Chilli Coconut Cashew Nuts

I think it's a myth that if you are an adult, that you have all your shit together. Like you can keep on top of your laundry and you remember to put salt in the dishwasher. You can get yourself ready in the morning leisurely, over some freshly brewed coffee and yes, you even made eggs. There is a meal plan that you write in beautiful calligraphy on a Pinterest worthy chalkboard in your beautiful kitchen. You probably enjoy the finer things in life, like good wine (i.e. ones not bought on offer at Sainsburys), the theatre and discussing politics.

This is pretty much crap. Pure crap.

I'm an adult and the only reason salt is put in the dishwasher is because there is an angry light that lights up on the new dishwasher when there isn't salt in there. I don't like being judged by technology. Empty laundry basket? That's funny.

I dont have time for eggs in the morning. I have time for throwing on an outfit, brushing my teeth and trying to avoid my cats trying to kill me on the stairs. I have a meal plan but am a big fan of coming home in a royal strop and wanting Thai food. Like now. What do I have drawn on my kitchen chalkboard? A ninja. There is a ninja on my chalkboard.

As for the finer things in life; yes, I own posh welly boots and enjoy wine. But sometimes it takes every fibre in my mortal being not to laugh when someone says "nuts". You're welcome 

Ingredients

1tbsp runny honey

1/2tsp coconut oil

200gr plain cashews (not roasted, or salted)

15gr dessicated coconut

1/4tsp salt

1/2 small dried red chilli, finely chopped

Method

1, Add the honey and coconut oil into a small suacepan and place over a low heat. When the oil has melted, give it a good stir and then add in the nuts. Stir this well until the nuts are completely covered in the honey/oil combo. 

2, Remove from the heat and add in the rest of the ingredients. Toss these together so the coconut and chilli sticks to the nuts. Scrape all of this out onto a lined baking sheet. 

3, Spread the nuts out, making sure you dont dislodge too much of the coconut from them and bake for 5-7 minutes until golden brown at 180 o/c. You might have to give them a little shake every now and then so they colour evenly. 

4, Leave to cool completely before snacking. 

Sunshine Marshmallows

I can grow vegetables in a garden pretty well but my pot plant gardening skills are practically non-existent. My proof in that statement can be found in the following photos.

Giant courgette.

Mangy habanero plant.

Oh, how I longed for planters overspilling with leafy greens and bubbling with fruit. I want fat orange habenaro to slice into stir fries or simmer in some autumnal chutney. I want shiny fruit delicately dangling of leafy green sturdy plants. My terranium skills are rubbish.

It doesn't quite make sense. It's the same principle. Plant seeds, water, (prune, if necessary), pick.

Maybe I'll never get the hang of it. I'll console myself with these orange and chilli marshmallows in the meantime. Sweet and just a hint of warmth, perfect summery marshmallows. Do you have any container/pot plant tips?

Ingredients
120ml orange juice
Grated zest of one orange
1tsp dried chilli flakes
23gr powdered gelatine
160ml golden syrup
440gr caster sugar
Vegetable oil for greasing
Couple of tablespoons of cornflour and icing sugar mixed together.

Method
1, In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a whisk attachment, mix together the orange juice, zest, chilli, and powdered gelatine briefly. Leave this to sponge while you make the hot sugar syrup.
2, Add the sugar and golden syrup into a medium sized saucepan and add just enough cold water to cover it.
3, Turn the heat to low and stir until the sugar melts.
4, Using a damp pastry brush remove any rogue sugar crystals from the edge of the pan. You don’t want these falling in as it might trigger the syrup to crystallise. Turn the heat up high
5, Bring the syrup to a boil and continue to heat it until it reaches 130o/c on a sugar thermometer. Remove from the heat and leave to one side for a minute.
6, Turn your stand mixer on and slowly pour the hot sugar syrup into the bowl. Be careful not to hit the spinning whisk.

7, Beat until it goes pale and fluffy.
8, Whilst its beating, line an 8 inch square cake tin with greaseproof paper. Brush that lightly with vegetable oil and then dust with a little cornflour and icing sugar. Make sure you oil up the sides and dust those also.
9, When the marshmallow is ready, it will take on the consistency of really sticky bubblegum, carefully pour it into the prepared tin. Using a tablespoon dipped in water smooth the top out and then dust the top with some more of the cornflour/icing sugar mixture.

10, Leave in a cool place for a couple of hours until it has set.
11, Cut into squares and roll in more of the cornflour/icing sugar mixture. These will keep for around 2 weeks in an airtight container.

Chilli Sea Salt Caramels

Let's Make Christmas: The Big Event

After weeks of watching all the delicious things popping up all over the foodie blogosphere, the event 50 brilliant food bloggers had all been looking for took place on Friday 18th November at Fortnum & Mason.

Created by the gorgeous Vanessa Kimbell, Let's Make Christmas has given us the opportunity to actually meet bloggers face to face and discuss all things food and beyond.

