mbakes

Kitchen Sink Cookie Dough

2013-05-16T13:16:00.000+01:00

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Whose noticed raw cookie dough popping back up in supermarkets? They taste AMAZING.

Asda were the first to make the move way-back-when, me and a friend used to buy a packet each (250g I believe, fat as anything!), hide it in our cool grunger handbags and have a right old fiest in the cinema not caring about all the pasteurized egg going in our tums.

So its 2013 now and Tescos stock it too, I reckon that prompted ol' Asda to jump back on the wagon.

You’d think they were sponsoring this post. They’re not by the way, I’m just not that into milling my own flour and churning butter.

Who aint got a craving for cookie dough 24/7? Seriously. Take the egg out of any recipe, and voila. Delicy-mo! (Is that a word?)

Add just about anything you like:

Pretzels, wine gums, a little bit of pepper?

Its kitchen sink cookie dough people! But there is one rule, seeing as its ‘kitchen sink’ you kinda absolutely 100% CANNOT skimp on the cornflakes. They are a must. Yumyum AND Crunchcrunch all at once.

But you don’t have to use M&M’s. Or chocolate chips, although I did…but come on, its cookie dough!

The Recipe:

228g unsalted butter, softened

150g white granulated sugar

165g soft light brown sugar

290g white plain flour

3 tbsp full fat milk

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp sea salt

2 packets chocolate chips

40g cornflakes

1 packet of any sweet you can think of!

The Method:

Cream the butter and sugars together until soft and light in colour.

Add the flour, vanilla and salt and mix on low speed until combined.

Pour in the milk, add more if the dough still appears too thick and sticky and if you want a 'dipping' consistency.

Put in the chocolate, cornflakes and *sweets* and mix on low for 10 seconds until just combined.

Using a spatula, combine the chocolate and cornflakes together until everything is even.

Place in a bowl and enjoy for up to 3 days.

Alsooo, I have a birthday cake post coming up ! I will say no more, you will just have to come back and have a look at it. Just as soooon as I meet all my deadlines... Not long at all, then!

Love Em xx

5 Ingredient Killer Key Lime Pie

2013-05-03T22:08:00.001+01:00

With summer on our footstep all I wanna do is shove fruit in my gob and eat stuff with piles of cold, whipped cream thrown on top of it. It is really difficult though, to leave wintry desserts behind – I don’t know about you but I wont say no to a treacle pud whatever the weather.

Here’s a little warning if you’re feeling in the mood for this pie – its expensive to make. BUT. Take a deep breath. Its worth the extra dough.

Why?

Well, quite frankly, why not?

But also because it tastes so darn fresh and the textures mingle so darn well together that it almost tastes like a really expensive, professional pie prepared at the likes of I dunno, up-town Manhatten? That’s exactly why its worth the 15 pounds well spent on ingredients, its such an effortless pie as well – you can hardly taste the supposed richness from the 8 egg yolks too!

So easy. SO worth it. SO not Maybelline.

Key Lime Pie

The Recipe:

Adapted from Hummingbird Bakery Book 1 Key Lime Pie

For the pie crust
500g digestive biscuits or graham crackers
200g unsalted butter, melted
For the filling
800g condensed milk (2 tins)
8 egg yolks
Zest of 5 limes
Juice of 5 limes
For the topping
300ml double cream, whipped

Equipment
23cm deep pie dish

The Method:

Preheat the oven to 170C. Put all of the biscuits into a food processor and pulse with the blade setting unit fine crumbs form. Whilst the processor is still running, pour in the melted butter until crumbs appear sticky.

Pour the crumbs into a pie dish, with a tablespoon and your fingers press the crumbs into the sides and bottom of the dish. Bake for 10 minutes until darker in colour then leave to cool semi completely.

Preheat the oven to 150C. Zest and juice all of the limes and set aside.

In a large bowl or freestanding mixer with a whisk attachment, add the condensed milk, egg yolks and lime juice and whisk until thickened - 1 minute.

Set aside a small amount of lime zest for sprinkling on top of the pie and add the rest into the filling until incorporated.

Pour the filling into the prepared pie crust and bake for 20 minutes.

Leave to cool completely and in the mean time, whip the cream using a whisk. Layer the cream on top of the cooled pie and garnish with your reserved zest.

Pie is best served after 2 to 24 hours of 'settling' time in the fridge.

Have you ever made Key Lime Pie, was it as darn simple as this beaut?!

Can I hold your attention for a little longer??

I have gone and nominated myself for this years Cosmopolitan Best Food Blog Award! After some crazy miracle (thank you readers!!) I managed to get shortlisted last year (wdf?), I would be aaaaaaabsolutely thrilled if you could nominate me again! Please click here if you fancy it.

Or here.

Orrrrr here?

Perhaps here?

Am I sounding desperate yet? Tehehehe.

THANK YOU!!

Love Em xx

Violet Macaroons

2013-04-23T21:18:00.000+01:00

Violet Cakes' Macaroons

Ever since that afternoon I spent at Violet Cakes however long ago I have been besotted, foolishly besotted, by a macaroon.

Everything else of that afternoon seems distant in my memory now, apart from that golden, crispy, syrupy rounded mound of baked coconut.

Before my near death experience involving sugar, my only knowledge of a macaroon (the real deal, not the contemporaneous meringue kind, I’m talking about the poor macaroon that was overshadowed by that) came from a packet of 4 overly chewy macaroons commonly found in my aunts, or even dating back 10 years ago, my late nan’s flat – where there would always almost certainly be a packet of chocolate dipped store bought macaroons. But hey, I knew no better, and I still ate the whole bloody packet.

Who says the coconut cant be desiccated?!

The recipe for Violet’s delicate, perfectly proportioned macaroon can thankfully be found in Leon’s Baking &Pudding’s book – I will take this moment to mention how lucky we are that Ptak & the founder of Leon live in the same neighbourhood. Leon is one of the best food chains in England, but truthfully, I bought their book for the macaroon recipe but I’m sure I will be dipping myself into some more recipes such as the Lemon Bars fairly soon (as should the poor soul reading this).

What really sets this recipe apart from the rest is the addition of honey; it makes the world of difference through extra subtle sweet flavours on top of that already coming from the caster sugar (trust me, it works). It also makes the macaroons extra sticky, so sticky you will need to keep your paper towels well away until its time to wipe the stickiness from your fingers - licking is totally acceptable btw.

The Recipe:

Adapted from Leon Baking & Puddings Coconut Macaroons

150g desiccated coconut

150g caster sugar

3 egg whites

3 heaped tbsp honey of your choice

1 tsp vanilla extract

Makes 6 large macaroons

Equipment

Deep, medium sized saucepan

Ice cream scoop

The Method:

Place all the ingredients except vanilla into the saucepan and stir on medium heat until the sugar has dissolved and the bottom of the pan leaves bubbles when scraped across - about 7 minutes.

Take off heat and leave to cool completely, about 15 minutes in preheat oven to 180C.

Place baking parchment over a baking tray.

Scoop level amounts of mixture straight onto the baking tray making sure they are slightly spaced apart.

Bake for 30 minutes or until sufficiently golden brown.

Leave the macaroons to cool completely before removing from the parchment.

The macaroons will lose their crispiness if stored in an airtight environment, so try to eat them on the day of baking!

So, here's the big question that's playing on both our minds - do you plunge yours in chocolate or leave them raw?

