Snickers brownies!

I write this peeking through chocolate covered hair...dang brownie mix! I decided as I was making brownies today I might put a little somethin' somethin' in them to make them sing. I stood in front of the chocolate stand in co-op for at least 10 minutes and at one point sat on the floor trying to work out what else to put in them. I'm not going to lie I got a few preeeetty strange looks sat down there, people started avoiding the aisle and eye contact with me, the crazy lady hoarding chocolate. It was not my finest hour...  I eventually took the hint and went with the snickers...peanut nougat, peanuts, caramel AND chocolate? Oh hello! I used Jamie Oliver's brownie recipe as the base for this as it is absolutely divine!

This is my first attempt at brownies since stupendously undercooking them and I'm nervous. I was trying to make my friend Lizzie (hiiiiii Lizzie) some cheer up brownies and I essentially gave her chocolate goo... chocolate goo carefully wrapped in foil so it wouldn't leak. She told me it was delicious anyway, she's polite like that :) I have a fear of overcooked brownies. Overcooked brownies are not brownies they are just chocolate cake cut into squares, and no-one wants little square chocolate cakes. So now I'm sitting here waiting for them to cool desperately hoping they're not overcooked...fingers crossed! 

Yey they worked although I won't be able to put an exact cooking time on this recipe as it seems to vary wildly between ovens. My oven in Cardiff cooked these perfectly in 20 minutes but they take at least 30 at home. 

I'd say next time you decide to make brownies have a go at these. They are super rich but thats just an excellent excuse to serve them with cream or ice cream :) The caramel and peanuts add a whole other salty dimension to the brownies. Basically make them, you won’t regret it. 

 Ingredients:

200g Dark chocolate, chopped

2 Snickers bars

250g Butter

65g Plain flour

80g Cocoa powder

1tsp Baking powder

360g Caster sugar

4 eggs, beaten

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4

Line a brownie tin with baking paper or tin foil.

Combine flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and sugar in a bowl and set aside.

Place the dark chocolate and butter in a heat-proof bowl and set over simmering water until melted, stirring occasionally.

Take a knife and thinly slice the Snickers, resist the urge to eat immediately.

Pour the chocolate and butter mixture into the dry ingredients and stir. The mixture will appear quite lumpy at first so don’t worry if it looks funny. Add the beaten eggs and stir until the mixture becomes smooth. Mix in the chopped snickers pieces.

Pour mixture into prepared tin and bake for 20-30 minutes. Keep an eye on it from about 20 minutes onwards. When it's ready it should be a little firm with a slight wobble.

Leave them to cool in the pan, before transferring to a chopping board and cutting into squares.

 

Enjoy! x

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Asian noodle soup

This recipe is based on a dish that my friend Hetty taught me. I say based on as the ingredients change continually, but that is the beauty of this soup! You can pretty much chuck anything into it and it always turns out alright. It’s super quick and easy to make and I do occasionally live off it when I can't be bothered to cook... I hope you like it!

Ingredients:

1 litre Chicken Stock  
600 grams Rice Noodles Or Udon Noodles  
2 Tablespoons Vegetable Oil  
2 cloves Garlic, Minced  
2  Large Red Chilies (sliced)  
1 stalk Lemongrass (bruised)  
1 piece Thumb-sized Ginger (minced)  
1 cup Coconut Milk  
2 Tablespoons Crunchy Peanut Butter, Heaped  
½ cups Light Soy Sauce  
4 Tablespoons Soft Light Brown Sugar  
1  Red Pepper (finely Sliced)  
6  Spring Onions, Sliced  
Coriander And Diced Chilies, For Garnish

Method:

Begin by placing the noodles in a large heatproof bowl and soaking them in the just boiled chicken stock for 5 minutes until softened.
Fry garlic, chilies,lemongrass and ginger in oil in a large pot over a low to medium flame until golden. Add the coconut milk, peanut butter, soy sauce, brown sugar and bring the mixture to a simmer whilst stirring. Once the peanut butter and sugar has been absorbed into the mixture add the stock, noodles, peppers and 2/3 of the spring onion. Simmer for 2 minutes and then serve immediately.
Decorate with remaining spring onions, coriander and chilli.

Enjoy! x

I done made me a ruffle cake!

