Banana Cinnamon Smoothie

Ingredients: (per person)

1 banana

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon honey

1 teaspoon sugar

1 tablespoon natural yoghurt

1 tablespoon vanilla ice cream

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Method:

Blend all ingredients together until well combined

YUM :)

Choc-Orange Cupcakes

Late night snack :)

Ingredients: (makes 8 small cupcakes)
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
10 pieces Aero Chocolate Orange balls (cut into small pieces) 
3 tablespoons chocolate powder (I used nesquik)
3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons self raising flour
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 teaspoon orange rind

Method:
-preheat an oven to 180 degrees C
-whisk the oil, sugar and egg until well combined and frothy
-add the vanilla essence, flour and chocolate powder and mix until well combined
-mix in the orange rind and aero chocolate
-divide the mixture into the cupcake cases
-cook in the oven for 15min

Birthday Cupcakes!!

My friends Birthday is today, so I made her a cupcake stack.

I made Vanilla sponge cakes, with a strawberry jam filling, and cream icing.

Ingredients: (makes 22 mini cupcakes)

2 eggs (lightly beaten)

6 tablespoons self raising flour (sifted)

6 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla essence
60g butter (room temperature)
Strawberry Jam
Whipping cream
4 tablespoons icing sugar (sifted)

Method:
-pre heat the oven to 180 degrees C
-beat the sugar, 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence and butter together until creamy and smooth
-once the butter mixture is smooth, add one tablespoon of flour and combine
-add the eggs, one at a time, whisking between each addition
-add the remaining flour, a tablespoon at a time, whisking between each addition. When it gets too hard to whisk (if you are whisking by hand) use a wooden spoon and mix
-divide the mixture evenly between the cupcake cases, this makes 22 small cupcakes
-cook in the oven for 10-12 minutes
-once the cupcakes are cooled completely it is time to fill them with jam. With a small sharp knife, cut a cone shape from the top of each cake. Fill the space with half a teaspoon of jam.
-once the cakes are all filled with jam the can be iced. Whip the cream, until it forms soft peaks. 
-add the icing sugar and 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence, and whip until medium peaks (not too stiff)
-ice the cupcakes over the jam filling

Happy Birthday!!

Trifle

How to make a easy trifle from scratch!

Part 1. The cake

Very simple pound cake recipe. This cake doesn't need to look pretty, just needs to taste nice and soak up all the juice in the trifle.

Ingredients:

1 egg

3 tablespoons self raising flour

3 tablespoons sugar

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Method:

-beat the sugar, egg, vanilla essence and oil together, until it turns a light yellow colour.

-add the flour and combine until there are no lumps

-cook in the oven at 180 degrees C for 20min (I used a muffin tin so the cakes cooked quickly, about 12min)

Part 2.

Jelly. Thanks Hartley's jelly. I used strawberry Jelly, that I made the other day

Part 3. 

Strawberry Syrup. You can use anything you want, basically there needs to be something for the cake to soak up. Traditionally it's boozey, but I prefer a fruity taste.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons of strawberry jam

2/3 cup of water

Method:

-heat the water and jam in a saucepan over a medium heat until it thickens to a syrup

Part 4.

Custard. I have been trying lots of ways to get a really smooth, low fat custard. This one is my favourite. 

Ingredients:

2 eggs

2 cups milk (I used 1 cup soy milk and 1 cup skim milk)

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Method:

-heat the milk, sugar and vanilla essence over a low heat

-whisk the eggs until frothy

-just before the milk reaches a simmer pour it over the eggs, while whisking

-return the mixture to the saucepan and slowly heat, whisking, until the custard thickens

Part 5. 

Cream. I added some sugar and vanilla essence to some whipped cream :)

Part 6. 

Raspberries, strawberries would have been nice to keep to the strawberry theme, but I didnt have any...

Assemble the Trifle!

This made, 6 individual portions.

-Place the sponge (in small pieces) on the bottom of the serving dish

-Pour a spoonful of the strawberry syrup over the sponge

-Place some raspberries over the sponge

-Put some jelly on the berries

-Pour some custard over the jelly, try to cover all the jelly and berries

-Finish with whipped cream (I sprinkled some chocolate over mine too)

-Enjoy!

