Sticky Toffee Banana Puddings

Hello There!

It seems the first true days of summer have finally arrived -well at least they have here in Ireland anyway.The past few days have seen the temperatures hitting the low twenties, which for a country renowned for its dreary,dull climate,comes as a very pleasant surprise.The only downside to this is the unfortunate reality that I (and many other people) still have a week of exams to do.There really is truth behind that whole "exam weather" statement that people throw around every year without fail.

Anyway,last weekend in an effort to keep me from going completely mad from being cooped up all day staring at the inside of textbooks (or outside the window),I decided to bake something from the newest addition to my recipe book collection Donal Skehan's Kitchen Hero:Great Food for Less.Short of living under a rock for the past year or two you can't have helped but have heard of Donal with his numerous books,newspaper/magazine articles and of course his television show.I always find hi recipes reliable,simple and tasty so when I heard his new book had been released, it was a bit of a no brainer as to whether I would buy it or not.

The element of Donal's books and articles that I love the most has got to be his photography.With every recipe there is always an accompanying photo which is sure to make your mouth water and I have heard that he does a lot of his food styling and photography himself.

After flicking briefly through the book I found myself,as usual, in the dessert section where I happened upon the recipe for Sticky Toffee Banana Puddings.Sticky Toffee Pudding is without doubt one of my favourite desserts and along with the aforementioned beautiful picture,I really needed to convincing to attempt this recipe.The method was really quite simple and making the caramel sauce,which as anyone knows can often result in a hard mass of sugar stuck to your pan,was a breeze!The recipe also makes ten portions,so can easily feed a large crowd - or serve as dessert for a family of five for two days ;).The end result was,as I'm sure you have guessed,delicious.In the past I have found sticky toffee puddings can turn out disappointingly dry but these were right on the money.Moist and sticky indeed.Floating in a puddle of caramel sauce with a scoop of vanilla ice cream,these were the perfect weekend treat.

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

I love chocolate cookies(who doesn't?),but I definitely fall into the chewy category.I have made quite a few batches of cookies in the past only to be disappointed when they have cooled and become hard and crispy.However,I am always on the lookout for a new recipe which promises to produce a chewy cookie and when I read the description for these cookies on David Lebovitz's site,I was instantly persuaded to give these a go.The pictures also promised greatness and I have yet to be disappointed with any of the recipes on his site.
Scanning down through the recipe,there was a line which state that the dough should be "allowed to rest for a couple of hours or overnight".Now this wasn't the first time where I have read this in cookie recipes and in hindsight I should have known that this would make a difference to the end result.But eager as ever to get baking (and eating) I ploughed on and began making the cookies.When it came for the time to bake the cookies,I realised just home much dough this recipe makes.I got two large cookies sheets of eight 50g balls of dough and I still had a mountain of dough leftover.It was then that an idea struck me.I decided I would bake half of the cookies in their present,unrested state and bake the other half the next day when they had spent a night in the fridge.
So to the results.The smell coming from the oven as these cookies baked was promising.However,when I took the (unrested) cookies out of the oven,I already knew that these were not of a chewy nature.After a few minutes cooling,I took a bite and my suspicions were confirmed.Crispy.Delicious yes,but crispy.The following day I baked up the second batch of cookies and this time I was delighted with the results.A chewy,chocolaty cookie.Just how I like them.One thing I did notice was that the cooking time given in the recipe is,in my opinion,too long(I have a fan oven).I think this lengthy baking time did little to help the desired chewiness and on the second,rested batch I only baked my cookies for roughly 15 minutes,after which some people may say they were still slightly undercooked.For me though,after cooling they were perfectly chewy,just how I like them.
Definitely worth a go if it's a chewy cookie you're after.You can find the recipe here.The original calls for raisins but I substituted with chocolate chips instead.

Apologies and "Baked" Brownies with a Peanut Butter Swirl

Hello again! I know it has been centuries since I have posted on the blog so I should probably explain my absence.Unfortunately to begin with,my laptop decided to call it a day and hasn't been replaced since.Without a laptop I am reduced to using the family computer which is difficult to get hold of at the best of times.This really put me off blogging for a while,however I still checked in on all my favourite food blogs almost daily,annoyed that I too couldn't blog about the delicious things I had baked.In the end,I decided that blogging-if even just occasionally- was better then not blogging at all.Hopefully, I won't be disappearing again any time soon and I will be able to keep you updated with all my baking adventures!
And so to my first recipe now that I'm back blogging - and what a recipe it is indeed!If you have any kind of a serious interest in baking and indeed food blogging,then you are sure to have heard of "The Baked" brownie.This recipe hails from the very popular "Baked:New Frontiers in Baking" and has been touted all over the web as one of if not the best brownie recipes around.As a chocoholic and brownie lover,naturally,I was interested to try this recipe.Truth be told,my expectations were high for this brownie with such acclaim.Now,I don't know about you but I always find it very hard to abide by that rule in brownie recipes which states to "let the brownies cool completely before cutting".That to me is pure torture and I usually can resist no longer than half an hour before the temptation becomes too much.However,as my hopes were set so high for this recipe,I decided to do everything by the book (even if that did mean leaving the house to busy myself while the brownies cooled).Imagine my utter joy then, when I finally sliced into the slab of brownies resting on the kitchen counter.The top had that characteristic papery crust, while beneath lay some of the most deliciously fudgy brownies which I have encountered,possibly ever(16 years is long enough to have tasted more than my fair share of brownies).Although I deviated slightly from the original recipe by adding a peanut butter swirl,which,if you're wondering was delicious,I think these brownies would be best left as pure,unadulterated chocolate.
Topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a drizzle - or possibly a drowning - of chocolate sauce,these were the perfect dessert.These are definite contenders for my go to brownie recipe and I can't recommend them enough.If you want the recipe,then you can find it here.I just omitted the crushed mints and the mint extract,and added a swirl of peanut butter.Happy baking,oh and I hope everyone has a nice long weekend!