So while it's no longer Christmas, this is still the perfect treat for any occasion, it would even be perfect alongside desserts at a New Years party as well



INGREDIENTS
225g butter
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water

Optional:
Chocolate
Peanut pieces

In a saucepan, melt the butter, sugar, and water together, continuously stirring until it reaches a hard crack temperature of 150°C, or 300°F.

Once it has reached this temperature, pour onto a lined but not greased tray, and spread around quickly before leaving to cool.

Once the toffee is cool, you can melt the chocolate and then pour this over the top, sprinkling the peanuts over the chocolate while it is still wet.

Set aside to cool completely. I like to put mine in the fridge to speed up the process.

When cool, break into pieces and serve, or if you're going to gift it, put it into gift bags.


I hope everyone has had a great Christmas/Holiday season, and that your New Years is fantastic!

One of the best things about the holidays is the fact that you can make a bunch of sweets and no one will bat an eye at it. Another great thing is that you can gift those sweets so you don't feel too guilty about eating them all yourself.

Fudge is one of these sweet things that is perfect for gifting this holiday season, and the recipe I use is so easy and versatile, you can mix up any flavours you like into it.



Of course, this time around I've gone with a classic peppermint candy cane flavour. The fudge is infused with peppermint extract, as well as having the candy cane pieces sprinkled over the top. It's delicious and just screams out Christmas.

It's so easy to make, and people will love the simple gift. Perfect for in the workplace as well.



Ingredients
1 can condensed milk
500g white chocolate
75g butter
Peppermint extract
Crushed candy canes 

Line and grease an 8x8 inch tin. In a pot put the condensed milk, chocolate, and butter. Mix on a low heat until it is all combined together. Add in the peppermint extract to your own liking (I added about a teaspoon).  

Pour this mixture into the lined tin and then press the crushed candy canes into the top of it. Leave to set overnight and then cut into squares. 

When I used to get asked to make a dessert for a gathering, this no bake jelly slice was usually my go-to recipe to take. It's simple to make, takes hardly any time or effort, and everyone loves it. I usually get asked to make it instead of other desserts.

I haven't made it in quite some time, but I've noticed it popping up all over the place lately, and figured I would make it again, but this time with a bit of a festive flair. And by that, I mean that I added green food colouring and used red jelly.



My one problem with the recipe is that it is usually far too sweet, with the sugar from the jelly and the condensed milk. But recently we switched from ordinary jelly packets, to using sugar free jelly, in particular the Aeroplane Brand. This jelly is amazing, not only does it have 0 grams of sugar, it's also 7 calories a serving. Compare this to the brand we would usually buy which has a whopping 19 grams of sugar per serve, and 84 calories a serving! That's a huge difference, and I'll tell you what, it's definitely noticable in this slice.

What used to be a tooth-achingly sweet, but still delicious dessert, has now become a more bearable type of sweetness, one that won't have you holding back from another piece. The jelly makes all the difference. Now just to find a way to cut back on that sugar even more...

Now here's the recipe for you to try, and trust me, if you make it once, you're bound to be asked to make it again!


Ingredients
1 packet wine biscuits
100g butter - melted
1 can condensed milk
1/2 cup boiling water
3tsp gelatin
1 packet jelly
Food Colouring (optional)

Make the jelly according to directions and set aside to cool.

While this is cooling, process your biscuits until they are crumbs, then add the melted butter. Push into the base of a baking tin and set in the fridge to firm up.

In a bowl, dissolve the gelatin in the boiling water, then mix in the can of condensed milk. If you want to go for a colourful look like I have, add your food colouring now.

Pour this condensed milk mixture on top of the base and put back in the fridge to set. Once it has set, you can pour the jelly mixture on top. Leave in the fridge to set and then cut up to serve when ready.

Many years ago, I posted a recipe for cinnamon rolls, and it has been my go to recipe ever since. Whenever I feel like making some, I just pull the recipe up and make them. Also, can we note just how far I have come since I posted that recipe?

