The IN Thing

For the month of November Cancer Research UK is asking girls to host a night in to raise money for cancer research. The guys have Movember so it's time for the girls to have some fun! Life gets hectic and busy so it's a great opportunity to catch up with friends, have fun and raise money for a good cause.

All you have to do is register online, set a date, send invites out and host your fabulous night in. Make sure you remember to send your donations in via your JustGiving page or by post. The IN Thing runs from November 1st - 30th so there's still time to join in. 

A reminder about the great work that Cancer Research UK is doing and why it's worth supporting.

• Cancer Research UK is the world's leading cancer charity dedicated to saving lives through research. 
• The charity’s groundbreaking work into the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer has helped save millions of lives. This work is funded entirely by the public.
• Cancer Research UK has been at the heart of the progress that has already seen survival rates in the UK double in the last forty years.
• Cancer Research UK supports research into all aspects of cancer through the work of over 4,000 scientists, doctors and nurses.

Hosting a night in does not have to be stressful. It can be as simple or as fancy as you like. A little preparation goes a long way so make sure you get your friends and family involved. There are some great ideas on the Cancer Research UK website for hosting a night in. I'd like to share some of my ideas with you and I would also love it if you would share yours.  

1 Have a themed night. For example an American themed night - you can get American flags and memorabilia to decorate, cook some American food and have a fun quiz on American trivia. 

 Mini peanut butter oreo cheesecakes 

2 Choose an activity such as baking, crafting or even knitting. For example, you could make your own X'mas cards, bake cupcakes and then eat them or show off your baking talents by hosting your own masterclass. 

 

Kinder Bueno Cupcakes 

3. Have a costume party. It's not just for Halloween and can be great fun. Either pick a theme such as Bond Girls, the 70's or just get everyone to come in costume. Have a fun vote as to who wins best dressed of the night. 

James Bond Inspired Cookies 

4. A girlie girl's night in - I mean pampering and cocktails. Do each other's make up, nails and hair and take silly pictures.

Painkiller Cupcakes 

5. Have a 'help me de-clutter' party. Get a few of your best friends round to help you de-clutter and sort out piles of stuff that can be donated to charity. This will be a double fund raising event as you can donate goods to another charitable organisation and raise money for Cancer Research UK! You can even take it in turn amongst your closest friends. 

Smiley Face Jam Cookies to sweeten the deal! 

Rosemary Nutmeg Custard Tarts and a review

I was sent a copy of Pie by Dean Brettschneider to review. I jumped at the chance as I rarely make pies or pastries so I thought it would be a good chance to try something different. I chose to make rosemary and nutmeg custard tarts partly because I was inspired by this year's Great British Bake Off where one of the technical challenges was to bake custard tarts. I was also intrigued by the flavour combination.

My first batch didn't work as I decided to make mini tarts and there was barely any space for the custard filling. I ended up with burnt custard and uncooked pastry. I started again and as I didn't have any tart tins, I used a muffin tin hence the rustic look.

The pastry was really quick and easy to make and tasted light and buttery. The filling was full of flavour and you can definitely taste the rosemary and nutmeg. All in all, a great recipe and one that I will definitely use again but with proper tart tins next time.

The book is a lovely hardback with 219 pages in total. The font size is reasonable and it's very easy to read. The lay out is generally with the recipe on one side and accompanying photo on the other side. There is a short introduction to each recipe, ingredients on the left and method on the right. When required, there is helpful pictorials illustrating certain techniques.

