Snickerdoodles

When I went to America, I fell in love with snickerdoodles, I ate them nearly everyday, I tried looking for them when I got back to Australia, but I never found any that tasted as good. Thankfully the internet has so many awesome recipes for making snickerdoodles. 

I was feeling too cold and lazy, I googled the easiest snickerdoodle recipe that I could find. The recipe I found online was by Food.com, their recipe had a high rating and it looked really easy follow. 

I did a few tweaks to the recipe, I put more cinnamon than sugar in my cinnamon/sugar mixture. The recipe required 1 cup of butter, I ended up using one 250 grams block of unsalted butter that I had melted in the microwave. For the dough, I rolled it in the cinnamon sugar and then rolled it neatly into a ball with my hands.

The snickerdoodles only took 10 minutes to bake.

I ended up allowing the snickerdoodles to cool on the baking tray, this meant that the snickerdoodles had a crispy edge and a soft centre. 

The snickerdoodles tasted so good, whilst eating one, I was reminded of the snickerdoodles that I ate whilst in America. 

I definitely recommend you try this recipe if you love snickerdoodles, they’re easy to make and they taste A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! 

Snickerdoodles recipe can be located on this website Food.com Snickerdoodles

Vanilla and sour cream cupcakes

When I go to the supermarket, my bad habit is buying so many different things to use for baking because I have grand plans to bake something fabulous with it and then weeks later I forget about it. Yesterday I looked in my fridge and realised that I had forgotten to use the sour cream and it was due to expire next week, so I decided to find a recipe that I can use it in, I finally settled on a cupcake recipe because it looked easy. 

This recipe for vanilla and sour cream cupcakes was perfect for me, because it only required one bowl and I didn’t have the energy to make anything too complicated. When making the cupcakes, it was the first time in a long time that I had to use my hand mixer to mix the batter. 

The cupcakes were baked in only 17 minutes and they looked so golden brown and delicious. For the icing, I decided that I would use my usual buttercream recipe and make a two toned icing. 

The cupcakes tasted really good, I was so relieved that it tasted so moist and buttery because I can never can tell how well a new recipe will turn out and it kind of makes me feel nervous.

Maybe “accidentally” buying too many ingredients for baking is a good thing because it encourages me to explore different recipes.

 I’m super excited to be adding a new cupcake recipe to my list of favourites. 

The recipe for these cupcakes can be found here- Vanilla and sour cream cupcakes 

*note: I added a touch of vanilla bean paste to the recipe 

Death by chocolate cupcakes

I only realised today that I haven’t written a post in a while. I’ve been so busy working long hours! Today I decided to find time to write about this amazing chocolate cupcake recipe that I found online from Sally’s Baking Blog.

On Thursday I decided that I would Google a new recipe to try, I wanted to make my friend cupcakes for her birthday, when I did a search of chocolate cupcakes, Sally’s recipe for death by chocolate cupcakes caught my eye.

The death by chocolate cupcake recipe was pretty easy to follow, the only one thing that I forgot to do was to sift the cocoa powder, this lead to small chunks of cocoa powder in my cupcakes. It was important to sift the cocoa powder first because this recipe cannot be over mixed and it would be hard to mix out the cocoa clumps. I also baked the cupcakes for only 15 minutes in my fan forced oven. 

Here is one of the finished product..

And another one from the second batch..

The death by chocolate cupcakes tasted so good, it was a rich, moist and dark chocolate sort of cupcake, without the dense texture of a chocolate mud cake, I really loved them, it was the perfect indulgent chocolate fix.

My friend whom I baked for really liked them too, so I was happy.

I totally recommend using this recipe if you want a rich dark chocolate cupcake without the heaviness of a chocolate mud cake. 

The death by chocolate cupcake recipe can be found on this website:

Sally’s baking Blog death by chocolate cupcakes

Easy cheese and bacon rolls (just like the ones Bakers Delight)

Tonight I thought I would share a recipe with you that is surprisingly not a sweet recipe, but it is a savoury recipe!! Say what?!! Yes.. savoury!

People who know me well know that I cannot really cook savoury dishes, thankfully I married someone who can cook. Last week I discovered a recipe for cheese and bacon rolls and I finally decided to make them. 

The recipe for making the cheese and bacon rolls was really long, I will admit that the recipe felt a tad intimindating at first, but once I got into the process of making it, it didn’t seem so bad. Oh, did I forget to also mention that I’ve never made bread before and it scares me?

For the cheese and bacon rolls I ended up using wood smoked bacon from Plateau Quality Meats and Mainland extra tasty grated cheese, I didn’t want to use plain diced bacon or plain cheese, I wanted lots of flavour. 

