Caramel Egg Filled Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

I have recently started a commission for Essence Magazine, which is distributed to homes in Surrey and can be found online. Its a great magazine….well, why else would they commission recipes from The Daisy Cake Company?!!

Every month I provide Essence with a brand new, unseen Daisy Cake recipe, and I can now let you, my loyal blog readers, share March’s recipe.

If you click on the photo above, you can read the whole magazine (which is really very very good!!). Turn to page 32 and you can see The Daisy Cake Diet’s Caramel Egg Filled Chocolate Crinkle Cookies in full.

Because, what else would you do with all those extra Caramel eggs you’ll be getting in the next couple of weeks?!!

Its been a while……

Weeeeell, hello there stranger!

How are you?

I know, I know, it’s been a while, but you wouldn’t believe how busy I’ve been. Let me give you a quick run-down of what’s been happening since I spoke to you last.

My dream of owning my own tea-room and cake shop was screaming louder and louder at me, so on December 4th I handed in my notice from a full-time career, to take a part-time job, which would allow me to spend more time making and selling cakes. I had a month before starting the new job, so as it was coming up to Christmas I thought I’d get some shopping and planning done.

Hmmmm, well that plan quickly went out of the window, when within hours of handing in my notice I had been offered a commission by Good To Know to write 100 recipes!!! How fab is that?!!!!! But the deadline was just 3 weeks away  - not so fab – Christmas was cancelled as the baking began.

With a little help from my Mum, I got in the kitchen and wrote, baked and photographed 100 unique recipes, many of which can now be found on the Good to Know website, and some of which you will find links too below. Everyone that came within 100 metres of the house left with a baked good of some description, as one point I was baking 10 different recipes a day…..it was tough, but someone had to do it!!

I then started my new job in the New Year, which although part time is still amazing. It involves Shoes, Dancing, Shoes, Strictly Come Dancing, Sparkly Dresses….did I mention shoes? Oh, how I looooove shoes!!!

I’ve also been baking every week! So what with shoes and baking I am now what you call a very very busy girl!!

I’m sorry if I’ve neglected you, but I hope the links below make up for it a little bit, and then next week we’ll get back to being proper friends again eh?

Have a catch up, maybe a cake or biscuit or two?…

Looking forward to it already!!!

If you want a list of all my recipes, click here, but here are a few I’ve selected to share with you:

Granary Flatbreads

 

Rosewater Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream

Homemade Twix

Cranberry and Orange Upside Down Cake

Cream Cheese Sweetie Biscuits

Chocolate Crackle Cookies

 

Red Velvet Cookies

WOW!!!

London you were amazing, Team GB you were completely awesome.

I’m all Olympiced out. What an amazing couple of weeks, and today it somehow seems wrong to not be watching another sport on the television.

I have well and truly become an armchair expert in loads of different sports, and have gone through a wealth of emotions whilst watching the games. I’ve been moved to tears watching horses dance to music, have sat on the edge of my seat watching the rowing and cycling, have almost been too scared to watch Peter Wilson shoot his last 2 shots in the Men’s Double Trap, have screamed at Mo Farah to get a wriggle on and turned into a scary lout shouting ‘Just ‘it ‘im son’, watching the boxing. There were low times, but thankfully there were some amazing high points. I honestly can’t pinpoint one highlight as ‘THE’ moment, because from the Opening Ceremony to the Closing Fireworks, there were just too many.

I have lived in London for over 20 years and love this city, and this year I’m even more proud than ever to call it home.

I now feel bereft that its all over and we’re back to watching The One Show and Eastenders on BBC1 again. It feels like when Chrtistmas TV is over and you have to go back to work.

We have tickets for the Paralympics and will be going to the stadium to see the athletics…..bring it on! Can’t wait!!!!!

This is my cookie homage to Our Greatest Team, and the amazing London 2012.

Red Velvet Cookies

125gms Butter
100gms Light Brown Sugar
75gms Dark Brown Sugar
150gms Plain Flour
1 egg
1tspn Bicarbonate of Soda
1 tspn Salt
10gms
20ml Red Food Colouring
100gms White Chocolate Chips

Cream the butter and sugar together.

Add the egg and red colouring and beat together.