The book is divided into 10 chapters: I've included a selection of recipes from each section that caught my eye (this is not an exhaustive list)

Introduction 
The history of the humble pie
Ingredients
Equipment
Meat Pies - classic bacons and egg pie, chicken and pork pies with rocket pesto and pear mostarda, chicken, cranberry and camembert pies (perfect for Christmas!)
Seafood Pies - snapper, scallop and chervil pies, spicy monkfish pies
Vegetarian Pies - tomato and thyme tarte tatin, swiss chard, squash and ricotta pithiviers
Not-quite-a-pie - smoked fish empanadas, strawberry, raspberry and rhubarb shortcake
Sweet Pies - prune, pine nut and pumpkin tart, dark chocolate banoffee slab, Lemon, olive oil and blueberry tart, key lime pie
Basic recipes
Acknowledgements

My verdict - It's a beautifully presented book which is easy to read and has lots of good handy tips. The author suggests keeping the book at your bed-side for night time reading and I would agree. It really does teach you all you need to know about making pastries and I think the variety of recipes is excellent. There's definitely something for everyone in there. I especially like the fact that there is a picture for each recipe so you know what yours should look like. I have to say my tarts look nothing like the picture in the book but they were very tasty!

 ready to make the pastry 

 heat milk with rosemary

 

Recipe extracted from Pies by Dean Brettschneider, published by Jacqui Small www.jacquismallpub.com

- re produced with permission

Nutmeg and Rosemary Custard Tarts

Pastry

1 quantity of basic short pastry or basic sweet pastry. 

I chose basic short pastry : 

160g plain flour 

120g butter

good pinch of salt

50ml cold water 

Nutmeg and rosemary custard tart

600ml full fat milk

1 large sprig rosemary (I used 2) 

6 egg yolks

75g caster sugar

1 whole nutmeg

To serve

Icing sugar for dusting (optional) 

8 tips of rosemary (optional) 

Basic short pastry  

• Place flour, butter and salt in a large mixing bowl.
• Using your fingertips, gently rub ingredients together until they resemble rough breadcrumbs. 
• Do not over-mix otherwise butter will begin to melt from the heat of your hands.
• Add water and mix until a dough is formed 
• Cover with clingfilm and refrigerate for 30 minutes or overnight. 
• Gently re-work pastry before using, taking care to ensure if remain cold and firm. 

• Make pastry ahead and rest it as required.
• On a lightly floured surface, roll out the pastry until slightly larger than the tart tins being used, ensuring pastry is 3-4mm thick.
• Line the tart tins, ensuring that the pastry is well tucked into the contours and the edges are trimmed.
• Put these on a baking tray and chill for 30 minutes.
• To make custard, put milk and rosemary sprig into a saucepan and heat until lukewarm.
• Put egg yolks and sugar into a bowl and beat until pale and creamy. 
• Pour warmed milk onto the yolks and stir well - do not whisk or you will get bubbles.
• Strain into a jug and pour carefully into tart cases.
• Grate fresh nutmeg liberally over surface of each tart. 
• Bake in a preheated 200C oven for 10 minutes, then lower heat to 170C and bake until filling is just set and pastry is just starting to turn a golden colour, about another 10 minutes.
• Don't over-bake as the custard should be a bit wobbly when the tartlets come out of the oven. 
• The egg custard will continue to cook as it cools. 
• When tartlets are cooled, remove from tins and let cool completely on a rack.
• Lightly dust with icing sugar around the pastry edges, if desired, and place a small tip of rosemary on top of eaach.
• Serve at room temperature. 

Disclaimer: I received a free review copy from the publishers. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Hummingbird Birthday Cake

As mentioned it was a birthday celebration weekend and here's the massive birthday cake for a really good friend of mine. She requested a hummingbird cake with dried pineapple flowers so here it is. I've not made this cake in a long time and it was nice to be reminded of the delicious flavours. It's a banana, pineapple and pecan cake covered in cream cheese frosting. We had a really big celebration lunch but everyone managed a hefty slice of cake (or two!)

We enjoyed the cake so much, I didn't take a picture of a slice or a cross section of the cake. You'll have to take my word for it that it was delicious. The layers rose beautifully and it was so soft and moist. The waitress commented on the texture of the cake as she was slicing into it as she expected it to be heavy and stodgy but was actually really light.

