Peanut Butter and Milk Chocolate Cookies

I’ve been searching for the perfect peanut butter cookie recipe for ages, as the ones I’ve tried in the past just haven’t turned out how I’d hoped. I thought I’d give this one a try as it seemed a little different: the ingredients called for not just peanut butter, but actual peanuts, milk chocolate and pretzels too. Surely it was worth a go?

Speculaas

Anyone who knows me knows that since the middle of November I’ve been rushed off my feet with numerous essays, presentations and a couple of incredible weekends at the Barbican Framed Film Festival. As a result, I haven’t had time to breathe let alone blog, despite having several folders full of photographs of baking and pages of notes on films all ready for me to collate together and eventually post. It’s Boxing Day, I’m sat in front of the TV watching Happy Feet and still unable to move thanks to yesterday, so felt it was the perfect time to start blogging all the remaining recipes/films/exhibitions that I still haven’t got round to doing!

These are Speculaas, courtesy of Edd Kimber. A spicy biscuit that I made in the summer, they smell like Christmas so would be ideal to make at some point over the holidays (even though it’s perfectly acceptable to make them all year round!). A pack of these would make a lovely gift too: maybe accompanied with a thank you note for Christmas presents? It’s be a little different and surely greatly appreciated…

One Mile Away

“It seemed so tragic that people would kill each other over a postcode” – Penny Woolcock

Les Misérables

I've adored Les Misérables since I was part of the stage crew of my high school's utterly epic production in 2009. It was the first production that really grabbed a hold of me and wouldn't let go. Every rehearsal and each performance gave me goosebumps, and I credit that experience as the main reason my heart races - without fail - every time I go to the theatre and why it now takes pretty spectacular acting to distract me from soaking up all aspects of the set (I'll never forget being witness to the inner workings of a moving barricade and helping untangle Enjolras - and his giant red flag - from the barricade in the pitch black and in total silence). As a result I can't just watch a play: I automatically follow how the set moves, how props are transported on and off and always keep a keen eye out for stage crew with cans. I'd seen plays before and been part of the stage crew for years prior to 2009, but it was Les Mis that made me unequivocally love the theatre.

Marshmallow Cupcakes

Here’s yet another recipe that I made ages ago but have only just got round to blogging. I hadn’t made cupcakes for quite a while, so after flicking through The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook and finding a recently opened packet of marshmallows from my mum’s secret stash of sweets I decided upon Marshmallow Cupcakes. They’re a lot fiddlier than I anticipated, but seemed to work okay. I doubt I’ll be making them again quite like this, but I’ll put the recipe I used below and make sure to comment on the bits I wasn’t too keen on.

#QOTD

"Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall."

F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

Kauwboy

As a Barbican Young Programmer, today I had a training day at the BFI Southbank with my fellow programmers. We had talks on programming the London Film Festival from Michael Hayden (Festival Programmer, LFF) and Justin Johnson (Family Programmer, LFF); programming your own film festival from the BFI FILMCLUB team (a little irrelevant as it was really aimed at primary / young secondary school students…); and programming a children’s film festival from members of the programming and marketing teams at Cinemagic (Belfast Children’s Film Festival). This is one of the things I love about this programme at the Barbican: we’re getting to meet and talk to people who actually review / programme / certify films, and I’ve never met so many people who are all so utterly enthusiastic about their jobs! Clearly this “non-glamorous” side of the film industry isn’t so bad afterall…

At the end of the day we rushed into NFT2 to watch Kauwboy, a film being shown in the LFF and that is due to be shown at the Barbican’s Framed Film Festival in November. I’m involved in Framed so I’ll be blogging about it a lot in November, and I can already say with confidence that it’s going to be amazing! It’s aimed primarily at young people, with the films targeting audiences from 4-roughly 18 years of age; however it can definitely be enjoyed by everyone. At the moment notable features have to be Kauwboy and One Mile Away (which I have a half-finished blog post written that I will complete and post asap!). I’ll blog further details nearer the time, but I expect to hear from you all about the films you came to see and what you thought of them!

