Brownies with a Coffee Cheescake Swirl

This is a marriage made in heaven. Dark sticky brownies all gooey and chocolaty with a swirl of coffee cheesecake for added yummieness.
Two recipes have been pulled together here, the first (brownies) I have made at least once a week since Heather gave me the recipe over on the forum I belong to Violet's Pantry.
http://pinkbytes.blogspot.com/2009/04/dark-chocolate-brownies.html The second part is from another member from V.P. our dear Granny, who writes a smashing blog called Tea and Wheaten Bread. http://teandwheatenbread.blogspot.com/2009/09/chocolate-cheesecake-brownies.html
Now for what I did.The Ingredients..
8 oz Butter
4 oz Cocoa Powder (good quality)
4 Eggs.
8 oz Dark brown Sugar.
2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract.
4 oz S.R. Flour.
4 0z White Chocolate Chunks.
2 teaspoons Instant Coffee.

Cheesecake Swirl..
8 oz Soft Cream Cheese (I used Philadelphia full fat)
4 oz Castor Sugar.
2 teaspoons Instant coffee (melted in a touch of boiling water)

Method..
Preheat oven to 180c. Line the bottom of a shallow baking tin with greaseproof paper (very important to do this)
Melt the butter, then add the cocoa powder and coffee, stirring well to remove any lumps.
Beat the eggs in a large bowl, add the sugar and mix until smooth.
Stir in the cocoa mixture, white chocolate chunks and vanilla extract and mix well.
Add the sifted flour and mix gently with a spoon. Pour this mixture in to your tin and spread it around.
Now make the cheesecake swirl by mixing all ingredients together in a bowl, when soft and well combined, spoon on to brownie mix already in your tin. Then with a skewer just swirl it around until you have the desired affect.
Place the tin in to the oven for around 25 minutes. When done the brownies should be crisp on top and soft in the middle. Leave to cool before turning out and cutting, then dust with a little icing sugar.

If you wished, you could leave out the coffee element to this recipe, but I think it was HEAVEN. Hope you enjoy.

Cupcakes for Halloween.

A very simple recipe to use and so very quick, all done my hand, no mixers at all.
These were meant to be decorated with the help of my grand daughter, as she was having a sleep over. But she was ill and spent the time on the sofa while Grandma played by herself. Quick and Easy Cupcakes.
Ingredients...
2 cups S.R. Flour (sifted)
3/4 cup Castor Sugar.
3/4 cup Milk.
125g Butter. (melted and cooled)
2 Eggs. (beaten)
1 teaspoon Vanilla Essence.
Assorted sweets and/or decorations.
Icing...
1 and 1/2 cups Icing Sugar.
Food colouring.
1 to 1 and 1/2 tablespoons water.

Method...
Heat the oven to 190c. Put cupcake cases in to tins.
Combine the flour and sugar in a large bowl, and make a well in the centre.
Now add the butter, milk, eggs and vanilla. Use a large metal spoon and stir gently to combine. Spoon mixture in to prepared cases and bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes. (Or until skewer comes out clean)
Allow to cool on a rack. Mix up the icing while this is happening. I used two colours, so had two bowls going. When the cakes are cooled, ice the cakes and decorate with your choice of decorations.
Have fun.

Orange slice or cake.

This cake can be made in to a round or square, or cut in to a slice. Ingredients...
125g Butter (softened)
1 cup Castor Sugar.
Zest and juice of an Orange.
3 eggs.
1 teaspoon Vanilla extract.
2 cups S.R. Flour.
1/4 cup Buttermilk.

Icing...
1 and 1/2 cups Icing Sugar.
1 tablespoon Orange Juice.
A little zest of an Orange.

Method...
Preheat the oven to 180c. Grease and line a 20cm square or round cake tin. I used my brownie tin again.
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and mix. Now add the vanilla, orange juice and zest and the buttermilk and mix for a short while. Sift the flour in to the cake mix last, but do not over work.
Pour the cake mix in to the prepared cake tin and bake for around 35 minutes, or until the skewer comes out clean.
Allow to cool before turning out.
I iced some of mine with the icing mentioned above.
Put all ingredients for the icing in to a bowl and mix well, pour over the cake.
Also tried something I had not done before. James Martin used this method of decoration on one of his shows.
Sprinkle sifted icing sugar over the cake. Heat a metal skewer with a kitchen blow torch until it is very hot. (Mind you don't burn yourself here) Then using the HOT skewer make marks in a pattern, in the icing sugar.
Thank you James, so clever yet simple as well.

