Cashew Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

 

A few weeks ago, I got a package from a new wholly Nigerian company run by 2 young ladies called Uwa Earth Foods. The package contained a selection of their preservative free and all natural peanut and cashew butters - crunch peanut butter, spicy peanut butter, cashew butter and chocolate cashew butter. To say I was excited is an understatement. A lot of the things I love in 1 package: Female entrepreneurs, Organic food company, preservative free, very few ingredients, cute packaging and proudly Nigerian.

 

I went into mad scientist mode thinking about what to do with all these goodies apart from smearing on bread. This is one of the results. These cookies are chewy and rich. The creaminess and taste of the cashew butter adds a sophistication to these cookies that you will not get from peanut butter. The chocolate chips add just the right amount of sweetness. These cookies can be eaten warm or cold with some milk or cocoa which would be perfect for this rainy season. You can also serve this with plain vanilla ice cream for an indulgent treat.

 

To make about 30 cookies, you will need:

• 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 125g butter
• 125g cashew butter
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar + 1 tablespoon set aside
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 2 tablespoons liquid full cream milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• Whole cashew nuts for decoration

Directions:

• In a bowl, sift flour, baking soda, salt and set aside
• Using a stand or hand mixer, cream butters, 1/2 cup granulated sugar, brown sugar, egg, milk, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Gradually add flour mixture until incorporated. Add chocolate chips and stir with a wooden spoon till evenly mixed
• Place in fridge for about 10 minutes
• Using a cookie scoop, scoop dough unto baking sheets lined with parchment paper
• Sprinkle each cookie with some granulated sugar and top with a whole cashew nut pressed into the dough
• Bake in a preheated oven (350F) until golden brown - between 12 - 15 minutes
• Let
• Cool on baking sheets for 10 minutes and then transfer to wire racks to cool completely

Enjoy!!!!!

*You can find Uwa Earth Foods on Facebook & Instagram- @uwaearthfoods

Mango & Coconut Cupcakes with Lime Whipped Cream Topping

I am dreaming of a holiday. Not just any old holiday. I am dreaming of white sandy beaches, clear blue skies, bathing suits and sarongs, ridiculously colored drinks with umbrellas – on a Caribbean island far, far away.

Since I will not be taking a holiday anytime soon (with the number of hats I wear, I can only pray for a break at some point), I figured I could bring a taste of the Caribbean close to home and satisfy my sweet cravings at the same time. There is no flavor more synonymous with the Caribbean than coconut. Papayas and mangos tie for second place in my opinion so I went into mad scientist mode and decided to play around with these flavors in cake. The papaya (pawpaw) experiment was a hot mess. Mushy and nasty. I shudder just thinking about it. Using mangos however, success. The result of this experiment are cupcakes that are not too sweet, full of tropical flavor and topped with light as air whipped cream with bursts of citrus flavor from grated lime zest – the Caribbean in your mouth.

To make 18 cupcakes, you will need:

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sweetened flaked coconut
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup melted and cooled unsalted butter
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup liquid full cream milk
• 1 cup peeled, chopped ripe mango

Frosting:

• I cup whipping cream
• 1/2 cup icing sugar
• 1 teaspoon lime zest

Directions:

• Pre heat oven to gas mark 3
• Line muffin tin with muffin liners and set aside
• In a bowl, mix flour, coconut, baking powder and salt
• In another bowl, whisk sugar, butter and eggs until smooth. Add flour and milk and beat until smooth. Add mango and stir to combine. Do not over mix
• Scoop batter into muffin liners – fill liners about 3/4 to the top.
• Bake for 20 – 25 minutes or until golden brown and tops of cupcakes spring back when lightly touched.
• Let cool completely and make frosting
• Add whipping cream, icing sugar and lime zest into a mixing bowl and whip till stiff. An electric hand mixer or stand mixer will make this frosting in a short period of time
• Top cooled cupcakes with whipped cream frosting and serve.

Enjoy!!!

Finally. A Baking Post. And A Giveaway: Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

 

Considering that I have run a boutique bakery - Cupcake Couture Lagos for the past 4 years, it is amazing that there is not a single baking recipe on this blog.

 

There is no better recipe to break the 'no baking recipe on the blog' jinx than this moist and delicious banana chocolate chip muffin one. And to celebrate, its also giveaway time. Oh yaay.

 

So - banana bread and its variants are very popular with a lot of people around the world. I make a killer banana bread if I say so myself but I am always on the lookout for recipes that use bananas in baked goods in different ways. I was going through one of my many recipe binders that contains printed and torn out recipes from magazines, the internet etc and I found a recipe for banana chocolate chip muffins that seemed easy enough. I tried it and while it was nice, I tweaked the recipe - Uzo style and the result is super moist muffins with undeniable banana flavor that is not too sweet which means the kiddies can enjoy this as well.

