CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES!!!!!

These completely 100% deserve those capital letters!

Chocolate chip cookies are one of the most used and loved inventions in the whole of the baking world. And because of this they are also one of the most difficult. Not difficult to bake, not difficult to bake AT ALL! They are in fact some of the easiest and most forgiving baked goods out there. What is difficult is finding the right recipe. Some people are lucky, they have their great-great-great grandmother’s recipe that has been passed down through the centuries and is usually unrivaled by any other cookie recipe! However, not all of us are that lucky. Most of us have to scour cookbooks and the internet for that recipe.

And guess what?!? I’ve found it!!!!!

I’ve tried many cookie recipes in the last while, ones that call for cooking directly from the bowl to ones that call for refrigerating for almost a full week! (Insane I know, there was barely any dough left to bake by the end of it !) And even in these cases I found that I ate more of Sally’s dough in the 1 hour period than I did in nearly a week! So of all the cookies I’ve tried so far this one has to be the best, I’ve still got a couple to try so if I find anything on a par to Sally’s one I’ll send it on out! 

And on that note, I was thinking a couple of nights ago: ‘I cook so much off Sally’s Baking Addiction that I might as well just stop writing this blog and send you over to hers instead’, so I went to one of the many trusted recipe books on our shelf and rustled up two batches of muffins for our guests. A triple chocolate batch and a lemon and blueberry chocolate chip batch. 

The verdict: ‘Nah!’ They were dry, the lemon was overpowering, and there WASN’T ENOUGH CHOCOLATE! So, my guilty feelings appeased for the time being I went back to my trusted baking adviser and made these cookies.

And they were good. ALMOST as good as the dough. Which is saying something! They were moist and fluffy and soft and chewy with the perfect chocolate to dough ratio (though I did use chopped up chocolate chinks instead of the chips as I had none on hand).

I do believe that they were perfect. 

As far as I’m aware it’s the cornstarch that gives them their amazing texture. This, I believe, is what seperates the men from the boys, or in this case the good cookies from the not so good!

So now that I’m done tooting these cookie’s horns I think I’ll leave you this evening with an apology for the time between this post and the last and yet another photo of these cookies!

🙂

(And also the link) 

http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2012/08/06/the-chocolate-chip-cookie/

 

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Birthday Cake 1! Raspberry Chocolate Chip Layer

I’m back. It really has been a while. Between holidays and birthday season and family. Lots and lots of family. I just haven’yt had the time to blog about the great time that I was having! But now I’m back in school. The normal routine (nearly) back on track. And so I return to you. 🙂

I’m not exactly going in chronological order. I’ve baked quite a lot over the last while so I’m just going to blog the second cake I baked over the holiday season. It wasn’t really a birthday cake (even if it does say it in the title), it was more a cake that was used to bring almost everybody in our entire family into the same house at the same time. Stressful, but nice to have five over 80’s on our 3 seater couch!

So I of course had to pick the right cake. Picking the wrong one would have been disasterous. I cowardly went back to my constant. Sally’s Baking Addiction. And (of course) it was perfect. 

Not too hard to make, even in my Grandmothers ancient oven. Chocolaty on the outside and spongy on the inside. Though by no means light, so that people weren’t going for monster slices and leaving those last served with next to nothing. I couldn’t have wished for a better cake. 

 

I decided that as you can’t see it from the outside I’d show you this glorious picture (in terrible lighting) of the spongy perfect raspberry chocolate chippy inside of my cake.

The icing was so good. I ate it straight out of the bowl after the ordeal that came with the making of it. I won’t go into great detail about this particular trauma but all I’m going to say is that by the end of mixing the unsalted butter (unsoftened, which I believe is to blame for all of the morning’s problems) the blender was broken beyond repair and my 1 day old pair of new boots were permanently stained with a massive blob of butter. 

Needless to say I was gutted.

But this finished product was surely worth it.

And one with the candles on:

My First Go at Baking in our New House!

It  was a very nerve wracking day for me. I hadn’t baked in a gas oven for over half a year! Can you believe it? I know I certainly can’t. But for those of you who’ve been converted to either one or the other for the whole of your life I’ll just verify, it’s a very different experience.

So I decided to try something very easy, scones.

Scones for me are the constant of the baking world. They’re hearty, delicious and always remind me of my grandmother. But as they do not contain chocolate there’s always a slight reluctance in me to choose them over, let’s say, chocolate muffins. But  every time I eat them I remember why they are worshipped all over the world.                                                 They’re delicious. They’re scrumptious. They’re yum-diddly-umptious!

