Ice-Cream Cone Cupcakes, Butterscotch Muffins

I've been a lazy blogger and for this I am sorry.
It's been a mix of things- life is busy, the weather is too nice to be stuck inside and, as much as I love slaving over a hot cookie sheet, the idea of doing that in my tiny, badly-ventilated kitchen in 24 degree heat just doesn't appeal.

I've been sticking with muffins a lot lately. They're fast, simple and adaptable. I promise I'll do something new soon but for now, I present two great muffins using my Ultimate Muffin Recipe.

Ice-Cream Cone Cupcakes

Makes 12

You'll need:
One batch of muffin batter from my usual recipe
A pack of flat-bottomed ice-cream cones, available from most large supermarkets.
Buttercream (made by beating 225gr soft butter with 240gr icing sugar and 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract)
Decoration- sprinkles, Flakes, cherries etc.

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees (gas mark 4 or 160 degrees in a fan oven).

Stand the flat-bottomed cones into a muffin tray.
Using a piping bag, fill each cone 3/4 way to the top. Piping prevents air-bubbles and muffin eruptions.
Bakes for 20-24 minutes until the muffins are golden, risen and a toothpick stuck into the middle comes out clean.

Place the cones onto a wire rack to cook completely.

Once completely cool, pipe the buttercream on top using a large star-tipped nozzle. Starting at the outside, slowly pipe in a circle moving inwards and upwards to give the impression of soft-serve ice-cream.

Decorate using whatever you'd like. I stuck with sprinkles and cherries.

Butterscotch Muffins

These taste like a mix between Werther's Originals and sticky toffee pudding. The best thing is that the butterscotch sauce will keep in a covered container in your fridge for 3 days so can be used on ice-cream, in coffee or as a dip for apple slices (and by "apple slices" I mean "original Pringles". I need help).

Make muffins but only fill the case one-third of the way. They baked, you want a nice gap of a quarter of an inch or so between the top of the bun and the top of the case. I like to refer to this as the butterscotch zone.

To make butterscotch, you'll need:
50gr butter
4 heaped tablespoons of muscovado sugar
100gr golden syrup*
Pinch of salt
150ml single cream

*Yes, I am telling you to use 100 grams of syrup, not millilitres. The easiest way to do this is to weigh your container of syrup on a scales then pour out small quantities and re-weigh until your container is now 100gr lighter.

In a heavy-bottomed pan, combine the sugar, butter, salt and syrup over a medium heat. Allow to boil for five minutes, stirring occasionally.
Remove from the heat and add the cream. Return to the heat until everything is combined but not too thick.
Be very careful as the mixture will be exceptionally hot.

Put aside and allow to cool completely.

Once the muffins and butterscotch are cool, spoon some of the syrup not the bun. Just enough to glaze the top. Allow to rest for 30 mins then repeat. You'll end up adding about three layers and will have filled the case almost to the top.

If you can resist, these are best left to set overnight so that the butterscotch sets slightly and can seep slightly into the cake.

Garth Brooks Croke on Chocolate Cake

Forgive the tortured attempt at a punny name for this cake. If you're in Ireland, you've been living under a rock if you haven't heard about the Garth Concert debacle. I had tickets. Good tickets. I've wanted to see Garth since I was 14. Sadly, it's not to be but I'm going to console myself with this rich, fudgey chocolate cake and, much like Garth, I'm going to have five slices, or none.

For the cake:
200gr dark chocolate (I like my chocolate cake slightly bitter and use 74% cocoa solids but anything from 60% will work).
200gr butter
130ml cold water
2 teaspoons of granulated/instant coffee
3 eggs
50ml milk
190gr caster sugar
190gr light muscovado sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
90gr self raising flour
80gr plain flour
1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of sugar

Chocolate ganache:
200gr dark chocolate
Small carton of cream (c.300ml, most small cartons I find in supermarkets are a little under that but that's ok)
3 tablespoons caster sugar

White chocolate buttercream (this is optional. The ganache recipe will make enough to coat and fill the cake but I think this really adds a sweetness that works well with the slightly bitter dark chocolate cake):
100gr white chocolate, melted and allowed to cool
140gr softened butter
140gr icing sugar

Preheat your oven to 180 Celsius (or 160 in a fan oven)

To make the cake-
In a heatproof dish, mix the coffee and water, add the chocolate and butter. This will need to be melted over a pot of simmering water. Once fully melted and combined, set aside to cool.
In a large bowl, combine the sugars, flours, cocoa, and bicarbonate of soda, mixing gently with your fingers or a fork to ensure there are no lumps.
In a third bowl, beat the eggs and milk gently.

