Inappropriately Chocolatey Cookies

I saw these cookies on an episode of one of Nigella's shows recently and died at the sight of them. I brought the ingredients around to the boy I babysits' place one night and we made them and they were just as good (if not better) as I imagined!

The biscuit part is actually quite bitter but once you load it up with chocolate chips all bitterness goes away, so don't freak out if you eat the mix and they don't taste right. They will, and with THAT many chocolate chips how can they not?!

I actually made this batch in the photo's with some caramel chips my boyfriend bought and sent me off to bake with. They were pretty sweet and I prefer dark choc chips instead but still so so good!

125g good dark chocolate (the stuff you eat! trust me it tastes best)
150g plain flour
30g cocoa powder
1 tsp bicarb
1 tsp salt
125g butter, softened
75g dark brown sugar
50g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 med (cold from fridge) egg
350g dark chocolate chips (or milk if you prefer, in my case caramel)

Pre-heat oven to 170°c

Melt the 125g of dark chocolate in either the microwave or over a pan of simmering water.

Cream the butter and sugar in a separate bowl (or stand mixer if you have one) then add the melted chocolate and combine.

Beat in the egg and vanilla then stir in the flour, cocoa powder, bicarb and salt.

Finally mix in the chocolate chips.

Scoop the mix out in to 12 equal portions on to 1 or 2 lined baking trays ensuring there's plenty of space between each as they will flatten a lot. Do not flatten them! An ice cream scoop is easiest but I don't actually have one so I just used 2 big tablespoons scraping the mix off one with the other.

 

Bake for approx 18mins or until a cake tester comes out clean. If you hit a chocolate chip try again.

Let cool slightly before removing from the trays and enjoy! Best served warm straight from the oven.

Baked Cheesecake

Donna Hay wins again! I turned to her cheesecake recipe because it looked so super easy and delicious when I saw it on masterchef a couple of years back. It turned out amazing and didn't take much time at all to prepare. I wish I'd had some berries or passionfruit to lay over the top but I completely forgot when I did the grocery shop, no worries though because it was just delicious all on its own.

I gave all the measurements in grams because I figure you'd be getting those scales out to measure the cream cheese and ricotta so no need to dirty the measuring cups! Also, I advise using a food processor for this, unfortunately I only have a mini one so I turned to the blender and that actually worked really well! So there's your backup plan. Hand beaters are not a good plan B. I would know.

Donna Hay's Classic Baked Cheesecake

330g softened cream cheese
500g ricotta cheese
4 eggs
295g cups caster sugar
60ml cup lemon juice
1 tbsp grated lemon rind
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tbsp cornflour
1 1/2 tbsp water (to mix with cornflour)

For the Base

40g cup almond meal
105g cup plain flour
55g caster sugar
90g chopped butter


Pre-heat oven to 150 degrees Celsius.

Start with the base, whiz all the ingredients in a food processor until they form a crumbly texture, tip in to a lined cake tin and press in to the bottom (use your hands and then smooth out with a spoon to make sure it's all nice and even).

Bake for 15 minutes or until golden. Set aside to cool while you make the filling.

For the filling, add all but cornflour and water to a food processor. Combine cornflour and water separately and add in. Process until smooth and pour in to the tin.

Tap to remove any air bubbles and bake for 1 hour. Turn the oven off but leave the door closed for a further hour then remove and chill.

Tip: I noticed that my cake was still wobbly in the middle after the first hour and completely forgot about the whole 2nd hour thing so I baked it longer until it was set, it still turned out great but ended up a little brown around the edges so don't fret too much if there's a little raw bit in the middle that will cook further in to the 2nd hour.  Also, don't be tempted to open the oven and take the cake out early as it will crack if it cools too rapidly.

Carrot Cake!

So yesterday I was doing some uni work with a friend and she had this carrot slice. I've never been much of a fan of carrot cake but I tried some and it was so delicious that I went home and made a carrot cake! It can be easily made vegan or gluten free by adding an egg substitute and/or gluten free flour and using a soy cream cheese or just omitting the icing.

I used a Donna Hay recipe which turned out so amazingly moist! And hoorah for not having a teepee shaped cake (always happens to me).

Carrot Cake

 

1¼ cups brown sugar
¾ cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1½ cups plain flour
1½ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of (baking) soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground ginger
2½ cups grated carrot (about 5 carrots)
½ cup chopped pecan nuts
½ cup sultanas 


Cream Cheese Icing

250g cream cheese, softened
⅓ cup icing (confectioner's) sugar, sifted
1½ tablespoons lemon juice


Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F). Place the sugar and oil in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat for 2–3 minutes. Add the eggs gradually and beat well. Sift the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon and ginger over the sugar mixture.

Add the carrot, pecans and sultanas and mix until just combined. Pour into a greased 22cm-round cake tin lined with non-stick baking paper and bake for 55–60 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer. Cool in tin.

For the cream cheese frosting, process the cream cheese in a food processor until smooth. Add the icing sugar and lemon juice and process until smooth. Spread frosting on the cooled cake. Serves 8.

*I used soft dark brown (muscovado) sugar instead of the normal brown sugar to give it a more molassesy flavour and omitted the sultanas because I'm not a big fan. Also, softened the cream cheese and stirred in the icing sugar/lemon which worked fine; no need to wash a food processor.

  The ginger and cinnamon powders as well as dark brown (muscovado) sugar give it a gingerbready quality which is really nice and the carrot becomes so soft and blends right in, no unpleasant stringy carrot bits.