Goat's Milk Dulce De Leche Oreo Banoffee Tarts With Coconut Whipped Cream

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Friday, 28 February 2014

On Sunday we sat down, scrolled through our Virgin Media Netflix and finally decided upon watching Armageddon. You know, that film with Bruce Willis running around all hot and angry whilst his daughter secretly kisses range boy Ben Affleck in his bed and Willis threatens to kill him. In the end, ol’ sexy Willis takes a lift down to the core of some meteorite and blows himself up, I think this was his way of giving his blessing, finally letting his daughter kiss Affleck till death do them part. His suicide act saves the world as well by the way, it’s beautiful, and anyone with eyes is capable of crying at this film. 
Unfortunately there is no hidden meaning behind my terrible synopsis and what’s going on in my life right now, I just thought I’d tell you about a film that’s been playing on my mind all week. Hopefully I can stop having visions of Willis now, please god.
Earlier that day, I baked the healthiest cookies - they contained no flour, no sugar, and zilch eggs! Just maple sweetness and oat flour, and a few hundred calories from the rich macadamias and chips of white chocolate, and they were nearly all eaten by the time we sat down to scroll through the endless list of films on the ol’ Netflix.
Naturally, this is the bit where I carry on telling you about how good these cookies were, and below there would be the recipe for them. And yes, they were really delicious, but they were also pretty damn ugly and so flat, that when you picked them up they fell to pieces and the macadamias looked like overgrown warts about to pop on a witch’s face. No camera angle or £14 dishcloth could do them justice, so I’m sharing our dessert from the previous Saturday instead, whilst I work on a solution to make these coconut oil laden discs more plump and cookie-esque, like The Flourishing Foodie's Maple Pecan Cookies.

These tarts are filled with a labour of love: homemade dulce de leche made with goats milk. They can taste so goat-y, but different brands have different goat tasting levels so try to use mild milk. The blended banana also goes a long way in softening the goat-y edge. And if the butter to biscuit ratio in the base looks a little frightening, it’s there to help you get over the fact that goat’s milk tastes like farm. Of course, you could just use cow’s milk, but goat’s milk adds a complexity to dulce de leche, one that cow’s milk will never succumb to.


Goat's Milk Dulce De Leche Oreo Banoffee Tarts With Coconut Whipped Cream

Makes five deep tartlets, eight regular tartlets or one 23cm tart.

Dulce De Leche
2 pints goat’s or cows milk 
Pinch of sea salt 
1 cinnamon stick (optional)
1 cup caster sugar 
¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda in 2 tbsp water
1 banana
Base
1 cup Oreos
½ cup butter, melted
Topping
2 x 400g can coconut milk, refrigerated for 12 hours
Pinch cream of tartar 
Grated dark chocolate shavings 

Bring the milk, salt, cinnamon and sugar to a simmer in a heavy bottomed saucepan on low heat. Take off the heat and slowly add the bicarbonate of soda and water: this has to be added drop by drop to stop the mixture foaming rapidly. Keep the mixture at a medium-low heat, stirring occasionally until it turns a light brown, this will take about 1 hour 30 minutes. Stir the mixture every ten minutes, until it turns a light shade of brown. As soon as it starts to thicken, stir continuously until it’s a deep red colour. Take off the heat as soon as the caramel reaches copper-red. If the mixture is lumpy strain it through a sieve, then pour into a sterilised jar and refrigerate once cooled. 

Pulse Oreos in a food processer fitted with a blade attachment until just broken up. Slowly pour in the melted butter, keep pulsing until a wet and crumbly dough forms. Alternatively bash biscuits to a fine crumb with a rolling pin and stir in the butter. Divide the crumbs into five deep (or seven regular sized) loose-bottomed pastry cases and use a spoon to press the mixture around the sides and bottom. Refrigerate for one hour. 

In a large bowl add cooled dulce de leche and the banana, use a hand blender to combine the two until the banana is completely immersed in with the caramel. Or mash banana with a fork and fold through caramel. 

Take the coconut milk out of the fridge, open the can and separate the water from the blob of cream built up on top. Place the coconut ‘blobs’ into a bowl with cream of tartar and whisk until soft peaks form. 