Its not that hard at all to make trifle from scratch. 

I cant wait to enjoy one tonight after training.

Raspberry and Banana smoothie

The temperature today was 9 degrees! Time to try to make it feel like summer. So I made some smoothies for my boyfriend and I.

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon of natural yoghurt
1 tablespoon honey
1 banana
2 handfuls of raspberries
1 cup of soy milk
1 cup of skim milk

Method:
-blend the raspberries and soy milk.
-pour into a jug, straining the seeds with a sieve
-pour the raspberry mix back to the blender and add the remaining ingredients
-blend until smooth and ENJOY (and pretend it's summer)

Jammie Doggers

I am rubbish at cooking biscuits, brownies, pretty much anything that isn't a cake. So I have promised myself that I will learn to cook things that I'm not very good at. So tonight's treat is jammie doggers.

I started with a really simple recipe...

Ingredients: (makes 8ish)
7 tablespoons self raising flour
5 tablespoons sugar
50g butter
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 small egg, lightly whisked
strawberry jam

Method:
-preheat oven to 190 degrees C
-combine the sugar, flour, butter and vanilla essence. using your hands until you achieve a breadcrumb like texture
-add half the egg and combine until the mixture comes together. If you need to add more of the egg add it in small amounts. You dont want the mixture to be too wet.
-roll the mixture into log, wrap with cling wrap and put into the fridge to harden, for about 15min
-once the dough is hardened, use a sharp knife and cut into discs, about 2cm thick
-using the end of a spoon make a hole in the middle of the biscuit (dont press the whole way through the biscuit)
-place some jam in the hole, and place on a baking tray. Leave some space between the biscuits as they will grow as the bake.
-bake in the oven for 10-15min, until the just begin to brown on top
-leave to cool on a wire rack completely before eating (remember the jam will be super hot!)

Not the most amazing and complicated biscuits, but my first attempt received a pass from my boyfriend, and myself!

Mini Victoria Sponge Cakes

These cute cakes are so easy, and taste amazing. You can add whatever you want to the recipe, this time I had some left over cream so decided to make mini victoria sponge cakes :) 

Ingredients: (makes 6)

3 tablespoons room butter at room temperature

3 tablespoons self raising flour

3 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1 egg

50mL whipping cream

1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

1 teaspoon sugar

Strawberry jam

Method:

-preheat oven to 180 degrees C

-cream the butter, sugar and vanilla essence until smooth

-add one tablespoon of flour and combine

-lightly whisk the egg and add to the mixture

-add the remaining flour and combine
-divide the mixture between 6 cupcake cases and cook for 15min

-while the cakes are cooking prepare the cream. whisk the cream, 1 teaspoon of sugar and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence until soft peaks are formed

-allow the cupcakes to cool completely and  then remove from the cupcake cases

-make sure the cupcakes are cooled completely and then cut in half

-spread the cream and jam                                                                              between the cakes and sandwich together
-sift some icing sugar to serve

Chocolate Truffles

After watching Bake With Anna Olson the other day, I have been wanting to make some truffles of my own.
Over a year I made some chocolate truffles with my friend, they were really tasty, but took us forever to make. The recipe I used this time was way easier and quicker.
I made some vanilla truffles but you can make whatever flavour you want!

Ingredients:
250mL whipping cream
250g chocolate (I used 200g of milk and 25g of white, but you can use whatever you want)
Vanilla essence (or any flavour you want)
Toppings- I crushed some rich tea biscuits, and melted some chocolate

Method:
-heat the cream on a low heat until it reaches a simmer
-pour the heated cream over the chocolate, let it sit for a while then mix the cream and chocolate. The cream should melt the chocolate
-leave the mixture to come to room temperature, once it has put it in the fridge until set
-once the mixture has set roll into small balls (about the size of a teaspoon). Return the rolled balls to the fridge and let them set for about 30min
-prepare your toppings. I used a blender to finely grind some biscuits and melted some milk chocolate. 
-I rolled half the truffles in the crushed biscuits, and covered the other half in melted chocolate. Dipping the truffles in chocolate can get messy, I used some cocktail forks, and placed a cooling rack over a tray to catch any drippings. Once the chocolate had set, I melted some white chocolate and drew some white lines on the half that I dipped in chocolate.

