Chocolate Banana Muffins

I made a batch of these to take to my brother's on Sunday, and I was glad we went, as we received some sad news of the death of a dear family member that afternoon whilst we were there.  It was so comforting to be together when the news came, and a salutory reminder of how important family is.  We were sad, and also joyful, as we remembered the lovely man, and toasted his memory with a stiff Amaretto liquer and these choc muffins.  Nigella writes in her book 'Feast' of the centrality of food and drink in all cultures when marking a death, and it was appropriate that this was one of her recipes.  I followed this but added a teaspoon of cinnamon and about 100g of chocolate chunks to ramp up the flavour.  Here is Nigella's recipe.  Make it, and share with those you love, and say a little prayer of thanks for their presence in your life.

Frosted Chocolate Tray Bake

Part 2 of my nerve-inspired chocolate baking fest.  This is using Mary Berry's 'Best Ever Chocolate Cake' recipe, but cooking it as a single layer in a 12" by 9" traybake tin, then icing the top with her chocolate ganache icing.  Very good.  I didn't use the layer of apricot jam before the icing that the recipe stipulates, largely because this divided opinion the last time I made it.  Do use Bourneville chocolate, though.  I know it isn't as high in cocoa content as other brands, but its sweet chocolatiness seems to make for a perfect smooth icing.  The remainder will be brought in to work on Monday afternoon - Ady Fenwick, you'd better be there!

Chocolate Peanut Caramel Flapjack

OK, so I have a bit of a baking head on.  I start a secondment next week (finally, as I've been trying to do two jobs for the last few weeks) and am nervous about 2 things: first, that I'll be rubbish in the new post - they have such high expectations about me and I feel a little fraudulent; and second, that my replacement is so good, they might not want me back in my old post when the 12 months is up!  Gulp!  So, I am seeking solace in baked goods with lots of chocolate.  First up, this obscene lump of solid sugar and fat.  I take some comfort that the oats will help reduce some of the cholesterol being ingested.  This is a layer of squidgy flapjack (100g butter, 30g granulated sugar, 70g soft muscovado sugar, 2 tablespoons golden syrup and 175g oat flakes, all melted together, flattened in a parchment-lined 20cm sq brownie pan and baked for 10 mins at 160C - no longer, or else it is too hard).  Allow this to cool, then mix half a tin of Carnation Caramel condensed milk - make sure it is the ready-caramelised one - with 100g of roasted peanuts - your choice whether salted or unsalted, but the salt goes really well with the caramel!  Also, it is up to you to decide what to do with the remining half tin.  It is calling to me from the kitchen.  "Hello? Psst!  Maggie, EAT me!" it is saying.  Spread this over the cooled flapjack, and set in the fridge for a few hours.  Then gently melt 75g each of dark and white chocolate together with a tablespoon of flavourless oil, stirring very gently.  Pour this over the cold caramel layer and return to the fridge.  Leave to set, and then cut with a big sharp knife dipped in boiling water, wiping the knife between each cut.  This is best done on a board, out of the tin.  Use the parchment paper to help lift out of the pan.  Try to keep chilled, so the caramel doesn't seep out too much.  The bulk (I use the word advisedly) of this is going into work on Monday, otherwise we'd scarf the lot. These taste good.  Very good.  Like a Marathon bar with oats in.  (I refuse to call them Snickers - stupid name)

Coffee Walnut Blondies

These are a very 'adult' taste, with strong coffee, dark chocolate and slightly bitter walnuts, in a fudgy, yet crisp sponge.  Incredibly quick and simple to make, and I knocked this batch up to take to my friend, Tom von Kaenel this afternoon.  Tom is going to be cycling from coast to coast in the USA later this year to raise money for US and UK veterans - check out the Sea2Sea website to read more and find how you can get involved.  Anyway, back to the baked goodies!  The recipe is, appropriately enough, in US cup measures.  You need a stick of butter (about 120g), 1 cup of soft light brown sugar, 1 large egg, a teaspoon of vanilla extract, 2 teaspoons of espresso or strong coffee powder, 1 cup of plain flour + 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, 1 cup of walnuts, chopped, and 1 cup of dark chocolate, 70% cocoa content if possible (I used Green and Black's Espresso Dark Chocolate to ramp up the coffee-ness).  Heat the oven to 170C, grease and line with parchment a 20cm square brownie pan.  Now, simply melt the butter, mix with the sugar in a bowl, then add the egg, vanilla and coffee and stir to combine.  Then, using a metal spoon, fold the other ingredients in - it will become quite a stiff batter.  Try not to overmix.  Plop it into the prepared tin and spread out, using a palette knife or back of the spoon.  Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown and just beginning to shrink from the sides of the tin - don't overbake it, you want it a little squidgy inside.  Allow to cool a little in the tin, lift out using the paper, and cut into squares - you should get 16 of them or thereabouts.

