Soft & Chewy Peanut Butter cookies with Reese's Pieces

It's been an absolute age since I last baked any biscuits: cakes and cupcakes seem to be my go-to baked good of choice these days when I need a hit of something sweet.
Yesterday however, I felt like making something a bit different and having never quite perfected the art of making proper American cookies (you know the ones with the centre still deliciously chewy) I thought now was a perfect time to give it a bash.

I found this recipe for peanut butter cookies and simply adapted it by adding two packets of Reese's pieces to the mixture right at the end, and less actual peanut butter to the mix itself (an entire cup seemed an awful lot of PB to me!)

I've included the original recipe along with my annotations in pink below, it's all in American "cups" measurement I'm afraid- this used to drive me potty, but ever since investing in a set of measuring cups I've never looked back- they're much less hassle than weighing scales!

These are so, so good and dangerously moreish. I'm surprised there are any left after the weekend but I'm sure we'll polish them all off by the end of today!


Recipe:

1/2 cup butter, softened (half a packet)

1 cup peanut butter3/4 cup white sugar1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar1 egg1 tablespoon milk1 teaspoon vanilla extract1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour (Plain flour)3/4 teaspoon baking soda1/2 teaspoon baking powder1/4 teaspoon salt

Beat together butter and peanut butter until well combined.  Add sugars and beat until fluffy.  Add egg, milk, and vanilla extract and mix until smooth.  Add flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt  (and Reese's Pieces) and mix just until blended.  

Roll balls of dough in white sugar before placing on an ungreased baking sheet. (Important step, this: it makes the outside of the cookies crunchy)  Bake at 350 degrees F (180 Celsius) for 10 to 12 minutes. (They will not look done. Don't trust your eyes, they are! ) Do not over bake.  Let cookies cool on baking sheet for at least 3 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.  Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

St Patrick's Day recipe: Chocolate Guinness Cupcakes

Yesterday I finished my latest essay for my part-time Uni course with mere moments to spare from the deadline and having pulled more than one all-nighter in order to get it done, so I thought a treat was in order!

I've made this recipe before in cake form, and whilst it remains the nicest, lightest chocolate cake I've ever found, it is very rich, so I decided to make it into cupcakes instead in the optimistic hope that I'd be more likely to portion control (yeah right!)

I also thought this was quite an appropriate recipe to share what with St Patrick's day coming up, so if you're looking for something a bit different to make for next Sunday's celebrations, look no further!

It may seem a bit odd using Guinness in the recipe- personally I don't like beer, ale stout or bitter as drinks but you can't taste it in the cake, it just sort of tastes a bit more malty than it usually would! (Didn't want anyone to be put off by it as you'd definitely be missing out!)

If you want to track down the original recipe, it's in Nigella Lawson's book Feast and online here.

I've adapted the recipe as cupcakes need much less baking time than one big cake!

For the cake

• 250 ml guinness
• 250 gram(s) unsalted butter
• 75 gram(s) cocoa powder
• 400 gram(s) caster sugar
• 142 ml sour cream
• 2 medium egg(s)
• 1 tablespoon(s) vanilla extract
• 275 gram(s) plain flour
• 2.5 teaspoon(s) bicarbonate of soda

For the topping

• 300 gram(s) cream cheese
• 150 gram(s) icing sugar
• 125 ml double cream (or whipping cream)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to gas mark 4/180°C
2. Pour the Guinness into a large wide saucepan, add the butter - in spoons or slices - and heat until the butter's melted, then whisk in the cocoa and sugar. Beat the sour cream with the eggs and vanilla and then pour into the pan and finally whisk in the flour and bicarb.
3. Pour the cake batter into your cupcake cases (this makes enough for about twenty) and bake for 25-30 minutes. Leave to cool completely in the tin on a cooling rack, as it is quite a damp cake.
4. Whip the cream cheese until smooth, sieve over the icing sugar and then beat them both together.
5. Add the cream and beat again until it makes a spreadable consistency. Ice the top of the cupcakes so that they resemble the top of a pint!
6. I then sprinkled some cocoa over the top to finish up, I just wish I'd have had a Guinness template to do the harp with!