These are so rich so a little goes a long way. They are great for gifts and parties, they look like lots of effort has gone into them, when really not much has. 
I will give some to my lift to hockey tomorrow morning, lucky whoever is picking me up :)

Bread and Butter Pudding

Stale bread and eggs, not an appetising dinner, and I dont feel like standing over a stove making French Toast, so bread and butter pudding it is!
My boyfriend has never had bread and butter pudding, I almost wish for his first taste I had made a super fancy one, but the truth is as long as there is butter and sugar in it, he will like it.

Ingredients: to make a small pudding, for 2
2 pieces of bread
4 cubes of butter
4 cubes of sugar
1 egg
75mL milk (I used soy milk)
1 teaspoon of brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Method:
-cut the bread into small cubes
-use a small non-stick baking dish. Fill the dish with the bread cubes
-whisk the egg, milk, vanilla essence and brown sugar until well combined
-place the cubes of butter and sugar among the bread
-sprinkle the cinnamon and brown sugar over the bread
-pour the liquid mix over the bread cubes, pushing the bread down to ensure they all get to soak up some liquid
-bake in a 160 degree C oven for 25min, or until the liquid is set and the bread is golden brown on top.
-sprinkle with icing sugar, serve with cream or ice cream, or whatever you feel like :)

Super easy and super tasty!!

This is such a flexible recipe  you can add chocolate pieces, dried fruit (sultanas), nuts, banana, almost anything you can think of.

My boyfriend is at training at the moment so this will be a nice surprise for him when he gets home. I hope he likes it... fingers crossed!

Zucchini Muffins

I had one zucchini in the fridge and decided to make some zucchini muffins. They turned out ok, I think there are a few changes I would make for next time.

I used: (to make 6)
3 tablespoons SR flour
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons oats
1 zucchini
1 egg

I beat the egg, honey and sugar together. Then I added the zucchini and mixed in. I then added the oats and flour and combined.

I baked them in an oven at 180 degrees C for 25min.

They were really moist and tasty, but they stuck to the cupcake cases. I think next time I wouldn't use the cases, I would just use a greased (and floured) muffin tin. 
I would also grate the zucchini finer.

I finished the muffins with a lemon glaze, made with lemon juice and icing sugar. I put it on the muffins while they were still warm so that it soaked into the muffins.

Overall this is a good recipe, just needs some tweaking.

Warm milk with Honey and Nutmeg

Perfect hot drink to end the day

I first tried this drink in a little cafe in Edinburgh when I was there for New Year. I wish I could remember the name of the cafe as it was such a lovely place. It look like it had been a house, and converted into a tea room like cafe. It was decorated with really quaint decor and all the china was mis-match but fitted the cafe perfectly.

After a cold and rainy day recreating this drink seemed the perfect end to a miserable day. 

Ingredients: (for 1 mug)

2 teaspoons of honey

1 teaspoon of nutmeg

1 mug of warm milk

Method:

-stir the honey into the warm milk

-sprinkle the nutmeg on top

This drink is so easy, but tastes amazing.

Banoffee Pie

What to have for dinner...
I had a craving for caramel...
Banoffee Pie!

My boyfriend has never had a banoffee pie, they aren't a lot of them around where we live.
This one had the full works, home made pastry, and home made caramel.

The pastry was a super simple one, I didn't make a sweet pastry as the filling is sweet enough.

Ingredients: (makes enough pastry for a pie crust that serves 2)
6 tablespoons of flour
3 tablespoons of oil
water

Method
-pre heat oven to 180 degrees C
-using my hands I combined the flour and oil until I had a breadcrumb type mixture
-I then added water teaspoon by teaspoon and mixed until I had a firm pastry dough
-I then rolled the pastry out to fit just over the pie dish and baked in the oven for 20-25min

Once the pastry was cooked, while it was still warm I broke a flake chocolate over the bottom of the crust. I packed it down, so that it melted slightly on the warm pastry.

