Basic

Vegan Biscoff Brownies

Today I’ll be showing you how to make a batch of vegan brownies but not just any vegan brownies, these are Lotus Biscoff brownies… They are 100% vegan and darn tasty.

This brownie recipe is just an adapted version of my non-vegan brownies. I have been testing with recipes from online but none of them really delivered on being a good brownie (I’m sorry) but after all the testing and research, I simply adapted my own brownie recipe to make it vegan… I could have saved a lot of time and not wasted it on recipes that weren’t worth the ingredients.

I’m not a vegan myself but decided to be vegan for the month of January and actually, I’ve quite enjoyed it. Working on recipes that are vegan and actually enjoying them – much better and cost effective, especially compared to the supermarkets.

Anyway, I hope that you like this recipe as I actually really enjoyed it and of course, if you don’t like biscoff, change it for something else you like. I was just working with what I had to hand and that was there… Peanut butter would be another great addition!

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

140g Vegan spread, melted.

45g Cocoa powder.

225g Granulated sugar.

180ml Vegan yoghurt (I like to use the Alpro vanilla soya yoghurt).

100g Plain flour.

100g Lotus Biscoff spread, warmed.

8 Lotus biscuits.

Methods:

Before you get started on the recipe, you’ll want to do some prep work. Start by preheating your oven to 180˚c/350˚f, weigh up all your ingredients, line your 8×8 inch tin with a piece of greaseproof paper and get any equipment you may need ready in advance.

To start, get yourself a large mixing bowl and pour in the melted butter and cocoa powder. Whisk the two together until well combined. The mixture should be smooth and glossy when it’s done.

Give the bowl a quick scrape down.

Straight into the mixture, you’ll want to add the granulated sugar and whisk until its fully worked in. You will know once it’s been incorporated as the mixture will be granular but this will change as the other ingredients are incorporated.

Give the bowl another quick scrape down.

Add in the vegan yoghurt, this is the substitute for eggs in this recipe. Give it all a good mix until the yoghurt has been fully incorporated, the mixture will be smoother and lighter in colour and consistency.

You can then go ahead and add in the plain flour and fold it in using a silicon spatula, just until the flour has been worked in. If you overmix the brownie batter, it will make the brownie tough in texture as the gluten has been over developed.

Pour the brownie batter into your lined 8×8 inch baking tray and spread the batter to get it as level as possible.

Take you Biscoff spread and warm it slightly so it’s easier to move around the brownie batter.

Dollop generous amounts of biscoff spread on top of the brownie batter and then take a butter knife and swirl it around until its all nicely swirled around.

You can then go ahead and place the biscuits on top, feel free to add more if you want to.

Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes (or until a tester comes out clean).

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 Instagram and Twitter. The YouTube video will be linked down below.

Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

For today’s recipe, I’m taking a classic and making it vegan – the humble vanilla cupcake. A fluffy vanilla cupcake topped with a delightful vanilla buttercream – what more could you want?

I though, seeing as its veganuary, why not make a simple yet staple recipe? Vanilla cupcakes are easily one of the most popular cupcakes flavours out there, so it should be available for vegans!

I’ve been testing different recipes and them all ending up with different results but none of them were perfect. Some required oil, others a vegan spread and after a few attempts, I had enough of weird textures and flavours, so I took my own vanilla cupcake recipe and made some minor changes and finally found a recipe that was going to work for me and I’m sharing it with you today!

As with some recipes, they require you to buy bits and pieces you wouldn’t usually use but not with this one, the only thing you’ll need to buy different is some oat milk (that’s my favourite alternative to milk, but feel free to test other types of milk). We use the milk in place of the eggs and it works perfectly in this recipe – trust me.

As always, you should take extra precautions with ingredients and making sure they are fully vegan before you use them!

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

Cupcakes:

175g Vegan spread (I used PURE, its vegan and gluten free – available at Heron frozen foods stores).

175g Granulated sugar.

175ml Oat milk (you can try other alternatives, I haven’t so can’t recommend any).

1 tsp Vanilla extract.

175g Plain flour.

1 tsp Baking powder.

Pinch of salt.

Buttercream

125g Vegan spread (I used PURE).

125g White Vegetable fat (I used Trex).

500g Icing sugar.

1 tsp Vanilla extract.

