January is the time of year for making marmalade, as all the grocery stop shelves fill up with affordable Spanish oranges. I think Marmalade is one of Todd's favourite things to have on his toast. I like it too, with it's bittersweet tang and all those lovely chewy bits of rind peppered throughout . . .



I have yet to make my own, but it's not all that hard. One year I will make some for sure, but in the meantime I enjoy good quality storebought and yes . . . there are some very good ones out there. If you do feel so inclined to make your own, you will find a very good recipe here. Seville oranges make the best marmalade, by the way. One can just imagine how lovely the house smells when it's cooking . . .



I found a recipe in the latest Country Kitchen Magazine for some tasty marmalade rock cakes. I like Country Kitchen Magazine. It's filled with lots of lovely traditional recipes and British food folklore.



I have made plain rockcakes before. You can find that recipe here. Remember, they are Harry Potter's favourite teatime treats! They were rather yummy and I really enjoyed them.



This recipe using the marmalade looked quite delicious as well, but once again . . . I could not leave well enough alone! I used all butter, and added milk chocolate chips instead of sultanas, and . . . why not????



Orange and chocolate are a quintessentially beautifully flavourful combination, moreish even.



And these definitely were . . . moreish, that is!!! If Harry were here, I'm quite sure he'd heartily approve!



*Jaffa Rock Cakes*
makes about 12
Printable Recipe

Quick, easy and melt in the mouth, and stogged full of tangy bits of seville marmalade and sweet milk chocolate chips.

4 ounces butter (1/2 cup)
8 ounces of self raising flour (scant 2 cups)
4 ounces caster sugar (a generous 1/2 cup)
2 1/4 ounces of milk chocolate chips
1 heaped dessertspoon of seville marmalade
1 large free range egg, beaten
milk

Preheat the oven to 190*C/ 375*F/ gas mark 5. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and butter the paper.
Set aside.

Measure the flour into a bowl. Cut the butter into bits and drop it into the bowl with the flour. Rub it in with your fngertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar, and then stir in the marmalade and chocolate chips. Stir in the beaten egg along with some milk to make a stiff paste, of a good dropping consistency. You won't need much milk at all.

Drop by heaped dessertspoons onto the prepared baking sheet, leaving a good space between each. Bake for 10 minutes or so until golden brown. Remove to a wire rack to cool before eating.

From Wikepedia:

A rock cake is a small cookie or a fruit cake with a rough surface, resembling a rock.

Rock cakes seem to have originated in Great Britain but are now popular in many parts of the world. Being easy to make, they are also suited for children cooking. They are consumed as cookies or tea treats.

Ten years ago when I moved over here to the UK, I brought with me on the airplane a huge 2 gallon drum of Maple Syrup . . . one of the things that I thought I would miss the most from home.



I had to change planes at Heathrow to catch one up to Manchester, and let me tell you . . . it was a very long walk through the airport to change terminals carrying those two gallons . . . thankfully a gentleman took pity on me about halfway there carried it for me the rest of the way . . .



Maple Syrup was a precious and expensive commodity over here back then, and very rare . . . It is a lot more common nowadays, if still expensive, but a little bit now and again is good for my Canadian soul . . . if you have never tried an egg poached in Maple Syrup . . . you just haven't lived! (tis not just for pancakes you know!)



Apples, Oats, Walnut and Maple Syrup . . . what a beautiful combination . . . a delicious combination that positively screams autumn to my heart!!!



Every bite brings the sweet/tart tang of meltingly soft apple, along with the whisper of maple and the buttery crunch the brown sugar topping.

Back home I would have had this with a nice scoop of vanilla ice cream melting down into it's warmth . . . here I eat it with lashings of double cream . . .



It would seem that I am becoming more and more British as time goes by!

Try it, you'll love it!



*Apple Crumble with Maple, Oats and Walnuts*
Serves 8
Printable Recipe

Maple, apples, walnuts and oats . . . not strictly British flavours, but oh so yummy.

