Cheats Chocolate Croissants

It's always nice to impress people with your creations but sometimes its just nice to whip up something quickly that still tastes great and is almost the same  as if you did the real thing. That is exactly what this is, a cheats recipe. With only 3 ingredients, and 10 minutes prep time I really don't think this recipe could get any better.

Cheats Chocolate Croissants

Ingredients:

> 1 pack puff pastry

> Nutella

> Egg yolk

Method:

1. Roll out the puff pastry and then cut the puff pastry into triangles. The base of the triangle will determine the size of your croissant. Make sure the sides are longer than the base. This is hard to explain in words but I found the best way to do this was to cut the pastry first into rectangles and then into triangles. If you look at the pictures then you should understand, I hope....

2. Place somewhere between, a half and a whole teaspoon of nutella at the base of the pastry. The size of your croissant will determine the amount of nutella needed.

3. Starting at the base of your triangle, roll up the triangle and bend the edges slightly so that you get more of a 'croissant' shape.

4. Place the croissants on a baking tray and brush the tops of the croissant with the egg yolk. Bake for 10-15 minutes at 180C, until the croissants are golden and the bottom is cooked. Cool slightly and serve warm.

5. Voila!

Cinnamon Breakfast Loaf

Bread hates me. It's just a fact of life that I have to deal with because every single time that I have made bread it turns out rubbish and then someone else will do the exact same recipe and it will turn out perfect. Enriched dough's, however, seem to work in my favour. I found this recipe really easy to follow and the loaf turned out great. I would advise making this the night before and serving it lightly toasted with lashings of butter and a glass of milk for breakfast the next day.

Recipe taken from The Great British Bakeoff: How to turn everyday bakes into showstoppers.

Best served toasted and with butter

Cinnamon Breakfast Loaf

Ingredients:

For the loaf:
> 500g strong white bread flour
> 1tsp sea salt flakes crushed
> 2tbsp caster sugar
> 7g dried yeast
> 125ml milk
> 50g unsalted butter
> 1 large egg, at room temperature

For the filling:
> 50g caster sugar
> 1tsp plain flour
> 1tbsp ground cinnamon
> Milk for brushing

To finish:
> Milk, for brushing
> small knob of butter

Method:

1. Mix together the flour, salt and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Stir in the dried yeast.

2. Gently warm the milk with 125ml water and the butter until lukewarm and the butter has melted. Remove from the heat. Add the egg and beat with a fork until combined. Add this to the flour mixture and slowly stir to make a soft but not sticky dough. If the dough seems too dry then add more milk, one tablespoon at a time. If the dough is too sticky then add more strong flour, one tablespoon at a time.

3. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured worktop and knead thoroughly for about 10 minutes by hand. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with clingfilm and leave to rise in a warm place for about 1 hour until doubled in size.

4. Meanwhile grease and line a 900g loaf tin.

5. In a small bowl mix the sugar, flour and cinnamon together.

6. Punch down the risen dough to deflate and turn out onto a lightly floured worktop and pat out into a rough rectangle. Cover lightly with a sheet of clingfilm and leave to relax for about 5 minutes- this will make it easier to roll out the dough.

7. Lightly flour the rolling pin and roll out the dough to a rectangle as wide as the length of the tin and 48cm long, keeping the sides straight and neat. Brush the dough liberally with milk, then sprinkle over the sugar mixture in an even layer, leaving a 1cm border clear at one short end. Roll up the dough, neatly and tightly, from the other short end and pinch the seam together to seal it firmly.

8. Lift the rolled dough into the tin, gently tucking the ends under to make a neat shape. Slip the tin into a large plastic bag and slightly inflate it so the plastic doesn't stick to the dough, then tie the ends. Leave to rise as before until just doubled in size, (don't let the loaf become too big or it will lose its shape). Towards the end of the rising time preheat the oven to 180C.

9. Uncover the dough and brush lightly with milk. Bake for about 35minutes until a good golden brown and the turned-out loaf sounds hollow when it is tapped on the underside.

10. Transfer the loaf to a wire rack and rub the butter over the top to give a glossy finish. Leave until completely cold before slicing. Eat with 5 days or freeze.

Iced Biscuits

I have made these biscuits time and time again and they come out perfect each time. My piping on the other hand is a different story... The icing itself was of a good consistency it is just my piping that needs more practice. If I am honest with you this is the first time that I have done this sort of piping so when I look at the biscuits in that light, I feel relatively happy with them.

I went for pastel colours

Iced Biscuits

Ingredients:

For the Biscuits:
>125g Butter softened
>3/4 cup sugar
>1tsp vanilla essence
>1 egg
>2 cups plain flour
>1tsp baking powder

For the icing
>250g icing sugar
>The white of 1 large egg
>Drops of lemon juice
>Food colouring (optional)

Method:
1. Preheat the oven and line a baking sheet.

2. Cream the butter, sugar and vanilla essence together until light and fluffy.

3. Add the egg and beat well.

4. Sift the flour and baking powder together and mix into the creamy mixture.

5. Roll out the biscuit dough to about 1/2cm thick and cut out biscuits using cookie cutters. Transfer the biscuits to the baking sheet.

6. Bake for about 9 minutes, slightly longer if your biscuits are bigger or thicker. Bake until the biscuits are golden brown.

7. Take the tray out and leave the biscuits to cool on the tray for a couple of minutes and then transfer the biscuits to a cooling rack.

8. In a bowl add the icing sugar, egg white and lemon juice together. If your egg white is not enough then you may have to crack open another egg and use part of that egg white. Beat the egg white and sugar  together for about 5 minutes until you have stiff peaks.