Love Em xx

No Fuss Pomegranate Juice

2013-04-19T11:00:00.000+01:00

Spring has finally landed in dreary Britain, the forecast promises just 2 rainfalls per week as of now. Everyone’s mood is sufficiently uplifted and there are crazy cats in the shopping centre wearing only tshirts, linen “man” trousers and flip flops.

Something that fails to fit perfectly into this new bout of good old weather is the recent epidemic of measles – whoever said the jab should no longer be mandatory must...what were you thinking?! But anyway, a trip to the Turkish Food Centre to nurse my sister's flu (at 25 she is fully vaccinated from measles so I have no idea where I’m even going with this) obviously turned into me purchasing some really pointless items like honey (hate toast) and 2 for £1 pomegranates. I called mum over to cop a feel, they mostly felt soft and bruised so I was sceptical of this generous offer. She confirmed.

Luckily we managed to find 2 huge ruby gems hiding in the back baskets and immediately I started having these perverse fantasies where I was juicing these huge pomegranates with my £6 hand blender and putting 2 fingers up at the guy who decided to price Pom at £3.

Please excuse my weird fingers!

The Recipe:
Makes 1 serving of pomegranate juice. So, 1 pom = 1 cup of juice.

1 large pomegranate
1 ice block
Ice cold water

Special Equipment
Old chopping board
Large knife
Cheap hand blender
Sieve
Measuring jug

Note: You never really know whether your pomegranates will turn out sour or sweet. So if they are sour, adding a teaspoon of sugar before blending the pips should do the trick.

Pomegranate goodness

The Method:

On an old chopping board, cut the pomegranate in half (lengthways) using a sharp knife.

Cut the half segments in half so that you have quarter cuts of pom.

Either peel the skin off the segments with your hands, or if its too tough, gently peel back using a knife.

Remove the pips and put them into a deep measuring jug with a block of ice (along with sugar if your pips taste sour).

Pulp the pips down to a thick froth using a hand blender, some pips and bits of pip skin should still remain.

Place a sieve on top of your serving glass and gently pour the juice through the sieve and into the glass, making sure not to spill any if you're using a large sieve.

Add ice cold water to taste, the more water the more diluted the juice will be so try to add as little as possible.

So when I wrote this I didn't realise there would be a thunderstorm 3 days later...

1 pomegranate = 1/2 cup pips

Love Em xx

Sweet 'n' Salty Popcorn Chocolate Chip Cookies

2013-04-12T14:46:00.000+01:00

Jealousy is never a wonderful thing. Im lookin’ at you foodie, I know you’re also jealous of that ever talented food blogger with the enticing food photos constructed by someone with an incredibly skilled eye for colour schemes.

So you just gotta make do with what you’ve got and visit the timber yard every once in a while for cheap bits of scrap wood. Or go to your boyfriend’s house and rape every inch of their marble worktops with your semi-professional camera that you hardly know how to use. Thank you boyfriend’s family.

Now think about how jealous the person sitting next to you in a real slash fantasised setting will be when they catch you crunching (and then chewing) on this abnormally good cookie. You will bite into this and it will taste odd, thankfully you won’t be able to stop.

If you ever wanted to sneak your own popcorn into a cinema, this is the perfect way to do it – crush and cram them into a concealable cookie; one that slides perfectly into that tiny zip pocket in your hand/man bag and viola, George Clooney has never appeared so sensational.

Lastly, I would recommend doubling the recipe in case you felt like saving at least 2 for yourself.

Heap your quarter cup

Chocolate and Vanilla will never make you thinner.

The Recipe

Adapted from Joy The Bakers Buttered Popcorn Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/2 cup sweet 'n' salty popcorn
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temp
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 + 1/4 cup plain flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped dark chocolate

Makes 20 large cookies

The Method
Preheat the oven to 180 C and line two baking trays with parchment paper.

Cream the butter and both sugars either with a freestanding mixer or electric whisk, until pale and fluffy - 4 minutes.

Add egg and vanilla.

Add the flour, salt and baking soda and mix on low until just incorporated.

Using a metal spoon or spatula, fold the popcorn into the mixture. Dont worry if the popcorn breaks apart in the mixture, let this happen!

Lastly, fold in the chocolate.

Using an ice cream scoop take a level amount of dough and plop onto the baking sheet, making sure the dough is spaced 5cm apart. Or take a tablespoon and scoop out a heaped amount of dough onto the sheet.

Bake for 10 minutes, leave for a couple minutes longer if the cookies are not yet golden.

Leave to rest for 5 minutes, eat warm or leave to cool.

Love Emxx

Streusel Topped Pear Loaf

2013-04-05T15:03:00.002+01:00

Pear Loaf

I'm that sort of personwho wants to explore every single food market in England. That is me. Iprobably make most people die with cringe yet still continue to be the most judgmental character on the planet. This is what Easter holidays does to mypoor (already sizzling) brain - causes me to write nonsense that has nothing todo with a pear loaf.

Broadway Market in Hackney was where I endedup last weekend. What a thriving place. Take away the hipsters and I’llhappily drive East every weekend. Unfortunately I cannot handle the occasional stagnantwhiff of charity shop when I’m haggling for a whole coconut cream cake so maybeI’ll just turn up when I want to purchase the most beautifully stump-likeorganic pears or, equally so, a small aromatic coffee from Climpson and Sons (totally worth the £2.40 out of my friend's pocket). So what I really want tosay is, if you’re tolerant of 2013’s trendsetters and a total foodie, go toBroadway Market, there is so much to smell, taste… and gasp at.

Streusel Topped Pear Loaf

If you’re a fan of cinnamon, fruit and cake (as separatecomponents), this loaf combines all of that together and tastes like a tea timeaccompaniment. I studied Boston’s Flour Bakery’s Banana Bread and turned it intothis delicious thing of pear beauty. The funny thing is, it was already a thingof beauty before I messed with it. So can you just imagine how darn amazingthis loaf tastes?!

The Recipe
2 pears, grated
210g plain flour
2 eggs, large
230g golden caster sugar
2 tbsp yogurt
120g corn oil
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
Streusel Topping
40g rolled oats
30g dark brown soft sugar
40g cold butter, cubed
2 tbsp plain flour
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

The Method

Preheat the oven to 165 C.

Whisk the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy - 4 minutes.

Slowly drizzle in the oil. Set aside.

Peel and grate the pears and quickly add them to the mixture (to avoid oxidation) followed by vanilla and yogurt. Mix until just combined.

Add in the flour, bicarb, cinnamon and salt and fold into the mixture using a metal spoon or rubber spatula. Fold until you can no longer see any white streaks.

Pour mixture into a lined loaf tin (or two) and bake for 45/55 minutes, or until a knife comes out clean. But wait! Don't have a rest yet, there's still streusel to prepare.

Make the streusel topping by adding all the ingredients except the butter into a small bowl. Combine, then add the butter and using your fingers or a knife, make a crumbly mixture.

As soon as the streusel is made, quickly take the loaf out of the oven (after 20 or so minutes in the oven) and evenly sprinkle the streusel on top. Return back to the oven for the remaining time.

Once baked, let cool in the tin for ten minutes and turn out - then enjoy!

1 slice never seems adequate

A pear a day...

Love Em xx

Easter Egg Decorating at Rococo Chocolates

2013-03-30T19:38:00.002Z

Rococo Easter Eggs

I am, like a lot of hormonal women, a huge lover of chocolate. So colossal is this reputable love of chocolate that my go-to bar is far from fancy. Yes, I probably consume Cadbury’s on a daily basis and yes, I am aware of how much of a low class foodie this makes me and no, I am not proud.