“Take good care of a jackdaw and you’ll have a friend for life.”

BFI Screen Talk with Marion Cotillard

It was just by sheer luck that I logged into Twitter on Friday when the BFI tweeted that a limited number of tickets had become available for a Screen Talk with Marion Cotillard on the 14th October, as part of the London Film Festival. Prior to this, I’d resigned myself to the fact that I wasn’t going to attend the festival in any way and would have to content myself to watching the entire event unfold over the Internet from the comfort of my room. Well, I’m all about the Impulse Buy these days and within minutes I’d bought myself a ticket and smugly watched as the event sold out.

The Pudding Club

On the first Monday of every month, Willington Hall in Cheshire hosts its very own Pudding Club. My mum and her friends are devoted fans and whenever I’m home from university I’ll make sure to schedule at least one visit in. If you’re based in Cheshire, love desserts and are partial to beautiful scenery then this is the perfect lunchtime treat for you.

"Skyfall" - Adele

I have goosebumps.

Butterfly Cakes

These are definitely a childhood favourite. I can distinctly remember they were a key feature of many a birthday party as they looked so at home amongst cocktail sausages, triangles of ham sandwiches and dubious flavoured crisps your mum assured you were ready salted (but they never were…). The simple butterfly cake is super easy and super cute, and the perfect way to use up left over buttercream or frosting from another recipe.

Les Misérables

Giddy. Christmas needs to hurry up.

Let Them Eat Cake, Cake

One of the many things I love about Lorraine Pascale is the fact that she interacts with fans all the time, particularly on Twitter. Lots of other people have realised how amazing her recipes are and regularly post pictures of their creations, a selection of which Lorraine retweets to her followers. Over the weeks there had been one specific cake that stood out as a firm crowd pleaser: a chocolate dream covered in immaculate rows of Malteasers: may I introduce the Let Them Eat Cake, Cake. What an invention. It’s super easy to make and looks incredible: even if you have limited skills in the baking arena you can easily pull this off. If you persevere and take your time with the decoration it provides a professional finish that will fool people into thinking you bought it from a bakery.

Doorstop Vanilla Cheesecake

Before I go any further: DO NOT THINK ABOUT THE CALORIES INVOLVED IN THIS CHEESECAKE. It will not only scare you into never attempting to make it and will definitely scare you out of eating any of it. Just don’t think about it. Promise?

Lorraine Pascale’s new series, Fast, Fresh and Easy Food has started on BBC2, Tuesdays at 8pm, and I’ve been hooked. The editing is beautiful, her recipes are simple to follow, and I have massive respect for someone who can run round a kitchen in a crisp white t-shirt and look immaculate (I don’t care if she changes it a billion times during filming, I’m going to pretend it’s the same one). Her enthusiasm is infectious, and having seen the first few episodes I was very keen to buy the book.

Flicking through the pages though provided a slight dilemma: where to start? Since I hadn’t made a cheesecake this summer, it only felt appropriate to give Lorraine’s Doorstop Vanilla Cheesecake a go. Be warned, this is a mammoth of a cheesecake that really deserves its own postcode.

Blueberry and Soured Cream Loaf

From having no blueberries to having them taking over the fridge, I decided to use them again but this time in a Blueberry and Soured Cream Loaf. This was particularly good as the soured cream ensured the loaf remained fluffy and moist for days after it was baked. The blueberries sank to the bottom half of the loaf (which is nothing to panic about if that happens to you) and they looked amazing: really vibrant and made for a good photograph! This is definitely recommended if you like blueberries and you like cake: if so, then get on it!

Blueberry Muffins

I’ve made many variations of muffins, but for some reason never the classic blueberry. This summer I’ve thrown away so many tubs of blueberries as I’ve always started out with good intentions and never got round to actually using them, so after 10 weeks I decided enough was enough. Time to take the bull by the horns – so to speak! – and tackle for once and for all.

