'Melting Moments'

Melting Moments are the heirs to custard creams. Their short-bready texture makes them the perfect accompaniment to a nice cup of tea - the prefect tea time treat! Smooth buttercream sandwiched between sweet and crunchy biscuits. We added a touch of red food colouring to the icing for decoration. We also dusted our COAB (Confessions of a Bake-a-holic) heart logo onto the top of our biscuits with icing sugar to make them our own.

Ingredients:

• 200g unsalted butter, softened.
• 190g icing sugar, plus more for dusting.
• 155g plain flour
• 140g corn flour

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180C, gas mark 4. Line/grease two baking trays with baking paper or butter.

2. For the biscuits, sift all the dry ingredients together in a bowl and add the butter. Mix well with an electric mixer.

3. Using your hands roll tablespoonfuls of the mixture into about 24 small balls. Place the bowls on the baking trays. Gently press down on the top of each biscuit with a fork to flatten them so they are almost doubled in size.

4. Bake for about 9 minutes until they're light, golden brown. Don't leave them in too long or they will become too crispy.

5. When they have cooled, dollop a spoonful of icing in the center of one disc and place another of the biscuits on top to sandwich them together. We have used our own recipe for the butter cream icing. Click here to see the link.

6. Dust with icing sugar to decorate. We used a heart stencil to dust on the COAB logo.

This recipe was slightly deceiving. Many of the claims made by the authors turned out to be inaccurate. Because of this we had to tweak it in a few places and use some creativity when decorating to hide the discrepancies. The biscuits were tasty overall, but slightly over-sweet and filling. 3/5

Rainbow Cupcakes!

Rosa and I have been wanting to try these for a while, so were excited about how these pretty cakes would turn out. We weren't let down! Using a simple vanilla cupcake recipe and several food dyes, we have created the perfect party treat.  We are looking forward to sitting down with this tasty treat and a Harry Potter movie later on this evening!

Ingredients

• 120g plain flour
• 140g caster sugar
• 1 ½ tsp baking powder
• a pinch of salt
• 40g unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 120ml whole milk
• 1 egg
• ¼tsp vanilla extract
• 1 quantity vanilla frosting
• hundreds and thousands or other edible sprinkles, to decorate
• a 12-hole cupcake tray, lined with paper cases
•  Food colourings of your choice

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 170°C (325°F) Gas 3 and prepare a cupcake tray with cases.

2. Put the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and butter in a bowl and beat until you get a sandy consistency and everything is combined. Gradually pour in half the milk and beat until the milk is just incorporated.

3. Whisk the egg, vanilla extract and remaining milk together in a separate bowl for a few seconds, then pour into the flour mixture and continue beating until just incorporated (scrape any unmixed ingredients from the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula). Continue mixing for a couple more minutes until the mixture is smooth. Do not overmix.

4. Seperate the mixture into several bowls and add a small amount of food colouring to each bowl (each bowl a different colour). Mix until all dye is combined.

5. Add a spoonful of each coloured batter to each case one after another, in layers.

6.Leave in the oven for 20-25 minutes.

7. When cooled, decorate as you please.

Moist, soft, sweet, and definitely vibrant, the vivid colours would cheer up anyones' day! They taste amazing but a lot of effort is involved for such simple cakes. Overall, I would reccomend these; 4/5.

Happy baking!

Quick n' Easy Ginger Nuts

Ginger Nuts

I've bought Ginger Nuts a couple of times, but never made them at home- and they are by far better home-made! The ingredients are common so are easy to find in the shops, and the method is brilliantly simple and quick- anyone can make them!

Ingredients
(Makes 16)

• 4oz (110g) self-raising flour
• 1 slightly rounded tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1 1/2 (40g) sugar
• 2oz (50g) margarine
• 2 tbsp golden syrup

Method
1)  Preheat the oven to gas mark 5, 375°F (190°C).  Line with grease-proof paper or grease a medium or large baking tray.
2)  Measure flour, ginger, sugar and bicarbonate of soda into a mixing bowl.  Then, lightly rub in the margarine (Tip: Putting the margarine in the microwave for a couple of seconds will help make it easier to use) until the mixture is crumbly.
3)  Add the syrup and mix until a stiff paste is formed.

4)  Divide the mixture into small balls and place on the baking tray.  Lightly press them down with the back of a spoon, still leaving at least a 1cm gap between each one.
5) Put in the oven for 10 minutes.  When they come out, leave to cool for 10 minutes as well.  Bear in mind the will be very soft when taken out of the oven, so lift them carefully so that they don't break.  The will harden as they cool.

I love this recipe simply because it is so so quick and easy whilst giving great results! 5/5

Happy baking!

Confession #6

Tip: When baking something in the oven, wait at least half way through the baking time before opening the oven.  The heat will escape and disturb the rising of what you are baking.

