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Iškeptus blynelius papuošk: vietoje nosies uždėk alyvuogę, vietoje akyčių – du žaliuosiuos žirnelius, na ir nepamiršk pavašinti kiškio morkyte.

Skanaus!

BEST EVER CHEWY CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

BEST EVER CHEWY CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

I have tried out a LOT of chocolate chip cookie recipes but this one could quite possibly be my favourite. It makes amazingly thin, chewy, delicious tasting chocolate chip cookies.

Ingredients:
(Makes 18)

250g plain flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp salt
170g unsalted butter, melted
200g dark brown soft sugar
100g caster sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk
300g chocolate chips (any chocolate you want. I like to do a mix of milk, dark and white)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 170 C / Gas mark 3. Line baking trays with parchment.
2. Sift together the flour, bicarb and salt and set aside.
3. In a mixing bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and caster sugar until well blended.
4. Beat in the vanilla, egg and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended.
5. Stir in the chocolate chips using a wooden spoon.
6. Drop the cookie dough onto the prepared baking trays, with each cookie around 4 tablespoons of dough (for smaller cookies, drop 1 rounded tablespoonful and adjust baking time as necessary). Do not flatten the dough. Cookies should be about 8cm apart.
* I like to press a large piece of chocolate into the top of the dough so there is a nice piece of chocolate in the middle of the finished cookie.
7. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking trays for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

TARTE TATIN When my good friend Paul mentioned to me a few weeks ago that his favourite dessert is a tarte tatin, I decided to make him one for his birthday. For something so simple to put together, this is one amazing dessert. Apples fried in butter and sugar until they caramelise, topped with puff pastry & popped in the oven. Heaven! (Note that I used 1 x Jus Rol pack of ready rolled puff pastry and therefore made it easier by eliminating one step, ie rolling out pastry and chilling for 20 minutes) Ingredients 250g puff pastry 75g softened butter 175g caster sugar 750g (about 5) firm dessert apples (I used Braeburn apples), peeled, cored and halved. Vanilla ice cream or creme fraiche, to serve Method Preheat the oven to 190 degrees. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface and cut out a 26cm disc, slightly larger than the top of a 20cm non-stick oven-proof frying pan. Transfer to a baking sheet and chill for at least 20 minutes. Melt the butter in the frying pan, then sprinkle over the sugar in a thick, even layer. Place the apples in the pan on top of the sugar. Keep the pan over a medium heat and cook for 20-25 minutes, gently shaking the pan now and then, until the butter and sugar have amalgamated with the apple juices to produce a rich toffee coloured sauce and the apples are just tender. Take care that the butter and sugar are not allowed to burn. * Just before you top the apples with the pastry, make sure they are tightly packed in the pan, rounded side down. Prick the pastry 5 or 6 times then lift and place the pastry on top of the apples and tuck in the edges down inside the pan. Transfer to the oven and bake for 25 minutes or until the pastry is puffed, crisp and golden. Remove the tart from the oven and leave it to rest for 5 minutes. Then run a knife around the edges and invert it onto a round, flat serving plate. Serve warm with ice cream or creme fraiche. * I had to do the butter/sugar stage 3 times. The first time I didn’t stir it. I thought it would start caramelising and bubbling on its own. It didn’t. It just burnt then went grainy. The second time I stirred it and it still went grainy although it didn’t burn this time! The third time, I added the apples straight away and that seemed to do the trick. The juices from the apples kept the mix smooth.

TARTE TATIN

When my good friend Paul mentioned to me a few weeks ago that his favourite dessert is a tarte tatin, I decided to make him one for his birthday.

For something so simple to put together, this is one amazing dessert. Apples fried in butter and sugar until they caramelise, topped with puff pastry & popped in the oven. Heaven!

(Note that I used 1 x Jus Rol pack of ready rolled puff pastry and therefore made it easier by eliminating one step, ie rolling out pastry and chilling for 20 minutes)

Ingredients
250g puff pastry
75g softened butter
175g caster sugar
750g (about 5) firm dessert apples (I used Braeburn apples), peeled, cored and halved.
Vanilla ice cream or creme fraiche, to serve

Method
Preheat the oven to 190 degrees. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface and cut out a 26cm disc, slightly larger than the top of a 20cm non-stick oven-proof frying pan. Transfer to a baking sheet and chill for at least 20 minutes.

Melt the butter in the frying pan, then sprinkle over the sugar in a thick, even layer.

Place the apples in the pan on top of the sugar.

Keep the pan over a medium heat and cook for 20-25 minutes, gently shaking the pan now and then, until the butter and sugar have amalgamated with the apple juices to produce a rich toffee coloured sauce and the apples are just tender. Take care that the butter and sugar are not allowed to burn. *

Just before you top the apples with the pastry, make sure they are tightly packed in the pan, rounded side down.

Prick the pastry 5 or 6 times then lift and place the pastry on top of the apples and tuck in the edges down inside the pan.

Transfer to the oven and bake for 25 minutes or until the pastry is puffed, crisp and golden.

Remove the tart from the oven and leave it to rest for 5 minutes. Then run a knife around the edges and invert it onto a round, flat serving plate. Serve warm with ice cream or creme fraiche.

* I had to do the butter/sugar stage 3 times. The first time I didn’t stir it. I thought it would start caramelising and bubbling on its own. It didn’t. It just burnt then went grainy. The second time I stirred it and it still went grainy although it didn’t burn this time! The third time, I added the apples straight away and that seemed to do the trick. The juices from the apples kept the mix smooth.

BUTTERFLY FAIRY CAKES

When I was a little girl I loved to watch my mum bake and I especially loved when I could join in. Butterfly cakes were my favourite because a) they’re so easy to make and b) it was my job to ‘make’ the butterflies i.e. cut the tops off and arrange them on top of the icing. I always thought they looked so pretty.

