Wake up it's a Beautiful Morning

Breakfast is obviously the most important meal as it sets you off for your adventures that day. Though to be honest, I'm quite fussy when it comes to breakfast - If it's not a bowl of Lucky Charms it's either pancakes or granola and Greek yogurt that does it for me (yum!). I used to be a huge cereal fan but I don't really know what happened to that as I slowly stopped eating them. Pancakes are so quick and easy to whip up in the morning and take roughly 60 seconds to cook. I like to pour some golden syrup over mine with some chopped banana and blueberries!

Granola is another one of my breakfast favourites I would quite happily munch this for the rest of my life! To prepare this, all I do is dollop 3-4 tablespoons of natural Greek yogurt into a bowl, chop up some strawberries, blueberries and add some dried fruit, which in this case is raisins and cranberries, and sprinkle with granola! Voila! This particular granola is full of oats, fruit, pumpkin seeds, coconut and cranberry juice! It's so yummy and so healthy for you - what more could you ask for? 

I'd love to know what you eat for breakfast as I like trying out new things! Also, I'm looking forward to posting so much more on my blog as I have officially left secondary school! (Whoop, whoop partaaaay!) I also have lots of things lined up that I am excited to share with you! 

x

Chloe Cooks - Coconut Loaf

When it comes to baking, I like to stick to the basics. The throwing the ingredients together in one large bowl and then bunging it into the oven - 60 minutes later voilá! Anything to cuisine is just too difficult and it completely backfires for me. When I had my French exchange over we tried making macarons and they totally failed (most probably down to moi...)!

Anyway, seeing as I have so much time on my hands now that I have left school, I decided to do some baking. I baked a scrummy coconut loaf cake which tastes so good, plus coconut tastes so good!

You will need:

- 175g butter or margarine

- 175g caster sugar

- 3 eggs

-225g plain flour

- 1tsp baking powder

- 100g desiccated coconut

-2tbsp milk 

Step 1: Grease or line your baking tin with greaseproof paper - for this recipe I used a bread tin (is that what they're called?). Preheat your oven to 170°C/338°F/Gas mark 3-4

Step 2: In a bowl, cream together the butter and sugar using a metal or wooden spoon.

Step 3: Gently beat in your eggs one at a time. If you prefer you can use an electric mixer or whisk - but here I just put my muscles to use!

Step 4: Once you have added all of your eggs to your mixture, using a sieve, sift the flour and the baking powder into the bowl and mix it until thick.

Step 5: Finally add your desiccated coconut into your mixture. If you want to add flavourings to your cake you can also do that now. I've seen several recipes that have included cinnamon into them, but I left that out because my family doesn't like it!

Step 6: Place your baking tray into the oven and cook for about an hour. To check if the cake is cooked place a wooden skewer into the centre; if it comes out clean, the cake is ready. If the cake needs extra time but is browning too much, cover it in tin foil and continue to bake.

Enjoy! Let me know if you try out this recipe as I know several other bloggers have!

Chloe x

Chloe Cooks - Simnel Cake

Simnel Cake is a cake filled with mixed fruit, lemon and marzipan and is a perfect Easter recipe. Here's how to make it: 

You will need:

• - 175g/6oz butter or margarine
• - 175g/6oz soft brown sugar
• - 3 free-range eggs, beaten
• - 175g/6oz plain flour
•  - Pinch salt
• - 350g/12oz mixed raisins, currants and sultanas
• - ½ lemon, grated zest only
• - 1-2 tbsp apricot jam
• -500g natural marzipan (ready made is best)

Step 1. Preheat your oven to 140C/275F/Gas mark 1. Then, grease and line a 18cm/7in cake tin using grease-proof paper.

Step 2. Start to make the cake by creaming together both the sugar and the butter until light and fluffy. If you want to speed things up a little you can use a mixer  but, if you're like me just give it some elbow grease! 

 Step 3. Add in each egg one at a time beating between to make sure they are completely mixed into the mixture. Then sift in the flour and salt and mix again.

Step 4. Place your cake mix aside for this step and use a grater to grate 1/2 a lemon zest (or more if you prefer) and add to the mixture. After the zest has been added, get your mixed fruit and place into a separate bowl. Coat the mixed fruit in some plain flour before adding to the mixture. This stops the fruit from sinking to the bottom of the cake as it is cooking.

Step 5. Roll out roughly 1/3 of your marzipan on a hard surface; lightly dusted with icing sugar. Cut out a circle which will comfortably fit in your cake tin.

Step 6. Put half of the mixture into your cake tin. Smooth the top over and cover with the circle of marzipan. Then place the rest of the cake mixture on top and smooth it over leaving a little less mixture in the middle so that the cake can rise. Bake in the oven for 1 3/4 hours. Test the mixture by inserting a wooden skewer, if it comes out clean you cake is ready.

Step 7. Generously spread apricot jam on top of the cooled cake. Roll out another 1/3 or your marzipan and place on top. Then create 11 little balls and using half cut cocktail sticks insert them on top of the cake, making sure they are evenly spaced. 

Step 8. Now, if you're professional (unlike me) and have possession of a cooks blow torch (this would have been fun though) brown the top of the marzipan until it goes a slightly golden brown colour. Alternatively, heat up your grill to the highest setting and brown the marzipan for roughly 1-2 minutes checking every few seconds so that it doesn't burn (you wouldn't want to ruin all of your hardwork now!)     

Phew! Sorry this post was such a long one. This took a while to bake but it was totally worth it - it looks sooooo good and so yummy! 

Chloe

xxx

Chloé Cooks - Fruit Infused Water

Ever since I saw a collection of these on Pinterest I have been wanting to make some. You should know that I am absolutely awful at keeping myself hydrated (I've been dehydrated and taken ill many times as a young child) and I made a promise to myself in the New Year that I would drink a lot more water. 

Now, I am not a massive water fan (I just find it soooooo bland and boring). I always have to dilute it with some kind of  fruit squash which is quite bad for you as it is full of sugars and additives. When I was looking on Pinterest the other day I came across these homemade fruit infused waters. They are so yummy and not to mention really cute in jam jars; they would be perfect to make with your kids/friends or for a garden party.

Fruit infused water is so easy and so cheap to make, all you need to do is: grab a cup, jar, pitcher, beaker what ever you want and fill it 3/4 of the way with cold tap water (or bottled if you live in a place where you can't drink out of your taps), then select the desired fruit (berries and citrus fruits work best, avoid things like banana!) and chop it up into small pieces. Once your all chopped, quickly rinse the fruit to remove any dirt etc. and place into your cup! Voliá! 

If you make a big jug of  infused water, it is best to leave it in the fridge until needed and drunk on the day of creation. If not, keep refrigerated and refresh the water every 1-3 days.

Right to left: Raspberry & Blackberry, Orange & Lemon, Strawberry & Kiwi.

They look so pretty and taste so good as well as being 100% natural! 

If you live in a warm country (in other words, not the UK) then you can try adding ice cubes to your water or adding frozen fruit to made it cooler and more refreshing. You could also add things such as mint or cucumber to give it an extra kick! 

 

Be sure to comment with links to your blogs if you try out this recipe! Enjoy!

Chloe

xxx

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