The Perfect Autumn Recipe

In the past, I have only ever done baking posts on my blog. However, today, I am bringing you something a little different in the form of a savoury dish that is perfect for autumn and winter. This lamb and sweet potato curry is the most delicious warming and hearty dinner for when it's cold and dark outside. Since my Mum and I first attempted this dish a couple of months back (found on the Simply Beef & Lamb website here,) it has become one of my favourite meals to have. Not only is it a yummy yet mild, fragrant curry, it is also packed with ingredients that are good for you too! Although the list of ingredients below looks pretty extensive, you will find that you probably already have some of this stuff in your cupboard already, so try not to be put off by that! If you have clicked on the link to the original recipe above, you may notice that I have made some changes but that's the beauty about cooking, it's adaptable to your own tastes. So, without any further rambling, let's get straight on with the recipe!

For a curry that serves four, you will need:

450g of lamb cut into generous chunks
1 sweet potato, peeled and cubed
2tsp of oil
1 red onion, peeled and sliced
1 garlic clove, peeled and finely chopped or crushed
400g of canned chopped tomatoes
1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and finely chopped or grated
1sp of tumeric
3tbsp of garam masala
200ml lamb stock
A pinch of salt and pepper
4 handfuls of spinach
Juice of 1/2 lime
Chopped coriander for garnishing

Step 1
Heat half of the oil in a large saucepan and brown the lamb for roughly 4 minutes (you may have to do this in batches as there is a lot of lamb to be cooked and you want to be thorough.) Then, leave the meat aside on a plate for the time being.

Step 2
Heat up the rest of the oil in the same pan and cook the chopped onion, garlic, ginger, tumeric and garam masala for a couple of minutes until everything is soft and golden. Remember to ensure that your spices do not burn or stick to the pan!

Step 3
Add your browned lamb back into the saucepan. Then, add the canned tomoatoes and stock in too. Bring the mixture to the boil, then allow it to simmer slowly with the saucepan lid on for about 2 to 2 and a half hours. Remember to stir every 30 mins and season it with salt and pepper if you think it needs it.

Step 4
Twenty minutes before the end of your cooking time, add in the sweet potato and lime juice. Once those twenty minutes are up, add in your spinach and stir it unto the curry until it wilts.

Step 5
Serve up your curry with a side of basmati rice and add some chopped coriander to garnish and add even more flavour. For an extra treat, you could have some naan bread or some poppadoms too!

So guys, I hope you all enjoyed reading this recipe and are maybe thinking about trying it out yourselves! It really is the perfect meal for this time of year and I know that I am going to be having it an awful lot. This dish is also a great batch recipe too, so feel free to freeze or refrigerate your leftovers so that they can be used for another day! What do you think of this tasty lamb & sweet potato curry? Will you be giving this delectable recipe a go? Please let me know by leaving a comment below!

A Twist On Tanya Burr's Cookie Recipe

Hi guys. I haven't done any food related blog posts in quite a while, so I thought that it was about time that I posted another recipe for you all. Many of you may have seen Tanya Burr's recent YouTube video making White & Milk Chocolate Cookies and I'm sure you'll agree that they looked really tasty, so I wanted to make some of my own. The only difference is that I wanted to change up the recipe just a little so I swapped out the white chocolate for some orange flavoured chocolate instead. The beauty about this recipe is that you can substitute the chocolate to whatever type you like, so feel free to experiment yourselves or just simply follow the instructions below. So, without any further ado, here is my recipe for Orange & Milk Chocolate Cookies. Enjoy!

Here are the ingredients that you will need:

325g self-raising flour
300g caster sugar
200g unsalted butter (at room temperature)
1 egg
200g milk chocolate
200g orange flavoured milk chocolate (mine is from Mr Simm's)
Dash of milk

Before you begin, you will also need to preheat your oven to 200°c and line two baking trays with grease-proof paper.

1. Using an electric whisk, add both your sugar and butter into a bowl and whisk until they are fully combined. Then add your egg into the mixture and whisk until smooth.

2. Next, adding a little bit at a time, whisk your self-raising flour into the mixture. Once combined, your mixture should look crumbly and dough-like. At this point, if it looks a little on the dry side, add a little dash of milk to your mixture too. Use your hands to form the dough into a ball.

3. Then, it's time to add up your chocolate. Break up both your milk chocolate and orange flavoured milk chocolate into squares and then add it to your dough. Make sure you disperse the chocolate evenly throughout your dough so that your cookies are even and all have a good amount of chocolate in them later on.

4. Grab little handfuls of the completed dough and roll them into balls and place them on the baking tray (I managed to make eight large cookies but you could make smaller ones if you would like, as long as you adjust the cooking time.) Ensure that the cookies are spaced out as they do spread out a lot whilst in the oven.