And what’s even better is that yesterday I happened to find an especially amazing recipe. The cookbooks aren’t yet unpacked and that includes our Avoca one within which lies my go to recipe for scones. The recipe contains cream, which always bodes well. However, yesterday, as I wasn’t about to go rummaging through boxes I resorted to the internet. BBC GoodFood to be precise. And the scones were magnificent.

 

And what’s even better than all of that is that they only use basic store-cupboard ingredients. The only one I had to pop down to the shop for was a lemon, but that’s only because that’s not the kind of food you carry with you while moving.

These scones are also  very quick and easy to make, they only take about 30 minutes altogether. For me they took a bit longer than stated in the recipe but not an awful lot, about 5 or 10 minutes. They were so worth the wait though. Fresh out of the oven… Yum!

I wonder where that one went????? 😀

I added raisins to the scones that you see here. I really think that they give the scones a little bit more ‘oomph’! As I call it. Just a little something extra.

These scones were the perfect texture, they were moist and soft. Not too heavy but they weren’t about to float away on you either. Especially not with the amount of Jam and cream that I bogged them down with! (Absolutely necessary in my opinion).

 

These scones were polished off in a matter of hours.  As scone recipes go, this was one of the easiest and the best I’ve tried.

Here’s the link:

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/4622/classic-scones-with-jam-and-clotted-cream

Hope you try them,                                                                                                                                                               They’re really good.

xxxxx

 

 

DP Challenge, 50 word story.

This is a lot harder than it sounds. Honestly.

Last night I was surfing WordPress and I came across the Daily Challenge, from there I somehow found my way to the blog of Vincent Mars, ie. Boy With A Hat. I have hardly left is site for even a moment since. He is truly amazing.

So back to the point. I then decided why not, I might as well try out this 50 words thing. And so I did. Conveying a story of any sort in only 50 words is challenging. But I have tried to the best of my ability. So here it is:

 

The tide gifted the sand with a shell, from the sky

Then the wind howled at her angrily, riled, in reply

‘Why, pray tell, do you gift the sand and not I?’

Taide answered the Winde with a gleam in her eye

‘A girl always appreciates those who are shy.’

 

Now I know this isn’t a food post but it’s always good to diiversify your writing, right?

xxx

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2014/04/07/writing-challenge-fifty/

 

Apologies, a birthday cake shortlist and also a smoothie?!?!

I’m so sorry! I just realised that I forgot to put up the link to the original recipe for the ‘Belated Mothers Day Cake! It was (of course) on Sally’s website originally. I was just so busy on Saturday between a 1500 word essay and everything else that my mind was a bit scattered!

So anyway, here’s the link:

http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2014/02/09/lemon-blueberry-layer-cake/

And plus I want to say congrats to Sally on her TV appearance!!!!!!!!!!! You really should check out her blog.

Ooh, and also, I just made a lovely smoothie! Banana, peanut butter and natural yoghurt with a splash of vanilla essence really is the only way to start off a Monday morning.

And (I know you’re sick of hearing my ands by now but please persevere, it’s about to get interesting) today’s the big day! I’ve compiled a list of about 10 cakes 7 cakes (I edited in the process, my tastes seem to have changed significantly since yesterday) that are all possibilities for the birthday. I of course have some preferences but I can’t make a decision for my life so I’d love any help I can get. 🙂 It’s not often that I get the chance to bake a full out whatever I want cake without feeling guilty in the slightest. But here’s my chance, and I’m taking it very seriously!

So (drumroll please) cake number 1:                                                                                                                        This is SprinkleBakes Chocolate Quake Cake. It looks divine!                                                                   And yes, there is a double layer chocolate cake with frosting under all of that!

                                                        And the link:   http://www.sprinklebakes.com/2011/11/chocolate-quake-cake.html

 

Cake number 2.                                                                                                                                                                    This is a CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER TORTE. Please just sit and take that in for a minute, really absorb those words. Pretty mind blowing, right? And just wait until you see the picture. :p

This is a Brown Eyed Baker recipe. I believe that she has the same tastes as I do!                          Link:   http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2009/04/15/chocolate-peanut-butter-torte/

 

Cake 3:                                                                                                                                                                                        There is a high likelihood that this will be the only non chocolate cake on this list! But it does look amazing. Brown Eyed Baker again. This woman does good cakes. 🙂

Link:     http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2013/07/15/blueberry-buckle-recipe/

 

Number 4:                                                                                                                                                                                 Holy sugar. I am positively drooling over this one. Peanut butter and chocolate in bulk in cake form, all in the one place. Have I died and gone to heaven? Hold your eyes in for this next one, they may just fall out of your head.