Add the egg mixture and the melted chocolate to the dry ingredients and, using a spatula, mix fully so that you have a dark, gooey batter.

Split the batter evenly between two greased and lined 8" sandwich tins and bake for 1hr 20mins.

To make the ganache-
In a small saucepan, heat the cream and sugar until just coming to the boil. Remove from the heat and immediately mix in the chocolate which should be broken into chunks. Keep stirring with a small whisk until the chocolate has completely melted. Allow to cool and thicken.

To make the buttercream-
Melt the white chocolate and allow to cool. In a large, clean bowl, beat the butter using an electric whisk and slowly beat in the sugar. Once combined, pour in the cooled chocolate and continue mixing until the buttercream is fluffy but stiff.

Once the cake is out of the oven, allow to cool completely. The top of each cake will have formed a slight crunch because of the bicarbonate of soda. You can very carefully slice this off if you don't want crunchy bits in your cake but I leave it as it's insanely delicious.
Place on cake on a plate or cake tray and add as much buttercream as you think you'll need. Now double that amount. Seriously. Double it. Add the second cake on top. At this stage, your ganache should have thickened enough for you to spread it on the top and sides of the take with a knife. If it's still a little runny, you can put it into the fridge for an hour.

Decorating the cake is up to you. I like to use the ganache as a chocolate glue to stick a fortress of chocolate fingers to the side and M&Ms on top.

See Garth? See what you're missing in Dublin?

Lemon Meringue Muffins

Since posting this picture online, I've been asked for the recipe a few times so here it is.

First, the picture. That's Lucy, my sous chef. She's a cutie.

You'll need:
12 muffins made with my ultimate muffin recipe
4 large egg whites
230gr caster sugar
Lemon curd (if you have homemade, great- I usually use a jar)

Once the muffins are out of the oven, place on a wire rack to cool.

To make the meringue, you have to ensure that the bowl of the food mixer and the balloon whisk attachment you're using are spotlessly clean. If there's even the tiniest bit of grease, the meringue won't work. I usually scald with hot water before using and dry with a fresh towel.

Place the egg whites (ensure no yolk got in) into your mixer and mix on high until they're white, fluffy, and holding a stiff peak. Very slowly start adding the sugar, one tablespoon at a time and allow to mix for a few minutes before adding the next spoonful. It should take 25-30 minutes to incorporate all of the sugar.
You'll know the meringue is ready when the mix is glossy, stiff and will remain in the bowl even if you turn it upside down.

To ensure the sugar is fully incorporated, take a fab of the mixture between your fingers and rub, you shouldn't be able to feel even the slightest amount of grittiness from the sugar.

Fill a piping bag with the meringue mixture. The nozzle you use is entirely up to your own preference but I prefer to not use a nozzle which allows me to pipe large swirls.

Once the muffins have cooled completely, cut a hole in the centre ensuring you don't cut through the bottom of the muffin case. You can buy cupcake plungers online for such an occasion but I just use a pairing knife.
Fill the hole with lemon curd (approx. 1 teaspoons).
Pipe your meringue on top.

At this stage, I use my trusty kitchen blowtorch to brown the meringue lightly but, if you don't have one, the meringues can be placed under a hot grill for a few seconds. Do not take your eyes off of them- the last thing you want is a flaming tower of meringue, or scorched paper cases.

Pizza. If you're Italian, look away now.

The weather in Ireland is currently beautiful. We've had a week of sunshine and high temperatures. It's lovely but not conducive to heavy dinners. Increasingly, I've been making batches of pizza dough and keeping it in the fridge for quick suppers served with green salad.