I then cut a banana into thin pieces and laid it out on top of the chocolate.

Now onto the caramel.
I am rubbish at making caramel, I think I have only had one successful attempt. I am always on the lookout for low fat caramel recipes. I found one that only uses milk, sugar and salt so I gave it a go.

Ingredients:
100g sugar
125mL milk
1 teaspoon of salt

Method:
-it is best to use a heavy based, deep saucepan. Put the sugar in the saucepan over a low heat. Make sure the sugar is evenly spread over the base of the saucepan.
-dont stir the sugar while it is heating
-while the sugar is heating, warm the milk up in the microwave for about a minute, and stir so that the milk is evenly heated.
-once the sugar is a clear colour, watch carefully as everything happens very quickly. You need to wait until the sugar is a light brown colour. As soon as it reaches this colour take off the heat, add the salt and half of the milk, stirring continuously.
-the milk will bubble up and steam, keep stirring. Once the bubbling has stopped add the rest of the milk.
-I had some chunks of hard caramel in mine so I put it back on a low heat, and stirred continuously until the chunks had melted into the sauce. The sauce also thickened while it was over the heat.

I then poured the caramel over the banana, and put into the fridge for 15min, until it became chewy.

YUM!

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Butter free cupcakes

Trial number 2 for cupcakes without butter... 

Take 2 was much more successful than the first take. There are still some bits and pieces that need ironing out. But Im sure my boyfriend and landlady wont mind trying more batches :)

Ingredients: (makes 6)

2 eggs

6 tablespoons sugar

6 tablespoons self raising flour

flavour... this time I used lemon rind which was tasty

Method:

-pre heat oven to 160 degrees C

-beat the eggs and sugar really really well. I dont have an electric mixer where I am living at the moment, which made this part not as fun... It needs to be beaten for about 10min in an electric mixer, or until it turns an almost white colour with lots of air bubbles

-fold in the flour using a metal spoon

-divide the mixture into 6 cupcake cases and bake in the oven for 20min or until firm to the touch. Try not to open the oven door as these cakes sink really easily.

-cool in the tin, remove and ice. I used royal icing (icing sugar and water)

The first time I made these I had the oven temp set to 180, but I think it cooked the eggs too fast and made them a bit chewy. I lowered the temp this time, and put the cupcakes on the bottom shelf in the oven. This made them less chewy, and softer on top.

I also added lemon this time, last time I didn't add enough vanilla and they tasted a bit eggy. The lemon tasted good, but I think with more vanilla the vanilla would taste nice too.

Trial 3 I think I will make a lemon syrup and pour over the cupcakes straight out of the oven before icing. 

Apple Pie for the Boy

Post Hockey Apple Pie

So tired and cold after hockey, but not too tired to make an apple pie (as long as the pastry is pre made...)

My Boyfriend's favourite treat is apple pie, not my favourite but as I love him I make it every now and then. 

After a long day at hockey, and after losing, I couldn't be bothered to make pastry, so I used some frozen puff pastry, which is so much nicer than what I could make. 

I also made a basic egg custard to have with it. 

Ingredients: (for 2 medium sized mini pies, could serve 4, but after a day at hockey only 2)

6 apples, peeled and cored

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon brown sugar

water

frozen pastry :)

Method:

-pre heat oven to 180 degrees C

-dice the apples into small pieces and put in a saucepan. cover about an inch of the apples with water (if you add too much you can always strain some part way through the cooking. if you add too little you can burn the apples at the side of the pan)

-place over a low heat and cook the apples down until you have some puree and some pieces still holding their shape (this is how my boyfriend likes it best)

-place the apples into a pie dish and cover with the pastry. prick some holes in the pastry to allow the steam to escape

-cook in the oven for 20-25min (depending on pastry instructions)

To make the egg custard: (this is a super basic recipe and uses not too many ingredients)

ingredients: 

1 egg yolk

1 tablespoon of sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1 table spoon four

100mL milk

method:

-heat the milk and vanilla over a low heat

-whisk the egg yolk and sugar until very well combined

-once the milk is almost at a boil add the four and stir continuously

-allow the milk to boil for a couple of minutes to ensure the four is cooked, and your custard doesn't end up tasting like flour

-while whisking the egg and sugar pour the heated milk/flour mix into the egg/sugar mix. Keep whisking so you dont end up with scrambled eggs.

