Warm Butternut Squash & Coconut Soup

I was watching Donal Skehan's 'Kitchen Hero' last week, and, he made what looked to be, a delicious roasted butternut squash soup. I said that I may definitely give it a go since I had never cooked with squash before. I didn't really know what to expect, but, it turned out to be surprisingly easy to prepare and the soup was extremely easy to make. The soup, served with a nice wedge, or two, of fresh rustic bread is definitely the perfect dish to warm you up on a cold winter's day.

You will need...

Approx.1 kg of Butternut Squash

4 tbsp Olive Oil/ Coconut Oil/ Veg Oil

Salt & Pepper

2 Red Onions

Half a Small Red Chilli Pepper

400ml of Coconut Milk

600ml of Vegetable Stock

Method

1) First, preheat your oven to 220C/ 425F/ Gas Mark 7

2) Then prepare your butternut squash by slicing it across the middle, peeling it and scooping out the fleshy inside with a spoon

If you're stuck, this video will explain how to prepare the squash really well....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qwTjTUMT8Y

3) Then dice the squash and put it into a baking tray with 2 tbsp of oil drizzled over it and a sprinkling of both salt and pepper

4) Roast the squash for a half hour

5) While the squash it roasting you can prepare your onions by slicing then into thin pieces

6) You can then put them in a pot with the remaining oil (with the lid on) and allow them to sweat 

7) When the onions have softened, you can add in the chilli pepper and leave it to swear some more

8) When the half hour is up, take the squash out of the oven and empty it into the pot and stir

9) Pour into the coconut milk and veg stock, stir, and bring to the boil

10) When the soup reaches boiling point, allow it to simmer on a low heat for approx 40 minutes

11) Then turn off the ring, and, after a further 10 minutes blend the soup using a hand blender 

It really is the perfect dish to come home to after a day out in the Winter air, or after a chilli ice skating session! 

Josh's Chocolate Honeycomb Digger Cake

So it's that time of year again - my godson Josh's Birthday! He's 3 this year and he insisted that I make him a "digger" cake to go with his "Bob the Builder" themed party. At first I panicked and wondered how on earth I was going to do something like that. I thought that I'd definitely have to resort to fondant icing which I HATE using. But, luckily I had a plan...

I went for a three layer chocolate sponge completely covered in chocolate buttercream. I decided to put more chocolate buttercream and crushed honeycomb between each layer and also to make mounds of rock and muck out of broken pieces of the honeycomb and Cadbury's Crunchie bar for the top. I positioned two toy diggers beside the mounds and sprinkled some cocoa powder nearby as dust. I had to be brave when it came to the text as it was my first EVER time trying to write on a cake with chocolate !!! Luckily it went pretty well but I think I might need a little more practice ! 

The Chocolate Sponge Recipe

Makes a 6" Round

YOU WILL NEED...

225g Butter

225g Caster Sugar

225g Self Raising Flour (sieved)

4 Eggs

2 tbsp Cocoa Powder

50g Chocolate (broken into tiny pieces)

METHOD

1) Preheat your oven to 180C / 350F/ Gas Mark 4, grease your tin with sunflower oil and line it with greaseproof paper.

2) Cream your butter and sugar to ther in a mixing bowl until really light and fluffy.

3) Add in the eggs, one at a time, and continue to beat. 

4) In a separate bowl combine the sieved flour, the cocoa and the chopped chocolate.

5) Then begin to add the flour mixture to the mixing bowl, one spoon at a time.

6) When fully mixed, pour into your lined baking tin and bake for approx. 40 mins until the sponge in springy to touch.

7) Leave the sponge to cool on a wire tray while you prepare your buttercream. 

To Make the Chocolate Buttercream... 

YOU WILL NEED

500g Icing Sugar

250g Butter (softened) 

2 tbsp Boiling Water 

METHOD

1) Beat the sugar and butter together in the mixing bowl until light and fluffy. 

2) Turn up the beater and add in the boiling water.

3) Keep beating until the cream in almost mousse like in texture, then set it to one side while you wait for your cake to be fully cool. 

4) Split the cake in 2/3 with a sharp bread knife and fill each layer with buttercream and honeycomb.

5) Spread the remaining buttercream over the entire cake using a pallet knife and decorate however you wish. 

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

Chocolate Hazelnut Brownies

So I'm still playing catch up with blog posts that I should have uploaded during the month of October. Returning to college and still working away like I had done, just really got on top of me for a while there. I'd no time for myself never mind blogging, but, have no fear, a fresh new month has me back and ready for action :)

So a few weeks ago, there was a new addition to the Murphy family - no not a new born baby- but, MY VERY OWN, BRAND NEW KENWOOD KITCHEN MACHINE!!!! I was more excited than a kid on Christmas morning getting my new toy home, so, as soon as it was out of it's box, I had to give it a try! I decided to make some Chocolate Hazelnut Brownies to see what my new best buddy was like in action. It was SO much quicker, easier and less messy (mam was really happy about that part) to use than the ancient 1970s mixer I had been using previously, so, I think it's safe to say that I am actually IN LOVE!!!!! 

For the Brownies, you will need...

3.5 oz Butter (softened)

10 oz Caster Sugar

4 oz Plain Flour (sieved)

1 tsp Baking Powder

4 Eggs (lightly beaten)

Pinch of Salt

6 oz Dark Chocolate (chopped)

2 oz Chopped Hazelnuts

Handful whole Hazelnuts (for decoration)

Method

1) Preheat your oven to 180C/ 350F/ Gas Mark 4 & line an approx. 10x8 inch shallow baking tray with greaseproof paper

2) Melt the butter over a low heat, and, while the butter is melting, weigh up the cocoa and sugar into your mixing bowl

3) When melted, pour the butter into the mixing bowl with the cocoa and sugar and beat 

4) Add in the eggs and as you're doing so, beat at a high speed

5) Add in the flour, baking powder & salt, one spoonful at a time and beat

6) Stir in the chocolate chunks and the chopped hazelnuts

7) Pour the mixture into the shallow baking tray, sprinkle the whole hazelnuts on top and bake for 30 minutes

8) When baked, leave it to cool in its tin for 10 mins and then remove it from the tin and leave to cool fully on a wire rack 

9) When fully cooled, you can slice the brownies into individual slices (they can be as big as you like!!)

Enjoy!!!