The Best Ever Chocolate Cookie...

I'll be the first to admit, that I don't really like cookies... Blasphemy I know! But if you give me something as chocolatey and gooey and scrumptious as this and call it a cookie, I'm willing to throw caution to the wind and chow that bad boy down like I'm practicing for a food eating contest.

Trust me when I say you will not be disappointed...

To make 10 cookies you will need:

- 200g dark chocolate, melted
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
- 1/4 cup white flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup walnuts, chopped
- 1/3 cup white chocolate chunks
- 1/3 cup dark chocolate chunks

Start by beating the eggs and sugar with an electric mixer until the mixture is thick and pale.

Add the melted chocolate and vanilla essence and fold in with a spatula. Mix together the flour, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl before adding to the chocolate mixture, and fold in until just combined.
Fold through the walnuts and chocolate chunks at this point and pop the mixture in the fridge for 15 minutes to chill. This will thicken the mixture a little just before baking and prevent the cookies from spreading into each other.

Spoon a heaped dessert spoon of the mixture onto parchment paper until all the mixture has been used up (I usually get 10 cookies out of it).

Bake at 175oC for 12-15 minutes. The cookies will crack on top and look like melted chocolate between the cracks. Let them sit for 10 minutes to ensure a crust forms on the outside and they won't fall apart.

I guarantee you will want to eat them all in one go!

Choc Chip Banana Brownies

Brownies are yum. Let's make some!

You will need:

 - 1/4 cup milk

 - 1 tbsp lemon juice

 - 1/2 cup soft butter

 - 1/2 cup sugar

 - 2 eggs

 - 1 tsp vanilla

 - 2 cups of wholewheat flour (you can use white flour if you prefer)

 - 1/2 tsp baking powder

 - 4 overripe mashed bananas

 - 2/3 cup dark chocolate chips

Mix together the milk and lemon juice, this will curdle the milk which helps keep the brownie soft. Put it to the side while you cream the butter and sugar using an electric mixer. 

Throw in the eggs and vanilla essence and beat until just combined.

 In a separate bowl, mix together the flour and baking powder before adding it to the rest of the batter and folding in with a wooden spoon. Add the mashed bananas and chic chips and fold again untill everything is combined.

Pour your mixture into a large baking dish lined with baking paper and bake at 180oC for 40 minutes. It's always good to check on your cakes halfway through baking and to use a wooden skewer to check if the centre is cooked. If the skewer comes out clean or with a crumb on it then it's ready!

Best served with company and a hot cup of joe xx

Homemade Vitamin H2O...

Springtime has well and truly arrived in Whistler and what a treat it is to be able to walk the trails and bike ride out to the beautiful lakes here!

Sweating off that winter coat is a big factor when partaking in these sunshine filled activities and it always leaves me with a mighty thirst and 0 stamina by the end of the day.

Vitamin waters are a perfect pick me up but can be quite expensive and do we really know what is in them?

Here's a home remedy to beat those lazy afternoon blues and pump your system full of vitamin H2O!

You will need:

 - 6 cups of water
 - 1 orange, quarted
 - 1 lemon, quarted
 - 1 cup of pineapple slices
 - 1/2 cup of frozen raspberries
 - 1 Tablespoon of honey






Add all your ingredients to a saucepan and simmer on a low heat until the honey has dissolved (about 5 minutes). Taste the liquid at this point, you may like to add some more honey depending on the tartness of your fruit.

Strain the liquid into a large jug squeezing the oranges and lemons and squashing all the juice out of the pineapple and raspberries.
Chill in the fridge and it'll be ready to drink post workout!

Vitamin C and antioxidants will contribute to immune support and fructose will raise those energy levels so you can get on with the rest of your day :)

Caramel Banana Cream Cake...

I needed to whip up something fancy and quick! It's moments like these I'm thankful to have a freezer full of cake :p

My trusty fiancé tried his hand at making my profiteroles for the first time and they turned out to be such a treat! We filled them with caramel cream which is essentially whipped cream mixed with a little salted caramel, ah-mazing.

Then I layered a vanilla sponge cake with salted caramel, banana slices and whipped cream and tied it all together with a layer of salted caramel buttercream. Again, this is just your regular butter cream with a lashing of salted caramel.

We dressed the profiteroles with chocolate and stacked them high while the chocolate was still melted, this way they stick together nicely! To finish it off I coated some strawberries with chocolate and filled in any gaps, it's nice to have some fresh fruit on hand while you eat this decadent little masterpiece as it is VERY rich.

