novel34

  I confess.  I love chocolate and it doesn't matter what kind of chocolate it is.  Dark, milk . . .   in cakes and cookies . . .  good candy bars, good chocolates . . . pies and puddings.   The only kind I am not fond of is chocolate milk or chocolate ice cream.  I'm not even really fussy on hot chocolate drinks.  I don't know why that is. It is a mystery to me too. The Toddster of course, he doesn't like chocolate in any form other than chocolate candies or hot chocolate.   I know!  It just ain't human, but I'm not complaining as that always means more brownies for me!!   Chocolate Baked goods are notoriously difficult to get a good photograph of.  I don't know why that is.   I apologize for a lack of tasty photos of these fabulously delicious muffins.   No matter how I tried, they just did not want to come out right.  Nevermind . . . You will just have to take my word for it that they are...

A good friend of mine had a knee replacement done about a week and a half ago.  We were going to visit her today to see how she is doing and help break the monotony of being largely immobile and so I decided I wanted to bring her some little treat.    At first I was going to bake her some muffins and then I thought . . . maybe muffins would be too much . . . or they would get all squished in the car, or not be at their best by the time we got there.  I love muffins best when they are fresh out of the oven. That's when I decided to bake her some cookies.  Not kid cookies.  Grown up cookies.   Cookies meant for dunking.   Out of the ordinary cookies.  Not a chocolate chip in sight.  (Although I am a big fan of those myself!)   I decided to make these lovely almond crescents.  They're buttery and crisp  and stogged full of almonds. . . with a crunchy sugar coating of granulated sugar, which bakes on whilst they are in the o...

In Canada they have these really tasty candy bars names Sweet Marie's.  They were always my favourite candy bars when I was a child.  Not only were they stogged full of caramel, peanut butter, crispy cereal and salted peanuts . . . not to mention covered in chocolate . . . but they actually named the bars after ME!  (Don't ever tell me any different!) All in all a very irresistable combination don't you think?   I don't know if they have anything similar over here, but I suspect they do . . . and I suspect that it is probably the Picnic or the Lion Bars.   Or a cross between the two. It's funny how things go . . . how when you can't get something anymore, you kind of crave it.   Things like Kraft Macaroni and Cheese . . . or Velveeta . . . All Dressed Potato Chips . . . Coffee Crisp Candy Bars . . . Lucky Charms Cereal . . . Captain Crunch . . . Sweet Marie's . . . And the longer you have to live without them . . . the more you want them.   The...

  We are awfully fond of doughnuts in this house.  I especially like the Crispy Cremes we can get at the local Tesco and on the Motorway.  Occasionally I will buy a box to treat the missionaries with, and  . . . we have been known to indulge in one or two when we are on a lengthy trip along the motorway.  But deep fried doughnuts are a once in a blue moon treat for us, which is as it should be.   I am not adverse to baking doughnuts however.  I bought myself several doughnut baking pans last year and I break them out every so often.  Baked doughnuts are still a real treat, except they are not fried.  I guess they are a bit like muffins, except they are shaped like doughnuts.  What's not to like about that?  In the past year I have made . . . Baked Chai Spice Doughnuts . Honey Glazed Granola Doughnuts . Baked Chocolate Buttermilk Doughnut s. White Chocolate Drizzled Gingerbread Doughnuts.   Jam Filled Baked Cinnamon Doughnu...

I could tell you that this cake is moist and deliciously scrummy . . . With it's lightly spiced and buttery batter . . . tucked beneath a layer of tart blackberries . . . All that deliciousness . . . tucked beneath a crunchy layer of spicy buttery and nutty streusel . . . I could tell you how it tastes even better the day after baking and warn you how difficult it will be to stop at one slice . . . But instead . . . I'll just suggest that you bake it yourself, and find all this out first hand. Bake it . . . soon . You won't regret it. I promise you this. If you only make one cake this month . . . let this be the ONE. *Blackberry Pecan Snacking Cake* makes one 8 inch square cake Printable Recipe A delicious cake, with a lightly spiced batter and topped with lovely blackberries and a scrummy brown sugar pecan streusal. For the cake: 125ml of sour cream (1/2 cup) 1 large free range egg 1 tsp pure vanilla extract 4.25 ounces plain flour (1 cup) 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/2 ts...

I love muffins.  I love them even more than cupcakes.   Cupcakes are nice, but they don't stay with you as long as a muffin does.  Muffins are heavier and when you eat one, you feel satisfied.  A muffin is a meal that feels and tastes like a real treat.    I saw a joke poster the other day that said that once you lick the frosting off a cupcake that turns it into a muffin . . . so that made it a healthy option.  I beg to differ on several fronts.  A cupcake can never be a muffin . . . muffins aren't cake.   And a muffin can't be a cupcake, not if it's a true muffin that is . . . they are two completely different animals.  Mind you . . . that is only my opinion. They also differ greatly when it comes down to mixing them up.   Cupcake batter is mixed like cake batter . . . you cream the fats and sugars together first until light and then you beat in the egg (s) . . . adding the dry and wet ingredient alternately and normally mi...