The Cocktail Man - Cocktail kits at home subscription box review

Many of us are missing going out to bars during lockdown – the atmosphere, the company, but also the cocktails carefully crafted by bartenders. Though I have to admit that I have barely been out to a bar since becoming a parent and even before that it wasn’t a regular occurrence – but I do love a proper cocktail that’s more than just a spirit and a mixer. A few months back I decided to treat myself to something I came across online, which aims to fill this particular gap. The Cocktail Man is professional mixologist James Vyse who quit his job at a top bar in London to create this new subscription service bringing you cocktail making kits at home.

You can choose your favourite cocktail as a one-off treat or a gift for someone else, or you can choose a subscription package where a different cocktail kit each month makes its way through your door. I have had two now, as part of a six-month subscription, and can confirm that the cocktails are delicious. However, the package changed after the first month and I do think these are a little on the expensive side – even though they are still cheaper than paying for cocktails of this quality in a bar!

What do you get in the Cocktail Man box?

Each month, the pack brings you everything you need to make five cocktails. That includes three miniature bottles of spirits, and a bottle of the Cocktail Man’s own recipe ‘sliqueur’ (which I think might be a ‘secret liqueur’ but I couldn't see an explanation for the name) – this is a flavoured liqueur that is basically what makes the cocktail something unique, plus a garnish and a recipe card. The three cocktails I have had so far are:

Raspberry Rose Gin Fizz: miniature bottles of gin, plus raspberry and rose sliqueur, and dried rose buds to garnish

Blueberry and lavender sour: vodka, blueberry and lavender sliqueur, and lavender sprigs to garnish.

Rhubarb and ginger negroni: gin, campari, rhubarb and ginger sliqueur, and dehydrated orange slices to garnish.

The recipe cards also explain what fresh ingredients you need; the first two both needed an egg white which isn’t something I would normally put in a drink, but as long as you shake it up enough, works just fine. The blueberry and lavender sour is served neat, whereas the raspberry rose gin fizz is topped up with tonic water; which wasn’t on the initial list of ingredients on the recipe card so luckily I read the whole thing before I started making it, or I would have gotten to the end and realised I had no tonic water! 

A negroni is usually too bitter for me and the rhubarb sliqueur did sweeten it somewhat, and I liked the hint of orange, but again I would prefer a sweeter cocktail. The garnishes give a nice final touch but what I liked most was that these tasted like proper premium cocktails. I preferred the raspberry rose gin fizz as I like a sweeter cocktail – I’m hoping that next time I get either the champagne cosmopolitan or the mango and passion fruit mojito!

What are the cocktails like?

Delicious – like something you would get in a high end bar. I’m not talking jug of sex on the beach – but the sort of drink I’ve enjoyed at the Dorchester or the Skylon bar in the South Bank Centre. With the garnish as well they look the part (providing you have suitable glassware – by the way, you also need a cocktail shaker). The mixers are minimal so these are strong cocktails too – a little goes a long way.

How is it packaged?

In an attractive blue strong cardboard box, with the bottles neatly arranged so you can see what you’ve got at a glance. There was also a postcard with a message from the Cocktail Man about the inspiration for this particular cocktail and the recipe card. Initially, there were two options however, of a standard and premium subscription; my subscription was upgraded from the former to the latter after some delivery issues. The standard box was similar but packaged in a plain white box, with a removal blue sleeve, and without the postcard. These feel like a luxury treat when they arrive and would make a lovely gift.

What does it cost?

Currently at the time of writing on the Cocktail Man website, an individual kit is between £34.99 and £36.99, a three month subscription is £79.99 (reduced from £98.97), six months £149.99 (reduced from £197.94) and 12 months is £279.99, down from the usual price of £395.88. That sounds expensive, and in fact since I started drafting this blog post the prices have actually gone up - but given each kit makes five cocktails, a one-off at £32.99 (including postage) sets you back £7 per cocktail – you’d pay nearly twice that in some high end bars. On a six month subscription, it’s less than £5 per drink, and for 12 months, that falls to under £4.70. Of course, you also have to take into account the fact that you are making these cocktails yourself at home – and a fair amount of the bar price would go towards covering overheads. I got a special offer via Facebook so look out for voucher codes so I feel like I got a bargain based on the current prices - and am looking forward to my next few boxes of cocktails!

