The BEST Cookie Recipe Ever!!! (and a bonus GF muesli biscuit)

Left: GF Muesli Biscuit
Back: Choc Chip & M&M Cookie
Right: Salted Peanut, Pretzel & Chocolate Cookie

Big call, I know but everyone who eats these cookies raves about them.  It is such a versatile recipe that you can add any flavours you fancy. Just as a bonus I've added a GF biscuit recipe at the end (yes, I know the ones on the plate above have now been contaminated with gluten.)

Spaghetti & Meatballs Cake

Ahhh novelty cakes! So much fun to make. If only I had children. Luckily my friends and brother are all big kids so they don't mind a bit of novelty factor for their birthday cakes.

This was my brother's cake.

Chocolate, Mandarin, Salted Caramel Dessert

Chocolate, mandarin (orange), salted caramel

Isn't it exciting when something just works?

That is exactly what happened with this seemingly difficult dessert. For Christmas I was lucky enough to receive Sweet Studio by Darren Purchese. After getting my hands on some extra equipment, I set about making something from the book. First up - Chocolate, mandarin, salted caramel. Mine promptly became orange rather than mandarin due to the price of mandarins but I don't think it mattered.

All up there are 7 components. 

From top to bottom:

• Candied oranges
• Chocolate glaze
• 70% Chocolate mousse
• Salted caramel
• Burnt orange creme
• Orange & vanilla marmalade
• Aerated chocolate shortbread

I cheated and used marmalade mixed with vanilla bean rather than making my own and candied some oranges rather than doing the decorations written in the recipe. I made most things last night then finished it off this morning. You probably do need to allow yourself a full day or overnight as some components need time to freeze. 

What surprised me was although many techniques were unfamiliar to me, it was all fairly straightforward and not too time consuming. The recipes are well written and easy to follow. I very much liked the two ribbons in the book which are required as I was constantly flicking pages to see what to do next.

Constructing the dessert was fairly simple. I had one small issue trying to find acetate. In the end I used baking paper which worked fine. I also found that the recipe said to remove from the fridge an hour before serving. I found it quite difficult to cut after doing this and would recommend cutting it straight from the fridge. It warms up fairly quickly anyway. The caramel was a bit oozy when cut but everything else stayed intact!

I have plenty of several of the components left over so need to come up with some ideas how to use them up. I think I would prefer it if the recipe stated, for example, to make up only a quarter batch of chocolate glaze. Not sure what I am going to do with the other 750mls I have in the fridge!

All in all it was a delicious, albeit very rich dessert. Apparently it serves 8. I'd say more like 12-16 as you really only need a sliver. 

There is no way I'm going to type out the recipe - go and buy the book if you are intrigued! 

Sarah xx

Peanut Butter Choc Chip Cookies

The time had come to bake. The house still reeked of onions and i thought the smell of cookies baking would be the only solution to eliminate the pong. With no butter in the house, options were limited so i went back to an old favourite - peanut butter choc chip cookies. Unless you have been living under a rock you are probably fairly aware of this recipe as it is widely published on the internet. I first saw it on Taste -Peanut butter & choc chip cookies. The great thing about this recipe is that it is gluten free, yet tastes 'normal' and it only has 5 ingredients - peanut butter, brown sugar, bicarb soda, egg and choc chips. You can also make it just with a bowl and spoon! No fancy appliances required!

The result is chewy, moorish cookies perfectly flavoured. The hardest bit? Not eating them all at once!

Sarah xx