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

One For The Chocolate Lovers: Hotel Chocolat's Restaurant | Rabot 1745 |

As you can tell from my last post, I like chocolate a lot. Matt is also partial to the sweet stuff, so when we received a booking at Hotel Chocolat's restaurant, Rabot 1745, from his mum as a joint birthday present (his birthday is in December) it seemed like a perfect choice! Apologies for the following pictures, I was really excited to use my new camera...but I forgot to put the SD card in and had to use my iPhone instead!

Rabot 1745 is based in Borough, London and situated right next to the market. The basic concept of the restaurant is to present a 'cocoa-centric cuisine' where all dishes have an element of some form of the cocoa bean as a new spice. As soon as you walk in you are hit by a scent of chocolate, which isn't overpowering at all but warm and comforting. You first walk into the cafe which would be perfect in the day to pop in for a hot chocolate while perusing the markets. They have merchandise on offer too and even have the machine they use to grind the beans on display and tell you which beans are being ground at that time.

The small restaurant is situated upstairs and is a dimly lit and cosy affair influenced by their St Lucian estate, made complete with a well stocked bar. We chose two chocolate based cocktails to start although they have plenty of other cocktails and drinks to choose from - I had the chocolate soother and Matt and the hazlenut soother. Both were very alcoholic and we both preferred Matt's as mine had the consistency of a pudding it was so thick!

L-R: Chocolate Soother & Hazelnut Soother

Each person each gets 3 cocoa beans before you order, along with some information about how the restaurant uses the beans and the history behind them. This meant we got the opportunity to be hands on with them and try a pure cocoa bean which was surprisingly sweet and a little nutty. It was a really nice touch and something that made you more involved with the experience.

Before our starter arrived we got given a shot of butternut squash soup accompanied by bread with cacao nibs in which was a delicious indication of the quality of the food that would follow the rest of the night.

For starter I had the Pearl Barley Scotch Egg which was encrusted with cacao nibs and accompanied by a warm salad of  roasted root veg (although I wouldn't call it much of a salad), goat's cheese dressing and cacao oil emulsion. It was so tasty and the unusual combination of flavours were unlike anything else I've had before. I loved that the scotch eggs were warm and runny inside too. Matt had the Seared Plantation Pork Terrine which came with gribiche sauce, crisp sweetbread and cacao nib condiment and was equally as yummy.

Slow Roast Shoulder of Lamb was my choice for the main course which was basted with cacao balsamic, roast garlic mash and studded with seasonal veg. It was so tender it literally fell of the bone and melted in  your mouth and the rich sticky sauce and creamy mash worked really well together. I also liked that it was a big enough dish that meant we didn't have to order more sides so value for money was quite good. Matt had the  35 day aged cacao marinated rib eye steak that came with roast winter vegetables, white chocolate horseradish mash and a red wine cacao jus (which I also got). I don't think he could detect the white chocolate in the mash and he preferred the steak without too much of the jus. 

Lastly, we picked Chocolate Genesis for dessert, which is every bit as decadent as it sounds (how could we not?!) In hindsight we should have probably just shared one as we were pretty full by this point and nearly at the point of total chocolate consumption. It includes lots of bite size pieces which signify the story of the bean - from roasted beans and drinking chocolate to truffles, pralines and pure bars of the stuff. It also included a small shot of coconut water to cleanse your palette but even this addition didn't let me finish the whole thing. We ended up getting a doggy bag of what we couldn't finish. A happy birthday was written on both our plates too which was a lovely touch.

I'm so pleased that the inclusion of chocolate in every dish didn't turn out to be a gimick as it could have easily slipped into that territory. If anything it added a subtle rich flavour to the dishes and worked really well with the other ingredients - whoever planned the menu did a fantastic job! It is pretty pricey (around £20 for a main) but for a completely different dining experience for top quality food and service, I think it is well worth the money. The only negative is that the emphasis is mainly on dark chocolate and combined with the dark chocolate drinks, cacao nibs and pudding we really were chocolated out as it was so rich! We also received some dark chocolate buttons with the bill and some chocolate goodie bags to take home as it was our birthday celebration.

I would definitely recommend this restaurant if you are a chocolate lover or just fancy something different to try, and the laid back vibe of the establishment and quality of the food makes for a perfect pairing.