Easy and Yummy Apple Pie with Custard :)

Baking with friends

Baking and Eating with friends has to be one of the best pass times.

Last Friday night, one of my friends came over and we had homemade burgers for dinner, and baked cupcakes for tea after. 

We used a basic pound cake variation recipe adding bits and pieces. Some had banana, some had chocolate chips and some had both.

How we made our super easy, super tasty cupcakes.

Ingredients: (per 6 cupcakes)

3 tablespoons of unsalted butter

3 tablespoons of sugar

3 tablespoons of self raising flour

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Extras - dark chocolate chips (lots), 1 mashed banana

Method:

-pre heat oven to 180 degrees C

-cream the butter and sugar, until well combined

-add one tablespoon of flour, and mix

-lightly whisk the egg before adding to the mixture

-once the mixture is well combined add the rest of the flour and mix until well combined

-now is the time to add anything else you want, vanilla, chocolate chips, and banana. The banana will make the cakes more moist, so you may need to add another spoon of flour.

-bake for 12-15minutes

We iced the cakes with a vanilla butter cream icing, and decorated with chocolate shavings.

Yummy :)

Chocolate Creations

Post Number 2, how exciting.

Today I visited my friend, who also enjoys baking (and eating).
We live about an hour away from each other, each time we visit we bake something to share with each other.
Today instead of bringing something already baked, we decided to make some chocolates in a mould my friend got for Christmas. 

It took a while to get the hang of, my friend was much better than me, but after a while I figured it out, and we had lots of fun.

How we created our special chocolates (it is so easy!!)

Ingredients:
Melted chocolate - use your favourite. We used white, milk and dark
Cake sprinkles
Editable glitter

Method:
-we started by melting the white chocolate and using a skewer dipped in the melted chocolate drew designes and shapes.  We sprinkled some glitter onto some of the empty chocolate moulds and poured white chocolate on top of the glitter. Once we had finished (ran out of ideas) we put the mould into the fridge to set.
- once the white chocolate had set (it didn't take long as there wasn't much chocolate) we melted the milk chocolate and added some more decorations, filling some to the top. We put some cake sprinkles in the middle of some, this gives some of the chocolates a crunchy surprise. We then put them into the fridge again to set. 
-lastly we melted the dark chocolate and finished off the chocolates and put them back into the fridge to set

I think they looked pretty fancy without much effort.
AND they tasted great. 

Chocolate Cupcakes

My first post... the topic couldn't be anything other than Chocolate cupcakes, my 2 favourite things. 

Chocolate Cupcakes never last long...

My boyfriend loves that I love cooking, I wonder if he will ever get sick of tasting my new creations.

These cupcakes did not last long at all!

I love experimenting with really easy recipes to see if I can make something simple into something even tastier!

I experimented with melted chocolate instead of cocoa powder to make the cakes more moist. It worked, they were lovely.

To make the icing I substituted cocoa powder with melted chocolate too! YUM!

I am living in a share house for the next month that doesn't have scales, or measuring cups, so I have to estimate quantities, but I think it is a good thing. I have leant a lot about my cakes!

How I made these cakes:

Make 6 large cupcakes

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons self raising flour

3 tablespoons sugar

3 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature

3 teaspoons melted milk chocolate

1 egg

Method:

-pre heat oven to 180 degrees C

-cream the butter and sugar, until light, fluffy and well combined

-add 1/2 a tablespoon of flour, and mix into the butter/sugar mix

-lightly whisk the egg, and add to the mix

-beat until well combined

-gradually add the remaning flour

-add the melted chocolate while mixing

-divide the mixture evenly between the 6 cupcake cases and bake at 180 degrees for 12-15min

Let the cakes cool completely before icing. 

EAT before my boyfriend eats them all!