Chocolate Chip Cookie Cups

As you all know by now, I really love to spoil the Missionaries. They're really great lads and far away from home, doing the Lord's work . . . tramping the streets in all kinds of weather, come what may. The mother in me just can't resist taking care of them in any way that I can. Mitzie loves them too, as you can clearly see!



I was reading my e-mails the other day when this popped up. Kevin and Amanda, Chocolate Chip Lava Cookies. There often isn't anything pertinent to me on that page . . . but sometimes there is a gem hidden amongst the travelogues and product reviews, and that gal takes fab pictures!



Anyways this gave me a great idea of how to really spoil the lads, and I have to confess that two of them are leaving tomorrow for other areas . . . and so I extra specially wanted to give that cheeky chap Elder Hopper an extra superfantastic treat before he leaves, as well as Elder Smith . . . and the other two Elders as well of course.



I have to admit to having a certain soft spot for Elder Hopper though. He's been here six months and it will be hard to see him go. He has become very special to us. I have made him promise to come back one day for a visit. We do have an extra couple of beds going!



I used my own chocolate chip cookie recipe because in my opinion it seriously cannot be improved upon. I've been honing it for over 25 years! When I cooked at the big house I used to bake them at least twice and sometimes three times a week! The Mr and the staff all loved them. I used to have to bake extra batches for him to take when he went away as well. He did love those cookies!



So what I did was take Kevin and Amanda's idea and adapt it to my own cookie recipe.
Am I ever glad these won't be living here for very long.



They are uber dangerous. Those lads spend all day walking . . . they can take it. My hips??? Well, the hips don't lie and mine are telling me now . . . walk away . . . just . . . walk . . . away.



And don't look back! To do so would be to risk being turned into a pillar of salt . . . or lard. Take your pick!



*Chocolate Chip Cookie Cups*
Makes about 24 huge cookies
Printable Recipe

Double the pleasure. Double chocolate chip cookies, filled with a milk chocolate centre. Decadently scrummilicious!

220g of butter, at room temperature
201g of soft light brown sugar (1 cup packed)
191g of granulated sugar (1 cup)
2 large free range eggs
1 TBS pure vanilla
500g of plain flour (3 1/2 cups)
1 tsp fine seasalt
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
10 ounces of pure chocolate chips, semi sweet (1 1/2 cups)
To fill:
4 ounces milk chocolate chips (1/2 cup), melted

Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Lightly grease two medium size nonstick muffin tins with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.

Cream together the butter and both sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Stir in the vanilla, salt and soda. Stir in the flour until well mixed. Stir in the semi sweet chocolate chips.

Using about 1 dessertspoon measure for each roll the dough into balls. Flatten half of them and place into the prepared muffin tins. Top each with about 1 tsp of the melted milk chocolate chips, taking care to keep it in the middle. Take another ball of dough, flatten it and place it over the melted chocolate and press around the edges lightly to seal the chocolate in. Repeat until all the dough has been used.

Bake in the preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes, rotating the muffin tins halfway through the baking time. They should be lightly browned on the edges and set. Immediately upon removal from the oven run a sharp knife around the edges to loosen. Allow to cool completely in the muffin tins before popping out. Store in an airtight container.

Note: To serve as a dessert cup, lightly reheat the number of cookies you want in the microwave for a few seconds. Place each on a plate. Top with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream and drizzle with some chocolate syrup. If you have homemade so much the better!!

I have a fantastic chocolate sauce recipe here. It's the best!



Over in The Cottage today, Carrot Cake Drop Scones.

Gingerbread Blondies

OH MY GOODNESS! If you don't want to be severely tempted by something that is so dangerously delicious that any diet plans you had for 2012 will immediately be thrown out the window . . . LOOK AWAY NOW!



OOOPS! Too late eh? Sorry about that folks. We were having guests for lunch today and I wanted to bake something that was unusual and delicious and I came across this recipe in a cookbook of mine entitled Gingerbread ( by Jennifer Lindner McGlinn) for Gingerbread Blondies and I was instantly spellbound intrigued.



Who doesn't love Gingerbread????? It's just not human not to love Gingerbread is it??? Being unable to resist nibbling on a gingerbread house is what got Hansel and Gretel into trouble isn't it? And I am pretty darned sure that that apple in the Garden of Eden . . . yep . . . it was made of Gingerbread, absolutely.



So I baked them. The smell when they were baking . . . decadently gorgeously divinely gingerbready. The consistency of them when they were baked, and still warm . . . wonderfully moist and scrummy.



