Chocolate Biscuit Cake

It has been a very long time since I last did a post! So I have decided that it is about time I got back on my baking wagon! I have been cooking some wonderful things over Easter but I didn't manage to photograph it before I devoured them!

I was recently at Rosie's house (one of my very best friends!) and we decided to do a bit of baking, and we were reminded of Chocolate biscuit fridge cake, who one of our best friends Flo, used to make!

Chocolate biscuit cake is utterly delicious and is very quick and easy to whip up as it doesn't need baking as you set it in the fridge. Another very important factor to note is that it is a favourite of Prince William, who had it as part of his wedding cake- great choice by him!

Heres the recipe: (photos below!)

(makes about 12 big squares, 24 mini bites)

-125g butter

-250g Digestive biscuits (or your choice of biscuit!)

-200g Chocolate (I used 100g of dark and 100g of Milk)

-2 tbsp Golden syrup

-Extras to add: Chocolate bars/marshmallows/nuts/raisins..

How to make:

-Crush up the biscuits in a large bowel with the end of a rolling pin.

-Melt the Chocolate, Butter and Golden syrup in a pan over a medium-low heat and stir until melted.

-Stir in the Chocolate mixture to the biscuits and mix until fully coated and combined. Then add any extras you fancy.

-Pour the mixture in to a suitably sized tin and pop it in the fridge for a few hours, (or the freezer if you cant wait!)

-Then cut it in to squares of your preferred size and enjoy! 

YUM.

The very simple ingredients.

Chocolate biscuit mixture pressed in to tin!

Chocolate biscuit cake cut and ready for eating!

Close up of the inside.

This is Rosie's and my Rolo Chocolate biscuit cake that we made before,

Mmmmm!

Enjoy!

More recipes to follow before too long... X

Creamy Cashew Nut Butter!

Whilst browsing various healthy living recipes I have found that a lot of them call for use of 'nut butters', and homemade ones. So I decided that I would give it a go, and make some Cashew butter. 

Cashews have one of the lowest fat contents of all nuts, and they are rich in Iron, Selenium, Magnesium and Zinc. They are also a great source of antioxidants and protein... So what is not to love about them! This nut butter couldnt have been easier to make either- all you need is a food processor and some Cashews!

Heres the recipe: (makes one medium-large sized jar)

-175g raw Cashew nuts

-1 tbsp Groundnut oil 

-Large pinch of Salt

-1 tbsp Agarve Nectar/ Honey

-Unswetened Cocoa powder (optional for Chocolate version)

How to make:

-First of all roast the Cashews in the oven on a baking tray until they are all slightly browned, and leave to cool.

-Then put them in the food processor and whizz up for about 2 minutes. They will start to look like fine crumbs, but keep going! Whizz for another 3-6 minutes and add the Groundnut oil to losen the mixture as it will start to form a big clump.

-Then add the salt and Agarve Nectar and keep whizzing until the mixture looks smooth and creamy. Make sure to keep tasting to see if it needs more salt/nectar (but that is down to your own preferences!)

-Then put it in to a sterilised jar and enjoy!

-For the Chocolate version, just add a tablespoon or so of the unsweetened Cocoa powder and whizz until combined!

Stage 1 - Roasting the raw Cashews until browned all over

Stage 2 - Put the roasted Cashews in to the food processor

Stage 3 - The Cashews will start to look like crumbs after a minute or so

Stage 4 - The natural oils will start to come out after a couple of minutes of whizzing and it will start to clump together

Stage 5 - Add the oil, Agarve nectar and salt

Stage 6 - The finished butter should look smooth and creamy

Stage 7 - Put the Cashew butter in to a suitable jar and enjoy!

This was a chocolate version that I made with some remaining Cashew butter that wouldn't fit in the jar! It wasn't particularly chocolatey, so perhaps adding more cocoa powder would have worked better. But still yummy!

Fresh Apricot Chutney!

I had some fresh apricots hanging around, so I decided to try making some fresh chutney with them. The recipe is very easy, all you do is mix the ingredients together and simmer them for 15 minutes and its ready! It has a spicy, aromatic flavour, which goes well with cold meats, curries, in sandwiches or anything you like.

