Homemade Lemonade

It too darn hot! Well it might not be where you are BUT why not pretend? This is the ultimate cool down drink after a day in the sun, or in front of the heater!

Ingredients
1 large lemon
A handful of fresh mint
3 tablespoons of sugar (more for a sweeter drink)
1/4 of a cup of boiling water
and lots and lots of ICE!
1 can of soda water


First things first you have to make your sugar syrup because it needs time to cool down. In a small bowl put in your sugar and slice off a section of lemon rind. Remember when cutting the lemon rind try just to cut of the fragrant yellow part because the pith (That white stuff) is very bitter and will destroy the soft fragrance of the rind. Then pour the boiling water over the sugar and rind whilst mixing continuously, you want to make sure that all the sugar is dissolved. Place the bowl to one side to let it cool

Then we can start preparing the lemon. First slice/grate off the rest of the lemon rind if you can try and cut one long strand off and keep that for decoration later. Then place all the rind into a small cocktail shaker. Slice the lemons in half and squeeze out all the juice into the cocktail shaker. Roughly chop the mint (you can save some for decoration later if you wish) and put that in the shaker as well. Once the syrup has reached room temperature add that to the cocktail shaker as well, then chuck in lots of ice. If the syrup is still piping hot when you put it in the shaker it will melt the ice instantly making a very dull watery drink.

Then you SHAKE! The idea is to bruise the lemon rind with the ice that way the natural fragrant oils in the rind will be absorbed by the syrup. Shake for a couple of minutes then get a glass and pour in your can of soda water. Whilst mixing constantly pour in your syrup, you might want to use a strainer/sieve at this point. Then add a little extra ice! Done, the perfect cold drink for a hot day!

Extra Tips for decoration!
Add a couple extra mint leaves in the glass or getting a long thin piece of rind! To make your rind form a cute little cork screw -like in the picture- just wind it around a metal spoon and put it in the freezer for around 10 mins. It should keep its shape for much longer than just leaving it at room temp.

Chocolate Brownies

Sorry for the complete lack of updates! Life has been getting me down, too much stuff to do! In times of trouble mother chocolate comes to me, whispering words of wisdom; chocolate brownies!
This is the perfect summer recipe to cheer you up and get that holiday high!

Chocolate Brownies
175 grams of Cake Flour
1/2 a teaspoon of salt
150 grams of butter (chopped up roughly)
150 grams of cooking chocolate (chopped up roughly)
200 grams of sugar
4 eggs
a teaspoon of Vanilla sugar

Prehead the oven to 180 degrees celsius or 375 degrees fahrenheit. Stir the dry ingredients -the flour and salt but not the sugar- together in a large bowl. In a separate bowl put the cooking chocolate and butter, then place the bowl of chocolate and butter into a larger bowl full of hot water to make a water bath. Make sure none of the water gets into the chocolate and butter mixture. Use a spatula to gently move the chocolate and butter around to ensure everything is melted. Mix in the sugar gently to the chocolate mixture allow to cool slightly. Fold the chocolate mixture into the flour slowly making sure that everything is combined well. Allow to cool again. Add in the eggs and vanilla sugar when the mixture is at room temperature, if the mixture is still hot the eggs might get cooked a little too soon!
Pour the mixture into a baking tray and bake for around 25 minutes or until done, you can check its done my poking it with a fork, the tines should come out clean. Or for soft gooey brownies take the brownies out of the oven when the center isnt quite cooked yet.

With any left over melted chocolate, drizzle over the top for decoration, because these brownies are fairly rich and dont need frosting!
Now if you dont mind I am going to pop down to the shops and get some Vanilla ice cream to go with the glorious chocolate brownies!
Have fun!

Vanilla Cup Cakes

Sorry I haven't updated in a while but there is a legitimate reason! I promise! Anyways here is a nice quick recipe for cup cakes, because they are so easy they are very versatile! Its all about how you decorate it. These are dead easy!

