Traybakes

Banana Blondies

How do you feel about blondies? However you feel, these banana blondies may just be the best version I’ve made to date.

I love a good blondie as they are quick, easy and the perfect alternative to brownies. By adding the banana in to the blondie batter, you can use it as an egg replacement and it’s perfect for helping achieve that gorgeous dense and fudgy texture. The other big advantage is that the banana helps flavour the batter naturally – no need for that nasty artificial banana flavouring.

These are the perfect bake to make, especially considering the seasons have changed and the weather is finally warming up and you’re now able to meet with your friends and family – it would be rude to go empty handed, right?

When I made these, I made a double batch, as I had ingredients I needed to use up and thought ‘why not’ as these have been consistently brilliant when I was doing the practices – to help add to the banana flavour and texture, I used some banana chips on top (Lio Bites if you were wondering). I made this a while back, using up the odds and ends I had in the cupboards.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

400g White chocolate.

230g Butter.

320g Granulated sugar.

380g Plain flour.

1/2 tsp Salt.

4 Eggs.

100g Banana, mashed (with some lumps).

200g White chocolate chips.

Methods:

Before you get started on the recipe, you’ll want to do some prep work. Start by weighing up all your ingredients, lining a 9×13 baking tray with parchment paper, preheat your oven to 180˚c/350˚f and don’t forget to get any equipment you may need, such as a heat proof bowl.

To start, place a large saucepan with a small amount of water on the hob – allowing the water to reach a rolling boil. Then into a large heat proof bowl, place in the butter and white chocolate, then place the bowl on top of the water and allow the ingredients to melt. Once they start to melt, stir until the mixture is completely melted and combined.

Remove from the heat and add in the granulated sugar and whisk it in until its fully incorporated.

Then you can go ahead and add in the plain flour and salt (sift is needed). Fold in the dry ingredients just until they are incorporated – this doesn’t take long and it gives you more control on how much you work the gluten.

Now add in your eggs, one at a time, whisking well in-between each addition. As you add in the eggs, you will notice the mixture’s consistency change – this is normal and shows that the recipe is going right.

Don’t forget to add in the banana and just whisk it into the mixture until its fully incorporated. You’ll also want to add in the white chocolate chips and just mix them in until they are fully incorporated.

Transfer the blondie batter into your lined 9×13 baking tray and level out the batter before baking in the oven for 25-30 minutes. After the 25-30 minutes, remove from the oven and top with the banana chips and bake for a further 5-10 minutes.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool fully, before you place them in the fridge overnight and allow them to become the densest and fudgiest blondies possible.

Whenever they have been in the fridge for more than a couple of hours, you can go ahead and remove them from the tray and slice them up to enjoy them however you like – I went with squares but you can choose whatever shape you like.

That’s all for today guys, I hope you enjoyed. If you did, don’t forget to share this recipe with your family and friends and enjoy it. I’ll be back soon with another blog post and YouTube video, so join me then. In the meanwhile, don’t forget to check out my other social’s – Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube. The YouTube tutorial will be linked down below.

Chocolate Bread Pudding

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

Today I’m sharing my take on a batch of chocolate bread pudding – this is super simple and decadently chocolatey, what’s not to love?

You may not have seen my latest recipe, which was for a batch of triple chocolate hot cross buns – that’s what we need for today’s recipe. For the best results, use day old or slightly stale hot cross buns.

This may not be the traditional bread pudding but it’s an intensely chocolatey version – perfect for those who like a lot of chocolate – perfect for over easter, right?

I only made a small batch, seeing as this is very rich and a small portion is more than adequate. This may be the recipe you need to try, why not give it a try over easter and share with friend and family.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

500g triple chocolate hot cross buns.

600ml whole milk.

30g cocoa powder.

100g white chocolate chips.

100g milk chocolate chips.

100g dark chocolate chips.

100g light brown sugar.

2 eggs.

