Apricot and Almond Flapjack Recipe

I hope that now you are a committed Fashionable Bake reader, every Sunday has now become an exciting part of your life to see what is new to bake this week! (or not... which is totally fine *cries a little*) 

So the London marathon is taking place today, firstly a good luck to all the runners! This weeks bake, maybe could have been blogged a week in advance prior to the marathon (I don't actually know how many marathon runners if any are a Fashionable Bake reader)as flapjack is great for energising! 

On to this weeks bake: Apricot and Almond Flapjack
I partnered up with my older sister who is an a bit of an athlete herself, previously completed two marathons (round of applause please)! I say partnered... she baked the flapjack and I am now writing about it. I hope the lack of chocolate in this weeks bake doesn't put anyone off as it is super yummy, super scrummy, super delicious (and all other things super). 

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(Apologies for the not so great quality of the photos, there was a slight camera/phone mishap which I won't go in to)

So lets take a little look shall we...

 

Who can say no to that golden, sweet, buttery goodness?!

If you answered correctly, here is the how to:

Ingredients

• 250g Butter
• 100g Soft brown sugar
• 8 Tbsp Golden Syrup
• 500g Oats (we used 250g rolled oats and 250g jumbo oats)
• A good handful of dried Apricots (around 100g)
• Handful of Almonds (around 75g)

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 170 degrees C (fan oven).
2. Line and greaseproof a large baking tray.
3. In a large pan, slowly melt the butter, sugar and golden syrup. Once melted, bring the mixture up to the boil allowing to gently bubble for 2-3 minutes.
4. While the mixture is bubbling, quarter the dried apricots and roughly chop the almonds.
5. After the mixture has bubbled for a few minutes (the colour should have deepened to look a little like toffee) leave to cool for a further few minutes. 
6. Whilst cooling, in a bowl weigh out your oats. We used jumbo oats to give a better texture and nuttiness. If you only have rolled oats, you may need to use less as they absorb more moisture.
7. Once the mixture has had time to cool a little, stir in the oats, dried apricots and almonds.
8. Spoon the mix on to your baking tray and spread evenly. Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown. 
9. When cooked, cut or score into pieces whilst they are still warm to make it easier to cut and allow to cool.

 

 

Happy baking!

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Chocolate Bark

After some lovely weather recently, it finally feels like summer is in sight! Though British summer's are never really a proper sunny summer... unless we're lucky. But I've heard multiple times that we may be in for a 3 month heat wave? Say whaaaat. As long as it happens after my exams though, nothing worse being stuck in the library revising when it's sunbathing weather outside.

So as summer is approaching, that means possible bikini weather. Now I know all my past posts aren't exactly 'bikini bod' foods but this weeks bake is a little 'healthier' in a way.

Made with dark chocolate (the best for our health out of all chocolates, that does not mean go ahead and eat as much as you like, it is still chocolate) topped with seeds, nuts and berries it has added healthiness. So yes it may look healthier than a standard chocolate because of the trail mix but that does not mean it is healthy to eat the whole lot in one go.  

Chocolate Bark is this weeks recipe. It is so easy to make, even kids can do it providing supervision of the parents whilst melting the chocolate. 
It's a cheap, easy, quick and a delicious treat that anyone of any ability can make!
I can back up the delicious bit from my flatmate - 'ooh it tastes like something from hotel chocolat!' Now who's not going to want to make something that tastes like that!?

Ingredients

• 200g Dark chocolate (or 400g all dark chocolate if you wish)
• 200g Milk chocolate
• 1 pack of trail mix (or any topping you wish)

Method

1. Line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper. 
2. Break the chocolate into two glass bowls, one for the milk and one for the dark.
3. Melt the chocolate over a pan of hot water, or you can microwave it (in a microwavable dish) being careful not to burn it.
4. When both lots of chocolate has melted, spoon alternately both chocolates randomly onto the baking sheet. 
5. Then gently run a fork or knife to mix the chocolate so you get a marble effect. 
   
6. Sprinkle with as much trail mix as you like.
7. Place in the fridge and allow to set for at least an hour.
8. Once set, break up into desired sized pieces.

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White Chocolate and Raspberry Cookie Recipe

Another week, another bake! I hope your Easter was as lovely and chocolate-y as mine. My two weeks holiday is over now and it's back to uni for me today so I'm writing this as I enjoy(well not really)  a 2 hour journey, maybe the greenery in the distance will inspire me to write... Or just distract me.  

So this week's bake was a little rushed and not really thought through so it's not as exciting as I'd hoped but here it is... 

White Chocolate and Raspberry Cookies! 

