpal you can find more information and sign up through the Rock Salt Blog here if you're in the UK & Europe, or through the Lean Green Bean Blog here is your in the US & Canada.

Queens Diamond Jubilee Hat Cookies

2012-05-24T22:37:00.001+01:00

When I was living in Canada I was always a little envious of our patriotic American neighbours. To many outsiders their patriotic enthusiasm seemed overly excessive and brash, but as a Canadian kid I looked on in amazement. They took any opportunity they could get to plaster their flag on anything and everything, and I often wondered why Canadians didn't do the same.

The patriotic differences really became apparent when July rolled around. Canada celebrates their birthday with a national holiday on July 1st, while the US celebrates theirs on July 4th. The Americans always seemed to have loads of festive activities going on like parades, barbecues, block parties and amazing firework shows, while Canadians seemed relatively unfazed by their national day. Don't get me wrong - Canadians definitely do celebrate Canada Day with a few fireworks and the odd picnic, and as Vancouver showed during the Olympics, Canadians are extremely proud of their country, but we don't always shout about it from the rooftops like our southern neighbours do.

Some of the patriotic things that always caught my eye were all the fun American themed desserts and products that seemed to pop up during the weeks approaching July 4th. A large part of it I'm sure, was a result of savvy marketing, but the other part was down to sheer patriotism.

I remember flipping through magazines (most of the magazines were American) and watching programmes like Live! and Martha Stewart and thinking how pretty the desserts and crafts that they were featuring looked in red, white and blue. For some reason red and white (Canada's colours) never seemed as much fun.

With the upcoming Queen's Diamond Jubilee (marking the 60 year reign of Queen Elizabeth) in a few weeks, it appears that the whole of the UK has gone jubilee crazy. And I couldn't be more excited about it! It's such a nice feeling to see Union Jacks everywhere - on grocery packaging, home decor, magazines and loads and loads of CAKES!

It's so nice to see the whole country getting excited about their heritage and celebrating it with a little red, white and blue. And I especially love it because it's the perfect excuse for me to do some fun and festive baking - just like I always wished I could have done when I was younger!

I've come up with a few Jubilee themed desserts - one of them was this Jubilee Dome Cake with red and blue flowers and a golden crown that I posted last week.

I've also made these little Jubilee hat cookies inspired by the Queen herself! It's no secret that the Queen is a fan of her hats - they even took bets here in England on what colour hat she would wear to Will and Kate's wedding last year!

I got the original idea for these cookies from the fabulous book Cookie Swap, and then borrowed a few tips from Bakerella who also made them a couple years ago for Easter.

I loved making these cookies - they were so fun and easy to make, and I really think they're just perfect to help celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. Seriously - how cute would they look alongside a nice cup of tea, or arranged together on a stand at your local street party.

Queen's Diamond Jubilee Hat Cookies

To make these cookies you'll need a few things:

Sugar cookie dough - I use Peggy Porcshen's recipe that can be found in this post here.

A small amount of Royal Icing - Peggy Porcshen's recipe that can be found in this post here.

Double sided pastry cutters - I used these.

Mini flower plunger cutters - I used these.

White fondant - I used white Renshaw brand

Sugar paste / flower paste - I used Squires Kitchen Sugar Floral Paste

White nonpareils

Instructions:

1. Make your sugar cookie dough according to the recipe and instructions here. Once your dough is chilled, roll it out to the appropriate thickness (about 4 or 5mm). Using the scalloped edge of the 68mm (2 5/8") round pastry cutter, cut out as many circles as you think you'd like hats. These will be the base of your hats. I think you could make at least 20 hats with the cookie dough recipe - probably more. Next, use the 38mm (1 1/2") plain edged round cutter to cut out twice the number of circles as you did with the scalloped cutter. These will make up the top of your hats, and each hat top requires two smaller circles. Bake according to the instructions in my original recipe post, and then cool.

2. While your cookies are baking you can start to make the little sugar paste flowers that will decorate the brim of the hats. Take a small amount of the Sugar Floral Paste and tint it whatever colour you'd like - I used Wilton gel paste colours. Roll the sugar paste out, and use the flower cutters to cut out various sizes of flowers. It's easy - honest! I used some royal icing to attach the white nonpareils to the inside of the flower, but if you don't have any nonpareils, then a dab of royal icing will do just fine. Set the flowers aside to dry.

3. Once your cookies are nice and cool you'll need to start building your hats. First you'll need to roll our your fondant, and use the same sized scalloped edge pastry cutter you used for the base of the cookies to cut out the fondant circles that will sit on top. Use the end of a paintbrush or chopstick to make small indents around the scalloped edge. Put a little royal icing on the scalloped cookies and then place the matching fondant pieces on top making sure to line up the scalloped edges.

To make the second part of the hat you'll need to glue two of the smaller circles together by adding a dab or two of royal icing on the top of one of the small circles. Next, use another dollop of royal icing to fix the bottom of the smaller stacked circle to the scalloped fondant covered cookie base. Using the small cookie cutter, cut out enough fondant circles to cover the tops of the smaller circle stacks.

Next you'll need to cut some fondant strips to wrap around the stack of small cookies - use a small ruler to make sure the fondant strip is the same width as the cookie stacks, and long enough to wrap around them. Fix the strips around the cookies using royal icing. Use your fingers to smooth out the fondant strips and blend them into the fondant tops.

Lastly, it's time to add your sugar paste flowers - simply glue them on in whatever arrangement you like, and there you have it - little Queen's Diamond Jubilee Hats!

I'm sure it's pretty safe to say that these hat cookies will likely end up inside your tummy - but I'd really like to know what's happened to all of the Queen's own hats? Seriously - Buckingham Palace must have one gigantic room filled with 60 years worth of the Queen's hats!

Because my hat cookies have flowers on them, I'm also sending them over to The Tea Time Treats monthly challenge hosted this month by Karen of the blog Lavender and Loveage, and other months by Kate of What Kate Baked. This month's theme is floral, so I think they're a perfect fit!

Diamond Jubilee Dome Cake

2012-05-19T22:20:00.001+01:00

The other day I posted my review of Peggy Porschen's new Boutique Baking book. I was so excited when it arrived, I couldn't put it down. I flipped through the pages over and over again, examining every recipe trying to decide what to make first.

The recipe that stood out the most to me was a very simple, yet elegant dome cake that Peggy calls her Raspberry & Rose Dome Cake (pictured below from her book). This cake isn't your typical cake - it's made up of a thin layer of jaconde sponge and then filled with a delicious custard butter cream that's been studded with raspberries.

I'm not going to lie - this cake is fairly labour intensive. There's a lot of steps involved and it's best to do them over two days, but the step by step pictures are a huge asset and really do help to reassure you that you're doing things correctly.

Peggy's version of the Raspberry & Rose Dome Cake (above) is covered in pastel fondant and decorated with pretty sugar paste flowers. I choose to decorate mine in a royal theme to help celebrate the upcoming Queen's Diamond Jubilee. I used the same sugar paste flowers that I made last year on my Royal Wedding Cupcakes, and I also made some cute little crowns from a mould that I picked up a few months ago at the Squires Kitchen Cake Decorating Exhibition.

I've decided not to post the recipe for this cake because it's very long (approx 4 pages in the book) and requires a lot of steps (see the pictures above). I don't want that to detour you from making it though. It's not hard to make - especially the jaconde sponge (I made a similar one here, and they only take 8 minutes to bake!), it's just the assembling of the cake that takes the time. So if you think you'd like to try baking your own dome cake, then please buy Peggy's Boutique Baking book - you won't regret it!

To make the crowns you'll need a mould like this one here from Squires Kitchen that I used. First I took some Mexican modelling paste and tinted it a light golden colour (I used golden yellow from Wilton). Next I brushed some gold metallic lustre dust inside my mould which helped to give it the golden colour, but also to prevent the modelling paste from sticking.

Firmly push the modelling paste into the mould and trim off any excess with a sharp knife, To remove the crowns simply turn the mould upside down and tap the back of the mould firmly with the handle of a knife to help shake them out.

To give the crowns their nice golden colour I mixed a bit of the gold lustre dust with a tiny bit of vodka to create a shiny gold paint and used a paintbrush to coat the surface of the crowns. The red and blue gems in the crowns are actually just shimmery sugar sprinkles that were given to me by Waitrose in a goody bag a few months ago.

This cake calls for a dome mould (Peggy uses half of a ball pan) to give the cake it's perfect shape, but I didn't have a dome mould, so instead used a bowl. Although the bowl worked, it didn't turn out exactly as I'd imagined. It was a bit deeper and not as perfectly domed as I'd hoped, but I think I could have done a better job of lining my bowl with the jaconde sponge to get a better shape. I get a bit annoyed when my baking attempts don't turn out exactly as they do in the pictures!

This cake, like most traditional UK cakes is covered in both a layer of marzipan, followed by a layer of fondant. I'm not a huge fan of marzipan, and I honestly don't see much of a point in using both layers of covering (other than the fact that the marzipan layer makes the fondant layer a little easier to smooth out). I almost did't bother using the marzipan, but I wanted to make the cake exactly as it's shown in the book.

I had intended on using the same fondant boarder around the base of my cake that was shown in the book, but the red fondant (Renshaw brand) I'd bought a month earlier had dried into a rock hard block before I even got a chance to get it out of the package! Instead, I kept things simple and just used some red and blue ribbon.

Overall, I was quite pleased with my dome cake - even if it didn't turn out perfect. Although I've done a few, I'm still fairly new to covering cakes in fondant, and really just enjoy tinkering around in my spare time making flowers and sugar paste decorations. I've always wanted to improve my cake decorating skills, and I'm very pleased to announce I will get that opportunity this week!

You see, last summer after I made my Peggy Porschen Baby Shower Cookies I was absolutely thrilled to receive an invite from the Peggy Porschen Academy inviting me to attend one of Peggy's cake decorating courses!!! The only thing was, they had invited me to a course that was taking place 3 weeks after I was due to give birth to baby Jayden. I knew there was no way I could attend a cake decorating course and leave my 3 week old at home. Luckily, Peggy's team was very understanding and told me to contact them when I was ready to take one of her courses.

A few months ago I got back in touch with Peggy's team and we decided on my course. I'm so excited to tell you all that this Tuesday I will be spending the day with Peggy learning how to make this absolutely stunning Black and White Anemone Cake!!

I'm sooo looking forward to learning how to make this stunning cake and picking up tips from the master herself. I can't wait to share my cake with you all when I'm done, so keep watching, and I'll post it soon!

Peggy Porschen Boutique Baking Review

2012-05-17T16:59:00.002+01:00

Last night I had the pleasure of attending the launch party for Peggy Porschen's new book titled Boutique Baking. It's no secret that I'm a huge Peggy Porschen fan. I've made several recipes from her books including these baby shower cookies last year.

Boutique Baking is slightly different from Peggy's previous books which focus more on decorating projects using several key recipes. Instead, Boutique Baking is filled with recipes - each with their own decorating ideas and techniques that Peggy clearly guides you through with written instructions and visual steps.

Boutique Baking is made up of 7 chapters: Sweet Treats, Beautiful Biscuits, Cupcake Heaven, Luscious Layer Cakes, Classic Cakes & Bakes, Delicious Drinks, and The Icing on The Cake.

