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. 

NEW! Tiramisu Con Biscotti Speziatti *Biscoff Tiramisu* (LIDL)

Last week I popped into Lidl for my regular restock of Skyr and picked up their weekly deal brochure on the way out. Ooh Italian week! That sounded good. Normally there's a couple of items that sound rather scrummy, but this time I was positively drooling at the sight of some of the items on offer for the week. That's it, I'd have to go back on Thursday (aka special buy day) to fill up on Italian style treats. The one item that sounded especially good was the speculoos tiramisus. The regular readers amongst you will know that tiramisu is one of my favourite desserts, and that I'm currently obsessed with anything biscoff. At £1.29 for two packs they were slightly dearer than your average supermarket cheesecake, but they still sounded like a reasonably good deal to me. 

"Spiced Biscuit Base Topped with Vanilla Flavour Mousse, Sprinkled with Chocolate Flavoured Powder."

I'm not sure how Lidl have got away with calling them tiramisus really, seeing as they were devoid of Savoiardi or coffee-although they do include a minute amount of alcohol (1.5%) and mascarpone cheese (which comes even lower down the ingredients list). In fact the cocoa dusting and the pots they came in were the only real nods to the classic Italian dessert. Still, they'd reeled me in with the title and I was still looking forward to trying them.

I wasn't expecting the mousse to be marshmallowy. It was still light and airy, but it also had a gooey-ness to it that I haven't experienced with a mousse before. I could faintly taste the liqueur, but it's so mild that I wouldn't be able to tell you what it was.

At the bottom was the 'spiced biscuit' base, which also heralded further surprise. I was expecting it to taste like crushed Lotus biscuits, but instead it had a soft crumb -which was utterly delicious. The cake style base actually worked very well, especially because it had such a fantastic cinnamon flavour. I ended up googling 'speculoos cake recipes' as soon as I'd finished it. 

Now I took a punt and sent Bert to his Night shift with the other pot the same night I had mine. It was a risk because he claims to hate tiramisu, but seeing as it didn't contain coffee I thought it was worth the risk. He loved it. I'm glad he did too, otherwise I'd have been gutted that I'd wasted the other delicious pot. We'll be heading back to Lidl before Thursday (when The Middle Eastern week starts) to stock up and might even pick up a pack of the strawberry tiramisu -which is even less tiramisu-esque! 

8/10

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...

NEW! Häagen-Dazs Speculoos Caramel Biscuit & Cream Ice Cream (Tesco)

Recently I admitted something embarrassing on Instagram. I bought a tub of the Häagen-Dazs Cookie Dough Chip ice cream and acknowledged that I hadn't tried the brand before -or if I had I certainly couldn't remember it. Indeed the reason why I bought the tub was because Sainsbury's were advertising it as new and had it on offer (a combination as a food blogger that is near-on impossible to refrain). I apologise HD fans, but I really wasn't bowled over by it. Ben & Jerry's still got my vote. In came the suggestions of other, better flavours that I needed to try - many of which were caramel based.

Fortunately HD have listened to their customers and have recently brought out a four pack of mixed mini tubs called their 'caramel collection', which launched in Tesco for a princely £4. 

Whilst the idea of trying a selection of the HD caramel flavours was appealing, it was the inclusion of a new-to-the-UK flavourthat really made the pack tempting. When the new HD collection packs* came on offer this week my restraint buckled and I headed straight to Tesco to hand over my £2.50.

"Caramel & Speculoos (11%) ice cream."

HD suggest waiting 10 minutes after retrieving your tub from the freezer before consumption. Ha! I haven't got that kind of patience I'm afraid. Instead I tried to scoop the rock solid ice cream straight away. Badly.

The cinnamon biscuit was immediately evident both from the sweet scent and golden speckles rage permeated the ice cream. I couldn't see a huge amount of biscuit pieces but hoped they were just playing a game of hide and seek.

One thing I do really like about HD is the indulgent creaminess that somehow tastes more refreshing than other brands. The caramel was relinquished to the back of the flavour queue but lingered in the background to allow the gentle spice to shine through. The cinnamon wasn't as punchy as it is in Ben & Jerry's 'Speculoos? Specu-Love', but admittedly the HD version is smoother and more refined.

I loved the little biscuit pieces which -despite my initial reservations- were in abundance and crunchy. To me they tasted more like shortbread, but the ingredients list gives little away as to the reality of my supposition.

