Eggless chocolate mint cake

4 1/2 c flour
3c white sugar
1c cocoa
1c vegetable oil (I used Canola)
3c Water
3tsp baking soda
1/2tsp salt
3tbsp vanilla essence (I used mint essence, hence choc mint cake)

- Preheat oven to 185 deg C
- In a large bowl (and I mean LARGE! Not just a normal baking bowl, it goes all over the bench, I promise you!) sift flour, cocoa, soda and salt. Add sugar and combine.
- Add oil, water and vanilla and mix.
- Pour into a large, greased cake tin (I used a small cake tin and a loaf tin, unsure how much this is going to rise...) and bake for an hour.

Well this may be interesting. I used 2c normal sugar and 1c castor, because I ran out of sugar. I used canola oil because that's all we had. I used 2/3c cocoa and 1/3c of something chocolatey the flatmate had on her shelf. And lastly, I used mint essence because I simply didn't have enough vanilla.

So let's be honest. If this is edible, I will be very (but pleasantly) surprised!

Cross your fingers for me. Also, my bench and floor are filthy because I didn't have a big enough bowl, and my clean skirt is also covered in cocoa.

Update: I wish I had taken a photo, this cake looked beautiful with cream cheese icing. I made my flatmate do a taste test, and even though he will eat ANYTHING he really wasn't impressed. But then Tom had some and really enjoyed it, but it was EXTREMELY minty- he said you had to know it was mint chocolate before taking a bite. So the moral of today's story is, when substituting vanilla essence for mint essence, probably don't use 1:1 ratio.

Might make this again, but I think I preferred my mint cupcakes here.... http://bakeittoenjoyit.blogspot.co.nz/2012/07/mint-chocolate-cupcakes-with-mint-cream.html

Flourless choc brownie cookies

3 cups icing sugar

2/3 cups cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 large egg whites, room temperature

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups milk chocolate chips

- Preheat oven to 180deg C. Line baking sheets with baking paper.

- In a large bowl combine icing sugar, cocoa and salt. Add egg whites and vanilla and stir until just combined. Add choc chips

- Spoon small amounts onto baking paper and chill in fridge for 5mins for dough to harden a little.

- Bake for 10-12 mins until slightly cracked. Cool on wire rack.

Wow these are DELICIOUS. But you must remember to take them out when they first start cracking or they fall apart. I am literally scraping my first lot off the baking paper and eating with a spoon, can't waste them because it's so delicious! 

Lemon custard muffins

3 tbsp custard powder
8 tbsp all purpose flour
1 egg
1 tbsp yoghurt/cooking oil
1/2 tsp any flavouring agent (e.g. vanilla, lemon)
1/6 tsp baking powder
4 tbsp powdered sugar (or more if you like sweeter muffins. I used 5)
100ml water (up to 130ml depending on consistency)

- Preheat oven to 190deg C
- Mix all ingredients (I only used 100ml water and my mixture was still extremely runny)
- Full muffin cups 3/4 full (I only got 7 out of this recipe)
- Bake for 15-18 mins, let cool on wire rack.

Wow. These were terrible. Tasteless, didn't rise at all, and the weighed a tonne. And yes, 1/6tsp of baking powder was exactly what the recipe said.They don't look anything like the picture on the original recipe ...see http://mykitchenflavors-bonappetit.blogspot.co.nz/2011/12/custard-muffins.html

I'm not even uploading a picture. And even Tom wouldn't eat them...

Melting moments/yoyos

125g softened butter
3/4c plain flour
1/4c icing sugar
1/3c custard powder

- Preheat oven to 160deg C
- Use electric mixer to beat butter until creamy.
- Add dry ingredients and mix to combine.
- Using your hands, roll mixture into small balls (remember that you will be joining these in pairs, so the more the better!) and use a fork dusted in icing sugar to flatten these.
- Bake for 15mins or until very lightly browned.
- Let cool for 30 mins

60g softened butter
2/3c icing sugar
2tsp lemon rind
1tbsp lemon juice

- Beat butter and icing sugar with electric mixer until light and fluffy
- Add lemon rind and and juice and beat until combined
- Spread icing over cookies and sandwich together

I'm not sure if this recipe is less-than-ideal or if my butter being melted instead of softened failed me. My cookies are alot flatter than melting moments should be, so next time I'll try only lightly softening the butter.

Lemon muffins with syrup

2 cups self-raising flour
3/4 cup sugar

75 g butter
1 cup milk
1 egg
grated rind of 1 large or 2 small lemons

Mix flour and sugar in bowl.

