Nutella Pretzel Brownies

Wow, it's been basically half a year since my last post - RIDICULOUS!!

Sorry I haven't had the chance to update, I haven't baked anything new to be quite honest. 

I just finished a long period of essay deadlines and exams, and I'm now free!! 

I had a horrific essay to write on Labour Party politics when I was home for the winter holidays, but took a much-deserved break one evening to whip up a batch of brownies. It was the best de-stress method; there is definitely some positive correlation between happiness and baking.

I stumbled upon a lovely Nutella brownie recipe a while back - Nutella is literally my favourite thing in this world. My housemates last year, on numerous occasions, would discover me in the kitchen with a near-empty jar of Nutella in one hand and a big spoon in the other. I think it's hereditary.. My parents never allowed us to have Nutella in the house because it wouldn't last longer than a day! We were (still are) undeniably a Nutella-loving family.. 

Chocolate brownies are amazing anyway, but adding Nutella makes them THAT much better. I added some pretzels on top for a little extra salty crunch.

These are so easy.

INGREDIENTS

For the base

1 and a half cups of pretzels

1/3 cup brown sugar

3 tablespoons melted unsalted butter

For the brownie

1/2 cup or 113g unsalted butter

1 cup sugar

2eggs

dash of vanilla extract

1/3 cup cocoa powder (I used bourneville)

1/2 cup flour

1/3 cup nutella - and more for snacking!!!

pinch of salt

1/4 tsp baking powder

More pretzels, set aside

METHOD

Line a brownie tin with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 180C.

In a food processor, pulse the pretzels into a fine dust and add the sugar. Pour in the melted butter and keep pulsing until it is all combined. 

Flatten out the mixture into the baking tin, and bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes, or until it turns golden around the edges and is firm-ish to the touch.

While it's baking, start on the brownie mixture.

In a saucepan, melt the butter. Remove from the heat and add in the sugar, whisking until combined. It'll be a paste-like consistency, but that's fine. 

Whisk in the eggs one at a time, and add in the vanilla.

Add in the dry ingredients and the Nutella (does that count as a dry ingredient?) and whisk until combined.

Pour the batter into the brownie tin, on top of the pretzel base and baked for 35-40 mins at 180C. It's ready when a toothpick inserted comes out clean and the brownie will be firm.

Leave to cool on the side for ten minutes, and then slather the top with more Nutella!! It'll melt because of the heat of the brownie, YUMMY!

Stick the pretzels on top and leave to cool fully.

Mmmmmmmm

I brought these back up to Leeds for everyone. They were particularly yummy as a library snack!!!
I've had no work since last tuesday, so I've just been relaxing lots! 
Hope everyone's had a lovely start to the new year, and that the snow hasn't screwed up your plans too much. Keep posted!
J xx

Breakfast Quinoa

Quinoa...

Pronounced keen-wah, it's a lovely little grain (or seed) which has lots of health benefits. It's full of protein, and has been proven to aid weight loss. I discovered quinoa earlier this year in my university kitchen, but didn't really cook with it that much. It can be a little bit of an effort to prepare, and takes far longer to cook than standard white rice (or if you're lazy like me, the 1minute uncle ben's rice packs). However, if made well, it can definitely be worth all the effort.

It's a grain used in savoury dishes, but I stumbled upon an awesome recipe for a Breakfast Quinoa, which replaces normal porridge oats with wholesome quinoa, and has added sweetness from fruits, sugars and cinnamon.

I've been trying to shed a few pounds in preparation for my sister's wedding in a couple of weeks time (eeeek, stress!). I'm basically cutting out carbs and other processed foods and just sticking to natural, protein-filled things. In this sense, quinoa is a bit of a god-send. It's Martha Stewart's recipe but I've adapted it a little. 

Ingredients (2-3 servings)

3cups skimmed milk

1 and a half cups of uncooked quinoa, rinsed.

between 1tsp and 1tbsp of Splenda (depending on how sweet you like it)

a pinch of cinnamon (1/3tsp - not too much)

lots of fresh fruit.

NOTE

You can alter the size of the portion easily, just make sure that the ratio of milk:quinoa remains 2:1. Everything else is constant and can be determined by your personal taste.

I love lots of fruit in my quinoa, you can choose anything. I had a couple of handfuls of strawberries, a load of blueberries and 3 plums cut up into small pieces. This made enough for me and my mum to share, plus some surplus to keep in the fridge for later, so don't worry about how much fruit there is; it evens out!

Clearly, I'm a fruit fan!

