Blondies - They know how to have fun

I have wanted to make some blondies for a long time now but every recipe I found had nuts in. I do not like nuts. But then... I was perusing through my new cake book bake-a-boo and 'voila, ici!' A nut free blondies recipe graced the pages before my eyes. They were delicious, but next time I might add some raspberries or something fruity. Or peanut butter and milk chocolate chips. Mmmm... the possibilities are endless.

Ingredients:

400g white chocolate                                         100g butter
100 golden caster sugar                                     1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
3 large free range eggs                                       225g self raising flour, sifted

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees centigrade and grease and line the bottom of a shallow 20 cm square baking tin.
2.Melt 300g of the white chocolate and the butter in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water, stirring regularly. Remove from the heat and let the mixture cool a little.
3. Beat in the sugar and vanilla essence, then the eggs one at a time. Fold in the flour until well combined. Chop the remaining chocolate into chunks and stir into the mixture, then transfer into the prepared tin and level with a spoon.
4. Cook in the preheated oven for 35 minutes or until the top appears crispy and a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tine, then remove and cut into twelve extremely generous pieces.

Cake Mission

I decided to make this 'Autumnal Apple Cake' because my boyfriend's favourite cake is an apple and raspberry one that his mother makes. Now, I am not competitive... No... Not at all. But I have made it my life mission to find a cake that overtakes the illustrious apple and raspberry one in his estimations.

This recipe is from the lovely book bake-a-boo by Zoe Berkeley. The recipe uses sultanas, which disgust me, so I replaced the sultanas with blackberries. I think the wetness of the blackberries made the mixture wetter and so the baking time was increased but the end result was wonderful so I am putting down the recipe as I did it. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

175g butter at room temperature                          150g light muscovado sugar
3 large eggs                                                                200g apples, peeled, cored and sliced
100g blackberries                                                     175g self-raising flour, sifted
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon                               Icing sugar for dusting

Topping:
2 apples, peeled, cored and finely sliced
2 teaspoons Demerara sugar

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees centigrade and grease and line the bottom of a 20cm cake tin.
2. Cream the butter and muscovado sugar together until smooth and creamy, then beat in the eggs one at a time.
3. Stir in the apples and most of the blackberries and then fold in the flour and cinnamon until well combined. Transfer the mixture to the cake tin and level with a spoon.
4. Arrange the apple slices for the topping in a neat fan all the way round the outer edge of the cake, then make a circle in the centre and dot with the left over blackberries. Sprinkle the apples with the demerara sugar and then cook in the oven for 50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.
5. Leave to cook in the tin and then serve dusted with icing sugar.

The cake was lovely. It has a wonderful warm flavour from the cinnamon. Unfortunately, however it is only the second best cake my boyfriend has ever eaten. *Weep weep.* My quest continues...


You can buy this recipe book from amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bake---Boo-Bakery-Cookbook-Nostalgic/dp/1846013623/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1314641581&sr=8-1

Truffle Dough Cookies

Delicious, rich and easy to make - this is a recipe for my favourite chocolate biscuit. They look wonderful and make lovely gifts. The recipe is from The Big Book of Chocolate by Jennifer Donovan, a personal favourite of mine due to the potency of chocolate in all of the recipes.

Ingredients:

100g caster sugar                                                  75g self raising flour
3 tablespoons of cocoa powder                             A pinch of salt
25g chopped butter                                               1 lightly beaten egg
1 teaspoon of vanilla essence                               Icing sugar, sifted for rolling and dusting

Method:
1. Line a large baking tray with baking paper.
2. Place the sugar, flour, cocoa, salt and butter in the bowl of a food processor, and pulse for 30 seconds. Add the egg and vanilla essence, and pulse for 15 seconds more, or until the mixture forms a dough.
3. Remove the dough from the processor and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
4. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees centigrade.
5. Roll the dough into 20 balls about the size of a walnut, then roll these balls in icing sugar and place on the prepared tray, leaving approximately 10cm between them to allow for spreading.
6. Bake in the oven for 10 – 12 minutes or until the cookies are just set. Remove the cookies from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Dust with icing sugar.

You can buy the book from amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Big-Book-Chocolate-Decadent-Irresistible/dp/1844836002/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1314639855&sr=8-1