Melt butter, add the milk, egg and lemon rind. Beat well with a fork to combine.

Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until ingredients are only just dampened. Do not overmix.

Divide the mixture between 12 greased muffin cups. Bake at 200 C for 10 minutes.


1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup sugar

Stir together the lemon juice and sugar and drizzle over the muffin as soon as they are removed from the oven. I like to prick the top of the muffins with a toothpick so the flavour soaks in more. Leave to stand in the pans for only a few minutes as the syrup will harden and stick the muffins to the pans.

These are delicious! my favourite muffins yet! I am the reason there is only 11 in the picture... couldn't resist! Taking a few to my girlfriends for afternoon tea this afternoon, sharing is caring! I snuck a few white chocolate chips into the mixture but not very many, can barely taste them. 

Chocolate mud cake

1 1/2c hot water
250g butter
200g dark cooking chocolate
1/4c cocoa
2c castor sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2tsp vanilla
1 1/2c self raising flour

- Preheat oven to 150deg C
- In a saucepan over low heat, melt butter, sugar, chocolate, cocoa, vanilla and water
- Let mixture cool then add eggs & flour. Mixture will still be runny
- Bake for 1 h 15 mins

Ice with whatever icing you want... This cake was EPIC! I have a huge sweet tooth and I could barely get through a slice the width of two of those kitkat fingers, it truly was chocolate mud cake- so rich! Definitely recommend this, and I especially like it before it doesn't have any unusual ingredients (e.g. buttermilk) like most mud cake recipes. Easy peasy! Mine was a bit lumpy though, possibly didn't melt the ingredients in the saucepan enough, or should have used the electric beater when I put the flour etc in. But it went down a treat, I just hope the birthday girl liked it!

Self-saucing caramel pudding

Batter:
60gm soft butter
3/4c castor sugar (I used normal sugar)
1/2c milk
1c self raising flour

Sauce:
15gm melted butter
3/4c brown sugar
3/4c boiling water

- Preheat oven to 180deg C
- Cream butter and sugar (batter), add milk and flour, and stir to combine.
- Place evenly in a greased medium sized oven dish
- In a microwave safe bowl, place sauce ingredients and stir to combine. Microwave for 2-3 minutes or until sugar and butter are both melted.
- Pour the sauce over the back of a spoon into the oven dish.
- Bake for 30-40 mins, stand for 10 mins before serving with whipped cream.

Breakfast casserole

2c rolled oats 
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup walnut pieces
1 cup raspberries {any berries work, I used frozen blueberries}
1/2 cup chocolate chips
2 cups milk
1 egg
40g butter, melted
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 ripe banana, peeled, 1/2-inch slices

In a large bowl, mix together the oats, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, half the walnuts, half the strawberries and half the chocolate. (Save the other half of strawberries, walnuts and chocolate for the top of the oatmeal).
In another large bowl, whisk together the milk, egg, butter and vanilla.

Add the oat mixture to prepared baking dish. Arrange the remaining strawberries, walnuts and chocolate on top. Add the banana slices to the top then pour the milk mixture over everything. Gently shake the baking dish to help the milk mixture go throughout the oats.
Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until the top is nicely golden brown and the milk mixture has set. For an extra tasty top, sprinkle a tablespoon or so of extra brown sugar (I put some white chocolate chips on top of mine with the banana, naughty!) 

Just like last time I baked with oats, this didn't stick. I ended up freezing it, and cut it from frozen, so it stayed together. Am I using the wrong oats!? I haven't eaten this either, except for when I sliced it- I microwaved it from frozen and it fell apart and I had to eat it with a spoon. It was okay, but not fantastic. Tom likes it, but I'm sure we all know by now that he isn't picky! I'm over baking with oats. Won't be doing it again *sulks*

Snickerdoodles

1/2 cup butter, at room temperature

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

2 tablespoons milk

1/4 cup sugar + 1 tablespoon cinnamon for dipping

Cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer until smooth. Add egg and vanilla, mixing well until combine, about 2 minutes. Stir in flour, baking powder, salt, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. Mix until dough comes together. Add in milk. If dough is still crumbly, add milk 1 tablespoon at a time until it comes together (I only had to use 1tbsp). Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

In a bowl combine remaining sugar and cinnamon. Remove dough from fridge and roll into big 1 1/2 inch balls. Dip in cinnamon sugar mixture and place on baking sheet. Lightly press down on dough to flatten it. Bake at 180deg C for 10-12 minutes. 