Cranberry Tiffin

Another baking marathon this weekend, in aid of my friend's charity Sea2Sea (check it out, he's cycling from the West to East Coast of the States to raise money for US and UK veterans).  This is an easy one to do and tuck away.  If you can open packs and heat a pan of water, you can make this.  In a bowl over gently simmering water (don't let the bowl touch the bottom), melt 200g of milk chocolate, 100g dark chocolate, 100g butter, 100g of golden syrup until smooth and amalgamated.  Don't rush this stage, keep the heat low, and leave it be, with just a little gentle stirring towards the end.  You don't want it to go grainy - oh no!  Then, add 200g of rich tea biscuits or shortbread biscuits, broken up (either by hand or by bashing in a plastic bag with a rolling pin) and 170g of dried cranberrries.  You can also add around 60g of your choice of nut, such as pistachios, pecans or almonds.  Mix gently until everything is coated and then spread into a 20cm sq baking tin, lined with cling film.  Allow to set, then dredge with cocoa powder and cut into squares - this should yield 16 medium or 12 large pieces - or cut them into small bite-sized pieces and pack into cellophane bags for a yummy home-made Christmas pressie.

The Best Chocolate Sauce

An extravagant claim, I know.  But if you like a chocolate sauce to be as dark, brooding and bitter as Heathcliffe, then this recipe from David Lebovitz is for you.  It is also low in fat - hurrah! (erm....we'll just gloss over the sugar, eh?).  This makes a large quantity, and it will keep for a week or so in the fridge to anoint chocolate pear pudding (as we did tonight), ice cream, pancakes, banana splits - or just spooned from the bowl......!  The recipe calls for corn syrup but I used the much more British ingredient, glorious golden syrup.  "Out of the strong came forth sweetness" and all that.  Anyway, do yourself a favour, make this, and dive in.

Chocolate Pear Cake

I am tentatively allowing some home-baked goodies back into our diet, on the basis that a little slice of cake made with the best fresh ingredients will ALWAYS be better for you than a processed rice cake or anaemic low-fat commercial biscuit.  Since doing the original Nigel Challenge a couple of years ago, I have become a fan of his favourite 'pound cake' recipe, where essentially you have the same weight of butter, sugar and flour - organic, please, for the best flavour.  This cake uses 125g each of those ingredients, along with 2 teaspoons of baking powder, 30g of cocoa powder (get the best you can afford), a teaspoon of vanilla essence (again, the good stuff from Madagascar), 2 organic eggs and 100ml of plain yoghurt.  Have the butter nice and soft and then chuck it all into the KitchenAid and beat until it goes a pale milk chocolately colour and is soft and creamy.  You could just sit on the floor of the kitchen, in the corner, and eat it out of the bowl now.  Or resist, and spoon it into a parchment-lined 20cm-square baking tin.  Peel and chop 2 ripe pears and press the chunks into the top of the sponge.  Bake at 170C for about 45 minutes, during which time the pear will sink beguilingly into the chocolate batter.  This will serve 8-10 people, so is really not as bad as you'd think, with about 15g of fat per serve.

Nigella's Chocolate Chip Muffins

ANOTHER cake sale at work tomorrow, so I knocked up a batch of these in no time at all - we pinched 2 to take on a picnic in the lovely spring sunshine.  Commercially-made chocolate muffins are always such a disappointment - overly-sweet and unpleasantly chewy with a 'clarty' texture in the mouth.  These, however, are light and moist and not too sweet (admittedly, I cut the quantity of sugar down to 125g).  I also used a mixture of white and milk choc chunks (Waitrose Essential Cook's range do brilliant ones).  This recipe also has the advantage of using oil instead of butter, so not quite as naughty as they might otherwise be.  Here is Nigella's recipe:

