recipe Archives - Journeys Are My Diary

Recipe – Mocha Brownies

March 1, 2017 by Bel Leave a Comment

Anyone who reads my blog often will know, that the majority of time I’m busy sewing and working on Closet Geek. However I do have a huge passion for cooking (especially baking) and it’s rare that I find an excuse to take time off work and do so. This half term, Lily and I have been doing a lot of baking because she’s currently doing a project called Scrumdiddlyumptious at school, which focuses on chocolate. We’re making an A-Z of Chocolate for her project and part of that involves making lots of yummy food! The basic concept of her project is for us to make a page for every letter of the alphabet. Some pages will be information and history about chocolate, while others will be recipes. I think in total we have about twelve dishes we’ll be making, but over half term we made about half that.

This recipe that I’m sharing today is for Mocha Brownies (chocolate and coffee flavour) and they were absolutely delicious! The finished product is very similar to the ones Megan made Minecraft Brownie Blocks with but these are sort of an adult version (I only say that, as some people don’t really like their kids eating/drinking coffee). I however, am addicted to coffee! My Instagram is a constant stream of ice coffee pictures, while my Amazon wishlist is littered with coffee machines, mugs and I even have a bean grinder on there! Anyway, the coffee brownies were a big hit so I decided to share the recipe here on my blog.

Ingredients
– 3 eggs
– 450g sugar (brown is best but white works too)
– 350g plain flour
– 200g cocoa
– 250g chocolate chips
– 1 tbsp instant coffee granules, dissolved in 60ml boiling water (I personally used a coffee pod from
www.gourmesso.co.uk which worked brilliantly and gave a strong intense taste)
– 200ml oil
– ½ tsp salt
– ½ tsp baking powder
– 1 tsp vanilla extract

Method

To start off, it’s always best to preheat oven. This needs to be set at 180 oC (Gas Mark 4). After that you need to grease two square 8 inch tins (or at least that’s what the recipe said, ours was actually longer and rectangular).

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the oil, eggs, coffee, sugar, salt, baking powder and vanilla essence.

Once the mixture is smooth and combined, sift the cocoa and flour into the bowl slowly, stirring as you go.

Next you need to add the chocolate chips (or chopped up chocolate if you prefer chunks) and stir well to make sure they are spread throughout the mixture.

Finally you will need to divide the mixture equally between the two tins. Give them a tap on the counter to level them out and knock out any air bubbles.

Cook in the centre of the oven for 35-40 minutes, until the centre is no longer runny. You may need to stick a knife or skewer into the mixture at various intervals, just to check if the brownie is setting. You’ll know it’s done once the knife or skewer can be stuck into the mixture and comes out pretty much clean of mixture.

Allow to cool and if possible place onto a cooling rack (this isn’t essential so long as you’ve greased the tins well or even used greaseproof paper). Once cool cut into squares and serve.

As I mentioned before, we made several other chocolate items including; chocolate ice cream, ganache, rocky road and even chocolate Yorkshire Pudding. Of course none of these things are vital to this particular recipe, but served together they were pretty amazing. We actually had some friends around on the same evening and we served everyone chocolate Yorkshire Pudding, with brownies, rocky road, ice cream and ganache. There was cream too. Everyone said how amazing it all was and I admit it really was. I’d love to experiment a bit more with the Yorkshire Pudding recipe however as it wasn’t as good as I think it could be. Otherwise though, it was all Scrumdiddlyumptious!

Recipe – Flapjack Squares

November 24, 2015 by Bel Leave a Comment

Flapjack Squares

Though I’m currently trying to diet, there is nothing I like more than some sweet treats! Flapjack is a huge hit in our house and so I decided to share my recipe and method with my blog readers so you can make some yourself. This is a recipe passed down from when I used to cook with my Nanny as a child.

Ingredients
(Usually I prefer to cook in grams but this recipe was given to me in ounces)
– 16 oz porridge oats
– 12 oz butter or margerine
– 8 oz brown sugar
– 2 tbs golden syrup

Method

1. Weigh out the butter and sugar, adding to a pan on the stove. Add golden syrup and warm through till melted.

2. Weigh out the porridge oats and add to the pan. Stir through until the oats are all coated.

3. Grease a baking tray with marg/butter and then scrape contents of pan, into the tray. Flatten down, making sure mixture goes right to the edges of the tray.