Sieve the flour, cocoa, Bicarbonate of Soda and salt and add to the mixture. Mix to a thick dough.

Lastly mix through the white chocolate chips.

You now have 2 choices – put the dough in the fridge to chill for an hour, and then form into balls about the size of a golf ball ready for the oven. However, because you’ve chilled the dough it will be hard. Alternatively, why not form the dough into balls BEFORE you chill it? So much easier!!

Whilst the dough is chilling, preheat the oven to 140c (120c Fan) or Gas Mark 2. Prepare 2 or 3 baking sheets by covering in baking parchment.

Lay out the dough balls onto the baking sheets, remembering to leave a good distance between them as the cookies will spread.

Bake for 20 – 25 mins, depending on how chewy or crunchy you like your cookies.

When baked remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes before transfering to a wire rack to cool completely.

To get in the olympic spirit I decorated mine with piped Royal Icing, mixed up from shop bought Royal Icing Sugar.

Lemon Crumble Bars

If you live in the UK, There are 2 things you can’t have failed to have noticed this summer:

1. The Olympics are nearly upon us – yep, London 2012 will be opening in just a weeks time.
2. It hasn’t stopped raining for what seems like forever!!

Firstly the Olympics. Personally I’m very excited. We get TV Olympic coverage at a time of day I’m not in bed, sleeping. But then I don’t live near the Olympic Village. I do however, have a ‘proper’ job at a big Dance Shoe Company, and the factory and offices are based in Hackney.

Oh…. My…. Life…..how much things have changed in the area!!

Most of the staff live in the local vicinity and have had varying degrees of inconvenience with a few added bonuses. But I think the most interesting story I heard this week was how all the helicopters carrying the security troops make the TV satellite dishes shake so much the local residents keep loosing reception.

The company I work for are proud to be involved in the Olympics, but as we’re not ‘official’ sponsors I can’t tell you exactly how we are involved….which as the Marketing Manager is UBER annoying!!

Anyway, onto my second point…..RAIN!!!! Seriously, how much water does the sky hold? On April 5th a hosepipe ban came into force in our area, and, you guessed it, it hasn’t stopped raining since!

I’m not kidding!!

Whilst America is sweltering in ridiculous heat, the UK has drowned!!!!!!

There is one thing you can rely on with the British weather at the moment, and that is that you’re going to get wet at some point during the day! Do not leave the house without an umbrella or waterproof jacket, and preferably a pair of wellies, and in some areas canoes come in handy too!

As a nation we have the collective look of the proverbial ‘drowned rat!’.

But are we down about it? No, we have the Olympics next week, and the pesky Jet Stream that is bringing all this falling water is, apparently, moving North, so the forecast and TV viewing looks positive.

(oh and our hosepipe ban was lifted early, 2 weeks ago. Something to do with the fact that we’ve had the wettest summer EVER)

As there are all sorts of restrictions about using the Olympic rings, I didn’t want to incur the wrath of the IOC by baking something that looked liked them. Therefore, I have rather tenuously devised a baking and blogging schedule that fits with the colours of the five rings.

First up – yellow.

These are what I consider to be comfort food. Exactly what you need on a wet, miserable, cold July day!

Lemon Crumble Bars

Base and Crumble:
160gms plain flour, sifted
80gms granulated sugar
100gms butter

Filling:
110gms sugar
1 tbspn plain flour
.25 tspn baking powder
1 egg
Juice and grated zest of 1 lemon

Grease a baking tray. I used a 6″ x 4″ foil tray.

Preheat you oven to 130 c, 150c fan, gas mark 3

Place all the base and crumble ingredients into a bowl and mix with an electric mixer until it has the consistency of thick crumbs.

Take one third of the crumbs and squish it into the tray to form a base.

Place all the filling ingredients into a clean bowl and mix until fully combined.

Tip: place the tray onto a baking sheet, as when it’s filled it’s a bit tricky to carry without spilling it.

Pour the filling over the base.

Sprinkle the remaining crumble over the filling. Some will sink in, some will stay on top.

Bake for 30 minutes, or until the top is slightly spongy to touch.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool. (At this point you could, as I did, dig into the crumble and have it as you would any other fruit crumble with ice-cream or custard. However, in order to get bars, you have to resist this temptation)

Once fully cooled its best to pop the crumble into the fridge for at least 30 minutes to set.