 

Personalised Christmas Cards with Paperless Post

This is a sponsored post

  

Every year we seem to get fewer and fewer Christmas cards - actual Christmas cards, that is. With an increasing focus on climate change and the environment, it just doesn’t seem right any more to be sending out dozens and dozens of cards - not to mention the cost of the stamps.

That’s not to say I am against the idea of sending cards at all, for one thing I love to make greetings cards so of course I like to send them! But with a very active toddler I hardly have any time any more and the idea of sitting down to write a pile of Christmas cards seemed a bit overwhelming.

Instead, I sent cards to family and a few others but for the most part, decided to send e-cards this year. I’ve used Paperless Post before so went straight back there this time to make our Christmas card.

We had a Christmas themed photo shoot for my daughter in November - we’d done the same the year before when I was on maternity leave via a ‘bumps and babies’ group and as it was really good value, we did the same again this year.

The photos aren’t particularly Christmassy - my daughter is wearing a pretty red velvet dress but there were no props or Christmas images in the photo. Even so, I thought it would be nice for a Christmas card.

Paperless Post has sections for all sorts of greeting cards ranging from birthday cards to event invitations and also business flyers. I went to the Christmas section and looked at cards where you could add your own photos - there were well over 200 designs.

I chose one that I liked and uploaded the photo just by a couple of clicks, then added wording, selected whether I wanted a coloured background and the envelope. It’s really easy to add multiple recipients’ email addresses, and if you have used Paperless Post before, it remembers addresses, so you just have to start typing in the person’s name. That made it so quick to set up a list and to send the card out.

As I ended up doing it quite late at night - as is often the case when you have a toddler - I was also able to schedule the card to be sent at a suitable time, which was a function I liked.

The site uses ‘coins’ to pay for the cards, which you buy in blocks, with the price per unit decreasing the more coins you buy at once. You can get a card for just a couple of coins which as far as I can tell works out at less than sending a card in the post given the price of stamps these days.

My family and friends seemed to like receiving a personalised card and I think the pictures of my daughter were particularly appreciated by family even though I was giving people a print out of some of the photos anyway - and using Paperless Post made doing my Christmas cards a lot easier this year!

Thanks to Paperless Post who gave me coins to use on their site in return for this post. All opinions are my own.

Why Iberian ham deserves a place on the British dining table

How much do you know about Iberian ham? I have to admit I was a little hazy - I knew it from restaurants and deli counters as a wafer thin type of cured ham from Spain but that was about it.

In fact it's the pigs that are Iberian. They have dark skin and look black rather than pink, with long slender hind legs. They live in freedom and graze on acorns in certain parts of Spain, which apparently gives the meat a unique taste.

It's quite interesting reading about the process to produce the ham from salting to washing, then the pieces are left for up to three month for the salt to permeate. The really unique bit is the way the hams are cured - hung up and exposed to the natural climate conditions for 18-24 months and after that aged in a cellar for at least another 12 months (usually 18). The secret of curing is passed down in families from generation to generation.

It's also part of the famed Mediterranean diet - Iberian ham is high in monounsaturated fatty acids, protein, zinc and vitamins B1, B3 and B12, according to the information leaflet I received.

I was sent some Iberian ham by Ibeham, a project promoted by the Denomination of Origin Guijuelo (Spain). There are plenty of recipes on their site suggesting how to enjoy the ham but I wanted something fairly pure and simple, so tried it on a piece of fresh bread with some mozzarella and a little olive oil.

The slices are so wafer thin they are almost transparent, separated in the packet by pieces of plastic so you can peel the ham off. Each slice has a ribbon of fat which dissolved on the tongue and the taste and texture were both top notch. There are a lot of recipes you can use this in but I just want to savour the flavour by itself!

If you can get hold of some proper Iberian ham - and you don't have to go to specialist shops, Waitrose has some - then I highly recommend it as a little bit of luxury if you're just having a sandwich, or a platter for guests if you are entertaining.

