Sixty-Second Chocolate Chip Cookie! Pin.008

I originally wanted to try out the Nutella cookies that I had pinned a little while ago (love Nutella!). However, the recipe required an entire jar and we only had a 1/3 of a jar left. Also all the Nutella recipes I came across were American, and it gets really tricky to calculate cups into metric measurements, especially for things like Nutella.. I will attempt these at some point but for now I settled on this pin: Microwave Chocolate Chip Cookie.

The pin I posted led me to.. surprise surprise.. nowhere! This seems to be a common theme with my pinterest pins.

I googled the recipe and found two possibilities. One was from 'Zoomyummy' and the other, from 'No. 2 pencil'. I decided to go with the latter as it made less cookie and suggested using only egg yolk rather than whole egg to avoid a 'cakey' consistency.

                                               
Ingredients:
1 Tbsp Butter
1 Tbsp Granulated White Sugar*
1 Tbsp of firmly packed Dark Brown Sugar*
3 Drops of Vanilla Extract
Small Pinch of Salt
1 Egg Yolk (discard the egg white)
1/4 cup (that's about 37g) of All Purpose Flour
2 Tbsp of Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips
*I didn't have any brown sugar so just used 1.5 tbsp of granulated white sugar.


1. Put the butter in your cup and melt in the microwave on a low heat.

2. Add the sugars, vanilla and salt and stir to combine. 

3. Separate the egg and add only the yolk to your cup. Stir to combine. Add flour, then stir again. Add the chocolate chips, and give a final stir.

4. The cookie will need to microwaved for anywhere between 40-60 seconds. Cook in the microwave on full power for about 40 seconds and see if the cookie is done. Depending on your microwave, it may need longer, but be careful not to overcook.

I really wanted to like this.. especially after the success of my Microwave Mug Brownie post. But.. it failed to impress. I mean it was full of butter, sugar and chocolate so believe me, it didn't taste bad... But the problem was the consistency. I was very aware of over-cooking it so it was only in the microwave for 40 seconds. As you can see from the pics, the cookie was undercooked on the top but was well cooked at the bottom. Any longer in the microwave and the cookie would have been too dry. On the upside it was quick and easy to do, and used ingredients from the cupboard.

I think next time I will try the recipe from 'Zoomyummy' and compare the two. I may also use brown sugar next time and see if it makes a difference. Ah well, you win some, you lose some!

Next up.. Another crafty post! But it's a surprise so you'll have to wait and see! ;) 

Roly Poly Mince Pie Pastries! Pin.007

This was the pin I was meant to do oh.. well.. nearly 3 weeks ago now.. I was umming and ahhing over whether to make them on not, part of me felt that making mince pies after Christmas was just weird! However, I am not one to accept defeat so I persevered telling myself that they were pastries really.. not mince pies.
Let me tell you, these were worth the wait!

The original pin led me to the BBC Good Food website. You can see the original recipe here. I'm always on the look out for new ways of doing classic recipes, last year I made Jamie Oliver's mince pies (also very yum). I thought this year I'd give these a go.

I'm not really sure what to call these, so i've settled for 'Roly Poly Mince Pie Pastries'

Ingredients:
50g caster sugar
1 sheet of ready-rolled puff pastry
411g jar traditional mincemeat
1tbsp milk
25g flaked almonds

Optional:
Icing sugar
Glacier Cherries

You'll also need:
Rolling pin
Baking paper/greaseproof paper
Baking tray

1. Scatter the sugar over the worktop, unravel the pastry, then roll it out so it's a quarter bigger, but keeps its rectangular shape.

2. Spoon and spread the mincemeat evenly over the pastry leaving a border along the longest edges. Fold one of the longest edges over the mincemeat then roll the pastry tightly into a sausage shape while gently pressing the pastry into the mincemeat. When you get to the other edge, brush it with milk and press down to seal in the mincemeat. 

3. Press both ends in gently to plump up the roll. Okay.. I may have been being dumb but I thought it meant to push the ends of the roll together as shown by the black arrows below.. BUT.. it actually meant push in the direction of the orange arrows (referring to the ends of the pastry sheet, I think).

As a result, my pastry roll looked like a squashed catapillar:

Looks kinda gross right??

4. Put the pastry in the fridge for 30 minutes to firm it up. Preheat the oven to 200C/gas 6/ fan 180C. Cut the roll into 12 rounds, about 3cm thick. Lay them evenly spaced on a large, greased baking sheet on a baking tray and flatten them with your hand so they look like squashed Chelsea buns. 

As you can see, mine weren't the neatest slices, the pastry teared a little, so some of the mincemeat came out.

5. Scatter the almonds on top and bake for 20-30 minutes until golden brown and the mincemeat sizzles.

Sorry this picture is so blurry, I think my camera lens got fogged up, but you get the idea! I left mine in for a little too long, you want them lighter than the ones in this picture!

