NUTELLA MUFFINS

As with all the recipes I post, this is not my own recipe, it's one I've adapted from another recipe. Today's post is one of my new favourites, and one I think I may even prefer to regular chocolate cake at the moment, Nutella muffins.

Makes 15

You Will Need:
175g butter
115g light soft brown sugar
2 eggs
2tbsp Nutella
175g self raising flour
Extra Nutella to spread on top

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2. Beat butter and sugar together, then beat in the eggs.
3. Stir in the Nutella, then fold in the flour.
4. Bake for 20 minutes,
5. Once cooled, you can spread Nutella on the top instead of icing.

Rosie

Hella delicious

GINGERBREAD STARS

So as it's Christmas, it's the time of year when the presence of gingerbread is rife. As I'd never made or had homemade gingerbread before, I thought I'd give it a go, just in time for Christmas. You could decorate these with icing, or poke holes in them before you cook to use as tress decorations, both of which would look cool, but I've decided to leave mine plain.

Makes: roughly 60 stars of varying sizes

You Will Need:
350g plain flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground ginger
125g butter
175g light soft brown sugar
1 egg
4 tablespoons golden syrup

How to Make:
1. Mix the flour, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon and ginger together in a food processor.
2. Add the butter and mix again.
3. Add the sugar and stir (don't process).
4. Beat the egg and golden syrup together in a bowl.
5. Add to the food processor and pulse until the mixture clumps together. (Pulsing means to process together in short periods repeatedly, rather than all at once).
6. Knead the dough together and wrap in clingfilm.
7. Leave to chill in the fridge for around 20 minutes.
8. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
9. Line baking sheets with greaseproof paper.
10. Roll out the dough to around half a cm thick. If the dough is too sticky when rolling it out (like mine was) just knead in a load of flour and it should be okay. You will also need to put flour on the surface and on the rolling pin, so that it doesn't stick to either of them.
11. Cut out your shapes; I decided to make stars and I thought it would be more interesting if I used a variety of sizes, instead of just one cutter.
12. Bake for 12-15 minutes and leave to cool. (I did my first batch for 15 and they were a little crispy so I did them for less time with the second batch, which worked out better).

Rosie

AN EXTRA SPECIAL BANANA BREAD

I love banana bread but it's something I rarely eat, so I decided to try my hand at making my own. But I didn't want to make just any old banana bread, I couldn't decide between making one with walnuts or with dark chocolate, so I made one with both. This recipe for banana bread with walnut and dark chocolate chunks is slightly adapted from a Paul Hollywood recipe.

Recipe makes enough mixture to fill two loaf tins to roughly three quarters full

You Will Need:
-Three overripe bananas
-250g caster sugar
-2 eggs
-140g butter
-250g plain flour
-2 teaspoons baking powder
-100g walnut chopped into chunks (not too small)
-100g dark chocolate chopped into chunks (any size but not overly large)

To Make:
-Preheat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius.
-Line two loaf tins with baking paper. Greasing the tins with butter first will help the baking paper to stick.
-Mash the bananas and sugar together in a mixing bowl with the back of a fork. The banana will look lumpy but that's okay.
-Add the two eggs and whisk together. The mixture will look overly wet but that's also okay.
-Add the butter and whisk again.
-Sift the flour and baking powder and fold in using a wooden spoon.
-At this point, if you haven't already, chop the walnuts and the dark chocolate into chunks. Don't chop the walnuts too small or your final product will feel grainy and weird (I learnt that on Bake Off). Unlike what I did, it would probably be better to chop the walnuts and dark chocolate before you start.
-Add the chopped walnuts and fold into the mixture.
-Add the dark chocolate chunks and fold into the mixture.
-Add the mixture to the tin and fill until about three quarters full as the mixture will rise slightly in the oven.
-Cook for an 45-50 minutes. Yes that long, I thought it was a weird timing but all the recipes say an hour, though mine didn't need that. You can see from the pictures that it looks ever so slightly burnt on the top but that's probably more due to the oven shelf maybe being a bit too high that the timing.
-Leave to cool.

