Chocolate Gingersnaps!

A surprise hit! The Husband loved them and has asked for the recipe to be included in the Book.

These gingersnaps are baked out of plain flour, cocoa powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt, ground cinnamon, ground cloves, ground black pepper, treacle, sugar, butter, egg, balsamic vinegar, vanilla extract, chopped chocolate and chopped candied ginger. They are then rolled in more sugar before baked in the oven.

These were finished in a day in the Office!

Gingerbread Cupcakes!

Unfortunately, I forgot to take a photo of these gingerbread cupcakes that I baked last weekend.

These cupcakes are baked out of self-raising flour, butter, bicarbonate of soda, ground ginger, chopped stem ginger, dark muscovado sugar, golden syrup, orange juice and eggs.

They are then topped with icing mixed out of icing sugar, butter, ginger syrup, ground ginger and sugar flowers.

The Husband said 'Cupcake is quite bland but the icing is very good which makes the cupcake overall quite yummy."

Dream Cake!

This cake was at the special request of a colleague.

I thought it was an absolute disaster as the topping was too wet and sank to the bottom of the cake. The middle four pieces were so wet that I had to bin them.

Surprisingly, the rest of the cake was actually really well-received by the Office.  

The cake is baked out of caster sugar, plain flour, butter, eggs, milk, baking powder and vanilla extract. The topping is mixed out of desiccated coconut, brown sugar, butter and milk. 

The Husband's recommendation - "Dream cake - kind of sweet and sickly and a bit wet but still quite tasty."

Dark Chocolate Wasabi Walnut Brownie Cookies! & Dark Chocolate Orange Raisin Brownie Cookies!

These two cookies are baked out of the same cocoa dough - butter, sugar, brown sugar, flour, vanilla extract, cocoa powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt. I then separated them into two batches - one with chopped wasabi chocolate and walnuts and the other with chopped orange chocolate and raisin.

The picture on top is the dark chocolate orange raisin brownie cookies and the picture below is the dark chocolate wasabi brownie cookies. 

The Husband's recommendations to the Office:
- "Orange cookies - too good for you. Leave them along."
- "Wasabi chocolate thing - very interesting. Try it you might like it." 

Lemon & Dark Chocolate Brownies!

I love baking with lemon as it gives the bake just a light tangy taste and this bake was just lovely.


The brownie is made of three layers - the first is the chocolate shortbread base baked out of eggs, flour, melted chocolate, cocoa powder, butter and sugar. The second is the lemon icing mixed out of icing sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest and butter and spread on top of the chocolate base. The last layer is just more melted chocolate with a bit of butter to give a glaze to finish.

These brownies were a hit and finished in one day at the Office!

Banana Date Cake with Honey Walnut Glaze!

The Husband and I both love bananas and honey, so a cake that has both ingredients sounds like a good idea.


This lovely cake is baked out of butter, eggs, self-raising flour, bananas, light muscovado sugar, ground cinnamon, dates, honey and chopped walnut and then topped with a honey butter walnut frosting!

The cake was finished in two days at the Office.

Raspberry & Dark Chocolate Brownies!

I know raspberries are no longer in season but last weekend, this seemed to be an ideal easy bake for a very jet-lagged me.

These brownies are baked out of chopped dark chocolate, butter, caster sugar, eggs, plain flour, raspberries and chopped white chocolate, which is how it gets the 'double chocolate' name!

The Husband has pronounced the brownie as 'pretty good'!

Chocolate Ginger Biscuit Cake!

It was the boss' birthday and he said his favourite cake is 'biscuit cake'! Biscuit cake is known by several different names such as refrigerator cake and tiffin cake. I have never made a biscuit cake so thought I will give it a try.


First, 300g of gingersnaps were crushed and broken into pieces. Chocolate, sugar and butter are then melted in a large saucepan. The crushed gingersnaps, chopped dried mango, raisins and glace cherries were then combined into the pot mix. The 'dough' is then spread over a baking tin and left to chill in the fridge to harden.

I got 20 pieces, the Husband ate a couple, 9 pieces were given to the boss for his birthday present and the rest eaten by the Office!

Chocolate Cupcakes with Strawberry Buttercream Icing!

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and I thought I will set myself a challenge to bake something pink every week this month. So, this weekend, I decided to combine the Husband's favourite food, chocolate, with my choice of pink, strawberries.


This delicious cupcake is baked out of plain flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder, sugar, butter, chocolate chips, water, eggs, cocoa powder and a little bit of salt.

