- x- Valentine s Cookbook A COLLECTION OF EASY RECIPES CREATED BY SOME OF OUR FAVOURITE BLOGGERS

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1 - x- Valentine s Cookbook - x- A COLLECTION OF EASY RECIPES CREATED BY SOME OF OUR FAVOURITE BLOGGERS

2 Pea & Ham Soup By Amelia from Peel and chop your onion and potato and dice the cooked ham. Add your ham, onion, potato and peas to your soup maker. Dissolve the stock cubes into 900ml of boiling water and tip into the soup maker along with your other ingredients. Add a knob of butter, pop on the lid and set your Tower Soup Maker to 30 minutes. When the timer goes off, simply press the blend button until smooth and serve with crispy bacon bits, croutons and some. crusty bread! EQUIPMENT USED: Tower Soup Maker 1 Onion 2 Pork stock cubes 1 Medium potato 300g Cooked ham 500g Frozen peas A smidgen of butter It does EVERYTHING for you and after its first use it s become my new favourite gadget making soup is criminally easy with this bad boy! - Amelia

3 Butternut Squash & Feta Lasagne Peel and chop up the butternut squash. Chop up your mushrooms, onion and pepper into chunks and put into your lasagne pan (spray liberally with your cooking oil of choice) along with your chopped butternut squash. Sprinkle with dried rosemary, salt and pepper and chuck some crushed garlic on, too. Roast in a 200c oven for about 25mins. Wilt your spinach by popping it into a frying pan or wok along with a tiny bit of water. It ll cook faster with the lid on, but should only take about 5 minutes. It ll look like loads, but it reduces a lot. When your veg is cooked, you can assemble the lasagne so make sure you leave the oven on! Put about half the veg into the bottom of your lasagne dish. Lay 3 lasagne sheets over that and then put all the spinach over them, making sure they are evenly spread across the surface of the lasagne sheets. Chop up your feta and sprinkle the lot over the top of your spinach, then spoon the remainder of the roasted vegetables and squash over. By Sarah from 6 Dry lasagne sheets 200g Spinach 125g Light mozzarella 1 Onion 200g Feta cheese 1 Pepper 1 Can low fat condensed mushroom soup 6 Portobello mushrooms 1 Butternut Squash 4 Garlic cloves 10. Cover with 3 lasagne sheets. 1 Spoon the can of mushroom soup over, making sure the lasagne sheets are all covered. You can actually use any white sauce here, but mushroom soup is really easy and low fat. 1 Tear up your mozzarella and sprinkle over the lasagne sheets. 1 Pop your pan in the oven and cook for mins at 200c. 1 Get it out, serve it quickly, eat it all up. This also freezes really well! I recommend adding more cheese when you reheat it, because more cheese makes everything better.

4 Chocolate Irish Cream Liquor Biscuit Cups Combine the chocolate spread, Irish cream liquor, butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Sift and fold in the flour. Mix together until a dough is formed. Roll the dough into a 1-inch sausage and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes. Slice the dough into 1cm rounds. Spray the underside of a Yorkshire pudding tray with cake release spray. Press each slice of the dough over each ridge. Press lightly until the dough has the shape of the ridge in the tray. Bake in a pre-heated oven at Gas Mark 3 for minutes depending on if you like them soft and chewy or with a bit of crunch. By Steph from 10. Leave to cool slightly until they can be handled. 1 Carefully twist each cup to remove from the tray. 1 Leave to cool completely. 20g Chocolate spread 110g Sugar 5ml Irish cream liquor 275g Plain flour 200g Softened butter 1 Serve with vanilla ice cream, fresh raspberries and grated chocolate.

