Recipe: Nutella and Salted Caramel Stuffed Cookies

When you've been with someone for nearly 3 years, it isn't often that you get any more 'firsts'. However on Saturday afternoon, Matt and I made cookies together for the first time. It was really fun to share something I love doing with him and I thought cookies would be an easy thing to start off with. These are packed with two of our favourite things: Nutella (yum) and salted caramel (double yum). 

We used this recipe that I've had pinned for ages - the only thing we changed was omitting the chocolate chips, purely because we didn't have any in the house and didn't fancy popping to the shops. The recipe gives you a lovely squidgy cookie with a melt in the middle surprise center and the sprinkle of salt on top brings everything together. The recipe is Nordic so the measurements are in cups rather than grams.

Ingredients

* 1/2 cup of butter

*1 1/2 cup of light brown sugar

* 1/2 cup of cocoa powder

* 2 eggs

* 1/4 tsp salt

* 3/4 tsp baking powder

* 2 cups of plain flower

* sea salt for sprinkling

* Nutella

* Salted Caramel (we used a ready made pot but you can make your own)

Method

001. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius (fan) and line two baking trays with baking parchment.

002. Melt the butter in a sauce pan. Take it off the heat as soon as it is melted so it doesn't brown or burn. In a separate bowl mix together the eggs and sugar. Mix in the melted butter until well combined.

003. Add the cocoa, salt and baking powder and stir until well combined.

004. Sift in the flour and mix well.
005. Take a tablespoon size amount of mixture and drop onto your tray. Make an indent in the middle large enough to fit a teaspoon of Nutella and a teaspoon of the salted caramel in.
006. Layer the Nutella and salted caramel on top of each other in the indent. Cover the filling with more cookie dough, making sure to seal all the edges.
007. Sprinkle the top of each cookie with a little salt.
008. Bake for 10-12 minutes.
009. Leave to cool on the trays for a few minutes then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling off.
010. Dust with icing sugar (optional!)

Let me know if you try this recipe by tweeting me! xxx

Bake: (Winning) Chocolate Orange Cupcakes

Moist, chocolatey, orangey goodness... these cupcakes are rich enough and perfect for any occasion. I like that they look a little special with the orange segment on top but in reality they are quite easy to make.

These cupcakes have been made on 3 occasions recently: our housewarming, for my dad as a belated fathers day present and for a BBQ that we went to recently. They went down really well each time so I thought it was worth putting up a post. I'm quite proud of these actually because I entered them into a competition with Laura Ashley and won! If you want to have a go at these yourself the recipe is as follows (makes 12):

Ingredients
* 150g margarine
* 150g caster sugar
* 3 eggs
* 125g self raising flour
* 25g cocoa powder
* Terry's Chocolate Orange

For the icing
* 100g butter
* 200g icing sugar
* 75g cocoa powder
* The zest and half the juice of one large orange

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius (fan) and prepare your muffin tin with paper molds.
2. Cream together the margarine and caster sugar until pale and fluffy.
3. Add the eggs one at a time and blend into the mixture with a spoonful of the flour with each addition to prevent curdling.
4. Sieve together the flour and cocoa powder in a separate bowl.
5. Fold in the flour and cocoa powder a little at a time until it is evenly incorporated into the mixture.
6. Divide evenly between the cases and pop in the oven for 15-20 minutes.
7. Once cooked leave the cakes to cool for a few minutes in the tin then transfer to a wire cooling rack.
8. Meanwhile make the icing by blending the butter until it is soft and smooth.
9. Slowly sieve in and blend the icing sugar and cocoa powder until the icing is smooth and there are no bubbles of icing sugar/cocoa powder.
10. Add the zest and juice of the orange - you might need to add more or less depending on how runny you want the icing. I like it quite stiff so it doesn't slip off the cakes but soft enough to spread evenly.
11. Once you have iced your cakes with a palette knife or piping bag, use a segment of chocolate orange to place on top of each cake.

