Easy "Sopapillas" - Tortilla style

We were having a Mexican themed night with friends last night and I wanted to make a quick easy yummy dessert. All I could think of was a sopapilla style dessert, I love them... a mix of cinnamon, sugar, sweet pastry, honey, and cream. I haven't had them for years and I found some pretty cool recipes inspired by the sopapilla dessert. I needed a quick easy recipe and found cinnamon sugar tortilla chips and I thought they would be yummy served with freshly whipped cream and honey to dip them in. Time got away from us and it was late and we were still full from our dinner that I ended up not making the dessert. I still wanted to try out the recipe, so I woke up this morning and got started on this easy recipe. They were fun to make, so simple but very yummy! This recipe might sound strange but try this one it, I think you will like it!

Recipe inspired by Food.com

Ingredients:
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
8 flour tortillas
6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Serve with:
Freshly whipped cream
Honey

Steps:
Preheat oven to 175C/350F. In a small bowl, combine sugar and cinnamon and set aside. Cut tortillas into triangles and brush one side with the melted butter. Dip the tortilla butter side down into the cinnamon sugar and place the tortilla triangles sugar side up on the baking sheets. Bake for 10 minutes or until crisp. Serve with freshly whipped cream and a good drizzle of honey. 

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Almond Chai Tea Cookies

These cookies were AMAZING!! I couldn't wait to try out this recipe as I love chai tea and putting them in a cookie... YUM. This recipe is based on one from the fabulous Eric Lanlard, my famous baking mad friend. I can call him a friend right... I did make an appearance on his show and we tweet sometimes. ;-P Anyway, back to the recipe, I changed the recipe slightly by adding in chopped almonds to replace the sultanas (not a huge fan of sultanas) and I didn't have any cardamom seeds at the time when I made these. They turned out great with a nice crunch on the outside and soft on the inside, just the way I like to have cookies. The chai tea and almond bonded and created a great flavor for this cookie. I will be adding these to my list of recipes to make again! Try this one out for yourself and get the book for the original recipe with lots of  other yummy goodies in it!

Recipe inspired by Eric Lanlard: Cox Cookies & Cake

Ingredients:
225g unsalted butter, softened
225g soft brown sugar
2 egg yolks
1 tbsp chai tea, crushed (about 2 tea bags)

1 tsp vanilla extract
225g wholemeal flour
1 tsp baking powder
110g rolled oats
100g almonds, chopped

Steps:
Preheat oven to 200C/395F and line 2 baking sheets with baking paper. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add in the egg yolks, chai tea, and vanilla extract and mix until well combined. Then add in the flour, baking powder, and oats. Once this has combined, fold in the almonds. Place spoonfuls of the mixture on the baking, evenly spaced apart and bake for 15 minutes. Leave to cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. 

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Almost time to Live Below The Line...

... will you be joining me on this challenge? If not, will you sponsor me as I take this challenge starting May 7th? I still need to come up with my meal plan... this is going to be hard. Check out my original post to find out more info.

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Banana Monkey Bread

I love monkey bread!! I haven't made it for quite awhile and I wanted to try out a new recipe, something a bit different from the usual monkey bread. I was searching all over the net but most of the recipes use the canned dough, which they don't sell in the UK, or dough that has yeast and needs time to rise. I knew I wanted to make the dough from scratch and if I found a no yeast dough recipe that would be a bonus as we had friends coming over and wanted this to be baked in time. I found the perfect recipe and couldn't wait to try it out. I really enjoyed making this recipe. It came together so easily and making the banana filled dough parcels and dipping them in the sugar was fun. Once popped in the oven, I started smelling the cinnamon aroma coming from the kitchen. I have an addiction to cinnamon... love it! This monkey bread turned out great. The bread was moist and with the banana filling baked in the center of each little ball it really took this classic recipe to the next level. We all loved it and our friends even took some home with them. Try this recipe out! Now I need to come up with a savory version!

Recipe inspired by a Yahoo! Voices contributor

Ingredients:
Dough:
1 cup plain flour
1 cup stoneground wholemeal flour
1/3 cup sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup milk

Banana Filling:
1 large ripe banana
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp sugar

Coating:
1/2 brown sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon

2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Steps:
Preheat oven to 175C/350F and grease a bundt pan. COATING: In a small bowl, combine sugar and cinnamon. Set aside. BANANA FILLING: In a small bowl, combine all ingredients and mash until combined. DOUGH: In a large bowl, mix together the flours, sugar, baking powder, cream of tartar, and salt until thoroughly combined. Add in the softened butter and mix until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs. Add in the milk and mix on a higher speed until the dough just comes together. Knead in your stand mixer or on a lightly floured surface and knead for about a minute and the dough is smooth and no longer sticky. Shape the dough into an 8inch by 8inch square about 1/2inch thick. Cut into 16 equal squares. Take one square and flatten it slightly with your fingers. Place 1tsp of the banana filling in the middle and seal by grabbing each corner together. Dip the dough ball into the sugar coating and place into the bundt pan. Repeat until the first layer has 8 dough balls and sprinkle with half of the sugar coating. Repeat with the remaining 8 dough squares to create a second layer and sprinkle with the remaining sugar coating. Bake for 35 minutes and remove from oven. Pour melted butter over the top while the bread is still in the bundt pan. Let the bread cool for 5 minutes in the bundt pan. Place a plate of top of the pan and turn over.

