Speculoos and Raspberry Blondies

Ever since I tried a sample of biscuit butter in a recent Flavourly box, I’ve been obsessed with the stuff. Essentially it’s the paste version of a Belgian biscuit called ‘speculoos’ and the UK are only just catching on to how delicious the stuff is! I’ve been using Biscuit Butter which can be bought online or in a range of delis and foody outlets, but Lotus has also launched a biscuit spread that can be found in Tesco.

Speculoos paste is great in hot chocolate, as a pancake topper and it adds a delicious cinnamony flavour to this white chocolate blondie recipe.

Ingredients:

200g white chocolate
80g butter
35g Biscuit Butter or other speculoos spread
3 medium eggs
130g caster sugar
125g plain flour
20g self raising flour
125g raspberries (optional)

Preheat your oven 170°C and line a 20cm square baking tin. Melt together the butter, speculoos spread and chocolate in a heat-proff bowl over a pan of simmering water.

In a seperate mixing bowl whisk the eggs and sugar. Pour the melted chocolate into the egg and sugar mixture and thoroughly combine. Then add the flour and stir until the flour has just disappeared. Finally add the raspberries if you are using them.

Tip the mixture into your prepared tin and bake for 25-30 minutes. When the top is golden brown and the inside is still slghtly gooey take the blondies out of the oven and leave to cool for 10 minutes before removing from the tin and placing on a cooling tray.

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

It took me three weeks worth of days off to get these cupcakes right and they are soooo worth it. The rich red colour was what I had the biggest issue with, but I solved it by realising that I was probably going to have to buy a decent food colouring, as opposed to Morrisions own brand. In the end I used a generous amount of PME red colouring, which is only £1.99 from Lakeland. All in all this was simpler bake than I expected and the end results look great- much more exciting than your standard fairy cake!

This recipe make 4-6 cakes if you use uk size muffin cases, or 8-10 cakes with uk size cupcake cases.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

70g cream cheese
20g butter (at room temperature)
150g icing sugar

I recommend that you make the frosting first, then it has time to set a little in the frige whilst the cupcakes are baking. First mix the butter and icing sugar and when combined as well as possible, add the cream cheese and whisk thoroughly until the frosting has thickened. Beware of over-mixing, this will have the adverse affect of making it too runny. Place in the fridge.

Red Velvet Cupcakes:

125g caster sugar
35g butter (at room temperature)
1 small egg
125g plain flour
1 cap vanilla essence
2 tbsp red food colouring
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
1tsp white wine vinegar
60ml whole milk

Pre-heat the oven to 170°C and prepare a muffin or cupcake tray with cake cases. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Add the egg and one tbsp of the flour and qickly mix together until well combined. Then add the food colouring and the vanilla and mix until all of the cupcake misture is evenly dyed. Add more colouring if necessary. Pour in the milk an then gradually add the flour and keep stirring for a couple of minutes. Finally, add the bicarbonate of soda and the white wine vinegar and give it one final mix. The fill your cupcake cases 2/3 full and place in the oven for 20-25 minutes. When the cakes are out of the oven remember to leave them to cool for a while before adding the frosting with a spoon. If you can resist, they keep for a couple of days in an airtight container.

Salted Chocolate and Praline Spread

This spread is a combination of all my favourite things- chocolate, caramel and praline. I’s super easy and quick to make and tastes amazing- just in time for Pancake Day!

Over Christmas, one of the most popular gifts that I gave out was a jar of my homemade caramel sauce. It’s the perfect present idea because the overheads are low (everyone has access to sugar and cream, and Kilner jars are only about £2.99), and the end result is delicious. This recipe basically expands on that one- instead of butter, hazelnut paste is used and the praline sauce is then mixed into the chocolate.

Fleur De Sel and hazelnut paste are both available at Sous Chef.

Ingredients:

100g Caster Sugar

3tbsp Hazelnut Paste

90ml Single Cream

1tbsp Water

50g Dark Chocolate (70%)

1/2tsp Fleur De Sel

Method:

Break up the chocolate and place inside your container. Over a high heat dissolve the sugar and water. Once the sugar begins to caramelise add the hazelnut paste and whisk. Remove from the heat and add the cream- be wary of spitting caramel (long sleeves are advised!) Whisk until it stops bubbling up and leave to cool a little. Then pour over the chocolate and stir until the chocolate melts into the sauce. Finally sprinkle on a little salt and stir in add more to suit your personal taste.

