Fat Friday #51 Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

Happy Friday everyone! I can't get enough of cookies! There have been so many cookie recipes lately. I can't really get enough of them, however I never thought to do a traditional cookie but make it vegan friendly. If you aren't vegan then that's ok, you can use unsalted butter and regular chocolate chips instead of margarine and dairy-free chocolate. 

Also, I have to say these cookies are very...cake-like. So they will be a nightmare to get off the baking sheet. Be patient and just make sure that you wait until the tray goes cold, then remove them.

Recipe: Makes 24 cookies (Adapted from Mom on Time Out)

Ingredients:

• 240g flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tbsp of cornflour
• Pinch of Salt
• 2 ripe bananas
• 120g golden caster sugar
• 50g caster sugar
• 180g dairy free chocolate chips* (or regular chocolate chips)
• 50g margarine (or unsalted butter)

*I couldn't find dairy free chocolate chips so I chopped up a slab of chocolate into chunky bits.

Equipment:

• Bowl x 2
• Wire rack
• Handwhisk/Wooden spoon
• Baking sheets lined with silicone paper x 4 (Or just use two and wait for each sheet to cool down)
• Fridge

1)Place all of the dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside.

2)Cream the margarine, bananas, and sugars together and super light and fluffy.

3)Stir in the dry ingredients into the creamed mixture until just combined.

4) Add the chocolate and pop in the fridge for about 30 minutes or until firm. 

5)Preheat your oven to 375f/GM 5/190C

6) Roll the dough into 1 inch little balls and place on a baking trays.

7) Bake for 10 minutes or until they turn a light brown.

8) Let the cookies cool on they tray for about 15 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack.

9)Eat like a boss. 

Happy Friday Peeps!

Fat Friday #39 Triple Chocolate Cookies

Its the cookie in its ultimate form! Dark, milk, white and caramel buttons all in one biscuit. These cookies are ideal to take into work at a party for snacks or fuel for revision. (Or do what I did, and horde them away to eat when you need a chocolate fix) 

Recipe: Makes 25 cookies (Recipe adapted from Primrose Bakery Christmas by Martha Swift) 

•      200g unsalted butter, softened
•      250g golden caster sugar
•      1 egg
•      1 teaspoon vanilla extract
•      150g dark chocolate
•      320g plain flour
•      1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
•      ¼ teaspoon baking powder
•      150g roughly chopped milk chocolate
•      50g caramel buttons
•      50g roughly chopped white chocolate

Equipment:

•     Baking sheets lined with silicone paper x 3
•     Saucepan with a little water
•     Heatproof bowl
•     Bowl
•     Sieve
•     Wooden spoon/handheld whisk
•     Wirerack

1.Place the dark chocolate in the heatproof bowl and place over the saucepan of warm water. This will melt the chocolate.

2. Meanwhile sieve flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda into a bowl and set aside.

3.Cream the butter and sugar together, in another bowl,until creamy and fluffy.

4.Add the vanilla and egg to the creamed mixture.

5.Pour in the melted chocolate until combined.

6.Lastly, add the dry mixture and fold into combine into a soft dough. Place in the fridge for the dough to firm up for 10 minutes.

7. Preheat the oven to 180c/160f/Gas Mark 4 in the meantime.

8. Portion the dough into 25 small balls and squash until flat and about 1cm thickness. (If you want to be precise, their about 28g per cookie).

9. Place 5 or 6 cookies on a baking sheet, to allow the cookies to spread. Bake for 5 minutes, turn the trays around and bake for a further 4 minutes. The cookies should be firm on the outside but still a little soft in the middle.

10. Leave the cookies on the baking sheets to cool for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack.

Have a great weekend and happy baking! 

Fat Friday #35 Croissants

First of all, Happy Friday! When this blog post gets published, I'll be in the middle of my synoptic test, which is a pastry test that I need to pass for college. So wish me luck. I'll be making Danish pastries, Florentines, Baked Alaska and Croissants! All of which will most likely be featured on the blog soon. This week we're looking at flaky, buttery croissants. This is a failsafe recipe, ONLY IF, you measure everything in pounds and ounces. I prefer grams, but I've been told by my pastry tutor that its best to weigh it in pounds.

