Beurre Noisette Madeleines

Note to self: Don't underestimate the power of a cup of tea and buttery little cake.

Start this recipe the day before.

Beurre Noisette Madeleines

Makes about 24

slightly adapted from here

150g unsalted butter

3 eggs

150g white caster sugar

Pinch of fine sea salt

150g "00" flour, plus a little extra for dusting the pan

Finely grated zest of ½ lemon

1 vanilla bean, sliced in half and seeds scraped out

Icing sugar, to dust

Put the butter into a medium saucepan and heat over medium heat. It will melt, then start to foam. Once the foam subsides, it will start to turn brown. Take it off the heat when it's the colour and tea and smells gorgeously nutty. Strain through a piece of muslin (cheesecloth) and set aside to cool slightly.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy (about 5 minutes).  Gradually pour in the melted butter (reserving a little for greasing the pan), add the salt, flour, lemon zest and vanilla seeds and mix until combined. Pour the batter into a jug, cover with plastic wrap and pop it in the refrigerator overnight.

Preheat the oven to 220C. Grease your madeleine pan with the reserved butter. Dust with flour and tap out the excess. Fill the pan ¾ full with the batter (don't overfill).

Bake for 7 - 12  minutes (depending on the size of your pan), until golden.

Leave to cool in the pan for 1 minute and then turn out onto a wire rack. Dust with icing sugar. Serve warm.

Dark and White Chocolate Skillet Brownie

You don't have to make this for a special occasion... Friday will do.

Dark and White Chocolate Skillet Brownie

slightly adapted from here

200g unsalted butter, chopped

150g dark chocolate, chopped

110g plain flour

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

265g brown sugar

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

150g white chocolate, broken into chunks

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Put the butter and dark chocolate into a saucepan and melt over low heat, stirring constantly.  Add the flour, cocoa, sugar, eggs and vanilla and whisk to combine.

Pour the mixture into a heavy based 18cm skillet. Scatter the white chocolate chunk over, pressing some down into the batter, and place the skillet on a baking tray.  Bake for 20 - 25 minutes, or until set at the edges and still slightly soft in the centre.  Allow to cool slightly on the tray before serving.

Vegan Ginger Cookies

First of all, let me start by saying you don't need to be vegan to love these cookies.  I'm not vegan and I ate six of them with coffee.

Vegan Ginger Cookies

Makes 20 - 22

slightly adapted from here

For the Cookies:

115g vegan butter (I use Nuttelex)

130g light brown sugar

45ml aquafaba (the juice from a can of chickpeas)

60g molasses

¾ teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoons ground cinnamon

¾ teaspoon ground ginger

¼ teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg

¼ teaspoon fine sea salt

270g "00" flour

75g ground almonds

40g cornflour

For the Glaze:

130g icing sugar

15g - 30g coconut milk

For the Topping:

3 tablespoons light brown sugar

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Make the Cookies:

Preheat the oven to 190C.  Line two baking trays with baking paper.  Set aside.

Put the butter into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  Beat on medium speed for 1 minute until smooth.  Add the sugar and beat for another minute.  Add the aquafaba and molasses and beat again. Add the baking power, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and salt and mix to combine. Then add the flour, ground almonds and cornflour.  Mix until combined. If the dough is too soft, add a little extra flour to bring it together.  Cover in plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes.

To make the Topping:
Put the brown sugar and cinnamon into a small bowl and stir to mix. Set aside.

Form and Bake the Cookies:
Use a small cookie scooper or tablespoon measure to scoop the dough. Roll into balls (they will be quite soft) and then carefully roll them in the topping mixture and put them onto the prepared trays. Press them down gently to flatted slightly.

Bake for 10 - 11 minutes until they start to puff and the edges start to dry out. Leave to cool on the baking tray for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Make the Glaze:
Mix the icing sugar with enough coconut milk to make a drizzling consistency.

Spoon the glaze into a disposable piping bag and cut a small hole in the tip.  Pipe lines onto the cookies.

Roasted Peanut and White Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Get the recipe for these Roasted Peanut and White Chocolate Chunk Cookies over at Bakelife - A fist full of cookies.

Lemon, Pine Nut and Poppy Seed Cookies

Get the recipe for these Lemon, Pine Nut and Poppy Seed Cookies at Bakelife, bake them and then kick back with me.

Chocolate Brownie Cakes with Raspberries and Maltesers

If I was a Malteser... 

You can get the recipe for my Chocolate Brownie Cakes with Raspberries and Maltesers over at Bakelife.

Caramelised Pecan Brownies

Get the recipe for MY birthday brownies over at Bakelife... you know you want to.

Macarons with Vanilla and White Chocolate Ganache

When you need a wee bit of elegance in your life, you pull out the macarons... even if you're wearing yoga pants.


Macarons with Vanilla and White Chocolate Ganache
Makes about 24

For the Macarons:
110g ground almonds
200g icing sugar
Pinch of fine sea salt
100g egg whites (about 3 egg whites)
35g caster sugar

For the Ganache:
1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped
200g good quality white chocolate, fine chopped
100ml cream

Make the Macarons:
Trace 3.5 cm circles onto two sheets of baking paper. I use this template. Turn the baking paper over so that the ink is on the back and line 2 large baking sheets with the baking paper. Set aside.

Put the ground almonds, icing sugar and salt into a food processor and blitz to mix. Sift into a large mixing bowl. Set aside

Put the egg whites and caster sugar into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whisk on medium for about 5 minutes, then on high for another 5 minutes. You will have a stiff meringue.

Add the almond mixture to the meringue and begin to mash and smear them against the sides of the bowl. You don't have to be careful here, the point is to deflate the egg whites. After about 40 folds, you should have a mixture that is the consistency of molten lava - slow flowing. Start checking your mixture at 30 folds and go easy from there. If you over mix, you will have a batter that is runny. If you under mix, you will have a batter that is too stiff. Both with be difficult to pipe. You are looking for a batter that, when dropped from a spoon, back into the batter, it disappears back into the rest of the batter in about 20 seconds.

Spoon the batter into a large disposable piping bag and snip a 5mm hole in the tip. Pipe the mixture onto the baking paper, using the circles as a guide. Pipe until the circles are almost full as the mixture will spread a little on sitting.

Preheat the oven to 140C.

Rap the baking sheet against the counter a couple of times. This will get rid of any air bubbles. Leave them uncovered and at room temperature for 30 minutes. This will allow the macarons to form a skin on the surface. They should feel dry when very carefully touched.

Bake, one tray at a time for about 20 minutes, or until you are able to easily peel the macaron from the baking paper. Leave to cool completely on the baking sheets for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Make the Ganache:
Put the chopped chocolate into a heatproof bowl and set aside.

Put the cream and vanilla seeds along with the pod into a small saucepan and heat to almost boiling.  Fish the vanilla pod out and discard.  Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and stir until melted.  Set aside to cool to room temperature, by which time it should be the perfect piping consistency.

Assemble:
Pair the macaron shells up so that you have shells of similar size.  Pipe a generous about of the ganache on to half of the shells and top with the other half, sandwiching the filling between and gently pressing them together to squash the ganache out to the edges.

Chocolate Hazelnut Scones

You can get the recipe for these Chocolate Hazelnut Scones over at Bakelife. Prep them, then stash them in the freezer for a warm, flakey scone at a moments notice.