I have also submitted this to April's AlphaBakes hosted by
The More than Occasional Baker and Caroline Makes.

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Turkish Apple Tea Cupcakes

I've been wanting to make cupcakes for awhile now as it has been too long since I last made any. I decided to try out another Hummingbird Bakery recipe as it has always given me great results, love this book!

I saw this recipe, they called them Apple Blossom cupcakes, but I had Turkish Apple Tea powder in my cupboard, so called them that but pretty sure they are similar. The powder reminded of the Hot Apple Cider drinks I used to have as a kid in the States, so was quite happy to find something similar in the England. 

These cupcakes turned out wonderfully moist! I loved the strong apple flavor throughout the sponge and frosting, it tasted very refreshing and so yummy. This is a great recipe to enjoy on a warm spring day dreaming of summer!

Recipe by Hummingbird Bakery: Cake Days

Ingredients:
Cake:
4 tbsp Turkish Apple Tea powder
3 tbsp hot water
80g unsalted butter, softened
280g caster sugar
240g plain flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

200ml milk
2 large eggs

Frosting:
4 tbsp Turkish Apple Tea powder
50ml whole milk
500g icing sugar
160g unsalted butter, softened

.

Steps:
Preheat oven to 190C/375F and line a muffin tin with muffin cases. Place the apple tea powder in a small bowl and add the hot water, allow to dissolve completely. In a medium bowl, whisk together the butter, sugar, flour, baking powder and salt on a low speed until the ingredients resemble fine breadcrumbs. Place the milk and eggs in the bowl with the apple tea and whisk together by hand. Add 3/4 of the tea mixture to the dry mix and combine together, then increase the speed and add the remaining milk mixture. Continue to mix until smooth. Divide the batter between the cases, fill them to two-thirds full. Bake in the oven for 18-20 minutes. Leave to cool slightly before removing from the tin, then place them on a wire rack to cool completely. FROSTING: Dissolve the apple tea powder in the milk. Mix the icing sugar and butter until no lumps of butter remain and then gradually add the apple milk. Once this has all been added increase the speed and mix until light and fluffy. Top each cake with a generous spoonful of frosting and smooth with a palette knife or pipe frosting on and decorate.

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Tunnel of Fudge Cake

I've been wanting to make this recipe again for awhile now and was waiting for the perfect occasion. The perfect occasion came when I finally got my kMix stand mixer and wanted to put it to the test, as my hand mixer struggled with mixing all the batter for this cake.  I first made this cake several years ago for my friend Zoe's birthday after finding it on the net but had no idea it was a classic American recipe that originated from a Pillsbury bake off contest in 1966. This time around I wanted to change the recipe a little bit and added cinnamon in it.  My mixer handled the cake batter just fine and worked so much better than my hand mixers ever have. I popped it in the oven hoping the addition of cinnamon would work and judging by the spoonful of batter I tried, I couldn't wait to try the cake once it finished baking. Once it had properly cooled, Shane and I had a taste test and it was wonderful! We both loved the addition of cinnamon to this cake it really added a nice flavor and worked great with the chocolate and pecans! We both took some into work and it didn't last long, everyone really liked it! Chocolate lovers try this recipe out!

Recipe Inspired by About.com Busy Cooks

Ingredients:
Cake:
1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, softened
1 cup caster sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
55 grams dark chocolate, melted
6 eggs
2 cups icing sugar
2 cups plain flour

2/3 cup cocoa powder
1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans

Chocolate Glaze:
1/2 cup dark chocolate, chopped
1-2 tsp unsalted butter

.

Steps:
Preheat oven to 350F/175C. In large bowl, combine butter, sugar, and brown sugar, and beat until mixture is light and fluffy. Add melted and cooled chocolate, beating until combined. Add eggs, one at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition until eggs combine with butter mixture. Gradually add icing sugar to the batter, mixing well. By hand, stir in flour, cocoa, cinnamon, vanilla, and pecans until well blended. Grease a 12 cup Bundt pan and spoon batter into prepared pan. Bake for 50-55 minutes, until crust looks dry and shiny (traditional doneness tests won't work because of the fudgey center). Cool cake in pan on a wire rack for an hour, then invert onto serving plate and remove pan. Cool completely. In small microwave-safe bowl, place the chopped chocolate and butter. Microwave for 15 seconds at time, stir, and repeat until fully melted and mixture is smooth. Drizzle over cake to decorate.