5. Place your cookies into the oven and cook them for 10-12 minutes but no longer. The cookies may look not fully cooked when you take them out but I can assure you they are, plus the continue to cook outside of the oven. The cookies should look crispy around the edges but nice and gooey in the centre.

6. Allow your cookies to cool for around half an hour and then tuck in!

So that's it for my Orange & Milk Chocolate Cookie recipe. They were super easy to make and were even more delicious, the chocolate just melts in your mouth and the cookie has a wonderful soft and gooey texture. I hope you enjoyed my adaptation of Tanya's original recipe. Please let me know if you give this recipe a go for yourself by leaving a comment below!

Easter Baking: Creme Egg Brownies

Hi guys. With it being Easter this week, I decided to attempt making a very exciting Easter themed treat - Creme Egg Brownies! For those of you who do not live in the UK, Creme Eggs are made by Cadburys and are sold in England around Easter each year. These yummy milk chocolate eggs are filled with sweet yellow and white fondant icing inside to emulate the look of a real egg. This recipe has been circulating on the Internet for quite a while now and I thought that I would give it a go. The outcome was amazing, plus the recipe is pretty simple, so I thought that I would share it with you all so that you can attempt it yourselves over Easter. Let's begin!

The ingredients you will need are:

185g of unsalted butter
185g of dark chocolate
85g of plain flour
40g of cocoa powder
3 large eggs
275g of golden caster sugar
6 Cadbury's Creme Eggs (cut into halves)Before starting, make sure that you have all of your ingredients and equipment on hand and lightly grease the tin you are going to cook the brownies in with butter or by using parchment/grease proof paper. Also, refrigerate your Creme Eggs as this will make them easier to cut into halves later on. Then, preheat your oven to 160°C. 

Step 1
Melt the dark chocolate and butter together using either the microwave or in a bowl over boiling water, whichever method you prefer. Set aside to cool.

Step 2
Break the three large eggs into a bowl and add the 275g of golden caster sugar. Mix the ingredients with an electric whisk on a high speed for 3-8 minutes. The end result should look thick, creamy and pale in colour. It should have also doubled in volume.

Step 3

Make sure that your chocolate and butter mixture is relatively cool and pour it into the bowl containing the eggs and sugar. Gently fold the chocolate in until everything is combined.

Step 4 

Sieve in 85g of plain flour and 40g of cocoa powder into the mixture. Gently fold in the flour and cocoa until it is fully incorporated into the mixture. Pour the finished mixture into your greased/lined baking tin. Make sure that it is spread out evenly to get a better and more attractive result. Cook for 15 minutes.

Step 5

Whilst the brownies are cooking, take your Creme Eggs out of the fridge and cut them into halves using a sharp knife. Be extremely careful as this is very tricky and accidents can happen (I cut myself with the knife as it slipped off an egg!) After the 15 minutes are up, remove the brownies from the oven and gently press the egg halve into the mixture. Cook for a further 5 to 10 minutes or until a skewer or knife inserted into the brownie mix comes out clean.

Step 6
Cut the brownies into squares whilst they are still hot and in the tin, as it is much easier, and then leave them to cool.

And viola, that is how you make these delicious and decadent Creme Egg Brownies! Have you ever tried this recipe before? What are your favourite Easter treats? I hope that you enjoyed this post and please let me know if you give this recipe a go yourself, I would love to see the outcomes. I hope you all have a great Easter weekend! 

DIY Desserts: Oreo Cheesecake

Hi guys. Today I am posting my second ever food-related blog post! Seeing as my 'DIY December: Chocolate Orange Cookies' post was really well received, I thought it was only right to start introducing some more baking posts into my blog from time to time. As I have quite a sweet tooth, I have decided to focus on making desserts and so from now on, this mini series of posts will be appropriately called 'DIY Desserts.' Yesterday, I decided to make an Oreo Cheesecake which I have to admit was pretty daunting as I have never made any kind of cheesecake. However, it was easier than expected and so I wanted to share this yummy recipe with you. Let's get started!

To make this tasty cheesecake, you will need:

3 x 154g packets of Oreos
Mini Oreos for decorating
300g cream cheese
300ml double cream (or whipping cream)
75g unsalted butter (melted)
150g white chocolate
1 teaspoon of powdered gelatine
1 tablespoon of water

At this point, ensure that you have all of your ingredients and equipment (mixing bowls, spoons, scales, whisk etc) out ready to use. Lightly grease your tin (preferably one with a pop-out base) with butter. 

Step 1

Separate and remove as much of the filling of some Oreos as you can until you get 200g of just the biscuits to use for the base of the cheesecake and discard of the separated filling. Place the Oreos in a re-sealable bag to prevent making a mess and use a rolling pin to finely crush the biscuits. 

