Anzac Cookies with Salted Caramel Sauce

Every year, we celebrate today with a batch of Anzac cookies. Although living in the UK, we want our boys to remember their New Zealand heritage and every year Anzac Day honours the armies of New Zealand and Australia who fought at Gallipoli. Sweet Anzac cookies have become associated with the war because their ingredients don't spoil easily and so the wives of the army men could send these little biscuits to their loved ones and they wouldn't spoil on the long journey.

These cookies are simple to make and are full of ingredients that could easily be found in your kitchen at home. I wanted to shake them up a little so thought it would be fun to add a drizzle of salted caramel to make them even more delicious :)

We start by popping the oats, sugar and coconut into a bowl and sifting the flour in there too, whilst the golden syrup and butter are melted together over a low heat. When the butter and syrup are smooth and well mixed, we take the bicarb and mix it a tablespoon and a half of water, pop it in the saucepan with your sugary mixture and stir. Remove it from the heat and then pour this into the dry ingredients. The mixture needs to be combined well and then you're ready to shape your little cookies.

To make my cookies evenly sized, I always take a little time to weigh each cookie (these ones were around 30G each) but you can eyeball each scoop if you prefer. We roll the cookies into little balls and pop them onto a lined baking tray. When they're all ready, flatten each one a little and they're ready to go in the oven. Super easy.

They're quick to bake but it gives you just enough time to make the salted caramel sauce. We melt the golden syrup and sugar in a saucepan and then stir in the butter, cream and salt. Super yummy! Let it cool down to room temperature and when the cookies are baked and cooled, you can have lots of fun drizzling them with the sweet, sticky sauce :) I topped them with another sprinkling of sea salt. And they're done!

It's great to honour traditions and with something so simple to bake you can get the kids involved in the kitchen. Last year, my little boy made Anzac cookies for his house cookery competition and loved every minute!

But don't think that their simplicity means that they're not absolutely delicious and I think the salted caramel gives them an extra special twist.

They're just perfect for sharing with loved ones and friends 💕 

Anzac Cookies with Salted Caramel Sauce

Makes around 20 cookies

Cookie Ingredients

• 200G PLAIN FLOUR
• 100G ROLLED OATS
• 110G CASTER SUGAR
• 65G DESICCATED COCONUT
• 45G GOLDEN SYRUP
• 150G UNSALTED BUTTER
• 1/2 TSP BICARBONATE OF SODA

Caramel Sauce Ingredients

• 100G LIGHT SOFT BROWN SUGAR
• 50G GOLDEN SYRUP
• 75G UNSALTED BUTTER
• 75ML DOUBLE CREAM
• 1 TSP SEA SALT

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees (fan)
2. Line two baking trays
3. Put the oats, sugar and coconut in a bowl and sift the flour over the top
4. Stir to combine
5. Melt the butter and golden syrup in a small saucepan over a medium heat until melted and smooth
6. Mix the bicarb with with a 1.5 tablespoons of water
7. Add this to the sugar mixture and remove from the heat
8. Mix this with the dry ingredients until fully combined
9. Form little balls of mixture (weigh them if you want identical cookies) and place them on the baking trays
10. Flatten each ball slightly and then pop them in the oven for around 10-12 minutes or until they are golden in colour
11. Whilst they're in the oven, make your salted caramel sauce
12. To make this, place the sugar and golden syrup in a small saucepan with a tablespoon of water
13. Bring it just to the boil and then simmer for 3 minutes
14. Add the butter, cream and sea salt in one go and stir for another minute until everything is melted and fully incorporated
15. Transfer to a bowl and allow to cool at room temperature
16. When they cookies and the salted caramel are cooled, drizzle the cookies with the caramel
17. Add a final flourish of sea salt to the cookies and enjoy :)

Sticky Toffee Cakes

This week I've been working my way through my enormous collection of cookery books looking for different dinner inspiration. (Ideally) healthy but hearty for the cold weather. Finding a keeper is so satisfying and we particularly enjoyed Jamie Oliver's Mexican Fish Tacos - well worth going to the effort of making the pineapple salsa :)

