Caramel Shard Cookies

I requested John Whaite's 'John Whaite Bakes' as one of my Christmas presents and was lucky enough to receive it. Yesterday was a day to bake cookies and after trawling through some recipe books I remembered spotting this one and decided to give it a go. I will be honest and say I wasn't 100% happy with how they turned out. I'm not sure what quite went wrong (although I suspect it's either baking them for too long or making them too small in size) but they still taste ok. They are crunchy rather than chewy in texture. The recipe is supposed to make 20 however I only managed to make 17.

Ingredients:

Caramel:
100g caster sugar
3 tablespoons water

Cookie dough:
200g light brown muscovado sugar
150g salted butter (room temperature)
200g plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
Seeds from 1 vanilla pod (or 1 teaspoon vanilla paste or extract - I used vanilla extract)

Method:
1) Begin by making the caramel. Place the sugar and water in a pan and stir to mix them. Then place the pan over a high heat and allow to boil without stirring it again. After about 5 minutes the sugar will start to turn amber in colour and the bubbles will become smaller (you need to be paitent - it will happen). Pour onto a baking sheet and leave to solidify for at least 10 minutes (I lined my baking sheet with baking parchment).

2) Then make the cookie dough. Beat the sugar and butter together until pale in colour and lighter in texture using a freestanding mixer or an electric whisk. Add the remaining ingredients and mix by hand into a stiff dough (I started by using a wooden spoon but then had to use my hands). Place to one side.

3) Break the dried caramel into small shards (I used a rolling pin to do this) and add to the cookie dough. Stir or knead the shards into the dough until they are well incorporated. Chill the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes.

4) Preheat your oven to 170C / Gas 3.
5) Divide  and roll the dough into 20 small balls. Place these, well spread our, on baking sheets. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the cookies are baked and have turned golden brown around the edges. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

6) Enjoy with your favourite hot drink. 

Toffee Pecan Roulade

Christmas is a time for catching up with your favourite people which is just what we did yesterday afternoon. We went for a pre-Christmas lunch at our friends Simon and Louisa's yesterday and I offered to make dessert. After much trawling the Internet I decided upon a toffee pecan roulade. It's a popular dessert at this time of year - if you Google it you will find all the major supermarkets offer their own version.This is a recipe by Ruth Clemens that you can find on her Pink Whisk website here.

I've only ever made a roulade once before (this chocolate and cranberry one) so I'm not really an expert. I was in a bit of a rush yesterday and didn't have a big enough tin so it ended up as more of a flat rather than circular roulade. The meringue was also quite chewy - I don't think I cooked it for long enough. It did taste good though - you can't really go wrong with toffee and cream can you? I would definitely make this again and would highly recommend it for your Christmas festivities. A bonus is that it is also suitable for freezing.

Ingredients:

Meringue:
5 egg whites (large)
2 teaspoons cornflour
225g light muscavado sugar
40g pecans (chopped)

Filling:
250ml double cream
2 tablespoons icing sugar (plus extra for dusting)
1/2 tin Carnation Caramel

Method:
1) Preheat the oven to 150C/130C (Fan)/Gas 2 and line a baking tray with shallow sides (approx. 25 x 36cm) with baking paper.
2) Put the egg whites in a clean bowl and add the cornflour.

3) Place the light muscovado sugar in a bowl and using a fork check there aren't any lumps. Chop the pecans ready to add to the meringue later. 

4) Begin to whisk the egg whites until they start to look foamy. Once they reach this stage keep whisking whilst adding the sugar one spoonful at a time until it is fully incorporated.

5) Keep whisking until the meringue is firm (you will need to be patient!) and you could hold it over your head without it falling out!

6) Gently fold the pecans into the meringue, until they are just worked through.

7) Spoon the meringue onto the lined tray and gently spread it out using a palette knife or spatula. Make sure it reached to all of the corners and is fairly flat (this is where I went wrong).