So you can imagine how enthralled I was to be invited by Achica to visit the fancy pancy all things delicate and delicious Rococo Chocolates for a class. So I don’t know if you know, but did YOU KNOW that this is where NIGELLA LAWSON goes chocolate shopping?! Let me take you back to that weeknight on the sofa… wine in one hand, remote control in the other - you just switched over to Food Network & caught a seductive glimpse of Nigella strolling along Kensington High St (the big red bus place) and she just *casually* pops into a little bespoke shop? Well…Rococo’s is one of them!

Founded in 1983 by Chantel Coady (French?), Rococo Chocolates are the equivalent to Olympic gold medallists in the culinary world. Find them perched in 4 very posh locations in London and Chester, but don’t let this put you off – because the chocolate basically tastes of gold – actual gold.

The purpose of the class was to educate on chocolate and (mine & the boyfriend’s most fun part) decorate Easter eggs! Oh how fitting, no longer do I have to make any hot cross buns for the blog which means Easter = SORTED at mbakes. What is the point of Easter anyway? I’m such a selfish blogger.

Everyone's eggs were so creative & the shop truly lived up to its high expectations , so let me take you on a photo journey of Rococo’s Chocolates…

Rococo chocolate bars, aren't they gorgeous?

Oot oooot

Rococo's Mini Eggs - the god of all mini eggs with salted caramel filling!

Bottom left is my take on a Rococo cocoa bean...

Rococo's eggs clearly brought out my creative side

Rococo's beautiful (and delicious) selection of sprinkles and wafers

Anyone for an Earl Grey?

My faith officially restored in the 'cupboard under the stairs'

Rococo's eggs standing on their own two feet - so to speak

So that's it, one of the finest chocolate shops in London - done! Happy Easter everyone, eat yourself into obesity, you're worth it.

Love Em xx

Not So Good For You Granola

2013-03-25T19:05:00.000Z

On the odd occasion where I will rise from my bed in the morning, granola is my morning saviour. It does this magical thing. It stops me (and hopefully the general public) from letting off countless and embarrassingly LOUD rumbles from my stomach – at least until lunchtime.

Granola with Raspberries & Yoghurt in a Japanese Blossom Bowl

That’s why I like granola. But there is a lot of granola that I don’t like, take for example M & S granola, the oats like to suck up the moisture in the berry yoghurt in this one, making it a vomit inducing experience in your already sensitive morning mouth. Why can’t they just put it in separate containers? I have also had this sort of thing in Eat and so far Costa has proved to be the only retailer meeting my snobbish granola demands. But at £2 per measly pot, and a ridiculous yoghurt to granola ratio it was only years until I had to make my own. But I warn you now, this stuff is buzz light years away from low calorie, good for you tastes-of-poo granola. It contains a WHOLE jar of honey and a WHOLE tube of maple syrup and I suppose that’s why I’m finding it extremely difficult to type this with a bowl in one hand…

The other great thing about my breakfast granola? It lasts for 1 month. That’s 1 month without a rumbling tummy for those early risers.

The Recipe
500g rolled oats
100g pumpkin seeds
100g (or optional amount) sesame seeds
150g flaked almonds
425g clear honey
180g maple syrup
120g light brown Tate and Lyle sugar
1 tbsp desiccated coconut
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp sea salt

Special equipment
2 large round tins with sides (like a roasting tin)

Enamel Wash Bowl

The Method

Preheat oven to 180 C.

In a large bowl combine the oats, sesame & pumpkin seeds, almonds, salt and coconut. Set aside.

In a small saucepan on medium heat, add the maple syrup, honey and oil. Stir until warm.

Pour the warmed syrup directly onto the oats and stir with a spoon until everything is coated.

Next, divide the mixture into two and pour into the large round tins. Spread the granola out evenly for an even bake.

Bake for 45 minutes, making sure to stir the granola every 10/15 minutes whilst in the oven to help form 'clumps', if the granola appears a little dry now is the time to add a little extra oil to the mix.

Set aside to cool. Transfer your back into a huge bowl much like this one and enjoy for 1 month.

PS, I promise this is a granola post and not a raspberry one!
Love Em xx

Extra Spicy Carrot and Walnut Birthday Cake

2013-03-20T12:06:00.001Z

I am all birthday-d out. One sister. One brother in law (to be). Two days. Two birthdays. Too much cake.

For my sister, Monday marked the half-way line to 50. Least impressed was she on the age front that *hopefully* the present and cake front was a little more uplifting. To add to the Sunday-Monday celebrations, on Tuesday we met in London and rummaged through Soho to find the Tate & Lyle Edible Tasting House followed by a fat helping of Lobster in bread from the bustling Burger & Lobster - but more on that later…

For brother in law to be it had to be a homemade carrot cake – for two reasons. One; he expressed his love for such cake a week beforehand after enjoying a slice or two of M&S carrot cake and two; after tons of research and a whole blog post later I wanted to face my pathetic fear of cream cheese icing. We all came out of it with a pleasantly surprised BIL and icing successes. 2 peas in 1 delicious pod.

My recipe for cream cheese icing is a winner and I truly urge everyone to give it a go if they have ever come across this kind of gloop before.

This cake is overly nutty, spicy and indulgently rich and the walnuts go a bit soft on the outside when baked in cake, as if they’re fooling you into thinking: “That walnut might be a raisin, how shit would it be if it actually was.” Aaaaand then you are welcomed with the relief of a satisfying crunch.

The thing with CC is that it is such a simple recipe and a tea time favourite that as a baker/person you will find yourself baking it at some point. I’ve made it so many times now (here, and here) that I knew increasing the spice load would make a positively huge difference, an adaptation that I am going to stick to for the rest of my life – or at least until I hit the half-way line to 50.

The Recipe:

For the cake:

I dont know.

300ml sunflower oil or melted butter

300g finely grated carrots

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

300g plain/all purpose flour

180g dark brown, soft sugar

120g caster sugar, white

120g chopped walnuts

3 large eggs, plus 1 egg yolk

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp ground ginger

3 1/2 tsp good quality ground cinnamon
For the icing:
850g icing sugar
2 tbsp cornflour
300g full fat cream cheese
1 tsp lemon juice
For the sides:
180g chopped walnuts

Special Equipment
Deep 23cm/8 inch round baking tin

The Method:

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees and grease baking tin.

Grate the carrots, chop the walnuts and set aside.

In a freestanding mixer, beat the oil/melted butter and both types of sugar on high speed until pale - about 3 minutes.

In the mean time add the dry ingredients, including the spices, into a medium bowl stir and with a spoon - set aside.

Add the eggs & egg yolk one at a time into the oil mixture and beat for a further 4 minutes until fluffy and pale/r.

On low speed, add the dry ingredients in 3 parts until just incorporated.

Take a metal spoon and fold in vanilla extract, then the carrots and lastly the walnuts.

Bake for 45 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean - maximum baking time is an hour.

Rest the cake as it is for 5 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack.

Whilst the cake is cooling, make the icing.

In a freestanding mixer, throw in all of the ingredients except lemon juice and mix on low speed until just incorporated. Next, add the lemon juice and mixe on a higher speed until thick and smooth. Add more lemon juice to taste.

