Choc chip spiced banana loaf

I was really enjoying the taste of the pumpkin pie spice, and we had some bananas going spare... so Spiced Banana Loaf was born!!

It went down a storm with The Team, and the select few taste-testers who were lucky enough to get some.  A definite winner for next autumn!

Chocolate chip pumpkin cake

I follow quite a few American baking blogs and Facebook pages, and at this time of year they all talk about the most wonderful sounding Autumn flavours of pumpkin, caramel, cinnamon, apple and the like.  So much so that I even made a Pinterest board just for Autumn flavours, mmm...  Feel free to follow that board, any board of mine, or even every board of mine - it'll be fun to have you along.

So anyway, one of these recipes I noticed was for a chocolate chip pumpkin cake (I don't have the link handy, but will add it in when I remember where I found it) that sounded easy and tasty.  Ok, found it! and it turns out it is actually for Easy Pumpkin bars, I must have tweaked it a little...

Although, looking at the photo I seem to recall that this may not have been quite the right recipe, because I remember halving it as I only wanted two, not four, loaves.  So I think the one I used must have been called a pumpkin loaf, or pumpkin bread.  Ah well, it will have been similar.

As you can see, the loaves are very low, so I could have just made one larger/taller one with all the batter I had... I probably made a note on the recipe to remind me of that for next time.  Because yes, dear readers, there will be a next time.  This was delicious, like an afternoon tea type of cake that suits the British palate quite well.  I have found in the past that pumpkin items tend to be incredibly moist, and not our favourite texture (like a pumpkin pie perhaps).  But this was eaten by the whole team, and all taste-testers were pleased with the texture.  Well, all the British locals were - one good friend, American, felt it wasn't quite moist enough for her!  ha ha.

You can't please all of the people all of the time, I guess...

Classic chocolate chip cookies for the first day back at school

I don't know if you recall, but last year and the year before (and perhaps even the year before that), The Team had fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies as a treat for their first afternoon tea on their first day back at school after the long summer holidays.  I had seen the idea on another ladies page, and her son was going into his last year of high school (daughter was already at college) and as he left his house that morning he said to his mum, I hope you're baking cookies today.

And I thought that was just lovely, that he still wanted the cookies after so many years!

So I resolved to make our girls cookies, even though they'd forgotten that they'd had the treat for the last two or three years running... 

It was a new recipe I'd tried, one I found on an American page, and purporting itself to be the best chocolate chip cookie recipe ever. (sorry to say that for the moment I simply can't recall which site. But I promise that if I find out, I'll include the link here so you can try it out and judge for yourself). So I felt it was only right to give it a go.  

And it made so much batter that I made half of it into cinnamon apple cookies!  They were flavoured with a package or two of Whitworth's new little snack bags of cinnamon apple goodness.  These also contained yoghurt covered raisins, so I removed them as I didn't think they'd bake up well at all. These cookies smelled and tasted great, but the kids preferred the choc chip ones.  

There were so many cookies in total that we ended up gifting some to their new teachers, for their first day back treat!  I've never done that before, but am pretty sure the ladies liked it.

Salted caramel and chocolate sounds good, right?

I had printed out this recipe, from Goodtoknow, for salted caramel and chocolate cookies and been looking forward to trying it out.  The Team are getting ever busier with their after-school sports and activities, and with me working during the days now there's precious little spare time in which to bake-for-fun at the moment.  So I took the chance this afternoon, while they were out enjoying the glorious afternoon with the neighbour children.

Or so I thought.  But when Mini-2 noticed I was getting all the ingredients ready, she insisted on helping me (Mini-1 had been first to get her shoes on, so was already outdoors).  The recipe was very easy to prepare and follow, but my main gripe was the addition of the chocolate before you left it to sit and cool and solidify.  It became basically one hot mess!

So when you tried to dollop out the amounts on the cookie tray in order to bake them, it was already oozing all over the place.  Even more so when baked  :(

The second batch appeared like it was going better, because the batter was cooler and more solid, but they still spread hugely whilst baking, and didn't end up looking any better.  

So the verdict chez Becca?   They smelt great whilst baking, and now, and taste ok but look pretty bad. Have you made this recipe?  How did it work out for you?

Becca does tradition - back-to-school cookies (and gets a job!)

