Sugar Crust Blueberry Muffins

But listen to me: for one moment, quit being sad. Hear blessings drop their blossoms around you.

- Jalaluddin Rumi

This is a very apt quote from my new book 'A Treasury of Rumi', which seems particularly poignant during this unprecedented time. But I'm counting my blessings now more than ever and اَلْحَمْدُ لِلّٰهِ‎ I have an abundance of reasons to be grateful. I've been taking this time off to resurrect my love of reading and make a sizable dent in my ever-growing tbr list. It's kinda working and kinda not, I've started five different books (finished one) and succumbed to a few online book hauls. But I do have a newfound interest in reading poetry and history, which is so unlike me considering fantasy fiction is my all-time favourite genre. 

It's also currently Ramadan and this time off has been perfect to spiritually recharge, refocus on what's important and spend time with family.

We've had some glorious weather, the fruit trees have blossomed beautifully and I've been basking in the sunshine like a tortoise.

I've also been writing more and baking more than I have in quite a while. And speaking of writing and baking, if lockdown can't force me to get around to writing up a blog post then nothing can! 

But worry not because these incredible blueberry muffins have got me raring to go. I made them yesterday afternoon and we had them as a post-Iftar treat with tea.

I love this recipe because it is incredibly easy and yields the most delicious muffins; soft tender crumb, studded with blueberries, and with a crunchy sugar crown. 

So to make these Sugar Crust Blueberry Muffins begin by beating together 200g of granulated sugar and 115g of margarine (or softened butter) until light and fluffy. Add two eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. 

Then add 240g of plain flour, 2tsp baking powder, and 1/2tsp salt. In addition to 120ml of milk and 1tsp vanilla extract and beat until combined. Finally, stir in 200g of fresh blueberries (or an equal quantity of frozen blueberries - do not thaw)

Spoon the mixture into muffin cases and add extra blueberries to the muffins that have less. Sprinkle some brown sugar on top and bake in a preheated oven at Gas Mark 4 for 30 minutes until golden brown and an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Leave in the pan to cool slightly before transfer to a wire rack. 

😋

Enjoy!
Q x

Nutty Carrot Cake with Buttercream Frosting

It's the last post of the year and wow, what a year it has been; full of trials, tribulations and triumphs. This last stretch has been somewhat challenging, but I've been determined to have a positive outlook. I recently unearthed my diary that I started at the beginning of the year and although it is very much incomplete and was abandoned back it March - the page on my new year resolutions shed some much needed light on some of my achievements of the year. 
As for my hopes for 2019, I pray for happiness in abundance, peace, prosperity, health, opportunities, adventure, the good type of change and to become the best version of myself possible إن شاء الله‎

Now as for last recipe of the year, I wanted it to be something familiar and comforting and nothing expresses that better for me that this carrot cake. This particular recipe is from an old book that my dad got for my mum years and years ago (I think its older than me!). Some of my earliest baking memories are linked to this book, I remember I would love to flick through the pages and devour all the beautiful pictures - the first recipe I ever tried (oatmeal cookies) was also from this cookery book, so it will always hold a special place on my shelf.

I couldn't even tell you the number of times we have made this carrot cake over the years, its featured at many a teatime table and even as a birthday cake - its really that good. 

So without further ado, to make this Nutty Carrot Cake with Buttercream Frosting you will need the following ingredients:

- Carrots
 - Caster sugar
- Brown sugar (soft or granulated)
- Plain flour
- Baking powder
- Bicarbonate of soda
- Eggs
- Sunflower oil
-  Cinnamon / mixed spice
- Walnuts, almonds, cashews
- Raisins

Begin by grating 290g of peeled carrots, the original recipe suggested a larger quantity so feel free to increase if you so wish. I try to reduce the amount of liquid in the cake so that the end cake is not quite so 'wet'

Then using at electric mixer beat together 4 eggs, 2 tsp vanilla essence, 55g caster sugar, 115g of brown sugar and 195 ml of sunflower oil. Sift in the dry ingredients - 220g of plain flour, 2 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda, 2 tsp cinnamon and 1 tsp salt, fold in well.

Mix in the grated carrots, 115g of nuts (walnuts, almonds, cashews etc.) and 70g of raisins. Pour the mixture in to lined baking tin and bake in a Gas Mark 4 oven for around 40-45 minutes until cooked and springy to the touch. 

To make the buttercream icing with an electric mixer beat 70g of butter until pale and soft, add 140g of sifted icing sugar and combine with a few tablespoons of milk (or water). Beat on a high speed until well combined and soft. Spread this onto the top the cooled cake and make ridges using a pallet knife, sprinkle on some chopped pistachio nuts.