Once the cake is cooled, cut the cake straight through the middle and level the top. Add 4 heaped tbsp of icing in the middle and smooth with a spatula. Use the same spatula to cover the sides and top, do not worry about making the sides look neat if you are covering them in walnuts.

Walnut wall

Do you have a favourite carrot cake recipe?
Love Em xx

Bouchon Style Chocolate Chunk and Chip Cookies

2013-03-16T13:05:00.003Z

Chocolate Chunk and Chip Cookies

This is THE chocolate chip cookie, by the way. Forget the ultimate soft, chewy, crunchy, snappy, chocolate infused ‘cookie’ and just think about THIS cookie.

This cookie doesn’t have an ultimate quality within it; it is simply THE ‘one’. Much like but *slightly* differing to the love of your life, your favourite pair of jeans that never seem to ever ever get tight (but never say never, right?), the Lost series, the Homeland series, Modern Family, that mug in the kitchen that no one daren’t sip their tea from, your first pet (yes, even cats). You get where I’m going with this I hope?

I stumbled across this precise, accurate, bordering on scientific jargon slash recipe back in January when I received this HUGE box from Amazon in the post. A couple of knives and mounds of cellotape later revealed the most beautiful red ribbon, a hardback copy of Bouchon Bakery Cookbook, and a festive little card from my manager at Fair Cake containing the most encouraging and thoughtful words I have ever read.

Bouchon – a small chain French bakery in America published this book to give its customers a taste of what happens beyond the counters. The methods are strenuous and are mostly written for those who own a convection oven but they still work beautifully. But If I didn’t have a crappy fan oven, then my cookies wouldn’t have spread out so large! I chilled them and everything!

The cookies weigh in at 150 grams each… that’s 2 in at a time, 20 minutes each totaling to 1 hour 10 minutes of baking time. What’s that you say? That cant’ be that many cookies then?

Nope. 6.

The Recipe

Adapted from Bouchon Bakery's 'Chocolate Chunk and Chip Cookies'

238g plain flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
134g dark brown sugar
104g granulated sugar
12g black treacle
167g unsalted butter, soft
60g egg - 1 and a bit
107g milk chocolate chips
107g dark chocolate, roughly chopped

Sieving chocolate chunks will remove shavings that tend to 'darken' the cookie once baked.

The Method

In a large bowl whisk together baking soda, salt and flour and set aside.

In a small bowl add the dark and granulated sugars, pour in the treacle and stir away all the lumps - I prefer to use my hands, they did a far better job.

Over a chopping board, sieve the chopped chocolate to remove the little shaves and then stir chocolate chips into the sieve.

With a mixer, beat the butter for 4 minutes until very pale and soft.

Add the treacle mixture to the butter and mix for a further 4 minutes until fluffy.

Slowly pour in the egg and mix for a maximum of 30 seconds - any longer than this and the cookies will spread when baked!

Add the flour mixture in two parts, mixing for a maximum of 15 seconds each time. The flour should be just combined.

Fold in the chocolate with a spatula until well incorporated. If you're using a freestanding mixer, pulse the mixture 10 times.

Wrap the dough in clingfilm and refrigerate for half an hour.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 162 degrees C / 325 F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Divide the dough into 150g portions and roll each into a ball.

Depending on the size of your baking sheet, bake 2 cookies at a time making sure they are spaced well apart (see top picture for an idea of how to position the cookies in the oven).

Bake for 20 minutes each time - 40 minutes overall for 6 minutes.

Transfer to a cooling rack for 10 minutes and then dig in!

Do you have an ultimate chocolate chip cookie recipe?

Love Em xx

Brown Butter Buckeyes

2013-03-06T19:15:00.001Z

Brown Butter Buckeyes

I am a lazy girl.

If you’re lazy too, peanut butter balls might just be the key confection you’ve been looking to make all your life, to fill in the gaps between waking up at 1pm and dinner – on your day off, and not the one you called in sick, of course.

I first lay my eyes on these big balls of beauty a year ago here, I luuuurvved the idea of digestives adding an extra crunch to a sweet peanut butter candy, it works especially well for anyone who is not a fan of crunchy peanut butter.

After a scant bit of research I was fully ready to create my own delicious peanut butter balls (not to be mistaken for the overly sweet cake pop!). The name ‘Buckeye’ comes from the Ohio buckeye tree in America and the balls are made to look like an actual buckeye which falls off the tree in the autumn/fall. If you’re having trouble placing an Ohio buckeye tree into your imagination, just think of a conker. So famous buckeyes are to this state, that they have even named a football team after it!

The traditional recipe for a buckeye calls for 6 cups of icing sugar (ick). My recipe has a quarter of that, more cream cheese and a whole lot more of digestives.

Lastly, if you want an even richer nutty flava then it is absolutely necessary to brown that butter! It will add just 20 minutes to your assembly job (because it would be a crime to call this sort of think baking) but you won’t regret it I promise, lazy being.

Buckeyes with brown butter

The Recipe
Makes 26 Buckeyes

100g cream cheese
390g smooth peanut butter
145g brown butter* or plain unsalted, melted
300g icing sugar
14 digestive biscuits/350g
For the coating:
350g good quality melted chocolate of your choice

Special Equipment
Toothpicks
Vegetable oil (to thin the melted chocolate out)
Electric scales

Note* if you're gonna go ahead and brown the butter, all you need to do is put it in a saucepan on medium heat and whisk away until the frothy goodness turns a light shade of golden brown.

The method
Start with the digestives; there are two ways to get a shardy yet fine-ish crumble with these - which is exactly what you want. You can either give them a 30 second whizz in the food processer (my preferred method, do this if you're lazy and own a dishwasher), or put them all in a sturdy plastic food bag and beat them up with a rolling pin.

In the bowl freestanding mixer or a large bowl and an electric whisk, beat the peanut butter and cream cheese until the mix has lightened in colour - about half a minute.

Add all of the digestive crumbs to the peanut butter, remembering to scrape down the sides of the bowl for even distribution.

Alternately add the brown butter (it doesn't have to be cold when you add it in!) and icing sugar until you get a huge bowl of thick golden crumbly looking stuff. Set aside.

Melt the chocolate over a ban merie. The buckeye filling will last in the fridge for 3 days so you can always wrap it in cling film and come back to it when you're ready.

Next, line a fairly large baking sheet with parchment. Depending on how anal you are, grab a pair of scales and weigh out pieces of peanut butter dough at 43-45 grams each. This weight gives a big buckeye, one that could not be mistaken for a cake pop!

With each piece of half "buck", stretch out both your palms with the dough in the middle and gently roll it around until eventually, you have a round ball. Do this until you have no dough left and put in the fridge to set for at least 20 minutes.

Add no more than a tablespoon vegtable oil to the melted chocolate and stir in.

Pick up a buckeye with a toothpick and gently immerse the ball 3 quarters the way into the chocolate and roll around until you have what looks like a 'buckeye' (a bit of peanut butter showing at the top). Put back on the baking tray and take the toothpick out.

Leave to set until the chocolate coating hardens and enjoy!

BEFORE I FORGET! Keep your buckeyes in the fridge for ultimate freshness. Although...I highly doubt they will last long enough for that!