Pistachio Brownies

I really like making brownies, and given that I had some pistachios left over from the whoopie pies I thought I’d give a recipe for Pistachio Brownies a try. My first attempts at brownies a couple of years ago just ended up like really dry chocolate cakes, but recently I’ve somehow managed to transform them into rich, gooey brownies that are slightly crunchy on the outside and soft and squidgy in the middle. No idea how I’ve done that, but I’ll go with it! This one worked well, so instead of sharing my usual recipe I thought I’d share this one as the pistachios were a really successful addition.

Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters

I like Gemma Arterton and I like Jeremy Renner. Therefore I’m really, really hoping that this isn’t as awful as the trailer makes out. Let’s be honest though, it looks terrible. Such a disappointment, but with a title like Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters then what do you honestly expect?

Treacle Tart

I love The Great British Bake Off. Really, I do. It’s not only really good Tuesday evening television – a welcome twist on the regular (and crap) X Factor-style reality shows, but it’s made baking cool again. It’s no longer a hobby confined to just cute old grandparents or the women of the WI. I for, one, am all for this development as my numerous blog posts indicate!

Practise makes perfect, and what better way to improve my baking skills than if I attempted some of the recipes from the show? This week was Tart Week, and for the technical challenge the contestants had to produce a treacle tart, using Mary Berry’s very own recipe. The BBC website had a link to the recipe, I had 2 homemade white loaves almost ready to throw out, it’s Harry Potter’s favourite dessert and quite frankly it would have been rude for me to not give it a go!

Pea, Ham and Feta Cheese Muffins

Savoury muffins seemed like a good idea at the time (courtesy of Cake Days), but in reality they really weren’t at all! I’m not sure quite what didn’t work – I’m thinking it was the feta cheese – but even so these are not something I’ll be making again in a hurry. That being said however, I thought I’d blog the recipe, the photos and let you see for yourself! The people that tried them said the main issue was understanding that it wasn’t supposed to be sweet and was meant to taste savoury, so if you can get past that then give them a try!

#QOTD

"It’s one of those things people say. ‘You can’t move on until you let go of the past.’ Letting go is the easy part, it’s the moving on that’s painful. So sometimes we fight it, trying to keep things the same. Things can’t stay the same though. At some point you just have to let it go. Move on. Because no matter how painful it is, it’s the only way we grow."

— Grey’s Anatomy

Caramelised Fruit and Nut Tart

The cupboard in the kitchen that houses all of my baking supplies has been significantly depleted as of late, and in particular I’ve ended up with lots of open bags of different nuts and dried fruit all of random and annoying weights. A quick read of my baking books gave me the perfect solution: Caramelised Fruit and Nut Tarts. The recipe allowed me to use up the pre-opened packets and do something useful with them. Plus, it came at the right time – this week was tart week on the Great British Bake Off so I felt at least this bake would be relevant!

Cranberry and Macadamia Shortbread

I normally stick to a basic shortbread when I make it, using Mrs Beeton’s classic recipe (which I will make and blog about soon, I promise!): it’s fool-proof and works perfectly every time. This time, however, I thought I’d try something a little bit different with Edd Kimber’s Cranberry and Macadamia Shortbread. I’d never used macadamia nuts before, and love cranberries so thought it’d be worth a shot. As with every recipe of Edd’s that I’ve recently tried, it worked like a treat!

Queenie Whoopie Pies

Thanks to the left-over marshmallow frosting I decided to make more whoopie pies to prevent it from going to waste. This time, however, I wanted to be experimental and invent one of my own. A little odd and very out of character, I know, but I think it’s time to start living life on the edge! As anyone who knows anything about me is aware, I’m a massive royalist and a huge fan of Mary Berry, so an obviously I wanted to combine the two! I’ve thus come up with what I’ve dubbed a Queenie Whoopie Pie: an homage to the Jubilee year with the whoopie pie version of a classic Victoria sponge. I’ve sandwiched vanilla sponge with strawberry jam and marshmallow frosting, creating a simple yet effective twist on the traditionally American cake. It’s perfect for a quirky take on afternoon tea: an all-American favourite with a quintessentially British finish.

