Salted Caramel & Peanut Butter Millionaire's Shortbread

I have a confession. I've never made caramel.

Usually I cheat and pop a splash of caramel essence into my bakes, or use Bonne Maman's confiture de caramel. However, making it myself has been at the top of my recipe list for some time. I kept putting it off in fear of swishing molten sugar around a pan and it all being a disaster. I've seen Masterchef, even the clever ones struggle sometimes.

Maple Syrup & Coffee Pancake Cupcakes

After a bit of a foodie week last week, I have high hopes for the same again this week. Tomorrow is Shrove Tuesday after all...if you needed an excuse.

Reeses Pieces Cookie Blondies

   I decided to do a little brownie experiment when baking some treats to take over to my brother's place for tea. Since my Reese's Pieces collection is forever growing I settled for a combination of peanut butter cookies and blondies layered together.

Carrot Cake Bundt

   This is another of my family recipes, this time for my Mum. Her favourite cake in bundt form with an orange drizzle. I took this over as my contribution to our family Sunday dinner and unsurprisingly none returned home with me!

Great British Food Magazine: Chocolate & Mackays Marmalade Devil's Food Cake

   I really enjoy Mackay's baking challenges and more so seeing what all the other food bloggers come up with. Although I've taken a strictly sweet approach to my recipes, other bloggers have come up with some fantastic ways of using jams and preserves in savoury dishes. Including a lemon and lime curd marinade for turkey from Lullabella's Kitchen.

Coffee & Nutella Doughnut Cake

Mini Marshmallow Cakes

   A very wet, cold and miserable week has just past. I figured that the only way to survive such a week was with marshmallows and cake.

Chocolate Chip Banana Loaf

   After having recently moved, with a lot of help from my family, I'm trying to show my thanks with food. Last week I invited my brother, Tom, and his fiancée, April, over for dinner.

   For this I made a typical meal that we would make in the days of dog sitting at my Mum's house. Fish baked with homemade pesto, mountains of veg and sweet potato mash. I also made some Vietnamese spring rolls to tuck into whilst waiting and served some of my work friend's amazing chicken samosas.

Cinnamon Buns

   One last Dan Lepard recipe for now. These have been bookmarked for some time, I just needed to wait for big enough baking trays in my new place to be able to make them.

   There's quite a few steps to these buns, but they're completely worth it.

Cinnamon buns
(Recipe from Dan Lepard)
     400ml milk
     seeds from 3 or 4 cardamom pods
     finely grated zest of 1/2 lemon
     500g strong white flour, plus extra for shaping
     50g unsalted butter
     1 medium egg
     50g caster sugar
     1 sachet fast-action yeast
     1 1/2tsp salt
     oil for kneading

For the filling:
     3 Ryvita
     125g dark brown sugar
     2tsp ground cinnamon
     butter
     beaten egg, to finish

• Whisk the milk, cardamom, lemon zest and 50g flour in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Spoon into a mixing bowl and stir in the butter. Beat in the egg, sugar and yeast, followed by the remaining 450g of flour and salt. Continue to mix until a soft, very sticky dough forms. Cover and leave for 10 minutes.
• Lightly oil a worktop and knead the dough for about 10 seconds. Put back in the the bowl, cover and leave for 10 minutes. Repeat this twice more at 10 minute intervals, then leave for a further to prove.
• Line the base and sides of a large baking tray. Grind the Ryvita in a food processor until very fine, then mix in the sugar and cinnamon. Lightly flour the worktop and roll the dough out to just under 1cm thin. Dab a little butter over the dough, sprinkle the cinnamon mixture over it, roll it up and cut into 2-3cm slices. Lay these cut side up in the tin, cover and leave to prove again for 45 minutes. Brush with beaten egg and bake at 220 degrees for 15-20 minutes, until golden on top.

These are best eaten on the day of baking, although since I've bought some back to life with 10 seconds in the microwave.

Oreo Cheesecake Snowballs

      On a recent Pinterest spree I came across these no bake Oreo cheesecake truffles. With only three ingredients, these truffles, or snowballs as I'm going to call them, require very little effort. Perfect for a Christmas gift, stocking filler, or just to enjoy all to yourself!

   All you need to do is to put 200g Oreo cookies into a sandwich bag and crush with a rolling pin. (A nice little stress reliever after a long day!). Combine in a medium bowl with 100g cream cheese and 1 tablespoon vanilla extract until smooth. With a teaspoon, shape into 12 evenly sized balls and place on a baking tray. To chill the truffles, place in the fridge or freezer until firm and less sticky (approximately one hour in the freezer). Melt 200g of your choice of chocolate slowly over a pan of barely simmering water. Dunk each truffle in turn into the melted chocolate and remove any excess before placing back on the baking tray to set. Sprinkle with glitter, or drizzle another chocolate over the top to decorate and leave to set overnight. And that's it!

   You can experiment with the different variations of Oreos, surprise fillings and chocolate toppings. I'm now off to enjoy one (or two) with a cup of hot chocolate in my new reindeer mug!