Ginger & Dark Chocolate Biscuits

It's very rare I buy biscuits for the house as I usually make them, apart from boring digestives for things like cheesecake. If I do buy biscuits I adore Green & Blacks ginger biscuits. Unfortunately I can't find them anywhere and they no longer feature on the G&B website. They were crispy biscuits with a strong ginger kick and dipped in 70% dark chocolate. With a sweet craving, that a horrible microwave jam sponge wasn't going to hit, I decided to play around with some store cupboard ingredients to try and emulate the delicious G&B biscuit.

Not in the mood for faffing around with dipping the biscuits I chopped up a 70% G&B bar and stirred it into the biscuit dough. They worked well even if they do look a bit ugly. They have a noticeable ginger taste, but I would be quite happy to double the amount of ginger and even try it with stem ginger. You'd never guess I like my ginger! I've enjoyed these with my mid morning cuppa...and have been trying to sneak some while Hubby isn't looking.

Ginger & Dark Chocolate Biscuits
Makes approx 20


115g softened butter or margarine
50g granulated sugar
70g muscovado sugar
1 egg
125g plain flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp ground ginger (double if you like lots of ginger)
75g 70% dark chocolate, chopped

1) Preheat the oven to 180oc. Beat together butter and the two sugars until light and fluffy. Then gently beat in the egg, flour, bicarb and ginger. Fold in chocolate.

2) On a lined baking tray, blob teaspoons of the mixture. As these spread leave about 3cm between each biscuit. Bake for 10, until golden.

3) After baking, transfer straight away to a wire rack to harden. You'll probably need something like a fish slice to move them as before they have hardened they are quite floppy.

Mini Egg Tiffin

I can't believe how fast this week has gone. I'm already half the way through my Easter hols. It's now Good Friday and our Easter tree has been up for about a week. I was first introduced to Easter trees 20 years ago in Germany and decided I wanted one in our house this year. Traditionally you are meant to have some branches in buds, but apart from hacking away at nextdoor's plants I decided to use some decorative branches we already had in the house. I picked up the decorations at a garden centre. It's added a nice bit of colour to the lounge.

I've done quite a bit of Easter baking recently; primarily Simnel Cupcakes and Mini Egg Tiffin for work. I've made the tiffin 3 times in the last few week. First was for my work mates, second for Hubby's workmates (who consequently threatened to hold Hubby to ransom until I made them some more!) and then I decided I couldn't let Hubby & I go without. As I have quite a few other things on my plate at the moment it had to be a quick Easter cake...plus Mini Eggs are my weakness. Forget creme eggs, far too sickly sweet for me, I love mini eggs.

The word tiffin originates from the British India meaning a light meal coming from the old English tiffing as in to take a little drink or sip. Oop North it also relates to a refrigerator cake.



This cake is based on my Malteser cake and the basic recipe can be easily adapted to add different fillings. It's really easy for kids to make, so much so we'll be making a similar cake in Cookery Club, and can be prepared in 5 minutes. Julia @ A Slice of Cherry Pie is hosting her Easter Cake Bake again this year and I've submitted my Mini Egg Tiffin.

Mini Egg Tiffin
Fills 1 x 1lb tin

85g butter
2 tbsp golden syrup
2 tbsp cocoa
170g digestives, crushed (I usually blitz them in a food processor)
170g mini eggs, lightly crushed
30g mini eggs, left whole

1) Gently melt butter and golden syrup in large pan. Stir in cocoa, digestives and crushed mini eggs.

2) Line a 1lb loaf tin with cling film. Press mixture into tin then press the whole mini eggs into the top. Refrigerate until set.

Nut-ella, ella, ella, eh, eh, eh...

After another night of snow showers today is yet another Snow Day. I have been to work this week, honest! This inturn lead to a slight Nutella crisis. Today is officially World Nutella Day and it is paramount I eat Nutella on this important day. World Nutella Day this year is being hosted by Sarah from Ms. Adventures in Italy and Michelle from Bleeding Espresso.

Now, usually I have always have jar of the sweet chocolatiness in the cupboard for those spoon-straight-in-the-jar emergencies but after making Nutella & Peanut Butter Brownies for Hubby's workmates I forgot to pick up a jar. Snowed in and a 2 hour walk for Nutella I decided to see if it is possible to make Nutella from scratch. Lo and behold Su Good Sweets came to my rescue.