I've taken some time recently to work on my pizza making skills. I wanted to share the recipe plus some tips and tricks with you. Pizza devotees will, rightly, argue that some of the steps here aren't authentic. That's true but it does make for great pizza cooked in a normal oven with minimal fuss.

The dough
This makes enough dough for 2 x 10 inch thin-crust pizzas

You will need:
3 cups of flour (ideally Italian 00 or strong/bread flour)
1.25 cups warm water (quick tip- if you have a froth thermometer for a coffee machine, pop this into the water, it should gauge 105-110 Fahrenheit)
1 teaspoon quick dried yeast
1 tablespoon olive oil
Pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon dried red chilli flakes (optional)

To make the dough, place flour and salt into a bowl and make a well in the centre. In a jug, sprinkle yeast onto water and allow to rest for a few moments until the yeast "blooms" and the mix starts to froth slightly. Pour the yeast mix into the flour and combine lightly, ideally by hand. Add the olive oil and chilli flakes, if using. Continue combining until all the ingredients are fully incorporated and knead. When you have a smooth, elastic ball of dough, transfer to a large, clean bowl that has been lightly dusted with flour and cover with cling film. Leave the bowl in a warm room for 1.5-2hrs or until the dough has doubled in size.
You may find that you have to add a little more flour or water as you go along to get the dough to come together, this is normal.
Once the dough has risen, turn out onto a floured surface, knock back the dough to remove air bubbles and knead for at least five minutes.

If, like me, you have a breadmaker with a dough setting, you can put in the yeast, add water, allow to bloom then add the other ingredients. My machine gives me a ball of perfectly proved, kneaded dough in 90 minutes.

At this stage, you can divide the dough in two and refrigerate or freeze one for later.



If you have a pizza stone, great. Bake your pizza on that according to manufacturer's instructions. If, like me, you have neither room nor desire for such an item, don't worry, you can get crispy, evenly cooked pizza using this method.

Place your largest cookie sheet/roasting tray/pizza sheet into your oven UPSIDEDOWN and switch on to the highest setting. Allow to heat for 45-60 minutes.

Pizza sauce
Yes, I cheat a lot here.
This makes enough sauce for one pizza.

4 tablespoons of passata
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon dried red chilli flakes (optional)

In a small saucepan, combine the ingredients and stir continually while heating. Take the sauce off the heat as it gets to boiling stage. Allow to rest while you're rolling your dough.

Didn't think this recipe was inauthentic enough? Wait til you see what's coming next.

Once the oven is ready, place your dough onto a piece of parchment/grease proof paper dusted with flour. Using a floured rolling pin, turn the paper clockwise slightly as you roll to give you the best chance of getting a somewhat circular base. It should be rolled very thinly. Spread half of the tomato sauce onto the pizza base and place the base AND parchment onto the tray in the oven. Allow to bake for 6 minutes.
After six minutes, remove the base (and parchment- think of them as sisters at this stage, they go everywhere together) and place back onto your countertop. Put a second piece of fresh parchment on top of the pizza dough and, bear with me here, using your rolling pin, firmly roll the half baked dough between the two pieces of parchment.

Yes, it's unorthodox but it really works. Knocking all the air out of the pizza at this stage prevents the pizza from rising any further and means you end up with a base that is perfectly cooked all the way through but very thin and crispy.
If I had an Italian grandmother, she would be turning in her grave.

Spread the remaining sauce on your pizza and add your toppings. My favourite is a Pizza Piccante inspired by my favourite Italian restaurant- mozzarella, Parma ham, pepperoni, red peppers, finely sliced fresh red chili, and oregano.
I prefer the blocks of processed mozzarella, the fresh balls may taste best in salads but I find they make the dough too soggy for pizza.

Another I love involves using olive oil instead of tomato sauce then topping the dough with beetroot chutney, goats cheese, Parma ham, red onion marmalade, and very thinly sliced slivers of pear.

