Never Go Wrong with Cookies

It's probably evident from my previous posts that my main love in baking is cupcakes, but I'm determined to branch away from that and try out different recipes and styles of baking. I remember as a kid using those box mixture you could by from the supermarkets to make cookies and brownies, of course as the years went on I stopped using those and making them from scratch instead. So, as part of this nostalgic look back I've got a really simple, quick and easy cookie recipe for you.

Here's what you need to do:

150g salted butter

80g light brown sugar

80g granulated sugar

2tsp vanilla extract

1 egg

225g plain flour

1/2tsp bicarbonate of soda

1/4tsp salt

200g plain chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 190C and line two baking trays with grease proof paper.
2. Beat the sugars and butter until creamy, then slowly beat in the vanilla and egg. Sieve the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt into the mixture and mix well. Stir in the chocolate chips.
3. Using a teaspoon, or I prefer an ice cream scoop, place small mounds of the cookie dough onto the trays. Make sure to leave space between each cookie as they will expand during the bake. 
4. Bake for around 10-25mins or golden brown around the edges and still soft in the middle. Once out of the oven, leave them on the tray for a couple of minutes to cool and firm up. Then transfer to a cooling rack.

I would say, go crazy with how much chocolate you put in but I found adding any extra becomes a little too much. Also, using an ice cream scoop to shape and place your cookies is so much easier and means equal sizing and no more messy hands! The great thing about the recipe is that you can easily substitute flavouring and ingredients to make different cookies. So give this recipe a go and feel free to suggest any types of cookies I should try out.

Enjoy

X

Smoothie #2

So as you may or may not know, this summer I've decided to be more adventurous with baking and cooking in general. In the Coming Soon post, I mentioned that eating and being healthier is on my to do list, so instead of having a coffee every morning before work I've decided to opt for healthy breakfast smoothies as an alternative. 

Smoothie number two could be said to be not so healthy, but peanut butter is a great source of protein and in small amounts is good for you. This banana and peanut butter smoothie is great for filling your appetite until lunch time. 

Banana

Smooth peanut butter

Vanilla low fat yoghurt

(Ice)

For this smoothie, I went for smooth peanut butter just because I don't like the pieces that chunky peanut butter would leave. Also, a food hack for you, freeze your banana pieces before using them, that way you won't need ice and you won't get left with the gritty pieces that ice can sometimes leave. 
To improve this next time, I would probably add a touch of honey just to add a little bit of sweetness to it as the peanut butter was too over-powering for me. 

If you have any suggestion for other smoothies, please let me know. 

Enjoy 
X

Smoothie #1

To start the smoothie experiments off I went for a simple summer fruits blend. Everyone loves fruit smoothies and there's not much room for any error. It was quick and simple to make, perfect I found for an on-the-go breakfast on the way to work. 

For this recipe I used:

Frozen mixed berries

Strawberry low fat yoghurt

Rolled oats

(Ice)

The great thing about this is that you just have to put all the ingredients in a blender, whizz it up and you're done. Of course, adjust the ingredients and quantities to your liking. One thing I would recommend is blending the mixture for quite a while as the oats tend to take a bit longer to be crushed down. I found mine was too lumpy with the oats and I was eating them after I'd taken a sip. 

All in all, a good start to my smoothie making. 

Sadly, I forgot to take a picture of the smoothie so I don't have anything to show you as to how mine came out. Next time I'll try and remember to take one! If you do have any recommendations to other smoothies I should try please let me know.

Enjoy

X

Coming Soon!

Summer is here! My first year of university  has finished, and I can't believe how quickly it's gone. I remember packing up and moving in as if it were yesterday. 

Seeing as I have almost four months of holidays - praise the late starting uni - I've got oodles of time to do some more lovely bakes. 

Here's some of things I want to make:

As a birthday treat for one of my best friends I promised to make him a cake. His birthday was in March. Yeah, it's a little belated ;) But with my friends coming round soon I thought it would be a lovely idea to get them helping me out in the kitchen! His favourite type is carrot cake. But to make it that little bit better I'll change it around a little using the white chocolate cream cheese frosting that I used for the red velvet cupcakes, rather than just a simple cream cheese frosting. It'll be delicious! 

Profiteroles are something I've always wanted to make. They're pretty simple with a choux pastry and cream filling. But I'm going to try something a little different, perhaps a chocolate cream filling with maybe a caramel topping. I've not yet decided but they will definitely get made soon! Along the pastry/bread lines, I need to expand my pastry making abilities so I might give that a whirl this summer. Cinnamon rolls are definitely on the menu to be tried again, hopefully with better success than last time!