8) Bake it in the oven for 1 hour - 1 1/2 hours. You will need to keep checking it. It should not be sticky to the touch but should feel slightly squidgy. Once cooked take it out of the oven and leave it in its tin to cool completely. 

9) Whilst the meringue is cooling prepare your filling. Whip the double cream with two tablespoons of icing sugar until it reaches soft peaks. Put the caramel in a bowl and beat it with a spoon to loosen it.

10) Set out a large piece of  baking paper on your work surface and liberally dust it with icing sugar. 

11) Flip the cooled meringue onto the paper and carefully release the paper around the edges before peeling it away completely.

12) Spread the surface with the caramel followed be the whipped cream.

13) With a sharp knife cut through the meringue 2cm in from one end, all the way along. Fold this directly over the rest of the meringue. Take the edge of your baking paper and lift it to start rolling your roulade. Keep rolling it until you get to the end. 

14) Turn the roulade so that the seam is underneath and dust with icing sugar ready to serve. 

Marbled Millionaires Shortbread

As the summer term comes to an end in schools across the country, attention turns to the members of staff leaving for pastures new. We have two amazing ladies leaving us and so are holding a tea party to celebrate their many years of service - so of course I had to offer my baking services!

Tray bakes were the order of the day so after my successful banoffee pie I decided I would try another caramel-based adventure - marbled millionaires shortbread. Not ideal in this baking hot weather but a classic favourite and hopefully a safer bet than cupcakes (icing in this weather - not a good idea!)

I used a combination of a Nigella recipe from 'How To Be A Domestic Goddess' and a recipe from the Carnation website which you can find here. The Nigella recipe said to use a 23cm tin and the Carnation recipe a 20cm tin but I used a 21cm and it seemed to be ok.

They were a big hit - it's just a shame they didn't survive the weather particularly well - squidgy millionaires shortbread is never nice! If you're making them in our current heatwave make sure you keep them in your fridge.

Ingredients:

Shortbread:
225g plain flour
75g caster sugar
175g unsalted  butter

Caramel: 
150g butter
150g dark brown soft sugar (I still don't have any so used light brown)
397g can condensed sweetened milk

Chocolate topping:
200g milk chocolate
55g white chocolate

Method:
1) Preheat the oven 170C/Gas mark 3. Put the flour and sugar into a bowl and rub the butter into it, clumping the dough together to form a bowl. Press this mixture into a lined and greased 23cm brownie tin an smooth it with your hands or a spatula. Prick it with a fork and cook for 5 minutes, then lower the oven to 150C/Gas mark 2, and cook for a further 30-40 minutes until it is pale golden and no longer doughy. Let it cool in the tin.

2) Once it is cooled you can make the caramel. Heat the sugar and butter in a non-stick pan gently, until melted. Add the condensed milk and bring to a rapid boil, stirring continuously. Remember to be patient at this point. Cook until it has thickened. Pour over the based and then cool and chill until set.
3) Melt the chocolate in separate bowls. Pour the milk chocolate over the caramel and then add spoonfuls of the melted white chocolate. Swirl together with a spoon for a marbled effect. (This is where I had some issues - it took me three attempts to melt my white chocolate by which time the milk chocolate had started to set so my marbling didn't really work.)

4) Once set, cut the shortbread into pieces - they can be kept in a fridge in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks (if they last that long!) Enjoy!

Banoffee Pie

Summer has finally arrived and it is barbecue season. Our friends Simon and Louisa (and their super cute son Finn) joined us this afternoon for a barbecue in the sunshine and to cheer Andy Murray on (well done Andy!) I was tempted to make Nigella's Forgotten Pudding or her Strawberry Shortcakes but Mr Birdie requested banoffee pie so banoffee pie it was!

There are hundreds of recipes for banoffee pie on the Internet. After much perusing I opted for a Hairy Biker's recipe from the BBC website which you can find here. I made some changes such as not putting banana in the cream on top and not putting any banana on the top. It is a simple recipe and it is super tasty. After a few baking disasters recently I was happy to get back on track and enjoy some baking success!