The taste of them cut into small bite sized cubes, warmed and then layered in a dessert dish, topped with vanilla bean ice cream and then drizzled with a Maple/Ginger preserved Ginger syrup drizzle . . . insanely decadently moreishly fabulously TO DIE FOR!



Seriously . . . I didn't get a picture of that last conconction folks, but trust me . . . it really was fabulously irresistable. My guests quite simply thought they had died and gone to heaven.



You must bake them now . . . and please . . . do try not to hate me too much for having introduced you to them!



The Devil made me do it. Think "Gingerbread Brownie" here folks . . . sigh . . .




*Gingerbread Blondies*
Makes one 9 inch square pan
Printable Recipe

Super moist, gently spiced and rich with butterscotch and caramel flavours. In other words, incredibly scrummy yummy.

275g plain flour (2 3/4 cups)
1 tsp salt
3/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp ground ginger
230g of butter, melted and cooled (1 cup)
200g of dark soft brown sugar (1 cup packed)
177ml of mild molasses ((3/4 cup) can use equal measures of
golden syrup and dark treacle to make up the whooe amount)
1 tsp vanilla
1 large free range egg
2 TBS double cream
Sifted icing sugar for dusting

Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. But a 9 inch square baking pan. Line with baking paper, leaving an overhang for lifting out. Butter the paper. Set aside.

Whisk together the flour, salt, soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and ginger. Set aside.

Stir the brown sugar, molasses, egg, vanilla, and cream into the melted butter, until are incorporated evenly. Stir in the dry mixture, a little bit at a time, until the mixture is smooth, making sure you scrape everything up from the bottom. (I use a wooden spoon to do this.) Spread the batter in the prepared pan, smoothing over the top.

Bake for 45 to 55 minutes, or until chestnut brown in colour, lightly puffed and slightly cracked on top. A toothpick inserted into the centre should come out with a few soft or gooey crumbs.

Set the pan on a wire rack to cool completely.

Once cool, remove from the pan and cut into squares. Dust with icing sugar if desired. Store in an airtight container.

Note : The timings in the original recipe called for 20 to 25 minutes. Mine were not even near done by then. I added 15 minutes at a time to the baking time until they were done, which was more like 55 minutes. I'd start checking them at 45 though.



Cooking in The Cottage today, Inside out Chicken Cordon Bleu!

Brown Sugar Cream Pie

I can't believe that I almost forgot to showcase this fabulous recipe! It was something that I baked for a dessert during our Christmas festivities.



Totally hedonistic and totally delicious. Totally N-A-U-G-H-T-Y, but in a totally scrummy way.



Something that you would not hesitate to serve to a guest . . . or some hungry missionaries who are not bothered about calories . . . because, well . . . they walk them all off during the day anyways, and what your guests don't know don't hurt!! What the eye don't see the heart don't grieve!



It's rich. It's so easy as to be considered almost TOOO easy to be true. It's quick. It's simple. It uses things we almost all have in our homes at any given time.



It's blatantly scrumdiddlyumptiously glorious. (Again, back to the easiness of it . . . it's so seriously easy that literally all you have to do is to whisk together a few simple ingredients and pour them into an unbaked pie shell, and then wait for it to bake and cool down.)



What it's not is something that you want to eat too often, as the calorie and fat count must be so well off the Richter Scale of what's good for you that you don't really wanna know.



But as a once in a blue moon treat, forgetting all else . . . it deeply satisfies any craving you might ever ever have. Truly.



*Brown Sugar Cream Pie*
Makes one 9 inch pie
Printable Recipe

Creamy and delicious and not for the faint of heart!

one 9 inch unbaked pie crust
2.5 ounces flour (1/3 cup)
4 ounces butter, melted
7.5 ounces soft light brown sugar (1 cup, packed)
1 pint of double cream (2 cups)

Preheat the oven to 190*C/375*F/ gas mark 5. Whisk together the melted butter, brown sugar, flour and cream until well blended. Pour into the crust. Bake in the heated oven for 50 to 55 minutes. The centre should be still jiggly, but not liquid. Allow to cool completely before cutting into wedges to serve, with or without a dollop of whipped cream on top!



Over in The Cottage today, some delicious Swede and Bacon Pies.

Old Fashioned Apple Dumplings

All week I have been pondering what will be the first recipe I post on here for 2012. Ohh . . . so many recipes to choose from . . . I could drive myself mad with choice you know! I have that many cook books.