Love Em xx

Ben & Jerry's Flavour Launch

2013-02-20T18:34:00.002Z

Right: New Ben & Jerry's Flavour Left: I just don't know

That feeling of having so much work to do, and only a week to complete it, is dire. But a horrific feeling perhaps, is when you are told you have an extra deadline which you had not the blindest idea about AND its due in next week. Has that ever happened to anyone? This happened on the same day of the Ben & Jerry’s Flavour Launch by the way, if I didn’t have an unhealthy obsession with B&J I most certainly would have ran home after lecture and buckled down to a bit of nonsense uni work instead of walk half a mile from Great Portland Street Tube Station to a massive glass building filled with office cubes and sore bums.

I don’t usually attend these PR thingy’s out of fear of not knowing anyone and having to engage in forced awkward conversation about my blog. When I went to this PR event last night – low and behold – it was EXACTLY like that! Perfect. I was the first to leave, making the situation even more painfully awkward.

I really enjoyed speaking to the PR girls themselves. Especially Woody Cow! Yes, she was a PR girl in disguise. Cor, and I thought I was gonna meet the man who invented Phish Food! My favourite part of the night was <s>the goody bag</s> tasting the all new awesome flavours that are about to hit UK giants such as tesco etc. Ladies and Gentleman, hold onto your consumer seats and get ready for the the tastiest ride of your life – it includes Peanut Butter and Vanilla Ice Cream with a Raspberry Jelly Core AND Blondie and Brownie and Blondie Ice Cream with a Salted Caramel Core!

HFSKHFSUFASHFKHSIHJAFSIFSDJ. Seriously though, I was expecting the Red Velvet Cake variation.

Nails getting did

MOOOOVELOUS Ben & Jerry Nails

Some disgusting sarnies

On another note I wanted to share with you a few pictures I took of a cake class at Fair Cake, hope you enjoy!

Present Wrapped with Peony Cake

Last weekend Pamela McCaffrey

Present Wrapped with Peony

OH, and.... Happy Belated Valentines!

Love Em xx

Traditional Turkish Cypriot Lokma

2013-02-06T19:13:00.000Z

Lokma

Now that we're in February it's no shock to anyone that the days are finally getting just a tad bit longer. Food bloggers will jump for joy at the extra hour or so that has landed on their doorstep and/or window ledge because its arrival means sharing more tarts, muffins, cakes or even a lobster. So why is it that come pre spring, my cameras contents is as dry as Ghandis flip flop?! But it's not the end of the world and the clock still moves forward regardless of one or seven less posts a month (I hate university).

A few weeks back me and mum transformed our kitchen into a Turkish bakery. She's a good few years out of practice so it was nice to bring those skills up a notch. Generally, Turkish sweets are soaked in sugar syrup, it's this component that gives these sweets their own unique and worldly flavour, right next to its Asian counterparts. Absolutely everything including fried pastries, gets plopped or covered in a huge saucepan of sugar, water and cinnamon stick then left to soak for ten minutes until the finished product is wet, slightly sticky and nothing short of bloody glorious.

Our minefield of goods were all lovely, but I thought I'd turn to this particular recipe for the blog because its bite size. Just one wouldn't hurt.

PS. Please forgive the awful quality of these trendy insta pics, I've only had time to bake in the evenings and then off out again the morning so the Canon had no place here.

The recipe

Makes about 30 bite sized Lokmas

Dough
14g active dried yeast
2 cups warm water
2 cups plain flour
1 tbsp corn flour
1 tsp salt
Vegetable oil for deep frying

Sugar syrup
3 cups white sugar
5 cups water
1 stick cinnamon

Note: Make the process a touch too traditional and use a standard drinking glass to measure the ingredients instead of measuring cups, works wonders I promise!

The Method:

Start with the sugar syrup - add the sugar, water and cinnamon stick to a large saucepan and leave on a medium high heat whilst you make the dough batter.

Add the warm water and yeast to a large bowl and stir until the yeast dissolves.

Add the flour, corn flour and salt to the mix and whisk until incorporated - about 3 minutes.

Cover the batter with a clean tea towel and let rest for 30 minutes to an hour until the batter had doubled in size. You can put it in the fridge if you want.

In the mean time add vegetable oil to a medium sized saucepan and heat until boiling point.

Now for the messy part. Using your hand grab some of the proved dough and squeeze until a small amount appears between your thumb and forefinger. Grab that slightly rounded bit of dough with a teaspoon and plop it into the hot oil.

The balls needs about half a minute each side, or until golden brown.

Once cooked, immediately immerse the balls in the sugar syrup and leave in their for as long as you want. Obviously, the more you leave the balls in there the more sweet and delicious they become!

Transfer the balls into a large bowl that has been lined with paper towels.

EAT when warm for the best Lokma experience.

Here are some other late night Turkish bits I've been instagramming:

Ricotta Borek

Aubergine Karni Yarik

Love Em xx

A Recipe For Un/healthy Pancakes

2013-02-01T11:30:00.002Z

Pancakes

Above and below are the sort of pancakes you will either love or hate. You have two options. Choose to envisage above and below as a downright ruddy delicious full fat soft, airy and fluffy item of love, or a more gruesome 1 egg 1 banana combination. Whichever you choose, I have provided the recipe for both. Happy Pre Pancake Day!

Happy Pancake:

240ml milk
30 grams butter, melted
30 grams sugar
1 large egg

125 grams plain flour

2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Method:

Sift dry ingredients together.

Mix wet ingredients in a jug and whisk into the flour until combined.

Heat oil in a pan and cook pancakes for 30 seconds either side until golden brown.

Pancakes

Sad Pancake:

2 medium eggs

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1 large mashed banana

1 tsp baking powder

Light cooking oil for frying

The Method:

Peel and mash the banana in a large bowl using a potato masher.

In a separate, smaller bowl whisk the eggs with a fork and then slowly add them to the mashed banana.

Lastly add in the baking powder and cinnamon (optional) and mix until just incorporated.

Pour the mixture into a measuring jug and set aside.

Add a very small amount of oil to a frying pan and heat on high for 1 minute.

Pour a small circle of batter into the pan and cook until golden brown on both sides - about half a minute.

Serve warm with syrup, fruit or cream.

Pancakes

Love Em xx

No Bake Chocolate Fridge Cake

2013-01-18T17:49:00.000Z

Chocolate Fridge Cake

It has taken snow to fall on England for me to prepare a post for this blog – awful, I know, I’ll slap myself on the wrists later! The past week has seen my laptop crashing with countless tabs open containing brownie upon brownie. Brownies with golden syrup, with Ferrero Rochers, brownies with white chocolate, and even Oreos - you name it, I’ve drooled over it. Although these (regal) fridge cakes are not brownies, they were born out of a desire to incorporate chocolate into something that kind of resembled one; sadly, at 1 AM the brownie necessities were not at arm’s length L.

I’m not exactly sure why there are eggs in this fridge cake, my conclusion is that the addition adds a binding quality to the cake/bars which subsequently meant that they were much, much easier to successfully cut with a hot knife.

The bars were adapted from The Chocolate Hog – I am more inclined to bake from people sharing recipes that have been passed down their family, I get a sense of trust from it and that it will hopefully produce a better product.

Next time (if ever), I might stick to the more basic recipe of ‘fridge cake’. Maybe throw in a few digestives… and leave out the raw egg. Also, the use of icing sugar gave the cakes a buttercream quality; I think using caster sugar instead would add a bit more texture to them. Overall - a tasty snack. BUT stay away from these chocolate fingers if you are expecting, nobody wants a salmonella bebe!