Notable recipes include:

Springerle Cookies - I've always wanted to make these, but have never found an authentic wooden mould.

Chocolate Heaven Cupcakes - I've made these and they're delicious, so keep an eye out for the recipe. I'll be posting it soon!

Summer Berry Cake - this has a beautiful pattern on top that's created by a simple dusting of cocoa powder over a patterned stencil

Raspberry & Rose Dome Cake - An absolutely stunning dome cake accented with delicate sugar paste flowers. I also made this, and will be posting it shortly!

Minteani - A light and refreshing iced mint tea and vodka cocktail

Out of all of Peggy's books (she has 5), Boutique Baking is my favourite. The recipes are all mouth watering and accompanied by stunning photos, not only of the finished product but also of the steps needed to get you there. Boutique Baking has something for everyone. Novice bakers and decorators need not shy away, as there's recipe and decorating idea to suit every skill level.

With thanks to Quadrille Publishing for my review copy of Peggy's book.

Boutique Baking is available on Amazon UK here and Amazon US here

** Now here's some exciting news for you - if you live in London and you're a fan of Peggy Porschen you'll be pleased to know that she'll be signing copies of her new Boutique Baking Book in her parlour this Saturday May 26th between 3pm - 5pm. Directions to Peggy's pink parlour and additional information can be found here.

And finally, I've also got some VERY EXCITING Peggy Porschen news to share with you later in the week, so keep an eye on my blog, facebook and twitter to find out what it is!!! Until then I'll leave you with a few more pictures of Peggy's book party.

Hanging Mug Sugar Cookies

2012-05-09T17:36:00.000+01:00

A few months ago I was walking through Clapham Junction - an area just south of London that I don't really frequent that often. It's a pretty area lined with cutesy shops and funky eateries. It's also where I found the cutest little cookie cutters. You see, I was walking along when all of a sudden I noticed a pink store. Yes, a PINK store! How could I not take notice of a pink store?!? It wasn't just any pink store either. It was one of Jaime Oliver's Recipease stores. Recipease isn't just any old store - it's a cooking school, a kitchen store, a cafe and a prepared food store all in one. How did I not know about these before??? Note to self - I must go back and take a cookery lesson there. The pasta making ones sound like great fun!

image source

I had a little wander around the store which sold loads of cool things like freshly baked bread, food storage containers with pastel flip lids, kitchen gadgets and the cutest little cookie cutters. Cookies cutters which I just had to have!

These weren't just any cookie cutters - they were hanging cookie cutters! Don't laugh. I'm easily excitable when I find cool new kitchen "thingys".

The cookie cutters are sold in a set of 6, although 2 of the cutters are a pair. There's a heart, a star, a circle, a little bird and a pair of angel wings. And they're all designed to hang on the side of your coffee mug or tea cup.

I've never been one to fall into the English habit drinking a cup of tea, alongside a biscuit (cookie) but lately I've found myself wanting to enjoy just a tiny treat with my afternoon coffee. These little cookies are the perfect solution. Simply make yourself a cup of coffee or tea and hang one (or two!) of these fun little cookies on the side of your mug, pop yourself in your favourite chair, put your feet up, relax and enjoy!

You definitely don't have to go crazy and decorate them like I did, but I saw a fun opportunity and I took it! I used royal icing to flood all of my cookies, and then I did something a bit different to each of them. I shook some opalescent edible glitter on one pair of angel wings while the royal icing was still wet, and I used a silvery pearl lustre dust on the second pair once the icing was dry. I kept the birds fairly basic and just added some yellow beaks and drew on black eyes with a food marker. I used gold lustre dust on the star and I pink lustre dust on the hearts and circles, and tried out a new royal icing painting technique that I'd been wanting to try for ages now.

The painting technique is so simple and just involves piping a curved line of royal icing on your cookie, and then taking a dry paint brush and dragging the royal icing inwards. Although I thought my first try turned out ok, I wasn't entirely happy with my painted cookies as I think my icing consistency was a bit off. Coincidentally the weekend after I made these cookies I saw this same painting technique being demonstrated at the Cake International Show, so I picked up some tips there. I will definitely be making some more of these pretty painted cookies that I'll share with you soon. I think my pink one matches the flowers on my mug!

I used Peggy Porschen's sugar cookie recipe which is a favourite of mine. Her dough holds it's shape and doesn't spread while cooking, plus it tastes great too. You can get the recipe for the sugar cookie dough along with Peggy's royal icing recipe and all my cookie decorating tips and tricks here.

Ultimate Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Cookies

2012-05-04T00:19:00.001+01:00

I have a confession to make. I'm a hoarder. No, not one of those crazy hoarders that you see on the show actual TV show Hoarders (no offence to anyone reading this who is!). I'm a hoarder of baking stuff. Mainly things like chocolate chips, M&M's, Jello, Oreos, marshmallows, etc. Things that I see on my travels that I can't get in the UK, so when I see them I kind of go into this panic buying mode as if I will never ever see them again. So then I buy them. And then they sit there. On my baking shelf waiting to be used. Sometimes for months and months.

During a recent trip to the US a few weeks ago I found some super cute little mini Reese's Peanut Butter Cups - prefect for baking. I had to have them! Chocolate, peanut butter AND mini! What's not to love?

When I got back home from my trip, I started unpacking my new purchases. I lined them up alongside the stuff I already had and started thinking about potential recipes. I noticed a theme - mini Reese's peanut butter cups, mini Reese's pieces, peanut butter and chocolate chips, and a GIANT jar of peanut butter. Cue light bulb moment! I had been wanting to make some peanut butter chocolate chip cookies for ages, but had never got around to it - until now.

I call these the Ultimate Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Cookie. They're amazing. I love them. And I think you'll love them too!

UK residents!!! I realise that this recipe's main ingredients are sourced from the US, but you can also get them here now in the UK at your local supermarket. They won't be the mini versions of the peanut butter cups and pieces, but YOU CAN BUY the regular and small sized versions of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, and the regular sized Reese's Pieces at Sainsbury's, Tesco and Asda. It's fine to use regular sized peanut butter cups, just cut them into smaller chunks (approx 9 pieces). If you'd prefer to use the mini Reese's Peanut Butter Cups that I used you can buy them here and you can also buy Reese's peanut butter chips similar to the ones I used here.

Made With Pink's Ultimate Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Cookies
Makes 20 large cookies

Ingredients:

2 1/2 Cups (310g) Flour

1 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 tsp Salt

3/4 Cup (210g) Smooth Peanut Butter (not natural)
1/2 Cup (115g) Butter, softened
1 1/4 Cups (250g) Brown Sugar
1/4 Cup (55g) Castor Sugar
2 Eggs
2 Tbsp Milk
2 Tbsp Corn Syrup or Golden Syrup
2 tsp Vanilla
1 Cup Peanut Butter and/or Chocolate Chips
1/2 Cup Mini Reese's Peanut Butter Cups
1/2 Cup Mini Reese's Pieces

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF (180ºC). In a small bow combine the flour, baking soda and salt and set aside.

2. In a large bowl combine the peanut butter, butter, brown sugar and white sugar together. Cream together with an electric mixer until smooth. Beat in the eggs one by one. Add in the milk, syrup and vanilla. Stir the flour mixture from step 1 into the peanut butter mixture. Fold in the peanut butter and chocolate chips, Reese's Pieces and peanut butter cups. Drop the dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet by 1/4 cup fulls and flatten slightly.

3. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until edges are just slightly golden. Leave the cookies to cool on the cookie sheet for a few minutes to firm up before moving them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Foodie Penpals April Reveal

2012-04-30T07:55:00.000+01:00

If you follow me on Twitter you may know that some days I'm on there no stop. Just tweeting away about anything and everything. And then other days I'm not on there at all. With an eight month old and a full time day job, finding time to tweet can be hard! One of my favourite things about Twitter is that I get to know so many wonderful people - both bloggers and readers that I wouldn't have ever interacted with otherwise.

About six weeks ago I came across a tweet from Carol Anne aka @ThisIsRockSalt talking about Foodie Penpals. I was intrigued.... I'd had a penpal when I was younger and loved writing letters to her, and sending and receiving packages. It's always nice to receive packages in the mail rather than the boring bills and junk you normally get. I immediately tweeted her back, and just like that I had signed up to become a Foodie Penpal.

Let me give you a bit of background info - Foodie Penpals was started last year by American food blogger The Lean Green Bean. Since then Foodie Penpals has grown from about 30 participants in the US and Canada, to over 600 participants in the US, Canada, the UK and Europe. Carol Anne from the blog This Is Rock Salt now organises the UK & European side of Foodie Penpals. So what is a Foodie Penpal you ask?? Well, let me tell you! Basically, bloggers (and readers if they wish) are matched up together each month. At the beginning of the month everyone is notified as to who they are matched up with (it's someone different each month), and then they're responsible for putting together a little foodie package for them. How fun!

My first Foodie Penpal package was sent to me by Jules at Good Gobble Blog. I had never "met" Jules before (ie: in person, twitter, or the general blogosphere), so before she put together my package we sent a few emails back and forth so she could get a feel of what types of things she might want to send me. I told her that I liked "snacky" type things and things that I could use in my baking.

Jules put together a fantastic package for me, and I was so excited when it arrived. The first thing she included were some Caramel Callets from Slattery's Parissiery and Chocolatier in Manchester. I first read about Slattery's on Jule's blog post here when I had just found out that she would be my foodie penpal. This place looks seriously amazing! You've got to check out the Chocolate Challenge dessert that her friend Doyle ordered!! OMG! Seriously drool worthy. I have to go to this place when I'm in Manchester. Actually - I have to go to Manchester just so I can go to this place! I sampled a few of the Caramel Callets and they are delicious. I'm still not too sure what I'm going to make with them, but when I do you can be sure to read about it here!

Jules also sent me shortbread mix in a jar. All I have to do is add butter to the mixture and bake. Simple! I had planned on baking the shortbread on Saturday, but I was starting to come down with a cold and couldn't muster up the energy to even attempt to bake anything. Next weekend!

She also included some sweet plantain chips - something I'd never had before, but were a favourite snack of hers while she travelled through Peru. She just happened to find them here in the UK! Jules recommended eating them with a salsa recipe that she included on the back of the package, but my husband and I just snacked on them straight outta the bag. Yum!

Jules was also kind enough to make some things for me to snack on. She made individual rocky road bars fully loaded with chocolate and marshmallows and as well as some delicious walnut free granola (I'm allergic to walnuts). The rocky road bars were absolutely delicious and the fact that they were individually wrapped meant they were the perfect thing to throw in my lunch bag for an afternoon snack at work. The granola was also just as delicious. I've been munching on it by the handful rather than eating it with milk because I rarely have milk in my fridge unless I'm baking with it. I haven't been online much in the past few weeks, so I've not really been able to catch up on my blog reading. I've just noticed that Jules has posted the recipes for the rocky road bars and the granola, so if you'd like the recipes please check them out on her blog. I also must apologise for the complete lack of photos in this post - my camera was on the wrong setting and pretty much all of them turned out blurry except for a few. **Smacks head! Doh!** I did manage to take a picture of a rocky road bar with my iPhone before I gobbled it all up! You can also see more pictures of the rocky road bars and granola on her blog.