Rosie

SUPPOSEDLY RED VELVET CUPCAKES

Disclaimer: this is not my own personal recipe, this is an adaption of a couple of different recipes from cook books and the internet. I have predominantly used Nigella Lawson's 'Kitchen' book, though I have made some moderation's to the quantity of some ingredients, chiefly I have used less food colouring and less vanilla extract. 

These were supposed to be red velvet cakes, but they've turned out orange for reasons that cannot be explained. They still taste great though. The recipe states that it makes 24 cupcakes, though I have managed to make 12 massive (overfilled) muffins and 15 cupcakes. 

Red velvet is one of my all-time favourite cakes, so I decided to make some. Simple as. I am not going to decorate them this time, though if I was I would use either cream cheese, sour cream or buttercream icing, and I would decorate them with those little silver balls.

You Will Need:
(-Cupcake cases (I'm using muffin cases and cupcake cases))
(-2 mixing bowls)
-250g plain flour
-2 tablespoons cocoa powder
-2 teaspoons baking powder
-Half teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
-100g unsalted butter
-200g caster sugar
-1.5 teaspoon red food colouring (add more for a more intense colour)
-1.5 teaspoon vanilla extract
-2 eggs
-175ml buttermilk (see below)
-1 teaspoon cider vinegar (or another type of vinegar- I used white wine vinegar)

Buttermilk
All recipes for red velvet call for buttermilk, which is not something that normal people tend to have in their houses. Buttermilk can be made by mixing a tablespoon of white wine vinegar or a tablespoon of lemon juice with milk and leaving for a few minutes. I have done this here, using a glass of semi-skimmed milk mixed with a tablespoon of white wine vinegar.

To Make:
-Preheat the over to 170 degrees Celsius.
-Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda into the first bowl and mix together.
-In the second bowl, add the butter and sugar, cream and beat well.
-Beat the food colouring and vanilla extract into the butter and sugar mixture.
-Add some of the mixture from the first bowl into the second bowl, and beat.
-Add the first egg to the second bowl and beat.
-Add some more of the mixture from the first bowl into the second bowl and beat.
-Add the second egg to the second bowl and beat.
-Add the remaining mixture from the first bowl into the second bowl and beat.
-Add the buttermilk and vinegar and beat, don't be alarmed at how liquidy it is, it thickens up with stirring.
-Add the mixture to the cupcake cases, don't fill all the way to the top as they will rise.
-Cook for 20 minutes, or until done. To check that the cakes are done, stick a knife through one. If the knife comes out clean with no mixture on it, the cakes are cooked through.
-Leave to cool.

BLOGMAS DAY 23- MINCE PIES

Tuesday 23rd December 2014

2 sleeps till Christmas

Wouldn't be Christmas without mince pies (recipe credit to Delia Smith with a few alterations).

You Will Need (For Pastry):

-350g plain flour

-75g lard

-pinch of salt

-cold water for mixing

You Will Need (Everything Else):

-700g mincemeat

-Small amount of water and milk.

-round cutters (see below)

-cupcake tray

To Make (Shortcrust Pastry):

1. Sift the flour and salt.

2. Cut the fat into cubes and rub into the flour and salt until crumbly.

3. Add two tablespoons of water and mix together. Add more water bit-by-bit as needed. 

4. Form the dough into a ball and leave.

To Make (Mince Pies):

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius, and grease the cupcake tray.

2. Roll out half the pastry dough, and cut into circles using the medium-sized cutter (see above).

3. Roll out the other half of the pastry dough and cut into circles using the smaller-sized cutter (see above).

4. Put the medium-sized circles in the tray and fill with mincemeat. 

5. Use the smaller-sized circles as lids and seal round the edge with a small amount of water. 

6. Brush the top of the mince pies with a small amount of milk.

7. Bake for 25-30 minutes and leave to cool. 

The mince pies can either be served hot or cold. To serve hot, simple reheat in the microwave or oven for roughly a minute. 