 

 making dried pineapple flowers. Slice pineapple thinly and dry in a low heat oven 

 I made a 3 layer cake 

 cake assembly 

 Slightly uneven frosting but it gets covered in roasted, chopped pecans

 delicious pineapple flower

For the cake
300g caster sugar
3 eggs
300ml sunflower oil
270g peeled bananas, mashed (approximately 3 large bananas)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, plus extra to decorate
300g plain flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
100g pineapple, chopped into small pieces
100g roasted, chopped pecan nuts

For the frosting

500g icing sugar, sifted
100g unsalted butter, at room temperature
250g cold cream cheese

To decorate

100g roasted, finely chopped pecan nuts

dried pineapple flowers

• Preheat the oven to 170C
• Put the sugar, eggs, oil, banana and cinnamon in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment and beat until all the ingredients are well incorporated.
• Slowly add the flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt and vanilla extract and continue to beat until everything is well mixed.
• Stir in the chopped pineapple and pecan nuts by hand until evenly dispersed.
• Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tins and smooth over with a palette knife.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown and the sponge bounces back when touched.
• Leave the cakes to cool slightly in the tins before turning out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
• To make the frosting, beat the icing sugar and butter together until it's well mixed.
• Add the cream cheese in one go and beat until it is completely incorporated.
• Continue beating until the frosting is light and fluffy, at least 5 minutes.

Click here to see a step by step guide on how to make dried pineapple flowers

Chocolate and Mint Tofu Mousse

It's been a weekend of birthday celebrations. The first was a small dinner party and I offered to make dessert. One of the guests is gluten intolerant so I thought about making Nigella's Chocolate Olive Oil Cake or her Lemon Polenta Cake. Unfortunately, I didn't have any ground almonds at home so I rushed out in the rain and would you believe that they were all sold out? I went to 3 supermarkets in the end, 1 large tesco extra and 2 smaller express stores but no luck. On to plan B then. Time was ticking and I suddenly remembered my chocolate tofu mousse which is gluten free and dairy free. I decided to jazz it up for the party by serving it in wine glasses and making it minty as chocolate and mint is one of the birthday girl's favourite combinations.

These were so quick and easy to put together and tasted really good. My gluten intolerant friend was very impressed and no one could guess that there was tofu in it. The mint flavour was definitely there and you can just about taste the bananas. The decoration was simple yet effective. 

I'm sending this to Dead Easy Desserts hosted by Sarah from Maison Cupcake. Total assembly and washing up time was less than 30 minutes. 

I'm also sending this to Calendar Cakes hosted by Laura from Laura Loves Cakes and Rachel from Dolly Bakes. The theme this month is puddings and I'd definitely class this as a chocolate pudding.

And to Made with Love Mondays hosted by Javelin Warrior where the idea is to make everything from scratch.

 bananas, honey, cocoa powder, mint extract, vanilla paste, soft tofu 

 I bought this chocolate grater from Italy and wanted to try it out. It worked perfectly! 

 I decided to present them in wine and shot glasses as it looks more elegant 

 decorate with fresh berries and grated chocolate 

Makes 6 portions as shown 

2 boxes soft tofu

2 bananas

9 tablespoons honey (or to taste) 

6 tablespoons cocoa powder

2 tablespoons mint extract

1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste 

To decorate
Fresh berries - I used raspberries and blueberries
Grated chocolate

• Blitz all the ingredients in a food processor until smooth.
• Spoon into glasses or ramekins and chill for a few hours or overnight in the fridge.
• Just before serving, decorate with fresh berries and grated chocolate. 

Mini Peanut Butter Oreo Cheesecake

This is one of the best desserts I've ever had. It's insanely rich, decadent and full of peanut butter flavour. I'm sure you already know that I absolutely LOVE peanut butter. I made a peanut butter toblerone cheesecake in 2012 for my blog's 2nd birthday and used that as a basis for this dessert. I made mini cheesecakes as everything is better in miniature form and you feel less guilty eating a miniature dessert (or maybe that's just me!) 