Method:

Before you get started on the recipe, you’ll want to do some prep work. Weigh up all of your ingredients, preheat your oven to 180˚c/350˚f and line a deep sided 8 inch square cake tin.

To start on the recipe, take a large mixing bowl and place in all the roughly chopped bread and then pour over the milk. Combine the two by using your hands and rubbing them together, until the are combined enough that theres no large lumps. This may take about 5-7 minutes but you want to make sure the milk is fully incorporated into the bread as any bits that aren’t fully worked in will show and ruin the perfect texture in the end results. It should be a mushy consistency.

Next you can go ahead and add in the cocoa powder and chocolate chips, then mix these in until they are fully incorporated, just mix everything together using your hand.

Lastly, add in your eggs and light brown sugar and mix them in until its fully incorporated.

Go ahead and grab your lined cake tin and pour in the mixture – level it out to ensure a consistent bake. As an optional finish, sprinkle over a small amount fo light brown sugar.

Place into your preheated oven and bake for 30-40 minutes.

Once baked, remove from the oven and allow to cool fully.

When available, place the bread pudding into the fridge to chill overnight – this enhances the flavour and makes it easier to slice up.

You can slice these up however you like but I went with squares as this is very rich and a little goes a long way.

Lemon Bars

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

If you’re looking for the easiest lemon bar recipe, look no further. I have finally found the perfect balance between the base and lemon topping – which I think you’ll love.

These are officially one of my favourite bakes of all time, they’re not one thing nor another but they exist. You have a buttery biscuit base which is topped with a perfectly flavoured lemon topping… It’s not overly sweet, sour or anything really, just melt in the mouth magic.

I have been playing with recipes for this for well over 18 months and only in the past 2-3 months found the perfect balance. I found other recipes weren’t to my taste, they were lacking in the lemon topping… How can that even happen?! If I’m having a lemon bar, I want to be able to taste the lemon.

My take on lemon bars isn’t all that different, they’re chunky and have equal (or there about equal parts base to lemon ratio, sheer perfection).

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

Base:

290g plain flour.

70g icing sugar.

pinch of salt.

230g butter.

15g lemon zest.

Lemon topping:

260g granulated sugar.

4 eggs.

125ml lemon juice.

30g lemon zest

Method:

Before yo get started don the recipe, you’ll want to do some prep work. Weigh up all your ingredients, preheat your oven to 170˚c/325˚f, line a 8 inch square cake tin with parchment paper and get any equipment you may need, such a stand mixer and spatulas.

To start on the recipe, you’ll want to make the base – this is really easy!

Take a mixing bowl and place in the flour, salt, icing sugar, butter and lemon zest and mix over a medium-low speed just until a dough forms. This doesn’t take very long and you should try your bets not to over mix the dough, otherwise it will have a tough mouthfeel once baked.

Grab your lined cake tin and place the dough into it and press/spread the dough out until you have it as level as possible.

Then place that into the oven and bake for around 20 minutes, it should be starting to look baked but only like a shortbread nothing too dark.

Now is the perfect time to make the lemon topping. This is just as easy as the base, which is perfect. Keeping this recipe super simple and straightforward.

Simply grab a mixing bowl and place in the sugar, eggs, lemon juice and lemon zest and whisk it together until everything is smooth and combined. This is quick but can be made in advance.

Once the base has had its time baking, remove from the oven and allow it to cool for 2-3 minutes, then go ahead and generously pour over the lemon filling, ensuring you get all of it on top – it looks a lot but its the perfect amount.

Transfer back into the oven and bake for a further 20 minutes or until its baked around the edge and the topping has se (a slight wobble is normal).

Leave to cool fully before you try and slice them up. For the best results, allow to cool, then store in the fridge overnight or for 8 hours and you’ll have a better lemon bar.

Toffifee Blondies

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

It’s bakemas 2020!

If it’s your first bakemas here, welcome. It is my annual mini-series in which I show you how to make a various Christmas themed baked goods – perfect if you want to impress your family and/or friends or if you’re hosting a festive get together.

