Chocolate, Hazelnut and Chocolate Chip Cookies

Things have been pretty crazy lately, I am approaching the end of my first year back at work full time (after two years at home with Max), that in itself has kept me pretty busy but health wise our wee family has not been able to catch a break – Max in daycare and me at school means are surrounded by germs constantly. As I type I am chatting to my spot covered wee boy – I am off work the next few days thanks to the nasty case of chicken pox Max came down with at the end of last week.

It’s easy to lose your baking mojo when it seems like there are a million other things on the ‘to do list’ (well maybe not a million – but say 300 reports, no that is not an exaggeration that is how many kids I teach over the course of each week!). Mel and I were lucky enough to be invited to the Bluebell’s Cakery book launch a couple of weeks ago and the beautiful recipe book I purchased at the end of the evening has me feeling really inspired! I loved the look of the ‘Chunky Chocolate and Macadamia Bisucuits’ Karla has in the ‘Biscuits’ section of the book that is what inspired these cookies. I must say that time in the kitchen baking something yummy was just what I needed. These cookies are delicious, they even managed to put a smile on the face of my spotty dot!

Ingredients:
125g butter, softened
3 tablespoons Nutella
1 teaspoon vanilla paste
1 egg
¾ cup brown sugar
¾ cup caster sugar
1½ cups flour
4 tablespoons cocoa
½ teaspoon baking soda
100g hazelnuts, roughly chopped
100g chocolate chips

Method:
Pre-heat your oven to 180°C and line a baking tray with wax paper.
Cream the butter and Nutella in the bowl of your mixer until well combined and becoming light.
Beat in sugars until your mix is light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as required.
Add egg and vanilla and beat to combine.
Sift in flour, cocoa and baking soda, mix on a low speed until just combined.
Fold through chocolate chips and hazelnut bits (if you want some on top of your cookies just keep a small amount of each aside).
Create ping pong sized balls of dough by rolling it between your hands and place on the lined baking tray, keep balls 8-10cm apart as they will spread. If you are adding nuts and choc chips to your tops place them and use the palm of your hand to flatten each cookie slightly.
Bake for 15-20 minutes or until they are firm.
Once you remove them from the oven leave them on the tray for 2-5 minutes before transferring to cooling rack to cool completely.

These are definitely going to be be my go to cookie for the next wee while! They may even make it into some gift boxes for colleagues since we are approaching that time of year.

Our Christmas Baking Class!

Last Saturday (8/12/12) we had an amazing group of 22 ladies join us at Alfriston College where we baked and decorated four Christmas themed treats as part of our first ever baking class! We made cupcakes decorated to look like Christmas trees, Mini Cupcakes with Strawberry Santa Hats, Christmas Cookies (which we will share the recipe for tomorrow) and Marshmallow Christmas Puddings.

We had a fantastic time teaching the class and getting to know the attendees who all seemed to have a great time and enjoy the hands on nature of the session. At the end of the day they all left with containers filled to the brim with delicious goodness. We have had some great feedback and have been bouncing ideas off each other for potential future classes.

We would like to thank our fantastic sponsors who all helped to make the class a success; Lewis Road Creamery whose butter makes the best butter cream frosting (and is now available at Countdown stores, Nestle who provided us with the chocolate that went in to the biscuits and was used to decorate the Christmas puddings, The Pretty Baker who gave us the gorgeous cupcake cases and sprinkles as well as providing all attendees with a discount code so they can continue make pretty and delicious baking in their own kitchens, The Vintage Table who provided us with the gorgeous trios and cake stands you've seen in the photos and Fab Meringues who gave us some beautiful meringues to serve as part of the refreshments. We would also like to thank Michelle (Simon's Mum and a fellow blogger) for coming along to take photos and help with the clean up, the Food Technology department at Alfriston College for letting us use their rooms and equipment and of course all the lovely ladies who came along to the class!
If you have any feedback or ideas for future classes we would love to hear them; leave us a comment below.

We’ve had a makeover!

Pictured above is our old look.  Courtenay and I were beginning to get quite the headache from all the pink and wanted something a little bit more subtle, yet still girly.  Simon’s awesome mum, Michelle (who blogs over at thejamjar), came on board and helped us out, revamping our blog for us.  What do you think?

Michelle hand painted our new blog title image (the cupcake) and the ribbon banner underneath – pretty freakin’ talented huh?  On our lovely new ribbon banner you still have all the usual options:

• Home will take you to the latest posts on the blog
• About us takes you to a page with some info about who we (Melissa and Courtenay) are
• Recipe index is a clickable list of all the goodies on the blog
• Weights and Measures is a list of helpful conversions you might need while baking
• Lunchbox Bakes explains all about our Lunchbox Bakes feature and lists the recipes we have made for it
• Advertising is a page with information about how you can advertise on BMTB.  It also has buttons for our page which you can pop on your blog to share how much love us (go on, take one – you know you want to!)

