Creme Egg Brownies

Crème Egg Brownies

Ingredients

400g Nutella

1/2 Self Raising Flour

2 Eggs

3 Crème Eggs

Method

1. Start by preheating the oven to 180oc. Prepare your hand mixer or stand mixer.
2. Place the eggs and the flour in a mixing bowl and whisk until smooth, add the Nutella and whisk again until smooth.
3. Pour into a square tin and bake for 20 minutes.
4. Whist the brownies are baking, slice the crème eggs in half and then half again.
5. After 20 minutes, remove the brownie tin and place the crème egg on top, spacing nicely, then bake for another 10 minutes.
6. Drizzle with white chocolate as an added extra.
7. Serve on there own or with ice cream.

Oreo Brownies

Oreo Brownies

Ingredients

400g Nutella

1/2 Self Raising Flour

2 Eggs

200g Crushed Oreos

Method

1. Start by preheating the oven to 180oc. Prepare your hand mixer or stand mixer.
2. Place the Oreos in a food bag, and bash into crumbs.
3. Place the eggs and the flour in a mixing bowl and whisk until smooth, add the Nutella and whisk again until smooth.
4. Add the Oreos and whisk again.
5. Pour into a square tin and bake for 30 minutes.
6. Whist the brownies are baking, slice the crème eggs in half and then half again.
7. Drizzle with white chocolate as an added extra.
8. Serve on there own or with ice cream.

Creme Egg and Oreo Brownies

I have got such Brownie fever at the moment, I have been experimenting like mad, I love them. These ones are my boyfriends favourite, which is good for me because they are easy to make and they taste so good, better than any I swear. Easter is right around the corner so it is imperative you get on the crème egg baking now! One thing I do love about this recipe, is that it is very simple but also there are limited ingredients involved, so the process instantly becomes a lot easier. I served this brownie up with ice-cream as a valentines day dinner dessert for my boyfriend, the proof was in the pudding, he was a gentleman all evening!!

Crème Egg & Oreo Brownies

Ingredients

400g Nutella

1/2 Self Raising Flour

2 Eggs

3 Crème Eggs

200g Crushed Oreos

Method

1. Start by preheating the oven to 180oc. Prepare your hand mixer or stand mixer.
2. Place the Oreos in a food bag, and bash into crumbs.
3. Place the eggs and the flour in a mixing bowl and whisk until smooth, add the Nutella and whisk again until smooth.
4. Add the Oreos and whisk again.
5. Pour into a square tin and bake for 20 minutes.
6. Whist the brownies are baking, slice the crème eggs in half and then half again.
7. After 20 minutes, remove the brownie tin and place the crème egg on top, spacing nicely, then bake for another 10 minutes.
8. Serve on there own or with ice cream.

Vinesse Whirls

Tea Party Treats, the only way for me to describe how dainty, beautiful and melt in the mouth these treats really are. I am a massive fan of Vinesse whirls, great respect to Mr Rudyard Kipling, as his are gorgeous, however I thought I would give homemade Vinesse Whirls a go, and I am so glad that I did. There are two very important aspects to this recipe: the shortbread biscuit, which needs to be sort but firm and completely melt-in-your-mouth. Then there is the double filling, soft, sweet vanilla buttercream and a sweeping of jam.

Vinesse Whirls

250g/9oz very soft butter

50g/2oz icing sugar, plus extra to decorate

250g/9oz plain flour

50g/2oz cornflour

½ tsp pure vanilla extract

Filling

100g/3½oz soft butter

200g/7oz icing sugar, plus ½ tsp for dusting

½ tsp pure vanilla extract

75g/3oz seedless raspberry jam



1.      Preheat the oven to 190C/170C (fan)/Gas 5. Line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper.

2.      Put the butter, icing sugar, plain flour, cornflour and vanilla extract in a food processor and blend until smooth. You may need to scrape the mixture down a couple of times with a rubber spatula.

3.      Spoon the dough into a piping bag fitted with a large star nozzle. Pipe 16-18 x 6cm/2½in rosettes of the dough, spacing well apart.

4.      Bake in the centre of the oven for 13-15 minutes or until pale golden-brown and firm. Cool on the baking tray for five minutes then transfer to a cooling rack. Repeat with the remaining dough to make 32-36 biscuits.

5.      For the filling, put the butter in a bowl and sift the icing sugar on top. Add the vanilla extract and beat with a wooden spoon or an electric whisk until very light and smooth. Spoon into a clean piping bag fitted with a large star nozzle. Put the jam in a bowl and stir until smooth.

6.      Spoon a little jam onto the flat side of 16 of the biscuits and place jam-side up on the cooling rack. Pipe the buttercream icing onto the remaining biscuits and sandwich with the jam. Put on a serving plate and dust with sifted icing sugar. Serve.

