Double Choc Chip Cookies

There is nothing better than a chocolate chip cookie, so I'm hoping this delicious recipe will tide you over while I'm working on some big plans for December/ Christmas. 

These cookies are everything I could want in choc chip cookie. The recipe makes the perfect cookie, crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, with a caramelly flavour and a generous amount of choc chips in every bite.

Double Choc Chip Cookies

250 grams salted butter, melted

1 table spoon golgen syrup

1/2 cup white sugar

1 cup dark brown sugar

1 egg plus 1 egg yolk

2 1/3 cups plain flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 tablespoon milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup white choc chips

1 cup roughly chopped dark eating chocolate

To make the Cookies- preheat oven to 190 degrees c. and line 2 trays with baking paper.

Cream together butter, syrup and sugars.

Add in the egg plus egg yolk and milk and mix until well combined.

Gradually add the sifted flour, salt and baking soda, mixing until all the flour is incorporated.

Lastly stir through the chocolate chips and pieces.

Cover the bowl with cling wrap and chill the dough in the fridge for half and hour.

After the dough is chilled scoop heaped tablespoons and roll into balls.

Place the balls of dough onto the cookie sheets about 5cm apart.

Flatten the dough down slightly

Bake the cookies for about 15 minutes until golden brown. Allow the cookies to cool on trays.

S'mores Brownies

A recent trip to the video store (yep they still exist) had me thinking about my favourite movies from my childhood. I must have had a thing for sports movies, The Mighty Ducks was pretty high on my list and another movie that got borrowed over and over was the Sandlot Kids. Sure I always had to close my eyes through the carnival scene, but the thing I really remember from the movie is being taught how to make s'mores. It was the first time I learned of s'mores and I've been fascinated since.

Mix those thoughts of s'mores with my current craving for brownies and you get a fudgey chocolate treat topped with clouds of gooey marshmallow and melty chocolate, sound dreamy? Well they sure are! If that description isn't enough to temp you to give these ago, did I mention I give them two thumbs up.

Dreamy S'mores Brownies (printable recipe)

For the crust
100 grams melted salted butter
1 1/2 cups graham crackers crumbled (digestive biscuits in Australia)
2 tablespoon sugar

For the brownie
115 grams butter
120 grams dark chocolate broken into pieces
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 eggs
1 cup plain flour
3 tablespoon cocoa powder

For the topping
250 grams white marshmallows ( I used a mixture of big and smalls)
1/3 cup roughly crumbled graham crackers/ digestive biscuits
1 cup chocolate pieces or chips (I used a broken up Hershey bar)

To make the brownie base- Preheat oven to 180 degrees c. and line a brownie tin with baking paper, my tin is roughly 7-11 inches.

Add the biscuit crumbs, butter and sugar to a medium bowl and mix well. Press the crumb mixture into the base of your prepared pan. Bake the crumb base for 15 to 20 minutes until golden.  Remove from oven while preparing the brownie filling.

To make the brownie filling- add the chocolate and butter to a medium microwave safe bowl and microwave for one minute intervals, stirring after each minute, until melted together.

Add both sugars, vanilla and salt into the melted chocolate mix and stir until well mixed.

Whisk in the eggs, one at a time, until the mixture thickens and get glossy.

Finally add the flour and cocoa and mix until just combined.

Pour the brownie mixture over the baked crumb crust and return to the oven for about 30 to 40 minutes, until the top of the brownie is set and a skewer to the centre of the brownie comes out almost clean.

For the s'mores topping- turn on grill/broil part of your oven to high. Sprinkle the marshmallows, cookie crumbs and chocolate pieces over the top of the baked brownie.

Grill or broil the topping for 1-2 minutes until nicely toasted and golden. Make sure to watch it the whole time, it could burn quickly.

Allow the brownies to cool slightly before removing from the pan and cutting with a wet knife, clean knife after each cut for best cutting result.

Enjoy!!

Chocolate Chunk Giant Skillet Cookie

With the weekend weather rainy and unusually cool for February its not surprising that all I could think about was chocolate chip cookies. What better time to try out a choc chunk skillet cookie. I had seen this idea a few time before and was excited to make one for myself.

I think I may have found my new favourite cool weather treat, forget pie, cookies the size of frying pans are where its at! Basically its just a giant chocolate chip cookie with a soft cakey/ brownie like centre.

I'd suggest topping the warm cookie with a scoop of  ice cream, handing out spoons to some people you like and eating it straight out of the pan. The cookie is the perfect combination of salty and sweet and with some melty vanilla ice cream is pure awesomeness!

Chocolate Chunk Giant Skillet Cookie (printable recipe)

2 cups plain flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

170 grams butter (softened)

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 egg

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

200 grams chocolate, cut into small pieces (use your favourite)

To make the cookie- Preheat oven to 180 degrees c.  and lightly grease your oven proof pan.

