M&M Cookies!!

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup of butter (2 sticks or about 225g)

2 eggs

1 ½ tsp vanilla

2 ½ cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 ½ cups of M&M’s or Smarties if you’re living in the UK.

Cream both sugars with the butter. Add eggs one at a time blending well after each addition. Mix in the vanilla. In a separate bowl combine flour, salt, baking soda and slowly add to the sugar mixture until fully incorporated. Stir in ¾ of the M&M’s. Roll cookies into 1 inch balls and place on a prepared baking sheet. Press remaining M&M’s on top of the cookie dough. Bake at 350F/180C for 8-11 minutes until golden brown.

~ Indiana Baker aka Janet

Flour by Joanne Chang (a book review)

Flour: A Baker’s Collection of Spectacular Recipes by Joanne Chang

My cousin, who lives in Boston, introduced me to this book after she had her copy signed. I asked her ages ago if it was worth getting and she told me that she would highly recommend it and that it was a joy to read. So, why I put off getting myself a copy is beyond me! This book has so many fun recipes I can’t wait to try! Homemade oreos and poptarts are just a few to start with. The pie section is the other area I was impressed with and with my new pie tin I received for Christmas I’m going to be a pie making machine!
Joanne Chang has a wealth of knowledge, having worked and studied under different pastry chefs, that she shares with all of us in this book. Some of the recipes may seem daunting at first, but the way she explains each one I think beginners would be just fine using this book. I would recommend it anyone interested in baking.

Some reviewers on amazon complained of the timings being off. I’ll be able to review the recipes better once I’ve made something! I enjoyed reading this book all the way through and that’s what I wanted to say for now!!

To see my cousin’s book signing go here and visit her blog she's made some fun stuff!!

If you live in or around Boston you have to go to Flour and tell me all about it!!!

Brown-Butter Toffee Brownies!!

find this recipe on Martha Stewart's site or in her book Cookies!!

• 1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, plus more for pan
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pan
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 2 cups packed light-brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 2 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 2 cup toffee bits (Heath)
• Confectioners sugar, for dusting (icing sugar)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-by-13-inch baking pan. Line bottom of pan with parchment paper; butter and flour parchment paper.
2. In a saucepan over medium heat, cook the butter until it turns golden brown; remove from heat, and let cool. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine browned butter and both sugars; stir with a wooden spoon until combined. Attach bowl to mixer; add eggs. Using the paddle attachment, beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add vanilla, and beat to combine. Add flour mixture, walnuts, and toffee bits. Mix until thoroughly combined, and pour into prepared pan. 
4. Bake until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes (do not overbake). Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before turning out of pan onto a cutting board. Peel off parchment paper; cut blondies into 3-inch squares or into suit shapes with 1 1/2- to 2-inch cookie cutters. Just before serving, dust half with confectioners' sugar, if desired.

I omitted the nuts from the orginal recipe and added a second cup of Heath Toffee bits!

~ Indiana Baker aka Janet

Jaffa Cake Doughnut Wars!!

Having read an article, titled the same as my post, recently I had to find out for myself what it was all about. In a nutshell Gregg’s launched a new range of doughnuts and one of them is “Jaffa Cake”. This flavor became really popular and then Krispy Kreme launched their doughnut called “The Jaffa Dreamcake”. The question in this war is which doughnut is better?

First up Jaffa Dreamcake: The actual doughnut is exactly what you’d expect from a K.Kreme doughnut- light and sugary. The orange filling was very natural tasting. Zesty, tart, clean, fresh are a few of the words I wrote down immediately after trying it. It didn’t really taste like a Jaffa Cake though. Just like an orange filled, chocolate-topped doughnut. It does get a bonus for the decoration of an orange slice on top!

Second: Jaffa Cake Doughnut: This too is a typical Gregg’s doughnut- doughy, rich and slightly greasy. The orange filling was more artificial tasting. I didn’t get orange I got orange flavoring. However the chocolate topping was thick, in some bites a little over-powering, but eaten all together made the doughnut taste like an actual Jaffa Cake.

Final Conclusion: Honestly I enjoyed the K.Kreme doughnut more, but Gregg’s tasted more like a Jaffa Cake. I don’t count nutritional information because when you’re eating a doughnut I feel it’s a mute point. (For those of you who want to know the Gregg’s doughnut is better for your arteries.) In war there are no winners and therefore I can’t declare an out right winner on taste alone. However if we must have a tiebreaker it would come down to cost. I think it’s completely outrageous to charge 1.60GBP* for a single doughnut! 70p is much more affordable and therefore my chosen winner! Congrats to Gregg’s Jaffa Cake Doughnut!!

If you’ve tried both I’d love to hear your thoughts! Or take part in the poll on the side bar that will be up until the end of January!!

Last note: On my quest for the best doughnut Burger King had advertisements up for a Jaffa Cake BK Fusion. It was like fate! After ruining my diet for the day with 2 doughnuts I figured why not add some ice cream to that! It was good. Vanilla ice cream with orange chocolate running through it and cake pieces to top it off yum! I obviously have a thing for chocolate and orange!

*Great British Pound; my laptop is American and I don’t know how to make the pound symbol on it! If you know please share! 

Keep Calm and Have A Cupcake Mug

Baked White Chocolate, Mascarpone & Passion Fruit Cheesecake from Giraffe

We went out to dinner last night with some friends visiting from the states! Since we had our Mini-Bakers with us I choose a family style restaurant: Giraffe. Maybe not exactly authentic British cuisine but it was good. This cheesecake was good! My husband decided on the Chocolate Chunk Brownie, the little ones had a scoop of ice cream (strawberry of course), and our friends shared the Toffee Apple Crumble!

Where have you had a good dessert from recently??