The bread making part was actually not too difficult, it was made easy by using my Kenwood Kmix stand mixer to knead the dough. The most difficult part of the process was waiting, the dough had to rest for an hour and when the dough was garnished with the toppings, it had to rest for a further 30 minutes. 

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Check out my photo of the dough after it had been resting for one hour..

Garnishing the rolls with the toppings..

The cheese and bacon rolls only took twenty minutes to cook in my fan forced oven and they looked delicious.

And here are the beauties..

The cheese and bacon rolls tasted so delicious, I really think that they tasted better than the cheese and bacon rolls from Bakers Delight, probably because of the fact that I used wood smoked bacon and extra tasty cheese. 

I think for the next batch, I’ll have to cut the bacon smaller, so it doesn’t slide off the rolls, I may also have to use less bacon. 

I definitely want to make these again and one day, maybe next time I’ll use the cheese and bacon filling that was mentioned in the recipe.

The cheese and bacon roll recipe can be found on this website:

Recipe Tin’s cheese and bacon rolls

Banana cupcakes with cream cheese icing

Once again my mum went crazy and bought us too much fruit and we never got around to eating it, in particular we still had a bunch of over ripe bananas left over, so I decided to bake banana cupcakes.

Instead of using the same old recipe that I usually use, I decided to Google a new recipe and found a great banana cupcake recipe by this great blog called What Jessica Baked Next , I only just discovered her blog and I already love it.

The recipe was pretty easy to follow, the only thing that I did not want do was to use a mixer and as you know I hate using mine, so I ended up using my good old wooden spoon and a whisk, it was certainly a good arm work out.

I ended up baking the banana cupcakes for 14 minutes rather than the 18 minutes that the recipe required and the banana cupcakes turned out really well. Making the icing was so much hard work without a mixer, but the icing really looked great when it was finished. When the banana cupcakes cooled down, I piped the cream cheese icing onto the cupcakes. The banana cupcakes looked great and I was so pleased.

After decorating the banana cupcakes, I put the cupcakes in the fridge and then took them into work the next day. My work colleagues said they really liked the banana cupcakes, they said the banana cupcakes tasted really moist and delicious. I had a taste of one and I too really the banana cupcakes, the texture of the banana cupcake was really moist, the addition of cinnamon was perfect and the cream cheese really was a delicious addition to the cupcakes.

I will definitely make these banana cupcakes again soon, I might search through her website to see what other recipes I can use.

Banana cupcakes with cream cheese icing recipe can be located on this website:

What Jessica Baked Next- Banana cupcakes with cream cheese frosting

Knafeh Bakery

For a while now, I have been following Knafeh Bakery on Instagram and drooling over their delicious freshly baked knafeh. Unfortunately I haven’t had a chance to visit one of their pop up stalls because I’m busy with my baby, last week I found out they were going to be at Parra Lanes in Parramatta, so I finally decided to go.

  
On the Wednesday, I managed to finish work heaps early and I arrived at Knafeh Bakery’s pop up stall at 5pm. The gorgeous bearded bakers told the crowd that they wouldn’t be baking until around 5:20pm, so I placed my order and then went for a walk and came back later.

When I arrived back to pick up my order, all I could smell was the intoxicating scent of freshly baked delicious knafeh. Lucky for me, I was the first person to receive my order and I was so excited and couldn’t wait to eat my freshly baked knafeh.

  

The knafeh was basically a deliciously baked creamy cheese topped with a crunchy semolina crust, pistachios and drizzled with a sugar syrup. Eating this was like a million delicious sensations at once, the knafeh tasted essentially like a warm cheese pudding and it was amazing. The knafeh wasn’t too sweet and I loved the semolina crust. 

Unfortunately I rarely get time to visit them when they travel around Sydney, hopefully one day I get to eat one again. In the meantime my friend has given me her mother in law’s recipe, so watch this space. 

Information regarding Knafeh Bakery can be found on Facebook and Instagram @knafehbakery

Maple Syrup Banana Bread

Today I decided that I would finally take a break from baking brownies and I decide that I would bake some banana bread instead. I started making the banana bread with my usual favourite recipe, and thought I might try making it with maple syrup instead.

I really love baking banana bread, it was one thing that is easy to make and it tastes great. Banana bread is probably one of the only things D will eat, because he does not like sweet things.

The Maple Syrup Banana Bread ended up tasting really nice. The maple syrup did not over power the banana bread, and therefore it did not taste too sweet.  The Maple Syrup Banana Bread got the thumbs up from D! Success!

 

Maple Syrup Banana Bread recipe 

(adapted from Sophie’s Kitchen Recipe)

2 very ripe bananas

2 -2 and 1/2 tablespoons maple syrup

¾ cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 cup self-raising flour

Preheat oven 160°C fan forced.

Line a loaf pan with baking paper.

