London Almond Cookies

These are one of my all time favourite cookies. I'm not sure why they're called London Almond cookies as I don't think it has any association with London but that's what I know them as. They are fairly time consuming to make but well worth the effort. They're highly addictive - I can never just have one! I managed to make over 100 cookies and probably ate about a quarter of it already! I've got lots of pictures as I was a little snap happy whilst making these.

Roast whole almonds 

Cream the butter and sugar until pale and creamy

Add in 1 egg yolk

Add flour

Batter

Wrap a whole almond in batter

Bake until golden brown

Toast almond flakes in the oven

In the meantime, melt chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water

Toasted almond flakes for the topping. You can also use 100s&1000s or other sprinkles

Dip cookies in melted chocolate and place in little paper cases. Top with roasted almond flakes.

Final result with a cross-section of 1 cookie

Think they look better with crushed almond flakes on top

Had some extra batter so I added in chocolate chips and oatmeal (leftover from making triple chocolate chip oatmeal cookies) and made mini cookies. Tasted great :)

125g butter
75g icing sugar
1 egg yolk
225g plain flour
150-200g (sorry can't remember how much) whole almonds (probably need 250-300g of whole almonds for the amount of batter made but I used what I had in my cupboard)
400g plain chocolate, melted
50g almond flakes

• Preheat oven to 180C
• Roast whole almonds for about 10 minutes, sitrring in between
• Cream the butter and sugar until pale and creamy.
• Add in 1 egg yolk (if you use the whole egg, it will make your batter very sticky)
• Stir in sifted flour
• Wrap 1 whole almond in batter and shape into an oblong shape or into round balls
• Bake in the preheated oven for about 10-12minutes until golden brown
• Roast almond flakes in the oven until lightly browned - be careful not to burn them if your oven is already hot.
• Melt chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water
• Dip the cookies in the melted chocolate and place in a small paper case
• Sprinkle toasted, crushed almond flakes on top or with a topping of your choice.
• Refrigerate until chocolate has set
• Enjoy :)

Triple Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

The cookie monster has landed! Nothing beats a good cookie especially a chocolatey one. After my brownie feast, I moved on to cookies. This is the first of my 'cookie monster adventure' I found this great recipe from the Brown Eyed Baker. Again I reduced the sugar in the recipe and it was still a little too sweet for me. I used to have a very sweet tooth but that seems to have changed recently. Having said that, it was so delicious, I couldn't stop eating them!

Cream butter and sugar, then beat eggs one at a time.

Add in flour mixture

Stir in rolled oats

Add the chocolate chips

Cookie dough

Ready to go in the oven

Straight out of the oven

The first batch (ones on top) were slightly undercooked

Yummy :)

The anaemic 1st batch!

Recipe
3 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
340g butter
1 cup light brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 cup dark chocolate chips
1 cup milk chocolate chips
1/2 cup white chocolate chips

• Preheat oven to 180C.
• Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and set aside.
• Cream butter and sugar until pale and creamy.  Add in the eggs, one at a time and mix in the vanilla extract.
• Gradually beat in the flour mixture. Do not overmix.
• Stir in rolled oats, followed by the chocolate chips.
• Drop cookies on to a baking sheet and bake for about 12-15 minutes until it's slightly browned and set on the outside but still soft and puffy in the middle.
• Allow to cool completely on baking sheets.

Oreo Cheesecake Brownie

I've been on a real sugar high recently as I've been bingeing on brownies and cookies! I had a real craving for Oreos, cheesecake and chocolate hence the Oreo Cheesecake Brownie. Clearly not the first person to think of this idea but a first time for me making it. I got recipe ideas from the Brown Eyed Baker and Joy of Baking and made very minor modifications. Think it turned out pretty well in the end. Definitely satisfied my cravings... for the moment ;) I love Oreos and can't believe some people do not know what it is! Gasp. Unbelievable but true.

Melt the butter and chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water

Beat the cream cheese and sugar until smooth

Oreos before it gets a bashing from my rolling pin!

Add crushed Oreos to the cream cheese mixture

Spoon the cream cheese/Oreo mixture on top of brownie batter

Swirl to create a marbled effect

Wanted to see how it would look with whole Oreos on top so I put them in one corner

The final result

Slices with whole Oreos

Without the whole Oreo topping - definitely prefer these, I think I may add more Oreos to the mix next time.

Tempted?

For the brownies
113g unsalted butter
114g plain chocolate
150g sugar (I reduced the sugar in this recipe so do add more if you prefer yours sweeter)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
65g plain flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

For the cheesecake swirl
225g cream cheese
50g sugar
6 Oreo cookies, crushed

• Preheat oven to 180C.
• Melt butter and chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water.
• Remove from the heat and stir in sugar and vanilla extract.
• Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
• Stir in flour, baking powder and salt and beat well until the batter is smooth and glossy.
• Spread batter evenly in baking pan.
• Stir cream cheese and sugar until smooth and well blended.
• Gently sitr in crushed Oreo cookies.
• Spoon the cream cheese/Oreo mixture in nine evenly spaced dollops in top of the brownie batter.
• Using a dull knife or icing spatula, gently swirl the cream cheese mixture with the brownie batter.
• Bake for 30-35 minutes until the brownies begin to pull away from the sides of the pain and the batter in the centre feels just set.