With an electric mixer cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy, roughly 2 minutes. 

Add egg and vanilla and mix until combined. 

Add the flour, baking soda and salt and beat until just combined.

Stir through the chocolate pieces.

Spoon the dough into the prepared skillet pan and press the top flat with a spatula or the palm of your hand. 

Bake the giant cookie for around 40 to 45 minutes or until top is golden and the edges are golden brown. 

The cookie will continue to bake for a few minutes out of the oven so don't worry if the centre seems a little soft.

Sit the skillet pan on a cooling rack for about 20 minutes until it is cool enough to handle before eating the cookie.

Dig in and enjoy!

Tim Tam Cheesecake

This is a bit late for Australia day but please don't hold that against me or this cheesecake.

If you only ever try one recipe from my blog please make it this one. Boyfriend and I  both agree that this is the yummiest cheesecake ever, its my favourite thing I've made/eaten in a long while. Basically it's a cookies and cream cheesecake with a special ingredient that makes it extra good. No its not love, its Tim Tams but they're pretty much the same thing. The always awesome Tim Tam is my all time favourite Arnott's biscuit. 

I am a Tim Tam fan from way back! Coming home from school on grocery day was always exciting, Mum would have a cup of tea and Tim Tams waiting for us. There's nothing better than tea or coffee or especially hot chocolate sipped through one of these biscuits. In my eyes there's not much a pack of these chocolate biscuits cant fix.

The cheese filling has a lovely flavour from the white chocolate and vanilla and turned out nice and light, almost fluffy. I was going to try using Tim Tams as the base but wasn't sure how that would go because of the cream filling and chocolate coating. Instead I used plain chocolate biscuits and added some malt powder as the biscuit part of the Tim Tam is slightly malted. Like I said earlier though the real kicker in this cheesecake is the load of Tim Tam pieces through the filling and the tower of crumbled cookies on top. Perfection!

Tim Tam Cheesecake (printable recipe)

Chocolate Base
125 grams plain chocolate biscuits (cookies)
75 grams butter (melted)
1 teaspoon malt powder

Cheesecake Filling
2 teaspoons gelatine
2 tablespoons water
375 grams cream cheese (softened)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup caster sugar
300 mls thick cream
180 grams white chocolate (melted)
300 grams Tim Tams (roughly 1 1/2 packets)

To make the base- Grease a 8 inch round spring form pan and line with baking paper.

In a food processor, process biscuits until fine crumbs. Add the melted butter and malt and process until combined.

Press the mixture evenly over the base of the tin, use the flat bottom of a glass to press evenly.

To make the filling- Roughly chop 200 grams of the Tim Tams, a mixture of small and large pieces works well.

In a small heatproof bowl sprinkle the gelatine over the water. Stand the bowl of gelatine mixture over a saucepan of boiling water and stir until the gelatine has melted. Allow to cool for 5 minutes.

With an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese, vanilla and sugar until smooth.

Beat in the cream until combined, followed by the white chocolate and gelatine mixture.

Stir through the chopped Tim Tams.

Spoon the filling over the prepared base and smooth over the top, refrigerate for at least 3 hours (or overnight) until set.

Roughly break up the remaining 100 grams of Tim Tams and sprinkle/pile on the top.

Enjoy! (I know we did)

Sports Ball Cupcakes

These cupcakes where a fun way to kick off the year, especially considering some are footballs!

A friend asked if I could make some sports themed cupcakes for her nephews 5th birthday, given the standard shape of cupcakes and the fact most sports are played with a round ball the idea was a natural progression.

I know footballs aren't round but I think they work anyway, but its the basketball cupcakes that I think are my favourites.

The cupcakes were made with my favourite chocolate cupcake recipe and frosted with chocolate buttercream, then covered in fondant to transform them into baseballs, footballs, soccer balls  basketballs, tennis balls and cricket balls.

Spider Tarts (Mint Chocolate Tarts)

Oh no spiders have invaded my chocolate tarts! Don't be afraid, the outside might be scary but the inside is sweet. Just brush off the spiders and take a bite and you'll find these spooky tarts taste just like a mint slice cookie, which happen to be a favourite of mine.

These mint tarts will make a perfect Halloween dessert, or change the decorations and have them anytime. They are pretty easy to make and look a bit fancy with their glossy dark chocolate ganache tops.

Under the top layer of ganache hides my favourite part, the layer of spooky/sweet green white chocolate ganache is so yummy flavoured with peppermint. Served with a glass of milk/ spider venom these might just be my new number one dessert.

