Banana Blondies

After suffering from "one of those days" I fancied making something that was sensationally sweet and fabulously fudgey. Following my recent love for my Raspberry and White Chocolate Blondies, I trawled the internet for something just as yummy but a little different, that is when I stumbled across Banana Blondies. Blondies are pretty much white chocolate brownies and for those of you who aren't aware BROWNIES ARE SO LAST YEAR!! This recipe very naughty but contains banana so that's at least one of your five a day right?

How do I make these delicious treats I hear you cry?

Ingredients
100ml Double cream
225g   Caster sugar
225g   Plain flour
200g   White chocolate
200g   Unsalted butter
100g   Soft dark brown sugar
  50g   Toasted flaked almonds
    3     Bananas, chopped
    1     Egg
    1     Vanilla pod
¼ tsp  Baking powder

The Ingredients

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 190°C. Place the sugar, cream and 100g butter into a saucepan for 5 minutes to form a thick sauce. Allow the sauce to cool slightly and add the bananas, chopped.

2. Melt the remaining 100g butter and the white chocolate in a bowl set over a pan of water.

3. Into a large bowl beat the egg with the brown sugar and vanilla seeds from one vanilla pod. Once mixed fold in the white chocolate mixture.

4. Next sieve the flour and baking powder and gently fold. At this point add the banana mixture and flaked toasted almonds.

5. Place the mixture into a lined baking tin and bake for about 35 minutes.

The Finished Product

I will admit they do not look the most appetising but they are honestly incredibly scrumptious. Why don't you give this mouth-watering recipe a go and send me the pictures of your Banana Blondie attempts!

Hudson and Hudson, so good they named it twice!

My Sunday evening involved me feeling extremely full and satisfied after a late afternoon lunch at Hudson and Husdon in Colchester, Essex. Hudson and Hudson is a hidden gem situated just off the main road. It's a beautiful artisan kitchen and larder, which is suitable for any occasion.

Let's run Hudson and Hudson past my three trusty questions:

1. How much is it going to set me back?

They are currently running an amazing value set menu of two courses for around £16.00 or three for just £19.00. Obviously myself and my lesser half decided, being the fatties we are, on the three courses. The overall cost? Two three course meal's, a side dish, a soft drink and a large glass of Sauvignon Blanc for £50.75. Incredibly reasonable for the amount of food we consumed!!

2. Is the alcohol affordable?

Yes! Approximately £6.00 for a large glass of wine and the possibility to purchase your favourite bottle to take home from the on site larder. Can it get any better! From their twitter account I noticed they are offering a delicious variety of cocktails. Hudson and Hudson also have a vast variety of beers and wines.

3. What's on the menu?

Being the set Sunday lunch menu there was a choice of approximately three dishes for each course. My choices were, for starter, a delicious duck liver parfait accompanied with warm bread. For mains, I decided on the beef. It was accompanied by a huge Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes, a giant carrot, a scrumptious ham and shredded cabbage dish and me being the piggy I am, ordered a side dish of cauliflower cheese. The cauliflower cheese was one of the best I have ever tasted, and what made it even better was my lesser half dislikes cheese so I had the whole dish to myself! The beef itself was well cooked and melted in the mouth, unfortunately mine was a little fatty, but nothing to affect my overall opinion of the meal. For desert I indulged in a chocolate fondant accompanied with Chantilly cream and cherries, a incredibly naughty dish but oh so delicious.

I would recommend Hudson and Hudson for a Sunday Roast, a tasty treat from their larder or a evening out over the weekend. Their website is still under construction but I advise you to keep checking and subscribe to their mailing list, http://www.hudson-hudson.co.uk you can also keep up to date by liking them on Facebook or following them on twitter, @HudsonandHud 

Candied Bacon and Chocolate Chip Cookies

It's Monday and I'm baking as per usual! Today I'm baking two batches of cookies.

Firstly, I'm using up some super ripe bananas to make my "Banana, Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Cookies", but due to me using all my chocolate chips in my next recipe, I've decided to make these cookies without chocolate and therefore suitable for vegans (unlike my next cookies). You can find my recipe for these here:
http://fallingjess.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/banana-peanut-butter-and-chocolate-chip.html

Secondly, I fancied being a little different and decided to try "Candied Bacon and Chocolate Chip Cookies". Not a cookie you see every day over here in the UK but something that appears to be very big in the States. You should get around 15-30 cookies from this recipe dependent on the size!

Ingredients for Cookies

290g - Plain Flour

260g - Chocolate Chips

100g - Butter (Melted slightly and cooled)

  65g - Brown Sugar

  65g - Caster Sugar

1.0 tsp - Vanilla Essence

0.5 tsp - Baking Powder

1 - Egg

Ingredients for Candied Bacon

130g - Brown Sugar

5 - Bacon Rashers

Method for Candied Bacon

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees

2. Line a tray with foil and place bacon onto tray

3. Sprinkle brown sugar on top of bacon and bake for 18-25 minutes or until crispy

4. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Once the bacon is cooled chop finely.

