Spooky Cookies

I am having SO MUCH FUN.

I love Hallowe’en. Everyone should love Hallowe’en. It’s spooky and fun and has some of the BEST songs. If you’ve never listened to Werewolf Bar Mitzvah then stop what you’re doing and watch it on Youtube. You won’t be sorry. I’ll wait.

Right, back to the matter in hand. Delicious biscuits! I tried a new recipe for the “sugar cookie” biscuit base upon which my pumpkins rest. And I re-used the best gingerbread recipe in the world and repurposed them for the season – as scary skeletons! The cookies are lovely and soft which is how I like them, but feel free to cook for slightly longer and roll out slightly thinner if you prefer a thinner biscuit. Also, feel free to make the skeletons with the plain biscuit recipe below, I just had a hankering for gingerbread too (greedy)!

I’m gonna hold my hands up. I’m not the best decorator. I get impatient and I’m not a good at drawing and really I’d rather just have the foodstuff in my mouth. But I tried really hard. I asked my honest-to-a-fault boyfriend if they looked like a 4 year old made them and he said, “no, they’re way better than that. ..Like a 12 year old maybe.”

FRIGHTENING!

Anyway. This is the most fun I’ve had in the kitchen in ages. I’ve eaten 4 cookies and I feel sick and accomplished. Come, join me.

Banoffee Cupcakes

I like to think that my blog reflects the current trends in my eating habits, I post what I’m making for dinner, and what sweet treats I bring in for work and for me things tend to go in themes. For example, I recently had a go at low carb, raw type cooking. I still do that, but not having been in the kitchen for ages, I stored up lots of recipes that I was dying to try, and they don’t fall into the healthy category. And with that in mind..

Banoffee is basically the best dessert in the world.

I don’t think any sane person would disagree with that. My only problem with it is the whipped cream. I hate cream. When I order it in a restaurant, I scrape the cream off (to my willing boyfriend’s plate!) and when I make it at home, I make a non-cream one for myself.

A quick note about caramel – I find it really difficult to make. So this is from a jar. It’s a great shame of mine (if you’re keeping count, I buy ready made mashed potato and ready made caramel, but NEVER ready made custard) but I’ve had to ditch tons of otherwise great bakes due to failed caramel, and I won’t have it happen again!

So, this is you basic banoffee flavours in cupcake form, you’ve got banana fairy cakes smothered in caramel buttercream and dotted with dark choc chips and tiny fudge pieces. The cupcakes are light and delicate with a lovely banana sweetness, and the buttercream is rich and creamy and basically amazing. I had like a tbsp. left over and just ate it directly from the piping bag. Unless that makes me sound gross, then I totally didn’t.

Mint Oreo Tiffin

I’ve been AWOL from my blog (and all the fun things in my life) due to studying and generally being dull and miserable.

Luckily, I have a brief 6 week reprieve now, so I’m busting back into my kitchen! Don’t call it a comeback.

During my study sessions, I needed to keep well fed, with plenty of flavoured coffee and sugar. Which is how I came across the concept of tiffin. It’s basically minty Rocky Road with a delicious creamy oreo filling. And it’s incredible. Mint and chocolate is the best combination and nothing will ever convince me otherwise. I didn’t add mint to the chocolate part because I wanted that to stand on its own, and I wanted the minty filling to be a good contrast. However, the addition of a few scattered mint chocolate chips was actual genius, if I do say so myself. Every couple of bites you get a extra mint explosion and it’s really stellar.

Now, normally I wouldn’t advocate using such a “rare” ingredient as mint oreos, since you couldn’t get them in UK shops. BUT about three weeks ago they launched them here. Which is both exciting and awful. Exciting because they’re my favourite thing ever and I can eat a whole packet in a day. Awful because they’re my favourite thing ever and I will eat a whole packet in a day. So I was good. I I didn’t buy a random packet to munch on, but I devised a recipe to allow me to buy and use 2/3 of a packet.

Oh, but what happened to the other 1/3? Don’t worry about it.

Anyway. This is the favourite thing I’ve made recently and you should all make it if you want to enrich your lives.

Hiatus

I'm (nearly!) back, everyone!

Had to take an enforced hiatus due to crazy life stresses, so not much cooking got done. But I'm back, I've got a poaching pan, and I'm ready to fill your lives with more home made deliciousness. I'm trawling my recipe books, imagination and cupboards and will have some awesome wicked cool sugary treats coming up as fast as I can bake 'em.

Later, losers!

/Hannah