On the right hand sidebar you will now find our sweet new social media buttons which will take you to where you can find us on Vimeo, Twitter, Email, Facebook and Pinterest.  Cute!

So, welcome to our new look.  We hope you like it as much as we do.  Let us know know if something doesn’t quite seem right, just in case we are having teething problems.  Also, if you love our new look and just so happen to want some design work done for yourself, use that pretty new email button in the right hand side bar and drop us a line; Michelle may be able to help :)

An Update From Courtenay

So you might remember that Shane, Max and I relocated to New Plymouth from Auckland at the end of January.  The main reason we did this is that Shane and I are launching our own business!  It is a very exciting and nerve wracking time for our household but one we are positive will best for us in the long run.

What type of business are we launching you ask?  How can you support one half of your favourite blogging duo?  Our business is called ‘Urbangrow’ and the aim of the business is to provide people who live in urban areas products, support and solutions that enable them to grow their own food.  We will be open on 2 April – so not long to go now.  You can support us by ‘liking’ us on Facebook – we are currently running a competition on our page and all you have to do to be in to win is ‘like’ us, following us on Twitter or our blog  and purchasing from our website or physical store in New Plymouth.  We would love it if you could support us; when you are starting a new business the more support you can garner the better so please feel free to do all of the above and to let all your family and friends who are interested in growing their own food know about us too.

Just like baking we believe that growing your own food has many benefits, from the therapeutic relaxing feeling that growing/making something yourself provides, to the practicality of saving money and knowing exactly what your food has been grown in and treated with/what is going into your food, as well as being environmentally friendly as you are reducing food miles and eliminating all the excess packaging that you pick up at the supermarket.


In amongst doing things for the business set up I have dedicated some time to bake over the next few days so keep and eye out on the blog for new recipes being posted very soon.

New Feature – Lunchbox Bakes!

I’m starting up a new feature on our blog (conveniently just in time for the start of the school year too!) called ‘Lunchbox Bakes’.
Basically each fortnight (or weekly if I can manage it) I am going to post up a recipe of something I have made to take to work as part of my lunch for the week.
Why?  Well, I want to eat healthier but I do want to keep up my baking.  I’m aiming to make some stuff with less sugar and chocolate than most of the recipes I have posted up on here, but hopefully they will be yummy enough that buying something from the cafe will not be a temptation.  I also like the idea that since I’ve cooked it, I’ll know what is in it unlike some of the offerings at the supermarket.
You can join in too!  If you have a blog and have made something appropriate for lunch, share your blog post with us.  Grab the Lunchbox Bakes badge (see the buttons page) or logo and put this and/or a link back to our homepage on your post if you want to participate.  Then send us an email (bmtbblog@gmail.com) that includes the names of: you, your recipe, your blog and a link to your blog post.  I’ve made a page for this new feature, which you can access through our menu bar if you need to check back on the details.
I’ve already baked my first lunchbox treat, so I’ll share that with you tomorrow.  Each time I put up a new Lunchbox Bakes post after that, I will include a list of of people who have emailed in and linked up for the feature :)

In other news, Courtenay and her little family have moved down to New Plymouth and seem to be settling in well from the few pics she has managed to post up on facebook.  She is still waiting for her internet to be connected up, but once it is she will be back and posting.  It’s Max’s first birthday party this weekend (exciting!) so no doubt there will be some mouth watering recipes from the event making their way onto the blog in the coming weeks!
So, that’s the latest.  Get involved in Lunchbox Bakes and send us an email with your details to get your link posted on our site!

Christmas Tree Cupcakes and An Update

I am feeling a bit time poor at the moment (I will explain more at the end of this post) but wanted to get into the kitchen to whip something Christmassy up so these were the perfect solution. I had seen variations around and thought they were cute and seemed simple enough. For the cupcake I used my tried and true ‘Easy Peasy Chocolate Cake’ batter and placed it into 16 brown cupcake papers – which look like the base of a tree and baked at 180°C for about 15 minutes (or until they can be lightly touched and spring back).

While they cooked and then cooled I used fondant icing to make the little stars to go on top. To do this cut a piece of fondant off the block it comes in and warm it between your hands, once it has reached a workable consistency you can add a few drops of yellow food colouring (you could also use pre-coloured fondant or leave it white and dust it with edible glitter) and kneed it through so the colour is uniform. To cut the stars you need to dust you work surface and your rolling pin with cornflour, roll your fondant out to about 0.5cm thick and cut your stars, placing them on non-stick wax paper to harden so that they can be stuck on top of your trees. These could be made in advance and placed in an air-tight container.

Once your cupcakes have cooled ice them with a buttercream frosting, you could do plain vanilla or something a little more festive and use a peppermint flavor. To do this you will need:

150 grams butter (softened)
2 - 2½ cups icing sugar
2 tablespoons hot water
1 teaspoon vanilla essence (or ½ teaspoon peppermint essence)
A few drops of green food colouring

Cream the butter until it is pale in colour then sift in your first cup of icing sugar as well as adding 1 tablespoon hot water and your essence, beat until combined and then sift in your remaining 1 –1½ cups of icing sugar until you get the desired consistency and add your colouring. Place your frosting in a piping bag and use a Wilton 1M tip or similar to frost each cupcake so it resembles a tree.