Hmmm... These smelt delicious, but I can now confirm that I do not like cinnamon. Interestingly I can pin-point the exact moment in my life at which I was put off cinnamon. But that is beside the point, the boys all enjoyed these cookies, don't be alarmed that they look uncooked when you take them out of the own - the outside crisps up, and the inside stays soft. 

Banana cake

125 g Butter
1 Egg
1 tsp Vanilla
2 very ripe Bananas
¼ cup Milk
¾ cup Sugar
1½ cups Self-raising flour

- Melt butter, sugar and vanilla in a saucepan and leave to cool.
- mash bananas, add to butter and stir until combined
- Add egg, mix well and stir in flour
- Add milk and mix lightly
- Bake at 170deg C for 40 mins or until knife comes out clean 

Yes, this cake is short. No, I didn't screw it up. The original recipe didn't specify what size tin to use, so I used my large(r) tin - turns out that was the wrong choice. Use a small one. I also used 3 bananas instead of 2, so I am told it is nice and flavoursome, and I iced it with vanilla-grapefruit icing. Banana cake is always yummy anyway! 

Swedish tea ring

 I made the dough in the breadmaker, with the following ingredients...
3t yeast
250g white flour
4T sugar
4T butter (60gm)
3T milk powder
1t salt
230ml water

-When dough is done, roll out flat to a 30cmx50cm square
-Brush over surface of dough with 2t melted butter
- Combine 2t cinnamon and 1/2c brown sugar and sprinkle over dough
- With the long edge towards you, roll into a log and twist log into a circle.
- Place on baking tray and slice into the ring, as below, and twist each segment slightly.

- Cover with plastic wrap and sit somewhere warm (30deg C) for 30 mins

- Brush with beaten egg, bake at 180deg C for 15-25 mins or until golden brown

Optional: ice with vanilla icing

Yum! Mine is still quite doughy, so I put it back in the oven for a little bit. Maybe I should have put it on fan bake, or maybe it's because I put it in the hot water cupboard for half an hour and then realised the cupboard wasn't warm... So I sat in the warm (but turned off) oven for 20 mins or so. But anyway, it tastes good, and I'll attempt it again in a few weeks and learn from my mistakes. 

Oreo & cream cheese truffles

1 packet of oreos
350gm cream cheese
1 packet of cooking chocolate (I used white chocolate buttons, made of cooking chocolate formula)

-Blend the oreos into fine crumbs
- Add cream cheese and stir/squash with the spoon until the mixture is moist, but firm.
- Melt the chocolate in the microwave
- Roll oreo mixture into balls, drop into the melted chocolate and fish it out with a spoon (saves the mess, trust me on this one!)
- Put onto a tray with baking paper, and refrigerate for at least a few hours

These are DELISH! I was addicted from the first bite. This is my second time making them now, and the first time was almost a disaster. The mixture was a bit too dry and falling apart in the white chocolate, and we ended up with a bowl of 60% white chocolate and 40% oreo remnants. So this time I learnt to make it moist, and use a spoon (well actually, the spoon was Tom's idea). Bring on morning tea tomorrow!

Chocolate fudge cake

5 medium eggs
2 cups of caster sugar
1½ cups of mayonnaise
2 ½ cups of plain flour
¾ cup of cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2/3 cup of tepid water

- Preheat oven to 145deg C or 125 deg C if on fan bake
- Use electric beater to mix eggs and sugar for the duration of 1 song, until ingredients are white and fluffy
- Mix in mayonnaise on low speed until well combined
- Sieve dry ingredients together and add to egg mix. Combine on low speed and gradually add water
- Pour into a greased 22cm cake tin, preferrably a spring loaded tin. Bake for 1 hour and 20 mins approx or until knife comes out clean 

I'm not a fan of regular chocolate cakes, it always has to be "brownie" or "fudge" or "mud". I'm also not afraid to have weird stuff in cakes (i.e. mayonnaise) because I once had a cake which had blended kidney beans instead of flour and it was AMAZING. So I'll try anything once. However it wasn't until the cake was in the oven and my brother-in-law asked whether the recipe called for whole egg mayonnaise or normal (I know NOTHING about mayonnaise!) that I began to doubt myself. And this was Tom's birthday cake, so it had to be nothing short of perfect. 

I am told the cake is definitely fudgey, and it also weighs a tonne! I iced with chocolate butter icing, 250gm butter at room temperature, 500g icing sugar and 3/4c cocoa. This icing doesn't completely harden, but it doesn't stay so liquidy either. 

I think it was a success, and I was assured you can't taste the mayo! 

