Leftover Blackberry frosting cookies with white chocolate

Quick post today to tell you about a little experiment in the kitchen. I made some chocolate and blackerry cupcakes recently and had some leftover frosting. I've used leftover frosting to make cookies previously and as I've never had a blackberry cookie I thought it would be interesting to try. The frosting is made of blackberry puree, icing sugar and butter. Butter and sugar are basic ingredients for cookies so I added in flour and and an egg. The mixture then looked a little grey so I added a handful of fresh blackberries as well which I managed to get in the reduced aisle for 10p a box! It gave the mixture a lovely purple hue and boosted the blacberry flavour. I added in about 50g of white chocolate chips to give some contrast and sweetness. The cookie dough was really soft - in hindsight I should have added more flour but I baked them anyway and they turned out like soft baked cookies. They tasted like a cross between a cookie and a cake. It was slightly crispy around the edges but soft in the middle. The flavour combination of blackberry and white chocolate was delicious! I will now have to experiment with making actual blackberry cookies. Has anyone tried a blackberry cookie before?

I'm sending this to the No Waste Food Challenge guest hosted this month by Claire from Foodie Quine on behalf of Elizabeth from Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary. This recipe uses up leftover blackberry frostings and part of a reduced box of blackberries which have just gone past their sell by date. 

I'm also sending it to Credit Crunch Munch as this is quite a frugal recipe using leftovers and store cupboard ingredients. The challenge is hosted by Helen from Fuss Free Flavours and Camilla from Fab Food 4 All. 

 leftover blackberry frosting 

 adding a handful of fresh blackberries as the mixture looked a little grey

 

 adding in white chocolate chips

 Blackberry and white chocolate cookies! 

Banana, strawberry and white chocolate muffins

This month Dom from Belleau Kitchen asks us 'how do you like your eggs in the morning?' as his theme for SimplyEggcellent #5. My answer is that it would depend on what day it is. For weekends when there is time for a more leisurely breakfast which is usually brunch by the time we are up and ready it's got to be poached eggs. Smoked salmon, bagel and a poached egg is a particular favourite as well as waffles with fruit, bacon and a poached egg. On weekdays, breakfast is usually a quick and simple affair and more often than not it's muffins! Muffins are really easy to make - usually a mix all in one method and they freeze really well. They are easy to transport and are quite filling especially if you make them a decent size. I've made sweet as well as savoury muffins but almost always come back to a variation of a banana muffin. 

This recipe is another banana one and I used up ingredients that I could find - a box of over ripe strawberries, a bag of giant white chocolate buttons at the back of the cupboard and some yellowing bananas. I also found some frozen strawberries in the freezer which I added just before baking.  The muffins were really moist and flavourful and I loved the addition of the white chocolate buttons. I made a double recipe as I had a lot of ingredients and J and I both took some to work. The muffins disappeared really quickly and I had lots of positive reviews. 

I'm sending this to Simply Eggcellent hosted by Dom from Belleau Kitchen as muffins are a favourite breakfast food of mine which contains eggs.

I'm also sending it to the No Waste Food Challenge hosted by Elizabeth from Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary as this was a good way to use up over ripe bananas, very ripe strawberries and an old bag of white chocolate buttons. I also used up a bag of frozen strawberries which has been in the freezer for a few weeks. 

 adding chopped strawberries and white chocolate buttons (I made a double recipe in case you are wondering why there's so much batter!) 

 ready to go in the oven but not quite... 

 I had a bag of frozen strawberries in the freezer so I decided to put one in each muffin before baking 

 fresh from the oven 

 You can see the whole strawberry which obviously defrosted during the baking process! 

Makes 12 muffins

250g plain flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
120g brown sugar
3 ripe bananas, mashed
250mls milk
80mls sunflower or vegetable oil
2 eggs
120g strawberries, washed, hulled and sliced
80g white chocolate buttons
12 frozen whole strawberries (optional)

• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and sugar. 
• In another bowl, beat the eggs lightly and add the mashed bananas, milk and oil.
• Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and fold gently until just mixed.
• Add the chopped strawberries and white chocolate buttons and mix. 
• Divide the mixture into 12 muffin cases.
• Add a frozen strawberry on top if using.
• Bake for approximately 25-30 minutes or until golden brown and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
• Allow to cool completely before storing in an airtight container. 