LA photo diary

I've been lucky enough recently to be doing plenty of trips to LA, a place I've grown to truly love. LA isn't so much a city, as a collection of towns and it takes some getting used to before you can really make the most of all it has to offer.
Despite the fact that I've been over there no less than three times in the last month, I've far from run out of things to do and am busily trying to plan my next trip as we speak!
It's hard not to fall in love with the sunny climate (even when it's springtime and the temperature rarely climbs above 15 c), the beaches, the food and the friendly locals.
One day, I'm going to get really organised and plan a month long trip to the USA starting in Chicago and taking in the whole of route 66 finishing up in Santa Monica where it ends, but this time I only made it to the very end of the trail.
I honestly think however many trips I do to LA, it will never be enough- there's always something new to catch your eye!

 The iconic LAX sign at the international airport, driving to Hollywood!

 Almost as good as meeting the men themselves? Not really but good enough for now!

 Stars on the Hollywood walk of fame- my heroes, The Muppets!

 More star-spotting!

 Santa Monica- the end of the route 66 trail and home to a picturesque pier

 Some signs just have to be seen (and photographed!)

 Watching the sun set over Hermosa beach

Cocktails and surf 'n' turf burger at The Yardhouse, Longbeach

 Banana pancakes with Maple syrup for breakfast overlooking beautiful Redondo beach

Valentine's in Camden- Shaka Zulu Restaurant

Not everyone is into Valentine's, but personally I think it's healthy to set aside time for each other and have regular "date nights", whatever time of the year it is. 

This month's date night just so happened to be around Valentine's day, so we made more of a "thing" of it than usual.

One of my favourite spots in London has to be Camden. It's really unique and has its own special vibe unlike anywhere else in the city. It's always bustling, busy and full of interesting nick nacks and people. If I could live anywhere at all in London, I'd definitely choose here- it would be impossible to get bored of the place!

So last weekend we headed there to spend the day mooching around before going for dinner. After navigating our way through all the narrow streets and stalls, stopping to buy little bits and bobs that took our fancy, we went on to the restaurant.

 We'd booked in to Shaka Zulu, an African restaurant right in the heart of Camden Market.

 The decor in here is seriously impressive- every inch of the cavernous space is given over to African wood carvings.

During the meal we were entertained by a contortionist in a zebra leotard(!) and an Albino Python, which I kept my distance from!

The menu is very typically South African, and given that Matt's from Africa, a lot of dishes familiar to me from family meals were available.

So what did we have?  For starters we shared a plate of Biltong (dried cured meats- think beef jerky), then I opted for Bobotie, which is a curried casserole impossible to describe without making it sound weird, which it isn't, I promise! 

For dessert we shared Melktert and cinnamon ice cream.

I won't go into full- on review mode but suffice to say this is a restaurant relying heavily on it's impressive decor, the food certainly doesn't match up and is at London prices.

Apparently when it was built, £5.5 million was spent on the interior design- and it is a truly fantastic place with a brilliant atmosphere, but they really need to put some of the effort back into the menu in my opinion. Matt ordered pork spit roast, which when it came turned out to be two rather dry pork loin steaks- not great!

We had a great time though, and the food wasn't bad, it just didn't match up to the place itself!

The wine was great though!

I'm always interested to hear people's restaurant recommendations- have you been anywhere amazing recently?

Valentine's baking ideas: Pink iced cupcakes with brownie hearts

With Valentine's day fast approaching I thought I'd start taking a look around for some cute baking ideas!

I never need much of an excuse to don my pinny and get baking, and as I've been holed up at home this week recovering from dental surgery, I thought this was the perfect excuse to start trying out some recipes. ( even if I can't actually eat them myself- sob!)

I came across this recipe from Martha Stewart and as it incorporates not one but to of my absolute favourite baked treats- cupcakes AND brownies- I thought I'd give it a go!

I'm really pleased with how they turned out...

I've included the original recipe below, but I adjusted it slightly by using my failsafe Hummingbird Bakery brownie recipe and my favourite cream cheese frosting  which I tinted pink (links to the recipes for these highlighted)

You could make it even simpler by using a pre-made cupcake mix too!

Brownie Heart Cupcakes 

• Vegetable oil, cooking spray
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
• 3 sticks unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 12 ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 3 cups sugar
• 6 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 
  
• Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Coat an 8-inch square cake pan with cooking spray, line bottom with parchment, then spray parchment.
2. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Place butter and chocolate in a heatproof mixer bowl set over a pot of simmering water, stirring until chocolate melts.
3. Attach bowl to mixer, add sugar, and whisk on medium-high speed until smooth, about 3 minutes. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time, then vanilla. Reduce speed to low, and add flour mixture.
4. Divide batter among muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full. Spread remaining batter in square pan. Bake until set but still soft, about 18 minutes. Let cool in tins and pan on wire racks.
5. Frost cupcakes with buttercream. Cut out 24 hearts from brownie in pan using a 1 1/2-inch heart-shaped cutter. Top each cupcake with a heart.
   