If you're a HD/caramel ice cream fan I suggest you head to Tesco and buy the collection whilst it's still on offer. I would buy the Speculoos Caramel Biscuit & Cream as a full pint if HD launched one, but only on offer... otherwise it's back to Ben & Jerry for me!

8/10

*there's also fruit, sorbet and vanilla collections available, all currently £2.50.

NEW! Santa Belly & Melting Snowman Doughnuts (Krispy Kreme)

Apologies for the lack of Sunday review, I was just too busy having lots of fun in London with my best friends*. The journey back yesterday however was less than enjoyable, and yet another example of the British rail network at it's best. My Virgin train from Euston was cancelled, as were the three previous services, which meant that I missed my connection and had to wait for two hours in Birmingham for my last leg back to Hereford (making the journey 6 hours in total).

Still, I found a silver lining -which strangely didn't include being in the Bullring exactly a week before Christmas Day. My close proximity to a Krispy Kreme certainly made me happier though. If you've been reading this blog for a while you'll know from my many previous moans that I have no access to the iconic doughnut chain's goodies; the nearest store is over an hour away, and none of the Tesco's stock it within that radii. This means that I normally make the most of trips to Birmingham and come home with a doughnut or two. My other half almost jumped for joy when I rang and asked him if he'd like a KK collected. 

Even better, the hold-up had given me the time to visit the actual store and make use of my 20% student discount -which I imagine is rather dangerous if you're at a university city with local Krispy Kreme. I opted for the filled Christmas doughnuts of course, and asked the friendly assistant to find me some pretty ones. The trouble was, my bags were pretty full and very heavy, so by the time they arrived in my kitchen the doughnuts looked decidedly less attractive than they had in Birmingham, oops.


Melting Snowman
"Hand dipped in white chocolate flavour coating, filled with caramelised biscuit kreme hand decorated with chocolate iced buttons and a scarf."

I've seen plenty of complaints online about the lack of ingenuity when it comes to the fillings of Krispy Kreme's doughnuts this Christmas. For my birthday back in March -in lieu of a traditional cake- I tried their Lotus Caramelised Biscoff doughnut, so I imagined the Melting Snowman to taste rather similar (and therefore delicious). 

I sliced it in two and found the pocket of biscoff flavoured filling in the middle, which was slightly off centre and not particularly generous. I also noted how dense the doughnut felt. 

The situation didn't improve when I bit into it either, for the biscoff and white chocolate topping didn't impart much flavour other than a resounding sweetness. Where had the spice that speculoos (aka Biscoff) is known for? The icing didn't even hint towards tasting of white chocolate either. Now, you must know by now just how sweet-toothed I am, but just one half was enough for me. If I'd have paid the full £1.90 I'd have been even more royally resentful towards the doughnut chain. Gah. 

5/10

Santa Belly
"Hand dipped in raspberry flavoured red icing, filled with chocolate truffle Kreme, hand decorated with chocolate iced buttons and belt, then finished with a buckle."

Picking up this doughnut felt a damn site more promising because the dough felt so much lighter. I also thought that the design was rather clever too. I've not had the opportunity to try any of the previous raspberry and chocolate Krispy Kremes before, so I cut into Santa with fresh (albeit slightly squinty) eyes -cutting Father Christmas open is never going to feel right. sorry Santa.

The dichotomized doughnut looked even more delicious, because it was packed full of a light chocolate mousse. This was what I was hoping for Krispy Kreme! Flavour-wise it was drastically better too. The sweet raspberry icing worked wonderfully well with the fluffy chocolate innards and soft dough surround. Chocolate and raspberry is a heaven-made match, and this only improves when combined with one of Krispy Kreme's fresh doughnuts. Mmm.

9/10.

Conclusion
Of the two, Santa is the surprising winner! I definitely thought that the Biscoff Krispy Kreme would be my firm favourite, but my doughnut was too sweet, underfilled and lacking in flavour. I do wish that KK had thought to include a traditional Christmas flavour though such as a filled mince pie doughnut (yep, STILL obsessed even after all of the ones I've reviewed this year) or a filled gingerbread with chocolate coating (lebkuchen-style). Fingers crossed for next year!

*On a side note: The family Carol Service in St Paul's Cathedral is one of the most beautiful festive activities I've ever had the privilege of experiencing (but get there early to ensure seats) whilst Dirty Dancing at the Pheonix Theatre is incredible fun. On a food point the Maitre'D in Prezzo on New Oxford St is one of the rudest men I have ever met, but the little family run Italian run restaurant Giotto (just a few doors down) serves excellent pasta and pizza at reasonable prices. 