Blueberry and white chocolate buttermilk scones

This is one of those amazing recipes that started as a bit of an experiment and ended beautifully. I have been quite busy lately and have been neglecting my blog. I do miss baking and blogging and participating in blogging challenges but sometimes life just gets in the way. I didn't get a chance to enter anything last month apart from Alphabakes so I wanted to make sure I got a few entries in this month. The inspiration for this recipe is the We Should Cocoa Challenge hosted by Choclette from Tin and Thyme. The theme this month is blueberries. I started thinking about how to pair chocolate and blueberries. Initially I thought of a blueberry sponge cupcake with white chocolate frosting but decided it was too boring. I debated about cookies but I couldn't find any dried blueberries when I went shopping. I then stumbled upon a recipe for buttermilk scones and thought aha! I don't bake scones often and I've certainly never tried baking this type of scone so I thought I'd go for it! 

I adapted a recipe slightly from Butter Baking which in turn was adapted from Tartine. I wasn't sure how to incorporate the blueberries and white chocolate but I did know that scone mixture should not be handled extensively otherwise the scones are hard and dry. I decided to tip out the scone mixture onto a silicone mat and kneaded it gently. I pressed it into a large rectangle shape then poured the white chocolate chips and blueberries on top. I then rolled the dough so the filling was in the middle. I cut large rectangles and then cut them into triangles. The scones were brushed with melted butter and sprinkled with caster sugar before baking. Every scone had ample filling of blueberries and white chocolate and the blueberries stayed in the middle. 

The scones turned out better than I expected. They look a lot better than those sold at a certain coffee chain! They have a lovely crispy edge and a soft centre. The blueberries and white chocolate work well together and the scones are not overly sweet at all. The sugar on top gives it a lovely crunch. It's best served warm with a cup of tea but it was still delicious the day after.

 add cubed butter to flour mixture  

 I spread out the dough and patted it into a rectangluar shape

 poured the fresh blueberries and white chocolate on top

 fold in half and cut into rectangles and then triangles

 brush with melted butter and sprinkle with caster sugar before baking 

 Loved the crispy bits 

 Warmed up slightly for breakfast the next day - love the oozing blueberries! 

I'm sending this to a few blog challenges this month...

We Should Cocoa hosted by Choclette from Tin and Thyme. The theme this month is blueberries.

Treat Petite hosted by Stuart from Cakeyboi and Kat from The Baking Explorer. The theme this month is Summertime Special. Berries in any form definitely spell summer for me.

Simple and in Season hosted by Ren. Blueberries are definitely in season at the moment.

Recipe of the Week hosted by Emily from A Mummy Too

Tasty Tuesdays hosted by Vicki from Honest Mum.

Recipe adapted from Butter Baking 

Makes 18 scones
For the scones
680g plain flour
100g caster sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
250g butter, cubed
375mls buttermilk
100g white chocolate chips
200g fresh blueberries
For the topping before baking 
30g butter, melted
30g caster sugar for sprinkling

• Preheat the oven to 180C. 
• Place the flour, sugar, baking powder and bicarbonte of soda in the bowl of an electric mixer.
• Add the cubed butter (250g).
• Mix on a low speed until the butter is incorporated into the flour mixture. 
• Add in the buttermilk.
• You should have a soft dough at this point.
• Tip it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently. Try not to overmix or handle the dough too much.
• Spread the rough into a large rectangle.
• Pour the white chocolate chips and fresh blueberries on top. 
• Fold the dough in half starting with the bottom end, folding upwards.
• Cut into large rectangles and then cut into triangles (see photo above).
• Place the triangles on a lined baking tray.
• Brush with melted butter and sprinkle caster sugar on top. 
• Bake for approximately 25-30 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through.
• Allow to cool for 5 minutes on the tray.
• Best served warm but will keep in an airtight container for a day or two. 

Cranbery, Orange, Pecan and White Chocolate Mini Loaves

It's almost Christmas and I have one final Christmas recipe to share with you. I've baked a few other things but I may save them for next year! It's been a really busy month and I've not had a chance to bake as many homemade gifts as I'd like. I wanted something relatively quick and easy yet stunning. I'm not a huge fan of fruit cake so I decided to make this very festive cake using cranberries and orange. I added in some pecan and white chocolate for indulgence and a spoonful of marmalade in the middle. I made an orange glaze to go on top of the cakes and decorated it with a lightly toasted pecan nut. The cake was incredibly moist and orange was the predominant flavour. You can clearly taste the other ingredients when you got a bite of it particularly the marmalade centre. I think I'll have to bake this again after Christmas just because it's so tasty!

I'm sending this to AlphaBakes hosted by Caroline from Caroline Makes and myself on alternate months. The letter this month is 'X' and Caroline is accepting everything Christmas related.

