A Feast of Blackberries - The Great British Blackberry Recipe Round Up

A huge thank you to all the lovely cooks, bakers and bloggers who joined The Great British Blackberry Recipe Round Up.  There are so many delicious recipes and they are really varied, everything from Spiced Blackberry Pulled Pork to Blackberry Lollipops and of course cakes, desserts and preserves.  Don't take my word for it, here they all are below:


1. Blackberry Frozen Yogurt and Granola Breakfast Pops - Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary
2. Blackberry and Clotted Cream Ripple - Sudden Lunch
3. Blackberry and Apple Swirl Buns - Mint Custard
4. Blackberry Gin - Mint Custard


5. Blackberry Pear Crisp - A Palatable Pastime
6.Wild Blackberry Jam - I'd much rather bake than
7. Bramble Blackwells - Foodie Quine
8. Spiced Blackberry Jam - Farmersgirl Kitchen


9. Peach and Blackberry Galette with Lavender and Thyme Honey - A Girl and her Home
10. Blackberry and Oat Muffins - Rough Measures
11. Blackberry and Lemon Bake - Food Jam


12. Blackforest Chocolate Brownies - Sew White
13. Summer Burst Berry Cake - Belleau Kitchen
14. Simple Seasonal Blackberry Cake - Lancashire Food


15. Autumnal Blackberry and Lavender Cobbler - Lancashire Food
16. Blackberries and Rose Geranium Crumble - Lancashire Food
17. Bramble and Vanilla Cordial - Farmersgirl Kitchen
18. Baked Nectarines and Blackberry Surprise - The Peachicks Bakery


19. Summer Fruit Traybake - Sew White
20. Blackberry and Hazelnut Polenta Cake - Mainly Baking
21. Blackberry Lollipops - The Hedgecombers


22. Apple and Blackberry Chia Seed Preserve - Nutricious Deliciousness
23. Blackberry and Apple Pie - Chez Maximka
24. Spiced Blackberry Pulled Pork - De Tout Coeur Limousin


25. Double Blackberry Chocolate Gallette - Tin and Thyme
26. Blackberry, Garlic and Bay - De Tout Coeur Limousin
27. Blackberry and Apple Geranium Swirl -Lancashire Food
28. Self-Saucing Blackberry and Apple Pudding - Tales from the Kitchen Shed


29. Blackberry and Apple Cupcakes - Tin and Thyme
30. Blackberry, Lemon and White Chocolate Scones - Baking Queen 74
31.Blackberry and White Chocolate Cheesecake Cups - The Veg Space
32. Blackberry and Hazelnut Flapjacks - Chardonnay and Samphire


33. Blackberry and Apple Cake - Eco-Gites of Lenault
34. Blackberry Fairy Cake Buns (Muffins) - Lavender and Lovage
35. Blackberry, Elderberry and Damson Jelly - JibberJabber UK
I hope this inspires you to make some of these recipes, do let me know if you do.

Labels: Blackberry, Bramble, brownies, cake, cupcakes, dessert, flapjacks, gallette, ice cream, jam, Muffins, Pie, Pulled Pork, Scones, The Great British Blackberry Recipe Round-Up, vinegar

posted by Janice @ 19:26 15 Comments

Chocolate Cherry Brownies and The #Bakeface

Welcome to THE BAKE FACE!  It's what happens when a delicious Billington's bake meets a face, and the face just doesn't know what to do with itself. Here's my BAKEFACE!



Billington's Brownies

Prep 12 minutes
Cook 35 minutes
Serves 12

Prepare
250g Billington's Unrefined Dark Muscovado Sugar
200g unsalted butter
350g 70% dark chocolate, chopped into pieces
3 medium free range eggs
50g self-raising flour
100g Billington's Natural Glace Cherries (optional)

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 190C (170C Fan)/gas mark 5, and line a 20cm square tin with baking parchment
2. Melt the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water.
3. Whisk the eggs until pale and fluffy.  Add the dark muscovado sugar and whisk until thick.  Gently fold in the chocolate mixture.
4. Sift in the flour and fold in until the mixture is smooth.  Mix in the glace cherries.
5. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 30-35 minutes, until you see a paper-like crust on top.  There should still be some movement in the centre of the tin.
6. Remove from the oven, leave to cool, then cut into squares.

These are really squidgy brownies, I think if I was making them again I would give them a little longer, they are more like a dessert than a cake, very rich and indulgent - gorgeous!


Follow @BillingtonsUK #bakeface

I received a hamper from Billington's to make these Brownies

Labels: BAKEFACE, Baking Mad, Billington's, brownies, cherry, chocolate

posted by Janice @ 07:00 8 Comments

Walnut Brownie Cupcakes - Hello Cupcake!

Imagine a mouthful of rich, slightly gooey chocolate brownie, then suddenly you crunch into a bitter sweet walnut - you've just had a virtual Walnut Brownie Cupcake!

These little beauties come from a delightful little book called 'Hello Cupcake' by Leila Lindholm, published by New Holland. RRP is £12.99 although it's on sale at a popular on line bookshop for £7.14 but you have the chance to win a copy, right here on my blog.  Scroll down to the bottom of the post and follow the instructions on the Rafflecopter widget.

The book is dedicated to cupcakes and whoopie pies and contains lots of very tempting recipes some classic combinations like Butterfly Lemon Cupcakes and Double Chocolate Whoopie Pies.  Then there are some more unusual flavours like Rhubarb Cheesecake cupcakes, Sticky pecan upside down cupcakes and Nutella Whoopie Pies.  Then there are some really fun recipes like S'mores whoopie pies, Elvis Presley Cupcakes and Miss Piggy cupcakes!