This is from Bakerella’s food blog. Look at how moist the chocolate cake is!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here’s the link to her site and the recipe:  http://www.bakerella.com/got-milk-i-hope-so%E2%80%A6/  Also, if I’m cooking this, instead of Devils food Cake mix I’m going to use the recipe from this site: http://www.food.com/recipe/the-only-chocolate-cake-recipe-youll-ever-need-devils-food-26370

 

And now for Cake Number 5:                                                                                                                                         I couldn’t not have one from Sally’s blog on my list so I chose this one, it looks so good. But because of this I have to go back on my word. It isn’t entirely chocolate. So it turns out that the the Blueberry Buckle isn’t the only non chocolate cake on this list. This is her Raspberry Chocolate Chip Layer Cake.

And the link to her site: http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2014/03/28/raspberry-chocolate-chip-layer-cake/

 

Cake Number 6:                                                                                                                                                                      This cake here is Brown Eyed Baker’s Snickers cake.

Link:  http://www.browneyedbaker.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/snickers-cake-28-600.jpg

 

And the final one, Cake Number 7.                                                                                                                             This has fudge brownie in a vanilla cheesecake on top of an Oreo crust with a chocolate coating. Need I say any more?

Link:   http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2008/10/11/brownie-mosaic-cheesecake/

 

Did you know that when I started writing this it was meant to be a 2-3 line post apologising for the lack of a link in Saturday’s post? Well, it was! But I got caught up in the addictive world of blogging and cakes and just couldn’t pull myself away. And now we’re late for the boat of course! So please have a look at these cakes if at all possible and comment if you have a preference or inclination. I’d love to know what the rest of the world thinks about these lovely cakes. I’ll let you know as soon as I do which one I’m going to bake (and then conseqentially eat)!

Have a lovely Monday (and rest of the week).

xxxxx

 

Special (belated) Mothers Day post. Blueberry Lemon 3 Tier Cake.

I know it’s about a week late but it’s been really busy around here for the last week. Moving house really does take up your entire life. Between shuttling stuff between the houses and trying to find enough boxes to pack all our stuff in (I can’t believe how much we fitted into our cottage, we’ve accumulated quite a lot) we’ve been pretty busy. Everything else has gone on the back burner. But now I’m back. And I hope you haven’t missed me too much!

This is a really special recipe. I know you must be sick of hearing about Sally by now and I promise that at some point soon I’ll cook something that’s not off her blog but I just couldn’t resist this one. I saw it and thought how perfect this would be for my mom. And guess what? It was! Lucky that Mothers Day was coming up.

I’m not usually a fan of any cake that doesn’t have the word chocolate in the title but this one broke the streak. It was gorgeous. It was airy and light melt in your mouth icing with popping blueberries and a slight tang of lemon all mixed together with a bit of love a lot of sugar and some vanilla essence! And yes, I did say all of that in one breath. It was gone within 24 hours of being made. With a little bit of help from 4 or 5 friends of course! And then we made it again for an event the next weekend. A big hit.

The cooking process took a little longer than expected. Between the cooling time (which I never listen to unless icing is involved) and all the other minor complications by 10 ‘o clock that night me and Jay were sitting at the kitchen table darting frequent looks at the fridge and clock just waiting for those final 45 minutes to tick by. The reason for this is that I only had one cake tin of the right size. And there was no way it was going to be a 2 tier cake, because that’s just not impressive, it had to be 3 tiers (silly me). So with a 4 ‘o clock start, no electric mixer and one cake tin I began to bake.

So we now know that complication:

1. Was the cake tin conundrum

2. Was the absence of an electric mixer

And of course, as the saying goes, ‘What happens twice always happens 3 times’. So now number:

3. There weren’t enough blueberries at the shop. So we had to make do with some strawberries.

And oddly enough, these were what made the cake so nice. I’d advise you if you’re cooking it to put in half strawberries half blueberries. Their sweetness goes really well with the overall tanginess of the lemon in the cake. Plus, they look extra pretty on the top.

I wasn’t sure how to arrange them so I had to do a first draft. This is it! However, the top of the cake wasn’t quite this big so I had to cut it a bit short.

