Chocolate and Peanut Butter Fudge

Its the season of santa,eggnog,carols and rumcake,yup its the holidays,and what better way to welcome the freezing weather and the joy of christmas cheer than by eating a pan of fudge.In Guyana an aunt of mine used to make fudge that was melt in your mouth perfect,it was never too sweet never too hard it was just little squares of heaven.

Before you go on,i must warn this is not any fudge this is like the superman i mean wonderwoman of fudges,and it has chocolate ANDD peanut butter in it.So i hope you get the massivness of this recipe before you go on.

Now with my family being away i've been trying to bring in as much holiday cheer as i can into the house,whether its wearing a hideous christmas sweater or learning to make eggnog,i'm trying everything.So making fudge seemed like a right of passage i just had to cross.Now i attempted a similar recipe for peanut butter and chocolate fudge combined,it was great except it would'nt set in the pan so hence turned out to be a peanut butter dip that everyone ate with pretzels and stuff.None the less it was yum but i knew i had to learn to make a good fudge and i had to make it right.

Now when i was looking for a good fudge recipe first thing i have to admit,i decided i was not going to go grocery shopping so i had to find a recipe which had all the ingredients and flavours i wanted.Next when you are looking for a recipe always specify the texture,i wanted a soft fudge because when i see the tough jaw breaker fudge i'm more tempted to throw it at someone than eat it.This fudge the best part is you put it in the fridge it becomes tough but yet edible (without breaking any teeth) or you can leave it out and get a chewy fudge.

This fudge may seem intimidating but trust me it is worth it,i am not a person to eat alot of my own food,but it's simple so delicious and trust me when you make it everyone will think you're a professional.And heres a secret i always tell people when working with chocolate,always use something that tastes really good and is a good quality one.I used hersheys for my base,but you can use any dark chocolate.I am in love with the combination of peanut butter and chocolate soo this just feels like my version of a square of heaven.

Ingredients:

1 tin sweetened condensed milk

1 1/2 tbsps butter

1 1/2 tbsps creamy peanut butter

2 1/4 cups grated chocolate

RECIPE:

1.  Heat a small pan, add peanut butter and 3 tbsps of condensed milk. Stir to make a smooth creamy mixture on a very low flame. Turn off flame. Allow to cool for a few mts.
2. Melt chocolate in a double boiler. Alternately, heat a stainless steel vessel with about an inch of water, bring to a boil and lower the flame completely. Over the stainless steel vessel, place another vessel (the bottom of this vessel should not touch the water of the stainless steel vessel) such that is rests on the rim of the lower vessel. Place the grated chocolate in the upper vessel. The chocolate will melt due to the steam released from the hot water. Keep stirring till the chocolate melts completely.
3. Turn off the flame, remove the vessel which has the melted chocolate and keep it aside.
4. Take a square baking pan, grease and line with parchment/butter paper such that the paper is longer than the pan. (Once the fudge is set, its easy to lift out the fudge with the ends of the parchment paper). Pour the creamy peanut butter mixture and spread all over to form a thin layer. Use a flat spatula to spread it out evenly.
5.  In another pan, add 1 1/2 tbsps butter and let it melt on low flame. Add the remaining condensed milk and mix. Add the melted chocolate and keep stirring for appprox 2-3 mts.. Turn off heat.
6. Over this layer, pour the chocolate mixture and allow it to spread all over the pan evenly using a spatula. Let it cool before setting it in the fridge. (I use a large bowl filled with 1 1/2 cups of cold water to place the baking pan so that it cools down before placing in the fridge to set).
7. Once it cools, cover the baking pan with a plastic wrap and set in fridge for 3-4 hours.
8. After the fudge is set, remove from fridge. Using the ends of the parchment paper, lift it out of the baking pan and place on a plate. Cut into squares and store in an air tight container. It will stay for 3-4 days.

Recipe credits:http://www.sailusfood.com/2011/06/27/chocolate-fudge/
Note:I doubled the quantity of the peanut butter layer because thats the way i like it,but you can stick to the recipe if you wish.And i flipped the flavours unstead i made the chocolate first and peanut butter later.But it's all up to you

Finally i would like to give a hugeee shout out to all my  awesome friends and family for all the suport and being my guinea pigs and allowing my to increase your blood sugar levels.You guys are amazing

Enjoy the holidays guys,be good to one another.

STAY SWEET!