Methods:

Before you get into making the cupcakes, you’ll want to do some prep work. Start by preheating your oven to 180˚c/350˚f, weighing up all your ingredients, line a cupcake pan with cupcake cases and getting any equipment you may need ready to use.

Start by getting yourself a mixing bowl and placing the spread and sugar into it. Beat the two together until they are lighter and fluffier in colour and consistency.

Give the bowl a scraping down and start to add your oat milk in a little at a time, no matter how slowly you add the milk, the mixture with split and this is okay on this occasion. This will happen as you’re adding a lot of liquid into a mix which can’t handle it, it will be corrected once the flour is added.

Once all of the oat milk has been added, you can go ahead and sift in the flour, baking powder and salt. Mix on a low-medium speed until all the dry ingredients have been worked in. You’ll know once the batter is smooth and doesn’t show a trace of a single ingredient.

Don’t forget to line your cupcake pan with cupcake cases and transfer the cake batter into a piping bag (for convenience). Fill the cupcake cases just over half the way full, this is the ideal amount.

Place into your preheated oven and bake for 20-22 minutes or until well risen and a tester comes out clean (all ovens are different, so times may vary between each oven).

While your cupcakes are in the oven baking, now would be the ideal time to make your ‘butter’ cream!

Get yourself a large mixing bowl and place in the vegan spread and trex and beat them together until they are lighter and fluffier in colour and consistency – this doesn’t take too long usually.

Add in your first half of icing sugar, beating on a low speed to start then working your way up to a medium high. Repeat with the second batch of icing sugar.

Once all the icing sugar has been added, add in your vanilla and beat until its fully incorporated. Transfer the buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a nozzle (I went with an open star nozzle).

Once your cupcakes are fully baked (test by inserting a tester into the centre, if it comes out clean, they’re fully baked) remove from the oven and allow to cool fully before you finish them off.

Now you have your fully baked and cooled cupcakes and buttercream ready, you’re good to finish the cupcakes off by decorating them.

Pipe as much or as little buttercream you’d like on the cupcakes, repeat until you’re finished. Finish the cupcakes with some vegan friendly sprinkles (these are available online).

That’s it, you’re done! A really quick and easy recipe showing you how to make vegan vanilla cupcakes and to be honest with you, you can’t even tell they are vegan!

Brown Tin Loaf

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

Last time on the bread series, I showed you how to make a bloomer loaf but today I’ll be showing you how to make brown tin loaf!

Now I know that not everybody likes brown bread but for those who do, this loaf is perfect. The recipe I’m about to share with you has 6 simple ingredients and minimal effort and once its baked, you’ll have a tasty loaf of brown bread and your kitchen will smell pretty good also!

Not only is this loaf simple to make, it’s also vegan so perfect to be enjoyed by almost everybody in the family. When I was at bakery college, brown bread and wholemeal bread were the two types of bread that we disliked making as the dough could be difficult to get perfect or work with.

Once you get into making your own bread, you’ll want to replace shop bough bread. There is no need for bread making to be difficult or complex.

Seeing as this is the start of the bread series, you’ll notice that the recipes are easy and simple but as we progress through the year, they’ll get a little complex and flavourful.

Let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

500g Brown bread flour.

40g Fresh yeast.

8g Salt.

30g White shortening.

10g Granulated sugar.

310ml Water, warmed.

Method:

Start by doing some prep work. Weigh up all the ingredients, prepare your baking trays and get any equipment you may need ready. When the time comes, preheat your oven to 230˚c/445˚f

Into your mixing bowl (I used my stand mixer bowl) place the brown bread flour and salt and mix the two together using a whisk.

Now you can add the white shortening, granulated sugar, fresh yeast and water. Mix on a low speed to start with for 2 minutes and then a low-medium speed for 6 minutes, so it will be mixing for 8 minutes in total.

Once it’s fully mixed, the dough should be clear (you see no traces of any other ingredients), it shouldn’t be sticky and should be well formed and hold its shape.

Give the dough a brief knead on a floured surface Place the dough into a lightly oiled bowl and then cover with cling film and leave to complete its first proof (roughly about an hour or) until its doubled in size. Ideally, you’ll leave this somewhere warm, it will help the yeast work.