Oh yes! How silly of me, I forgot to tell you about complication no.

4.  ( It seems that what happens twice doesn’t happen only three times, but 4!) In the recipe it tells you to toss the blueberries in tablespoon of flour before putting them in the cake to stop them from exploding. This I did. And it worked very well. I had unexploded blueberries in my cake. But when tossing them I forgot to account for the blueberries that I’d have to put on the top of the cake. Oops! So as a result of this I spent about 10 minutes hand-washing and towel (or tissue) drying every single blueberry on top of this cake. Here’s a picture of me in action:

These were squeaky clean blueberries by the end of it.

As you can see, this became quite a hectic day. So by the time I got around to icing the cake it was already a little late. And I was already more than a little tired. So icing made I set out to begin the icing process. And hungry as I was I ate the majority of it before it went on the cake. But never mind, I made the rest of it stretch.

I got to this point without too many hiccups. Not looking too shabby, eh? But when I got to here I paused and took a deep breath. It was time to begin icing the sides. Here’s about the point where you begin listening to the Jaws Theme Tune and looking away in fright. As you can see from my pics of the finished product it obviously didn’t turn out too badly but there was a bit of a waterfall effect. I still haven’t figured out how to stop the icing from running down the side of the cake and pooling on the plate!  Am I making the icing too thin? Is there a special utensil that’s needed to ice a cake?  Any advice would be greatly appreciated.  🙂 However by the end of a few minutes wrestling with the knife and icing I managed to coat the sides in an even layer of icing.

And then it had to go in the fridge.

And we waited.

And waited.

And waited some more.

It felt like hours.

So after 25 minutes we took it out of the fridge!

And it didn’t crumble. The first slice came out perfectly formed.

 

And so did the second.

 

And the third as a matter of fact.

This was one nice cake. The perfect springtime treat.

This evening is taken up with compiling a shortlist of possibilities for………… MY BIRTHDAY CAKE! Yay! And you can be assured that this will be no lemon cake. I have a sneaky suspicion that the word chocolate might be included in the title. I don’t think that even the nicest non-chocolate cake in the world could sway my loyalty to chocolate!

I’ll post this shortlist soon.

xxx

 

 

 

My First Recipe! Easy Vegetarian Lasagne.

Today is a big day for me, very exciting.                                                                                                                 Firstly, I’m going to post my own recipe. Now, don’t go and get all excited, it’s incredibly simple, probably one that you all know like the back of your hand. I know I do anyway, I’ve been cooking it for as many years. But I thought I might share it anyway, just on the off chance that somebody might get some use out of it.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                And secondly, wait for it, I’ve got followers! Not very many, but a few. If it’s you that’s reading it I just want to say (this is going in caps because it’s so important) THANK YOU! Whether I know you outside of the blogging world or not, I really didn’t expect anyone to be interested enough in what I have to say to click that little button up in the top left corner of my blog. And to those of you who liked my posts I say the same 🙂 When I got that first email from WordPress saying ‘~~~~~~~~~~~~ followed your blog’ I did a funny squeal and started dancing around the house. My mother can verify that one for you if you wish. I haven’t decided yet If I’m proud of my weirdness or terribly embarrassed. So you’re lucky to be hearing that particular titbit of information.

I’m sitting here in front of the fire writing this. There’s been a complete turnaround on the weather front today. It’s hard for me to believe that just yesterday I was lying out in the garden under the blue sky reading a book and soaking up whatever small bit of vitamin D that I could. Though I was still in a jumper it was the warmest I’d felt in a weeks. And now again today the storms have returned. Rain and wind pound on the windows and the sky is a not particularly unpleasant shade of grey but grey all the same. That’s Ireland for you. It feels like a Monday.

However, the smell radiating from the oven of second night lasagne and first night garlic bread is sure to cheer me up. I’m going to go and set the table now. Dinner, here I come!

 

Monday blues banished I’m back to fill you in on all the ins and outs of my:

 

                                                           Simple Vegetarian Lasagne Recipe. For 4 people. (or dinner the next night for 2!)

Ingredients:                                                                                                                                                                                          

For the Lasagne (tomato part):                                                                                                                                                                  

• 2 tablespoons of olive oil         
• 2 large white onions
• 3 cloves of garlic )either crushed or cut small)

Assorted veg, here are some suggestions:

• 2 bell peppers (whatever colours you prefer) 
• 3 carrots (medium)
• A very small head of brocolli
• 8 (or so) white mushrooms       
• I have even on occasion even added turnip!
• 10 green olives, sliced in 3

I would use all of these (excluding the turnip) to my lasagne sometimes. It just depends on what veg you like, and feel like at the time you’re cooking.

