Chocolate chip cookies

 

I wanted something quick and tasty to take to my friends house for a girls night. Suprisingly I've never actually made chocolate chip cookies before and a quick search on tastespotting etc returns thousands of variations. This is my adaptation which is quick and easy and these had a nice balance of being both soft and chewy. Be sure to leave plenty of room on the baking tray as these really expand. Next time I might try making them a bit more bite sized and might a variation with oats and raisins.  

Chocolate chip cookies
Makes 20 medium cookies

100g milk chocolate chopped
125g unsalted butter
100g caster sugar
75g soft brown sugar
1 free-range egg
2 tsp vanilla extract
150g plain flour
½ tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/gas mark 5. Line two large baking sheets with baking parchment. Chop the chocolate into chunks and set aside.
Heat the butter very gently in a saucepan until it has just melted. Meanwhile, put both sugars into a mixing bowl. Pour the melted butter on to the sugar and beat with a wooden spoon. Break in an egg and add the vanilla, then beat until blended.
Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into the bowl, fold in, then add the chunks of chocolate.
Dot heaped pudding spoonfuls of the mixture on to the baking sheets, leaving plenty of space in between - they really spread out - and bake for eight to 10 minutes, until the cookies are turning golden brown. Remove, leave on the sheets for a couple of minutes to harden up, then carefully lift the parchment on to a wire rack and leave to cool completely.

Chocolate fudge cake

I know I haven't posted for a while - so much going on -  holidays, life - but thought I'd share my first real attempt at a chocolate cake which I've been threatening to make for some time now. There are so many recipes some using chocolate in the cake others cocoa, but this recipe was pretty straightforward and the cake was pretty moist and the icing very tasty.

Chocolate fudge cake

Ingredients

175g 6 oz of soft (room temp.) unsalted butter

3 large eggs

175g 6 oz self-raising flour

175g 6oz Castor sugar

30g of cocoa powder

1 teaspoon of vanilla essence

2 tablespoons of milk

For the Coating and filling

75g Unsalted butter

175g icing sugar

3 tablespoon cocoa powder

A drop of milk

Preheat the oven to 180C/gas 4 (350F).

Put all the butter into a good-sized mixing bowl and, using a wooden spoon or an electric mixer, beat until creamy. Add all the sugar, beating all the time until the mixture is very light and fluffy.

Break the eggs into another bowl or jug, add the vanilla essence, and beat together with a fork until this mixture is light and frothy. Pour this mixture a bit at a time into the bowl containing the butter and sugar mixture. Take time and care on each occasion that you add the mixture to mix carefully and beat thoroughly.

Sift the flour and cocoa powder together by gently tapping the sieve with the heel of your hand over the butter, sugar and egg mixture. At any point in making this recipe, the more air you can trap in the mixture the better; conversely, the more you knock out by mixing roughly, the poorer the texture of the cake will be.

Add the milk. Then using gentle folding movements with a large spoon, mix the flour and cocoa mixture together into the rest of the mixture, so that they are completely blended; i.e. no streaks, just a nice uniform colour, yet done very gently. Divide the mixture between the two tins 18-20cm in diameter and place in the preheated oven for 15 to 20 mins.

The cake is done when the sponge springs back when gently pressed in the centre; or is starting to brown on top and has shrunk away from the edges of the tin container.

Turn out onto a wire rack and let the cake cool completely before you ice.

To make the icing – cream the butter then add cocoa and icing sugar – add milk till you get a spreadable consistency. Sandwich the cakes together and spread the icing on top – decorate as desired.

Cut a slice and enjoy!

Rolo Brownies

I’ve never tried baking brownies before and have read various recipes some of which use cocoa only and other made with chocolate. I usually prefer milk chocolate so used this for the brownies but I think if I was to make these again I’d try dark to give a richer taste.

My mum enjoyed these brownies hot with melted Nutella and ice cream while I think they tasted better the next day when they were more firm. Either way I think they turned out pretty well for my first attempt at brownies!
I’ll definitely be trying more traybakes in the future!

Rolo Brownies (makes 12)

150g (5oz) luxury Belgian plain chocolate (I used green and blacks milk and Cadburys but next time would try a dark chocolate)
110g (4oz) unsalted butter
225g (8oz) caster sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
3 large eggs
75g (30z) plain flour
1 level teaspoon baking powder
12 rolos / slices of mini chocolate bars or Mars celebrations*

A baking tin – roughly 25.5 x 16 x 2.5cm (10 x 6 ½ x 1in), greased and lined with greaseproof paper

Preheat the oven to 170ºC, 325ºF.
Melt the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water. Remove from the heat and stir until smooth. Allow to cool slightly.
Whisk the sugar, vanilla and the eggs until combined, add the melted chocolate and butter mixture and mix until smooth.

Sift over the flour, baking powder and stir to combine.
Pour into the prepared tin and smooth the surface. Place the Rolos/ chocolate pieces at even intervals in the batter so that when you cut each brownies will contain a piece. Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 30 – 40 minutes or until a skewer comes out with a moist crumb. Cool then cut into 12 pieces.

* I used a combination of Rolos and slices of Mars Bar. I actually placed half the mixture in the tin then added the chocolates then topped with remaining mixture. The Rolos seemed to sink slightly to the bottom of the brownies and a few of the Mars ones sank.

Product Review - Milka Daim

Milka Daim - 45g , 240 cals per bar

Apparently this bar has been around for a while in the 100g format but has just hit the shelves in the new 45g format. On first looks this appears quite a substantial bar and when opening you get the lovely sweet smell of milka chocolate which is broken into 6 chunks. The chunks are a lot deeper than those from the 100g bar format and the crunchy sweet daim complements the milka chocolate brillantly. Each bite was very satisfying – a definite must try for milka and daim fans.

Dorset Cereals Chocolate Granola with Macademia Nuts

Calories – 263 per 40g serving with 125ml milk

Being a huge cereal lover I’m not sure why I’ve not tried a lot of the Dorset cereals. I think the main reason is that a lot of them tend to have nuts in the cereal mix which I’m not totally keen on unless they can’t be detected in the taste.

I do however like my granolas and the idea of a chocolate version sounded pretty delicious and reminded me that I must get back to eating one of my old breakfast cereal favourites – The Marks and Spencer Triple Chocolate Crunch.
Anyway, I couldn’t track down the Dorset granola in any of my local supermarkets but with a bit of luck I won a competition from Dorset which included 3 boxes of each of the chocolate & macadamia nuts and the chocolate with coconut version.

The chocolate taste from this Granola is pretty intense and this is no surprise given that it uses dark chocolate along with oats, sunflower seeds and barley flakes. It’s really very good although for my liking there was slightly too many nuts (although I did manage to pick some of the larger pieces out). I did find it a little heavy going though and thought that it tasted best when mixed with other slightly lighter cereals. Its also pretty high in calories and tastes almost dessert like but overall I’d say this is a pretty tasty breakfast option.