Let me know if you try your hand at these and let me know what you think! xxx

Smarties Rainbow Cookies

For some reason, the majority of all my recipes seem to involve chocolate...but in my opinion these are always the best types of recipes! Yesterday I baked my second batch of cookies ever and they turned out so yummy I couldn't wait to type up this post. After experimenting with a Mary Berry basic cookie recipe the first time (I love her) I tweaked the recipe a tiny bit and think this batch is even better. The best thing about this recipe is that you can keep the base mixture the same but add whatever you want to it for different flavours and textures. The addition of smarties in this case was an amazing idea as they taste so good! You could also do plain chocolate chips, or another idea for my next batch which is to add rolos. They are also really easy to make so perfect for novice bakers and children. Makes around 15-20 cookies depending on your sizing.

Ingredients

* 100g softened butter

* 75g caster sugar

* 50g light muscovado sugar

* 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

* 1 large egg

* 150g self-raising flour

* 100g smarties

You will also need: 3 baking trays

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 190°C, fan 170°C, gas 5. I prefer fan because it means the heat is distributed evenly throughout the oven. Lightly butter your baking trays. The reason for no reusing just the one is because you want the tray to be a normal temperature to put your batter on so that they cook evenly and at the same rate.#

2. Beat both types of sugar and the butter in a bowl until smooth, evenly blended and pale. The addition of the light muscovado sugar gives the cookies a lovely caramel taste.

3. Add the vanilla. Beat the egg and add a little at the time to the mixture while beating until completely mixed. 

4. Stir in all the flour until the  mixture is thick and smooth, with all pockets of flour mixed in. 

5. Finally, add the smarties to your bowl and mix well until they are distributed evenly throughout the mixture.

6. Use a teaspoon to measure out large teaspoon sized balls of batter onto your baking trays, making sure to leave gaps for the cookies to spread. Bake for 8-10 mins, one baking tray at a time, on the top shelf until golden and slightly chewy. I found the best way was to cook for 8 minutes, check on them, then turn the baking tray round for the last two minutes to make sure they brown evenly.

7. Cool on the trays for a few minutes before transferring them with a palette knife onto a cooling rack. Once completely cool, store in an air tight tin for up to a week.

Let me know if you try the recipe and tweet/instagram me a picture - my links are in the side bar and my Contact tab xxx

Wishlist Wednesday #4

Origins High-Potency Night-A-Mins (Oil free): I've already harped on about my love for Origins on this blog but that won't stop me from doing it again! There are a lot of products I want to try from this brand and this one is quite high on my list. I don't actually own a night cream (serious beauty sin?) and would like to add one into my routine. I loved the look of this one as it is oil-free and is meant to aid radiance, something that my skin could benefit from.

Women's Institute Complete Christmas: Whenever I do these posts I always seem to slip a random anomaly into them! This isn't that random though because I've heard the Women's Institute have some great cooking secrets and tips and I love baking and Christmas so all 3 in one book is something I would like :) This would be great to purchase before Christmas so in the festive period I can cook up a storm!

REN ClearCalm 3 Clarity Restoring Mask: Ren have had such a lot of praise recently and are a brand I am keen to delve into. At the moment I am sampling a lot of different masks to find the best ones for me and my skin 'issues' and this looks like a great one to try. It tackles excess sebum so would help with oiliness, the build up of dead skin cells which would aid radiance and also tackles blemish-causing bacteria to help with breakouts. All in all it sounds like a dream and would love to try it!

Rouge Dior Lipstick in shades 435, 638 & 757: Who am I kidding, I want them all! But if I had to choose these would be my favourites. I spent a good while dragging Matt around the beauty counters and swatching away which I think is a much better way to gague the true colour of products like this as the photos never capture exactly the same shade as in person. I'm obsessed with lipsticks/lip products at the moment and would love a few more high end shades to add to my growing collection.

The Body Shop Seaweed Mattifying Cream: I recently just purchased the scrub in this range but have also heard good things about other products from it too. This would be a great day cream to wear to control excess sebum that I suffer from. Since browsing in their new shop in the Bullring the other day I have fallen in love with the Body Shop again and have added lots more to my wishlist!