Pistachio Whoopie Pies

I’ve made whoopie pies twice before, the first time was an undisputed success (carrot cake whoopie pies went down a treat at my 19th birthday party) and the second was an absolute disaster (chocolate and peanut butter – didn’t rise, dry and hard as rocks). I almost owed it to myself to try again and this time decided to go with pistachio. I’m a big fan of pistachio - particularly in macaroons - and was keen to attempt to give this all-American pie an elegant twist. It has to be said: these had to be the best whoopie pies I’ve ever made. They rose well, were light and fluffy, and the pistachio was a welcome addition.

Dulce de Leche Banana Bread Pudding

Last week I got my bread maker out for the first time, and wanting to do another Edd Kimber recipe I attempted to make brioche so that I could have a go at his Dulce de Leche Banana Bread Pudding. The brioche was a minor a disaster (ie it didn’t rise as much as it should have done) but apart from that it was useable, and therefore I went ahead and made the pudding. It’s pretty similar to the chocolate pudding I made a few days before, but better if you’re not a chocolate fan! The caramel and banana worked really well, it was light and the flavour combinations are a classic success. This pudding would be fab in the winter: serve warm with ice cream, but was also good as a cold summer pudding, served straight out of the fridge. It’s versatile, yummy and super simple to make.

#QOTD

"Never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today."

— Benjamin Franklin

Green Zone

I’m having a bit of a Paul Greengrass / Matt Damon moment, so when I saw Green Zone on offer in Morrisons for £3 I just knew I had to give it a go. I’d never heard of it before, and using the DVD sleeve as guidance I took it to basically be another Bourne film with double-crossing bureaucrats causing confusion on the ground leading Matt Damon to have to sort out the disaster on his own and in direct defiance of his superiors; all with epic explosion/car chase/ fight sequences but this time without the inconvenience of amnesia. I was sold, the DVD was purchased, and sweeping shots of Iraq were on the TV screen faster than you could say ‘Treadstone’.

Cinnamon Sugar Pull-Apart Bread

Rosie The Londoner had a blog post about this recipe a while ago, and although it was only brief, the photograph of Joy The Baker’s Cinnamon Sugar Pull-Apart Bread was the ultimate in food porn. Obviously, I was powerless to do anything other than follow the link and was rewarded with copious pictures of sugary, cinnamony dough, all stuck together in an oozing loaf that looked INCREDIBLE. Never have I wished Wonka Vision was an actual thing rather than a made up concept in a Roald Dahl novel. The solution was a no-brainer – I HAD to make the loaf.

Cinnamon Balls

I came across this recipe in an old cook book and thought it was worth a try as I’d just found a packet of ground almonds. These Cinnamon Balls work really well as nibbles: I’m definitely going to make them again at Christmas, and they’d be perfect for a dinner party or on a table at a buffet.

Lemon Cake

This is the type of cake I can make (and blog about) in my sleep, so here goes. It’s extremely simple to make, hardly requires any effort and looks quite cute!

Lawless

As much as I don’t want to admit it, I do love a good Western (although that’s a bit of a loose term for this film). I also can’t get enough of Prohibition bootleggers, Gary Oldman and a classic shoot-‘em-up. Perfect combination, really…

Lemon Curd

Periodically I’d come home from school to the house saturated with the smell of lemons, and upon entering the kitchen I’d gleefully see two little pots of steaming lemon curd cooling on the window sill.

Chocolate and Banana Brioche Pudding

Following a mini nervous break-down yesterday I realised – amongst other things – that my summer thus far hasn’t contained half as much baking as I’d hoped, and that it would be a good idea for me to rectify that as soon as possible. This morning I sat down with my collection of cookbooks and set about narrowing down the recipes with regard to what ingredients I already had; finally settling on Edd Kimber’s Chocolate and Banana Brioche Bread Pudding, from his first cookbook, The Boy Who Bakes. The more I read the more I had my heart set on this recipe, so conceded to a quick shopping trip for brioche and dark chocolate (I’m not making the mistake of substituting dark for milk chocolate again as I’ve seen how terribly that turns out!). The extra journey was worth it: this pudding was the perfect Saturday evening dessert.