Choc fudge brownie muffins

• 250 g butter, roughly chopped
• 1 1/2 cups caster sugar
• 1 1/4 cups plain flour
• 1/8 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 cup cocoa
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 12 pieces chocolate, good quality

- Preheat oven to 180deg C

- Place butter and sugar in a saucepan and heat on element until butter is melted

- Sift flour, baking powder and cocoa together. Make a well in the middle and add eggs/vanilla

- Pour in butter mixture. Stir gently with a whisk

- Spoon into muffin cases, place a piece of chocolate (I used mini moro bars cut into quarters) in the centre of each

- Bake for 20 mins until firm, cool, then put on cooling rack. 

I can't get past how ugly they are. I didn't push the Moro bars to the bottom, because I didn't want the muffin cup to turn into a gloopy mess. However, this back fired because the Moro bar rose to the top of the muffin. At least I know for next time! They're really easy to make, and worth using 4 eggs I think, because Tom actually said they're the best muffins ever! Success!

Chocolate puff pastry bites

• 1 sheet puff pastry dough, thawed
• 1/2 cup bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1/4 cup sweetened flaked coconut
• Garnish: Powdered sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut puff pastry sheet into thirds, then cut each sheet into 6 rectangles.
2. Make a small pile of chocolate chips on one side of a puff pastry rectangle. Fold other side over chocolate chips and seal by pressing fork tines onto the edges. It should look like a little piece of ravioli. Place on a nonstick cookie sheet, or a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. Repeat with remaining ingredients.
3. Brush the tops of the puffs with melted butter, and press a bit of flaked coconut onto each square.
4. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until coconut is browned and puff pastry squares are a pale golden color. Remove from oven and cool for 10 minutes.

These are awesome! I've just made quiches for a morning tea tomorrow and had a sheet left over, and the pastry came in a bag that doesn't reseal so I can't refreeze it. I thought "hmm what can I make?" then I found this recipe! Some of them exploded because I got overexcited and put too much chocolate in, but they still look cute, but maybe I'll just eat those ones before I pack the rest up to take to work tomorrow..... 

Rolled oat choc peanut butter slice

1/2 c butter, room temperature
1/2c sugar
1/2c brown sugar
1tsp vanilla
1 egg
2c rolled oats

Cream butter, sugar and vanilla. Add egg and mix thoroughly. Stir in rolled oats. Pour into a baking tray and bake for 20 minutes until golden.

When partially cool, ice:

1c choc chips
1/2c peanut butter

Microwave in short bursts, stir after each burst until mix is creamy. Spread over the partially cooled base and refrigerate for several hours until firm. Eat chilled.

Well, it turns out that you can't substitute butter for margarine in this. Margarine doesn't chill to a solid state like butter does, so when we sliced this, the icing came away from the base, and although apparently it tasted good, I couldn't get past how ugly it was! So we won't be making it again.

Perky Nana Cookies

200g softened butter
1c firmly packed brown sugar
1tsp vanilla
1 egg
2 1/4c flour
1 1/2tsp baking powder
3 chopped perky nanas
A handful of white chocolate chips

- Preheat oven to 180deg C
- Cream butter, sugar and vanilla. Add egg and mix
- Mix in flour and baking powder
- Add chocolate
- Roll into balls and bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden.
YUM YUM YUM! I forgot to squish them so they're little doughy balls of banana-y goodness! So easy to make, messy to roll, and delicious to eat!

Lemon, oat & blueberry muffins

1 1/2c + 1/4c rolled oats
2tbsp firmly packed brow sugar
1 c + 2tbsp flour
1/2c white sugar
1tbsp baking powder
1/4tsp salt
1c milk
2 egg whites
2tbsp vegetable oil
1tsp grated lemon peel
1tsp vanilla
1c blueberries

- Preheat oven to 180deg C
- For the topping, combine 1/4c rolled oats and brown sugar. Put aside.
- Combine the remaining 1 1/2c oats and all other dry ingredients in a bowl. Mix well
- In a separate bowl combine egg whites, milk, vanilla, lemon peel and oil
- Add to dry ingredients, stir to combine and add blueberries
- Fill muffin cups until almost full, and sprinkle with brown sugar/oat mixture.
- Bake for approx 24 minutes until golden brown

Oops! I only added a tsp of baking powder! I'm not sure if it's that, or the recipe in general, but these are the type of muffins that don't come out of the muffin cup very easily. They're tasty, but very sticky. Won't make them again I don't think.

