Cinnamon Crisp Viennese Fingers

As you no doubt know, I love the Great British Bake Off! A couple of years ago I even applied to be on the show, but got no further than an interview. I have not applied since and do not think that I will but that does not stop me baking along with the show.

While the show is on Aldi have challenged me to bake along using their ingredients. So for the next few weeks my regular Aldi posts will all be around the baking theme. Last week I shared my Honey and Lemon Cupcakes for week one of the bake off. This week I am baking for biscuit week. Last week I made Viennese Whirls and we all loved them. I am not a big biscuit maker as I have never really had much success with them, until I made Viennese Whirls last week! After realising how easy they were to make. This got me thinking about how I could adapt the recipe to add extra flavours. So when I was doing my weekly shopping trip last week I was on the look out for ingredients that I could use for this weeks recipe. I found some lovely Belgian chocolate that had flavours that really stood out to me. The Cachet chocolate bars come in four tempting varieties Cinnamon Crisp, Caramel and Sea Salt, Peppermint and Cocoa Nibs. Today's recipe features the Cinnamon Crisp but I am already planning how I can use the others so keep an eye out! But first let me show you how I used the Cinnamon Crisp in my biscuit bake.

This is what I did...

Viennese Whirls and Catch Up

Wow what a busy weekend!

Earlier in the year we had a flood thanks to J leaving the tap running in the bathroom upstairs while we were out. Since this disaster we have been getting the house redecorated. We had the hall, landing and stairs decorated while we were away in May then during our cruise we had the lounge ceiling done. Seeing the new ceiling next to the tired and water stained walls gave us the decorating bug. I actually got my Viennese Whirl biscuits made last week but due to painting all weekend I am a bit later than planned posting my recipe. Tomorrow the children are going back to school and the twins will be starting full time. I am hoping that this will allow me to be more organised, give me more quiet baking time and finally get ahead with my jobs! I am also planning to continue decorating downstairs and even thinking about doing the kitchen so there are lots of exciting times coming!

The Great British Bake Off returned to our screens while we were away with Carnival Cruise Lines and the Great Bloggers Bake Off also returned to bake along with the show. I missed cake week as we were sailing in the Mediterranean, but I am planning on catching up while the kids are at school! Last week was biscuit week. I am the first to admit that biscuits are not my thing. I have never been great at making biscuits so this week I knew that it would be a challenge. I decided to have a go at the technical challenge which was to make Viennese Whirls. I love the creamy biscuit of Viennese Whirls so I wanted to get them perfect. 

I actually surprised myself and was delighted with the results. As I have never made them before I did follow a recipe from my trusty Be-Ro baking book. However I did not use self raising flour as the recipe states, I used plain flour as I did not want them to rise.

This is what I did...

Amaretti Biscotti - Great Bloggers Bake Off

When I saw that biscotti was one of the challenges for this weeks bakers on the Great British Bake Off I knew I simply had to have a go at it. My husband loves biscotti so how could I not bake them.

I have decided to use amaretti with my bake to make them a naughty but good!

I got the basic recipe from Great British Bake Off Everyday but have changed it from chocolate biscotti to my own amaretti biscotti.

This is what I did....

Sweetpea Pantry - Chocolate Giggles with Barley and Raw Cacao

Hopefully you have seen and entered the giveaway that I am hosting for Yumbox and Sweetpea Pantry. If you haven't seen the great prize that is available you can find all of the information here.

I previously told you how I got on with baking the Sweetpea Pantry Super Oat Flapjack. Today I am going to tell you about their delicious Chocolate Giggles,

These delicious little biscuits are full of wholegrain rye, barley, raw cacao and flaxseed.

This is what I did...

Almond and Morello Cherry Florentines - Great Bloggers Bake Off

I was very excited to see that Florentines were featured in this weeks Great British Bake Off.

They really are my favourite biscuits. So how could I let the week go by without making some?

I simply couldn't!

That is why, this week, I have chosen the technical bake.

I have decided to follow Mary Berry's recipe which you can find here. I have, however, changed a couple of the ingredients slightly.

This is what I did...

Almond and Morello Cherry Florentines

Ingredients

50g butter
50g dark muscovado sugar
50g runny honey
50g plain flour
25g morello cherries, quartered
25g flaked almonds
25g chopped hazelnuts
75g dark chocolate

Method

Heat the oven to 180C

1 - Place the butter, sugar and honey in a pan and gently heat to melt the butter and dissolve the sugar

2 - Remove from the heat and stir in the flour, morello cherries, flaked almonds, hazelnuts and mix thoroughly

3 - Line 3 baking trays with baking paper

4 - Spoon on 6 teaspoons of the mixture onto each of the baking trays leaving space between each to allow for the spreading

5 - Place in the pre heated oven and bake for 8 minutes

6 - Allow to cool a little before removing from the baking paper using a pallet knife and leaving to cool completely on a cooling rack

7 - Melt 50g chocolate in a bowl over boiling water once melted remove from the heat and stir in the remaining chocolate

8 - Leave the chocolate to cool before dipping one side of the Florentine leave to cool by propping up using the gaps in a cooling rack

9 - Once the chocolate has set a little run a fork along in a zig zag pattern to decorate

I was pleased with how the Florentines turned out. I have made them before but to a different recipe. The Florentines were lovely and crisp whilst the morello cherries gave the perfect balance between the sweet honey, sugar base.

I am baking along with the Great British Bake Off and taking part in the Great Bloggers Bake Off which is hosted by Jenny at Mummy Mishaps.

I am also sharing with Lucy at Super Golden Bakes

Leftover Chocolate Cookies

When I was looking through the cupboards the other day I noticed how we still had some chocolate treats left over from Christmas.

 

The yummy ones always go first and then we are left with the usual ones that we are really keen on. I hate to waste them so I thought I'd use them up in some cookies.

 

The basic cookie recipe is one that I have always used out of an old Be-Ro book that was given to me from my Nanna.

 

This is what I did...

 

Leftover Chocolate Cookies

 

Ingredients

 

100g baking spread/butter

75g light brown muscovado sugar

175g plain flour

2tbsp golden syrup

2-3tbsp milk

Leftover mini chocolate bars/Easter eggs/Chocolate treats

 

Method

 

Pre heat the oven to 180C

 

1 - Soften the baking spread

 

2 - Add the sugar ad mix until creamy and light

 

3 - Add the golden syrup and flour and mix until starting to come together

 

4 - Add the milk a tablespoon at a time until you get a dough consistency

 

5 - Add as much or as little chocolate as you wish. I have use 6 mini Mars bars and 6 mini Milky Way bars chopped up

 

 



6 - Place some baking paper onto a baking tray and place small balls of the cookie dough on, making sure there is sufficient room to spread. Make sure that the chocolate pieces are covered in the cookie dough, if not the chocolate will spill out!

 

7 - Bake for 8 - 12 minutes depending on the size of cookies remove immediately from the hot tray and allow to cool

 

These a delicious cookies and I was pleased to see that they were enjoyed. In fact they were enjoyed so much they were all eaten in the same day I baked them!

 

I have also found some Quality Street chocolate which need using and I am going to try using them to get some different flavours into the cookies.

 

They really are a versatile biscuit and you can add whatever chocolate you have to hand. They are also a great way to use up any Easter eggs that will probably be left over after the holidays!

 

Enjoy x