Thanks to Ibeham for the ham to review

 

Review: Thomas Fudge's flatbreads

This time of year I love a bowl of warming soup for lunch with something on the side. Ordinary bread is good but it’s nice to have something a little bit different especially if you are going for a plainer soup like my husband who only ever wants tomato. I used to make my own bread sometimes but the bread maker machine has made way for the steriliser and the Tommee Tippee Perfect Prep machine!

So I was pleased to come across these flatbreads from Thomas Fudge's's - they come in two delicious flavours, chickpea & sesame and cheddar & shallot. 

They are thin and crispy like crackers, so they are better dunked into a thick soup like tomato rather than a thin watery soup. You can also spread soft cheese, houmous or whatever you like on them, or use them in a dip - I’m planning to put these out with some dips at my daughter’s birthday party (for the adults). They also make biscuits for cheese and some flapjacks and Florentines which look very tempting!

 

They also look like quite a premium product both with the packaging and the flatbreads themselves - the chickpea & sesame flavour has linseed, pumpkin and sesame seeds which you can see a lot of on top. The 140g boxes  are only £1.89 and go a long way so I think these are particularly good if you are entertaining.

 

 

Thanks to Thomas Fudge's for sending the flatbreads to review - all opinions are my own.

A Unique Valentine's Day Gift - Engraved Silver Marmite Lid

What do you get for the man who has everything? OK not everything, but if there's something my husband decides he wants, one click of a button and it turns up the next day from Amazon Prime. It takes a lot of thought at birthday and Christmas to come up with something he will like but hasn't already bought himself, and I try hard to find slightly quirky or unusual gifts from independent retailers or online gift companies (one stocking filler I got him this year was a doorstop for his 'man cave' (study) carved with the word 'hodor').

Game of Thrones is all very well but not the most romantic inspiration when it comes to Valentine's day (I don't even watch the show but can tell most relationships on it have met a nasty end). Marmite may also not seem the most romantic of gifts - until you think of the famous advertising strapline: 'Marmite - you either love it or hate it'. Believe it or not, that advert was devised in the mid 90s, and has lasted so long that it's become a metaphor for anything people have strong feelings towards.

People who love Marmite, love Marmite. It is a sign of true love for them to say they love you more than they love Marmite!

So what better way to say I love you this Valentine's day than with a jar of Marmite? Well how about this: a personalised engraved silver Marmite lid that is a beautiful keepsake, and actually fits on top of your jar of Marmite so you can either keep it in the larder or on your bedside table (the engraved lid that is, not the Marmite - unless you really love it).

There are a few different places that sell engraved Marmite lids but this one from The Engravers Guild has a beautiful design of a cupid and hearts and the words 'I love you even more than Marmite' along with the recipient's name. You could even get your own name as a keepsake for yourself!

Made of solid 925 sterling sliver in a UK silversmiths, the lid fits a standard 250g jar of Marmite. The engraving is done with a diamond-tipped machine cutter so it will last a lifetime making this a really lovely keepsake for your valentine. This one, the sterling 925 silver, retails at £79 including the cost of the engraving and a gift box.

The Engravers Guild has some other options as well including a Brexit/Remainer version, a plain silver lid (£59.95) which you could have engraved with a message for a birthday or Christening or anything else, or one finished with 9 carat gold for £140 if you want to treat your love to something even more lavish.

I love the way it has turned out - you can see more of the details on the lid in this close up photo above.
Standard delivery is 3-5 working days but they also offer a next day service if you've left it a bit late - and the lid is of course delivered with a jar of Marmite!

Thanks to The Engravers Guild of London which offers a range of personalised gifts for the complimentary engraved Marmite lid. All opinions are my own and this is not a paid-for post though I was sent an engraved lid free of charge.

 

Ozeri Stone Earth Pan Review

One of my husband's favourite meals is steak and chips, which luckily is very easy to cook - all you need is an oven and a frying pan!

I have a couple of Ozeri frying pans which I really like, and was recently sent another one to review - the Ozeri Stone Earth Frying Pan. I got the 30cm size which is available from the French Amazon site (which delivers to the UK) here.

