The BEST chocolate chip cookies

The best chocolate cookies… a very daring expression but I believe it’s definitely justified! I have made a lot of cookies in my time, from soft and gooey to crunchy and chewy (ha!) But these… these…. just WOW!

Take a bite…

Hard and slightly crunchy on the outside to chewy and soft in the middle, littered with chocolate chunks and a sprinkling of fleur de sel. Well, the cookie monster would definitely take a bite out of these!

I got the recipe from my favourite cookbook of the moment, Lily Vanilli, and adapted it slightly but adding more chocolate and using muscovado sugar to make sure it had that chewy middle!

A delicious closeup

I still have about a third of the cookie dough sitting in my freezer, just waiting to be made into fresh cookies! That’s the great thing about this recipe, you don’t need to wait for the dough to chill, and the whole process of making and baking the cookies takes under an hour from start to finish!

I will be making these for my upcoming bake sale on 26th June, let me know if you want any more info!

One more shot, I couldn’t resist!

Baileys Cheesecake Brownies

Alcohol… chocolate…cheesecake…. what more could a girl want? Baileys Cheesecake Brownies, that’s what! Literally the best breakfast on a Friday morning.

The trio… alcohol chocolate and cheesecake!

You better grab one before they all go…

All mine!

Ooops… too late! These brownies were surprisingly easy to make and it only took me an hour from start to finish. It’s not like you needed an excuse anyway right?! This recipe makes about 30 brownies… enough for me right?!

Brownie ingredients:

• 220g dark chocolate
• 220g butter
• 240g golden caster sugar
• 60g plain flour
• 4 free range eggs
• Half a glass of Baileys!

Cheesecake ingredients:

• 450g full fat cream cheese
• 80g caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• A few splashes of Baileys

Method:

• Preheat oven to 150oC
• For the brownies:
• Melt together the dark chocolate and butter in a bain marie
• When cooled, mix in the sugar
• Add in the eggs one by one and mix well
• Sift in the flour and mix until combined
• Add the Baileys to your taste (I tend to be more generous!) and mix well
• Put the mixture into two brownie tins, spreading it evenly to the edge
• For the cheesecake:
• Whisk together the cream cheese and sugar
• Mix in eggs
• Add Baileys to taste
• Layer this on top of the brownie mixture, and lightly swirl the two mixes together
• Put in oven for about 30 mins, until just set in the middle.
• Remove from oven and leave to cool completely before serving!

Enjoy cake snobs!

Layers of swirly goodness!

Recipe adapted from here.

Kit Kat Birthday Cake

Hi Cake Snobs! Have you missed me? Yes I know sorry I’ve been away for ages. But I will make it up to you. Promise! How? With this:

Kit Kat Birthday Cake

Why yes, that is a victoria sponge cake, sandwich together with raspberry jam and buttercream, covered in white chocolate buttercream, studded with maltesers and peanut m&m’s, finished with a border of kit kats. Phew! Even saying that makes my mouth water! Let’s take another look…

From the top

I made it for the boyfriend’s birthday, and I think he really liked it…

Just for me!

In fact everyone couldn’t wait to gobble it down!

Lets just take one more look shall we?

So – I made this cake using the victoria sponge recipe from Lily Vanilli’s book Sweet Tooth – a great recipe!

I used raspberry jam and standard buttercream to make the filling. I then coated it in a batch of white chocolate buttercream:

Ingredients:

• 220g unsalted butter
• 500g icing sugar
• 300g white chocolate
• 2 tablespoon milk

Method:

• Whisk the butter and icing sugar together until smooth
• Melt the white chocolate, and when cool, add to the buttercream
• If mixture is too stiff, add in amount of  milk (I used skimmed) until it softens

I did a crumb coating first, leaving the cake in the freezer for 10 mins before applying a second coat of buttercream.

I then lined the outside with 2 finger kit kats (warning – buy 3 packets or you will run out and have to find a supermarket that is open at midnight!)

Then i decorated the top and used a ribbon to finish. And voila! The birthday cake is ready! The whole thing took me an evening to make, about 4-5 hours including cake cooling time!