My Foodie Penpal for this month was Helen from Aardvark Cakes. I have to be honest and say that I was a little intimidated at the fact Helen was my foodie penpal. After all, she runs her own cake decorating business so she's bound to either have everything or seen it before. I had recently made a trip back home to Canada and the US just after I signed up for Foodie Penpals, so I bought a bunch of different things specifically for my future FP's. Whenever I go on holiday, and even when I'm shopping here at home I'm always on the lookout for different foodie things that I don't see every day and can't buy regularly. I picked out a few things for Helen that I thought she might like, so hopefully she enjoyed them!

I sent her a cute box of Lemon Whoopie Pie Mix, some buttery microwave popcorn (one of my favourite snacks from back home - traditionally popcorn here in the UK is either salty or sweet - not buttery), some maple flavouring for cakes and icing, a little packet of powdered cinnamon bun icing flavouring that I came across while in the US, and a Coffee Crisp Easter Egg - coffee crisp is a Canadian chocolate bar that as far as I know isn't sold outside of Canada.

Hopefully Helen liked my foodie penpal package as much as I liked the one Jules sent me. If you'd like to become a foodie penpal you can sign up and find more information about it here if you're in the UK & Europe, or here is your in the US & Canada.

London Cake International Show

2012-04-29T01:58:00.001+01:00

On Saturday I went to the Cake International Cake and Decorating show in London. I had always wanted to attend the Cake International show, but until this year it had only ever been on up in Birmingham so I never got a chance to go. I went down purely as a shopper & decorating enthusiast - not as a blogger. I was not equipped with my camera, and I never intended to write this post. It wasn't until I was "tweeting to the outside from the inside" that I decided a recap of the show might be in order.

The show was absolutely amazing, and I'm so glad I went. If you're a fan of cake decorating in any form there was something here for you. I cannot believe how crazy busy it got in the afternoon, so my advice to anyone going today or to the one up in Birmingham in November is get there EARLY. I don't mean camp outside over night early, but just get there when the doors open early. The crowds were manageable first thing in the morning, but by noon they were almost unbearable. I got to the show at 9:30 when the doors opened and left at 1:45 and I still didn't see everything. There was demonstrations, mini workshops, cake decorators signing their books, live competitions, and then there were the sales stalls..... oh the sales stalls!

If you've ever wanted a specific shade of lustre dust or holographic glitter this was your place. I ended up taking a zillion pictures on my iPhone (sorry for the poor quality!), so I'll post them here and let them speak for themselves.

Cute little cupcake cases

How do you decide on a glitter or dust??

Can I tempt you with some sprinkles?

Cake balls made super easy! Make up to 28 at a time!

Mini wedding cakes inside push pop containers - too cute!

Gorgeous Cake by Zoe Clark

Look at that piping!

There were some absolutely AMAZING contest cakes. ** I must apologise for the influx of "man themed" cakes - I was sending pictures of them to my husband who was at home watching our son Jayden.

This one was made of chocolate!!

The detail on this cake was incredible. No wonder it won 1st place in its category.

This Samurai cake was massive!

Nintendo anyone?

Strangely, this Gremlins cake was probably one of my favourite out of all the cakes at the event. The attention to detail was absolutely amazing. From glass like eyes, to Gizmo's finger nails and even the torn edge of the paper note - complete with "water spill". This cake definitely deserved it's Gold award.

And finally after over 4 hours of hard core cake decoration shopping, I came away a very happy camper!

Did you go to the show? If so, what did you think about it, and what did you buy???

Coconut Ice

2012-04-14T00:36:00.002+01:00

My how time flies! It seems like just yesterday that I was eight months pregnant and in the kitchen whipping up numerous batches of blue treats for my baby shower. I know I've told you several times either here, on twitter or on facebook that I'd share the recipes with you, but it's now eight months later and I realise that I've not shared any of them with you!

Well let me put a stop to that right now!

The first baby blue treat I made for my baby shower was Coconut Ice which is a retro UK sweet that's traditionally pink, not blue. I'd never even tried it before, but I loved the way it looked when I first saw it on Pinterest.

The other thing I loved about this Coconut Ice was just how easy it was to make - it only has 4 ingredients! Oh so simple!

Coconut Ice is a sweet and chewy coconut square that lasts a week or so when stored in the fridge. I've been told by several friends that this recipe tastes just like the real stuff they remember from their childhood.

Coconut Ice

Recipe by Two Little Dickie Birds

Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups (560g) Icing Sugar

2 1/2 cups (200g) Shredded (Desiccated) Coconut

395g Can Sweetened Condensed Milk

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Food colouring (traditionally pink, but you can use any colour you feel like)

Instructions:

1. Line the base and sides of a deep (4cm+) 19cm square dish with plastic cling wrap

2. Sift the icing sugar into large bowl. Stir in the coconut, condensed milk and vanilla extract.
3. Press half the mixture firmly into the base of the pan. Work the food colouring into the remaining mixture, kneading well in order to distribute the colour. Press the coloured layer evenly over the white layer.

4. Refrigerate for 3 hours or until firm. Remove the coconut ice from tray, peel away the cling wrap, and cut into squares. The coconut ice will keep for a week if stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

And if your wondering about the cute little stuffed dog in the pictures, it was one of several that my husbands cousin made to help decorate the baby shower. I think they were Kath Kidston designs that she got from a craft magazine. Pretty cute huh?

Making Your Own Easter Chocolates

2012-04-06T14:54:00.001+01:00

A couple of weeks ago while I was away on holiday introducing my 7 month old son to his grandparents in Canada, the lovely folks over at Lakeland contacted me to see if I'd like to try some of their new Easter chocolate making supplies. Heck yeah! I love making my own chocolate, and used to do it all of the time back in Canada. In fact, one of the places on my "to go list" while I was back home was my local cake and chocolate supply store so I could pick up some chocolate making supplies. So you know what that means - obviously the people at Lakeland are mind readers!

What a nice surprise it was coming home to a big box full of chocolate making goodies! There were several different chocolate moulds - little ducks (complete with bow ties), bunny pops, bunnies, ducks and eggs, and an extra large egg mould. There was also a chocolate melting pot, some cute little treat boxes and a super helpful silicone spatula with a built in thermometer - intended for chocolate making, but I think it would be perfect for custard type recipes. I didn't even know such a thing existed!

There was so many fun goodies to play with, it was hard to decide what to make first. I settled on the little ducks so that I could play around with the coloured Wilton candy melts that I had accumulated over the past few months.

The green duck mould is a Lakeland exclusive. The ducks themselves were quite a bit larger than the ones in the mixed Easter shape mould (containing bunnies, ducks and eggs) by Silkomat. The design of Lakeland's green duck mould gives a more childish feel to the characters compared to the Silkomat mould. It also provides a bit more depth to the ducks as well, which means that you can have some real fun decorating the chocolates using different colours of candy melts like I did.

I often use little brushes to paint the coloured chocolates into my moulds, but I couldn't find any laying around so instead I just used some toothpicks to "paint" the small areas with the coloured candy melts and this seemed to work just fine. I used some regular chocolate in the red melting pot to fill the bunny and smaller duck moulds. It was really quite useful, although a bit small so I would have to refill it numerous times if I used it for some of the larger chocolates.

Both of these moulds had a nice smooth silicone finish on the inside which allowed for the chocolates to come away effortlessly, and also provided a smooth and shiny finish.

I packed the ducks and bunnies into the little treat boxes that Lakeland sent so I could give them for the kids at the BBQ we're going to on the weekend. Each treat box holds about 3 of the larger ducks, or 5 of the smaller bunnies.

As for the bunny pop mould.... Well to be honest the design kind of creeped me out a bit with it's squiggly mouth, so I changed the mouth design using some melted chocolate into something a little less off putting. I was also surprised to discover that the mould was made of metal. I've never seen a chocolate mould like this one before - it was almost like a teeny tiny non-stick baking pan of mini bunny heads (I forgot to take a picture of this). I made half of the bunnies using plain white chocolate melts and the other half using a combination of white melts and confetti melts. When it came time to remove the bunnies from the moulds, they didn't come out nearly as easily as the ones from the silicone moulds. In fact, out of the 6 bunnies I made only 3 came out in tact as the top layer of the other 3 stuck to the mould. If the mould was made of silicone or clear plastic it would have been flexible enough to twist and release the bunny pops. Oh well, the kids that I'm giving them to won't even notice!

The giant Easter egg mould, and trays of mini eggs were closer to the types of chocolate moulds I've used in the past. I like these types of moulds the best because they're see through which allows me to look at the bottom of the mould in order to ensure that my chocolates don't have any air bubbles in them. There's nothing worse than an air bubble on the surface of your chocolates. You can get rid of air bubbles by tapping your filled chocolate moulds on a hard surface like the counter top. Do this several times and you'll be able to see them rise to the surface and pop. This will also help to level out and spread your chocolate to all areas of the mould.

The giant and mini eggs were easy to make since I was only using one type of Chocolate. I used Waitrose own brand milk chocolate because it would taste a lot nicer than the Wilton candy melts. The only issue was that it was that the chocolate quite soft, especially considering my flat was so warm that it was hard to touch the eggs without them starting to melt. I filled my giant egg with some of the smaller eggs, a few ducks and I threw in some Easter Peanut Butter M&M eggs for a bit of added colour.

After I took these pictures I re-chilled my giant egg and made a few more ducks and chocolate mini eggs to put inside before I glued the 2 halves together with some meted chocolate. I wrapped a blue sheer ribbon around the egg to hide where the two halves met, which really polished off the look. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture! I didn't use the thermo spatula this time, but I can definitely see it coming in handy for loads of other things so I will let you know how I get on with it soon!

Thanks again to Lakeland for letting me have a play around with all their fun Easter stuff! I had a great time making these chocolate, and my family and friends will no doubt have a great time eating them!

Easter Egg Surprise Cakes

2012-04-04T22:38:00.001+01:00

What kid doesn't love Easter? With the promise of dozens of little chocolate eggs left scattered around the house, Easter is like a pastel version of Halloween. You're pretty much guaranteed to get a whack load of chocolate, but you don't even need to go knocking on doors to get it!

When I was a kid one of my favourite things to do around the Easter holidays (in addition to eating chocolate), was dying Easter eggs. There was nothing funner than mixing up mugs of coloured water and dunking plain boring white eggs into the dye, only to watch them emerge moments later looking fun and colourful. Within a half hour period we would have a dozen or more hardboiled eggs lined up on the table in a rainbow of colours. What fun! I'm sure what wasn't fun was the fact that my parents were stuck with a basket full of hard boiled eggs to eat (I didn't like hard boiled back then!)

Photo source

So when my first Easter in the UK rolled around a few years ago, I decided to try and re-create the fun I had as a kid and dye some Easter eggs. To my surprise I could not find white eggs anywhere! I mean no where. I called around to all my local grocery stores, free range egg farms, specialty farm shops, and even Selfridges in London and no one sold white eggs. Except for duck eggs, and I didn't want a dozen hardboiled duck eggs hanging around. Even if they were in pretty colours. After an exhaustive search across the greater London area I discovered that white eggs are pretty much an extinct species in the UK. It all comes down to a hyped up urban legend way back in the 1970's that brown eggs were healthier than white eggs. Lies I tell you! All lies!! White eggs eventually fell out of favour here, which means that the chickens that lay white eggs are no longer kept in the UK - so no more white eggs! :-(

I've since been told that Whole Foods in Kensington, and now Selfridges stock white eggs around Easter for Americans (and Canadians!) so they can dye them just like they do at home.