 

Enjoy!

Snickers Chocolate Salami

Every Friday, I like to make something sweet, chocolately and delicious to get us through the last teaching day of the week. I love that baking puts such a smile on my colleagues faces! It make its so much more worth it.

This week I made Chocolate Salami, I did some research and my name for it is less than original, however I can assure you there is no meat in this sweet treat whatsoever, it is purely a named based on it s appearance when you slice into it. It looks like a the centre of a traditional salami: busy!

This is a very rich recipe, but the biscuit and snickers elements give it another dimension.

Chocolate Salami

Ingredients

4 bars of snickers

200g of biscuits

200g dark chocolate

5 tbsp. cocoa powder

1/2 cup of milk

2 yolks

100g butter

Method

Prepare a loaf tin by buttering the sides and coating with coco powder. Alternatively you could butter the sides, then use cling film to layer on the sides, ensuring easy removal from the tin.

Plan a pan of water on to boil and in a glass bowl place the butter with the dark chocolate and put on to melt in the pan of hot water.

once the butter and chocolate have melted, take off the heat and mix well, then add the yolks one at a time and mix again until well combined. Once you've down this put back on the heat for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Place the biscuits in a food bag and crush with a rolling pin. Then cut the snickers bars into small chunks. Place both ingredients in a mixing bowl, then pour the melted mixture into the mixing bowl and stir until the biscuit crumbs and snickers chunks are covered.

In a small saucepan, place the 1/2 cup of milk on a medium heat, and once it starts to boil, add the cocoa powder and bring down to a simmer. Once the milk and cocoa powder are combined, pour into the mixing bowl and stir until well combined.

Pour the mixture into the pre-prepared loaf tin and ensure a flat finish on top.

Place in the fridge for 3-4 hours.

Once the salami has set, turn out onto a serving place, remove the cling film and dust with cocoa powder and then slice.

Enjoy!

Carrot Cake

My all time favourite cake is a carrot cake. Every year for my birthday I bake one. I mean I could have my boyfriend buy me one or even make me one but nothing comes close to this cup cake recipe, it is simply divine and with further fear of blowing my own trumpet, it looks spectacular also. this cake is a total showstopper and if you are as much of a fan as carrot cake as I am this is one for you.

Ingredients
Cake

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup brown sugar

6 eggs

1 Tbsp. vanilla extract

3 1/4 cups flour

1 Tbsp. ground cinnamon

2 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking powder

2 large finely-grated fresh carrots

1/2 cup raisons
1/2 cup walnuts
Topping

250g cream cheese

1 cup unsalted butter

1 Tbsp. vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. salt

7 cups powdered sugar

 

 

Method


Preheat the oven to 190 oc. Lightly grease and flour 2 fairly deep 8" cake tins.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the granulated and brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt.
In a small bowl beat the eggs, then gradually add to the dry ingredients. It will be very thick!
Add the vegetable oil to bring the mix together.
Add the carrot, by handfuls, ensuring you are mixing well, once the carrot is incorporate you can add the dried fruits and nuts.
Divide the mixture between the 2 tins and bake for 25-30 minutes until lightly browned.
Ensure the cakes are completely cool before you ice them.
To make the icing, place the butter and the cream cheese in a mixing bowl and using an electric whisk combine on a high speed.
Add the vanilla, salt and powdered sugar, adding gradually and whisking on a slow speed. If you want to thicken up your icing then add more powered sugar.
Construct the cake by smoothing icing directly on top of the bottom sponge, then placing the second sponge on top.
I tend to ice the sides, fairly thickly, then sprinkle the sides with mixed nuts.
I then smooth icing on top of the cake to ensure a even finishing. Then using a large, rose piping nozzle, I pipe roses on top of the icing.
It gives a simple yet beautiful finish.

 

Bagels

I am a real Brunch fan, and for me, brunch is warm bagels, cream cheese and smoked salmon with a froffy cappuccino. This is a real Sunday treat! Now, obviously it would be incredibly simple to grab a pack of bagels at the supermarket whilst you pick up the cream cheese and smoked salmon, however, if you are a bagel fan, try this recipe one, that's all I ask, if you don't like them, you needn't try them again, however, for me, I have never gone back to packet bagels, I make them fresh every single week!

Bagels

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups of warm water

1 sachet of active dry yeast

1 tbsp. brown sugar

4 cups of plain flour

2 teaspoons salt

Water Bath

8 cups of water

2 tbsp. brown sugar

1 tbsp. granulated sugar

Method

Pour the water in a large mixing bowl, add the yeast and the brown sugar and leave for 3 minutes.

Whilst your waiting weigh out your flour.

