Chocolate, Peanut Butter and Oat Energy Balls

HELLO! So, it's been a while since I last visited my little corner of the internet. Nothing much has happened I just was having a little break from blogging. In my break from the Tea Cozy Kitchen I have been on holiday to Croatia, which was so beautiful and the food and drink was amazing. I celebrated my 27th birthday (shock! horror!) with a very tasty triple layer biscoff and caramel cake (pics to follow!), we also celebrated our 4 year wedding anniversary and our wee tiny pup turned 6 months old! Time just keeps marching on!

Anyway, today i'm sharing a very simple, tasty and a little healthy recipe for you. Chocolate, peanut butter and oat energy balls are a new discovery for me but a great one at that! I love one or two mid-afternoon with a big cuppa coffee to beat those 3pm energy slumps. So here goes...

 

Ingredients

makes 16 (two-bite) energy balls

150g oats,

50g raisins,

3tbsp smooth or crunchy peanut butter,

1.5tbsp honey,

0.5 tsp vanilla extract,

100g white chocolate,

90g dark chocolate,

cocoa nibs and ground almonds to decorate.

Method

• Use a food processor to blend the oats, raisins, peanut butter, honey and vanilla together until you get a paste that can be easily rolled into balls.
• Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper and roll the mixture into 16 evenly sized balls setting each one on the tray.
• Put the tray of balls in the fridge to set for 15mins.
• Melt the chocolates and roll each ball in the chocolate until it is evenly covered and setting each ball back on the tray with a sprinkle of your desired topping, I used cocoa nibs and ground almonds.
• Pop the tray back in the fridge for the chocolate to set for another 15mins then chow down!

These can be kept in the fridge for a few days. This is a great base recipe as you could easily change the nut butter, swap the raisins for dates, add chopped nuts or change the toppings. I really enjoyed this recipe so I would really love it if you let me know how it goes for you, thanks so much for reading,

Rachael xx.

Rainbow Piñata Cake

Hi everyone and welcome back to the Tea Cozy Kitchen. So, I mentioned in my last post that I was doing a bit of baking at the weekend for a first birthday party. I thought I would share with you the cake that I baked and also the process which was involved in making this cake.

For this first birthday party I made a Rainbow Piñata Cake. I mean what could be better for a kids party than a brightly coloured cake that explodes smarties when you cut into it!  For the cake sponge I just used a very simple all in one Victoria sponge method with a little added vanilla and made four layers with it. I used Mary Berry's Victoria sponge recipe as you really just cant go wrong with a recipe by her. I mean Mary Berry knows her cakes. To get the colour on the inside I used some gel food colouring. I wanted the colour to be vibrant so I used quite a lot (maybe could have done with a wee bit less, the colour was almost fluorescent).

As you can see the outside of the cake was decorated very simply with a light and fluffy vanilla buttercream and topped with some fresh berries. I wanted the outside to not give any hints on what was hiding on the inside. I did two layers of the buttercream to try and get an opaque finish! It was pretty hard to achieve this as I have made so many semi-naked cakes recently.

Between the cake layers was a thick layer of buttercream but also a good bit of strawberry jam. I always think that vanilla and strawberry jam screams kids birthday cake. To get the smarties in the centre I used a cookie cutter to cut a circle in the centre of the first three layers. When they were stacked and assembled with buttercream there was a column down the middle that I was able to fill with smarties. The top layer had no hole and was set on top to stop the smarties falling out.

 And that's how I made this Rainbow Piñata Cake, I think it's possibly one of the most fun cakes I have ever made and it went down a treat with the kids and adults alike. What's your favourite thing that you have baked? I would love to know! Thanks so much for reading,

Rachael xx.

Chocolate, Oat and Raisin Cookies

HELLO! How is everyone? We just had a lovely sunny bank holiday here in Northern Ireland (hence why there is no meal plan Monday!). I spent the whole day in the garden planting, painting, playing with the pup and of course drinking a G&T or two! But today, I've got a really tasty recipe to share with you. These cookies are one of the best cookies I've ever made ( a very bold claim I know!) but they are just the perfect combination of crispy, soft and chewy, not to mention so easy to make. I made these one afternoon as I was really craving cookies but didn't have any eggs, and voila, such a yummy cookie was born. They are the perfect afternoon snack with a cup of tea or coffee. Or they would also be delicious with ice-cream sandwiched between them for an easy dessert. I really recommend you give 'em a try!

Ingredients

Makes about 10 big cookies

110g butter,

105g light brown sugar,

1tsp vanilla extract,

95g plain flour,

a pinch of salt,

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda,

30ml boiling water,

80g porridge oats,

40g ( a large handful) of raisins,

100g dark chocolate, chopped into chunks.