Either:

• A jar and a half of Dolmio or other pasta sauce
• 1.5 tablespoons of tomato purée

The richer you like you lasagne the more purée you add. I like mine quite rich to make up for the lack of meat so I add a bit extra.

 

About a teaspoon each of:

• Extra basil
• Oregano
• Parsley
• And (optional) thyme

or      

• 2 tins of tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons of tomato purée
• A teaspoon of sugar

1 tablespoon each of:    

• Basil        
• Oregano    
• Parsley  
• 1 teaspoon of (yet again optional) thyme       
• A dash of salt and pepper          

 

For the Béchamel (or white sauce):

• 40 grams of butter            
• Just under 1/3 of a mug (this is an Irish mug so about the size shown in the picture below) of plain or all purpose flour  
• 2.5 mugs of milk            
• A sprinkle of basil
• A dash of pepper

 

• Red cheddar cheese
• GARLIC BREAD
• And last but not least, the lasagne sheets.  

 

• You will also need a 20 x 20cm tin.

An Irish mug measured up against a DVD case, and a very good one too!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Method:  

1. Add the olive oil to a wok or deep frying pan on medium heat until hot.
2. Throw in your onions and fry until translucent.

I like my onions quite big, just cut in half and then down across 5 or 6 times, as shown in this pic. They break down a lot while cooking.

3. Then add in your veg in this order: (depending on what you’re using frying time will vary slightly)

• Carrots- Fry for about 3 mins
• Brocolli- Fry for another 3 mins
• Bell Peppers and garlic- Fry for 2 mins
• Mushrooms- Fry for another 2 mins until most of the veg are softened

You can always add a splash of water during the frying process if it begins to stick.

4. Pour in the Dolmio or tinned tomatoes with 3 table spoons of water that’s been shaken around in the jar to clean it, add chopped olives, and herb accordingly. Add the olives to the sauce now.

5. About now, preheat the oven to 190 degrees celsius or 375 degrees fahrenheit.

6. While the sauce is simmering away start to make the béchamel.

• Melt the butter in a small saucepan on a low heat.
• Add the flour and stir with a wooden spoon until it congeals (I really don’t like that word but that’s what it is) together.
• Keep this on the heat while stirring for about 2 minutes.
• Then add in the milk slowly while stirring. At first it will keep coming back into a paste, that’s ok. Persevere. Add more milk.
• You will have to stir this over a heat for about about 10 minutes (don’t worry if you need an extra 2) until it thickens. Once it boils take it off the heat.
•  If you like a thinner sauce, add a bit more milk!
• Add your pepper and basil. (Some salt too if you wish)

I cannot stress enough with this recipe to do what feels right for you. This is only a guideline. What veg are you in the mood for? Turnip, sweet potato? (please just be aware of cooking times). Last night I wasn’t in the mood for carrots, I left them out. I enjoyed the lasagne much more because of it. Do you like parsley more than you like basil? Add extra. Have a weird aversion to olives that I really don’t understand? Throw them up in the air in celebration! You don’t need them!

7. Now that the béchamel is made, and the vegetables are relatively soft (the carrots don’t have to be 100% cooked through, they’ll          cook more in the oven) it’s time to put it together.                                                                                                                                      You can grease the tin with a small bit of oil if you want but I never do.

• Put half of the tomato mix on the bottom of the pan.
• Cover in a layer of lasagne sheets.
• Then pour half of the béchamel over that. Spread this around to cover the lasagne sheets.
• Put the second half of the veg down.
• Then another layer of lasagne sheets.
• Then cover it with the second half of the béchamel.
• Grate cheese over the top which gives it this gorgeous crispy topping.

8. Put it in the oven for 30 minutes if your oven is fan assisted. If not, it will probably take a bit longer. About 35 or 40. My oven only took about 25 minutes but it happens to be exceptionally fast, it was a shock for us when we first moved into the               house, we kept on burning stuff!

9. With about 12-18 (oven variations! You know your own) minutes left, pop the garlic bread into the oven if it’s frozen and shop               bought. If it’s home made, put it in with abut 5- 7 minutes left. The garlic bread is not, I repeat, not, optional!

Note: Keep an eye on the cheese, if you see it beginning to over crisp throw some tin foil over it.

