Butterscotch & Banana Parfait

 

I've seen Parfait's all over the bloggersphere and they always look delicious.

A Parfait is a food (savoury or sweet) that is layered and is served in singular portions. The word "parfait" is French for perfect......and these really are!!

I had some left over Banana Flapjack from yesterday (the ones without chocolate on them) and decided to make them into a Parfait. I rummaged in my cupboard and found banana pudding and butterscotch pudding mixes. 

I wouldn't have normally used Butterscotch but Ros from The More Than Occasional Baker gave me the idea. Check out her Banana Butterscotch Pecan Muffins.

Recipe ~ makes 4 (depending on your glass sizes)

1 x Banana pudding mix

1 x Butterscotch pudding mix

8 x pieces of Banana Flapjack (without the chocolate topping)

1. Preheat Oven to 200/Gas Mark 6
2. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
3. Cut up the flapjacks into granola-esk sized pieces/crumbs.
4. Spread out evenly over the baking sheet.
5. Bake for 5-10 min make sure you mix the crumbs once or twice so they get an even bake.
6. When they are golden brown take them out of the oven and leave to cool.
7. Prepare both pudding mixes as per the packets. 
8. When the banana granola is completely cool layer it up in a glass like so..........

ET VOILA! 

Easy peasy!!!

I was right about Parfait's being delish, the flavours in this one go great together and the granola stays lovely and crunchy (like chopped nuts)!

These are tooooooo goooooooood! They might even be my new THING!!

ENJOY

xx Kat xx

Chocolate Topped Banana Flapjacks

Yes......another banana recipe!! I DID WARN YOU!! ;-)

I thought I'd do flapjacks today, with a bit of choc for good measure.

I've never been able to get the texture of my flapjacks right, these are no exception. I want to get soft flapjacks that hold their shape. These ones are lovely and soft, but still fall apart! Grrrr 

Maybe I just need to make them thicker?!?! (yes that is a question!) lol

I WROTE THE ABOVE YESTERDAY......IT SEEMS THAT A NIGHT IN THE FRIDGE REALLY HELPS THEM SET UP AND STAY SOFT BUT FIRM!! JOB DONE :-)

Recipe

250g butter

3 tbsp golden syrup

80g sugar

400g oats

2 mashed bananas

Topping

300g Dr. Oetker Scotbloc Chocolate Flavour Cake Covering Milk I only topped one pan, use 600g if you want all your flapjack covered.

1. Preheat over to 180. 
2. Grease and line 2 x 18" square pans (if you want chunkier flapjacks just use one pan)
3. Melt butter, golden syrup and sugar, in a pan, on a low heat until everything has melted and the sugar has dissolved. (scrape the spoon on the bottom of the pan to make sure there's no sugar granules).
4. Take off the heat, add the oats and mix thoroughly.
5. Add the banana's and stir until evenly mixed.
6. Pour the mixture into the pans, flatten down with the back of your spoon and bake for 20-25 mins. Until the edges turn golden. 
7. Leave in pan to cool.
8. Melt Scotbloc in microwave in 30 sec bursts, stirring each time until smooth.
9. When the flapjack has cooled pour the Scotbloc over and leave to set.
10. Once the chocolate is set cut into desired sized pieces.

I got 16 pieces per pan. 

They are very yummy, especially with the chocolate. 

ENJOY

xx Kat xx

p.s The boys loved their Banana Milkshake's yesterday morning!!

Banana Milkshake!

I'd better let you know now that I have a job lot of browning bananas......so if you don't like bananas (DAD) don't bother reading my blog for the next week or so :-)

The kids have decided, after months of munching them like they are going out of style, that they no longer require bananas. TUT!

Also the warm weather has pushed them into over ripe status pretty darn quickly. 

What's a girl to do with sooo many bananas?!?!

I've made Banana Muffins. Now it's time for a milkshake methinks. 

Never made milkshake before but this one is AMAZE!! 

Recipe ~ makes 1 glass

2 large scoops of vanilla ice cream 

1 softening banana

100ml semi-skimmed milk

Pop all ingredients into blender and blend away until nice and smooth. Pour into a glass, add a straw and slurp away. DONE!!

How easy is that?!? 

Mmmmmmm.............Milkshake!

I'm totally making these for the boys in the morning!!!

ENJOY 

xx Kat xx

Banana Muffins

I have decided that I'm going to start joining in with the Calendar Cakes monthly challenge, this months challenge is hosted by Dolly Bakes and is all about British Summer Time.

As it's warm (at the moment) my bananas are going brown quickly!! BOO HISS

But what this means is they are perfect for banana cake.......hubby's favourite. YAY

Hello entry for this months challenge.

I normally make this into loaves, it's fantastic sliced with a cup of tea! But I thought I'd make them into cupcakes this time around.

Actually these are more like muffins as they are un-iced and I've added a sugared, oaty top. Also perfect with a cuppa, especially out in the garden while reading your fave mag......believe me :-)

They have already had the approval of my eldest (aged 3). After eating one he ran up to me, showed me his hunk pose and told me to feel his muscles!!

I reckon this is definitely a "man" cake!