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Live Below The Line

I recently received an email about a great fundraising campaign called Live Below The Line. I checked out their site and felt it was time for me to give back to the larger worldwide community. I have accepted the challenge feeding myself on £1 a day for 5 days. £1 a day is the UK equivalent of the extreme poverty line. This will give me a glimpse into the lives of 1.4 billion people who have no choice but to live below the line every day and who have to make £1 cover a lot more than food and drink. I will be doing this challenge from the 7th to the 11th of May with more then 20,000 participants from the UK, US, and Australia. I will be blogging that week documenting my experience with the challenge. I am doing this challenge raising money for Restless Development, a youth led development agency. Please see their videos below to learn more about them. I am hoping that some of you will join me on this challenge or sponsor me by donating here, every donation helps no matter how big or small it will make a difference for someone's life. Now to think of a meal plan for the 5 days with only £1 each day... this will definitely be a challenge.

 Please sponsor me by donating here.

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Cinnamon Swirl Cake

I had no idea that the episode of the TV show I was on was going to air today, until the tweets started coming in. Thank you everyone for all the great messages this evening and asking for the recipe that I baked on the show. I was going to make it again this weekend so I could take better photos with my camera but here are some shots from my mobile when I was practicing before going on the show. I am a huge fan of cinnamon and when asked to do a tray bake recipe for the show I knew I wanted to use cinnamon. This cinnamon swirl cake definitely packs the cinnamon in. Hope you get a chance to check out the show, "Baking Mad with Eric Lanlard", it really is a great show to watch. I also hope you try out the recipe below.

Recipe

Ingredients:
Cinnamon Topping:
100g light brown sugar
65g plain flour
60g unsalted butter, softened
1 tsp cinnamon

Cinnamon Filling:
225g unsalted butter, softened
200g light brown sugar
2 Tbsp plain flour
2 Tbsp cinnamon

Cake: 
400g plain flour
225g caster sugar
355ml milk
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
55g unsalted butter, melted

Icing Drizzle: 
125g icing sugar
2 Tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Steps:
1. In a small bowl, mix together all ingredients for the cinnamon topping until well combined and set aside. 2. In a medium bowl, mix together all ingredients for the cinnamon filling until well combined and set aside. 3. In a medium bowl, mix together all ingredients for the cake except for the melted butter. Once that has come together well, slowly mix in the melted butter. Pour into a greased 33cm x 23cm x 4.5cm baking tray. (13in x 9in x 1.75in tray) 4. Drop large spoonfuls of the cinnamon filling evenly over the cake batter and use a knife to lightly swirl the cinnamon filling into the cake batter. 5. Drop small little pieces of the cinnamon topping all over the top of the cake batter. 6. Bake at 175C for 35 - 45 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean from centre of cake. Let cake cool in tray on a wire rack. 7. In a small bowl, mix together all ingredients for icing drizzle until smooth. Drizzle over warm cake. Cut cake into squares.

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I'm on... Baking Mad with Eric Lanlard!

Earlier today on Channel4, I was on an episode of "Baking Mad with Eric Lanlard"!! I had a great day at Cake Boy in London and taking part in the show was a great experience. If you are in the UK, you can watch the show on 4oD. Anyone know how I can get it available for my family in the US? They would love to see it.

Here are some pictures from the day!

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Meatloaf Cupcake with Roasted Beetroot Mash

I was recently challenged to come up with a recipe based on the colour Purple. I had no idea what I was going to make and was brainstorming for a few days. I finally came up with this little creation with inspiration from friends and the net. I loved these little meatloaf cupcakes with the roasted beetroot mash. They turned out great, loved all the different flavours I packed in! I was very happy with them and it was fun to make, I will definitely be making these again.

Hope you like my recipe for the Appliances Online British Ovens Rainbow Cookbook, check out their blog to see what other bloggers created for the other colors of the rainbow.

Recipe 

Ingredients:
Meatloaf:
500g mince beef
400g mince turkey
1 red onion, chopped
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp salt
1 cup panko crumbs
1 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
1/4 cup milk
2 eggs, lightly beaten

Glaze:
1/2 cup ketchup
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp chipotle chilli sauce

Frosting:
3 medium potatoes, peeled & quartered
3 roasted beetroots
200 ml double cream 
100g butter

Steps:
Preheat oven to 180C, quarter slice up 3 beetroots and place in a roasting tin. Roast for 30 minutes and let cool completely, remove skin, and blitz in a mini chopper. While the beetroot is roasting, make the mashed potato frosting.  Place chopped potatoes in a saucepan; cover with water. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes or until tender. Drain and return to pan. Add remaining "frosting" ingredients; mash to smooth consistency. While those are cooking, grease a 12 cup muffin tin. In a medium bowl, mix together all meatloaf ingredients with your hands until fully combined. Divide equally between the 12 muffin cups.  In a small bowl, mix together all glaze ingredients and top each cupcake with about 1 teaspoon. Bake for 30 minutes. Rest for 5 minutes then remove from tin.
 