It's made of durable die-cast aluminium so I was expecting it to be heavier than it was but it's really comfortable to hold and easy to clean. It's called the 'stone' earth frying pan because the non-stick scratch-resistant coating is derived from stone. It also looks very stylish.

I have an induction hob so it heats pans really fast and you have to be careful not to overcook things sometimes. This frying pan heated really evenly and my steak - or rather my husband's steak as I was having something else - was cooked to perfection!


Thanks to Ozeri for the frying pan to review.            

Di Oro Seamless Spatulas Review and Discount Code

How often do you replace your cooking utensils? I'm guessing not often enough - things like wooden spoons and spatulas aren't the sort of thing it ever occurs to me to buy and when I need one I grab one from the drawer or utensil jar without really thinking.

But some of mine are pretty old and at least one of my wooden spoons has a split which means it's destined for the bin. So it was good timing that I was sent a set of three seamless spatulas from Di Oro for review and there is one great USP in particular that means I want to recommend them to you!

As the name implies.. they are seamless. My other spatulas have handles and then the actual spatula end as two pieces melded together, so you can see a join - and it never occurred to me before but it would be easy to get food and therefore bacteria into that very fine line.

Di Oro seamless spatulas don't have this as they are moulded from one piece of silicone but also have a reinforced stainless steel core so they are really sturdy, though the end is flexible enough to scrape out your pan or bowl. Of course the silicone is non-stick and BPA free and what's more the large spatula in this set won a 2017 award from America's Test Kitchen. Heat resistant up to 315C you are not going to melt these easily!

There are three spatulas in this set - a large one for mixing and a large one with a straight edge for scraping out pans, and a small one which you can also use in a pan or use to scrape out a jar.
The set of three comes in either red or black and costs £14.95 from Amazon (you can also buy them individually); but you can currently get 15% off with this special discount code for use on Amazon: DIO15OFF  - this discount is good for all EU readers with access to Amazon so this includes Amazon UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy.

I'm already making good use of all three spatulas as you can see in this meal below. This is a version of this Santa Fe chicken recipe I made a couple of years ago; as I still can't get hold of Monterey Jack cheese I used a cheddar spiced with chilli from Morrisons which gave it a nice kick, and I made a cheese sauce and topped the chicken with red and green peppers. It was really good and my new Di Oro spatula made stirring the cheese sauce (and not letting it burn) a doddle!

 

 

Thanks to Di Oro for the spatulas for review. All opinions are my own.

 

Babyled Spreads - baby food review

 

If you've been reading my other blog Mini Moo Life you might have read that I started weaning my little girl at the beginning of this month. I’ve been making my own vegetable purees, and then introduced protein, and am about to start making some proper meals for her.

I’ve also tried out a few ready made packets and jars, as these are often more convenient when out and about – for instance we are about to go to my parents’ for the weekend and I don’t want to take a frozen puree for day two as it will defrost in the car on day one which I don’t think is a good idea. Also, there are times when you don’t have time to cook up a new batch of meals or are not sure about trying out new ingredients and don’t want to buy a whole pack of something you are not going to use (particularly if like me and my husband you are fussy eaters but want your baby to try all sorts of things).

 

I was sent two packs of Babyled Spreads to review, including six jars in total. These are little 34g jars which look pretty small but for my six month old did two meals, and a little does go a long way as you can incorporate them into other recipes or meals.

 

The consistency is a thick paste, thicker than a lot of the jars of baby food I’d tried from other brands. I’ve was using the traditional weaning method rather than baby-led for the first couple of weeks then moving to a combination of the two. So I fed my daughter a couple of mouthfuls of the spread to see what she thought of the flavour, and also mixed them with other things.

 

You can also use them as a sandwich filling, a dip, to mix with pasta or as a pizza topping, and many more besides.

 

It’s a good way for your baby to explore different flavours, as in my relatively limited experience of baby food so far, these have more unusual flavour combinations than other brands.

We tried ricotta and bean; avocado, red pepper and tomato; carrot apple and hummus, and were also sent to try green pea rocket and dill; red lentil and sweet potato, and spicy pumpkin and chickpea, though the latter is only suitable for 12 months and older (the others are all for 6 months+) so we will have to wait a little while for that one.

