Recipe: Chocolate Hazelnut Cupcakes

Anyone that knows me knows that I am a chocolate freak.
Seriously.
I’ve tried giving it up and all that does is make me cranky. So naturally I needed a really good chocolate cupcake recipe.
I think this one has it all – it’s chocolaty but not overly sweet, it’s squidgy but not too doughy and the addition of the roughly chopped hazelnuts gives the whole cake a lovely bite and texture.
When I made these I experimented with a coffee frosting that went really well with the rich chocolate flavor of the cupcakes. Unfortunately because it was an experiment I don’t have a recipe for the frosting, but next time I make these I will make sure to write down how I make it.
But just look at them…I had to draw on deep reserves of willpower to not eat the lot in one sitting.

Recipe: Chocolate Brownies

The weather is (finally) getting a little colder and of course that means that I can get into the kitchen and bake things without wanting to pass out from heat exhaustion.
Now I haven’t made brownies since I was a child – before the whole scare about eating raw eggs happened I would sneak tastes from the wooden spoon or dip my finger into the mixing bowl and smile happily at the delicious mixture.
Ah, memories.
But I digress, which is something I do a lot so bear with me.
Unless you count packet mixes, which after this recipe I know I certainly won’t; then brownies were a distant memory that brought me back to weekends spent in the warmth of the family kitchen eagerly waiting for whatever goodies were in the oven to come out to a squeak of glee that the recipe had worked.
These brownies evoked much the same reaction when I made them yesterday. The recipe is not at all the way I remembered making these deliciously squishy squares of chocolaty goodness and there was a point where I wondered if it would turn out at all like a brownie but I persevered and I am very glad I did as this was the result:


It took me all of my willpower to not eat these babies right out of the oven. Yum.