Pour the banana filling into the pastry cases up to two thirds full. Spoon the coconut whipped cream on top, sprinkle with chocolate shavings and leave to set in the fridge for one hour before serving. 
Love Em xx

Peanut Butter Crack Brownies & Shortlisted for the Cosmopolitan Awards!

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Wednesday, 10 July 2013

I was finishing up my last bits at work on Monday when it got to 6pm and I remembered something.

I opened a new window, tapped into Twitter and nervously scrolled through to find that tweet. The one with that link that would take me to the Cosmopolitan Blogger Awards 2013 Shortlist.

As I pressed the link, my stomach sank. It sank further when I saw a blank page. 

Oh god. Oh god.

 I made a quick scurry to the loo’s moments later to see if the link worked best near toilet facilities (obviously this had to be an option in my desperate state). 

A few taps later and I was prancing around the workshop, jeans at my thighs, jumping like a loon with Nat (she had no idea what was going on). I had been shortlisted again!!!! Er. Mah. GAAAAHD.


Who better to thank than the person reading this right now? Seriously, thank you so much!

If you would like to, you can vote for me here by heading to the 'Best Food Blogger' category, voting closes on 31st August so there is no rush, but I would be super grateful if you did! (Eventually....)


Orrrrrrrr you could just click on the picture on the right ;)

To celebrate I have made something close to crack. I couldn’t think of a better way to emanate my excitement and show thanks to you all. Really I couldn’t. Luckily this stuff wont kill if you get hooked, you might gain a few but hey – see them as happy pounds.

This brownie/rice crispie cake on steroids is jam-packed with every single confection known to man – it’s salty too so it's right on trend.

The recipe uses a brownie packet mix, but only because there is so much going on that I defy you to taste the difference.

Here’s why you can use packaged brownie mix without losing your credentials as a foodie; the crack brownie contains: 

smooth peanut butter
double stuffed Oreos
rice crispies
chocolate
peanut butter cups

And whatever the heck you put in the brownie itself. In my case:

marshmallows
white chocolate
crunchy biscuits.


To continue the celebrations (I don’t go out much), I will be hosting a special little giveaway next week! So keep posted, I reckon you’ll like this one :)


The Recipe:

Adapted from Cookies & Cups Peanut Butter Cup Crack Brownies 

1 brownie mix, boxed or homemade
230g bag mini peanut butter cups
1 packet 'Extra Stuff' Oreos
1 + 1/2 cup rice crispies
1 + 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips or bars
1 cup smooth peanut butter
1 tbsp / 15g butter, un/salted

Makes 20 bars 

Note: Grab the most indulgent looking Brownie mix i.e. the one that says ‘Indulgent Brownie Mix’ so people don’t think your skimping on quality even though it only cost you £1.78 – the price of a good chocolate bar. If you’re still not sold, have a look here and here for sole brownie gooooo-oooo-ooodness.  

The Method:

Start by making brownies in a lined rectangular pan according to directions and roughly chopping Oreos and peanut butter cups.

Take the brownies out of the oven 5 minutes before the required baking time and sprinkle chopped peanut butter cups & Oreos over the top. Return to the oven to complete baking.

Once brownies are baked, remove from oven and immediately spread the melted peanut butter cups & Oreos around the entire surface of the brownie using a spatula.

Evenly spread half a cup of peanut butter on top of the chocolate layer and set aside.

In a large microwaveable bowl add the remaining peanut butter, milk chocolate chips and butter and microwave in 30 second bursts until just melted, making sure to stir each time.

Pour in rice crispies and stir until combined. Evenly spread over the brownie. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours to set. The brownies will last for up to 5 days.

We managed to raise £370 for Race For Life! And I crossed the finished line! Wooohooo. Thank you to all those who sponsored us, Blackheath, you nearly killed me but it was for the worthiest of causes so I'll let you off.

Love Em xx

I am really sorry but all comments for this post have been lost in Blogger's system/archive/brain somewhere and I cant retrieve them! Please forgive me x

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