Method

Bring the milk to a boil in a small pan, and then bring the heat down to a simmer and throw in the rinsed quinoa. Stir and cover and cook for around 15-20 minutes, or until around 3/4 of the milk has been absorbed. 

At the start.

After the 15-20 minute mark, stir in the Splenda and cinnamon, cover again and cook for another 5-8 minutes.

I wish I had a perfume with this scent. It's just divine!!!!!

Once cooked, mix in a bit of the fruit (I used around half) and pour into a serving dish. Garnish with the rest of the fruit and more Splenda/cinnamon if you fancy. 

And voila, high protein and full flavoured Breakfast Quinoa!

It's yummy cold too. So if you're too full to finish your portion, cover it and put it in the fridge to finish later on in the day. 

It could also be served with honey or agave nectar (like a normal porridge), but I'm trying to cut the extra sweetness out of my diet so I went without.

Wedding is in 12 days. YIKES! Better get going!!!

J xx 

Malteser Cupcakes with Popping Candy

Maltesers are probably my favourite chocolate. They're just so light (and one of the lowest calorie chocolates, am I right?).. However, this can be problematic, since once I open up one of those big 'to share' bags, I won't stop until they're all gone. I was chatting to my friend Beth the other day about how I'm a sweets/choc fan and she's a crisps fan, and she coined the term 'empty bag syndrome', i.e, the consumer of a bag of crisps cannot be satisfied until the contents of the said bag are entirely devoured. It's definitely something I suffer from! But alas, until they find a cure, looks like I'm stuck with a collection of empty Oreo wrappers and bags of haribos. 

Anyway, Malteser cupcakes were one of the first things I ever baked (back in the day). The batter is my standard vanilla one (the basis of this recipe is identical to that of my Oreo and Rolo cupcakes, the decorations are just different), and I've garnished the frosting with a Malteser and a sprinkle of popping candy, something I only just discovered! It's so cool!! 

So, let's get started!

Ingredients

170g unsalted butter, softened

120g caster sugar

35g brown sugar

3eggs and 1 extra yolk

1/2tsp of vanilla extract

170g all purpose flour

1tsp baking powder

pinch of salt (don't forget this, I always do!!)

huge bag of Maltesers. Keep 12 separate.

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C and line a muffin pan with 12 liners. Cream the butter and sugar with a handmixer, and add in the eggs one by one and then the vanilla, maintaining a medium speed. Next, move the mixer to one side, and fold in the flour, baking powder and salt until just incorporated. Fold in all of the Maltesers (not the 12 you reserved at the beginning). If you put all the Maltesers into the batter (minus the 12), it'll prevent you from nibbling on any surplus ones left in the bag!! Smart move eh?

Use an ice cream scoop to fill the cupcake cases, ideally 2/3 - 3/4 full. The Maltesers make the batter much bigger, so you can either fill the cases much higher than usual, or use any extra to fill a couple more cupcake cases. When I made them, I just equally distributed it between the 12 cases and filled them to the brim. They don't rise that much, so they won't overflow if the batter is near the top. 

Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the centre (try not to poke into a Malteser) comes out clean and the cakes are firm and golden. 

Remove from the oven and leave to cool on the side.

FROSTING

My normal cream cheese frosting is a favourite, but I thought I'd try using less cream cheese and replace it with butter. It just makes it a bit denser and creamier.

100g cream cheese, softened

75g unsalted butter, softened

300g icing sugar

1/2tsp vanilla extract.

popping candy sprinkles (these ones can be found in Waitrose)

Beat all the ingredients together at a low speed. Make the effort to get more icing sugar in the bowl than on the kitchen walls (and yourself). I'm only speaking from experience....

Pipe onto the cupcakes, place the leftover Maltesers on top, and then sprinkle over the popping candy.

 My lovely friend Lauren asked me to make these for her brother's birthday, and since his favourite thing is popping candy, she gave me the container of the sprinkles. I'd never actually seen these before, so when she handed them to me my face just displayed a look of total surprise!! They're just so much fun!

Sneaky can of Sprite!!!!! (My mum's fault)..

AMAZING!

I made Oreo ones too.. Hehehehehehe.

See you soon!

xx 

The Chocolate Cupcake

Chocolate cupcakes; who can resist?

You might recognise this intense, chocolate decadence from a previous post - I've just tweaked some of the measurements so that the recipe suits a 12 hole muffin pan rather than one with 30 (an awkward number for cupcake-baking if you ask me..).

Anyway, let's get started!