8 tart/sweet apples, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch wedges
(Use a mixture. I like Granny Smith and Pippins)
2 ouces of Maple Syrup, preferably grade 2 amber (1.4 cup)
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
2 ounces of walnuts, toast and coarsely chop (1/2 cup)
5 ounces soft dark brown sugar (about 2/3 cup)
2 1/2 ounces plain flour (1/2 cup all purpose)
1 1/4 ounce whole wheat flour (1/4 cup)
6 TBS unsalted butter, cut into bits
3.5 ounces of rolled oats (about 1/2 cup)

Preheat the oven to 190*C/375*F/ gas mark 5. Place the apple wedges into a large baking dish and toss together with the maple syrup, the nutmeg and half of the cinnamon. Scatter the walnuts over top.

Stir together the brown sugar, plain flour,whole wheat flour, remainder of the cinnamon and brown sugar. Mix well. Drop in the butter bits and then rub them into the flour mixture with your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Mix in the oats with your fingers. Scatter in clumps over top of the apples.

Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, or until the apples are tender and the topping is nicely crisped. If it browns too quickly then you may loosely cover it with some foil, uncovering it for the last 5 minutes of baking time.

*Note to self - Strepsils cool and Apple Crumble are not flavours that go well together. Must make again when I don't have the flu . . .

I get a big kick out of the Malteaser commercials on the telly. The idea is that eating Malteasers is really naughty, and so people keep inventing naughty ways and excuses to eat them . . .



Then there are the ones where eating them makes people do naughty things.





I think the funniest one is where these two girls take their sleeping boyfriends and wind their arms around each other so that it looks like they are snuggling together . . . of course it gets really funny when the two unsuspecting fellas wake up and see who they've been cuddling!!



Malteasers are the British Equivalent to North American Malted Milk Balls.



I just love them. I confess . . . when we get a pack of Revells, I weed through them to find all the malteasers so I can eat them all up before anyone else can . . . likewise the malteasers in the tin of Celebrations . . . and . . . yes, I do steal all the nutty ones in the Christmas box of chocolates too. I am a naughty greedy girl . . .



But I also do all the baking and cooking, so it's ok. From where I am sitting, the malteasers in a packet of revells are like the cook's treats, those choice little tender oysters of succulent meat situated on the bottom of a roast turkey or chicken! Us cooks deserve em! We earned em!!



This is what happens when you bake brownies with a bunch of malteasers layered in the centre.

You get Brownies . . . only better.



Fudgy brownies, all gooey and stickily chocolately . . . filled with these scrummy and crunchy little balls . . . malteasers balls,



Moreishly, Malteaserly, naughtily addictive! Seriously.



*Malteaser Brownies*
Makes 12
Printable Recipe

The naughty snack.

7 ounces unsalted butter ( a scant cup)
100g of dark chocolate, miminum 60% cocoa solids, broken
up into pieces (3 1/2 ounces)
12 ounces soft light brown sugar (1 3/4 cup packed)
4 large free range eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
200g of self raising flour (a scant 2 cups)
pinch of salt
10 1/4 ounce box of malteasers ( malted milk balls)

Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Brush a 9 inch square tin with butter and line with some parchment paper, allowing it to overhang the sides so that you can easily lift the brownies out when done.

Melt the butter along with the chocolate over very low heat. Once melted remove from the heat and stir in the sugar. Whisk in the eggs and vanilla. Sift the flour together with the salt and stir into the chocolate mixture. Pour half of the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the malteasers evenly over top, then cover with the remaining batter, making sure the chocolates are totally covered.

Bake for 40 to 45 minutes until the top of the brownies are glossy and set and the middle still a bit squidgy. Leave to cool in the pan before removing and cutting into squares..

For the past seven years I was employed as a personal chef at Brenchley Manor down in Kent. It was a dream job for anyone that loved to cook as much as I do . . .



I got to stretch my abilities and skills cooking for large silver service dinner parties and cocktail parties . . . and scrummy lady's luncheons . . .

