Five on Friday: Five things that make me Smile!

Today is World Smile Day. It started with the creator, Harvey Ball, of the infamous yellow smiley face. He felt like his image was being over commercialized and therefore losing it’s meaning.

He wanted to take one day a year to celebrate smiles and acts of kindness. The Harvey Ball World Smile Foundation was created after he died and they are the sponsors of World Smile Day.

I thought in light of it being World Smile Day today’s Five on Friday would be about five things that make me smile!

1. Sunshine

2. Flowers (wild)

3. Books

4. Cupcakes

5. My little family

What makes you smile?? 

notes: World Smile Day! All pictures are mine please ask permission before using anywhere else!

Fair Trade Banana, Chocolate, and Walnut Cookies

Happy World Fair Trade Day!!

Fair Trade is something we should all support. When you work hard you expect to be rewarded fairly, right?

It’s in all of us to expect fairness, especially when it comes to the work we do. Recently I was shown this video of a monkey who wasn't rewarded the same as another monkey. 

They completed the exact same task and the monkey who was rewarded, what the monkey considered a lesser reward, was angry. The monkey then threw the “reward” at the giver.

The monkey was very cute and it did receive a quiet laugh from me at the behavior, because who hasn't wanted to throw things when something seems unfair. However, it was actually pretty disturbing to me.

A person who does the exact same job as another should get the exact same reward. Therefore I always buy Fair Trade when it’s available in support of those who work hard for a living.

If you’d like to learn more about World Fair Trade Day, check out the official site! Also you can look into The Fair Trade Foundation, which is based in the UK!

In support of World Fair Trade Day I made Banana, Chocolate, & Walnut Cookies. They are very soft and more cake like. These would actually make a great Whoopie Pie; just add more chocolate and a cream middle! Yum!

Banana, Chocolate, and Walnut Cookies

80g unsalted butter, softened

100g Billington’s demerara sugar

1 medium egg

3 small Fair Trade bananas

½ tsp vanilla extract

175g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

1/8 tsp bicarb of soda 

85g –100g Fair Trade chocolate, broken up

70g of walnuts, chopped

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Line 2 baking sheets with grease proof paper.

Beat the butter and sugar together with a hand held mixer until combined. Add the egg,  the bananas, and the vanilla beat until the bananas are chopped up, but not completely mushed.

Add the flour, baking powder, salt, and bicarb and mix until just combined then fold in the broken chocolate and walnuts.

Drop a tablespoon of cookie dough unto the baking sheets leaving space in between to spread. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the edges just start to brown.

notes: I linked the monkey video (which was more a study on woman getting paid less then men, but I thought it fit this topic as well) and official fair trade sites above in the text.

Billington’s answers questions on Fair Trade sugars in there FAQ section, I bought the sugar, they are in no way sponsoring this post. The same goes for Sainsbury’s I have always shopped there and I know they have a lot of fair trade products as do a lot of the big super markets.

I suggest 85-100g of chocolate because of course I ended up eating a square before breaking it up into the cookies… shhhhh. Also I know a lot of different nuts are fair trade, however I could not locate fair trade walnuts locally. This post was written for day 10 of Blog Every Day in May #BEDM.

Pancake Facts with AGA Living

Tomorrow is Pancake Day! Finally! It seems like it's come so late this year.
Here are some fun pancake day facts from AGA Living!!

They would love to see you're pancake creations, share them on Facebook or Twitter!! 

I like Big Bundts! {Strawberry & Champagne Bundt}

It’s National Bundt Day!!

Bundt cakes are the lazy decorators (ahem… me) dream. They are already gorgeous to look at, dust with a little icing sugar or a drizzle over a glaze and you have a masterpiece!

They are also great cakes for those who don’t like frosting/icing. A bundt cake could be frosted or iced, but it really doesn't need it.

They also can be a pain to get out of the tin.... The jam I used in this recipe was too close to the top and it made the cake stick to the top of the pan. That or the preserve added too much moisture to the cake.

It's also possible that I happened to turn off the new oven while setting the time and walked off and didn't realize until half way through that is what I did! O_o

Recently nothing I make turns out exactly how I'd like it too. Not sure what's going on? Here's how I made this cake. It was edible and very tasty, just doesn't look too good.

This is the first time I have ever had an issue getting my cake out of this pan and I've used it on various occasions! I didn't use the champagne glaze as the cake was a mess and I didn't want to waste the champagne, but I gave you what I would have done had it turned out right. I also re-wrote what I would do differently next time.

