M&M Cookie Bars

Tomorrow is Christmas!  Can you believe it?!  This year has gone so fast, and to be honest it doesn't even feel all that festive for Christmas this year, to me anyway.  I hope you all have a wonderful, safe, happy and healthy Christmas... although if you make these, you may find yourself a little less healthy than you would like ;)  MUAHAHA

So yes, Christmas Eve baking.  A friend of mine from highschool days (*shoutout to Danielle*) made these the other day, posted a picture to Instagram, and I immediately perked up because they were so colourful and looked so amazing!  I asked for the recipe, with which she duly obliged and here we are.  You know how I ADORE anything rainbow and colourful, so I have lots of photos with this post!

In my mind, they looked like fudge brownies that aren't brown, with pretty M&Ms strewn through it, so I was pretty excited to make them.

INGREDIENTS
2 & 1/8 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
170g butter (or 12 tbsp), melted and cooled slightly
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2 tsp vanilla essence
340g of M&Ms (plain)

METHOD

• Preheat oven to 160 degrees C
• Grease a pan (9x13 inches, or  9x9 if you want it thicker) if you're not using a silicone one (honestly, where would we be without silicone these days)
• In a medium bowl, sieve together flour, baking soda and salt
• In a large bowl, whisk melted butter and sugar together until thoroughly combined (no lumps!)
• Add egg, yolk, vanilla and mix well
• Slowly fold in the dry ingredients using rubber spatula - don't over mix!
• Fold in 1 cup of the M&Ms
• Put mixture into the pan, smooth down, and sprinkle remaining M&Ms on top, pressing them lightly into the mixture
• Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the tops are starting to turn golden, the sides are beginning to pull away from the pan, and it is slightly firm to touch
• Cool completely, then cut

Usually most things taste AMAZING right out of the oven, still warm.  HOWEVER.  This is not one of those recipes.  Trust me.  Wait until they are completely cooled before you eat them.  Then you get the full impact of the 'thick and chewy' description.  They are MUCH better cold.  Weird, but true.  Just go with it.

These are delicious, however, for my family I think they might be a one-off.  They are SO so sweet, even for me with the biggest sweet tooth ever.  I cut it into 16 pieces, but I think I should have cut them even smaller, because they are so sweet I can't even finish one whole piece!  Probably gonna give most of them away because my family can't eat it all, in addition to the food we have for Christmas day tomorrow!!!

Merry Christmas folks!

Recipe Inspiration: http://www.whatmegansmaking.com/2013/01/thick-and-chewy-mm-cookie-bars.html

Chicken Cacciatore

I made this at the beginning of November, but as I had my university exams around then, I decided to prioritise, and study for those instead of writing a blog post.  Wise choice, because I passed all my classes!

This recipe comes from a recipe book my family has had forever, and I decided I wanted to make this because I felt like pasta, and we had chicken leg pieces to use.  Sometimes it's a matter of finding a recipe that suits what you have in the pantry to use up, instead of going out to buy stuff new and fresh specifically for a recipe, which can end up quite expensive!!

INGREDIENTS

4 chicken leg portions (or 8 drums/thighs, or 4 thighs + 4 drums)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 red onion, diced into thin wedge
1 garlic clove
sprig of fresh thyme (I only had dried, so I used a tsp)
sprig of fresh rosemary
150ml dry white wine
200ml chicken stock
400g can chopped tomatoes
40g black olives, pitted (we didn't have any olives, so I just left them out)
15g capers, drained (again, we didn't have these either, so left them out)
salt and pepper
freshly cooked fettuccine, linguine or pasta shells

METHOD

• Heat 2 tsp oil and lightly brown the chicken pieces for 2 - 3 mins each side
• Remove from pan and set aside
• Add remaining 1 tsp oil to juices in the pan
• Add red onion and gently cook for 5 mins, stirring occasionally
• Add garlic and cook for a further 5 mins until beginning to brown
• Return chicken to the pan
• Add herbs, then pour in wine and allow to bubble for 1 - 2 minutes
• Add stock and tomatoes, then gently simmer for 15 mins
• Stir in olives and capers (if you have them!)
• Cook uncovered  for a further 5 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through and sauce has thickened
• Remove (fresh) herbs and season with salt and pepper
• Serve over freshly cooked pasta (500g dry pasta)

This was WAY yummier than I expected and I really loved the chicken with the tomato!  It was a lot easier to make than I thought as well, so that was a bonus!  Definitely one I shall make again in the future, because you all know how much I love pasta.