Mint Slice Spider Tarts  (full recipe at end of post)

For the Chocolate Base
125 grams plain flour
30 grams icing sugar
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
70 grams cold butter (cubed)
1 egg yolk
2-3 teaspoons cold water

For the White Chocolate Mint Ganache
150 grams white chocolate
75 mls cream
1/2 teaspoon peppermint essence
a few drops green food colouring

For the Dark Chocolate Ganache
150 grams dark chocolate
125 mls cream

1/3 cup white chocolate melts
plastic spiders to decorate

To make the tart base-  Add the flour, sugar, cocoa and butter into a food processor, process until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs. Add the egg yolk and cold water and process until you have a smooth dough.

Press the dough into a disk and wrap in cling wrap, place into the fridge to chill for 10 minutes. Grease five mini fluted tart tins with butter.

Divide the dough into 5 portions, roll each ball of dough between 2 sheets of baking paper to about 1/2 cm thick. Line the prepared tart tins with the rolled dough and trim off the edges.

Chill the lined tart tins in the fridge for 15 minutes and preheat oven to 180 degrees c. Cover the uncooked pastry with baking paper and fill with dried rice or baking weights  Bake the tart bases for 10 minutes, remove the weights and paper and return to the oven for another 10 minutes until cooked through.  Allow to cool and prepare mint ganache.

To make the mint ganache- finely chop the white chocolate and add to a medium bowl.

Add the cream to a small saucepan and bring to the boil, pour hot cream over the chopped chocolate. Once the chocolate looks melted, after about a minute, stir until smooth. Stir in the mint flavouring and green colour.

Pour the green ganache into the cooled pastry shells and allow to set in the fridge for about 1 hour. (I was impatient and sped things up in the freezer, it worked out fine but keep an eye on it.) Toward the end of the hour make the dark chocolate ganache.

To make the dark chocolate ganache- finely chop the dark chocolate and add to a medium bowl.

Add the cream to a small saucepan and bring to the boil, pour hot cream over the chopped chocolate. Allow to sit for a minute and then stir until smooth.

Pour the chocolate ganache over the green ganache and allow to set in the fridge for 2 hours.

For the spider webs- add the white chocolate melts to a microwave safe bowl. Microwave the chocolate 20 seconds at a time until the chocolate is melted. Pour the chocolate into a fine tipped piping bag. Pipe a spider web on top of each of the tarts and finish with a plastic spider.

Enjoy!!

Mint Slice Spider Tarts makes 5 ( Based on recipe from Good Taste)

Chocolate Pastry Base
125 grams plain flour
30 grams icing sugar
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
70 grams cold butter (cubed)
1 egg yolk
2-3 teaspoons cold water

• Add flour, sugar, cocoa and butter into a food processor, process until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs. 
• Add the egg yolk and cold water and process until you have a smooth dough.
• Press dough into a disk and wrap in cling wrap, chill in fridge for 10 minutes. 
• Grease five mini fluted tart tins with butter.
• Divide the dough into 5 portions, roll each ball of dough between 2 sheets of baking paper to about 1/2 cm thick. 
• Line the prepared tins with the rolled dough and trim edges.
• Chill the lined tart tins in the fridge for 15 minutes, preheat oven to 180 degrees c. 
• Cover the uncooked pastry with baking paper, fill with dried rice or baking weights.
•  Bake 10 minutes, remove the weights and paper and return to the oven for another 10 minutes until cooked through.  
• Allow to cool and prepare mint ganache.

White Chocolate Mint Ganache
150 grams white chocolate
75 mls cream
1/2 teaspoon peppermint essence
a few drops green food colouring

•  Finely chop the white chocolate and add to a medium bowl.
• Add the cream to a small saucepan and bring to the boil, pour hot cream over the chopped chocolate.
•  Allow chocolate to melt for a minute, stir until smooth. 
• Stir in the mint flavouring and green colour.
• Pour the green ganache into the cooled pastry shells, set in the fridge for about 1 hour. 
• Toward the end of the hour make the dark chocolate ganache.

Dark Chocolate Ganache
150 grams dark chocolate
125 mls cream

• Finely chop the dark chocolate and add to a medium bowl.
• Add the cream to a small saucepan and bring to the boil, pour hot cream over the chopped chocolate.
• Allow to sit for a minute and then stir until smooth.
• Pour the chocolate ganache over the green ganache and set in the fridge for 2 hours

Spider Webs
1/3 cup white chocolate melts
plastic spiders to decorate

•  Add the white chocolate melts to a microwave safe bowl. Microwave the chocolate 20 seconds at a time until the chocolate is melted. 
• Pour the chocolate into a fine tipped piping bag. Pipe a spider web on top of each of the tarts. 
• Top with a plastic spider.