Today I’m sharing with you my recipe a batch of Toffifee blondies!

The perfect traybake for all occasions, of course, but these little chocolates are most often seen around Christmas – so why not use up a box while you make this recipe?

A white chocolate based blondie, with added white chocolate chips. Lusciously swirled with hazelnut chocolate spread and caramel and finished with a generous amount of Toffifee.

If these sound good to you, why don’t you give them a try? I promise you when I say you’ll love these, you really will.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

200g White chocolate.

130g Butter.

160g Granulated sugar.

190g Plain flour.

1/2 tsp Salt.

3 Eggs.

1 tsp Vanilla extract.

100g White chocolate chips

80g Milk chocolate spread.

80g Caramel (or dulce de leche).

1 Packet of toffifee.

Method:

Before you get started on the recipe, you’ll want to do some prep work. Start by weighing up all of your ingredients, lining an 8×8 inch square cake tin with parchment paper, preheat your oven to 180˚c/350˚f and place a small/medium saucepan on the hob over a low/medium heat. Don’t forget to get any equipment you may need, such as a heat proof mixing bowl, whisk and silicon spatula.

Into a median sized heatproof bowl, place the butter and white chocolate, then place over the saucepan of simmering water and allow to melt a little. Once they start melting, continuously stir until its completely melted and smooth – it should also be well combined.

Remove the bowl from on top of the saucepan (be careful, it’ll be hot) and place elsewhere and cool for a couple of minutes. I transferred mine into another bowl, to help with the cooling process.

Go ahead and add in the granulated sugar and whisk it all together until everything has been fully incorporated.

Then add in the flour and salt, whisking until everything is incorporated – the batter will look and feel more like a dough around now, don’t worry, this is normal.

Give the bowl a quick scraping down, then add in all of your eggs and the vanilla and whisk them in until they are fully incorporated. The mixture will be thick but spreadable and flow well.

Add in the white chocolate chips and fold them in until fairly distributed throughout the mixture.

Pour the mixture into your lined cake tin, then warm your chocolate spread and caramel, until they are more liquid.

Take generous table spoons and spoon on top of the blondie batter, using both spreads. Then take a butter knife and swirl the spreads throughout the blondie batter – it should be swirly and ripply on top of the blondie batter with streaks of milk chocolate and caramel (honestly, it’s good).

Place in the oven to bake for 15 minutes and then remove and place the Toffifee on top. Place back into the oven and bake for a further 10-15minutes.

Once fully baked, allow to cool fully in the tin. Once completely cooled down, you can slice them up straight away or place in the fridge for around 6-8 hours – this will help make the blondies easier to slice up and make them extra dense… Which is perfect (as these are a white chocolate brownie, the only way to enjoy them is dense and fudgy, fight me!)

Whenever you’re ready to slice up the blondies, take a sharp knife and cut them up. You can do 8 very generous bars or 16 smaller bitesize pieces – whichever suits you or however you slice up.

These are perfect to make ahead of time and can be frozen, when wrapped well. Share these with your friends and family this year – it’s the year to show some love!

Iced Fruit Cake Slices

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

It’s bakemas 2020!

Today’s recipe is for a really simple iced fruit cake slice – this way you’re having the element of a fruit cake without having a whole fruit cake this is the perfect treat to make and give to friends and family wrapped up as a present or just to share with them, as it tis the season to share.

Even the people who don’t like fruit cake will like this you have a semi traditional fruit cake which is topped with a thin layer of marzipan, which is then topped with a thin layer of icing sugar and finished with a sugar paste holly leaf.

Like most people are feeling right now, it doesn’t feel very festive at all. 2020 has been the weirdest year of my life (as it has for many others), however you’re celebrating Christmas it wouldn’t quite be Christmas time without some form of fruit cake and that’s why I’m sharing my recipe today. It’s a little different he’s not a traditional it’s more of a twist on a traditional so I hope you don’t mind that.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

Cake:

150g butter.

