Ferrero Rocher Cupcakes

Oh my. Well, it’s January and everyone hates the world because it’s wet and cold and everyone’s attempting to diet.

And along I come with a cheery disposition and an armful of Ferrero Rocher cupcakes! The thing I love about these is that on the surface they look like the most luxurious, nutty chocolatey cupcakes.. And then you take a bite and there is even MORE deliciousness inside. It’s just over the top and vaguely unnecessary, and I love it.

Peek-a-boo!

So, I’ve seen these being bandied around the internet for a while now (interestingly not with recipes, most of them..), and it just felt rude not to make my own. I went with a cupcake mixture that was slightly more akin to a muffin, so that the Rocher wouldn’t sink too much and it would be a slightly firmer cake. Other ways I tried to keep the Rochers as high as possible in the muffin was to dredge in flour before adding, to make them a bit stickier.

For the finish, I just smothered them in a modified version of my chocolate fudge icing and topped the whole lot in a crunchy hazelnut praline.

Decadent, yes,  but utterly delicious. And everything is ok in moderation, so share these around.

Halloumi and Onion Sweet Potatoes

It's January, so I suppose I better post something with stupid salad on it. We will be back to our regularly-scheduled sugar-bombs next week.

Having said that, in a bad mood as I root around for any nice Roses that are left in the box, these are actually a tasty treat. As I do love sweet potatoes, and I recently discovered the joys of baking them, I’m trying to get more creative.

I’ll be honest, I’ve had a lump of halloumi cheese in my fridge for AGES and I couldn’t decide what I wanted to do with it. My aunt is vegetarian and once fried me up some of this. It was delicious, a revelation, the food of the gods. I'd never cooked it myself, but I wanted to try something a bit different with it. And the lovely chewy texture is the perfect accompaniment to the soft sweetness of the spud. That description was TERRIBLE. But the final product is not!

These are incredibly simple to make, and a perfect side dish for other meals, I served mine with burgers, because I have an obsession with sweet potatoes and burgers for some reason.

Coconut Baby Shower Cupcakes

New year, new life.. And one of my friends is having a baby!

So, I decided to make a few little cupcakes for a mini baby shower. She doesn’t know what she’s having, therefore I decided to keep them very neutral, and I wanted a nice plain-coloured cupcake which still packed a lot of flavour.

Everyone knows I LOVE a bit of coconut, and coconut and jam are just best buds in my kitchen, so I did half little coconut cupcakes and half larger coconut muffins with a surprise jammy centre! These turned out sweet, super-duper coconutty and utterly gorgeous. I will make these a lot more.

Packaged up for transport!

Sidebar: because I am great at planning my life, the battery to my camera failed at the very end of this recipe, so the last few photos are courtesy of my nexus 5.

Baklava

I'm posting this in anticipation of New Year - I think baklava would make a  kick-ass addition to a New Year's party spread, and I'm not just saying that because I'm currently in Istanbul!

A somewhat non-traditional festive item, I was inspired by some leftover filo pastry (see: Christmas samosas). I love baklava but have never had the nerve to make my own. UNTIL NOW!

This, for me, is the perfect antidote to the normal Christmas fare. As much as I love my tins of garishly coloured and highly flavoured chocolates (and I do, the wrappers in my bin tell a tale..), these delicate, nutty, nibbly, shiny, sticky morsels are just perfection, and made an epic Christmas day dessert!

They’re fairly easy to make as long as you pre-buy your filo, which is totally acceptable because Mary Berry does it, damnit! I did find mine a little sticky and tricky to extricate from the pan, but it wasn’t the end of the world.

Also, I’ve gone a bit non-traditional by adding cinnamon (because it’s Christmas) and orange juice (instead of orange blossom, because I didn’t think ahead and buy it), and cooking a bit more after the syrup has been placed on. I have it on good authority that this is key to a good pastry.

Makes one lovely tray of deliciousness 

Christmas Samosas

That time period between Christmas and New Year’s is so weird. It interrupts your Christmas days off, with a few half hearted days in work with leftover turkey sandwiches. And I never know what to make for dinner. Everyone still has the memories of being stuffed from the lashings of food for Christmas dinner, and the bright tins of sweets are still piled enticingly high by the Christmas tree.

I think I’ve found the perfect little nibble-y meal for this weird in between time of the season, which also makes a welcome addition to the Christmas dinner table (it did on mine!) or as part of your party table for NYE.

These are meaty, with a sweet spice which is warming and delightful. Perfect dipped in some sweet chilli sauce, or alongside a veggie curry!

Cinnamon Baked Donuts

Merry Christmas, everyone!

And since you’ve all been very good this year, I’m going to give you all a special treat.. What if I told you guys that you could go from zero to donuts in about 25 minutes?

I will give you that secret. It’s a Christmas miracle!!

These are the best donuts ever. They are so good that they make grown men jump up and down with glee. They are so good that I bought a SECOND donut pan so that I could make them more 

efficiently. Donut pan you say? Yes, these are baked in the oven, so you need a little mould to make the shape, but it's well worth it!

Simply put, they are wonderful and special and great and I love them. In the madness of the Boxing Day sales, try and source a donut pan – you will NOT be sorry. I got mine on amazon for less than a tenner and I WILL use it a lot.

Chockladbollar

Well hello, festive treats from Sweden!

You may have seen a version of these lurking around your local IKEA. They are a traditional Swedish treat, and they taste great! I like to think of these as little Scandinavian balls of love. I associate them with Christmas, because that’s when my Swedish boyfriend and I ALWAYS head to IKEA to get all sorts of Swedish food and Christmas decorations.

If you’re not a coffee fan (I don’t like coffee, but I like coffee and chocolate!) then feel free to substitute the coffee for a dash of mint flavouring, or fresh orange juice, or even a sprinkling of cinnamon. The possibilities are endless! But coffee is the traditional flavour, and it really compliments the whole “ball of chocolate.”