For those of you who have read my blog for a while, you may recall last year's first-day-back-at-school after school snack cookie treat.  I felt that this was a lovely and homely tradition for the girls, and was keen to do it again for them.

However, way back at the beginning of the year I had interviewed for a supply administrative post in any school across our fair city.  I was simply hoping to get the job to get on a list, then would hope to get a call now and then, asking me to work here or there for a few days.  I felt it would be the ideal job, as it would mean I could still be with the girls when they needed me and thus not need to pay out for childcare, but also earn a bit of extra money in the hours that I wasn't with them.  Long story short, I got offered a post at a local high school, assisting a teacher.  Because it was arranged during the school holidays, it was initially for a week, to see if I got on with the teacher and if my somewhat limited availability (because it turns out that the school day in primary is shorter than that in secondary schools) would suit also.

So, knowing I wouldn't be able to bake the cookies on the actual day, The Team and I got started on them this afternoon.  Well, the weather has been good and our new neighbours are lovely, so in between riding bicycles and general playing, only Mini-2 could spare the time to help bake cookies.  Here she is carefully cutting the baking parchment to place on the baking trays...

And helping to scoop out the correct amount of mix for each of the delicious dark chocolate and butterscotch chip cookies we planned to bake.  Please don't worry about that mark on her arm, it's the remainder of a glow-in-the-dark tattoo that hasn't yet come off, not a bruise or anything else  ;)

Mmm, what a smell!   And I'll admit, we snuck in a taste test once they were out of the oven.  But the rest we will keep for our first day back at school - all 3 of us!!

P.S.  The teacher liked me, and could work with my availability, so I'm now gainfully employed outside the home for the whole academic year - go Becca!!

Butterscotch cookies, with a little bit of help from Ikea

You may or may not know that we recently moved house.  It wasn't as stressful as it need have been because we chose to have the movers pack up all our stuff.  Sadly, the unpacking wasn't a service they offered.  But, at Mr Becca's insistence, that task was completed in a matter of weeks.  And we discovered that we had a lot of stuff, but finally a bit more space than stuff - yey!!  So a trip to Ikea was deemed appropriate, to purchase storage items so that our stuff looked nicer and tidier in the new house.  It's a fair drive from Becca Towers, and we thought to do it without the kids for a change, so they didn't have to submit to the long drive there and back for little (for them) reward.  Mr Becca had a few days annual leave, so we went.

And whilst there, I saw a large bag of Swedish butterscotch chip milk chocolate.  And my first thought, after Mmm, how tasty, was what could I bake with them?  Ha ha, never switched off (much to Mr Becca's chagrin at times).  So here's what I baked - my trusty Carnation milk recipe cookies, with a twist.

The chocolates were far too large to include as is, so each one was chopped into quarters and popped into the cookie dough, along with some leftover cashew nuts we hadn't yet eaten.  The dough then gets split in half and rolled in a sausage and refrigerated for at least 20 minutes to firm up before slicing.

I just sliced up half of one sausage to get ready as an after school treat for the girls, I had only about 20 minutes before I had to leave to pick them up, so had a wee panic as to whether these would be ready in time or not...

Lucky for me, and the girls, they were!  And a delicious after school snack was enjoyed by all!!  There's still dough left in the fridge - it keeps for about a week, so we'll be enjoying this treat for a few days yet I think.

Chocky Rocks? They're bonza, mate!

I had asked for easy-to-make-with-kids recipes, particularly Australian ones and was rewarded with the following links by some Aussie bakers in a group I'm in.  The first was for White Christmas, which is technically not baking, but perfect for kids.  Next up was Chocky Rocks and Anzac Biscuits, both of which seemed ideal for my needs.  The needs need to remain secret just now I think, but suffice it to say that the 'kids' in question are not my own - ooh, exciting!!

Anyway, the point of this post is that the girls and I wanted to try out one of the recipes and thought Chocky Rocks sounded fun and easy.  And messy, their favourite part! ha ha.

We started shaping the cookies by hand, as the recipe suggested, but my gosh!  What a mess!

 After shaping them, you had to roll them in cornflakes.  Not easy with such mucky hands...

 So after cleaning their hands thoroughly (with soap and water, I promise!!)

 We switched to using two spoons to roll the balls

 

 and then dip the balls into cornflakes.