150g light brown sugar.

3 eggs.

125g plain flour.

50g ground almonds.

1 tsp ground cinnamon.

½ tsp ground mixed spice.

A dash of ground ginger, cloves, all spice and nutmeg.

450g mixed dried fruit.

Decoration:

150g marzipan.

150g white sugar paste.

25g green sugar paste.

apricot glaze.

water.

Method:

Before you get started on the recipe, you’ll want to do some prep work. Start by weighing up all of the ingredients, lining an 8×8 inch square cake tin with parchment and grabbing any equipment you may need, such as a stand mixer and spatula. Don’t forget to preheat the oven to 150˚c/300˚f.

To start on the cake, grab a bowl and place in the butter and light brown sugar – beat the two together until they are combined. You’re not looking for he mixture to be light and fluffy, just well combined.

You can then add in your eggs, one at a time, beating well in between each addition. Don’t worry if the mixture curdles a little, we’ll correct it now.

Over a sieve, add your plain flour, ground spices and ground almonds and sift that into the mixture. You can then go ahead and add in the fruit.

Mix everything together until everything is incorporated – try your best not to over-mix the cake batter, otherwise the end result will be tough.

Give the bowl a good scraping down, just to incorporate any bits that may not have been fully worked in earlier on.

Then transfer the cake batter into your lined cake tin and spread/level the cake better out until its smooth and level, them place into your preheated oven and bake for 60-90 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.

Once baked, remove from the oven and allow to cool fully (while still in the tin).

Whenever the cake has cooled and you’re ready to decorate – you can remove the cake from the tin.

Dust your work surface with a small amount of icing sugar and place on the marzipan and roll it out until its big enough for the top of the cake. I eyeballed this but feel free measure and be more accurate.

Take a small amount and apricot jam and melt it in the microwave/on the hob until smooth and spreadable. Brush this generously on top of the cake and then place the rolled out marzipan on top – set the cake aside while you prepare the final layer.

Dust your work surface with some icing sugar and roll out the sugar paste to be big enough for the top of the cake. To secure the sugar paste in place, brush over a small amount of water and then place the rolled out sugar paste on top.

Roll out the green sugar paste and cut out holly leaves and dampen the back, then secure to the top of the cake .

The you can slice them up into 16 generous portions and enjoy, this is the perfect recipe to make and share with friends and/or family.

3-in-1 Traybake

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

It’s the start of bakemas 2020!

Christmas is known for being the time of year in indulge and this traybake is the epitome of indulgence – you’re going to be gorging on a combination of blondie, brownie and cookie.

I’m one of those people who buys a tub of chocolates for Christmas but ends up eating them beforehand but not so much this year, I used a combination of Hero’s and Celebrations (feel free to use whichever chocolates you like). I tried to partner up the chocolates that would work together, this is optional.

This is the perfect traybake to make if you’re having people around (within the permitted rules of course) or have a massive sweet tooth – you’ll either have a piece of just the blondie, brownie or cookie OR even better, you will get a combination – which is honestly so pleasing.

The holidays are already a stressful time, so this traybake just makes your life that bit easier as it can be made days in advanced and stored in the fridge, now that’s great news, right

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

Cookie:

75g Butter.

75g Granulated sugar.

75g Light brown sugar.

1 Egg.

1 tsp Vanilla extract.

175g Plain flour.

150g Cadbury dairy milk, Cadbury dairy milk caramel and Cadbury crunchy bits (mixed).

Blondie:

100g White chocolate.

65g Butter.

80g Granulated sugar.

95g Plain flour.

Pinch of salt.

2 Eggs.

1 tsp Vanilla extract.

50g White chocolate chips

150g Galaxy, caramel galaxy and twix.

Brownie:

105g Butter, melted.

30g Cocoa powder.

2 Eggs

1 tsp Vanilla extract.