Would you try a dining experience like this? Do you like Hotel Chocolat? xxx

Recipe: Caramel Oreo Popcorn

For his birthday Matt got an old-style popcorn making machine which is not only amazingly cool but is also really easy to use. The first opportunity to christen it came when one of my best friends from Uni came to stay for the weekend and on the first night we decided to have a proper film night complete with the Princess Diaries, candles, wine and freshly popped, calorie laden popcorn.

Pinterest is an amazing source of delicious dreamy recipes (you can follow me by clicking the button on the right) and after pinning a few things for inspiration I came up with a ridiculously decadent but super tasty recipe. It's not necessary to own a popping machine as you can do it in a pan or buy plain ready made popcorn which you can add the toppings to. This is also a very flexible recipe so feel free to add more or less of the ingredients according to your taste.

What you'll need:

* A large bowl of popped plain popcorn

* 10 Oreos

* 100g white chocolate chips

* 3 tablespoons dulche de leche/ carnation caramel

Method:

* Crush the Oreos with a rolling pin or by placing them under a chopping board and applying pressure to it. Make sure they are still in the wrappers before doing this otherwise you will have Oreos everywhere! 

* Empty the chocolate chips into a microwaveable bowl and heat on a low heat for 30 seconds at a time until melted and smooth. You can do this over a ban marie if you so wish but it's not necessary.

* Drizzle the melted chocolate over the popcorn and toss until covered.

* Do the same with the caramel (it gives the Oreos something to stick to).

* Finally pour in the Oreos and toss again to make sure the the mixture is evenly distrupted throughout the popcorn.

And that's it! If you can, leave to cool for around half an hour to allow it to set but you can eat it straight away if you don't mind messy fingers. 

If you try this recipe let me know by tweeting me at @LilMisLifestyle :) xxx

Bourjois Bronzing Primer

Bourjois Bronzing Primer // 18g // £9.99

First of all, excuse the pictures! My pot was like this when I bought it so doesn't look that pretty for the photos. Secondly, you may have noticed this is my first post in a while. Life got in the way and I have been super busy but I am hoping to get back to my normal routine soon. Now lets get on with the review...

Last year I did a review on the Bourjois Chocolate Bronzer - if you read it you would know that I fell in love. Fast forward a year and there was recently news about a whole Chocolate range being released, which made me really excited! This product in particular intrigued me as there was whisperings that it is a dupe for Chanel's infamous Soleil Tan de Chanel, which I have been lusting after for many months now.

The tub is quite small for the price, but for a fraction of the price of the Chanel version I can't grumble too much. With one colour to suit all it can seem a little daunting in the pot and upon first swatch, as it is not too dissimilar in appearance to milk chocolate mousse (it looks a little orange in my pictures) However, if properly blended, you are left with a subtle glow. If you are as fair as me I would approach this with caution - its quite easy to over do it so use a little at a time, blend well and add more if needed. I normally use my fingers for this but a stippling brush would probably be good too. It has a really soft, silky texture and smells a bit like holidays, so a little different to the chocolate bronzer.

I personally liked this best when I had a touch of a natural tan and used it instead of foundation, but used underneath a foundation or BB cream it brings a warmth to your complexion which looks natural. This also means I've found you use less of whatever base you follow up with, giving a more natural look which is perfect for the warmer months. The bronzing primer definitely lives up to its claims as a smoothing primer, which evens the texture and tone of my skin, however it did little for my pores. It is also meant to mattify which is true to an extent - it definitely doesn't add to the oiliness of my skin but it doesn't seem to keep it at bay either. The longevity is also quite good, but no better or worse than a normal base. I'm not normally a massive fan of primers for this reason as I've only ever found one which really prolonged my make up.

Overall this is a lovely summer product which I will certainly be getting a lot of use out. I'm also interested in the big bronzer they have bought out and the BB Bronzing Cream. Have you tried this product? What is your favourite item from Bourjois? xxx

P.S. This is the first time I've done a 'face' picture as I don't normally like putting my face on the blog, but a hand swatch wouldn't really show this product properly. I hope it's ok (it was also spur of the moment so my hair is still a bit wet!) 

Easter Chocolate Nest Cake

After my last post, I was hoping to have loads of new stuff up, however, now I have the time to write posts, the battery on my laptop decided to completely die. Therefore, all the pictures I had taken are lost for now and I haven't been able to write about the things I really want to, which is so frustrating and just typical! I'm down in Exeter now for Easter so am borrowing Matt's laptop and am having to take new photos.