I haven't had the time to actually get to Whole Food or Selfridges this year, but I still wanted to make some pretty coloured eggs for Easter so I came up with a solution. Last year I had the idea to bake cake inside eggs. Yes, that's right. I baked cake inside of egg shells. I got the inspiration for my egg cakes from baking cake inside of oranges - something I used to do when I was a kid in girl guides. This year I went one step further, and instead of baking just a boring white cake inside of my eggs I decided to dye my batter pretty colours in order to fill my coloured Easter egg void.

I loved the way these turned out! Just by looking at them you'd never guess that they weren't your regular run of the mill brown egg. Only up closer inspection will you find the hole in the bottom of the egg where I poured the cake batter. Try and crack them, and you'll be in for an even bigger surprise!

These eggs are really fun and easy to make, but they are a bit time consuming to empty out before you can fill them with cake batter. I decided to try out a white cake recipe from a new cupcake book that I had just bought. While I did really like the flavour and texture of the cupcake (I made a dozen egg cakes and used the rest of the batter for cupcakes), the batter itself was a bit thicker than I had imagined which meant that it was a bit tricky to actually get into the egg - but I came up with a solution for that (I'll explain below).

What I think the best part of these cake eggs is (aside from the fact that they're cake filled eggs) is that they're basically a mini cake in it's own container! How cute would these be to include in your kids lunch box! They'd probably think you'd gone mental packing a hard boiled egg inside their lunch and not a cookie or something like that. Come to think of it, I should have got this post up for April Fools Day! (Lack of sleep and a 2 week holiday have resulted in a bit of a blog delay). Oh well, ho hum. Make them now and surprise your friends and family with them this week instead.

To make these cake eggs you'll need a few things - eggs (duh!), something sharp to poke a hole in the shell (I started off using the tip of a meat thermometer, but found a corkscrew worked better), food dye, and cake batter either from scratch or a mix. You decide.

Easter Egg Surprise Cakes

Classic White Cupcakes

Adapted from the Betty Crocker Big Book of Cupcakes

Ingredients:

2 3/4 Cups (345g) Flour

3 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Salt

3/4 Cup (170g) Butter

1 2/3 Cups (375g) Sugar

5 Egg Whites

2 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract (I used Coconut Extract)

1 1/4 Cups (295ml) Whole Milk

12 Eggs (or more if you'd like), emptied

Food colourings of your choice

Instructions:

1. First you'll need to empty out your eggs. Start by holding a raw egg firmly in your hand with the bottom (the wider end) facing up. Using a corkscrew or something else sharp and pointy, carefully but firmly start to make a hole in your egg by twisting / "drilling" into the shell. Once you create a small hole, you can gently pry little pieces of the shell up and off of the egg until you've got a hole wide enough to get your batter into.

Next you'll have to actually empty the egg. Do this by holding the egg upside down over a bowl** and give it a few god shakes. The egg white inside will start to drool out of the hole. You can basically pull the liquid egg out from the shell by poking a toothpick through the liquid white dangling out of the egg and pull down. Do this a few more times, give the egg another shake or two and it should be totally emptied out. Set your egg aside and continue to empty all of your eggs in the same way.

Once all of your eggs have been emptied, give them a rinse by holding them under the tap and filling them with water. Cover the hole with the tip of your finger, give them a few shakes and dump the water out. Turn your eggs upside down and set them aside in a large bowl, or on top of a tea towel so all of the water runs out.

**Tip: To avoid wasting the eggs, use a few small bowls and empty 2 - 3 eggs into each bowl. This makes them easier to use in recipes later on. Have a think about what you'll be making in the next day or so, and portion out your eggs accordingly.

2. Preheat oven to 350ºF (175ºC). In order to prepare your cupcake pan to hold the eggs, you'll need to twist strips of tin foil into circles and place them in the bottom of each section of the pan. This will ensure that your eggs stay in place and don't lean on the side of the pan. Line another cupcake pan with regular cupcake liners. Set both pans aside.

3. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt and set aside. In a large bowl, beat the butter for 30 seconds using an electric mixer. Gradually add the sugar 1/3 cup at a time, beating well after each addition. Continue to beat for 4 minutes longer. Add the whites, one at a time and beat well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. On low speed, add the flour mixture and milk alternating between the two. Beat until just combined.

4. Decide on how many colours of cake you would like to make, and set out a small bowl for each colour. Assuming you are making 4 colours, pour about a 1/3 cup of batter into each bowl and add a few drops of food colouring to each until you achieve your desired colour. Pour each bowl of coloured batter into a piping bag (or ziplock bag with the corner cut off). Fill your hollow eggs by inserting the tip of the piping bag into the hole and squeezing the batter into the egg so it fills the egg 1/2 - 2/3 full. Place the filled eggs into your prepared cupcake pan, hole side up. Use the rest of the batter to make regular cupcakes (unless you want to make more egg cakes!)

5. Bake the egg cakes for about 10 minutes, or until they're done - you can insert a toothpick into them if your not sure. Bake your regular cupcakes for 18 - 20 minutes. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes before moving to wire racks.

**Don't panic if the batter overflows from your egg cakes and bakes onto the outside of the shell. You can easily peel the baked cake off the outside of the egg shell, and use a damp cloth to wipe off any remaining cake and crumbs. Some of mine looked more like egg volcano science experiments before I wiped them clean.

That's it really! These are a bit time consuming because you have to hollow out the shells, but they're pretty cool once they're baked. Hand them out to your unsuspecting family and friends, and watch their amazement as they crack open and peel these little cakes!

I took my egg cakes one step further and used a straw to hollow out the centre of a few of them so I could fill them with a lemon curd yolk! You could do the same with icing if you wanted, but I thought a lemony yolk was a nice surprise.

I'm Not Irish, But You Can Kiss Me Anyway!

2012-03-14T21:58:00.002Z

This Saturday is St. Patricks Day, which pretty much gives you free reign to wear anything green, drink anything green and eat anything green. To be honest, I expected St. Patricks Day to be a much bigger deal in the UK than it is in North America, but since moving here I've discovered it's the other way around - especially in the US. Step into any American shopping mall and almost every store is decked out with green shamrocks and creepy looking Leprechauns, but not in the UK. Don't get me wrong, they do sell the odd bit of tacky green paraphernalia here, but there's not an entire aisle devoted to it like in the US. But the one green thing that I've heard is pretty plentiful on both continents is green beer. Perhaps it's just because of the tension and history between Ireland and the rest of the UK (which I'll admit right now, I really don't know that much about), but in reality it's probably just because Americans love their holidays, and corporate America loves marketing them! And you know what? I love the fact that it's like that. I like the fact that any excuse for a holiday also provides you with the excuse to make loads of fun crafts, special themed desserts, and dress like a total dork if you want to.

When I was a kid one of my favourite things to eat during the first couple weeks of March was the green mint milk shake from Mc Donald's that was oh so cleverly named "The Shamrock Shake." We don't have the Shamrock Shake in the UK (and I very much doubt they have it in Ireland), but I had one last year when we were visiting Texas and it was still as creamy and minty as I remember them to be. So when I thought about what I could make to celebrate St. Patricks day my first thought was a recreation of the Shamrock shake, but then I thought of something even better! A St. Patricks Day Baked Alaska! It's like Ireland and America collided to create this fantastic dessert!

I had actually planned on making 2 versions of my baked Alaska, but that proved more difficult than I had anticipated thanks to the poor selection of ice cream available here. I can't tell you how many stores I went to searching for "just the right" chocolate chip mint ice cream, only to come away with plain old vanilla. You see, there's very few varieties of ice cream (or anything really) compared to the selection in the US (if you've been following my blog for a while, you'll know I have a few issues with the lack of selection in the UK). I managed to find a few different brands that made their own version of chocolate chip mint ice cream, but most either had no colouring (UK manufactures really steer clear of artificial colours and flavourings), or were green with chocolate fudge swirls, which wouldn't work either for reasons I'll explain below.

In the end I decided to make my own chocolate chip mint ice cream, but since I didn't have the time or ingredients to make it from scratch, I just made it using a good quality vanilla ice cream. Making your own chocolate chip mint ice cream is really easy - you'll just need to add some green food colouring, mint extract and mini chocolate chips to some softened vanilla ice cream.

I had also planned on making an Irish Cream version of my Baked Alaska, but only a few grocery stores sell the Bailey's Irish Cream Haagen Daz ice cream, and I couldn't find it in stock at any of them. Needless to say, I was really pleased with the way my chocolate chip mint mini Baked Alaska's turned out. The chocolate chip mint ice cream tasted exactly the way I wanted it to (just like a Shamrock Shake!), and the marshmallowy Italian meringue top was so light and fluffy! I can't quite believe how good these were, and how easy they were to make!

Individual Chocolate Chip Mint Baked Alaska's

(serves 4)

Ingredients:

1 tray of Brownies (from scratch or a box, it doesn't matter)

Chocolate Chip Mint Ice Cream or

6 Vanilla Ice Cream, plus mint extract, green food colouring & mini chocolate chips

2 Egg Whites (Large)

5oz (145g) Sugar

2 3/4 tsp (40ml) Water

Instructions:

1. Line a baking pan with greased foil, and prepare and bake your brownies according to your favourite recipe, or the instructions on the box. I just used a boxed mix because I was short on time. Cool and set aside.

2. Soften your ice cream to soft serve consistency. If you're making your own chocolate chip mint ice cream, put 6 large scoops of vanilla ice cream into a bowl and let soften until you can stir it (soft serve consistency). Once softened, add 3-4 drops of mint extract, a few squirts of green colouring and a 1/4 cup of mini chocolate chips and stir until well combined. Give it a taste, and if you feel like adding more flavouring, colouring or chocolate chips, then now's the time to do so. Spoon your ice cream into 4 silicone baking cups and put them in the freezer for a few hours to firm up.

3. Using a round cookie cutter the same diameter as the widest part of your silicone baking cup, cut out 4 rounds from your tray of brownies. What you do with the rest of the brownies is up to you - I won't tell! After your ice cream cups are frozen solid, peel back the silicone baking cups and pop out the ice cream. Place the ice cream cups on top of your brownie rounds, and put them back in the freezer while you prepare your meringue.

4. Pre-heat your oven to 450ºF (225ºC). Place the sugar and water in a small sauce pan, give it a few stirs and then boil until the mixture reaches 240ºF (116ºC) also known as soft ball stage. While the sugar is cooking, start whipping the egg whites in en electric mixer. They should be at soft peak stage by the time your sugar reaches soft ball stage. Once your sugar has reached soft ball stage, turn the mixer to low speed and slowly pour the sugar into the egg whites in a slow stream. Once all of the sugar mixture has been added, turn the mixer back on to high speed and whip until the meringue has reached stiff peak stage. They should be shiny, and the bottom of the bowl should be no longer be hot.