My favourite cook books though are not the ones that come with the fancy covers, filled with pretty and delicious looking pictures . . . written by this month's flavour of the month celebrity chef or otherwise . . .



They are my Big Blue Binder and a couple of notebooks where, throughout the years, I have laboriously copied out the creme de la creme of recipes . . . recipes gifted to me by friends and family. Recipes developed and tweaked through years of trial and error, until I have gotten them just so . . so . . . perfect. Well, perfect for me at any rate.



This is simple food using simple ingredients with wowsa wowsa flavours. Tried and true. Family and husband tested . . . our absolute favourites. I did write a book with some of the best ones in it a few years back. You can find it here. I'm quite proud of it as I did it all myself . . . I know a publisher would have done a better job probably, but I did my best, and that's what counts.



Anyways, so back to the recipe. I decided to make these apple dumplings for several reasons. One . . . they aren't something that I make very often, like maybe only ever 5 or 6 years. (They are good artery cloggers and hip expanders!!!)



Two, I wanted to spoil my husband with one of his favourite things for the New Year. He loves anything with apple in it.



Three . . . the crunch is on to get ready for two family weddings in June/July . . . so . . . diet time starts today . . . I have to really cut back on the goodies now. I thought . . . why not go out with a real humdinger!

And so . . . I did. I don't regret even one mouthful. So there.



*Old Fashioned Apple Dumplings*
Serves 6
Printable Recipe

I don't know anyone who doesn't love these. They're fantastic, and they're not as difficult to make as one would suppose.

6 medium sized firm cooking apples (I used granny smiths)
2 TBS lemon juice
3.5 ounces granulated sugar (1/2 cup)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
soft light brown sugar
2 TBS butter
enough pastry for 2 10-inch pie crusts

For the sauce:
500ml of water (2 cups)
5 ounces granulated sugar (about 3/4 cup)
2 TBS butter
1 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp ground cardamom
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

Cream for serving

Preheat the oven to 190*C/375*F/ gas mark 5. Have ready a 9 by 13 by 2 inch baking pan, which you have lightly buttered.

Roll the pastry out on a lightly floured surface to a rectangle measuring 14 by 21 inches. Cut into six even squares. Whisk together the granulated sugar and cinnamon in a bowl.

Peel and core the apples, leaving whole. Put the lemon juice in a bowl and roll the apples in this, then roll them into the bowl of cinnamon sugar to coat. Place each apple into the centre of one pastry square. Fill the cavity of each apple with 2 TBS soft light brown sugar and 1 tsp of butter. Pull up the sides of the pastry squares to cover each apple, crimping the edges tightly shut. Place into the prepared pan.

Bake for 1/2 hour.

In the meantime, combine the sauce ingredients in a saucepan over medium high heat. Bring to the boil and cook rapidly for 1 minute. After the dumplings have been cooking for 1/2 hour, pour the sauce over top and then return to the oven, continuing to bake for a further 1/2 hour, basting occasionally.

Serve warm with cream for pouring. Delicious.



Over in The Cottage today, the extreme opposite from such decadence . . . Green Beans Almondine!

Baked Apple Brulee

One thing that I don't really like about this time of year is the shorter days . . . it plays havoc with my photography for sure! I like to take my photos in as natural light as possible, which means I have to do my main cooking early in the day . . .



Alas, today that didn't happen. We went out to chase up some Moose Steaks at Lidl. Yes! Lidl has Moose Steaks this Christmas! They are kind of pricey, but for once in a lifetime treat, not too bad I guess. They were £9.99 for four. Todd has always wanted to taste moose . . . and is thrilled that now he will be able to.



Best steak I have ever had in my life was a moose steak . . . now (hopefully if they are any good that is) Todd will be able to enjoy that pleasure as well. You might be asking yourself by this point, what on earth does this have to do with Baked Apple Brulee . . . the answer would be absolutely nothing! It just meant that I couldn't be home taking photos when I normally would be. Just sayin' is all.



Anyways, I made these lovely Baked Apple Brulee for tonight and then I had to resort to lamps to take my photos . . . I really tried to get them done before the sun had dipped too low in the sky . . . but I failed.



The trick to making a good brulee is to make sure that the cream is really cold . . . and that the sugar caramelizes before it begins to heat up. Not sure I really managed that today, but I did try.



Nevermind . . . bad pictures or not, they tasted pretty good anyways. In fact, they were heavenly. If you are looking for a special dessert over the holidays that will give you mega brownie points with only the smallest of efforts . . . this is the one Seriously.