Add the flour and the salt to the mixture and mix.

Flour the work surface and knead the dough for 10 minutes.

Place the dough in the mixing bowl and cover. Leave for 1-2 hours. I usually make this dough at night and leave over night, so that I needn't do it in the morning but the dough only needs to be left for a couple of hours really. However if you like to be prepared ir you are busy, you can leave it over night.

Transfer the dough onto a floured surface and divide into 8 identical balls. Place on a tray and leave for 30 minutes. While they are resting prepare the water bath.

In a saucepan combine the sugars with the water and bring to a boil. Once the water is boiling bring to a simmer.

Once the dough has had 30 minutes, use your pointer finger to poke a hole through the centre of the dough, then twirl the dough around your finger o stretch the dough until it is about 2 inches in diameter.

Transfer the bagels, one at a time to the water, leave for 1 minute, then remove the bagel and place back on a tray, repeat with the remaining 7 bagels.

Bake the bagels at 190 oc for 25 minutes until they are golden brown.

Pesto, Mozzarella, Red Onion Focaccia

I love Focaccia, as does my partner. Whenever we go out to eat, particularly at Carluccios, we always get some Focaccia Bread, as it is absolutely divine, light and fluffy on the inside and perfectly crisp on the outside, and to finish it off, it is scrumptious dipped in oil and vinegar. It is a real sharer. I have adapted a basic focaccia recipe to combine my favourite Italian flavours. This bread  is a dish in itself, it has diverse flavours running all the way through, its perfectly soft and exerts different dimensions of flavours.

 

Pesto, Mozzarella, Red Onion Focaccia

Ingredients

 

500gstrong white bread flour

2 tsp salt

2 sachets dried easy blend yeast

2 tbsp olive oil

400ml cold water

olive oil,

fine sea salt

Jar of Green Pesto

Small Red Onion

1 Ball of mozzarella

Method

Place the flour, salt, yeast, olive oil and 300ml of the water into a large bowl.

Gently stir with your hand or a wooden spoon to form a dough then knead the dough in the bowl for five minutes, gradually adding the remaining water.

Stretch the dough by hand in the bowl, tuck the sides into the centre, turn the bowl 80 degrees and repeat the process for about five minutes.

Tip the dough onto an oiled work surface and continue kneading for five more minutes. Return the dough to the bowl, cover and leave to rise until doubled in size.

Line two large baking sheets with baking paper. Tip the dough out of the bowl and divide into two portions. Flatten each portion onto a baking sheet, pushing to the corners, then leave to prove for one hour.

Prepare the mozzarella by slicing into small chunks or tearing it.

Finely slice the red onion and fry in a pan until light brown.

Preheat the oven to 220C. Drizzle the loaves with oil, sprinkle with fine sea salt, spoon the pesto onto the dough and smear, don't go right up to the edge, leave a 1cm gap. Sprinkle on the mozzarella and the fried red onion then bake in the oven for 20 minutes. When cooked, drizzle with a little more olive oil and serve hot or warm.

Easy Nutella Cheesecake

I'm I adore this recipe! I am a complete Nutella fiend, I will eat it straight from the jar and I am constantly trying to find new ways to incorporate it into my cooking, gorgeous hazelnut goodness. This cheesecake is a bit of a show stopper, its one of those recipes which tastes like it should have a complex process behind it but its ever so quick, it takes me about 15 minutes to put the whole thing together, dead easy!

Ingredients

400g Digestive Biscuits

50g Unsalted Butter

200g Nutella

250g Cream Cheese (Full Fat)

300g Icing Sugar

250ml Double Cream

100g White Chocolate (optional)

Decorative Chocolate Flakes or Sprinkles (optional)

Method

Start by making the base: Place the digestive biscuits in a food processor and blitz until they are crumbs.

In a small saucepan or in the microwave melt the butter, then add to the crumbs and blitz again.

Prepare an 8" cake tin by lining it with greaseproof paper and whipping a little butter on the bottom. The best tins to use are the ones that have removable bottoms, they are easier to use when making cheesecakes, getting the cheesecake out of the tin tends to be an ordeal but with these tins you eliminate that stress.

Pour the crumbs into the tin and using the back of the spoon press the crumbs into the tin, ensuring the base is nice and flat, once you have done this place in the fridge.

To make the filling: Place the cream cheese and the double cream in a mixing bowl and combine. Gradually add the icing sugar little by little, mix well.

Add the Nutella to the mix and ensure the Nutella is completely incorporated.

I tend to melt white chocolate and add it to the filling, it adds another dimension to the cheesecake, however if you choose not to, that's completely fine. I melt the chocolate in the microwave- you have to be so careful as chocolate can very easily burn, so stick to a Pyrex bowl over hot water if you need too. Once the chocolate is melted, add to the filling.