 They were then unceremoniously dropped onto a lined baking tray (I'm working on the gracefulness of the girls, working hard ;))

 And popped into the oven to cook.  And then taken out to be eaten.

Served with a tall glass of ice cold milk - mmmm, yummy!!  I remembered making these as a child with my Mum and siblings and I think my girls had just as much fun.

Choc chip cookies for the first day of school

One of the ladies in the American cake forum to which I belong on Facebook makes cookies for her kids every first-day-of-school.  She had mentioned it in a post and I thought it sounded wonderful.  The reason she had posted her pic and info was because her son is a senior this year (and daughter in college), so she wasn't planning to make the cookies, thinking he was too old for them.  Then he surprised her on his way out the door, saying I hope you're baking cookies today Mom! 

Sadly I had missed the girls' first day of school, but really wanted to instigate the tradition.  So I figured I could do it for Mini-2's first full day of school - any excuse, right?!  

I chose to use the Carnation recipe, as it was so good last time and you can keep any uncooked dough for up to a week in the fridge.  It needs to be refrigerated for about half an hour or more before cutting, so I wrapped it in foil first time, and cling film this time.

And then got to cut nice, thick slices of cookie - ready to be baked fresh for their arrival (well, for me to go and collect them as us all to walk home)...

 Mmmm, fresh-baked choc and peanut chunk cookies with a tall, cold glass of milk.  Hungry yet?

 (This last photo is another batch, made almost a week later when friends came to visit.  I've included it because this post is being written some time later ;)  )

G'day mate, fancy some chocolate?

I've started going to an exercise class on a Monday morning, as they have a creche so Mini-2 is ok there.  They also have a class on a Friday afternoon, but I've not made it to that yet - one week I had a bad dizzy spell and today I felt like baking instead.  We had a playdate this afternoon with friends we hadn't seen for months, and we were all looking forward to it.  I thought cookies would go down nicely for all.

I wanted to try another from the Donna Hay (Australia's Nigella Lawson) book my friend C gave me for a birthday a couple of years ago, Simple Essentials - Chocolate.  There were a few from which to choose, but the Double Chocolate ones looked perfect for the time I had available and I had all the ingredients to hand.  They needed a lot of chocolate - some melted into the mix, some chopped into the mix.  See what I mean? That's a lot of chocolate chips, and more were added after this photo.

The mix was a bit dry, but easily made over 3 dozen small-medium sized cookies, yum.  And they went down a storm with our friends...  Want one?

Ferrero Rocher and chocolate brownies? Yes please!

Mr Becca received a large tray of Ferrero Rocher chocolates a while ago as a gift from work.  I don't recall why, and he doesn't really like them that much, so they'd stayed wrapped in the box for some months.  For lack of any other way to use them (obviously, I love them and could eat them, but I'm really trying hard to keep my weight at a healthy level, and 2 dozen chocolates wouldn't help that at all...)  I thought I might try them in Brownies.  As you do. 

I had seen someone do it with Cadbury's Creme Eggs and it looked like a good idea, as apparently you add the chocs on top just 5 minutes before the baking time is complete.  I don't like Creme Eggs, though the rest of The Team do, very much.   So I had no intention of doing it with them, but felt the Ferrero Rocher's would do nicely.  So at the appointed time, I removed the tray from the oven, popped on the chocolates, and returned it to the oven for the final 5 mintues.  They actually weren't that easy to keep in position, as the crust had started to form on the brownies and I had to push a little to get them in.  So some are lower in than others, and some started melting faster than others.

I waited till the whole tray cooled, sprayed it with edible gold lustre spray and took them down to our friend's house.  We didn't get the chance to eat them the same night, but the next.  And I made sure to photograph them before biting into them!

Christmas at school, Becca style

I felt quite pleased to be asked by Mini-1's school to provide brownies for the adults to nibble with their tea/coffee after the Carol Concert (which was held before the Christmas Fayre).  To be fair, it's a fairly small school so I knew it was an achieveable request, and offered to do 2 trays and cut them into bite-size pieces so they'd be a) manageable and b) go further.  Mini-2 and I arrived after the concert, but just before the fayre started and were thrilled to be greeted by many parents, (some of whom we didn't even know) congratulating us on the delicious brownies!  No idea how they knew I made them, but very pleased nonetheless. 

