Gingerbread Men

Here is a classic recipe for Gingerbread Men. These are seen in the picture next to the hot chocolate in the previous post.

Ingredients:
350g plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2tsp ground Ginger
100g margarine
175g light muscovado sugar
4tblsp golden syrup
1 egg
currants to decorate
Method:

1. Heat oven at C190. Grease 3 baking trays.
2. Measure the flour, bicarbonate of soda and ginger into a bowl of a food processor. Whiz in the margarine until the mixture resembles fine bread crumbs. Stir in the sugar. 
3. Add the syrup and egg to the flour mixture. Mix until the mixture forms a dough.
4. Take it out of the food processor and  knead it lightly with your hands for 5 minutes. 
5. Divide the dough in half and roll out on a floured surface to the thickness of one centimeter.
6. Cut out gingerbread men and women using a cutter. Place them on a baking tray leaving enough space forspreading. Roll out the rest of the dough and cut out the gingerbread. Decorate them with currants to make eyes and buttons. 
7. Bake for 10 - 12 minutes until a slightly darker shade.
8. Cool slightly and then move to a cooling rack.

Christmas Shortbread

This Shortbread is simple to make, and are great to give as Christmas presents. To give the shortbread a Christmas theme they are dusted with cinnamon sugar! The shortbread recipe can be adapted to give different flavours. (e.g chocolate, cranberry or nuts can be added instead of Cinnamon)

Ingredients:
175g unsalted butter
75g Castor sugar
200g plain flour
50g corn flour
cinnamon mixed with Castor sugar to dust

Method:

1. Cut the butter into small chunks and add it to the food processor with the sugar. Whiz for about a minute or until the butter and sugar is pale and fluffy. 
2. Add the flours and mix until the mixture is well combined. You may need to add a drop of milk to bring the mixture together as a dough.
3. Wrap and chill the dough for a minim of 30 minutes. 
4. Heat oven to C170 fan.
5. Roll out the dough to 1 cm thick and cut out your desired shape. Prick with a fork.
6. Put onto a greased sheet and cooked for 15 minutes.
7. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and cool on a rack.  

Hot Chocolate Update

So far I have tried many recipes. The recipes with the real chocolate often ended up separating or not combining well. The best recipe I used had chocolate and some cocoa powder.

This hot chocolate is sour and dark; a great indulgence for the real hot chocolate lovers. To sweeten it add more sugar or marshmallows or whipped cream and then sprinkle with cinnamon.

A Real Hot Chocolate
Ingredients:
5tbsp cocoa powder
2tbsp castor sugar
6oz milk chocolate
1 cup + 4tbsp semi-skinned milk
Marshmallows or whipped cream to serve
Cinnamon to put on top

Method:

1. In a saucepan add cocoa powder, sugar and 4 tbsp milk.
2. Heat until the sugar dissolves, and the cocoa powder is combined.
3. Add the remaining milk with the chocolate.
4. Melt the chocolate and ensure the drink is piping hot before serving.
5. Serve with some whipped cream or marshmallows.

Hot Chocolate served with some gingerbread men.

Additions or Variations:

• Adding a pinch of chili powder
• A cinnamon stick
• A little instant expresso powder for a hot mocha
• Use Maya gold chocolate and sprinkle with orange zest
• Use half mint chocolate and half dark chocolate, finish with a after eight mint.

Passion Cake

This is a moist chocolate cake with a twist - there is carrot in it!

Ingredient:
FOR THE CAKE:
3 large eggs
175g caster sugar
200ml sunflower oil
200g plain flour
250g grated carrot (about 3 carrots)
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground Cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
100g chopped walnuts or chopped pecans
FOR THE ICING:
100g unsalted butter
100g cream cheese
300g icing sugar
7 tablespoons cocoa powder
Walnuts to decorate

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Line two 20cm round tins.
2. Whisk the eggs and sugar in the bowl of a food mixer, until very light and frothy.
3. Slowly pour in the oil.
4. Fold in the grated carrots, using a spatula.
5. Sift the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and ginger to the mixture. Fold in.
6. Split the mixture between the two tins and cook for 25 minutes.  
7. Turn out the cakes and cool completely.
8. To make the icing; put all the ingredients into a food mixer and whisk until smooth and creamy.
9. Spread the icing in between the two cakes and then sainwhich together.  Ice the top and sides of the cake.
10. Finally EAT!!!! 

Passion Cake

Waitrose Rocky Road

This weekend I tried the recipe in the Waitrose Weekend paper (it is free in any Waitrose branch). On page 12 there is a recipe for 'Chunky Chocolate Biscuit Cake with Fudge and Marshmallow Chunks'  (basically a rocky road cake) and of course is calorie free! (Not!!)