Now that the dough has doubled in size, you’ll want to remove the dough from the bowl and place onto a floured surface and knock the dough back. This is the process of removing the gasses that have built up during the proof.

Bring the dough back into a ball shape, then bring it back into a ball and roll it out into a fat sausage shape (just big enough to fit into your loaf tin, no bigger). You can then place the sausage shape into a prepared loaf tin and cover loosely with cling film and leave somewhere warm to proof for a second time, roughly 30-45 (or until roughly doubled in size).

Now is the ideal time to preheat your oven to 230˚c/445˚f.

Once the second proof is done, remove the cling film from the top and place the loaf into the preheated oven and baled for 30-35 minutes or until baked and well coloured.

A good tip for testing if a loaf of bread is baked, is to turn up upside down and tap the bottom, if it sounds hollow, its fully baked!

Vegan Flapjacks

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

I’m baaaack!

We are starting the New Year with a whole month of vegan baking. January has become known as ‘Veganuary’, where you take on a vegan diet and lifestyle for the month of January. If you’re interested in more information on Veganuary, check out the Veganuary website.

When it comes to vegan baking, things can get a little complicated. You will notice that you’ll have to check a product before you consider it, this is just to rule out any products that may not be suitable. Most supermarkets here in the UK stock a pretty decent selection of suitable ingredients, which are priced decently.

I have chosen to start with something easy and that’s a batch of plain flapjacks. A sweet and sticky confection, which is super easy and has minimal ingredients – cheap, quick and easy to make, what more do you want?

Anyway, let’s get into the first bake of the year, shall we?

Ingredients:

175g Vegan spread (I use Free, found in Heron frozen foods. It’s also gluten free).

175g Light brown sugar (I recommend Tate & Lyle).

175g Golden syrup (I recommend Tate & Lyle).

350g Oats.

Methods:

Start by doing some prep work. I recommend taking your 8×8 inch square cake tin and lining it with greaseproof/parchment paper, weighing up the ingredients, preheating your oven to 160˚c/320˚f and getting any other equipment you may need, such as a medium saucepan and a heat proof silicon spatula.

Take a medium saucepan and into it, place the vegan spread, light brown sugar and golden syrup. Place the saucepan on the hob over a medium heat, stirring constantly once it starts to melt.

While the ingredients are melting on the hob, get yourself a large mixing bowl and pour in all the oats. Set aside until they’re needed later.

Once the ingredients in the saucepan are melted and combined, take it off the heat and pour it straight over the oats. Then give it all a very good mix until all the oats have been coated in the liquid mixture. Take your time and do it properly.

Transfer the mixture into your lined 8×8 inch cake tin, spreading out the mixture and getting it as level as possible. Then place it in the oven and back for 30-35 minutes (or until the edges have turned golden brown).

After they have baked, remove from the oven and allow to cool fully before you cut them up. Once they have cooled down fully, you can place them in the fridge for up to 2 days.

Depending how big of a portion you want to offer will decide how you cut them up. I went with 8 generous rectangles but you could cut these in half and get 16 bite size portions.

These are a really quick and easy recipe to make, so if you get the chance to make a batch, go ahead and do it!

White Chocolate Rocky Road

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

It’s officially Bakemas 2019! 🎉

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 friends or if you’re hosting a Christmas party!

I wish you a very Merry Christmas – hope you’re celebrating with those you love this holiday! Today’s recipe doesn’t actually involve any baking as its a no-bake recipe! I’m going to be showing you how to make a batch of white chocolate rocky road!

Today is the final bakemas 2019! It feels like its gone so quickly this year but I’ve had a fantastic time bringing you a selection of recipes -I’ll be back in the New Year with more baking recipes/videos for you to enjoy!

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

150g Butter.

50g Golden syrup.

300g White chocolate.

120g Party ring biscuits.

150g Mini marshmallows (I chose the white ones but feel free to use the pink and white ones).

100g White chocolate malt balls (the ones I used are from Poundland, thats here in the UK).

150g Custard cream biscuits.

White chocolate spread.

**I opted for fillings which fitted the ‘white chocolate’ version of this rocky road, please feel free to alter the ingredients to suit you and others who may be eating this.**

Method:

Before you get into making this rocky road, you’ll want to do some prep work. Weigh up all of your ingredients into bowls (breaking the biscuits up into smaller pieces), line your 8 inch square cake tin with parchment paper and get yourself a medium saucepan and wooden spoon ready.