 

And this is just about what it should look like at the end of this not so long, not so gruelling process. 🙂

 

Now take into account that my photography skills are well, how to put it delicately? Atrocious, that’s the word! And my camera is not that much better. This lasagne is a staple in our house. It’s quick, easy, vegetarian and I can assure you that we’re never adverse to eating it again for dinner on day number 2, or lunch on day number 3 if there’s any left, which there rarely ever is.

Birds eye view now, just in case you haven’t seen enough of it already!

Hope this recipe is helpful to someone out there, but I must abscond (to use the words of an old friend) to eat some more of Sally’s delicious muffins!

xxx

P.S. I apologise if the layout of this post isn’t completely up to scratch. I’ve been sitting her on the floor with it for nearly an hour after I’ve finished writing it up trying to get it to publish in the right format. It’s getting nowhere. So if it doesn’t work this time I’m going to leave it for tonight and maybe come at it with some fresh initiative tomorrow. I really am no good with technology. So basically, sorry to anyone who sees this before I try to fix it again. Although, I’m keeping my fingers crossed for good luck on this last shot.

 

 

                                                                                                                                    

‘Skinny’ Peanut Butter, Banana and Chocolate Chunk Muffins.

After my muffin binge yesterday and the day before I decided to try something a bit healthier for Sunday to go alongside the Ben & Jerry’s cookie dough ice-cream that’s planned for later on this evening. I also wanted to try another recipe off Sally’s Baking Addiction. Just to make sure that Friday night’s recipe wasn’t a wild mistake and Sally’s baking and recipe writing skills aren’t as mind blowing as they seem. There was no need. These ‘skinny peanut butter and banana chocolate chunk (my addition, though absolutely necessary in my mind) muffins were no let down.

If I hadn’t baked them myself I would never have believed that they were anything less than completely authentic all butter muffins. They were moist and rich, not crumbly at all. I think it was the low fat yoghurt that gave them that brilliant softness .They were, I’m not going to say dense, because that gives a bad impression and the only impression that I want to give here today is good. What I mean by putting that word dense here at all is that they were filling. Not a muffin to be taken lightly, please excuse the pun. 🙂 I, despite my amazing ability to eat an immense amount of food in a sitting could only manage 1 and a half. I think it must be the protein in that half cup of peanut butter alongside those two ripe bananas that has me still full a couple of hours later.

I think this one shows how moist these muffins really were the best.

Sally is a god. I just think I have to get that out there. Maybe I should write some sort of a prayer or something…. Is that weird? Anyways, if I did,  I reckon it would go something like this:

Sally,                                                                                                                                                                                              Creator of the absolute nicest most amazing muffins in the world,                                                         Not to diss your other baked goods or anything I just haven’t tried them yet                                   I’m sure they’re really amazing too. 🙂                                                                                                                       Please keep coming up with great recipes.                                                                                                             Rock (and bake) on!

Now, this post will have to be quick, there’s an ongoing hum in the background of ‘Are you nearly done’, from my mother. She really wants to go and watch ‘The Matrix’ with me you see (I know, on a school night, terrible!).  It’s been coming on for a while. It’s been a good few years since we watched it last, the shock of the ending (I won’t say any more on that for fear of spoilers, it really is a good trilogy, you should watch it) on my young and innocent mind caused me to become more and more reluctant to re-watch it. But now I have to face the music. Wish me luck!

So instead of leaving you feeling deprived of my good company, I’ll leave you with a host of pictures of these muffins for you to drool over along with the link to Sally’s recipe if you want to see more (way better than my) pictures or actually cook the real thing.

Link:

http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2013/09/18/skinny-peanut-butter-banana-muffins/

And now for the pictures:

Just a quick note, the chocolate chips/ in my case chunks, are not optional. Even if you are on a diet. Brave the calories, for me, please! They’re SO good, especially fresh from the oven. Warm, melted, delicious chocolate. You really don’t want to miss out on it.

I put this one in in case your eyes are allergic to purple, even though I think that the napkin looks nice. Also, to even more show up the peanut butter drizzle on the top for 2 reasons. Reason number 1. It’s really good, like extremely good. Yet again, especially when it’s warm.                                                                                                                                                                                            Reason number 2. I was quite proud of my drizzles. I think some of them look pretty good. And yes, I know, I’m extremely modest.

And that, take note of the wrappers, is where the rest of the muffins are on their way to. So I’m going to go and fulfill that prophesy now.

