Fold in the Flour ...

I must admit that I rarely eat flapjacks, and I have never actually made them before. On the rare occurrences that I have indulged, I've thought them OK. Nothing special, and probably deceptive in terms of how healthy they are. With one of the main ingredients being oats, you'd think that they were healthier than other sweet treats. But then you factor in the butter and sugar, along with any other ingredient you want to chuck in, and suddenly they are not so healthy. But still. When I saw some in my local supermarket the other day, I was intrigued. They were 'Date and Chocolate Flavour'. I was taken with the idea of dates and chocolate, but not so much the 'chocolate flavour', from which I inferred  real chocolate was not going to be part of the deal. Bad memories of 'Scotbloc' from my school cookery lessons came to mind. (And yes, I am old enough to remember having proper school cookery lessons). Scotbloc was some kind of cake covering that you ...

It's amazing what you can add candy to. Practically anything. And that can only be a good thing, right? Do you remember the Red, White and Blue Peanut M&Ms I mentioned on the post about the Jubilee Royal Velvet Cake ? Well, this is where they put in an appearance. OK. Where some of them put in an appearance. OK, so this is not really a Jubilee recipe, but if you are looking for a quick and easy recipe for your Jubilee Party, that tastes great and has a touch of the ol' red, white and blue about it, then this is it. You can simply chuck everything together and bake and in a matter of 15 minutes you will have some pretty awesome tasting cookies. Peanut and Chocolate Chip Cookies Ingredients (makes 16) 75g (3 oz) softened unsalted butter 75g (3oz) caster sugar 75g (3oz) soft light brown sugar 1 medium egg 1 tspn vanilla extract 175g (6oz) plain flour 1/2 tspn baking powder 100g (4oz) peanut M&Ms (I used the limited edition red, white and blue) 50g ...

It's clearly turning into American month on Fold in the Flour, as this particular Bundt cake is again inspired by the US. I've recently blogged Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes for the Cupcake Book Club. They went down so well, I wanted to try another chocolate and peanut butter recipe. Flicking through some of my baking books, I came across this one, from a little book called 'Cake Keeper Cakes' , by Lauren Chattman. The idea being that the cakes in the book can be kept on your counter top for a few days, in one of those glorious covered cake plates (sadly I don't have one of those, so tupperware for me!). However, I love the idea of the genteel hospitality this evokes, with friends and family dropping around for a cup of tea, slice of cake and a chat. As a side issue, in case you're not aware of this, Cardiff has a fantastic shopping centre, particularly if you're a cookery enthusiast. Whether you love cookware gadgetry, ingredients or farmer...

  If you've been reading along with this blog for a while, you may recognise that Chocolate Chips and Pistachios are two of my favourite ingredients. Chocolate Chips have featured in some of my favourite recipes, such as Chocolate Chip Marble Cake and Chocolate Chip Cookies . Pistachios have made an appearance in Pistachio Macarons and Cranberry and Pistachio Biscotti.  So for me, to find a recipe that combines both is a Very Good Thing indeed. One of my newer cookery book acquisitions had just such a recipe, and I thought you might like to hear about it. However, it's a brilliant example that in baking things can go wrong, too!  First though, I should explain that a few years back, I discovered Food Network on our cable box. Sooo, fast forward a few years and I am now in the midst of a love affair with Americana, especially baking (I suspect I am not alone if the proliferation of US style bakeries in the UK is anything to go...

Sooo, it's still the school holidays in Cardiff this week, and the spectacle of two ravenous teenagers rampaging around the house foraging is a fairly regular occurence. In an effort to stave off hunger, and boredom, Ben and I decided to revisit one of his favourite - and easy peasy - recipes for chocolate chip cookies. It's taken from a cookery book I bought him when he was about 7, and first starting to want to help Mummy in the kitchen. These have seen many, many outings over the years, and Ben and I have made them together every time (admittedly, quite often with me fighting my kitchen control freakery, but I am trying to mellow, honest). One memorable version of these invoved Ben wanting to use pink food dye. The resulting pink cookies with brown spots were fairly reminiscent, for those of you who remember, of Mr Blobby. Eating one felt, on one level, so wrong, yet on another, so right. For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, don't wo...

  While I definitely hold the view that there can never be too many cupcakes in this world, this blog seems to be developing a cupcake habit (not that I'm particularly sorry for that). However, as the aim is to develop my baking, I thought I'd better turn my attention away from cupcakes, at least for a while.This Chocolate Chip Marble Cake fitted the bill perfectly.  I found this gorgeous recipe on the lovely blog Piece of Cake by Shauna Once again, though, it marks the return of chocolate to my baking - sense another theme here? I've wanted to try marbling for a while, and the layer of fudgy, brownie-type chocolate running through the centre of this cake really got my mouth salivating. The recipe also marked me trying out a bundt - or ring - cake for the first time. This cake is just lovely, and the smell generated in the house while it was baking was swoon-inducing. It even managed to get the boys out of their rooms and away f...