Thursday 31 July 2008

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins ~ Sweet and Simple Bake!

This month over at Sweet and Simple Bakes I presented this easy but delicious recipe for Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins. I am looking forward to seeing another great round up and reading everyone's entries.


If you would like to re-create these muffins, you can find the recipe here.

Saturday 12 July 2008

See you all soon!

Hi everyone, I just wanted to let you know that I am off on a much "needed" camping holiday for a week!

See you all soon!

Maria
x


Edit..I'm now back from our camping holiday in beautiful Dorset! We had a great time and the weather was great too. We visited many lovely places, Corfe Castle, Durdle Door, Lulworth Cove, Brownsea Island and Studland Beach to name a few. I would definitely recommend a visit to this part of the UK and it's somewhere I will visit again ;o)


Saturday 5 July 2008

Chicken Curry and Raspberry & Toffee Ice Cream Bars

Every summer I love to cook one of my favourite recipes from Nigella Lawson’s Forever Summer cook book, Chicken and Cashew Nut Curry (I didn't have any cashews this time). It’s a soft mellow mild curry but without the fierce bite. I love the notes of ginger, green chillies, turmeric, cumin, coriander, cardamom and coconut milk; all of which add the most amazing flavours. I love this served alongside basmati rice and naan bread. This is a quick but delicious curry and one I have served to friends and family with rave reviews. Perfect for dining al fresco on a summer evening!


I spotted this heavenly dessert in my latest edition of Delicious magazine and it was love at first sight! This is definitely something my boys and I would enjoy for that weekend dessert fix and what could be better than ice cream in this summery weather but not just any ice cream. The following may cause a dangerous craving!!! These ice cream bars come in the form of a buttery shortbread base, good quality vanilla ice (Haagen Dazs), dulce de leche, raspberries and more shortbread! I did warn you!!!



Friday 4 July 2008

Apricot & Blueberry Crumble Cake

It's another glorious summer day here in the UK and what could be better than to bake a luscious cake packed with fresh summer fruits to enjoy with a cup of tea in the garden. This beauty of a recipe is yet another from the latest July edition of BBC Good Food Magazine (I love this magazine; it always delivers such great recipes). The apricot and blueberry combination really caught my eye and the addition of vanilla yoghurt spooned over the half-baked sponge before adding the fruits and crumble topping sounded different but totally delicious. I couldn’t have been more right, the sponge in this cake is so fluffy and moist; with the vanilla yoghurt, fruits and crumble topping adding so many wonderful flavours. This cake would be perfect for a garden tea party or a great cake to take on a picnic!



Apricot & Blueberry Crumble Cake

Ingredients
200g/8oz butter, softened
225g/8oz golden caster sugar
225g/8oz self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
3 eggs, beaten
2 tbps milk
150g pot vanilla yogurt
300g/10oz apricots, skinned, halved and stones, or use a drained 410g tin instead
225g punnet blueberries

For the Crumble:
25g/1oz butter
3 heaped tbsp self-raising flour
3 tbsp Demerara sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Line an oblong traybake tin (21 x 30com) with baking parchment and heat the oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Beat the butter, sugar, flour, baking powder, eggs and milk together until creamy. Spoon into the tin, level the top, then bake for 25 mins until almost set.

Meanwhile, get the yogurt and fruit at the ready and make the crumble by rubbing all the ingredients together.

When the cake has baked for 25 mins, whip it out of oven. Working quickly, spoon over the yogurt, scatter over the fruit, then top with the crumble. Return to oven for 15-20 minutes until a skewer comes out clean.

Serve warm as a pudding, or cooled and cut into squares with tea. This cake will keep in the fridge for a couple of days.

Thursday 3 July 2008

Millionaire's Shortbread

I have always wanted to make my own Millionaire’s Shortbread but it’s like so many things, it gets left on the back burner. I came across this recipe in my recent BBC Good Food Magazine and I knew the time had come to finally make this absolutely heavenly treat! I love the fact that this recipe is a no-bake (as much as I love baking, I am a big fan of no-bakes at times). My hubby adores this, and he often treats himself to a pack of shop-bought but I reckon once his tried this version he will be placing orders at the goddess’s kitchen!



Millionaire's Shortbread

Ingredients

Makes 9-12 pieces

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Chilling time: approximately 1 hour

Base

200g (7oz) shortbread biscuits, crushed

25g (1oz) butter, melted

Filling

150g (5½ oz) butter

150g (5½ oz) dark brown soft sugar

397g can Carnation Condensed Milk

Topping

200g (7oz) milk chocolate, melted

You will also need: 20cm (8in) square brownie tin, lined with baking parchment.


Method
Mix the crushed biscuits with the melted butter and then lightly press the mixture into the tin to make an even layer. Chill for 20 minutes.
Place the butter and sugar into a non-stick pan and stir over a medium heat until the butter melts and the sugar dissolves. To make a golden caramel, add the condensed milk, stirring continuously, until the first bubbles appear on the surface. Remove from the heat as soon as it comes to the boil.
Spread the caramel evenly over the crumb base and then cool and chill for 40 minutes. Pour the melted chocolate over the caramel, smoothing to the edges.
When the chocolate has hardened a little, cut into squares.