These mini loaves are also perfect for Treat Petite hosted by Kat from the Baking Explorer and Stuart from Cakeyboi. The theme this month is Christmas.

 marmalade, dried cranberries, oranges, pecan nuts, white chocolate chips

 half fill the mini loaf case with batter 

add a spoonful of marmalade

 cover with more batter 

 ready to be decorated 

 I poured orange glaze icing on top and placed a lightly toasted pecan nut in the centre

 Finished with a christmas ribbon for the festive touch 

Happy Christmas Everyone! 

Makes 19 mini loaves

For the cake

225g butter

350g caster sugar

450g flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

250mls milk

125mls fresh orange juice

zest of 2 oranges

4 eggs

170g dried cranberries

100g white chocolate chips

100g pecans, roughly chopped  + extra whole pecans to decorate 

Orange marmalade (optional)

For the glaze

juice of 1-2 oranges

150 -200g icing sugar

• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy,
• Add in the eggs one at a time, mixing well between each addition. 
• In a large bowl, mix the milk and orange juice.
• Sieve the flour and baking powder into another bowl.
• Add in the milk mixture alternating with the flour mixture in 3 batches.
• Add in the orange zest, dried cranberries, white chocolate chips and pecan nuts. 
• Half fill the mini loaf case with batter.
• Add a teaspoon of marmalae on top.
• Cover with more batter until about 3/4 full. 
• Bake for approximately 18-20 minutes or until golden brown and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. 
• To make the glaze, sift the icing sugar into a bowl and add the orange juice until you get a spreadable consistency. You may need to add more juice or icing sugar depending on the consistency you want. 
• Spread a generous layer of glaze on top of the cake and decorate with a whole pecan nut which has been lightly toasted. 

Banana, chili and white chocolate loaf

This sounds like an unusual combination of flavours but trust me it works! Recently, I found my old file of recipes when I was looking for my beer bread recipe. This folder has clippings from magazines, recipes from the back of packets of things, recipes passed to me from my mum and from my friends and photocopies of recipes from books I've borrowed in the past. It's a little treasure trove of recipes which I've not used in years so I had great fun looking through them.

I decided to pick a recipe at random so that I could enter it into Random Recipes hosted by Dom from Belleau Kitchen who has chosen the theme of magazines and clippings this month. My random selection is a recipe from my mum for a banana and white chocolate loaf. I've not made this in years but I remember this loaf being really tasty. It's a simple, no fuss recipe - just bananas and white chocolate. No nuts, dried fruits, yoghurt or honey.

This month's We Should Cocoa challenge this month is chocolate and chili so I thought why not add some chili? We cooked a Thai green curry for dinner so I had some leftover chilies anyway and it was as if it was meant to be. I cooked the chilies in sugar and water, then strained them and added it to the banana loaf. We Should Cocoa is guest hosted by Shaheen from Allotment 2 Kitchen on behalf of Choclette from Chocolate Log Blog. She chose the theme red hot chili for this month and although these are green chilies (I used the red one for the curry!), I hope it's still acceptable. 

I'm also entering this to the No Waste Food Challenge guest hosted this month by Manjiri from Slice off Me on behalf of Elizabeth from Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary. I used up leftover bananas and chilies in this recipe.

The predominant flavour of this loaf is banana - it's quite a wet, dense loaf and the white chocolate chips add a burst of sweetness. The chili kicks in at the end and was not overly spicy. Everyone thought it was delicious and most were intrigued by the taste. I had 2 slices myself as it's just so delicious. I hope you give it a try as it's quick and easy to bake and uses readily available ingredients. Do let me know what you think if you try it.

 cook the chilies in sugared water

 adding the white chocolate chips and cooked, sweetened chilies

 ready to bake 

 fresh from the oven 

 I love that you can still see the flecks of green from the chilies

Recipe adapted from mum

4 bananas mashed

85g unsalted butter

60g caster sugar

1 egg

170g flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

100g white chocolate chips

3 green chilies cooked in 150mls water and 100g caster sugar then drained.

• Preheat oven to 180C.
• Slice the chilies finely, removing the seed in the middle.
• Measure out 150mls water and 100g caster sugar into a small saucepan. 
• Add the chopped chillies and bring to the boil then leave to simmer for another 5 minutes.
• Strain the chillies and set aside. 
• Beat butter and sugar with a spoon. 
• Add in the egg. 
• Sift the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and cinnamon in a bowl.
• In a separate bowl, roughly mash the bananas.
• Add half of the sifted dry ingredients to the butter mixture and stir.
• Add half the mashed bananas and continue mixing.
• Finally add in the remaining dry ingredients followed by the mashed bananas.
• Stir in the chocolate chips and strained, cooked chilies.
• Pour into a loaf tin and bake for approximately 45 minutes or until golden brown and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.