Slice into squares and serve with tea or coffee

This cake also tastes amazing the next day when the flavours have settled and intensified. 

😋

Enjoy!
Q x
P.S - I had such issues with this post! The lighting was awful when I wanted to take pictures because winter. I wrote the draft when we had no electricity/gas (renovation struggles) and when I was trying to post it the internet wasn't working. My cousin's baby was also over at our house so it was a bit chaotic and to top it of, I really wan't feeling well! However I preserved because I really wanted to get it up before the 1st. So to anyone still reading.. Happy Near Year! I hope it is everything you wish it to be x 

Chocolate Orange Cream Cake

It was November--the month of crimson sunsets, parting birds, deep, sad hymns of the sea, passionate wind-songs in the pines. Anne roamed through the pineland alleys in the park and, as she said, let that great sweeping wind blow the fogs out of her soul ― L. M. Montgomery

I remember borrowing Anne of Green Gables from my high school library many years ago and devouring it over the course of a few evenings. As for this particular line from the book, I came across it again recently and I love it - it captures the essence of one my favourites times of year perfectly. And now December is upon us and we must bid it adieu, its been a blast.

Almost literally considering bonfire night, we had a spectacular firework display and all the sparklers and chocolate you could wish for. Although it was a bit of a jam-packed evening as I took my sisters to a book signing earlier on, it was to meet Ransom Riggs,  author of the Miss Peregrines books - we got signed copies of his latest instalment in the series, A Map of Days.

November, or Rabi ul-Awal which is the Islamic month based on the lunar calendar brought with it Eid Milad un Nabi a beautiful festival of celebration and light. Every celebration calls for cake, so I made this one flavoured with chocolate and orange. 

Tangy citrus and rich, dark chocolate is a true and tested flavour combo that works really well. Just try a Terry's Chocolate Orange if you need convincing.. speaking of, I visited Goddard House last summer, the former estate of the Terry's family, it has beautiful gardens, some interesting (vintage chocolate related) displays and you can see the old factory across the river. 

Now back to this amazing cake, it features a moist rich sponge with flecks of orange flavour and a double cream citrus topping, with more chocolate and orange of course! The other great thing about this cake is that it is so easy to make - an all in one method, you add all your ingredients to a bowl, mix, into the oven and voila. I guarantee you that this will be your go-to chocolate cake recipe from here on out, it's that easy and delicious.

So to make this Chocolate Orange Cream Cake, you need the following ingredients:
Cocoa Powder
Caster sugar
Margarine/butter
Eggs
Self-raising flour
Baking powder
Milk

Begin by adding 50g of good quality sifted cocoa powder into a bowl and stir in enough boiling water until a forms a thick chocolate paste.

To your mixing bowl add in the remaining ingredients - 100g butter/margarine, 275g caster sugar, 3 large eggs, 175g self raising flour, 1 rounded teaspoon baking powder and 50ml of milk.

Finally add in the chocolate mixture and beat until well incorporated and you have a thick, smooth batter.

Stir in the grated zest of one orange. You can add a dash of orange juice or orange essence if you want to enhance the flavour.

Spoon the mixture into a lined loaf tin (or two sandwich tins) and bake in a preheated Gas Mark 4 oven for around 30 minutes or until  well risen and springy to the touch.

To make the cream topping, whip up some double cream along with icing sugar (add a tablespoon at a time until it reaches the desired sweetness), grate in some orange zest.

Once the cake has completely cooled, spoon on the orange cream - I went with a more rustic effect but you can pipe it if you wish. Also if you opted to make the cake in circular tins, sandwich the layers with orange cream and decorate the top as mentioned above. 

An easy and delicious recipe for a chocolate cake which can easily be modified to create other flavours e.g. chocolate and hazelnut or raspberry and chocolate.

😋

Enjoy!
Q x

Cookie Dough Cups [and a giant cookie]

I woke up to a white sky today, a cold room because I hadn't closed my window the night before and the wish to stay under the covers for as long as possible. Not long at all it seems, thanks to the incessant phone ringing; calls from across the continent.

But its all good now, I have my mug of green tea and honey, a slice of cookie, my back is toasty from the warmth of the radiator and my heart is happy from some good news I just heard.

More on the cookie? It's a slice from a giant one I baked yesterday afternoon alongside some cute little cookie cups. The objective was to make some cookie dough à la Pizza Hut, but with time constraints and a little bit of spontaneity these cookie cups were conceived and they are real good. 

