With the help of a friend...

Baking not only relaxes me but I also find it a good opportunity to get creative with my friends.

Being at my parents' house during my summer break a friend of mine presented me with a challenge. She claimed everything she baked came flat. I couldn't accept it so I encouraged her to bake one of the simplest treats. Cupcakes. I love Hummingbird Cupcake recipes and as her little one loves chocolate we chose the Chocolate Hazelnut Cupcake.
She baked them herself with just a tiny encouragement from me. They were a success :-)

Ingredients

• 100g plain flour


• 20g cocoa powder


• 140g caster sugar


• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder


• a pinch of salt


• 40gr butter, at room temp


• 120ml milk


• 1 egg


• 120gr nutella


• chopped hazelnuts to decorate

For the icing

• 250g icing sugar


• 80g butter, at room temp


• 25 ml milk


• 80g nutella

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 170c

2. Put the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder, salt and butter in a bowl and mix together. You can use an electric hand whisk for this. It should be a slightly sandy/grainy texture

3. Pour the milk into the mixture and mix. Then add the egg and beat until it's all incorporated.

4. Spoon the mixture into cupcakes cases in a muffin tin, filling to about halfway or 2/3 full. They rise quite a bit. Bake for 15-20 minutes.

5. Leave to cool completely, then cut out a little circle in the cupcake. Pop the loose piece of cake out, insert a dollop of nutella, then put the cake piece back ontop so you have a filled cupcake.

For the icing
Mix all the above ingredients together until incorporated and continue mixing for about 5 minutes. The more mixing, the fluffier the icing! Use a palette knife to ice the cupcakes, then sprinkle with a bit of chopped hazelnut.

http://afeitar.blogspot.co.uk/2009/03/chocolate-and-hazelnut-cupcakes.html

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Apple Pie

Amongst the things that I am picky with is apple pies.

I had some extra apples and was looking forward to baking a traditional one with thin pastry. I had done my research as always and found the perfect recipe when I realised I had almost run out of plain flour. I was left with a package of self raising one. I hate cake type apple pies. Somehow the combination of cake dough and apples doesn't match with my taste. Disappointed I couldn't accept my defeat so I was looking for a recipe that used self raising flour but not to make a cake dough.

Luckily I found the following recipe. Loving amaretto I included it in the recipe to give an extra flavour and smell :-)

Ingredients 

Pastry

• 300gr self-raising flour


• 180gr butter


• 180gr caster sugar


• 2 eggs  lightly beaten


• icing or caster sugar to dust

Filling

• 1kg apples – peeled, corded and sliced


• 2 dsp water


• 1 dsp lemon juice


• 30gr caster sugar


• 2tbsp Amaretto


• Pinch cinnamon or clove – ground

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 190 ˚C. Poach the apples gently in 2 dsp water a 1 dsp of lemon juice. Add sugar and spice to taste. Leave to cool.


2. put the butter or margarine and sugar into a saucepan and heat gently until melted. Allow to cool.


3. Add the lightly beaten eggs and the Neill’s Flour and bind the mixture into a soft dough. While the dough is still warm press two-thirds of it into the base of a greased 22cm pie dish.


4. Spoon the cooled apples over the top. Shape the remaining pastry into 5 or 6 flattened rounds and arrange on top of the apples, ensuring the filling is well covered.


5. Bake for 25 minutes until golden brown. Serve warm, dusted with icing or caster sugar.

http://www.neillsflour.co.uk/bramleyapple.html

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