Into your saucepan, place the butter, golden syrup and white chocolate and place that on the hob over a medium-high heat, allowing the mixture to melt and come together. Stir together until they have all melted and come together.

While your mixture is coming together on the hob, get yourself a large mixing bowl and into it place the party rings, mini marshmallows, white chocolate malt balls and custard creams. Give them a brief mix, juts to incorporate all the different bits and pieces.

Once your white chocolate mixture has come together, pour it over the assortments of bits in the large mixing bowl. Give the mixture all a good mix to ensure that all of the fillings have been fully coated and incorporated. This doesn’t take very long.

Now that the rocky road is ready, you’ll want to chill it but before you do that take your 8 inch lined square cake tin and pour the mixture into it. Levelling it off as best you can with a spatula and then transferring it to the fridge to chill for a minimum of 3-4 hours (or overnight, if you’re not in a rush).

Finally, once the rocky road has been chilled, you can remove it from the fridge and finish it off.

To finish off the rocky road, take some white chocolate spread and melt it in a microwave (don’t melt for longer than 10-12 seconds at a time, otherwise it might melt), once melted, pour directly on top of the rocky road and level it off so there is a level coating of the white chocolate spread, the place back in the fridge, just until its firm to the touch.

Finishing time! You can now take your knife and cut these up, how you do this is completely up to you. I went with 8 more than generous portions, which could easily be cut in half and make 16 generous portions but again, this is up to you.

Cookie Dough Cake

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

It’s officially Bakemas 2019! 🎉

Today I’ll be showing you how to make my take on a cookie dough cake, this is the perfect cake if you’re not a fan of fruit cake and I’m sure Santa would rather a slice of this cake, just to take a break from mince pies.

If you’re not sure what this cake consists of, I’ll tell you. It starts with two layers of chocolate chip cake cake, which is sandwiched and coated in a simple vanilla buttercream. Finished with edible chocolate chip cookie dough, chocolate chips and a drizzle of Nutella. Is there anything else you’d like?

This cake is super easy to customise, for example, wapping out milk chocolate chips for dark chocolate chips or using chocolate buttercream in place of the vanilla buttercream.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

Cake:

250g Butter.

250g Granulated sugar.

3 Eggs.

250g Plain flour.

1 tsp Baking powder.

Pinch of salt.

100g Milk chocolate chips

Vanilla Buttercream:

250g Butter.

600g Icing sugar.

1 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract

Edible Cookie Dough :

150g Butter.

100g Light brown sugar.

50g Granulated white sugar.

150g Icing sugar.

1 tsp Vanilla extract.

50ml Milk (I opted for whole milk but use whatever you like).

100g Milk chocolate chips.

Methods:

Before you get started on making the cake, you should do some prep work. Starting by preheating your oven to 180˚/350˚f, weighing up all the ingredients, lining your 2 x 6 inch cake tins (if its needed) and get any equipment you may need ready in advance.

Personally, I start on the edible cookie dough as it’s the step that takes the longest. To start, place the flour on to a baking tray and get it as level as possible. Place into your preheated oven and bake the flour for around 10 minutes (after that, remove it from the oven).

while the flour is in the oven, start on the mixing. Into a mixing bowl, place the butter, granulated sugar and light brown sugar together until they are combined.

Now that the mix is ready, add in the milk and vanilla a little at a time. If the mixture scrambles a little, don’t worry about it.

Then go ahead and add in the icing sugar and mix that in until fully incorporated. Once that is done, give the bowl a quick scraping down.

Once the flour is cooler but still warm, add it into mixing bowl, along with the chocolate chips and ix until a cookie dough has formed, giving the bowl one final scrape down.

For small balls of cookie dough, take one scoop of cookie dough and round it off, then place onto a baking tray and place in the fridge until needed. For larger balls, take two scoops and round them off. I only ended up making small balls as I didn’t have any need for the large ones.

To make a start on the cake, take a mixing bowl and place the butter and sugar into it and beat until the two are fully incorporated. You’ll know when this is as the mixture will be lighter and fluffier in colour and consistency, about 5-7 minutes should do the job.