4. Pre-heat oven to Gas Mark 4 and place the tray of flapjack into the oven. Bake for approximately 20 minutes, until golden but not too much colour.

5. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for around 10-15 minutes. Cut into squares and remove from tray onto a cooling rack. Eat warm or allow to cool and then munch away!

DW Fitness Festive Challenge – Third Update

November 9, 2015 by Bel Leave a Comment

It’s now been six weeks of trying and I have to admit I’ve gotten a little lazy this last week. Chris and I were celebrating our anniversary over the weekend and we went for Chinese buffet before the theatre on Saturday, then Pizza Hut with the kids on Sunday. However I’m feeling motivated to try harder this week, so fingers crossed.

As I mentioned, I have put a smidge on this time. It’s only just over a pound though so I’m going to try not to worry.

This week our topics is eating healthy, which is ironic given that’s been my downfall this week. However I thought I would share this recipe with you that I find is pretty healthy, despite having a little cheese.

Chicken, Bacon and Halloumi Salad

This is my favourite throw together recipe – ideal for warm weather but because it contains chicken and bacon, can be great in the cold weather too.

Ingredients
– Salad, this can basically be anything you like. Lettuce, cucumber, tomato, spring onions, radish, peppers, bacon bits, etc. etc. It’s really all about what makes the best salad for you.
– Chicken
– Bacon
– Halloumi (low fat is available)

There are no specific amounts for this recipe as its all about what you want and how much of it you’d like. The recipe isn’t really even a recipe to be honest, as you just literally put it all together.

1. Make up the salad exactly how you want it. This is the base of your dish. I personally use lettuce (mixed leaf), cucumber, spring onion, peppers and bacon bits as these are the elements I most enjoy. I’m not a huge fan of tomatoes so I skip those for sure.

2. As an optional extra, add a dressing. Of course you should consider if the dressing will work nicely with chicken and bacon, but for the most part dressings do. I tend to actually have a dribble of soy sauce on my salad as I don’t like dressing. It can be a little dry without anything.

3. Prepare the rest of the ingredients (I forgot to photo the bacon). Slice the halloumi, if you’re using chicken breast and cut the fat from the bacon (if you want to!).

4. Fry the chicken first as this will take the longest to cook. If you have a griddle pan, this gives a nice look to the chicken but if not don’t worry. When the chicken is nearly ready, cook the bacon too (grill or fry).

5. Place the chicken and bacon on top of your salad and add the halloumi slices to the pan you’ve just used. Only cook for about a minute on each side, as the cheese doesn’t take long to cook. It only needs to take a hint of brown, it wont change in any other way. Halloumi is not to everyone’s taste, its a sort of chewy cheese but I love it!

6. Add the Halloumi to your salad and you’re done! If you like, add a little more dressing, a sprinkle of dried onions or bacon bits, croutons etc.

Keep an eye out for my next DW Fitness post as I’ll be trying much harder these next couple of weeks!

Nutella Cheesecake Recipe

June 2, 2015 by Bel 3 Comments

Nutella cheesecake is not only the nicest thing I’ve ever made, but also one of the easiest. A few weeks back, Megan and I stumbled on this really simple recipe and since it was so amazing, I wanted to share it with you! I can tell you now, it won’t last long once you’ve made it. Ours was gone in less than 24 hours!

Ingredients

250g digestive biscuits
75g butter/marg
1 x 400g jar Nutella
100g chopped hazelnuts
500g cream cheese
60g icing sugar

Method

1. Break the digestive biscuits, into a processor. Blend until blitzed. Add 1tbs Nutella, the butter/marg (melted) and 3tbs hazelnuts, blitz again until mixed.

2. Place into the bottom of a lined/greased spring form tin. Press down to form a neat base. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

3. Beat the cream cheese and sieved icing sugar until smooth and then add the remainder of the Nutella. Continue to mix until all combined.

4. Take the tin out of the fridge and smooth the Nutella mixture over the base. Scatter the nuts over the top and place back in the fridge. Chill for at least 4 hours or overnight. Serve straight from the fridge.

