Ollie’s Birthday Celebrations

This was from Ollie’s Birthday Celebrations on June 20th

My Fab friend Amy got me this cake tin for Ollie’s birthday cake. It was very simple to make and looked great (well I think so!).      

The birthday boy loved it!

   

 We had a BBQ day with the family and neighbours, family stayed in tents in the garden, it was great fun!

 Also served up;

Chocolate cupcakes

Orange sponge cupcakes with orange flavour icing

 Rocky Road! mmmm It was a tasty day!

Ollie was 2…. creche cakes

 Ollie was 2 on the 18th of June, so these are really some rather late “catch up” posts. These were made for Ollie to take to creche for the teachers and children. I was trying to make orange icing but it did not want to happen. I think they still turned out ok though! I used this recipe for the cupcakes. The icing was just icing sugar, orange juice and food colour with mini Smarties to decorate (nothing too ambitious!).

Cheese Tomato and Chive Muffins

I came up with this savoury muffin recipe recently with the thought of something different for kiddies lunch boxes. They were really yummy straight from the oven.

Cheese ,Tomato and Chive Muffins

Makes 12.

 In one bowl;

• 300g self raising flour
• 1 tsp bicarb of soda
• 1 tsp salt (optional)
• either; a pinch of cayenne pepper or of powdered mustard

 In another bowl;

• 100g grated cheddar cheese (I think stronger is better)
• 50g cheese to sprinkle over the muffins before they bake
• 2 large eggs
• 200 ml milk
• 100 ml sunflower oil
• 1 tbsp snipped chives (fresh or dried)
• Cherry tomatoes, I put three slices onto each muffin

Add wet ingredients to dry and stir until combined. Place slices of tomato onto each and sprinkle a little cheese over. Fill the muffin cases almost to the top.

Bake at 200°c for approximately 15 to 20 minutes.

Rhubarb and Cinnamon Muffins

 My friend has an overgrowing patch of rhubarb and I was more than happy to take some off her hands. Not wanting to make a crumble (not suited to this hot weather), I found this recipe which I changed slightly, I used white sugar and didn’t sprinkle the sugar on top. These were so delicous I couldn’t go past the kitchen without eating one. Yummy yummy yummy!

Rhubarb Cinnamon Muffins

300g rhubarb, chopped

3 tbsp golden caster sugar

300g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

100g golden caster sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

2 eggs , beaten

200ml milk

100g butter , melted and cooled

1. Mix rhubarb with golden caster sugar. Mix plain flour with baking powder. Beat eggs with milk and melted butter. Heat the oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6, line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper cases. Bake the rhubarb for about 10 minutes until just tender. Drain really well and cool on kitchen towel.
2. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ones along with the rhubarb (don’t overmix, it should be a bit lumpy). Divide between the muffin cases and bake for 25-30 minutes until risen and golden.

Condensed Milk Choc Chip Cookies

I bought my sister this Cookie book a couple of Christmases ago and was intrigued by this recipe when I first saw it. You use condensed milk and no egg. It had to be tried.

Condensed Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 200g butter,  soft
• 75g caster sugar
• 125ml condensed milk
• 250g plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 300g chocolate, cut into chunks

In one bowl combine the butter sugar and condensed milk.

In another the flour and baking powder. Stir the two together then add the chocolate chunks. Spoon into a plastic food bag and put in the fridge for about 1/2 an hour. Preheat oven at 180 c

Make into golfball sized balls and flatten slightly with a fork. Bake for 15/18 minutes until golden.

     

 These had a very different but good texture to a recipe that uses egg. They were very tasty and the raw dough was delicious too.

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.