100g plain flour.

70g Dark chocolate chips.

100g Mars bars and Snickers.

Methods:

Before you get started on the recipe, you’ll want to do some prep work. Start by lining a shallow sided 9×13 inch baking tray with parchment paper, weigh up your ingredients and grab any equipment you may need, such as heatproof bowls and spatulas. You’ll also want to preheat your oven to 180˚/350˚f.

Cookie:

To start on the cookie, grab a bowl and place in the butter, granulated sugar and light brown sugar into the bowl, then beat together tunic everything is well combined and has become lighter and fluffier in colour and consistency.

You can then go ahead and add in the egg and vanilla extract and mix that in until everything is incorporated. You may notice that the consistency has changed and become more loose, this is normal – don’t worry.

Now give the bowl a good scraping down, this helps to incorporate any bits that may not be fully worked in from earlier on.

You can then go ahead and add in the plain flour and chocolates, then fold everything in until the flour is fully incorporated and the chocolates are evenly distributed throughout the dough.

Don’t forget to scrape the bowl down, just to incorporate any bits that may not have been fully incorporated.

Go ahead and grab your prepared baking tray, and into the centre add the cookie dough. Spread it out until its level and consistent (leaving equal space either side for the brownie and blondie.

Chill in the fridge while you work on the next section.

Blondie:

To start on the blondie, grab a heatproof bowl and place in butter and white chocolate. Place the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, allowing the ingredients to start melting then stir until everything has melted and the mixture is smooth.

Remove from the heat and add in the granulated sugar, then whisk until the sugar has been fully incorporated. If the mixture looks a little granular, don’t worry – this will be sorted in the recipe soon.

Next, add in both in the eggs and the vanilla extract and whisk them in until they are fully incorporated. You may have noticed that the mixture has changed in consistency, this is fine.

Add in the plain flour and salt, then fold them in until they have almost been fully worked in. You can then go ahead and add in the chocolate and chocolate chips and fold them in until they are fairly distributed throughout the mixture.

Then transfer the blondie batter onto the lined tray, on either side of the cookie dough. Spread and level it out as best you possibly can and then place into the fridge to chill until later on.

In the meanwhile, start on the brownie element.

Brownie:

Into a bowl, add melted butter and cocoa powder. Whisk the two together until they well combined – the mixture should have thickened, be smooth and glossy.

You can then go ahead and add in the granulated sugar and whisk it until it’s fully incorporated. You will notice the mixture looks granular, this is normal and will change as the recipe goes on.

Into the mixture, add the eggs and vanilla and whisk them all together until they have been fully incorporated into the mix.

Grab a sift and pass the plain flour through it, this just helps to remove any lumps that may be in the flour (sometimes flour and other dry ingredients can be prolific for having lumps in them). You will also want to add in your chocolate chips and other chocolates and then fold everything in until the dry ingredients are fully worked in and the chocolate is fairly distributed throughout the batter.

You can then transfer the brownie batter into only space left in the baking tray and spread it out until its level. Then place this baking tray into your preheated oven for around 30-35 minutes.

When theres about 10 minutes remaining of the baking time, remove the tray from the oven and top with some more of the chocolates, using the corresponding chocolates. Return to the oven and finish the baking time.

Once baked, allow to cool fully and then place in the fridge for a minimum of 1 hour or for the best results, overnight.

Whenever you’re ready, slice up into portions and enjoy!

Salted Caramel Gingerbread Traybake

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

I’ve finally got into the swing of more seasonal baking! Today I’m sharing my recipe for a salted caramel gingerbread traybake – it’s a match made in heaven, trust me on this one.

I’ve gone from not slightly seasonal straight into sweater weather in a week, it had to happen though. If you have ever made a gingerbread style cake, you may know it’s similar to a Parkin (it gets better tasting with age) but throw in salted caramel and it really elevates the recipe into another dimension – it may sound bizarre but trust me on this one for once.