Recipe: Makes loads for breakfast (Kindly provided by my pastry tutor):

·       1 1/2 lb Strong Flour / (680.39g)
·       ¼ lb butter/(113.40g)
·       8oz butter/(226.8g)
·       ½ pint of water
·       1oz milk powder/(28.35g)
·       ¼ pint of egg
·       1 ½ oz sugar/(680.39g)
·       ¼ oz salt/(113.40g)
·       1 ½ oz yeast/(680.39g)
·       Plus extra beaten egg wash

Equipment:

·       Sieve
·       Saucepan
·       Bowl x 2
·       Clingfilm
·       Rolling Pin
·       Croissant cutter (you can get one here)
·       Pastry brush
·       Baking sheet lined with silicone

Method:

1.    Sieve the flour, salt and milk powder. Add the smaller amount of butter and rub into the flour mixture.
2.    Warm the water to body temperature and add the fresh yeast and sugar. Add the eggs to the yeast mixture.
3.    Combine the wet mixture to the dry mixture to form a dough. Put in a clean bowl, cover with cling film and place in the fridge to rest for 10 minutes.
4.    Roll out the dough vertically and place the larger amount of butter in the middle. Fold the dough into thirds to cover the butter. Roll out and perform 1 double turn. Place in the fridge.
5.    Repeat 2 more double turns.

6.    Roll out the dough to about 2 ½ mm thick and cut using a croissant cutter.
7.    Preheat oven to 200c/400f/Gas Mark 6.
8.    Roll up each croissant to form a crescent. Place on a lined baking sheet, egg wash, and place in a warm place to prove until doubled in size.
9.    Bake until golden brown. Serve cool, with jam or cheese and ham or whatever you fancy!
Have an excellent weekend!

Fat Friday #28 Gluten Free Raspberry Love Hearts

It's a week and a day until dreaded Valentines day. I'm sure you know how I feel about Valentines day here. Erg, but its a good excuse to bake cute heart shaped things, such as this weeks Fat Friday. We're looking at gluten free raspberry love hearts. You can make them with normal plain flour, but I chose to use gluten free flour to use it up. These are great on there own or served with ice cream or whipped cream as a dessert. The recipe is easy to make so you can make them up to the day before as a surprise for your valentine. Or you can scoff them yourself. Either way!

 

Biscuit recipe (Recipe adapted from The Great British Bake off Showstoppers by Linda Collister):

·       100g ground almonds

·       200g Gluten free plain flour (I used Dove brand), sifted

·       80g icing sugar

·       Pinch of salt

·       125g unsalted butter, diced and chilled

·       3 large egg yolks

Raspberry filling:

·       200g fresh raspberries

·       2 teaspoons cornflour

·       3 tablespoons icing sugar, plus a extra for dusting

Equipment:

·       Bowl

·       Sieve

·       Saucepan

·       Heatproof bowl

·       Clingfilm

·       8cm heart cookie cutter

·       Smaller heart cookie cutter

·       Baking sheet lined with baking parchment x 2

·       Rolling pin

Biscuit Method:
1.    Put the almonds, flour, salt and icing sugar into a bowl. Add the butter and rub into the dry ingredients until crumbly.
2.    Add the egg yolks until the mixture forms a dough. Leave in the fridge for 15 minutes.
3.    Roll out the dough until 2mm thickness on a lightly floured surface. Cut out the heart shapes, then use the smaller cutter to cut out the middle.
4.    Gather up the trimmings, re-roll and repeat until no more dough is left. Make 12 hearts and 12 smaller hearts.
5.    Place the hearts on a baking sheet and chill in the fridge for another 15 minutes.
6.    Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4. Bake for 12 minutes until lightly coloured.
7.    Leave the biscuits on the baking sheets for 10 minutes to cool. Transfer to wire rack.

Filling Method:
1.    Put the raspberries, icing sugar and cornflour in saucepan on a medium heat.
2.    Stir gently until the juices start to run.
3.    Bring to the boil and simmer for 2 minutes, stirring until thick.
4.    Pour into a heatproof bowl to cool.

To finish:

1.    Spread the cold raspberry filling over the uncut biscuits, top with an uncut biscuit.

2.    Dust with icing sugar and consume with a loved one or stuff by yourself while watching a tacky rom-com or a horror film each to their own.

If you want to see some more loved up recipes try these:
Anti Valentines Gluten Free Zombie Biscuits
Limoncello truffles
Valentines heart shaped biscuits

Have a great weekend and feel the lurve! 