 

Dinosaur Easter Eggs...

They're just like cake pops with a surprise inside :)

This recipe makes 8 and is perfect for cooking with kids...

^ Just take 2 cups of cake crumbs and mix it with 2 tablespoons of buttercream icing.

> Divide the mixture into 8.

Take one section of the mixture in the palm of your hand and press a caramel filled easter egg into the centre.

Wrap the cake mixture around the egg and gently roll it into an egg shape.

< Put these eggs into the freezer until they are chilled and firm enough for you to handle.

Melt some white chocolate and douse the egg shaped balls with it.

Place back on some greaseproof paper and pop them in the fridge until the chocolate has set.

Now they're ready to eat, um nom nom!

Choc Rice Bar...

I'm not a true believer in coconut oil being necessarily good for you, it is of course a source of saturated fat, derived from plants instead of animals. However, it's a much lighter and smooth textured oil just perfect for so many recipes, here's one I experimented with!

I've been toying with the idea of a homemade muesli bar with an oat and cereal substitute. Sometimes I find oat bars unpleasantly chewy and floury and puffed cereals can be fun but they're mostly made of air. Brown rice was my go to carb in this easily prepared bar as it's nutty flavour works perfectly in a muesli inspired slice!

  Mix 4 tablespoons of coconut butter with 3 tablespoons of cocoa and 3 tablespoons of honey (you can microwave it for a few seconds if the oil is too solid to mix).

Add 1/2 a cup of your favourite chopped dried fruits (I used apricots and cranberries).

Then mix in 1/2 cup of brown rice and 1/2 cup of your favourite toasted nuts (I used walnuts and macadamias).

Once the mixture is combined, spray a rectangular dish with oil before lining it with cling film and spooning in the mixture. Flatten the mixture into the dish using it as a mould and sprinkle the top with any nuts or dried fruits for aesthetic appeal.

Pop it in the fridge until it has hardened, then take it out of the mould and cut into slices.

Keep it stored in the fridge as coconut oil has a tendency to melt at low temperatures.

Enjoy you're personalised chocolatey rice bar with a few added health benefits so you don't have to feel so guilty ;)

Leni's Little Lemon Eggs...

Leni's mum actually inspired these cute little lemony easter treats and they are almost as sweet as her 2 little daughters :)

Sponge cupcakes:

2 eggs

1 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

pinch of salt

1 tablespoon butter

1/2 cup milk

Beat eggs with an electric mixer for 3 minutes before adding white sugar and beating for a further 4 minutes until the mixture is pale and fluffy. Add vanilla essence and mix until combined.

Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Add these dry ingredients to the egg mixture and mix only until it is just combined.

Melt butter and milk together (either microwave or stove top) and again add this to the mixture until it is just combined.

lightly grease a cup cake tray and fill each cup about 3/4 full. Cook at 180oC and do not open the oven for the first 10 minutes. After this time, cakes are ready when a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Lemon Curd:

4 egg yolks (save the whites for later)

1/2 cup white sugar

1 tablespoon butter

2 Lemons

This was my favourite part, its soooo easy and delicious! Just make sure you stay with it, don't get distracted or it will burn (speaking from tonnes of experience trust me).

Peel and juice the lemons and set aside.

Whisk egg yolks with white sugar in a saucepan and set on a low heat. Add butter and stir slowly until it melts.

Add the lemon peel and juice at this point and gently stir for 5 minutes. Take out the lemon peel as it has had enough time to infuse  and continue to stir until the mixture thickens. (This could take about 15 minutes). The mixture will also thicken as it cools, so pop it in the fridge, covering the top with plastic wrap to ensure it doesn't form a skin.

Marshmallow frosting:

4 egg whites

3/4 cup white sugar

Slowly whisk the egg whites and sugar in a bowl by hand over a simmering pot of hot water for  approximately 10 minutes, until the egg mixture is hot to touch. Then remove from the stove.

Using an electric beater, beat the egg mixture on high for about 10 minutes until stiff peaks form and the mixture has cooled.

To assemble the cakes, scoop a small hole out of two cupcakes and fill each one with lemon curd. Stack them on top of each other so that the lemon curd forms the centre of the cake.

 

Completely coat each cupcake stack with marshmallow frosting and it's ready to serve!

Om nom nom, fluffy, lemony and seriously sweet just in time for easter!