For the icing, I used Sainsbury's strawberry flavoured icing powder mixed with water and beaten with butter to make strawberry buttercream icing!

The original recipe was for 18 muffin sized cupcakes but by making them just a little bit smaller, I ended up with 37 cupcakes! All but 4 were eaten by the end of the day in the Office and I had a request for the recipe!

The Husband has declared them 'quite good' but he's not a fan of creamy stuff, so buttercream icing is always a taste challenge for him! 

Coconut Oreo Chocolate Chip Cookies!

The Husband requested for chocolate chip cookies on Friday evening as a treat. So besides making him a batch of banana chocolate chip cookies, I decided to bake something different as well and found this recipe online.

This batch of cookies are baked out of butter, brown and granulated sugar, plain four, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder, chocolate chips, 12 oreos, egg, vanilla extract and desiccated coconut. This american recipe uses coconut delight oreo fudge cremes but unfortunately we don't get that variety in the UK, so I used plain vanilla oreos instead which I have to say I don't think affected the taste of these cookies! 

The Husband finds it slightly strange to bake a cookie in a cookie but it didn't stop him scoffing 2!

Now to find more tasters....

Banana Rum Cake!

I bought a new baking mould that looked fabulous so I was very keen to try it out. From one of my favourite websites, I found quite a few recipes for bundt cakes so I picked the recipe with the Husband's favourite fruit, bananas.

This fabulous looking cake is baked out of self-raising flour, butter, sugar, vegetable oil, vanilla extract, eggs, rum and buttermilk.I then iced it with rum flavoured buttercream icing.

This cake has got rave reviews and was eaten in a day!

Tropical Burst Cupcakes!

This weekend I needed to use up some sugar decorations and soured cream. This tropical burst cupcake recipe seemed ideal.

This cupcake is baked out of self-raising flour, vegetable oil, soured cream, caster sugar, dried mango, raisins, eggs and pineapple chunks.

I topped the cupcakes with a frosting made out of lime zest, lime juice and icing sugar as well as a sugar butterfly and pink sprinkles!

Have yet to try them out on the Husband so will keep you posted on taste!

Orange Chocolate Chip Cake!

It's the time of the year when we do a Charity Bake in the Office.

The boss outsourced his baking to me and asked for something orange. The Husband remembered a cake that my mother-in-law used to bake that was orange and chocolatey so asked for the recipe for me to bake.

This cake is absolutely fabulous and really simple. The cake is baked out of eggs, self-raising flour, butter, sugar, orange juice, orange zest, chocolate chips and walnuts. It is sandwiched with orange buttercream icing and then topped with chocolate fudge icing.

The best compliment from the Husband was 'it's exactly what I remembered it to be'.

The cake was 'sold' in a couple of hours!

I also baked an old favourite, the mango and chocolate brownies, which was 'sold' in an hour!

Coconut Buns!

From one of my favourite baking books, a simple coconut bake sounds like a good idea when I was very jet-lagged.

These coconut buns are baked out of butter, caster sugar, milk, self-raising flour, raisins, egg and desiccated coconut. The Husband and I both thought they tasted a bit bland so I decided to finish them with icing sugar and a sprinkle of desiccated coconut.

46 buns were finished in two days at the Office. 

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bars!

From one of my favourite websites, this bake was a surprise hit in the Office with the entire batch finished in a day.

These bars are made out of three layers - the first layer is the cookie dough mixed out of flour, white and brown sugar, eggs, butter, walnuts, vanilla extract and chocolate chips. The second layer is beaten cream cheese, egg, sugar and vanilla extract and the third layer is just scattered crumbs of the same cookie dough of the first layer. 

Lesson learnt  - if you are told to line the baking tin with aluminium foil, there is usually a good reason for it! The cream cheese layer is really runny and it dripped between the removable bottom while baking so it was a nightmare to remove.

Anyway, it must be good if the Husband ate two pieces in one sitting!

Orange & Hazelnut Drizzle Loaf!

Baking with oranges sounded like a great idea on a hot summer day and this weekend was hot, hot, hot in Edinburgh!

This loaf is baked out of orange zest, orange juice, orange marmalade, self-raising flour, baking powder, butter, golden caster sugar, ground hazelnuts and eggs. After coming out of the oven, the loaf is drizzled with a mix of golden caster sugar and orange juice.

