carrot cake and cookies

 I may not have posted for a while but I have been baking. I have discovered, from another blog that if you roll them in granulated sugar before the icing sugar it sticks better during baking. They look much better now I think.

I normally make orange icing for carrot cake but thought I would try the cream cheese frosting everyone likes so much. Firstly I wonder if anyone can point to a recipe where the frosting does not turn out so runny?

 I enjoyed it but found it a little too sweet for me, I still prefer my orange icing but am glad I have tried it.

I also tried a new cinnamon biscotti recipe and have decided it it much nicer than the usual one I make. The recipe can be found over at Canela and Comino.

cocoa orange cookie bites

 I thought these looked so simple to make that I had to try them.  Found here the recipe used a small amount of sugar and I thought they might make a good treat for the little man. The recipe uses rice flour but I used plain flour (I think the recipe was adapted to be wheat free anyway). They were quite bitter which Ollie loved, I am not nearly as healthy, I would have preferred them a little sweeter. They were still very tasty, perhaps a drizzle of orange icing would have been yummy?mmmmmm next time!

Chocolate Orange Cookie Bites
Adapted from a BBC Good Food recipe

• 100g unsalted butter, softened
• 50g golden caster sugar
• grated zest 1/2 orange
• 150g plain flour
• 50g cocoa
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tbsp or more of orange juice (this was not featured in the recipe)

Method:

Lightly grease a baking sheet.

Beat the butter, then cream it with the sugar and orange zest.  (If the butter isn’t soft enough then the creaming will give your arms an exceptionally good workout!).  Sift the flour, cocoa, and baking powder together then combine with the butter mix to form a dough. Add orange juice gradually until a dough forms. (I did all of this ion a food processor).

Divide the mixture into walnut size balls and arrange on the baking sheet.  Flatten with the back of a slightly damp fork.  Chill for at least an hour in the fridge.

When the chilling time is almost up, pre-heat the oven to 170c.

Bake the cookies for approx 15mins until they are firm.  Leave to cool before removing them from the baking sheet.

hummus

I know! something savoury for once. shocker! But Ollie loves hummus, the more garlicky the better it seems. This is probably nothing like a traditional recipe but it is quick, easy and tasty. If you try it let me know what you think.

Hummus

• 1x 400g tin of chickpeas
• 2 garlic cloves crushed
• small handful of fresh parsley
• juice of ½ a lemon
• 2 tbsp sesame or olive oil (I go for sesame for flavour)

Drain the chickpeas then use a clean cotton tea towel (or a muslin cloth as I do) to dry them as much as possible. Add these, then all the other ingredients to the foodprocessor or blender bowl and blend until smooth, add extra oil if you think it is needed. (You could probably mash the chickpeas by hand with a potato masher but it would take a little longer.) Serve spread in sandwiches, with breadsticks or with raw chopped vegetables such as carrots, celery and cucumber as dippers. Keep in an air tight container in the fridge for up to a week.

Homemade Jammy Dodgers

 Another recipe I have wanted to make for ages. This one is from my Tana Ramsey  book. I have always loved real jammy dodgers with their yummy jam centre. I would say that these are not exactly like the real thing but in some ways nicer. The shortbread type biscuits just melt in your mouth and although I went for the original raspberry filling I like the fact I could try any jam and even nutella maybe.

Jammy Dodgers

225g unsalted butter , softened

100g caster sugar

200g plain flour , plus extra for dusting

100g ground almonds

100g raspberry jam (about half a jar)

 