Once topped, return your pizza to the oven and bake until the topping are cooked through and the cheese is bubbling- approximately 8-10 minutes.

French Style Triple Chocolate Brownies

Unsurprisingly, I love reality cookery TV shows. I love the recipes, the presentation, the dramatic music- will the chocolate fondant still be runny in the middle? Dun dun duuuuuun. Why do so many contestants go with the fondant option? There's a split second when the outside is crunchy with sugar and the centre is oozing with chocolately goo. A moment either side and it's wrong, just wrong.

I feel like screaming at the TV- "it's a moelleux au chocolate you need, a moelleux!". They never listen.

What's the difference between a fondant and a moelleux you ask? Nothing. A molleux is acceptable with a runny middle or allowed to cool and solidify into a squishy cake. This is where we can get clever. What's better than a squishy-middled chocolate cake? A squishy-middled chocolate cake dotted with nuggets of milk and white chocolate and served as brownies.

These are the best brownies ever. There will be no argument. I've done the research and none compare.

You'll need:

200gr salted butter
200gr dark chocolate (min. 70% cocoa solids)
3 large eggs
250gr caster sugar
90gr plain flour
40gr cocoa powder
100gr white chocolate, chopped into chunks
50gr milk chocolate, chunked

Begin by melting the butter and chocolate together. This can be done in a heat-proof bowl over boiling water on the hob or by microwaving (is short blasts of 30 seconds before removing from the microwave to stir). Set aside to cool.

Using the balloon whisk of your mixer, beat the eggs and sugar on a high setting. After 2-3 minutes, the mixture will be pale and frothy, like a custard.

Remove your bowl from the mixer and, using a spatula, gently fold the melted chocolate mixture into the egg and sugar. The aim is to keep as many of those frothy bubbles intact as possible, they'll be very important later. 

Work with the spatula until everything is combined.

Next, sieve in the flour and cocoa and fold in, scraping the sides of your bowl with the spatula to ensure everything is incorporated. Again, aim to keep the bubbles!

Finally, fold in the chunks of milk and white chocolate.

Pour the mixture into a 25cm x 20cm shallow tray, lined with baking parchment. The mixture won't rise very much in the oven.

Bake at 180 degrees Celsius (160 in a fan oven) for 25 - 30 minutes. They're done where the top has a solid papery (from the bubbles!) coating and the brownie wobbles when you shake the tray. At this stage, your kitchen will smell amazing. Not the-love-of-small-child amazing. Chocolately amazing- even better.

Resist the urge to dig in right then and there. Be strong. What happens now may sound a little unorthodox but trust me. Place the tray of hot, runny brownies in a safe place and walk away from them. Ignore them for as long as you can, ideally 24 hours but 6 will do. At this time, lift the parchment and brownie out of the tray and tuck in. They'll be very soft on the inside with chunks of milk and white chocolate spotted throughout. The top with be papery with cocoa. You won't need a big piece, it's an intense chocolate hit best served with ice-cream or whipped cream. 

Super Simple Self-Saucing Chocolate Sponge Pudding

This one is a little weird. A basic chocolate cake batter is topped with a sugar and cocoa powder crumb and boiling water is poured on. As the cake bakes and rises, the cocoa, sugar, and water soak through the sponge, pools at the bottom of the dish and thickens. 

This is a great recipe for informal get-togethers as the batter and topping can be prepared ahead of time and, when ready for dessert, just add boiling water and bake. 

Wet ingredients:
250ml milk
2 eggs
85gr butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla extract

Dry ingredients:
125gr plain flour
Pinch of salt
3 tsp baking powder
120g caster sugar
4 tablespoons cocoa powder

Topping:
185gr soft brown sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
250ml boiling water

Mix all the wet ingredients in your mixer and spoon in the dry until everything is incorporated. Pour this cake batter into a large dish. As the pudding will rise a lot, make sure you use a big enough dish- the batter should come about a third of the way up the side.

Combine the soft brown sugar and cocoa and sprinkle on top. When you're ready to bake, pour the boiling water on top (honestly!) and bake at 200 degrees (180 fan) for 35-40 mins.