Moroccan Lamb Shanks

Lamb shanks cooked in a pressure cooker. I have had my pressure cooker for years and at first I was really frightened of it, but then one winter (not that we get much of a winter here) I decided either to get rid of it or start using it. Never used a recipe, just went with the flow.
Then, I was reading Ron's blog http://themerlinmenu.blogspot.com/ and thought I had better bring the thing out again. Air conditioning on (temps out side were mid 20c's) and I did a bit of research on Google and found Moroccan Lamb shanks. I won't give you the site because I had to change a few things as I didn't have all the ingredients. And this is what I ended up with. Ingredients....
3 large Lamb shanks (fat removed)
1 tablespoon Olive oil.
2 Brown Onion. (finely chopped)
2 Carrots. (peeled and coarsely chopped)
4 Garlic Cloves (chopped finely)
1 litre Chicken stock.
750 gms Sweet Potato (peeled and coarsely chopped)
200 gms pitted Prunes.
2 tsp ground Cumin.
1 tsp ground Tumeric.
2 tsp ground Cinnamon.
1 tsp Sweet Paprika.
Fresh Parsley (to serve)

Method...
Brown and seal the lamb shanks in a little oil and set a side. Fry the onions in the same oil until just clear. Now put the lamb shanks, onions, spices, garlic and the chicken stock in to the pressure cooker. Bring up to pressure and let it steam away for 20 minutes. Release the pressure once it has cooled a little.
Then add all other ingredients and bring back to the boil, 'til the carrots are just cooked. (You might want to check the liquid here, add a little more if needed) The sweet potatoes do thicken the sauce and suck up a lot of the liquid.
Serve with mashed potatoes or Couscous and sprinkle with fresh parsley.
Do hope you enjoy this, now I am off to check Ron's blog again.

Savoury Square Muffins.

Four corners and four countries come together here to make these delicious savoury muffins. Spanish red onion, Italian Zucchini, English Cheddar cheese and Indian curry powder. (Made in an Aussie kitchen)
You will need....

2 Eggs.
3/4 cup Milk.
1/2 cup Vegetable oil.
1 Zucchini medium sized. (grated)
1 Spanish red Onion. (finely diced)
1 cup English Cheddar Cheese. (grated)
2 tablespoons of Indian Curry Powder.
2 cups S.R. Flour. (sifted)

Prepare your muffin tin, grease well with butter or a cooking spray. I used a square tin because it is new and I wanted to see how well it worked. You could use the normal round muffin tin with 12 muffin moulds in it. Preheat the oven to 180c.
Mix with an electric hand held mixer the first 3 ingredients. Then stir in all of the next ingredients , all but the flour. Leave this until last, as we don't want to over work the flour. Fold in the flour now.
Place the muffin mix in to the moulds and bake for 20 minutes, or until the skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool a little before turning out on to a wire rack.
My new square muffin tin works a treat, they literally fell out when I turned the tray over. I shall use this often.

Old Fashioned Gingerbread.

I have made Gingerbread before and put it on this blog, you will find it here.http://pinkbytes.blogspot.com/2009/02/very-dark-sticky-gingerbread.html
Sorry Rita's Mum in Scotland, but I have to try different recipes now don't I?
This one is called Old Fashioned Gingerbread and I have added Ginger in syrup, finely chopped.

You will need....
225g Butter (softened)
1 cup Castor Sugar.
3 Eggs (lightly beaten)
1 cup Treacle.
1 cup Milk.
3 cups Plain Flour (sifted)
1 tsp. Cinnamon (ground)
1 tsp. Nutmeg (ground)
2 tsp. Ginger (ground)
2 tsp. Bicarbonate of Soda.
Ginger in syrup (chopped) add as much or little as you like.