Scoop onto croissants, waffles, pancakes and ice-cream 🙂

Lemon and Blueberry Muffins

Sadly this is the last weekend that Helen and I are living in our current flat and so my final recipe made here had to be something special. Seeing as this is my last opportunity to steal Helen’s awesome silicone baking tray, I came up with this recipe. These glazed muffins have everything- zingy lemon, juicy blueberries and melting chocolate.

Ingredients (makes 10 large muffins):

300g plain flour                                               

415g caster sugar

300ml milk

1 medium egg

90ml lemon juice

60g melted butter

200g blueberries

100g chocolate chips

1 cap vanilla extract

2tsp baking powder

1 pinch salt

 

Pre-heat the oven to 200°C. Combine 315g sugar with all the flour, salt and baking powder and whisk. In a separate bowl mix 10ml lemon juice, milk, egg and vanilla, and then pour into the same bowl as the flour mix. It’s important to combine the dry and wet mixes thoroughly when apart, but not to over-mix when the two are together in the same bowl. stir in the melted butter and finally the chocolate chips and blueberries.

Use two spoons to fill your muffin cases all the way to the top, this will help ensure that your muffins are huge bakery style cakes. Pace carefully in the oven and leave to bake for 25 minutes. 10 minutes in turn down the temperature to 170°C- this will also help increase the size of your muffins.

Whilst they bake you can make the lemon glaze. simmer 100g sugar and the 80ml juice in a pan over a medium heat until you get a syrupy texture. When the muffins are out of the oven the glaze can be brushed or spooned over the top.

Chocolate Orange Skillet Cookie

I have finally found the dessert that I will make if I’m ever a contestant on Come Dine With Me. I don’t think even the pickiest person could turn down this giant chocolate orange cookie. Plus, because it’s mixed and cooked in the same container prep and washing up time is hugely reduced- meaning less stress and more time to enjoy the results.

This recipe is designed for a deep, 10″ diameter frying pan and serves 2-3 people.

Before you start make sure that your pan is oven-safe and non-stick, and remember to only use plastic or wooden utensils to avoid scratching or removal of the non-stick coating.

Ingredients:

7og Unsalted butter (cubed)
1 Medium egg
125g Caster sugar
125g Self-raising flour
100g Chocolate chips
Zest of 1 orange
1 Cap vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 170ºC. Stir the butter in the pan on a medium heat until half way melted. Then remove from the heat and stir in the sugar. Whilst still warm, crack the egg and whisk it in. Once thoroughly combined, add the vanilla extract and then the flour. Finally mix in the chocolate chips and orange zest. (As an optional extra, lots of stirring at this point will cause the chocolate to melt more and create a marbled effect).

Put the pan in the oven and bake for about 12 minutes, until the cookie puffs up and the edges goes crispy. Use your own judgement on when it looks ready but I prefer to err on the side of gooeyness. And while you’re waiting you can eat the orange that you’ve just zested to make up for all the warm chocolate goodness that you’re about to eat.

Like normal (and now boring to me) cookies, you can eat warm and straight from the pan or later once cooled. Or for more indulgence add caramel sauce or ice-cream to serve as a truly decadent desert.

 

Double Chocolate and Caramel Cookies

I’m still trying to get through a rather large jar of caramel sauce, and since I’ve been craving cookies for at least 3 days, and because I’ve neglected this blog lately, I figured I’d put the sauce to constructive use- rather than just eating it straight out of the jar. And so these double chocolate cookies with a caramel filling came to be

These are quick to prepare and make (and eat), though the caramel sauce takes some time if you don’t have any. But if you really don’t want to make your own or go outside to the shops, these cookies are still delicious without it.

Ingredients (makes 12):

1 medium egg
200g sugar
95g unsalted butter (room temperature)
105g plain flour
65g cocoa powder
1cap vanilla extract
1tsp baking powder
100g choc chips
3-4 tbsp caramel sauce (chilled)
1 pinch of salt

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 160°C and line or grease a large baking tray.

In one bowl whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt, and set to one side. Cream the butter, vanilla and sugar and when thoroughly combined beat in the egg until light and fluffy. Gradually add the dry mixture to the wet and then add the chocolate chips last.

This is where it gets a little fiddly. Spoon a round ball of cookie dough onto the baking tray and press down with flat side of the spoon. then dollop on a 1/2tsp of caramel sauce and then carefully cover with a small piece of cookie dough. Repeat until the tray is filled. Bake for 12-14minutes and leave to coo for a few minutes before eating as many as you can. Or leave to cool completely on a wire rack before sharing with friends if you feel like it. Enjoy!