The much needed teeny sieve

The Recipe
450g icing sugar
2 eggs
110g dark chocolate
225g un/salted butter
2 level tbsp brute cocoa powder
2 tsp vanilla extract
305g Rich Tea biscuits

The Method

Over a double boiler gently heat the chocolate and butter until silky smooth.

Meanwhile, in a little bowl whisk together the eggs and vanilla extract and set aside.

Put the Rich Teas in a heavy duty plastic bag and bash away with a rolling pin until you get a mixture of fine crumb and rocks of Rich Tea.

Take off the heat and pour in the icing sugar and cocoa powder, then stir until thick and consistent.

Stir the egg mixture into the slightly cooled chocolate and then add in all of the biscuits and mix until evenly distributed.

Line an 8 inch square tin with parchment and pour in the mixture. With a hot palette knife, smooth over the top until nice and level.

Cover the fridge cake with foil and place in the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours and/or overnight.

Enjoy with a cup of tea and a generous dusting of cocoa atop.

Chocolate Fridge Cake Bars

British snow fiends, were you disappointed with the snow too?! I wanted MORE!

The almighty British snow 2013

Do you have any fridge cake recipes to share? I'm on the hunt! Love Em xx

Best of 2012

2012-12-31T01:04:00.000Z

Salted Caramel Macarons

There is just less than 24 hours of 2012 left and many will soon be blurring out their words, and it might sound a bit like: “Aaaah, what a year it’s been”. As I listen to one of my doggy woggy’s semi silently bark whilst what I can only describe as a dream festered in a deep sleep it becomes apparent that 365 days is not adequate. I want more days and long nights in my years dammit, more time to convince myself to stop being lazy and do productive things and more time to conquer those productive things.

But then something happened - I came across the fabulous likes of Poires, Londonbakes & the Cake Hunter blogging about their best of 2012. The right thing to do was to obviously follow in their inspirational bloggy footsteps, so I gathered mine and then realised, well, that I am chatting absolute shit. This has been a long year and 365 are aplenty.

To think that I was gently heating milk for the Miette cake THIS year is also mental.

Here are the blog’s top five recipes of 2012 from the most popular descending. If you followed, subscribed, commented or just read a measly snippet of my poorly written blog with the occasional improving piece of photography then thank you. Thank you thank you thank you! You are what keeps me baking, snapping and sharing.

That’s pretty deserving of a very happy New Year to all of my cyber sisters and brothers.

1. Hot Milk Cake

2. Turkish Sini Gatmer

3. Muhallebi

4. Miette Double Chocolate Cupcakes

5. Raspberry and Apple Crumble

Love Em xx

The New (Pudding) Age Christmas

2012-12-28T16:35:00.002Z

Jamie Oliver's New Mince Pies

I have always hated this part.

We are currently in that mid-holiday bit of December.

Slap bang in the middle of post-Christmas blues and NYE pre party planning. Not much really happens, if you’re like me, you might be receiving uni feedback left right and centre and constantly doubting you’re ability to perform as a student.

But put those worries aside for now because I am here to present you with very very dodgy lit photographs from the puds and pastries I made on Christmas Day! You can understand why, surely.

Nigella Lawson's Chocolate Pudding

We had your not-so-traditional mince pies where the mincemeat was rolled into puff pastry, scattered with flaked almonds and bursting with rinds of clementine (thanks Jamie Oliver).

Shortly after came your not-so-traditional Christmas pudding. Darling, it daren’t contain any pruned grapes! In fact, the only traditional feel our Christmas pud had was the fact that it was steamed – which is surprisingly simple to do by the way. It was a chocolate cake, shaped as a pudding (kind of) and prepared like a Devils Food. Atop lay the richest most decadently thick AND creamy chocolate sauce (thanks Nigella Lawson).

Jamie Oliver's New Mince Pies Assembly Job

Jamie Oliver's New Mince Pies

Now to wish everybody all the best in the New Year, and a very merry post-Christmas mid holiday awkward bit of December! What are your plans? Love Em xx

PS. Click on the links above for both of these amaaaaaaaazing recipes.

Candied Christmas Pecans

2012-12-23T14:09:00.000Z

Candied Pecans

Christmas is coming! Whose already watched Home Alone? I have. Last night. Bless little Kevin.
After my reunion with warm, spicy candied nuts (of all kinds) at Winter Wonderland in London a couple of weeks ago, you guessed it, I was obsessed. I would spend long nights lulling over their sweet deliciousness, the way you would bite into each nut to find this textured and salty surprise. The way that would happen and it not actually be a factory made M&M, was beyond me.

Then I came across Smitten Kitchen's Sugar and Spice Candied Nuts. Have you ever done that thing where you've eaten something really good then googled it straight away? The photos inspired me, the paprika...not so much, that belongs on chicken.

So it came around to my birthday and seeing as its not permitted to bake your own birthday cake, nuts had to suffice. Don't be surprised at how ridiculously simple pecans, or any nut for that matter, is to candy. It.

Is. So. Bloody. Easy.

To top it off - helllooooo homemade-gifts-for-Christmas-o'clock! Doesn't get much better really, and they will bring your 'giftees' right back to the fireplace and/or Deptford market.

The Recipe
300g (1 package) pecans, or whichever nut takes your fancy
Half cup (120g) + 1 tbsp caster sugar
1 egg white
1 tbsp cold water
1 tsp cinnamon (optional)
1 tsp salt
Quarter tsp vanilla extract (optional)

The Method
Start by preheating the oven to 180C.

Whisk the egg white and tbsp of water until frothy, but not completely stiff.

Add all of the pecans into the bowl and stir until it looks like there are little white bubbles on all of the pecans.

Next, just throw in all of the dry ingredients, including the vanilla extract, and stir until evenly distributed.

Line a baking tray with foil and spread the pecans around the tray so that they're not on top of each other (refer to the picture below).

Place in the oven for 15 minutes, then turn them around with a fork (so their bottoms can crisp up) and put back in the oven for a further 15 minutes.

Leave to cool and serve!

What have you candied for Christmas? Love Em xx

PS, this is what our Christmas looks like:

Happy Birthday to meeeeeee

2012-12-21T17:08:00.005Z

Here is my absolutely gorgeous birthday cake from Wednesday, feast your eyes on its utter beauty and feel slightly jealous that you didn't have a slice.

Or... take a wild guess as to where its from and i'll personally mail you a slice! Go on... its only 2 days old.

Lola's Birthday Cake

Lolas Bakery Chocolate Birthday Cake

Lolas Bakery Vanilla Buttercream

Lolas Bakery Birthday Cake

Love Em xx

Spiced Chocolate Cupcakes with Gingerbread Buttercream

2012-12-16T17:03:00.002Z

Who has started their Christmas baking test-runs yet? Does anybody even do tests for such things? If you’re an inexperienced cook and you’re having the ol’ lot over, I’m guessing you’ve currently got a test-run turkey in the oven. That’s perfect because it’s a Sunday as well, just replacin’ the chicken for a turk really. Here are my Christmas test run cupcakes, in unnecessarily copious amounts of pictures that I wish to share with you. Yes. You obviously wanted to look at every single picture I took that day. Obviously.

I’d otherwise slate the test-runner…what’s the point? Do you not have anything better to do with your time? Just chance it! But alas, I have become one of those weird test-run people. And boy, AM I GLAD. This chocolate cupcake slightly resembled a brownie (now would be a good time to mention that it was still delicious)! It was by no stretch of the word a light and fluffy cupcake, but a kind of dense and dry topped brownie! Crossing THAT one off my Christmas baking list… next time I’ll go for a bitta stout in my liner, maybe even a bitta treacle, plus A LOT more spice in the batter. Don’t be afraid to be generous with the festive spices in a chocolate cake, it has a tendency to be masked by the intense flavours of chocolate you see.