Now, the major difference between Nutella and my version was that I didn't have any hazelnuts in, so instead used cashew nuts and almonds. I also used rapeseed oil as it has a pleasant nutty taste. Although I think I may have nearly killed my food processor in the making of this nutty chocolate butter it was worth it. It's not quite a smooth as tradition Nutella, but just as delicious. It was interesting watching the nuts turn from the whole nuts into a paste. My home-made Nutella certainly helped the with Nutella craving that was going to go unsatisfied otherwise. I'd be interested to try it again with hazelnuts.

Raspberry Beer Brownies

Being married to a man who was brought up close to the UK's heart of brewing, it's not surprising that his interest in beer has rubbed off on me. I could quite happily sup on a half pint of porter, but my ultimate favourite has to be Samuel Smith's fruit beers especially the raspberry one as it tastes of summer. The taste of summer is just what we need as the snow is beginning to settle outside.

After stocking up on some of the beer at Sound Bites in Derby yesterday, I had a brainwave on the drive home. You can make brownies with Guinness, so surely you can do the same with glorious Raspberry beer. I also made them to celebrate having 100,000 hits on my blog since it started. To add some additional colour to the brownies I stirred some raspberries into the batter.

To be honest, I cook with beer just as much as I drink it and like wines different beers go with different dishes. The smell of the brownie batter as I made these was divine and once cooked they tasted like my raspberry truffles in a gooey cake form, can't be bad! Just note, if you do make these it makes quite a sloppy batter, but don't worry they will still bake well.

Raspberry Beer Brownies
Makes 16

4 eggs
140g caster sugar
300g dark chocolatr
70g unsalted butter
110g plain flour
2 tsp cocoa
290ml raspberry beer
100g raspberries
icing sugar

1) Preheat oven to 190oc and line a deep 8 inch square baking pan with baking parchment.

2) Combine eggs and sugar. On a medium heat melt chocolate and butter until smooth. Allow to cool for about 3 mins.

3) Stir chocolate mix into egg mix. Sift in flour and cocoa. Beat until well combined.

4) Whisk in beer then fold in raspberries. Pour batter into the pan pan. Bake for 25 min until a skewer comes out just about clean. It will continue to cook slightly after being taken out of oven.

5) Once cooled, drench in icing sugar and slice.

Chocolate Stollen

As I've mentioned before, some of my childhood was spent living in Germany and I have very fond memories of celebrating Christmas there. During the last few years German Christmas Markets have been springing up in cities over here in the UK. Nothing like the Christkindlmarkets in Berlin, but it's a good start. The biggest Christmas markets here take place in Leeds and Birmingham. We visited the Birmingham market Saturday evening and it was heaving. Unfortunately I was so enthralled with the whole experience I forgot to take photos.

While there we there we ate kartoffelpuffen with apple sauce, kirschkuchen and pretzels. I was boring Hubby with all my explanations for the different foods and getting overexcited every time I saw something I hadn't seen in years. I would have had Glühwein but Hubby was driving and I felt a bit guilty drinking again when he was driving. To make up for it the following night we drank mulled cider while putting up the Christmas tree.

One of the popular German Christmas bakes is Stollen, a yeasty fruit and marzipan bread and I've been told it represents a swaddled baby Jesus. I would go as far to say I prefer it to Christmas Cake. When I came across this recipe for Chocolate Stollen, although not traditional, I knew I had to make it. A few years back I made a traditional stollen using a slightly different method which worked well, but not as good as this chocolate version. Technically this was one of the most demanding cakes I've made. It also turned out to be one of the most impressive and tasty cakes I have ever made. Nigella would be proud. I'll be submitting it to Yeastspotting. Now take a deep breath and prepare for possibly one of the longest recipes I have ever posted.

Chocolate Stollen
Green & Blacks Chocolate Recipes

FOR THE DOUGH
100g mixed fruit
60ml dark rum
zest and juice of 1 orange
50g glace cherries, quartered
100g (1 bar) G&B Maya Gold chocolate (or decent dark chocolate), finely chopped
375g strong white bread flour
25g cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg, grated
1 tsp mixed spice
2 tsp dried active yeast (not the fast action kind)
150ml milk
125g butter
50g golden caster sugar
2 eggs

MARZIPAN
100g ground almonds
75g icing sugar
25g cocoa powder
a few drops of almond essence (optional)

FOR DUSTING
40g icing sugar
25g cocoa powder

1) Overnight soak the mixed fruit in orange juice, zest and 30ml of the rum. When you are ready to make the stollen stir in the glace cherries and chocolate.