Each of brought gifts to swap. I took along some Triple Ginger Cakes baked in Kilner jars, some Glittery Chilli Vodka and some little Meringue Nibbles. These are the laden gift tables, the baked one proving to be very popular!

After judging the entries, baking king Dan Lepard announced the winners. Congratulations to them all! Can't wait to see the recipes!

It was really lovely chatting to some new and old bloggers alike including Laura from Craftstorming, Julia from Eat Healthy But Tasty, Kate from Turquoise Lemons, Kate from What Kate Baked and Choclette from Chocolate Log Blog.

These are the gifts I received in the swap. Some lovely Blackberry Liqueur from A Trifle Rushed, some Table Truffles from What Kate Baked and some Christmas Feel Good Cookies from Cindy at Food for Thoughts. All of which, I can personally say are delicious. Jim was very impressed too!

Overall, it was a great day spent in great surroundings with even greater people. I honestly hope we can all meet up again very soon!

Brunch: Austrian Hash

With colder mornings, my seasonal craving for stodge raises it's ugly head. Anything with carbs is unfortunately quarry. This delicious amalgamation of potatoes and sausage is right up my street.

Original recipe from here

Ingredients
Sunflower oil and a small knob of butter for frying
2 large potatoes, cut in medium sized chunks and parboiled
1/2 a red onion, diced
1/2 smoked pre-cooked sausage (like mathiesons) cut into thin slices
1/2 tsp caraway seeds
Small pinch of good smoked paprika
Very small pinch of dried chillis
Chopped parsley (to taste)
Salt and pepper
Fried eggs (for serving)

Method
1, In a large frying pan, add a couple of tablespoons of oil and the butter and fry off the potatoes, onions and sausage until they are golden. Try not to break up the potatoes too much.
2, Add in the spices and heat through until they start to smell very aromatic. Season to taste and add in the chopped parsley.
3, Top with fried eggs and tuck in!

We Should Cocoa: Apricot Chilli Florentines

Did you see all the beautiful party food for We Should Cocoa's 1st birthday? If you haven't, click here and see all the amazing creations.

This months We Should Cocoa is hosted by Choclette at Chocolate Log Blog and the ingredient of choice is chilli. You can see how to enter and view the rules here.

I had previously used chilli in a We Should Cocoa entry. I made white chocolate chilli blondies for the leftover challenge and they didn't seem to work well for me so I wanted to hit the darker end of the spectrum for this entry.

I have been testing out recipes for Christmas and these are my current favourite. Batches and batches of florentines have been coming out the kitchen with different nuts and fruit in it. The red chilli in these gives them a little kick and makes them look especially festive!

Makes between 10-15 dependant on size

Ingredients
55gr butter
80gr caster sugar
30gr plain flour
30gr flaked almonds
50gr chopped nuts
50gr dried apricots
1/2 small medium red chilli, de-seeded and chopped finely

100gr dark chocolate (at least 70%)


Method
1, Preheat your oven to 160o/c and line two baking sheets with baking sheets. I use Teflon baking sheets but silicone ones would be just as good.
2, In a small saucepan, melt the butter and sugar together and bring to a light simmer.
3, Stir in the flour until well combined and stir in the rest of the ingredients until they are evenly coated.
4, Spoon teaspoons onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving gaps of about an inch apart.
5, Bake for 10 to 15 minutes until golden brown and then remove them from the oven and allow them to cool on the baking sheets.
6, When they are completely cold, melt the dark chocolate and paint thickly over the back, flat side of them. Leave to set slightly before dragging a fork through the chocolate to create waves.
7, Store in an airtight container.
8, Alternatively you can bake the florentine mixture in shaped silicone moulds.

We Should Cocoa: White Chocolate and Chilli Brownies

This month is being hosted by Chele at Chocolate Tea Pot who came up with the great idea of using something we had leftover from Christmas with chocolate!  You can see the round up of the dates challenge here. 

I scoured my cupboards.  It didn’t look good.  I had a copious amount of gin.  This is a good thing in my book but isn’t going to help with chocolate.  Then I found some white chocolate in the dining room.  I prefer really dark rich chocolate but I decided to class this my ‘leftover find’ and clutched it whilst running into the kitchen, grabbing my laptop on the way.

I stumbled on this recipe for White Chocolate and Chilli Brownies (Blondies…) and decided to give it a bash.  It was pretty faffy to make, simmering the chilli in syrup, melting the chocolate, whisking the eggs… And to be honest, it wasn’t worth it.  The chunks of chilli, no matter how small, just tasted dirty and out of place.  Get a piece with no chilli in it and it just tasted like a nice fudgy blondie. 

I would make these again but just with a handful of flaked toasted almonds in place of the chilli just to smooth out the strong sweetness of white chocolate.  

Despite the blondie fail, I’m excited about these.  Very excited.