If you’re really not a fan of salted caramel, you can skip the salt and use just plain caramel, it won’t quite be the same but it’ll work.

Gingerbread isn’t always associated with autumn, I know but I wanted to share something a little more festive on the build up to Christmas but don’t worry, I have plenty of autumnal themed an flavoured recipes coming up… Keep your eyes peeled!

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

Cake:

175g Butter.

150g Light brown sugar.

50-75g Black treacle (the more you use, the richer the flavour).

200g Plain flour.

1 tsp Baking powder.

Pinch of salt.

3 Eggs.

30-50g Crystallised ginger (use more if you like a stronger ginger flavour).

100ml salted caramel.

Caramel:

100g Butter.

150g Light brown sugar.

100ml Double cream.

1/2 tsp Vanilla extract.

Sea salt (flakes or rocks will work well)

Method:

Before you get started on making any element of this cake, you’ll want to do some prep work. Start by weighing up all of your ingredients, line a 9 inch cake tin with parchment and get any equipment you may need such as a medium saucepan, stand mixer and spatulas.

To start on the recipe, you’ll want to make the caramel. To make the caramel grab yourself a medium sized saucepan and place in the butter, light brown sugar, double cream, vanilla extract and salt.

You can then go ahead and place the saucepan on the hob over a medium heat and allow to warm a little before you continuously stir the mixture until everything has melted and fully combined, this doesn’t take too long but you’ll want to make sure everything is fully incorporate and you’re continuously stirring the mixture so it doesn’t catch on the bottom of the saucepan and ruin your caramel.

Allow this mixture to cool fully before you use it.

To make the cake, it’s really easy. Into a large mixing bowl, place the butter, light brown sugar, caramel black treacle, crystallised ginger and eggs, then beat on a high speed until they are fully mixed together and incorporated – the mixture won’t be perfectly smooth because of the crystallised ginger.

Go ahead and give the bowl a good scraping down, just to incorporate any bits that may not have been fully worked in earlier on.

Then you can add in the plain flour, baking powder and salt, passing them through a sieve first to remove any lumps that may be in the mixture.

Once all of the dry ingredients are in the bowl, incorporate them over a a medium speed, working your way up to a high speed until everything has been incorporated.

Give the bowl another good scraping down, just to incorporate any bits that may not have been fully worked in. The mixture should be smooth and glossy.

Pour the mixture into your lined 9 inch square baking tin, and place into your preheated oven and bake for 25 minutes or until a tester comes out clean when inserted.

You will then want to allow the cake to cool until its almost cold, still a little warm is ideal.

Take the remixing caramel and spread it on top of the cake, as its slightly warm the caramel will seep into the cake, enriching it and enhancing the flavours. It will be similar to a Parkin as it will get better with flavour.

Wait until the following day to slice the cake up, it’s worth the wait, trust me!

Cherry Bakewell Flapjacks

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

For this weeks recipe, I took two treats and combined them to make a super easy and tasty treat for you to enjoy. Today I’m sharing my recipe for a batch of cherry Bakewell flapjacks.

If you like the plain traditional flapjack recipe, then you should like these. It’s the original chewy and gooey flapjack with elements of a cherry bakewell incorporated… It’s honestly a winning combination.

I use some ground almonds in the dry mix, this helps to add to the flavour and texture of the bake but I also use almond extract to get the most flavour into this bake.

When it comes to the jam, I used cherry to further add to the cherry flavour, however, traditionally in a Bakewell you’re more likely to find a plum jam but you can use whichever jam you like (homemade is better but shop bought works well).

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

175g Butter.

175g Light brown sugar.

175g Golden syrup.

1/4 tsp Almond extract

350g Oats.

50g Ground almonds

50g Cocktail or glace cherries, halved.

(up to) 200g Cherry jam.

Method:

Before you get started on the recipe, you’ll want to do some prep work. I like to start by weighing up all of my ingredients, lining my 8×8 inch cake tin with parchment paper and grab any other equipment you may need such as a mixing bowl, spatula and saucepan. You may also want to preheat your oven to 180˚c/350˚f.