I suggest you make this for your next party, it was a huge crowd pleaser and it was gone within the day!

Chocolate Masterclass

Morning Bakers, Makers and foodie in-takers! Hope you’re well on this lovely sunny morning. I’ve had a bit of a break the past few weeks due to some family stuff, but i’m back now (well at least until I jet off on holiday at the end of the week!)

I am part of the Lurpak #BakeClub and won last month’s chocolate challenge with my Speculoos Brownies, so my prize was to attend a chocolate masterclass with the lovely Lily Vanilli.

Me @ Lily’s

We started off the day with a demo from Lily herself, how to make the filling to her delectable chocolate truffles.

Lily giving us a demo

We could choose to flavour the filling any way we wanted, with flavours ranging from boozy absinthe to delicate lavender. I went with a relatively simple filling, since I loved the array of toppings and wanted a filling that would go well with everything, so I ended up making a salted brown butter ganache. Whilst the ganache refrigerated  we sampled some toppings and asked Lily lots of questions as she baked us some of her fabulous chocolate cookies!

So many toppings!

After waiting for what seemed like an age, it was finally time to coat and top our truffles! We scooped the truffles into little balls, and after a second batch of refrigeration, they were ready to coat and top with whatever we wanted!

Truffle madness!

We tried with some of Lily’s “I made it earlier” truffle balls first, then dived into our own. Whilst most people went for a uniform look for their truffles, I went slightly crazy and developed my own “Monster Truffles” as I named them! Large in size and covered in an array of glitters and toppings, I went for a mad eclectic look!

Monster truffles!

Edible silver

Mine… all mine!

These were a resounding success and thoroughly enjoyed by all my family! A huge thanks to Lurpak and Lily for a brilliant afternoon and one I will remember for ages!

 

Toffee Chocolate Matzah

It’s that time of year again… Yes its Easter but it’s also Passover, which means I can’t eat the lovely easter egg I got from work last night, boo!!

Passover means I can’t eat anything leavened for a whole week (what, no cake?!) So it means I have to be a little more creative with my baking! One thing that is in abundance at Passover is Matzah, a cracker that pretty much tastes like cardboard! So I decided to take matzah and transform it into something everyone wants to eat!

Toffee Chocolate Matzah

It’s so easy, ANYONE can make it!

Ingredients:

• 220g unsalted butter (I used kosher for passover rose butter)
• 215g brown sugar (I used demarera but ideally a finer sugar is better)
• 5 matzah
• Bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips
• Salt
• 1tsp vanilla essence

Method:

• Assemble 2 trays lined with foil, then baking parchment, and arrange your matzah on them, filling all gaps
• Preheat oven to 180oC
• Melt together butter and sugar over a medium heat, until it is bubbling away.
• After cooking for a few minutes, take off heat, add a big pinch of salt and vanilla and mix
• Pour caramel mixture over matzah and put on oven
• The mixture should bubble up but not burn, so bake for 12-15 mins
• Remove from oven and sprinkle over chocolate chips immediately
• Leave for a few minutes, then use a spatchula to smooth the now melted chocolate into a thick layer over the caramel
• Leave to harden then break up and serve to your guests, preferably with a cup of tea!

Layers of goodness!

I can’t even taste the matzah!

Triple Creme Egg Brownies

These brownies are the epitome of decadence. Three layers. Plus some little extras. Oh and did I mentioned they have CREME EGGS baked into them? Yes. Get ready. These are the mother of all brownies. Slutty brownies, RELOADED!

 

Slutty Creme Egg Brownies

 

Top view, melty creme egg goodness!

 

Mmm stacked brownies!

 

And enjoy!