Nutella brownie bites

1c nutella (I put the jar in the microwave for 30 seconds to soften it)
2 eggs
1/2c + 2tbsp flour

- Preheat oven to 180deg C
- Mix nutella and eggs until smooth
- Add flour, mix until smooth
- Pour into muffin cups in muffin tray - DO NOT OVERFILL. THESE ARE BITE SIZED!
- Sprinkle some chocolate chips on the top if you want
- Bake for 12 mins

So easy! OMG THESE ARE AMAZING! Light and fluffy, and best of all, tastes like Nutella! My new favourite! Will definitely make these again, shame it takes almost a whole jar of nutella, but it's probably still cheaper than buying sugar? Maybe?

Chocolate chip cookies

250g softened butter
1/2c castor sugar
1/2c sweetened condensed milk
2 1/4c plain flour
chocolate chips

- Preheat oven to 180deg C and line 3 baking trays with baking paper
- Beat butter, sugar and condensed milk with an egg beater
- Reduce speed and gradually add flour.
- Stir in chocolate chips.
- Roll into balls and place on trays, allow room for spreading and press lightly with fingertips.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes or until lightly golden.

Yum! I slightly overcooked 2 out of 3 of my trays, and I got close to 3 dozen cookies out of it (small cookies, as you can see from the picture). I also only used about 120gm choc chips instead of the 250gm recommended, but these are yum! The condensed milk makes them a bit sweeter than normal cookies so I liked having less chocolate chips. So yummy warm!

Lemon slice

250g wine biscuits
1 cup desiccated coconut
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
120g butter
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk

LEMON ICING2 cups icing sugar, sifted
40g butter, melted
Juice of 1 lemon

- Line a 17x27cm baking tin with baking paper. 

- Crumb biscuits in a food processor. Combine with lemon zest and coconut in a bowl.

- Melt butter in a saucepan and add sweetened condensed milk. Pour into biscuit mixture.

- Press into tin, chill for 1 hour.

- When set, pour over lemon icing.

This is yum! A bit too sweet for my liking (yet I could eat chocolate until the cows come home) but really nice. Workmates definitely approved, flatmates approved, that's a success in my opinion!

Tequila apple pies

Warning: Do not make these early in the morning. The smell was way too intense!

40g tequila
Juice of 1 lime
1/4tsp cinammon
1 1/2tsp vanilla
4 granny smith apples, peeled and diced
6tbsp flour
3/4c brown sugar

- Combine the tequila, cinnamon, lime juice and vanilla in a medium sized bowl. Soak the apples for 15 minutes. Drain apples but don't discard the liquid, you need it later!
- Add the flour and sugar to the apples and combine well.
- Cut pastry to fit into a greased muffin tray (I used puff pastry, possible not the best idea, as the tops exploded!) - I think next time I will bake them in ramekin dishes instead, that usually works out better for me
- Pour in the apples, and top with more pastry or a crumble mix or whatever you want!
- Bake at 180deg C for 20 minutes odd (I didn't actually take notice of the time, but I made them in the morning and then reheated them for another 15 minutes that night which probably took total baking time to closer to 40 minutes, and they weren't overcooked, they were crispy and delicious)

As angry as I was that the tops exploded off these pies, they looked really cute! I combined the rest of the tequila liquid with some cream and icing sugar to make tequila cream! yum! The tequila wasn't noticeable at all, these pies were so so good, I'd definitely make them again. And there was none left after our dinner party, which is always a good sign.

Lemon choc chunk cupcakes

1c (240g) butter
1c white sugar
4 eggs
1tsp vanilla essence
zest of 1 lemon (I used 2)
2c standard flour
2tsp baking powder
1tsp salt
1c fresh lemon juice (I only used 1/2 a cup)
1 lb chocolate (I used half a block of the new Cadbury Marvellous Creations peanut butter toffee block, cut into small pieces)

- Beat butter and sugar until fluffy
- Add eggs one a time, mixing after each.
- Add vanilla and lemon zest
- In a seperate bowl sift flour/baking powder/salt. Add to wet mixture with chocolate and lemon juice
- Scoop into well greased muffin tray (or use cupcake cups)
- Bake at 180 deg C for 20-25 mins

Wow these are great! This is my kind of cupcake (because I don't usually eat my own baking) moist and lemony, with the occasional mouthful of chocolate. I really love this!

Berry custard pie

Ingredients

150g frozen berries

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tbsp custard powder

1/2 tbsp sugar

1/2c milk

- Place berries and cinnamon in a bowl, mix, pour into ramekins or a pie dish

- Combine custard powder and sugar, add a little milk and mix to a paste. Stir in remaining milk and stir over a low heat until custard has formed

- Pour over fruit and bake at 180 deg C for 25-30 minutes

This was okay. I definitely prefered my apple sauce pie from a few weeks ago, but Tom enjoyed this. I think I'm just not a fan of warm berries. And I forgot the cinnamon! Was quick and easy though, and I got to add my new favourite thing- whipped cream in a can.