To start on the recipe, you’ll want to grab a medium saucepan and place in the butter, golden syrup and light brown sugar and place the saucepan on the hob over a medium-high heat and just leave it for around 60 seconds, then you can start to stir it constantly until everything has melted together and become smooth. The mixture should be clear, meaning you can see a single trace of a single ingredient.

Set the mixture aside for a moment while you prepare the next step.

Into a large mixing bowl, you can g ahead and add in all of your oats, the the ground almond and just mix the two together until they are fairly well combined.

Now you can go ahead and pour the melted mix over the oats and almond mixture, giving it all a very good mix. You want all of the oats to be coated in the melted mixture, this will only help to make them taste as yummy as possible.

Just before you’re finished with mixing the dry and wet mix together, you can go ahead and add in some cherries (cocktail cherries or glace cherries work well), fold them into the mixture until they have been fairly distributed throughout the mixture.

Grab your lined cake tin from earlier on and add around half of the flapjack mixture. Spread it out and level it out as best you possibly can – I found using a small cranked palette knife works really well.

Directly on top of the bottom layer of flapjack mixture, you can add the cherry jam and spread it out to get it as level as possible – then you can place the remaining oats on top of the jam layer and spread it out to achieve a consistent level. If you can still see some jam under the flapjacks, don’t worry it’s not the end of the world.

Place the tray into your preheated oven and bake for 25-35 minutes or until a nice golden brown colour all over with darker edges.

Once out of the oven allow to cool down fully before you attempt to finish them off.

This is optional but on a cherry Bakewell you get a thin layer of icing, so to add that element into the flapjacks, I’ll be making a glace icing to drizzle over the cooled traybake.

Simple drizzle over the icing in whichever pattern you’d like and place in the fridge for 20 minuets just to allow the icing to firm up.

Whenever you’re ready, you can slice them up. How you do this is completely up to you – I went with 16 bitesize pieces of flapjack but you could always half that and yield 8 more than generous portions but its up to you.

Oreo Cookie Bars

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

Fancy a change from standard cookies? I feel you and have the solution. Today I’m sharing my recipe for a batch of Oreo cookie bars, all the best parts of a cookie but in a bar shape.

This traybake is honestly one of the simplest things you can me, it gives you the same feeling of a cookie but chunkier and more fudgey in the centre, you know like the perfect cookie? These bars give you all of that and then some.

I added Oreo’s to the cookie dough as well as on top, mostly for decorative purposes but also because you can’t beat the oreo flavour. There is milk chocolate chips in the recipe but you could substitute these for either milk or white chips, they are just added for texture and creaminess away from the Oreo.

If you’re in a rush and need something for a bake sale or have someone coming over, this is the perfect recipe to try – trust me. I have been there and I’ve done that… People look confused when you first offer them a square but they’re soon having another one!

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

175g Butter, at room temperature.

175g Granulated sugar.

175g Light brown sugar.

2 Eggs.

1 tsp Vanilla extract.

350g Plain flour.

1 tsp Baking powder.

A pinch of Salt.

50g Milk chocolate chips.

100g Oreo’s, roughly chopped.

Method:

Before you get into making the cookie bars, you’ll want to do some prep. I like starting but weighing up all of my ingredients, lining a 8 inch square cake tin with parchment paper and grab a mixer and spatula. Don’t forget to preheat your oven to 180˚c/350˚f.

To start on the cookie dough, grab your mixing bowl and place the butter, granulated sugar and light brown sugar into the bowl and beat for a couple of minutes or until lighter and fluffier in colour and consistency.

Once that’s been achieved, you can give the bowl a good scraping down, just to incorporate any bits that may not have been fully worked in from earlier on.

Then you can add in the eggs and vanilla, one at a time, beating well in between each addition. You may notice that the consistency changes once all of the wet ingredients have been added and thats normal – don’t worry about it.

