Spooky Halloween Chocolate Velvet Cupcakes!

I have confessed before about my love of cookery books, am always happy when I have a lovely new one to look through and a cup of coffee in my hand, throw in a slice of cake and I may as well be in heaven! The Great British Bake Off arrived during the week and what a gorgeous book it is, loads of stuff in it that I want to make and eat. Isaac (3) thinks that John our postman is brilliant as he is always bringing parcels to us, he has not quite grasped the whole middle man situation as of yet! Well I hope wherever you are that you have just as generous a postman as we do!

Chocolate muffins are always a big hit here with adults and kids alike so when I spotted the recipe for Chocolate Velvet Cupcakes I decided that I would try them. I have never used melted chocolate in a cupcake recipe before its usually cocoa powder however I don't think there is any going back after trying these!

Ingredients (makes 12)

• 175ml semi skimmed milk
• 150g self raising flour, sieved
• 125g caster sugar
• 100g dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa)
• 60g unsalted butter
• 1 large egg, room temperature, beaten
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 180 degrees

Place cupcake cases in a 12 hole muffin tin

Heat milk, chopped chocolate and one third of the sugar in a saucepan over a low heat

Remove from heat as soon as it is melted and give it a good stir to combine

Beat the butter until creamy

Add sugar and vanilla and beat till light and fluffy

Gradually add the beaten egg

Next add a third of the flour and stir, followed by a third of the melted chocolate mixture and so on until everything is in the one bowl.

Fill the cases with a ice cream scoop

Bake for 15-18 minutes until well risen

Leave to cool for two minutes before cooling completely on a wire rack



Buttercream Icing

When i make buttercream icing I never really measure anything but just combine in a bowl until I achieve the taste and texture I am looking for so all measurements here are approximate and to my taste.

100g butter

100g icing sugar

1 tbsp cocoa powder, sieved

Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy

Add the cocoa powder and beat to combine

At this stage you can smear the cupcake with the buttercream or else level of the top of them and pipe it on. I used a Wilton 1m nozzle to decorate mine. I started off on the outside of the cake and worked inwards to the middle then piped another swirl on top of this. I used little plastic Halloween figures to top some of them which the kids absolutely loved and I left the rest plain. Totally delicious and most definitely on the "make again" list!



Rainy Day Cookies

 After my adventures in macarons last week I had my fill of sieving almonds. Six batches of them in seven days is enough for even Pierre Herme I would think. I love making cookies as they are so easy to throw together and the kids absolutely love helping me with them. Miserable wet day in Clara so its always handy to do something like this with the boys when they cant get out to work of their energy on the trampoline. Its always nice to have a treat as a bribe to help make the job of eating their dinner a little more attractive, I know some people frown upon using treats in such a way but bribery is most definitely my favourite type of parenting!

Ingredients

• 200g plain flour
• 125g margarine
• 125g brown sugar
• 50g chocolate chips
• 50g white chocolate
• 2 tbsp peanut butter
• 1 tbsp cocoa (sieved)
• 1 egg

Method

Grease a baking tray and preheat oven to 180 degrees
Beat the margarine, peanut butter, brown sugar and cocoa in a bowl until well blended
Add the egg and mix well
Gently stir in flour and chocolate chips until mixture forms a dough
Roll dough into walnut size balls and press down onto baking tray
Bake for 12-15 minutes depending on your oven
Cool on a wire rack before drizzling with melted white chocolate

So apart from the usual rows about who got to stir the mixture for longer than the other a lovely afternoon was had by all. Wont be long till there is another little pair of hands looking to help but for today she was happy to hang onto my leg!

Apprenticeship in Laduree here I come!!

After my first batch of macarons yesterday did not quite go to plan I decided to give them another go with a different recipe, a new spatula, a new piping bag and a new nozzle! Of course it wasn't just these new implements that helped it was the fabulous folding motion that I have perfected from watching online tutorials! I read and watched so many things online yesterday I actually dreamt about macarons last night. Yes I know I am quite sad! This recipe came from Delicious Magazine and I am thrilled with the results.