Mint chocolate cupcakes with mint cream cheese icing

Thanks Nigella.com for the recipe.... http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/mint-chocolate-cupcakes-1170

Ingredients: MAKES 18

225g self raising flour (for the record, I used normal flour and an extra 1 1/2 tsp baking powder)
4 tbsp cocoa
1 tsp baking powder
225g caster sugar (I used normal sugar)
225g butter
4 eggs
1 tsp mint essence
100g choc chips

- Preheat the oven to 160 deg C
- Sift flour, baking powder and cocoa
- In a seperate bowl cream butter and sugar, add eggs one at a time
- Gradually add flour mixture
- Stir in mint essence and choc chips
- Spoon mixture into paper cases, bake for about 25 mins

Icing: The original recipe was double this, but I iced more than 18 cupcakes with this icing, which was surprising.

1/2 packet of cream cheese (I used light)
1/2c softened butter
1/2 packet of icing sugar
1tsp mint essence

- Beat cream cheese and butter at medium speed with electric mixer
- Gradually add sugar, beating at low speed
- Add mint extract and mix.

Easy! I also added a bit of green colouring to make it look minty, looks very fake but I love the look. I also crushed a mint aero bar and some flake bars to sprinkle on the top.
These are awesome! I love mint/chocolate as a combination so I love them, but I can't imagine not-mint-inclined people would feel the same. They are a paler brown than the peanut butter cupcakes, and nowhere near as moist, I think they're a bit more appealing.

Enjoy!

Peanut butter chocolate cupcakes

Peanut butter balls:

• 1 – 1 1/4 c powdered sugar
• 3/4 c creamy peanut butter (I used crunchy, because it's all I had)
• 50g unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Combine all the ingredients, beat well. 

Roll into 1inch balls- don't make them too big, remember they have to be concealed in the cupcakes

Place on a baking sheet and freeze for 10 minutes while you make the cupcake batter

Cupcakes:

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (use baking cocoa, not drinking cocoa)
1/8 teaspoon salt
40g butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 175 deg C
Sift flour, baking soda/powder, salt and cocoa
In a seperate bowl cream the sugar and butter (mine didn't look like regular creamed butter and sugar, so I added another 10g or so of butter)
Stir in vanilla
Add the flour mixture alternately with milk
Beat well

Pour 1tbsp ish into the bottom of the muffin tray IN A PATTY TIN! THIS IS CRUCIAL! I just ruined a batch because I didn't use them, the cupcakes stuck to the tin. Place a peanut butter ball in, and place another tbsp or so on top of the ball.
Bake for 15 mins or until a toothpick comes out clean

There is no photos, because I didn't use patty tins, and so the muffins were Ugly, if they even made it out alive. The review is that they are nice and sweet, but they appeared very moist, but are a lovely rich dark chocolate colour. I will try this recipe again in a few months, when the feeling of failure has left my body. On the upside, the peanut butter balls are delicious, I ate them partially frozen and loved them but I'm a devoted peanut butter fan. 

Coconut & berry crumble

Ingredients

• 500 g mixed berries
• 3 tbsp caster sugar
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 tbsp berry jam

Crumble

• 1½ cups plain flour, sifted
• 60 g desiccated coconut
• 60 g rolled oats
• 80 g brown sugar
• pinch salt
• 120 g butter, diced into even pieces

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Put berries, caster sugar, cinnamon and jam in a saucepan and bring to a simmer for 2 minutes, allowing the flavours to combine and the jam to dissolve. Allow to cool slightly.

Place flour, coconut, oats, brown sugar, salt and butter in a food processor and pulse until you have a breadcrumb consistency, or you can do this by hand — mix the dry ingredients together then rub the butter into them.

Tip your fruit mixture into a large, ovenproof dish and top with your crumble, ensuring you get an even covering. Place in the oven for 25 minutes or until the top is golden and you can see the fruit bubbling at the edges. Allow to sit for 5 minutes.

YUM! Fruit desserts are growing on me, especially on a winter night. Again, we topped with cream in a can, and I'll certainly be going to bed happy tonight!

Mini applesauce pies

Today I felt like a fraud because I made muffins out of a box, and was equally upset because I had nothing to blog about. But alas, tonight after making thai chicken curry pie, I had leftover pastry and decided to make some applesauce pies with Tom's mum's homemade applesauce.