5. Take your individual ice cream & brownie things (what would you call these?) out of the freezer, put them on a foil lined baking sheet and cover with your Italian meringue. You can do this 2 ways: either spoon the meringue overtop of the ice cream and smooth it out with the back of a spoon or small spatula, or use a piping bag and pipe the meringues all around the ice cream and brownie. Whichever method you choose, just make sure to fully cover the ice cream with meringue so that it's fully insulated in the oven. Bake in the oven for 4-6 minutes until the meringues are nice and golden brown. Serve immediately, and enjoy!

** These individual baked Alaska's keep in the freezer uncovered for up to 5 days. Simply take them out of them freezer and bake as instructed above. This makes them perfect to prepare ahead for a dinner party!

Caramel Apple Cream Cheese Crackle Cake (or Pie?)

2012-03-08T17:12:00.002Z

Do you like cake? Do you like pie? I like both, and if you do too then you'll like this cake (or pie - or whatever you want to call it). I've had the idea for this cake (I'm calling it a cake) for a few months now, but only just got around to making it last week. It turned out slightly different than I had imagined it would, and in the end the line between cake and pie was slightly blurred. It's tall like a cake, but has a crust like a pie, and is super ooey gooey inside!

I've been on a bit of a caramel apple kick lately which is kinda weird because I usually only think about caramel apple combinations in the fall, and it's practically Easter!

I whipped up my latest creation imagining the end result as something slightly different than what it actually turned out to be like, but needless to say I was pretty pleased with the results.

My cake has a solid crunchy cookie type crust on the bottom and has a layer of cinnamon apples and then a creamy gooey dulce de leche caramel filling. Yum! But beware! This cake is sweet. It's super duper sweet, so don't cut your slices too big.

Caramel Apple Cream Cheese Crackle Cake

Cookie Crust

2 Cups (250g) Flour

1 1/2 (335g) Cups Sugar

2 tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

1 egg

1/2 Cup (114g) Butter, melted

2 Tbs Milk

1. Grease a 9 inch round Spring Form pan. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt. Next, add in the egg, melted butter, and milk. Using a spoon or an electric fitted with a paddle attachment, mix the ingredients together until it forms a dough.

2. Press the dough evenly in the bottom of the Spring Form pan, and set aside.

Apple Layer

4 Cups Apples, sliced

1 Cup (225g) sugar

7oz (200ml) Water

3 - 4 Tbsp Corn Startch

1 tsp Cinnamon

1/4 tsp Nutmeg

1/4 tsp Salt

1. Combine the water sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg in a large heavy pot, and and bring to a boil. Boil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly - the sauce should become slightly thickened. Add in the apples, cover and simmer until apples are tender, about 5 minutes. Cool and set aside.

Dulce de Leche Caramel Layer

8 oz (225g) Cream Cheese, softened

1 cup (250ml) Dulce de Leche

3 Eggs

1/2 Cup (114g) Butter, melted

3.5 Cups (450g) Icing Sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF (175ºC). In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and Dulce de Leche together until smooth. Add the eggs, vanilla, and butter and beat together.

2. To assemble the cake, layer the apples on top of the cookie base so that it's completely covered.

3. Gently spoon the dulce de leche mixture over the top of the apples until you've used all of the mixture. *If you pour the mixture directly from the bowl onto the apples the pressure of the mixture may shift your apples all over the place so they're no longer evenly covering the crust. Bake the cake uncovered for about 45 mins, or until it starts to brown, then cover with foil and bake for an additional 30 - 45 minutes or until the center is slightly giggly, but not runny. Once done, cool in the fridge overnight before serving.

So what do you think? Is this a cake? Or a pie?

Sainsbury's Cookie Review

2012-02-24T11:00:00.002Z

Way back in August when I was still 9 months pregnant, the fabulous folks over at Sainsbury's contacted me to see if I'd like to try out some of the new cookies they were launching. They thought it might be nice for me to have some cookies on hand to offer my guests who were going to come and visit my new baby. How nice of them to realise that I wouldn't have the time to bake anything. Heck, it's now 6 months later and I still barely have time to bake!

I was thrilled (and slightly relieved) when I received a big box containing 6 different types of cookies. Seriously, isn't that every pregnant women's dream??? There were Butterscotch Shortbread Thins, Mini Milk Chocolate Butter Biscuits, Giant Raspberry and White Chocolate Cookies, Lemon Curd Shortbread Sandwiches, Raspberry Whoopie Pie Biscuits, and the ever popular Pink Wafer.

So what did I think?

Giant Raspberry and White Chocolate Cookies & Butterscotch Shortbread Thins

Well, let's start with the Butterscotch Shortbread Thins (£1.59). As the name suggests, these were a thinner shortbread cookie/biscuit that had crunchy melted butterscotch bits scattered throughout. I'm usually not a fan of shortbread cookies, but these were different as the whole cookie offered up a nice crunch. These wouldn't be my first choice when it comes to a cookie, as I usually like something a bit richer and more decadent, but if I was looking for a nice cookie to savour with a cup of tea, these would be it.

The Mini Milk Chocolate Butter Biscuits (£1.00) were more my thing. Mainly because they had chocolate on them. Have I mentioned before that I like chocolate? :-P These cookies were perfect for sharing. Although they came in a fairly small bag, there were a lot of little cookies crammed in there. These are the type of cookie you'd keep in your office desk and much on when you get a craving or need a little pick me up. Or, if you're feeling generous you could share them as well. There's plenty to go around.

The Giant Raspberry and White Chocolate Cookies (£1.99) had a really nice flavour to them. What I liked the best was the suggestion on the package to pop them in the microwave for a few seconds just before you eat them. The result is a warm and soft cookie with a pleasant raspberry and white chocolate flavour. Although I did really like the raspberry and white chocolate combination, I think I would have preferred the triple chocolate version (Giant Extremely Chocolatey Cookies) even more. You know, cuz I like chocolate!

Pink Wafers & Lemon Curd Shortbread Sandwhiches

Then there were the Lemon Curd Shortbread Sandwhiches (£1.99). I couldn't wait to try these, but unfortunately I was a bit disappointed with them. They looked delicious, but my husband and I both agreed that there just wasn't enough lemon curd in the middle to pack a nice lemony flavour. I think they would be better if there was a little less shortbread and a little more lemon filling. I did like the sugary tops though.

The second cookie to have raspberry in it were the Raspberry Whoopie Pie Biscuits (£1.49). This name threw me off a bit, as I thought that the biscuit would have been soft like a whoopie pie, not crunchy and crumbly like it was. The whoopie pie biscuits were raspberry flavoured swirl cookies with a vanilla filling sandwiched in between. Surprisingly my berry hating husband really liked these. While I thought they were good, I don't think they deserve to be called whoopie pies when they're really just a fancy sandwich cookie.

Finally were the classic Pink Wafers (£0.55). These were peachy coloured layered wafers with a vanilla cream in between each layer. You can't really go wrong with wafer cookies. Although these were also good, but I would have liked them to have a pinker colour and maybe filled with a strawberry cream rather than vanilla.

Thanks again to Sainsbury's for these delicious cookies. My guests loved them, as did my husband and I. Most of the cookies above are available in a variety of different flavours, so check in store or online to see if they have your favourite flavour combination.

Happy munching!

Snickers Brownies

2012-02-22T00:11:00.001Z

A few months ago I was at my local grocery store, and noticed that multi packs of Snickers bars were on sale. I bought some. Not because I was craving one, but purely because they were a good deal. I'm a sucker that way. I know - BAD!

It's rare that I actually decide to munch on a candy bar, so it wasn't surprising that the pack of Snickers sat on my baking shelf forgotten and unopened for weeks. It wasn't until I started tiding up that I found them, and figured I should bake something in order to use them up. Alongside the pack of snickers, I found a box of brownie mix from a previous trip to the States. I figured I might as well use that up as well. So, a bag of Snickers + a box of brownie mix = Snickers bar brownies! Why the heck not!?

I'm going to be honest - I wasn't sure I was actually even going to like these brownies. Why? Because when it comes to baked goods, there's two things I hate - nuts and raisins. Don't get me wrong - I love nuts (and sometimes raisins), but there's just some things that don't need any added extras. Like brownies and cookies. Ok, I take that back - added chocolate is definitely allowed! But yeah, nuts and raisins - those are a no no in my books.

Haha - I found this on Pinterest

Anyways, I figured that since I like Snickers bars, and since the peanuts were accompanied by a good portion of chocolate, my brownies would probably turn out just fine. And they did. I really liked them. And I think you'll like them too.

Snickers Brownies

Ingredients:

8 Snickers bars, full sized

1 Box of Brownie mix, plus required ingredients (or your favourite brownie recipe)

Caramel or Toffee dessert sauce

Instructions:

These are super simple to make. Start off by making the brownie batter according to the directions on the box (or your recipe). Pour half of it in an 8x8 square baking pan that has been greased or lined with foil, and then place the Snickers bars on top of the brownie batter so they're spaced evenly apart. You may need to cut a few of them in half so they all fit. Next, pour a generous dose of caramel/toffee topping over the Snickers bars, before pouring the other half of the brownie batter on top.

Bake according to the instructions on the box or your recipe. I prefer my brownies to be extra gooey, so I usually take them out about 5-10 minutes early.

Ta-da! A simple twist on the regular chocolate brownie!

Red Velvet Cake Batter Ice Cream

2012-02-13T20:52:00.001Z

So tomorrow's Valentine's Day, but unless you've been living under a rock I'm sure you already knew that. But maybe you forgot - so let this be a subtle reminder.

Have you sorted out what your doing tomorrow? Flowers, chocolates, a romantic dinner? I'm afraid I can't help you with any of those, but I can help you make a really delicious dessert! Remember that birthday cake batter ice cream I made last month? Well I've updated the recipe for Valentines Day and I'm sharing it with you. So before you read any further, I suggest you go get your ice cream maker out of storage and get it chilling in the freezer!

When you think of a Valentine's Day dessert, what automatically comes to mind? I'm just going to assume you said Red Velvet, cuz that's what I'd think of too. These days it seems like everyone is doing red velvet "something." I've seen red velvet pancakes, red velvet martinis, red velvet crepes, red velvet fudge, and red velvet brownies. You name it, I've seen it. Heck, I've even got an entire board dedicated to the Red Velvet creations I've come across on Pinterest (check it out, and feel free to follow me!) I've come across one or two red velvet ice cream recipes as well, but nothing at all like this one!

Unlike the other red velvet ice cream recipes I've seen, my version incorporates red velvet cake mix which gives it's rich red velvet colour and taste, but it's also got big chunks of red velvet cake AND swirls of cream cheese icing inside. But wait! There's more! I've also topped it off with even more gooey cream cheese icing. Oh, and some cute little heart sprinkles just as an added reminder that it's Valentine's Day.

So do you want to know how to make my Red Velvet Cake Batter Ice Cream? Well, most importantly you'll need a box of Red Velvet Cake Mix (UK residents, you can order the Red Velvet Cake Mix here, here, or here.) You'll also need a few other things, so check out the recipe below.

Red Velvet Cake Batter Ice Cream

Serves 2 - feel free to double the recipe, but my ice cream maker only holds a small amount.