Fat Friday #27 Aztec Cookies

 Its been coffee mania at our house. My boyfriend and I have been consuming our weight in coffee, thanks to my new coffee machine. We've been trying to find excuses to make lattes and cappuccinos. So in honour of all things coffee related were making coffee cookies for Fat Friday. Not just coffee however, but with additional dark and white chocolate. Why the name? When you think of Aztec's dark chocolate and gold comes to mind, as well as the Road to El Dorado film. Also because why not? Its Fat Friday and cookies are what Dr Penny is prescribing after a hard week.

You can increase the caffeine hit, by adding an additional teaspoon of instant coffee or omit it all together if you don't like coffee.

Recipe: Makes 18 cookies (Recipe adapted from The Great British Bake Off Showstoppers by Linda Collister, Marry Berry & Paul Hollywood)

·       140g dark chocolate

·       2 teaspoons of instant coffee

·       65g unsalted butter

·       2 eggs

·       ½ teaspoons of vanilla extract

·       130g golden caster sugar

·       185g plain flour

·       1 teaspoon of baking powder

·       100g white chocolate, roughly chopped

·       Gold paint/glitter/dust

Equipment:

·       Mixing bowl x 2

·       Wooden spoon

·       Sieve

·       Saucepan

·       Heatproof bowl

·       Baking sheets lined with baking parchment x 2

·       Wire rack
·       Paintbrush (optional)

 

Method:

1.Sieve the flour and baking powder into a bowl.
2.Break the dark chocolate into pieces with the butter and instant coffee into a heatproof bowl.
3.Place in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of barely simmering water. Stir occasionally until completely melted. Set aside to cool for about 5 minutes.
4.While the chocolate is melting, put the eggs, extract, salt and sugar into a bowl and mix with a wooden spoon until combined. Add the melted chocolate mixture and stir.
5.Sift in the flour and baking powder into the cookie dough and mix in with the wooden spoon.
6.Throw in the white chocolate and roughly mix in. (At this stage you can add the gold paint and mix a little)
7.Leave the mixture to firm up for about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 160c/325f/Gas Mark 3.
8.Drop heaped tablespoons of the cookie dough onto the baking sheets (put 5 lumps of cookie dough on each sheet), well spaced to allow for spreading.
9.Bake for 15 minutes, when the cookies come out leave on the tray for about 5 minutes and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
10. Once ready to serve dust the cookies with gold glitter or dust for real Aztec feel. Or paint MORE gold paint on.

Have an excellent caffeine filled weekend!

Fat Friday #21 Salted Buttered Toffees

Christmas is fast approaching. Have you finished that shopping yet? Better get a move on. If you planning to make some small gifts to give out to friends and work colleagues may I suggest these buttery soft toffees? They want to be caramels but are more toffee like. Or are they more caramels who wants to be more like a toffee? Either way, they make great gifts once you've wrapped them up in cellophane bags with a cute little ribbon plus a cute little tag (thanks Chloe!) and they are extremely addictive. Be warned...addictive!!



 

Recipe: Makes 40 soft toffees (depending on how big you cut the pieces) (Recipe adapted from Sweet Things by Annie Rigg) 

Ingredients:

·       150g Demerara sugar

·       125g golden syrup

·       100g unsalted butter, diced

·       250ml double cream

·       150g caster sugar

·       ½ teaspoon of sea salt, plus a little extra for garnish

·       ½ vanilla pod seeds

Equipment:

·       Baking tray greased with sunflower oil and lined with silicone

·       Sugar thermometer

·       Small saucepan

·       Rubber spatula

·       2 litre saucepan

·       Knife

·       Extra baking paper

·       Airtight container

Method

1.    Grease the tin with sunflower oil and line the tin with silicone paper.
2.    Put the Demerara sugar, golden syrup, butter, double cream in a small pan and place over a low heat.
3.    Stir the mixture until smooth and once the mixture is hot, remove the pan from the heat.
4.    Place the caster sugar in a 2 litre pan with the 2 tablespoons of water and place over a low heat. Don’t stir the mixture but swirl the pan from time to time. Continue to cook until the mixture turns an amber colour.
5.    Slide the pan off the heat and really carefully pour the hot cream mixture into the caramel mixture. It will hiss and spit so do be careful. Return the pan to a medium heat and place a sugar thermometer into the mixture and cook in 121c/250f.
6.    As quick as you can add the vanilla seeds and sea salt and stir briefly to combine and pour into the prepared tin.
7.    Leave to cool completely for at least for 4 hours or overnight.
8.    Cut into little pieces with a hot knife, sprinkle with a little sea salt and wrap in silicone paper in cute twists and store in an airtight jar.