Rainbow cupcakes with Condensed Milk frosting

It has been awhile since i posted something i cooked,and my deepest apologies but usually when something is baked its usually out of sight before i can even take a picture of it.Now to make rainbow cupcakes you can use two methods:

1.Use a white cake mix(which i usually do)

2.Make it from Scratch

Now the gathering of ingredients isn't much of a problem it is a very basic recipe,the part that is tricky is seperating the batter.You have to seperate the batter into seperate bowls depending on the colours you want to use.The fun thing about these cupcakes is they're customisable,whether you want to show your patriotic side by using the colours of the flag or the colours of your favourite football team,the options are endless.I first tried this recipe using the food colouring in liquid form,not the best idea.The problem with using liquid food colouring is it adds to the water content in the batter and in the end even after emptying out half the bottle,your cake comes out looking like depressed rainbows,because all your colours look like a brown with maybe a tinge of green or purple.Now the trick to making these cakes are to use gel food colouring.They are pretty easily accesable and one tiny cup can last you a very long time.

For those of you who want to be on the safer side and use the cake mix technique heres what you have to do:Just make the batter as prescribed on the box and split the batter into the seperate bowls:one bowl for each colour.Then mix in a different colour in each bowl and finally in the cupcake put a spoon of each colour evenly in the cupcake tins.Bake it as usual and you're done.

I will post the recipe below for thoose of you who want to bake it from scratch,this recipe may seem really simple but the cupcakes come out reallyy moist and taste really really good.At the end you can finally say:"I tasted the rainbow and it was swweeeetttt".

I baked these cupcakes because two of my closest friends who are twins :Amy and Emily were celebrating their birthday this week and all they wanted was rainbow cupcakes,now i usually would run down to the store and get the cake mix,but unfortunately i couldnt find any so i decided to bake it from scratch and boy am i happy i did.Now alot of you may say why work extra hard by baking from scratch for results that may or may not come out right:well why not,its the best feeling seeing your cake actually rise in the oven and that amazing aroma that fills the house,that amazing feeling you get when you know all of this magic is happening from your hard work.

The magic though is the icing,no doubt the cupcakes are great plain,but coming from a person who doesnt like icing or frostng,you have to try this recipe.I had some condensed milk left at home,and i knew i couldnt make a birthday cupcake without frosting,and being a person who does'nt like vanilla buttercream i needed an alternative.Soo hence the search began and i finallly found a recipe that worked really well,perfect in texture,perfect in taste and the great part is you dont realllyy need to make massive quantities like the recipe asks,you can lessen it.

So get ready to ride the rainbow:

Rainbow Cupcakes

• 1/2 cup (125g) caster sugar
• 125g unsalted butter
• 2 eggs

1 cup (125g) self-raising flour (or 1 cup all purpose flour ,1 1/3 teaspoons baking powder,1/3 teaspoon salt combined)

• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 4 bottles food colouring, red, blue, yellow, green

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees C. Line a 12 hole cupcake tray with patty cups.
2. Cream the sugar and butter until pale and fluffy.
3. Beat the eggs in one at a time adding a little flour in each time until the ingredients are mixed.
4. Add the vanilla essence and mix. Then add the milk 1 tablespoon at a time mixing after each addition.
5. Divide the mixture into 6 bowls:
   In Bowl 1 - Add half a cap of red colouring
   In Bowl 2 - Add half a cap of red and half a cap of yellow
   In Bowl 3 - Add half a cap of yellow
   In Bowl 4 - Add half a cap of green
   In Bowl 5 - Add half a cap of blue
   In Bowl 6 - Add half a cap of blue and half a cap of red
   Mix colouring into each mixture after adding.
6. Divide the purple mixture between the 12 cases. Repeat with the other mixtures in this order: Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, Red.
7. Bake in the preheated oven for 10-15 minutes.

Credits to: Rainbow Coloured Cupcakes recipe – All recipes Australia NZ

Condensed milk frosting

150g butter, softened
300g pure icing sugar, sifted
100ml condensed milk

1. Mix butter till it becomes light and fluffy,then gradually add the icing sugar .When the two are combined completely add the condensed milk.Finally in the end when everything is combined check to see if frosting needs more sugar.When cake is cooled frost it.Enjoy

Finally please do remember mistakes happen sometimes your cupcake might come out looking like soup other times like a green eyed monster.But finally one day you'll get it right and that day all the failures would have been worth it.Soon i will be sharing pictures of my chocolate and peanut butter fudge,trust me you don't want to miss it.

Please do share your experiences below when you try out the recipe.

STAY SWEET!