Clementine Cake

This cake is similar to other fruity/vegetable cakes like carrot and banana, but is still totally different at the same time.  There is a subtle hint of clementine among the moist, soft texture.  Not too strong, not too subtle.  If you like banana cake, I strongly recommend this!

Ingredients

1. 1 1/2 cups flour 
2. 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 
3. 1/4 teaspoon baking soda 
4. 1/4 teaspoon salt 
5. 2 eggs, room temperature 
6. 1 1/4 cups sugar 
7. 3/4 cup olive oil 
8. 4 clementines (zest, juice, and pulp)

Method
1) Preheat the oven to 190°C and line a 9" x 5" loaf pan with baking paper.
 2) Zest the clementines into a large bowl, as you will need to add ingredients to this further on.  Try not to get the pith (the white part) in the zest, as this can be bitter.  Then, add the sugar.
3) Peel the remaining skin off the clementines and process them so that they make 1 cup of pulpy juice, put this to one side.

4) Add the eggs and oil into the sugar-zest mixture.  Whisk together to make a light, runny mixture.
5) Add the juice to the mixture.
6) In another bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda.  Gradually combine this with the wet ingredients.
7) Pour into the loaf pan and cook in the center of the oven for about 50 minutes.

I LOVE this cake! It has a perfect consistency and taste amazing.  5/5.
(credit to: http://www.youngidealisticbaker.com)

Happy Baking!

A piece of pizza!

Mushroom and Bacon Pizza

 This pizza is soft, stretchy and fluffy. Very basic and simple to make this great dish!

Ingredients

1. 290ml hand-hot water
2. 2 tbsp Olive oil
3. 1/2 tsp Salt
4. 1 tsp Sugar
5. 480g Strong bread/plain white flour
6. 2 1/2 tsp Yeast

Method
1) Mix the sugar and yeast into the jug of water.  Whisk until mixed and leave to stand for about 10 minutes until it starts to get frothy.

2) Meanwhile, measure out the flour and sift into a large bowl. Add the sugar and salt.

3) Create a well in the dry ingredients; pour the olive oil into the well and mix.  Then, create a second well and gradually add the yeast, salt and water mixture into it (while mixing in-between). You may have to add a extra drop of warm water.  You should have a  ball of dough that leaves the bowl clean.

4) Next, place the dough onto a clean, floured surface. Knead thoroughly until the dough becomes smooth and elastic.

5) Return the dough to the bowl and cover with clingfilm or a tea-towel. Place in a warm area until the dough has doubled in size this will take about an hour.

6) Place the dough onto a floured surface and knock down to it's original size. Tear the dough in two and press each half onto it's own tray. Do this by pushing it down with your knuckles and gradually stretch it to fit the whole tray.  Be careful not to tear the dough.

7) Now, put your chosen toppings onto your pizza.  Remember to start with the tomato paste and then the cheese.

8) Place your pizza onto the top shelf of the oven and cook until golden-brown.

9) Enjoy your pizza!

This pizza is very nice, but did not live up to what I expected.  It was good, but, even though it is simple to make, the effort put into it was not worth the taste. 3/5

Happy baking!

Confession #2

Tip: When baking something in the oven, take it out just before it's ready.  This is because it still cooks for a while after you take it out, because it is still so hot.

Gone like a chocolate scone

Classic Scones are out, and chocolate scones are in! These triple chocolate scones are encased in a thin, crispy shell that when broken reveals a delicate, almost chewy, center.  Every chocolate chip becomes a rich, chocolatey surprise in this chewy/chocolatey/crispy treat.

Ingredients

1. 1 3/4 cup flour
2. 1/3 cup sugar
3. 1 Tbsp. baking powder
4. 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
5. 1/2 tsp. salt
6. 1 tsp. vanilla
7. 6 Tbsp. butter
8. 7-8 Tbsp. milk
9. 1/2 cup chocolate chips
10. 3 Tbsp. chopped or grated dark chocolate (optional, I did not use these)

 Method
1. Preheat oven to 200°C.  Line one flat baking tray with grease-proof paper.

2. Sift first five ingredients and chocolate chips and/or grated chocolate into a bowl. Then, add vanilla and chopped up butter.

3. After you have done that, blend all of the ingredients together while gradually adding the milk; until the dough is moist enough to form a small ball, but not sticky. 

4. In this stage, be careful not to handle the dough too much.  Place the dough onto a lightly floured cutting board and carefully press down to about 1/2 an inch thick.

5. Cut into desired shapes, I just used a small rounded cookie cutter. Then, place onto your baking tray.  Leave a couple of centimeters space between each scone to prevent them from rising into each other.

6. Once you have used up all of your dough, put the scones in the oven to bake for about 8-15 minutes (depending on the size of each one).

I love these! They have the perfect amount of cocoa, and are a perfect texture for scones. 5/5

(Credit to: http://teapartyideas.wordpress.com)