White Chocolate and Fruit Flake Blondies

Most of us enjoy brownies, but I am genuinely suprised by how few people have actually had white chocolate brownies, or blondies, as some people like to call them. Call them what you like, they taste blooming lovely!

You can make these brownies without the fruit flakes, and they will be still be beautiful, and you can also use whatever flavour fruit flakes you like...the tropical goes well!

Ingredients

125g white choc

100g butter

3 large eggs

150g caster sugar

100g chopped white chocolate (or white choc chips)

1tsp vanilla extract

125g plain flour

1/2 teaspoon of baking powder

1 pack of fruit flakes (I used strawberry flavour)

Firstly, you will need to preheat your oven to 180 degrees, 160 fan or gas mark 4, and line a 23cm square tin with baking paper. 

Put the 125g of white chocolate and 100g butter in a bowl over a saucepan of boiling water and melt gently - don't let the water touch the bottom of the bowl. 

The melted butter and chocolate does not look as glorious as when you make brownies with dark chocolate, it looks a little like it has separated, this is normal, do not think you have made a mistake.

When all the butter and chocolate has melted, take the bowl off the heat, and mix in your sugar. 

Again, this is so different from making dark chocolate brownies, white chocolate is a totally different ingredient!

Crack your 3 eggs in a bowl and whisk until they start to go pale. I normally do this while the chocolate and butter is melting. Then stir those in, and add the flour, until your mixture looks like so: 

Still looks funny, do not worry!

Now add your chopped white chocolate (or choc chips) and fruit flakes. 

Fold these in and pour into your baking tray, and bake for 20-25 minutes. 

Starting to look appetising now eh?!

YUM! 

Now leave it to cool in the tin before removing and slicing up. It tastes much more like a brownie the following day, but if, like me, you cannot wait until the next day, a little chunk of this with custard makes a great dessert (but leave some for the next day to try!)

Now to hide it where no one else can find it (ulnless of course you do not mind sharing!)

Enjoy! xx

Pineapple Cupcakes with Pineapple Frosting (makes 12)

These cupcakes are loosely based on the classic Pineapple Upside Down Cake, which was one of my favourite things as a child to eat. I wanted to bring back some of that childhood nostalgia, and turn them into cupcakes.

These cakes are gorgeous, but the pineapple at the bottom gives your cake a somewhat 'soggy bottom', meaning using paper cases will not work as well. I used baking cups, which you can purchase from my website, www.theshirebakery.com or you can use silicone cake cases, or even put the cake direclty into the muffin tin (make sure it is buttered first). 

Ingredients

1-2 tablespoons sugar

Pineapple chunks in juice (small tin) plus 3 tablespoons of the juice

100g plain flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

100g soft butter

100g caster sugar

2 large eggs

Buttercream Ingredients

125g unsalted butter at room temperature. 

125g icing sugar

125g Pineapple flavoured icing sugar (By Sugar & Crumbs and avaiilable on my website, www.theshirebakery.com)

2-3 tablespoons milk

Firstly, preheat your oven to 180 degrees, 160 fan or Gas Mark 4.  Pop your baking cups on a baking tray, and sprinkle a little bit of sugar into the bottom of them.  Now put the chunks into the bottom of the case like so:

Now cream together your butter and sugar, do this for a few minutes, until it turns pale and super fluffy. 

Now to add your eggs and whisk. It looks a bit funny, almost curdled, but this corrects itself when you put the flour in. 

This is what it looks like before you fold in the flour. Odd, but do not worry!

Now mix in your flour until just combined and add the pineapple juice.  The cake mix smells amazing, very tropical!

I wish you could smell this, it's immense!

Now pop into the cake mixes, until they are two thirds full. 

Now pop in the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until they bounce back when lightly pressed. 

While they are cooling get to making your buttercream frosting. Mix your butter (if it is not soft enough, pop it in the microwave for 10 seconds) with a little bit of icing sugar and gradually add more, then add the milk tablespoon at a time until you get the right consistency.  I used 125g of icing sugar and 125g of pineapple flavoured icing sugar, available on www.theshirebakery.com. 

If you do not have this icing sugar, you could use normal icing sugar and add pineapple juice from the tin used for the cakes.

Then simply pipe onto your cakes. I decorated some of the cakes with tropical fruit flakes, but this is totally optional. 

All you need to do now is eat and enjoy! 

Double Chocolate Brownies (Sprinkled with Love)

It's nearly valentines day. And the best way to show love is with chocolate! A simple brownie recipe that makes fudgey, moreish brownies. 

Ingredients

200g good quality dark chocolate, min 70% cocoa solids

125g unsalted butter

250g caster sugar

3 eggs, beaten

150g plain flour

100g white chocolate chips

30g white chocolate

Heart Sprinkles (available on www.theshirebakery.com)

First, set your oven to 180 degrees, 160 fan or Gas Mark 4. Line a 20cm square tin with baking paper. 

In a bowl, break your chocolate up in small pieces and cube your butter and pop that in the bowl too. 

Melt your chocolate and butter in a glass bowl over a saucepan of boiling water, making sure the water in the saucepan does not touch the base of the bowl. 

It should look like this, super glossy! 

Now stir in your sugar until it looks like so:

It will be grainy, this is supposed to happen. 

Now add your beaten eggs, it does look strange, keep mixing it will come together. 

It may take a while to combine. 

And now add the flour until combined like so: 

Now for the white chocolate chips, mix these in and pour the mixture into your lined tin. 

Now pop into the oven for 20-25 minutes, it should be cooked around the edges and looking slightly underdone in the middle. 

Leave the brownie to cool completely in the tin, which is difficult as it smells delicious! 

When the brownie is cool,take it out of the tin, and melt your white chocolate, I popped mine into the microwave and blasted it for 20 seconds at a time. When melted simply drizzle over the brownie. 

You can be as artistic, or messy as you like! 

Before the chocolate cools, sprinkle over your love (or sprinkles!). Leave to cool and cut! 

Now to share them with your loved one. Or you can just keep them for yourself, love is selfish sometimes!! Enjoy!! Xx