Raspberry and Caramel Brownies

I can’t believe how long it’s been since I made brownies- almost a year! Since the orange brownies that I posted back in May were so popular I decided to make a variation with raspberries, my other favourite fruit to bake with. And because I never get tired of caramel I made a last minute decision to use that as well. You can use my recipe here or use a shop bought dessert sauce. I like Tescos Finest Salted Caramel Sauce.

Ingredients:

200g 70% dark chocolate (broken into squares)

300g unsalted butter (cubed)

4 medium eggs

300g caster sugar

135g self-raising flour

100g plain flour

125g raspberries

8-12 tsp caramel sauce (straight from the fridge)

 

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C and grease a 20cm square tray.

Melt the butter and the sugar together in a saucepan over a low heat and add the chocolate. Remove from the heat. Separately, whisk the eggs before adding to the saucepan. In a separate bowl whisk the flour, and then gradually combine the dry ingredients with the mixture in the saucepan. Finally stir in the raspberries.

Spoon half the mixture into the tin and then gently blob teaspoons of caramel sauce at intervals on the top. Then add the rest of the brownie mix and and bake for 35 minutes, until the top is cracked and an inserted knife comes out with only a little of the inside attached. Allow to cool completely before cutting into squares. Brownies keep for several days in a sealed tin- though I don’t know anyone who’s  had brownies long enough to go stale!

Cherry and Chocolate Oat Cookies

These cookies are chewy, delicious and the sour cherry and sweet chocolate compliment each other perfectly- A new personal favourite.

Ingredients:

105g butter

1 large egg                                             

150g caster sugar

100g muscovado sugar

160g plain flour

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp baking soda

75g jumbo oats

100 dark chocolate chips

150g morello sour cherries

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 160°C. Cream the sugar and butter together, and then add the egg and vanilla extract. Then, one by one, combine all the dry ingredients with the wet. Use a tablespoon to scoop the right amount of mixture onto the pre-lined baking tray/s. Then bake for 10-12 minutes but no longer than that, otherwise when cooled they will be too hard. This mixture should make about 15 large cookies. Enjoy!

Strawberry Ice Cream with Popping Candy

It’s been a while since me or Helen posted any recipes, and that’s because we’ve moved into a new flat (yay!).  So 1) we couldn’t make anything new because we’d run down all the baking ingredients and 2) it’s taken forever to sort out the internet connection. But now we’re back!

Considering the scorching weather we’ve been having at the moment, I felt it was time to get reacquainted with my ice cream maker. The snazzier ingredients can be bought cheaply and easily on www.souschef.co.uk (my new favourite website)

Ingredients:

250ml full fat milk

125ml double cream

130g caster sugar (60g for the sauce, 70g for the custard base)

3 egg yolks

1tsp vanilla essence

150g chopped strawberries

75g popping candy

75g freeze dried strawberry bits

Method:

The ice cream will be best if you prepare both the vase mixture and the strawberry syrup the night before you churn. This is quite a chunky mixture but my relatively small machine coped ok with it.

Heat together the cream and milk on the hob until it starts to steam but not boil, and remove from the heat. In a bowl, whisk together the yolks, 70g of the sugar and vanilla, and then slowly pour in the milk mixture, whisking all the while. Return the whole mix to the hob and heat until the mix coats the back of the spoon. Let the mix cool to room temperature and then leave in the fridge overnight.

Simmer 60g sugar and the strawberries in a saucepan for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Refrigerate the syrup overnight.

The next day stir together both mixes, using a blender for a smoother texture if you prefer. Then churn according to your ice cream maker requirements. Freeze for 4 hours, then serve and decorate with popping candy and strawberry bits.

Chocolate Orange Brownies

This recipe makes ridiculously huge, melt-in-the-middle, orangey brownies. Incredibly decadent, easy to cook and if taken out of the oven too soon, a great chocolate pudding! The height in these brownies is achieved through the extra self-raising flour.

Ingredients:

300g orange chocolate (I was tempted to use Terry Chocolate Orange, seeing as it’s my favourite but in my experience 70% dark chocolate is better when baking. But if anyone experiments let me know how it turns out!)

400g unsalted butter (cubed)

5 medium eggs

400g caster sugar

130g self-raising flour

85g plain flour

70g cocoa powder

Zest of 1 orange (optional depending on desired orange flavour)

 

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C and grease a square tray.

Melt the butter and the sugar together in a saucepan over a low heat and add the chocolate. Separately whisk the eggs before adding to the saucepan (off the heat). In a bowl whisk the dry ingredients, and then gradually pour and mix the contents of the saucepan with them.

Turn the mixture into the tin and bake for 25-30 minutes, until the top is cracked and an inserted knife comes out with only a little of the inside attached.