 

To make 12 muffins, you will need:

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 57g butter at room temperature
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 cup buttermilk - Please see kitchen tip post on how to make buttermilk at home
• 3 large very ripe bananas - chopped into small pieces
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 12 cup muffin tin
• 12 muffin liners

 

Directions:

 

Sieve flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and set aside

 

 

 

In a stand mixer or using a hand mixer, cream butter and brown sugar for about 5 minutes or until fluffy. Add beaten egg and buttermilk.

Using a wooden spoon or spatula, stir in flour mixture until just incorporated. Do not over mix

Add bananas and chocolate chips and fold in gently so as not to turn the bananas to mush

Scoop mixture into muffin liners - filling them 3/4 of the way

Bake in a preheated oven at gas mark 4 or 400F for 20 minutes until light brown and a toothpick inserted into the middle of a muffin comes out clean.

Let muffins cool in pan for 10 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack until ready to eat

 

I realize that everyone doesn't have chocolate chips or muffin liners lying around - so I am giving away 12 muffin liners like the ones in this picture and 1 cup of real semi sweet chocolate chips - enough for this recipe to 2 readers. All you have to do is: comment on this post, subscribe to www.youtube.com/uzosfoodlabs and follow on twitter: @uzosfoodlabs. Winners will be picked at random and should be able to pickup their gifts from Lekki 1, Lagos.

 

Enjoy!!!

 

Recipe for my Naughty Mango Bread...

 

 

There is no doubt that it is mango season. Everywhere I turn, I see mangos.  In the markets, in supermarkets, in wheel barrows pushed around by fruit vendors – there they are waiting to be poked and prodded and then taken home to be peeled and eaten.

After receiving an obscene number of mangoes from my mother, I had done everything from peeling and eating the fruit straight from the fridge, blending as base for smoothies, putting chunks in plain yogurt, given my 14 month old son spoonfuls several times a day and I still had way too many left and we were getting sick of them. I couldn’t bear to throw them away so I decided to figure out some other way to use the fruits that would exhaust what we had left but be interesting as well. I thought to myself – banana bread is a classic, why not try making mango bread?

 

When I mentioned it to my husband, he screwed up his face every which way and said he wasn’t going to be a part of that nastiness. However, the idea had taken root. Mangos are considered a tropical exotic fruit so I could add some warmth with some spices and alcohol and it could just work. I am so happy to say that after a few tweaks, the naughty mango bread is a huge hit with my husband, friends and family with folks even offering to pay for loaves when no freebies are forthcoming. And the best part about it, no mixers needed. Just bowls and a wooden spoon..

To make a 9 inch loaf, you will need:

• 1 cup of dried mixed fruit (cover the fruit with some brandy, rum or cognac for at least an hour. This is the naughty part of the bread)
• 2 ½ cups of all purpose flour
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• ½ cup dark brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 ½ teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 3 large eggs
• ¾ cup of vegetable or canola oil
• 2 cups diced mango (2 medium sized mangoes or 1 very large mango should give you what you need)

Making the bread:

·        Preheat oven to 350 degrees F or gas mark 4.

·        Spray a 9 inch loaf pan or any baking tin of your choice with baking non stick spray or butter the tin thoroughly, dust with flour and tap out the excess

·        In a bowl, sieve and whisk together the flours, sugars, baking soda, baking powder, spices and salt

·        In another bowl, whisk the eggs and oil together and pour over the dry ingredients.

·        Mix the batter well using a wooden spoon or a spatula. The batter will be very thick so don’t panic.

·        Drain the mixed fruit and add to batter along with the diced mangoes and stir well to be sure everything is properly incorporated.

·        Scrape the batter into the pan and use wooden spoon or spatula to smooth the top

 

·        Bake for 45 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick or thin knife inserted comes out clean

·        Let the bread cool for about 10 minutes before removing from the pan and let cool thoroughly before slicing.

This naughty mango bread is fantastic warm or cold, with coffee or tea or even with a light smear of butter if you are feeling generous about your calories.

 

 

 

 

Enjoy!!!!

 

 

 

Food Porn

Light as air vanilla sponge topped with chocolate espresso frosting.

Wait a minute! I cannot believe that there are no baking recipes up on the blog. This is ridiculous seeing as one of the many hats that I wear is as Head baker and Creative Director of Cupcake Couture and we bake every day...So here's to lots of baking recipes in addition to the other posts.

Enjoy!!!!

Naughty Mango Bread

Here's to spreading my wings.

The recipe for this delicious baked treat and how it came to be can be found here: http://www.bellanaija.com/2014/05/16/bn-cuisine-with-uzo-food-labs-naughty-mango-bread/