British Baking - Chockie Tea

So its the weekend and whats better than chilling out and doing a spot of baking? The good thing about having three housemates is that they can test all my creations for me so I know your getting the best recipes, I am sure they will agree.

Today I have a recipe for you that is quintessentially British! Its important to be proud of where you come from, because it makes you who you are, from the accent to the humour and quirky ways of doing things. There are lots of things about Britain that I love, one of the main things being tea! On my trip to Asia I don't think I had a cup of the good stuff the whole time I was away, mainly because they just don't make it the same over there. Green tea on the other hand is pretty nice but I love the proper builders tea with a dash of milk and one sugar. (I'm not particular at all!)

This is a really tasty cookie recipe and tastes like your drinking a cup of tea without actually drinking it. Its a weird concept but it really works. I dipped the cookie in tea coloured chocolate to add an indulgent feel to the cookie and to make it feel as if its been dipped in the tea. Everyone loves chocolate so you can't go wrong, but if you have not got much of a sweet tooth you can leave it off.

Ingredients: (Makes 12)
125g butter
3 black tea bags
100g light brown soft sugar
125g caster sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
225g self-raising flour
pinch of salt
100g white chocolate
100g milk chocolate

To make:
1/ Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
2/ Melt the butter in a pan or microwave (dont boil). Once all melted add in tea leaves
from the tea bags and mixed until combined. Wait a few minutes for the butter to cool.
3/ Add the sugars to the bowl and mix in the butter and tea mixture until blended.
4/ Combine the egg and vanilla into the mix and stir well.
5/ Sift in the flour and stir in slowly until combined into a dough.
6/ Either roll out the dough into a sausage shape and cut into even cookies or roll into little balls and squash slightly.
7/ Place the cookies on a baking tray, giving enough room between the cookies as they will spread.
8/ Cook for 7-10 minutes depending how soft or crunchy you want them.
9/ While the cooking are baking heat up a pan of water and melt the chocolate in a bowl above the water, making sure the water doesn't touch the bowl otherwise the chocolate will burn. Melt the white chocolate first, adding in the milk chocolate to achieve your perfect tea colour.
10/ Allow the cookies to cool for a few minutes before dunking them in the chocolate and allowing them to cool (if you can)
There you have it! Your very own British biscuit!

 

These really are tasty! and if you want more of a biscuit just give them a little longer in the oven. 

Now I am looking at these again I'm going to have to bake some as I have some spare dough left over from making this batch. If you want to refrigerate the dough like I do and make them fresh each time you fancy one then you can. Your friends will love you for it to!

I hope you enjoyed this British recipe and like the taste of them as much as me and my friends do. 

So what do you think of using usual flavours in cookies and biscuits? Do let me know if you make them, I'd love to see some pictures.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend

Love Khrissie x

Quick & Easy Halloween Snacks

Happy pre-halloween everyone! Only a few days away and I was itching to get into the spirit and I love things like this. I normally bake and decorate with my sister but as we are miles apart I thought I would do it on my own and show you guys.

Seeing as there are not many days left until the day has graced us I thought I would create a couple of tasty snacks which are nice, easy and cheap for you all! To begin with I have some marshmallow pops for all of you. Its a super simple recipe and oh my! they are super tasty.

What you will need is: A pack of Marshmallows / A bar or two of white chocolate / Green & Red food colouring / Bamboo sticks or straws / Coloured tubes of icing / Hot chocolate sachets / White chocolate buttons / Popcorn / Eyeball sweets

Extras: Plastic cauldron / Spider / Table cloth

Step 1: Melt a bar of white chocolate in a bowl above a pan of boiling water

Step 2: Add in a drops of green food colouring into the melted chocolate until you have reached your desired colour

Step 3: To make eyeballs add a dot of the green chocolate on top of the marshmallow. Add on a white chocolate button then decorate with the icing pens, creating two circles to make the pupil. For the ghost all you need to do is add three dots of black to create a scared face.

Step 4: To make a Frankenstein pop you need to put the marshmallow on one of the sticks to make it easier to cover it with chocolate. Use a blunt knife and once covered in a even consistency of chocolate you smooth around the edges to help stop it dripping and to give the pop a neater edge. Repeat this step until all the marshmallows are covered and set them in a glass and pop it into the fridge for 10 minutes.

Step 5: Once the chocolate on the pops has set you can now decorate them how you like. Add to dots for eyes. A straight line or a zig zag for the mouth. Some lines for hair and some bolts on the side of the head, not forgetting the scar on the side of his head. Get your friends and family to join in too as it can be a lot of fun, and quite funny to see the finished results.

Step 6: You can either decorate the bottom of a jar with some Halloween sprinkles or you can make a 'Bloody Popcorn Cauldron' to go with it. To make this all you need to do is melt the other bar of white chocolate, add in some red food colouring to make it look like blood, then mix it into some salty popcorn to make it look all gross. I found some eyeball sweets which I used as hidden treats in the popcorn and worked really well. Then just add the mixture into the cauldron for the full effect and there you have a great it! A spooky centre piece for your table at Halloween! oooooooh!

Cauldron, Table cloth and Spider are from Poundland

If you are feeling a bit chilly on Halloween evening you can actually add the marshmallows into a hot chocolate for a quick tasty winter warmer. All the colours will mix and will add to the gruesome effect of old hallows eve!

I hope you liked some of my quick and easy ideas for some Halloween snacks. If you have any please let me know as I'd love to try them out. I have some cupcakes and biscuits coming later in the week so keep and eye out for some more creepy cooking tips coming your way....

Love
Khrissie xx