Recipe – No Bake Oreo Cheesecake

May 6, 2015 by Bel 6 Comments

Last week Megan decided that she wanted to make Oreo cheesecake. I’m not sure what sparked it exactly but since I haven’t had to make birthday cake in a while, I decided to humour her. I was heading out to Tesco anyway and so while I was there, I picked up the ingredients she’d text me (she found a recipe she wanted to do herself). The cheesecake was so easy to make and tasted great so I figured I’d share it with you.

250g chocolate digestive biscuits
150g butter/marg
2 tsp gelatine
60ml warm water
360g soft cream cheese
300ml double cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
110g caster sugar
180g white chocolate
150g Oreo cookies
50g dark chocolate

1. Line base of a 23cm springform tin with baking parchment.

2. Break the chocolate digestive biscuits and blitz in a food processor till crumbs. Melt butter and add to biscuits, mixing again to combine.

3. Place the biscuit mixture into the tin and use your fingers to press down level. Using fingertips, press to create slight edge up the side of the tin. Place in the fridge to chill for about 20 minutes.

4. While the base is chilling, make up cheesecake filling. Using warm water (recently boiled kettle water is good), mix the gelatine powder. It’s usually better to sprinkle the gelatine powder onto the water, not the other way around. Do it in a heatproof bowl or jug. Stir until melted/combined. If you are having trouble melting the gelatine you can place the bowl/jug into a pan of hot water and heat on the cooker till melted. Allow to cool for 5 minutes.

5. Beat the cheese, cream, vanilla and sugar in a bowl. Once combined add the gelatine and stir again. Finally, melt the white chocolate and add to mixture. Make sure its all stirred in well.

6. Break up the Oreos making sure they are small bits, but not blitzed liked crumbs. Combine the Oreo bits with the rest of the mixture, stirring through.

7. Pour the mixture on top of the base, into the springform tin. Smooth out evenly and neaten. Place in the fridge and chill for 3 hours.

8. Decorate as you want, but using the dark chocolate you can melt and drizzle, or grate on top. Megan insisted on saving one Oreo to decorate the top with.

Mum’s Tiramisu Cake

August 16, 2014 by Bel 4 Comments

Do you know that I’ve been meaning to post about this cake since April, when Mum had her birthday? I guess I’ve just made so many cakes in between that I never got around to it. Anyway, with last week’s GBBO having the theme of cakes, its spurred me on to actually get this posted about.

My mum is not a fan of icing on cakes. She doesn’t want something decorated with a geeky theme or thousands of sweets. Instead when I asked her what kind of cake she would like, all she requested was fresh cream. However this was my mum and I wanted to make her something special. So the more and more I thought about it, the more I knew I wanted to make it something she would love. As her favourite dessert is Tiramisu, I had the brainwave to make a sort of Tiramisu Cake – and this is what I came up with.

Tiramisu Birthday Cake

Cake:
2 packets of sponge cake mix
1 tsp instant coffee powder/granules
60ml coffee
1 tbsp coffee liqueur
Filling:
1 container of mascarpone cheese (approx 250g)
120g icing sugar
2 tbsp coffee liqueur
Frosting:
500ml double cream
60g icing sugar
2 tbsp coffee liqueur
Decorate:
a Flake, cocoa powder, grated chocolate etc.

Now if you read the ingredients before you read the instructions, you might be gasping that my recipe features two packets of sponge cake mix. I don’t want to lie to you.. this is what I used. They were about 20p from Tesco and saved so much extra hassle! However if you really want to make the sponge mix yourself, there is nothing stopping you. You’d need enough mix for 3, 9 inch tins.

1. Make up the cake mix, according to the instructions. Divide the mixture into thirds, two of which can go straight into the cake tins (greased/lined, 9 inch tins) and the other should remain in a bowl. Add the instant coffee to the last lot of cake mixture. Stir and then add to the final cake tin.

2. Bake in a preheated oven (180°C ish, Gas Mark 4/5) for approximately 20 minutes – until the cakes are cooked. Leave to cool, turning out onto a cooling rack after 10 minutes or so.