   
   Has anyone come across any more cute Valentines baking ideas I should try out?

Christmas recipes: Eggnog latté cupcakes

I don't know about you, but every year by around the tenth of December I've had enough of mince pies. I'm not a great fan of them in general, and since we're going to spend Christmas with family, I thought it would be nice to try and find a recipe for an alternative treat to take along with me for the celebrations.
After spending a blissfully happy afternoon browsing recipes online, I came across the following one on the Good Food website.
Anything that claims to taste like my favourite winter drink from Starbucks has to be worth a shot!

 These are incredibly simple to bake, make the entire house smell absolutely delicious (No need for any Yankee Christmas candles!), and if you've been doing any festive baking at all I'm sure you will have the majority of the ingredients already lurking in your kitchen cupboard.

I made two batches (we will not speak of the first, suffice to say I immediately left the house to buy a new baking tray) and after making the frosting, put them in the fridge for an hour to set before adding the finishing touch- a sprinkling of Dairy Milk with Oreo!

They do indeed taste just like eggnog lattés (and probably have just as many calories but who's counting eh?) and if you're looking for a last minute treat to bake that's a bit different to the norm, definitely give them a go!
Here's the recipe:


For the cupcakes

100 g unsalted butter, softened
240 g caster sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 medium eggs
100 ml milk
220 g plain flour, sifted, plus extra
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground nutmeg
2 tsp ground cinnamon
60 g white chocolate, grated

For the frosting

100 g white chocolate
125 g unsalted butter
250 g icing sugar, sifted
2 tbsp double cream
1 tsp ground cinnamon



1. Preheat oven to 180C/160C Fan/gas 4. Prepare a cupcake tray with 12 cupcake cases.

2. Cream the softened butter and caster sugar together in a large mixing bowl. Stir in the vanilla extract, then beat in the eggs one by one, adding a little flour at any sign of curdling. Pour in the milk and mix well.

3. Add the flour, baking powder, nutmeg and cinnamon. Mix until thoroughly combined.

4. Finally, add the chocolate to the batter and fold it through to distribute evenly. Fill prepared cupcake cases 2/3rds full with the batter.

5. Bake in the oven for 20-22 minutes until well risen and golden brown on top. Allow to cool on a wire rack.

6.Melt the white chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of hot water.

7. Cream together the butter, icing sugar and double cream.  Add the melted chocolate and mix well to combine.

8. Once completely cool, frost the top of the cupcakes using a small angled spatula or pipe if you prefer. Sprinkle the tops with whatever you have chosen for decoration!

Home for the Holidays

Jacket- Topshop

Martha jumper- Joules

Tartan mini Kilt- eBay

Boots- Topshop (old season)

Finally landed from my last flight of 2012 yesterday afternoon, and now I can start to really relax and get into the spirit of things. I don't own a Christmas jumper as such, so when I spotted the beautiful Martha jumper from Joules on a few blogs recently, I thought it was the ideal excuse to treat myself! The only trouble came when trying to decide which of the massively cute designs to pick- stag, fox, Daschund or Dalmatian?

As you can see I plumped for the dalmatian in the end, although I love this one so much I may well buy another in the sales..

I paired it with my new mini kilt which I picked up for a song on eBay (link above)- I think the two together have a festive spirit about them without being too cliched!

I spent a lovely afternoon with my husband and our flatmate going for our Christmas meal at our fabulous local, The Roe Deer pub.

 We're so lucky to have such a great place just down the road from us, the space has been so beautifully designed, the staff are amazingly friendly and the food they serve is simply delicious...

 We ordered one of their specialities- the Mega Platter, and gorged ourselves on wine, cheese, meats and bread until we could eat no more!

 They also have what any great pub does- a pub dog, Hendricks! (I think his official title should be Head of Customer Relations, as you can see he spent a good amount of time "checking everything was OK" with our meal..)

If you're ever in the Surrey area, I absolutely insist you pop in to sample a platter and give Hendricks the dog a chooch!