The base is made from peanut butter oreos and the filling contains cream cheese, double cream, peanut butter and sugar. There's also peanut butter M&M's in the filling and it's all topped with chopped, roasted peanuts.  Everyone who tried this thoroughly enjoyed it and I'm sure there will be repeat requests for this.

I'm entering this to a few blog challenges this month as it fits nicely with their themes. Firstly to AlphaBakes hosted by Caroline from Caroline Makes and co-hosted by myself on alternate months. The letter this month is O for Oreos. 

Secondly, to Treat Petite hosted by Kat from the Baking Explorer and Stuart from Cakeyboi. The theme this month is America. Peanut butter is a classic American flavour and I bought the peanut butter oreos and peanut butter M&M's from America. 

Thirdly, to a new blog challenge called Dead Easy Desserts hosted by Sarah from Maison Cupcake. She asks for any dessert that can be prepared in 30 minutes or less. This cheesecake is a no bake cheesecake and took me 30 minutes to create these mini cheesecakes. It will be even quicker if you make one large cheesecake. Chilling time is a few hours to overnight which is not counted. 

Finally to Flavours of USA and Canada hosted by Nayna from Simply Food. She asks for any vegetarian recipe that fits the theme. 

 first time seeing peanut butter oreos

my favourite M&M flavour - peanut butter 

 I used strips of parchment paper so that it would be easier to remove the cheesecakes later 

 Create a base with crushed oreos and melted butter 

 I also made some in ramekins 

 adding peanut butter M&M's to the filling 

 ready to eat! 

 I love the little bursts of colour from the M&M's 

 Serve in a ramekin for a dinner party 

 spoonful of heaven 

Makes 12 mini cheesecakes and 6 ramekins of size shown

Alternatively use a 23cm round cake tin 

For the crust
432g peanut butter oreos (you can use also use plain oreos) [This will make a fairly thick base, use half the amount of oreos if you want a thinner base]
125g butter, melted

For the filling
500g cream cheese
250g smooth peanut butter
200g caster sugar
250ml double cream
150g peanut butter M&M's

For the topping

100g chopped, roasted peanuts

• First make the crust by blitzing the oreo cookies in a food processor and adding the melted butter to it. 
• Cut thick strips of parchment paper as shown to line a muffin tin.
• Press the crust mixture ensuring a flat surface in the muffin tin (and/or ramekins) as shown above.
• Allow to set in the fridge for at least 15 minutes. 
• Pour the double cream into an electric mixer and beat until it stiffens. 
• Scoop out the cream and place the cream cheese, peanut butter and sugar into the bowl. 
• Beat until well incorporated. 
• Add the cream back to the mixture and continue mixing briefly.
• Finally stir in the peanut butter M&M's.
• Pour the filling on top of the crust and smooth the top with a spatula. 
• Chill for a few hours or preferably overnight. 
• Sprinkle chopped, roasted peanuts on top before serving. 

Chocolate Olive Oil Cake

This is one of the best chocolate cakes I've eaten in a long time! I was thinking of ideas for AlphaBakes this month which is the letter 'O' and I thought about olive oil. A quick online search pointed me in the direction of Nigella.com. To be honest, I've never tried a Nigella recipe that did not turn out well so I knew I was on to a winner especially when the comments were so positive. It's a really simple cake and it's also gluten free. The cake is rich and moist and intensely chocolatey. It looks like it's going to be a dense and heavy cake but it's not at all. It's best served warm with some ice cream or cream. One of my cake testers has declared this the best cake I've baked to date. 

I'm sending this to AlphaBakes which is hosted by Caroline from Caroline Makes and co-hosted by myself on alternate months. The letter this month is O for Olive Oil. 

I'm also sending this to Made with Love Mondays hosted by Javelin Warrior where the idea is to make everything from scratch.

olive oil, cocoa powder, caster sugar, homemade vanilla extract, eggs, ground almonds 

 making the chocolate mixture 

 beat the olive oil, eggs and sugar until thickened 

 ready to go in the oven 

 who wants a slice? 

Recipe from Nigella.com