Yesterday we had Nutella Macarons and Vanilla Macarons with Love Hearts. But today it's Friday and we need a little cake love. I wanted to make some little Sticky Toffee Cakes with Dulce De Leche Frosting and Salted Caramel Sauce. The cake itself can be a cupcake but I made little round cakes. They are filled with pieces of dates and made with dark muscavado sugar to give a real intensity of flavour. The topping itself is extremely indulgent. Added to the icing sugar, we have cream cheese, butter and dulce de leche and this makes a beautifully soft, creamy and rich buttercream. Then the cakes are finished off drizzled with salted caramel which is so delicious, you can eat it with a spoon straight from the bowl (shhh...nobody needs to know, right?)

To make the cakes, I used a mini sandwich tin so each cake has a straight side. You could make one large cake and cut out rounds to get the same effect or bake them as cupcakes if you prefer. Firstly, the dates need to be soaked for around 15 minutes to make them lovely and soft so your bowl of dates needs to be covered with boiling water, then the dates broken into small pieces. The cake batter is made in the usual way (method below) and once the flour has been added, the dates are stirred through. It is easy to overcook these so err on the side of caution and check them after 15 minutes, then keep an eye on them if they're not quite ready.

Whilst the cupcakes are cooking, we make a sugar syrup. You can miss this stage if you like but I think it helps adds a moistness to the cake. It's a simple sugar solution made with caster sugar and water and this is brushed over the top of the cakes whilst they're still warm in their tins.

The cakes are topped with a rich buttercream. The icing sugar and butter are beaten together and then the cream cheese is added. When this is beaten to a smooth consistency, the dulce de leche is stirred through until just combined. This needs time to set a little in the fridge - I've made cream cheese frosting before which is too soft to pipe and setting it in the fridge for a half hour really helps. You will need to beat the buttercream again when it comes out of the fridge and then it can be piped or spread on to the top of each cake.

The salted caramel needs to cool down before being added to the top of the cakes otherwise it will melt the frosting so you can make it at the same time as the cakes and leave it at room temperature. The golden syrup and sugar are melted in a saucepan and then the butter, cream and salt are stirred in. And allowed to cool to room temperature. Delicious does not do this justice!

The salted caramel is best poured over the cakes as you're ready to serve them - and then the cakes served with a bowl of the caramel sauce on the side for extra helpings (it's that good). The frosting really is rather sweet and rich but pairs well with the cake itself.

The boys had friends over tonight and they inhaled a cake each. They would have had seconds.

I think it was the frosting and caramel sauce that really made these - they didn't realise there was something as healthy as dates in them :)

Sticky Toffee Cakes

Makes 18 cakes

Sticky Toffee Cake

Cake Ingredients

• 150G DATES
• 1 1/2 TSP VANILLA
• 130G BUTTER
• 240G DARK MUSCAVADO SUGAR
• 290G SELF-RAISING FLOUR
• 1 1/2 TSP BICARBONATE OF SODA
• 1/4 TSP CINNAMON
• 1/4 TSP PUMPKIN SPICE (you can use allspice if you don't have this)
• 3 LARGE EGGS

Sugar Syrup Ingredients

• 75g CASTER SUGAR
• 75ML WATER

Cake Method

1. Place the dates in a bowl and cover them with boiling water until they're just covered
2. Lightly grease the cavities of the cake tin
3. Pre-heat the oven to 170 degrees (fan)
4. After 20 minutes, cut the dates into small pieces
5. Place the butter and sugar in a freestanding mixer and beat until smooth and pale
6. Whisk the eggs lightly and add them slowly to the mixture with the mixer on medium speed
7. Sift the flour, bicarb and spices over the top of the bowl and then fold in gently with a spatula
8. Stir through the dates
9. Fill each cavity until it's 2/3 full
10. Bake for 15 minutes and then check them - you want a skewer inserted in the middle to come out clean - they may need a few minutes longer but be careful not to overcook them
11. Whilst they're in the oven, make your sugar syrup
12. Bring the sugar and water to the boil in a small saucepan and then leave to simmer for a few minutes until all the sugar has dissolved
13. Leave to cool
14. When your cupcakes are out of the oven, leave to cool in their tins for 10 mins
15. Then brush the top liberally with the sugar syrup, remove them from their tins and leave to cool on a cooling rack