I have also submitted this to March's AlphaBakes hosted by
The More than Occasional Baker and Caroline Makes.

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Muffin Monday: Roasted Banana Coconut Muffins with Toffee Coconut Peanut Topping

Another Monday, another muffin recipe to enjoy. Now what probably started off as somewhat of a healthy recipe I've transformed it a bit into a naughty breakfast treat. I decided to add crushed roasted peanuts and toffee sauce to the coconut topping. These muffins turned out great and all the flavours really shined though, very tasty!

Muffin Monday is an initiative by Baker Street. A culinary journey of sharing a wickedly delicious muffin recipe every week. Drop in a quick line to join her on her journey to make the world smile and beat glum Monday mornings week after week.

Recipe - Inspired by epicurious.com

Ingredients:
Muffin: 
1 1/4 cups plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 roasted bananas (medium size), mashed
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup sweetened flaked coconut

Topping:
1/4 cup sweetened flaked coconut
1/4 roasted peanuts, crushed
1/4 toffee sauce

Steps:
Preheat oven to 375°F/190°C. Line muffin cups with liners. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Whisk together roasted bananas, butter, sugar, egg, vanilla, and 1/2 cup coconut in a large bowl until combined well, then fold in flour mixture until flour is just moistened. In a small bowl, combine all ingredients for the topping. Divide batter among lined muffin cups and cover with a spoonful of topping. Bake until muffins are puffed and golden, about 20 - 25 minutes. Transfer muffins to a rack and cool.
 

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Muffin Monday: Strawberry Almond Muffins

I can't believe it is March already, and I can't think of a better way to start it then a wonderful Muffin Monday recipe. The original recipe 'Hazelnut Plum Muffins' is from Women's Weekly and I decided to change it slightly. I'm not a huge plum fan so replaced it with strawberry and thought almonds would compliment the strawberry flavor better than hazelnuts.  They turned out wonderfully moist and I really enjoyed the flavor, not overly sweet, just right for a little breakfast treat. 

Muffin Monday is an initiative by Baker Street. A culinary journey of sharing a wickedly delicious muffin recipe every week. Drop in a quick line to join her on her journey to make the world smile and beat glum Monday mornings week after week.

Recipe
Inspired by Women's Weekly
Ingredients:
90g Butter, melted
375g Self Raising Flour
55g Ground Almonds
150g Caster Sugar
250ml Milk
1 Egg
Strawberry Jam

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 180C and line a 12 hole muffin pan with muffin cups.
2. In a large bowl, combine butter, flour, ground almonds, sugar, milk, and egg. Mix until all the ingredients are combined.
3. Put a tablespoon amount of muffin mixture into the muffin cups and make a well in each muffin. Spoon in a rounded teaspoon of jam and top with another tablespoon amount of muffin mixture.
4. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes.

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Roasted Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

It's been a long time since I have made any cookies and wanted to get in the kitchen to try out a new recipe and use my new baking corner of the kitchen. I searched for recipes, then narrowed it down to an oatmeal cookie but had no idea there were so many varieties! I love oatmeal cookies but hate them the classic way as I am not a huge fan of raisins. I finally chose one and thought... hmm how can I change this a little bit? I've been wanting to try roasting bananas ever since I saw it on my friend Sam's blog. I thought it was a bit weird roasting them in the peel but the bananas come out of the peel smelling so sweet and the banana flavour is lot stronger. I can't wait to try out other recipes using a roasted banana. I think they worked really well with this recipe. These cookies were very easy to make and turned out great having a cake like texture, very moist and yummy. Try this recipe out or let me know if you think of any other roasted banana recipes or even other oatmeal cookie recipes.

Recipe
courtesy of AllRecipes.com
Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
1 cup butter
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups plain flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground cinnamon
3 medium bananas, roasted & mashed
2 cups oats
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Steps:

1. Roast the bananas first by following the instructions over at ehow.com, a couple hours before making these cookies.
2. Preheat the oven to 375F/190C.
3. In a large bowl, cream sugar, butter, eggs and vanilla. 
4. Combine flour, baking soda, nutmeg and cinnamon; add to creamed mixture. 
5. Stir in bananas, oats and chocolate chips. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto greased baking sheets.
6. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Immediately remove cookies to wirerack to cool. Makes about 48 cookies.

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