The 'Chunky Chocolate Biscuit Cake with Fudge and Marshmallow Chunks'  were very tasty but the cake base was a bit crumbly for my liking. When i made mine I added some white chocolate on top as well, which gave it more colour! I suggest increasing the amount of chocolate and butter by about a 1/4.



'Chunky Chocolate Biscuit Cake with Fudge and Marshmallow Chunks' 



Happy Halloween

Here is a recipe for a devils food cake;  the perfect cake for Halloween! I have used a Fudge Frosting in the middle of the cake and an American Frosting to cover the outside of the cake. Either frosting can be used on the outside of the cake or the inside of the cake. For the top of the cake, I have made chocolate bats and a moon, for a Halloween theme.

Ingredients:

FOR THE CAKE:

100g Dark chocolate

175ml boiling water

4 tablespoons cocoa powder

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

125g butter

200g light muscovado sugar

150g castor sugar

2 large eggs

300g plain flour

125ml sour cream

FOR THE FUDGE FROSTING:

45g milk chocolate

45g dark chocolate

225ml sour cream

FOR THE AMERICAN FROSTING:

175g castor sugar

1 egg white

2 tablespoons hot water

Pinch of cream of Tatar

1. Heat the oven at 180 degrees C and grease 2 tins.
2. To make the CAKE break up the chocolate and place in a heat proof bowl over a pan of water. Remove from the heat when melted and leave to cool.
3. In a separate bowl pour the boiling water over the cocoa and whisk until smooth. Stir in the bicarbonate of soda and then add to the melted chocolate. Whisk and then leave to cool until needed.
4. Whisk the butter and both sugars until light and creamy in a food mixer. Add the eggs, slowly beating after each addition.
5. Mix in the flour alternatively with the sour cream. When combined mix in the chocolate mixture.
6. Divide the mixture between 2 tins and cook for 25 -30 minutes.
7. When the cakes are cooked turn out onto a wire rack and cool.
8. To make the FUDGE FROSTING melt both of the chocolates in a bowl over a pan of water. Cool. Then stir in the sour cream.
9. Layer the fudge frosting in between the two cakes.
10. To make the AMERICAN FROSTING add all the ingredients to a bowl, over a pan of water. Whisk for 10 -15 minutes until the frosting is thick and creamy.  Use the frosting immediately as it will set easily!
11. Spread the American Frosting over the cake and smooth using a hot and damp palette knife.
12. To make the decorations melt the chocolate and then spread over a piece of tin foil. Refrigerate. When the chocolate is hard, cut out your desired shape, and pipe on faces ect.  



Halloween Cake:
with dark chocolate bats and a white chocolate moon



Chocolate Caliente (pronounced: chock-o-LAHT-tey cal-ee-ent-aye.)

One of my biggest memories from Spain is the Chocolate Caliente (Hot chocolate).

Some would say I had a 'Goldilocks' experience. I tried many different hot chocolates; from the thin 'Cola Cao' (a powder that you mix into hot milk) to the really thick hot chocolate that is served with Churros. For me, my favorite would be a drink with a consistency somewhere in the middle of those two; thicker than the Cola Cao, but thinner than the 'Churros hot chocolate'.

Side note: Churros is fried dough covered in sugar- similar to a doughnut. These are dipped into a very thick chocolate drink. They are very easy to make, but they need to be shallow fried.

Churros and hot chocolate

In my kitchen I wanted to create a chocolate drink that was easy to make, and had my desired thickness. After a lot of research on the Internet into different types of chocolate and gathering recipes,  I chose 3 main chocolate:

1. Cocoa powder 
2. Chocolate a la taza (a Spanish chocolate that has starch in it)
3. Dark chocolate

Just back . . .

After wondering through the Salamanca area of Madrid, Spain, I stumbled across a store called MADRID CUPCAKE. Here is the link (http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.cupcakemadrid.com/&ei=0TzJTJH8FJCTjAfvyLm_Dw&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CB8Q7gEwAA&prev=/search%3Fq%3DMAdrid%2Bsupcakes%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1T4GGLL_enGB336GB336%26prmd%3Div)
It was a very cute store selling cupcakes, all looking too beautiful to eat. At that moment I walked into the shop and choose the Malteser cupcake. (Click on the link above and then click on Gallery and it is the second picture down on the right ) With my expectations high I bite into the cupcake. It was nothing like I expected. It was plain . . . simple . . . boring.  I was thoroughly disappointed. The cupcake was a simple chocolates sponge with vanilla butter cream and a malteser on top. The cupcake was so simple that nearly anybody could have made it.

I leave you with the challenge to make a Malteser cupcake, that is something different!

Nutty Apple and Blackberry Crumble Cake

This is a lovely autum cake, great with freshly picked blackberries!

