Black Bottom Cupcakes.

I thought that I would give these ago having tried one at my favourite haunt Cuckoos Bakery. I found the recipe which I followed on Mandy Mortimer's blog. Mine do not look like hers! I think the issue I came across is the cream cheese, here in Britain it must be softer than the American stuff. My cheese cake part pooled out as  a single runny layer over the top of the chocolate mixture rather than sitting as a lump in the centre of the chocolate batter. But they tasted delicious anyway even if they were slightly scruffy. I did find it difficult to tell when they were cooked as you had to stick a skewer through the cheese cake topping.

Ingredients:
Cheesecake Filling:

225g Cream Cheese
1/3 cup Granulated Sugar
1 Egg
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
60g Dark Chocolate Chips (optional)

Chocolate Sponge:

1 1/2 cups Plain Flour
1 cup Granulated Sugar
1/3 cup Cocoa
1 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Salt
1 cup Water
1/3 cup Sunflower/Canola/Vegetable Oil
1 Tbsp White Vinegar
1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Method:

Preheat oven to 180°C or roasting oven with a cold shelf. This makes 12. Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add sugar, egg & vanilla then beat until combined. Mix in chocolate chips if you're adding them.

Sift together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients into it. Stir to combine and mix until smooth.

Divide chocolate batter evenly between cupcake liners. Drop a spoonful of the cheesecake batter on to the chocolate batter in the middle. Bake for 20-25 mins. 

Chocolate Chip Cookies.

This weekend is the Durham Black Tie Reeling Ball which like the ball in Edinburgh last weekend I was meant to be going to. However having broken my arm very badly in the summer I am still banned from all types of sport. So last night I put my essay off for a while longer and made a batch of these to send down to Durham. The recipe made about two dozen unfortunately only one dozen survived to this morning. I don't have much hope that the rest will make it to their destination intact. Nina and Lally this is what they looked like and if they don't turn up you know who to blame! I would also appreciate it if someone could bring my one boot which Nina accidentally packed in her suitcase back with them.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups Flour.

1/2 tsp Baking powder

3/4 tsp Salt

150g Butter

1/2 cup Light brown sugar

1/2 cup Granulated sugar

1 Large egg

2tsp Vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups Chocolate chips

1 cup of nuts (optional) 

Method:

Oven to 190C or second set of runners in roasting oven you maybe ok without a cold shelf but I would just watch them.

Cream the butter and sugars together, then beat in the egg and vanilla. Stir in the dry ingredients followed by the chocolate and nuts. Roll the dough into balls about 1-1 1/2 inches across and bake for 10-12 minutes. Don't put them too close as these do spread.

Peanut Butter Cookies.

This post is dedicated to Alice who is as Mabs would say a babe as she edits my essays. I made these to reward myself this afternoon after handing in 3000 words on newsprint in the 1640s fascinating or not as the case maybe. I am atrocious at making cookies as mine always spread to far and are never chewy so I thought I would start my quest for reliable cookies recipes with these. I must say that mine did not look as perfect as The Cultural dish's ones but they recipe worked perfectly and they tasted delicious.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon salt
100g butter, unsalted
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup sugar-1 cup crunchy peanut butter
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup salted, dry roasted peanuts.

Preheat oven to 180C or the second runners with a cold shelf in the roasting oven of the aga. Mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, cream the butter and sugar together. Beat in the peanut butter until fully incorporated. Mix in the eggs one at a time and then add the vanilla. Slowly mix in the dry ingredients a little at a time until fully combined. Once the batter is well combined, stir in the peanuts.

Roll the dough into ping pong ball sized rounds about an 1 inch to 1.5 inches across. Press each cookie dough ball down with a fork to create a crisscross design. If the fork sticks to the dough you can dip it in cold water before pressing it down onto the dough, this works really well. I did not get a very defined criss cross pattern as it was broken up by the peanuts next time I would chop the nuts to the same size as the pieces in the peanut butter.

Bake until the cookies puff up and the edges are slightly browned (9-11) minutes, and make sure to rotate the pan halfway through. Be aware that the cookies will not look fully baked when done, so do not overcook them.