Homemade Cannolis

These are a very popular sweet dessert, which originate from Sicily and consist of deep fried batter essentially and sweetened ricotta cheese with chocolate chip cookies. However the fillings can vary much, and depend on your likeness, you can fill them with fruit or cream or even mascarpone if you so desire.


I first tried these when my sisters then boyfriend brought some down, and they were absolutely delicious. I decided to have a go myself, after purchasing some cannoli tubes from amazon at a reasonable price. However if you cannot be bothered to make the dough, there is always the alternative of buying pre made ones, from specialist italian shops.


I must admit that my first attempt did not go so well as the first, I had made the dough much too thick, and it was not as nice. Second time round though the dough was much thinner, so they tasted absolutely divine, although time consuming it was absolutely delicious. I filled mine with chocolate chips and the traditional ricotta. I found a recipe from the internet, two important things to note are that the ricotta you buy in supermarkets in UK so I read is very watery so it will need to be sieved ideally overnight to have good cannolis as you don't want them to go soggy, and also ensure the pan is piping hot. The other thing I have noticed is that when you wrap the pastry round the cannoli tubes make sure that when you secure the pastry round the tube loosely when you sea the edges it is important you do so properly, perhaps even with egg, otherwise when cooking they will open out slightly, no impact on the taste whatsoever, but more so on presentation as I discovered and will see from below, however third time lucky!!!

Try it yourself, slightly time consuming but well worth the effort I assure you!

Kinder Egg Cupcakes

So I had a bit of inspiration yesterday and decided to make kinder cupcakes, as I love Kinder chocolate, for the kid in you for sure, childhood memories filled with those yummy little chocolate bars, and the kinder kid on the front of the packet.

I put two kinder bars into a basic chocolate cupcake recipe, and put a square of kinder chocolate into each cupcake, was delicious!

I would recommend trying it, if you are a fan of kinder chocolate, worth the experimentation of wonders in the kitchen.

Pork and Herb Meatballs with Ratatouille Sauce

Got this recipe from 50 free original recipes, its a slimmers world book, as my mum is trying to eat a bit healthier at the moment, was absolutely delicious, but I changed a few things in the recipe to give more flavour too it.

Ingredients:

4 spring onions trimmed and chopped
450g lean minced pork ( or beef would work perfectly well)
Handful dried mixed herbs
Seasoning of black and white pepper
1 egg
Handful of chopped coriander


For the Sauce

1 Small onion finely chopped
1 small yellow pepper finely diced
1 small courgette finely chopped
1 baby aubergine finely diced
1 baby aubergine finely chopped
1 bay leaf
400g chopped tomatoes ( x 2) ( I used two as I like mine to be saucy!)
Crushed garlic
Parsley to garnish


Method:

Place spring onions in a mixing bowl, add the spring onions, mixed herbs and pepper, coriander and seasoning and egg. The egg you may think make the meat very wet, but it helps to bind the meat altogether. You could even add breadcrumbs, if you werent on slimmers world make it taste even more delicious. (However on slimmers world bread is a bit of a no no) Make the mince into small balls, and set aside on a plate, clingfilmed and put in the fridge to chill.

Next make the sauce, place all the ingredients into the saucepan, also add a little salt over the aubergine it helps to make it cook better. Also dont worry if you don't have a bay leaf, its not absolutely essential. Simmer until vegetables are soft, but not mushy!  Once cooked set aside ready to reheat.

Cook pasta according to instructions and, meanwhile cook the meatballs, this can either be done on a grilll, with foil placed underneath or in a frying pan. I personally think grilling brings out the taste in the meat more. Keep an eye on the grill though so the meatballs dont burn, keep turning them over until brown and no sign of pink for around 8-10 mins until they are slightly crispy and golden on the edges. Once cooked place some kitchen paper in a bowl to put meatballs in.

Reheat the sauce, add the meatballs. Once pasta ready drain and serve immediately, garnished with parsley if you so desire.

Add a grating of cheese, for extra naughtiness!

Rose Cupcakes

Sorry it has been so long since have posted, havent had much time for baking lately.  Lately am really interested in experimenting with icing and different ways of doing it. Havent gotten too far mind you, but here are some buttercream cupcakes I made a few days ago, just vanilla sponge, one of my Grannys recipes, one that she always used when we were smaller. Purely experimental mind, hopefully with enough practice will be able to try different things :)


Had quite a lot of fun with it, even if it did take a bit of time. So much fun with the piping and the different colours involved. Used an open star nozzle to create the effect. Do have a go if you do get the chance they are so much fun! And tasty too..

