Salted Caramel Latte

If you're starting to feel the cold like I am over here in the UK, or if you're a genuine coffee enthusiast, you will love this recipe! I have never craved Starbucks so much in my life as I have since being over here, but as you will know these coffees can become uber pricey. I worked out that if I was to have a Starbucks coffee every week day in the UK, that would be $25 AUD in coffee alone! I have been addicted to the Salted Caramel Mocha lately, but I am finding them a bit too powdery, so I have come up with this recipe for my own for a Salted Caramel Latte which you can make at home for a fraction of the cost. Obviously this recipe is to my tasting so you can obviously modify the quantities to your own liking!

Salted Caramel Latte

(Makes 1 Large Mug)

1 cup warmed frothed milk

1/3 cup of percolated coffee

1 1/2 tsp toffee sauce

1 shot of caramel syrup

Pinch of course ground rock salt

Canned whip cream for topping

1. In the mug or cup in which you will drink your coffee from, place the toffee sauce, caramel syrup and pinch of rock salt and mix to combine.

2. Add your desired amount of hot percolated coffee to the mug and mix with the toffee and caramel.

3. Using a plunger, froth the warm milk and pour into the coffee mug.

4. Make sure you have a nice layer of milky froth on top of the coffee which will allow the cream to float on top rather than sink and melt straight away.

5. Pipe a generous amount of whipped cream on top of your coffee.

6. Drizzle some toffee sauce on top of the cream and add a tiny pinch of salt to complete this yummy winter warmer.

One of my favourite things about this coffee is the smell that it leaves in the room hours after drinking, delicious indeed! 

Devilled Chicken

Hello chefettes! Apologies for the lack of posting lately. As some of you may know, I have moved to the UK, so I have been BUSY, BUSY! I have been here for almost two months now, I have done lots of eating out, so only now, I have started getting back into the kitchen. The food here and grocery stores are quite different to what is available in Australia, but I'm hoping to bring you some new and exciting recipes from the UK which you can try at home. So I bring you my first recipe from England... Devilled Chicken! I thank Waitrose for the inspiration for this recipe. Now I have made some variations from the original recipe and when I first saw the ingredients I was less than inspired, but when it all comes together, this chicken dish is SO flavourful and easy, I'm sure it'll become a staple in your home as it is becoming in mine. Now if you have peeps in your house or little kidlets who don't like spice, you can either reduce the amount of Cayenne Pepper or cut it out completely!

Devilled Chicken

8 chicken thigh fillets (or any chicken pieces)
3 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
3 tbsp Tomato Sauce (Ketchup)
3 tbsp Apricot Jam
1 1/2 tbsp Soy Sauce
1/2 tsp Cayenne Pepper
Salt & Pepper to season

1. Preheat oven to 180°C, and arrange chicken pieces on a baking tray so they are not touching.
2. Combine Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, jam, soy sauce, cayenne pepper, salt & pepper.
3. (This step really depends on how much time you have) You can either pour the marinade over and pop straight in the oven OR you can pour the marinade over and leave chicken in the fridge until required.
4. Bake in the oven until browned, for example for my 8 chicken thighs I baked them for 45 minutes. (Larger chicken pieces may need extra time)
5. Best served with loaded jacket potatoes!

I hope you enjoy this recipe, I LOVE it! Now I haven't personally tried this yet, but I think this would be great on the BBQ and would really bring out those flavours!

I'm not sure why my iPhone insisted on taking such a dark photo, but the chicken was more of a dark red in "real life" and not so charred looking!

Cookie Monster Cupcakes

This is a pretty hot cupcake item at the moment. They look so cute and you know any little person's eyes would light up with excitement at the thought of eating this...

Now I have no shame in saying that I used a packet mix :-O I was scared they weren't going to turn out, and a packet mix was such an easier alternative.

This is what I used to make my little monsters...

Firstly I baked my Betty Crocker Triple Chocolate Muffins into some blue cupcake cases.

Whist they were cooling I made the googly eyes. I laid out my Nestle White Melts and with a little melted chocolate on the side I proceeded to stick on currants with the melted chocolate acting as my "glue".

I cut my cookies into halves and then I coloured half a bag of shredded coconut with some Blue Queen Food Colouring.

I then cut a triangular incision which removes some of the cake into the bottom part of the cupcake, this is where the cookie sits, I also cut a slit towards the top of the cake for the eyes to sit in.

