Mars bar & Peanut Butterscotch Caramellos

It’s official.

Baking definitely brings out the worst in me…

 Sad-face.

Here are 3 reasons why:

1.       Impatience: As soon as these babies hit the fiery furnace, I suddenly revert to being an overly excited kid who has nose constantly pressed up against the screen of the oven, compulsively  on the contents within every 2 minutes or so...

 I’m 99.9% convinced that the slowest 35 minutes of all time, ever occurs whilst caramelized Dulce de Leche is laid to bake with buttery chocolate chips and daintily browned, sugary butter, like so:

Even the rooms of the house become helplessly weak-kneed and start to surrender to the waft of the sweet and crumbly, gooey pea-nutty goodness that is so totally happening right here, and right now in our oven. (Past tense).

“Are they ready yet?”

“Are they ready yet?”

“Are they ready yet?”

It didn’t ease the anticipation much, seeing as only other company I had today was that of my 16 year old brother (6”4 with the appetite of a buffalo experiencing a major growth spurt) - who turned out to be equally enchanted by this strange sweetness that was mysteriously oozing out of the kitchen and upwelling into his room…his equally eager presence simply made the wait yet more prolonged….

As a result, we ended up diving into this beautifully warm and sticky, gooey, molten mess just a little too early...

 It was bound to happen.

My heart shattered a little as my perfectly baked babies irreversibly decided to explode molten chocolate caramel all over them-selves. As a result, the pictures turned out slightly stripped of their natural beauty and the prospect of a square cut presentation became slightly doomed (as you can see)… 

We desperately turned to the freezer for help. Into the ice they went; the garden peas, emergency Warburton’s buns and a whole tray of ice cubes sacrificed themselves in the process. (What mum doesn’t know won’t hurt her…)

You can probably gather the moral of the story…gracefully waiting out the 35 minutes of life in slow motion = totally worth it if you want those happy + healthy Caramellos that have just swallowed up your peanut butter and precious 100g of chocolate chips.  

I definitely should have listened to Josh…

Josh: My brother, Drake - he's all about immediate gratification. 

Drake: [points to the oven] There's brownies in there, and I want 'em. 

Josh: They'll be ready in about... 25 more minutes. And you know what? They'll be worth the wait.

Drake: I am not waiting. [puts an oven mitt on and gets the brownies out] 

Josh: Ya see, Drake's gonna learn something tonight. He's gonna learn that some things are just worth waiting for.

Drake: [tasting the batter] Ohhhhhhhhhhh…. it's like…. warm brownie soup…

Josh: You realize that patience is a virtue.

Drake: My god, why didn't I do this like five minutes ago? [a blue arrow wooshes and goes to the upstairs window, then a green arrow wooshes]

For any of you who have watched the ‘Demonator’ episode, this will be one of those unforgettable J+D opening scenes. Also, extra brownie points to any of you who understand the ‘arrow wooshing’ part too! I’m getting so many childhood memories just thinking about it! I miss that show so much!

2.       Indecisiveness: My total in ability to make a rational win-win decision flies totally out of the window when the time rolls around to actually crack down on a recipe. Chocolate? Peanut butter? Caramel? Cinnamon? Coffee? Chocolate, cocoa? Chocolate?! Cookies sounded like a great idea, but just a tad too mainstream for today…Bars are so easy to make. But how do we fit all of the cravings into a single tray bake without leaving anyone behind?

 If you can’t beat them, join them…

So I did. 

I beat them eggs into that mixture compromised of every single ingredient that had been dancing around in my mind:

·         Peanut butter! Swoon.

·         Butter, like, duh.

·         Chocolate – he without the substitute.

·         Caramel – Folds of substituted luxury (The Dulce de Leche worked wonders in place of condensed milk)

·         Toffees, melted (and yes, you heard that right) - simply cuz I can, and simply cuz I shouldn’t…

·         Brown sugar, somewhere, somehow. Dem moist molasses…

·         Mars bars: AKA: The urge. The stars of the show. Totally gotta get me some nougat, asap.

Keep scrolling down to the recipe where you can see how these sweet dreams actually managed to become a blissful reality.