Then it was the turn of the class party.  I had considered offering to bake mini cupcakes for the class, but knew it wasn't officially sanctioned by the Scottish Government (not conducive to the Healthy Eating in School (or elsewhere, for that matter) Policy) and so the Education Dept didn't allow it.  But then the class teacher shyly asked if I could.  Sure of course, I said, but I couldn't make as few as 16 - could she pass out the rest?  Oh yes, was the quick reply.  And thus it was that I handed in 4 dozen similarly decorated little Christmas beauties.

And I'm pleased to say that these too got great reviews!

Peanut and chocolate chip cookies

Thanks to the Banoffee pie we made as a treat for Mr Becca a few days ago, we had condensed milk to use up.  I went onto the Carnation website for inspiration and found this recipe for Hazelnut and Choc Chunk cookies. 

It used a method that I've read of, but never used before, and sounded easy enough for myself and Mini-2 to manage on a quiet morning before lunch and nursery.  So off we went...

The mix wasn't actually that gloopy, despite the addition of the condensed milk, and with the peanuts (we didn't have any hazelnuts in the cupboard) and chocolate chips (they're much faster to add than chopping up a bar of chocolate, and much more fun for Mini-2 to pinch) it smelled amazing and looked so good.  But it had go into the fridge to chill for at least half an hour, and up to a week, so we did Peppa Pig jigsaws whilst waiting.  (Actually, she did them all herself, they're a bit too easy for her now, which gives me a great idea for a birthday gift).

Then on to the cutting and baking of the cookies...

You see here Mini-2 wearing her current favourite stripy trousers and 101 Dalmations jumper, cutting rounds for baking.  And here we see those rounds ready to be baked...

Mmmm, full of big chunks of peanut and chocolate.  A mere quarter hour and a fantastic smelling house later, we got these lovelies out of the oven.

They tasted amazing, and we have one and a half sausages of cookie-mix in the fridge for later.  I shall try more every few days to see how the mix bakes up

Hummingbird Peanut Butter Cookies

We had some time to spare today, so took a group decision to bake something for our friends visiting tomorrow.  Mini 1 wanted to do nothing, because she believes we share too much and there's never enough for her to have thirds and fourths.  Mini 2 suggested 'muffins, because we haven't done them in ages' but I pointed out that we hadn't done biscuits in ages either, and so took an Executive Decision.  Biscuits it was.

Off to find the recipe that one of our Facebook fans mentioned, from the first Hummingbird book.  It seemed quick and easy, which is always a bonus with young children (for those of you without some of your own, they have a short attention span).  We weighed out and mixed up the ingredients and put in a bit extra of chocolate chips (our pack had 100g and the recipe only required 75g, but I felt that the kids really didn't need to eat a full 25g of chocolate, hence the addition to the mix).  The recipe stated it would make 24, but I didn't want the cookies to be too large.  As it turned out, they were a good size and we got 60!!!

So enough for all the children, plus plenty extra for the Mum's to enjoy with a mug of coffee...

or a cup of tea, ha ha

Jackson Pollock meets Becca Bakes

This is a chocolate cake with white chocolate chips mixed in, ably assisted by Mini-Becca #2 while Mini-Becca #1 was at her last morning of school as a P2 girl (that's Grade 1 to you non-Scots out there).  It's then covered in chocolate icing and drizzled with melted white chocolate and topped with dark chocolate stars.  Why?  Well, firstly why not.  And secondly because we were going to play at Liz's house for lunch on the last day of the school year and she and I like to bake.  Lastly, I'd seen an idea for a 4th of July cake (we've been invited to a 4th of July party) and wanted to try out the icing technique.

Looks aren't everything

We found out at short notice that a friend of mini-Becca #2's from nursery could come over to play this morning.  We decided we'd like to make biscuits for her and her mum for morning tea, dotted with mini Smarties and choc honeycomb chunks.  We only had 40 minutes until they were due, and this was just the right amount of time in which to weigh, mix and bake the cookies.  I don't think the problem here was time, but rather too much mix per cookie.  I had recently bought us a portioning tool (i.e. an old-style ice-cream scoop) and used this to decide how much mix per dollop - bad move.  The old-fashioned method of a heaped teaspoon would have been fine.  Still, they went down a storm with Ava and her Mummy, us, our Daddy and with Billy the reptile man after school (but that's a whole other story)...