Recipe: Jammie Dodger, Biscoff & Reese's Blondies

Sunday was a grizzly day. It was pouring with rain, I was feeling pants and it was a rest day. Humf, I could sit and stew in my misery, or do something about it. Baking has always been one of my favourite ways to relax,  once upon a time I'd spend my days pestering my gran until she'd pour over her ancient cookbooks with me and help me perfect the art of shortcrust pastry (always roll onto a slab of marble, and make sure your hands are cold) or light sponge cakes (always fold with a large metal spoon). Oh dear, I'm rambling again aren't I? Anyway, I knew the best way to cheer myself up was to pop on some Jazz music and bake something... but what to bake? 

Then, I had a brainwave. I recalled seeing Ellie's incredible looking Jammie Dodger blondies last year. The ones I promised I'd get around to making. No time like the present. I couldn't find Ellie's picture anymore, but I remembered that she'd found the recipe online, and a quick google search revealed Katie Cake's recipe. That's the badger!

What you may or may not know about me though is that I'm terribly indecisive. Like awfully so. So I actually made a smaller amount of her brownie batter and used it to make three variations on her recipe: Reese's, Biscoff, and Jammie Dodger. 

So here's my amended version Katie's recipe for the blondie mix (which makes 6 blondies).

Ingredients:

60g butter

85g caster sugar

1 large egg

100g plain flour

85g white chocolate

Toppings:

Mini Jammie Dodgers & Jam

Biscoff Spread & Biscoff Biscuits

Reese's mini peanut butter cups & peanut butter. 

Method:

1)  Preheat the oven to 175C

2) Slowly melt the butter and white chocolate together in a saucepan on a low heat, being careful to stir constantly and avoid the chocolate catching. Once melted, remove from the heat and set aside.

3) Using an electric mixer, whisk the egg and sugar until light and fluffy (approximately 2 minutes on a high setting). Then pour the chocolate mixture in, and stir until combined. 

4) Gently fold in the flour, being careful not to knock too much air out of the brownie mix

5) Pour the blondie mix into a greased, suitably sized receptacle (I used an individual brownie pan, which I bought from ASDA for £5). 

6) Now for the fun part - the toppings! For the Jammie dodger ones I dolloped about a tsp of jam in each brownie, and swirled with a toothpick before adorning with mini Jammie Dodgers. For the Biscoff I swirled in some Biscoff spread and placed a Biscoff biscuit on top*. The Reese's one? Well that was just a tsp of peanut butter swirled in, and then I broke up some mini Peanut Butter cups and topped them with that! 

7) Bake for 20 mins! 

8) Enjoy - warm, cold & with or without ice cream. They also freeze well too! 

*In hindsight, I wish I had added cinnamon to the mixture too. 

Recipe: Lotus Biscoff (Caramelised Biscuit) Flapjacks

Now I don't normally make a habit of writing recipes, but given the amount of people asking for one since I posted a picture of my homemade flapjacks on Instagram yesterday I thought I'd make an exception.

I must look like a Biscoff addict, considering the only other (non-protein) recipe I've posted on here was the no-bake Biscoff cheesecakes I made for Christmas Day. I've been experimenting with the spread actually, and also made Biscoff cupcakes* for Bert's Birthday using She Who Bakes' recipe.

Anyway, I'd been craving gooey homemade flapjacks for a while and wondered whether Biscoff flapjacks would work. It just turns out that they were the best damn flapjacks I've ever made! If you're a fellow Biscoff addict then please do give this easy-peasy recipe a go. 

Ingredients (makes 8)

• 125g  Biscoff (I used smooth but I imagine crunchy would work just as well
• 125g  Butter
• 125g Golden Syrup
• 50g Soft brown sugar
• 250g  Porridge oats

Method

Heat the oven to Gas Mark 4 (180°C/ fan 160°C). I lined two loaf tins with baking paper, but I imagine a 20cm square cake tin would also work. 

Gently heat the butter, Biscoff, syrup and sugar together in a saucepan over a low heat, stirring until the better has melted and the sugar has dissolved. Pour in the oats and stir once more until the oats are fully coated. Turn off the heat. 

Pour the mixture into your tins and press down with the back of the spoon/spatula, making sure it's packed together. 

Bake in the oven for 25ish minutes -my oven is temperamental so I always have to guess- I suggest that you keep checking after 20 minutes. You want the mixture to be slightly firm to the touch, but not completely solid, as it will set further as it cools and we're aiming for a soft, chewy flapjack here. 

Remove from the oven and cut into squares/rectangles (or triangles if you fancy) with a sharp knife. Leave to cool in the tin. 

Enjoy!

*Here's how the cupcakes turned out...