Ingredients:

1/2 Cup (125ml) Whole Milk

1/4 Cup (113g) White Sugar

1 Egg Yolk

1 tsp Vanilla

1 Cup (250ml) Double Cream or Whipping Cream

1/2 Cup Red Velvet Cake Mix, sifted

1 Cup Cubed Frozen Red Velvet Cake**

Cream Cheese Icing, divided (recipe below)

Sprinkles to garnish

Cream Cheese Icing:

4.5oz (125g) Cream Cheese

1 Cup (130g) Icing Sugar

1/2 tsp Vanilla

Instructions:

1. First you'll need to make your cream cheese icing which will be used as the swirl inside the ice cream, as well as the topping. Combine the cream cheese, icing sugar and vanilla in a medium sized bowl until smooth. The icing should be slightly runny, but not watery. Set aside, until it's ready to be used in step 4.

2. To make the ice cream mixture, pour the cream and vanilla into a medium sized bowl (one that has a lid), sift in the cake mix and whisk until well combined, set aside. In a small saucepan whisk the milk, sugar, and egg yolk together until well blended. Cook the mixture over medium-low heat until stirring constantly until it reaches 160ºF (70ºC).

3. Remove the mixture from the heat and pour it into the cream and cake mix mixture. Whisk together until well combined. Put the lid on the bowl, and place in the refrigerator overnight or for several hours until the liquid is cold.

4. Pour the chilled mixture into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer's directions until it reaches "soft-serve" consistency. Gently stir in the frozen red velvet cake chunks. Pour 1/2 of the of the ice cream mixture into a plastic container (one that has a lid), and then swirl a few spoons of the cream cheese icing into the mixture. Pour the other half of the ice cream mixture on top, and then swirl in a few more spoonfuls of the cream cheese icing. Place the ice cream in the freezer for several hours or overnight until it has firmed up a bit.

5. When you're ready to serve the ice cream, put a few scoops in a bowl, and top it off with a few more spoonfuls of the cream cheese icing and some sprinkles. Enjoy!

** I found it was easiest to divide my red velvet cake mix into three equal parts. Since the cake mix calls for 3 eggs, it's easy to divide the extra required ingredients (oil & water) into three so you can just bake 1/3 of the cake. I baked my cake in a 8 inch round pan, and froze the round once it was baked. Then once the cake is frozen, it's really very easy to cut into cubes and then refrozen until you need it for your ice cream.

Oops! After taking the time to photograph my ice cream it got a little melty!

English Cheesecake Company Review

2012-02-12T16:28:00.003Z

Way back in July I was contacted by the lovely folks over at the English Cheesecake Company, wanting to know if I’d be interested in trying out one of their cheesecakes. Um yeah!!! How could I turn down cheesecake? Is that even possible? Especially considering I was 8 months pregnant at the time. I had arranged for the cheesecake to be delivered to me in August so I could share it with my friends at my baby shower (I’ve still got to get those posts up btw!).

I couldn’t wait to try one of the cheesecakes from the English Cheesecake Company, as I’d heard a lot about them before over the past few years. One of my blogging friends Gem, from Cupcake Crazy Gem even works there - how cool is that!! They’ve got some pretty cool flavours with some pretty inventive names like Cookie Dough Collision, Choccy Woccy Doughnut Cheesecake (yes, it has doughnuts inside the cheesecake!) and Alphonso Mango Coconut Cabana, just to name a few.

Sea Salted Caramel Cheesecake

Despite a bit of a hiccup with delivery (due to a fault by the courier, not the English Cheesecake Company) I received an absolutely delicious cheesecake just in time for my baby shower.

The cheesecake I was sent was called Honey I’m Comb Golden Nugget (HICGN), and as the name suggests it was loaded on top with chunks of honeycomb candy and even more chocolate covered honeycomb pieces. The inside of the HICGN cheesecake is studded with pieces of chocolate covered honeycomb and has a delicious biscuit base that was much thicker than found on any cheesecake before. The staff at the English Cheesecake Company were even nice enough to personalise my cheesecake with a chocolate disc that read “It’s a Boy” (something you can request to have done for birthdays, etc).

So what did I think of my first cheesecake from the English Cheesecake Company (ECC)?

Well, lets start from the beginning with delivery. Like I mentioned before, there was an issue with delivery. Basically the courier failed to deliver my cheesecake on the day it was shipped (a Friday), but luckily my baby shower was on the Sunday so I still had another 2 days before I needed it. I had been in contact with the ECC to let them know that the cheesecake hadn’t been delivered, so the next day they promptly sent out a new one for me which arrived a few hours later. Talk about great customer service! A few hours later the original cheesecake also arrived, but it had been sitting in the couriers warehouse overnight and arrived smooshed and inedible. Thank goodness for that second one!

This was the first time I had ever had a frozen food item shipped to me, and I was really impressed by how well it was packaged. The cheesecake was shipped in an insulated styrofoam box with a few packages of dry ice to keep it frozen. My only gripe was that although there was a tall plastic sleeve around the outside of the cheesecake, there was nothing covering the top of it, so some of the honeycomb pieces on the top of the cake had shifted and some had been shaken off into the box, so I had to replace them as best I could when I unpacked it.

The instructions that came with the cheesecake said to keep it in the freezer, and then take it out of the box and thaw a few hours before serving, but I didn’t have enough space in my freezer to do that so I kept it in the fridge overnight. Unfortunately because I did this, when I took it out of the box to display the next day condensation had built up in the box as well as on the chocolate disc which slightly discoloured it (you can see this in the photos). I don’t think this would have been a problem if I didn’t have the chocolate disc on top, so if you plan on ordering a cheesecake without a disc then I really wouldn’t worry too much.

As for the actual flavour and texture of the cheesecake, I thought they were terrific. One thing I didn’t really realise until a couple of years ago is that unlike the North American cheesecakes I’m used to, UK cheesecakes are not baked so they have a slightly different texture, and often aren’t as tall. This cheesecake was light and fluffy, and I really loved the added crunch of the honeycomb pieces inside. Normally I’m not a fan of really thick biscuit bases, but this one was really nice. It wasn’t too crumbly, which meant I could easily get it onto my fork and into my mouth. My guests also thought the cheesecake was delicious, and when my husband got home and had a slice he couldn’t stop raving about it.

So would I order another cheesecake from the English Cheesecake Company? Yes! I would, as I thought it was really delicious and I honestly think that the delivery mix up was a one of. The English Cheesecake Company has so many delicious flavours to choose from, that I’d have a hard time picking which one to get. They’re also a good size, and would accurately serve the 12 people stated on the website.

Eton Mess Strawberry Cheesecake

New flavours are constantly being developed and introduced, as well as seasonal flavours and ones special occasions. With Valentines Day and Mothers Day quickly approaching, one of these cheesecakes would make the perfect dessert to serve.

Birthday Cake Batter Ice Cream

2012-01-08T23:53:00.000Z

I created this ice cream to help kick off the start (or birth) of 2012. I’ve got good vibes about this year you know! Not only is the ice cream flavoured of birthday cake, but it’s got birthday cake chunks AND buttercream pieces swirled throughout! You can’t tell me that doesn’t sound AMAZING!!

Unfortunately 2012 didn’t start out exactly as I’d imagined. I’d planned to spend New Years Day making this birthday cake ice cream, and then telling you guys all about it. I had the liquid ice cream mixture chilling in the fridge overnight, so it was ready to be poured into my brand new ice cream maker (I’d won it way back in the summer from Tesco Supermarket via a contest they were having on Twitter, but haven’t had a chance to use it until now.) Jayden had just woken up from his nap, and upon picking him up I noticed he was incredibly hot and had a temperature of 39.3ºC (102.7ºF). To make a long story short, we ended up spending New Years Day in the emergency room at our local hospital before being transferred upstairs to the children's unit for another 3 days. They weren’t sure what exactly was causing his temperature, but every time they got it back down it would return within a few hours. They’d ruled out all the minor infections and viruses, so decided it was best to test him for meningitis. Thankfully the tests came back negative, and 2 days later his temperature returned to normal. We were finally able to return home on the evening of January 4, and I’m pleased to report that Jayden is doing much better. I couldn’t have asked for better care from the Dr’s and nurses. I had a lot of spare time on my hands while we were in the hospital, so luckily I was able to work on my Mint Oreo Cupcake post while we were there.

With Jayden doing much better, I wanted to give my ice cream another try. I whipped up a fresh new batch of the ice cream mixture, chilled it overnight and then poured it into my ice cream maker. I watched the paddle turn the liquidy mixture into a nice smooth creamy ice cream. There’s something oddly gratifying about watching ice cream churn. I couldn’t keep my eyes off the machine!

After the ice cream reached the proper consistency, I stirred in the chunks of birthday cake and buttercream icing before transferring it to a plastic container to firm up in the freezer for a few hours.

I cannot tell you how good this ice cream is!!! It reminds me of my birthday parties when I was a kid. My mom would make the most amazing character cakes using these shaped Wilton pans, and then we’d eat it with a nice big scoop of ice cream. That’s what this ice cream tastes like! A childhood birthday party all rolled up in a single scoop of cold creamy deliciousness! YUM!

Birthday Cake Batter Ice Cream

Serves 2 - feel free to double the recipe, but my ice cream maker only holds a small amount.

Ingredients:

1/2 Cup Whole Milk

1/4 Cup White Sugar

1 Egg Yolk

1 tsp Vanilla

1 Cup Double Cream or Whipping Cream

1/2 Cup Yellow Cake Mix, sifted (I used Betty Crocker French Vanilla)

1 Cup Cubed Cake

1/3 Cup Buttercream Icing

Sprinkles to garnish

Instructions:

1. To prepare your buttercream to be used in the ice cream, put a small amount in a piping bag and pipe buttercream lines onto a cutting board covered in cling film. Put the cutting board in the freezer for an hour or two so the icing can freeze. Using a sharp knife, cut the buttercream icing lines into 1/2 inch (approx 1cm) pieces, transfer to a small dish and pop them back in the freezer until you’re ready to use them in step 4.

2. Pour the cream and vanilla into a medium sized bowl (one that has a lid), sift in the cake mix and whisk until well combined, set aside. In a small saucepan whisk the milk, sugar, and egg yolk together until well blended. Cook the mixture over medium-low heat until stirring constantly until it reaches 160ºF (70ºC).

3. Remove the mixture from the heat and pour it into the cream and cake mix mixture. Whisk together until well combined. Put the lid on the bowl, and place in the refrigerator or freezer overnight or for several hours until the liquid is cold.

4. Pour the chilled mixture into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer's directions until it reaches "soft-serve" consistency. Gently stir in the birthday cake chunks , and buttercream pieces. Transfer ice cream to a plastic container with a lid, and place in the freezer for several hours or overnight until the ice cream has firmed up a bit.

I’m so pleased with my ice cream invention and how easy it was to make, I can’t wait create more delicious flavour combinations. I think I may just have to sever ties with my long standing friends Ben & Jerry. Sorry guys, but our time together may have just come to an end!

