Weekend Baking

This weekend I got back to my baking and it will keep coming. I couldn't decide what to start with so I went for a mix.

First I decided on some Chocolate Brownie Cupcakes as it was the weekend so I was in need of chocolate.

These had such a soft fudgey sponge. They were slightly rich but with the portion size of a cupcake they were great. One of these would satisfy a real chocolate crazing, maybe two. I forgot to pick up extra plain chocolate so ended up using a mixture of plain, milk and white chocolate. I don't believe that this affected them but will make them again soon, with all plain chocolate, to make sure.

I also need to work on these again as the tops came out a little crisp. They still tasted fine but I'll need to watch my temperature more.

The next bake was something different for me. Melting Moments biscuits. I don't think I've made biscuits like this before. They are a lot like shortbread but softer. As the name suggests they should melt in the mouth.

This was a very easy mix. Basically chuck everything in a bowl and mix.  Then came the challenge. I am no good with a piping bag but I tried and I got better towards the end. Can you guess which ones they are?

As you can see once they came out of the oven the first attempts at piping came out darker than the rest, being much smaller.

When I piped the first few I thought it was really difficult to get the mixture out of the bag but it became much easier once the piping bag had less in it. So lesson here, don't over fill the piping bag! It will make it difficult to pipe and you'll have biscuit mix go everywhere. 

When they were baking they smelt like shortbread (the smell filled my flat) and they tasted like that too but without the bite. As the name states they melt. They are so soft you could eat these with no teeth.

I'm not a shortbread fan so these didn't appeal to me so I moved onto cookies.

I decided on a batch of white chocolate chip and again it was all in one bowl. Easy. Until the transferring to a tray. These were meant to be soft and chewy but I put too much on the tray and they were too high and didn't flatten out as much as they should have and then I overcooked them. They were alright as a crunchy cookie but it wasn't what I was going for.

So again baking didn't turn out too well but it was another try at something I enjoy. Let's see what happens next.

Halloween Sweets

It has finally happened, the Halloween Treats have arrived.

I will mention the below are not the first Halloween Treats I've had this season. The first was Mr Kipling Fiendish Fancies but with me being completely obsessed with these there has been no time for pictures, only eating.

Today I was well behaved and managed to refrain myself long enough for a couple pics.

We have a Smarties Pumpkin and Milkybar Ghost.

The pumpkin is a thin milk chocolate with mini smarties and the ghost is a hollow white chocolate ghost.

I preferred the pumpkin as the ghost was just a bit too sickly for me but if you love white chocolate it'll be fine. Both available in Tesco just now for 2 for £1.20.

I'll get a couple more pumpkins before the month is up and will post more Halloween Shops soon.

New Food/Drink Discoveries

Lets discover some new flavours. Some will have been around awhile but these are all new to me. 

The Deli crisps by Walkers.

Walkers Deli Crisps

These are made with more 'authentic flavours' and with a thicker cut potato for more of a crunch.

They certainly are more crunchy than regular walkers and they have quite a depth of flavour which is just right.
I chose the Flame Grilled Spanish Chorizo with Roasted Onions. At first I thought they were just like any other pork flavour from Walkers but then the sweetness of the roasted onion came through and then after a few crisps came the heat. I cant handle any heat and these were too much for me but they are nice crisps.

I was a bit surprised when it said British Pork made the chorizo but I guess you still need it to be quite British as it is Walkers however to keep with the 'authentic title' they have Spanish paprika.

BerryWhite Organic Drink

Next here is the BerryWhite Organic Drink, which I received in this month's Degusta Box.

This is a nice fruit juice drink but all I could taste is peach and with three other flavours meant to be in there I was disappointed as I am not a peach fan.

I would try the other flavours though and look forward to finding these. Will report on this brand again when I find them.








Now onto a white chocolate battle. Usually I'm a frequent milk chocolate eater but Dark Chocolate (Bournville) is my favourite. However lately I've been wanting to try white chocolate for a bit of a change.

Lion Bar

In this mission I discovered a White Lion Bar and White Kitkat. These are usually two of my favourite sweets. I didn't think a regular Lion Bar could be beat but this version is just lovely. They have the chocolate just right. Not too sweet, not sickly or too thick. Its a great sweet. If you find one and like Lion Bars, get it.

KitKat

 Next was the White Chocolate Kitkat Chunky. I don't want to know why they did it but they ruined a KitKat. I won't go near these again. The chocolate was just too sweet and overpowered the bar. It would of benefited from having more of a crunch with this type of chocolate.




What can we find next? Look forward to finding and sharing.