Easy

White Chocolate & Fudge Cookies

If you’ve come looking for a recipe on how to make these super simple white chocolate and fudge cookies, I’ve got you covered.

As stated above, these cookies are super simple to make and don’t require a lot of either time or ingredients. These cookies are perfect for almost any cookie craving, it starts with the perfectly baked cookie, which has a generous amount of white chocolate chips and fudge pieces studded throughout them. Oh yeah, did I forgot to mention that they have a fudge filling? That’s right, even more fudge packed into them, what’s not to like?

I understand that you might not be able to find white chocolate chips or fudge pieces where you are, so feel free to improvise by using a chopped up bar of white chocolate or chopped up soft fudge. For the fudge centre, I recommend using butter fudge as this is softer than other fudges and works perfectly in this recipe but feel free to use whatever you have or can get your hands on.

Anyway, the mixing process doesn’t require a whole lot, a little time and effort and you can have yourself a batch of amazing cookies! The longest thing in the whole process is actually the baking period, why must you take so long to bake?! This recipe wasn’t intended for this week, but they were really tasty and thought I should share these with you as soon as possible.

All jokes aside, you don’t need any fancy equipment and these would make the ideal recipe to make with kids. To start this recipe, you’ll want to do some prep work. Preheat your oven to 180˚c/350˚f, weigh up all of your ingredients (this saves you time and prevents you from making a mistake with the exact amounts) and prepare your baking tray by lining it with either baking parchment/greaseproof paper and set that aside until its needed a little later.

To start the cookies, you’ll want to get your mixing bowl of choice and place your butter, granulated sugar and light brown sugar into a bowl and beat them together over a low-medium until they are well combined, you can tell once its done as there won’t be a trace of a single ingredient. Once the mixture has come together, add your egg and vanilla and mix that again on a low-medium speed until the egg and vanilla are very well incorporated. Give your bowl a good scrape down and then add in the plain flour and baking powder and mix them in over a low-medium speed until the dry ingredients are almost fully incorporated, then add in your white chocolate chips and fudge pieces and fold these in using a spatula, do this until the cookie dough has become clear (no traces of a single ingredient, all fully worked in to one another. You can then give your counter a wipe down and get your prepared baking tray ready.

Once you’ve got your cookie dough ready and baking tray, you’re good to go. The dough doesn’t need to be chilled before being used, so you can use it straight away. Scoop up 2 balls of dough per cookie, onto one of the dough balls, place a piece of butter fudge and place the second ball of dough on top of that one and round them up using the palms of your hands and then place them onto your baking tray. I places 6 cookies onto a standard baking tray but feel free to configure how many you can place onto a baking tray. Bake in the preheated oven for around 15-18 minutes or until golden brown.

As soon as you remove from the oven, place a generous amount of white chocolate chips and fudge pieces on top of each cookie and allow to cool slightly before eating them. Transfer the cookies to a cooling rack, allow to cool for as long as you’d like (or can resist) and then enjoy them. They are best enjoyed once out of the oven for around 10 minutes – they are best enjoyed with milk or alone.

I will leave all the ingredients and measurements down below along with a brief version of whats above, if you want to save yourself some time reading exactly what you have to do.

Ingredients:

75g Butter.

75g Granulated sugar.

75g Light brown sugar.

1 Egg.

1 tsp Vanilla.

175g Plain flour.

1/2 tsp Baking powder.

50g White chocolate chips.

50g Fudge pieces.

12 pieces butter fudge (or other variety of soft fudge).

Methods:

Start by preheating your oven to 180˚c/350˚f, weighing up all your ingredients and lining your baking tray with baking parchment/greaseproof paper.
Start by getting your mixing bowl ready and placing your butter granulated white sugar and light brown sugar into the bowl and beating over low-medium speed until its combined.
Once combined, you can add your egg and vanilla and beat that over a low-medium speed until they have been incorporated into the mix.
Scrape down the bowl and add in your flour and baking powder. Mix this in on a low-medium speed until its almost fully combined, then add in the white chocolate chips and fudge pieces and fold these in by hand using a spatula. Do this until a clear dough has formed.
Once a dough has formed, get your prepared baking tray and scoop up your dough. For each cookie, you’ll want to get 2 scoops of dough, onto one half of the dough place a piece of butter fudge and place the second dough ball on top, then round them off using the palms of your hand. Place onto your baking tray and fit around 6 cookies onto a standard baking tray.
Place your cookies into the preheated oven and bake for 15-18 minutes (or until golden brown).
Straight out the oven, place a generous amount of the white chocolate chips and fudge pieces on top of each cookie and allow to cool slightly on a cooling rack before eating.
Once cooler, enjoy by itself or with a glass of milk.