Banana Cupcakes with Mango Whipped Cream

This recipe is a personal favourite of mine,i've made it soo many times,it's one of thoose recipes which does'nt make you start praying while its in the oven.Not overly sweet,soo light and fluffy you feel like you're chilling on the beach in the carribean.Originally i tried this recipe with molasses frosting (yes that  awesome stuff that makes brown sugar and el dorado rum) so i will be posting both frosting recipes up here.For thoose of you who want less sugar the mango whipped cream frosting is a winner,and for thoose of you super sweet souls the molasses frosting is for you.

Now the amazing thing about this one cupcake is once made you could eat it without frosting without feeling like anything is missing,but once you try it with frosting thats it,there is no going back from there my friend.Also a special thank you to everyone who have been sharing and spreading the word about this blog.You guys are super sweet.

Recipe
I got this recipe from:Gina's Banana Cupcakes on the Food Network

Banana cupcake:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon fine salt
1 stick (4 ounces) butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup sour cream
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2  large eggs
2 1/2 large ripe bananas, peeled and mashed
3/4 cup chopped walnuts(optional)

1.Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a 12-cup standard muffin tin with paper cupcake liners.

2.In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

3.In a large bowl, add the butter and granulated sugar. Beat with a handheld mixer until combined. Add the sour cream and vanilla. Slowly beat in the eggs, one at a time. Incorporate the dry mixture and wet mixture together until thoroughly combined. Add the bananas, being careful not to overmix.

4.Using an ice cream scoop, fill each cupcake liner three-quarters of the way full. Bake in the oven until the tops turn golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cupcake comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes. Remove the cupcakes from the oven to a wire rack and let cool before frosting.

Mango Whipping cream:
I got this recipe from http://www.cupcakeproject.com/2008/05/mango-whipped-cream-frosting-recipe.html#UsGhgsjPQRLOeZyK.99 -they have amazingggg cupcakes

1 Cup heavy whipping cream

1/2 Cup sugar

2 mangoes (ripe)

1. Beat whipping cream on medium speed for about five minutes, until soft peaks form.
2. Add sugar.
3. Cut up your mango, being sure to remove all skin. Then, use a food processor or blender to turn your mango into a pulp.
4. Add the mango to the whipped cream.
5. Be sure to keep refrigerated.

Molasses Frosting:

4 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons butter, softened
2 tablespoons molasses
2 cups confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons whole milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

In a large bowl, add the cream cheese and butter. Beat together until incorporated. Add the molasses and mix well. Stir in the confectioners' sugar, milk and vanilla.

STAY SWEET!!

 

Cheesecake filled Strawberries

I love cheesecake,let me just state that before I continue.Seeing that my sister is a die-hard cheesecake fan,taking bites off of her plate through the years has resulted in me learning to love it.Basically cheesecake is exactly what the name suggests,a cake made out of cheese,now dont go running into your kitchen looking for cheddar cheese to start making cheesecake.This sweet and salty cake is usually made of cream cheese and may seem simple in the beginning but once you add that perfect topping,then you have begun your journey into the land of many possibilities (all of which end with you running in the gym,but lets ignore the ugly truth for now).

Now as i keep complaining about finding ingrdients,the most upsetting loss for me is not finding graham crackers.Cheesecake usually has a crust made of melted butter and crushed graham crackers,yes i know you can use other biscuits but it just isn't right,graham crackers add that kick to any  cheesecake.I also had eaten soo much cheesecake,that now the original strawberry cheesecake just feels normal to me,nothing exciting (sad story of my life)So i set out on a way to find something different from the ordinary cheesecake,and now i have discovered these tiny pieces of cheesecake heaven.

Recipe

1 box strawberries(usually 10-12)

4 oz Cream Cheese

1 tbsp white sugar

3 tbsp Maple syrup/Carmel Sauce(depending on how strong you want the flavour)

1/4 cup chocolate chips

3 tbsp milk or whipping cream

whipped cream topping (optional)

1.Wash the strawberries and make sure you dry them with a paper towel otherwise the chocolate won't stick.Remove the stem of the strawberries and using a fruit core remover,or a knife scoop out the center of the strawberry,leaving it hollow.Also cut a piece off the bottom of the strawberry so that it can stand on its own.

2.Using a hand mixer blend the cream cheese,sugar,maple syrup until well combined.Then place it in the fridge for 20 minutes.

3.While the cream cheese mix is cooling,place the chocolate chips and milk in a microwave safe bowl and heat for 10 seconds then mix.Then repeat the heat and mix process until the chocolate is completely melted.

