Vegan Chocolate Chip and Pecan Cookies

“I’d like some vegan cookies that are sweet and nutty”. That was the ‘job description’ given to me by a girl at work requesting some baking. I knew Rose had made some pecan cookies recently that she loved so I established that pecans were liked and then left for the weekend with that in mind. It turned out Rose couldn’t find the recipe she used so I set about finding a new one. After some internet browsing I came across this recipe from The 100 Best Vegan Baking Recipes by Kris Holechek as a preview on googlebooks. While I was at university I lived on googlebooks and it’s pretty much where I got ALL my references from but it never occurred to me to look for previews of recipe books on there… until now!

This recipe looked straightforward and didn’t require things I’d never heard of that were popping up in a lot of other recipes I’d seen. And I was right! It totally was. Although I must admit I find soya milk completely revolting. The colour and the smell were so unappealing but then I have the same feelings towards milk of any kind so I shouldn’t be surprised. The mixture came together really well and was really fun to make! I should, however, have used chocolate chips or cut my plain chocolate into smaller pieces as they were pretty huge in places causing the cookies to be a little fragile.

I even got to use my new cookie scooper (basically an ice cream scoop with a bit to scoop out the inside) to try and make them all the same size to improve my usual presentation. The scoop worked really well I just ruined it myself by putting them too close together! While almost every cookie recipe I have tried has not spread, typically, this one did so some of them looked very square or even triangular! Luckily there were at least 12 regular ones for me to give to my friend at work.

With both chocolate chips and pecan nuts I’m hoping these fit the sweet and nutty criteria they were designed to meet and I’ve definitely found my new favourite cookie recipe and I will be buying the book to see all the other recipes! Let’s hope my friend likes them too!

Flower Cupcakes

I have a little bit of a cupcake obsession at the moment as I recently purchased my first set of icing nozzles so am experimenting with various decorating methods rather than varieties of baking. These flower cupcakes are for the girls at work in my department as I have been promising to bring in what I make for ages. Now that I finally have a car (yay!) I can bring these in without having to negotiate two buses and a walk!

As usual, I used my standard basic cupcake recipe for the cake. I made 16 this time but 4 were experimenting with different cases and tins so do not feature in any of the pictures! The thing I was most excited about in this bake was the frosting. I’ve recently discovered we have the food network on freeview from 6-10pm and they show a lot of cupcake programmes. I’ve heard and seen a lot about marshmallow buttercream so after googling it I discovered it was made with marshmallow fluff which is something I’ve wanted an excuse to buy for ages!

For this particular frosting I used the plain vanilla one (which comes in massive tubs) as I wanted to colour it green but I also bought a raspberry one too for future use which tastes amazing! I’ve been excited all week to try it and it was definitely a success. One thing I will be looking to change in future is the size of the round nozzle I used as I think it needs to be thicker so it doesn’t need to go round so many times.

I topped the frosting swirls with icing flowers I made from regal ice with a dot of white icing in the middle to make it look like a flower! I think these look really cute and girly while still being really simple so let’s hope the girls at work like them!

Chocolate Honeycomb Squares

So after a pretty poor week of weather and getting repeatedly drenched, a weekend of indulgence was definitely in order. Enter, chocolate honeycomb squares. The closest thing you could get to something ‘good’ for you in this recipe are the Maltesers and they aren’t really good, only less bad for you than everything else! I came across this recipe on Baking Mad and it’s unbelievably easy. Granted it doesn't really count as baking as no oven is required but who cares?!

When you make this, make sure you use a big saucepan because you are essentially making the whole thing in there. I, foolishly, didn’t read the whole recipe before I started and thought I was just melting things in it so I used a small one and then had a little bit of an issue when trying to mix in the biscuits and Maltesers. Nevertheless I just about managed it and any that spilt over the sides was a good excuse to sample the mixture!

The original recipe calls for a 20x20cm tin which I didn’t have to I just squashed it up to one side of a larger tin which worked fine it just means you don’t have such a square edge on one end. When it says ‘leave to cool’ I think it took mine about an hour or so but I must admit I didn’t time it. When it comes to decorating it, make you properly melt the chocolate so it’s really runny or else the toppings won’t stick properly which is what happened to me. It looks fine as a block but ten you cut it they all fall off…

Aside from that this is a very easy, super indulgent recipe that even a small finger of will satisfy the strongest of sugar cravings. Just remember big pan and thorough chocolate melting and you’ll be fine!