BLOGMAS DAY 13- CHOCOLATE ORANGE MUFFINS

Saturday 13th December 2014

12 sleeps till Christmas

Can you believe that we're already over half way through Blogmas? I'm only just starting beginning to feel properly festive and it's worrying me.

Everyone goes mad for the chocolate and orange combination at Christmas, I mean, what stocking is complete without the Terry's classic? Inspired by my love of Chocolate Oranges and Costa's orange hot chocolate, this simple cupcake recipe is my contribution to the party.

I ended up making muffins instead of cupcakes. This recipe makes roughly 13 muffins.

You Will Need:
-115g butter
-115g caster sugar
-Zest and juice of half an orange

-2 eggs
-115g self-raising flour
-25g-30g dark chocolate
-Festive muffin cases

To Make:
-Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celcius.
-Grate the half orange for the zest.
-Beat together the butter, sugar and orange zest until light and fluffy.

-Beat in the eggs.
-Juice the half orange.
-Using a grater, grate the dark chocolate.
-Using a metal spoon, fold in the flour, juice of the half orange, and grated chocolate.

-Spoon the mixture into the muffin cases.
-Cook in the oven for 20 minutes.
-Leave to cool.

Nails- Essie 'Bahama Mama'

I am very popular with my family after making these.

BLOGMAS DAY 6- NIGELLA LAWSON'S BROWNIES

Saturday 6th December 2014

19 sleeps till Christmas

I take no credit whatsoever for this recipe, but it's an oldie and a goodie and it never fails to impress. These are Nigella Lawson's 'Everyday Brownies' from her book, 'Kitchen'.

You Will Need:
-150g unsalted butter
-300g light brown sugar (Nigella specifies 'muscovado')
-75g cocoa powder
-1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
-1 pinch of salt
-4 eggs
-1 tsp vanilla extract
-150g milk chocolate

To Make:
-Preheat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius, and grease a deep, square baking tray.
-Melt the butter over a gentle heat.
-Once the butter is melted, add the sugar and stir until blended with the melted butter.
-Sift together the cocoa powder, flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt. Mix in with the butter and sugar, and remove from the heat.
-Whisk the eggs with the vanilla extract, and mix with the rest of the mixture.
-Chop the chocolate into chunks, and mix into the mixutre.
-Line the baking tray with foil, and pour the mixture in.
-Cook for 20-25 minutes. The inside should be gooey when cooked.
-Once out of the oven, leave to cool.

AVERAGE BRITISH BAKE OFF

I am super excited about this recipe as it's one that I've kind of adapted and added my own personal touch to. The lemon mixture for these raspberry and lemon cakes is a Mary Berry lemon cupcakes recipe, but the raspberries are something I have added in a way that will, hopefully, give a creative and different twist to your normal fruity cupcakes.

Makes 20

You Will Need:
-125g soft butter
-125g self-raising flour
-125g caster sugar
-2 tbsp milk
-2 large eggs
-The zest of one lemon
-24 raspberries
-Icing sugar
-Water

To Make:
Apologies if my instructions aren't very clear, especially for the icing. I have put pictures at the bottom to show you what each step should look like.
1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius or gas mark 4.
2. Beat the butter, flour, sugar, milk, eggs and lemon zest together with an electric whisk. To zest the lemon simply grate the outside skin of the lemon using a cheese grater.
3. Put your cupcake cases the the tray, here is where my special twist comes in. Put one raspberry upright in the bottom of each cake case and spoon in the mixture around it so the raspberry is completely covered.
4. Cook the cakes for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. When the cakes are done, leave them to cool.
5. For the icing I am simply following the instructions on the back of the Tate Lyle icing sugar box. HOWEVER, for the way I am wanting to decorate my cakes I only want the tiniest bit of icing so I am making enough icing for 2 cakes instead of 20.
6. To make the icing (for 2 cakes) you simply need to mix one teaspoon of warm water with icing sugar, I don't have a set measurement of icing sugar but just carry on adding until I have the thickness of icing that I want.
7. Put one drop of icing in the centre of each cake and then put one raspberry on top of each. The secret use of the icing is simply to keep the raspberry in place so therefore I think a thicker icing will work better here.