5 Mud Cake with Salted Butterscotch By Ai Lin from 125g Butter 100g Self raising flour 110g Light brown sugar 50g Ground almonds 80g Dark chocolate 10g Cocoa powder 150ml Water ½ tsp Baking powder 1 tbsp Instant coffee 1 Egg Preheat oven to 150 C and grease and line baking rings/tin. Put butter, chocolate, light brown sugar and dark chocolate in a small pot and melt down over low heat. Slowly add in the water and stir, once the water is hot add in the coffee and stir to dissolve. Leave mixture to simmer over low heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Once done, remove from heat and pour mixture into a mixing bowl. Sieve self raising flour, ground almonds, cocoa powder and baking powder together. Add the sieved ingredients into melted butter and chocolate mixture. Mix until evenly combined. Add in the egg and mix until just combined. Pour mixture into baking rings/tin and bake at for minutes. The cakes should be well risen and the smell will be amazing. As the mixture is quite moist, a skewer when inserted should nt come out clean - you want the middle of the cake to be a little gooey and not completely dry. If you have not made your butterscotch sauce, you can make it while the mud cakes are baking. Recipe for Salted Butterscotch follows. Use a skewer or a chopstick to poke a hole in the middle of the mud cakes. Put butterscotch into a freezer bag (or piping bag), snip off the end and fill the cakes with butterscotch. Drizzle the remaining butterscotch over the cakes. Dust with icing sugar just before serving.

6 Egg Free Exotic Mango and Cardamom Pancakes In a bowl mix sifted flour, baking powder, sugar and ground cardamom. Mix water and coconut oil into the milk, stir and pour into the dry ingredients. Stir into a smooth batter but do not over beat. Place a non-stick frying pan on medium heat, add ½ tsp melted coconut oil, turn the pan to ensure even coating of oil. Using a ladle, pour batter into the frying pan, spread the batter to a thin consistency using the base of a ladle. Let one side cook for at least seconds or until evenly brown, flip the pancake and let cook for another seconds. If your pancake is slightly stuck you can add a bit more coconut oil. Continue this process until all the batter has been used. Peel the mango, cut out the flesh into thick finger slices as shown in the photograph. Take a pancake, fill with mango slices, wrap and drizzle with white chocolate add a dusting of icing sugar. Serve with cream or ice cream for extra indulgence. By Chintal from 1 Onion 550ml Warm milk 250g Sifted plain flour 30ml Water 2 ½ tbsp Caster sugar 1 Large green skin ripe fibreless mango, ensure mango isn t over ripe. 2 tsp Baking powder ¾ tsp Ground cardamom 4 tbsp Melted organic coconut oil plus extra for cooking 50g - 100g Melted white chocolate Icing sugar for dusting

7 Fortune Cookies By Charlotte from Add the vanilla extract, flour and caster sugar and whisk until combined. Bake the cookies two at a time as they need to be formed before they cool. If you try and bake more in one go you ll find that they crack when you try and shape them. For each cookie, place a teaspoon of mixture onto the greased tray/ silicon sheet and use a palette knife to spread the mixture into a circle roughly 10cm in diameter. You need to spread the mixture as thinly and evenly as possible (about 1mm thick). Place into the pre-heated oven and bake for 4-5 minutes until the edges are just starting to brown (the centre will still be pale). While the first two cookies are baking, prepare the second batch on a different tray. Once the cookies have baked, remove from the oven and shape them. 10. You need to shape the cookies as quickly as possible after they have been removed from the oven. Please be careful as they will still be very hot. 1 Egg white ⅛ tsp Vanilla extract 40g Plain flour A little butter (to grease the baking trays) 40g Caster sugar I N STRUC TI ON S: Prepare your fortunes by writing the messages for the inside of the cookies on the pieces of paper roughly 1cm x 10cm, and fold them a few times to make them small enough to fit. Preheat the fan oven to 220C/200C and grease two baking trays/silicon sheets with a little butter. In a bowl, whisk the egg white until foamy but not stiff. 1 Place your pre written fortune in the centre of each cookie and fold the cookie in half. 1 Pick up the cookie by the two corners of the fold. Place the centre of the fold on the edge of a cup or mug and gently pull down the two corners, ensuring the edges stay as held together as possible. This will create the typical fortune cookie shape. 1 Place the cookie into a muffin tin (or similar) to help it hold its shape until it cools completely. 1 Repeat until all cookies are baked and shaped.