 

I mixed the ricotta and bean flavour together with some cooked flaked cod, and mixed the avocado, red pepper and tomato with baby rice. The carrot, apple and hummus would go well as a dip with breadsticks and as my daughter starts to get a bit more confident at putting things in her mouth I’m going to try the spreads on toast.

You can buy Babyled Spreads direct from their website; a pack of nine jars costs £6.50 with free postage, making each jar 72p each –  or 18 jars for £12 making them 67p each, so roughly on a par with other ready made baby food and though these jars are smaller than others, they go a long way as they wouldn’t usually be served as a meal in themselves.

The company even donates money from the sale of every pot to Bliss, the charity for babies born premature or sick.

Even though I haven’t been following the baby-led weaning approach I do want my daughter to learn to feed herself and experiment with pieces of food and I think having these spreads would help liven up things like breadsticks and toast. In the meantime I’ll continue using them mixed in with pasta or protein to create a tasty sauce to introduce my daughter to new flavours and textures.

Thanks to Babyled Spreads for the product to review.

Review: Pure freeze-dried cat food

While this blog usually focuses on food and drink for humans, I have written a few posts before about meals I've made for Tilly - my gorgeous tabby cat.

 

I was asked if I wanted to review some cat food and since there is a link (albeit small) with what I've covered before, I said yes. The product itself is interesting I think to foodies anyway as it's freeze-dried - you just add water - making me wonder if there is any food for humans (other than what astronauts eat in space!) that is prepared in this way. I have a feeling that herbs are sometimes freeze-dried as a way of keeping them tasting fresh - if you know of any other freeze-dried food let me know in the comments!

So on to the cat food. Made by a brand called Pure Pet Food, a company founded by two friends who wanted their dogs to eat food as good as they did, rather than highly processed food made with low quality ingredients. After developing the business and seeing it start to take off, they appeared on TV's Dragon's Den (the equivalent show in the US is called Shark Tank if you're an American reader!) and were offered investment but decided to turn it down to go it alone.

They started off with dehydrated food in 2012 and only last year moved into freeze-dried. The company says its freeze-drying technique keeps the texture of the meat which did look to be the case from appearance (I drew the line at tasting it myself) and it doesn't need preservatives added. There's plenty of nutritional information on their website which I won't repeat here but I am impressed at the list of ingredients and their benefits, and that it contains nothing 'bad'.

I was sent finger-lickin' chicken and surf and turf flavours; here's what you get inside the box:

Mix with the recommended amount of water and leave for a few minutes to rehydrate, mixing well.

Tilly (my cat) really enjoyed this - she does like to switch up her brands and flavours every so often - and seemed to prefer it when I added a little more water to the mixture.

Here she is posing for a photo!

It does take slightly longer to mix this up in the mornings, and I'm always in a hurry before work,  though you can do it the night before and keep it in the fridge. You can buy online from their site and the products are also stocked in Pets At Home.

A 200g bag costs £11.99 but this is equivalent to 800g of fresh food, Pure says.

Thanks to Pure for the pet food for review. All opinions are my own.

Smoked Haddock with Creme Fraiche Butter Sauce and Ozeri Electric Grinder Review

Another fish recipe from me now... I was going through the freezer seeing what needed using up and found some smoked haddock I'd bought to make a fish pie. I've gone off home-made fish pie a bit though -for some reason when I make it, it's always more bland than the shop-bought versions. I think I need to play around with the recipe a bit!

I had a look online to find something else I could do with the smoked haddock and found a recipe from Delia Smith online for smoked haddock with crème fraiche and a chive and butter sauce.

It's easy and quick to make - put the fish in a frying pan and add some freshly milled black pepper. Pour in some milk and simmer until the fish is cooked.

Remove the fish from a pan, increase the heat and add the crème fraiche to the pan. Simmer until reduced, then whisk in the butter and return the fish to the pan to heat through.

 

You are supposed to then scatter with chives but I used dill instead as I didn't have chives!

 

I used my brand new Ozeri Artesio electric pepper grinder for this recipe; it was part of a set (with the salt grinder as well) that I received from the company to review.