Preheat the oven to 160c. Lightly grease and line a 23 cm square cake tin. (I used a brownie tin)
Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Slowly add the beaten eggs and combine well. (I used the hand held mixer for this)
Heat the treacle and milk in a saucepan. Remove and allow to cool before adding in to the egg-butter mixture.
Sift the flour, spices and bicarb together and fold in to the wet ingredients. Now fold in the chopped ginger and put the mixture in to the prepared tin. Bake for around 50 minutes, checking with a skewer until it comes out clean.


Allow to cool in the tin before turning the cake out on to a wire rack to cool completely.
I served mine just warm, with vanilla ice-cream.

If you are a gingerbread lover, this is a MUST TRY recipe.

Sultana and Marmalade Cake

This is what happens when you want to bake and are not sure what you want to do!
I had loads of sultanas and jars and jars of marmalade to use up, just as well because the first time I started, I put the sultanas in the saucepan with the water to boil, then went out side to get the washing in. Result = smoke coming out of kitchen and very burnt sultanas. Please don't do as I do, do as I say. (Do not leave the kitchen when you have something on the stove)

Ingredients.
1 cup brown Sugar.
3 Eggs.
3 tablespoons of dark Marmalade.
2 cups S.R. Flour.
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla extract.
1 teaspoon Cinnamon (ground)
250g Butter.
500g Sultanas.

Method.
In a large saucepan, put the sultanas and 1 cup of water and bring to the boil until most of the water has been absorbed.
Add the butter and marmalade and stir until they have melted. Allow to cool now for a wee while.
Then, beat in the eggs and sugar. This was done with a wooden spoon.
Now add the vanilla and then fold in all dry ingredients. (Still with wooden spoon)
Pour the mix into a greased 22 cm round cake tin. I topped mine with some raw sugar. Bake in oven set at 175c for 1 hour, testing with a skewer for the last 10 minutes.

I have now made this cake twice, as above the first time and the second time, I used a good quality port instead of the water, so that is an option for you too.
Do enjoy.

Minted Hommus

As promised Minted Hommus (bottom of picture)

1 tin (400gs) chickpeas.
1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest.
2 tablespoons tahini.
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice.
2 tablespoons evoo.
1 teaspoon ground cumin.
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh mint (plus some for decoration)

Drain the tin of chickpeas and save the liquid for later.
Blend all the ingredients in a blender.
Taste now and if you wish you can add more lemon juice or more mint.
If it is too thick, add a little of the liquid from the tin.
Put in to a serving bowl and chill until needed.

Lemon Aiola.

Lemon Aiola (on the right of the picture)

1/2 cup Mayonnaise (I used shop bought)
1/2 cup Greek-style Yogurt.
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice.
1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest.
1 clove garlic, crushed.

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Transfer to serving bowl and chill until needed.
Could it be simpler? For a very tasty and moreish dish. Ideal with fish and/or prawns.

Sunday afternoon nibbles.

What can be better than lazing around on a Sunday afternoon with a drink or two, a few friends and something delicious to nibble on.
Here we have hard boiled eggs on a bed of coloured lettuce leaves, mixed nuts and dried fruit sprinkled with Cajun spices, bread sticks, plain wafer biscuits, lemon Aiola, minted Hommus and Dahl.
Here is the recipe for my quick and easy Dahl http://pinkbytes.blogspot.com/2009/01/quick-and-easy-dahl.html
Lemon Aiola and Minted Hommus coming very soon. Watch this space.

Tiddy Oggies and Steak and Kidney Pies

Tiddy Oggies (Cornish Pasties) and Steak and Kidney Pies. My mum has been cooking up a storm again. With three hungry men in the house, this happens very often, much to the delight of my dear Dad.
Dad has been very unwell of late, and lost a lot of weight. So what better way to try and get it back on again, than with his all time favorite TIDDY OGGIES.
So sorry, but no recipe, Mum would not give it to me. But I am sure if you *Google* you will find a nice recipe there. I have, and found loads.

So sorry for being absent

Due to lack of mojo and my parents being very sick, I have not posted on here for a long time.Visiting them in hospital, buying a new car and getting used to it has kept me away mostly. And the fact that I lost my blogging mojo.

They are well on the road to recovery now, thank goodness. (Hi Mum and Dad)

The new car is a Ford Fiesta Zetek and I am very pleased with it indeed.

I have been doing some cooking and hopefully in a few days will be able to blog about them.

HAVE YOU MISSED ME? 'COS I HAVE MISSED YOU.