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.

yummy honey rolls

 I saw this recipe over at annie’s eats and went straight to the kitchen to make them. Annie made them sound so good and really they were quite simple and quick to make even by hand. They are really soft and the honey glaze is delicous and makes them look good too. The hubby loved them too asking me to show him how to make them so if it can make him want to get in the kitchen I say you should give them a go too…

choc-orange “ugly” buns

 My mum has an old cookbook that she won for home economics when she was at school; Marguerite Patten’s Everyday Cookbook (now out of print). One of the first things she taught me to bake was the chocolate orange buns. A fairly simple recipe but one that I would go back to again and again because they are so yummy. It could be where my choc-orange obsession first began…

 The naughty thing I did was actually cut the recipe out of the book when I left home  and then (of course) lost it. Unable to find anyone I knew who owned the book I eventually managed to find someone who did online and they gave me the recipe (thankyou so much!). I call them “ugly buns” because people always comment on their less than attractive appearance, but that’s before they taste them and realise looks are not everything. They are quite dense and really chocolatey. The icing is normally an orange drizzle but I fancied trying an orange butter cream and it was just as good.

 Let me know if you try the recipe, I would be interested to know what others think.

 

Chocolate Orange Buns adapted from; Marguerite Patten’s Everyday Cookbook

• 4 oz butter/margarine
• 6 oz self raising flour
• 2 oz cocoa
• 4 oz sugar
• grated rind of 1 or 2 oranges
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp. orange juice
• Little milk if needed to loosen mixture
  
• To Decorate
  orange icing, made from 4 oz icing sugar and 1 tbsp orange juice *

Rub the butter/margarine into flour, do this lightly as there is a fairly high percentage of butter.
Add cocoa, sugar, orange rind, egg and orange juice. Put into greased and floured patty tins, and bake for 12 mins in a hot oven, when cold, coat the top of each bun with orange icing.

makes 12-16 oven temp. gas mk. 6-7, 425-450 deg. F

* or Orange Butter cream

• 50g butter (softened)
• 100g icing sugar
• a few tsp orange juice

Combine the butter and icing sugar until creamy and smooth. Add the orange juice a tsp at a time checking for consistency in between. Ice buns.

the not so Daring Baker

 

 I feel like I need to make excuses for my terrible extended absence from my Daring Bakers duties for the past few months.

 After many months of a rather hard work pregnancy I am nearly at the end (thank goodness!). I just really have not found it easy to motivate myself with the tasks even though they look fab and I have been watching what everyone else has been cleverly creating each month.

 Very soon three will become four and I’ll have another gorgeous little man to add to my growing collection. I feel apprehensive about it but also very excited especially about our first family Christmas just us and to be truthful most of my preparations have been in cooking and making things for Christmas in a bid to get a lot done before baby day at the end of November. What baking time I have left is dedicated to random urges and cravings I am having at the time.

 I hope I can be forgiven for not taking part and perhaps very soon will join in on a task again. Do keep visiting, I’ll still be here.

x x x x

butternut squash cake with lemon buttercream icing

 I have had my prize (and only) butternut squash from my garden sitting there waiting to be used for a few weeks now. I finally found the perfect recipe. I know there are plenty of soups and savoury recipes I could have tried, but hey, this is me and I wanted cake. No, this pregnant lade NEEDED cake!

 Hereis the recipe I used and I took the advice to add some poppy seeds to the mixture, only one tbsp not two. The cake was moist and delicious, a little like a carrot cake. Carl took half to work and it was praised by the Toyota staff. High praise indeed!

Butternut Squash and Orange Cake

• 225g / 8oz self raising flour
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• 1 tablespoon ground mixed spice
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 175g / 6oz caster sugar
• 3 large eggs, beaten
• 200ml / 7fl oz sunflower oil
• 225g / 8oz butternut squash puree
• rind & juice of one orange
• 1 tablespoon poppy seeds

1. Firstly premake your puree.
2. Preheat the oven to 180 C .
3. Grease and base line a shallow tin 17 x 26 cm / 6 ½ x 10 ½ inches).
4. Sift together the flour, baking powder and spices into a large bowl, stir in the sugar.
5. Make a well in the centre and add the eggs, oil, extract, poppy seeds, rind and juice then stir until smooth.
6. Add the puree and stir in well.
7. Spoon the batter into the cake tin and bake in the centre of the oven for 45-55 minutes until a metal skewer comes out clean from the centre of the cake.
8. Allow the cake to cool for about 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool.

Lemon Butter-cream

• 125g butter
• 250g icing sugar
• peel of one lemon
• 1 to 3 tsp of lemon juice

1. In a food processor add you softened butter and sifted icing sugar and beat until smooth and combined.
2. Gradually add the lemon a tsp at a time testing in between for flavour and consistency.
3. Ice your cake once completely cool.

chestnut and apricot stuffing

 So I said I would post the Christmas stuffing recipe and here it is. I was really impressed with this, it was so delicious that I was munching it from the spoon. Cannot wait to stuff the Turkey this Christmas. It feels great knowing that the chestnuts only came from as far away as the neighbours tree.

Chestnut and Apricot Stuffing

• 600ml/1 pint water
• 1 large onion, coarsely chopped
• 225g/8oz pre-soaked dried apricots, snipped into small pieces
• 225g/9oz fresh white breadcrumbs
• 75g/3oz butter
• 225g/8oz frozen chestnuts, thawed, roughly chopped
• generous bunch fresh parsley, chopped
• salt
• freshly ground black pepper

1. Preheat oven 200C/400F/Gas 6.
2. Butter a shallow ovenproof dish.
3. Measure the water into a pan; add the onion and apricot bring to the boil.
4. Boil for about five minutes and drain.
5. Put the breadcrumbs into a large bowl.
6. Melt the butter in a pan and pour half of this onto the breadcrumbs.
7. Add the remaining butter to a frying pan and fry the chestnuts over a high heat until lightly browned.
8. Tip into the bowl with the breadcrumbs.
9. Add the apricots, onion and parsley to the bowl.
10. Season with salt and pepper.
11. Turn into a buttered, shallow ovenproof dish and bake in a preheated oven for about 25-30 minutes until crisp and hot right through.
12. To freeze: cool and cover the dish with foil, freeze until Christmas Eve.
13. To thaw: take out the night before using and thaw overnight. Re-crispen in a hot oven (as above) for about 10-15 minutes.

 In the freezer waiting.

 Also this recipe is veggie so would make a great side dish for a vegetarian Christmas.