Strawberry & Champagne Bundt Cake

200g unsalted butter

500g golden caster sugar

60ml sunflower oil

4 large eggs

350g plain flour

1 tbsp baking powder

250ml full-fat strawberry yogurt

150-200g strawberries, hulled and chopped

½ jar of Mackays Strawberry and Champagne preserve

Preheat the oven to 180C/fan160C/gas4. Prepare your Bundt, I lightly grease it with sunflower oil and leave it tipped upside down to let the oil run down the sides, before adding the batter I lightly flour it and tap out the excess flour.

Cream the butter, sugar, and oil together until light and fluffy. Lightly beat the eggs together in a jug and add the eggs gradually (fully mix before adding more egg) Sift the flour and baking powder together before adding half with the batter, fold it in and add half of the yogurt and repeat until just combined and smooth. Fold in the chopped strawberries.

Spoon a third of the batter into the bottom of the bundt, swirl in 2-3 tablespoons of the preserve, and repeat once before top with remaining batter. Bake for an hour; use the skewer test to ensure it’s cooked through. Ovens vary so check it just before the hour is up and add more time if needed.

Spoon in half of the batter then swirl in 4-5 tablespoons of the preserve and then top with the rest of the batter.

Champagne Glaze

200-250g of icing sugar

2-3 tablespoons of champagne

Mix the icing sugar and champagne together, add more or less of either depending how thick or runny you want your glaze.

Serve with a glass of champagne! Is also great with cream or whipped cream and more preserve!

Bundt cakes are usually spiced pound cakes and make a great alternative to a Christmas cake or pudding. They are also low maintenance and pretty (if you manage to get it out of the pan) they would make a great table piece!   

notes: Mackays Strawberry and Champagne Preserve was provided for me as part of there Christmas with Mackays campaign. National Bundt Day! I bought my Nordic Ware Bundt pan. For more bundts visit Mary theFood Librarian (I like Big Bundts), she’s awesome she makes a bundt everyday in the month of November! Also if you made a bundt for National Bundt Day enter it on her site!  

Happy Peanut Butter Cookie Day!!

June 12^th is National Peanut Butter Cookie Day. I love peanut butter and I love cookies. It’s also my close friends birthday today and she loves peanut butter cookies too! So, I just had to celebrate this national day this year!

There are so many “national” days that I can’t and I won’t ever try to keep them up with all of them. But as I said just above today was just too good to pass up.

I have made a lot of peanut butter cookies in my short baking career and there is only so much you can do to a peanut butter cookie.

Making them taste like, a childhood favorite, Nutter Butters is an ingenious idea! They are huge so it will probably be a better idea to make them smaller then I did, as I've ended up halving them. No way I can eat one on my own the size I've made them! The filling I could eat by itself. I love peanut butter. I've said that already. My fickle heart talking again…

These come from Hedy Goldsmith and her book Baking Out Loud. I found the recipe in more the one place all over the net. As they are on the cover I am assuming they were like her hit single that was released to the press to give everyone a taster of her book.

Anyway I have given it to here, with my own commentary in the directions! Happy National Peanut Butter Day!! Happy Birthday Lauren!!

Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup plain flour

½ tsp baking soda

1 cup rolled oats

¼ cup salted peanuts

114g unsalted butter, at room temp

½ cup (packed) light brown sugar

½ cup granulated sugar

½ tsp salt (kosher)

½ cup creamy peanut butter, at room temp

1 large egg, at room temp

1 tsp vanilla bean paste or extract

1. Preheat your oven to 190C/375F and line your tray(s) with parchment paper/nonstick liners.
2. Sift the flour and baking soda in a large bowl, then add the oats and peanuts.
3. Beat the butter for a few minutes, once it’s smooth add the brown sugar, granulated sugar, and salt and beat for about 5 minutes until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides before adding the peanut butter, beat until just combined. Then add the flour and beat until just combined. We don’t want any over mixing!
4. Using a tablespoon shape the dough into balls about the size of a walnut or if you’re like me the size of a golf ball. Place them on your lined baking sheet about 2 inches apart and smoosh them slightly down with the palm of your hand. Apparently you should have 36 cookies to make 18 sandwiches, I had like 24 so only like 12 sandwiches.
5. Bake them 11-13 minutes, if you have more then one baking sheet about half way through switch from top to bottom and turn them around to ensure even baking. Once they are golden brown around the edges they are ready!
6. Let them cool completely on a cooling rack.

