Banana & Nutella Cake | BAKING

It seems absolutely ages since I last baked purely for myself. The last couple of times that I've made a a cake or cookies was for charity bake sales at work, and that's not the same thing as eating the end result yourself. Which I'm not going to do obvz, but you get the idea.

I saw this recipe on the interwebs and I knew I had to try it as I've got a about billionty jars of Nutella that I've somehow acquired. So the other day, I purposely bought more bananas than needed just so I could make it.

Ingredients

4 old bananas (Do not use ripe ones! They won't mush up as well)

100g soft butter

140g plain flour

1 tsp baking power

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

2 large eggs

140g light brown sugar

4 heaped tbsp Nutella 

2 tbsp milk

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180c/350f/GM4 and line a loaf tin with greaseproof paper or one of those handy loaf tin liners that you can buy.

2. Mush up the bananas with a fork in a mixing bowl. Don't worry if you can't get it totally smooth.

3. Add in the butter, flour, baking powder, bicarb. of soda, sugar and eggs. Stir until combined.

4. Pop the Nutella and the milk into a small pan and melt together on a low heat.

5. Add the Nutella into the mixing bowl and fold in. Don't mix it too thoroughly as you want to achieve a kind of marbled effect.

6. Pour the mixture into the loaf tin and put it into the oven for 30-40 minutes. However, mine took about 50 minutes to cook through completely.

7. Leave to cool on a wire rack before removing from the tin.

Let's pretend that this a totally healthy cake which also counts to one of your 5-a-day, shall we?

See you soon!

xx

BLOGMAS DAY EIGHTEEN: Chocolate Reindeer Cookies

"but excuuuuuuse meeee," I hear you cry "where are days sixteen and seventeen??"

Well. I'll tell you. Some moron breathed on me and I caught the plague, so, until now, I have had no energy to write anything. Today was a chill-day for me though, so I was able to lie in and spend most of the morning in bed. 

I also made cookies!! Yaaaaaaaay!! (obviously the correct response to anyone when they announce they've made cookies.) They are ridiculously easy to make, here's how I did it:

Ingredients

85g unsalted butter [at room temperature. this is important.]

100g caster sugar

200g plain flour + some extra for when you roll out the dough

50g cocoa powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 large eggs

a pinch of salt

1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees C or GM4.

2. Line your baking trays with greaseproof paper.

3. Mix together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. This is why you need soft butter.

4. Whisk the egg and vanilla and gradually add to the butter and sugar.

5. Sift in the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. 

6. Combine to form a dough. It will be quite sticky, but don't worry.

7. Wrap with cling film and pop into the fridge to chill for an hour.

8. Sprinkle your surface and rolling pin with some flour and roll out the dough.

9. Cut into whatever shape you want, I chose reindeers because it's Christmas, and place carefully onto a baking tray.

10. Bake for 10-15 minutes. When you remove them from the oven they may still be slightly soft, but they will firm up a lit when cooled. Anyway, sometimes I like a softer cookie.

11. Once completely cooled, it's time to decorate them!

I'm looking forward to eating one later with a giant mug of hot chocolate with whipped cream and marshmallows! *drools*

Chocolate Crispie Treats

I've got a confession to make. In my whole adult life (so far) I have never made these. Not once. And I can't remember making them anytime before that either. 
On Wednesday, we had another charity bake sale at work - this time for the 'Bath Cats and Dogs Home' (which is an animal rescue centre) - and I, being the baking fiend that I am, desperately wanted to make something, but I just couldn't be bothered to actually switch on an oven, get out mixing bowls, use flour, etc etc. OKAY OKAY, I'm just lazy. Jeez. 
Thankfully, inspiration hit me in the form of Louise (SprinkleofGlitter). In her new book - 'Life With A Sprinkle of Glitter' - she wrote a whole chapter called 'Anti-Baking', and this was one of the recipes. 
I'm not going to insult your intelligence by telling you in great detail how to make these, because all you need to do is:

1. Melt chocolate
2. Stir in Rice Krispies (or a non-brand alternative)
3. Spoon into cupcake cases
4. Chill in fridge until set

See? Easy-peasy lemon squeezy!

On a blogging related note, you are lucky that you actually got this post from me at all as I'm currently on my quarterly Sims binge-play, so any life related things that have needed to get done haven't been. I have no shame. 

The Most Chocolatey of Cookies

♫ Come my little friends as we all sing a happy little baking song

Merry little voices singing clear and strong

Come and roll your sleeves up, so to speak, and pitch in

Baking cookies in the kitchen as we sing along ♫

These cookies are literally one the best and easiest things I've ever made! I believe it's a recipe from Tanya Burr, but I saw it on a Zoella vlog, so I thought I'd try my hand at them. The best thing is that you can use any type of chocolate in them. Both times I've baked these, I've used Cadbury's Oreo Dairy Milk (Cookieception!) and they were delicious! I took one into work with me for a friend and she said that they were the best cookies she'd ever eaten. 

This particular batch, I whipped up for a charity bake sale at work. I wish I had made more because they were so popular and now I have a list of 4 people to give the recipe to. 

Ingredients:

200g softened butter
300g caster sugar
1 large egg (but if you only have medium, that's fine too)
275g self-raising flour
75g cocoa powder
splash of milk (only if needed)
Lots of chocolate!!

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to GM 6/180 C/200 F.
2. Line a couple of baking trays with greaseproof paper.
3. Cream together the butter and the sugar. This is why the butter needs to be super soft and squidgy.
4. Crack the egg into a mug and whisk it up.
5. Add the egg (a little at a time) into the butter/sugar and mix it in.
6. Sift in the flour and cocoa powder and fold in. 
7. Add the milk if the mixture looks a bit dry. I've yet to need to do this.
8. This is the fun and messy part! Throw in the chocolate and work the dough - with your hands! - into a ball, making sure the chocolatey goodness is evenly dispersed throughout.
9. Break off into balls and place onto your baking trays, evenly spread out.
10. Cook for exactly 11 minutes. (Your cookies will not look totally cooked and will feel quite squashy, but don't worry. They will firm up as they cool down!)
11. If the cookies haven't sunk down, pat gently with a spatula. 
12. Cool for 30 minutes before nomming.
13. Bounce off the walls from all the sugar!

When Life Gives You Lemons...

....make Lemon Drizzle Cake!

Ingredients

For the cake

175g/6 oz butter, softened

175g/6oz caster sugar

2 large eggs

175g/6oz self-raising flour

Grated rind of 2 lemons

4 tablespoons of milk

1 tablespoon of lemon juice

For the glaze

Juice of 2 lemons

2-3 tablespoons of icing sugar, sifted

1.  Preheat oven to 160°C/GM 3.

2.  Grease a 1kg/2lb loaf tin with butter. Line base with greaseproof paper. Or use a loaf-tin liner.

3.  Put the butter and the sugar into a large bowl. Use a wooden spoon (gives your arm a good workout) and beat until creamy, pale, and soft.

4.  Beat the eggs lightly. Slowly add them to the mix and keep beating. If the mixture starts to curdle, beat in a bit of flour and keep going.

5.  Sift in the flour and add the lemon rind. Fold this into the mix with a metal spoon.

6.  Gently mix in the milk and lemon juice.

7.  Spoon the mix into your tin and bake for 55-60 minutes – do not open the door!

8.  When the time is up, stick a skewer into the cake. If it’s cooked, the skewer will come out clean.

9.  Prick the cake all over.

10. Make the glaze by mixing the lemon juice into the icing sugar.

11. Pour over the hot cake in the tin.

12.  Remove after 15 minutes. Cool on rack.