Classic Caggs

A friend sent me this recipe  after I'd arranged a few weeks ago to meet up with him to hear all about his life. The evening came and he definitely hadn't forgotten the brownie and salted caramel delights he had messaged me about.  Of course we made them, and of course they were everything we had hoped they would be (and more). Sure, one bite and you know any healthy eating you have ever done in your life EVER is ruined, but they are so flipping delicious who cares! They're rich and sweet as well so that you really can only eat one cookie sandwich at a time. Which I can assure you in these circumstances is a good thing. You'll get about 14 sandwiches (i.e. 28 brownie circles) out of this recipe, so if you don't fancy sandwiching them together (which is magic, so why wouldn't you) you do end up with a lovely big batch of soft and chocolatey brownies.  To make brownie and salted caramel cookie sandwiches you will need: 1/2 cup of salted butter (or just

This week was my Mum's birthday. I made her a gluten free birthday cake so that all of us (even those gluten intolerant in the family) could enjoy it. The cake is best enjoyed with a good dollop of mascarpone (or clotted cream, seeing as I'm are from the Westcountry) because it is so lemony! I used the BBC Good Food recipe, but adjusted the quantities of polenta and ground almonds.  Because you boil the lemons that go into the cake to make them blend-able, the cake takes a couple of hours to complete - just to forewarn you! To make a gluten free lemon polenta cake you will need: 2 lemons (you'll actually need a total of 3 as you also need one for the drizzle!) 140g soft butter 250g caster sugar 3 eggs 150g polenta 225g ground almonds 1 tsp baking powder 140g caster sugar The juice of 1 lemon Mascarpone or clotted cream to serve Begin by popping your 2 lemons in a saucepan, covering with boiling water and leaving to simmer with a lid over for a good

There were a load of bananas sat on the side in the kitchen that needed to be used up - a scenario that's happened before ! Banana bread by itself doesn't go down very well with my housemates, so I decided to make a chocolate version instead. And to rebrand it as a cake-bread. I discovered earlier this week that I own some measuring cups, so I was able to trial a Zoe Bakes recipe using them. I don't own a bread tin in my uni house however and so had to resort to using a 20cm cake tin. Zoe suggests that the nutella banana bread takes 45 minutes to bake in the two bread tins; in a cake tin it is closer to an hour. To make nutella banana bread you will need: 3 or 4 over-ripe bananas 2 tsp vanilla extract 2 large eggs 1/2 cup of milk 1/2 cup of melted butter 1 cup of packed brown sugar 3 cups of plain flour 3 tsp baking powder 1 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 cup of nutella Preheat the oven to 170C and grease and line the bread tins or the round cake tin. Mash the banan

The title "cauliflower pizza" doesn't sound enormously exciting; it's actually the base that is cauliflower which means it is delightfully gluten free! The method is super easy and quicker than making a dough pizza base that requires resting and kneading.  I topped the cauliflower pizza base with red onion, red pepper, cherry tomatoes and beetroot which made for a nice light supper. To make a cauliflower pizza base you will need: 1 cauliflower 1 egg A handful of grated cheese - either parmesan or cheddar 1 garlic clove, crushed Pinch of oregano Topping of your choice Preheat the oven to 180C and lie a piece of greaseproof paper in a pizza or baking tray Start by grating the cauliflower - ideally grate into a container than has a slight lip to it and is quite a bit bigger than the grater as it goes everywhere (as an example, I used a big baking tray). Pour the grated cauliflower into a container that can be microwaved and microwave on full power f

Last week I arranged to have a friend over for tea and cake; she said that her favourite treat  would be a banoffee pie. I made a really easy version for her so that if she ever wanted to make one in her kitchen in uni accommodation then she would be able to. To make an ultra-easy banoffee pie you will need: 75g salted butter 200g digestive biscuits 1 tin of caramel sauce - you can get Carnation condensed milk versions that are perfect! 2 bananas 150ml double or whipping cream Chocolate sprinkles Melt the salted butter in a saucepan or the microwave. Crush the biscuits in a sealed sandwich bag and stir this into the melted butter. Press the buttery biscuit into a tin with a loose bottom (this means you are able to get the banoffee pie out once all the layers are finished!) Pop in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Pour the caramel sauce over the set base. Slice the banana and layer this over the caramel. Whisk the cream and smother over the bananas, shake some

Tonight was my night to cook in our little rota. Cathy told me after I'd planned the meal that the one food she really dislikes in beetroot….oops.  I decided that rather than boiling the beetroots to soften them for the recipe I would bake them to make them a little sweeter and (hopefully) more palatable for a beetroot-hater. After clearing her plate she announced that she now liked beetroot. Phew.  The quantities feed five - adjust accordingly! To make roast beetroot risotto you will need: 3 uncooked beetroots Splash of oil 1 red onion (chopped) 1 garlic clove (crushed) 2 glasses of red wine 2 vegetable stock cubes A kettle of water (as much as is needed! Approx 1.5L) 450g risotto 1 tbsp butter Handful of grated parmesan Preheat the oven to 200C. Peel and slice the beetroot into half if little and quarters if large. Wrap in silver foil, drizzle with some oil and bake in the oven for 25 minutes. In the meantime, soften the red onio