That's it for this week's Wishlist, what do you think? Have you tried any of these products before? xxx

Oreo Overload Cupcakes

Another month, another birthday! This time it was one of my best friend's 20th. Every time a birthday comes around it has become somewhat of a tradition that I make a little something to take along to the party. For this occasion I decided on something I'd never made before and was a bit indulgent and settled on Oreo cupcakes. Oreos + chocolate + cake = delish! I will apologise in advance for the quality of the 'after' pictures once they were made, as I only had the opportunity to try and picture them at the party! I also normally always include a picture of all the ingredients at the beginning but it seems to have got lost somewhere :\

Ingredients

* 150g margarine 

* 150g caster sugar

* 3 eggs

* 125g of self-raising flour

* 25g of cocoa powder

* 3 packs of Oreos

* 1 tub of Betty Crocker chocolate fudge icing (I don't normally like using this and like to make my own icing but my dad bought it on offer and so had to use it up!)

Method

* Preheat the oven to 190 degrees and line your cupcake tins with paper cases. Place an Oreo at the bottom of each case.

* Cream together the caster sugar and margarine until pale and fluffy.

* Beat in the eggs one at a time until fully mixed. Be careful not to over do it and curdle the mixture.

* Sieve the cocoa powder and self-raising flour together. Fold into the mixture a bit at a time.

* Using a food processor blitz a packet of Oreos until fine and crumbly. Fold all of it into the mixture until evenly distributed.

* Spoon even amounts of the mixture over each cookie and then place in the oven for 15-20 minutes until springy to the touch.

* Once cooked, leave to cool for a few minutes in the tin then transfer to a wire cooling rack until completely cooled.

* Once cooled you can now ice them. You can do this by pipeing or with a palette knife, your choice :) top the icing with another Oreo.

 Can you spot the ginger bread stars from my recent recipe post?

And here is some pictures of my friends tucking in!

These went down a treat with my family too, so would be great to make for chocolate lovers or for something a bit more special than chocolate fairy cakes. Let me know if you make them and remember to tweet me a picture! @LilMisLifestyle xxx

Gingerbread Stars

Gingerbread Stars might be considered more suitable for the Winter season around Christmas, but we didn't have any biscuits to have with a cuppa and I fancied making something a little different that I had never made before. These are super easy to make and would be great to make with kids too as they are fun to make and decorate. You can cut them into any shape you like such as men or hearts but I chose stars. 

Ingredients

* 350g plain flour + extra for rolling out.

* 1tsp bicarbonate of soda.

* 2 tsp ground ginger.

*1 tsp ground cinnamon.

* 125g butter/margarine.

* 175g light soft brown sugar.

* 1 free range egg.

* 4 tbsp golden syrup.

To decorate:

* 1 pack of ready to roll royal icing.

* Glitter, balls, writing icing - anything you want!

Method

* Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda, ginger and cinnamon into a bowl so they are evenly mixed.

* Add the butter and blend in a food processor (I used a K beater) until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs.

* Mix in the sugar.

* Beat the egg and golden syrup together with a fork then add to the mixture. Pulse the food processor until the mixture binds together then turn out and gently knead until smooth.

Mmm yummy...

*Wrap the dough in clingfilm and chill in the fridge for around 15 minutes.

* Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and line two baking trays with greaseproof paper.

* Lightly flour your surface then roll out the dough so it is about half a cm thick. Use which ever cutters you have chosen to cut out your gingerbread shapes. Place them on the baking tray, remembering to leave spaces between them as they will spread a little during baking.

* Bake for 12-15 minutes until lightly golden. Leave on the tray to cool for a while then transfer onto a wire rack to complete cooling.

* To decorate you will probably only need half of your pack of icing. Sprinkle your surface with icing sugar then roll out the icing to the thickness you would like.

* Cut out the icing with the same cutters you used for the ginger bread. 

* Wet the back of the icing with a little water using a pastry brush then transfer onto the gingerbread.

* Decorate with any other things you would like.

As always, if you chose to have a go at this recipe yourself let me know how it goes and tweet me a picture! @LilMisLifestyle xxx

Based on this recipe.