250g plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate soda
2 tablespoons best quality cocoa
175g caster sugar (I used 125g)
150g chocolate chips (plus more for sprinkling later)
250ml milk
90ml vegetable oil (I used sunflower)
1 large egg
1 teaspoon real vanilla extract
Here’s How:
1. Preheat the oven to 200C (180C fan) and fill a 12-bun muffin tray with paper cases.
2. Weigh out the dry ingredients into a large bowl. Pour all the liquid ingredients into a measuring jug
3. Mix both together – it will be a runny batter - then spoon into waiting muffin cases. - note: don't over-mix at this stage, better to have the batter a bit lumpy than to beat it, which makes the muffins heavy
4. Sprinkle more chocolate chips on top then cook for 20 minutes or until the muffins are risen and springy.

Frosted Cupcakes

I was so impressed by the Hummingbird Bakery vanilla cupcakes that I made last week for the Red Nose Day cake sale that I whipped up a batch this afternoon, to take to our friends with whom we are staying this weekend.  I decorated half with vanilla cheesecake frosting in a piped 'rose' pattern, and the other half with chocolate frosting.  The chocolate looked - erm - how shall we say, like a joke-shop dog's doo-doo, so I ended up smoothing it out and dusting with grated white chocolate.  Whatever they look like, I know they'll taste yummy!  The Hummingbird recipe is as follows: in a mixer, blend 120g plain flour, 1 and a half teaspoons baking powder, 140g caster sugar and 40g of soft butter, until the mixture goes 'sandy'.  In a jug, whisk together 120ml of milk, 1 egg and a teaspoon of vanilla essence.  With the mixer going, add the wet mixture to the flour mix, and beat for a further minute.  Don't over-mix.  Divide amongst 12 paper cases in a bun tin, and cook for 20-25 minutes at 160C fan oven or 180C non-fan.  Don't over-bake either - if the sponge is a light gold and springs back lightly to the touch, then it is ready.  Over-baking will dry the sponge out, and the benefit of this recipe is its lovely light, moist crumb.  Decorate however you like, but probably best not to go for the dog poo look!

Chocolate Beetroot Brownies

There seems to be a fashion at the moment for Red Velvet Cake, which is made with worryingly large amounts of artificial red food colouring.  If you want a red(dish) cake, then try this instead - much better for you!  It is a famous recipe from Hugh Fearnly Whittingstall via the Riverford Organics Field Kitchen.  It uses less sugar than normal brownies, and no wheatflour, so is suitable for those on gluten-free diets.  The reduced sugar content, and the addition of ground almonds, makes for a less crisp crust, but it tastes wonderful.  If the beetroot puts you off, please don't let it!  You really can't taste it, but it contributes that red tinge to the batter and adds wonderful moisture to the mix, making this a good 'keeper'.   I have made a Chocolate Beetroot Cake elsewhere on the blog, so do take a look at that as well. Tasting note: these have lasted well into the week, mainly because I forgot to take a whole load of them to my friend Jess on Tuesday - sorry!  However, as the week has progressed, these have just got fudgier and denser and even more chocolatey - definitely a good cake to make in advance of an event to get the full-on experience!  Yummy!

Banana Cake with Chocolate and Walnuts

If you can measure and stir, you can make this cake.  It is possibly the simplest cake I've ever made, and is low in fat, to boot, using just 3 tablespoons of light olive oil and a couple of eggs.  So, if you have three bananas browning accusingly in the fruit bowl, make this.  You could use other nuts if you prefer, but I think walnuts and bananas go together well.  Set the oven to 180c or 160c fan.  Grease and line with parchment paper a 2lb loaf tin.  Mash 3 ripe bananas and 160g caster sugar in a bowl.  If the bananas are a wee bit lumpy, it doesn't matter.  Stir in 3 tablespoons each of light olive or sunflower oil and milk, along with 2 beaten eggs.  Stir in 185g of SR flour, 100g of dark chocolate chips or chopped dark chocolate, and 90g of chopped walnuts.  Stir well, pour batter into the lined tin and bake for 55 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.  Cool on a wire rack. 