1. Put the butter, sugar, flour and almonds into a food processor and whizz until the mixture just comes together and forms a ball. Wrap in cling film and leave in the fridge for at least 1 hr.
2. Remove the dough from the fridge and knead until it is soft enough to shape and roll. Divide into two even-size balls. Sprinkle a little plain flour over your work surface and roll out one ball of pastry.  The dough should be approximately 5mm thick. Using a cutter cut out as many shapes as you can. Then lightly knead the dough trimmings together and roll out again. Keep going until you have about 24 pieces. Carefully place on a baking sheet, making sure you keep them slightly apart.
3. Roll out the second ball of dough the same way. Cut out the same-size pieces and place them on a baking sheet. Now cut out a small circle in the centre of each biscuit using a small cookie cutter or the end of a large piping nozzle.
4. Heat oven to 140C/fan 120C/gas 1 and cook the biscuits for 20-30 mins until just golden. Remove from the oven and place on a cooling rack to cool completely. Place a blob of jam onto the centre of the biscuits without the cut-out circle. Be generous – you want the jam to show at the edges as well as the centre. Place the top halves of the biscuits on and push down gently. These will keep in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Lovely with a cuppa tea!

Peanut Butter Cookies

 I have had this recipe bookmarked for ages in my favourites menu. I first saw them on lovely alpineberry’s blog and being pregnant at the time and off peanuts I forgot about it sitting in my favourites waiting to be made. Well no more, I finally made them!

 These are by far the best best peanut butter cookies I have ever had, my hubby reckons they are the best ever cookies of ALL cookies. Ollie loved them so much he was asking for more and saying they were “lekker, lekker , lekker!” (nice/yummy in Dutch). A raging success I’d say!

 I will definitly make them again.

Peanut Butter Cookies
(from David Lebovitz’s Room for Dessert)
makes 36 cookies

• 4 tbsp (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, at room temp.
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• ½ cup light brown sugar
• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 large egg
• 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 tbsp baking powder

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
   Sift together the flour, salt and baking powder. Set aside.
2. Beat together butter, sugars, and peanut butter in the bowl of a standing mixer for 2 minutes at medium speed. Scrape the sides of the bowl and beat in the egg.
3. Mix in the dry ingredients until the dough starts to come together.
4. Shape the dough into 1-inch balls, roll them in sugar and place them 2 inches apart on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Mark the tops with a fork, crisscrossing and pressing down slightly.
5. Bake for 9-10 minutes until edges start to brown. Cool 5 minutes on sheet before transferring to cooling rack.

Cocoa Fudge Cookies (low fat)

 I saw these when looking for a cocoa based cookie recipe. These promised to be really dark, chewy and fudgy, not only that they are also low fat, ohwee I thought, got to give these a go.

 Once baked the cookies were everything they promised. A very yummy chocolate fix. Although I am not sure they helped with my fat intake, I ate far too many!

Cocoa Fudge Cookies

• 1  cup  all-purpose flour
• 1/4  teaspoon  baking soda
• 1/8  teaspoon  salt
• 5  tablespoons  butter
• 7  tablespoons  unsweetened cocoa
• 2/3  cup  granulated sugar
• 1/3  cup  packed brown sugar (I used dark brown)
• 1/3  cup  plain low-fat yogurt
• 1  teaspoon  vanilla extract
• Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350 f.

Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour, soda, and salt; set aside. Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Remove from heat; stir in cocoa powder and sugars (mixture will resemble coarse sand). Add yogurt and vanilla, stirring to combine. Add flour mixture, stirring until moist. Drop by level tablespoons 2 inches apart onto baking sheets coated with cooking spray.

Bake at 350° for 8 to 10 minutes or until almost set. Cool on pans 2 to 3 minutes or until firm. Remove cookies from pans; cool on wire racks.

Almost Battenberg Cake

 Being quite busy with the two boys at the moment my posts have become like the London buses, you wait forever for one, then two come along at once!

 I absolutely LOVE a battenberg cake. Having only ever sampled the Mr Kipling variety I found this recipe and thought I would give it a go and see how authentic the flavour would be. Obviously it looks nothing like a real battenberg but looks aren’t everything are they?

 Almost Battenberg Cake from Prima magazine

• 8 oz self raising flour
• 8 oz caster sugar
• 4 oz butter, at room temperature
• 2 eggs
• 5 fl oz milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• few drops red food colouring

Frosting;

• 3 oz butter, at room temperature
• 4 oz icing sugar
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 9 oz marzipan
• 4 tbsp raspberry jam

You will need; 2 x 8 inch round loose bottomed cake tins, greased and lined.