2) Melt together the milk, sugar and 75g of the butter butter. Leave to cool then beat one egg plus one egg yolk into the milky mix. Keep the spare egg white until later.

3) In a large bowl add the flour, cocoa, salt, nutmeg, mixed spice and the yeast then gently pour in the milk and mix until you have a smooth dough. Knead lightly then place in bowl, cover with clingfilm and leave to rise for 30 min. While waiting for the dough to rise make the marzipan, line the 30x20cm baking tray with greaseproof paper and preheat the oven to 190oc.

4) To make the marzipan mix together the icing sugar, cocoa, ground almonds and the egg you saved from earlier (I love very almondy marzipan so also add a few drops of almond essence). Knead until you get a soft, pliable ball.

5) Melt together the remaining 50g butter and 30ml of rum. On a lightly floured board knead the dough then roll out into an oblong shape about 5mm thick (something I'm not very good at!). Brush with the melted butter and rum.

6) Turn the dough so you have a long oblong (rather than a wide oblong) in front of you. On the top cover 2/3 of the dough with half of the mixed fruit mix. Fold the bottom 1/3 two thirds the way up the oblong, then fold down the top third over it. Much like when you fold a letter for an envelope. Press down the open edges to help seal it.

7) Turn the dough 90 degrees clockwise (a quarter turn). Roll out to an oblong shape again. Brush with the butter and rum then repeat step 6 with the remaining fruit.


8 ) Mould the marzipan into an oblong shape just slightly smaller in length than the dough and half the width. Place the marzipan down the centre of the dough, fold the two sides of dough in to meet one another and place join side down in the lined tin. Brush the top with the butter and rum and bake for 35 minutes.

9) As soon as the stollen is baked, brush with the butter and rum (you may need to reheat the butter & rum it to regain the liquid consistency)and dust with loads of icing sugar and cocoa.

Beautiful Beetroot Brownies

This week is National Baking Week and to celebrate I decided to make brownies, very special brownies with a intriguing ingredient. My love of baking is well documented. I enjoy it because it is stress-relieving, creative, rewarding, fun and I believe a home-baked good is always better than shop bought.

Hugh is officially a god. If he can turn a humble beetroot into a glorious, moist, rich chocolate brownie he's a god in my eyes. Hey you know what I'm like, I'm always drawn to pink food like a magpie to anything shiny, and if it is pink and glittery...well I'm hooked. The taste was nothing like I expected. You can certainly taste the beetroot, but rather than it being an earthy taste its paring with dark chocolate turns it into a deep sweet taste, not unlike cherries. This has helped conquer my belief of vegetables not belonging in cakes.

This recipe was featured on River Cottage Autumn last week and has caused a bit of a stir on foodie forums. One thing I did find was that I had to bake it for quite a bit longer than the original recipe, but this is probably because I used a different sized pan.

Beetroot Brownies
makes 16 squares
From River Cottage Autumn

250g 70% dark chocolate
250g unsalted butter
250g caster sugar
3 eggs
150g self-raising flour
250g boiled beetroot, grated (boil your own, or use ready boiled-as long as it's not pickled!)

1) Preheat oven to 180oc. Line an 8x8 In a bain-marie (or using the oven method Hugh uses in the above link) gently melt together the chocolate and butter. Allow to cool for a few minutes.

2)Whisk together the sugar and butter then beat in the chocolate/butter mix.

3)Fold in the flour then beetroot. Pour into the tin and bake for 20-30 or until a skewer come out just about clean. Allow to cool in tin before slicing as it will continue to cook until cooled.

East Midlands Food Festival

Things have been a bit up in the air here recently (explaining why I haven't updated in over a week) and we both decided we needed a trip out. Undeterred by the torrential rain and armed with walking boots and umbrellas we headed to Melton Mowbray for the East Midlands Food Festival. Held in the ground of Brooksby Hall, a local agricultural college, 200 suppliers from around the region were there to sell their foodie wares. I have Phil @ Local Food Heroes to thank for making me aware of this event.

I was pleasantly surprised with the variety and quality of producers with stalls there. My usual favourites Azorieblue and Farrington Oils were there but also some new found companies that I'm sure I'll be returning to.