Chocolate Lace Crisps

I made these for a cake sale at work today to help a very worthy local cause.  It is an Australian recipe - they are such good bakers!  They were a nice texture - crisp on the outside, a little chewy within, and very chocolatey.  A bit sweet for my taste, though - I will experiment with 150g of sugar rather than the 220g.  The success of the crackled 'lacy' surface does depend on a thick coating of icing sugar before they are baked.  A pretty biscuit and worth trying again.
The recipe, taken from Australian Women's Weekly's 'tray bakes and slices':
100g dark eating chocolate, chopped coarsely
80g butter, chopped
220g caster sugar
1 egg
150g plain flour
2 TBSP cocoa powder
¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda
¼ cup (40g) icing sugar
Melt the butter and chocolate in a large bowl over hot water or carefully in the microwave, add all the other ingredients (except icing sugar) and mix until combined.  Cool in the fridge for 20 minutes.  Line 2 baking sheets with parchment and set oven to 180C.  Take flat dessertspoons of the mix and roll into balls.  You should get around 26 biscuits.  Roll each ball well in icing sugar and place on the baking sheets, spacing well apart.  Don't flatten them.  Bake for 15 minutes.  Leave to set and cool on the baking sheets.  Eat.  Go and lie down after the sugar rush.  Eat some more.

Valentine's Day Baking

So, the weekend has been spent producing what ends up looking like a ridiculously small amount of baked goods for a charity cake sale at work tomorrow.  About 3 pounds each of butter and sugar has been used, all in aid of the British Heart Foundation.  Hah!  The irony!  So, here is a picture of me producing the Chocolate Melting Moments.  I wish!  Those were the days when sex could be used to sell anything.  Ah me.

So what has been made?  Well, the Chocolate Melting Moments, along with Vanilla Melting Moments. I love these, being incredibly 'short' buttery little biscuits, sandwiched with butter cream.  The vanilla ones are very soft and 'tender', and the chocolate ones have ended up crisper - probably the extra cocoa powder that makes the difference. 

I have also made Orlando Murrin's brownies again (see earlier this month), along with Bill Granger's Lime Slice, which I have adapted to include lemon and passionfruit - for a Slice of Passion - geddit?  If anyone wants the recipes, just let me know.  And if you are a work colleague reading this, please bring lots of money in to work tomorrow!

Orlando Murrin's Best Ever Chocolate Brownies

I once sat next to Orlando Murrin, one-time editor of Good Housekeeping and the BBC Good Food Magazine, at a posh restaurant in Ludlow.  Who knows, he might be saying the same thing of me?  I doubt it.  Anyway, I am always on the search for the Holy Grail of the best chocolate brownie recipe, and this one comes pretty near it.  Deep, fudgy and very chocolatey, this mix smelt divine as it was baking.  Who needs air freshener?  In the UK we spend something silly like £360 million each year on chemical air fresheners - just bake a batch of brownies, people!  Here is the recipe, give it a go. (I substituted 50g of chopped walnuts for the milk choc chunks, 'cos I like nuts in my brownies).

Chocolate Pear Pudding

A recipe, this, from Nigella Express.  When I was looking for it online, I came across some episodes from 'Nigella Bites' on Youtube, from about 10 years ago, and was struck at how much Nigella has changed.  I don't mean physically - haven't we all become a little more, ahem, voluptuous, over the intervening years?  Her personality was much less 'in your face' and not nearly as flirty as she is in her current incarnation.  Anyhow, this is a delicious and dead simple recipe.  Nigella uses tinned pears, but we had a surfeit of extremely ripe fresh pears that we peeled and halved.  Yummy!

Chocolate Banana Cake

I saw Nigel Slater cooking this on his 'Simple Suppers' programme this week and knew I had to bake it - although even I would draw the line at having cake for my supper!  A look at my other 'Nigel' cakes on this blog will show how often he uses a 'pound cake' mix - i.e. equal quantities of flour, sugar and butter.  If the butter is lovely and soft, it is a breeze to make - just bung it all in the food mixer with some eggs and half a teaspoon of cinnamon and give it a good mix.  The quantities he used were 175g each of the SR flour/caster or light muscovado sugar/unsalted butter base, with 2 eggs.  When well beaten and fluffy, fold through 3 medium or 2 large ripe bananas, chopped, and 125g of dark chocolate, chopped fairly chunkily.  Turn into a greased and lined 2lb loaf tin and bake at 160C fan for 45 minutes or so until the centre is cooked.  Nigel added chopped toasted hazelnuts to his mix, but I didn't have any.  I'm sure this would be a wonderful addition.  This cake should keep well for our lunchboxes.....provided I can stop snaffling slices of it.

