After Eight Desserts - Review

After Eight Chocolate Mint Desserts

Peaches, Honey and Mint Pancakes

Peaches, Honey and Mint Pancakes

During the week breakfasts need to be easy and quick which usually means bowls of cereal all round. Weekends though are a different affair – it's time to start cooking things for a leisurely, laidback meal. However, this is still breakfast time and we can't spend spend too much time in the kitchen as the younger natives start getting very restless. Fresh inspiration is always welcome and this has come in the form of a package I recently received from Clarks Honey containing their new Honey blend.

Clarks Honey is a clear, runny honey which makes it perfect for drizzling or measuring out for recipes. Usually British honey is set but Clarks has mixed British honey with Blossom and Acacia honey so you get the best of both. For a light fruity breakfast I chose some ripe peaches but you could also try nectarines, apricots or plums. The mint is from my garden and is a lime mint variety but pick whatever mint you have.

Ingredients

½ oz (15g) Unsalted butter

4 Ripe peaches, de-stoned and sliced

3 Mint leaves

1 tbsp (15ml) Clarks Honey

1 Packet Abra-ca-Debora Diddy Sweet Dutch Pancakes

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200°C/Gas mark 6.

2. In a large frying pan melt the butter and start to cook the peach slices slowly.

3. Once they start to fry cook the pancakes as per the instructions (4-5 minutes).

4. Tear the mint leaves and sprinkle over the peaches. Then drizzle over the honey.

5. Heat though gently making sure the peaches keep their shape.

6. Serve mixed with the heated pancakes.

If you want to know what we did with the Roddas Clotted Cream they became pudding that night along with some fresh figs drizzled with some more Clarks Honey.

Clarks sent me the items for free and no payment was received. The views and recipe are my own.

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

Mint Choc Chip Cookies

My local supermarket has recently been selling their 'bakery' cookies at just 50p a bag and the kids have been pestering me every time we have stepped foot in the store to buy some. On a couple of occasions I have given in and bought some but always at the back of my mind is the thought, “but I could easily make these myself.” The simple reality of life is there really isn't enough hours in the day to do and make everything. However, when there is just a small amount of time available these cookies are the thing to make.

To give them a hint of mint I used some of the clear mints I had left over from my Triple Mint Chocolate Cake. I did think about adding some mint extract to mix then crossed it out in my notes, added it again and then substituted vanilla extract. Once tasted I'm glad I left the mint extract out as the mint sweets give plenty of mint flavouring. I used a bar of Basics dark chocolate which I gave a good bashing with my rolling pin. I used the same method to crush the mint sweets but put them first into a plastic bag to stop them from flying everywhere. These are definitely a good thing to make when you want to take your anger out on something! The dark chocolate combined with the cocoa powder makes for quite a rich cookie so use milk chocolate if you want something less intense.

With the mint and chocolate combination I am forwarding this for Choclette at Chocolate Log Blog and Chele at Chocolate Teapot We Should Cocoa challenge. This month's host Victoria at A Kick At The Pantry Door has decided the theme should be mint.

Makes 12

Equipment: 2 baking trays, greased or lined, rolling pin or other crushing implement, electric whisk

Ingredients

5oz (140g) Plain flour

1oz (30g) Cocoa powder

½ tsp (2.5ml) Bicarbonate of soda

4oz (110g) Unsalted butter, softened or baking spread

5oz (140g) Caster sugar

1 Large egg

½ tsp (2.5ml) Vanilla extract

3½ oz (100g) Dark chocolate chips or bar of chocolate broken up

2oz (50g) Clear boiled mints, crushed

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 190°C/Gas mark 5.

2. In a bowl sift the flour, cocoa and bicarbonate of soda together and put to one side.

3. Cream the butter and sugar together with an electric whisk.

4. Beat in the egg and the vanilla extract.

5. Add the dry ingredients then stir in the chocolate until combined.

6. Spoon the mixture onto the baking trays leaving room for the cookies to spread.

7. Bake for 15-18 minutes until set and then cool on a wire rack.

Triple Mint Chocolate Cake

Who needs ice cream when you can have Triple Mint Chocolate Cake?

Some people class ice cream as a comfort food and while I like it I think it's too cold to qualify as something truly comforting. Cake however is a different matter, especially when served with a cup of tea. Although there has been some bouts of sunshine recently it still hasn't been ice cream melting weather so if you want the flavour of a mint choc-chip ice cream but the comfort of a cake then this bake is for you.

This cake came about through a meeting of the Clandestine Cake Club. The theme of the month was 'Spring Fresh Tastes' and my daughter always likes to make some sort of chocolate cake. For a fresh taste that went with chocolate I interpreted this to be mint and decided to triple it so you couldn't miss it. For the boiled mint sweets I used Sainsbury's Basics clear mints but anything like Fox's Glacier Mints will do. The chocolate I used for the topping was again Sainsbury's Basics.  It has the same cocoa solids content as Cadbury's Bourneville but at a fraction of the price. I also got the peppermint extract from Sainsbury's. It's from their Taste the Difference range but fear not thrifters, it was reduced. For the gel colouring I used Dr. Oekter's 'Lime Green' colour.

This month's We Should Cocoa challenge is being hosted by Victoria at A Kick At The Pantry Door and she has chosen 'Mint' as the theme. This challenge is run by Choclette at Chocolate Log Blog and Chele at Chocolate Teapot.

 

With three layers to this cake I'm submitting it for this month's Tea Time Treats jointly run by Karen at Lavender and Lovage and this month's host Kate at What Kate Baked.

 

Equipment: 9in (23cm) square baking tin, electric whisk, large mixing bowls, glass bowl to fit over a small saucepan.

Ingredients

Cake

3oz (75g) Cocoa powder

6oz (175g) Butter, softened or baking spread

10oz (275g) Plain flour

1½ tsp (7.5ml) Bicarbonate of soda

½ tsp (2.5ml) Baking powder

10oz (275g) Dark muscovado sugar

3 Large eggs

3oz (75g) Clear mint boiled sweets, crushed

 Frosting

4oz (110g) Butter, softened

10oz (275g) Icing sugar

1 tbsp Water

½ tsp (2.5ml) Peppermint extract

3 drops green gel food colouring

Topping

6oz (150g) Dark chocolate, broken into small pieces

3oz (75g) Butter, softened

¼ tsp (1.25ml) Peppermint extract

Method

1. In a jug measure 12fl oz (350ml) of boiling water and then dissolve the cocoa powder in it. Set aside to cool.

2. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/Gas mark 4. Prepare the tin by greasing/lining it.

3. Pour the cocoa in a large bowl and then sift in the flour, bicarbonate of soda and baking powder.

4. Into the bowl add the butter/baking spread, sugar and eggs. Using an electric whisk beat until all well combined.

5. Stir in the mints then pour into the tin.

6. Bake for about 1 hour until cooked through completely. Leave in the tin to cool.

7. For the frosting get a large bowl and add all the ingredients.

8. Mix until well combined and the gel colouring isn't streaky.

9. Spread over the cooled cake base.

10. To make the topping use put the chocolate and butter in a glass bowl over a pan of simmering water. 

11. Stir until it is fully melted and smooth.

12. Stir in the peppermint extract.

13. Spread over the frosting.

14. Refrigerate until set – this will be a minimum of 1 hour.