The Leicestershire Handmade Cheese Co. was there with their Sparkenhoe Leicestershire Cheese. I adore this cheese and have tasted it before today. It is beautifully creamy and slightly nutty plus makes the ultimate cheese on toast!

The garlic we planted this year didn't work so I was glad to see The Garlic Farm there today selling garlic bulbs for planting. Crossed fingers they work this time.

I was first drawn to the stall by the giant ornamental cabbages and Romanesco broccoli,I never thought I would ever get excited about vegetables! Woodlands Farm run a veg box scheme and although we live too far away from them to deliver we were able to buy some of the veg boxes today. The selection in the small box we bought was fantastic and fresh.

Peppercorn Catering had a popular stall adorned in various cakes. We picked up some of their delicious Chocolate Indulgence cupcakes. It's also good to find a local company that delivers cupcakes.

We also picked up some steak sausages from Blackbrook Longhorns that will be dinner tomorrow and Hubby went a bit mad on the Continental Cottage stall and we now could be eating various types of salami for months to come. For lunch we had some duck fat roast potatoes with soured cream, sea salt and parsley, the perfect antidote for a rather late, alcohol fueled Saturday night.

My favourite supplier of the day certainly has to beChocolate Confetti What made them stand out from all the other chocolate stalls there was their range of unusual chocolates. I was truly spoilt for choice and wanted to try them all! I eventually settled on Strawberry & Pimms white chocolate truffle, White Stilton & Port enrobed in dark chocolate and a Guinness chocolate. As soon as I saw the white Stilton & port chocolate I knew it had to be tried. You can certainly taste the saltiness of the Stilton paired the with the sweetness of the port and bitterness of the extremely dark chocolate. Although it may sound like a strange chocolate it was one I would certainly eat again. Thankfully (but unfortunately for my pocket) Chocolate Confetti have a stall at a Farmers Market local to me.

We'll certainly be returning to the East Midlands Food Festival next year.

Boozy Cherry & White Chocolate Crème Brûlée

This dessert has been a long time in the planning, but I struggled to find British cherries anywhere. As you know I'm passionate about British produce and where possible if it can be grown in the UK I will always try to buy British and only when it is in season. It would turn out Derbyshire or the East Midlands in general is a bit of a desert for British cherries. Searching the local markets and farm shops proved to be unhelpful as most were selling cherries from warmer climes. Morrisons eventually came to the rescue, but I was rather put out having to pay equivalent of £10 (yes £10!) per kg of British cherries whereas the Spanish cherries sitting next to them on the shelf were on offer and far cheaper. Why, why, why can't British supermarkets support British produce for a change. Sorry rant over. If your interested in supporting the great British cherry pop along to CherryAid (thank you Beth for reminding me!).

Ever since we received a cook's blow torch for a wedding pressie, pyromaniac Hubby has been itching for us to make crème brûlée. A while back I made a baked custard, but never a crème brûlée so this was a bit new for me. Come to think of it, before this I've never eaten a proper crème brûlée.

I was really pleased how they turned out and they were very, very tasty. The cherries & liqueur refreshingly cut through the creamy custard and Hubby had caramelised the sugar perfectly. The sugar had a very satisfying crunch as you put the spoon through it. Rach & Nick, if your reading this don't be surprised if I make them for us in a couple of weekends time!

Boozy Cherry & White Chocolate Crème Brûlée
Serves 2

12 cherries, halved and stoned
2 tbsp Crème de Framboise
190ml double cream
35g Green & Blacks white chocolate, broken into small pieces
1/2 vanilla pod
2 egg yolks
2 tsp golden caster sugar, plus more for topping

1) Slowly heat cream, chocolate and vanilla pod seeds. Once the chocolate has melted take off the heat and allow to infuse for 15 min. White the cream is infusing share the cherry halves between the ramekins and cover with 1 tbsp of Crème de Framboise each.

2) Preheat oven to 150oc. Beat together the egg yolks and sugar then gradually stir in the cream. Strain into a jug and pour into ramekins on top of the cherries. Some of the cherries may float.

3) Place the ramekins in a deep roasting tin and pour boiling water into the tin until the water is 1/2 the way up the ramekins. Bake for 20-25 min until custard is set and has a slight wobble in the middle. Chill for at least 5 hours.

4) Generously sprinkle the top with golden caster sugar. With either a blow torch or grill caramelise the sugar. Allow to cool for a few minutes before eating to allow the sugar to harden.