🙂                                                                                                                                                                                                       xxx  ❤

Marvellous Midnight Muffins!

Very tired both physically and mentally I sit down to tell all of you non-existant readers all about my marvellous midnight muffins. These are undoubtedly the nicest muffins I have ever cooked or even tasted. They’re better than bakery muffins, better than chocolate muffins, they’re even better than Coco’s amazing chocolate chocolate chip muffins that go great in between a luxurious coffee and one of their delicious cranberry scones!

I got the recipe for these muffins on Sally’s Baking Addiction, a food blog that I am loving more and more every day. These muffins are a variation of her Jumbo Sized Rasperry Chocolate Chip Muffins. I didn’t have rasperries and chocolate chips aren’t big enough for me so I decided to make blueberry chocolate chunk muffins.

You have to try this recipe, no questions asked, you will honestly never need another muffin mix again!

Here’s the link:

http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2013/06/11/jumbo-raspberry-chocolate-chip-muffins/

So as you know, yesterday was a busy day. I had planned to bake in the afternoon but sadly that didn’t happen. The thought of baking was the only thing that had gotten me through the week and I wasn’t going to give it up that easily, so at 11.30 on a Friday evening I began to bake.

As I was tired I became slightly delusional while baking and started taking strange pictures. For example:

Mr. Eggy.

This recipe was perfect for my tired and delusional brain because it was incredibly easy, a two bowl affair.They were in the oven within ten minutes. And as I was so tired I sat on the floor and stared at them rising for the guts of 20 minutes while the dog did the washing up for me.

Bowl number 1.

And then,

Bowl number 2.

Needless to say I scrubbed them both pretty well afterwards. But all in all it was an easier job for me.

There was a moment while I sat there staring at the muffins rising that I began to worry. ‘Are these muffins going to do the disaster cookie submergance?’ I was honestly afraid that their beautiful muffin tops that were forming such perfect mushroom shapes in the pan were going to overflow and join together like one giant muffin top cake. But they didn’t, they stayed in their beautiful rounded, perfect dome shapes the whole way through the cooking process and for the following ten minutes until they were safely submerged together in both me and Jay’s (mum) bellies.

These muffins are the bee’s knees and the cat’s hat. They’re absolutely massive, you couldn’t wish for a taller more perfectly formed muffin. The recipe told me to put the mixture into 6 muffin tins, however I’m guessing that this was an American recipe as as hard as I tried, even when they were filled right up to the very top I could fit the mixture into no less than 9. I won’t complain though. They were bigger and better than I could have ever imagined.

Up until last night I’d always disagreed with Lorelai (Gilmore Girls) when she said that the muffin tops are the very best part of the muffin. But these ones actually were! They were so perfectly browned and just a bit crispier than the rest of the muffin. Some of the muffins had blueberries and chocolate just cracking the surface and… and… Well, I could talk about the muffin tops alone for hours. But for now I’ll move on to the rest of the muffin.

Basically, all I can say is sublime. They were sublime. They were fluffy without being too light and hearty without being dense. The brown sugar gave them a certain depth which along with the cinnamon practically melted my heart. And being the chocoholic that I am the chocolate chunks and the blueberries made the lot into a very strong contender (maybe even the strongest)  for the best muffin recipe. That is in my opinion respectfully of course.

So these muffins being as good as they were it wasn’t long before they were, let’s say, not in such pretty photographic positions.          And I wasn’t the only one interested. It seemed as though Freya had gotten a taste for the mixture!

So now I must leave you with the hope that you will go ahead and give these beauties a try while I go and finish off that tin of natural yoghurt that I bought for the korma that I made last night (waste not want not) in some more muffins. These ones containing peanut butter. Yum! About which I will update you soon.

Bon nuit!                                                                                                                                                                                                     xxx

Friday and vegetarian korma.

IT’S FRIDAY! (well it’s actually Saturday now) Yay! The day that most of the world has been waiting for all week. I now really understand why so many songs have been written about it. I could almost write one about it myself. However, at this time of the morning I really think that it’s better to spare your poor ears.

So today the search for ‘That Recipe’ began officially. It feels good. I now have a purpose. Up until about 10 ‘O clock last night I was at a complete loss as to what to cook, it felt like it really should be significant, it being the first day and all. Sitting there on the couch with my dog on one side and my mother on the other I began to think longingly of meat. Lasagne (the meaty kind), southern fried chicken, pork rolled with stuffing. And before I could help myself I began on a tyrade about my mothers pescetarianism (basically a vegetarian who eats fish) and how much I wanted to be able to cook meat for both of us, and how, well, this was a very low point in the argument for me, how more cows would die if we didn’t eat them than if we did. So basically my point is that I didn’t have a very good argument. And that’s how I ended up promising to cook her an vegetarian korma (because Indian is her favourite type of food) as the first recipe on my search for ‘That One Recipe’.