Scone Recipe

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

If you’re looking for a simple and straightforward recipe for plain scones, I have the perfect recipe for you right here.

These are really quick and simple to make, you can whip a batch up in under 60 minutes, what’s not to love? Incase you haven’t ever tried a scone before, I’ll give you the rundown on what they are exactly. Scones are a slightly sweetend confection, which are that interesting on their own, however, when they are partnered with clotted cream and jam it makes them a whole lot more interesting.

These scones are smaller than the ones you’d get in tearooms but are roughly the same size as the ones you’d find in supermarket bakeries here in the UK (which is still a decent size, it’s bigger than bitesize but smaller than the giant versions). The filling is also pretty simple, it’s just clotted cream and jam (I went with strawberry jam as I think this is the most traditional plus it’s what I had made not to long before this recipe) and depending on where you are will depend on whether you place the jam first or the cream first… To be honest, it doesn’t really matter at the end of the day, you’re still going to eat it either way.

The process behind these scones isn’t hard at all and best of all, you don’t even need any specialist equipment. All you need are your hands, this is the best way to make them but feel free to use a food processor if you have one.

To start, you’ll want to weigh up all of your ingredients, preheat your oven to 200˚c/400˚f and prepare your baking tray with greaseproof paper/baking parchment.

place your milk into a small-medium bowl and add in the sugar and mix until the sugar is fully dissolved, then set aside (ideally in the fridge, until you need it. Try and keep the cold ingredients as cold as possible). Into a large bowl, add the flour, baking powder and salt and give a brief mix, then add in your cold cubed butter and work it in by rubbing the butter and flour together until they come together. To tell if this stage is done, you’ll notice a slight change in colour (a slight yellow-ish tint) but the most noticeable change would be the consistency, it will become more of a bread crumb or sandy texture. Once the correct consistency has been achieved, you can then add in your milk/sugar and mix this in using a spatula or you can do this by hand. Try not to overmix at this stage, as it’s very easy to do, so once a dough forms, you can stop mixing it.

Generously flour your counter, then add your scone dough onto the floured surface and knead a bit of the flour into your dough if its sticky. Just knead until the dough becomes smooth, try not to overmix as this will result in a tough textured scone. Roll out your dough slightly, it won’t take many rolls to get it to the right thickness (the right thickness would be around 3cm) you can then cut out your scones, I chose the plain edge but feel free to use the crinkled edge if you want to (use the 2 1/2 – 3 inch cookie cutter). Transfer your cut outs onto a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper and brush the tops of the scones with egg wash (the egg wash I recommend using is simply a egg beaten in a small bowl) and then bake them in your preheated oven for around 15-20 minutes, they should be golden brown once they are fully baked. Once baked, allow to cool on the baking tray for a few minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Once they have cooled completely, you can then slice them in half and place your clotted cream onto once half and the jam onto the other half. Sandwich the two together and finish the scones with a dusting of icing sugar. They are really that simple, nothing to complex about them at all, so I really hope you get to make a batch soon!

Ingredients:

250g plain flour

3 tsp baking powder

Pinch of salt

45g butter

45g sugar

150ml milk

1 egg (for egg wash)

Methods:

Start by preheating your oven to 200˚c/400˚f, weighing up your ingredients and preparing your baking tray with greaseproof paper.
To start the scones, place the milk into a small-medium bowl and add in the sugar. Whisk the two together until the sugar is dissolved in the milk, you can then set this aside (I recommend placing it into the fridge until you need it).
Into a large bowl, place your plain flour, baking powder and salt and give it a brief mix.
Into the dry ingredients, add in the butter and rub the dry ingredients and butter together until they become combined. You can tell when this stage is achieved but checking the colour of mix (if it’s got a slight yellow-ish tint, then you’re good) or the most obvious way is to check the consistency. If its a bread crumb or sandy texture, that’s what you’re looking for.
Once you’ve reached the correct consistency, you’ll want to add in the milk/sugar mixture and stir it in using a spatula just until a dough forms (try not to overmix at this stage, otherwise it will result in a tough textured scone).
Roll out your dough so its roughly 3cm thick, then using either a plain or crinkled edge cookie cutter (thats between 2 1/2 inch and 3 inch works well) cut out your shapes and place on a baking tray (if you re-roll the dough, make sure you only do it once, you should yield between 8-10 scones.
Once your scones are on the baking tray, brush the top of each scone with the egg wash and then place in your preheated oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown on top.
Once baked, remove from the oven and allow the scones to cool for a few minutes on the tray before transferring them onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
Once fully cooled, slice the scones in half and top one half with the clotted cream and the other with your jam and sandwich them together and finish with a dusting of icing sugar.
Make yourself a hot drink and enjoy your freshly finished scone.