A couple of good reviews from the Office and the Husband has declared it 'quite good' rather than 'very good' due to it being a bit too moist.

Chocolate Chip Treasure Cookies!

After baking millionaire shortbread for the Husband last week, I had some condensed milk left over. I started searching my favourite websites to see if I can find any recipe that calls for condensed milk and I found one!

These cookies are named chocolate chip treasure cookies and I can only guess these are treasures because of the condensed milk secret ingredient that replaces the sugar and eggs typically found in a cookie recipe.

This cookie is baked out of digestive biscuits crumbs, plain flour, ground cinnamon, salt, condensed milk, baking powder, vanilla extract, chocolate chips, butter, walnuts and desiccated coconut. 

The Husband has pronounced them 'pretty good'.

I also got a request for the recipe from a colleague in the Office!

Orange Marmalade, Ginger & Almond Slice!

Most people have plenty strong views towards marmalade; either you love it or your hate it. I am not a fan but then again the fact that I don't like to eat a particular food doesn't mean I wouldn't bake with it as my tasters do!

This traybake is made out of three layers - the first is baked out of sugar, butter, egg, self-raising flour and plain flour. The second is a mixture of orange marmalade and chopped glace ginger. The third layers is a mix of ground almonds, flaked almonds and egg.

The Husband doesn't mind marmalade if it is in baked goods, love ginger but not a fan of almonds. He has declared 'quite bitter'.

From the Office, mixed reviews and it was finished in two days.

Banana, Walnut and Chocolate Chip Loaf!

Both the Husband and I love bananas so a banana bake this weekend seems ideal.

This loaf is baked out of bananas, sugar, plain flour, baking powder, eggs, butter, chocolate chips and walnuts.

It smelled delicious baking in the oven.

The Husband has said 'it's ok'. The loaf was finished in two days in the Office.

Pistachio & Cranberry Cookies!

Another treat for the Office a couple of weekends ago!

These cookies are really easy and baked out of five ingredients - golden caster sugar, butter, plain flour, chopped pistachios and dried cranberries. The dough is divided into two logs, refrigerated for an hour and then sliced and baked. I got 30 cookies.

The Husband wasn't a fan but the Office almost finished them by the end of the day! I also got a request for the recipe!

Fudgy Gluten-Free Chocolate Walnut Brownies!

I think I have finally found a gluten-free recipe that works! I found this brownie recipe on one of my favourite websites and it was really easy.

This brownie is baked out of melted butter and dark chocolate, eggs, cornflour, chocolate chips and chopped walnuts.

I tested it on the Husband and didn't tell him it was gluten-free. He said it was absolutely yummy!

I had to squirrel away two pieces for colleagues who were on holiday as the rest of the team were scoffing them during the day!

Success!

Raspberry Macaroons!

Inspired from a recent work trip in Paris, I decided to attempt macaroons again this weekend. The Husband was unsurprisingly skeptical as macaroons are well-known to be difficult to make them taste well. 

This raspberry macaroon is baked out of egg whites, caster sugar, a few drops of natural red food colouring, ground almonds, icing sugar and raspberry puree. The raspberry filling is melted white chocolate, single cream, a few drops of natural red food colouring and a tablespoon of raspberry conserve.

The most difficult thing about macaroons is piping them onto the baking sheets as it took ages!

The Husband has declared them 'not bad.'

Apricot & Walnut Loaf!

On the fruity theme, apricots is the choice this weekend.

This loaf recipe is from Leith's Baking Bible, one of my favourite baking books. This loaf is baked out of 225g dried apricots, 85g chopped walnuts, plain flour, baking powder, butter, caster sugar and eggs.

I thought it was pretty good but the Husband said 'it's ok, nothing special.'

Mango & Banana Cake with Lemon Icing!

Another fruity treat for last weekend!

The family is a fan of dried mango so to find another cake recipe that uses dried mango is impossible to not want to bake it.

This cake is baked out of plain flour, baking powder, dried mango, butter, eggs, sugar and bananas.

The cake called for passion fruit icing but I didn't want to mess about with sieving the seeds, so I made up an alternative lemon icing which luckily seemed to work as well.

The Husband said 'it was ok.'

Apricot & White Chocolate Blondies!

Since it was Father's Day last Sunday, I decided to bake something that my father-in-law might like. Don't worry - I didn't forget about my own Daddy in Singapore to whom I sent a fruity hamper.

My father-in-law is a fan of apricots so I thought this bake might be ideal. Blondies are basically 'white' brownies rather than the usual chocolate brownies.