Vanilla Cup Cakes
150g Butter (Chopped and softened)
150g of Castor Sugar
175g of Cake Flour (Or self raising flour, if you dont have either just use plain flour with baking powder added)
3 eggs
Vanilla- you can use any of the following
-A vanilla pod: Run your knife down the side to slit the pod open then scrape out the seeds
-Vanilla sugar: sugar which has been stored with a pod inside
-Vanilla Essence

For the Frosting:
75g of butter softened
100g of icing sugar
2 tsb of hot water
Shaved Chocolate- Just run your knife down the edge of a chocolate bar to get chocolate curls/sprinkles

Pre-Heat the oven to 180 degrees celsius or 375 degrees fahrenheit. Then in a large mixing bowl add sieve the flour and sugar. Then blend in the chopped butter and eggs untill you have a nice smooth mixture. Then add the vanilla.
Line 12 cup cake trays with cup cake paper cups. Evenly divide the mixture between them, I find that 2 tablespoons each is fine but this may differ with the size of your cake trays.
Bake for 15-20 minitues until golden brown, you will know when they are cooked when you stick a tooth pick into the centre it should come out clean.
To make the frosting beat the butter and sugar together untill smooth and creamy if needed add the water. Wait for the cup cakes to cool completely before icing them or your beautiful icing will melt away!
See, dead easy!

Have fun!

Death by Chocolate Cake

I know we normally stick to cookies but its a friends birthday so we went all out! This cake is quite rich and heavy so you don't need to make the cake too big to feed a party! I decorated this cake with a meringue and melted chocolate. You could make the meringue yourself or cheat and buy one from the shops!

This cake also goes great with Vanilla ice cream

Death by Chocolate Cake

225g Bittersweet Cooking Chocolate

140g Butter (chopped)

200g Caster sugar

1 Heaped tablespoon of vanilla sugar

4 eggs

4 heaped tablespoons of cake flour (you can use all purpose, but cake flour keeps it lighter and fluffy)

4 Level tablespoons of unsweeted coca powder

1 Teaspoon of Baking Powder

4 Table spoons of Sour Cream

Using a water bath melt the chocolate and butter together to make a smooth mixture. In a separate bowl mix the dry ingredients-flour baking powder and sugar- together. Then beat in the eggs until a smooth mixture is formed. 

Fold in the sour cream gently then fold in the chocolate and butter mixture. If you would prefer a marbled effect don't fold the chocolate in entirely.

Bake at 180º Celsius or 356ºC Fahrenheit until cooked -when you poke it the fork should come out clean!

As this isnt the prettiest cake in the world feel free to use icing or cream to decorate it!

It sure tastes nice though! =D

Chewy Double Chocolate Cookies

Yea, yea, we know! Yet another cookie recipe but we are on the hunt for the perfect cookie! These are old school double chocolate chewy cookies which will leave you drooling! Fantastic served hot out of the oven with a cold glass of milk. These cookies are dead easy and for a lighter softer cookie try using cake flour instead of the old standard all purpose flour.

Chewy Double Chocolate Cookies

1/2 cup of butter/margarine 

1/2 cup of brown sugar

1/4 cup of caster sugar

1 egg

Vanilla Essence/Sugar

1 1/4 cups of flour

1/2 teaspoon of baking soda

2 heaped table spoons of unsweetend coca powder

a pinch of salt

75 grams of Cooking chocolate roughly chopped 

OPTIONAL: chopped nuts

Pre-Heat the oven to 180 degrees celsius or 375 degrees fahrenheit. Cream the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg and the vanilla. This should form a batter like substance make sure there are no lumps and its completely smooth. In a separate bowl mix the flour, baking soda, coca powder and salt. Slowly sieve in the flour mixture into the butter mixture, keep mixing throughout to keep a nice consistency. 

When you have a semi-dough formed its time to add the chocolate chips/chunks and if you are using nuts you add them now. This mixture makes a slightly sticky wet dough but thats fine it forms wonderfully moist cookies.

On a baking tray form your cookies using table spoons to make rough round shapes. By using a spoon rather than your hands you can have a more regular size. Depending on the size of your cookies you can make around 15 with this recipe.

There! Done! EASY AS PIE! =D

Bake for around 20 mins, or until you can stick a fork into the centre and it comes out clean!