Ingredients:

For the base and sides

75g butter

300g oaty biscuits (the recipe states chocolate oaty biscuits but I decided to use plain)

For the filling
115g butter
115g soft dark brown sugar (I didn't have any and used light brown instead - it didn't make any difference other than the colour of the caramel)
397g can sweetened condensed milk

For the topping
450ml double cream
4 ripe but firm medium bananas (I ended up using 3 large ones as I didn't put any on the top or in the cream)
25g coarsely grated plain dark chocolate or chocolate curls

Method:
1) To make the base, melt the butter in a small pan. Break the biscuits into chunky pieces, put in a food processor and blend into crumbs. Alternatively you can put the biscuits into a strong food bag and bash with a rolling pin. Tip into a bowl and stir in the melted butter.
2) Tip the crumbs into the centre of a deep, 23cm/9in fluted loose-base tart tin and press firmly into the base and sides (I didn't have one large enough so used a 23cm springform tin which worked just as well). Make sure the biscuit is evenly distributed and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes, or until set.

3)To make the filling, melt the butter in a medium non-stick saucepan and stir in the sugar. Cook over a low heat as the sugar dissolve, stirring constantly until the butter and sugar look smooth and no oil floats to the surface. Add the condensed milk and bring to a gentle simmer, stirring constantly. Cook until the mixture turns a deep, creamy caramel brown (You need to be very paitent - the recipe states this will take three minutes but mine took a lot longer than this).

4) Pour the toffee gently onto the biscuit base and quickly smooth the surface. Leave to chill for at least one hour (I left mine overnight) before topping.

5) Just before serving, lightly whip the cream in a bowl. It should stand in soft peaks. Diagonally slice the bananas and scatter them over the toffee. (The recipe suggests putting half the bananas on top of the toffee and folding the rest into the cream but I decided against this).

6) Spoon the cream gently on top. If you want to decorate your pie with banana on top the recipe suggests slicing some banana and pouring lemon juice over it to stop it from going brown. You can then decorate the top with the lemony banana, poking it into the cream randomly. Finally, sprinkle the pie with grated chocolate or chocolate curls. 

7) To serve cut into slices and enjoy!

Eggtastic Take 2 - Cadbury's Caramel Egg Cookie Bars

Keeping to the Easter baking theme I also made Cadbury Caramel Egg Cookie Bars. I found these via the Six Sister's Stuff website (www.sixsistersstuff.com) which has some tasty recipes which are worth checking out.

The actual recipe is on the Something Swanky website and can be found here. It's an American recipe but I just used a conversion website to make it a bit easier!

You will need:
2 1/8 plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda (I used Bicarbonate of Soda)
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 dozen mini caramel Cadbury Eggs (annoyingly the packets I bought only had 9 eggs in them so I made do with 18!)

What to do...(is really very simple!)
1) Mix all of the ingredients together (except for caramel eggs) - I used a normal electric whisk.
2) Add 1 packet of the caramel Cadbury Eggs into the dough.
3) Press the dough (it really is like a cookie dough so won't pour. You need to scoop out with your hands. Messy - but fun!) into a greased or lined 9in x 9in pan.

4) Squish the remaining pack of caramel Cadbury Eggs.

5) Press the eggs into the dough.

6) Bake at 350F (approx 170C) for 40-45 minutes until cooked and a cocktail stick comes out clean.

7) Enjoy!

If you're inspired to indulge in some Easter inspired baking here are a couple of other recipes that have caught my eye...
Milk Chocolate Cadbury Mini Egg Brownies (http://www.bakeaholicmama.com/2013/02/milk-chocolate-cadbury-mini-egg-brownies.html)
Easter Lamb Creme Egg Animals (http://www.thepinkwhisk.co.uk/2013/03/easter-lambs-creme-egg-animals.html#more-5945)

Happy Easter!