Ingredients:

• For the cookie dough base:
• 200g plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 300g light brown sugar
• 180g melted unsalted butter
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
• 300g milk chocolate chunks
• 1 packet Oreo Cookies
• 1 packet cadbury mini eggs (optional but worth it!)
• For the Brownie Layer:
• 45g cocoa powder
• 1½ teaspoons instant coffee mixed with:
• 140ml boiling water
• 60g dark chocolate, broken up
• 60g melted unsalted butter
• 140ml sunflower or vegetable oil
• 2 large eggs
• 2 large egg yolks
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
• 500g caster sugar
• 220g plain flour
• 8 Creme eggs

Method:

• Make the cookie layer first by creaming together brown sugar and butter.
• Whisk in eggs and vanilla bean paste until all combined
• Sift in the dry ingredients and mix well
• When ingredients are just combined, stir in chocolate chunks
• Butter or grease 2 9×9 dishes (I used tinfoil)
• Layer on the cookie dough base
• Layer oreos on top and scatter on mini eggs
• Make the brownie base by brewing the coffee, and siting in the cocoa powder, then melting the chocolate into the coffee mixture
• Whisk in eggs and yolks until the mixture thickens
• Add sugar and vanilla paste, and sift in the flour.
• Mix well until everything is combined
• Layer this on top of the brownies and bake for 40 mins at 1750C
• After 40 mins, cut your creme eggs in half and layer on top, bake for a further 5-10 mins

If you can wait, leave to cool, then consume.. trust me you wont be able to stop! These are perfect for Easter, or just about any time of the year! I took inspiration from the Eric Lanlard creme egg brownies but adapted them to be even more delicious!

Are you baking anything special this weekend?

Tate and Lyle Tasting House

Last night felt like a dream, wandering through corridors of edible goodies, picking Macarons off banisters and eating pillows, taking bites out of a popcorn bath and picking apart a meringue rug….

But I wasn’t in a dream, I was in the Tate and Lyle Tasting House!

Enter into the tasting house

We were greeted with an array of macarons, covering the bannisters and every windowsill in sight!

Macaron Bannisters

 

Macarons displays ripe for the tasting!

The British golden syrup room was a wondrous display of golden syrup, one of my favourite baking ingredients.

Its the Golden Syrup lion!

Doughnut Tower

 

Very British Baking

 

The second room we entered was the Pirates of the Carribean room, with a huge treasure chest made out of gingerbread! We spray painted our own gold doubloons, sampled the chocolate rum and raisin delights, and feasted on mountains of jewelled sweets!

An edible treasure chest of goodies

An edible sword!

Next we entered into the Mediterranean bedroom of delights, which might have been my favourite room!

Meringue rug of the sweetest, most delicious meringues I have ever tasted!

 

Bath of caramel popcorn

 

Lustrous popcorn cupcakes

From there, we entered into room of different edible delights, including a huge edible turtle, with real eggs filled with cake!

Turtle and eggs, all edible!

 

One of my favourite pieces was the 5 foot long Mardi Gras rainbow cake, so delicious I couldn’t tear myself away!

Taste the rainbow

And the Easter Island mud cake statue!

Take a bite…

Probably tying for my favourite room was the Mayan room, with a temple of fudge and delicious chocolate goodies, including a white chocolate heart filled with the gooiest salted caramel.

I worship your Sweetness!

I genuinely had one of the best evenings of my life, and cant thank enough my buddies over at Tate and Lyle, Mischief PR and my lovely friend Gemma at GG Closet for getting me in to this wonderland!

I only wish I had some of the recipes for these amazing creations!

Chocolate Spice Cake

This cake reminds me of honeyed spice cake, very moist, but not too dense. It’s actually quite light and fluffy, with a gorgeously sweet Biscoff-Maple glaze!