Heres the recipe: (makes one large jar)

-Fresh pitted apricots (I used about 8, but depends on how many you have)

-1/2 chopped red onion

-1 tbsp cider vinegar

-1 tbsp light brown sugar

-Squidge of Agarve nectar/ Honey

-Good handfull of raisins

-1/2 tsp mustard seeds

-1/2 ground coriander

-1/2 tsp cumin

-Salt and pepper seasoning

How to make:

-Chop your apricots in to large chunks and place in a medium sized pan

-Then add all of the rest of the ingredients

-Bring the mixture to a steady simmer, making sure you keep stirring with a wooden spoon constantly to ensure it doesn't burn on the bottom

-After about 15 minutes the mixture should be thick and 'jam' like, taste to check seasoning and then its ready to put in to a sterilised jar!

-Then enjoy!

Stage one - chopping the apricots

Stage 2 - mix all the ingredients together in the pan

Stage 3 - cook, stirring continuously until it looks thick and 'jam' like

Stage 4 - Put it in to a sterilised jar and enjoy!

Festive Gingerbread Biscuits!

So its Pre-Christmas weekend and I had my friend Eva staying with me and we decided it would be fun and festive to bake some Gingerbread men/ biscuits!

They were so tasty, and fun to decorate! My giant gingerbread woman ended up looking more like a man though hehehe! The recipe is below! 

Gingerbread biscuit recipe: 

(Its meant to make 20 big men but we made about 60 medium sized biscuits!)

-350g Plain Flour

-1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

-2 tsp ground ginger

-1 tsp ground cinnamon

-125g soft butter

-175g soft light brown sugar

-1 egg

-4 tbsp golden syrup

-Icing sugar and decorations

How to make:

-Sift flour, bicarb, ginger and cinnamon together and pour in to a food processor. Add the butter and whizz until it looks like breadcrumbs. Then add the sugar and whizz again.

-Beat the egg and golden syrup together and add to the food processor and pulse until it comes together.

-Take the dough out, knead slightly into a ball and wrap in cling film. Then leave it to cool in the fridge for about 15 mins or longer.

-Preheat the oven to 180c. Then roll out the dough and cut out your biscuits in to your desired shapes! 

-Place on to a greased baking tray and bake for about 8-10 minutes, but keep an eye on them as they burn quickly!

-Leave them to cool on a wire rack and then decorate them how you like!

Operation gingerbread men!

Our gingerbread family and biscuits ready to go in to the oven!

I was so excited to use smarties to decorate the biscuits as I havent eaten them in years and I absolutely love them!

Our mass of baked gingerbread! 

(note: many had already been eaten at this point!)

And here were our finished biscuits once we had decorated them and eaten half of the decorations!

Then that evening I went over to my best friend's house which feels like my second home hehehe!! And I had some wonderful Champagne to kick off the Christmas celebrations!

Merry Christmas!! 

Pre-Christmas Pheasant!

Hello, so it is very nearly Christmas.. about 5 days to go now! Very exciting!

We had my godfather over for lunch and I made 2 very tasty roast Pheasants! The recipe was courtesy of BBC food website, http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/roast_pheasant_with_18760

Here is our little Christmas tree at home, with some homemade decorations that I made for it!

So heres the recipe for the Roast Pheasant with Celeriac and Bacon!

Recipe: Serves 4 generously 

Pheasant and roast vegetables:

-2 Pheasants

-Olive oil

-4 rashers of streaky bacon

-2 Bay leaves

-1 leek, chopped

-1 onion, chopped

-1 carrot, chopped

-250g Mushrooms (about 6!), chopped

-4 garlic cloves, smooshed

Recipe for the Celeriac and Bacon:

-1 whole celeriac, cubed 

-8 rashers of streaky Bacon, chopped

-1 leek, chopped

-Half a bottle of Cider

-200ml of chicken stock

-100ml of cream

How to make:

-Preheat the oven to 200c

-First prep the pheasants, put a little butter inside each of them and then place 2 rashers of streaky bacon and a bay leaf on top of each one. Sprinkle with a fair amount of olive oil and seasoning. 