Recipe ~ Makes 12 to 18
350g wholemeal self raising flour
100g butter
250g caster sugar
1 egg (beaten)
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 bananas (mashed)
100ml milk
20g oats
20g demerera sugar

1. Preheat oven to 180/ Gas Mark 4.
2. Line a muffin pan with cupcake wrappers.
3. Cream the butter and caster sugar until pale and fluffy.
4. Add egg in stages until fully incorporated.
5. Add half the flour and baking powder and FOLD gently until completely mixed in.
6. Add milk, FOLD again.
7. Add half the mashed bananas FOLD
8. Add the other half of the dry ingredients and FOLD.
9. Then the rest on the milk and banana and FOLD. (see a pattern?)
10. Fill the wrappers 2/3 with the batter.
11. Smooth the batter gently to get an even surface.
12. Mix the oats and demerera sugar and use 1 tsp to sprinkle over the batter.
13. Bake for 20-25 mins.
14. When baked leave to cool for 2 mins then remove to a cooling rack to cool completely.

My hubby was a happy man when he got home last night!

We were all happy at breakfast time this morning!!

Have a great, sunny, weekend!

xx Kat xx

Tiffin ~ My Way

I've been trawling my fave blogs for some challenges, I love it when my treats appear on other peoples sites......makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside :-)

One of my favourites is the Alphabakes Challenge hosted each moth by The More Than Occasional Baker & Caroline Makes. This months host is the lovely Ros of The More Than Occasional Baker. The aim of the game is to make something with a name or main ingredient beginning with the letter for the month, the letter is chosen at random. This month the letter T.

I did a tea cupcake last month and couldn't really think of any other ingredients beginning with "T"!!

I blame baby brain for that one!!

Eventually I decided on Tiffin.

Who doesn't like Tiffin.......right?

I've never made Tiffin before, my mum used to make Hollywood cake which is basically the same thing but without bourbons and with cherries and a chocolate layer on top. I liked it but not the cherries or the extra choc on top. So I changed it up a bit....hope you don't mind!!

My Recipe
250g unsalted butter
250g digestive biscuits
100g bourbon biscuits
200g plain chocolate
50g milk chocolate
100g sultanas
2 1/2 tbsp golden syrup

1. In a bowl Crush all the biscuits until you have a sandy texture, you must still have some chunks no bigger than your thumb nail. (I used my rolling pin)
2. In a separate, microwaveable, bowl melt the butter, chocolate and syrup together in 30 second bursts. Mix after each time until you get a lovely smooth chocolate sauce. 
3. Add the sultanas to the biscuits and mix well until evenly distributed.
4. Add the chocolate to the dry mix and stir until everything is covered.
5. Pour/scrape into your LINED tin (I used a square 18 inch tin).
6. Pop in the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours to firm up.

You should have seen the chaos as my boys climbed all over each other to get to the bowl and spatula!! I tried some and it's actually ridiculously yummy straight from the bowl!! NOM NOM NOM
When the Tiffin is set use a super sharp knife to cut it into squares (as big or as small as you'd like).

I'm also entering this treat into the Zero Baking Required challenge hosted by Maison Cupcake in which all us bloggers have to make something yummy that cannot see the inside of an oven. This is a great challenge for me as I am moving soon and want to use Mr Oven as little as possible. Needs a darn good clean TBH!!

This is a recipe you just HAVE to try, I guarantee you'll like it as much as I do!!! My hubby and kids barely got a look in!! :-)

ENJOY

xx Kat xx

Baking Mad Olympic Torch Cupcakes

Being a Brit, a blogger and missing the boat on the Jubilee is pretty shameful, but missing the Olympics too would just be completely pants of me, to be honest! 


So I went a'hunting for some Olympic cupcake fun, I wanted a kid friendly little something that isn't your typical cupcake. 

Guess what I found in the cupcake recipe section of Baking Mad.com!! 

Askeys Torch Cupcakes 

PERFECT!!! (I've been eyeing up the Askeys cones in my local supermarket for months) 

Instead of using plain vanilla sponge I coloured it red "Tres Flamey" and instead of red icing with white icing I used orange, red and yellow "Uber Flamey". I also really wanted to spray the cones gold, but as my kids were hanging off my legs I completely forgot this part!! :-/

I had no idea that you can actually bake the batter in the cone!! Thought you had to bake it in a case then remove case and plop cake in the cone....is it just me who's a complete idiot?!?! All you need to do is pop them in a mini cupcake tin (they fit perfectly!) and bake. For all you non-believers ~ as I was ~ here's a piccies..........












For the recipe please go HERE

The boys were most impressed with their Olympic Torches (even hubby munched one)

As the Olympics are all about "Inspiring the next generation" I decided to let the sprogs "help", there are no pics of this great event as I was far too stressed to take any!!

NOTE TO SELF ~ Don't let kids help when I care about the outcome!!

Anyhoo as I had some batter and icing left over I made some cute mini's to carry the boys through the rest of the week. Aren't I the best mummy ever :-)

Also on my Baking Mad travels I found the How To Make Pancakes Tutorial..... I know, it's not cupcakey, but me and the boys LOVE pancakes for brekkie, as hubby leaves at 6am and hates pancakes.....I KNOW!! I'm always on the hunt for the prefect pancake. The tutorial is fab and really easy to follow. Never thought of making a paste first but it makes total sense if you want a smooth batter. 

I love the kitchen they use in the tutorial too, it's just as I want my new kitchen to look!! I'll post a before and after kitchen make-over so you can see how I did :-) 

I hope you're all enjoying the Olympics as much as I am!!

xx Kat xx