Tuesday 21 May 2013

My chocolate, almond and coconut muesli

This is what it looks like before it is mixed


This muesli goes perfectly with yoghurt  or just with ice cold milk. There are choices of things you could put in muesli but this is my simple recipe. I've given the recipe as proportions so you can make as much or as little as you like.

Ingredients

60%-80% of the volume of the container of bran flakes and rolled oats

30% sliced almonds and desiccated coconut

10%-20%  sultanas

5%-10% chopped chocolate

Preparation 

Place the bran flakes and oats into a air tight container. Crush the bran flakes a little. Then add the nuts and the sultanas. Finally, top with the chopped chocolate. Shake until fully combined, then serve in a small bowl with yoghurt or ice cold milk.

(I told you it was simple!)

Monday 6 May 2013

Daily Helpful Little Tips

If you are not sure if the baking time on your recipe is correct, then the best thing to do is bake them for five minutes LESS than it says, and if they are not done you can always bake them again.
(My sister helped with this idea!)

Sunday 5 May 2013

Chocolate Hazelnut Macaroons

These macaroons are a delicate and delicious snack to keep you going up until the next meal.

Here's a simple recipe showing how to make them in a few very simple steps.

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 15- 20 minutes
Cooling time: 3-4 minutes




INGREDIENTS

100g chopped toasted hazelnuts
2 medium egg whites
225g caster sugar
1 tsp cornflour
1 tbsp cocoa powder

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 170°C/ Gas 3
Line 2 baking sheets with non-stick baking parchment.
Place hazelnuts on one of the baking sheets, but first remove the parchment. Spread them out a little. Bake them for 3-4 minutes.
Then, whilst the hazelnuts are in the oven, weigh the sugar, and cocoa powder, and prepare the egg whites and the cornflour. By the time you've done that, the hazelnuts should have finished, if not, just leave them until they are done. When they are just toasted, put into a folded tea cloth and rub off the bitter outer skins. then put them in a grinder and whiz until finely chopped.
Put the egg whites into a large mixing bowl and whisk (I used an electric whisk!) until you begin to see soft peaks. Gradually add half the sugar and whisk until you see stiff peaks.
Mix the remaining sugar with the cocoa powder, cornflour and the ground hazelnuts until there's no lumps.
Carefully fold in the hazel nutty mixture into the egg whites.
Place spoonfuls of the mixture onto the baking sheets with the parchment.
Cook for about 15-20 minutes until the macaroons are pale golden and can easily be removed from the paper.

Whisk half the sugar into the egg whites and mix the rest of the sugar with the ground hazelnuts and the cocoa powder.


Fold the two mixtures together
Half way through it should look like this

Ready to spoon onto the baking sheets

The cooked macaroons

Crispy tops and chewy middles - perfect!
Sandwich in pairs with a little chocolate spread and enjoy!