Raspberry & Chocolate Muffins

Ok, I promise, I will try and make sure the next post doesn't involve raspberries! The one problem I find about picking tonnes of raspberries is that you have to use them up within a couple of days picking or they begin to go off. Which in turn makes me wonder what on earth do supermarkets put on their raspberries to make them last so long...hmmmm not worth thinking about.

This morning Hubby pointed out that we had half a punnet of raspberries left and was wondering what I was planning to do with them. I initially suggested a smoothie, but I could see the disappointment in his eyes that I had suggested something healthy. Then the idea hit me - raspberry and chocolate muffins. His faith in me had been restored. This also meant I got to try out my new star and heart cake moulds.



The smell of them baking was gorgeous. They didn't turn out with the best texture, I'm not too sure if it was a bit too dense for my liking, but they still tasted nice and were perfect with a cup of tea. I've entered this to Food Blogga as part of Sugar High Friday.

Raspberry & Chocolate Muffins
Makes 16 regular or 8 large

300g plain flour, sifted
1 tsp baking powder
150g golden caster sugar
225ml milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
50g butter, melted
1 egg
50g chocolate chunks (I used milk chocolate)
250g raspberries

1) Preheat oven to 200oc. In a large bowl mix together the flour, baking powder and sugar.

2) In another bowl whisk together egg, milk, butter and vanilla extract. Pour the liquid into the dry ingredients, stir until well combined.

3) Carefully stir in the chocolate and raspberries and spoon into cake cases into 2/3 full. Bake for 25-30 min until risen and golden.

Strawberries & White Chocolate - 2 ways

For the last few weeks I've been driving the people around me mad with my excitement over the impending Strawberry season. There is a fantastic PYO strawberry farm a short skip and jump from the house and I've been waiting with baited breath for it to open. I was determined not to buy supermarket strawberries as they don't taste anywhere near as good as the PYO ones. Friday was S-Day (Strawberry Day). Strawberries are only just coming into season here and only early varieties were available but they were still just as luscious. They are a bargain, we ended up getting 1.25kg of strawberries for just over £2. I can't wait until their raspberries are ready. At this rate I'll be coming out in Strawberry Rash in the next few days.

With In The Bag this month being Strawberries & White Chocolate and today being Midsummer's Day (though you'd never believe it with the horrible weather) I decided to celebrate with Strawberry & White Chocolate Mousse plus White Chocolate dipped strawberries. The mousse was as result of me experimenting, but it worked really well. The freshness of the strawberries helped cut through the sweet creaminess of the mousse.



Strawberry & White Chocolate Mousse
Serves 2-4

100g double cream
100g white chocolate
100g creme fraiche
punnet of strawberries, hulled

1) In a food processor blitz all of the strawberries until you have a chunky puree.

2) In a bain marie gently melt white chocolate. White chocolate is melting whisk together double cream and creme fraiche for about a minute until it begins to thicken. Fold in melted chocolate until combined.

3) Layer the strawberry puree and white chocolate mousse in a glass. Chill for 1-2 hours before serving.

Nutella & Peanut Butter Brownies

I had all good intentions of baking some sultana scones today, but while surfing the food blogs of the net I noticed some delicious looking Nutella & Peanut Butter Brownies at The Hungry Housewife. My love of Nutella is well documented so I decided I HAD to make them!

They worked well and were very nice warmed up with a blob of extra thick cream. Scrumptious. You can find the link for the original recipe at The Hungry Housewife. Below is half the original recipe and in grams rather than cups.

Nutella & Peanut Butter Brownies
Makes 16 squares

110g unsalted butter
200g sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
75g plain flour
55g cocoa
1/4 tsp baking powder
4 tbsp peanut butter (I used chunky)
4 tbsp nutella

1) Preheat oven to 180oc. Line 8 inch x 8 inch pan with baking parchment. Melt butter then stir in sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in all of the remaining dry ingredients.

2) Heat Nutella and peanut butter until runny. Stir into Brownie mix. Pour into tin then bake for 25 min until top has a light papery crust.

The Perfect Roast Chicken and Chocolate Mousse

This weekend has been busy with cooking. With beautiful ingredients coming into season and the spring sunshine (even if it was interspersed with hail showers!) we both found it quite inspirational.