8 Rose Fairy Cakes By Daisy from The Cake The Icing 150g Butter 150g Cream cheese 150g Brown sugar 50g Butter (or use cream to make thicker) 2 tsp Rose water 3 Eggs 200g Self raising flour 400g Icing sugar 2 tsp Rose water Pink food colouring Whisk together the butter and sugar. Once combined it s time to stir the rose water in. Next, add the eggs into the mixture and whisk slowly, adding the flour a little at a time. Spoon the mixture into fairy cake cases and place into a preheated oven (180C) for 15 minutes. Once the cakes are lightly golden take them out and place on a wire rack to cool. While the fairy cakes are baking it s time to put together the cream cheese icing! In a big bowl combine the icing sugar, cream cheese, butter and rose water. Add a couple of drops of food colouring to give them that Valentine s Day feeling. Once the fairy cakes have cooled you can get creative with the icing.

9 The Valentine s Steak Sandwich of Lurve Fire up your health grill (easiest way to cook steak quickly and to the specified preference). Rub some oil into your steak fillets, season with salt, pepper and a dash of paprika and rub all that in. Pop your fillet steaks onto the grill and leave to cook. When the steak is cooked to your preference, remove but keep the grill on. Leave steaks to rest and pop your baguette halves into the health grill to soak up any of the juices left over (this gives a great chargrilled taste!). Slice up steak and arrange on the warm crusty baguette. Fry garlic in the tiniest bit of oil until softened, add peppercorns, Dijon Mustard and the stock pot. Pour in 2 cups of hot water and bring to the boil, allow to simmer (this aids thickening process) and then cool slightly before stirring in the cream. Serve in a little fancy dish to the side and enjoy! If you like mushrooms and fried onions, improvise. For me, on Valentine s Day, it s about something quick and simply thrown together whilst I slip into something altogether less comfortable! By Sera from FOR THE SAUCE: 1 Large crusty baguette 1 Clove of garlic 2 Fillet steaks 2 tbsp Black peppercorns Paprika 1 tsp Dijon Mustard Spray Oil 1 Beef stock pot Salt & Pepper to season 3 tsp Double cream

10 Bitesize Lemon and Lime Syllabub Recipe Pour the cream and sift the icing sugar into a mixing bowl. Add the juice and zest from the lemon and lime. Whisk until the mixture is stiff. Crush 4 of the biscuits with your hands and divide between all of the cups. Spoon over the mixture. Drizzle with the Crème de Framboise (this adds a sharp note that helps cut through the rich cream). Crush the last biscuit and dust between the syllabubs. Serve using small cups means that you get a bitesize amount of what is an incredibly rich pudding. By Nik from I NG R E D I E N TS: 500ml Double cream 5 Ginger nut biscuits 1 Lemon 6-8 Small cups 1 Lime Crème de Framboise au Cognac (optional) 75g Icing sugar

11 Chocolate & Raspberry Cakes By Charlotte from Chocolate Cake Chocolate & Raspberry Filling 225g Plain flour 113g Room temp butter 350g Caster sugar 200g Icing sugar 85g Cocoa powder 32g Cocoa 1 ½ tsp Baking powder ¼ tsp Salt 1 ½ tsp Bicarbonate of Soda 1 Handful of raspberries 2 Medium free range eggs 3 tbsp Double cream 250ml Milk 125ml Vegetable oil 2 Tsp Vanilla extract 250ml Water Square or Rectangular Cake tin Heart Shaped Cutter Chocolate Ganache Icing 200g Chocolate 200ml Double cream Dried raspberries (optional) THE CAKE Preheat your oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4 and line your baking tray. Place in the oven and bake for roughly minutes, check it s cooked by sticking a butter knife into the cake and checking the knife comes out clean Once it s ready, remove from the oven and leave to cool on a cooling rack Add the butter and the raspberries to a bowl and mix with an electric mixer Add the cream to a small milk pan and heat. Add the butter to a large mixing bowl, beat with a wooden spoon until softened. Add the sugar to the mix and continue beating until light and fluffy. Beat the eggs separately and then slowly add to the butter/sugar mixture. Sift the flour and then slowly incorporate into the mixture. Add the rest of the ingredients except for the water. The mixture should now be quite stiff - add the water a little bit at a time until you have a pourable yet firm mixture. When it s cool enough take your heart cutter and cut out some heart shapes. Slice these hearts through the middle horizontally using a bread knife. THE FILLING Add the salt, icing sugar and cocoa, and continue mixing. Gradually add the cream until you reach a fluffy mixture. Add this to a piping bag and pipe onto 1 half of each your heart cakes. Pop the other halves on top and leave to set in a fridge for 30 mins. THE ICING Break the chocolate into little pieces and gradually add it to the pan. Stir with a wooden spoon until it s all smooth and combined. Place your cakes onto a cooling rack and pour the chocolate ganache over. Pop it back into the fridge and leave to set. Decorate with a sprinkle of dried raspberries.

