One of the perks of blogging about food is that I sometimes am lucky enough to have free food sent to me. Not only that, but free chocolate! Who was I to say no when the lovely people at Royce offered to send me a sample of a new Cadbury range of chocolate? Not only that, if I like it they said that they would give me 5 more of these wonderful 'Marvellous Creations' packs for my lovely ZOMTBAKES and GET ZOMT readers. Pretty nice right?!

Whilst I wasn't able to indulge in this particular chocolate (because it's not gluten free) I have been told be those who tried it that is was very delish and just that little bit different. The flavour combinations sounds simply magical which makes sense because they come from the magical land of Joyville.



The entire package that was sent to me was a total joy to open as well...a hand written letter offering more chocolate for my readers, followed by a letter from Joyville complete with a purple wax seal. Then rich Cadbury purple tissue paper and ribbon wrapped the three blocks of chocolate, on top of an apron. The whole experience was fun and exciting to unwrap and just what I would expect from something called 'Marvellous Creations'. I definitely kept the lovely Cadbury purple apron for myself - I think it's the perfect description for me ha ha.

1. Leave a comment below about the marvellous reason why you would like one of the 5 packs!
2. Pop over to my ZOMTBAKES facebook page and 'like' it = 1 bonus entry 
3. Head over to my GET ZOMT facebook page too if you want and 'like' that (plus there is a free recipe ebook for you download) = 1 bonus entry
4. Share this blog on your facebook page = 1 bonus entry

...and the winners are...

Helen Brereton

Beverly Lane

Sharon Fawcett

Tiana Matri

Suzanne Hill

Please email me your address details so I can send you your Cadbury Marvellous Creations Pack!

 

I really do think that Cadbury have sent me a bottomless box of chocolate...because this is the third recipe and I STILL have plenty left! I am pondering what to bake next...with Christmas just a few weeks away I am thinking some baked goodies for friends and family. Perhaps a chocolate gingerbread inspired treat?

Thanks to the lovely people at Cadbury Kitchen, I have had a large box of chocolate hanging around the kitchen that they very kindly sent to me to review. It included the new range of white chocolate which is something I don't normally bake with, being more of a dark chocolate fan. I am also a little scared of white chocolate because it can be so much more temperamental than milk or dark! However, the new Cadbury range proved to be very easy to use and I even cheated and was able to just melt it in the microwave - super quick and simple. It melted to a very smooth consistency and John has told me that this blondie was rich and delicious.

I was very excited to receive a large red box of chocolate from Cadbury Kitchen a few weeks ago. When I was contacted by them asking if I would like to review and create something with their new range of Real Chocolate Cooking range, it only seemed polite to say yes!

I first made these tasty little muffins for a nutrition & wellness event with some mums and their kids - they were gobbled up by all and I was very impressed I got the little ones approval too. The original ones were just a basic berry buckwheat and millet muffin...I refrained from nuts and oats for those with food intolerance. These are the ones with lots more things in them! How can you go wrong with raspberries, coconut, almonds, oats & 85% dark chocolate?

I made this granola for a very special girl who I was lucky enough to meet this year through my work...she loves muesli and granola so I thought for Christmas this was the perfect gift for her. Unfortunately, I wrote the recipe down on a scrap of paper and...well I have to admit I lost it somewhere. I do have a list of the ingredients, but not the quantities. However, to make up for it I have found some other delicious looking granola recipes for you to try!

I made these blondies for a lovely lady who I am lucky to have in my life - the mother of the wonderful man I am blessed to have as my partner. Her favourite cookies are cranberry and white chocolate, but I wanted to go just one step further for Christmas...and I think that those flavours in blondie form really deliver! I am beginning to love Smitten Kitchen's ever so adaptable blondie recipe and am looking forward to trying more combinations of chocolate, nuts and dried fruit.

Since we have just moved into a new apartment block, and we have met so many nice people in our building I wanted to bake some little treats to give our lovely new neighbours for Christmas. It's so pleasant being able to stop and chat to our neighbours, unlike in my old apartment where you could hardly get a hello out of someone unless they were drunk or high and then the hello was unwanted!

I had a variety of chocolate chips left over that I wanted to use up and can't seem to get through a Christmas without making some form of ginger flavoured treat and apparently this year is no different! I didn't think you could really improve much on traditional gingerbread but hey, how can you wrong with chocolate chips? As I was pressed for time baking these last minute, I didn't roll them into individual cookies as it was going to mean numerous batches and just pressed it all into the one tray for make trusty old bars. I like how they turned out though, nice and soft but am curious as to how they bake up as cookies - so if you try this please let me know!

 For Christmas this year we moved into a beautiful new apartment 5 minutes from the beach. Apart from the amazing holiday lifestyle and finally feeling settled with my man in a home (rather than the old bonsai sized Kings Cross apartment); it also meant that I got a brand new kitchen for me to play in! So how could I possibly resist baking everyone's Christmas presents this year?!

Whilst the kitchen is not huge by any means, it has ample storage, a gas cooktop and good oven, space for a large fridge (heaven) and a microwave - something I forgot about the convenience of. It is also just generally much more pleasant to be in and I am feeling inspired to bake and cook again...well once my body sculpting meal plan becomes a bit more flexible anyway! Nothing like eating exactly the same six meals every day made from only chicken, red meat, fish, rice vermicelli, green beans, eggs and mountains of salad, to put a stop to any creative kitchen thoughts! Still it's been fantastic for getting results and my overall health as well. BUT...I can still bake for everyone else luckily, because the holiday season seems to bring out my baking urges!