4.When the cream cheese is ready,using a small spoon or icing cone pour it into the hollow part of the strawberries until it is full(be careful not to let it overflow) then dip the filled strawberries in the melted chocolate.Place in fridge for 10 minutes.

5.Spray on whipped cream and enjoy.

Tip:Don't make more than 5 hours in advance for your strawberries may become soggy.

Big shoutout to everyone who shared,liked,commented on my previous two posts,thank you soo much means alot,keep messaging me for any requests.

Stay sweet!

Blondies:Take a bite into heaven

The day started off great,woke up decided to finally use that ready graham cracker pie crust which has been staring at me every time i enter my kitchen.It is always hard to find a good recipe and to stick to it,when the options are endless,hence i usually check for one prominent ingredient i already have an sorta plan the dessert around that.The toughest part about baking in Guyana is finding ingredients,it feels more like a treasure hunt.Requires many recipes with varying ingrdients,soo that if you don't find heavy cream you don't have to go home empty handed and eat a spoonful of sugar just to fulfill your sweet craving.After checking up in 4 supermarkets (the only 4 in town you can use the term "super" to describe) and failing to find the ingredients for the cheesecake planned i changed recipes.(Sorry pie crust you can keep staring,it's not you it's me)

Today i made blondies,the white chocolate version to the traditional brownie.A favourite personal favourite to my father,but due to this one cake i had developed a fear of using eggs in cake.I can handle cakes without sugar,but the one thing that i have noo tolerance for is cake that tastes like raw egg,it is cake suicide.Eggs are soo dangerous that i have a friend who's oreo cheesecake exploded in the oven because he used too many eggs,still turned out to be a pretty awesome cake,yet i am traumatised.Now this recipe was a bit more difficult because it is naturally pretty dry because there is no use of water or milk and asks for 3 eggs which helps hold the cake together but does'nt have a stronger flavour to camoflauge it.I made a few edits and left everything in the hands of the cake fairy.And my did she do wonders it turned out amazing,not too dry,not at all tasting like an uncooked egg.It was just right.

Recipe

I found the recipe on the food network website :Almost-Famous Maple-Butter Blondies on the Food Network.

The corrections i made were:
1.I added hershey's carmel topping about 1 tbsp to the batter,this made it a bit sweeter but also helped hide the lingering taste of the eggs on your taste buds.You can use any type of sauce,i would'nt recommend chocolate since the flavours of the cake are very subtle and sweet,by adding chocolate sauce your taste buds could go into a state of shock.

2.I used normal dairy milk white chocolate,now the recipe asks for your to cut it in chunks,the thing i've learnt is chocolate usually burns when it is baked and i am still trying to learn how to stop that from happening,but until i get there i normally shred or grate the chocolate so it's easier to melt,when white chocolate is baked if ur lucky it turns into crunchy gooey pieces that add a good texture to the cake,but since this recipe already had walnuts thats enough texture for one cake.

3.While cooking the topping i added about a quartes cup of the white chocolate pieces just because it adds to the richness of the cake and i love chocolate,the more the merrier.

4.Instead of using ice cream i used whipped cream topping,now be very careful with this,because if after you have sprayed on whipped cream you pour on the sauce but its hot,your gonna have a chunk of milk on your cake,and thats something no amount of damage control can fix.

5.Be veryy careful when cooking the sauce because after it is cooled the butter usually seperates from the carmel soo just heat it up give it a stir and it should be back to new.But if the sound of that makes your lazy bones say "hellll nahhh" just make the sauce less thick when cooking it,which means you should takes it off the fire while it still has the consistency of melted butter.

And finally just fix it all up on your plate instagram,facebook your masterpiece and dig in

The Beginning

When i was younger,the only job i was famous for was running away with a spoon full of cake batter and after a few minutes returning it back to my sister completely clean.I loved cake,and being a person who was told i have the stomach of a bird was something to talk about.Cake just makes everything better.I found out i wanted to start cooking a couple years back,when i noticed myself watching the food channel rather than cartoon network and somehow i gravitated towards the cake pan and flour when i was upset,happy,tired,bored,hungry,it was like a constant call.I went through a phase when i hated eggs,this was caused due to miss read instructions while making chocolate mousse with my sisters,at that time neither of us knew what soft peaks meant.As time goes by with each cake i see change and thats whats important,seeing people get together over a piece of double chocolate marshmallow cake,nothing gets better than that.Soo here is to the beginning of a very sweet,homely dessert blog for all you people out there who think that when you eat good cake,your heart smiles.