So thank you for reading my blog post today, I hope you enjoyed. If you did, please show your support by sharing this recipe with your friends and family. If you do make any recipe of mine, don’t forget to share your pictures with me!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

If you’re looking for a chocolate chip cookie recipe that won’t disappoint, you have come to the right place.

This recipe is super simple to make and best of all doesn’t take too long to make either, you’ll be able to have a batch of these made up in under an hour. What’s not to like about these?!

As I mentioned above, these cookies are quick and easy but are also budget friendly. Another great thing about this recipe is that it freezes really well, you can make the dough and get your scoopfuls done and freeze them and whenever you want to pull them out the freezer you simply place them onto a baking tray and bake in your preheated oven (a great idea around the holiday season or for school bake sales, it’ll save you time when you haven’t got it!). The other way is to bake the cookies off and then freeze them if you don’t intend on eating them right away (best to place them into a freezer bag) and whenever you want them, you take them out and defrost them. That way you can have your cookies whenever you like!

Just like the minimal ingredients, then method if the same. Just a few simple steps and you’re done!

Before you get into making these, you’ll want to do a bit of prep work. Preheat your oven to 180˚c/350˚f, prepare your baking tray by either lining it with greaseproof/parchment paper or generously buttering the tray and the final bit of prep is to weight up all your ingredients (this eliminates the chances of getting the measurements wrong and save you faffing around while making the dough.

Into your mixing bowl of choice, place the butter and both sugars and beat on a low-medium speed until they have become well combined. Once combined, you can then add in your egg and vanilla and mix that again on a low-medium speed until its well combined. Next you’ll want to add in your dry ingredients but before you go dumping them into the bowl, you’ll want to sieve them. Sieve them directly into the bowl and then fold them in using a spatula until almost fully incorporated, this is where you’ll want to add your chocolate chips in and mix until you have a clear dough. (by a clear dough, I mean there are no traces of any of the ingredients, they are fully incorporated.

Now that you’ve got your dough, you’ll want to use a cookie or (small) ice-cream scoop, (these are readily available online for pretty cheap) and scoop up the mixture filling the scoop all the way. Remove the dough from the scoop and round it up using your hands, then flattening into a disc shape. If you want to get even more chocolate into these, add a few more chocolate chips on top, pressing them down lightly (here is where you could freeze them to bake off at a later date). Place onto your prepped baking tray, I used a standard size one and got 12 onto it. You can then place the tray into the oven and allow to bake for 10-12 minutes (I found that around 11-12 minutes was perfect for me).

Remove your cookies from the oven (add some more chocolate chips on top, pushing them into the cookies while they are warm, maximise the amount of chocolate) and allow to cool on the tray for 4-5 minutes, then transfer them to a cooling rack so they can cool completely. You can enjoy them slightly warm or completely cool. These will be best eaten on the day they’re made but will last for up to 3 days in a airtight container (at this stage you can freeze them.

Ingredients:

75g Butter.

75g Granulated sugar.

75g Light brown sugar.

1 Egg.

1 tsp Vanilla extract.

175g Plain flour.

1/2 tsp Baking powder.

1/8 tsp Salt.

150g Chocolate chips.