Ingredients:

• 175g unsalted butter
• 150g golden caster sugar , plus 1tbsp
• 4 eating apples, peeled, cored and cut into 8 wedges
• 3 largeeggs, beaten
• 200g plain flour
• 2 tsp baking powder 
• 150g yoghurt
• 150g blackberries 
• 3-4 tbsp clear honey 
• crème fraîche or double cream, to serve

CRUMBLE TOPPING

• 100g unsalted butter
• 100g soft brown sugar
• 3 tsp ground cinnamon
• 150g plain flour
• 100g blanched pecans, toasted and roughly chopped

Method:

1. Heat the oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Butter and line a 20cm springform tin with baking parchment.
2. To make the crumble topping, melt the butter, then mix in the soft brown sugar, cinnamon, flour and chopped pecans. Heat 25g of butter in a large frying pan. Add 1 tbsp caster sugar and the apple wedges. Cook for about 10 minutes until the apples are tender and golden. Leave to cool.
3. Beat together the remaining butter and caster sugar until light and fluffy. Gradually mix in the eggs. Then mix in the flour and baking powder. Add the yogurt and mix until smooth.
4. Spoon roughly two-thirds of the cake mixture into the tin, spread level and scatter over one-third of the crumble, covering the cake. Top with the remaining cake mixture and level again. Scatter on  the apple wedges and blackberries on top. Finally top with the remaining crumble.
5. Bake for about 1 hour. Loosely cover the top of the cake with a sheet of baking parchment or foil halfway through the cooking time if it is browning too quickly or to stop the pecans burning.
6. Cool the cake in the tin for 10 minutes and then transfer to a serving plate. Warm the honey in a pan and drizzle over the cake. Serve warm with a bowl of crème fraîche or lightly whipped double cream.



Apple and Blackberry Cake



Chocolate Eclairs

Here is a yummy scrummy recipe for Eclairs. They are not the easiest thing to make but after a little bit a practise they are very easy!
It is the water in the Eclair mixture, with evaporates whilst it is cooking and leaves a hollow middle.

Ingredients:
FOR THE CHOUX PASTRY:
1/4pint water
2oz margarine
pinch of salt
2 small eggs
2 1/2oz plain flour
FOR THE FILLING
50g chocolate
100ml double cream or whipping cream

Method:

1. Heat the oven to 220 degrees C. Prepare a baking sheet with grease proof paper. If you want to draw lines along the sheet 2 -3cm apart, so when you pipe the eclairs they are all the same length.
2. Put the water, margarine and salt in a large pan. Heat until the margarine melts. Then bring the mixture to a  boil. Remove from the heat.
3. Quickly beat in the flour all at once. Continue beating until the mixture falls away from the edges of the pan and comes together to form a ball. Do not over beat. (To help prevent this, stop beating immediately after the mixture start to come away from the edge)
4. Cool the mixture. (The mixture should be cool to the touch) Then beat in the eggs gradually until the pastry is smooth, glossy and can still hold a shape.  All the egg may not be needed. Make sure the mixture does not turn into a runny mess by adding to much egg.
5. Now spoon the mixture into a piping bag, with a large nozzle.
6. Pipe out eclairs which are about 2cm -  3cm in length. Make sure they are all similar in size as this will make cooking them easier.
7. Place them in the oven for 15- 20 mins or until golden brown. Remove from the oven. Do not open the oven door whilst they are cooking as this will affect the cooking.
8. After taking the eclairs out of the oven make a hole in the side with a chopstick or something similar. This will let the steam escape from the middle.  Then place them back in the turned off oven for about 5 minutes to dry out the botoms. Cool.
9. Whip 50ml of the double cream. Make the ganache by melting the chocolate and then adding the rest of the cream (50ml).  The ganache should turn shinny and thick.
10. Place the whipped cream in a piping bag, with a small nozzle.
11. Either pipe the cream in the hole that was made to let the steam out, or cut the eclairs in half and using a knife put some cream in the middle.  Then smooth ganache over the top.
12. Tada!!! You have some eclairs!

Eclair

Troubleshooting:

• If the mixture did not hold its shape or collapsed after they were taken out of the oven then there was to much egg in the mixture.

Smartie Shortbread

It's been a while but here is a recipe for shortbread which is really nice. Cut them into little 3 cm rounds and add a  smarties in the middle or simply dusting with sugar, both are equally nice!

Ingredients:

125g unsalted butter

60g castor sugar
60g rice flour
125g plain flour

Method:

1. Heat the oven at 160 degrees C.
2. The easiest way is to put all the ingredients into a food processor and mix for about 10 minutes, until it comes together as a dough. If the mixture doesn't come together then add a few drops of milk.
3. Roll the dough out to about a centimeter thick and cut out small circles about 3 cm in diameter. and lay on a baking sheet. Dust with sugar or add a smartie.
4. Cook for 35 miniutes, or until a pale golden colour.
5.  Cool and ENJOY!