-Place all of the chopped veg in to a deep sided baking tray and then place the pheasants on top of them.

-Pop this in to the oven and roast for about 45/50 minutes

-Whilst the pheasants are roasting then make the celeriac and bacon!

-Fry the streaky bacon in a heavy based frying pan until crispy and then add the  celeriac and leek. And cook these for about 8 minutes.

-Then add the half bottle of cider and reduce it by half. Then add the chicken stock and reduce that by half as well. 

-Add the cream and season generously with salt and pepper. Let this all cook together for a little longer and then serve with the pheasant!

-Carve your pheasant, or just cut each in half and let your guests do the hard work! Then enjoy! YUM! :) 

Here are the 2 pheasants on top of the vegetables waiting to go in to the oven!

I also made some yummy roast potatoes! These I made my slitting the potatoes down to nearly the bottom and then I smothered them in oilve oil, rosemary and salt! They were so good!

And of course I also did some Brussel Sprouts.. because secretly I love them!

This is the celeriac and leek, all chopped and ready to be cooked!

Here is the celeriac, bacon, leek, cider and stock simmering away!

Here is the finished roast Pheasants and celeriac and bacon! The celeriac was wonderfully creamy, and it went really well with the crispy pheasant and potoatoes! I highly reccomend this recipe if you can get hold of some pheasants, if you cant then im sure it would work really well with a chicken as well!

Mince Pies...as it's almost December!

I know it's not even December yet but I had a huge urge to make some Mince Pies today! Its cold outside and definitely beginning to feel a little bit Christmassy! I have to admit that these are cheats Mince Pies (as I didn't make the pastry or mince meat.. oopsie!) but they still taste amazing and I will make some proper ones in the run up to Christmas!

The recipe: (made 10 but I only used 1/3rd of the pack)

-Jus-roll Sweet shortcrust pastry packet

-Mince meat (I used Waitrose Cranberry and Port)

-Milk, for glazing

To make:

-Grease a baking tin with butter and preheat the oven to 180c

-Roll out the pastry until it is quite thin (as it makes nice crisp pastry), and then use a large round cutter to cut out the base of the pie

-Spoon in a heaped teaspoon of the mince meat in to each, but dont put too much as it will bubble over when baked

-Then roll out the leftover pastry and with a heart or star cutter, cut out the lid and place on top.

-With a pastry brush, brush over a little milk on the lids and edges, then bake in the oven for about 15 minutes, but keep an eye on them as they turn very quickly! 

-Then sprinkle with some icing sugar and enjoy whilst still warm! YUM!

Above are the things you will need to make the Mince Pies! 

And below are the pies ready to go in the oven! 

Yummy, fresh Mince Pies out of the oven!

Almond, Rosemary and Fig savoury biscuits!

I haven't done any baking for a while, so I decided it was time! I found this recipe for rosemary and fig biscuits (but really they are more like crackers), but instead of using normal flour, they use Almond flour/ground Almonds. This means that they are high in protein which is good :)

The Recipe: (makes about 25 biscuits)

-1 1/2 Cups of Almond flour

-1/2 teaspoon of rock salt

-1 tsp Rosemary, finely chopped

-4 dried figs, finely chopped

-1 egg

-1 tbsp Olive oil

To make:

-In a mixing bowl, stir together the almond flour, salt, rosemary and dried figs. Then add the egg and olive oil.

-Stir the mix until combined. 

-Roll out the mix inbetween 2 pieces of baking paper, so that you can get it nice and thin (about 1/8 inch thick), then cut in to sqaures with a knife or pizza cutter.

-Then bake on about 150c, for 8-10mins (but keep an eye on them as they brown quickly) until lightly browned on top and bottom.

-Enjoy!

Chopping the Figs and Rosemary, and below the dry ingredients on the left and then adding of the wet on the right!

This is what the mix looks like once combined, then below is the mixture having been rolled out!

Above is the mixture once it has been cut in to shapes (you can make up ones from little bits of mix). Then below are the biscuits ready to go in the oven!

And these are the finished biscuits cooling on a wire rack! Yum!