Always a cook, and never the guest . . . kind of like always being the bridesmaid, but never the bride!



Nevermind . . . today I was invited to a delicious ladies luncheon and, now that I am retired and no longer working . . . I could actually attend!

Oh, but it was nice to be on the receiving end for a change!!! I did so enjoy it . . . a delicious strawberry and spinach salad, with feta cheese and these lovely toasted candied almonds . . . a scrummy chicken and broccoli casserole, a pretzel salad . . . and a variety of yummy desserts.



I was asked to bring something chocolatey for dessert and I quite happily oblidged! You all know Todd hates chocolate desserts, and I just love an excuse to bake and sample them!



If there is one thing that lunching ladies like, it's chocolate anything. I often made these delectable little Brownie Bites when I was working for the ladies' luncheon parties. Perfect little bites of Brownie goodness . . . wrapped in scrummy chocolate ganache and decorated to your hearts content.



I had a bag of little chocolate drops from Hotel Chocolate that I was just itching to use and a variety of some other sprinkly decoratey little things that seldom get to see the light of day! (White Chocolate stars, Mixed Chocolate Curls, Cocoa Nibs, Hundreds and Thousands. Let your imagination guide your creativity!!!)



Oh look . . . what's that???

Mmmmmm . . . a lone brownie bite, slightly imperfect and decorated with some sea salt . . .

We can't have that can we? A lone brownie bite decorated with sea salt, all on it's own with no partners in it's crime . . . so to speak . . .




What's a gal to do??? Why . . . I came to it's rescue of course!!



Oh . . . I know . . .

I am a very naughty girl!




*Itty Bitty Brownie Bites*
makes 36 to 40
Printable Recipe

One, two, three bites they're gone!

For the Bites:
4 ounces good quality dark chocolate, chopped, melted and cooled
8 ounces unsalted butter, softened slightly (1 cucp)
14 ounces granulated sugar (2 cups)
4 large free range eggs
1 TBS vanilla extract
5 1/2 ounces of plain flour (1 1/4 cups)
6 ounces of milk chocolate, chopped into small bits
6 ounces dark chocolate, chopped into bits

For the Ganache Coating:
8 ounces good quality dark chocolate, chopped
250ml of cream, heated to the boiling point (1 cup)
2 TBS golden syrup (light corn syrup)
2 tsp vanilla extract

To decorate (if desired):
a variety ot chocolate bits, sprinkles and decorations

Preheat the oven to 160*C/325*F/ gas mark 3. Butter and flour several 12 cup mini muffin tins very well. Melt the chocolate for the brownie bites and then set it aside to cool to room temperature. You don't want it to be warm at all. Stir in the vanilla.

Cream the butter and sugar until it is light and fluffy. Beat the eggs together and then slowly beat them in until combined totally. Drizzle in the cooled chocolate and vanilla mixture, beating it all the while until it is well combined. Fold in the flour just to combine and then fold in both types of chocolate bits. Spoon into the prepared muffin cups by generous teaspoonfuls. You don't want to overfill them. (You may have to wash the pans and recoat and dust to finish using all the batter up after baking the first lot, so be prepared.)

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until golossy and dry on top, and just set. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for several minutes, before carefully dumping them out onto a wire rack to finish cooling. (This is where you will realize how well you did or didn't butter the pans!) Cool completely before proceeding.

To make the ganache, break up your chocolate and place it into a narrow, but deep bowl. Stir the syrup and vanilla into the hot cream, mixing it in well. Pour this over the chocolate in the bowl and stir to melt the chocolate, whisking it all together until completely smooth. Using a fork and spoon dip the brownie bites into the ganache, coating them on all sides and allowing the excess to drip off. Place on a wire rack over top of some baking paper and leave to set. You will want to add any sprinkles etc. to the tops before the ganache sets completely. Don't refrigerate or your ganache will cloud up, and you want it to be nice and shiny.