Hot chocolate powder

I am not a coffee drinker, so I get my morning wake me up fix from a hot chocolate. I love making my own hot chocolate because I find that some cafes tend to over heat the milk or do not make the hot chocolate chocolatey enough, I used to buy hot chocolate powder from the supermarket or cafes.

A few months ago I decided to start experimenting with making my hot chocolate powder because I couldn’t find one that was not too sugary or affordable. My pantry is actually full of several different store bought hot chocolate powders that I did not like. I started by experimenting with the ratios of cocoa powder to sugar and I finally found the ratio that was perfect for me. I really liked my hot chocolate powder and it made a really nice hot chocolate.

Hot chocolate powder

1/2 cup of unsweetened cocoa

1/4 cup of caster sugar

Method

Sift the cocoa and sugar together and place it in a air tight container.

How easy is that? I cannot believe I didn’t try this years ago!

For my cocoa powder I used this big container of unsweetened Hershey’s cocoa powder that I bought from Costco, I really liked the taste. You could of course buy more fancier cocoa powder but I liked the one that I used.

I cannot believe I used to pay up to $20 for got chocolate powder!

Let me know what you think.

x

*sorry I haven’t blogged much, it’s been a tough year with family issues.

Cadbury Caramilk Spread

I ended up making this recipe after eating the Cadbury Caramilk and finding it too sweet. The Caramilk tasted exactly like their Cadbury Dream chocolate, very disappointing! This recipe saves the day and saves me throwing the chocolate in the bin.

The Caramilk spread tastes so good, it ends up having a slightly creamy tang from the creme friache and it has fudgy texture. Good luck in trying not to eat it in one go.

Recipe for the Cadbury Caramilk spread

Ingredients:

250 grams of chopped Caramilk

150 grams of creme friache

30 grams of butter

30 grams of milk (yes I said grams lol)

Method:

Add the creme friache, butter and milk into a pot. Simmer it on low heat, once the mixture has a few bubbles appearing, take the pot off the stove. Add the chopped Caramilk chocolate and let it rest for a minute or less. Stir the mixture until it’s fully combined. Pour the mixture into a glass container and leave it in the fridge for a few hours.

Recipe sourced from: Mai Cui from the Facebook group Markdown Addicts Australia





White Chocolate and Cookie Butter Blondies

In continuation with my obsession with baking things with cookie butter, I came across a recipe for Biscoff White Chocolate  Blondies. Unfortunately I was just a tad short of brown sugar, so I had to use a little bit of dark brown sugar. Therefore they turned out to be brownies rather than blondies,

I am really loving the cookie butter than I bought, I love it so much that I have ordered three more jars and have been telling everyone about cookie butter. I think everyone is sick and tired of hearing me rave about this jar of heavenly delight, but they would fall in love with it too if they tried it.

Anyway, I ended up finding the recipe on one of my favourite recipe blogs, Sally’s Baking Addiction. As soon as I read the words “no mixer required” my heart skipped a beat. The recipe was so easy to make, that I was able to make and bake them whilst my baby was sleeping.

The White Chocolate and Cookie Butter Brownies ended up tasting so amazing. The brownies were not too sweet and they were so moreish.  I definitely loved them more than chocolate brownies. I think I got carried away with adding white chocolate, but who cares, the more chocolate the merrier.

I think next time I may actually try to bake them with just brown sugar rather than a hint of dark brown sugar, so that way they can qualify as blondies.

The recipe can be found here:

http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2013/05/22/biscoff-white-chocolate-blondies/

*please note that Biscoff Spread is the same thing as Cookie Butter or Speculoos Spread

Quality over quantity

I get really annoyed about people complaining about the costs of coffee or food at cafes/bakeries etc, they obviously don’t take into account the costs of running a business. If you don’t want to pay that price, then don’t go there.

For example:

I would rather pay $4 – $4.50 for a quality hot chocolate because I understand the costs of running a cafe and I am happy to support them.

I refuse to buy a $2 coffee at certain well known place because I know they don’t pay their staff fairly.

I do not buy cheap milk that I know does not support farmers.

I pay $4.50 or more for a quality croissant because I know it’s made with high quality and expensive ingredients and I understand the time and effort it takes to make the product.

I pay more for cakes and sweet treats because I value quality over quantity and I know how much effort it takes to make them and the costs of ingredients.

Before anyone jumps to conclusions, I am not rich, I just value quality over quantity. I also am a believer in supporting small businesses. As my 4yo says “you get what get so you don’t get upset”.

Rant over!

Happy new year

Happy new year lovelies, I hope you all had the sweetest Christmas and New year.

I apologise for not blogging much this year, I have had a busy year starting my new job and a few other dramas. I hope you have satisfied your sweet desires by following me on my Instagram @dessertaddictsanonymous .

2018 saw me eating so many yummy things, my absolute favourite things had to be the cheesecakes from Jillian’s Cakery and Beatrix. Those places make the best cheesecakes ever!

I’ve also been spending way too much time on Instagram lately, I have a few favourites that I’ve adored last year..

I’ve based my favourites on instagram accounts that are honest, contain interesting content and interact with their followers.

I hate to say this, but I’m sick of so many foodie Instagram accounts who sexualise all their posts, it’s a huge turn off, especially if it happens on every post. I guess in the end it’s up to you how you like to post on Instagram.

Anyway, I promise to make an effort to blog more this year.

Xx

New favourites

It’s time to update you all on my current sweet favourites.

1. Christina’s Honey Cake

I am absolutely obsessed with Christina’s Honey Cake! This honey cake is hands down my favourite cake that I’ve eaten so far. The cake is truly addictive.

Link Christina’s Honey Cakes

2. Alouss Chocolate

I discovered Alouss Chocolate at the Good, Food and Wine Show and I have been addicted ever since. Their Mossman milk chocolate is my favourite from their range, it’s just so smooth and creamy!