I ended up choosing a Jamie Oliver recipe, here’s the link to the recipe if you want it:
https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetables-recipes/veggie-korma-mock-cauliflower-pilau

Today was a hectic day, so when I looked at the clock at 4.45 thinking that it was only about 3 I nearly fell off my chair. I still had to go to the shop to buy all my ingredients! Luckily, as we live on an island that’s only 12 miles long it’s only about a 7 minute cycle.
Unluckily, as we live on an island with only 700 people there were no chilies in the shop. They just decided not to stock them this week. So I had to make do with chilie powder for my recipe, I don’t think that it made too much difference. So with my first disaster of the day diverted, I began to cook.

A masterpiece in progress.

Of course, with the luck I was having today, it wasn’t long before another disaster had to be fed to the dog. The almonds burned. I watched them meticulously for the first 4 or 5 minutes, then I turned around to get a spice and KAPOOF! Burnt black! So I started again. Thank god they turned out all right the second time. I believe that that was the end of my disasters for the day.
Wait. Actually there was one more very minor spillage, I almost forgot it happens so often, it’s fine though, don’t freak out. I just elbowed a glass of water onto the floor. Though you must understand that this is a daily occurance and is very hard to avoid when you’re working in a kitchen that you can reach the cooker, sink and all the cupboards from the same spot.

I’m not going to go into much detail about the cooking of this recipe, if you like the look of it and want to give it a go ahead  just use the link above. You may also need the recipe for korma curry paste, that is if you want to go about it all homemade (or they don’t sell the jarred stuff on your side of the water, like me!)

So here it is:
http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/recipe/easy-homemade-curry-pastes

All you need to know really about my endeavours to cook this recipe were that:
1. I left out both the optional chilies and feta cheese because of unavaliability!
2.I didn’t make the rice out of cauliflower. I actually thought that it was a bit silly. Normal basmati worked fine for me and tasted pretty good too.
3.In the korma curry paste I left out both the chillies and the dessicated coconut (oh, the joys of living on an island)
4. I used lemongrass instead of curry leaves (guess why!?!)

They’re the only differences I made to this recipe, I just feel like I should make that clear before I start talking about what I thought of the final product.

Now for the talking about the final product part. Here’s a picture of it by the way, because I know how much I love pictures and I can’t imagine how other people might not like them as much. I’m no photographer, and I’m currently saving up for a better camera than my  3 or 4 year old iPod. So the quality isn’t amazing. But it’s a picture all the same. 🙂

Drumroll please………..

Tah Dah! The final product. Tonight’s dinner, my version of Jamie Oliver’s Sweet Potato Vegetable Korma.

From another angle now.

This curry wouldn’t be up the top of my curry list. Don’t get me wrong, it was enjoyable. The sweet potato was melt in your mouth and the coriander gave it a nice earthy nutty taste in the sauce and on the top a really nice light citrusy tang. However, it didn’t seem to me to be a korma. You must know the korma that everyone wishes for when they walk into an Indian restaurant. It’s the decadent, rich, creamy korma that comes in top every time. Korma is the curry with that sweet undertone, it’s the guilty pleasure of the curry world, and that’s why I love it so much. But sadly the yoghurt that was added to this curry in the last few minutes of it’s cooking time didn’t give it the mild, creamy texture that we would have wished for.
That said, we still really enjoyed it. It was light yet filling and had some really nice flavourings. So I certainly won’t be adverse to finishing the leftovers for lunch tomorrow. 🙂

So today’s main course didn’t make it onto my shortlist for ‘That Recipe’, but I will tell you something now that will hopefully hold you over until the morning. I arrived back in at about 11 ‘O clock this evening and had an overwhelming craving for muffins. It was immense. And in the fridge there just happened to be BLUEBERRIES! So I decided to look for a new recipe for chocolate chip and blueberry muffins. I won’t give away much more now except that they are possibly the nicest muffins that I have tasted in my entire life. I’ve already eaten 3, and these are big muffins that I’m talking about. I hope the suspense doesn’t keep you awake!

More soon…
xxx