Method:

Prepare by preheating your oven to 180˚c/350˚f, lining your tray with greaseproof or parchment paper or generously buttering the tray and weighing up your ingredients.
Place the butter, granulated sugar and light brown sugar into your mixing bowl of choice. Beat them all together over a low-medium speed until well combined. Feel free to use a wooden spoon, electric hand mixer or stand mixer.
Once well combined, add in your egg and vanilla extract and mix on a low-medium speed until well combined.
Scrape down the sides and bottom of your bowl, this is to incorporate any bits that haven’t been fully incorporated from earlier on.
Add in your plain flour, baking powder and salt. Pass them through a sieve to remove any lumps and then once all of the dry ingredients are in the bowl, fold/stir them in using a spatula just until the flour is almost fully incorporated. Add in your chocolate chips and stir/fold these in until the dough is clear.
Once you’ve got your dough, you can then use a cookie or (small) ice cream scoop to scoop up small amounts of the dough then round them up using your hands, then flatten them (they will spread a little but not a lot while baking, you can freeze at this stage if you like).
Bake them off in your preheated oven for 10-12 minutes (I found 11-12 minutes was perfect for me).
Remove the tray from the oven and allow the cookies to cool on the tray for 4-5 minutes then transfer them to a cooling rack to cool completely. This recipe makes 24 cookies.

Sprinkle Sponge Cake | School Sponge Cake | Old School Traybake

by bakingwithelliott 3 Comments

If you remember having this cake at school, you must make this as soon as possible. I promise you won’t be disappointed.

Now I’m not sure if this is a local thing or national but if you went to school in the UK, you might recognise this. This recipe has been around for quite some time, a lot of people who went to school in the 70s, 80s, 90s or 00s should remember this! It’s super simple to make and doesn’t take that long either – what’s not to like?

This cake is just one of the few old school favourites I remember being offered when I was back in primary school – others include chocolate concrete & pink custard, cornflake tart and chocolate hedgehogs.

This recipe is my take on the traditional version of the old school traybake, it’s a really quick, easy and cheap recipe to make and will go down well with many who get to try it. If you’re not sure what this cake is, I’ll give you a quick run down. This cake is a basic sponge cake which is topped with a even simpler glacé icing and best of all, it can be made and finished within 60 minutes – what’s not to love?

For the cake, I used the all in one method (which isn’t as preferred as the creaming method), this is where you place all of your ingredients into a bowl and mix them until a cake batter has formed compared to the creaming method, which starts with you creaming the butter and sugar together, then gradually adding the egg then the dry ingredients. You can use either method, they will both work well and usually I would use the creaming method for cakes.

The icing is a simple glacé icing or water icing, which is just icing sugar and water. It makes for a sweet and crisp icing the works remarkably well with this cake in particular. You pour this in the centre of your fully baked and cooled cake, then spread it out using a cranked/offset spatula or the back of a spoon to spread and level the icing as best you can and finish it with the sprinkles – this cake is so simple, you don’t need to be a master baker or anything.

At school this cake would be served with custard, which is a welcome addition.

Ingredients:

220g Plain flour

1 tsp Baking powder

Pinch of salt.

220g Granulated sugar.

4 Eggs.

220g Butter.

2 tbsp Milk.

1 tsp Vanilla extract.

Icing:

400g Icing sugar.

Water (work a teaspoon at a time, until its perfectly spreadable).

Rainbow sprinkles.

Method:

Cake:

Start by doing some prep work. Preheat your oven to 180˚c/350˚f, weighing up all your ingredients and preparing your tray with butter and flour, which is either 8×12 inches or 9×13 inches would work well (if you’re not using a disposable tray which is roughly 8×12″. These can be found in the supermarket 6 trays for £3 or so).
Start by placing all your ingredients into a large mixing bowl and mix together on a low-medium speed to start with, then working your way up to a medium-high speed until everything is combined and a clear dough has formed (there shouldn’t be a trace of a single ingredient).

If you find that your cake batter is a little too thick, add in your milk, a little a time until the cake batter is slightly more spreadable.

Give the bowl a good scraping down, then mix in any ingredients that haven’t been fully worked in – trying your best not to over-mix the mixture (otherwise the cake will be tougher in texture).
Add the cake batter into the tray and level it out as best you possibly can using a small offset/cranked palette knife and then place into the oven and allow to bake for around 25-30 minutes (or until a tester comes out clean).
Once out the oven, allow to cool completely before finishing.

Icing:

Into a medium size bowl, place in the icing sugar and a teaspoon of water, mixing well. Keep adding a teaspoon at a time until you get to a thick but loose enough to spread.

Finishing:

Take your cooled down cake and place the icing into the middle of the cake then spread it out as evenly as possible using a offset/cranked palette knife. Try to give the cake as level coating as possible.