Homeland, Season 2

So excited!

Sweet and Salty Chocolate Cake

The photograph for this cake in Cake Days looked delicious, hence my determination to make it at some point during the summer. However, I seriously underestimated how much faffing making it would involve! Nonetheless, I was quite pleased with the outcome so feel it would only be appropriate to share. It takes a while to make – mainly due to the fiddly instructions – but if you like salted caramel and are a bit of a chocoholic, then this Sweet and Salty Chocolate Cake is worth the effort and perfect for you!

The Dark Knight Rises

The Dark Knight Rises was even more epic in IMAX. I didn’t think that was possible, but I stand corrected. Best. Film. Ever.

Tuesday Night TV

It seems like the entire country is suffering from post-Olympic blues: what to do now there is no longer a constant barrage of sport on our televisions all day and night displaying the outstanding talents of Team GB’s greatest Olympians? What did we do with our lives in the time before London 2012? Well thank goodness for the BBC (as always). They’ve commissioned a fabulous up-coming TV schedule with enough brand new British drama, baking shows and comedy to keep everyone happy in this odd phase of dead time without Jessica Ennis’s abs, Mo Farah’s mobot, and Sir Chris Hoy cycling round and round in circles collecting gold medals like nobody’s business.

The BBC has inexplicably solved the problem of this vacuum even without the theme to Chariots of Fire playing on a constant loop.

Rhubarb and Almond Loaf

I made this a few weeks ago but have only just got round to putting the photos on my laptop and actually blogging it. I hadn’t worked with rhubarb before, so picked this recipe as it would be something a little out of my comfort zone – a toe in the water of branching out: I’m unbelievably unadventurous when it comes to baking, in complete contrast to the sheer quantity and variety of baking books and blogs that I read! Plus, after an epic tidy up of all my baking things that had become scattered all over the house, I was able to assess the ridiculous amount of baking tins I’ve accumulated and decided to put the neglected loaf tin to good use.

Julie & Julia

In honour of the 100th birthday of Julia Child, here’s a link to a trailer of the utterly wonderful Julie & Julia. If you haven’t seen this film, I’d highly recommend it. Written and directed by the late Goddess, Nora Ephron, it tells the (true) tale of Julia Child (Meryl Streep)’s story of her start in the cooking profession, intertwined with blogger Julie Powell (Amy Adams)’s 2002 challenge to cook all the recipes in Child’s first book. This film connects two of my passions - cooking and film - and mixes them with a heady dose of Parisian romanticism and a blind determination to succeed in the face of criticism and self-doubt. It inspired me to blog, makes me dream of learning to cook in Paris, and categorically taught me that you can never have too much butter.

The Bourne Legacy

Tomorrow!

The Amazing Spider-Man

The trailers for The Amazing Spider-Man looked promising. The film, however, was just a bit ‘meh’. I didn’t come away smiling, I didn’t come away particularly moved and I didn’t come away wanting more. It was – dare I say it – boring.

Pimp My Blog

The Internet is a black hole of procrastination, so I thought I’d compile a post with a small selection of the blogs/websites that seem to eat up all of my time and effectively abduct me from the real world!

#QOTD

"You don’t write because you want to say something, you write because you’ve got something to say."

— F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Words

Excited for this! I particularly love films that incorporate different time periods, and the plot’s an interesting concept, so I have high hopes for The Words…

Captain America: The First Avenger

A few weeks ago I saw The Avengers – the type of guilty-pleasure comic book film full of explosions and fancy costumes that I can’t help but adore. However, I – rather ridiculously in hindsight – had never seen any of the previous individual Avengers films. How, I have no idea, after all, they’ve been everywhere for the past few years! This one stood alone successfully, and my lack of previous knowledge didn’t make the film hard to understand or completely inaccessible, but I came away wanting to watch the rest of the films to hopefully put this one into its correct context.