Once set cut into bars and devour!

Christmas Treats

This week has been busier than I could ever believe. Sunday was spent bringing Christmas to the Daisy Cake household. The Tree was put up, the presents were wrapped, the cards were written but…….. since then I feel like I have totally ignored that fact that Christmas is happening. UNTIL TODAY, when I realised it’s only 2 days away….EEEEEEEK!!

I promised sweet treats for friends and family, and so have prepared some of my No Thermometre Chocolate Fudge in both white and milk chocolate, and have made Real Hot Chocolate and Chocolate and Peppermint Creams.

There is nothing better than real Hot Chocolate, and by that I mean real chocolate melted in a big cup a hot milk!! It’s great on a chilly day, to be tucked up indoors with a Real Hot Chocolate and a gooey cookie. And what better gift to give, than a big bundle of comfort.

I also made Chocolate and peppermint Creams which are so easy it’s unreal!!

But first…..

Real Hot Chocolate

150gms Dark Chocolate

2tbsns Caster Sugar

4 tbspns Hot Chocolate Powder

Break the chocolate into pieces and melt in a bowl over a saucepan of boiling water on the stove. Be careful not to let the bottom on the bowl touch the boiling water as it’ll burn your chocolate.

Once the chocolate is fully melted mix in the caster sugar and Hot Chocolate Powder until dissolved

Pour your mixture into silicone moulds. I use silicone ice cube moulds, but you can use proper chocolate moulds if you have them

Once the mix is cooled you can put them in the fridge to help them set

Once set, pop out of the mould and put them in a bag with some marshmallows

They are designed to be melted in a mug of steaming hot milk with the marshmallows sprinkled on top.

Chocolate and Peppermint Creams

200g White Fondant ‘ready to roll’ Icing

200g Chocolate Fondant ‘ready to roll’ icing

2tspn Peppermint essence

Icing Sugar or Cornflour for dusting

Place your white icing into a bowl and knead the peppermint essence into it. If it becomes sticky add a little bit of icing sugar or cornflour

Once all the peppermint is combined into the icing spinkle some icing sugar (or cornflour) onto a board to stop the icing sticking and roll your icing into a long rectangle

Roll the Chocolate fondant into a sausage shape and place on top of the white fondant

Roll the white fondant around the chocolate, like pastry round a sausage roll

Cut into 5mm discs and leave on a baking tray to dry overnight.

 

 

 

After Dinner Mint Chocolate Cookies

I have just burnt my tongue!!!!! These cookies looked and smelt so good coming out of the oven, that I shoved one in my mouth and now have singed taste buds…..but it was SO worth it!!

What is not to like about baking cookies? They’re quick, easy, don’t need any paraphernalia, and make your house smell yum!!

And add to all of the above,  raw cookie dough is one of my all time faves to steal direct from the bowl!!!

Biscuits and Cookies are widely thought of in as being in the same baking category, and I suppose, the way the start as a dough, they are. But, the Traditional British Biccy and the American Cookie are very different in the time taken from dough to ready.

Now, I love British Biccies. Bourbons, Custard Creams, Jam Sandwiches and Decorated Butter Biscuits are ALL on my list of baking favourites, but to get them looking decadent they take time and concentration, whereas cookies are a case of mix, divide and bake……what could be easier?

Chocolate Chip Cookies are always a big hit. Double Chocolate Chip adds an extra hint of lushness. But for a festive feel, why not add a bit of mintyness?

These are made with a combination of Dark Brown Sugar and Caster Sugar, which give a soft brownie type texture to the inside once you’ve got through the crunchy crust. They have the slightest hint of a cool minty taste which contrasts beautifully with the indulgent chocolate.