It took me a while to get started as I hadn't realised each grinder needed four batteries, and I didn't have eight of the right type in the house. I'm hoping because it needs so many batteries that they will go a long time without needing changing but I haven't had the grinders for long enough yet to know!

I had to read the instructions to figure out how to unscrew the grinders as I hadn't used ones like this before, then put some whole peppercorns into the chamber at the bottom. For such tall grinders there isn't actually much space for the salt and pepper as the chamber is mainly for the batteries! But you only use a little bit of salt or pepper at a time so shouldn't have to refill too often.

The simplest touch of the button sets the device grinding and you get a fine dusting of freshly milled pepper which is really nice - I almost got carried away and used too much as I liked pressing the button and seeing the pepper come out!

The grinders are sleek and stylish, and with black for pepper and white for salt, you won't confuse which is which. You can buy the grinders from Amazon.

I don't actually use pepper that much and have never had electric grinders before but I think I'm converted!

Curly Whirly Cream Cheese Brownies and my new Ozeri kitchen scales

One day at work I spotted a sign advertising a Macmillan charity bake sale. The thing was, the bake sale was in two days time, meaning I didn't have very much time to shop for ingredients and bake something, as I'd already decided I needed to bake my dad's birthday cake at the same time so it was ready for the weekend!

I didn't want to miss the Macmillan bake sale since a recipe I devised appeared in the Macmillan Little Book of Treats, which came out in 2013. You can see that recipe, for toffee popcorn cupcakes, here on my blog or on the Baking Mad website.

Since I didn't have much time I went to a failsafe recipe: chocolate brownies. They are so easy to throw together and everyone loves a chocolate brownie. I chose the Curly Whirly Brownies from the Konditor & Cook book Deservedly Legendary Baking as they looked a bit different but still quick and easy to make.

At the same time I decided to make a start on my dad's birthday cake - unfortunately it was a bit of a disaster! The cake tasted great and was really moist, but that was part of the problem -so moist that it broke apart across the top while in the oven, then broke more when I was putting it into a cake tin, then by the time I reached my parents' house the cake was pretty much in three separate pieces!

I used my new Ozeri Pro Digital Kitchen Food Scale, 1g to 12 lbs Capacity, in Stylish Black which I was sent by the company to review. At only £9.99 currently and with free delivery on Amazon they are a real bargain - compact enough to not take up much room in the cupboard but the weighing plate is big enough for almost any bowl or plate, or you can put food directly onto the scales. If you're using a bowl, the 'tare' button allows you to subtract the weight of the bowl. The chrome weighing platform looks good and is easy to keep clean as well.

 

You can weigh in pounds, ounces, grams or kilograms and can change from one to the other by pressing a button - I found the scales very precise and as good as much more expensive ones. What's more the two AAA batteries you need come included.

So disregarding the cake which didn't quite work out, I also used the scales to make the chocolate brownies. Here's the list of ingredients from Konditor and Cook's recipe and then in my own words a bit about what I did:

To make about 16 brownies, you need:
3 eggs
275g caster sugar
175g salted butter
200g 54-60% dark chocolate, chopped into small pieces
100g 70% dark chocolate, chopped into chunks
175g plain flour

for the topping:
200g cream cheese
75g icing sugar, sifted
seeds from 1/4 vanilla pod
1 egg yolk

Preheat oven to 180C. Line a 20x34 cm tin with baking paper or greaseproof paper.

Beat the eggs and sugar together in a bowl.

In a saucepan, melt the butter over a medium heat until it is melted and just starting to bubble. Remove from the heat and stir in the 54-60% chocolate and a third of the 70% chocolate until melted.

Add the chocolate to the egg mixture and mix well then fold in the flour. Stir in the remaining chunks of chocolate.

Pour into the prepared tin and level the top with a knife.

In another bowl, bbat the cream cheese, icing sugar and vanilla until smooth then mix in the egg yolk.

Using a piping bag or a teaspoon drizzle or pipe the cream cheese mixture in swirls over the top of the brownie mixture, using a fork or the tip of the teaspoon to drag across the lines.

Bake for 22-25 minutes in the preheated oven then leave to cool in the tin. When cool cut into squares.