Blueberry & Lime Muffins

Summer seems to have finally arrived in England yay! Therefore, when my mum had some blueberries she needed using up I suggested whipping up some classic blueberry muffins with a summer twist to them. The recipe I will be sharing with you today is based on various recipes I found online. The hint of lime gives a different refreshing spin to these muffins and makes them perfect for warmer days. Next time I try this recipe I would like to add a bit more mixture to each case to make them giant muffins which rise a little over the cases. This recipe makes 10 muffins.

Ingredients

* 110g self raising flour

* 110g margarine 

* 65g caster sugar

* 2 eggs

* Punnet of fresh blueberries (or equivalent of frozen)

* Zest of 2 limes

* 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon
* Brown sugar 

Method

* Preheat the oven to 200 degrees and either grease your muffin tin or line with paper cases.

* Zest the limes, being careful to not zest off the white pith. Add the zest to the sugar and rub together with clean fingers until it starts to resemble the texture of wet sand.

* Cream together the zesty sugar and margarine until pale. 

* Slowly add the eggs, beating after each addition.

* Mix together the flour and cinnamon then beat in slowly to the mixture.

* Stir in the blueberries until evenly distributed through the mixture.

* Using a spoon, carefully distribute the mixture into your tin or cases in equal amounts and top with a sprinkling of brown sugar.

* Cook for 20 minutes until risen and golden brown. Leave to cool in the tin for a few minutes to keep their shape, then transfer to a wire rack.

My family and I ate them fresh out the oven as cakes and muffins are always so yummy when just baked and warm. As always, let me know how you get on if you try this recipe and remember to tweet me a picture! @LilMisLifestyle xxx

Two recipes used found here and here.

Chocolate Nemesis

I have wanted to make this recipe for a really long time now and finally got the opportunity yesterday. It comes from a  book by the owner of the renowned chocolate shop Rococo so I knew it would be a good quality recipe and totally scrummy. I am a big fan of this book as both the pictures and the recipes are divine, although many of the recipes seem to cater for a higher standard of cooking, so if you are a bit of a beginner I wouldn't recommend it. Some of the best things about this recipe is that it is one of the simple ones and requires no flour so it is quite light, although it is very rich, so only a little bit at a time is recommended - preferably with creme fraiche, or my personal favourite, clotted cream :) Before we go onto the method, just a quick note - I didn't have the right size tin (note to self: go to john lewis!!) so had to split it into two different tins which I wouldn't recommend and so didn't turn out as thick in height as I would like. It did however still taste yummy!

Ingredients

* 100g Icing sugar

* 250g Real dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa solids), roughly chopped

* 150g butter, cut into small pieces + more for greasing

* 4 eggs, separated

* pinch of salt

*1 tsp cider vinegar

* creme fraiche/clotted cream to serve

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees/Gas 4 and line the base of a 20cm round cake tin (not springform) about 5cm deep with greaseproof paper, then butter that.

Put 2/3 of the sugar in a heavy-based pan with 5 table spoons of water. Heat until the sugar has completely dissolved then, over a low heat, add the chocolate and stir until it has melted. Finally, stir in the butter. You should have a thick, glossy mixture. Remove from the heat.

Heating the sugar

 
 
 

Whisk the remaining sugar with the egg white and salt and vinegar (this helps to thicken them) until they have reached meringue/soft peak consistency. Beat the egg yolks into the lukewarm chocolate mixture and add this mixture to your meringue bit by bit, folding it in gently to not let any air out.

Bring a large kettleful of water to the boil and pour in a baking tray large enough to hold the cake tin to make a bain-marie. Pour the batter into the prepared mould and place it in the baking tray filled with hot water. It is important that the water comes up to the rim of the tin.

Bake for 30 mins, or until set, which you can test with your hand or with a skewer - it should be set like a firm jelly.

Allow to cool out of the water bath before unmoulding. Serve cold with whatever you fancy! Let me know if you tried the recipe and how it went - you could even tweet me a picture of yours! @LilMisLifestyle xxx