I have a memory of a big family meal we went on years ago where my cousin ordered a portion of cookie dough with ice cream, we all had a taste and thought it was the best dessert ever™, since then I've had a few and its never been as good. 

Although yesterday this little rush job appears to have created something even better - these cookie cups are soft in the middle, slightly chewy on the outside, sweet but not overly so and speckled with flecks of dark chocolate. They are also very easy to whip up and the cookie dough can also be used to make giant cookies!

So to make the Cookie Dough you will need the following ingredients: 

White sugar

Brown sugar

Butter

Egg

Self-raising flour

Chocolate

Vanilla essence [optional]

Begin by beating together 125g of butter, 90g of white sugar (caster is preferable but I didn't have it to hand) and 90g of brown sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer until well combined. This can also be done using a hand mixer or a trusty bowl and spoon.

Next add in 1 egg and a tsp of vanilla essence if using.

Chop up around 90g of chocolate, this can be dark chocolate as pictured, or milk chocolate. You can also substitute for chocolate chips if desired.

To the mixture add 225g of self-raising flour, 1/2 tsp of salt if you didn't use salted butter and the chopped chocolate. Mix together thoroughly until you get a sticky dough-like consistency.

Line your muffin tins (this makes for easier removal afterwards), take a tablespoon or so of the dough, roll and press in the palm of you hand until it form a disc then lightly press this into the case. Ensure that there is a slight dip in the middle but there is not need to bring the dough all the way up the edges of the case. 

If making a giant cookie, line a pie or tart tin then press the dough into the tin ensuring a flat surface and that it reaches the edges. Note that it may be sticky to start of with but should smoothen out after pressing.

Bake the cookies at Gas Mark 6 from 8 minutes, then reduce the heat to Gas Mark 4 and continue baking for a further 7 minutes. Keep and eye on the cups as you don't want them to get too dark. Once they are baked take them out of the oven, whilst they are cooling the middle should dip slightly.

The cookie dough cups can be eaten whilst still warm but have an amazingly soft and chewy texture even when cool.

Serve with vanilla cream and a drizzle of chocolate (which I didn't have time for!)

As for your giant cookie, slice and serve the same way. Or if you want to go all out, make a cookie pizza - a chocolate sauce and toppings of your choice.

😋

Enjoy!
Q x

Easy No-Bake Strawberry Cheesecake

Easy, no-bake, strawberry and cheesecake, oh what a lovely collection of words amirite? 

Truthfully I have a bit of penchant for cheesecake and there are certainly times when I think it is the most delightful dessert in the world. One such moment was yesterday morning, when I shoved down a few spoonfuls of this strawberry cheesecake before rushing out the door because I was almost late for work. Now I know that cheesecake for breakfast it slightly toeing the line, but in my defence I was concerned that by the time I'd get home late in the evening, the dessert loving residents of my house would have scoffed the whole thing.

I suppose the silver lining in that sordid scenario would be that this cheesecake is ridiculously easy to make - I whipped it together at 11pm at night when I was undeniably exhausted, but it was worth it because I got delicious homemade cheesecake for breakfast.

 Lil' life update - I started an extra job at the start of Feb working for a charity organisation and although I'm enjoying it الحَمْد لله  my schedule has become a whole lot more hectic. I'm still wanting to find time to bake and blog but it will definitely be more intermittent than ever. 

Now back to more important matters such as this delightful cheesecake, it is velvety smooth, creamy and indulgent. Sweet yet slightly tangy, made with whipped cream and soft cheese swirled with a strawberry conserve and spread on a crumbly, buttery biscuit base. Oh and decorate it with pink heart shaped jellybeans if you want because you deserve all the love, just saying (the jellybeans were actually part of a wedding favour - the bride made the cutest little sweet mason jars).

So to make this easy, no-bake strawberry cheesecake you will need the following ingredients: 

- Digestives biscuits

- Butter

- Brown sugar

- Double cream

- Soft cheese

- Icing sugar

- Strawberry conserve

 Begin by putting 100g of digestive biscuits (or other crumbly biscuit of your choice) and 35g of brown sugar into a ziplock bag. Using a rolling pin or other heavy item bash the biscuits until they resemble crumbs. An alternative option is to use a food processor. 

Melt 45g of butter then pour in the biscuits crumbs and sugar - mix until well combined.

Press the mixture into a 20cm circular cake tin with detachable base, lined with baking paper. Use the back of a spoon or you fingers to ensure that the mixture is compact. Place this is the freezer to set whilst you prepare the topping. 