6. Leave to cool for 5 minutes - keep them separate so they don't stick together - Haha, yeah right! They will probably get stuck together, especially if you mincemeat oozes out like mine. Just make sure your baking tray is properly greased!

I then added two steps of my own:

7. Once cooled, make up some icing using a minimal amount of water, you want a fairly thick consistency. Swirl the icing over the pastries, making a blob in the middle for your cherry. Put half a glacier cherry on each pastry.

I really recommend icing them, though feel free to leave off the cherry if you're not keen on them. They made my slightly overcooked pastries really moist and yummy!

I'm not very experienced with using pastry, so I did find it a bit fiddly and awkward at first. However, despite oozing mincemeat and slight overcooking these pastries were really tasty and definitely worth the effort. The preparation doesn't take long, though you have to take the 30 mins chilling time into consideration. I think I may have been a little hasty in getting the pastry out of the fridge which may be why it tore.

"These were really tasty, I think the icing and the cherries really made it something special. It's a great alternative for the traditional mince pie. I'd happily eat these all year round!"

If you have any leftover mincemeat, or find any in the sales, give these a go, I promise you won't regret it!

Is there a particular pin you would like to see me try?  If you look on the left side of this blog under the section 'About Me' you'll see a heading 'Pinterest'. If you click on the image it will take you to my Pinterest page where you can see all the things I've pinned. Comment on this post if there is anything in particular you'd like to see me attempt and I'll do my best! Otherwise I'll choose something at random for my next post!  

Microwave Chocolate Mug Brownie! Pin.003

Time for pin number three.. I've been looking forward to trying this for ages as it looks yum! The recipe asks for ingredients that most people have already. You'll be pleased to hear that I kept to the instructions this time.. well... pretty much.. bit of a theme here!

This pin is originally from Food.com. The recipe says "Total Time: 2 mins". Hmmm... that's optimistic! Well, we shall see!

Microwave Chocolate Mug Brownie:
Ingredients:
2 tbsp melted butter (I used 'Utterly Butterly')
2 tbsp water
1/4 tsp vanilla extract or double the amount (1/2 tsp) if using vanilla essence.
1 dash of salt
4 tbsp granulated sugar
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
4 tbsp all-purpose flour

UPDATE: You HAVE to try this with chocolate chips! Heavenly!

You'll need a microwave and a fairly big mug to put your ingredients in. I used the biggest one I had:

But in reality one half the size probably would have been fine. Because you cook the brownie in the microwave and the mixture doesn't contain baking powder the brownie doesn't rise very much.

1. "In a 12 oz coffee mug, add water, butter, vanilla and dash of salt. Whisk well."
You need to melt the butter first, so weigh out the butter then put in the microwave on a low heat for about 5 seconds. I put mine on for too long and got butter all over the top of the microwave.. woopsie.

Then add all the other ingredients. I did this brownie twice (Lucky Hungry Husband!), the second time I used 1/2 tsp of vanilla essence, because I found 1/4tsp wasn't enough. If you're using vanilla essence, you need to double the amount. I wasn't sure how much a 'dash' of salt was so I just put in a sprinkle. I whisked it with a fork.

2. "Add cocoa powder, whisk well. Add sugar, whisk well. Add flour, whisk well."

It uses quite a bit of cocoa powder which is a downside to the recipe. With a standard size (125g) pot of cocoa powder you'd only get 8 microwave chocolate mug brownies... I very rarely use cocoa powder so maybe this isn't so unusual? I find flour very messy, I always get it everywhere... as you can see! If you are going to use chocolate chips, add them now!

Stir well and you should get a stodgy consistency that looks something like this: 

3. "Microwave for 60 to 90 seconds. Center should be slightly molten. Careful not to overcook." This is where it went a bit pear shaped... 

There's a note on the webpage that says that they used a 1500 watt microwave and put it in for 60 seconds. I have an 800 watt microwave so I figured I'd try 40 seconds. This is what it looked like:

It's difficult to see from the picture but it really was not cooked. So I put it in for another 30 seconds...

Oh dear. One very overcooked brownie. It was edible, but it was pretty dried out in the middle and there definitely wasn't a molten centre!

I did the second brownie for 60 seconds and it looked like this:

It was much better! The middle was all gooey and yum. As there isn't a big margin for error, I suggest putting the brownie in the microwave for 40 seconds and then doing 10 second increments, checking it each time, but you probably won't need more than 60 seconds.

4. "Enjoy with a spoon. Careful brownie will be hot." 
(In case you were considering trying to drink it!) that did make me laugh!

UPDATE: Having done this recipe more times than I'd like to admit.. I definitely recommend the addition of chocolate chips... *drool*...

It is easypeasy, microwaving times aside, you can't go wrong. Just remember, 40 seconds in the microwave and increments of 10 seconds 'till it's done. It's best when it's all gooey. Don't cook it 'till it has the consistency of cotton wool like I did.