Some good news – the buttercream was lovely, spicy and not too sweet. Rich, coming from a crusting buttercream recipe aye. But with a distinct lack of vanilla extract, and TONS of cinnamon and ginger, there is just this amazing balance of sweetness. The spices really do cut through all of that icing sugar! Still, I’ve got my eye on a mascarpone frosting, who knows how many more test-run’s my kitchen will see before the big day!

The Recipe: Makes aproximately 16 cupcakes

The Cakes

100g dark chocolate, minimum 50%

4 eggs

100g self raising flour

2 and a half tsp cocoa powder

pinch of salt

225g caster sugar

175g soft butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

Quertar tsp cinnamon
Quarter tsp ginger (optional)

The Buttercream

300g icing sugar

150g unsalted butter, soft

1 and a half tsp ginger

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp milk

The Method:

Preheat the oven to 180C and line a muffin tray.

Over a ban-marie, heat the butter and chocolate together till melted.

Take off the heat, add all of the sugar, mix together and then set aside to cool.

With a whisk, mix for 3 minutes until slightly fluffy, add the eggs in one at a time.

Fold all of the dry ingredients (including the spices if you wish) in until just incorporated.

Lastly fold the vanilla in. Fill the cupcake liners two thirds full and bake for 25 minutes.

For the frosting, beat the butter in the bowl of a freestanding mixer for half a minute.

Add the icing sugar bit by bit, lastly the spices until well incorporated.

Pipe and frost. I used a small french tip for these cupcakes.

Expect a *possible* birthday cake on the blog this week, as I'll be turning the big 20 on Wednesday. But let's not mention that again, just comment below and make me feel sane by telling me you also had a Christmas baking test-run today, please! Love Em xx

Traditional Petticoat Tail Shortbread

2012-12-12T12:00:00.000Z

Traditional shortbread with rice flour

I have no idea how my desperate desire to bake something festive somehow translated into traditional shortbread – look, it’s even round like they do in Scotland! Having said that, I have no idea if this is even constituted as Scottish shortbread, anyone?

For days now I’ve just craved biscuits and fresh, raw raspberries, but I can't bake those so they don't get a blog post. All I wanted was two things from these biccys: that they were home baked and that they included those festive Christmas spices. Y’know, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, and a bitta cinnamon?

I knew I couldn’t bake the bog standard non temperamental gingerbread man recipe, this is a blog for grown-ups after all, so then the search began... the search for a biscuit which contained those beautifully tasting and oh so aromatic spices, but that wasn’t specifically a traditional a gingerbread man recipe. It was a disaster. There is NO SUCH THING. I came across this one recipe; it was from a shabby website which clearly hadn't been updated since the 17^th century so god knows why I put my trust in it and went ahead, 3 eggs I used!

I was originally after a Christmas spiced shortbread, the biscuits (if you can call them that) were not at all ‘short’ and certainly weren’t spicy enough! They were these crunchy, tough and downright ugly plaques of sugar in my eyes – see if you can spot them down below (I call it the name and shame)…

So that’s when the shortbread was born, at 2 in the morning, after a frustratingly painful bake off it was time to just adapt from a real recipe from a real website and viola… short, delicate and just the right yield. Hey ho (ho-ho), maybe my next post will cease from such arrogance and be filled with some spicy real gingerbread men!

Traditional Shortbread

The Recipe: (all of the 'good quality' variation)

115g unsalted butter at room temperature

40g rice flour

130g plain flour

55g caster sugar plus extra for dusting

Pinch of salt (optional)

Note: Rice flour can be found in most continental aisles in the supermarket. Or, if there is no such thing in your area, you can substitute it for 40g of cornflour. It does the same job, only, giving a more delicate as opposed to 'grainy' mouth feel.

The Method:

Preheat the oven to 150C.

In a large bowl lightly cream the butter and the sugar till fairly smooth, with a wooden or plastic spatula.

Add both of the flour at once, along with the optional pinch of salt.

With a clean hand, start moulding the dough together using a groping/squeezing motion, until all of the ingredients are barely strung together.

Grease an 8 inch sandwich tin with butter.

Put the dough in the tin and press neatly into the corner, remembering to use a light hand.

Decorate accordingly, using a fork to poke holes into the dough to allow air to escape. Score portions into your petticoat if you wish.

Dust with caster sugar/sprinkle it all over and bake for 50 minutes.

Leave to cool completely in the tin, the shortbread should come out of the tin very easily after its cooled!

Have you been doing any festive baking? Tell me about it, lets share our disasters :) Love Em xx

Banana & Chocolate Mini Cakes with Cream Cheese Glaze

2012-11-30T15:39:00.000Z

HOORAY, she says in monotone. I am finally past my first ever university deadline that actually meant something towards something important. You all know what I mean, first years, attend as many lectures as possible inebriated whilst you’ve still got that chance. I know, I’m acting as though it’s May and I’ve just handed in the last assignments of the year and I’ve just strolled through the Northern Line with a spring in my step because I don’t have to use it for at least another 4 months.

Cloud and gloom. That’s not at all the case. The sun might be shining but it’s accompanied by this bitter, evil chill of the night that is pretty much with us all day long and guess what? The year has only just begun…more deadlines to follow…more temperatures to drop.

You might not have guessed but my Miserable-omita (clearly just made that up) is actually quite low this time of year, maybe it has something to do with being born in December, winter baby galore I say. Second reason why I like NOW is because at last, the winter fruits are coming to play. This means the bananas are going to be extra mouldy and that’s bloody perfect for a loaf or a cake because that’s just what you want for a tasty banana bake!

Finally, time to introduce to you my very bananary, chunky chocolate mini cakes with a runny cream cheese glaze. They will seriously make you feel like you’re somewhere in the Caribbean lying on a hammock sized banana with a spliff in one hand, on looking a sea full of melted chocolate. Plus, this is a very flexible recipe – add as many bananas or as much chocolate as you darn well please. But please, keep the fats, eggs, and sugars the same, we don't want biscuits.

The Recipe:
For the cakes:
3 small or 2 large eggs
125g unsalted butter
200g coarsely chopped dark chocolate (or as I like to call it - chocolatte's)
4 very ripe bananeeeeees
250g caster sugar - you can part with a bit of caster and throw in a little soft brown if you like, it really compliments the bananas!
250g plain flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp baking powder
For the icing:
300g icing sugar
100g cream cheese at room temperature
Cold water (A tbsp and beyond, depending on what consistency you want)

The Method:

Preheat the oven to 180C and grease - muffin trays.

Cream the butter and sugar together until very pale, light and fluffy.

Mix the eggs separately in a glass and slowly pour them into the butter - this will hopefully avoid curdling. Beat until well combined and almost...foamy. Set aside.

Get your bananas together in another bowl and either mash together with a fork or use a fancy hand blendy to get a lovely creamy consistency.

Add pureed (or not) bananas into eggs and combine.

Fold in the flour, making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Next fold in the vanilla until fully distributed.

Lastly, chuck in the chocolate and give a final fold!

Using an ice cream scoop plop the batter into each, they should be two thirds full.

Bake for 30 mini cakes and leave to cool on a wire rack.