9. Add a couple of drops of water to the icing so that it is easier to pipe. Split the icing into as many colours as you would like and stir in the food colouring.

10. Transfer the icing into piping bags and pipe decorations onto the cookies. Leave the cookies on a cooling rack so that the icing hardens.

11. Serve and enjoy!

~Bloglovin~

Update!

I wasn't planing on doing this but a lot has happened or is going to happen and I feel the need to let you know, so here is my update.

Firstly, I am 16! I counted down like 60 days before my birthday and so I was really excited when it finally came. In the UK I now have some responsibilities and I find this really weird. For example, I went to the dentist the other day and I had to fill out my own form and I found this a lot scarier then it should have been, I mean I was stressing over my name! I also managed to spell my dad's name incorrectly but I think I managed to recover well... (Photos in this post are from my birthday)

Secondly, I would like to apologise for not having a post up last week. Initially I wanted to stop posting during my exam period but then I decided not to and last week the workload just got too much. I have three more exams left and then the a joyful 2 month period of waiting for the results. Just last night I had a nightmare dream that I opened the letter and I failed all my exams. Finger crossed this will not be the case *crosses fingers* After next week, by which time my exams have finished, I will try and post more.

Thirdly, Google for some reason has decided to not continue with Google Friend Connect, the box on the side with the faces of people who follow this blog. If you read other blogs then you have most likely already heard of this and the majority of bloggers have said that Bloglovin is the next best thing. I already have a Bloglovin account here and I use Bloglovin to follow blogs myself. It is a really good platform and you can discover all sorts of new blogs through it. If you only follow me on Google Friend Connect and still wish to follow me then Bloglovin is the way to do so.

Fourthly, (is that even a thing?) in roughly a weeks time I plan on creating a Facebook page and a Twitter for the blog. I will post all new blog updates to these social networks so you can always just check these if you do not wish to create a Bloglovin account.

Lastly, is there any type of regular post that you would like to see on this blog? I am planning on doing a 'Words of Wisdom Wednesdays' where I write about inspirational quotes or stories. Would this be something you are interested in reading?

For now that is all I think... I hope you found this post bearable liked this post and unless I have a lot of updates in the future, I do not plan on doing a similar post like this again but instead continue with my usual content.

~Bloglovin~

Honey Slice Recipe (Mezes Lap Recept)

My grandma came to visit us recently and the biggest thing she brought with her was her recipes. In a two week stay, we baked about 5 times! I probably put on a bit of weight because of this but I think it was worth it.

We baked many different cakes and this is just one of them but probably my favourite out of all the ones we made. If I am not mistaken, then this recipe originates from Hungary (or it could be Romania...) and can be adapted for any filling but this is the traditional recipe. This recipe is quite tricky and I would advise to do it with someone else as 4 hands are better than one. If you need some help with it, feel free to email me.

Polish Mille Feuille

The other day I brought this kit from a Polish shop and the closet thing that I can liken it to is a Mille Feuille.
It think that it tasted very nice but if I am completely honest with you, it was not what I was expecting.

After some translation issues I finally managed to make it and this is what happened through pictures. I have not put the recipe up because I do not believe that to be necessary but here is what happened...

Easter Decorations

Easter is a Christian festival and it is when we celebrate the fact the Jesus died for our salvation. Just as with Christmas, Easter has a lot of symbolism and I just happen to have the appropriate decorations! They make the house look very nice but also remind me of the importance of Easter for a Christian.

 A lot of animals and all humans are born from eggs. For this reason, eggs symbolise the start of a new beginning and Christians believe that when Jesus died he gave us a new life and this is where the Easter eggs come from.

Healthy Cake?

The question on every bakers mind. Is there such a thing as a healthy cake? This question will probably split most of you, as some will want a healthy cake(Are you crazy?) and some will say there is no such thing.

Lets be honest, do you really want a healthy cake? For me the best part about the cake is that it is a naughty treat and I know that I probably shouldn't be having it, but I have it anyway. The fact that you are treating yourself makes the celebration even more special. Could you imagine a world with healthy cake? Woah, let's celebrate your promotion with a fat free, high in protein, low in sugar, zucchini cake. (Yeah, that's what we have all been dreaming about!)

I think the scary thing for me though is that we are closer to this then we may want to believe. With Flora Light and Truvia sweetener, which insists is calorie free, you may just have a healthy cake for your next birthday. Though we all know, as long as our grandparents continue to make cakes, they will 'not be adding any of that rubbish.'

Although, thinking about it now, a healthy cake may just be a good thing. With fewer calories we would all be able to have much more cake, move over fruit salad, a slice of chocolate cake is coming. But then again, cake wouldn't be cake any more, would it? It would be classed as a healthy snack. (Urgggggh)

Therefore, I am saying NO, NO, NO to all healthy cakes and anyone I find trying to even trick me into eating a healthy cake will get the chop and be publicly humiliated. :-)

I don't know if there will ever be a healthy cake but I sure know that I would rather give up McDonald's than give up cakes. Which by the way has 400+ more calories per an average meal than a slice of chocolate cake!

Would do you think?

Evelyn
  xxx

Hello Readers!

Well, this is it. The start of a new relationship. This will either go really well and we will become life-long friends or this will go really badly and this will go on the list of regrets. So here goes hoping...

We should probably start with introductions. I am an avid baker who lives in London. Fun, outgoing and always baking. I will try to upload as often as I can, but with a cramped schedule (totally) and a lack of imagination, I will only be able to post so often. I like to think that I have a modern style but I love nothing more than adding new touches to old classics, I also love trying new recipes and seeing as you are reading my blog, you too will go through my highs and lows with me.

So finger crossed and lets hope for the best.