Chocolate Dipped Norwegian Shortbread

It was kind of a brutal week this week, so to make things a bit happier I thought I'd bake something yummy as I haven't been able to bake a lot recently. I also know I haven't blogged for a while, I went on holiday to Turkey (which was amazing) and have been knackered since so I've been a bit lazy.

But here it is...the yummiest biscuit in the world...no joke. We make these in Norway at Christmas time, but to make them a bit more special I dipped them in chocolate and added some fun sprinkles to make them look pretty :) They taste of gorgeous butter, and only has 5 ingredients so they're super easy to make.

Recipe:
330g plain flour
250g butter
100g icing sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
300g chocolate - I used Cadburys...it just felt right for biscuits

Method:

1. Mix flour and baking powder and sift into a mixing bowl.
2. Cut up butter and crumble into mixture as well as you can.
3. Add the icing sugar and mix into a smooth dough.
4. Roll out into a long sausage about 4-5 cm thick.
5. Wrap and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
6. Preheat oven to 180 degrees (160 fan oven)
7. Remove from fridge and with a sharp knife cut into slices about 0.5cm thick.
8. Place evenly spaced on a lined baking tray, they don't grow ridiculously in the oven so they won't need a stupid amount of space.
9. Bake for 12-20 minutes depending on oven, they should just be starting to turn golden around the edges.
10. Leave to fully cool on a cooling tray.
11. Melt chocolate over a banne-marie and take the cooled biscuits, one at a time and dip half of it in the chocolate, once you've filled a tray, sprinkle with whatever treats you'd like to use and place in the fridge for an hour to cool.
12. They chocolate will never be a solid as it once was, but as long as you don't leave them right in the sun you should be fine!
13. Eat. Nom!!!

These are incredible, I can't put it in to words, but seriously, try them. You won't be disappointed! Pin It Now!

Sexy Eggs Benedict

I know this isn't a cake...but it's bloody gorgeous so I had to include it. It's a recipe I'd wanted to try for a long time and while ago I decided to try it....it was stunning.

It doesn't take as long as you may think so do give it a try, you'll be so happy you do. This recipe serves two.

Ingredients:

• 2 Large farm eggs, free range if poss and from a real chicken farm if you can get them, they give a better yolk colour and quality.
• 4 rashers of streaky bacon, I just think they taste better.
• 2 English muffins ( I hadn't used these before, but loved them!)

For the quick hollandaise

• 2 Large egg yolks, beaten.
• 10ml lemon juice (2 tsp)
• 10ml white wine vinegar (2tsp)
• 115g butter (NEVER margaringe ok? It's just bad)
• 15ml chopped fresh tarragon (1 tbsp)
• salt and ground pepper

If you can poach the eggs, then excellent, do it now. I havn't triumphed over it yet so I fry them. Meanwhile grill the bacon until cripsy and gorgeous, you'll know when it's ready..it'll look a bit bubbly (odd I know, but trust me, it's good).
Toast the muffins, I find they toast easier than bread so keep an eye on them, no one likes a burnt muffin, luckily they usually come in packs of 4 so you have 2 extra just incase.

Now for the sauce, season the yolks, beat well in a medium bowl. You can do the next bit with a food processor, but I don't have one so I use a whisk (or a stick blender will do), put the lemon juice and white wine vinegar in a pan on a medium heat until it starts to boil. Starting whisking the eggs and immediately add the boiling liquid to the yolks. Met the butter until it starts to foam, again turn on the whisk and add the butter to the mix in an even stream. You can now add the tarragon, you may need to add some water to thin it out but I like it this thick.

Place eggs onto muffins, top with cripsy backon and add lashings of sauce. Feast, nom!! Pin It Now!

Baked Snickers Cheesecake

I can't lie to you, this is the most amazing thing you will ever eat - or make. You will literally never want to eat anything else in your life, so just prepare yourself for that because it is going to be life changing! It will take a few hours altogether but fully worth it!

Serves 8

Ingredients:

Base:
150g peanut cookies
150g chocolate digestive biscuits
75g ulsalted butter, melted

Filling:
500g cream cheese
1 tbsp vanilla extract/vanilla sugar
4 large eggs, seperated
100g caster sugar
200g double cream

240g / 4 Snickers bars, I use more though....

Preheat the oven to 170 degree (150deg fan) , gas mark 3.
To make the base, put all of the biscuits in a freezer bag and bash the fudge out of it with a rolling pin until they're like crumbs. Mix in the melted butter and press down into a suitable dish, springloaded if you have one. Bake for 15 minutes so it hardens slightly and leave to fully cool.

For the topping, beat together the cream cheese, vanilla, egg yolks and sugar. Add the cream and beat again. Now mix in the chopped up Snickers bars so that they are evenly distributed.

In a seperate bowl whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks then gently fold them into the cheese mixture and be very careful not to knock out all of the air!

Now pour the mixure over the cooled base, smooth over and bake for 1 hour and 45 minutes, and don't be tempted to open the oven door or you may regret it!

It should look beautiful and golden, then turn off the oven and open the door. Leave it to rest like this, in the oven for another hour.

Now you have to wait for it to cool completely, then pop it in the fridge until firm, slice and eat. Nom!


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This Week In Cakes

This week has seriously been cake week, I've done four! Luckily three of them were cupcakes so it wasn't too bad.

My first cake was for a 1st birthday and had the characters from Waybuloo on it. This was a challenge as I hadn't done anything from this TV show before so I had to do a lot of Googling. All I can say is thank God for Sugarflair colouring pastes, A year ago I hadn't used any before and they are incredible! Thanks to them I managed to get colours bright enough for a kids cake.

I also had a Mother's Day cupcake to make, a clean and simple white and pink Victoria sponge cake one, sometimes keeping it simple can make it look brilliant.

I had a surprise leaving cupcake to make for a colleague who loves pink, so I created this beauty which I think looked very girly and definitely pink! Loved it, love hearts always add that extra girly touch!

Finally it was my mum's birthday this week and I wasn't able to make a cake for the day of her birthday as I had some orders taking over, so I made her one for the day of Mother's day so she can have a dual one. I made it as a cupcake as the shape was perfect, I made it look like a bunch of Daffodils as they are her favourite flower. I couldn't get hold of any Sugarpaste in time so I made the flowers out of fondant, which wasn't too bad but I then had to let them dry for a long time but luckily it worked! It's Victoria sponge with lemon butter icing, nom!

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