Terry's Chocolate Orange Christmas Leftover Muffins

The full title of this inventive recipe is 'Terry's-chocolate-orange-New-Year-sweet-Christmas-leftover-muffins'. By the time Boxing Day rolls in, as do Christmas' survivors, leftover turkey is usually seen as the order of the day. But surely too much credence is given to our seasonal savoury companions - turkeys, geese, duck, pork, usually the preserve of stodgy sandwiches - what of leftover sweets? In the spirit of New Year celebratory baking, and clutching some of the remaining Christmas Terry's chocolate orange, I decided to turn my sweet leftovers into a muffin recipe. As the saying goes, adversity is the mother of invention. And so leftover chocolate was the mother of this invention.

Ingredients (Makes 12)

3/4 Terry's Dark Chocolate Orange

2 large eggs

4oz self-raising flour (or baking powder and plain flour)

4oz caster sugar

4oz soft butter

For decoration (see below)

Method

Preheat oven to Gas Mark 5 (or equivalent)

Cream together the butter and sugar until soft

Add the beaten eggs to the mixture gradually, a bit at a time

Fold in the flour until combined

Chop the chocolate orange segments into chunks

Stir chocolate chunks into the mixture

Bake in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes

Decoration

For decoration I went (again) with leftovers - in the form of glace cherries, mini meringues, chocolate chunks, chocolate stars - so go wild and dangerously and experiment with whatever you happen to have to hand!

Good luck and comment below or tweet your progress!

Foodie Friday: Cooper's Sour Dough Bread

I've always liked the idea of baking and eating fresh pastries and bread, mostly because my mum has always been into it. Today we went on another foodie adventure, this time to collect fresh sour dough bread from a local deli that is supplied by Cooper's. Cooper's Bakehouse is a small business that bakes fresh bread from scratch every day and supplies delis and businesses in south London. Yum! A chewy, well-baked texture that passes the 'sniff' freshness test.

http://www.coopersbakehouse.com/

Carpe Diem xx

Chocolate and Banana Cupcakes | Recipe

 Ingredients:

120g plain flour

120g caster sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

A pinch of salt

80g unsalted butter, at room temperature

120ml semi-skimmed milk

2 eggs

2 large bananas, peeled and mashed

Method:

1) Preheat oven to 170oC (325oF) Gas Mark 3

2) Put cupcakes cases in 12-hole cupcake tray

 3) Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, salt and butter (preferably in a freestanding electric mixer otherwise your arm will get very tired!)

4) Slowly add milk, and then eggs, beating well

5) Evenly disperse mashed banana into the mixture

6) Spoon the mixture into the paper cupcake cases

 7) Bake in preheated oven for approximately 20 minutes

 8) When cool decorate with chocolate frosting/icing and sprinkle with hundreds and thousands!

Chocolate frosting:

250g icing sugar, sifted

50g cocoa powder

50g unsalted butter, at room temperature

125g cream cheese, cold (I used Philadelphia Light)

(Adapted from The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook)

Carpe diem xx

Homemade Flapjack Recipe

Ingredients:

8oz Quaker/porridge oats

3tbls Tate and Lyle golden syrup

6oz butter

3oz demerara sugar 

Method:

1) Melt butter in a saucepan

2) Add syrup and sugar

3) Stir in porridge oats

4) Cook for 20-25 minutes at Gas Mark 4/180oC

5) Leave to cool on a wire rack

6) Cut into portions/biscuit size

Have you tried these?

Carpe diem xx

Patriotic Royal Wedding Celebration Cupcakes

Cupcakes: vanilla, The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook

Icing: vanilla buttercream, writing icing, blue food colouring

How did you celebrate the Royal Wedding??

Carpe diem xx

70 (Wedding) Cupcakes

Silver Spoon Royal Icing.........

Seventy cupcakes made for the reception of a summer wedding on 1st June.

Cupcakes: The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook, vanilla cupcakes

Icing: Silver Spoon Royal Icing

Flowers: Dr. Oetker Regal-Ice, blue

Carpe diem xx

Here's one I made earlier.....

Banana & Strawberry Cheesecake

(Adapted from Fridge-set Banana Cheesecake in The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook)

Here's one I made earlier....

Hummingbird Bakery Coffee Cake:

Carpe diem xx