Once cakes have been frosted with a plain blue frosting, dip the entire cupcake into the coconut until generously coated.

Hold the bottom of the cake firmly so the cookie can securely be inserted. Using the slit made at the top of the cupcake, insert two of your already prepared eyes.

They are so much easier than what they look, and it is priceless to see these served up a a kids birthday party. They are definitely a hit! 

 

Rainbow Velvet Cake

The rainbow cake seems to be the "it" cake of the moment, it's all over the internet and you can't go on Pinterest without being bombarded by pictures of this delectable and colourful creation. I brushed it aside thinking it would be more stress than what it is worth until my cousin from Back in G-Town  made one for her Little Miss' 4th birthday! She inspired me to attempt one for my baby cousin's second birthday, and I'm glad I did. It is certainly not as hard as it looks, and this my friends, is a cake that vanishes, because everyone wants to try a piece because it looks so fun!

So I used an old faithful recipe of mine found here, for classic Red Velvet and I quadrupled it to ensure I had enough cake batter.

I made a lush chocolate frosting to go with it as I decorated with Kit Kats, and I wanted a blended look, but the standard tends to be a white frosting.

Dark Chocolate and Vanilla Bean Frosting

Ingredients

750 grams unsalted butter 

6 cups sifted icing sugar

4 tablespoons milk

1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla bean paste

375 grams dark chocolate

Method

1. In an electric mixer using the paddle attachment whip butter for 7 minutes on medium speed until pale and fluffy.

2. Turn mixer down to low speed and add icing sugar, vanilla and milk until combined.

3. Mix on medium setting for a further 6 minutes and add melted chocolate slowly.

4. Butter-cream should be very fluffy and pale.

Now back to the cake, I did five coloured layers so I divided the batter equally into five bowls before adding any food colouring. Once in the five bowls I coloured them all nice and brightly.

A word of advice... bake this cake to a size in which you have two tins, trust me it's a much quicker process.

Bake each colour one by one and allow to cool, they will look like coloured pancakes at this point.

Start by placing your first cake layer down and spreading with the frosting and repeat the process until you have something that looks like this.

With any cake I do, I always do a crumb layer of frosting i.e. a very thin layer of frosting over the whole cake which catches all of the cake crumbs before I put I nice clean layer of frosting on top. After I have done the crumb layer I put the cake in the fridge to slightly harden before I do the "good" layer.

After I had done the good layer of frosting I broke up four family Kit Kat blocks to stick around the border. Then I covered the top with loads of M and M's and tied it all up with a decorative ribbon.

It is definitely one to try out, even if you're not comfortable, start small, do three layers, use a packet mix, it's all about experimentation!

Happy Baking All xxx

Chocolate-Chip Cookies (Subway Style)

Chocolate chip cookies are one of the first things I remember cooking at home and at school back in the day. Having a bit of a passion for baking, it's quite often the simple things that I have been striving to perfect like boiling an egg (I struggled with this for years haha shame) or in this case, baking the perfect chocolate chip cookies. 

In this past week I think I have tried four different recipe variations, it's been like an Arnott's factory over here, luckily there is always somewhere to bring these sweets and tasty treats. I wanted to create a nice crunch on the outside with a chewy center, much like your Subway cookie variety. 

I am pleased to say that I think I have finally nailed the chocolate chip cookie! I felt like Monica in the Friends episode where she baked for days trying to find the perfect cookie recipe, until she found it on the back of a Nestle packet, alas, you won't find this recipe on your chocolate chip packet, so please see below. Once again, happy baking and please tell me how you go! xxx

Chefette's Chocolate-Chip Cookies

Ingredients

1 ¼ cups Plain Flour

¾ cup of Self-Raising Lighthouse Cake and Biscuit Flour

170g butter

1 cup brown sugar, tightly packed

½ cup white sugar

1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

1 egg

1 egg yolk

2 cups milk chocolate chips (I use Cadbury) 

Method

1.   Preheat the oven to 170°C and line two trays with baking paper.

2.   In an electric mixer, cream together the butter, brown sugar, white sugar and vanilla.

3.   Once combined, add both the egg and egg yolk. Mixture will be nice and creamy and should resemble a coffee coloured buttercream.