To make the glaze, sift icing sugar and mix with cream cheese till nice and thick. Use as much water as necessary to thin the glaze to your desired consistency and then carefully pour over each cooled cake.

What have you been baking this week, amidst the new chilly weather? Love Em xx

White Chocolate and Cranberry Cookies

2012-11-23T15:43:00.002Z

When you’ve got essays and news stories on the brain and deadlines looming from out of nowhere (who ever thought going to uni would be a good idea??), the last thing you wanna do is bake something amidst all of that, that’s going to take up a WHOLE day. The thing is though, I am the queen of procrastination, as soon as I get the laptop out to do some work, Foodgawker or Pintrest find their way into each and every one of my open tabs.

These cookies were a Sunday treat for the Hassan’s, but also served as a ‘bake and go’ snack a week thereafter. Reason being, I have recently discovered the wonders of the (universe) freezer. God. Why didn’t I listen to my mother sooner? It’s such a handy device! Apparently you can just prepare a load of cookie dough/cakes/whatever and whack’em in the freezer for 3 months!!! WHERE THE HELL HAVE I BEEN! So these white choc and cranberry cookies are perfect for that, or any cookie for that matter. When you want that cookie hit, just defrost a small slab of dough and pop in the oven for a gooey, chewy and fruity fix. How wonderful. I am truly delighted. So who else is suffering with uni work blues? I've got a great milk choc cookie recipe saved for later...

The Recipe:

113g unsalted butter
113g shortening (Trex)
2 large eggs
3/4 cup caster sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar
2 1/4 cups plain flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp bicarb of soda
1 tsp almond extract (optional)
74g dried cranberries
200g white chocolate chips

Note: Freezing the cookie dough will indefinitely give them more of a crunch and less of a 'chew'. So, if you want more of a chew, simply half the recipe and bake it all at once, or just bake it all at once and go crazy.

The Method:

Preheat the oven to 160C Fan or equivalent.

Beat the butter, shortening and both sugars until very well combined.

Next, crack the eggs in along with the almond extract, scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure everything is mixed.

Add the flour, bicarb and salt till just incorporated.

Using a metal spoon/spatula, fold in the white chocolate and craberries till everything looks even.

Bake for 10/12 minutes on baking parchment.

Leave to rest on the tray for 1 minutes. Transfer to wire rack and enjoy!

White Chocolate and Cranberry Cookie Dough

White Chocolate and Cranberry Cookies

Love Em xx

Peggy Porschen Heavenly Double Chocolate Cupcakes

2012-11-18T18:35:00.000Z

For months I’ve been meaning to try out the mother of all chocolate frostings. The one that combines an ultimate taste explosion with absolutely every single fatty component you can possibly imagine. We’re talking butter, DOUBLE cream AND cream cheese - all in one semi technical recipe that is well worth the washing.

I’ve always felt positive about the fact that I am missing half of my brain, which making this recipe pretty much confirmed for me. The original ingredient list called for glucose and for some reason (the inadequate contents of my skull) I bought glycerin, after noticing the very moment the G was going into the saucepan that I bought the wrong stuff, I took a risk and just put it in and guess what? The results were still fabulous!

The Recipe:

Adapted from Peggy Porschen's Heavenly Chocolate Cupcakes

For the sponge (makes 20 cupcakes):

8g good quality cocoa

125g dark chocolate

160ml milk

100g unsalted butter

2 large, free range eggs

Half tsp baking powder

Half tsp bicarb of soda

285g light brown sugar

180g plain flour

For the topping:

450g icing sugar

200g cream cheese

200g unsalted butter

1 tbsp glycerin/glucose

140ml double cream

160g dark chocolate

The Method:

Start with the frosting. Heat the cream until simmering in a small saucepan. Add the chocolate and glycerin/glucose into a bowl and pour the cream over the top, stir well until nice and smooth. Let cool.

Put the cream cheese in another bowl and beat for half a second, until just smooth.

Cream the icing sugar and softened butter in the bowl of a freestanding mixer until pale.

Slowly pour all of the cooled ganache into the buttercream and mix until combined.

Take a third of the chocolate buttercream and gently stir into the beaten cream cheese.

Now add the chocolate cream cheese into the chocolate buttercream and gently stir till combined. Wrap in clingfilm and let set in the fridge.

Preheat the oven to 160 C.

For the cupcakes, using a saucepan (perhaps the same one as earlier?!) heat the milk, half the sugar and chocolate and bring to a gentle boil. Keep the chocolate on the lowest heat whilst get onto the next bit, occasionally taking it off heat so it doesn't burn.

In the bowl of a freestanding mixer beat the sugar and butter till very pale. Add one egg at a time and mix till frothy.

Put all of the dry ingredients into another bowl and stir together. Mix into the egg mixture till just combined.

Pour the chocolate mixture into the flour mixture, scraping the bowl, making sure to incorporate every little bit.

Pour all of the mixture into a measuring jug and line 2 cupcake trays with muffin cases.

Gently fill the cucpake liners two thirds full with batter.

Bake for 14 minutes, until they spring back to the touch.

Let cool on a wire rack and ice with the cooled and scrummy frosting!

Love Em xx

Chocolate Olive Oil Cake

2012-11-12T16:36:00.000Z

Chocolate Olive Oil Cake

I made this cake in celebration of getting my car back, which might explain the lack of recipe posts, sincerely sorry, please forgive! It was my first day on the road so I made a quick dash to Morrison’s to pick up the necessities. Cocoa, sugar, olive oil, ground almonds… “did she really just say olive oil? For a cake? AND NO FLOUR? AGAIN? WHAT KIND OF BLOODY BLOG IS THIS?” might be your current thought process, but seriously, it was divine.

Moist, a little wobbly with this shine that certainly weren’t left from the traces of under cooked cake what-so-ever. The olive oil spoke out for the cocoa-only chocolate cake recipe quite positively; it intensified the chocolate flavour ten fold. I walked into the kitchen after purposefully avoiding it for half an hour (perhaps for a little smelly surprise) and was greeted with a waft of deep and almost savoury chocolatey-ness.

Another cake plus is that unlike my lemon, almond & polenta cake, this one didn’t sink in the middle! (the addition of cocoa powder means the cake is less like a delicate soufflé, and more like a cake with ground almonds added to it, and not the other way around) Hurrah! I think this unsinkable 8 incher is perfect for a dinner party, maybe you want to wow your guests with some outside the box baking, which this cake delivers, all thanks to that trusty half price bottle of olive oil.

Chocolate Olive Oil Cake

Adapted from Nigella Laweson's Chocolate Olive Oil Cake in Nigellissima

The Recipe:

2 tsp vanilla extract

50g cocoa powder

120ml boiling water

150g olive oil

150g ground almonds

Half tsp bicarb of soda

Quarter tsp salt

200g caster sugar

3 large, free range eggs

The Method:

Preheat the oven to 150C fan, or 170 electric. Spray a loose bottomed 8 inch tin or grease with butter and set aside.
Add the cocoa powder, vanilla and boiling water to a measuring jug and stir until smooth. Set aside.
In a bowl add all of the dry ingredients and combine.
In a freestanding mixer whisk the eggs for 2 minutes until frothy.
Now alternately add the chocolate mixture and dry mixture until everything is together and looking nice and runny.
Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 45 minutes.
Leave to cool completely in the tin so the cake holds its shape.
Enjoy!

Love Em xx