Dulce De Leche Frosting & Salted Caramel Sauce

Dulce De Leche Frosting Ingredients

• 200G UNSALTED BUTTER
• 500 ICING SUGAR, SIFTED
• 200G FULL-FAT CREAM CHEESE (don't be tempted to buy the light varieties here)
• 140G DULCE DE LECHE

Caramel Sauce Ingredients

• 100G LIGHT SOFT BROWN SUGAR
• 50G GOLDEN SYRUP
• 75G UNSALTED BUTTER
• 75ML DOUBLE CREAM
• 1 TSP SEA SALT

Dulce De Leche Frosting & Caramel Sauce Method

1. To make the frosting, beat the unsalted butter and icing sugar until smooth and creamy
2. Add the cream cheese and beat until smooth
3. Stir through the dulce de leche until thoroughly combined
4. Place in the fridge for 30 mins before using
5. To make the salted caramel sauce, place the sugar and golden syrup in a small saucepan with a tablespoon of water
6. Bring it just to the boil and then simmer for 3 minutes
7. Add the butter, cream and sea salt in one go and stir for another minute until everything is melted and fully incorporated
8. Transfer to a bowl and allow to cool at room temperature
9. When the cupcakes are cool and the frosting chilled, remove it from the fridge and beat it again
10. Either pipe the frosting or spread it on the top of the cakes
11. Top with drizzles of the salted caramel sauce (attempting not to eat spoonfuls of it along the way!)

Mascarpone Ice Cream With Salted Caramel

I am in SERIOUS ice cream heaven! I have just made the most deliciously yummy Mascarpone Ice Cream marbled with homemade salted caramel and filled with sugared almonds. I can't take all the credit though, as this recipe came from a wonderful blog I stumbled upon the other day from Sarah at Broma Bakery. There are so many lovely recipes on her blog all beautifully photographed and I have a list of her other recipes that I can't wait to try!

But back to this no churn, silky smooth Mascarpone Ice Cream. Yes, that's right - no churn. Which means you don't need any fancy equipment to make this apart from a vessel (ideally a loaf tin) in which to freeze your ice cream.

Sarah uses her favourite brand of Lush Gourmet Almonds, but since I didn't have access to these, I made my own sugared almonds that I chopped roughly and added in place of her suggestion. The only challenge I had with making these was trying not to eat them all before they went into the ice cream! They're lovely and sweet with a great crunch. 

The ice cream is simple to make but you need to cast a blind eye to the calories of this one with whipping cream, mascarpone and condensed milk - and that's before we come on to the homemade caramel sauce! It is made simply by whipping the whipping cream and then folding in the other ice cream ingredients before adding almonds. There are very specific instructions for adding the caramel - I would have been inclined to swirl it through the base but followed the recipe and it worked out well so can only suggest you do the same when making this. Then the finished ice cream needs to freeze overnight.

This ice cream is rich and creamy and would taste good without the salted caramel and almonds but I like the caramel ribbons and the nuts give an additional crunchy texture which pairs well with the caramel. I think it's quite a grown-up ice cream (which is no bad thing in our house otherwise it would disppear in a matter of seconds!) and I can't wait to see how this will work with other flavour combinations :)

Mascarpone Ice Cream With Salted Caramel & Sugared Almonds (from Broma Bakery)

Sugared Almonds Ingredients

• 100G ALMONDS
• 70G ICING SUGAR
• 2 TBSP WATER

Ice Cream Ingredients

• 570ML WHIPPING CREAM
• 225G MASCARPONE
• 395G SWEETENED CONDENSED MILK
• 1 TBSP VANILLA EXTRACT
• ½  TSP SALT

Homemade Salted Caramel Sauce

• 100G (½ CUP) SUGAR
• 40G BUTTER
• 60ML (¼ CUP) WHIPPING CREAM
• 1½ TSP SALT

Sugared Almonds Method

1. Place all the ingredients in a saucepan over a medium heat
2. Stir constantly until all the almonds are covered with the icing sugar
3. Remove them when they are a sticky white and spread them out on a layer of greaseproof paper to cool
4. Roughly chop the almonds