Today was the first day I have stopped for long enough in the last two months to bake something delicious. I am in the final 5 weeks of a 12 week challenge at my gym, so I also have been eating very clean and trying not to have jars of delicious tempting cookies around! However, these are not too bad in moderation, and I have a whole week of holidays and people to share them with too.

We are heading up to the Hunter Valley for a 4 day refresh and relax. I am looking forward to doing nothing and spending some time cooking in a big kitchen and just exercising and eating and sleeping and doing nothing...and also sitting on the porch sipping tea, reading a book and perhaps munching on one of these delicious but healthy little cookies.

Since my mum is in Melbourne and I'm stuck up in Sydney...I made John's mum some of her favourite cookies for Mothers' day. (Actually I don't even like white chocolate and these could quite easily be on my favourite list too...not my top favourite, but pretty damn good. Certainly useful for carbo loading and getting some good 'guilt drive' to get through my first 8km run in a while!)

My own mum is amazing. Purely amazing. I love her, admire her, confide in her, cry with her, laugh with her and share everything with her...she is my best friend and mother at the same time. Happy Mothers' day Mary...I asked Pickles to give you lots of extra kitten love on Sunday :)

So Happy Mothers' day to all the wonderful, amazing and special mums out there! I hope somebody bakes you delicious cookies too!

I have been reading and exploring raw foods over the past few months and I am really starting to enjoy creating new raw dishes or mainly raw. I am not interested in being 100% raw but I certainly love the benefits and how my body feels when I eat more fresh vegetables, fruit, nuts, seeds etc... but even more so because I'm eating less and less of the processed foods. One day I will perhaps try a totally raw lifestyle...who knows!

Haha I know! I'm hilarious!

In all seriousness though, I was quite surprised that these were so easy to make. This was the first time I worked with yeast so I was a bit apprehensive. When I say apprehensive, I mean I couldn't wait til the morning I had planned to bake and started making the dough at 10pm at night and was subsequently up until 1:30am in the morning with a divine smell of cinnamon and sultanas and chocolate. So apprehensive but still can't wait!

On that note of sultana or chocolate - I just say why choose? Go both! I actually added in extra amounts to the recipe so these are packed full of sultanas AND chocolate chips. I also used half wholemeal flour, I was too scared to go the whole hog though. I thought this would make them too dense. Also replaced the butter with sunflower spread and the caster sugar with brown sugar. Added in allspice as well because, well just because I like my spices.

You need a good few hours though to allow for the proving and rising of the dough, but the ingredients are basic and the process is simple. The results are worth it; I will never buy hot cross buns again when I can make them fresh at home. (Except from my lovely friend Pip who makes the best hot cross buns at Baker's Delight of course...I can't beat a pro!)

I just wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas and share these super easy and very delicious truffles...it's a bit hard to resist these little bites so make extra if you are using them for presents as I guarantee you will snack on them! A rich, decadent treat for the holiday season.

I made these delicious assortment of truffles as a present for John's sister on Christmas night. They all worked out really well and I like that the recipes aren't really particular with measurements...it's more a matter of adding a bit extra of dry or wet ingredients as needed. I admit I basically made these up as I went along so all the amounts are not 100% accurate but you should be able to get it right. These recipes are very versatile and easy to adapt in flavours as you like too...try some different combinations of nuts, spices and dried fruits etc... I wanted to do an apple pie flavoured one but ran out of time.

Each recipe makes between 20-30 truffles...I think...we ate a few on the way! Store all the truffles in the fridge to keep them fresh and the tasty.

These warm, spicy brownies were my relapse from baking. I have been trying not to bake so much lately for a number of reasons;

1. summer is around the corner & the warmer weather is much more fun spent outdoors;
2. I have been back into training and running lately so need proper food, I mean FUEL to keep the energy levels up;
3. I'm in between jobs at the moment and have been trying to watch the dollars...and they seem to fall out of my wallet rapidly near any source of food. Especially those which I don't actually NEED.

My lovely beautiful friend Pip is just so precious to me...and not just because she made me these amazingly rich and decadent triple chocolate brownies! Although it certainly gets her brownie points. Hah my puns are hilarious I know.
No but seriously, she is a kindred spirit in my life and I am truly grateful for her.

These fudgy brownies with slightly crunchy crusts are apparently much requested back in Melbourne. Well, now these will be requested in Sydney as well. I had two of these and had to remove them entirely from my apartment and deliver them to John because I swear I would have eaten the entire thing even if I died during the process. In the words of one of her favourite quotes from The Meaning of Night, Michael Cox:

"Whoever heeds the voice of reason when love whispers, softly persuasive, in the other ear..."

or in the context of this post;

"Whoever heeds the voice of reason when brownies whisper, softly persuasive, in the other ear..."

(She will hate me for butchering that!)

These are really not for mass consumption, they fall under my 'special food' category...sadly not much healthy nutrients going on here. Did I mention they are damn delicious though? Just try them once, really. You need to.