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Dark Chocolate Chip Flapjacks

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Over the last few months I have been going through my older recipes on the blog, trying them out and making some amendments where needed. You will start to see some of the more popular recipes revisited and revamped a little with some hopefully more appealing photos. I first posted this recipe for flapjacks back in 2013,  at the time I didn’t really consider about readers actually making my recipes – it was almost like an online recipe binder just for me. Since then my readership has grown – thank you for that – and I wanted to make sure all of my recipes worked, tasted good and looked a little better! The first new ( old ) recipe is for these Dark Chocolate Chip Flapjacks.

I used to really like the flapjacks  made by the dinner ladies at my secondary school and I tried and failed to recreate them many times. Chewy gooey with just the right amount of buttery syrup.  This is the closest I have found, with a slightly more mature taste due to the slightly bitter dark chocolate. It really is the simplest recipe with minimal preparation.

Dark Chocolate Chip Flapjacks

You will need:

350g of rolled oats
200g butter
200g golden caster sugar
5 tbsp of golden syrup
100g 70% cocoa dark chocolate chips

Preheat your oven to 180c. Line a tray bake tin with greaseproof paper.

Melt your butter, sugar and syrup in a pan on your hob over a low heat until melted and then stir in your oats until thoroughly combined. Empty into a mixing bowl, cool and then stir through your chocolate chips. Spoon into your tray using the back of spoon to level the mixture out.Bake for 20 mins then leave to cool slightly in the tray before removing, you should cut into squares while still warm but not hot.

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Now just try to stop yourself eating them one by one. Keep in an airtight container – they will keep for about a week.

Linking up to the We Should Cocoa challenge as hosted by Tin and Thyme.

 

Making Food Taste Amazing – Flavoured Butter

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A simple steak can be transformed by a disc of herby butter popped on top in the last minute or so of cooking.

A warm. pancake with a little maple syrup or honey butter popped inside just before rolling up crepe style. Ahhmmmmazing.

I was chatting to some friends recently and not one of them had tried making flavoured butters before. Some had bought some ( typically garlic butter) or tried some in restaurants but considering its so easy to do I was amazed none of them did it.

So I’m doing what I always do. Blogging about it.

To make flavoured butter all you need is a stick of butter and your choice of herbs/flavour. Make sure first of all that your butter is soft. Wash and chop your herbs finely or use dried herbs. Here are just a few suggestions of butter/flavour combos:

Tarragon Butter – perfect for chicken or steak dishes
Rosemary & Garlic Butter – great for chicken dishes or potatoes
Honey Butter – great for spreading on warm, homemade bread. It’s delicious.

You could also do spiced butter:

Cinnamon Butter – lovely on top of toast or to use in a special bread n butter pudding
Ginger Butter – haven’t tried this yet but like the idea

Hot butters:

Chilli butter – great for lots of dishes but be sparing with the chilli flakes!

Or a zesty one:

Orange zest butter – great for basting a roast chicken
Lemon zest butter – brilliant for fish.

Soften your butter in a bowl and add your diced herbs or spices and mix thoroughly. Turn out onto a section of cling film and using the cling film ( or it will get messy) make into a sausage shape and completely cover with cling film. Twist or tie both ends. Place in the fridge or freezer. I tend to freeze mine and cut off a section as and when I need it.

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Garlic & Herb Butter:

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Cinnamon butter:

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I used Kerrygold for my rosemary, thyme and garlic butter and for my cinnamon butter.

Kerrygold butter has had a bit of a makeover with the helpful of renowned Irish fashion designer Orla Kiely so why not pretty up your fridge while using the gorgeous Irish butter.

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I’m sure there a are a million and one different flavour combos for you to try so go wild and experiment a bit.

* I was sent a voucher to try out the new Kerrygold.

Cheats Garlic Bread

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I’m a garlic lover. I love garlic bread especially but often find it too heavy and it fills me so much that I struggle to eat my meal. Over the last few weeks I’ve been on a frugal kick and I’ve been using up all the odds and ends in my cupboards – like those last few tortilla wraps leftover from Fajita night. Introducing cheats garlic bread…

So I needed garlic bread, didn’t have time to make bread from scratch and no French stick or ciabatta at home so I used some leftover wraps – now this is no great invention. In fact it’s so simple that its barely a recipe but we have had it several times now and we love them.

Cheats Garlic Bread

You will need:

Tortilla wraps
Butter
Garlic paste or diced garlic cloves
Dried parsley

I’ve left out quantities as it depends on how many wraps you have etc etc but you roughly need 1 part garlic to 3 parts butter and the parsley is more to make it look prettier than for flavour so as much or as little as you like.

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Preheat your oven to gas mark 5.

Chop up your tortillas as you would a pizza and lay on a wire rack or baking tray. Melt your butter and garlic together by blasting in microwave for about 20secs. Add in your parsley and stir. Using a pastry brush give each slice a good coating of the garlicky butter and place in the oven for about 10 minutes until golden brown – keep a close eye as there is a fine line between golden and burnt!

Serve immediately for ultimate butteriness but they are also good cooler when they crisp up a little more.

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They are salty, butter, garlicky and crisp. Perfectly light and a delicious accompaniment to lots of meals. A little addictive too some may say.

cheats garlic bread

Hide the veggies pasta sauce

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My daughter will eat pretty much anything. I know I’m lucky and many of my friends and family really struggle with what their toddlers will or won’t eat. I am also sensible enough to realise this may not last forever and next month she may be as picky as picky can be.

Today I was making up a pasta sauce for my OH to take to work and decided to make up a batch for Izzy at the same time. Now as I said at this moment I don’t have any problems with getting her to eat veg but this is a sure fire way of knowing that she gets everything she needs.