I really liked that every few pages there was a page of tips, for example tips about oven temperatures, or the story of the creation of Whoopie Pies.  The photographs are stunning, both of the cupcakes and the many children who feature enjoying the cakes!

I decided to bake the Walnut Brownie Cupcakes, not only because they looked delicious but so I could enter them for this month's Alphabakes challenge - letter "W".


They would also be really popular at a cake stall so I am also entering the cupcakes for Tea Time Treats.

Walnut Brownie Cupcakes

200g walnuts
175g butter
150g light muscovado sugar
150g good quality cocoa powder (I used 100g and found that quite enough)
50ml golden syrup
1 pinch salt
3 free range eggs
150g plain (all purpose) flour
1 tsp baking powder
100g good quality 70& dark chocolate

1. Turn the oven to 175C
2. Toast the whole walnuts in a hot and dry frying pan
3. Whip the butter, sugar and muscovado sugar until creamy.
4. Add the cocoa, syrup and salt.
5. Whisk in one egg at a time.
6. Mix the flour with the baking powder and sift it into the other ingredients.
7. Coarsely chop the chocolate and add it and the whole walnuts to the batter.
8. Set out paper cups in a muffin tin and fill the cups with  two-thirds full with the mixture.
9. Bake them in a middle of the oven for about 5-20 minutes.  Test them with a toothpick, they should be a little sticky in the middle.  Leave them to cool.


Leila suggests decorating the cupcakes with shipped cream and fresh raspberries, but I made up a little butter cream and piped a swirl on top!


The recipe was easy to make, there was just one thing...the recipe says that it makes 12 cupcakes and I made 24 normal sized cupcakes and 10 mini cupcakes!  Not that I'm complaining but if you didn't have two cupcake tins you might find you had to bake this in two batches.



Alphabakes is run by Ros at The more than occasional baker and Caroline at Caroline Makes and Teatime Treats is run by Karen at Lavender and Lovage and Kate at What Kate Baked

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post. I was not required to write a positive review and any opinion expressed is my own.

Labels: AlphaBakes, Book Reviews, brownies, cupcakes, Hello Cupcake, Tea Time Treats, Walnut Brownie Cupcakes

posted by Janice @ 18:32 35 Comments

Cookie Dough Truffles

As a child I was never that fussed about scraping out the bowl unless it was butter icing!  However,  Quirk Publishing offered me the chance to review a neat little book 'The Cookie Dough Lovers Cook Book' by Lindsay Landis. It's available at the ubiquitous online book shop ;-)


This is not cookie dough as we know it, for making cookies,  it's specially formulated cookie dough that tastes divine eaten raw, and so it should as it is packed with butter and sugar!  The basic chocolate chip cookie dough is eggless and really simple to make.  It's the basis for most of the recipes with variations including peanut butter, vegan/dairy free, gluten free and lots of different combinations of spices, sugars, nuts and chocolate chips.

Eggless Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

Makes 1 1/2 cups
Total Time: 15 minutes

1/2 cup (100g) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 cup (50g) granulated suagr
1/2 cup (100g) light brown sugar, packed
2 tbsp milk or cream
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups (150g) plain flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup (100g) mini dark chocolate chips

In a large bowl, beat butter and sugars with an electric mixer on medium speed until  light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes.  Mix in milk and vanilla. Stir in flour and salt and mix on low speed (or by hand) until incorporated. Stir in chocolate chips.

Dough can be enjoyed immediately or store, covered or in an airtight container in the refrigerator, for up to 3 days.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles

Form the dough into small balls and arrange on a baking sheet lined with baking parchment.  Place in the freezer for about 15 minutes.

Melt 200g dark chocolate in a double boiler or a bowl over a pan of water.  Using two forks dip the cookie dough balls in the melted chocolate and replace on the baking parchment.

Decorate with sprinkles or dust with edible glitter.  Or you could wait until the chocolate is set and pipe over some white chocolate.

I made some with milk chocolate as well, not to my own taste but to avoid me and hubby pigging out on these truffles,  we both took them into work and some of our colleagues prefer milk chocolate.  They were a huge hit, with comments such as "Do they have alcohol in them?" which must have been the vanilla and "Delicious, would be great at Christmas".

Chapters

Candy - including the truffles featured above.

Cookies and Brownies

These are Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies, this photo also shows the really useful design of the book.  It is ring bound and, when folded out,  the pages are narrower than the cover so there is a Cookie Dough Lover's Cheat Sheet visible on the left of the recipes.

Cakes, Custards and Pies
 Just look at those fabulous Cookie Dough Stuffed Dark Chocolate Cupcakes!  This chapter also features the Cookie Dough Mosaic Cheesecake:


Frozen Treats is full of icecreams and ice lollies

 There are two more chapters:  Indulgent Breakfasts and Fun Snacks and Party Fare

All of these recipes include basic cookie dough and having been a little unsure of whether I was going to like cookie dough, I have to say I'm a convert and can't wait for an opporunity to try another one of the recipes.  The icecream is calling to me!

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post. I was not required to write a positive review and any opinion expressed is my own. 

Labels: baking, brownies, chocolate, chocolate chips, cook book, Cookie, Cookie Dough, cupcakes, ice cream

posted by Janice @ 19:54 8 Comments

How Blondie became Barbie!

But when I read the August challenge I was horrified,  Chocolate and ROSE, what on earth was I going to make with rose, where (in the depths of south west Scotland) was I going to get rose water or rose flavouring of some kind?

Labels: blondies, brownies, chocolate, Rachel Allen, rosehip cordial, We should Cocoa, white chocolate

posted by Janice @ 20:39 16 Comments