In a bowl, mash bananas then add maple syrup. Add sugar and stir in.

Add egg, sifted flour and lightly mix until combined.

Pour into loaf pan and cook for 25-30 minutes or until a skewer is inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Allow to cool in tin for 10 minutes.

Enjoy the Maple Syrup Banana Bread with butter.

Cinnamon and Coconut Biscuits

I have this bad habit of finding something that I love to bake, baking it too many times and then getting sick of baking that item. This happened to me this week, when I found myself baking fudgy chocolate brownies like a obsessed lunatic. I decided to look for something new to bake, and I found a new recipe called Cinnamon and Coconut Biscuits in Recipes + magazine.

The recipe for the Cinnamon and Coconut Biscuits actually involved adding  a drop of raspberry jam into the centre of the biscuit, but because I do not like jam, I decided not to add it to the biscuit. The recipe also stated that I had to use a mixer to beat the butter and sugar, I decided to defy the odds and not do this and mixed it by hand instead.

The Cinnamon and Coconut Biscuits were really easy to make, and it did not take me very long to make them. The Cinnamon and Coconut Biscuits only took 15 minutes to bake and they smelt so amazing when they were ready. My house had a lovely aroma of cinnamon and coconut.

The Cinnamon and Coconut Biscuits taste really nice. The combination of cinnamon and coconut worked really well. The Cinnamon and Coconut Biscuits were also quite crunchy .

I think I have found a new recipe to obsess over. 😉

Cinnamon and Coconut Biscuits recipe   (sourced from Recipes + October Edition)

Ingredients

150 grams of butter at room temperature

1/2 cup of caster sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon of vanilla essence

1 and 1/4 cup of self raising flour

1 cup of desiccated coconut ( plus 1 extra cup)

Method

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius or 160 degress celcius fan forced. Line two baking trays with baking paper. Using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar in a large bowl until pale and creamy. Add egg, cinnamon and essence; beat until combined. Roll tablespoon measures of mixture into balls. (I used a teaspoon because I wanted them smaller).

Place extra coconut on a large flat plate. Roll balls in coconut. Place on prepared trays, about 3cm apart for spreading. Flatten slightly.

Bake for 15 minutes or until golden, swapping trays halfway through cooking.

 

 

Baked Donuts with Dark Chocolate Ganache

I love donuts, I love them so much that my friend and I drove all the way to Penrith to try Krispy Kreme Donuts when they first opened. Looking back at this, I cannot believe we drove that far just to eat donuts.

Making donuts has always been something that I wanted to do, but I always felt that they were too hard to make. I ended up giving up on the idea and putting in my “too hard basket” of ideas. Lucky for me I stumbled upon a tweet from @loveswah and she had made a recipe for Baked Donuts with Dark Chocolate Ganache. I clicked on the link and gave the recipe a quick read and I was sold. The recipe looked fairly simple to make and once again I did not have to use a mixer.

I was so super excited to make the Baked Donuts with Dark Chocolate Ganache, that I started making them in the morning. I whipped out my new love heart shaped holes donut tin and started making the donuts.

The end result was six gorgeous heart shaped donuts with delicious dark chocolate ganache and sprinkles.

The Baked Donuts with Dark Chocolate Ganache tasted so good and not oily like regular donuts. The dark chocolate ganache made the donuts very indulgent and delicious. I was so happy with the result.

I think I will have to go buy another love heart shaped holes donut tin, so I can make a bigger batch of donuts.

The Baked Donuts with Dark Chocolate Ganache recipe can be found on Love Swah’s Blog:

http://loveswah.com/2014/09/mini-baked-donuts-with-dark-chocolate-ganache/

Fudgy Chocolate Brownies

My friend Selina has been posting photos of delicious looking brownies that she had baked for a few weeks now and it has made me crave chocolate brownies. I had a rush of inspiration and decided to look for a recipe that is easy and delicious.

I ended up finding one recipe that was adapted from Alice Medrich’s Chocolate Brownie recipe. The recipe looked fairly easy and straight forward, and best of all I did not need to use a mixer (winning). I decided to start baking the brownies after dinner.

The Fudgy Chocolate Brownies ended up being really easy to make and they tasted really good. My husband’s work colleague said that it was the best chocolate brownie that she had ever eaten.

I ended up trying the Fudgy Chocolate Brownies the next day. I really loved the Fudgy Chocolate Brownies too, the Fudgy Chocolate Brownies tasted so amazing rich and dense. The Fudgy Chocolate Brownies were really fudgy and moreish.  I have to agree with husband’s work colleague that it was definitely one of the best chocolate brownies that I have ever eaten.

The Fudgy Chocolate Brownies recipe can be located on this website:

http://www.inspiredtaste.net/24412/cocoa-brownies-recipe/