Oreo Cookie dough Brownies

I'm ashamed to admit this, but the other day I was having friends over for diner, and I simply couldn't be bothered whipping up another cake from scratch. So I did the unheard of... I went and bought a Brownie packet mix! 

'Noooooooooooo' I hear you cry! But actually, it got me to thinking about those of  you that aren't so arty farty in the kitchen, or just don't have the time. So after buying the packet mix I decided to put a little spin on it (i.e make it a little bit more impressive), and after positive feedback decided to share. This is a great trick for those with kids or those who just can't be bothered...

YOU'RE GONNA NEED

1 x Asda Cookie dough Brownie mix
(I suppose another brand would do, but I like an Asda trip.... You can thank me for the plug later Asda!)


9 Oreos (I actually used 10, but 9 would work)













STEP 1

Line your tin with greeseproof paper and then line the bottom with Oreos. As I mentioned, I used 10, 9 would have sufficed, more probably would have been better (but I'm stingy with sharing my Oreos!)

STEP 2

Make up your brownie mix (as per the box instructions). Now at this point I deviated... Asda told me to add 5 tbsp's of water to the mix to make a batter which could be poured. Now I don't know how big Asda's tablespoons are... but 5 of mine certainly didn't make a 'pour-able' batter!!!

I added another 3, the batter still wasn't of pouring structure, but it spread nicely.

So....'Spread' your batter over the full tin. Make sure you cover the Oreos completely (you don't want any of those wee bad boys getting burned!)

STEP 3

Cook as the box instructed. AGAIN, I deviated and left them in for a further 5 mins, as when I checked them at the instructed time they were a bit gloopy (probably because I added extra water).

Allow to cool for 20 mins and then cut into slices and serve.. nom nom nom

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Banana Caramel Cupcakes

I don't usually do these kind of cakes on my blog, but I had a lot of over ripe bananas kicking about, and figured they looked pretty enough to warrant a tutorial. I took this recipe from Woman's weekly, The complete book of cupcakes', but tinkered about with it to suit what I wanted.

Because these cakes have to come out of their case after baking, they dry out a little faster than ones that you would ice over and leave in their cases. So if you're needing them for a certain event/time, try make them as close to it as possible, and store in a tin.

YOU'RE GONNA NEED

90g soft butter
110g brown sugar
2 eggs
75g self raising flour
75g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of mixed spice
2/3 cup mashed overripe banana
2 bananas (thinly sliced)
80g (1/3 cup) sour cream
2 tablespoons of milk
small tin of carnation caramel
100g chocolate (for grating)

STEP 1

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees C and line a muffin tin with muffin cases (you can do this with cupcakes, but the larger your cases, the larger you cake, and the more layers you can put in). My mixture made around 12 cakes.
Beat butter, sugar and eggs into a bowl until light and fluffy.

STEP 2

Stir in all of the dry ingredients, banana, sour cream and milk. Your mixture should look something like this.

STEP 3

Divide the mixture into your prepared cases. I filled them just over half way to get the size I got, however, if you want your cakes deeper (for more layers) then don't worry about adding more mixture to each case. As you are using only 75g of self raising flour, I find the cupcakes won't rise as much as they usually would.

Bake for about 20-25 mins (depending on size) and then turn cakes out to cool.

STEP 4

Remove cakes from their cases and cut in half (if you have made them deeper, you could cut them into 3 sections for an extra layer).

STEP 5

Spread a generous amount of caramel onto the bottom half of the cake and then top with slices of banana. Replace top half.

STEP 6

Top cupcakes with remaining caramel (or thick whipped cream). Using a grater, grate chocolate and sprinkle over cakes.

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