This posed a dilemma as I had no idea what order to watch them in… If I’m watching them all, then I want to do it properly! A Google search led me to comic book fan forums, with people debating, quite heatedly, the correct order. The debate was generally either the order in which the films were made versus chronologically within the Marvel universe. Cue massive confusion! Wading through the comic book jargon wasn’t a walk in the park for a non-comic book nerd, and even a “helpful” epic Marvel timeline took me round and round in circles.

I’ve settled on (after giving up with the Googling and forums and passionate fan opinions) Captain America, Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, and then Thor. I’ve no idea what to expect, but thought it was worth a try. And yesterday I started on my Avengers Journey with Captain America.

Hope Springs

Meryl Streep, Tommy Lee Jones and Steve Carell?! Yes, I’m obviously looking forward to this!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

The first chocolate chip cookies I ever made were from a recipe out of the Be-Ro book, and despite following the instructions to the letter, the taste was good but they always came out tough and closer to a biscuit in texture than a cookie. I’ve tried numerous recipes since then, getting closer and closer to cookie nirvana, and I’m pretty confident I’ve reached it with this recipe from The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook! The cookies had the perfect crackled top, were soft without crumbling and were gooey for days.

The Dark Knight Rises

Wow. A fortnight ago words failed me, but now I just can’t stop gushing about The Dark Knight Rises.

Having now seen it twice, I think I’m now in a position to calmly put pen to paper and comment on the spectacle that I’ve just witnessed. Following the first time, I was so giddy I couldn’t do anything for hours, let alone form coherent thoughts and organise them in a way that may at all make sense.
The Dark Knight Rises is just spectacular. Utterly amazing. My heart was racing the entire time and I can’t remember the last time I came out of a film so dejected that it had ended and yet so satisfied in the way it had reached its conclusion.

#QOTD

"They don’t even know what it is to be a fan. Y’know? To truly love some silly little piece of music, or some band, so much that it hurts."

— Almost Famous

#QOTD

"It’s a funny thing about coming home. Looks the same, smells the same, feels the same. You’ll realize what’s changed is you."

— The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Rocky Road

I haven’t baked anything for at least a week (which for me feels like forever while I’m at home) so felt like some time in the kitchen soon was well overdue. Today I wasn’t in the mood to do anything complicated, but wanted to at least do something, eventually settling on the quickest and easiest recipe I know: extremely chocolaty and scarily calorific Rocky Road.

Man of Steel

Being in the middle of a rather unexpected phase of love for comic book films means I’m positively giddy at the thought of this. Please don’t judge.

Banana Nutella Muffins

Ever since discovering popular lifestyle blog The Londoner a few months ago I’ve been a little bit obsessed with Rose’s regular posts documenting jet setting escapades here, there and everywhere, including - most recently - Cannes with friends (definitely not jealous…); copious reviews of London clubs, shops and exhibitions it would be rude not to now check out yourself; and poignant, motivational posts on subjects from leaving for university to a new take on the conventional weight loss diet that always seem to generate billions of comments from followers.

You can’t talk about The Londoner without addressing Rose’s unescapably enthusiastic adoration for food - refreshing from someone with such an enviable figure! She introduces endless quirky London restaurants and unmissable street food vendors, providing substantial inspiration for when I’m back down south in September!

In addition, Rose bakes like a trooper. Famous for her Slutty Brownies (which I made several months ago and would heartily recommend), the results of Rose’s home-tested recipes always have the charm of looking like they came from a bakery and yet are deceptively easy to make. A recent post on Banana Nutella Muffins caught my eye (found here) and trust me, the recipe is both simple to follow and produces fabulous results.

#QOTD

"Film is like a drug. It is a shelter when you cannot deal with reality."

— Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul

#QOTD

"Books, records, films - these things all matter. Call me shallow, but it’s the fucking truth."

— High Fidelity