Recipe Inspiration: Everyday Cookbook: Low Fat (2006), edited by Gina Steer, p114

Piping Adventures!

This post isn't a recipe as such, but more a sharing of my experience!  Didn't want to post two blogs in one day after such a long time without writing - some of you might die of shock haha.  But I did in fact do this yesterday, before I made the burger patties. 

I have never piped icing.  I have never creatively iced anything in my life.  I tend to slap it on, because who cares how it looks, as long as it tastes good.  

I made some lemon poppyseed muffins using Christmas paper things (what are those even called?!  Cups?  Cupcake papers?  Something like that.) and they didn't rise very high, so I decided to ice them, and piping seemed the neatest way of achieving the look I desired.

Now, don't forget, I work for a catering company, I have seen how to pipe, and how to make piping look nice.  Let's just take a moment to appreciate that it is harder than it looks.  Thomas & Daryl are pros at it, they make it look so easy!

I call this a funnecessary activity.  It was fun, but entirely unnecessary really.  I had fun doing it, but they looked terrible in the finish, but I don't even care because they weren't half as messy as they could have been, had I slapped it on in the haphazard fashion I usually prefer.

Anyway, here are some of the photos, courtesy of my Mum for taking them while I was giggling and trying not to make a mess.  Also, please excuse my attire, as I had worked out in the morning and spent the rest of the day doing chores and such like so hadn't had a shower yet haha... too busy baking and having fun!

 

Being silly with the leftover icing :D

Pretty proud of my first attempt.  They might look crappy, but mostly because I had some gaps that I then filled :D

Homemade Burger Patties

Ola blog readers!  How kind of you to stick around in my silence - for that I am ever grateful.  

Currently I have some free time on my hands, while I job hunt for full time work now that I have finished university forever (YAY) I can start with some more recipes and things I've been getting up to, food wise!

Mum got some bread rolls out for lunch, forgetting we had leftovers to eat up, so I wanted to do something with them for dinner while they were still fresh.  I decided to make hamburgers.  Never mind that last night we had homemade pizza - homemade takeaways are THE BEST, right?!  Can never have it too often if it's homemade, with good quality ingredients!

This is merely a recipe for the meat patties, as opposed to the whole burger, because I figure you are all smart enough to ad-lib there, with salads and sauces and such.  The world is your oyster, try anything!  It's pretty hard to make a bad burger combination.

INGREDIENTS

500g mince meat
1 tsp beef stock powder dissolved in 1/4 cup water
1 tsp worcestershire sauce
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tbsp tomato sauce
1 egg (lightly beaten)
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic
salt
parsley

METHOD

A horrible photo, I can't work out how to rotate it

• Essentially just mix it all together in a bowl with your hands to make sure everything gets nice and mixed up
• However, I added the egg, sauces, powders, etc. together first to make a saucey thing then mixed in the mince, so things would be evenly distributed, but just use your noggin, whatever works for you
• Separate out into how many (or few) patties you want.  There are 3 of us in our family, so I made 6, for 2 burgers each.  They were quite thick and big though, so could easily be made into more!
• Grill, BBQ or George Foreman until cooked all the way through!!

 
These came out DELICIOUS but wow so filling!  Next time I shall make perhaps 12 patties, thinner, and then freeze half!!  Great way to make meat go a long way though!

Recipe Inspiration: http://www.kiwiwise.co.nz/recipe/beef-burger