Swedish Chocolate Brownies

I am very excited, my good friend Leia is expecting her second child in the first week of September which is going to be a girl! With not long to go she is looking amazing but understandable feeling tiered. So I thought I would cheer her up by baking her some delicious home made chocolate brownies.
This recipe is Swedish and has a slight twist on the traditional chocolate brownie recipe. It is moist but has a lighter texture, more like a cake slice. It has a smooth rich flavour with  gooey chunks of chocolate scattered throughout.

Swedish Chocolate Brownies 

5 organic eggs

350g caster sugar

275g plain flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 pinch of salt

6 tablespoons cocoa powder

200ml water

250g butter, melted

200g dark chocolate 

100g desiccated coconut

Icing

200ml whipping cream

1 tablespoons coffee granules

200g dark chocolate

Preheat oven to 200 degrees

Beat together the eggs and sugar until pale and fluffy

Mix together the dry ingredients and then blend in egg mixture

Add water and melted butter and stir to combine

Line a 40x35cm cake tin with baking paper,pour mixture into tin

Sprinkle coarsely chopped chocolate over the top

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a skewer comes out slightly sticky

Bring the whipping cream to the boil, stir in coffee granules

Turn the heat off, chop the chocolate add the cream and stir until melted

Spread icing over the cake, sprinkle desiccated coconut on top and leave to set

Cut into squares

Yum!

Mixed Berry Tart

I made this wonderful mixed berry tart for my Granddad's Birthday, as a surprise. My Granddad loves French food, he always tells the storey of when he meet Granny and took her to a fancy French restaurant for their first date...how cute.


This recipe is from a old French cooking book my Mum had in the back of her cupboard, which was one of her Grandma's. It has a lovely mix of cream fraiche, curd cheese and almond paste. You can choose any type of fruit for this recipe, pears work really well too.


This tart is super tasty and practical because you can make it complete with pastry and filling and freeze uncooked, so when you have friends turn up unexpectedly it is easy to pull out of the freezer and cook. 

Mixed Berry Tart

1 sheet of shortcrust pastry

110g almond paste

3 eggs

200ml curd cheese

100ml creme fraiche

90g caster sugar

160g mixed berries

sprinkle of slivered almonds

Preheat oven to 175 degrees

Line a free form tart tin then place pastry in tin

Grate the almond paste into a bowl and mix in all other ingredients

Pour into the tart tin then spread berries onto mixture 

Sprinkle the slivered almonds

Bake in preheated oven for 40-50 minutes or until golden and mixture has set or freeze uncooked and bake on another occasion

Bon appétit! 

Chalk Labels

On one of my trips to Noosa I came across this gorgeous shop called Lamington which had a great collection of vintage items and lots of handmade treasures. I came across this pack of chalk labels which will be perfect for homemade jam and chutney.
They are handmade by www.isobelscanlon.com the uses are endless with these chalkboard labels - pot plants, books, baked gifts....
The best thing is they are reusable no sticky labels to peel off.

Lavender Biscuits

What an amazing winter's day 24 degrees bright blue skies, how lucky we are. My mum is on holidays so we decided to take a walk around her estate. We came across this beautiful bush of lavender the colours of the flowers were an amazing deep purple. Tegwen a girl I worked with gave me a recipe years ago for Lavender Biscuits so I thought what a great opportunity to try it out. The lady that lived in the house was lovely she was only to happy for me to pick some flowers from her lavender bush.
I came home and got started the recipe it is quick and easy a great one to whip up for a afternoon tea.

Lavender Biscuites 

100g butter,softened

90g caster sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla sugar

150g plain flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 tablespoon fresh lavender

Preheat oven to 150 degrees

Beat butter and sugar until pale and creamy

Mix the dry ingredients with the lavender flowers and stir into butter cream to make a crumbly dough

Shape into small balls and put them on a lined baking tray

Bake for 20-25min.

Sit down and enjoy with a nice cup of tea!