A few months back I brought a copy of The River Cottage Meat Book. Until this weekend I hadn't really read it properly. I though it was just going to be a book full of meat recipes, but in reality it's an insightful book with the understanding of meat and various ways of cooking it. I'm not a huge meat eater, but found it really interesting. Thanks to this book Hubby has come over all Hugh F-W (minus the curls) and decided to have a go at curing pork. We now have a belly of pork coated in salt living in a Tupperware box under the sink. He's then planning on smoking half of it in the chimney. After this he wants to try making chorizo.

With the duck eggs we picked up yesterday we also managed to get a beautiful local free-range chicken. With my planning quite a few chicken based dishes this week I decided it was the most economical way of buying and cooking chicken. I've never cooked a full chicken before, I guess I found it a bit scary. Last July I did cook a crown of chicken, it was nice, but not perfect and it knocked my confidence.

Well Hugh installed my confidence and I managed to cook a perfect, tasty, succulent roast chicken with a delicious non-greasy gravy to go with it (a serious achievement for me!) We had the chicken with garlic & herb stuffing, creamed leeks, carrots, roast potatoes and Yorkshire puds made with a duck egg. The duck egg made a really good Yorkie pud batter.

The Perfect Roast Chicken - thanks to Hugh!
for a 2.5kg chicken

2.5kg free-range chicken
100g butter, softened
handful of parsley, rosemary and thyme
1 garlic clove, minced
salt & pepper
100ml white wine

1) Preheat oven to 210oc. Mix butter, herbs, garlic and seasoning. Rub all over chicken. Cook for 20 min

2) Turn oven down to 180oc, baste chicken then pour wine into roasting tray (don't pour over the chicken.) Cook for a further 50 min. The chicken is done when the juices run clear.

3) Cover in foil and allow to rest for 20 min.


My rule on Sundays is always to make a dessert, just in case the roast goes wrong (once in a blue moon it does when I'm experimenting). For the dessert I was looking for Nigellas help. When sorting the kitchen cupboards I found some dark chocolate Hubby had bought back from Italy and it needed using up. In Nigella Express she makes an egg less chocolate mousse. I have to say it turned out as a beautiful, dense, rich chocolate mousse. very much an adult chocolate mousse. I took the original recipe and divided it by 3 to give enough for just the 2 of us. It was so rich we only managed to eat half of it...not that I'm complaining as it means some for Monday! Next time rather than serving it in ramekins I may make it in shot glasses.

Chocolate Mousse
Makes 2 ramekins or 4 shot glasses

50g marshmallows, chopped into small pieces
15g unsalted butter
80g dark chocolate, broken up
20ml hot water from a recently boiled kettle
95ml double cream
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1) In a heavy saucepan gently heat marshmallows, butter, dark chocolate and hot water. Stir occasionally until everything has melted and is smooth. Remove from the heat.

2) Whip cream with vanilla extract until thick. Gently fold in chocolate until well combined. Pour into ramekins/shot glasses, cover with clingfilm and place in the fridge for at least 3 hours.

Chocolate Caramel Nuggets

I've meaning to try these chocolate caramel nuggets for a while, but with seasonal baking, then the fact I gave biscuits up for lent I never got around to them until today. I originally came across the recipe on Cherrapeno's blog, then I realised I have a the same Cookie & Biscuit Bible cookbook.

Like Nic, I found this particular cookbook in a book section of a gardening centre. It was the best £5 I've ever spent. It's such a great cookbook, just a shame it's now out of print. I wish I had picked up other copies at the time to give to friends.

I don't have a food processor big enough to make these biscuits so did the first part of the recipe in my mini food processor then finished it off by hand. The eggs I was using were small so ended up using an additional small egg yolk and a splash of milk to get the dough to combine.

The result was a lovely, not too rich, biscuit with the texture and slight taste of shortbread. It was very much like an inside out Millionaire's Shortbread. Perfect with a cuppa. One problem, they are very moreish. One just isn't enough!

Irish Mocha Cupcakes - Homage to the Baileys Blitz

The second item for my marathon "cheer up" baking session are Irish Mocha Cupcakes. These cupcakes are inspired by Sugar Plum's St Paddy's Day Pub Crawl Blogging Event and a coffee called a Baileys Blitz that fueled my university days. Baileys Blitz was a mocha coffee with a shot of Baileys topped with lashings of whipped cream and (rather randomly) maltesers....mmmmmmm..