However, sometimes I just don't have the time or patience to wait for the dough to rise more than once. So, I worked around with the recipe a bit to see if I could get cinnamon rolls in less time than usual, and what do you know, it worked!


This recipe only calls for a short 5 minute rise of the dough before rolling, and then a rise of twenty minutes, but the great thing about it is that this rise is done in a warm oven, which helps the dough to rise in less time than if you left it out on the bench to rise.


They aren't quite as fluffy as if you had a longer rise period, or two proper rises, but they are still delicious, and great if you want a fix of cinnamon rolls in an hour, which is dangerous for me. If I could only eat cinnamon rolls for the rest of my life, I would be pretty happy with that. These don't last long in our house at all, and I may have eaten far too many of this particular batch.






This recipe doesn't make as many rolls as my other recipe does, but that's good for times when you don't need a huge amount, and of course the amount that you end up with will depend on how big you roll the dough out, and how big you cut them to be.


Ingredients

For the dough
2 and 3/4 cups flour
3 tbsp sugar
2 and 1/4 tsp active yeast
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup milk
30g butter
1 egg

For the filling
25g butter, melted
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 tbsp cinnamon 

For the icing
25g butter
1 cup icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla
Milk (if needed)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 50°C before starting.
 
Mix the flour, sugar, and yeast in a bowl. Heat the water, milk, and butter together until the butter is melted. Mix into the flour mixture with a dough hook, adding the egg after it is mixed. Knead with the mixer or by hand until the dough is no longer sticky. Leave to rise for 5 minutes.

After the short rise, roll the dough out into a rectangle. Brush the melted butter over it and then spread the brown sugar over the butter. Sprinkle the cinnamon over top of the sugar, adding more if you need to (I like lots of cinnamon, so you may want to add more or less as well).

Roll the dough up, and then cut into pieces, choosing a size you would like. Put them into a lined cake tin, and then put in the oven to rise for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes, turn the oven up to 180°C and bake for 20 minutes, or until the dough springs back to the touch. Remove and leave to cool.

While cooling, mix up the icing, and once the cinnamon rolls are nearly completely cool, spread the icing over, letting the remaining warmth melt it into all the nooks and crannies of the rolls.

Now all that is left to do is enjoy!

Has anyone noticed the price of butter lately? If you haven't have you been living under a rock?

I love cake. A lot. But the price of butter is really putting a dampener on making it. It's not that I wouldn't pay the price, but sometimes I just can't justify the price.

Well, how would you feel if I told you that you can still have chocolate cake without using butter! That's right, this chocolate cake is made with OIL instead of butter, which makes it a great alternative for all our non-dairy friends out there!

I was skeptical at first, the only cakes I'd ever used oil in were carrot cakes, but this one surprised me, and I have to say, I think it's my new favourite.


The oil in this recipe produces a cake that is deliciously rich, and so moist that it just melts in the mouth. The addition of coffee brings out the chocolate flavour, making it just that much more tasty. Served with ice cream or just a bit of whipped cream on the side, it doesn't need much at all to compliment it, it really does shine on its own.


Ingredients
2/3 cup oil (I used canola)
50g cocoa powder
1/2 cup boiling water
1/2 tsp instant coffee
125g flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup sugar
3 Eggs

Mix together the cocoa, water, and coffee and set aside.

In a mixing bowl, combine the oil, sugar, and eggs until light and fluffy. Add in the cocoa mixture and beat until combined.

Add in the sifted flour and baking soda slowly, mixing until just incorporated.

Scrape down the bowl to make sure everything is mixed in before transferring to a lined cake pan.

Bake at 170°C for 35-40 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.

Let cool and then dust with icing sugar. Serve on its own or with cream, ice cream, or plain yoghurt.

Summer is coming up quickly, and the best thing about this time of year is definitely all the desserts that start coming out. The ones that people only bring out around Christmas time.