Still, I must confess  that since I was so ridiculously keen to get going , pretty much 70% of the cup ratios were pretty much made up right on the spot and/or jotted down in between spoon switches and the frequent pings of the microwave melts. Impatience strikes again.

Amazingly, however they turned out pretty damn fabulously…

3.       My diabetic destiny: Given that type 2 diabetes has gone absolutely haywire in my mum’s side of the family, I probablyyyyyyy shouldn’t be taking these devilish peanut butter brownies - both spiked with mars bars and laced with triple chocolate & toffee so swiftly into But YOLO. I guess I just liked the clever alliteration of diabetic trait number 3 a bit more than the actual idea of it…

Because FYI, since these brownies (AKA Caramellos - which clearly don’t have a consistent name) are made with 100% natural butter, dark chocolate, organic sugars and the protein, as well as magnesium packed peanut butter (just for starters)…I totally defend the health and nutrition side of them and THUS, I shall continue defending the vital role that they play in a healthy + balanced diet.

100%.

SMILE.

These Caramellos are an insanely rich kind of soul food...the kind to be promoted.

I could swear that the taste actually changes depending on whether or not they are consumed with a fork, spoon or with sticky fingers….or when served with different flavours of ice cream…*note to self*.  

Naughty…

What me and my family noticed most as we sunk our teeth into these blocks of caramelized & fudgey-like lava, was that they actually tasted way more like Snickers bars than they did Mars bars.

They tasted significantly more like Snickers bars than any Mars bar which I’ve ever eaten.  

If anything, they basically are Snickers brownies smothered in crunchy peanut butter and stuffed with excessive caramel, heat and goo. Perfection, I think not?

Although the toffee +caramel pooled inside definitely does makes itself obvious in the flavour, the peanut butter + the general texture reminded us way more of Snickers bars than anything else! I reckon that this is because I had chucked in the super crunchy, whole nut kind of peanut butter which has a grainier and more earth kinda taste to it, as opposed to one which was more smooth + refined. It’s easy to tell how the tastes between brands differ so much, so if you prefer smoother + creamier bars, then definitely go for your favorite brand of smooth pb!

SO! Are you ready?

Patience aside (nice one) because the wait is over! Here I present to you the recipe for these botched up, invented by chance + ultimately patience testing: 

Peanut Butterscotch Caramello Mars Bars….

Recipe:

Wet ingredients:

·         2 Small/1 Large egg

·         1 TBSP Vanilla

·         1 tsp baking soda/bicarbonate of soda (not powder)

·         3/4C butter, salted.

·         1/4C white granulated sugar

·         3/4C brown sugar

·         100g/1C of dark chocolate drops. Alternatively, just put any leftover chocolate into a food processor and hit the ON button.

·         3/4C peanut butter – smooth is probably better, but don’t use all natural/homemade – since you really do need the yummy emulsifiers of processed pb if you want the peanut butter to actually hold the recipe together.

 I also added 2 tbsp of Greek yogurt because it makes stuff moist. I'm not sure what difference it made, but it's worth putting it in :)

Dry ingredients:

·         1C white flour.

·         Sprinkle of cinnamon.

·         Throw some oats in if you want for extra texture. E.g. 1/2C, but you may need to up the wet ingredients proportionally depending on how stiff your batter is.

·         Optional: I added appx 5 tbsp of cocoa powder – which is what made the Caramellos look like brownies. I had originally planned to make them look more like cookie dough (which has more distinguished layers) but the cocoa turned out to be last minute that was actually worthwhile in the end…so it is definitely recommended…

·         2 tsp instant coffee powder – the spontaneous ingredient. You definitely cannot taste this in the final product – the idea is that it brings out the full flavour of the cocoa. This is pretty standard for any brownie recipe. Again, recommended.

·         3-6 snack sized Mars bars/supermarket equivalent.

For the caramel dousing sauce

·         1 x 250g pack of those supremely chewy vanilla toffees which every confectionery aisle has. My entire bag cost 29p from Asda - your argument is invalid.

·         4 tbsp butter.

·         Optional, 3-5 tbsp of Dulce de Leche (It’s pretty expensive, about £3.70 for a jar – though I only bought it because it was new to me and constituted as an impulse buy of the eye candy kind).  