It's so delicious in fact that I have now decided this is going to be my Christmas Dinner Dessert. Move over Trifle . . . there's a new kid in town, and not only is he decadently delicious, but he's quick and cheap . . . and really, really easy.



*Baked Apple Brulee*
Serves 4

Sweet pan roasted apples beneath a blanket of creme fraiche and topped with a crisp sugar shell. Scrummy yummy!

3 large Granny Smith apples
3 TBS Butter
2 TBS caster sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
250ml of creme fraiche (Ice cold)
4 heaped TBS of demerara sugar (Turbinado)

Peel, core and cut the apples into 1/2 inch thick slices. Melt the butter in a large frying pan. Toss in the apples. Saute over medium heat for 7 or 8 minutes, just until beginning to soften. Stir in the sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Continue to cook for several minutes longer, stirring now and then, until the apples are glazed and beginning to catch in spots. Remove from the heat immediately and divide the cooked apples between 4 8-ounce ramekins.

Let cool to room temperature. Once cooled, top each ramekin with 1/4th of the creme fraiche, spreading it evenly over top of the apples. (This much can be done ahead of time and the ramekins placed in the refrigerator to chill.

Heat the grill oven/broiler to high. Sprinkle 1 heaped TBS of the demerara sugar over top of each evenly. Place them onto a tray and then pop them under the grill, about 4 inches from the heat source and toast for 5 to 8 minutes until the sugar is bubbly and caramelized. The trick is to caramelise the sugar without burning it, and without heating up the creme fraich too much! (You can do this with a cook's blow torch. This is on my Christmas List!)



Over in The Cottage today, the World's Best Macaroni & Cheese!

Lemon Cake Pie

I want to tempt you just a little bit this morning with a tasty recipe from my Big Blue Binder. This is a big blue plastic covered binder that I have been carrying around with me since I was a little girl. (I was 9 or 10 when I started it.) It is old and tatty now, and bulging at the seams . . . but it is also filled with beautiful gems . . .



A beautiful collection of fantastic recipes that I have prised and garnered from family and friends through the years . . . and tried and loved so much that they have become my tried and true's and solid go to's . . . time tested and tested over time, they are my old faithfuls. So much so that I wrote a cookery book which contains some of the very best ones of all. You can read more about that here. But we are not talking about my cookery book today . . .



Today we are talking about Lemon Cake Pie. Or as it is affectionately known as over here . . . Lemon Delicious Pie. Different name . . . same thing.



You know that lemon pudding which, when baked, magically separates into a delicious cake on top and a lovely custard on the bottom . . . this is the same thing . . . except it is in a pie people.



A PIE! Yes . . . a pie. And we all know how much I love pie!!! There is no such thing as a bad pie . . . (Don't burst my bubble!)



This is gorgeous. I have been dragging this recipe around with me for yonks. It never fails to please anyone who I bake it for.



I wanted to take a picture of it whilst the light was good today and so the pie hadn't actually set up completely and was still a bit warm when I cut a piece to photograph . . . but I promise you a couple of hours in the fridge and it sets up perfectly.



Unfortunately it is sooooooooo delicious that the missionaries I baked it for ate it all up before I could get a picture of it set up. You'll just have to make do with these photos . . .
and trust me when I say . . . as delicious as it may look . . . it tastes even better. Seriously.

Try it today. You won't be sorry. I promise!



*Lemon Cake Pie*
Makes one 9 inch pie
Printable Recipe

One of our favourites. Lemon Cake and Pie together. How much better can life get?

7 ounces granulated sugar
1 TBS butter
3 TBS plain flour
1/8 tsp salt
the finely grated zest and juice of two unwaxed lemons
2 large free range eggs, separated
375ml of milk (1 1/2 cups)
1 unbaked 9 inch pie shell
Whipped Cream for serving

Preheat the oven to 160*C/325*F/ gas mark 3. Roll out your pastry, fit it into a 9 inch pie dish, trim and flute. Set aside.

Measure the sugar, flour, salt and lemon zest into a bowl. Rub in the butter until all are completely rubbed together and the mixture resembles sand. Beat in the two egg yolks and the lemon juice. Whisk in the milk. Beat the egg whites until stiff. Fold these carefully into the mixture. Pour this into the pie dish. Carefully move the pie dish to the heated oven.

Bake for 40 to 50 minutes until lightly browned, set with just a little jiggle in the centre and a knife inserted close to the centre comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before serving.

Cut into slices to serve and top each serving with a dollop of whipped cream if desired.



In The Cottage today a delicious Bacon, Egg and Cheese Toastie.