Rocky Road Biscuit Bar

What makes you happy?
For me, when I am having a down day, this little girl in the picture below cheers me up no end. She was my christmas present from my son and though, at the time, I was not impressed at receiving her, she has been my saviour these past few weeks whilst being out of work.

Holly The Kitten

Apart from my cat the other thing I reach for when feeling down is CHOCOLATE!!! There's just something about that soft, velvety taste that makes the world look just that little bit better.
Since being off work I've done more baking at home than I would usually do and Rocky Road has become a firm favourite in my house just recently.
It's such an easy recipe to make and a brilliant thing to make with the kids.

Ingredients
250g Milk Chocolate
125g Butter
2 Tbsp Golden Syrup
50g Cocoa Powder
Mini Marshmallows (Find them in the baking aisle)
400g Digestive Biscuits
Method
First melt the chocolate.
You can use the microwave but be careful of burning the chocolate as it's easily done! I use a small saucepan of boiling water and rest a bowl in the top, but try not to have the water touching the bowl.

While the chocolate melts put the biscuits in a bowl and, with the end of a rolling pin, bash them until they resemble crumbs.

Add the butter,golden syrup and cocoa powder to the chocolate and let it all melt and combine. Add this mix to the crushed biscuits and combine together with the Marshmellows. For an added treat you could also add some maltesers to the mixture!

Now spread the mixture into a baking tray. Pack it tight so when cooled it doesnt crumble. I use this great tray I bought from Lakeland with individual compartments.

Put in the fridge to set. Usually about an hour is enough but if you have more time to spare the longer the better I find.
When set, cut into squares and enjoy!
 For an added treat I sometimes melt some white chocolate and drizzle over the top and sprinkle icing sugar for effect.

rocky road biscuit bar

CHOCOLATE AND GUINNESS CAKE

GUINNESS, a popular Irish stout and one of the most successful beer brands worldwide, being brewed in almost 50 countries and sold in 100.
I often use it in the filling for my steak and stout pies but this week I saw a recipe for a chocolate and guinnes cake. Bit like chilli and chocolate I was curious to see what it would taste like in a cake rather than a main dish.

 

INGREDIENTS

4oz Butter (Room Temperature)

8oz Light Muscovado Sugar

6oz Plain Flour

2oz Cocoa Powder

1/2 Tsp Baking Powder

1 Tsp Bicarbonate Of Soda

3Free Range Eggs (Beaten)

7Floz Guinness

Cream the butter and sugar together then whisk in the eggs gradually. Sieve all the dry ingredients into the bowl and mix in. Finally whisk in the Guinness.

Line an 8ins cake tin with greaseproof paper, add the mixture and bake in a pre-heated oven 160C/325F/Gas Mark 3 for approx 30-40mins.

Turn the cake out on a cooling rack and whilst cooling make a buttercream for the top.

*Top Tip*  As a guideline, quantities for basic buttercream is double icing sugar to butter.

In this recipe I used 5oz butter to 10oz icing sugar. Beat the butter til soft then beat in the icing sugar. Add a couple tsps of milk if required to loosen the mixture.

Spread over the cooled cake and use a fork to pattern through the mixture.

Cut yourself a slice and enjoy this dark, rich chocolate sponge.

STRAWBERRY, CHOCOLATE AND CREAM MERINGUE STACK

SO summer is coming and strawberries are appearing on the shelf at Skylark Farm shop. Thinking cap on for me again and looking at the tub of egg whites i have in the fridge i think MERINGUES!
Even though these take a while to cook in the oven they are an easy dessert to make and very effective to look at. The meringues can be made in advance a day or 2 before you need them.
So to make 8 stacks i used:
4 Egg Whites
8oz Caster Sugar
3ozs Dark or Milk Chocolate (depending on preference)
10-12 Large Strawberries
8Floz Double Cream

First whisk the egg whites. Make sure both the bowl and whisk are dry and completely grease-free. If you drop any yolk at all into the whites when seperating your eggs, scoop it out with a piece of shell, as even the tiniest amount of yolk will prevent the eggs from whisking.

Whisk until very thick and form firm peaks. If you are not sure whether they are ready, turn the bowl upside down- if they stay put then they're ready!!!

*Top Tip* Egg whites whisk to a greater volume when at room temperature.

Gradually whisk in the sugar an ounze at a time. It may seem a slow process but it creates a thick meringue.

Spoon the meringue into a piping bag. I then pipe in a long row, side to side, about 2 1/2 ins wide on greaseproof paper, the length of my baking tray, as shown in the photo below.

Set your oven to 100C/220F/Gas Mark 1/4 and bake for an hour and half. Turn off your oven and leave the meringue inside until the oven has cooled.

Divide the meringue rows into 16 equal pieces and cut.

Whisk the cream until stiff and pipe or just spread a layer onto each meringue piece.

Slice the strawberries and lay on top of the cream.

Melt your chocolate, and using a teaspoon, flick it in an erratic manner over all the strawberries.

Each stack is made of 2 meringue slices so sit 8 pieces on top of the other 8.

Dust with icing sugar for effect and serve.

Orange And Lemon Cream Crunch Dessert

Today i'm using the Orange and Lemon from my fruit bowl to make 2 delicious, quick and easy desserts.

Also needed for this recipe are:
500g Crushed Digestive Biscuits
4ozs Melted Butter
1pt Double Cream
14oz Tin Condensed Milk
Zest and Juice of 2 Lemons or Oranges
Food colouring (Optional)
Cocoa Powder (optional)
Melted or Grated, Plain Or Milk Chocolate For Decoration

First add the crushed digestives to the melted butter and mix well until all the biscuit has been coated then press into a large flan tin or equivalant. I'm distributing mine into individual pots. Refrigerate to harden.
Whip up the double cream until quite stiff, then add your condensed milk, citrus juice and zest and mix well.
Because i made both desserts i split the cream mixture, after adding the condensed milk, into 2 bowls and added the juice and zest of 1 lemon to one half and the juice and zest of 1 orange to the other.
With the orange i added 3 tbsps cocoa powder for a chocolate orange taste and to the lemon i added a few drops of yellow food colouring to give it a lovely lemon colour.
Spread your cream mixture over your biscuit base and leave in the fridge to set.
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When serving you can make it look just that little bit more fancy by either grating chocolate over the top or melting some chocolate, coating a spoon with it and performing a "flicking" action over your dessert.
And here they are!