Smartie and sugar Shortbread

Or a alternative idea . . .

Shortbread dipped and drizzled in chocolate

Brownies but as a Cookie!

This is a heavenly recipe, for very chocolaty cookies which have a brownie texture. They are made like a brownie but cooked like a cookie.

Brownies but as a Cookie

Makes 24 small cookies.
Ingredients:
200g dark chocolate
50g butter
2 eggs
150g Castor sugar
25g plain flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp cocoa powder

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 150 degrees C. Line 2 baking sheets.
2. Melt the chocolate and take off the heat.  Then add the butter to the melted chocolate and mix. Cool 
3. Beat the eggs and sugar for 5 minutes, until a light colour and foamy.
4. Add the cooled chocolate, and mix.
5. Add the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder, and mix.
6. Spoon the mixture onto the baking sheet, and cook for 10minuites or until slightly risen and cracked on top. Take out the oven and cool before eating.
7. Enjoy!

Coffee and Walnut Cupcakes Recipe

Makes 12 cupcakes

Ingredients:
1 tbsp instant coffee granules
1 tbsp boiling water
115g butter
140g self raising flour
140g caster sugar
2 tbsp milk
2 large eggs
25g pecans, chopped
FOR THE COFFEE ICING:
1 tbsp instant coffee granules
1 tbsp boiling water
50g butter
110g icing sugar
12 pecans

Method:

1. Heat oven to 180 degrees C and line 12 muffin tins with paper cases.
2. Mix the coffee granules and boiling water, in a large bowl.  Add the butter, flour, sugar, milk and eggs. Mix until smooth then stir in the chopped pecans.
3. Spoon the mixture into the prepared muffin cases and cook for 20-25 minutes or until risen and golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.
4. To make the icing, beat the butter. Mix the coffee granules and boiling water, then add the coffee and icing sugar to the butter. Stir until smooth and free of streaks.
5. Ice the cupcakes with this icing and decorate with a pecan on top.

Coffee and Pecan Cupcake

The Tea Party

What fun the day was!

So, yesterday I prepared a tea party. I personally really enjoy the idea and the eating of a tea party. As you can probably tell I have a sweet tooth, so it is very appealing to me.



Meringues, scones, and cupcake

Firstly I made the meringues. The mixture did not hold in peaks when I piped it, so the meringues were blobs! Besides that they looked really good and I drizzled them with chocolate and put cream in the middle. It was my first time but I was quite impressed with the results.

Next I attempted the scones (Paul Hollywoods Recipe) and Lemon iced buns. The scones rose beautifully and where quite straight in their rising. I was very impressed. I had a fear of cooking the scones in the aga so I cooked half in the aga and the other half in the oven. Amazingly the ones in the aga turned out the best. The Lemon Iced Buns where a different story altogether. The turned out rubbery and hard on the outside and dense and sticky in the middle. The only up shoot was that they tasted very lemony!



The Coffee and Pecan cupcakes and Victoria Sponge where very tasty and rose like little fairies!




Coffee and Pecan Cupcake



Victoria Sponge

 



A Scone filled with cream and jam!



Scones and Merigues









Reciepes comming soon . . . 

The First Post!

Hello there fellow bakers!

This is going to be the first ever post on ‘Nuala’s Kitchen’. (I better make it good!)

So as you can guess from the blogs name, it is a blog aimed at other enthusiastic bakers like me. It includes cooking challenges, recipes and tales from the things I have attempted to bake. Hopefully you will feel inspired to have a go at some of the recipes on this blog and give me some feedback!

Like many other Brits I am hooked on the Great British Bake Off (Tuesday, BBC 2 9pm). After watching the program I felt inspired to have a go at some of the technical bakes. I had a go at producing the Scones and the Victoria Sponge.  I then set myself the challenge of producing an afternoon tea, which I could include (Mary Berry’s) Victoria Sponge, (Paul Hollywood’s) Scones and (Jonathan’s) Iced Lemon Buns. I will also make meringues cover in chocolate with whipped cream and coffee and walnut cupcakes. This would give me another chance to have a go at baking these, and try to perfect my mistakes.

My reservations are I have never cooked meringues, and my scones have a tendency to rise unevenly! HELP!! I followed the general advice of only egg washing the top and not the sides as the egg prevents to rising of the scone which causes uneven rising. I was very careful not to let this happen, but they still rose unevenly. I thought that it might be the oven as the temperature could be uneven, or the way I cut out the scones. On my next attempt I will try to change the way I prepare the scones and use a different oven, and see if this works.   

One last thing: Should I set my self a time limit? The contestants in the Great British Bake Off had 6 hours to complete an array of Petit Four. (Petit Four is an arrange of meringues, éclairs and macaroons) And I leave this, with an open end question!