Quilted Wedding Cake

A couple of weekends ago I got to do something fantastically exciting, a lot of fun and just a little terrifying. I made a wedding cake!  The bride showed me a few pictures she liked of quilted cakes and asked if I could make a simple elegant looking cake incorporating the theme colours of silver and coral.  While it was exciting to be making something for such a important occasion, I'd be lying if I said making this cake didn't make me nervous. The night before decorating the cake I woke up worrying about all the things that could go wrong, I didn't get much sleep that night but it all worked out well.

The three tiers of cake were chocolate mud cake filled and covered with a half milk chocolate half dark chocolate ganache.

Each of the cakes was covered in white fondant and decorated with edible pearls. I knew there was no way I'd be able to created the quilted pattern with a ruler, things like that never work out for me, so I used this awesome quilting gadget that created a perfect diamond pattern. I really enjoy the quilted effect and can't wait for another time to use it again.

The cakes all packed up ready to go. I used dowels in the two lower tiers to support the weight of the cakes.

To save the stress of driving a super heavy tall tiered cake an hour down the highway I assembled the cake at the location. It was still a huge relief when the cake made it there safely.

Boyfriend took some sneaky photos while I was putting the cake together.

I'm happy with how it all turned out, the look and colours matched the table settings and decor perfectly. Most importantly I hear the wedding was really lovely and everyone loved the cake.

Salted Brown Butter Choc-chip Cookies

Autumn is awesome! It has been getting cooler and cooler the last couple of weeks. The one maple tree in my street has been dropping red and orange leaves for me to crunch through on my walk to work. I am loving the cooler days and chilly nights, its the perfect time to enjoy some hot chocolate with some yummy cookies.

Before I started blogging I had a bit of a bad habit of repeating the same recipe over and over again. I'd become obsessed with a particular treat and bake it time and time again until we got tired of eating it. I still haven't been able to face another red velvet cupcake and its been at least 2 years.

These choc-chip cookies were one of those recipes I made many times in a row, but the cool change in weather and a couple of tweaks to the recipe have made me fall in love with them all over again. I think its hard to find a bad choc-chip cookie so its nice to have something a little different, the dark brown sugar and browned butter add extra caramel and nutty flavours to these cookies that make them really special. Want to take it a step further? How about a little sprinkle of salt flakes for that salty sweet taste that works so well.

For the Cookies (for the uninterrupted recipe scroll to the end of the post)
250 grams unsalted butter
2 1/4 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 egg plus 1 egg yolk
2 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup dark choc chips
1 cup roughly chopped dark eating chocolate (pick your favorite)
Rock salt flakes

To make the Cookies- preheat oven to 190 degrees c. and line 2 trays with baking paper.

Melt the butter in a small pan.

With the heat on medium allow the butter to simmer until a golden brown colour skimming any foam off the top as you go, this takes about 10 minutes. Allow to cool.

Add the butter, sugars and cream together.

Add in the egg yolk and milk and mix until well combined.

Gradually add the sifted flour, salt and baking soda, mixing until all the flour is incorporated.

Lastly stir through the chocolate chips and pieces.

Cover the bowl with cling wrap and chill the dough in the fridge for half and hour.

After the dough is chilled scoop heaped tablespoons and roll into balls.

Place the balls of dough onto the cookie sheets about 5cm apart.

Flatten the dough down slightly.

This next part is optional, sprinkle the unbaked cookies with a tiny bit of salt flakes. (I did half with salt and half without.)

Bake the cookies for about 15 minutes until golden brown. Allow the cookies to cool on trays.

If you can wait that long! Enjoy.

Brown Butter Salted Choc Chip Cookies
250 grams unsalted butter
2 1/4 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 egg plus 1 egg yolk
2 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup dark choc chips
1 cup roughly chopped dark eating chocolate (pick your favorite)
Rock salt flakes

• Preheat oven to 190 degrees c. and line 2 trays with baking paper.
• Melt the butter in a small pan. 
• With the heat on medium allow the butter to simmer until a golden brown colour skimming any foam off the top as you go, this takes about 10 minutes. Allow to cool.
• Add the butter, sugars and cream together.
• Add in the egg yolk and milk and mix until well combined.
• Gradually add the sifted flour, salt and baking soda, mixing until all the flour is incorporated.
• Lastly stir through the chocolate chips and pieces.
• Cover the bowl with cling wrap and chill the dough in the fridge for half and hour.
• After the dough is chilled scoop heaped tablespoons and roll into balls.
• Place the balls of dough onto the cookie sheets about 5cm apart. 
• Flatten the dough down slightly. 
• This next part is optional, sprinkle the unbaked cookies with a tiny bit of salt flakes. (I did half with salt and half without.)
• Bake the cookies for about 15 minutes until golden brown. 
• Allow the cookies to cool on trays.