Even now as a ‘grown up’ I still think they’re the prettiest cakes. You can keep your fancy cupcakes, I love butterfly cakes.

Ingredients
For the buns:
100g (4oz) caster sugar
100g (4oz) butter, softened
2 large eggs
100g (4oz) self-raising flour
½ tsp baking powder
15ml (1tbsp) milk

For the buttercream:
50g (2oz) butter, softened
75g (3oz) icing sugar
2tbsp strawberry jam
Icing sugar, for dusting

Method
Preheat the oven to 190°C (375°F, gas mark 5). Line a muffin tray with 10 paper muffin cases.

Place the sugar, butter, eggs, flour, baking powder and milk in a large bowl and mix with an electric whisk until pale and creamy.

Divide the mixture between the muffin cases.

Bake for 15-20 mins until risen, golden and firm to the touch.

Transfer to a cooling rack. Leave to cool.

To make the buttercream, place the butter in a bowl and sift over the icing sugar. Beat until smooth.

Slice the tops off each cake.

and fill the cavities with a little buttercream. (alternatively you can use fresh double cream if you find buttercream too sweet)

Cut each sliced top in half and arrange on top of the filling to resemble butterfly wings. Dust with icing sugar then add a drop of jam.

Enjoy!

THIN & CHEWY CHOCOLATE CHIP & PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES

THIN & CHEWY CHOCOLATE CHIP & PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES

I’m always on the lookout for a good recipe for thin and chewy chocolate chip cookies that actually stay chewy. I have tried loads of recipes but I think I have modified them enough to come up with the perfect recipe!

Ingredients

125g (4.4oz) butter, softened
100g (3.5oz) light brown soft sugar
125g (4.4oz) caster sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
225g (8oz) self-raising flour
½ tsp salt
Handful of chocolate chips, milk or dark, whatever you prefer
Handful of peanut butter chips

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C, gas mark 4.

Cream butter and sugars, once creamed, combine in the egg and vanilla.

Sift in the flour and salt, then the chocolate chips.

Roll into walnut size balls and place on ungreased baking paper.

Bake for just 7 minutes, till the cookies are just setting - the cookies will be really doughy and delicious.

Take out of the oven and leave to harden for a minute before transferring to a wire cooling rack.

These are great warm but they were really lovely the next day too. They stayed chewy and weren’t too sweet. They were really tasty. I will definitely make these again.

If individually wrapped in cling film/plastic wrap, the keep very well in the freezer.

THICK & CHEWY CHOCOLATE & PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES

THICK & CHEWY CHOCOLATE & PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES

I love Ben’s Cookies (www.benscookies.com) but seeing as they’re sold by weight they can be pretty pricey! I looked online for a recipe and found one that looked pretty good. I modified it a bit to suit my own taste and added some peanut butter chips. They turned out great and were delicious eaten warm from the oven.

Ingredients

200g/7oz unsalted butter, softened
300g/10.6oz caster sugar
1 egg
50g/1.76oz cocoa powder, sifted
300g/10.58oz self raising flour, sifted
Milk and dark chocolate chips, however much you like
Peanut butter chips, again however much you like

(Makes 24 cookies)

Method

Heat the oven to 190°C / 375°F degrees and line a baking sheet with baking parchment.

Cream the butter and sugar together until smooth and light.

Beat in the egg then add the flour and cocoa powder and mix well. This is quite hard work as the mix becomes very thick.

Add chocolate chips and peanut butter chips. In this instance I added milk, dark and white chocolate chips.

Roll the dough mixture in your hands (it is very dry and thick so won’t make a mess) until you have a ball the size of a golf ball. Place a piece of chocolate on top and push it down into the ball.

Then roll in your hands again so the piece of chocolate is fixed in the middle. Place on the baking sheet and top with another square of chocolate.

Place in the oven for approx 9 minutes, keeping an eye on them. You want them to be squidgy and gooey inside so don’t overcook them!

These tasted amazing out of the oven when all the chocolate was still warm and runny but they were still really tasty the next day. They were still chewy but were really quite sweet. If you want an injection of chocolate and sugar, these are the cookies for you!

HONEYCOMB

Last night I had just finished dinner and was craving something sweet. I didn’t want to crack open a new bar of chocolate as I knew I would eat the lot so I decided to make honeycomb instead. A sure fire way to satisfy those sweet cravings.

The great thing about honeycomb is that it takes 5 minutes to make and its absolutely divine. It is so easy to make and its quite fun too! Especially when the bicarbonate of soda is added to the sugar mix and there is an explosion of bubbles which gives it its aerated appearance.

Ingredients:

100g/4oz caster sugar
4 x 15ml tablespoons golden syrup
11/2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda, sifted

Method:

Put the sugar and syrup into a saucepan (make sure you use a pan which has high sides as the mixture triples in height very quickly) and stir together to mix. You shouldn’t stir once the pan’s on the heat, though.

Place the pan on the heat and let the mixture first melt, then turn to goo and then to a bubbling mass the colour of maple syrup - this will take 3 minutes or so.

Take the pan off the heat, and add the sifted bicarbonate of soda, stirring to combine. Then watch the syrup bubble up and turn into a lovely gold colour.

When the mixture is approaching the top of the saucepan turn it onto a piece of baking parchment. There’s no need to smooth the mix out - it’s best that you just leave it.

Leave until set - it will drop down as it cools - then bash it so that it splinters into pieces.

It is wonderful eaten in golden shards or you can blitz it in a food processor and serve crumbled on top of ice cream or on top of a pudding. Or you can dunk the pieces into chocolate, like a Crunchie bar.

Be warned though…your dentist won’t be happy!