Dulce de Leche Cheesecake Squares

I made this for a cake-sale fundraiser at work today, and they went down pretty well - the caramel flavour perhaps could have been a wee bit more pronounced?  Never mind, they looked fantastic.  This is a recipe I've had my eye on for a while, and it has cropped up on many brilliant blogs, including Smitten Kitchen and Annie's Eats.  It consists of a base of crushed digestives and butter (about 80g and 40g respectively) baked in a foil-lined 8" square square tin for 10 mins.  Whip up 250g of mascarpone, a tin of Nestle Caramel, 60ml of single cream and two eggs.  Pour this over the cooled base, and bake, prefereably in a bain marie at around 160 degrees for 35 minutes.  Chill well, then top with a 'glaze' of 100g dark chocolate, not too bitter, 50g butter and 2 teaspoons liquid glucose, gently melted together and poured over the top.  When set, cut with a sharp long-bladed knife, dipped in hot water and wiped after each cut, to give dinky bite-sized portions.  This recipe yielded 36 squares, so great for gifts, buffets, after-dinner treats.

Chocolate Denver Pudding

Oh dear, another recipe where I fear I have to advise dieters to look away now.  But honestly, this is much lower in fat than last week's butter-fest pear cake with fudge sauce.  (OK, we won't mention the sugar content......).  Basically, this is a self-saucing pudding, made by mixing up a light batter, topping it with sugar and cocoa, and pouring cold coffee over.  When I first made it, many, many moons ago, I remember panicking and thinking "What the...?" but it works, like magic.  The cocoa and coffee cobine to form a gorgeous sauce on the bottom and the sponge rises to the top.  If you like chocolate fondant puddings, you'll love this, and SOOOO much easier to do.  No eggs, too, so suitable for egg-allergy sufferers or vegans, if you replace the butter and milk with a non-dairy alternative.  So, not too bad for you after all!  OK dieters, you can look now.
Recipe (from Sainsbury's Winter Pudding book 1986 - out of print sadly).  This serves 4-6 and is rich, so small portions are all that's needed.  Nice cold the next day if leftovers

50g butter, 3 tablespoons cocoa powder, 75g caster sugar, 125g plain flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder,6 tablespoons milk and a few drops good vanilla essence.  Topping 50g dark brown soft sugar, 50g caster sugar, 2 tablespoons cocoa powder, 100ml cold coffee made with two teaspoons of instant coffee or left-over strong filter coffee

Place the butter and cocoa in a pan over a medium heat and stir until melted and combined.  Stir in the sugar, flour, baking powder, milk and vanilla until well combined.  Turn the mixture into a deep greased 20cm square or round oven-proof dish.  For the topping, combine the sugars and cocoa and sprinkle over the batter, then pour over the cold coffee.  It will look dreadful, but bear with me.  Bake in a preheated oven 170C fan oven or Gas 4, for 40 minutes.  Serve with cream, if liked, but for once I think it is better without.

Chocolate and Beetroot Cake

I haven't made a cake for a while so thought I'd use up some beetroot in this good, plain, cut-and-come again cake.  Beetroot adds moisture and extra sweetness to proceedings, and the cake keeps well as a result - or as well as a slab of home-made chocolate cake lying around the kitchen can ever keep!  Some people react very strangely to the idea of it's presence in a cake, with a wrinkled nose and a 'bleugh!'.  Why?  We eat carrot cake with no qualms.  And it amazes me that people will pounce on Red Velvet Cake which is made with a huge quantity of artificial red food colouring.  Surely better to eat something wholesome and healthy?  Anyway, a quick google for a simple, melt-and-mix recipe came up with this one on Netmums, and it is a doddle - do try it.  You will also find a variation on BBC Good Food, which uses oil instead of butter for those trying to avoid dairy.

Chocolate Brownies with Hazelnuts and Walnuts

I baked a massive batch of these for a Cancer Charity Coffee Morning this morning, and used Delia's recipe from her Winter Collection, but I double the amount of chocolate. So, use her recipe but with 100g dark chocolate, rather than the 50g the recipe suggests, which is not chocolatey enough and too sweet for my taste. Other than that, it is a great recipe and produces the perfect texture of a crisp top and gooey middle, with chunky toasted nuts throughout. I also used just two varieties of nuts, as that was all I had! One punter at the coffee morning said they were the best brownies she'd ever eaten - forgive my boastfulness!