All posts tagged: Baking

Brownie on a plate

Ultimate Chocolate Brownies

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Chocolate Brownies are hugely popular in the Letstrythisathome house.  They’re incredibly easy to make and pretty much foolproof, even with ‘help’ from the smallest chefs in the family.  The last time we made some, Chief Stick Collector announced that the mixture looked like Nutella.  Lightbulb moment! We added a large dollop of Nutella to the mixture, and waited even more impatiently than usual to see how they would turn out. Chief Stick Collector and Bird Girl were confident. I was tentatively hopeful. A very rainy Sunday afternoon was not the time to have to go out for more ingredients to make a replacement batch if it had all gone wrong.  But luckily, the random addition turned out to be not just as good as the original recipe, but, we thought, an improvement.  Light and flaky on the top but just the right amount of gooey inside, and really chocolatey.  This is now our go-to recipe for brownies. Ultimate Chocolate Nutella Brownies Ingredients 275g (10oz) butter, softened 375g (13oz) caster sugar 4 large eggs 75g (3oz) cocoa powder …

Honey Oat Muffins

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    We have been looking for a muffin recipe that feels a bit more healthy.  I know muffins aren’t supposed to be a health-food, but these ones, with the addition of oats, and using vegetable oil instead of butter seemed a bit less ‘naughty’ than others. Although, we discovered that they taste delicious if you slice them open when they’re still a little warm from the oven and spread butter on them.  It defies the whole point of the healthier muffin, but if you’re that concerned about avoiding snacks, just call it lunch! The original recipe came from our BBC Good Food 100 Cakes and Bakes book, but we tweaked it by adding dried apricots in place of some of the raisins and soaking the remaining raisins in orange juice. We made two versions from the same batch of mixture – regular size and mini-size. Honey-Oat Muffins Ingredients 250g plain flour 85g porridge oats 1tbsp baking powder 1/2 tsp cinnamon 1/2 tsp ground allspice 1/2 tsp salt 45g raisins, soaked in 100ml orange juice …

Pumpkin spiced muffins with maple orange glaze

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We have had a busy couple of months here, starting a new job, starting school, starting preschool and celebrating a 40th birthday.  Milestones all round.   Between all those things and the increased layers of organisation that they have entailed, the unfortunate blog has been rather neglected. But it feels like we’ve turned a bit of a corner after the half-term break.  We’re finally settling into the new routines, and finding time for more activities together.  Autumn is giving way to winter, but before all the christmassy stuff starts, we decided to have a go at an autumnal bake.  And with halloween just gone, I decided that meant pumpkin!  In truth, the pumpkin decision was mainly because I had added tinned pumpkin puree to my online grocery order on a whim a few weeks ago, and it was sitting in the cupboard begging to be put to good use. As usual, the recipe below is an amalgam and adaptation of various recipes, based mainly on what we had in the cupboard and what sounded simple enough for a two-year-old helper to assist with! Pumpkin spiced muffins with maple …

Blackberry Oaty Cookies

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I love this time of year when it’s still summer, but the early mornings hint at the changing season to come, with a chill in the air and wisps of mist clinging to the fields and woods in the valley below our house. It seems early this year, but the trees and hedgerows near us are starting to reveal their autumn goodies, with cob nuts everywhere and ripe blackberries on show already.  So, we took ourselves off blackberry picking, joined by Bird Girl and Chief Stick Collector’s cousins and my sister. As luck would have it, blackberry picking is another thing on our list of 50 Things to do before 11 3/4. So we were hoping to be able to tick off another challenge, which sounded like it would be an easy and risk-free one to complete! We did have to be careful to avoid stinging nettles and blackberry thorns, so it wasn’t entirely without an element of danger (as far as that term is understood by preschoolers!).  But it didn’t take us long to pick enough to take home. …