Candied Almonds

My brother Niall has a bit of an obsession... He absolutely LOVES almonds. He eats them day in, day out and mam can buy anything between two and five packs on a weekly basis for him. I suppose they are a good source of healthy oils and nutrients, but, he's been trying out a few not-so-healthy recipes lately, one of which is these absolutely deeeelicious salted caramelized roasted nuts which really are a must try. 

When Niall mentioned that he was planning on making these scrumptious treats I insisted on documenting his every move for Yummmmyy. I seriously couldn't wait to try them.

The aromas that filled the kitchen as he made the caramelized nuts, instantly brought me back to the streets of New York. The smell was almost identical to that of the freshly candied nuts sold by vendors on almost every street corner in the city. I did try the candied nuts while in New York, one evening on my way to the Museum of Modern Art, so I had great expectations and lucky Niallo had a lot to live up to! 

You Will Need...

2 Cups of Nuts of your choice (We used a mix of almonds and peanuts)

1 and a half cups of Brown Sugar

Half cup of Honey or Golden Syrup

2 tbsp Salt

Method

1) Preheat the oven to 180C/ 350F/ Gas Mark 5 and line a flat baking tray with greaseproof paper

2) Put all the nuts and the half cup of sugar into a pot, cover in hot water and bring to the boil

3) When boiled, drain the water and leave the nuts in the pot

4) Add the honey and half the remaining sugar and stir

5) Pour the nuts onto the baking tray and sprinkle with the remaining sugar and the salt

6) Bake for approximately 10 minutes until the nuts are golden brown

7) Leave to cool and enjoy

Yummmmyy's 1st Birthday Celebrated with Raspberry & Almond Cupcakes

I actually can't believe that it's been an entire year since I began to blog! It was at a dinner party with the college galz when I made a batch of my Chocolate Brownies with Triple Chocolate Sauce that I was convinced set Yummmmyy up. I must have impressed the girls with my dessert, especially Rhona, who was really keen to see what else I could make. I showed her my recipe book and she was adiment I set up my own food blog. I'm so happy I took her advice as I absolutely love want I'm doing and my dream is definitely still to one day own my very own bakery where I can bake all of my favourite recipes :) 

It's been such a good year and so much has happened with Yummmmyy. I've learned so much and I really like to think that my bakes are improving week by week. In February 2013, I was awarded the Liebster Award for best up and coming blog - which I was absolutely thrilled about. 

In March I was approached by an Irish company Ads on Bags, who asked if they could feature some of my recipes on their biodegradable supermarket bags - such a brilliant opportunity.

During the Summer, I was invited to the launch of Kenco Millicano's new travel mug designed by Orla Kiely - time to mingle with other Irish foodies, aaaand myself and my boyfriend Dave were pictured at the launch in the Irish Tatler!!! 

Also during the Summer, I was a recipient of a brilliant cooler box full of Philadelphia products to try, courtesy of Kraft Foods - I felt so important being asked to test a new product. 

Like I said, SO much has happened in one year! 

Yummmmyy's Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest pages are also booming with a great amount of likes and followers and the blog itself has over 21400 page views !!! I am unbelievably proud of what I have done over the past year and here's hoping that I'll have another post similar to this one for Yummmmyy's 2nd Birthday!

So, to celebrate Yummmmyy's big day, I tried out a new recipe which I adapted from one I found in a cookbook given to me by my Nana Barbara, which is simply called "Muffins". I LOVE anything almond - marzipan, bakewell tarts, almond slices, almond fingers, frangipan - the list is endless! So, these Raspberry & Almond Muffins were a must try...

You Will Need...

250g Plain Flour (sieved)

80g Chopped Almonds

2.5 tsp Baking Powder (sieved)

.5 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda (sieved)

50g Ground Almonds

140g Caster Sugar

250g Raspberries (fresh or frozen)

1 Egg (lightly beaten)

80 ml Sunflower Oil

275 ml Buttermilk

150g Marzipan

12 Raspberries (for decoration)

Fresh Cream (for decoration)

Icing Sugar (for dusting)

Method

1) Preheat your oven to 180C/ 350F/ Gas Mark 5

2) Line your muffin tray with muffin cases and place it in the fridge while making the batter.

3) Put the Flour, Ground Almonds, Chopped Almonds, Bicarbonate of Soda & Baking Powder in a bowl and combine

4) In a jug or separate bowl, combine the Egg, Sugar, Oil and Buttermilk 

5) Fold the wet mixture and the Raspberries into the dry mixture until all of the dry ingredients are moistened

6) Cut the marzipan into cubes

7) Take your tray out of the fridge and fill each muffin case with one large spoon of the batter

8) Place a marzipan cube into the middle of each case and top with the remaining mixture

9) Bake for 20 mins

10) Leave to stand in the muffin tray when done and serve them warm topped with fresh cream and a raspberry

Flour-less Chocolate Cake

So last weekend myself and the college girls decided to have a get together for a much needed catch-up. We had originally planned on having a dinner party, but in the end we decided to order a cheeky Chinese Take-Away. However, I still couldn't resist baking something Yummmmyy for dessert. I wanted to bake a proper cake and seens as it was the end of Lent and seens as all of the girls LOVE chocolate, I decided to go for a Rich Chocolate Cake.

There are two ways of making this cake - one with flour and the other without. I've started to realise over the last little while that I haven't been sharing any recipes specifically for people with allergies, so, this can be my first :)

Here goes...

Ingredients...

300g/10oz Dark Chocolate (chopped)

250g/9oz Butter (softened)

300g/10oz Caster Sugar

6 Eggs (lightly beaten)

110g/4oz Ground Almonds 

OR if you would like to use flour, use 55g/2oz Ground Almonds and 55g/2oz Plain Flour

Ground Almonds work as a substitute for Flour for this recipe

Method...

1) Preheat the oven to 160C/ 325F/ Gas Mark 3

2) Grease an 8 inch round cake tin with melted butter and also add a piece of baking paper to the bottom to make sure your cake doesn't get stuck

3) Put your chocolate, butter and sugar in a large bowl over a pot of simmering water & stir until melted

4) When the mixture is fully melted, remove the bowl from the heat and stir in the lightly beaten eggs

5) Fold in the ground almonds or your ground almonds and flour combination

6) Pour the mixture into the cake tin and bake for 40-50 minutes, until the centre is set.

7) Leave the cake to cool in the tin while you make the frosting

For the Frosting...

* You will need to melt 300g of Chocolate (dark or milk - I usually do half and half) , 90g Butter and 6 tbsp of Milk over a pot of simmering water. 

*Once all of the ingredients are combined, leave the mixture to sit until the cake is cool and you're ready to frost it.

We served the cake with both Ice-cream and Cream 

And it was devoured!!!