4.   Add the flours and mix either by hand or on low in electric mixer with the paddle attachment.

5.   Add chocolate chips either by hand or with a wooden spoon. (Cookie dough will be much less dense than a regular cookie dough.)

6.   Use a tablespoon to measure and roll dough into balls, then slightly flatten with your palm to resemble a patty.

7.   Place dough patties on to tray and be careful to leave enough room to spread out, because they will!

8.   Bake for 10-17 minutes or until cookies become lightly toasted on the edges. If you prefer your cookies with a little more crunch, bake until they are completely golden brown, similarly if you prefer them chewier, bake them for a little less. (Make sure you experiment with a couple of cookies first to see how you like them cooked.)

9.   Allow to cool in trays for a few minutes before transferring them to wire cooling racks (as the shape will be distorted if they are handled whilst piping hot.) Serve and enjoy!

Masterchefette's Confetti Cupcakes with Vanilla Bean Frosting

There's nothing that makes you feel more like a kid than colourful frosting with lashings of sprinkles and candied confetti. Well taking some "pintrespiration" (pinterest inspiration) I came up with these little babies yesterday and I think they are perfect for birthday parties or for some good old baking fun. I have used the base from my chocolate chip muffins post found here.
  
Confetti Cupcakes with Vanilla Bean Frosting

Ingredients

1¾ cups Cake & Biscuit Flour (Self-Raising) (I use Lighthouse brand)

¾ cup sugar 

½ teaspoon salt
2 eggs 

125gm butter or margarine
1 cup vanilla yoghurt (I use Danone Vanilla)
Nemar Heart Sprinkles

1 tsp of vanilla bean paste (I use Queen Organic Vanilla Bean Paste)

Method

1.   Preheat oven to 170°C (fan forced)

2.   Cream butter, sugar and vanilla bean paste in an electric mixer until light and fluffy, I use the paddle attachment.

3.   Add eggs to the mixture.

4.   Gradually add salt and flour in 3 batches.

5.   Once combined gradually add the yoghurt.

6.   Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups ⅔ full.

7. Sprinkle some hearts into each case and give it a light stir with the end of a teaspoon.

8.   Bake at 180°C (fan forced) for 20-30 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

Vanilla Bean Frosting

Ingredients

375 grams unsalted butter 

3 cups sifted icing sugar

2 tablespoons milk

1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla bean paste

Method

1. In an electric mixer using the paddle attachment whip butter for 7 minutes on medium speed until pale and fluffy.

2. Turn mixer down to low speed and add icing sugar, vanilla and milk until combined.

3. Mix on medium setting for a further 6 minutes.

4. Butter-cream should be very fluffy and pale.

5. Add your favourite colouring or leave natural colour.

6. Pipe on top and serve with additional heart sprinkles.

 

 

Chefette's Chocolate Chip Muffins with Vanilla Yoghurt

As I am currently busy cleaning out the house and packing for the epic move, I stumbled across some of my old Home Economics books from High School yesterday and I was reminded why I held on to them for so long. 

I first used this recipe at school in year seven and after making some slight adaptations, this is now one of my favourites to use. 

I decided to part with the old exercise books and decided to write up a more formal recipe to share with all of you. I hope you enjoy these muffins as much as I do. They're also a great addition to the school lunch box as they contain much less butter and oil than regular muffins and they have a generous amount of yoghurt in them. Enjoy! xxx

Chocolate-Chip Muffins with Vanilla Yoghurt

Ingredients

1¾ cups Cake & Biscuit Flour (Self-Raising) (I use Lighthouse brand)

¾ cup sugar 

½ teaspoon salt
2 eggs 

125gm butter or margarine
1 cup vanilla yoghurt (I use Danone Vanilla)
¾ cup chocolate chips (I use Cadbury Milk)

1 tsp of vanilla bean paste (I use Queen Vanilla Bean Paste)

Method

1.   Preheat oven to 170°C (fan forced)

2.   Cream butter, sugar and vanilla bean paste in an electric mixer until light and fluffy, I use the paddle attachment.

3.   Add eggs to the mixture.

4.   Gradually add salt and flour in 3 batches.

5.   Once combined gradually add the yoghurt.

6.   Mix in chocolate chips either on low speed or by hand.

7.   Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups ⅔ full.

8.   Bake at 180°C (fan forced) for 20-30 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.