3. While the cakes are cooling, you can do three things.
– In a small bowl or cup, mix the 60ml coffee (i.e. filter coffee, or coffee made up from instant powder) and 1 tbsp of coffee liqueur – set to one side.
– In a slightly larger bowl, mix the mascarpone, 120g icing sugar and 2 tbsp coffee liqueur. Whisk until smooth and slightly thicker (preferably with an electric whisk). Refrigerate once done. This is the filling.
– In another bowl, add the double cream, 60g icing sugar and 2 tbsp coffee liqueur. Whisk until stiff (preferably with an electric whisk). This is the topping. Take about 8 tbsp of this mixture and add to the filling mixture. Refrigerate once done.

4. When the sponges are cooled, you’re ready to assemble the cake. Place one plain sponge onto a serving plate, cake board etc. With a skewer or cocktail stick, poke holes at random intervals throughout the sponge. Carefully pour some of the coffee/liqueur mixture over the sponge, so that it soaks into the holes. Next, add a layer of filling mixture, then top with the coffee sponge layer. Add another layer of filling mixture and finally add the last plain sponge. Poke holes in the top sponge and pour the remaining coffee/liqueur mixture over the cake so it soaks into the holes.

It’s not pretty but you get the idea!

Your cake is basically made, so its now just a case of decorating it and making it look nice. Of course its pretty much up to you, what you do now, but this is what I did.

5. Taking the topping mixture, spread over the top of the cake and down the sides to smooth and neaten the look. While I had originally intended to completely cover the top and sides in the topping, I ended up deciding to leave some of the brown sponge showing as I thought it looked nice. Once you’re completely satisfied with the covering of your cake, sieve some cocoa powder over the top and/or sprinkle some grated chocolate or pieces of broken up Flake.

And that’s it, you’re done! An amazingly tasty, Tiramisu Cake.

Obviously if you’d prefer, you can make without the coffee liqueur and its just a fancier coffee cake. However as Tiramisu traditionally has alcohol in it, that’s why I went with the liqueur. At all stages, make sure you keep tasting. More icing sugar can be added for a sweeter taste or more coffee could be added for a stronger coffee flavour.

My mum loved it, as did everyone else who tried a piece. While its wickedly filled with calories, its great for a treat – especially a birthday. The recipe is so simple and can be easily adapted. Why not give it a try yourself?

Recipe – Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

January 18, 2014 by Bel 6 Comments

I’ve been a bit blog lazy the last few days but that’s because I’ve had other website issues to deal with, not to mention – life! However today is my “Get Organised” day and I’m currently ploughing through a to-do list, so that I can get back on top of things. Currently I am working on “write a blog post!”

Twice this week I’ve made cookies. The first time I wanted chocolate, decided to make biscuits but I had no eggs. I goggled for a recipe and then decided to completely adapt it! Since they were so yummy, I made the biscuits again a few days later, this time adding chocolate chips instead of the smartie imitations I’d used the first time. I’m sharing the recipe with you so that you can enjoy to!

Chewy (Soft) Chocolate Chip Cookies

– 100g/4oz butter or marg
– 100g/4oz soft brown sugar
– 1 tbsp golden syrup or honey (I used golden syrup)
– 150g/6oz self raising flour (here I actually used 100-110g of plain flour because I didn’t have self raising – and it worked just fine – and 40-50g of cocoa powder, because I wanted chocolate biscuits!!)
– 1/2 tsp vanilla essence (optional apparently but I did use it)
– 50g/2oz chocolate chips or smarties (I used white, plain and milk, roughly 16g of each, mixed)

As I got a lovely new red mixer for Christmas, I’ve been making an effort to use it. However you could just as easily do this recipe by hand with absolutely no trouble!

Mix the butter, sugar and golden syrup together. Add the flour/cocoa, vanilla essence and chocolate chips.

Once everything is mixed together, grab a couple of baking trays (and if you’re anything like me and paranoid about cookies sticking) use baking parchment to cover the tray, instead of greasing (plus its healthier! – not that it matters when you’re making these cookies) and you’re ready to go! The first time I made about 15 small biscuits, this time I made about 8 big ones! Basically dollop small amounts (or big amounts for big cookies) of the mixture, onto the baking tray. Spread out somewhat but they don’t have to be neat.

Throw them into the oven at a pre-heated 170C (160 for fan oven) or Gas Mark 3. If they’re small, they only take 10 minutes to cook, if they’re larger like mine were, then about 20-25. Be warned they don’t look completely cooked when you take them out, but just trust the timings! Take them out and place them on the side to cool, only for about 5 minutes. After that, remove from parchment onto cooling rack.

