More baking (are you bored of it yet?) and a storm in a teacup

Hello everyone, hope we are all doing well and that the snow melted before it had a chance to turn to ice.

Right, I have baked a few things over the last week or so, so just like the news, if you don’t want to know the score/ see me ramble on about baking, look away now.

First up, peanut butter bars.

Now don’t worry, I have not gone crazy, and yes I know these are biscuits. The recipe is from Sweet Vegan, and it starts off with 15 vegan “Graham crackers” (another recipe in the book). I think they are a bit like digestives? Anyway, I made them one day. As you know, I have the time!

Then they got broken up (why did I bother cutting them out into neat circles? Oh right, the having loads of time thing) and whizzed up with peanut butter and icing sugar. And maybe something else, can’t remember.

The topping is the prettiest part. It is meant to be chocolate melted with some butter substitute (as it is a vegan book) but I used Dark chocolate dreams instead, and let me tell you that is the most amazing topping for anything, ever. Ever!

I added the stars to pretty it up some more πŸ™‚

As I was giving some away for friends who came to visit. It was very crumbly to cut, but it was really worth it. Although next time I think I would just buy biscuits for the base.

Next up- Carrot Cake.

Andy’s family were again coming over for the football, so I wanted to make something pretty. This was a Hummingbird Β recipe, but I swapped pecans for walnuts (not a fan of walnuts), and added in some grated coconut.

I made some sugar carrots for the topping- something I have always wanted to do! I had to use my gel colours Β (I keep them in the cute owl box) πŸ™‚ I rolled the orange icing into balls, then rolled them into sort of sausage shapes making one end thin and one end fat. For the greens I rolled into very thin rolls, and used 2 for each carrot. I made a little hole in the end of the carrot with my little finger, and poked the greens in there. Then I used a knife to make nobbles on the carrots.

Hooray for my little carrots!

I baked the mixture in two tins, and then made some icing. Now my plan was to use coconut cream (the little tiny tins from Waitrose) to make a coconut icing. When you pour it out, it looks like loads! Anyway, I added in icing sugar and mixed until it was thick, and left it in the fridge to thicken further. I sandwiched the two cakes with some, and had the rest to put on top.

Now, the cakes were cool but I think the kitchen was warm because the icing really melted and kept pouring off the top of the cake. I shall call it a glaze. Andy’s Mum said she much preferred it to normal thick icing because it got in all the nooks and crannies. Anyway, it did taste really coconutty. More practise needed though!

I had some a day later and the icing had hardened more, so maybe that is the key.

Finally, hot buns.Β 

From Great British Bake OffΒ book. They are not hot cross buns, because I could not be bothered to make the cross. These were for my parents and I made them with half wholemeal as we all prefer that.Β Seriously, anyone who visits or has me as a visitor has got to expect some baking at the moment as it is a good way to pass the time.

Something else exciting- Andy had to pop to Tescos the other day, and I went along for the ride (I lead an exciting life)- anyway while preusing the “fancy pretend milk” section look at what I found!

Alpro almond milk! I love the Provamel Almond milk but it is hard to find, and I like the unsweetened Ecomil but that is pretty expensive. I am excited that other companies are making almond milk anyway, especially as this is fortified with calcium and vitamins. πŸ™‚ Plus it is cheaper than the Ecomil stuff.

Finally, the storm in a teacup. Well, sort of. I was sent a few types of tea to review from Storm Teas (love the name) so feel free to check out my review here.

Stay warm people πŸ™‚

And if you could top one thing with the chocolate/ dark chocolate dreams topping, what would it be?

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15 thoughts on “More baking (are you bored of it yet?) and a storm in a teacup”

  1. I could never get fed up with reading about your baking πŸ™‚ All the things you made look delicious!
    I’ve never tried almond milk – I would love to, but it’s so expensive! It’s good if there’s a cheaper alternative to try. I’ll have to have a look in the fancy fake milk section.

  2. as i have issues with soya, i thought i’d try rice milk – not so keen on that. I looked at the almond milk in H&B and like you say its rather expensive. I shall have to have a look for it.

  3. Okay, I’m going down to Tescos first thing tomorrow to see if they have that almond milk. Although I might end up crashing at some point…I skidded off my bike twice today due to the ice *grumble*.

    LOVE the little carrots – they’re great! So creative and almost too cute to eat πŸ™‚

    I’d probably stick the DCD topping on top of….MORE Dark Chocolate Dreams. Mature of me, I know πŸ˜‰

    xxx

  4. Aw thanks for those comments guys- I take it as a green light to keep on baking (as if I needed an excuse). And yes, look for the almond milk! I get Ecomil from either Holland and Barrett or Waitrose, but it is expensive. It is sweetened but I don’t think that much as the cals are still pretty low per 100ml. Go forth to the fancy fake milk section πŸ™‚

  5. PS No I am not local to Brighton, I am in Herfordshire. But I went down there for a weekend in September and loved it, and was supposed to to the Brighton half and will probably still come down for the race.

  6. I love all your baking efforts, it really makes me want to get in the kitchen and bake myself! If you ever have surplus goodies then you know who lives just around the corner πŸ˜‰

    I bought some of that Almond milk in Sainsbury’s at the weekend although I haven’t actually tried it yet. I also bought the hazelnut variety (did they have that in tesco too?) because I was curious to try that. I just need to remember to use them now!

  7. No they didn’t have the hazelnut stuff otherwise I probably would have bought that too! I had the Ecomil hazelnut and it was nice but very sweet, so I would love to know what the alpro stuff is like.
    Of course I will be happy to bake something for you too πŸ™‚

  8. none in bishops stortford sainsburys πŸ™

    was tempted to go to tescos too but i spend Β£9 in sainsburys and went in for a facebook freebie & the milk which they didn’t have!

  9. You are a baking goddess! The peanut butter bars look particularly good πŸ™‚ I saw that almond milk today, but noticed the second ingredients is sugar πŸ™ I make my own, it’s very very easy. Give it a try πŸ™‚

  10. Thanks Elisa- I saw that about the sugar too but then the cals were pretty low so I didn’t think it would have much in it. I have made my own before, but I like the added calcium etc in the made ones too. πŸ™‚

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