VEGAN Apple Cinnamon Cookies

ok ok we realize that you guys may have noticed that we are cookie obsessed but a friend is vegan and has yet to sample our culinary powers! So we developed a new recipe which is perfect! not a single animal was harmed in the making of these cookies!

Vegan Apple Cinnamon Cookies 

(makes around 15-20)

-2 Cups of flour (is amount may vary depending on how moist your apples are) 

-1 tbsp Baking Powder

-1/2 tbsp Baking soda

-1/4 Brown sugar

-1 heaped tbs of vanilla sugar

-1/4 tbsp fine salt

-1/4 oats

-1/3 cup of maple syrup

-1/4 cup of vegetable oil

-1 apple (preferably granny smiths)

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius or 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a mixing bowl mix in the dry ingredients then when thoroughly mixed stir in the syrup and oil. Cut the apple in half and core it. Grate one half and add it to the mixture. Cut up the remaining half into small cubes then add that to the mixture. If the mixture is too wet add a little more flour. Or vice versa if the mixture is too dry add a teaspoon of maple syrup and oil. 

On a baking tray lined with baking paper portion out the cookies, depending the size of the cookies you can make around 15-20 cookies. Bake for around 15 mins until golden brown. 

Hand Made Chocolate Truffles

This is a simple recipe for delicate yummy chocolate truffles. Serve in small dishes and keep refrigerated.

Hand Made Chocolate Truffles
~225 Grams of cooking chocolate chopped (the perfect percentage of cacao is between 65% and 75%)
~85 Grams of unsalted butter cut in small pieces
~55ml of cream
~25ml of cognac or brandy
~unsweetened (sieved) coca powder for dusting

In a plastic bowl place the butter, chocolate and cream. Microwave on high until the chocolate is 80% melted stopping every 30 seconds to stir the mixture. Then allow the remaining heat to melt the chocolate. Stir in the cognac or brandy. Then transfer into a shallow bowl and allow to set for a few hours in a fridge.
When the mixture is firm scoop into small spoonfuls into the palm of your hand and roll into rough balls. This can be a little difficult so try and keep your hands cold and clean.
When rolled in rough balls dust with cocoa powder then refrigerate then store in an airtight container in the fridge.

CHRISTMAS COOKIES!!!

Ok christmas is just around the corner so here is the EASIEST recipe for yummy christmas cookies! This recipe makes quite allot as these cookies disappear very quickly! Its great for parties, if you are just making it for the family try and half the recipe. This is based on an old recipe book I have lying around by Sarah Maxwell, its originally for "the very young" but its a great base recipe to add on.

Christmas Cookies

100g caster sugar

100g brown sugar

200g Butter (softened at room temp be nice to your blender!)

2 eggs beaten

1/2 a vanilla pod (or a couple drops of vanilla essence)

500g plain all purpose flour (plus a little extra when rolling out.)

1/2 tsp of Cinnamon

Icing sugar for dusting

As with all baking start by preheating your oven (200 degrees Celsius and 400 fahrenheit) and measuring out your ingredients. Beat the sugar and butter in a bowl until light and fluffy. In a smaller bowl beat the eggs and vanilla. Add the egg and vanilla mixture slowly keep beating the mixture to maintain a smooth consistency. In another bowl sift the flour and add the cinnamon.

Stir the flour slowly into the egg and butter mixture to form a stiff dough. Leave the dough in the fridge for around 15 mins just to make it easier to roll out.

On a smooth working surface roll out your dough, use a little flour on the rolling pin and the surface itself to stop the dough from sticking. Roll out the dough until around 5mm think then using a christmasy cookie cutters (or if your feeling creative, use a knife and design one yourself!) to shape your cookies. Place on a well greased baking tray and cook for approx. 10 mins or until the edges turn a honey colour. These cookies are a bit hard to judge when it comes to cooking time, each oven is unique and these cookies are awfully thin!

Allow to cool a little then dust with a little icing sugar, or even dip in melted chocolate.

TOP TIP: If you want use a knife and CAREFULLY cut a small hole in the tip if your cookie before baking. When cooked loop a little ribbon through the hole, VOLIA a home made edible Christmas decoration to hang on your tree!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!