Peanut butter filling

3 cups icing sugar

145g unsalted butter, at room temp

¾ cup creamy peanut butter, at room temp

1 ¼ tsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract

½ tsp salt (kosher)

Place everything in the bowl of your mixer and beat for a bout 3 minutes until it’s soft and smooth. Once it’s all come together gather it all together and on your counter shape into an 18 inch log. However I did not have enough cookies to sandwich together 18… see step 4 above. Once it’s a log cut into 1 inch pieces. Place the filling pieces on one side of half the cookies and sandwich with the remaining cookies! Gently press down so that the filling reaches the edge. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days! I doubt they will last that long! 

notes: National Peanut Board; Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies; Peanut Butter Blossoms; my Baking Out Loud review I'm watching MTV Hits Kelly (Clarkson) vs Ke$ha top 10 not really sure why? They really aren't comparable. 

Paint the Town Black! Gingerbread Guinness Cupcakes!! #ToArthur

This Thursday is Arthur Guinness Day and pubs across Ireland have invited massive music names and local artists to come celebrate the man behind the pint and Paint the Town Black. 

Wish I lived in Ireland! ;0) 

I have had my eye on these cupcakes for a while, but whenever I look through Tea With Bea I always decide on a cheesecake! Not sure why that is? There are so many other delicious looking cakes in this book!

My frosting was very liquid-y I am sure I did something wrong…. like put my butter in the microwave to soften it and even though it wasn't melted it was probably too soft!

But it still tastes delicious and I kind like how the cupcakes looked like mini Guinness pints with the foam ya know? I also sorta wish I had made it as a cake instead…ah well there’s always tomorrow!

So here they are Gingerbread Guinness Cupcakes!! Enjoy!

Gingerbread Guinness Cupcakes:
250 ml/1 cup Guinness stout

250 g/3⁄4 cup black treacle/molasses

11⁄2 teaspoons bicarbonate of/baking soda

280 g/2 cups plain/all-purpose flour

11⁄2 teaspoons baking powder

1 tablespoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1⁄4 teaspoon ground allspice

1⁄4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1⁄4 teaspoon ground cardamom

1⁄4 teaspoon ground cloves

3 eggs

100 g/1⁄2 cup caster/superfine sugar

100 g/1⁄2 cup dark brown soft sugar

1 tablespoon finely grated peeled fresh ginger

200 ml/3⁄4 cup sunflower oil

chopped crystallized ginger, to decorate
muffin trays, lined with about 24 large cupcake cases

makes 24

Preheat the oven to 170˚C (340˚F) Gas 5.

Put the Guinness and treacle in a tall saucepan (the next step will cause the mixture to bubble up violently and potentially overflow, so choose a very tall pan) and bring to a boil over high heat. Remove from the heat and stir in the bicarbonate of/baking soda. Let stand until completely cool.

Put the flour, baking powder, ground ginger, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, cardamom and cloves in a bowl and stir until well blended.

In a separate bowl, combine the eggs, both sugars and the grated fresh ginger. Gradually add the oil. Add the stout syrup and stir thoroughly.

Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared cupcake cases, filling them four-fifths of the way up (the mixture will not rise that much).

Bake in the preheated oven for 25–35 minutes until they feel springy to the touch. Remove the cupcakes from the muffin tray and let cool on a wire rack.

golden cream cheese icing

225 g/1 cup cream cheese

60 g/3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

175 g/11⁄2 cups icing/confectioners’ sugar, sifted

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons golden syrup

piping bag fitted with a star-shaped nozzle/tip

To make the golden cream cheese icing, put the cream cheese and butter in a bowl and beat until combined and glossy. Add the icing/confectioners’ sugar and beat until fluffy. Fold in the vanilla extract and golden syrup.

Fill the prepared piping bag with the icing and pipe onto the cupcakes. Top with a couple of pieces of crystallized ginger, to decorate.

Variation: to make into a layer cake instead of cupcakes, spoon the mixture into 2 x 20-cm/8-inch pans or 1 x 25-cm/10-inch pan and bake at 160˚C (315˚F) Gas 4 for 45–55 minutes (for the small pans) or 1 hour 15 minutes (for the large pan).

I’m sharing these on Cupcake Tuesday with Hoosier Homemade! 

You can also find this recipe here. 