This summer I am determined to eat more healthily. Yes, I know, everyone says that. But I am going to try and change my diet to be a bit healthier, so that means less chocolate and takeaways, and more fruit and home cooked meals. 
I'm starting to break this in with some fruit smoothies to take to work for breakfast. When you've got a 9am start, sleep is more valuable to me than making toast in the morning. So, these smoothies I am going to try out will be made the night before and kept refrigerated until the morning. This is something a little different to be posting on my blog, seeing as it is usually dedicated to baking, but different is good. I'm expanding out and trying new things so I'm going to share that here. Feel free to share any smoothie recipes you have in the comment section below! :)

Cupcakes. As you know I'm a great lover of individual cakes, so of course there will be new cake recipes to follow. Seeing as summer in England tends to be wet and miserable, I am going to try and brighten it up with some summery themed cupcakes. I've got some ideas to try some using coconut, pineapple and passion fruit, as they are such summery flavours that only remind me of sitting on the beach on holiday. I really want to try incorporating more fruit into cupcake recipes, rather than chocolate and caramel. I have also seen a marshmallow frosting, you get to use a blow torch! It looks amazing and I can only imagine tastes amazing as well. 

This summer definitely looks like a summer filled with lots of sweet treats! Friends and family are definitely going to be thankful for all the cakes that will be coming their way.
Recipes to all that I make will come soon. 

Happy Baking

X

A Lemon Surprise

Lemon is quite a popular flavour when it comes to cakes and sweet food in general. It's got that refreshing quality that, when done right, isn't sickeningly sweet. This cupcake recipe is really simple and is perfect for a summer treat. I made these once for a school competition and my best friend loved them so much she ate five in one go, and, not to toot my own horn, but these won me the competition. So, I think it's safe to say they are pretty tasty cupcakes. 

It involves a straight forward all-in-one victoria sponge for the cake, the recipe for which you can find here from my previous post, and then the delicious white chocolate cream cheese frosting which I added a touch of lemon curd. The added surprise to the cupcakes are a lemon curd centre. By simply making a a deep but small cross with a knife on the top of the cake so you can easily pipe in some lemon curd. I would recommend a small round nozzle for piping as you can easily control how much curd you're putting inside the cake. Top off with the frosting and add a few yellow and orange sprinkles, or any other decorations, to add the finishing touch. 

Frosting:

500g cream cheese - room temp.

250g white chocolate

2 cups icing sugar - sifted

1 tsp vanilla extract

Few tbsp lemon curd

1. Melt half the white chocolate in a double boiler, making sure the bottom of the bowl does NOT touch the water. Take it off the heat and slowly stir in the remaining chocolate until it is fully incorporated smoothly and shiny.
2. Beat the cream cheese until it is light and fluffy
3. Slowly beat in the melted chocolate, then add the icing sugar and vanilla.
4. Mix in the lemon curd to taste.
5. Fill a piping bad and you're away.

As I was making this within a time limit I didn't have the chance to let the frosting set. I would recommend refrigerating it for about an hour before piping. The added liquid from the lemon curd makes the frosting a little too loose for it to hold it's pipping shape effectively.  

Give this recipe a go and let me know how you like it.

Enjoy 

X

Failure As a Blogger

So the award for the most failed blog goes to me. I have got so many posts waiting to be finished but never the motivation or time to complete and post them. Apologies... In particular I had a special chirstmasy one planned that I would post in time for the holiday. It involved an easy way to add a touch of festive spirit to any cake. 

Hey. It's still winter so there's no reason why you couldn't add a seasonal twist to decorating cakes. This festive decoration is frosted fruits. Yes, this makes the cake you're eating a little healthier because there is fruit involved. You're welcome ;) 

It's a pretty simple method. You only need two ingredients, but I'll warn you know, it can get a little messy. 

All you will need is white caster sugar and egg whites. The quantity of both will of course vary depending on how much fruit you are looking to cover, but I will recommend that you start off with a little sugar so that you don't waste too much. Have a baking tray ready lined with some parchment paper so that the fruit can sit to dry and set for a couple of hours. 

The process for this is pretty simple. Just dip the fruits first in the egg whites, try and remove any excess egg white, and then dip and roll in the sugar. Easy right? 

Here's a little look at the ones I did for a chocolate birthday cake. It's adds such a nice touch to the cake and looks really pretty. Give it a go, it's so simple!

Enjoy

X