Easy Peasy Speculoos No-Bake Cheesecake Recipe

Happy Boxing Day you lovely lot! Fingers crossed you had a somewhat enjoyable Christmas day, and I hope at least some of you woke up with a stinking hangover but a big smile on your face like I did. Admittedly our day was almost a disaster when I forgot to serve up the pigs-in-blankets, but fortunately I remembered them whilst we were all still eating and they hadn't turned to charcoal in the process. 

Of course every family have their own traditions, and in the (almost) 9 years that Bert and I have been together we've formed our own little rituals: there's the Christmas Eve PJs (passed down from my family), the no presents until after lunch rule (his family -that one took some getting used to) and the homemade Christmas cheesecake (my own tradition). For the past 6-7 years I've religiously made said cheesecake on Christmas Eve as an alternative to the Christmas pud, and every year it changes, but it always ticks two boxes: very chocolatey & very boozy. 

Poor Bert isn't the biggest chocoholic (hence why we're such a good team, he never raids my chocolate stash) and is tee-total.  He also hates Xmas pud, but has obligingly munched his way through years of cheesecakes including white chocolate & Baileys, dark chocolate & Cointreau and milk chocolate & Amaretto. This year though I decided to make a cheesecake based on what he loves (especially after the Mince Pie Danish debacle) so opted for a Biscoff inspired cheesecake. I popped a pic of it up on Christmas Day and received so many requests for the extremely simple recipe that I thought I'd make a change from my normal review posts to pop it up... 

N.B I can't take credit for this recipe as it's a very slight amendment from Jane's Pattiserie's, which can be found here.

Makes 8 individual Gu ramekins- but can be easily amended to suit.

Ingredients: 

Biscuit Base

•  110g Digestive Biscuits
•  110g Lotus Caramelised Biscuits
•  110g Butter

Cheesecake Filling

• 360g Philadelphia Cream Cheese
• 2 tsp Caramel flavouring (I used Dr Oetker's)
• 70g Icing sugar
•  200ml Double Cream
• 190g Crunchy Biscoff Spread/ Favorina Spiced Biscuit Spread

To Decorate

• Lotus Caramelised Biscuits

Method

1. Melt the butter in the microwave (10-20 secs should do it)
2. Blitz the biscuits into fine crumbs using a blender/food processor, and mix in the melted butter. Press into 8 ramekins.
3. Whip together the cream cheese, caramel flavouring, icing sugar and Biscoff until smooth using an electric whisk.
4. Add the cream and whisk slowly until thick enough to stay on an upturned spoon. 
5. Spread the mixture over the bases and chill in the fridge until you can't resist their call!
6. When serving, pop 1/2 a Lotus biscuit on top

Et voila! Simples... 

Reflex Nutrition Chocolate Diet Protein & Banoffee Instant Whey™ PRO (Online)

When Reflex first contacted me at the beginning of the summer, I had only just returned to exercise after a lengthy period away from the gym but I realised that I would need to increase my protein intake inline with my new weight training regime to support muscle growth. I started off with bars and have gradually established a range of bars that are pretty damn good. I choose between them depending on my needs for the day, normally White Chocolate & Raspberry Ripple R-Bars if I require a soft, tasty & nutritious bar away from home and Mocha Carb Killas if I need a sweet protein hit. I've also found that pre-made shakes are a simple way to get protein in (especially in the morning or if I'm in a hurry) and you can't get better than Reflex's Protein Coffee.*

I've recently got to the point now where I wanted to check out the real deal, the Whey protein powders that kind of intimidated me when I started working out again. Luckily Reflex kindly sent me a tub of both their chocolate flavoured Diet Protein and Banoffee flavoured Instant Whey™ PRO to try.

Chocolate Flavoured Diet Protein

Now I'm not on a weight loss diet, but I am trying to tone up and build muscle, so I was interested in discovering the benefits of Reflex's Diet Protein. Their proud of this product, and rightly so, considering the intensity in which they believe in delivering only the very best in sports supplements. 
The benefits of Reflex's Diet Protein include:

• It's the only diet whey shake to contain 3,200mg of patented Clarinol® CLA per daily serving
• CLA dose in line with Double Blind Placebo Controlled Studies
• No Chinese unbranded CLA which is found in nearly all competitor products
• Lifetime Guarantee
• EU Sourced Grass Fed undenatured Milk and Whey Protein
• Free From Soy Protein
• Free from GMO ingredients
• No added sugars
• 50,000,000 friendly bacteria spores per 50g
• 150mg green tea extract per 50g
• 250mg L-Carnitine L-Tartrate amino acid per 50g

If you want to discover more about why Reflex's Diet Protein is so special, please read their blog here.