In these cupcakes I've forgone the malteasers, but all the other ingredients are there in some form or another. I'm really pleased how well they turned out. Of course I had to "test" one of the cakes just to check they are fit for my workmates ;) The rich coffee chocolate sponge is complimented perfectly with the Baileys icing.

Irish Mocha Cupcakes
Makes 12

For the cupcakes
110g butter, softened
110g golden caster sugar
2 eggs
85g self-raising flour
30g cocoa
2-3 tbsp cold strong coffee

For the Baileys icing
210g icing sugar, sifted
95g butter, softened
2 tbsp Baileys

1) Preheat oven to 180oc. Cream butter and sugar together into light and fluffy. Stir in one egg at a time so they don't curdle.

2) Fold in sifted flour and cocoa, then stir in the coffee one tbsp at a time.

3) Spoon into cupcake cases then bake for 15 min. Allow to thoroughly cool before icing.

4) Beat all of the icing ingredients together. If the icing it too stiff add some more baileys, if it is too runny add a tiny bit more icing sugar. Ice cakes using a piping bag.

Your Eggsellency

It was a Hotel Chocolat Easter egg I was given as a gift about 2 years ago that bought this chocolate company to my attention.

At the beginning of the week Hotel Chocolat sent me anYour Eggsellency Easter Egg. (You can win one of your own Hotel Chocolat Easter egg here) The packaging it arrived in was so beautiful and enticing. I opened a black embossed box to find a large keyhole that led me to perfect silver foil-wrapped egg. It sounds odd, but I think chocolate tastes better when it's been wrapped in foil, just like KitKats did until they wrapped them in plastic...anyway slightly digressing there... Inside the two extra-thick eggshells were 10 truffle eggs. As I'm a huge lover of dark chocolate I was really pleased to see that half of the egg shell was 72% dark chocolate with the other half being 40% milk chocolate. The dark chocolate was beautiful not too bitter and with a hint of orange. The milk chocolate shell was incredibly smooth, not too sweet with the subtle taste of caramel.

The truffles came in 10 mouthwatering flavours including Bellini, Amaretto, Whisky and Calvados. My personal favourite was Pink Marc de Champagne that reminds me of Hotel Chocolat's delicious strawberries and cream chocolate that appeared in one of their tasting selections a few months back.

Hotel Chocolat haven't let me down with this Easter selection and anyone who loves their chocolate would love to receive this for Easter.

Chocolate Therapy & Easter Egg Hunt

After a thoroughly awful day at work I was in severe need of chocolate therapy. So finding a box of Just Truffles from Hotel Chocolat on the doorstop cheered me up no end. The smell as I opened the box was divine.

With 10 different alcohol laced chocolates to choose from including Kirsch, white rum, white champagne, cointreau and calvados. My favourite is Tiramisu, the contrast between the white and dark chocolate shell plus the tiramisu filling was delicious.

To be honest my favourite chocolates are usually the ones that involve coffee. I learnt as a young child it was advantageous to like coffee chocolates as more often than not they were always the ones left in the bottom of the tin. The trick being eat all the chocolates that everyone else likes first, then you'll also have the coffee ones at the end that no one wants. I wasn't daft!

I've promised to take the remainder of the box for my mum to taste on Mother's Day. I can't promise her how many will be left though. Thank goodness I didn't give up chocolate for lent.

Win luxury Easter eggs from Hotel Chocolat

Easter is coming around the corner very quickly and everyone wants that extra special Easter Egg! Domestic Goddess in Training has teamed up with Hotel Chocolat to offer you a chance to win some of Hotel Chocolat’s extra special, extra thick Easter Eggs. To enter, click here and simply answer six questions which will take you on an Easter egg hunt to find the secret code. Once you have answered each question, use the first letter of each answer to reveal the secret code. If you have found the right answer you stand a chance to win one of Hotel Chocolat’s stunning Extra Thick Easter Eggs!

Please read the terms and conditions. Only UK residents are eligible to enter this competition.
Closing date for entries is 11.59 pm 18/03/08.

Rolo Cupcakes

As soon as I saw these beautiful cupcakes on Hannah's blog I knew I had to make them. I've never made, what I call, American Cupcakes with the swirls of buttercream on top before. I baked them in my silicone cupcake cases and they make things so much easier, I would highly recommend them for anyone who does baking. I used the last of my homemade butter to make both the cakes and the buttercream.