Iron Cupcake London March Challenge - The Perfect Pair

This month's theme for the Iron Cupcake London challenge was the perfect pair ie no more than 2 flavours in the sponge and frosting. I have to admit I started thinking of ideas very late- a few days before the challenge. I had quite a few ideas but decided on chocolate and beetroot cupcakes and pecan and orange marmalade cupcakes in the end. I wanted to do something slightly different but not too wild. My other ideas were peanut butter and jam (there were quite a few of these at the challenge so it was a good thing I decided not to), apple and cinnamon, lemon and blueberry, ginger and honey(not sure why as I don't like ginger), chocolate and avocado (got strange looks with this one). The more I thought about it, the more ideas I had but there is a limit to how many cakes I can make or carry! I can't physically carry more than 36 cupcakes on the day so 2 entries is my limit especially since the minimum requirement has changed from 12 cupcakes to 18.
As usual, we had a good time sampling all the delicious cakes. I was so busy eating this time, I didnt take photos of all the cakes on our table! I met some fellow bakers/food bloggers and we shared a table hence got a larger variety of cakes to try. I enjoyed so many of them, it was really hard to pick a favourite (or 2 or 3!)
I think the pictures speak for themselves. Do check out the caked crusader for further details and information on each entry.

My 2 entries Love the caterpillar - it's so cute! The orange flower is really beautiful as well.

  We voted for the vanilla and strawberry which was the runner up.

Pecan and Orange Marmalade Cupcakes

My second entry for this month's Iron Cupcake challenge. I got this recipe from one of my favourite recipe books - Cupcakes from the Primrose Bakery. I was given some delicious homemade marmalade so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to try out the recipe. The cake was really delicious straight out of the oven with a generous dollop of marmalade on top. I actually remembered to take some pictures whilst making the cake so this will be a faily pictorial post :)

Delicious homemade marmalade - thanks Pat!

Orange juice mixture

Lots of batter as I doubled the recipe

Made about 32 cupcakes!

Topped with marmalade whilst still warmThought it looked a little plain so I roasted some whole pecans and put them on top

Cupcakes

55g unsalted butter, melted and cooled

125ml corn oil

60ml fresh orange juice (juice of approx. 1 small orange)

Grated zest of 1 small orange

80g thick-cut orange marmalade

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

250g plain flour, sifted

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

180g golden caster sugar

60g pecan nuts, toasted on a baking tray in a hot oven for a few minutes and then chopped

To decorate

Extra orange marmalade (slightly warmed if difficult to spread)

Toasted pecan nuts

• 
  
  Preheat the oven to 160C
• 
  
  In a large mixing bowl, combine the butter, corn oil, orange juice, orange zest, marmalade and vanilla extract.  Set aside.
• 
  
  In a separate bowl, combine the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt and set aside.
• 
  
  Beat the eggs and sugar in a large bowl with an electric hand mixer, until the mixture is light, fluffy and quite thick.
• 
  
  Slowly add the butter, oil and juice mixture, keeping the beater on a low speed, until it is all combined.
• 
  
  Add one-third of the flour mixture to the combined egg, sugar and oil mixture and beat until just combined. 
• 
  
  Pour in another third of the flour and beat again.
• 
  
  Repeat with the last third of flour.
• 
  
  Gently fold in the pecans.
• 
  
  Spoon the mixture into cupcake cases filling them 3/4 full (They rise a fair bit - some of mine overflowed!)
• 
  
  Bake for about 25 minutes until slightly raised and golden brown.
• 
  
  Remove from the oven and while the cupcakes are still warm, top each one with 1 teaspoon marmalade and spread all over the top. Sprinkle with extra pecans if you wish. 
• 
  
  Serve immediately if possible.  

Chocolate Beetroot Cupcakes

February seems to have whizzed by so quickly. It's time for the Iron Cupcake challenge again and this month the challenge was 'the perfect pair' (any 2 flavour combination) I gave it a little thought and decided to make chocolate and beetroot which I have been wanting to try for a little while. If you are a chocolate lover like me, then this cake is right up your alley. It has a lovely moistness and texture from the beetroot without overpowering the chocolate. The original recipe suggested a chocolate fudge topping but I thought this would be way too much chocolate as the cake is quite rich. I therefore opted for a little splash of whipped cream instead.

Cupcakes (Note: this recipe makes 20 large muffin sized cupcakes, approx 33 small cupcakes)

250g good quality 70% chocolate

3 large eggs

250g dark muscovado sugar

80g plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

25g cocoa powder

50g ground almonds

200g raw beetroot, finely grated

100ml buttermilk

30ml sunflower oil

Whipped cream (optional)

• 
  
  Preheat the oven to 160C
• 
  
  Break the chocolate into small pieces and place in a metal bowl over a double boiler to melt. If you don't have one, place the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of barely simmering water.
• 
  
  Cream the sugar and eggs until pale and fluffy.
• 
  
  Mix the buttermilk, beetroot, oil and melted chocolate and stir this into the egg mixture.
• 
  
  Add the dry ingredients (flour, cocoa powder, bicarb of soda, ground almonds)
• 
  
  Spoon the batter into cupcake/muffin cases about 3/4 full.
• 
  
  Bake for 35 mins until a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.
• 
  
  Top with whipped cream or frosting of your choice.