I wish...

I wish that i could eat macaroons everyday! I was in London on Wednesday and found the lovliest french patisserie called Pauls that made the best macaroons i have ever tasted- and i have tasted alot of macaroons.
If you are ever in London you have to find a Pauls, unfortunately i couldn't try everything but the bread looked amazing as well as the cakes. I also found out on my return to the countryside that they have a website and they do deliveries- hallelujah!

So i have decided that next weekend i am going to make my own macaroons, i've found a lovely recipe for pistachio ones so i will post them on here once i've made them!


Look at the website, the cakes look gorgeous!

http://www.paul-uk.com/content/food-patisserie.php

Gooey Chocolate Puddings

I have to try seriously hard not to make these every single day, and i probably would if i could manage to eat all four. Quite honestly the first time i made them i was a little scared that they weren't cooked enough after 12 minutes but i've learnt that rather than being afraid of salmonella you have to embrace the gooeyness. They keep well in the fridge if you make them before you want to cook them but i do find they are best cooked from room temperature. Having made them so so many times i have thought of several variations should you find this recipe a little unadventurous!

Ingredients:

60g caster sugar
1 large egg
1 egg yolk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
50g butter
60g dark chocolate (minimum 70% coco solids-i used Lindt)
50g plain flour


Method:

Melt the chocolate and butter together and let it cool for a couple of minutes. Then mix the sugar, egg, egg yolk and vanilla extract until it looks pale and thick. Pour in the melted chocolate mixture and mix until combined. Finally sift the flour into the mixture and fold in. Grease four small ramekins and dust with coco powder. Divide the mixture between the ramekins and pop into a preheated oven at 160C for 12 minutes.


I usually keep mine in the ramekins and serve them with ice cream!

Variations:

1. Chilli chocolate- Instead of using plain dark chocolate replace it with good quality chilli chocolate. It adds a bit of a kick to the pudding and is abit more adventurous!

2. Baileys and chocolate- Add two tablespoons of Baileys or Tia Maria or anything similar that you might prefer to the mixture before adding the flour.

3. Cherry chocolate- Similar to above but replace the Baileys with a cherry liqueur.

4. Coffee chocolate- dissolve one heaped teaspoon of instant coffee in one tablespoon of boiling water and incorporate into the mixture.

Baby Lemon Cakes

I make these cakes in my silicone muffin tin, which if you haven't got one then you really should! Any bakeware shop sells them and they make they cutest little cakes! If you don't happen to have these however then just make them in cupcake cases. Also if you happen to have any Limoncello in your house then the icing tastes super good with a splash of that in as well as the lemon juice. 

For the cakes:

125g butter
125g caster sugar
125g self-raising flour
2 large (free range!) eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Zest of 1 large lemon
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons milk

For the icing:

300g icing sugar
Lemon juice ( about 4 tablespoons works for me but it really depends how runny or thick you want your icing to be. Just add a little at a time until you get your desired consistensy)
Poppy seeds, for sprinkling on top.


Method:

Simply put all the ingredients but the milk and lemon juice into a bowl and mix. Once they are smooth add the milk then mix, then the lemon juice. Divide between the moulds or cupcake cases and bake for 15-20 minutes at 200C/gas mark 6. The mixture makes 10 mini cakes or 12 cupcakes.
To make the icing sieve the icing sugar into a bowl and add the lemon juice. Once the cakes are cooled ice each one and sprinkle with poppy seeds!

Banana, Honey and Chocolate Chunk Muffins

These are probably one of the easiest things to make, and if you omit the chocolate then they are pretty cheap too! I really like to eat them as breakfast muffins althought they are just as good at any other time of day. They keep well for a few days too, if you can manage not to eat them!

Ingredients:

90g clear honey (3 tablespoons)
30g butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large or three small very ripe bananas
150g plain flour
1 heaped teaspoon baking powder
1 level teaspoon of cinamon
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
50g dark or milk chocolate (whichever you prefer)


Method:

Melt the butter, honey and vanilla extract in a pan then leave it for a couple of minutes to cool slightly. Mash the bananas in a large bowl (don't mash it to a pulp it's better with a few lumps of banana in it) and pour in the melted butter mixture. Next measure all the dry ingredients together and sieve them into the banana mix. Chop the chocolate into small chunk and mix all the ingredients together, being careful not to over mix.
Divide into 10 muffin cases and put into a preheated oven at 180C/Gas mark 5 for 20 minutes until golden brown on top.

Crunchy Peanut Butter Squares

I found this recipe in a childrens section in one of Nigella's books and i couldn't resist making them! However I altered mine slightly by using crunchy peanut butter and slightly different quantities as i like abit more crunch in mine. And believe me when i say you only need tiny squares!

For the peanut butter base:

150g crunchy peanut butter
25g butter
100g icing sugar
25g light brown muscavado sugar

For the chocolate topping:

100g plain chocolate
70g milk chocolate
25g butter

Method:

Put all the ingredients for the base i a bowl and mix together- it will be pretty lumpy but thats ok! Then press it down into a small lined brownie tin making it as compact as possible(i find it easiest to use my fingers to do this). For the top melt all the ingredients together then spread onto the base. Put it in the fridge until the chocolate is set then cut into squares! It makes roughly 20 small squares.

Valentines Kisses

I thought these coconut kisses would be appropriate for valentines, they look cute and are so easy to make!

For the cupcakes:

125g butter
125g caster sugar
125g self-raising flour
2 large eggs( free range of course)
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
50g desiccated coconut

For the topping:

200g white chocolate
110g shredded coconut

Method:

Cream the butter and sugar, add the eggs and vanilla extract and then sifted flour. Fold in the desiccated coconut and then divide into 12 bun cases. Bake in the oven for around 15-20 minutes on 200 C/ gas mark 6. As soon as they're cool melt the chocolate and stir in the coconut for the topping. Then using a teaspoon shape roughly into balls and pop on top of the cupcakes!

If only it were so simple Nigella...

I have probably baked everything in this book five times over at least and i still don't quite feel like a goddess (although my boyfriend insists i am!). I am determind that one day all of my horrible baking disasters will pay off!