The brownies were lovely and fudgy and the cream cheese topping had a slightly sharp contrasting flavour, a bit like sour cream; it made the brownies look more interesting as well and they disappeared very quickly at the bake sale!

Dr. Oetker Popcorn Fudge Brownies

These treats are really good at this time of year if you want something chocolately that isn't going to melt! I made them for Father's Day and was meaning to post this beforehand but ran out of time as we were away for the weekend celebrating our first wedding anniversary, which this year fell on Father's Day.

The recipe is one by Dr. Oetker, who sent me a selection of the ingredients to try out. Their salted caramel easy-fill cake centre is brilliant - it comes in a pouch with a handy nozzle that you can stick into a cupcake to pipe caramel filling right into the cupcake. In this case I used it to mix with popcorn and also to spread on top of the brownies; as well as being easy to use it tasted really nice.

The popcorn does go soft quite quickly so if you can, I would make these as close to when you want to eat them as possible.

Dr. Oetker's recipe is gluten free but I used ordinary plain flour. The recipe below is Dr. Oetker's; the photos and opinions are my own.

 

Gluten Free Popcorn Fudge Brownies

Preparation time: 40 minutes plus cooling, chilling and setting

Cooking time: 55 minutes  (including chocolate melting time)

Makes: 16

Ingredients

For the brownie layer:

150g bar Dr. Oetker Fine Cooks’ 54% Dark Chocolate

100g (3 ½ oz) Unsalted butter, softened

100g (3 ½ oz) Dark brown sugar

2 Medium eggs, beaten

100g (3 ½ oz) Gluten free plain flour

For the blondie layer

150g bar Dr. Oetker Fine Cooks’ White Chocolate

100g (3 ½ oz) Lightly salted butter

100g (3 ½ oz) Caster sugar

2 Medium eggs, beaten

2.5ml(1/2 tsp) Dr. Oetker Caramel Flavour

100g (3 ½ oz) Gluten free plain flour

For the topping:

1 sachet Dr. Oetker Salted Caramel Easy Fill Cake Centre

25g (1oz) Lightly salted popcorn
 

Method

1. Grease and line a 20cm (8inch) square cake tin.

2. First make the brownie layer. Break up 100g (3 ½ oz) Dark Chocolate into pieces and place in a saucepan with the butter and sugar. Heat very gently, stirring occasionally until melted. Remove from the heat and cool for 10 minutes. 

3. Whisk the eggs into the melted mixture to make a thick glossy batter. Sift the flour on top and carefully mix all the ingredients together. Pour into the prepared tin, smooth to the edges and chill in the fridge for 1 hour.

4. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180˚C (160˚C fan oven, 350˚F, gas 4

5. To make the blondie layer, follow the same instructions for making the brownie batter as above, using 100g (3 ½ oz) White Chocolate -  you will find that the melted mixture separates during melting, but once the eggs and flour are added, the mixture will blend together again. Stir in the Caramel Flavour. Carefully spread the White Chocolate batter over the brownie layer, trying not to press too heavily as you spread - there is no need to chill this layer

 

6. Bake for about 35 minutes until slightly risen, lightly golden and lightly crusty on top – the mixture should be slightly soft underneath. Leave to cool in the tin completely then remove from the tin, peel away the tin lining parchment and place the cake on a board.

 

7. For the topping, melt the remaining White Chocolate as above. Put the popcorn in a bowl and squeeze in 50g (2oz) Dr. Oetker Salted Caramel Easy Fill Cake Centre and add the melted chocolate. Mix well to make sure that all the popcorn is coated

8. Squeeze the remaining Dr. Oetker Salted Caramel Easy Fill Cake Centre over the top of the cake and spread right to the edge. Spoon over the caramel popcorn mix, and spread it out so that the whole top is thickly covered. Pat it down a little using the back of a spoon

 

 

9. Melt the remaining Dark Chocolate as above. Using a teaspoon, drizzle the top all over with melted chocolate. Leave in a cool place for a few minutes to set. Using a large bladed knife, cut into 16 chunky pieces. Your brownies are now ready to serve and enjoy!

Replace the gluten-free flour with plain white flour if preferred – this will give a slightly less dense texture. 

 

Thanks to Dr Oetker for the recipe and ingredients