You’ll now want to give the bowl a good scraping down, again to incorporate any bits that haven’t been fully incorporated.

Next, you can add in the plain flour, baking powder and salt, passing them through a sieve first. This is just to make the dough as smooth as possible, removing any clumps that may occur in the dry ingredients.

It’s also the idea time to add in the Oreo’s and chocolate chips. You can always incorporate everything using a spatula but I find using my stand mixer works o break down and fairly distribute everything in the dough – the choice is all yours.

Once you have batter formed, give the bowl a good scraping down to incorporate any bits that haven’t been fully incorporated.

Then you can transfer it into your line 8 inch cake tin, spreading it out to get it as level as you can – this is to help with the bake consistency.

Just before you put it into the oven, place over some roughly chopped Oreo’s and chocolate chips, then place into your preheated oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until they have turned a consistent golden brown colour.

If you can resist, trynnot to cut these util they are fully cooled down. To make them fudgier and easier slice, once cooled down, place into th fridge for 6-8 hours or overnight. Trust me, that really helps to enhance the flavour and texture.

Chocolate Brownies

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

If you’re looking for the easiest and best brownie recipe, I have your back. Today I’m showing you how to make a batch of basic brownies.

Brownies are a baking essential, there’s no doubt about that but finding a recipe that works perfectly each time is another issue. I have been baking for years now and even I had a hard time finding a recipe that worked out for me.

I use this recipe and my other brownie recipe, both work really well but yield different end results. For example, this recipe provides a lighter but not cake texture, whereas my other brownies are denser and fudgier. I like both recipes as he brownies taste good either way.

This is the perfect looking brownie for its crispy/lighter coloured top and a gooey centre, I used a mixture of chocolates to finish off what I had open in my storage.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

200g Butter.

200g Milk chocolate.

100g Plain flour.

50g Cocoa powder.

3 Eggs.

300g Granulated sugar.

100g Chocolate chips/chunks (I used a mixture of white, milk and dark chocolate).

Method:

Before you get into the recipe, you’ll want to do some prep work first. Strat by preheating your oven to 180˚c/350˚f, place a saucepan with some water onto the hob over a medium heat, weigh up your ingredients, line a 8 inch square tin with parchment paper and get any other equipment you may need, such as a stand mixer and a silicon spatula.

To start, take a heatproof bowl (one thats big enough to fit on top of the saucepan of simmering water) and place in the butter and milk chocolate. Place on the heat and allow to melt, once you can see it melting, you will then want to stir the mixture until its smooth and no traces of a single ingredient can be seen. Once you’ve achieved this, set aside, allowing it to cool down bit before you use it.

Now you can go ahead and take a medium sized bowl and sift in the plain flour and cocoa powder (dry ingredients may have a tendency to have clumps in). Once sifted into the bowl, you can take a whisk and just combine them a little further – set aside until needed later on.

Into a large mixing bowl, place the eggs and sugar. Whisk them together until they are lighter in colour and consistency- it should be a pale yellow-ish colour and is smooth in texture.

Turn the speed to a medium and gently pour in the melted chocolate butter mixture, then once it’s incorporated, mix for a short while afterwards, just until it’s fully incorporated.

Next you can add in the sieved dry mix, then fold it in using a spatula or metal spoon, just until the dry ingredients have been incorporated. Try your best not to over-mix at this stage.

You can then go ahead and add in the chocolate and fold it in, just until its fairly distributed throughout the batter.

Pour directly into your line cake tin and bake in your preheated oven. Bake for 20-25 minutes or when the edges look more baked – the middle shouldn’t wobble when shook.

Once they are baked, remove from the oven and cool in the tin until they are cool. To make them even better, place in the fridge to make it easier to cut and improve the texture.

Now they are cooled and ready, cut up into 8 generously sized portions or 16 smaller bitesize pieces.

Traybakes

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