To decorate place coloured chocolate drops or the little edible silver balls so that they resemble decorations around the tree and top each cupcake with a star.

 
Enjoy giving these and lots of our other fantastic recipes a go! Feel free to share what you have been up to by leaving comments here, Facebook, or email us – we love hearing from you. I really want to find the time to give the Candy Cane Cookies Mel posted yesterday a try.

Also while I am here I will give you a brief update on what is happening with me – Shane and I have sold our house and are moving to New Plymouth in February 2012 (I will elaborate on this in the new year), we have to be out of our house late January so I will be very busy packing, trying to catch up with our gorgeous friends and family as well as caring for Maxie - who is also having a big 1st birthday extravaganza before we leave, that I am organising on top of everything else! All of this doesn’t leave a whole heap of time for baking and blogging but I promise to do my best to share anything that I get time to bake.

Before I sign off I thought I would share with you an updated pic of Max – he is 10.5 months now (can you believe it? I can’t!).

 
So from me and my family to you and all of yours, Merry Christmas! Have wonderful days with your loved ones xx

Update…

Sorry, I didn’t do any baking over the weekend.  However, I have spent a bit of time adding new pages to our blog.  Let me run you through the new additions :)

There is now a banner at the top of the page which has links to the other pages available through our blog.  I have updated the ‘About Us’ page and added some new places to the ‘Worth a Visit’ page.

There is now a ‘Recipe Index’ page, like what you would find at the back of a recipe book which lists all the recipes that we have on our blog.  Just click on the recipe you are after and you will be taken to it!

I have also added a ‘Weights and Measurements’ page.  If you like to work using measurements, weights or temperatures from a different system to what we have mentioned in our posts you can convert them using the guides on this page.

Last thing, I have moved our blog buttons onto their own page.  Please free to take one and spread the love by displaying it on your blog.

I hope you find the new changes useful.  If you would like to see anything else or want to give some feedback please write us a comment.

-Mel xx.

Just a quick word

I won’t be posting any other recipes from the high tea for a few days as I am heading off for the long weekend – no computer and hardly any cell phone reception.

However, before I go, I need to alert you to the new Cadbury Mousse Chocolate blocks.  This stuff is heavenly and you must try it.

Also, Simon has done a couple of cute food related things recently which I snapped photos of…

 
The other night I was really tired and had headed to bed when I remembered that I hadn’t boiled some eggs for my lunch the next day (I’ve been having egg mashed with mayo and ham sammies).  Simon offered to do it and when I came out into the kitchen the next morning these eggs with cute sad faces greeted me.

 
And, this morning he made me pikelets for breakkie!  Love.

Speaking of pikelets, I recently got this plaque to go on the wall in our kitchen:

You can get pavlova and hokey pokey ones too.  I got ours from The Garden Party on Ponsonby Road but I have seen them in the Texan Art School shops as well.

Anyways, off I go.  Have a great weekend :)

Update on the blogger thief

The blogger who stole our title graphic has removed it and that particular blog has been shut down (for now, at least). Thank you to all of you who supported us by leaving her a comment, we appreciate it!  New recipes will be posted this week, but for now you guys have to try out this fudge recipe that Melissa posted the other day, it is delicious – I used Hazelnut chocolate when I tried it and I think there is a new favorite treat in our household.

Update…

Baby Max has arrived!!  Courtenay gave birth to Max on the 10th of Feb.  He weighed 8lbs 9oz and was 55cm long.  Sooo cute!  Can’t wait to visit and have a cuddle :)

So, sorry that there hasn’t been any new recipes popping up on our blog, but obviously, Courtenay has been a little busy.  I’ve been busy too, not with babies, but with work – had to start back at school this month.  I have been crafting away because a lady has approached me about selling some of the stuff I have on felt. on her website, so I have been stitching together a small stock for her.

If you have been baking and want to help us out we are more than happy to have you as a guest blogger.  Just send me an email (see to the right of the blog posts) and we can sort stuff out :)

So, that is what the haps is.  If you are looking to make something last minute for Valentines day, you can easily adapt some of the recipes already on here.  Why not make some cookies?  Just use a heart shape cutter and colour the icing pink!  You could make truffles, but change the mint slice biscuits to Strawberry Oreos!  Or, if you really want to show off, have a go at making a Red Velvet Cake.  Yum yum!

Hope to get you some more pics of little Max and some new recipes on here soon!

Update…

Hello people,

It’s your chance to have your say.  I’ve added a poll to the right hand side of our blog asking you about the content you want to see.  Please make a vote or leave a more detailed comment on this post.  Let us know your thoughts and opinions :)

Thanks,
Melissa