It's been time...

I am a useless bloggerer. Not enough hours in the day, the dog ate my camera, etc...
And, actually, I don't feel bad about cheating my way through this post either. So there!

Make all of these things right now.


 


Seven Sweet Links:

1. Peanut Butter Cup Smores. For real.
2. Take this survey from my favourite pizza blog. Cos I know you love pizza too.* 
3. Bake it in a cake?
4. Slightly strange
5. Make these. Yum.
6. And this. OMG
7. But this is the best one. I think.

*Having a favourite pizza blog is totally not lame.

xxx

Temporary Internet Files

Get it? Pahahaha

Anyway here's some cookies / biscuits.
But calling them biscuits ruins the internet file joke.

Chocolate Chip Half Dipped Thins

• 1/2 cup butter/margarine
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup light or dark soft brown sugar (i used 1/4 cup of each but it's no biggy)
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• pinch of salt (salt matters)
• 1/2-3/4 cup plain flour (i guesstimated)
• 3/4-1 cup chocolate chips (i improvised and used smashed up minstrels) probably not a whole cup either
• Bit of chocolate to melt for dippin'

Jeez! Spell checker didn't even correct the word 'guesstimate'. Welcome to the 21st century folks...

Line and lightly grease cookie sheets (baking trays) with parchment and.. erm.. grease.
Preheat to 350 degrees.
Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl. Recipe calls for a large bowl, not me. I won't judge you on the size of your equipment...
Beat in the egg.
Then stir in vanilla, flour and salt.
Add chocolate chips or minstrels or m&ms or nuts or whatever you want.*

*Not lego.

Drop onto parchment, about 2 tsp per cookie. Leave some space between each one to avoid any funny business; we all know that cookies love each other and will try to unite.

Cook for 10 ish minutes until the edges are golden and the middles are set. 

Leave to cool, cookies will be soft when hot but will crisp up when cool. When they are cool, you can half dip them in melted chocolate and leave to set but they are still yummy just as they are. 

I made some mocha-choca-something thingies too. Will post recipe when I find my notes :) 

XXX

A tasty mess.

I made a roulade forward slash mess today.
It wasn't pretty.
My heart was in the right place, there were cherries and cocoa and lots of fresh whipped cream... maybe too much.
It was a messy project but tasted divine.
Cherry, chocolate, cream = flavour combo!

But I also carried out a bit of research (google images) and it turns out it's pretty hard to make a pristine roulade (and/or to get a good picture of it.)

Here's the recipe anyway.. A friend's mother gave it to me.

Ch-Ch-Chocolate Ch-Ch-Chips

Something happened in my kitchen on Sunday.

Cookiefest 2011.

Line-up
1 cup salted butter
1 vanilla pod/ 2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup white sugar
1 1/2 cups light brown sugar
12oz plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 eggs
2 1/4 cups dark chocolate chips/chopped dark chocolate




It was hot, messy and pretty sweet.

• Preheat oven to gas mark 5
• Cream butter and sugar until light in colour very fluffy (about 5 mins)
• Add eggs and the contents of the vanilla pod/extract
• Beat for 2 minutes
• Add baking powder, soda, salt and flour
• Mix to incorporate, you will have a sticky dough/batter
• Fold in chocolate chips
• Spoon 2 tbsp ball of dough per cookie on to a buttered parchment lined baking sheet 
• Not in your mouth....

• Leave sufficient space around each cookie as they will flatten out in the oven
• Bake for 12-14 mins until the edges lightly brown

Cookies should be soft in the middle when warm and will harden over 3 days but keep for like a week if your boyfriend and sister don't eat them all first.

Now....Milk. :)

xxx

Brown Knees

Chocolatey Naughtiness...

Mix flour, salt, cocoa and baking powder.

Melt butter and chocolate together.

I did it in the microwave.. Easy!

Whisk in the sugar...

...then your eggs

Add the mix to the flour etc

mix, then pour into buttered pan

chop up your Mars bars

you could use Snickers too

push into the surface of the mixture

bake for 40-45 minutes

they're supposed to be a bit squidgy..

EAT.

Squidgy Mars Bar Brownies

1/2 cup butter

8oz dark chocolate

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/4 cups sugar

1/2 tsp salt

3 large eggs

1 cup plain flour

1 Mars Bar or several mini ones

I used an 8 inch round sandwich tin at gas mark 4.

Test after 35 minutes and keep checking as ovens vary and non-squidgy mars bar burnties don't sound yummy at all!

xxx

Nice Things

Nice things to think about today:

1.  Waffles
   
   
   
   I got a waffle maker for Christmas
   The possibilities are endless.
   Please expect further Waffle-related posts.

2. Patisserie Valerie

This place is full of goodies. And nice coffee. Which is much better than not-very-nice coffee, isn't it.

I had the Blackforest and she (her, opposite me) had a cheeky slice of Carrot Cake that was, in fact,  LUSH.

3.Cookin' with Coolio

Why not? This is what the contents page looks like....

Yep. That does say 'Sweet Treats for That Sweet Ass' followed by that more than necessary 'Pimpclusion' that all good cookbooks should have. Ask Delia.

4. Dark Chocolate. 

Particularly Scharffen Berger Chocolate and their Chocolate Adventure Contest.

 

The site is great for chocolatey inspiration, it has loooooads of chocolate recipes and even has an interactive cupcake builder!

5. Friends and Family

They are very important. Make cakes for them. Make a mess for them :)

 

xxx