Tag: baking

vegan chocolate brownies
03Dec

Super fudgy vegan brownies

I don’t identify myself as belonging to any particular food tribes, whether it is clean eating, paleo or vegan. Sincerely, I love butter too much. This is not to say I don’t enjoy cooking and trying recipes from all of these tribes. Cooking with butter, cream and even meat is very easy as they have deep, rich flavours. But maybe I think like this because I am so used to cooking with these ingredients and any attempts to cook vegetarian or vegan recipes is something that takes a lot of effort. Fruit puree is what keeps bringing me back (made this dairy free cake a while ago), substituting it for dairy and eggs in a multitude of things.
2 mins read
1337 Views
06Apr

Orange tray cake

I have been wrapped up in childhood memories and knees deep in oranges over the last week. That and two very different Netflix series. The first was a dark one, which I devoured in about 3 days (you know, I had to pause it to go to work). I then had to cleanse my TV palate with something a little lighter, some mindless comedy thing. Binge watching series helps me get in the zone when I am in the kitchen. The zone to me means I have all my ingredients lined up, my wireless headphones for maximum freedom of movement and my tablet, propped up on top of my coffee jar with a series on. But I had questions after being in the zone this week. People say, word on the street is that binging is not good. We all know extremes can do you harm and moderation is key. I am a binger in all aspects of my life, from food to a new series. I got truly sucked into the fiction and then not only I have to snap myself back to reality after you feel a little lost after that last episode ends but also it completely
3 mins read
1343 Views
29Mar

Sticky stem ginger cake

I have often spent Chilli mornings at the start line of marathons. I’m there to be supportive, not to run. I sit there watching my husband and hundred of others doing their warm up routines and wondering what does it take for people to pump themselves up like that in order to run. I like running, but in a temperature controlled environment, and only like max 5k. My brain does not feel the need to push by body to run non stop for 42k. When it comes to pushing myself the equivalent of a marathon for me is baking cakes. I need to pump myself for it – watching piping videos on YouTube. I tried sticky ginger cake for the first time last year, and since then I have sought for the perfect balance of ingredients to replicate it. Sticky stem ginger cake 115g  flour 1 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda 1 tsp ground cinnamon 1 tsp nutmeg 60g butter, cut into cubes, plus extra for greasing 60g dark muscovado sugar 60g black treacle 60g golden syrup 150ml strong chai tea 100ml double cream 70g drained stem ginger, finely grated 1 egg 1. Preheat the oven to
2 mins read
918 Views
15Mar

Dainty pistachio and rose shortbread

    It is not easy to make friends as an adult. It seems that by the time people get to their 30s they have an established, close knit group of friends and no more need apply. For some reason any new acquaintances are nice to have a chit-chat with but it’s hard to get deeper than that. Do we get lazier as we get older? You know when someone cancels a coffee or a meeting at the bar and you actually feel relief? Not because you don’t like that person, but because you don’t have to make the effort to get dressed up and venture out, you can instead stay in and watch Real Housewives in your pyjamas. As children we go to school, we see our friends everyday, whether we want to or not, and the relationships blossom from that daily contact. As adults is a lot easier to hide from social relationships, even at work. Effort is needed to build meaningful relationships. My good, old friends are all in Brazil. Or Abu Dabi, or Germany and I miss the closeness that I developed with them. My work is so social, there are a lot of girls that
3 mins read
936 Views
23Jan

Dark chocolate and ginger cheesecake

I always set my alarm to give me a good hour for breakfast before I need to leave the house. It always amazes me when my work colleagues say they get out of bed 5 minutes before they have to leave the house and then have their toast in front of their computer. I’m sorry but that would bring my quality of life down by about 10 points. I can’t function properly for the rest of the day if my day starts in a rush. Having my eggs with a cup of coffee in bed whilst catching up on last evening’s Bravo is my happy place. Then I leave plenty of time for my makeup and hair. All sounds very regimented right? Not so much because I never really plan my packed lunch/dinner and have to rush last minute to try and make a mediocre salad to eat later that day. I never make that a priority and end up leaving with a cereal bar or maybe a smoothie for lunch. Not cool. This week I prepped like a boss, got a few bits of tuppaware and stacked them with a nice turkey fried rice in the fridge. In the
3 mins read
1480 Views
14Dec

Orange, honey and pistachio biscuits

I am not embarrassed to say that a lot of my Christmas shopping has been done online. It has been hard to put off chores and to be able to do things that I want to, such as blow drying my hair or going for a run. I guess that’s adulthood. Adulthood also means more and more of my friends are now having kids, and my lack of time really holds no comparison to what all the mammas I know have to juggle on a daily basis. Karla, my co-blogger, told be that being a mum and being with her family did not leave her with a lot of time to dedicate to the blog. I visited her last month and she cooked me some amazing stuff: creamy soups and quinoa patties which were to die for. She is a pro at seasoning, and one of the most creative people I have ever met. Obviously I am sad that our partnership has come to an end, but our friendship is strong even with the Channel between us. This recipe is for her. Karla loves Christmas biscuits I bought the cutters that I used for this recipe whilst in Germany with
3 mins read
1216 Views