Comments from my parents-in-law, "It was very professional and a class above the baking you gave us last week."

Hooray!

Raspberry Fancies!

I bought a tub of raspberry icing on sale sometime ago and decided this weekend was ideal as I am in the mood for a pink bake.

The sponge cake is simply made out of caster sugar, self-raising flour, eggs and butter. The icing is heated up in the microwave to make it spreadable and spread on top of each individually cut piece. I then top each piece with a sweet.

The Husband said 'it's ok.' I think he would have preferred a chocolate topping rather a fancy raspberry one!

Albert Squares!

I have no idea where this traybake is called 'Albert Squares' and the only clue I can provide is that it is from an Australian recipe book. Even the internet this time has failed to turn up any explanations, so if anyone finds out, please let me know!

This traybake is really simple - 150g caster sugar, 1 tbspn golden syrup, 1 tspn vanilla extract and 125g butter beaten together, beat 2 eggs in, sift 110g of plain and self-raising flour and mix 125ml milk and 160g raisins in. Bake at 170 for 25 minutes. Mix 160g icing sugar and enough lemon juice to make a paste, spread over the hot traybake and sprinkle on 40g of desiccated coconut. Done!

The Husband said 'Not bad!'

Jubilee Lemon & Raisin Cupcakes!

In honour of the Queen's Jubilee this weekend, the baking colour theme was white, blue and red.

First baking was these fabulous lemon and raisin Jubilee cupcakes!

This is an old recipe of lemon and raisin cupcakes baked out of self-raising flour, baking powder, raisins, lemon zest, butter, eggs and golden caster sugar. I topped them off with lemon icing sugar, blueberries and a strawberry!

The Husband had two for dessert and twelves cupcakes were finished in a day at the Office!

Jubilee Strawberry & Blueberry Squares!

Continuing my Jubilee theme, the second baking of the weekend was this lovely strawberry and blueberry squares.

This recipe was originally meant to be baked with dried cranberries and raisins but I used fresh strawberries and blueberries instead which was be a mistake as the cake has turned out too moist. Refrigerating has helped a little bit but on hindsight, maybe I should have kept at least one dry fruit ingredient.

The Husband has said 'It's not bad.'

I got 20 squares and I am hopeful they would be finished in two days at the Office!

Double Chocolate Cranberry Loaf!

Last weekend, I found some chocolate that needed to be used up and I have also bought a couple of bags of dried cranberries that were on sale.

Browsing through my favourite baking websites, I found the perfect recipe that has both chocolate and cranberries. This loaf is baked out of butter, cocoa powder, sugar, plain flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, milk, chocolate chips and dried cranberries.

The kitchen smelt fabulous as the loaf was cooking in the oven.

The Husband has said this baking was one of my best yet! 

The loaf was finished in a day in the Office.

Blackberry Cinnamon Yogurt Loaf!

Last weekend I returned from three weeks away from home not surprisingly very jet-lagged. I found this simple recipe in one of my new baking books and thought it looked quite yummy and easy.

This loaf is baked out of plain flour, eggs, golden caster sugar, Greek yogurt, vegetable oil, 200g blackberries, a tsp and half of cinnamon and a tsp and half of baking powder.

Mixed reviews of this loaf - there were two tasters that raved about it but overall not great feedback.

The Husband commented, "It's alright. Not that great though."

Fashionista Cookies II!

In celebration of World Book Night, for which I have been lucky enough to be chosen as a giver of the book, "The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic", the fashionista cookies are back!

A friend of mine was kind enough to let me set up 'shop' in her boutique to give away the books and also supplied fabulous tea to go with my cookies and books!

Enjoy the the pictures!

Chocolate Cinnamon Cupcakes with Nutella Frosting!

For some reason this weekend, I really wanted to bake with Nutella. This recipe is ideal combining the Husband's love for chocolate and Nutella.

The chocolate cinnamon cupcake is baked from plain floor, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, sugar, ground cinnamon, cocoa powder, buttermilk, coffee, eggs, vanilla extract and vegetable oil. The frosting is mixed from icing sugar, nutella, vanilla extract and milk.

The Husband has pronounced the cupcake as 'very good'.

Unfortunately this is the first time I forgot to take a picture! 

Sticky Date Squares!

On the quest for delicious gluten-free baking, I found this gluten-free recipe in a magazine. It is almost allergic free as the date bake is baked out of gluten and wheat-free flour, butter (can be dairy free sunflower spread), brown sugar, oats, egg and pitted dates.