Step 2

Add the crushed Oreos into a bowl along with the 75g of melted butter and mix together. Press the mixture down compact into the base of your greased tin evenly and put the tin in the fridge whilst you carry on with the rest of the recipe.

Step 3
Put a tablespoon of cold water into a small bowl along with a teaspoon of powdered gelatine. Place the bowl over a saucepan with simmering water until the gelatine fully dissolves into the water and set the mixture aside.

Step 4
Using the same technique, measure out and melt 150g of white chocolate in a bowl and heat over a saucepan of simmering water. Alternatively you could melt your chocolate in a microwave in small intervals, (checking it and stirring it as you go,) until the chocolate is smooth.

Step 5
In a bowl, whisk the 300g of cream cheese until smooth. Add in the gelatine and melted chocolate that you prepared earlier and mix it until fully combined.

Step 6
In a separate bowl, whip the 300ml of double cream until it thickens and forms soft peaks on the whisks (see photo.) Afterwards, gently fold into the cream cheese mixture until everything is combined. Chop up the remaining portion of the Oreos into small chunks and stir them into the mixture.

Step 7
Remove your tin from the fridge and poor the mixture over the biscuit base. Spread the mixture evenly using a spatula or palette knife so that the top of the cheesecake is even. Refrigerate the cheesecake for at least another four hours or overnight if possible.

Step 8
Remove the tin after refrigeration by running a palette knife around the edge or by popping up the base of your tin. Decorate your cheesecake in whichever way you like using some mini Oreos. For best results, leave your cheesecake out for 15-30 minutes before serving.

Viola, that is how you make this delectable Oreo cheesecake! I hope that you all enjoyed my second ever baking post, as there will be plenty more to come in the future. With Valentines Day only a week away, this would be a great dessert to make if you are cooking for a loved one or even if you are single and feel like treating yourself! Please let me know if you do try this recipe yourself and what you think of it. I absolutely loved it! Thank you :)

DIY December: Chocolate Orange Cookies

Hi guys. Today I thought I would do something that I have never done before...a food-related blog post! Over the past few weeks, I have been heavily influenced by Miss Glamorazzi's (Ingrid Nilson's) DIY December videos on YouTube. She has been making lots of yummy Christmas themed treats, as well as cute homemade presents and decorations, so I thought it would give it a whirl myself. I have been meaning to do something like this on my blog for some time now and I've finally gotten around to it. Normally, I tend to stick to baking cakes or cupcakes but sometimes is nice to branch out and try something new. With that in mind, I decided to bake some Chocolate Orange Cookies. 

Although these cookies are not technically Christmas themed, I think they are a lovely little treat for this time of year and would be great accompanied with a cup of tea or coffee whilst sheltering from the cold, winter weather too. I originally got this recipe off of the BBC Good Food website which you can view here, however, I altered the recipe slightly as I did not have any white chocolate at hand. 

To make 15-18 small cookies or 10 larger cookies, you will need:

125g dark chocolate

150g plain flour
30g cocoa powder
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2tsp salt
75g light brown sugar
125g softened butter
Zest of one large orange
200g milk chocolate chips
1 egg

At this stage, you will need to pre-heat your oven to 170°C (Gas Mark 6) and line a baking tray so that your cookies do not stick.

Step 1
Break up the 125g of dark chocolate into a microwave-proof bowl and melt it in the microwave in 30 second intervals, checking and stirring it as you go, until it is completely smooth. Alternatively, you could do the same over a pan of simmering water until fully molten. Then, leave the chocolate on the side to cool.

Step 2
Measure out the plain flour, cocoa powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a bowl and set aside for later. Cream the 125g of butter and 75g of light brown sugar and beat it in a bowl until it's light and fluffy (using an electric whisk for this step makes it a lot easier!) Then, add the melted dark chocolate into the mixture and whisk once again.

Step 3
Add in the orange zest and egg and whisk until the mixture is combined. Then, fold in your flour mixture which will eventually create a sticky dough. Throw in the chocolate chips and give the mixture a final stir to ensure that the chips are evenly distributed. 

Step 4
Now for the messy bit! Roll the dough into small or large balls (depending on your preference) and place them onto the lined baking tray. Bake for roughly 15-18 minutes or until a skewer or knife inserted into the middle of a cookies comes out clean with no mixture on it. 

Step 5
Once the cookies are done, take them out of the oven and allow them to cool on the tray for up to 10 minutes. Then, you can transfer them to a cooling rack or a plate. At this stage, the cookies may seem quite soft and may appear un-cooked but I can assure that they are. As they cool, the cookies will harden. Do not try and cook them for any longer otherwise they will either burn or become dry.

And viola, that is how you make delicious chocolate orange cookies! I hope that you enjoyed this post and please let me know if you give this recipe a go yourself, I would love to see the outcomes! Hopefully I will be able to start incorporating some more food-related posts into my blog on a more regular basis as and when I can :)