The cupcakes are a Valentines gift for Hubby. However to ensure they are edible I had to just taste test one of them, and I can say they are delicious! I wasn't able to get hold of any Valentines related sprinkles so had to make do with hundreds and thousands.

Two things I learnt while making these cakes:

1) Don't, on a whim, decide to use the old electric whisk that has been getting dusty in the cupboard since you received your all singing & dancing stick blender. The old whisk will only speed up and slow down on it's own accord and smell like burning plastic. The said whisk is now living at the bottom of the dustbin.

2) Hundreds & Thousands are called that for a reason. When sprinkling them on make sure you have something underneath with a lip to catch them or, like confetti, you'll be finding them for months to come. You wouldn't believe how far they roll.

Season of Love

I admit, I (well both Hubby & I!) have a bit of a reputation when it comes to chocolate, especially chocolate that comes from Hotel Chocolat. It all started a couple of years ago when my cousin gave us a gigantic box for Christmas. Now it has escalated to the point where we put "Anything from Hotel Chocolat" on our wedding list and for birthdays my friend and I send each other various new Hotel Chocolat products. So you can imagine when Hotel Chocolat said they would send me The Love Selection to try both Hubby & I were ecstatic!

The Love Selection features 4 of their mini slabs. Although I seem to have eaten my way around most of the Hotel Chocolat stock, I'd never eaten the slabs of mini slabs before. The Love Selection contained a milk Love Slab, dark Love Slab, Crostini Fruit & Nut plus Praline Fusion.

The Love Slabs feature a pink cherry coloured ripple, crispy feuillentine praline textured with small pieces of crispy, oven baked pancakes, decorated with sour cherries and engraved with a chocolate heart. Sour cherries and chocolate are a seriously underated combination.

The Praline Fusion slab had milk chocolate swirled with white chocolate hazelnut praline. It was perfect nutty, melt in your mouth chocolate with a completly different texture than the Love Slabs

Finally we taste Crostini Fruit & Nut. A milk chocolate slab filled with cranberries, sultanas, almonds, crostini biscuit and hazelnuts. I've always been a fan of the famous fruit & nut, but this was delicious. The tastes, the textures, perfect.

Go on treat yourself...

Shrove Tuesday and the glories of Nutella

Today is Shrove Tuesday and here in the UK, it is also known as Pancake Day. The tradition behind pancake day is that people would use up all their rich and perishable ingredients before lent starts. As well as eating pancakes different areas of the country have different tradtions. Some have pancake races, but here in Derbyshire we have Shrovetide Football that is played in Ashbourne. I've never been to Ashbourne to see the match, but judging by the footage on the local news tonight it looks a bit scary for me. I'll stick to the tradition of eating pancakes, thanks!

I love pancakes, but oddly I only seem to eat them on Pancake Day. You can eat them plain and simple with a bit if sugar and lemon juice or be more extravagant. Personally I like, no love, Nutella. I could gladly eat spoonfuls of it straight from the jar and my University finals were fueled by Nutella slathered on rich tea biscuits. It has to be Nutella though, no other chocolate spread has the same taste. I have to admit I did make a marmalade & whisky sauce to go with one of the pancakes, I was thinking crepe suzette style without flambeing (flambeing and low cottage celings don't mix!) but I still preferred the Nutella pancake.

After throughly overeating on pancakes I'm off to flick through The Taste of Britain, Kitchen Diaries which arrived today.

Pancakes
Makes 6-8

115g (4oz) plain flour
300ml (1/2 pt) milk
pinch of salt
1 egg

1) Sift flour and salt into a bowl. Crack egg into well then gradually whisk in milk. Beat until smooth. Refrigerate batter for 1 hour.

2) Heat non-stick frying pan to med-hot. Pour a ladle of batter into the frying pan, enough to cover the bottom of the pan. As bubbles begin to appear under the batter flip the pancake over.

Pure Hot Chocolate Indulgence

When Hubby is out for the night, it's freezing cold and chucking it down with rain only one comfort food is called for... Chocolate, and preferably of the hot variety. I also have a chick flick, the latest copy of delicious and roaring log fire for company.

I like my chocolate dark and rich. The darker the better. Tonight I made the hot chocolate with my favourite Green & Blacks Hot Chocolate, lashings of whipped cream topped off with a Max Brenner dark chocolate thin. Heaven.