Here is the recipe:

100g unsalted butter

200g milk chocolate

3 tbsp golden syrup

225g roughly crushed digestive biscuits

225g roughly chopped Maltesers (honeycomb balls)

For the topping:

100g roughly chopped Maltesers (honeycomb balls)

50g roughly chopped digestives

50g milk chocolate

50g white chocolate

Get a large saucepan and melt the sugar, chocolate and golden syrup until all combined

Leave to cool while you chop up the digestives and Maltesers then mix them in with the melted ingredients

Grease a pan and line with greaseproof paper and then spread the mixture into it evenly

Leave to cool in the fridge until set (roughly one hour)

Once set, melt the milk chocolate and spread a layer over the base to act as a glue for sticking the chopped digestives and honeycomb balls to the top

Finish off by drizzling the top wit the white chocolate and any remaining milk chocolate

Don’t forget to Lick Your Spoon as much as is hygienically possible throughout this recipe as it’s delicious!

Chocolate Orange Cupcakes

I’ve wanted to make these for a long time now. I came across a packet of orange flavoured buttons in the baking section at the supermarket and they inspired me to make chocolate orange cupcakes. That was during lent, however, so chocolate was off limits but I’ve finally got round to it now! This is the first time I’ve properly adapted recipes myself and not followed someone else’s tried and tested method so luckily it turned out well and I’m pleased with how they look too.

For the main part of the cake I used my basic vanilla cupcake recipe but took out some flour and replaced it with cocoa powder and added some orange extract. Lots of recipes use zests and juices of oranges which I must admit I feel is a lot of work when you can buy it in a bottle. Maybe, I’m lazy yes but! it still tastes lovely. I didn’t put any orange in the icing as the orange buttons are very orangey and I didn’t want to take it too far.

For the icing I wasn’t sure how adding melted chocolate would affect my buttercream so I didn’t add any milk to start but it was too dry without it so I ended up adding the usual amount of milk by the end anyway! One thing I will say about using melted chocolate and piping icing is make sure there are no hard bits in the chocolate as it will block up the nozzle in patches making the icing come out strangely.

To carry on the chocolate orange theme I used orange coloured muffin cases to make them look pretty! The ones I used are from John Lewis and I love them because they really hold their colour. Lots of ones I’ve used in the past go a bit see through and start looking like the cake behind them but these are great and they come in so many different colours. I also got these lovely tins for an Easter present from my mum and dad to keep all my baking goodies in!

Here is my recipe:

For the sponge:

200g caster sugar

200g unsalted butter or margarine

170g self raising flour

5 tbsp cocoa powder

4 eggs

1tsp vanilla extract

1 and a ½  tsp orange extract

Put all the ingredients in one big bowl but make sure you sift the flour and cocoa into the bowl. Mix the ingredients with a food mixer starting off on a low speed to combine roughly [or the flour will spray everywhere, believe me] then on a higher speed to make a smooth batter

Once its all mixed together divide between your cupcake or muffin case and bake in the oven for 20 minutes until cooked through [test with a cocktail stick if unsure, if it comes out clean, you’re all set]

Leave to cool for around 15-20minutes before you decorate them

For the icing:

250g icing sugar

80g unsalted butter or margarine

25ml milk

85g melted good quality dark chocolate

Mix up the icing sugar, butter and milk until you have a normal consistency buttercream. Add the melted chocolate, make sure it’s cool-ish first and mix in thoroughly

Transfer into an icing bag and use a star nozzle for swirls like in my pictures and then decorate orangely!

Always remember to Lick Your Spoon

Mango Bread

This is an amazing recipe. I’m just gonna put it out there from the start that this is fantastic. I’ve always really liked the idea of banana bread but as soon as bananas go yellow and start going soft and tasting like, well, bananas I don’t like them and so consequently, I do not like banana bread. Mango bread on the other hand is genius! Mangos are definitely one of my favourite fruits so when I came across this on Kitchen Runway I just had to try it! Its so good I’m going to make it again this weekend as I’m eating the last piece of it as I type this [with a cup of Lady Grey tea, perfection!]

My loaf was much bigger and paler than the recipe I was following, I think 2 smaller loaf tins were used, or perhaps one longer one than I was using. I used a 2lb silicone loaf tin. If you haven’t got a loaf tin and are looking to buy one I would not recommend silicone ones at all. Once they are full, which tends to happen when you put mixture in them to cook, they spread sideways in the middle meaning you don’t get a nice, neat loaf shape. You get a splodge in the middle of you loaf-ish shape. A metal one will make sure your loaf keeps in shape and I think improves the cooking.

My pictures really don’t do the finished product justice. You should look at the picture on the blog where I found the recipe as they are much better! The cake stays really moist for a long time (but it was only in our house 5 days before it was gone!) and the mango adds a great texture to the loaf. The bright orange fruit is also quite aesthetically pleasing and did I mention it tastes great?! While mango can sometimes be a bit expensive, it’s definitely worth it and it does make quite a big loaf.

Please try this!!