·         If you cba with the above. Just get a can of condensed milk and mix it with 4 tbsp of butter over a high heat for your caramel sauce.

Method:

1.       Wet: cream the butter + sugars together. Add the peanut butter and the rest of the wet ingredients.

2.       Mix the wet ingredients with the dry at the same time, gradually adding the eggs to get a proper bind.

3.       Line a 9x13 inch baking dish with parchment paper.

4.       Spoon half of the chocolate cookie dough into the dish

5.       Chop up the Mars bars and throw them on top of the half of the dough inside the dish.

6.       For the sauce, melt the toffees with the butter + dulce de leche (or condensed milk recipe). Stir and pour evenly over the first layer of chocolate cookie dough.

7.       For the third layer, spoon the remaining dough/batter on top of the caramel sauce. Smooth it out as best as you can.

8.       Bake at 176*C in a pre-heated oven for about 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes after switching the oven off – this will help it to crisp up. (Use your judgment as to when to do this)

9.       Don’t do what I did. Wait for it to cool completely before cutting them into squares, getting sticky and ruining the photo’s that could have been…

10.   Serve with ice cream if you are eating them whilst they are still warm though! The combo of crumbly goo with firm, rounded cream is immense. Vanilla yogurt goes great too though.

Otherwise, they definitely do fudge-ify after having been left out for a few hours and are fab by themselves with some milky, milky breakfast tea (the best kind of tea). 

How many can you manage?

P.S. in America Mars Bars = Milky Ways, and vice versa in the UK. I wonder how the inverse combo would turn out though.

Are there any other good combinations out there that you know of?

I also have seen so many recipes for brownies topped with salted caramel pretzels! 

I was so tempted to do that here too, but clearly patience was running way too low today...

Thanks for reading!

Tash xo

Yumchaa Café: London - Review! + A summery bank holiday

A summery bank holiday Sunday... & a delightful trip over to Yumchaa Café: Tottenham Street, London. 

 Happy days...

Yesterday was simply the most fun, & spontaneous day out ever.

For starters, I got to spend it with this beautiful girl: AMY!!

And, on top of that, it was just super sunny, and so, so warm. We had such a chilled out, girly afternoon sunbathing on the steps of UCL with the lovely Yuan, reflecting on first year and reaping the opportunity to have mini photo shoots in between sips of our frozen frappes; whilst simultaneously warding off nosey pigeons who were coming waaaay too close for comfort (Although we will blame that on the chip eating chick behind us).

We also got round to planning the final details for our week in Italy - which is looming becoming excitingly nearer!  (Praise the lord that the university Wi-Fi works outside). Bring on Venice, Florence & Rome!! We simply cannot wait!!

We had also gotten the chance to visit the amazing Yumchaa café in Fitzrovia – this was actually great, since I’ve wanted to go there for ages (it’s just so pretty!) but have never really got the chance to visit it before.  We were in the mood for a lunch that was both light and cheap (student lyfe, ha). We were actually just en route to M&S food for a classy ‘not just any’ sandwich type-of lunch, when Amy spotted these elegantly squared white windows just off of Tottenham Court Road belonging to the cute little Yumchaa café, and remembered that she had actually been there before so it was guaranteed to be a second-time scrumptious. We were totally sold out on this and headed straight over. I was actually surprised when Amy described it as a café – doesn’t ‘Yumchaa’ sound like an upmarket sushi bistro?  Nonetheless…

The inside of the café is pretty cool. It is just so white, clean cut and airy. The counter is directly perched at the far end of the café so that you can see it as you walk in, but it means that you also have time to look around the place/check out the seating situation (there was plenty) before the staff jump on you. I thought that this was kinda nice; since I can’t really stand hose café’s where the counter is pressed right up to the adjacent entrance and you feel under pressure to order something right away. Here however, the staff were super welcoming and let us dawdle around + eye up all of the food for a bit before we were ready to order (we are 2 of the most indecisive people ever, so the fabulous cake selection was destined to be tricky).

I asked the woman at the counter if she was cool if we took photos and she said this was fine (I know that some places can be a bit funny with it), so we just used this an excuse to delay our decision making.

