Recipes Sweet Treats - It's time to be bad, very very bad.

Cooking can be very pleasurable, and allows you to exercise your creative muscles. 

Millionaire Shortbread - 
I made mine with some Walkers shortbread, added the caramel filling and dark chocolate. Voila - decadence on a plate.

When I cook, I try to use the best ingredients. If you're going to be bad, you should spoil yourself with the good stuff. I prefer Green and Black dark cooking chocolate. The only thing to be aware with this cheat is that the caramel centre oozed down and covered my shortbread because of all the gaps. I had to flip them after the caramel set.

Biscotti -
I was watching a cooking show the other day and they made biscotti. It looks mega simple.Check it out at: The Food Network - Biscotti Dipped in White Chocolate

When I do this, I'll be doing a simple milk choc-chip version. I was addicted to them when I was in Italy. This makes a lovely and thoughtful Christmas present - wrap it in clear cellophane from a gift store and tie a ribbon on top.

Whisky Flourless Cake -
Another great treat is a whisky flourless cake. I made mine in ramekins, but you could put it in a loaf tin. This was super easy because I basically mixed all my dry ingredients together, then all my wet ones and then combined them. For two ramekins, I had:
1 egg
1/2 cup of G&B Cocoa
40g of G&B dark cooking chocolate
40g of butter
2 tblsp of castor sugar
2 tblsp of crushed hazelnuts
1 shot of whisky
1 teaspoon of vanilla essence.

I took the recipe  for a basic flourless cake from allrecipes.co.uk - easy flourless chocolate cake, then added my own variations.

Method:
melt the chocolate and butter over hot water, add the cocoa, dark chocolate and sugar, mix, add the other ingredients with the egg last. For my oven, I baked it at 160 degree for 25 minutes, but it's best to check the over and vary it according to whether it is cooking or rising or not. Increase the temperature a little if it doesn't seem to be cooking. Stick a skewer in and see if it comes out dry. A little bit sticking on it is ok because it's quite thick and moist, and it dries out later.

Passion fruit Margarita -
The other night I had a passion fruit margarita with dinner. This is a great celebratory Christmas treat. I like the look of this recipe: The Food Network - Margarita

I'll let you know how mine goes.


The beauty of cooking is the eating and drinking. Remember to share it with your friends, family and work colleagues. The secret is to enjoy your treats in moderation. Bon appetite!