Take the tin out of the fridge and layer on the filling with a spatula. I decorate mine with freeze-dried raspberries- as I love the colour and a couple of cigarette wafers, however decoration is completely up to you!

Allow the cheesecake to chill and set in the fridge for 3-4 hours before eating.

Enjoy!

Flourless Chocolate Overload Sponge Cake

Have you noticed how flourless sponges are all the rage at the moment? No? Well, they seem to be rather popular my end, and although I have made countless cake recipes some using alternative flours and some using none at all, I have never been a fan of flourless cakes. I enjoy making them, don't get me wrong, but when It comes to eating them, I find them very dense and a bit of an effort to eat. However I have cracked it! I have combined various snippets of different recipes to create the perfect chocolate overload cake! This cake is perfect with a cup of tea or warmed through for a dessert served with double cream, either way this cake is perfectly delicious with a soft, light sponge and a thick rich chocolate cream topping.

Flourless Chocolate Overload Sponge Cake

Ingredients: Cake

1 cup of Dark Chocolate Chips

8 tbsp. Unsalted Butter

3/4 cup Granulated Sugar

Pinch of Salt

1 tbsp. of Espresso Coffee (Nescafe Azera)

1 tsp. Vanilla Essence

3 Large Eggs

1/2 cup of Cocoa Powder

Ingredients: Topping

1 cup of Dark Chocolate Chips

150ml Double Cream

Method

Start by preheating the oven at 190 oc and greasing an 8" round cake tin. Butter the tin and use some cocoa powder to coat the butter, this will ensure the cake doesn't get stuck!

In the microwave or over a pan of hot water, melt the melt and the chocolate chips, do this very carefully, you do not want to burn the chocolate.

In a large mixing bowl combine the sugar, salt, coffee and vanilla, give the ingredients a stir and once the chocolate is ready, combine the ingredients in the mixing bowl.

Gradually add the 3 eggs to the mixture one at a time, beating well.

Now add the cocoa powder and mix thoroughly.

Spoon the batter into the prepared tin. Place in the oven for 25-30 minutes, the cake will forma thin crust on top when cooked.

Test the cake with a knife or a cocktail stick if you are unsure.

Allow the cake to cook for 5 minutes and then remove from the tin.

To make the topping; heat the cream in a saucepan until the cream starts to boil. Prepare the chips by placing them in a small mixing bowl and when the cream is ready, pour over the chips and stir until the chips have melted completely.

Leave the topping to cook for 10 minutes, then pour directly over the cake, using the back of a spoon to push the icing right up to the edge so that it pours over the sides and the entire cake is covered.

Decoration can be added, I gave my cake a sprinkling of freeze died raspberries for a bit of colour.

Challah Bread

This was a recipe I found on Pintrest originally, It is one which I have adapted and made easier over time. If you are looking to bake a bread which is gorgeously crusty on the outside and beautifully soft inside, this is one for you. This recipe is easy to follow and the result is absolutely delicious, this bread is visually pleasing, with a shiny and crisp crust. Challah bread is a special Jewish braid bread eaten on Jewish holidays. This bread is perfect for a celebration.

Challah Bread

Ingredients

3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting work tops
1 sachet of  instant dried yeast
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
3 large eggs & 1 egg yolk (don't throw away the left over white!)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup water, at room temperature

Method

In a bowl combine all of the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.

In another bowl combine 2 of the eggs and the egg yolk, mix thoroughly with the water and the melted butter.
Gradually add the wet ingredients to the dry, stirring constantly. If the mixture becomes too sticky, add up to 1/4 cup of flour to even it out.
On a lightly floured surface, start to knead the dough until it the dough is smooth and elastic. Aim to knead the dough for about 5 minutes.
Shape the dough into a ball, place in a bowl and cover. Let the dough rise for 1.5-2 hours, at least until it has doubled in size. Meanwhile stir the left over egg white in a bowl and place in the fridge.
Once the dough has doubled in size, press on the dough and deflate, then allow to double in size again for 40-60 minutes.
Take the dough out of the bowl and roughly divide into 3 portions (one should be larger than the other two. I divide the dough into 4 then combine 2 of the portions).
You will repeat this next part of the recipe with all 3 portions: Take a portion and divide into 3 again. Roll the dough in your hands until you create a 12-16 inch sausage, repeat 3 times. Create a plait with the 3 sausages by pinching the dough together at the top, plaiting then pinching the bottom to seal. Place on  tray.
Repeat this with the smaller portions of dough, then drape the smaller plaits over the larger one. This creates a more beautiful and visually interesting bread design.
Brush the bread with the egg white.
Bake at 180oc for 30-40 minutes until golden brown.