This week I made a supper I just had to tell you about. I visited the supermarket at the perfect time, just as all the reduced food for the day was being put out, and managed to grab a piece of cod for 80p. EIGHTY PENCE! My housemate had a lonely half of butternut squash that he gave to me; that paired with some sage from my garden at home and it was a match made in heaven! After a total of 30 minutes in the oven I had a lovely, healthy supper waiting for me.  I think this supper made me so happy just because it was cheap but delicious! Simple as that! Obviously this meal serves one, just increase it to the number of mouths you need to feed! To make baked cod with sage butternut squash you will need: A piece of cod (or any other white fish) Squeeze of half a lemon + a slice to bake in the foil Half a butternut squash A few sage leaves Drizzle of oil Preheat the oven to 180C. Lie the fish fillet onto some silver foil and squeeze the lemon over it. Place a slice of the

We recreated the Secret Squirrel's honey popcorn slices  this weekend. They're deeply delicious without being too bad for you, the tahini adds a nuttiness to them which is perfectly balanced with the sweetness of the chocolate and coconut….basically they're super. Simple as that. Whilst you're waiting for them to cool in the fridge too the extra popcorn pieces are perfect dipping implements in the scraped out chocolate and tahini/honey mixing bowls (naughty). To make a tray of honey and tahini popcorn bites you will need:  4 cups of popcorn (cover the bottom of a medium saucepan with kernels and that'll give you just over 4 cups…just incase you have any accidents involving popcorn on the floor!) 1/4 cup tahini paste 2 tbsp honey 2 tbsp melted coconut oil (plus a bit more to cook the popcorn) 1/2 tbsp agave syrup (or maple) 2 tbsp cocoa powder Line a square tin with foil Melt the coconut oil in a medium saucepan and add to this the popcorn kern

Overnight oats are so simple yet so satisfying to make - baking them in the morning turns them into a wonderful oatmeal (perfect for when autumn is setting in here in Wales!) I had a load of home-grown pears that my parents had packed me off with after I'd visited last week, Emily brought some stem ginger in syrup into the equation and so these overnight oats were born! The addition of a little of the ginger syrup is magical - we did refer to these as "divine oats", not to sing their praises too much... To make 4 portions of overnight pear and ginger baked oats you will need: 3 pears 1 and a 1/2 balls of stem ginger, chopped into medium sized pieces 1 and a 1/2 cups of oats - I recommend a chunky oat like Mornflake 1 cup of milk  1 and a 1/2 tbsp ginger syrup 1 tsp baking powder If you're baking the oats straight away, preheat the oven to 180C Chop the pears up and pop these and the sliced stem ginger in the bottom of your baking bowl. Put the

Our Saturday tradition has become making pancakes. Today Emily and I decided to try using ground almond to make them and they turned out so much better than we could have ever hoped! They hold their shape so well and taste almost cakey. The addition of lemon and cinnamon to the batter just completes them. I cannot WAIT to make them again!  To make 8 gluten free chocolate chip pancakes you will need: 100g ground almonds 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp cinnamon  Pinch of salt  3 eggs 3 tbsp milk 2 tbsp honey Squeeze of 1/2 a lemon  Shake of chocolate chips Little butter for the pan  Blueberries to serve Chocolate coconut oil drizzle (see my pancakes from a fortnight ago for quantities) Pour the ground almonds, baking powder, salt and cinnamon into a bowl. In a separate jug whisk the eggs, milk, honey and lemon together and pour this into the dry ingredients, gently whisking to combine. Add the chocolate chips at this point. Warm the frying pan, melt a drop of butter an

Today my friend Cathy and I decided to bake chocolate chip cookies to give to the team we have been working with for the last month and a half as a little present. They are "proper" cookies - soft and squidgy and full of chocolate chips. Again these were made minus scales so it's a miracle they turned out well (or just a good demonstration of a suitable recipe for guessing quantities for!) You will be able to make about 25 small cookies from this batter (or fewer if you make monster ones - you might just need to cook them for a few minutes more!) To make a batch of chocolate chip cookies you will need: 150g salted butter 125g soft brown sugar 100g caster sugar 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1 whole egg + 1 egg yolk 300g self raising flour (or  300g plain flour  + 1/2 tsp baking powder) 300g chocolate chips - we used a mix of both plain and dark chocolate chips Preheat the oven to 170C and line a few baking trays with greaseproof paper. Melt the butter a