Soon enough, we both addressed our uncompromisable sweet tooth’s, and took the chance to go halfsies on a generously stuffed falafel wrap duo, in addition to 2 cheeky slices of cake mania….

If I’m being honest, the brownie had originally looked kinda dry and not very dense or rich (Love my stodge). I’m not even too sure why I got it since at the time I was actually battling a carrot cake and butter cream-type craving…but omg! How wrong was I…it was dense, fudgy, buttery, moist and just…purely heavenly. It tasted like milk chocolate – and not just cocoa! Maybe they had put chocolate chunks in the recipe?

Even though it was super rich, it wasn’t as sickly as some brownies that I have had – such the ones I’ve bought at borough food market which must be about twice the size (somehow!). But then again, this isn’t that surprising since brownie recipes are so easy to vary but create a product which can’t really change that much in appearance…If you decide to get this then, beware: I’m 90% sure there were nuts in it, so be ask before you buy. The picture really doesn’t do this brownie justice. Go and try it for yourself!

Amy chose the chocolate velvet cake with icing. I had a taste of it and it really was literally pure velvet - just so ridiculously smooth and moist, – is that even possible for a crumbly cake? I don’t know! But Yumchaa struck the balance perfectly. Not too sweet either! (And as I say, we have utterly unrivalled sweet tooth’s, so this is really saying something!).

As you can tell, I have stuck to the dessert first rule, but here’s our yummy falafel wrap half. Amy had hers toasted. I don’t know why I didn’t either, but I kinda semi-regretted my decision half way through…*note for next time*.

We didn’t actually try any of the loose leaf tea which they are apparently famous for – but this is definitely something to go back and try!

The atmosphere of the place is so lovely! Pure tranquillity! The design is based on simplicity and minimalism, but in a detailed kind of way. The end of the restaurant where the counter was had a load of really unusual décor + design on the walls; I especially liked how the ceiling & lighting were done, I guess this is the trend nowadays!

There was also a bunch of folk chilling out with their laptops, teas and coffees since they have free Wi-Fi – I only wish I had known about this place during term time! Yumchaa is such a breath of fresh air in contrast to the mainstream coffee chains and bakeries. But then again, maybe it was only quiet since it was a sunny bank holiday Sunday- it’s hard to imagine that this place wouldn’t be popular as a working lunch spot.

Then something funny happened. We walked out after our beautifully satisfying afternoon tea – only to march straight into Starbucks to buy 2 giant frappes. I blame Amy - but Amy blames Happy Hour -(The amazing buy one - get one free frappe deal which conveniently started as soon as we walked in).

The little guy behind the counter had the nicest eyes ever. We have no idea who he is, but he was just so friendly and couldn’t stop smiling at anyone and everything. We can just call him eyes man of TCR Starbucks who fills cookie crumble frappes so high with chocolate cream that they overspill through the lid + explode all over your hands and pale denim jeans (fab life experience). Definitely not complaining though, the frappucino’s were 100% perf...

Frappucino’s. Quad. Sunshine. Friends. Can a summery bank holiday Sunday even get any better than this? We definitely felt sorry for all of the people who were still drifting around the campus going to and from the library…studying is a tough life.

Yuan joined us for the last half of the afternoon :)

It was so peaceful. Uni was pretty quiet since the majority of exams are slowing down here now. The air smelt like summer. You know that tropical, grassy + humid smell that lingers in the air right after sunny BBQ’s and long afternoons at the beach? That was all around.

All in all:

1.       Spontaneous meet ups are the best.

2.       Triple that if it’s sunny.

3.       And triple that if you are with the best company.

4.       We will definitely return to Yumchaa to try the carrot cake, teas, and the Wi-Fi.

Today is bank holiday Monday. Its 7am and I’m writing this before a 9 hour waitressing shift. Fun times! Hopefully the weekend will keep me going for the rest of the week! L

Have you been to Yumchaa? What’s your experience of it? Is there anywhere else in London comparable to it that we can try too?!

Did you do anything special this bank holiday weekend?

Tash xo

Banana and Cinnamon Maple syrup pancakes in 15 minutes!

Have you ever heard that there's no time better than the present?

You've probably heard it a lot.