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees for a fan oven. Beat the butter with the sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy.

2. Stir in the flour and salt.

3. Dissolve the bicarbonate of soda in boiling water and add to the mix along with the oats, raisins and chocolate chips.

4. Roll into 10 equal size balls and flatten each slightly on a baking try lined with baking paper. Make sure to spread the cookies out as they well spread in the oven.

5. Bake for 12 mins or until golden and crispy.

And there you go, a delicious cookie recipe to try! Let me know if you give them a go, I would love to know what you think! Until next time, thank you so much for reading,

Rachael xx.

March Foodie Favourites

Hi everyone and HAPPY FRIDAY!! Hope you've had a fabulous week and have that Friday feeling. I know I definitely do, i'm very much looking forward to a relaxing weekend, before the madness of Easter next week begins. I've already got my Friday bake in the oven, today i'm making Malted Milk blondies and I can't wait to taste them. Anyway, today's post is a monthly foodie favourites one, all things yummy which I have been loving throughout March. So here goes...

Nakd Posh Bits in the Cocoa Mandarin flavour

OMG these are sooo good! They are the perfect little sweet treat to have with a cup of tea in the evening! They are made from all natural ingredients, there's only fruit and nuts in them but boy do they taste good. Not quite a Terry's Chocolate Orange but they are close competition and are slightly healthier. They are also in really cute shapes, I love the little hearts.

Green and Blacks Dark Chocolate with Sea Salt

We all know I am a complete chocoholic and have practically tried every chocolate out there but this was a new one for me. It is so rich and sweet, you only need a wee bit to satisfy that chocolate longing.

Pukka Peppermint and Liquorice Tea

I think I have mentioned this on the blog before but this is one of my favourite evening teas. I find the peppermint settles my tummy before bed and the liquorice gives me that hit of sweetness with no sugar. I also find it makes me incredibly sleepy which is a bonus.

Fever Tree Mediterranean Tonic Water

Let it be known I love a G+T and I have been known to over indulge once or twice (never again!) and for me, Fever Tree is the best Tonic Water out there. So imagine my delight when I spotted this new flavour I had never tried before, naturally I had to buy a big box and a new gin to try it with. I think I actually like this more than the normal tonic water, I just love the light florally flavour it gives to your drink.

Littles Chocolate Caramel Instant Coffee 

It's 6.30am, you stumble into the kitchen in the dark, let the pup outside and reach for the comforting container of your favourite instant coffee and to your dismay you find it empty ( I mean who does that?!). Oh the horror (it's ok we had ground stuff so my husband was safe from the lack of coffee wrath!). This coffee was bought in a panic and boy did it deliver. It's so delicious and I actually like it more than my usual coffee. Such a lovely sweet chocolatey coffee flavour for the morning. Yum yum!

And there you go, some of my foodie favourites for this month. If you see any of these products around you should definitely give them a try. Have you got any recommendations for me? Anything foodie you have been loving recently? Please do share in the comments. I'm off to make a cuppa, that coffee is THAT yummy, thank you so much for reading my little blog, have an amazing weekend,

Rachael xx.

Spring Mini-Egg Popcorn Bars

Hi everyone and welcome to a pretty exciting recipe post! As you probably know by now I am obsessed with Spring and with Easter right around the corner, I get free reign to do all my super sweet, brightly coloured sweet recipes! So today, being a bit of a popcorn connoisseur, I have been inspired by SkinnyPop popcorn to make these super-easy and yummy mini egg popcorn bars! Go on give them a try, you won't be disappointed!

Ingredients

25g Popcorn ( I used SkinnyPop naturally sweet flavour)

50g white chocolate, chopped

100g mini-eggs

any brightly coloured sprinkles

50g mini marshmallows

20g butter

Method

1. Melt butter, 25g white chocolate, and mini marshmallows in a pan over a low heat.

2. When melted and smooth turn off the heat and stir in the popcorn and sprinkles until evenly distributed.

3. Press into a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper until flat and then press in the mini eggs into the top. Leave to cool for 5mins.

4. Melt another 25g of white chocolate and drizzle over the top of the tray.

5. Cut into bars and scoff!

And there you go, that's how you make them, I told you they were very simple to throw together! Feel free to add whatever you would like into the mix, I think Smarties or Lucky Charms would work really well too but I love this combination! They would be perfect for an Easter Afternoon tea or a yummy treat to get your kids to make over the Easter holiday! Thanks so much for reading,

Rachael xx.