1. Preheat oven to 180 c. In a bowl sieve the flour and caster sugar then add the butter and rub in with your fingertips till it resembles ground almonds. In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk and vanilla. Add to the flour mixture and mix till smooth.
2. Separate the mixture into two bowls and add red food colour to one until you get a deep pink colour. Alternate spoonfuls of each into each of the cake tins. Drag a spoon through to spiral the colours together. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, til springy to touch. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.
3. Frosting; using an electric hand whisk or food processor mix butter, icing sugar, and lemon juice until light. Coarsely grate the marzipan and add to the frosting. Whisk again for about 3 minutes until smooth, you may need to add 1-2 tbsp water to achieve a spreadable consistency.
4. Spread one cake with a 1/4 of the marzipan frosting then with the jam. Place the other cake on top and spread the rest of the frosting over.

 I really enjoyed this cake, I wasn’t convinced the colours would be as deep once cooked but it looked lovely. This is quite a sweet cake though, I am not sure it was wise of me to have eaten such a large slice in one go, but it was enjoyable so I have no regrets

Chocolate Swiss Roll

 I have a few plastic folders where I seem to accumulate (shove) recipes I like the look of from magazines. Looking for a simple baking one I chose this because I had everything in the cupboard and it looked quite easy and yummy.

 Chocolate Swiss Roll from Prima magazine

• 3 large eggs
• 75 g/3 oz caster sugar
• 50 g/2 oz plain flour, sifted
• 25 g/1 oz cocoa, sifted, plus extra for dusting

Filling;

• 75 g/ 3 oz butter, softened
• 125 g/ 4 oz icing sugar, sifted
• 50 g/ 2 oz melted chocolate, cooled slightly
• 1 tbsp golden syrup
• 1 tbsp milk

Line a swiss roll tin with baking paper.

1. Preheat the oven to 220 c. In a large bowl over a pan of hot water, whisk eggs and sugar together until thick and creamy (about 5-10 minutes with an electric whisk). Gently fold in the flour and cocoa powder very gently. Then pour the mixture into the tin.
2. Bake for 10 minutes (or less), til springy to touch. Cover with a damp tea towel and leave to cool completely.Turn out onto a sheet of greaseproof paper dusted with cocoa.
3. To make the filling, beat butter til creamy then whisk in the icing sugar a little at a time. Then add the chocolate, golden syrup and milk. Spread over cake, then roll up, starting with the short end. Dust with more cocoa.

 I found that the sponge cooked quicker than I thought, next time I would give it 8 minutes and I think it would make a moister sponge. The buttercream was the tastiest one I have ever tasted and I have used it for a cake since, it was delicious.

baby cakes

 The bun is out of the oven.

mmm breakfast – mini puff pancakes

 I always like to find new breakfast ideas, you can get a bit fed up with the old toast and cereal routine after a while. Recently I discovered the blog kiddio and the recipe for mini puff pancakes. It was so simple that it would have been rude not to really. Instead of adding the berries after I just put frozen ones into the bottom of the muffin cups. They did look like little squashy muffins, quite pretty really.

 The result was really yummy, Ollie had some for his tea and devoured them so I think he agreed (only without the icing sugar and honey).

  

Mini Puff Pancakes

• 1/2 cup flour
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons melted butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla 
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt 
• frozen berries if desired

1. Preheat oven to 450F.
2. Add all the ingredients to the blender and whir until combined.
3. Spray your muffin tin with cooking spray(or use the silicone ones like I did, no need to grease).
4. Distribute batter evenly between cups.
5. Bake about 12 minutes on the middle rack.
6. Let cool 5 minutes before removing or they’ll stick.

 I made some plain ones with the leftover mixture and have to say they remind me of yorkshire puddings, these were eaten with golden syrup, ooh I wish I had had some maple syrup.