Mint Oreo Cupcakes

2012-01-04T23:24:00.001Z

I can’t tell you how long I’ve wanted to bake these cupcakes. It’s probably been close to two years, but I really can’t say for sure. The original recipe called for regular Oreo’s, but I had a package of mint Oreo cookies sitting on my baking shelf for over 6 months just screaming to be used. I’d picked them up during a recent trip to the States, knowing that they were destined to become the “star ingredient” in one of my future baking creations. I’d struggled to decide what I should make with the mint Oreos - the possibilities were endless. Milk shakes, cheesecakes, brownies, Oreo truffles, cookies, etc., but in the end the cupcakes won. It had been ages since I baked cupcakes, and ever since I saw these Oreo cupcakes online, I knew I just had to make them. I also knew that the addition of mint would make them irresistible.

These cupcakes required me to use the majority of my coveted package of mint Oreos (FYI: UK Oreo packages are a third of the size of the US package above!), something I was a little reluctant in doing. What if they didn’t turn out? I would have “wasted” my precious mint Oreos.

I’m going to be honest and say that I was actually quite hesitant about making this recipe because it said to whip the butter for a few minutes and then mix in the milk and vanilla. This resulted in a cold liquidy and lumpy buttery mess. Almost every other cupcake recipe I’ve made called for the butter to be creamed with the sugar. I continued making them, and I’m glad I did because they turned out great! The cake was a tiny bit denser than the other cupcakes I bake, but not in a bad way. It was still nice and moist, and the Oreo’s were studded throughout the cupcake. The only thing I wish I could change was that a lot of the whole Oreo’s that lined the bottom of the cupcakes stuck to the paper a little bit, which made them hard to remove from the liners. If anyone has a tip to prevent this please let me know! I was thinking that pouring a tablespoon of batter into the paper liners before placing the Oreo’s in may help?

I can’t wait to try this recipe with other Oreo flavours. Unfortunately in the UK the only flavours available are regular and chocolate, but from what I remember mint, peanut butter, golden, and seasonal varieties are all available in the US. How unfair!

Mint Oreo Cupcakes

Slightly Adapted from Beantown Baker

Ingredients:

1/2 Cup (114g) Butter, at room temperature

1 Cup (250ml) Milk

2 tsp Vanilla extract

2 1/4 Cups (280g) Flour, plus 2 Tbsp for the Oreo chunks

1 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Salt

1 2/3 Cup (375g) Sugar

3 Large Egg Whites, at room temperature

1 pkg Mint Oreo Cookies (~45 cookies)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Insert liners into a medium cupcake pan.

2. Twist apart 24 Oreos. Place the wafer with filling on it, filling side up, in the bottom of each paper liner. Cut other wafers in half. Save 24 halves to place in the frosting. Crush the other wafer halves, also for garnishing.

Cut the remaining Oreo cookies into quarters with a sharp knife. Toss with 2 Tbsp flour and set aside.

3. In a large bowl cream the butter until fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. Add the milk and vanilla and mix to combine.

4. In a separate bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

5. Add the dry ingredients to butter mixture. Mix until integrated. Stir in sugar. With an electric mixer on low speed, beat for 30 seconds. Turn the mixer up to medium speed and beat for 2 minutes. Add the egg whites. Beat for 2 more minutes. Stir in the quartered cookies.

6. Fill the cupcake lines three-quarters full. Bake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of cupcakes comes out clean. Cool cupcakes in the pan.

Mint Buttercream Icing

Ingredients:

1 Cup + 2 Tbsp (250g) Butter, room temperature

5 1/2 Cups (700g) Icing Sugar, sifted

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 - 1 tsp mint extract (depending on how strong you want it)

2 - 4 Tbsp Milk

Green food colouring (optional)

Instructions:

1. In a large mixing bowl cream the butter and a 1/2 cup (65g) of the icing sugar together until well combined. Continue to add the icing sugar to the butter mixture 1/2 a cup at a time. Once the buttercream mixture starts to get a bit stiff, add the vanilla and mint extracts, and 2 tablespoons of the milk,. Repeat these steps until all of the icing sugar is incorporated into the butter mixture. You may want to add in more milk 1 tablespoon at a time until you reach your desired consistency.

Waitrose Christmas Dessert Reviews

2011-12-23T17:16:00.001Z

I've been lucky enough to be able to review several Christmas desserts from Waitrose this year, two of which were created by UK celebrity chef Heston Blementhal. For those of you living outside the UK, or are who are just not unfamiliar with Heston, he's basically a real life Willy Wonka. His creations are like little science experiments - many of which I find a little too out there, but his creations for Waitrose are suited more to the general public.

Image source

If you live in the UK, you may remember the infamous Christmas pudding he created last year exclusively for Waitrose. It had an entire candied orange hidden inside, which infused the pudding with a delicious citrus flavour. When you cut into the pudding you also got a cross section of candied orange as well. Heston's Candied Orange Christmas Pudding sold out within days, and immediately began springing up on eBay for hundreds of pounds. The same has happened this year, although the average price seems to be between £15 - £30.

Image source

This year Heston has created several new Christmas desserts including a Chocolate Popping Candy Tart, a Chocolate and Cherry Blackforest Buche, and Puff Pastry Mince Pies With Pine Sugar Dusting.

I was fortunate enough to try out Heston's Popping Candy Tart and his Pine Scented Mince Pies, as well as a Christmas Pudding Cheesecake by Waitrose's own label.

First up I tried the Waitrose Christmas Pudding Cheesecake. I had wanted to try it ever since hearing about it at the Waitrose Christmas product launch way back in the summer. Although it wasn't available to sample on the day, I thought the concept was great. The cheesecake comes in a neat dome shape, just like a real Christmas pudding. It had a delicious graham cracker / digestive base, and the actual cheesecake bit was so light and fluffy in texture. It was loosely studded with candied orange peel, raisins and pieces of Christmas pudding, but the flavour was not too strong or overwhelming, although the chocolate topping did taste a bit boozey. My husband and I both really liked the cheesecake, partially because the Christmas pudding flavour was quite mild, making it a perfect alternative if you or your guests aren't that fond of the traditional Christmas pudding. The Waitrose Christmas Pudding Cheesecake sells for £6.99 and serves approximately 6 people.

Next I tried the popping candy tart which is described as "a tart that will literally dance on your tongue. First you will be seduced by the luxurious velvety dark chocolate that has been infused with an exotic passion fruit puree, a direct contrast to the crunchy hazelnut base. As your mouth begins to water the real surprise element begins as the popping candy begins to crackle and tingle on your tongue."

The description above is fairly accurate. The chocolate is so rich and velvety smooth, with just a hint of passion fruit, making you want to savour every last bit in your mouth. And that's when the popping candy hits you! There's just enough snap, crackle and pop to know it's there, but not so much that it's like you dumped an entire packet of the stuff into your mouth (like we all did when we were kids!). I would definitely recommend Heston's popping candy tart as a special Christmas treat. I also think it would make an even better dessert option for New Years Eve, although I'm not sure if it will still be available in stores then, but it's worth checking. Personally, I think the only drawback to the popping candy tart would be the price. Maybe it's just me, but £16.99 for a 10 serving tart seems a little steep for a prepared supermarket dessert. I guess it just depends on how much you like your friends and family :-)

Lastly I tried Heston's pine scented mince pies, which he describes as "delicious eaten warm from the oven, and then sprinkled with pine sugar for a Christmas tree aroma." Unlike a conventional mince pie, Heston's version is incased in puff pastry rather than a normal tart shell. The mince pies come with a generous sized packet of pine scented icing sugar that really does smell exactly like pine, so much so, that I initially found it a little off putting because it smelled like a household cleaner. After dipping my finger into it and giving it a taste, I decided that I actually quite liked the pine sugar. It had a nice subtle pine flavour, with a minty aftertaste. I was really excited to give these mince pies a try, but in all honesty I found them a bit disappointing. Perhaps it's because I've never been a huge puff pasty fan, but I found the pastry a bit bland - I think the pies would have been better in a traditional tart shell. There was too much puff pastry, and not enough filling inside, but I really did like the pine sugar. I think next year Heston could have a real winner if he kept the novelty of the pine sugar, but used a regular tart shell. At £3.29 for 6, they're definitely more expensive than the average mince pies, but they won't break the bank either if you're looking to try a little something different.

At first I sprinkled the pine sugar on quite sparingly, but don't be afraid of it. Next time I'd cover the tops in the sugar!

So what are YOU having for Christmas dessert?

Chocolate Chip Cookies YOU Don't Have To Bake

2011-12-20T13:37:00.001Z

It's Christmas party season at the moment, and if you're looking for the perfect hostess gift baked goods always seem to go down well. They're thoughtful and homemade, but sometimes - especially around Christmas time, we literally just don't have the time (or energy) to sit around baking. If this sounds like a dilemma you have, then these cookies my friends are for you! They look amazing, taste delicious, and only take about 5 mins to make - not bake! That's because you don't do the baking, they do! Just include a little card with the baking instructions so the recipient knows what to do.

I had actually made these cookies in a jar way back in the summer as a hostess thank you gift, which is why they don't exactly look very Christmassy. I'd used a spring mix colour blend of M&M's and some fun white and dark chocolate swirl chocolate chips I picked up in the States - why don't we get these cool things in the UK?!?!?

I love these cookies because not only are they easy to make, but they just look so pretty in the jar, especially with seasonal coloured M&M's, and a nice bow tied around them. For some strange reason here in the UK M&M's do a Christmas blend of red and green M&M's, but they're only available in peanut flavour, and in a little 125 gram tube. BUT - the good news is, if you're looking for fun and seasonal colours of M&M's, they are available at the M&M store in Leicester Square (I bought a variety of blue M&M's for my baby shower there).

To make these Cookies in a Jar, you'll need a jar (duh!), chocolate chips, M&M's (or other candy coated chocolate candy - you could also use raisins or nuts, but those aren't nearly as fun) and then the usual ingredients flour, sugar, oats, etc, and then layer them neatly in the jar. Include a little instruction card letting your friends know they'll need to add in a bit of butter, an egg, and some vanilla to the mixture before baking.

Cookies in a Jar

Adapted from All Recipes

Ingredients:

1 1/3 Cups (166g) Flour

1 1/3 Cups (120g) Rolled Oats

3/4 Cup M&M's, Chopped Nuts, or Raisins

3/4 Cup Chocolate Chips

1/2 Cup (100g) Brown Sugar, packed

1/2 Cup (112g) White Sugar

1 tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Baking Soda

1/4 tsp Salt

Instructions:

1. Layer the ingredients in a 1 quart jar (I think I got my jars from Ikea) in the order given above. Make sure to press each layer firmly in place before adding the next layer, otherwise it may not all fit.

2. Include a card with the following instructions: Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix in a Jar:

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF (175ºC). Grease cookie sheets. 2. In a medium bowl, mix together 1/2 cup (115g) melted butter, 1 egg, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla. Stir in the entire contents of the jar. You may need to use your hands to finish mixing. Shape into walnut sized balls. Place two inches apart on prepared cookie sheets. 3. Bake for 11 to 13 minutes in the preheated oven. Transfer from cookie sheets to cool on wire racks.

And there you have it! A delicious home prepared Christmas (or anytime) gift that tastes amazing, and takes virtually none of your time!

Made With Pink's Christmas Gift Guide

2011-12-14T22:12:00.002Z

With Christmas just around the corner, I couldn't help but pull together a list of my top must have gifts that I either own - or would like to see under my tree this year. Anyone who knows me knows I absolutely LOVE shopping. I'm drawn to anything cute, pink or whimsical, so narrowing down my top gift picks was difficult! I was originally going to choose my top 5, but that was far too difficult, so I settled on my top 10.

