Playdate Muffins

Lyra and I had a playdate this week with a mum and her little dude who I met through my antenatal classes waaaaaay back in May.  We've been meeting up pretty much every week for the past few months. This week Lyra and I went over to their flat for a couple hours of rolling and crawling.  

I was really glad to go over to their flat.  While I love meeting at cafes and chatting over coffee the little monkeys are getting bigger and more active and more vocal and they really need space to explore...not to be stuck sitting in a high chair.  And also...my mat leave money has run out so I'm trying to stop frivolously throwing my money away on decaf lattes and scones.  So a playdate was the perfect way to hang out and save a little money.  

I offered to bring something healthy(ish) to snack on and ended up whipping up a batch of muffins Tuesday afternoon while Lyra watched on.  Muffins are my go-to bake these days.  They are easy and fast...perfect for baking with an unpredictable 6 month old looking on.  A big plus is that they freeze really well too...not that this batch was for freezing.  

I adapted this banana muffin recipe substituting some oats for flour, adding some cinnamon and a good handful of frozen blueberries.  The banana muffin recipe alone is great, I've used it loads and am going to hold back half of the sugar next time and make some minis for Lyra.  The addition of the oats and blueberries in this batch made us adults feel less guilty about shovelling them in our faces while trying to stop the babes from head butting/scratching/crawling over/squashing each other.  Now that they are on the move I don't feel guilty about eating 2 muffins in 1 sitting.  

my little (carrot) muffin

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Chocolate Irish Cream Cupcakes...a (post) pregnancy craving

It is weird.  I didn't really have any cravings while I was pregnant, but over the past 6 months I have found myself craving things I never really HAD TO HAVE before.  I'm mostly talking about chocolate and other sweet things.  Sure, sure I have a bit of a reputation for loving all things cake...and YES most (all) of my new friends in Edinburgh are foodies and cake lovers but I really didn't crave sweet before I was pregnant.  I do now...that's for sure. 

Last night while shushhhing The Babe to sleep I had a sudden urge for chocolate cupcakes...chocolate cupcakes with Mocha buttercream.  Why I NEEDED that combination? I have no idea.  

I haven't made cupcakes in yonks and while I knew I had butter in the house, I knew I didn't have enough for cupcakes AND buttercream.  Dilemma, dilemma.  

Fear not! A quick google search took me straight to this recipe on the Add a Pinch Blog.  Decadent chocolate cupcakes made with vegetable oil.  Perfect! These cupcakes took about 15 minutes to whip up (in fact I had to go and calm The Babe at one point) and bake AND COOL very quickly.  In her recipe Robyn says that you can totally make these after everyone has gone to bed or first thing in the morning. They really are that simple.  Dry ingredients in one bowl, wet in the other...bish bash bosh SIMPLES. 

Last year at some point BTB (Before The Babe) I made some to.die.for buttercream icing where I creamed about 150grams of unsalted butter in a bowl with a wooden spoon and just gradually beat in sifted icing sugar and a drop of milk at a time until it was...perfect.  Since then I have never looked at recipes for icing....I go with 150grams of butter for a single layer or 12 cupcakes and just double it for a layer cake.  

I've been obsessed with the Beanies Flavoured Coffees I bought over Christmas so I mixed up a little bit of instant Irish Cream Coffee (extra strong for a deep flavour) and added that instead of milk into the buttercream.  Total indulgence. 

Cravings satisfied...until next time. 

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Banana Scones...Mombie be GONE!

The Babe will be 6 months next week...I can't believe how quickly these past months have gone...all the days seem to have morphed into one and I'm amazed at how much I can actually get done on little to no sleep.  Let's just say I am ROCKING this MOMBIE look.  

Over the last week or so we have been gearing up to starting The Babe on solid foods and I've definitely caught myself daydreaming about all the wonderful foods I'm going to make her and how she is going to be such a good eater.  I have probably jinxed myself.  

Anyway, last night I was reading a weaning book and stumbled upon a recipe for banana scones.  The recipe was very close to my go-to scone recipe, except it used marg instead of butter and less sugar (still a bit of sugar though).  The Babe is no where near ready to have HER FIRST SCONE, but I thought I try my hand at making some banana scones anyway.  

I decided to adapt my own recipe instead of following the one in the weaning book.  I replaced the milk with mashed banana loosened with a splash of milk, and used a tiny amount of vanilla sugar (although the banana is sweet enough I could do with removing the sugar completely) and did away with the salt and egg.  They taste pretty darn good to me, so I've filed the idea away in the back of my babybrain head and can only hope that somewhere down the road, when The Babe is ready for more substantial foods I have an ah-ha moment and remember. 

Can you tell I am really proud of myself? 

Just to add to my smugness I'll boast about how I whipped these up at 7:30 this morning while The Babe was STILL SLEEPING! 

How's that for a Mombie?!! 

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Banana Blondies

David has been busy studying for his finals this past week...so we just HAD to bake him something to celebrate the end of all the studying and worrying and stressing and writing and everything that comes with it.  It has been hard on all of us, but that's over now.

David is a certifiable CHOC-O-HOLIC.  Chocolate doesn't stand a chance in this house, once he sniffs it out. Originally I was going to make a devils food cake covered in a rich chocolate ganache...but then I thought about how I would most likely eat loads of it and how difficult a layer cake and icing can be with a small baby who refuses to nap.  Brownies seemed like the best option...chocolatey, gooey, and quick to throw together. 