Graze Megapost: Sticky Toffee Pudding, Summer Berry Flapjack, Banana Bread, Apple & Cinnamon Flapjack, Belgian Speculoos and Banoffee Dippers

I was always one of those girls in the office who sniggered at the suckers who'd been duped into subscribing to Graze. The trouble is, I wasn't aware of what I was missing out on, and as they say "ignorance is bliss." I would have quite happily remained in my naïve state if it wasn't for Graze's recent-ish inclusion as part of the Boots Meal Deal. The lemon drizzle flapjack called to me, followed by the newer Cocoa & Vanilla protein flapjack. By the time I was nabbing my sister's peanut butter pretzel punnet from her I realised that I needed to sign up.

I was savvy though, and made full use of Graze's selection process to 'bin' all the healthy and/or savoury treats in favour of the naughtier punnets that I've jealously spotted popping up on Instagram. My first Graze box was a winner! Six heavenly looking treats that begged to me munched -or Grazed- upon pronto.

In normal weirdo Amy fashion I opted for the punnet that I thought I'd enjoy the least first, saving the best pack until last.

Banana Bread

I knew how good my Graze box was when the first box open contained one of my favourite flavours of cake. The miniature square was not much more than a mouthful, but at only 55cals would be the perfect solution for cake deprived slimmers.

I can't pretend that this was the best banana cake I've ever had, after all nothing beats fresh banana bread still warm from the oven. As a mass-manufactured treat it was pretty good however, and the inclusion of chopped hazelnuts and dates did ensure enough moistness.

7/10

Apple & Cinnamon Flapjack

I had actually meant to retrieve the summer berry flapjack instead, but in my dozy late evening state I opened this flavour before I realised what I was doing.

This treat didn't disappoint. As with the lemon drizzle flapjack the texture was perfect -soft, squidgy and sticky enough to hold it together without leaving a mess on my fingers. The cinnamon and apple came through in equal measures, mimicking the taste of my mum-in-laws homemade apple crumble. Oaty perfection.

9/10

Sticky Toffee Pudding

As suggested I warmed this up in the microwave, and as un-suggested I enjoyed it for dessert drowned in a giant pool of Ambrosia's new Deluxe Salted Caramel Custard. Just like the banana bread it was a dieter's portion, and it tasted like a 'light' version too. The gooey cake texture was lacking, but the toffee sauce was delicious. A so-so punnet, one that'll probably be 'binned' from future Graze boxes.

6/10

Summer Berry Flapjack

I don't think you can beat Graze's flapjacks. My fourth flapjack from them to date, and a lovely flavour too. The berry infused cranberries were packed with flavour, injecting fruity bursts into every mouthful. As I've come to expect the texture was on point too.

8/10

Banoffee Dippers

I've gone on and on about my love for all things banoffee, so it is perhaps unsurprising that I'd saved this punnet until almost last. It was worth the wait too: the shortbread was beautifully buttery and crumbly, but it held together enough to survive a good dunking in the toffee side. The dip was in fact so good that I ended up scooping out every last ml with my finger. Very unladylike I know.

9/10

Belgian Speculoos

I had to hoard this one, partly because I'd heard such great things about it, and also because Nibs (Nibbles 'N' Scribbles) didn't think I'd be able to resist it. I must admit that it was trying at times, ignoring my urges to rip open the pack of cinnamon pretzels and cookie dip, but I did it! Do I get a medal? No? Oh well. There was ample supply of dippers, which I excitedly stuck into the dip. I was welcomed with a beautifully crisp pretzel and naughtily scrummy speculoos. If you've ever tried Biscoff spread you'll get the gist... and if you haven't, why on earth not? It's incredible stuff.

The only trouble I found was that the ration of dip:dippers was way off. Normally with these style pots I run out of the former before the latter, but by the time I was finishing the punnet I was having to put up with meagre spread scrapings on the pretzels. More sir. Please sir.

8/10

Summary

Well, if you're even considering signing up to Graze I suggest you do so to avoid missing out for any longer -just make sure you edit your likes to ensure you end up with punnets you're likely to enjoy! If you're still not sure whether you want to commit, then you simply must try their Lemon Drizzle Flapjack (which is now available in most major supermarkets) I think it's still my favourite.