Here is the recipe:

2 cups plain flour

2 tsps baking powder

1 cup sugar

2 tsp cinnamon (I left this out)

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

½ cup butter, melted

¼ cup oil

2 ripe mangoes, chopped

Preheat oven to 175°C

Sift flour into a large bowl.  Add baking soda, sugar and cinnamon and stir the dry ingredients to combine

In a medium bowl, beat eggs, add vanilla extract, melted butter and oil.  Combine the ingredients and add to dry ingredients

Using a rubber spatula or wooden spoon stir to combine the wet and dry ingredients.  Fold in the finely chopped mangoes

Pour batter into a greased loaf pan and bake for 55 – 60 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean

Lick Your Spoon!

Let cool in pan for 10 minutes.  Remove bread from pan and cool on cooling rack

Death By Chocolate

Happy Easter! I hope everyone has enjoyed the lovely long bank holiday weekend and those of you who gave something up for lent, well done! I hope it all tastes extra good now. As you know I gave up chocolate and so my recipes were chocolate-free too, but no more! Another recipe taken from my Great British Book of Baking, this is the chocolatey-est thing I’ve ever made with a total of 500g chocolate in it and 100ml double cream for added heart-attack factor, the very aptly named, Death by Chocolate. Then of course because it’s Easter I put some mini eggs on top.

This is an interesting recipe in that it uses no flour at all. The only dry ingredient is sugar as you melt the chocolate. I must say it does require rather a lot of patience for each stage of the process. Melting the chocolate and butter over hot water in a pan can be a little time consuming but it is important not to rush it or let the water boil as that will spoil the chocolate. This is definitely not a recipe to make if you do not have an electric mixer of some kind. In the recipe it says that it takes about 5 minutes on the highest speed to turn the eggs and sugar into a thick mousse. Well I can only imagine that this was in an amazing free standing mixer because it took me about 20minutes to reach the desired consistency with my handheld one. And finally, when mixing the chocolate into the eggy mousse you need to be careful to make sure all the chocolate is incorporated while also not disturbing the mousse it took so long to achieve!

It is advised that you use good quality chocolate as this is essentially the main ingredient and there is no cocoa or anything to mask the taste. I used Green and Black’s dark cooking chocolate for mine and it’s rich but delicious! The recipe says 35-45 minutes in the oven but I only left mine in for 30minutes as it was cooked enough then. After leaving it for about 25 minutes to cool completely I then prepared the chocolate ‘icing’. I use the term icing lightly as really it is just melted chocolate with cream in it. The recipe says to pour the mixture over and let it drip down the sides which suggests it’s very messy but the mixture is quite thick so doesn’t really fall unless you push it.

To finish it off and give it an Easter touch I put a circle of mini eggs all round the edge. Chocolate overdose? You’d think so but actually the cake is so light (as there is no flour in it) that it’s not too intense and it’s more the icing that gives the indulgent flavour. If you’re a chocoholic you’ll absolutely love it!

Here is the recipe by Linda Collister:

For the sponge:

300g good quality dark chocolate

150g unsalted butter, diced

5 medium eggs at room temperature

½ tsp vanilla extract

100g caster sugar

For the topping:

200g good quality dark chocolate

100ml double cream

Preheat the oven to 180°C and grease and baseline a 22cm springclip tin (I used a 23cm one as that’s the only size I have!)

Break up the chocolate for the sponge and put it in a heatproof bowl with the butter. Set over a pan of steaming hot but not boiling water and leave to melt, stirring frequently. [Don’t let the base of the bowl touch the water as this will cause the chocolate to get too hot and spoil.] Once the chocolate has melted, remove the bowl from the heat and set to one side

Break the eggs into a large mixing bowl, add the vanilla and whisk for a few seconds just to break up. Add the sugar and whisk on full power until pale, very thick and mousse-like and about 5 times the original volume. This will take about 5 minutes (or 20 if you’re me!) To test if the mixture is ready, lift out the whisk and if a thick, ribbon-like trail of mixture falls back into the bowl and is still visible after 5 seconds you can stop whisking

Pour the chocolate mixture on to the egg mousse and very gently, but thoroughly, fold the two together using a large metal spoon. Take your time, and make sure there are no pockets of chocolate at the bottom of the bowl

Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake in the pre-heated oven for 35-45 minutes until just firm to the touch - the centre should still be slightly moist under the crust, as the cake will continue cooking after it comes out of the oven

Stand the tin on a wire cooling rack and run a round bladed knife around the inside to loosen the sponge. Leave until completely cold before removing from the tin. The cake will rise to the top of the tin during baking but will sink on cooling

Invert the cake onto a serving plate - it is easier to ice the flat base. To make the topping, finely chop the chocolate and put it into a large heatproof bowl with the cream. Set over a pan of hot but not boiling water as before. Leave for a minute until the chocolate is half melted, then remove the bowl from the pan and beat the chocolate until glossy

Pour the topping evenly over the cake and let it trickle down the sides; you can help it a little, tough if you work it too much you will lose the sine. Leave until firm before serving