Method for Cookies

1. Reduce the oven to 170 degrees

2. Mix the butter and sugars together

3. Add vanilla essence and egg into the mixture and beat until light and creamy

4. Add the flour and mix well

5. Mix in the diced candied bacon and chocolate chips until combined

6. Place into balls and bake for 15-20 minutes or until the edges are brown. Remove from oven and allow cookies to cool slightly before transferring to a wire rack.

And the finished product, drum roll please..

Pancakes

With Valentine's Day out the way, what's next to look forward to? For anyone who loves food the answer is simple, Pancake Day.

Pancake Day or Shrove Tuesday is on Tuesday 4th March this year. Shrove Tuesday is the day before Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent (time to give up all the naughty sins again, bye bye fizzy sweets). It's date is determined by Easter and therefore changes yearly.

To make your Pancake Day the best yet, I thought it would be my mission to scowl the internet for unusual pancake recipes. For all the recipes shown below there are many variations on the internet, so don't be scared to mix things up a little.


Oat Pancakes
- 4 egg whites

- 1/2 cup of dry rolled gluten-free oatmeal (ground into flour)

- 1/2 cup of almond milk

- 2 tbsp coconut flour

- 1 tsp ground cinnamon

- 1 tsp vanilla extract

- 1/4 tsp baking soda

- 1/4 tsp baking powder

This recipe is suitable for those who are looking to be a healthy, serve with fruit to make it even healthier!

Peanut Butter Pancakes
- 1295ml Whole milk

- 250g All purpose flour

- 113g unsalted butter, melted & slightly cooled

- 100g Granulated sugar

- 63g Peanut butter

- 1 tbsp Baking powder

- 1 tsp Salt

- 1 tsp Ground cinnamon

- 1 tsp Vanilla extract

- 2 Large eggs

If you are feeling devilish why not add chocolate chips into this recipe!



Two Ingredient Pancakes
- Two eggs

- 1/2 a cup of mashed bananas

This is by far the lowest calorie recipe that is until you add the chocolate sauce! They are surprisingly good, but do not expect this to taste like a regular pancake...

They look (minus the banana lumps) and smell similar to normal pancakes whilst cooking.

I chose three toppings for my pancakes:

- Banana and honey

- Nutella

- Peanut Butter

Chocolate Pancakes
- 250ml Milk

- 100g Plain flour

- 15g Coco powder

- 1 egg

- 1 egg yolk

- 1 tbsp Vegetable oil (plus a little extra for frying)


Toppings
And as for pancake toppings, everyone has their favourite. Mine is lemon and sugar. There is so many options, whether it be sweet or savoury. 

On my search of the internet I found what I believe to be an American website listing 102 pancake toppings for National Pancake Day. I've picked 5 of the most unusual ones below, I wonder if any of my readers will be brave enough to try them:

- Goats cheese and strawberry jam

- Blue cheese

- Roasted nuts with soy sauce

- Sausage gravy

- Caviar

If like me you are not brave enough, why not take a look at their website to find the more normal pancake toppings http://foodiesunite.com/2011/02/102-pancake-toppings-for-national-pancake-day/

If you already know that you'll get frustrated, be too tired or too lazy to cook; why not book yourself in to a restaurant and get someone to do all the hard work for you. Such as My Old Dutch, with 3 restaurants spread out over London situated in Holburn, Chelsea and Kensington. Visit their website to see the menu, http://www.myolddutch.com/

Why not share your recipe ideas and photos, add them into the comments. Have a happy Pancake Day!

Banana, Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Cookies

This afternoon I fancied baking more cookies! I think I am starting to develop a baking addiction...

This is a great recipe that makes beautifully soft cookies, that are so simple to make and are that delicious you will keep going back for more and more and more... This recipe is also suitable for vegans, that's if you remove the chocolate chips. I made 20 cookies out of the mixture, but depending on the size you make your cookies, you could get around 30.

From start to finish you should allow around 1 hour and 30 minutes to make the cookies. I know it seems long but the mixture needs to chill for around 1 hour in the fridge, I guess if you are really busy or impatient there is no harm in using the freezer! Preparation time is approximately 15 minutes and the same again for baking. 

Ingredients

165g - Plain flour
130g - Peanut butter (smooth/crunchy - your choice)
125g - Mashed banana (preferably ripe)

100g - Caster sugar

70g   - Brown sugar

40g   - Chocolate chips

1.5 tsp - Vanilla extract
1.0 tsp - Baking powder

Method

1. Place the banana and peanut butter into a bowl and mix well. Add in the brown sugar, caster sugar and vanilla extract until smooth (obviously if you use crunchy peanut butter the mixture will not be smooth). Combine the flour and baking powder and mix well. Finally, fold in the chocolate chips, cover and chill for around 1 hour.

2. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees. Line baking trays with baking parchment. Roll the mixture into balls and place around 5cm apart.

3. Bake for around 11 minutes. Allow to cool for a few minutes on the tray before moving to wire rack to cool completely.

The cookie mixture rolled into balls prior to baking 

The finished product