Cheats Caramello Chocolate Brownie

Before I start I should apologise for the terrible photo.  This was taken in an extreme hurry, while the slice was still hot from the oven.  I was in a rush - what do you do!

I realised first thing this morning I had forgotten to bake something for my fortnightly KiwiMums catch-up.  It was just after 7am, I had to leave in 1.45 hours and in that time had to feed and dress 3 children, shower and dress myself, make lunches, clean up the kitchen and get the first load of washing on and bake something ...  This is where I call on my secret stash of Betty Crocker.  I always have a few of her cake mixes, brownie mix and a cookie mix stashed in the back of my cupboard for emergencies such as this.

Actually funny aside, Hubby found my secret stash the other day and was appalled, asking me if I actually ever baked from a box.  Haha, one of his favourite brownies is this one from Baking Makes Things Better - he has no idea it comes from a box.  Shock horror - two boxes.  Shhhhhh. 

Right, so back to the recipe.  I needed something quick to whip up, so Betty Crocker Triple Fudge Brownie it was.

I have been given a Caramello Brownie recipe from a friend and have been wanting to give it a try, so decided to incorporate the caramello part of her recipe in this brownie.

Preheat the oven to the directions given on the box and prepare your brownie pan.

In a small pot mix 65grams of butter, 3/4 cup of sweetened condensed milk and a table spoon of golden syrup.  Heat until melted and mixed together and set aside.

Mix together the brownie, following the instructions on the box and put the batter in the prepared pan.  Swirl the caramel sauce through the top of the brownie.

Bake to box instructions (about half an hour).  Halfway through baking I covered mine with tinfoil to stop the caramello on top from burning.

Leave to cool before cutting.

Bed Headboard Upcycle

About a year or so ago I brought a second hand rimu headboard for $10 and covered it for Sprats bed.  Sprat and Danger Mouse recently were lucky enough to be brought new beds with headboards, so now this is being passed on to The Girl.  Knowing that she more than likely won't be that keen on Lightening McQueen, I found some awesome fabric to recover it for her bedroom.

So here is how it started

Then became Lightening McQueen.

So firstly I removed the legs and then took off the old fabric.

I used the old wadding I had on there previously.  This is just quilt batting.  I then positioned the headboard on the fabric, making sure that the pattern I wanted was centered on the front of the board.  As I wanted the back of the board to be the right way up (if I just pulled it over it would of been upside down), I had to cut the back piece of the fabric off, turn it around and sew it onto the front piece.  The photos should explain this.

Below is the front and back pieces.





I then pinned, right sides together, ensuring they were the correct way and sewed together.

Once sewn, I ironed the seams flat.  You can see here that the back piece is upside down now, but once flipped onto the headboard will be the right way up.

I then repositioned the wadding and the headboard onto the fabric, centering it correctly.

Starting at the bottom, I pulled the fabric over and fixed into place using a staple gun.  I then pulled both sides in tightly and stapled.  Finally I pulled the remaining fabric over and folding under a bottom hem, started from the centre and worked my way out, securing the fabric at the bottom (pulling tightly as I went).  I then folded the sides in and stapled these down.

Getting something that looks like this.   This is the back.

And the front.

Easy.  Time to screw the legs back on.  I used pins to find the screw holes and then just screwed them back on again.

And there you have it - an awesome headboard!

Next project for her bedroom is a single sized quilt, which I am hoping will match her headboard nicely.  Here is a sneak peak.

Coffee Melt Biscuits

My Mum In Law introduced me to these biscuits and they become favourites with everyone who tries them.

150g butter
150g sugar
1 teaspoon instant coffee
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1/4 cup condensed milk
1 egg yolk
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
Chocolate buttons (I use Nestle Choc Melts)

Prehead oven to 180 degrees and line 2 baking trays.

Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy.  Add instant coffee, vanilla and condensed milk and beat until light.  Beat in egg yolk then stir in sifted flour and baking powder.

Shape into balls and placed on baking trays.  Allow room for spreading.  Press a chocolate button in the centre of each biscuit.

Bake for approximately 15 minutes or until light golden brown.

Milo Muffins

These are so good.  I am going to try them with banana as well - yummy!

1 3/4 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
75 grams softened butter
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup Milo blended with 2 tablespoons of boiling water
3/4 cup chocolate drops

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees and prepare a 12 hole muffin tin with papers.

In a medium sized bowl sift together flour, baking powder and sugar.  In a large jug combine the milk, butter, egg, vanilla extract and Milo mixture.  Pour the milk mixture and the chocolate drops into the flour and stir until just combined.

Divide the batter among the muffin holes and bake for 20 - 25 minutes or until cooked. 

Serve dusted with icing sugar.

Honey Spice Cookies

This recipe was in the latest New Idea.  They are good (after the hubby and a friend helped themselves, from the two trays I baked this afternoon I only have 4 left!) but definately could do with some currents or raisins in them.  I was going to make another batch with raisins but ran out of honey so it will have to wait until the next grocery shop.

50 grams butter, chopped
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup honey
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons milk
2 1/2 cups plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons mixed spice

ICING
1 cup icing sugar
2 - 3 tablespoons water
Pink food colouring.

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees and line two baking trays.

Stir the butter, brown sugar and honey in a saucepan over a low heat until melted and combined.  Stir in the baking soda and then transfer to a large bowl and allow to cool slightly.

Add the egg.  Stir to combine.  Add the milk (I ran out of milk, so used goat milk based baby formula - haha don't tell the hubby ....) and combined sifted flour, baking powder, ginger and spice.  Stir until combined.

Roll tablespoons of mixture into 6cm long lengths and place 3cm apart on the oven trays.  Flatten slightly.

Cook one tray at a time for about 10 minutes or until lightly brown and firm to the touch.  Cool on the trays.

To make the icing, place icing sugar in a bowl.  Sitr in enough water until the mixture is smooth.  Tint pink with food colouring.  Dip cooled biscuits into icing and stand at room temperature until set.

Tiger Cake

This is a reasonably light cake so great to serve up to the girls for morning tea, or to share with Nana over a hot cuppa. 

My icing skills are shocking.  Might need to start baking more cakes so I can brush up on my skills.

175g butter
3/4 cup castor sugar
3 eggs
1 egg yolk
Grated rind of 1 orange
2 tablespoons of orange juice
1 1/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 cup cocoa
2 tablespoons orange juice

ICING
3 cups icing sugar
75g butter
Grated rind of 1 orange
1 egg white
Orange juice

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.  Grease and line two 23cm round cake tins.

Cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy.  Beat in the eggs one at a time.  Add the yolk and beat again.

Grate the rind from both the oranges and squeeze the juice from both of them.  Stir into the creamed butter mixture half the grated rind and 2 tablespoons of orange juice alternatively with the sifted flour and baking powder.

Put half of the mixture aside in a seperate bowl.

Mix into the remaining mixture the cocoa and the second measure of orange juice.

Spoon the mixtures alternatively between the two tins to get a marbled effect.

Bake for 18 - 22 minutes for until cooked.  Leave to cool on baking trays for 15 minutes before removing from the tins and cooling completely.

ICING
To make the icing beat the egg white until stiff.  In a seperate bowl lightly cream the butter.  Add to the butter the sifted icing sugar, rest of the orange rind, the egg white and enough juice to mix.

Sandwich the two cakes together with icing, then cover the cake with remaining icing.