For the topping whip up 250ml of double cream and 85g of icing until stiff. To this, beat in 80g of soft cheese and 6 tblsp of good quality strawberry conserve. Taste and adjust as you see fit i.e. add in more strawberry or icing sugar if necessary. If you want you can also reduce the cream to 200ml and use 130g of soft cheese for a tangier flavour.

Spoon the mixture over the cold biscuit base and smooth the top using a palette knife, then leave in the refrigerator to set overnight until firm, this step is required as we haven't used any gelatine or thickening agent. 

Once the waiting game is over, decorate with whatever you like (within reason!) - fresh fruit such as sliced strawberries or flowers like sprigs of lavender and baby's breath.

Or even jellybeans and love hearts! (p.s. this copy of Dracula from Roads is my absolute fave).

😋

Enjoy!

 Q x 

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Butter Cream Cheese Frosting ♥

Without fail every time I have checked my Instagram feed this past month I've seen at least one red velvet recipe and so I felt inspired to venture into red velvet territory. Now I'm not one to go into uncharted waters unprepared so I did a bit of research, turns out that traditionally the red colour of the cake was due the reaction between acidic vinegar and buttermilk which reveals the anthocyanin in cocoa, nowadays we also add in red dye to enhance the colour (and ensure red velvet remains the international Valentines day dessert, obviously). 

I imagine the Queen of Hearts loves a red velvet cake or two, must be tiring work screaming 'off with their heads' multiple times a day. That's one of the reasons why I want to throw an Alice in Wonderland themed tea party, just so I can feature my red velvet cupcakes on a little stand centre stage, dress up in an eccentric costume, put up elaborate decorations and consume tea party food to my hearts content. That or a 1930s themed party (the good bits, notwithstanding the Great Depressions); art deco decor similar to the salons of the Waldorf Astoria, glamorous dresses and lots of red velvet, only apt considering the Astoria made this cake iconic. 

Now I'm not much of a party planner or thrower but what I do know is that this cake needs to made in abundance and shared and loved. 

These cupcakes are wonderfully soft, moist and flavourful with just a hint of cocoa. 
As for the frosting, most people go for a full-on cream cheese extravaganza but I personally don't like the taste of that so instead I made a buttercream frosting with a touch of cream cheese. I've also upped my piping game, check out those roses! they are nowhere near perfect but still look very pretty, especially with the white contrasting against the red cake and the subtle gold glitter. With the tiniest bit of effort and skill you can create a delicious cupcake, the type you would purchase at a fancy bakery in a hipster neighbourhood for an extortionate price and eat with a fork because etiquette.

So to make these Red Velvet Cupcakes you will need the following ingredients:

- Plain flour
- Caster sugar
- Baking powder
- Bicarbonate of soda
- Cocoa
- Salt
-Buttermilk
- Vegetable oil
- Egg
- Apple cider vinegar
- Red food dye
- Hot water

Begin by combing the liquid ingredients together in the bowl of your stand mixer - 2 fl oz of vegetable oil (or other flavourless oil), 1 egg, 1 tsp apple cider vinegar (or white vinegar), 2 1/2 tsp red food colouring (I used a powder but if using gel dye amend amount as you see fit) and finally 4 fl oz buttermilk (can be purchased or alternatively mix together 4fl oz milk and 1 tblsp of lemon juice and let stand for 5 mins). 

Next add in your dry ingredients - 163g plain flour, 207g caster sugar, 1 and 1/8 tsp bicarbonate of soda, 1/4 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt and 2 heaped tsp of cocoa. 
Stir mixture on low speed and pour in 3 fl oz of hot water, less may be required so just keep an eye on the consistency of the mixture.

Pour the mixture into a tin lined twelve lined cupcake cases and bake in a preheated Gas Mark 4 oven for 15-17 minutes or until cooked and springy to the touch. I prefer to use muffin tins as it offers better support.

In the meantime to make the butter cream cheese frosting, beat 110g of butter until pale then add in 250g of icing sugar and beat until well combined. Pour in 2 1/2 tsp of milk and 15g of soft cream cheese and mix to incorporate. To make the frosting more cream cheese based, alter the amounts e.g. 90g of butter and 35g of cream cheese but ensure that it is always double the amount of fat to sugar.

Once the cakes are out of the oven leave to cool of a baking rack to ensure that air gets underneath the cakes.

Fit a piping bag with a 1M tip, fill with the frosting and pipe on rosettes - starting from the centre and swirling outwards. Sprinkle with edible gold glitter if desired.

These cupcakes can be eaten immediately (most likely) or stored in an airtight container for up to two days. 

😋

Enjoy!

 Q x