Delicious Nutella Cupcakes
This is definitely a crowd pleaser, in my experience, regardless what time of year - it always seems to be the season of Ferrero Rocher. Everyone seems to love the delicious combination of chocolate and hazelnuts (and Nutella!), so I’ve combined them into one of eveyone's favourite desserts - cupcakes!
one of my favourite cupcakes to make - everyone loves them!
This is definitely a crowd pleaser, in my experience, regardless what time of year - it always seems to be the season of Ferrero Rocher. Everyone seems to love the delicious combination of chocolate and hazelnuts (and Nutella!), so I’ve combined them into one of eveyone's favourite desserts - cupcakes!
Thanks to the olive oil, this cake has a slightly nutty flavour which I like to enhance by icing it with Nutella and sprinkling roasted hazelnuts on top.
You can get raw hazelnuts at Bulk Barn and simply roast them in the oven with a bit of vegetable oil. (Do keep an eye on them – they can burn very quickly!) Once cooled, I roll them in a towel to get the dries skin off of the hazelnuts. I then crush them the old school way by putting the hazelnuts in a towel and beating and rolling them with a rolling pin. (Careful - this can get messy!) You’ll want to keep some of them whole or at least chunky simply for the aesthetics.
This is perfect for any occasion. My 9 year old nephew loves these cupcakes as he loves anything with chocolate – especially Nutella!
Makes: 24 cupcakes
Preptime:
Cook time:
- Pre-heat oven to 350F
- In a large mixing bowl, combine eggs, vanilla extract, and sugar and whisk until a bit frothy. Add melted chocolate, olive oil and milk. Mix well.
- Combine flour, salt and baking powder. Add to the bowl of wet ingredients. Mix well.
- Pour batter into a lined cupcake tin. Fill approximately halfway.
- Bake for 40-45 minutes.
- Once well cooled, spread nutella on top of cupcakes and sprinkel hazelnut on top.
Chai Tea Latte Cupcakes
One of my favourite drinks for fall is, hands down, a chai tea latte. It was only a matter of time before I combined this amazing concoction together to create the perfect dessert. These cupcakes makes the perfect dessert to any fall or winter occasion. It’s all those warm fuzzy feelings captured in a cupcake.
You can feel the crispness in the air that is fall.
When the weather starts to change, I immediately want food that is warm and comforting. And now that I don't have to worry as much about summer's typical revealing clothes, I automatically eat more desserts!
One of my favourite drinks for fall is, hands down, a chai tea latte. To this day, I can't, for the life of me, understand why anyone would want a vegetable flavoured latte! I can't stand anything tasting like pumpkin - especially that artificial pumpkin flavouring. yuck!
Back in high school, a friend of mine first introduced me to her homemade chai tea, and I fell in love. I love all the warm spicy goodness that goes in to it - cardamom, nutmeg, cloves and my personal favourite, cinnamon, of course. It was only a matter of time before I combined this amazing concoction together to create the perfect dessert.
These cupcakes makes the perfect dessert to any fall or winter occasion. It’s all those warm fuzzy feelings captured in a cupcake.
Makes: 18 cupcakes
Prep time:
Cook time:
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2/3 cup instant chai latte powder
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup skim milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees and line cupcake pan with cupcake liners
- In a large mixing bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until fluffy (approximately 2 minutes).
- Add the chai powder, ginger, cinnamon, eggs, milk, and vanilla. Mix until well combined.
- Add the flour, baking powder, and salt until combined. Beat until smooth.
- Fill the cupcake liners about 2/3 of the way.
- Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- 2 cups icing (powdered) sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 cup vegetable shortening
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 to 2 tablespoons cold water, as needed
- In a large mixing bowl, beat together all the ingredients until fluffy.
- Spread on cooled cupcakes using a spatula or icing tip.
Vegan Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
I've been trying to get back to basics in a lot of my recipes when I came up with this recipe for banana oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. I am in love with this recipe as it is completely vegan, gluten free and has no additional sugar, besides the chocolate chips, of course.
Over the past few weeks, I have been eating way too much junk food. And while I still crave sugar, I've tried to curb the cravings by finding low sugar, healthy options.
I've been trying to get back to basics in a lot of my recipes when I came up with this recipe for banana oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. I am in love with this recipe as it is completely vegan (not that I am vegan, but all things in moderation, right?). It's also gluten free and has no additional sugar besides the chocolate chips. And you don't even notice - especially if you are using very ripe bananas (the more black spots, the sweeter they are!).
These cookies are great as breakfast cookies. While they don't contain nuts as you find in traditional breakfast cookies, these ones are quite filling. Plus, you can definitely add nuts to the recipe if you prefer - go ahead, make it your own!
Because of the bananas, these cookies are quite soft and chewy. (Just the way I like them!)
Makes: 16 servings
Preptime:
Cook time:
- pre-heat oven to 350
- In a bowl, mash the 2 bananas until smooth
- add rolled oats and mix well
- add cinnamon, nutmeg, chocolate and peanut butter chip. mix well
- place a small ball of mixture on a greased cookie sheet or cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Flatter mixture a bit.
- Bake cookies for 20 minutes or until golden
Eggs Florentine with Spinach
Kiss your avocado toast goodbye and wave hello to Eggs Florentine!
Kiss your avocado toast goodbye and wave hello to Eggs Florentine!
Brunch. There is something so much more decadent about it than regular breakfast.
Brunch always seems so much more classy and elegant. But let’s be honest it’s a little overpriced, especially given that we can make it at home for a fraction of the cost. (Mainly because I was sick of paying $15 for avocado toast when loaf of bread and a few avocados don’t cost nearly that much!) Since I'm cheap, ahem, I mean, ...fiscally (somewhat) responsible(?), So, that’s what I started to do.. It is so much easier on your wallet, and there's complaints that you can't find what you're currently craving on the menu.
Now, I do like easy recipes. But I also like different things (move over avocado toast! We've got more fun stuff (and just as easy) on the horizon.
I started with Eggs Florentine. (Sounds fancy, doesn't it?) This recipe involves puff pastry, which is the easiest thing in the world to use. Buy it frozen, turn on your oven and you're pretty much good to go.
Even better, if you are making brunch for a crowd (or just your bestie or significant other) this dish will make them think you spent hours in the kitchen. realty is, it only took 20 minutes! (shh! I won't tell!) Just tell your guests to bring the mimosas and you'll take care of brunch!
4 servings
Prep time:
Cook time:
- 1 package puff pastry, defrosted
- 4 large eggs
- 1 bundle fresh baby spinach
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 1 quarter onion, chopped
- salt to taste
- pepper to taste
- Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees
- unroll defrosted puff pastry sheet and cut into 4 squares
- in a large skillet, saute onions in the oil over medium heat
- Add the spinach and cook until the spinach has wilted but still maintains colour. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- After 10 minutes, remove the puff pastry from the oven and with a spoon, push down the centre, so that the edges form a wall
- Spoon the spinach into the centre of the puff pastry. (Try to form a wall with the spinach to keep to eggs in the centre).
- Carefully, break an egg into the spinach.
- Very carefully, place the puff pastries back into the oven for another 10 minutes or until the egg whites are opaque. (The eggs will be cooked but the yolk will be runny.)