Smoothed to Perfection

The Recipe:

Ingredients:

• 130g plain flour
• 45g cocoa powder
• 1 tsp ground cinammon
• 3/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• 55g dark brown sugar
• 100g caster sugar
• 235ml milk with a squeeze of jemon juice (you can use any milk here, even dairy free!)
• 80ml sunflower oil
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
• For the glaze:
• 85g biscoff/speculoos
• 125g icing sugar
• 2 tsp maple syrup
• Splash of milk
• Chocolate to decorate (optional)

Method:

• Sift the flour and cocoa powder into your mixing bowl or stand mixer, and add in the rest of the dry ingredients
• Mix until well combined and no lumps remain
• Add in the milk, oil and vanilla and mix well
• Make sure all ingredients are well combined then pour into a lined loaf tin and bake on 175oC for 40-45 mins
• When cake is baked, leave to cool and make the glaze
• Sift in the icing sugar into a mixing bowl and add in the rest of the ingredients
• Mix vigorously until you get a thick glaze
• When cake is cooled, pour over the top and leave to set
• I grated chocolate over the top for a pretty finish

Moist and fluffy spice cake

 

Want a slice?

 

Biscoff Brownies

Have you tries Biscoff yet? Have you?! Or Lotus spread, Cookie butter, Speculoos, whatever you like to call it! What is it? Only one of the best things to come in a jar… like EVER! It’s basically the spread version of those little biscuits you get with your coffee in Europe.

This stuff. Oh yeah.

This stuff is like the holy grail… and I found it in Waitrose! (Of course – my favourite supermarket right now!)

I decided to make a few different things with it, so here’s the first recipe, frosted brownies!

Biscoff Brownies

The Recipe

Ingredients:

• 115g unsalted butter
• 115g dark chocolate
• 300g caster sugar
• Tsp vanilla bean paste
• 2 eggs
• 130g flour
• 30g cocoa powder
• For frosting:
• 115g unsalted butter
• 340g biscoff spread
• 190g icing sugar
• 1 tablespoon greek yogurt
• Chocolate to decorate (optional)

Method:

• Melt chocolate and butter in a bain marie
• In your stand mixer, mix together sugar, eggs and vanilla bean paste
• When chocolate mixture is cooled, mix into the sugar and egg mixture
• Sift in the flour and cocoa powder and mix until well incorporated
• Pour the mixture into a buttered or lined brownie pan and bake on 175oC for 30-35 mins
• Leave brownie to cool and make frosting by sifting icing sugar, and adding softened butter and biscoff spread.
• Whisk until well incorporated, then add yogurt to make the frosting nice and fluffy
• When the brownie is cooled, spread the frosting and decorate as desired (I grated chocolate on top!)

These brownies were literally IMMENSE, no one could stop eating them!

Endorsed by the Metropolitan Police!

More brownie action!

I made these for a volunteering event, and they definitely kept everyone going. I would recommend these for a large party, as they will definitely keep everyone happy!

Vanilla Bean Scones

Morning Monday-haters! (Or lovers but i’m guessing most of you are haters!) I’m going to give you an easy peasy cutesy recipe to make your Monday a little less harsh (especially with some of us in the middle of a blizzard!)

For Mother’s Day yesterday I made a batch of heart shaped scones, which I really like fresh out of the oven with a dollop of jam (shhh don’t tell anyone I eat them so hot they burn my tongue!) This is my go to, never fail recipe, which even the most beginner baker can do!

All ready to be baked

 

The Recipe:

Ingredients:

• 500g self raising flour
• 110g unsalted butter
• 50g caster sugar
• 300ml milk (I use skimmed)
• Dollop of vanilla bean paste
• Beaten egg to glaze

Method:

• Pour the flour into a large mixing bowl, and bring the butter to room temperature
• Rub the butter into the flour with your fingers – this is where it gets messy!
• When this forms a breadcrumb-like consistency, mix in the sugar, vanilla bean paste and milk, until it makes a sticky dough
• Turn out onto a floured surface (I cover the workbench with cling film to minimise mess)
• Knead a few times until the dough is less sticky
• Roll out and use a heart or any cutter to form your scone shapes
• Place on a baking sheet and use a pastry brush to glaze them with egg wash
• Bake at 225oC for 12-15 mins until a nice brown top forms
• Remove and eat hot or warm – I recommend a generous spoonful of jam with some clotted cream!

The simplest pleasures are often the best and this saying is definitely true for these quintessentially British scones!

 

Just out of the oven!

Look at that lovely crack in the middle, just ready to prise open and fill with jam!