Cookie Dough Brownies

Don't they look good? I made these last night. I got the idea from a recipe on www.chef-in-training.com, but I didn't stick exactly their recipe. I decided to use my own favourite brownie recipe for the bottom part, and because I use a smaller baking tin I changed the amounts for the topping. I also converted the recipe to European measures. If you want to try making it my way, here's how:

Brownie:
140g butter
280g sugar
120g cocoa
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 eggs
62g flour

Preheat the oven to 160C and line a 20cm x 20cm baking tin.
In a microwave safe bowl put the butter, sugar, cocoa and salt and then put in the microwave until the butter is melted. Remove from the microwave and mix it all together until it is all combined.
Add the vanilla and mix well.
Add one egg and mix it in completely, then add the second egg and do the same.
Add the flour and mix well until all ingredients are combined and then mix a bit more for good measure.
Pour the brownie mixture into the pan and place on the middle shelf in the oven for 20-25mins.

Cookie Dough Filling:
113g butter
100g brown sugar
56g sugar
2 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
125g flour
80g chocolate chips (or 80g chocolate bar cut into small pieces!)

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar.
Beat in the milk and vanilla.
Gradually add the flour and mix well.
Finally add the chocolate chips.
When the brownies have cooled, spread this mixture over them and refrigerate until the cookie dough is firm.

Topping:

160g chocolate

15g butter

Melt the chocolate and butter in the microwave and mix until combined.

Spread over the cookie dough and leave to cool.

Once the topping has hardened you can cut the brownies into squares and eat!

Red Velvet Brownies with Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Frosting

We've been back home in Bosnia and Herzegovina for 5 days now. It's cold and there's lots of snow. Everything looks beautiful but whilst we were away the pipes froze in our house which means we have no water except in the kitchen. As well as the pipes freezing, the water in the toilet froze and cracked the toilet bowl! All of this means that for the last 5 days and probably for at least the next 5 days we have no toilet and no shower. At first it was kinda fun, but now as there is no sign of a thaw coming the reality of it is annoying. To make up for the annoying-ness I decided it was time to do some baking. 


Red Velvet Brownies with Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Frosting:
The recipe for the brownies I got from smells-like-home.com Here it is converted into European measures:


3 tbsp cocoa powder
2 tbsp red food colouring
2 tsp vanilla extract, divided
113g unsalted butter at room temperature
340g granulated sugar
2 large eggs
160g all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt


Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Line a 20cm x 20cm tin with baking paper.
In a small bowl, stir together cocoa powder, food colouring and 1 tsp vanilla to make a thick paste and leave to one side.
In another bowl cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Then add the eggs, one at a time and keep mixing. Add the remaining 1 tsp vanilla and mix.
Now add the cocoa paste and mix until the mixture is one uniform colour - red!
Slowly add the flour and salt, mixing until everything is combined.
It should look like this:

Pour the batter into the already prepared tin and cook for 30-40mins, until a toothpick stuck into the middle comes out clean.


Leave to cool in the pan for 30mins. Take them out of the pan and add the frosting, then cut into squares as desired.


I got the recipe for the Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Frosting from chaosinthekitchen.com. I halved their amounts and converted it to European measures:


100g cream cheese
60g butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 vanilla bean pod
375g icing sugar


Slit open the vanilla bean with a sharp knife and use the tip of the knife to scrape out half the paste.
Beat the butter and cream cheese together in a bowl until they are combined.
Add the vanilla pod paste and the vanilla extract and mix well.
Add the icing sugar slowly and keep mixing until you have the consistency you like for frosting. It should end up looking something like this:

Simnel Cupcakes - my first attempt

I saw a recipe for Sminel Cupcakes on the BBC Food website. They looked yummy and I decided to try making some. Then I found out that you can't buy marzipan here. I decided to make my own and then found out that you can't buy ground almonds either! So I ground the almonds in a coffee grinder. Here is the marzipan:

It doesn't look quite as pretty as it does when you buy it in a shop but it tastes pretty good.

If you look at my first photo you will see that my cupcakes did not turn out as things of beauty! I think I put too much mixture into each muffin case. The tops cooked really well and then started to burn while the insides didn't cook at all. I decided to take the tops off and see what happens so what you see above is a plate of tops!

I had some marzipan left over so not to waste it, or the tops I had cut off, I made these! Everything I made tastes great but I'm not going to win any prizes for presentation this time. Oh and I know there are supposed to be 11 balls on a simnel cake but the balls I bought were kinda big and I could only fit 8!

The Cupcake Bunny

If you're feeling hungry and in need of something sweet, call the Cupcake Bunny and she'll bring you something to eat. She works at the bakery not far from here and her cupcakes are famous for bringing good cheer.

The Cupcake Bunny is available in my Etsy Shop.

Mr Batten Burg

So the inspiration for this one came from a necklace I saw on the Super Cute Kawaii blog and from some stuff I bought recently from the Paperchase Food Friends range. So cute:) He is for sale at my etsy shop.