Okay they're not quite the show stopping cookies I was hoping to photograph, I think I was a bit lazy this week (come on don't shame me for that we all have our lazy days)

These cookies are soft, chewy, chocolate-y, raspberry-y and very moreish (well for me anyway, think I have the biggest sweet tooth around!) and my Mum gave them a big thumbs up! 

Here is the how to:

Recipe adapted from allrecipes

Ingredients 

• 100g Caster sugar 
• 200g Dark brown soft sugar 
• 170g Unsalted Butter (melted)
• 1 Medium egg
• 1 Egg yolk
• 1 Tsp Vanilla extract 
• 250g Plain flour
• 1/2 Tsp Bicarbonate soda
• 1/2 Tsp Salt 
• 250g White chocolate (chunks or chips)
• 75g Fresh raspberries (cut in halves)

Method 

1. Preheat your oven to 170 Degrees C. Line and greaseproof a couple of baking trays. This mix makes a fair amount of cookies (around 20 depending on the size) so I usually bake them in batches.  
2. Melt the butter and then cream together with the sugar in a large mixing bowl. Then whisk in the eggs and vanilla until creamy and paler in colour.
3. In a separate bowl weigh out the flour, then sift in to the mix along with the bicarbonate soda and salt and combine.
4. Gently stir in the chocolate and raspberries, the raspberries will break up a little bit but don't worry this will give more flavour to the cookies, you just don't want to let them completely mash up. (For the white chocolate I used bars and broke the pieces up into chunks).
5. Spoon the cookie mix onto the tray, use around three tablespoons of mix per cookie. Obviously you can make them as big or as small as you like. Don't flatten the cookies as they will spread themselves when baking so make sure there's room for the cookies to spread (around 5 - 10cm depending on how big your making your cookies).
6. Bake for 12 - 15 minutes until the outsides are starting to look toasted. Feel free to swap shelves and turn the trays round to give a more even bake. 
7. when out of the oven leave the cookies on the trays for a few minutes before transferring to cooling racks otherwise they will fall apart, I suggest using a fish slice to remove the cookies from the trays as they are very delicate whilst they are warm. 

Happy baking!

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Rocky Road Recipe

HAPPY EASTER! 

This is definitely the 2^nd best day of the year joint to Christmas and my birthday. Chocolate galoreeeee!!! Chocolate for breakfast… chocolate for lunch… chocolate for dinner… chocolate for the rest of the week! (Or until you run out) A part of me still wishes I believed in the Easter bunny just so I could venture around the garden on an Easter egg hunt, though I guess that now I don’t actually have to get off my lazy bum and have to go look for chocolate it’s just handed over. Every year I say I’d prefer something else instead of the chocolate (calories why oh why) but who am I kidding, who says no to that much chocolate when it’s redeemed acceptable to eat it all in a short amount of time!

On the talk of chocolate, that is exactly what is in this week’s recipe. A pretty simple and easy recipe this week, any of you that say you 'can't' bake I’d like you to have a go at this! Easy peasy lemon squeezy... 

Rocky Road 

Drooooool, the crunch… the fudgy-ness… the sweetness… the omgiloverockyroadness. 

I absolutely love Rocky road and I hope you do too, if you don’t I’d like to try and convert you. My first memory of having Rocky road was in Starbucks with two of my best friends, I think we were around 13… and we managed to scrape together enough money from what we had left (after splurging in Primani) to buy a piece of rocky road to split between us. Oh my god, it was good! Starbucks do a pretty darn good rocky road and I can add M&S to that list too… a bit pricey for a small piece of heaven but so worth it. So rocky road lovers (and potential lovers) here is a simple, easy, quick recipe!

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Ingredients

• 100g Milk chocolate
• 200g Plain chocolate
• 150g Unsalted butter
• 3Tbsp Golden Syrup
• 200g Digestive biscuits
• 100g Mini marshmallows
• 100g Glacé cherries
• 100g Sultanas
• Icing sugar for dusting

Method

1. Line and/greaseproof a baking tray (size depends on how thick you want your rocky road)
2. The digestive biscuits need to be broken into small pieces, this can be done by either breaking them up by hand into the desired sized pieces or placed in a freezer bag and bashing with a rolling pin.
3. When the digestives have been broken, add to a large bowl alongside the marshmallows, cherries and sultanas.
4. In a pan add together the butter, chocolate and golden syrup. Melt over a low to medium heat, stirring often until melted. Once the mixture has melted, remove pan from the heat.
5. Pour the chocolate mixture over the dry ingredients and stir until all combined.
6. Empty the mixture into your baking tray ensuring the mix is evenly spread and into all the corners.
7. Leave to set in the fridge for at least 2 hours or overnight.
8. Once the Rocky road has set, dust with a little icing sugar and cut into desired sized pieces.

I hope you have a lovely, happy and chocolatey filled Easter!

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