1 egg
1/2c sugar
1/4c melted butter
1 tbsp flour
1/4tsp vanilla
1tbsp lemon juice
1/2c apple sauce

Combine all ingredients in a bowl, pour into ramekins, top with flaky puff pastry and bake for 30-40 mins on 180deg C.
If you want to make a regular sized pie the recipe was originally double these ingredients.

These are delicious! I couldn't eat a whole one, it's quite sweet, we topped them with whipped cream in a can. What an awesome end to the weekend!

P.s. Can you guess which one is Tom's!?

Peanut butter cookie dough bites

1 1/4c canned chickpeas, rinsed and patted dry with a paper towel
2tsp vanilla
1/2 c + 2 tbsp peanut butter
1/4c honey
1 tsp baking powder
1/2c choc chips
pinch of salt

- Preheat oven to 175 deg C
- Combine all ingredients in a food processor (except choc chips) process until smooth
- Add choc chips and stir to combine. Mixture will be thick and sticky
- Roll into balls
- Place on baking paper, bake for about 10 minutes. They don't rise much, and will still be moist after baking.

These are... interesting. This is a recipe I found online and gave to a workmate who is gluten intolerant. She bought some in to work today for morning tea. As far as gluten-free baking goes it's pretty good, the chickpeas aren't noticeable, although you'd swear otherwise ONLY if you already know they're there. I think it's just an interesting texture. I do, however, think they'd be so great to freeze and microwave to soften/heat up whenever you want a sweet treat- we ate ours warm and they were tasty, if a bit oily. I'd definitely recommend these to those who are gluten-intolerant, but not sure that I'd ever make them!

Mini quiches

Today I wasn't baking for Tom because his mum left him some baking last weekend. I was a bit at a loss, because I always bake on a Sunday! But then I remembered we're having a morning tea at work tomorrow and thought to myself, 'Bugger it. Everyone always brings rice crackers, sausage rolls or timtams, I'm making quiches!' and off I went...

Thanks to kidspot.co.nz for the recipe!

3 sheets of puff pastry
5 eggs
2/3c milk
4 rashers of bacon, diced
1/2 onion, finely diced
1c grated cheese

Thaw pastry sheets for about 10 minutes before you start...

- Preheat oven to 180deg C and lightly grease 2x 12 hole muffin trays
- Cook bacon and onion until lightly browned
- Use a circle shaped cutter (or drinking glass) to cut 24 circles out of the pastry
- Place a teaspoon of bacon and onion in the bottom of the muffin tin, I also used 1/2tsp of tomato chutney
- Whisk the eggs and milk together and pour up to the level of the pastry
- Bake for 15-20 minutes until the egg has risen and pastry is golden

These were tasty, a total hit with my workmates! The chutney really makes these :) I froze them in half dozens to thaw when we have nothing for lunch on a weekend, what an easy treat!

Nutella muffins

140 g./2/3 cup butter, softened to room temperature
3/4 c. white sugar
3 eggs
1/2 tsp. of vanilla
1-3/4 c. of all purpose flour
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
9-12 tsps. of Nutella
ALL INGREDIENTS AT ROOM TEMPERATURE

- Preheat the oven to 165 deg C
- Beat butter and sugar until light and creamy. Add eggs one at a time.
- Stir in vanilla
- Add sifted dry ingredients
- If it appears lumpy at first, keep beating until smooth. It must be the same consistency as the nutella to allow you to swirl them together
- Full muffin pans about 3/4 full. Add a dollop of nutella and use a toothpick/skewer to swirl together... In my case the nutella was too thick (might recommend melting a little bit first?) so mine have a nutella centre with half a boysenberry in there too because I had some leftover :)
- Bake for 20 mins 

These are awesome! THey were so easy, and I was thrilled to try out my new apron that I bought in Portland, Oregon. Plus it's the first time I've baked in about a month so I thoroughly enjoyed it. Yummy cup-cake like muffins with a gooey centre, and some muffins had nutella spilling out the top. Until today I wasn't a fan of nutella but after making these I'm ashamed to say my self-control disappeared and I've been eating teaspoons of it! 

Butter biscuits

Tonight I wanted plain, easy cookies that I could decorate and ice. I must mention, decorating cookies is not my strong point- give me cupcakes any day! But these are a "gift" for a friend tomorrow to brighten her day, even if they aren't super fancy.