There are two desserts that I look forward to each year, and those are trifle and pavlova.

I know I can make them year round, but it's just not the same. There's something about it being a beautiful summers day that makes it the right time to eat these.

But pavlova can be so complicated to make. Some recipes call for all sorts of different ingredients, and lots of different steps to make it, so most of the time we opt for just buying one from the supermarket, but it's just not the same.

What actually got me craving pavlova, apart from seeing them coming out at the supermarkets, were strawberries.

I had picked up a punnet of strawberries, and some cream, and straight away I knew that when I got home I was making a pavlova.



I have tried so many different recipes for pavlova, and they're either not worked, or they've had way too many steps for something that should be so simple. But finally I have a recipe that is so easy to make that it's going to continue being my go-to recipe, and of course I'm going to share it with you.

The beauty of this recipe is that it is an 'all in' recipe, meaning that all the ingredients go in at the same time. No need to whip the egg whites a bit first, no need to gradually add the sugar. 



So here we go, an all in pavlova recipe.


INGREDIENTS
4 Egg whites
1 1/2 Cup caster sugar
2 tablespoons boiling water
1 tsp. malt vinegar
1 tsp. vanilla

Put the sugar and water in the bowl with the vinegar and vanilla. Add in the egg whites and mix together for around 10 minutes or until stiff.

Place on a lined tray in a circle, and then put into a preheated oven.

Bake at 140°C for 30 minutes and then reduce temperature to 120°C and bake for another 30 minutes. Turn oven off and leave to cool in the oven. Do not open the oven while it is cooling down.

After an hour, take the pavlova out of the oven to cool further.

Once cooled completely, top with whipped cream and fruit of your choosing.

Enjoy!

Does anyone else ever feel like having dessert, but never want to make a large one that will either last you a few days and possibly go bad, or in many other cases, would get eaten all in one night? They're great for when you have people around, or if you just have a large family, but when it's just me at home, a large dessert is not a good idea. Especially if it's cheesecake. Cheesecake is definitely one of those desserts I could eat in one night. (I'm bad, I know).

So, one weekend when it was just me at home, and I felt like a cheesecake, I tossed up the idea of going to the store and just buying a pre-made one, or just making a mini one since I had all the ingredients already available to me. It didn't take long really, firstly I was saving money, and secondly there wasn't a chance of me eating an entire cheesecake on my own.



That's where this little piece of deliciousness comes in. A jaffa inspired choc-orange mini cheesecake, with a Jaffa Thins base.

Made in a 4inch spring form cake tin, this cheesecake is perfect for sharing with another person, and the recipe is so rich and delicious that you may even be able to split it between three people depending on how rich you like your cheesecake.

The greatest thing is that the flavours are so easy to adapt and change to your own liking.







Ingredients:
25g Butter (melted)
70g Jaffa Thins cookies (around 9) or any other choc-orange cookie you like
125g Cream Cheese
1tbsp Sugar (more to taste if required)
1tsp Gelatin bloomed in 1tbsp cream (optional to set firmer)
3/4 cup Cream
50g Chocolate (melted)
Orange Essence


In a food processor, put the cookies and whiz until crumbled (I like to leave some bigger chunks), then add butter and mix together. Push into a 4inch cake tin on the base and up the sides. Place in fridge to set.

In a bowl mix the cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add the cream and whip until thick. If you are using the gelatin, melt the bloomed and then mix into the whipped mixture gently. Separate the mix into two lots. In one bowl of mixture, add the melted chocolate and mix until combined, and in the other, add some orange essence to taste.

Get the base out of the fridge and alternate between the chocolate and orange mixture, marbling it with a skewer. Once the base is full, place back in the fridge to firm up for at least an hour.

Add whipped cream and chocolate shavings to serve.


So there you have it, a mini cheesecake that you can change as you like, but the choc-orange is great too! What flavour would you try?