Ingredients

180g caster sugar

80g flour

1/2tsp baking powder

1/2tsp bicarb

pinch of salt

100ml milk (I use skimmed, any will do)

1tsp vanilla

50g cocoa powder

100ml boiling water

50ml vegetable oil

1 egg

Method

Heat oven to 180C, and line a muffin tray with 12 paper cases.

Stir together the sugar, flour, baking powder, bicarb and salt in a large bowl.

Add the eggs, oil, milk and vanilla and beat using a hand mixer. Stir in the boiling water and then spoon (I use an ice cream scoop for uniform sized cakes) the mixture into the liners.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a skewer/knife inserted into the centre comes out clean. Remove them from the oven and leave to cool.

FROSTING

60g butter, softened

75g cocoa powder

350g icing sugar

40ml milk

1/2tsp vanilla

Melt the butter and stir in the cocoa powder. Alternating, add the icing sugar and the milk, beating on a medium speed. Add in the vanilla, and more milk if needed. The consistency should be easy-spreadable. If it's too thick, add more milk. Either way, this is probably one of the yummiest frostings I've ever tasted!!

It's a bit runny to be piped, so it's best to just spread the frosting onto the cupcakes.

Once frosted, I enveloped the entire thing in a downpour of chocolate sprinkles!! You can find these in almost any supermarket, and they add a little 'umph' to the cake!

Quite simple, but very effective.

Since these are simply mini versions of the giant chocolate cake I made for Kristina, it's inevitable that these are to go down incredibly well!

J xx

The Red Velvet Cupcake

The Red Velvet has a somewhat tangy, chocolate flavour. It's absolutely yummy, and goes perfectly with vanilla cream cheese frosting!

This is definitely one of my staple cupcake recipes, because it's a favourite amongst both adults and people my age.
Source

Ingredients

60g unsalted butter, softened

150g sugar

1 egg

10g cocoa powder

20ml red food colouring

little bit of vanilla

120ml buttermilk

150g plain flour

pinch of salt

1/2 teaspoon of bicarb

1 and a half teaspoons of white wine vinegar

Method

Pre heat the oven to 170C (conventional), and line a muffin tray with 12 paper cases.

Grab the hand mixer, and beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Next, add in the egg and keep beating on low speed.

In a small bowl, combine the vanilla, cocoa, and red food colouring to form a paste, and add this into the batter.

Still beating on slow speed, add in the buttermilk and flour, alternating between the two.

Add in the salt, bicarb and vinegar, and beat on medium speed for another couple of minutes.

Now, spoon the mixture into the cupcake cases and bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes, or until a knife/skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. 

Once out the oven, leave them too cool, and get started on the frosting.

FROSTING

50g butter, softened

125g cream cheese, soft

300g icing sugar

little bit of vanilla

With the hand mixer, beat the butter and cheese together, and slowly add in the icing sugar and vanilla. 

Either pipe or spread over the cupcakes. My method of choice is to pipe.

Also, save one of the cupcakes (preferably one that's gone a little skewed whilst cooking - there's always one!!!) and grate it into crumbs. Use these crumbs to sprinkle on top of the frosted cupcakes - it just adds a lovely touch to them!

 A few I made a while back..

Duo-toned frosting! Yeyyy!!

J xx

The Oreo Cupcake

The Oreo Cupcake, probably my most-used recipe, ever. Fundamentally, it's a vanilla sponge cake with Oreos added in, plus a ridiculously yummy vanilla cream cheese frosting which marries all the flavours together and brings a smile to anyone who eats it, usually leading them to follow with an 'omg, this is heavenly!'.

Adapted from this

Ingredients
170g unsalted butter, softened
120g caster sugar
35g brown sugar
1/2tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs plus 1 egg yolk
170g flour
1teasp baking powder
pinch of salt

Method
Preheat the oven to 180C, and line a cupcake tray with 12 liners. Get 12 Oreos, and twist them apart. Place the half with the cream, cream-side up at the bottom of each liner. 

If you don't fancy lining them this way, you can always break up the whole Oreos and fold them into the batter before spooning into cases.

This is how they'll come out

Beat the butter and sugars on low speed until light and fluffy. Add in the eggs one at a time, plus the vanilla extract, still beating. Next, get rid of the hand mixer, and fold in the dry ingredients with a spatula. The batter will get a little bit stiff, and might look a tad curdled, but this is normal. Just keep folding it gently until all the ingredients are combined.
Spoon the batter into the cases. I use an ice cream scoop to create uniform size cupcakes, but whatever you have is fine. Fill them around 2/3 of the way full - keep in mind, they do rise a little bit.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a skewer/knife inserted into the centre comes out clean. The cupcakes will be dense, and bounce back when you poke them with your finger.
Take out the oven, and leave to cool.