The batter

With the topping added

Water poured on- this is where you need to hold your nerve

Out of oven and smelling amazing

Saucy!

With cream, as nature intended

A Cookie by Any Other Name...

Cookies are great. Raisin oatmeal cookies are extra great. They're chewy, cinnamony, sweet and comforting. They're also packed full of sugar and butter. But I love them so and, in an attempt to make them a little less lethal, adjusted the recipe to reduce the sugar and fat.

Makes 12 cookies

• 50gr coconut oil
• 50gr caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 
• 1 large egg
• 1 dessert spoon runny honey or orchard syrup (a syrup made from apples and nothing else. I'm allergic to honey so use this as a substitute and love the subtle apple flavour). Maple syrup could also be used. 
• 50gr wholemeal flour (see... healthy!)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 80gr porridge oats
• 80gr raisins

Heat your oven to 180 degrees (gas mark 4/fan oven 160 degrees)

Place the raisins in a small bowl and cover with boiling water for ten minutes. This will makes the raisins sweeter and will stop them burning in the oven.

In your mixer, beat the coconut oil and sugar until combined. Add the egg, cinnamon and honey (or syrup) and beat. Add the flour, baking powder, oats and finally, the drained raisins. Mix well. 

Place spoonfuls of the mixture on cookie sheets lined with parchment paper. Due to the low sugar content, these won't spread as much as regular cookies when baking so they need to be patted down with a fork. 

Bake for 15 - 18 minutes until slightly brown. Allow to rest on the cookie sheet for a few minutes before transferring on to wire racks to cool.

While I love these cookies, I do like some extra sweetness so I topped with a little royal icing. 

Serve with milk. Or a second cookie. Whichever. 

A Slow-Cooker Quickie- Cinnamony Porridge with Fruit

I'm not a breakfast person and tend to just grab a coffee on my way to work and have something mid-morning. This porridge, done in the slow-cooker, is packed full of flavour and, best of all, is ready when I am in the morning. 

To make things even simpler, I use cup measures.

Serves 6

• 2 cups porridge oats
• 4 cups cold water
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 2 apples, peeled and chopped
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/3 cup of sultanas or raisins

Place everything into the slow cooker, do not stir. Cook on low for 9 hours and you'll wake to the amazing smell of cinnamon and apples.

Everyone in the pool

The finished product

Jam Jar Chicken

I've been wanting to make beer can chicken for ages but I really hate the taste of beer so experimented and came up with this. It's fabulous because, as the chicken roasts, the liquid steams so you get really moist, flavoursome chicken with crispy skin.
You need:

• A chicken
• A lemon
• Herbs (I use rosemary and thyme but use whatever- dried or fresh)
• Olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
• Salt
• Black pepper
• A jam jar (I use a small half pound one but a big one would work too, no need for the lid). 

Juice the lemon and put the juice into the jam jar with about half the quantity again of boiled water. Add in the garlic and herbs, making sure everything is covered by the liquid. 

Pour a small amount of olive oil onto the chicken and rub in. Season liberally with salt and pepper, and herbs, if you'd like. 

Using a small roasting pan with high sides, put the jar in the dish and put the chicken down onto the jar so the jar is right inside and holding it up. I also used a few wooden skewers to keep the chicken propped up securely. It kind of looks like he's kicking back in a jacuzzi, no?

Roast the chicken as per instructions (in my fan oven, a medium chicken takes 1hr 15 mins at 160 done this way). When it's done, check juices run clear and allow to sit in a warm place for ten minutes. After this time, carefully wiggle the chicken so the jar slips out, taking care not to splash any of the hot liquid on yourself. 

Forgot to take a before and after picture, but this is during:

Nailed It!

If you read food blogs, you'll probably have heard about the latest in egg scrambling technology- scrambling eggs while still in their shell! Very simply, you spin an uncooked egg around very quickly in a pair of nylon tights or a tea-towel. This breaks the yolk, causing it to mix with the white so that, once it has been boiled, you end up with an egg that is already scrambled.

Sounds easy? Foolproof.

Happy Easter!