In my group of friends we all cook supper a night a week, which means that we only have to make an effort on one night every 7 days really. Which is lovely.  Tonight was my go; I had a variation on this meal just before coming back to university as a leaving meal back at home and I hadn't stopped dreaming about it since. I always cook a vegetarian meal for the group and thankfully I managed to win over even the biggest meat eater, who said "this must be the reason why people are veggie".  The quantities I used make enough for 2 (enormous) wraps for 5 people but just reduce the number of vegetables you use for a smaller number of people (or cook it all and have leftovers for the following day).  For vegetarian mega wraps for 5 hungry students you will need: A minimum of 2 wraps per person (seeded ones hold their structure better than white) Fillings 3 portobello mushrooms, sliced 1 courgette, sliced in half-discs 3 peppers, sliced (red, orange and yellow are

Saturday mornings. Pancakes. A pairing that never grows old. My friend Emily and I had been talking about making authentic American pancakes at-some-point-in-the-future for about a month and this Saturday it at last happened.  Emily is one of those girls that eats amazingly so when she produced a jar of coconut oil to make a chocolate sauce I wasn't surprised - what I was surprised about was how flipping delicious it was considering it is so much better for you than any other chocolate sauce I could have dreamt up! She also makes a cracking cappuccino. Dream girl right there.  To make a batch of 9(ish) American blueberry and bacon pancakes you will need: 200g self-raising flour 1 tsp baking powder 1 egg 300ml milk Little pack of blueberries - ours was 200g A little butter for the frying pan 2 strips of bacon per person Chocolate sauce 2 tbsp coconut oil (melted) 1/2 tbsp agave syrup or maple syrup 2 tbsp cocoa powder (to taste) Sieve the flour and bakin

These brownies were created one sunny Sunday morning in North Wales. Whist they were baking I also won at three games of Bananagrams so the day was wonderful before I'd even tasted them.  They were made with my friend Emily who loves mucking about in the kitchen as much as me - as well as being crazy about salted caramel. She infact scattered Maldon sea salt all over the top which took them from amazing to magical.  We didn't have any scales to hand whilst making these so the measurements were quite a clever art, demonstrating that as long as you're vaguely there with this recipe they will turn out brilliantly. To make a tray of salted caramel mocha brownies you will need: For the brownie mix 225g butter 115g milk chocolate 300g granulated sugar 2 tablespoons instant coffee 4 eggs 120g cocoa powder 130g plain flour 1/4 teaspoon salt 150g hazelnut chocolate spread (i.e. Nutella) For the caramel sauce 250ml black coffee 275g soft brown sugar 240ml dou

These baked oats are based upon  Ella Grace Denton's overnight baked oats . I added cashew nuts to the top of mine which added a crunchy element to the creaminess of the banana, blueberries and oats and I didn't leave them to soak overnight.  They're pretty much perfect any day of the week, but particularly good on a Sunday because you just have a little bit more time to allow for baking. The quantities allow for 2 bowls of overnight oats - either one for you to save for Monday morning as a treat, or to share and make someone's day. For 2 portions of baked banana, blueberry and cashew oats you will need: 1 banana A handful of blueberries 1 and a half mugs of oats 1 mug of milk A squeeze of honey A handful of broken up cashew nuts Preheat the oven to 180C Chop the banana and lay across the bottom of your dish. Throw in all but a few blueberries into the bottom too (save a few to decorate the top!) In a separate bowl or jug pour in your oats, milk and

I bought a packet of dried figs from the supermarket a few weeks ago. I opened them up in a "i-haven't-got-any-fruit-and-need-something" panic and they were seriously disappointing. Give me a fresh fig any day. I decided the poor dried figs needed a bit of jazzing up which is how they made their way into a batch of flapjacks! The figs themselves are layered between the flapjack, creating a fig layer nestled between a load of oats, honey, butter and sugar. Delish. To make a tray of fig flapjacks you will need: A 250g bag of dried figs  200ml water 200g salted butter 200g honey 200g brown sugar  400g oats Start by preheating your oven to 180C and lining the baking tin with greaseproof paper Chop up your figs into small pieces and add to a small saucepan with the water until it has all but boiled off. In the meantime melt the butter and honey together in a large saucepan. When melted, stir in the sugar and porridge oats. Add two-thirds of the oat mix to the

Yesterday afternoon was spent at a National Trust property with a friend which was lovely. Deciding to continue the relaxed theme, we spent this afternoon baking peanut butter chocolate brownies as we are both crazy about PB.  Because we are currently living in accommodation with loads of other students, rather than our own student houses, we did double the quantities of the below recipe; we're planning on sharing them with a select few lucky individuals. The other issue thrown up by living in temporary accommodation is that we didn't have scales, a mixing bowl or whisk and so doubling the quantities actually made it much easier to work minus weighing equipment! To make a tray (approx 16) peanut butter chocolate brownies you will need: Brownie mix 100g plain chocolate 175g unsalted butter 3 eggs 200g soft brown sugar 120g plain flour 2 tbsp plain flour Peanut mix 180g smooth peanut butter 50g caster sugar 1 tbsp milk Good handful of unsalted pean