Home Made Hot Chocolate

When the weather gets colder, its nice to curl up on the sofa with a good book and a hot drink -how wonderfully cliche. My absolute favourite hot drink has to be hot chocolate!

To be quite honest I find powdered hot chocolate disgusting and strangely salty at times! Yet I willingly put up with it until I discovered the way to make "real" hot chocolate. Try and buy good quality cooking chocolate so you dont have to worry about all those chemicals and e-numbers. 

If you make hot chocolate quite often, prepare the chocolate in bulk then making this will be just as simple as using the powdered stuff.

Home Made Hot Chocolate

Serves 2

~2 cups of milk 

  -you can use skim milk, but if you are drinking hot chocolate and worrying about your figure at the same time there is something wrong!

~1/2 tsp of vanila sugar  

  -If you dont have any Vanilla sugar just 2 drops of vanilla essence is fine

  -you make vanilla sugar by putting a vanilla pod in some sugar. The longer the pod is in, the yummier it will taste!

~A sprinkle of cinnamon 

  -just to add a little holiday warmth

~75 grams Good Quality Cooking Chocolate

  -Remember your hot chocolate will taste like your chocolate, so if you prefer dark chocolate go for it! Don't feel limited by the massive amounts of milk chocolate out there. Choose the type of chocolate you love!

Firstly dice up the chocolate as finely as you can, the smaller the pieces the easier they will melt. 

In a small saucepan heat up the milk to near boiling- milk doesn't boil like water does, there are no obvious signs. If your not sure if its hot enough just put it on the flame on med. and wait for aprox. 5 mins-  Whisk in the cinnamon and Vanilla sugar/essence, when throughly combined start adding the chocolate slowly. Keep whisking while you add the chocolate or you will end up with burnt chocolate stuck to the bottom. When you have added all the chocolate the milk should have turned a deep chocolatey brown. Serve hot! 

Optional: you could add whipped cream/diced nuts/chocolate sauce/milk foam on top when served to add a little omph! 

Hazelnut and Vanilla Shortbread

Hello World

I have decided to publish some of my favourite recipes for the world too see! Enjoy:

Hazelnut and Vanilla Shortbread

Shortbread is a fickle thing, it must have a delicate touch! Remember when you blend your nuts and butter not to go crazy or you just might end up with a hazelnut butter! Also when you are mixing in the flour not to overmix it or your shortbread will turn out heavy and dense.

This recipe is originally from the south china morning post by Susan Jung however we have added our own style to it.

100 grams of whole hazelnuts

90 grams of icing sugar

1/2 a vanilla pod (if you cant get your hands on a pod you can always substitute it for a few drops of vanilla essence)

1/2 tsp of fine sea salt

225 grams of unsalted butter (Try and let the butter soften at room temp. dont let your mixer suffer! =P)

250 grams of all purpose plain flour

Caster sugar

100 grams of cooking chocolate (chopped up!)

First things first preheat your oven to 180 degrees (or 356 farenheit) pop the hazelnuts into a tray and bake for around 10-15mins until you can smell their nutty aroma and their skins loosen. While they are still relatively hot rub the nuts in some paper towel to remove their skins.

Scrape the seeds out of the vanila pod by running your knife -carefully- down one side then sliding it along scooping up the sticky black seeds. Put the seeds, icing sugar, butter and 2/3 the nuts together in the food mixer. Blend into a fine mixture, then transfer the mixture into a bowl. Add the flour and mix lightly until incorporated.

Lightly grease a tray 20com by 22cm aprox. and smoothly line with tin foil. Pat the mixture into the tray around 2cm thick. At regular intervals poke holes with a fork then sprinkle with granulated sugar.

Bake for 30-45mins until firm and golden brown.

Allow the shortbread to cool sightly then lift away from the tin foil and place it on a chopping board, then using a serrated knife slice into rectangles or squares.

Melt the chocolate using a water bath. Dont let any of the water get into the chocolate while melting. Lattice or drizzle the chocolate on top of the shortbread. Dice up the rest of the hazelnuts to sprinkle on top.

There you go! Hazelnut and Vanilia Shortbread!

(Photo By Thomas Latter)