But does it taste good? Surely there's no point in having a premium product that tastes revolting. One of the reasons I put off trying powders for so long is that my other half used them when we first met (almost 9 years ago) and used to have to drink his shake with a banana because the taste was so bad. I really hoped I wouldn't have to suffer the same!

Thankfully not. Whilst the chocolate shake didn't taste like a Frijj milkshake, it was pretty damn good and had a better taste than most other pre-made protein shakes I've tried. 

I have become addicted to the diet protein though, just used in a different way -or should I say whey ;) ?

Proats

I now can't start my day without a bowl of porridge made with Reflex's chocolate diet protein, and this is how I make them:

• 45g oats 
• 300ml milk
• 25g Diet Protein
• 1x portion of fruit  (frozen cherries or fresh pears are my favourite).

Microwave the oats and milk for 2-3 mins until bubbling, add the fruit & microwave for another 30 secs. Top with the powder, a little boiling water, and give a good stir. It's heaven in a bowl, NOT GRAINY, and perfect before a morning workout. 

9/10

Banoffee Instant Whey™ PRO

Unlike the diet whey, the  Instant Whey™ PRO doesn't contain Micellar Casein. The Instant Whey is Reflex's leading high protein powder, and as always the company goes above and beyond to deliver the very best. The benefits include:

·         Use of Native Whey

·         No Soy

·         EU sourced

·         Grass fed

·         Instant Whey™ PRO delivers a high level of protein at 80% where the main ingredients include whey isolate which has an unchallenged reputation.  This isolate incorporates native whey, which is made using a process that keeps far more of the important amino acids in place.

·        Every single batch is tested to guarantee its protein content with the results published on our website.

Now, I'm a HUGE banoffee fan, so I really hoped the flavour would be on point. As soon as I peeled back the lid on the tub I was met with a delicious aroma that smelt like the beautiful baby of both Butterscotch and Banana Angel Delight (the two best flavours). 

Again, the shake tasted rather good -although I prefer the thickness created by adding milk instead of water. The whey is sweet enough to avoid adding syrups too -always a bonus. Proats are also easy to make with this whey, although I slightly prefer the texture achieved when using the Diet Protein.

I've been busy dabbling with a few recipes too, and here are my absolute favourites: 1 of which must be made and eaten at home, the other I can take to uni with me for an afternoon treat.

Single Serving 'Beltsander' Peanut butter and Banoffee Blondie
This recipe is an adaption of the Beltsander Brownie.

• 25g Banoffee Instant Whey PRO
• 50g milk (I use dairy)
• 5g Banana Nesquik
• 10ml Jordan's Skinny caramel syrup
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 heaped tsp peanut butter 

Mix the first five ingredients together until it forms a smooth batter. Add the dollop of peanut butter into the middle. Microwave on high for 90 seconds(ish). Ewat whilst still warm and enjoy! The peanut butter goes all gooey, and it'sabsofreakinglutely incredible. For info, the Diet Protein doesn't work with this recipe due to the casein. 

Chocolate Banoffee Protein Cupcakes

This recipe is an adaption of Nat's white chocolate and banana protein cake -her creations are genius, so give her a follow if you love a good protein creation (and food porn in general)! 

• 150g Skyr (I use a pot of Lidl's plain Milbona)
• 40g Reflex Banoffee Instant Whey PRO 
• 60g oat flour (I just blitz oats in the blender)
• 1 large banana (approx 150g)
• 2 egg whites
• 20ml Jordan's Skinny Caramel Syrup
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 40g Dr Zak's Chocolate Fudge Brownie Peanut Butter

heat oven to 200c/ 180 fan Whisk the first six ingredients together until smooth. Half fill 8 muffin cases with the batter. Dollop 1 tsp Dr Zak's into the middle of each, top with the remaining batter. Bake for approx 25 mins until golden brown. I love these, and at approximately 111kcal per cupcake (including the peanut butter) it means I can easily eat 2-3 in one sitting! 

I've also made the mix in a loaf tin without the hidden centre and sandwiched it with Dr Zak's instead. 

Macros per cupcake/ quarter cake mix sandwiched with 10g Dr Zak's:

Kcals 221 / P19.8 / C21.5 / F5.7 

Note: This recipe does work with the chocolate whey, but the cake is slightly more dense (but equally delicious when covered in Sweet Freedom's choc shot!).

10/10

All of Reflex's protein tubs are available to purchase on their website, and they've currently got some super savings as part of their November offer. Go check them out! 

As ever, a massive thank you to Reflex for the samples!

*Before you start thinking that Reflex are paying me to praise them, I'd just like to reassure you that they're not, and I'm always honest in my reviews (I wasn't overly keen on their Apple & Blackberry R-Bar for example). Reflex have just got exceptionally high standards!