Has it become a bit bland and meaningless? It may have, just a little.

There's a whole lot of truth in it. Not just with reference to chores and activities...but life. How many times have we sailed through the Christmas holidays or summer months, wondering how great it will be to one day, enjoy them without the hustle and bustle of daily commitments and endless tasks? That would be great - but it's totally unrealistic and will never happen. We are here  to accomplish something. Even though we may wish the better times last for so much longer uninterrupted...they will only ever exist in addition to whatever else we may have on our plate.

The trick of enjoying the moment? Is to literally enjoy the moment.

I guess a lesson we are meant to learn in this life is one of time management in a deeper sense - how can we shift priorities instantaneously so that we can make the most out of every little moment and time slot life presents us with? I guess it's so easy to dismiss all of the 'little things' in life because we are fed up of something else - this as an excuse to let the moment pass. Some days, times, moments and opportunities are likely to never come back.

I kinda see life as like tiny strands of the universes DNA unraveling - every shred which falls off of it, is totally unique and different to the next. Once it's gone, it's gone. The trick is to capture the moment within each and savor it, so we can add to our memory boxes and trunk of lovely emotions. Chances are, every moment has something to teach us in such a way, that we can trust each lesson to avert from any mines we stumble across in the future.

We will never know where our lessons will take us.

On a less deep note though,

I kid you not. I definitely used a vacant lunch time slot wisely on a beautiful Wednesday afternoon:

It was definitely not my most balanced day ever...

Breakfast? Giant almond croissant (work was going to throw them out...) and a half. Half? Yes. I toasted one, ate half. Realized I like almond croissants better un-toasted so I just put the half eaten one back in the back and got a new one. Clean slate and all. Yum yum. By the way...extra butter is the only way to eat croissants - toasted or not. I've met a few people who are slightly disgusted at this?

Then I had some pumpkin blondies with dark chocolate chips left over from the previous days baking (nom nom - recipe soon to come!) And then I had some more, simply because it's just the thing to do with a plate of gooey pumpkin fudge blondies.

I was on a bit of a sugar high. A light lunch had no chances. Butter over load, anyone? 

2 days ago, I attempted 'sweet potato and banana pancakes'. Delicious as they sound, they turned out looking like an orange and carrot scramble with pieces of old omelette also chucked into the pan. Definitely not a good look. They tasted amazing though, doused with maple syrup and served on a pretty plate - though it would admittedly have been hard to convince the eye of the beholder...

BUT I was determined to pick myself up and try again, this time using far less milk (I have a problem - whenever I add milk I add too much milk. I don't know if it's because my hand doesn't know when to stop or because I simply love the pants off of milk)

Lunch time? Spare time? PANCAKES! Omitting the sweet potato though. I felt like using some wheat for those fluffy, cafe type pancakes. They came out p-e-r-f-e-c-t.

These deliciously light, soft, fluffy and maple sweet pancakes have no added butter, milk, or extra oil inside the recipe (minus oil for frying). They use one egg, apple sauce and a touch of brown sugar.
They are dangerously moreish, but a mere 1/2 cup of flour will grace you with 5-7 small-medium sized pancakes. Bon appetite!

Recipe (serves 1-2 depending on how hungry you are...)

• 1/2 cup white flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tbsp vanilla
• 1 medium mashed banana
• 1 heaped tablespoon Greek/natural low fat yogurt. 
• 1 teaspoon light brown sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• Maple syrup for dousing

1. Heat an oiled skillet/pan on high. I used canola oil. 
2. Mix together all of the dry ingredients, then add the banana and vanilla. 
3. Add the yogurt and the egg
4. Whisk with a fork or whisker, but do not over whisk. 
5. You should have a very thick, viscous pancakes batter. Do not worry about lumps - just make sure that all of the flour is incorporated. 
6. Spoon the batter onto the high heated skillet/pan. A large pan should fit about 5 on, and the entire batter should give you 2 batches like this. 
7. The first batch will take a bit longer. Flip the pancakes once bubbles start to appear on the surface.
8. The second batch cook extremely quickly (like 1.5 minutes a side, if that).

9. Go crazy with the maple syrup, and enjoy! Extra banana and more yogurt go great in addition!