It was tasty! Especially the second time. However I would call it more a chocolate pudding than a brownie. It didn't have that sugary fudgy texture that a brownie has. Timing wise.. 2 minutes was optimistic, the quickest I managed was 6 mins, 45 secs! (including microwave time). I reckon that's still pretty quick though. Can any of you do it quicker? It's a great recipe when you're craving something sweet, don't have any chocolate in the cupboard and you don't have a lot of time.

Hungry husband was feeling a bit camera shy but let me get his moosetache in the pic. He's doing Movember by the way!

'It doesn't have quite the 'wow' factor' that the nutella cupcakes had. However, It's an extremely tasty dessert, to give it four stars, it needs chunks of chocolate chips or marshmallows.' 


Cor! He doesn't ask for much does he? ; ) Hungry Husband will need to go on a diet at this rate, teehee!

Hungry Husband and I are getting in the Christmassy mood, we don't have space for a tree but here's our efforts so far:

Have you got your Christmas decorations up yet? Click on the image below to see my first Christmassy Pin Post. 004: 'Ribbon Christmas Card Holder!'... Exciting! I love Christmas!

Nutella Cupcakes! Pin.001

Okay...  I have a confession to make... I cheated slightly.. a few times. The idea of this blog is for me to go through my existing 'pins' and try them out. However, when my friend Pam asked me to bake some cupcakes to raise money for 'Care for the Family' I panicked. I've never made cupcakes before! I'm more a brownie/muffin kinda girl.. I didn't know where to start! Then it occurred to me to find a recipe on pinterest.. and so I did! As I am not experienced in the cupcake field and the prospect of piping icing made me tremble with fear, I found an alternative recipe that was easy peasy and required no icing-piping skills.

The original recipe is from a blog called 'Lickthebowlgood'.

Glancing at the ingredients, I saw that the recipe asked for: 'Hershey's chocolate syrup'. Waaa? I live in the UK and have absolutely no idea what this is, or whether there is an alternative here. Bums. This is where I cheated (again). I decided to use the Hummingbird Bakery recipe book I was given for Christmas for the sponge part of the cupcake. I used the 'Chocolate Cupcakes' recipe on page 126. I also cheated (yet again) as I decided Ferrero Rocher were too expensive. I decided to use chocolate buttons and chopped hazelnuts instead (which I already had in my cupboard).

I was impressed at how easy this recipe was. The Hummingbird Bakery is well known for having amazing cakes and I really thought it would be a lot harder than it was.

Chocolate Cupcakes

Ingredients:
80g unsalted butter
280g caster sugar
200g plain flour
40g cocoa powder
1tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
240ml whole milk
2 large eggs

For the topping I used:
Almost a whole jar of Nutella
Giant chocolate buttons
Sprinkle of chopped hazelnuts


1. 'Preheat the oven to 190C (375F), Gas mark 5, and line muffin tin with cases.'


2. 'Put the butter, sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt in a bowl.'

3. 'Beat together on a low speed until the ingredients are well incorporated and resemble fine breadcrumbs.' 

Well.. this part didn't go so well.. The mixture was so fine it went everywhere! Then it was really hard to beat together the butter with the other ingredients. I cut the butter up in cubes and it had been out of the fridge for about an hour but no matter what I did, it did not mix with the other ingredients and it certainly did not resemble fine breadcrumbs!
 
4. 'Pour the milk into a jug, add the eggs and whisk together.' (there were then instructions to add 3/4 of the wet mixture to the dry ingredients before then adding the remaining mixture but I didn't read this part until I'd bunged it all in.. woops!). 

5. 'Keep mixing until all the ingredients have come together and the batter is smooth once again'

6. 'Spoon the batter into the paper cases, so that each is two-thirds full. If any batter remains use it to fill 1-4 more cases in a separate tin.'

Okay, bear in mind this recipe is supposed to make 12-16 cupcakes... when we did it, it made 26. Yup. 26 cupcakes! we filled this tray twice and another two cupcakes in a different tray. I can only think that they were using larger cases...

 
7. 'Put in the oven and bake for 18-20 minutes or until risen and springy to the touch. Leave to cool slightly before taking out of the tin and placing on a wire rack.'

Then the fun part! When the cupcakes had cooled I made a well in the top of the cupcake with a knife, and sort of smooshed it down with my fingers like this:

I then spooned a big splodge of Nutella into the cupcake:

For finishing touches I added a chocolate button and a sprinkle of hazelnuts for each cupcake..and.. Ta-Da!

26 Chocolate-button-nutella-hazelnut Cupcakes!

All, in all, a success I think! They tasted yum and seemed to go down well at my friends cupcake sale too.

Hungry Husband Rating: 4/5. 'I think these were good but the chocolate button got a bit lost in the cupcake, it could be better with a Lindt chocolate sweet instead '. Good idea! These husbands do come in handy sometimes!

Click on the image below to see Pin. 002: 'Paint-Stirrer Signs!'