WARNING: If you move the cookies from the tray too soon (i.e. immediately when you remove them from the oven) the cookies will fall apart! If you leave the cookies on the tray too long and don’t move them to the cooling rack, they will stick solid!

If you eat them while they’re still warm, they are amazingly soft and gooey. If you leave to cool completely, or store and eat the next day, biscuits remain soft but also get a sort of crunch to them. Trust me though, they’re good cookies, simple to make and have really basic ingredients in them! If you want them less chocolatey, obviously leave out the cocoa powder and just use all flour.

Do you have a favourite quick and easy biscuit recipe?

Left over sprouts?

January 13, 2014 by Bel Leave a Comment

If you’re anything like me, there is no such thing as left over sprouts. I bought a huge bag on 20th December, which all got eaten on 21st. I then bought another bag on 24th, which all got eaten on 25th (well also in Bubble and Squeak on 26th). My mum served up some sprouts on 27th and yet still I could have eaten more!

Last week I bought another bag of sprouts, because I fancied them in a stir-fry. Perhaps a little random? But it tasted good. Anyway a few days later I decided I’d try something a little different. I’ve been seeing a lot about pan-fried sprouts over the last few months and so I thought I’d give it a go.

I just made up the recipe but it was really simple.

I fried onions, slices of garlic and slices of sprouts in a wok. I added salt and pepper and then a little extra garlic powder, though it could easily have been crushed garlic too. I probably only cooked it all for about 5-10 minutes, basically until it was starting to brown. The end result was absolutely delicious and I couldn’t have eaten twice as much!

Pan-frying the sprouts this way, gave quite an al dente finish. I loved it but I guess if you prefer them a bit softer you could parboil the sprouts first and then fry them this way. Either way I highly recommend you try it and experiment with your own flavours too. Next time I might even add bacon!

Recipe – Spicy Chicken Pasta

January 28, 2013 by Bel Leave a Comment

This is my third and final recipe for today and you’ll be pleased to know I’m going out for dinner tonight, so there won’t be another for a while, lol. I cooked this one last night, again for 4 people, but since 3 of them were guys, I made plenty of pasta just to bulk it out. The last picture mind you, is of my dinner and my portion size, the guys had a bit more.

Spicy Chicken Pasta
Serves 4
Per Serving: 398 Calories, 3.3g Fat
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes

Since I still wasn’t feeling too well yesterday, everyone offered to help cook dinner. I didn’t really need it but since I’m not a big fan of raw chicken, I did let my brother slice that up for me. Other people grabbed or passed the odd thing here or there, but for the most part I cooked this solo.

Ingredients:
225g (uncooked weight) tagliatelle
1 vegetable stock cube
1 red onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 red pepper, seeded and diced
4 x 100g skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips
1 x 400g can chopped tomatoes
1 red chilli, seeded and finely chopped
8-10 basil leaves, shredded
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Parmesan cheese, to serve

Begin by placing the pasta in a large saucepan, with boiling water and the vegetable stock cube. Fingers crossed it should be ready about the same time as sauce, but if you really don’t like overcooked pasta, hold off on the pasta for a while, making sure you’re well on your way with the rest first. Next get a large non-stick frying pan and dry-fry the onions for 2-3 minutes until soft. Add the garlic and red pepper, and cook for a further 2-3 minutes.

Add the chicken strips and season with salt and pepper. Cook for about 5 minutes, until the chicken is firm and changes colour. Turn during cooking so that the chicken strips cook on all sides. Add the tomatoes and chilli, bring to a gentle simmer.

Drain off the pasta and pour into a serving dish. Spoon the sauce over and sprinkle with shredded basil leaves (this I forgot, but don’t actually feel is necessary) and a little Parmesan. I personally served the pasta up into 4 bowls, then spooned out the sauce equally over the 4 portions.

I think this has probably been my least favourite out of all the dishes I’ve cooked these last three days, but as with the other ones, everyone polished them off fairly fast, as did I. Some of my issue with this is its tomato sauce base (as I’m not great with chopped tomatoes, though I like them once I’m eating them) and some of it is probably the cooked peppers (not a huge fan of those). However that said, it really did taste good and I will definitely cook it again.

Next time… Paprika Mince