FROSTING
125g cream cheese, softened
50g unsalted butter, soft
300g icing sugar
little bit of vanilla extract

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and beat together.
Be careful, it gets messy!
Pipe or spread onto the cupcakes. For a finishing touch, I like to take half of an entire Oreo and place it on top of the frosting.
Make these for the people you know and love, and you won't be forgotten!

Of course, you can decorate it any way you like, and this recipe is open to so many variations.

Or, finely crush some Oreos into the frosting and pipe.

For those without a piping bag, just spoon the frosting onto the cupcake!

Hope you enjoy!

J x

Decadent Chocolate Cake

Hiiiiiii

To my lovely followers (one of them being my Dad), sorry that I take so much time to update this blog! I've baked literally one thing in the last two months.. Hopefully this post will make up for things.

So, it was my friend Kristina's birthday yesterday, and I know how much she likes chocolate cake - I planned a yummy surprise for her. We all went out to an Indian restaurant for dinner (ate too much, as per usual), and just as we're all too stuffed to shovel in more food, the cake comes out (along with a lovely sing song of happy birthday)!!!

Here's the story.

I'd never used this cake recipe before, and knew that everyone in my household would want a piece of it anyway. So, I made two.

The first one (made on Sunday) went really well, and was devoured within about 48 hours. It's just a really rich, yummy dark chocolate cake with the creamiest, fudgiest chocolate frosting. This is definitely the holy grail of chocolate cakes.

The recipe is really easy, and it's pretty quick to prepare - in fact, it doesn't actually require that much effort (it's not like you need to get a piping bag out for the frosting).

Ingredients (usually I quote things in ounces/grams, but the recipe used cup measurements)

From the Hershey's Kitchen - this website has the most fantastic recipes!

2 cups of sugar

1 and 3/4 cups of plain flour

1 and a half teaspoons of baking powder

1 and a half teaspoons of bicarbonate of soda

1 teaspoon of salt

3/4 cup of cocoa powder (I like Bourneville)

1 cup of milk

2 eggs

1/2 cup of vegetable oil

2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

1 cup of boiling water

Method

Preheat your oven to 180C, or 160C ish if you have a crap fan oven (like I do).

Line two 9inch cake pans with baking paper and flour the sides.

Combine all the dry ingredients in a large bowl (sugar, flour, cocoa, bicarb, baking powder, salt) and whisk together until combined.

Now, add in the milk, oil, eggs, vanilla and beat on medium speed until incorporated. With a spatula/spoon, mix in the boiling water. The consistency of the batter will be quite runny, so it'll drizzle into the cake pans with ease. Now, pop it in the oven for about 30-35 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the centre comes out clean. Time varies for all ovens.

I actually only own one cake pan, and my oven only has room (on the optimum shelf) for one. The typical individual (or student) isn't likely to own more than one anyway, so I figured a way around it. Before mixing the wet ingredients into the dry, evenly divide the dry mixture between two bowls (I weighed it all out with scales). Then, with your first bowl of dry matter, mix in half of the wet ingredients (i.e the recipe calls for 2 eggs and 1 cup of milk, so make a well in the middle and add in 1 egg and half a cup of milk, and so on).

Obviously, baking time will be overall longer because you have to wait longer for the cakes to cook individually and for them to cool.

In my oven, each half of the cake took around 40 minutes to cook, but this will obviously vary if you have a better oven. Typically, any where between 30-45 minutes will make sense.

Once they're done, remove from the oven and leave to cool, and then transfer onto some other plate/rack to cool further. 

FROSTING

1/2 cup of unsalted butter (around 115 grams)

2/3 cup cocoa powder

3cups icing sugar

1/3 cup of milk

teaspoon of vanilla

Melt the butter, and mix in the cocoa. Then, alternating icing sugar and milk, beat with a handmixer until lovely and creamy, and add in the vanilla. 

Then, assemble the cake!

Bottom half....

Oh my.

Heaven eh?

Just smoothed on the frosting with a rubber spatula - no effort required!

I made the one for Kristina on Monday afternoon, just in time for dinner in the evening!

It's been likened to 'Brucey Cake' (like the one from Matilda)...

And clearly, everyone loved it. Because this is what was left by the time we'd paid the bill.

Quite impressive!! (although there were 12 of us at the table..)..

Anyway, exams are on the way.

It's around 3am right now, and I've been up writing an essay for the last three hours. And the sad thing is, there's no more chocolate cake left in the kitchen, so I have nothing to snack on during breaks!!

I can probably think of a way to resolve this..

:D

Jen xx