Link Alouss Chocolate

3. Black Cockatoo Bakery

Black Cockatoo Bakery is the most amazing bakery, I am addicted to their chocolate croissants, their croissants are so flaky and buttery. In my opinion, their croissants are the best that I’ve ever eaten.

Link Black Cockatoo Bakery

4. Grumpy Donut’s Fairy Bread Donut

It’s no secret that I’m obsessed with Grumpy Donuts, their donuts are just so amazing! I love their fairy bread donut, it is so yummy and the sprinkles remind me of my childhood.

Link Grumpy Donuts

There you have it, my current top favourites. Any suggestions on where else I should go or eat?

X

Easy homemade Scones

Making scones is one thing that I hate the most, I hate kneading things by hand. After volunteering for the Country Women’s Association at the Easter Show as a scone cutter, I felt invincible and knew that I could conquer this fear by making my own scones at home.

Volunteering for the CWA at the Easter Show was one of the most amazing and tiring experiences of my life. I got to meet some amazing women and learnt so much. My role was a scone cutter, this meant that once the mixture was mixed, I had to knead the scone mixture and cut them into scones. I cut a lot of scones on my 4 hour shift and was so tired afterwards. On the day that I volunteered they sold 5124 scones!

It’s actually taken me a few weeks to want to even think about making scones and because it was my day off, I felt inspired to make some scones.

I googled so many recipes and I found a recipe by the CWA that won me over. This recipe looked so easy. The recipe took so little time to make, I was chuffed. To cut the scones I used the top of a glass because I could not find my cookie cutter. To ensure the scones are not sticky, I used lots of plain flour to flour the bench and scones.

The results were beautiful.

I ate one of the scones straight from the oven. The scones tasted so amazing, they were fluffy and soft on the inside. My husband was also impressed.

I really think that I’ve found the best scone recipe ever, I’ll definitely make them again soon.

CWA scones Recipe:

3/4 cups of cream

1 cup of milk

3 tablespoons of sifted icing sugar

3 cups of sifted self raising flour

Method:

Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius

With an electric beater on low speed, mix the cream, milk and icing sugar for one minute.

Mix in the flour with wooden spoon, be careful not to over mix.

Put mixture on a well floured surface and knead. If mixture gets sticky, dust with plain flour.

Cut the scones into desired shape. Place scones on a greased/floured baking tray and make sure the scones are touching each other. I used cooking oil spray and sprinkle of plain flour.

Cook in the oven for 12-15 minutes.

Cadbury Caramilk

The latest hype in the supermarket this month appears to be Cadbury’s Caramilk from their New Zealand branch and I was determined to try it to see what the hype is all about.

I’ll confess that I am not a huge fan of Cadbury chocolate, I always find it so sweet, but because internet star Christian Hull said it was amazing, I had to try it for myself. Despite people complaining that they had trouble finding it, I managed to find it at Coles.

Cadbury Caramilk is essentially caramelised white chocolate and it was previously only sold in New Zealand and now Coles and Woolworths in Australia have been stocking limited quantities of the chocolate.

My friend and I had tried the chocolate at the same time, I chose this particular friend because he is a huge Cadbury fan. We both agreed that although the chocolate was creamy, the chocolate was just too sweet and honestly nothing special. We both felt so disappointed.

I felt really sad that I didn’t like it, I honestly wanted to, but it wasn’t for my liking.

Cadbury Caramilk costs $5 and is available from Woolworths, Coles and some independent supermarkets. It is currently on sale at Coles for $3.

Cinnamon sugar candied nuts

I love cinnamon sugar, it is just one of many sweet things that I adore, I believe that cinnamon sugar works well in any baking recipe. I had tonnes of raw macadamia and raw pecan nuts sitting in my pantry (my mum went crazy buying me tonnes), so I thought why not make some cinnamon sugar candied nuts.

The idea of cinnamon sugar candied nuts just sounded delicious, I assumed that they’d taste like the ones that from the nut shops that you’d buy. I searched for a recipe and I found one that was nice and easy.

The recipe was pretty easy to follow, however in one instance I forgot to turn them over (I blame my toddler). Once the nuts were baked, I let them cool and resisted the urge to eat one.

The cinnamon sugar candied nuts tasted so delicious, it really gave the nuts a nice crunch to them and the nuts itself tasted like they just had been roasted.

I decided to share the cinnamon sugar candied nuts with my dad and he loved them.

This recipe is so dangerously easy to make and so delicious.

The recipe for cinnamon sugar candied nuts- https://damndelicious.net/2013/10/30/cinnamon-sugar-candied-nuts/

Pavlova

I have a few items that I really dislike baking and pavlova is one of them. Making pavlova scares me because it always looks so complicated, I felt inspired to make one after finding a recipe by Adam Liaw.

The last time I made a pavlova it went quite brown and it was quite flat, I felt so deflated after that, so I decided to give up. Then one day I saw a Instagram post from Adam Liaw promising that his recipe will help make the perfect pavlova, so I decided to be brave and give it a go.

After reading the recipe it seems that the main reason that my pavlova might have failed is the fact that I did not mix the egg whites/sugar long enough and that my oven was too hot. This time around I followed those steps carefully and thankfully my pavlova looked much nicer.

For the garnishing I put mango, whipped cream and shredded coconut. I was so proud of my pavlova, look how high and white it looks. 😍

The pavlova tasted really nice and the additions of mangoes instead of the usual strawberries was a nice change. I might have put the same garnishes as Adam’s if I had the ingredients.

Looks like I might be making a pavlova again soon, I’m crossing it off my baking nemesis list.

Adam Liaw’s recipe:

Pavlova