I had mixed reviews with this bake - The Husband said it was the worst thing I have ever baked but my parents-in-law liked it and one of my colleagues have asked me for the recipe!

15 pieces were finished in two days in the Office!

Fashionista Cookies!

How many handbags and shoes can a girl have? Not enough when you start baking cookies in the shape of bags and shoes!

Next Monday is World Book Night and I have been lucky enough to be chosen as a Giver of my chosen book, 'Confessions of a Shopaholic'. My friend who owns a boutique in Edinburgh has also kindly agreed to be the location for the event.

These cookie-cutters were a Christmas gift from my brother and sister-in-laws and I thought they will be ideal for baking cookies to go with the book. This is the result of the baking trial!

I used a simple butter cookie dough which is very shortbready and smelled delicious! The time consuming bit was the decorating as I wanted to match a handbag to a pair of shoes but I also didn't want to repeat a design! Imagine what I'm like with real handbags and shoes!

Cookies have gone down well in the Office!

Hot Cross Cookies!

Hot cross buns are sweet spiced buns baked with raisins and marked with a cross on top, traditionally eaten on Good Friday.

When I found this recipe for hot cross cookies, I thought it sounded like a delicious alternative.

These hot cross cookies are baked out of plain flour, butter, egg, light muscovado sugar, cinnamon, baking powder and sultanas.

I got 50 cookies and they were eaten in two days at the Office!

Crème Egg Muffins II!

To continue the theme of Easter and my obsession with chocolate eggs, I decided to bake again creme egg muffins that were so popular last time.

Each vanilla muffin has a creme egg in the middle so it is a nice surprise when you bite into it. The Husband calls them 'quail egg' muffins!

Chocolate Mini Egg Brownies!

I have a slight obsession with mini eggs, especially during Easter when I really want to bake all kinds of interesting things with them.

An extensive search on the internet yields this chocolate mini egg brownie recipe. It looks like an ordinary brownie on the outside but you get the lovely surprise of mini egg bits when you bite into it.

This brownie is baked out of plain flour, eggs, sugar, brown sugar, vanilla extract, a bit of salt, butter, melted dark chocolate and 360g mini eggs!

The Husband has managed to eat two pieces when I wasn't paying attention, which I guess means they are quite tasty!

Mini Egg Caramel Slice!

Happy Easter! One of my favourite times of the year when chocolate eggs are on sale everywhere and everyone discusses their favourite chocolate!

This mini egg caramel slice is a repeat from two years ago when it got rave reviews. It has a shortbread base, mini eggs scattered over it before being smothered in condensed milk and desiccated coconut before being baked again. Don't ask me about the calories!

I'm pleased to say it got the same reception this time as the last and was finished in two days at the Office.

White Chocolate, Pineapple & Coconut Traybake!

Again from my holiday recipe book, I found the perfect recipe to use up leftover white chocolate and 2 tins of pineapple in juice at the back of the cupboard.

This traybake was baked out of melted white chocolate and butter, eggs, plain and self-raising flour, crushed pineapple, caster sugar and desiccated coconut. The icing mixed out of icing sugar and pineapple juice is then spread on top and more desiccated coconut is sprinkled.

The traybake smelled delicious out of the oven, and the Husband has declared it 'pretty good'!

Cupcake Class!

I went for a cupcake class this weekend to learn how to decorate cupcakes. The teacher was very nice and she bakes and sells cupcakes commercially.

Unfortunately the cupcakes we baked in the class turned out undercooked so the teacher kindly gave us a dozen of her own vanilla cupcakes to decorate.

I learnt to make sugar paste decorations with cutters and silicone mould. The different icing colours are made from white icing mixed with pink and purple paste colouring as are the different coloured sugar paste decorations.

Piping the icing is still a challenge for me but I realised that I was doing it all wrong as I was overfilling the piping bag, squeezing from the bottom rather than the top and not twisting the top of bag so that the icing can only go down when squeezed. Common sense, I know, but it helps to have a proper demonstration!

I thought the cupcakes looked beautiful when finished!

Sadly, the Husband was not impressed describing the cupcakes as rather bland, he didn't like the taste of the sugar paste decorations or the icing either.

Oh well, will try harder next time!

White Chocolate, Coconut & Cranberry Macaroons!