Ingredients

• 175g icing sugar
• 125g ground almonds
• 3 large egg whites
• 75g caster sugar
• food colouring of your choice

For the filling

• 150g butter, softened
• 75g icing sugar

Method

Preheat oven to 160 degrees
Whizz the almonds and icing sugar together in a processor till really finely ground then sieve into a bowl.
Whisk the egg whites with pinch of salt till soft peaks form, gradually add in caster sugar until thick and glossy. Add drop or two of food colouring at this stage.
Fold half the almond mixture into the meringue and mix well.
Add the remainder and cut/fold until it is shiny and falls like a ribbon from spatula.

Spoon into a piping bag with a plain nozzle.
Mark out parchment on baking sheets with 3cm circles to guide you as you pipe mixture.
Once piped bang the sheets quite sharply against counter tops to get rid of excess air.
Leave trays to sit for 15 minutes or so to allow a skin to form before baking.

Bake for 15 minutes.
Transfer parchment to a wire rack and allow to cool.
Meanwhile beat the butter until creamy then beat in the icing sugar. You can then add a drop or two of colouring to this as well if you wish. Sandwich the macarons together using this mixture.


Well I have to say I impressed myself with these little beauties! The 8 year old declared them the nicest things he has ever tasted and the dog is in danger of canine diabetes (if there is such a thing) from the amount of spilled icing sugar he licked up from the floor. If anyone can guide me in the direction of a macaron book I would be delighted as I think my adventures in macarons are only starting!

Macaroon or Macaron? Whatever you like to call them they are delicious!!

Am kind of sad that I have only just discovered the delights of macarons. The idea of ground almonds has always put me off, probably as a result of the cloying taste of almond fingers that my mother was always so fond of. It used to drive me mad that anything in the same box as these fingers would have an almond flavour to them, yuck! After watching Zumbos at the weekend I knew I had to give them a try and see what I had been missing out on. Zumbos is based in a bakery in Australia where macarons are their speciality, people queue up before the shop even opens to buy these little discs of yumminess. Form an orderly queue at the kitchen counter please.....

This recipe comes from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and featured in The Guardian.

Ingredients

• 125g icing sugar
• 3 tbsp cocoa powder
• 165g ground almonds
• 3 egg whites
• 55g caster sugar
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract

For the ganache

• 100g plain chocolate
• 100ml double cream

Preheat oven to 150 degrees.
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and mark out 24 circles of approximately 4.5cm.
Sieve icing sugar and cocoa powder into a bowl and whisk in the ground almonds.
Whisk the egg whites and gradually add caster sugar until stiff glossy peaks are formed.
Stir in half the almond mixture then add the rest along with the vanilla. Fold until just combined.
Transfer into a freezer bag and snip of one of the corners before piping onto baking sheets.
Tap the sheets against worktop to get rid of air bubbles.
Bake for 15 minutes or until slightly firm.
Transfer the parchment to a wire rack to cool completely.

Make the ganache by heating the cream until simmering then pour onto the broken up chocolate.
Leave for 2 minutes before stirring until cool.
Sandwich the macarons together with the ganache.
Refrigerate until required.

To make life a little easier I put the freezer bag into a pitcher jug before scraping in the mixture. I must invest in some proper bags and nozzles as I would love to perfect these little discs. These have a gorgeous chewy texture and surprisingly I could not get an almond taste from them just luscious chocolate. Would love to attempt some pink and green ones so watch this space!!

The Humble Scone!

To me a scone is like a bowl of cornflakes, I forget how nice they are until I taste them. When I started baking a few years ago I made these so often I can almost make them in my sleep! I sometimes like to add dried fruit to them which has been presoaked in orange juice to plump them up but the eight year old requested plain ones so how could I not fulfil his wishes! After a week of dull grey days a bit of comfort was required along with a nice pot of fresh coffee so I made these little beauties! So little effort but such a lovely reward of buttery, sugary goodness.