Next, you can start to add your egg. One at a time, beating well in-between each addition. If the mixture becomes loose in consistency or even a little scrambled, thats okay. It will be corrected at the next stage.

Give the bowl a good scrape down, just to work in any bits that haven’t been from earlier on.

Add in the dry ingredients, passing through a sieve first to remove any lumps that may be in the mix. Add a tablespoon of plain flour to the chocolate chips and coat the chocolate chips in the flour and set them aside for the time being.

Start to mix on a low speed to start, working your way up to a medium-high speed. Just before you stop the mixing, add the chocolate chips into the bowl as the mixer is going, mix just until the chocolate chips are equally distributed.

Give the bowl another good scraping down, just to incorporate any bits that haven’t been fully worked in.

Then you cake take your cake tins and divide the cake batter between them, I eyeballed it but feel free to make it more accurate by weighing up the amounts.

Bake in your preheated oven for 30-35 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. All ovens are different, so use my timings as a guide.

While the cakes are baking, you can make your vanilla buttercream. To start, place the butter in a mixing bowl and beat on a high speed for 5-7 minutes or until the colour and consistency are lighter and fluffier. After that time, give the bowl a good scraping down, then add in your first addition of icing sugar (roughly about half the amount). Start the mixer on a low speed, working your way up to a high speed, gradually, otherwise you’ll have a heck of a mess to clean up. Repeat with the other half of icing sugar and add in the vanilla extract.

Once thats done, give the bowl a good scraping down just to incorporate any bits that haven’t been fully worked in. Transfer to a smaller bowl and store at room temperature if you’re using that day or in the fridge and use within 5 days.

Don’t forget to let your cakes cool, then go ahead and trim them and brush over with simple syrup.

To finish the cake, layer the cakes together with the vanilla buttercream and give the cake a crumb coat of icing. This is just to lock in those crumbs, then place it in the fridge to firm up for 30-45 minutes.

After that time, give the cake its final layer of buttercream and decorate. I used chocolate chips around the bottom edge of the cake, to take away some of the bare feeling and on top, I place enough cookie dough balls to cover the top. Finally, I drizzle over some Nutella. Place the cake back in the fridge for 30-60 minutes, then enjoy.

White Chocolate & Salted Caramel Profiteroles

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

It’s officially Bakemas 2019! 🎉

We are almost at the end of bakemas 2019 already… Today I’ll be bringing you my recipe for salted caramel and white chocolate profiteroles – these will honestly be a very welcome addition to any table this Christmas.

If you’re not sure what a profiterole is, well… It’s a choux pastry bun (depending on where in the world you are depends on what you know this pastry as. The most common names are choux and pate a choux, it’s basically the same thing), which is filled with either whipped cream or custard. What’s not to like?

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

Choux Pastry:

300ml Water.

125g Butter.

4 Eggs.

Pinch of salt.

Filling:

300ml Double cream

50g Icing sugar.

1/2 tsp Vanilla extract.

Salted caramel sauce (in a piping bag for convenience).

Topping:

White chocolate spread, melted.

Methods:

Before you get started on the recipe, you’ll want to do the prep work first. Preheat your oven to 200˚c/400˚f, weigh up all the ingredients, line a baking tray with greaseproof/parchment and get any equipment you may need ready.

To make the choux pastry, place the water, butter and salt into a medium saucepan and place over a medium-high heat until its melted, stirring them together well.

Remove from the heat and add in the flour, mixing in the flour in until it’s fully incorporated. Return to the heat and continuously stir it to cook the flour out. You’ll know once the flour is cooked out as the bottom of your pan will have a layer of the flour/pastry there, once you’ve achieved this, take it off the heat and transfer to a mixing bowl.

Mix the choux pastry on a high speed to cool it down. This takes a couple of minutes to achieve

Once you can touch the bottom of you bowl, start to add your eggs. A little at a time until you reach a stage where the pastry takes between 3-5 seconds to fall from the beater – the amount of egg you need may depend, you may need more or less.

Place the pastry into a piping bag with a 1cm plain tip nozzle and pipe out small amounts on the prepared baking tray, I got 12 on a standard tray. Push down any peaks using your finger which has been dipped into some water, then egg wash each of the choux buns to get a perfect golden brown colour on top.

Place in the oven at 200˚c/390˚f and bake for 20 minutes, then open the oven door to remove the steam that’s built up, then place back in the oven and bake for a further 10 minutes then remove from the oven.

