Failsafe recipes

Nigella Lawson is a personal heroine of mine. Do go to her website (www.nigella.com unsuprisingly)!

This cookie recipe is divine:

INGREDIENTS

100g soft butter
150g light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
150g flour
35g cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
200g dark chocolate chips

FOR THE GLAZE
75g icing sugar
1 x 15ml tablespoon cocoa, sieved
2 x 15ml tablespoons boiling water
1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract (I use Boyajian Natural Peppermint Flavour)

METHOD
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4.
2. Cream the butter and brown sugar (I use a freestanding mixer for ease), then beat in the vanilla extract and the egg.
3. Mix the flour, cocoa and baking powder in a bowl and gradually beat in to the creamed mixture. Finally, fold in the chocolate chips.
4. Using a rounded 15ml-tablespoon measure, spoon out scoops of cookie dough and place on a lined baking sheet, leaving a little space in between each one.
5. Bake in the oven for 12 minutes and then let them sit on the baking sheet for a couple of minutes before moving them to a cooling rack, with some newspaper on the surface underneath to catch any escaping glaze later.
6. Put the glaze ingredients into a saucepan and heat until combined.
7. Using a teaspoon, zig-zag the glaze over each cooling cookie.

Ooh and I musn't forget her nice and easy (and hugely moreish) macaroni cheese:

INGREDIENTS
250g macaroni
250g mature Cheddar or red Leicester or a mixture of both
250ml evaporated milk
2 eggs
grating of fresh nutmeg
salt and pepper

METHOD
1. Preheat the oven to 220°C/gas mark 7. Cook the macaroni according to the packet instructions, drain and then put back into the hot pan.
2. While the pasta is cooking, put the cheese, evaporated milk, eggs and nutmeg in a processor and blitz to mix. Or grate the cheese and mix everything by hand.
3. Pour the cheese sauce over the macaroni, stir well, and season with salt and pepper to taste.
4. Tip into a 25.5cm-diameter dish (wide and shallow is best) and bake in the very hot oven for about 10–15 minutes, or until it is bubbling and blistering on top.

Bon appetit!

x

Jumping in

Oh no, the pressure of the first blog. What to write? Where to begin?

A tutor of mine gave me some advice about creative writing. Apparently it's best to delete the first paragraph as it's invariably waffle. The meaty stuff starts in the second paragraph.

Think I'll apply this logic to blog posting:
This is the waffle...