So here we have a super easy but tasty tomato sauce which can be whipped up in 5 minutes and frozen if necessary.

You will need:

A carton of passata (500g)
A large handful of baby spinach leaves
2 handfuls of frozen broccoli ( steamed or boiled)
1 sweet potato ( diced
50g of cheese (grated)
1 knob of butter
1 tbsp of chopped parsley

Boil/steam your broccoli and sweet potato and set aside.
Sauté your spinach in butter until soft, add your passata, broccoli, sweet potato, cheese and parsley. Warm through and use a hand blender to thoroughly blend all ingredients.

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This made enough to feed my hungry man and toddler with another leftover for another meal. Next time I’ll definitely make double and freeze a batch.

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The ultimate sautéed potatoes

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This is probably the last ( for a little while) of the slightly unhealthy recipes. Boooo. I really need to be a little ( a lot) healthier over the next few months and I’ll share as many of my healthy recipes with you as possible. The Christmas junk has almost all gone, we have given a lot away as its just not possible to eat that much chocolate.. not without gaining a few stone anyway and I am taking the last open box of chocs into work tomorrow for my colleagues to enjoy. I did pack away a few boxes that don’t have expiry dates until August 2013 so they will come in handy when we need something sweet and save us pennies on our shopping.

Anyway without any more of my waffle here is a very simple recipe for drool worthy sautéed potatoes.

You will need:

A large frying pan
Leftover boiled potatoes ( these work best) or just parboiled potatoes cut into small chunks
Olive oil
Butter
Garlic
Seasalt ( I used Maldon smoked salt)
Crushed peppercorns ( I used normal and Sichuan)

Place a largish nob of butter into your pan along with a large glug of olive oil ( Jamie Olive style) and wait until your oil is fairly hot before adding your potatoes. Cook for a few minutes on a high heat, then lower your heat and cook for a further 5-8 minutes. Finally turn the heat back up and cook for a few more minutes giving your pan a shake occasionally to stop sticking and ensure an even colour on your potatoes. Cover with a healthy pinch of crushed seasalt and peppercorns, give another shake and serve immediately.

These potatoes are so delicious ,even better than chips in my opinion. Using potatoes that you cooked the day before and refrigerated gives the absolute best results.

Yum. For a fiery twist add some dried chilli flakes with your seasoning.

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Super (food) sides

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Curly Kale may not be that familiar to you. Not all supermarkets stock it and its only readily available from September- March. Kale is a brassica and part of the cabbage family, it’s very attractive in dishes due to its green curly leaves and packed full of nutrients – considered by many to be a superfood. I have only recently started buying it but I can tell you it’s delicious and versatile.

The recipe below is one I have made previously with Savoy cabbage but I actually prefer this with the Kale.

Sautéed curly kale with bacon and sweet potato

You will need:

Curly kale ( I buy washed and ready to cook) break up any big bits and discard chunky stalks
2/3 rashers of bacon diced
1/2 a sweet potato chopped very small
2 cloves of garlic minced
1/2 a banana chilli diced finely
1/2 a red onion diced
Butter
Olive oil
Seasoning

Heat a little butter and olive oil in a large frying pan or cazuela, add your sweet potato, onion, garlic, bacon and chilli and sauté for 10 minutes or so until bacon is golden and everything else is softening. Add your curly kale, season and cook for a few more minutes. Don’t overcook and ensure it doesn’t burn.

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Serve immediately on warmed plates – cold kale is like cold cabbage. Not good.
This is great as a side with chicken or fish or on top of spaghetti aglio olio – yum.

Last time I made this I threw in a handful of peppery rocket right at the end and it was very good!

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Served on top of spaghetti with a small amount of crumbled extra mature cheddar.

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Don’t neglect one of the most nutritionally rich vegetables in Britain. Next week I’m going to try making Baked Kale chips as a low calorie alternative to crisps.

Quesadillas – Simple Suppers #3

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Have you ever made or eaten a quesadilla? They are very similar to a fajita and incredibly tasty. It pretty much consists of two tortilla wraps filled with ingredients of your choice ( always include cheese) and cooked on either side – similar to a toastie.

I saw a photo on Pinterest a while back and all it said underneath was chicken, cheese and pineapple quesadilla. My mouth watered. Time went by as it tends to do and I forgot about this but when having a recent cupboard sort out I found a tin of pineapple rings and it flashed into mind. I had half a cooked chicken leftover from the previous day and a few small different flavoured chunks of cheese lurking in my fridge. It was decided.

You will need:

Tortilla wraps ( as many as you want to eat or share with lucky loved ones)
Pineapple ( fresh or tinned is fine)
Cooked shredded/torn chicken
Cheese ( I used a mixture of mild&mature cheddar and Red Leicester)
Butter

Firstly chop your pineapple into small pieces and grate your cheese. Place a small knob of butter into a frying pan and sauté your pineapple until they begin to caramelise- yum.

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Add your chicken and any other ingredients you wish to add – I finely chopped a banana chilli for some extra zing- and heat throughout. If you have a griddle pan get it on the heat ( if not simply use a frying pan) and when very hot quickly toast your tortillas on both sides and place on a plate. Now place 1 tortilla wrap in griddle pan put a big spoonful or two of your chicken/pineapple mix into the middle, top with cheese and a teeny squirt of BBQ sauce and place a second tortilla firmly on top.

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After a minute or so be brave and flip it over so both tortillas are nicely browned. A griddle pan makes a huge difference to the appearance but probably none to taste. Repeat until you have used up all your wraps/filling.

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This simple supper is delicious. It looks like you made an effort but is easy peasy and can be adapted to use up any leftovers you may have.

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Bon appetit

🙂