While the choux buns are in the oven baking, you can make your whipped cream filling. Into your stand mixer bowl, place the double cream, icing sugar and vanilla extract and whisk on a medium-high speed until they are all combined and the mixture holds it’s self. Either place the whipped cream into a piping bag with a plain tip nozzle or in a bowl covered with clingfilm (use within a few days

Allow the choux buns to cool for a few minutes on the baking tray before transferring to a cooling rack to cool down completely.

Once your choux buns are cooled, you can fill them with your whipped cream and salted caramel sauce, then store them in the fridge until you are ready.

For the white chocolate topping, melt the white chocolate spread in the microwave or on the hob.

Dip the top of each profiterole into the chocolate topping and allow it to set before you serve and enjoy them.

Peanut Butter & Chocolate Chip Cookies

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

It’s officially Bakemas 2019! 🎉

Today I’ll be sharing with you a recipe for peanut butter and milk chocolate chip cookies – this is easily a win-win recipe. You have the winning combination of peanut butter and chocolate in a cookie?! Name a better combination, go on, I dare you to!

Although this recipe isn’t overly festive, doesn’t mean it can’t be made during the holiday period. It will make for a much appreciated break away from the over the top Christmas goods.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

75g Butter.

75g Light brown sugar.

75g Granulated sugar.

25g Peanut butter.

1 Egg.

175g Plain flour.

1/2 tsp Baking powder.

Peanut butter.

100g Milk chocolate chips (plus extra to finish the cookies with).

100g Peanut butter chips (plus extra to finish the cookies with).

Method:

Before you get into making the cookies, you’ll want to do some prep. Weigh up all of your ingredients, preheat the oven to 180˚/350˚f, line your baking trays with greaseproof/parchment and get any equipment you intend to use ready.

Into a large mixing bowl, place the butter, granulated sugar, light brown sugar and peanut butter and then beat them together on a medium-high speed until they are well combined.

You can then add in the egg beat until it has been fully worked in. You’ll notice a change in consistency as they are worked in, this is completely normal.

Add in the plain flour, baking powder, milk chocolate chips and peanut butter chips and mix on a medium speed to start, working your way up to medium-high speed. Mix just until a clear dough forms, being careful not to over-mix the dough, otherwise the cookies will be quite tough.

Give your bowl a good scraping down and incorporate any bits that haven’t been fully worked into the dough earlier on.

Grab yourself a cookie scoop and take 2 scoops of cookie dough per cookie, flattening both balls of dough. Onto 1 half of the cookie dough pipe some peanut butter and secure that in place with the other ball of cookie dough, roll together and place onto your lined baking tray.

Before you place the cookies into the oven to bake, flatten the balls of dough and round them using a cookie cutter (this is to help them bake round).

Place the cookies in the oven to bake for around 12-13 minutes (or until they are golden brown around the edges).

Once baked, remove from the oven and finish with an assortment of chocolate chips and peanut butter chips on top of each cookie, the transfer to a cooling rack to cool fully.

Mince Pie Brownies

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

It’s officially the start of Bakemas 2019! 🎉

I know what you’re thinking, another mince pie recipe? Heck yeah it is!

Brownies are always a good idea, let’s be honest. So, when you combine an all time favourite with a love it or hate it festive treat, what do you get? a great treat! If you don’t like mince pies or mincemeat, this recipe may not be for you.

These brownies are a slightly adapted take on my usual recipe. It has mincemeat in place of the chocolate chips and is topped with mince pies – this will make the perfect addition to any Christmas table this year – I promise.

If mince pies aren’t you sort of thing, I have Terry’s chocolate orange brownies and a salted caramel brownie tart for you to try something different. There is also some mince pie blondies incase you’re a mince pie fan.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

210g Butter, melted.

65g Cocoa powder.

3 Eggs

1 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract.

125g Mincemeat.

100g plain flour.

Roughly 4-5 mince pies, chopped into quarters.

Method:

Before you get into baking the brownies, you’ll want to do some prep work. Weigh up all your ingredients, preheat your oven to 180˚c/350˚f, line your 8×8 inch square baking tray and get any equipment you intend on using ready. Taking these steps can help prevent making mistakes later on.