Only problem...I didn't have cocoa, or dark chocolate

I did however, have all the ingredients for Dan Lepard's Banana Blondies minus the brazil nut toffee bit (milk chocolate chips always come in handy).

Blondies for my Blondie

These Blondies are surprisingly sweet, dare I say too sweet...well possibly too sweet for me, but not for Mr. Greedy Guts.  The banana flavour is strong, actually they taste a lot like banana bread.  I don't know if I would go through all the faff of making the brazil nut toffee next time (remember...small baby...no naps) but I do think a handful of chopped macadamia nuts would make them more luxurious (not that I can afford macadamia nuts).  

I like Blondies, I like these blondies...I'm thinking about adding them to my Christmas Eve menu with ice cream...

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Milk and Cookies

I've not made cookies in ages.  Mostly because they take a while going back and forth to the oven putting tray after tray in to bake (not ideal with an infant), they use a lot of butter, and SOMEONE's got to the eat them all.  However, in the run up to Christmas I do like to rustle up a few batches of some family favourites to give out as gifts and to have in the house for visitors (oh and to leave out for SANTA obviously).  

This past weekend I made a small batch of Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Cookies.  They are an old family favourite.  The recipe in my recipe book was copied off the package of tollhouse chips yonks ago... it is conveniently now on the web for all to use (with or without legit Tollhouse chips.)

It is near impossible to find Nestle chocolate chips here in the UK so I've settled for Sainsburys own milk chocolate chips...I couldn't tell the difference after all these years.  I halved the recipe and made them slightly smaller than suggested (perfect for little hands) so managed to squeeze 3 dozen cookies out of the mixture.  

That was Sunday, yesterday I HAD TO make another batch...

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Butternut Squash Cake...practicing for Christmas (eek I know)

I had a crazy dream the other night involving a pumpkin trifle...clearly I've got pumpkin everything on the brain.  This year "fall" has really hit me, I've happily tossed aside the salads and berries and have fully embraced squashes, apples and spices.  I've said it before and I'll say it again, this is my favourite time of year.  

So back to the pumpkin dream...it was a gorgeous trifle (not one of my favourite desserts) made with pumpkin cake and piled high with custard and cream...it was a vision.  Since that moment I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. I did a few searches on line and have only seen pumpkin trifles made with pumpkin flavoured custard (actually jell-o pudding) so I've been wracking my brain trying to come up with a few ideas.  

I've been inspired by these jam jar trifles over on Frances Quinn (the winner of Great British Bake Off)'s website.  Individual portion trifles topped with crunchy biscuits and crushed nuts...they sound (and look) heavenly.  These are destined to be my Christmas Dessert.  They have to be...they easily replace the pumpkin pie with the pumpkin cake element and they have cream and custard and biscuits and I am pretty sure they are going to be awesome...

So over the past week I have been experimenting.  

I've adapted my banana bread recipe to make a spicy butternut squash cake.  I figured roasted mashed squash was about the same consistency as mashed banana...right? So out went the banana, in went some mashed roasted squash (squished in a sieve first to get rid of the extra moisture) and then I added ginger, cinnamon and all spice to the flour mix.  It baked really nicely, is slightly denser than the banana bread usually is, but it TASTES ammmmaaazing.  

Cake Layer...CHECK 

Custard Layer....will be using Ambrosia Devon Custard (I'm not making it when all I want it thick creamy custard) 

Cream Layer...easy peasy 

Jam Layer...in progress...I'm thinking stewed apples with spices 

Topping... I've changed up my gingerbread biscuit recipe using light brown sugar and some added spices.  

My tummy is grumbling just thinking about it...sigh.  I spend enough time daydreaming about it.  

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Peanut butter cups and a little pumpkin

I love peanut butter... FACT.  In fact I not only LOVE peanut butter I have become a bit of a peanut butter snob.  It is sad, it is horrible, but it is the disgusting truth.  I can't help myself, and every time I open my big fat peanut buttery mouth to spout off why I prefer smooth over crunchy and KRAFT above all other brands I feel a small part of me cringe.  I love it so much, but I rarely bake with it.  Mostly because peanut butter is pretty expensive here in the UK, and also because the jars are so darn dinky.  Seriously, it is near impossible to find anything larger than 500grams...I just can't bring myself to spend money on buying multiple jars of peanut butter to make cookies, or brownies or whatever.  Actually, when I think about it I am a little bit of a peanut butter hoarder.  My parents bring jars of Kraft over when they come a visit and I squirrel it away, rationing out each jar and slyly watching David out of the corner of my eye when he slathers it on his toast...tut tut.  

Anyway, I suppose MOTHERHOOD has softened me and I am more willing to share and indulge and...well...use my luscious, creamy, oh so delicious peanut butter to make something other than peanut butter and banana sandwiches and when Sue over at The View From Great Island shared a link on her facebook page for Homemade Peanut Butter Cups from the gorgeous Food52 I couldn't resist going out to the shops to buy milk chocolate and having a go.  

Reese Peanut Butter Cups are one of my all time favourite chocolate treats.  They are the one treat I would trade any amount of halloween candy for...they are my ultimate.  And now that I have tried making my own at home, I know that I can easily satisfy the cravings that always seem to appear at this time of year. 

I only made half the recipe (I wasn't about to sacrifice A CUP of my cherished Kraft PB) and it really did make plenty.  I used Kraft Smooth peanut butter and didn't add the extra salt suggested...oh and I used milk chocolate to make them as close to the real deal as possible.  BUT I would totally suggest making them with dark chocolate and the added salt flaked on top for a more adult treat...totally decadent! 

Happy Halloween xx

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