Around The World in 80 Bakes: Two Little Red Hens

A visit for New York would not be complete for us without a trip (or two) to Two Little Red Hens, our favorite New York bakery. This tiny little bakery on the Upper East Side is a bit of a refreshing break from super-sized New York City; its extremely quaint, with redbrick walls and paintings of chickens everywhere. They make a delicious range of homemade baked goods, but the main reason we love it here is their mini cupcakes, which are the perfect little treat (although we rarely stop at just one!).

Their carrot cake and red velvet are fantastic, although we have two personal favourites...

As self-confessed chocolate and peanut butter fanatics, the Peanut Butter Swirl cupcake is a such a delight. A light, moist chocolate-y cake topped with a peanut butter icing and filled with even more icing. Yum!

We also love the Brooklyn Blackout, a real New York cupcake. It consists of an extremely moist chocolate cake, topped with chocolate ganache and (the best bit)... filled with chocolate pudding. It's definitely one we are going to try and recreate at home!

Sadly, we only get to experience Two Little Red Hens a few times a year when we're visiting New York. We're yet to find a bakery that measures up to it in London... so make sure you check it out if you're in the area!

Love, 

Samara and Anna

xxx

A Cronut Fail

This was a post we wrote last month but due to various travels, we never got around to posting it. Sorry for our absence!

After hearing the hype surrounding the Cronut, we decided we had to attempt to taste it for ourselves. Having landed in NYC in the evening and promptly passing out in our beds, we easily awoke at about 5.30am (thank you jet lag!) and off we went to Dominique Ansel in SoHo. 

As we journeyed, we were reluctant to believe that the hype could be quite as big as we had heard. How wrong we were...

Arriving just after 6.30am, the queue was easily 250 people long, with those at the front (the pros) having set up camp with camping chairs and picnics. And so we joined the queue, with our hope slowly fading.

We found things to occupy the time, new hairstyles, reading, and mostly complaining that surely nothing could taste good enough to stand in line this long.

Having waited long past 8am (when the bakery opens) Samara went off to investigate our chances. She returned with news that the line was going to be at least another hour and a half, and it was highly likely they would run out before they got to us. We also found out August's new Cronut flavour was coconut, which didn't seem nearly as appealing as July's blackberry. With energy levels low, we made the executive decision to buy a few other pastries from the bakery (there no queue for all other pastries!) and leave the Cronut's until next time. 

We asked what the two most popular pastries other than the Cronut were, and were recommended a Cannelé and 'Dominique’s Kouign Amann'. 

The Cannelé was caramelised and crunchy on the outside, and soft and flan-like on the outside. With vanilla and a hint of Caribbean-rum it was rich and dark, and possibly a little too heavy for 9am in the morning!

The 'Dominique’s Kouign Amann' was by far our favorite. It is a effectively a caramelised croissant, with a crunchy caramel base and soft flaky pastry, it was absolutely delicious and certainly worth a visit to the bakery!

If you are interested in trying a cronut, we would recommend arriving before 6.30am, as this seems to be when the majority of people arrive, and if possible avoid arriving the day after the new flavour is released!

Lots of love,
Samara and Anna xxx

Chocolate Dipped Macaroons

We've always had a thing for macaroons; the sweet, chewy coconut is always yummy; but when paired with bitter dark chocolate they're extra delicious. 

They are also some of the easiest things to make. They require few ingredients, little time and keep for a while so there's no rush to eat them (although it's hard to resist). 

We whipped up a batch the other day after finding desiccated coconut on sale for 50p a bag! 

Now we have a plate full of macaroons which make the perfect afternoon snack. 

Ingredients

200g desiccated coconut

150g of dark chocolate 

115g sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract 

3 large egg whites

Start by preheating your oven to 180°C . 

Empty your coconut into a large bowl. 

Separate the eggs, keeping only the whites.

 Add the sugar...

Beat the egg whites until light and fluffy. This is key as it gives the macaroons the light and 'chewy' texture. 

Add the egg whites to the sugar-coconut mixture.

Add 1 tsp of vanilla extract. 

Mix lightly with a wooden spoon, then use your hands to smoosh the mixture all together.

Squidge small balls of the mixture and place on baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes or until they start to brown a little on the top. 

Take the chocolate and break into small pieces. Then place in a glass bowl sitting on a pot of boiling water and melt the chocolate until its smooth.

Dip the the macaroons into the chocolate. As the macaroons can be quite delicate and the chocolate quite thick, we ended up coating them in chocolate using a spoon. 

Once coated, allow to cool. 

Then enjoy your deliciously chocolatey macaroons! What a treat!

We're intrigued with the idea of chocolate chips in the macaroons as well as outside of them. Or maybe chocolate covered macaroons. Hmm...

Love,

Samara and Fiona

xxx

Banana and Oat Cookies

I was inspired to make these cookies after seeing a similar recipe on The Burlap Bag that comprised of only two ingredients- banana and oats. The simplicity of these cookies seems to good to be true... not to mention as they only contain banana and oats they must be super healthy, so I tested out a batch. 

They were indeed delicious, easy to make and so good for you! So I tweaked the recipe to make them a bit jazzier. These cookies aren't as healthy as the two ingredient version but they are still a lot healthier than regular cookies because they contain no butter, sugar, flour etc. 

They are also easily adaptable so you can add in or take out whatever you want. 

Ingredients

2  large banana's (or 4 small ones)

1 cup of oats (90g)

1 tsp cinnamon

25g of white chocolate

25g of dark chocolate

25g of raisins

25g of walnuts

Preheat your oven to 190°C.

Start by peeling the bananas and chopping them up into small-ish pieces. 

Mash them up and add the oats and mash up even more, as much as you can. I used a potato masher for this. 

Add the cinnamon. 

Either add chocolate chips, or use regular chocolate and chop into fine pieces. Throw these into the bowl with the walnuts and raisins. 

Divide the mixture into cookie sized amounts and place them on baking tray. I used our silicon baking tray which is great and makes cleaning up 10 times easier. 

Bake for around 15-20 mins. It really depends on how you like the cookies, I prefer them to be crunchier on the outside and a bit gooey in the middle and 20 minutes is perfect for that!

And enjoy! We polished them off in about 2 hours and plan on experimenting further with different add-ins.

I want to try them with blueberries, pecans and m+m's!

A perfect snack for any time in the day and a great healthy recipe!

Let us know if you come up with any fabulous add-ins we need to try...

lots of love, 

Samara 

xxx