12 Chocolate & Salted Caramel Tartlets By Angela from I N G R E D I E N TS: To make the caramel put one third of the granulated sugar into a saucepan and place on medium heat. When it dissolves add the next third of the sugar. Once that has melted, the final batch of sugar can be added. Heat the sugar until it turns a golden colour. Turn down the heat to low and add the cream in small batches. Take care as the mixture will bubble up, so you will need to stir it quite quickly. When all of the cream has been added, take the pan off the heat and stir in the butter - this stops the caramel from cooking any further. Finally use an immersion or stick blender to mix the caramel until the butter and caramel are combined. Pour into a bowl, cover with cling-film and put it in the fridge to chill. To make the ganache, heat the cream and butter together in a saucepan and bring it to the boil. Take the cream off the heat and allow to cool slightly before pouring it over the chocolate. Stir the chocolate from the centre working outwards until the cream and chocolate are combined. Leave to cool - if you refrigerate the ganache you may need to warm it in the microwave when you want to use it or it will be too hard to spread. Roll out the pastry until it s 2mm - 3mm thick. The pastry can be very sticky, so it may be easier to roll it out between two sheets of baking parchment. Stamp out 8 circles for the individual tarts and press the pastry into the sides and trim the edges. 10. Bake the pastry blind, weighing it down with greaseproof paper and baking beans. Bake the individual tarts at 180C for 10mins, remove the baking beans and finish baking the pastry at 160C for a further mins. Leave the pastry to cool. Chocolate Ganache Chocolate Sable pastry 100g Unsalted butter 50g Icing sugar 1 Egg (lightly beaten) 85g Plain flour 40g Cocoa powder Chocolate Ganache Salted Caramel 150ml Whipping cream 140g Granulated sugar 25g Unsalted butter 75ml Double cream 1 280g Dark chocolate (at least 50% Cocoa) 100g Salted butter (diced and chilled) Half fill the cases with the caramel using a piping bag, or a knife (you may need to warm the caramel slightly as it can set quite well). 1 Pipe or spread the cooled ganache on top to fill the tarts, smooth it so the edges are completely sealed. You will have ganache left over - this can be rolled into truffles or frozen for up to 3 months, ( just defrost it overnight and warm it slightly in a microwave to make it soft enough to spread or pipe). 1 The tart can then be decorated with more salted caramel and if you re feeling very indulgent, some gold leaf or a square of your favourite chocolate. I N STRUC TI ON S: First, to make the pastry; add the butter, icing sugar and eggs to a food mixer and mix together. Add the flour and cocoa powder and mix until the pastry comes together in a sticky paste. Cover in cling film and leave to rest in the fridge for at least 2 hours or overnight if possible. This is a very sticky pastry and it needs a lot of time to rest.

13 Tower Valentine s Cookbook Bloggers AM EL I A CHI NTAL SARAH STEPH AI L I N CHARLOTTE DAI SY SERA NI K CHARLOTTE ANGEL A