Weekend Bake | Skinny Chick Easter Nests

A no-cook Easter Weekend make for the family, to get you in the chocolate spirit. This recipe is adapted from Nigella Lawson's How To Be A Domestic Goddess:

Ingredients (Makes 12):

400g dark and milk chocolate (adapt the ratio of bitter/sweet chocolate to taste)

100g Shredded Wheat (about 4 nests of Shredded Wheat)

2 packs of Milkybar Mini Eggs (enough for about 3 or 4 eggs per nests)

1 tablespoon Golden Syrup

25g unsalted butter

Method:

1) Place 12 muffin, cupcake or fairy cake cases in a muffin tray.

2) Break up 100g of Shredded Wheat in a large bowl.

3) Melt all of the chocolate and butter in a smaller bowl, by placing over a saucepan of boiling water.

4) Stir the melted chocolate and Golden Syrup into the Shredded Wheat until fully combined (NOTE: This needs to be done quickly, before the chocolate is too set to cover the Shredded Wheat fully).

5) Place blobs of the mixture in the muffin cases and decorate with chocolate eggs (I used white chocolate Milkybar eggs) and Easter chicks.

Spring Citrus Sponge | Lemon Cake Recipe

I'm a cake addict. Have been for as long as I can remember. Sometimes the mood takes you and nothing but a dangerously indulgent combination of sugar and fat, in the form of cake, will do. My favourite is usually the toxic 50:50 fat:sugar ratio found in cheesecake. For those who hanker for the citrus in moments of weakness, a light lemon sponge cake is the ticket. Why not try this sponge laced with lemon zest and topped with a sugar/lemon glaze.

Ingredients

4 large eggs, room temperature

8oz sifted flour

8oz caster sugar

8oz unsalted butter, room temperature

Zest of 2 lemons

For the butter icing/topping

Juice of 2 lemons

100g caster sugar

50g icing sugar

100g unsalted butter

Method

1) Preheat your oven to Gas Mark 4, 180oC or 160oC fan, and line 2 large round shallow cake tins with parchment paper.

2) Cream together the caster sugar and butter until combined and fluffy.

3) Beat the eggs together separately and add to the mixture gradually.

4) Fold in the flour and grated lemon zest until the mixture is fully combined.

5) Use a tablespoon to divide the mixture equally between the 2 cake tins and bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes.

6) When ready, take the cakes out of the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack.

7) Whilst still warm, spread a mix of half of the lemon juice and all of the sugar over the top half of the cake with a egg or pastry brush.

8) Make the butter icing by combining the other half of the lemon juice, the icing sugar (sifted) and the butter. (Be careful not to add too much lemon juice as it makes the icing runny!)

9) When both halves of the cake are cool assemble the cake by filling the middle with the butter icing and spreading any leftover lemon and sugar glaze over the top.

To see the Mary Berry Lemon drizzle cake recipe that inspired this post:

http://uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/534232

'Mr Nutella' Chocolate Cupcakes | Weekend Bake Recipe

In honour of Ferrero Rocher chocolate tycoon Michele Ferrero, or 'Mr Nutella', who sadly died this week, I had fun developing these Nutella inspired treats. Warning: These cupcakes contain a combination of ingredients so indulgently sweet as to probably be capable of inducing a heart attack. Bon Appetit!

Ingredients (Makes 6):

2 eggs (room temperature)

2oz caster sugar

2oz self-raising flour, no need to sift (or plain flour and 1 teaspoon baking powder) 

2oz unsalted butter (room temperature)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Butter icing: icing sugar, unsalted butter, vanilla extract, 1 dessert spoon of Nutella

Method:

1) Preheat oven to Gas Mark 5

2) Cream together sugar and butter

3) Mix in eggs and vanilla extract

4) Fold the flour into the mixture

5) Spoon half of the mixture into 6 muffin cases

6) Add a teaspoon of Nutella in the middle of each case

7) Spoon the rest of the mixture into the cases, so that it covers the Nutella blob in the middle

8) Bake for 15-20 minutes in the preheated oven and allow to cool on a wire rack when baked

9) Decorate with a sprinkle of icing sugar or a dollop of Nutella butter icing

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: Summer Ham Hock and Mushroom Pasta Bake Recipe

Ingredients:

75-100g pasta per person/portion

Ham hock pieces

Handful of cumin seeds

Cheddar cheese

Pine nuts

Bread crumbs
Flour
Milk
Broccoli

Method:

1) Put water onto boil and put your choice of pasta into cook when boiling

2) Make Bechamel/cheese sauce

3) Fry mushrooms separately in a saucepan and boil the broccoli (or other veg if you wish)

4) Mix the sauce into the pasta and place in an ovenproof dish

5) Mix in the mushrooms and ham hock

6) Top with breadcrumbs, cumin seeds, pine nuts and grated cheddar

7) Brown in the oven for 10-15 minutes

Carpe Diem xx

Weekend Bake: Celebration English Cupcakes Recipe and Tips

Whether it's a birthday, an unbirthday, a summer barbeque or the Wimbledon final, it's always great to get baking and try an English version of sweet American cupcakes. With more flour and less sugar, these cupcakes are more Victoria sponge and work perfectly for tea parties.

Ingredients:

3 eggs

6oz self-raising flour

6oz caster sugar

6oz butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

1) Cream together butter and sugar

2) Fold in flour into the mixture in stages

3) Break in the eggs

4) Spoon into cake cases

5) Bake in a Gas Mark 4/350F/180C

Chef's Tips:

1) Sift flour and icing sugar fully before combining

2) Add 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract to the mixture for extra taste sensation

3) Combine all the ingredients until smooth

4) Leave to cook until bouncy and golden

5) Decorate with chocolate and other flavoured icing, when cooled, by adding cocoa powder to icing sugar and water

Carpe Diem xx

Foodie Friday: Easy Essential Pitta Pizza Recipe in 20 minutes or less

For the first time in a couple of weeks I have to apologise for the lack of blogging for the whole of yesterday, but today I'm going to give you two posts to make up for it :). 

Ingredients:

2 wholemeal pitta breads

4 tsps sun-dried tomato puree paste

2 large ripe tomatoes

Few basil leaves

100g mozzarella

(Quantities are flexible depending on your personal taste)

Prep Time: 5-10 minutes
Cooking Time: 10 minutes

Method:

1) Head oven to 200C/180C/Gas Mark 6

2) Spread each pitta with 2 teaspoons of tomato puree paste

3) Top with chopped tomatoes, sliced mozzrella and basil leaves if wanted

4) Bake on a baking sheet on the top shelf of the oven for 10 minutes, or until the cheese is melted

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/518639/pitta-pizzas

Carpe Diem xx

No-Sugar No-Cook Quick "Cheesecake" Dessert

Source: http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/quick_cheesecake.html

(For 1 serving, 1 person):

2 wholewheat crackers (Fox's Wholemeal Crackers)

2 tablespoons ricotta cheese

4 teaspoons jam (St Dalfour and Clearspring are only sweetened with fruit concentrate)

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