From the previous entry, you will know this weekend is macaroon weekend. This recipe is for a macaroon that does not require filling and so are much easier to make but obviously less pretty and less 'macaroon-like'.

The macaroon is baked out of egg whites, caster sugar, plain flour, vanilla extract, desiccated coconut, chopped white chocolate and cranberries. The 'dough' is then rolled into balls and each ball is then topped with a cranberry.

I thought they were really pretty but I think I might have over-baked them as they are not as chewy as I expected.

However, people seemed to like them!

Comment from a taster, "I particularly liked the macaroon with the fruit, nice and chewy for me."

Chocolate Almond Macaroons!

I have to confess I am not a fan of macaroons. However, the Husband is a big fan and it is his favourite baking since our holiday. So like any good wife who cannot cook, I decided to experiment with baking macaroons this weekend.

On our holiday, I bought two new baking books, one of which has lots of yummy macaroon recipes. I chose to make one type of macaroon that requires filling and another that just involving rolling the 'dough' into rounds, which you can read about in the next entry.

This chocolate almond macaroon is baked out of beaten egg whites, icing sugar, caster sugar, ground almonds and cocoa powder. The filling is chocolate melted with hot pouring cream. The main problem I have with making macaroons is the need to pipe perfect rounds on baking trays. I bought a macaroon silicone mould and it did help to make more even rounds but I still have to pipe it on. I have to confess I am rubbish at piping and besides getting the 'dough' all over the kitchen, I had to pipe the excess 'dough' freehand which was challenging.

I want to present the Husband with tasty macaroons when he gets back so the Office is the guinea pig tomorrow!

Comment from a taster, "Loved your chocolate filling in the other one."

White Chocolate & Peanut Butter Cookies!

I wanted to bake something chocolately this weekend as I haven't done so for a while now. This white chocolate and peanut butter cookie recipe came from one of my favourite websites and it seemed really tasty and easy.

A white chocolate and peanut butter cookie is baked out of plain flour, demerara sugar, caster sugar, butter, crunchy peanut butter, white chocolate chunks, bicarbonate of soda and baking powder. If you love peanuts, you will love this cookie as fortunately or unfortunately, depending on what you prefer, the peanut butter does overwhelm the chocolate in the cookie.

69 cookies took three days to finish in the Office. The Husband has pronounced them 'ok'.

Anzac Biscuits!

After arriving home from a three week long holiday (yes, people, be jealous!), I decided to mark the occasion by baking something native to the country we visited. Okay, I also chose to bake this biscuit because it is really quick and I was really jet-lagged! :)

From Wikipedia, "an Anzac biscuit is a sweet biscuit popular in Australia and New Zealand, made using oats, flour, desiccated coconut, sugar, butter, golden syrup, bicarbonate of soda boiling water. Anzac biscuits have long been associated with the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) established in World War I. It has been claimed the biscuits were sent by wives to soldiers abroad because the ingredients do not spoil easily and the biscuits kept well during naval transportation."

These biscuits are really yummy and 60 biscuits were finished in two days!

Can you guess where we went for our holiday?

Cinnamon Hazelnut Brownies!

This weekend, I found a bottle of Nutella lurking in the cupboard and decided to try to bake something with it. Most of the recipes I found were for Nutella cookies and Nutella cake that I have done before. However, I found this cinnamon hazelnut brownie recipe on a blog that looked quite tasty and interesting, so I decided to try it.

These brownies are baked out of melted chocolate, butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, baking powder, ground cinnamon and a pinch of salt. The chocolate chips were only sprinkled on top right at the end. I was meant to sprinkle chopped hazelnuts as well but the Husband came in for a chat and distracted me!

I got 20 pieces out of a 8" by 8" pan.

The Husband has said that they are "pretty good."

Orange-Vanilla Bars!

A sweet treat this weekend! This orange-vanilla bar was meant to be an orange-almond bar but because the Husband is not a fan of almond, I adapted the recipe by substituting almond extract for vanilla extract. I kept the sprinkling of flaked almonds as I think it makes the bar look better.

This cookie bar is baked out of plain flour, orange zest, egg, baking powder, sugar, butter and vanilla extract. The dough is then shaped into 4 rectangles before they are brushed with milk and sprinkled with flaked almonds. It is a really sweet chewy cookie bar drizzled with orange icing.

I concluded that the Husband quite liked them when he took the tin out of the kitchen without telling me and ate 6 pieces! Subsequently, I realised he had also eaten a few more pieces under the baking paper layer!