 

Ingredients

 

• 250g self raising flour
• 120g butter
• 5 tbsp milk
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 eggs
• Pinch of salt

 

Method

 

Rub the butter into the flour and baking powder until it resembles breadcrumbs.
Make a well in middle and add in salt, milk and beaten eggs.
Mix to form a dry dough. Add more milk if required.
Turn onto floured surface and roll out. Use a small glass to cut out approximately 15 scones.
Brush scones with milk and dip into some cinnamon sugar. I make this by combining 2 tbsp of caster sugar with a sprinkling of ground cinnamon and combine in a pestle and mortar.
Bake in a preheated oven at 200 degrees for 10 - 15 minutes until golden.
Cool on a wire rack.
Eat with lashings of butter, jam, honey, cream or whatever takes your fancy!
Simples!

My name is Paula and I am a lemon curd addict!

I can eat lemon curd by the jar, spoonful after luscious spoonful!! I should enter a lemon curd eating competition as I could probably eat a full jar in five minutes or less! The last batch I made I used vanilla sugar which gave it a slightly different taste layer and it looks so pretty with all the little black flecks through it. I came across this gorgeous muffin recipe a few weeks ago when @Channel4Food had it as their recipe of the day and I have been looking forward to trying it so today was the day! I have always loved River Cottage recipes as its all about good wholesome food and they always turn out well. I think its worth using homemade curd as it just tastes so much better than anything shop bought you will find.

Ingredients

• 225g plain flour
• 150g lemon curd
• 125g natural yoghurt
• 125ml whole milk
• 100g caster sugar
• 75g unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
• 1 medium egg
• 2 tsp baking powder
• pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 180 degrees and line a 12 hole muffin tin
Put the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt into a bowl and whisk to combine
Mix the melted butter, yoghurt, milk and egg together.
Pour the wet ingredients onto the dry and mix really lightly till combined, no more.
Spoon some of the mixture into each case then add a teaspoon of curd and top with remaining batter
Place in oven for 25-30 mins depending on your oven.
Place on wire rack to cool, if you can wait that long!!

These are so quick and easy to make and they taste, smell and look divine!! Only a few left already as I tripped over the dog and dropped some on the floor and he gobbled them up.*

*Outright lie, my name is Paula and I am a lemon curd muffin addict.......

My Version of Mammys Irish Stew!

In our house it was always easy to tell what we would be having for dinner as the weekly menu rarely changed. Roast chicken, beef, bacon, cabbage, stew, pork chops and whiting fish were all featured each week. I used to dread Wednesdays as this meant stew day and it was my least favourite dinner. During the summer months it would be replaced with a salad dinner which comprised of cooked ham, turkey, tomatoes, eggs, lettuce and a big plate of steaming new potatoes with loads of butter, oh how I loved to see the seasons change and avoid battles over the dinner table for at least a few months! So now I have kids of my own I realise  my mother was doing a great job trying to get meat and vegetables into us on a daily basis to keep us healthy and strong and here I am continuing the saga here in my own house. Luckily I have three great eaters here and meal time battles are few and far between. They ironically love stew and I have actually come to love it myself, though sorry Mammy I think mine is nicer! The great thing about stew is that anything goes, these measurements are to my families tastes so add more/less if you wish.

Ingredients

• 500g stewing beef, diced
• 500g small potatoes, peeled
• 500ml Guinness
• 400g tin of plum tomatoes
• 5 carrots, sliced
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 tbsp of flour
• 1 tbsp of barbecue sauce/brown sauce
• salt and pepper
• olive oil

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over a fairly high heat
Toss the beef in the flour and add to saucepan, brown the meat
Add the onions, carrots and potatoes and stir
Thrown in the tin of tomatoes and the can of Guinness and bring to the boil.
At this stage I add in the barbecue sauce as the boys love a little spice
Season to taste with salt and pepper
Turn down hob to a simmer and put lid on.
Leave to simmer for at least 2 hours to allow the meat to become melting tender

This is such a great one pot meal and foolproof once you buy good quality beef from your butcher. Though looking at the fabulous weather today I might be putting away the stew pot for another few weeks! HELLO SUMMER!!