Made With Pink's Christmas Gift Guide - Top 10 Picks

1. Russian Doll Measuring Cups - this set of 6 cute measuring cups look like traditional Russian matryoshkas dolls, and stack neatly inside each other. They measure 1/4, 1/3, 1/2, 2/3, 3/4 and 1 full cup. Available from John Lewis for £11 and other retailers.

2. Kenwood kMix Food Mixer - I've never been a fan of the classic Kenwood mixer - purely because I didn't like the way it looked, but I'm loving the new kMix line which come in a range of funky colours. The mixer shown is the Firecracker model, but my favourite is the Oyster Cove 1 which is made up of various shades of purples and greys. The Firecracker model is available from John Lewis for £369. All other models are available via the Kenwood Online Store for £399

3. Pip Studio Tableware - Ever since spotting these gorgeous cups and saucers by Pip Studio last year, I've been a huge fan of the entire tableware range. They're great because they come in 3 main colours - blue, pink and beige and can all be mixed and matched with each other. My husband bought me several pieces for my birthday in August, and I just love them and will continue to add to my collection. The range includes tea cups and saucers, tea pots, plates, mugs, bowls, charger plates, etc and look gorgeous when the various colours are mixed with each other. Available from John Lewis for £4 - £50 and other retailers.

4. Charbonnel et Walker Pink Marc de Champagne Truffles - Swarovski Crystal Edition - I just love these delicious pink champagne truffles. How could I not? They're pink! And they're actually what inspired my award winning Pink Champagne Cupcakes I made around the time when I first started Made With Pink. To be honest, the only thing different about these truffles that makes them any different from the original Charbonnel Pink Marc de Champagne truffles is that the box is studded with gorgeous pink Swarovski Crystals. I'm going to be honest and say that I could never justify the cost of these just because they have Swarovski Crystals on the box, but there are obviously people who can! I think for now I'm going to have to admire them from afar, but if you're looking for a gift for the person that has everything, then you may want to pick up a box. Available from Harrods for £50

5. KitchenAid Ice Blue Artisan Mixer - I know I'm featuring two mixers, but I just love the look of both of the ones I've chosen. I don't know if I could ever stray from my pink KitchenAid Artisan Mixer, but this Ice Blue Model (slightly resembling a giant package from Tiffany's) just might tempt me. If I could have both I would! Available from John Lewis for £419 - currently comes with a free glass mixing bowl worth £61

6. Pink Heart Cast Iron Casserole Dish - I spotted this adorable baby pink heart shaped cast iron casserole dish during a recent shop at Sainsburys. I was immediately impressed with the finish an quality of the dish, as well as it's reasonable price tag. I know for a fact that this will be waiting for me under our tree on Christmas morning :-) If you're not a fan of the heart shape, it's also available in the traditional round shape in two different sizes. Available from Sainsburys for £30

7. Hovis Bread Tin - I don't know why, but I just love this vintage inspired Hovis bread loaf tin. I'd seen them previously in Selfridges, but never purchased one. I love the old fashioned look of them, and think they would make a fantastic gift - especially with a loaf of my banana bread already baked inside! I'm not sure if Selfridges still carry these, but they're available online in two different sizes from Not On The High Street for £16 - £28

8. Peggy Porschen Apron - Ever since discovering Peggy's cake decorating books I've been a huge fan of hers, and fell in love with her pretty pink and brown aprons after seeing them on display in her cake parlour. At the time of posting this the adult apron is currently sold out, but the children's size is still available. The aprons are normally sold in store and online, but as the adult size is out of stock it's best to call the parlour to check availability. Available from the Peggy Porschen Parlour for £15 - £25

9. Kuhn Rikon Colori Knives - I can safely say that these coloured knives are the most used thing in my kitchen. I've lost track as to how many I actually have, but the baby pink ones (I have several) are my favourite. I love these knives because the blades are made of high-quality carbon with a non-stick coating and plastic blade protecting case, which makes them great because I can toss them in my drawer or purse (yes, I've been known to carry one in my purse!) without them getting dull. They come in a huge variety of colours and patterns including leopard and zebra prints, and even polka dot and cupcake patterns! Available from various retailers for around £6

10. ToDryFor Tea Towels - I stumbled across the ToDryFor website a few months ago, and can't get enough of their quirky tea towels! They have a huge range of designs, many inspired by London and other famous world cities, but the 2 pictured above are probably my favourites. Available online from the ToDryFor website for £8.50 - £12.50

Hopefully my picks will help you choose the perfect gift for your loved one, or feel free to hint to them about something that caught your eye!

* Please note that My Top 10 Picks were independently chosen by me, and without any compensation or influence from the manufacturers.

It's Good To Be Back! Let's Celebrate With A Chocolate Blackberry Layer Cake

2011-12-10T21:47:00.003Z

Well, after a much longer than anticipated hiatus after having little Jayden, I'm proud to say I'm back!!! I'm not going to lie - caring for a new born baby was a lot more time consuming than I ever expected. I went from reading baking blogs to ~~reading~~ skimming baby books, and I can probably count the number of times on one hand that I actually turned my computer on in the past 3 months - thank goodness for iPhones! I haven't really had much spare time to bake, but I've started to ease back into it over the past few weeks and have a few Christmas treats I'm dying to make, and blog about. But this post isn't about Christmas at all - in fact, it's a wonderfully thoughtful guest post from the amazing Arthi who bakes the most amazing creations over on her blog Soul Curry. As Arthi mentions below, we first met at a blogger potluck last year, and I was so taken with her and her husband and how genuinely nice they both were. They drove down to London all the way from Manchester just for the potluck, and we soon discovered that the regional office where I sometimes worked was very near to her house. She even offered to let me stay with them incase the impending snow storm that was forecasted to happen while I was scheduled to be there prevented my plane from returning back to London. How nice is that?!?! Anyways, a huge apology to Arthi for taking an inexcusably long time to get her wonderful guest post up that she so thoughtfully prepared for us all. Like I said before, I've barely had a chance to turn on my computer on over the past few months that I haven't even been able to reply to the majority of the emails I've been sent, so sorry if you were one of those people I haven't replied to! Now that we're in more of a predictable routine, I will do my best to go back and reply to you all! Before turning it over to Arthi, here's a little picture of my time consuming munchkin!

A few days back I got a DM on twitter from Andrea of Made With Pink and I was thrilled to hear that she had delivered a healthy baby boy. I quickly rushed to her site to see the pics of her new born. Pure Bliss!

I met Andrea at the FBC Potluck last year and me & I absolutely loved her Nanaimo bars ( a rich confection from a town called Nanaimo, that's made up of Graham cracker , cocoa, coconut and nut crust, a chocolate topping & has a rich custard buttercream filling).

Thanks to twitter we managed to keep in touch, although I missed her at the Plate2Page & FBC this year. Andrea asked me to guest post for her and when asked about what I should be making, she said anything sweet…Now, that anything sweet cannot be made-with-pink (sorry Andrea), as she has a handsome boy and I decided I have to make-it-with-a-little-bit-of-~~blue~~ (errr Lilac). With a bit of brain storming and checking what my friend’s little boys like, I decided it has to be chocolate..so I made this special Chocolate Cake with Blackberry Butter-cream for the very special Jayden.

Its a shame we cannot share this huge 5 layer cake with them in person! Congratulations to both of you… May the joy of parenting bring you loads of happiness, sleepless nights and caffine overdose…….and hopefully culminating in a new set of strong hands in the kitchen for some serious muscle power whisking!

Chocolate Blackberry Cake

For the cake I doubled this chocolate cake recipe and baked in 3 6inch tins.

For the Swiss butter-cream I doubled the recipe from Tartlette.

Ingredients:

200gms (7oz) sugar
4 large egg whites
330gms (1.5 cups) unsalted butter, at room temperature
150gms (1/3 lb) Fresh blackberries
1tsp Vanilla extract

Method:

Put the sugar and egg whites in a large heatproof bowl over a bain marie and whisk constantly, keeping the mixture over the heat, until it feels hot to the touch & 150ºC (300ºF) on a candy thermometer. The sugar should be dissolved at this point. Pour the mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and beat the meringue on medium speed until it cools and forms a thick shiny meringue, about 10 minutes. Switch to the paddle attachment and add the butter, one tablespoon at a time, beating until smooth. Make sure you add the butter once the meringue is cool. Once all the butter is in, beat in the buttercream on medium-high speed until it is thick and very smooth, about 10 minutes. Add the fresh blackberries and whisk. You could add pureed fresh berries for a smoother buttercream.

Fruity Banana & Pineapple Muffins by The Pink Whisk

2011-10-02T09:31:00.002+01:00

It's been an embarrassingly long time since I've last posted, and I really hope it doesn't happen again, but life since Jayden arrived has been rather hectic, and I've been trying to catch up on my deeply missed sleep in any spare time I've had. I am rather proud to say that I managed to make a lone batch of brownies in one of the few spare moments I've had since Jayden's been born. Sadly I must admit that they came from a box, but their gooey and chocolatey goodness helped get me through some sleepless nights!

I've had the guest post below nearly ready to go for some time now, but just haven't been able to finalise it and add in the pictures went along with it. This guest post comes from the amazing Ruth Clemens, who many of you will know was the runner up on the first season of the hit UK TV series "The Great British Bake Off" which I throughly enjoyed watching (season 2 is airing now by the way). I'd been following Ruth's blog "The Pink Whisk" even before I knew she was going to be on The Great British Bake Off, and have enjoyed drooling over her amazing creations. Ruth has been kind enough to put together a guest post for you all, while I try and get back into a routine and finish some of my own posts.

Ruth has made some delicious fruity muffins with a tropical twist - perfect to go with the fabulous 27ºC weather we've been having in London over the past week! So, if you're in the mood for muffins, please do give Ruth's recipe below a try!

Fruity Banana & Pineapple Muffin by The Pink Whisk

Summer holidays are over, the children (and grown ups) are back to the old routine. My thoughts turn to livening up the kids packed lunches without overloading them with sugary bits and pieces. This is a really simple muffin recipe packed full of fruity goodness guaranteed to put a smile on their face at lunchtime!

Makes 12.

Ingredients:

225g (1 3/4 Cup + 2 Tbsp) Wholemeal self-raising flour

1 tsp Ground Cinnamon

½ tsp Bicarbonate of Soda (baking soda)

180g (3/4 Cup + 3 Tbsp) Soft Light Brown Sugar

2 Ripe Medium Bananas, mashed

1 Tin (425g or 15oz) Pineapple Chunks, drained

90ml (6 Tbsp) Sunflower Oil

2 Large Eggs

Optional: 1 tsp Icing Sugar for sifting.

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 160c (fan)/180c/Gas Mark 4 (350ºF). Line a 12 hole muffin pan with paper liners.

2. In a large bowl mix together the wholemeal flour, cinnamon, bicarbonate of soda and light brown sugar.

3. Mash the bananas and drain the pineapple. Make a well in the centre of dry mixture and add the fruits, sunflower oil and eggs. Mix well until thoroughly combined.

4. Divide the mixture between the paper liners and bake in the oven for 30 – 35 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

5. Optional - Dust with a little icing sugar and serve.