Best Frosting Ever!! {Funfetti Cupcakes} #NationalCupcakeWeek

Every once in a blue moon I visit a not-so-local American grocery store and picked up a box mix of Pillsbury's Funfetti cake mix. It's been sitting in the cupboard for a while and I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do with it. There are so many blogs that show you how to use funfetti cake mix in many different ways: cookies, bars, cheesecakes etc.... So, when I came across this blog and the claim for best frosting ever I thought use the box mix and focus on the frosting!! ;0) 

Everyone who had a cupcake said that the frosting was pretty amazing! I think it's pretty darn good myself and really easy. Anyone who cooks and has made a basic white sauce will find this frosting very familiar to make. To go with the theme of funfetti I topped mine with sprinkles or if you're in the UK hundreds & thousands! Enjoy!! 

Best Frosting Ever

Ingredients:

5 Tablespoons flour

1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup butter (2 sticks = 230g)

1 cup granulated white sugar

Instructions:
In a small saucepan, whisk flour into milk and heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens. It took me around 5 minutes. Be careful not to burn it. Remove from heat and let it cool to room temperature. You can place the saucepan over ice in the sink for about 10 minutes or so until the mixture cools if you are in a hurry. Stir in vanilla. This mixture must be completely cooled in order for the frosting to work.

While the mixture is cooling, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Then add the cooled milk/flour/vanilla mixture and beat until it all combines and resembles whipped cream. Make sure you scrape down the sides every so often so that it all gets incorporated and whipped. If it's not looking like whipped cream, keep on whipping. This frosting is great for piping. Best served the same day.

Really you could use any cupcake you wanted with this frosting recipe, boxed cake mix or not! If you using a box just follow the directions on the back of the box! This particular box mix is from America so it is easier if you have cups. Not that the UK is short boxed cake mixes! 

Happy National Cupcake Week!! 

National Banana Bread Day!! by Indiana Baker

February 23rd is National Banana Bread Day, I missed out, but my sister Janet aka Indiana Baker did not!!

Not having any over ripe bananas, she decided to roast the bananas to get them mushy for her bread.

To roast the bananas bake for 15 min on a baking sheet at 400F or 200C. Then follow this  fail safe recipe!!


"This time around the bread was significantly darker, but it was still super yummy!!" ~ Janet aka Indiana Baker

It's here!!!

the button!



the package/enevlope



the note



brown sugar bundt with slice missing

the slice



I had so much fun taking part and baking my first ever bundt!

Getting a cool button is just the icing (or the icing sugar) on the cake!

Brown Sugar Pound Cake for National Bundt Day!!!

It’s National Bundt Day!! Mary the Food Librarian has been baking bundts every day since October 17^th in anticipation for today!! It has inspired me to make my very first bundt cake! It might have also been because I was promised a button exclaiming “I Like Big Bundts”?Check out Mary@The Food Librarian to find out more and to see her great bundts!!** 

taken from All Cakes Considered by Melissa Gray* 

2 sticks (1 cup or 228g) of unsalted butter at room temp

½ cup shortening

16oz (2 ¼ cups) of light or dark brown sugar

½ cup sugar

5 large eggs

3 cups all-purpose flour aka plain flour

½ tsp baking powder

1 cup milk

2 tbsp vanilla extract

1 cup chopped pecans

The author notes that you should take out your butter and eggs at least 1 hour before you start making your cake.

Pre-heat the oven to 350*F or 180*C or gas mark 4

Line your 10 inch tube pan or cake pan or bundt pan like I did! I didn’t line my bundt pan I just sprayed and floured it!

1. Cream your butter and shortening on medium speed
2. Combine your sugars
3. Then add the sugars half a cup at a time, beating 1-2 minutes in between cups
4. Add the eggs one at a time and same as before beat 1-2 mins in between
5. Dry whisk your flour and baking powder together (easier then sifting)
6. Then alternate the flour and milk (Melissa notes add 1 cup of dry ingredients for every 1/3 cup wet) on a low speed. All of us bakers know that you don’t want to add flour then mix on med/high because flour will be everywhere!!
7. Once it’s all added speed up your mixing for about a minute.
8. Add the vanilla.
9. Fold in the pecans.
10. Bake for 70 minutes. I only needed 60 minutes but I used a bundt pan not a tube pan so might be why there is a difference.
11. Cool in the pan for 15 minutes and carefully flip out! 

I sprinkled mine with icing sugar! It is very tasty!!  Oh and do not skip out on the pecans... in fact I’d add more!! :0)

*That’s right I told you I had an addiction in an earlier post and like most addicts I try to hide it. So, I hid this book on my shelf hoping no one would notice. ;0)

**Pun intended!!

Note: With day light fading my pictures have to resort to indoor lighting. Boo. I apologize for the just okay pictures!!

Resource: Bundt's and Nordic Ware and Home Sense and Amazon UK and Amazon USA