Ok so I didn't make it just for me, I was forced to share! I made it for another surprise party and this one actually was a surprise! Well sort of. Anyway, my friend Westerby (hiiiiiii Westerby) is a girly girl. A really girly girl. So what better then than a massive frilly pink cake that tastes like strawberries?

It was basically a strawberry sponge covered with a pink swiss meringue butter icing. This was my first proper batch of this icing and it was a revelation I tell you!

My boyfriend actually said 'What?! What is this??? It tastes like a fluffy pink cloud!' I was so happy with the icing that I decided the more the merrier and filled the whole cake with it too...

I know I know, you're probably thinking its a little excessive and you'd be right... I have made my love of butter perfectly clear and I make no apologies for the fact that this cake may or may not have contained almost 1.5kgs of the stuff...

Speaking of excessive I was left with about 35 egg yolks to use up at the end of it all.

 I have to say if you've never stuck (very clean) hands into a bowl of egg yolks I highly recommend it. Not to those of you who don't like raw egg (Hibb I'm talking to you here) that wouldn't be wise. I'm one of those odd people that really rather likes the feel of raw egg and raw meat, is it just me? Is there anyone else that likes that? Am I alone? Answers on a postcard

If you do try and make this cake, don't be like me, don't finish the whole thing only to lean across and stick your arm in it. It's infuriating and it smudges up all the little ruffles. This might have happened to me a number of times, its fixable you just have to scrape off the damaged icing and re-ruffle it.

So there it is, 1.5kgs of butter, 35+ egg whites and plenty of pink food colouring :)
Enjoy! x

Hot Chocolate Cupcakes

 

Well hello there, hi. So this is my first ever recipe post, I do hope you like it (whoever you are reading this...if there’s anybody there...hellooo?). I made these for my friend Alice’s (almost) surprise party (Hiiii Alice) and they were snarfed very quickly! It’s a rich chocolate sponge with a chocolate truffle centre, topped with whipped cream and marshmallow.
This recipe is completely fool proof, I actually lost my train of thought (a common problem) and added everything in a completely muddled order and they seem to have turned out okay... So yes fool proof, anyone can and everyone should make them! They always go down a treat with chocoholics, not so much with dieters though...I don’t understand why as they’re so healthy...I’m sure I read somewhere that dark chocolate is good for you, so treat these as a healthy snack. Ok maybe not but make them anyway! 

Ingredients:

Cupcakes:
200g dark chocolate, chopped
150g unsalted butter
185g/1½ cups plain flour
1tsp (heaped) baking powder
30g/ ¼ cup cocoa powder
285g/1¼ cups caster sugar
2 eggs lightly beaten
185ml/¾ cup warm water 
Chocolate Ganache   
200g dark chocolate, chopped
160ml/½ cup whipping cream

Topping
400ml whipping cream, whipped

Method
Preheat your oven to 170°c/Gas mark 3
Combine the cocoa powder, baking powder and flour in a large bowl and set aside.
Place chocolate and butter in a medium sized heat proof bowl over a pan of simmering water, stir until melted.
Once the chocolate and butter are melted add the sugar, beaten eggs and warm water to the mix and whisk to combine. 
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well. Once combined, divide the mixture evenly between the cases and bake for 20 minutes. When the time is up insert a toothpick or a skewer into the cake; if it is clean the cakes are done, if not put them back in the oven for 5 minutes and check again. Once the cakes are cooked leave them to cool in their pans for 5 or 10 minutes before transferring them onto a wire rack. 
Whilst the cakes are cooling make the ganache. Place chocolate in a heat proof bowl and the cream in a saucepan. Bring the cream to the boil, stirring frequently, and once boiled pour it over the chocolate. Leave the warm cream and chocolate mixture to sit for 2 minutes, then take a whisk and beat until fully combined. Leave the ganache mixture at room temperature and allow to set, it will look quite runny at first but don’t worry it will thicken.
Now the cakes are cool, take a small sharp knife and make a circular incision in the middle of the cake about an inch wide pointing the knife at an angle towards the centre of the cake. Once you’ve completed the circle you can pull the centre out and you should have a little piece of cone-shaped sponge. Now cut the tips off all of these leaving just the top which will go on to work as a plug. Fill the gap in the cake with the ganache and place the plug on the top.

Top the cakes with whipped cream and mini marshmallows then indulge in a chocolate feast.

Enjoy! x