Cookies:
150g room temp butter
75c castor sugar
225g plain flour

Cube butter and rub into sugar and flour. Roll into glad wrap, refrigerate for 15 minutes, roll out onto a tray and slice.
Bake at 170deg C for 15-25 minutes or until golden brown.
Let sit before icing

There are a few place I could have gone wrong here.... I "roughly" halved the ingredients, and wasn't too picky about it. I used regular flour instead of castor. I gave up with the refrigerating after 10 minutes, and I have the oven too high. Oh, and I may have overcooked. But even though, these are 100x better than the "sugar cookies" I attempted to bake just before Christmas, these are crispy and tasty and I just ate two of them! (Not the pictures ones, they are the gift).

So honestly, try it. Grab your child, niece, or a friend's kid, and just make some cookies! And have fun with it!

Boysenberry & white choc muffins

Today's recipe - made purely because I had berries left over from last weeks fantastic brownie!

2 1/2c self raising flour
100g chopped butter
1c sugar (original recipe calls for castor, but normal is fine)
1c milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
1c frozen berries
1/2c white choc buttons or similar

-Preheat oven to 190 deg C
- Rub butter into flour until well combines
- Add sugar, milk, egg, berries and white chocolate. Mix until just moistened.
- Spoon into muffin cups
- Bake for 20 minutes (maybe up to 30 minutes in my case). Let stand for 5 minutes.

This makes larger muffins than most recipes, so if you want small muffins maybe make 15-18 :)
These muffins are tasty but a bit too moist at the bottom - I didn't use muffin cups, so that might be a good idea. Maybe I used too many boysenberries, I didn't measure them out. But they are nice and crispy on top to make up for it!

Boysenberry & toblerone brownie

Thanks to Healthy Food Guide NZ for the recipe!

3 eggs, seperated
1c castor sugar
3/4c low fat vanilla yoghurt (I used Meadowfresh Live-Lite because I had it in the fridge, Vanilla Spice and Vanilla Toffee)
1 1/2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 1/4 c self-raising flour
3/4c cocoa powder
1/2c frozen berries (recipe used raspberries, I used boysenberries and cut them in half)
50g toblerone, cut the triangles in half

-  Preheat oven to 180 deg C, line a 30x20cm baking tin with baking paper
- Combine egg yolks, sugar, yoghurt and oil in a mixing bowl.
- Sift in flour and cocoa and mix well.
- In a seperate bowl beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks.
- Fold in to the other mixing bowl (make sure you fold it in! Otherwise it takes ages for them to mix!)
- Pour mixture into the baking tin and spread evenly with berries and toblerone
- Bake for 20 mins or until skewer comes out clean
- Cool completely before removing from tin and slicing.

The texture is absolutely perfect - but more like cake than brownie (I may have over-baked it) - not as fantastic tasting on it's own as the last brownie I blogged about but the toblerone (I didn't get any berries on my slice) really completed it. Not too sweet, not moist or dry, but don't make this recipe unless you are putting stuff on top!

Fruit sponge

2-3 cups sweetened fruit
2 eggs
2 heaped tbsp sugar
2 tbsp flour
1 tsp baking powder

Today I did the unthinkable. I did two things I hate. Touched/cut feijoas, and stewed fruit. I did it because there was lots of left over fruit in the lunch room at work, and because I didn't have anything else to do and felt like making Tom some pudding. I cut up 2 pairs and 5 feijoas and used a handful of frozen boysenberries. I put about 3/4c water in the pot with them and 1 1/2 tbsp sugar, and boiled them for 10 minutes.

Then....
- Beat eggs and sugar until thick
- Fold in flour and baking powder
- Bake at 190 deg C for 30 minutes

Easy! I halved the sponge mix, because I intended to make a mini pudding but apparently I used too much fruit so it's poking through the sponge at the top! Tom loved it, and said "If I didn't know you better I'd swear there was feijoas in this" - he was surprised to learn that there was! I had a mouthful of what I hope was boysenberries and some sponge and it was nice :) But no guarantees on quality, Tom isn't picky ;) 

Low fat banana choc chip loaf

Baking on a Monday just feels so wrong. But I was away for the weekend, and Tom has no morning tea (because caramel popcorn and vege chips are too girly apparently!) so I thought I'd best use the bananas that I took from work so that I could bake with them.

• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup margarine, softened
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup mashed bananas
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder

- Preheat oven to 170 deg C

- Beat butter and sugar until smooth. Add eggs water and banana and mix.

- Add flour, salt, soda and baking powder and stir to combine. Pour into a greased loaf tin.

- Bake for approx. 60 minutes until brown and pulling away from the edges.

Verdict - YUM! A bit heavier than I like my banana cake to be, but this is a loaf after all. I added the perfect amount of chocolate chips, not so many that your hands were covered in melted chocolate after eating it. And it lasted all week without going dry/mouldy! Success.