Polenta Bake

Polenta is incredibly cheap and amazingly versatile, especially when bought by the bag, as opposed to ready-made.
This polenta bake is a perfect example of the kind of nutritious dish you can make with polenta.
It's essentially polenta made with vegetable stock and packed full of fresh vegetables (green beans, courgettes, red onions...) and slow-roast tomatoes, then topped with a large dose of Parmazano, or any other powdered cheese replacer.

Jen x

Mini donuts

Of all the things I've cooked in my time, these mini donuts have been one of the most popular by far.
On one day, I cooked 50 of them, and they were all gone within 48 hours!

That said, this is one of those rare occasions where I didn't use my own recipe! I used this fantastic recipe from veganyumyum (albeit with a little less nutmeg, more like a pinch).

I made some iced in a proper Homer Simpson pink:

And I made chocolate ones, using a strange chocolate I've only managed to find in France, labelled not as milk, plain or dark, but simply as 'Chocolate'. It's rich and dairy-free, but not bitter or overly strong.

This wonderful recipe is soft and sweet with the perfect crumb:

Jen x

Mini cupcakes!

Sometimes, you want something little that makes the perfect two-bite snack with a cup of tea...and mini-cupcakes fit that category perfectly.

I used silicone petits fours cases to make these rich chocolate cupcakes.
I always make my chocolate cakes with pure chocolate extract, to make the flavour extra-rich!
And when making non-iced cupcakes, I tend to use a little extra cocoa powder to make the batter thicker, so they rise better and make that perfect domed-top.

Delicious!

Jen x

Chocolate Sandwich Shortcake Biscuits

Once again, I've left it far too long and have endless things to update about. But i will start with these wonderful biscuits.

I used a basic shortbread recipe to make little circular biscuits.

Once almost cooled, I dusted them in vanilla sugar and, meanwhile, prepared the filling. The filling is basically melted dark chocolate with a little added soya milk to stop it setting fully again and, instead, stay nice and creamy.

Once the biscuits were fully cooled, I put them together to make the final product; two crumbly shortbread biscuits with a rich, creamy chocolate filling. Mmmm...

Jen x