Homemade Caramel Sauce Method

1. Place the sugar in a saucepan and heat on a medium heat for around 5 minutes
2. Stir the sugar occasionally to ensure that it all melts, but just enough to remove the lumps, and until it turns a dark amber colour
3. Remove from the heat and stir in the butter, taking care as it will start to bubble, until they are mixed together completely (around 1 - 2 minutes)
4. Pour in the whipping cream and salt and mix until it's all thoroughly combined
5. Place back on the heat for 30 seconds, stirring all the time
6. Remove from the heat and allow to cool for at least 15 minutes

Ice Cream Method

1. Prepare your loaf tin with greaseproof paper
2. Put the whipping cream into a bowl and whip until soft peaks form
3. Fold in the mascarpone, condensed milk, vanilla extract and salt and beat until stiff peaks form
4. Reserve 2 tablespoons of almonds and fold the rest into the ice cream mixture
5. Spoon half of the caramel over the top of the ice cream without stirring it through and then pour half of the ice cream into the prepared loaf tin
6. Pour the rest of the caramel over the remaining ice cream and then pour this final half into the loaf tin
7. Swirl the caramel very gently with a skewer
8. Sprinkle the remaining nuts over the ice cream
9. Freeze overnight and allow to soften slightly before serving

Salted Caramel Brownie Squares

We're speeding merrily through our four week Easter holiday with lots more fun planned and today was no exception. Catching up with friends is always a lovely way to spend a Sunday afternoon - accompanied by lots of good food and drink! Whenever we meet up with these friends, there's always sure to be lots of dessert as we always make one each - hers was a beautiful chocolate cake made with savoiardi biscuits, mascarpone and almonds; mine was a rich gooey salted caramel chocolate brownie. So lots of chocolate. Always a winner. Especially with five children around to enjoy them too :)

The Salted Caramel Brownie Squares are simple to make but do require a little planning as it needs around 5 hours of setting. And I always use a sugar thermometer for my caramel but this is the only additional equipment you'll need - and you can do it without but I've previously had varying degrees of success with caramel not quite at the right temperature! Once on the brownie, it does take a while to set the caramel and we had to uplift them from one fridge to another mid setting and then end with a quick blast in the freezer - so I'd say the longer you can leave this, the better! But it makes a delicious and rather gooey topping to the lovely little brownie.

Just perfect for sharing with friends.

Salted Caramel Brownie Squares (from Donna Hay) Makes 25 small squares

Brownie Ingredients

• 150G DARK CHOCOLATE
• 200G UNSALTED BUTTER
• 265G BROWN SUGAR
• 3 EGGS
• 110G PLAIN FLOUR (SIFTED)
• 2 TBSP COCOA (SIFTED)
• SEA SALT FLAKES (FOR SPRINKLING BEFORE SERVING)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees (fan)
2. Place the chocolate and butter in a saucepan over a low heat and stir until melted and smooth
3. Set aside to cool slightly
4. Place the sugar, eggs, flour and cocoa in a bowl and whisk to combine
5. Add the melted chocolate | butter and whisk again until well combined
6. Pour the mixture into a greased and lined baking tin (mine is 23cm x 23cm) and spread evenly
7. Bake for 30 - 35 mins until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean
8. Allow to cool a little to room temperature and then refrigerate to cool completely

Caramel Ingredients

• 180ML SINGLE CREAM
• 90G UNSALTED BUTTER
• 330G CASTER SUGAR
• 125ML WATER

Method

1. To make the caramel, place the cream and butter in a saucepan over a medium heat until the butter is melted
2. Set aside to cool a little
3. Place the sugar and water into a saucepan. Mix just until they are combined but then stop mixing and let the sugar bubble and boil with no stirring until golden brown and the thermometer reads 175 degrees
4. Remove from the heat and add the cream mixture in a steady stream stirring all the time
5. Return the pan to a low heat and stir for 5 minutes until the caramel has thickened
6. Pour onto the cooled brownie and then refrigerate for 4-5 hours
7. Cut into squares and sprinkle with salt before serving