Biscoff Blondies

It was my Other Halfs birthday and, as you should all know by now, "it's not a birthday unless theres a Saffy birthday cake". Work had been hectic and I hadn't had time to create anything elaborate and he had kept mentioning my Biscoff and Cinnamon cupcakes recently so I thought I would do something similar that I could whip up quickly after work and these blondies were the result. Soft and incredibly morish, everyone I have fed these too has instantly requested more along with the recipe for them as well. The hardest part of making these was trying not to eat all of them at once, they are rich and high in sugar but oh so worth it. I have slightly damaged my camera so apologies for the dodgy quality of some of the pictures.

Ingredients:


250g plain flour
350g caster sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
250ml water
250ml vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
8 tsp raspberry jam
5 tbsp icing sugar
1 jar lotus biscoff spread 
6 lotus biscuits

Method:

Preheat your oven to 160c and grease and line a 30cm by 15 cm baking tin. Place the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon into a large bowl and mix together. Take roughly half the biscoff spread and microwave for 1 minute until runny like single cream then add to the bowl along with the oil, water and vanilla. Mix thoroughly until everything is well combined then pour into the baking tin. Dollop in spoonfully of raspberry jam and swirl through the mixture with a knife then crumble the biscuits over the top.

Bake for 30-40 minutes until golden brown and just set to the touch but still with a little wiggle to keep the blondies moist. Turn out onto a cooling rack and leave to cool.

Once the blondies are cool, microwave the other half of the biscoff spread and mix in the icing sugar then spread over the top of the blondies and leave to set before cutting. I would recommend popping some kitchen towel under the cooling rack before icing to prevent the biscoff icing sticking to your counters.

Slice into generous chunks and scoff with a cuppa.

Please take a picture when you make these and tag me using #diaryofadefectivehousewife

Enjoy!

Chocolate Fondants

With Christmas looming ever nearer, I wanted to make handmade gifts this year and have been experimenting with different edible treats. These are my take on a recipe given to me by one of the team I work with - I realise making chocolates using potato is a little odd but these genuinely taste amazing and no-one has been able to guess the 'secret' ingredient. Because each potato is different, I have left the amounts for a lot of the ingredients blank so you can achieve the flavour you like best, just add slowly and keep tasting. I gave a bag of these to one of my friends as part of her birthday and she loved them which is always good!

Ingredients:

1 large potato
Icing sugar
5 bars dark chocolate
orange extract
vanilla extract
cinnamon
coffee extract

Method:

Peel and chop the potato into small pieces then boil until soft. Place in a blender and puree until smooth and silky. Slowly add in the icing sugar until the mixture becomes reasonably stiff like whipped cream. Separate out into 3 bowls and add orange extract to one, vanilla to another and coffee and cinnamon to the last.

Beat the flavourings into the mixture adding more as required. Add a little more icing sugar until the mix becomes a paste. Place in the fridge for half an hour or so until it can be moulded.

Melt the chocolate and form small bite-sized balls of the mixture then dip each one into the melted chocolate, making sure they are well coated. I then placed them into petit four cases but you could set them on a sheet of baking paper. Repeat until all of the mixture is used up then place in the fridge to set.

I left these plain but you could drizzle them with more melted chocolate or roll them in coconut or citrus zest.

When you make these, please take a picture and tag me using #diaryofadefectivehousewife

Thank you!

Lotus Biscuit Rocky Road

I was talking to the team at my work about childhood favourite treats and Rocky Road came up so I had to try making my own version. Everyone probably knows by now my love of Lotus Biscuits and my Other Half very kindly bought a box of 300 off Amazon recently so logic clearly dictated they should be the biscuit used. This recipe is beyond easy to make with the hardest part being unwrapping all the biscuits, luckily they don't need to be kept whole. I cut this into 16 pieces as it is pretty rich but just see how you feel on the day and how many you are feeding. The addition of the vanilla extract and cinnamon help to balance the dark chocolate which in turn prevents these being too sweet.
 

Ingredients:

200g dark chocolate
200g lotus biscuits
3 tbsp golden syrup
130g dairy free butter
100g Glace Cherries
1 bag marshmallows
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp cinnamon
Icing sugar for dusting

Method:

In a large bowl, crush your Lotus biscuits into a mix of dust and small chunks. Chop the marshmallows and cherries into small pieces and set to one side. Line a square baking tray with baking paper.

In a large pan, melt the butter, chocolate and golden syrup together over a low heat then stir in the cinnamon and vanilla extract. Add the biscuits, marshmallows and cherries and stir thoroughly until everything is well coated.

Tip the mixture into the baking tray and smooth out with a spatula to level off the top. Place in the fridge for at least 2 hours until set or if you need it quickly place in the freezer for 20 minutes. Sprinkle the rocky road with icing sugar then cut in to chunks and serve.

When you make this, please take a picture of the results and tag me using #dairyofadefectivehousewife

Enjoy!