Also tried to make flowers, not quite perfected but still good fun!

Nutella Chocolate Truffles

Nutella Chocolate Truffles as inspired from the recipe I found on the internet by Adam and Joanne http://steamykitchen.com/13940-nutella-chocolate-truffles-recipe.html and from the BBC website.

Ingredients: 200g milk chocolate (or dark chocolate if you would prefer) 150g double cream Cocoa Powder to dust 8 tbsp nutella chocolate spread


Method:

1. Put baking parchment onto a baking tray and put half a teaspoon of nutella proceeding until the tray is full. Put in the freezer to harden as this will be the filling of the truffle and take it out again when you are ready for it.

2. Meanwhile in a heatproof bowl, break up the chocolate into pieces, and place over a saucepan filled with a tiny bit of water in it ensuring that the water does not touch the bowl on a medium heat.

3. Once the chocolate has completely melted take off the heat and allow to cool a little before adding small quantities of cream and hand whisking. Continue to add the cream gradually and half of the nutella spread.Then put into the fridge for at least half an hour to set. You don't want it too hard though, you want it so that it is soft enough to mould into balls.

4. Once the chocolate ganache is ready take out of the fridge, and take out the nutella balls from the freezer. Using two teaspoons mould the chocolate ganache round the nutella until it forms a small ball. ( Alternatively you can use your hands to roll them, do not be alarmed if the chocolate starts to melt) Just put the ganache and nutella balls into the freezer and after a little while you can start again.

5. Once you have formed the ganache around the nutella balls, get a plate and pour some cocoa powder onto it rolling the balls with a teaspoon until completely covered. Set aside and put into the fridge until ready to eat! Hints and tips: As a variation instead of using cocoa powder you could use nuts instead

Philadelphia Garlic Chicken with herbs served with linguine, peas and ratatouille

This is a great substitute for chicken kievs although not quite the same I must admit. However you can always breadcrumb the chicken breasts after coating it with egg if you fancy it. Still healthier than a kiev, not oozing with all that luscious butter.


Serves 4
Ingredients:

3 garlic cloves crushed
Handful of parsley chopped finely
Dash of lemon juice
4 chicken breast fillets
500g linguine
Tin of ratatouille ( if your a poor student who cannot make it, or simply if you just cannot be bothered)
75g philadelphia light cream cheese

1. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees, (180 if not a fan oven)and line a baking tray with foil and grease. Combine the philadelphia cheese in a small bowl with the crushed garlic and the chopped parsley. Add a dash of lemon juice ( about a tsp) and mix well.

2. Meanwhile cut the chicken breast lengthways until it opens out into a butterfly (as shown below).

3. Smooth the philadelphia mixture into the middle of the chicken breast and fold back over (until it looks like a normal chicken breast again.)

4. Place the chicken breasts in the pre-greased tray and bake in the oven for 30 minutes.
5. Meanwhile cook the pasta according to packet instructions.
6. Open the can of ratatouille and put on the hob to heat up on a low to medium heat. Once pasta is cooked serve immediately.

NB: As a variation wrap the chicken in a slice of bacon and cook in the oven.

Passionfruit, Mango and Peach Fool

This is great for a summers day or a dessert after supper whatever takes your fancy really. Healthy, too particularly if you happen to be following Slimmers world diet.

Ingredients:

500g 0% Total Greek Yoghurt
Tin of mango in syrup strained
Tin of peaches in syrup strained
3 passion fruits cut in half
Sweetner to taster

Method:

1. In a food blender or liquidiser blend together the yoghurt and mango until quite smooth. Don't worry if it is not completely mixed together it all adds to the flavour.
2. Next scoop out the passionfruit pulp and mix again, in the food processor, you may need to blitz every couple of minutes to ensure that it is combined together properly.
3. Next add the peaches until fairly smooth.
4. Pour the yoghurt into 6 glasses and top wth the last of the passionfruit pulp. Leave in the fridge to chill, and take out when you are ready for them. Enjoy! Bon Appetit!