Minty Double Choc Chip Cookies

70 gms Dark Brown Sugar

100 gms Caster Sugar

125 gms Butter – use from a block, NOT spreadable or out of a tub

1 Egg

40 gms Cocoa

160 gms Plain Flour

1 tspn Bicarb of Soda

2 x 40(ish) gms Mint Aero Bars chopped into choc chip size pieces

50 gms Dark Choc Chips

Pre-heat your oven to 140c (fan 120c), Gas Mark 2

Cream the butter, dark brown sugar and caster sugar together

Add the egg and mix through

Sieve in the cocoa, flour and bicarb of soda and mix till you get a stiff thick dough

Add the chipped Mint Aero Bars and Dark Choc Chips and mix through the dough until its evenly distributed

Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes

Line 3 baking sheets with greaseproof paper

Roll the dough into 10 equal balls (about 1.5 to 2 inches across), and place the balls onto the lined baking sheets. Make sure you have enough room for the dough to spread whilst cooking. I try to put no more than 4 balls on each sheet.

Press the balls down very slightly with the palm of your hand – they should look like slightly flat-topped balls – NOT TOTALLY FLAT!!

Bake in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes, or until crispy around the edges.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes (Burn warning – do not eat immediately)

Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely and then enjoy with a nice cuppa, or if your feeling a bit American, why not dunk in a glass of cold milk?

Is being a Domestic Goddess Hereditary?

It came as a big shock to me, when I was a teenager, to discover that people regularly eat shop bought cake!

Seriously…..I was genuinely surprised!!

My Mum, and my Nan before her, always cooked and baked! Chips from the chippy were a treat for me, as was a fishfinger sandwich on sliced white bread, and this wasn’t because we were food snobs, but because we always had home-cooked food….Sunday roasts, casseroles, soups, layer cakes, scones, savoury pies, home-baked bread, cupcakes, lemon meringue pie, the list is endless!

I believe there are a few reasons for this…. my Nan and Grampy had a smallholding with chickens, a pig, and crops, (and they lived in a house in the middle of the smallholding which my Grampy built). My Nan, was what you called a proper Housewife…..cooking the home-grown veg, baking with the hen laid eggs, sewing, knitting etc etc.

My Mum on the other hand is NOT what you’d call a proper housewife, she was a working Mum, but she was very close to my Nan and clearly the best of the housewife qualities were passed on (and yes we did, and still do, wear homeknits).

Growing up in a house where homecooking is the norm teaches you a thing or two. Spending hours in a kitchen with 2 ladies who are demons with a mixing bowl and an oven has had its advantages, and I also now have a passion for home cooked food. (Sadly my knitting isn’t too hot, but I can sew.)

I don’t have children, but that hasn’t stopped my Mum and I finding someone to pass down our ‘housewifely’ skills to. My 12 year old niece, who calls my Mum ‘Nan’ has caught the baking bug.

On Saturday, whilst selling 150 cupcakes I’d baked the day before, I started getting emails and texts from both my Mum and my Niece….all food creation related.

   

 

 

 

 

 

My Niece was spending the day in my brothers kitchen, and sent me photos of her fresh out of the oven Blueberry Muffins and Cookies, whilst my Mum had spent the day experimenting with the slightly more complicated venture of Turkish Delight

My Nan, if she were alive today, I’m sure would be proud to see her Housewife genes being passed down through the ages.

Sadly I can’t share my Mum’s or Niece’s recipes with you, but I can give you tips on how to make yummy toffee cupcakes, which was the flavour that sold out first at The Daisy Cakesale on Saturday

Toffee Cupcakes

(pictured at the top of this post)

Use your favourite Vanilla Sponge Cake recipe. Whether its a recipe handed down through your family, or a packet mix, any will work.
Substitute the white sugar in the recipe for light bright brown sugar.
Add a good glug of toffee sauce to the mix – you can either make your toffee sauce by melting sugar and butter etc, or if you’re not feeling so goddess like, buy a good quality Toffee Sauce for ice-cream. My Vanilla Sponge recipe makes 12 – 14 cupcakes and I add about 100ml to get a good flavour.

For the frosting, mix up a nice fluffy buttercream.
I use one part butter to 4 parts icing sugar (e.g. 100gms butter to 400gms icing sugar).
Beat with an electric whisk, but watch to put a clean tea towel over the bowl at first or you might end up in a cloud of icing sugar. Then add milk a dibble at a time to loosen it up.
Again add a good glug of toffee sauce and whisk till its light and fluffy.
Either pipe or spoon the frosting on top of the cakes and add a chocolate button or Cadbury’s Caramel Nibble for decoration.