This week I decided to get back to baking, at Uni I don't have the time or appliances, so it has been really nice getting back to doing something I really enjoy. I decided on a chocolate cake because everyone loves chocolate and decided to put an Easter twist on it as something to take to Exeter. It is quite simple but effective and is a good one to make with kids. The nest is made of shredded wheat and chocolate so if you have any left over you can make mini nest cakes too.

Ingredients

* 150g caster sugar

* 150g margarine

* 3 eggs

* 110g self raising flour

* 40g cocoa powder

For the icing:

* 125g unsalted butter

* 2 tablespoons milk

* 200g icing sugar

* 50g cocoa powder

For the nest:

* 3 weetabix biscuits

* Nob of butter

* 100g dark chocolate

* 100g milk chocolate

* 1 tablespoon golden syrup

* 1 pack of Mini eggs

Method

1. Grease and line two sandwich tins and preheat the oven to 190 degrees (fan).

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

3. Sift together the flour and cocoa powder into a bowl. Add an egg at a time to the margarine and caster sugar mix. In between each egg, add a little of the flour into the mixture to stop it from curdling.

4. Mix in the rest of the flour and cocoa powder.

5. Half the mixture evenly into the two tins and smooth the surface with the back of a spoon. Cook for 15-20 minutes until light and springy to the touch.

6. Leave to cool in the tins for around ten minutes then turn out onto a cooling rack until completely cool.

7. Now is time to make the icing. Make sure your butter is cut into small cubes and softened, you can do this  with a quick blast in the microwave if you need to. Sieve in the icing sugar and cocoa powder a little at a time while beating the mixture, then add the milk and beat this in too.

8. Once really smooth and soft, using a palette knife spread half the icing onto one half of the cake. Sandwich the other half on top and smooth the rest of the icing on top.

9. Snap or cut the chocolate into small pieces and melt over a ban marie or in the microwave with the butter until smooth and glossy. You can use just milk chocolate or dark chocolate if you prefer but I like a mix of both.

10. Crumble around 3 biscuits of shredded wheat into the chocolate mixture and stir in thoroughly so all of it is covered. Add in the golden syrup and mix it in thoroughly.

11. Trace around one of the sandwich tins to get an idea of how big your nest should be. Arrange the shredded wheat and chocolate mixture inside this stencil, leaving a hollow in the middle. It doesn't have to be exact or perfect as it will look more realistic. 

12. Once you have finished this, place into the fridge to chill for a few hours.

13. Once chilled, you can add the nest to the top of the cake. Fill in the middle with mini eggs and you are done!

As a word of advice I would cut the nest into pieces and then slice the cake separately as the nest can be pretty tough to cut! There is only one slice left after being down in Exeter for two days so this recipe has gone down pretty well. Let me know if you make this over Easter weekend by tweeting or instagramming me (lilmisslifestyle) :) Hope you all have a lovely weekend and get lots of chocolate! 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

Review: Bourjois Chocolate Bronzer

  

 

 

RRP: £6.99 at Boots

Normally I am not one for wearing bronzer because of the risk of being heavy handed and looking like a patchy orange. However, I have seen a few reviews of this product, and due to it being summer and all I decided to pick up one from Boots while getting a few other bits and bobs (see that haul here). 

I've been really pleasantly surprised with this product and have ended up using it most days. First of all the packaging is great - its a bit different to other bronzers and powders I have seen due to opening up like a book, which I like, and as it is sleek and compact it is good for popping in your handbag. Upon opening it up it looks like a bar of chocolate which is reflected by the picture on the front of the packaging (a definite plus point for a chocolate lover like me) and it smells really lovely too - not of chocolate but of a sweet, powdery scent.

I got it in number 51 which I think is the medium colour, but the only one available in Boots that I saw. I find the colour great for pale skin as it gives a light wash of colour leaving your face looking more glowy and sunkissed than caked and orange. As the powder is so light in texture and the colour is quite flattering, I think even the most heavy handed of people would have a hard time over doing it with this. It states that the powder is 'filled with glints of sunshine' and has an 'ultra-soft texture' both of which I totally agree with. The product is a pleasure to use and boosts the radiance of my face, which is great as some bronzers can make people's complexions rather flat and dull when they are too dark and heavy. I apply this with my buffer brush and buff it in well all over my face, and whether over a BB cream or foundation it gives a lovely finish without being patchy.

What other bronzers would you recommend? Have you tried this? What are your thoughts on it? xxx

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