To start on the brownies, melt the butter either in a saucepan on the hob over a medium heat or in the microwave, either way works well. Add the melted butter into your medium mixing bowl and add the cocoa powder. Whisk the two together until they are well combined, the mixture should be smooth.

Then add in the granulated sugar and just whisk it in until it’s fully incorporated. You will notice a change in the consistency, it will become more granular. This is normal and will change as you work through the recipe.

Directly into the mixture, add your eggs. One at a time beating well in-between each addition, then you can add in the vanilla and give it a good whisk until it’s fully incorporated.

Add the mincemeat and give it another whisk, just to incorporate it into the mixture.

Soon after you can add the plain flour fold it in using a silicon spatula, just until they are fully incorporated, try not to over-mix at this stage, otherwise your brownies will be tough in texture.

Take the tin and pout the brownie batter in, level off as best you can, the place it in the oven and bake it at 180˚c/350˚f for 30-35 minutes (depending on your oven, seeing as all ovens are different to one another, a tester should come out mostly clean).

When there is around 10 minute remain on the baking time, pause the timer and remove the brownies from the oven. Take your chopped up mince pies and start placing them on top, I went and added them so it works out each brownie gets 2 pieces of mince pie, but if you cut yours into bite size squares over rectangles, they’ll only get 1 each.

Place the brownies back in the oven and restart the timer and bake for the remaining 10 minutes or until baked enough.

Once they are out of the oven, allow them to cool fully in the tray, then you can remove them later on. Slice them up into either 8 rectangle or 16 squares portions.

Fruit Cake (Made with Tea)

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

It’s officially Bakemas 2019! 🎉

Is it even Christmas without having a fruit cake?

I know that a fruit cake is more traditional and not is overlooked because people don’t like them that much. This is a different take on the cake, it’s not such a traditional recipe but a very welcome addition if you need a quick fruit cake this holiday season.

This isn’t your conventional type fruit cake, as you will use the hob and different ingredients. It’s slightly lighter than a traditional variety but equally as tasty.

I’ve made a traditional fruit cake and have a blog post showing you how to make fruit cake 2 ways – don’t forget to check them out if you’re interested. If you know someone who likes fruit cake, it would make the perfect gift. Simply make the cake (decorate if you’d like) and place into a festive themed box or tin.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

175g Butter.

450g Dried fruit.

175g Light brown sugar.

200ml Strong tea, cold.

1 tsp Bicarbonate of soda.

3 Eggs.

300g Plain flour.

2 tsp Ground mixed spice.

20-30g light brown sugar.

Methods:

Before you get into making the cake, you’ll want to do some prep work. Weigh up all of your ingredients, prepare your 8” cake tin (if its needed), preheat your oven to 150˚c/300˚f and get any equipment you intend on using ready.

*I recommend making the tea a day in advance, giving it time to cool fully. Simply make 200ml strong tea.

To start on the cake, take a large saucepan and into it place the butter, light brown sugar, mixed dried fruit and tea. Place that on the hob over a medium-high heat, bringing to a boil, then allowing it to simmer for around 10-15 minutes. Doing this allows the fruit become more plump and the mixture to be thicker and richer.

Once it’s achieved the nice and thick consistency, take off the heat and allow to cool down for 10 minutes.

After the 10 minute period, add in the bicarbonate of soda and give it all a good mix, you’ll notice a change in the mixture and this is what you want. It shows that it’s all working properly.

Add in the eggs, all at one go and give it all a good mix until the eggs are fully incorporated. You’ll notice a change in consistency but this is normal.

Now you can add the plain flour and ground mixed spice, stirring until they are fully incorporated, like with any cake try not to over-mix the mixture. Once there’s no trace of a single ingredient, stop mixing.

Take the cake batter and transfer into your cake tin and spread/level it out using the silicon spatula or offset spatula.

Sprinkle over the light brown sugar, this is just to add a crunchy texture on-top but feel free to leave this out if you don’t want a crunchy top.

Bake in the oven for around 60-75 minutes in your preheated oven, a tester when inserted should come out clean. If it doesn’t, place back in oven and bake for a further 10-15 minutes.

Allow the cake to cool down fully in the cake tin, then remove from the tin and slice it up or wrap it up on clingfilm and consume within 3-5 days.

Basic

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