M&M Icing - Cupcakes

I can now report that I am no longer as big of an M&M fan as I was at the start of this weekend. Why? I had lots of M&Ms. So I ate lots of M&Ms. As yummy as they are, I definitely over indulged, and believe it is safe to say that for a little while, I will be able to say no to an M&M...But not to put you off this or anything! The icing is AMAZINGLY yummy. I could have just eaten the whole lot! (Of course I wouldn't, because that isn't such a good idea). So if you like M&Ms like me, wait till you've eaten your cupcakes before you finish off the bag of M&Ms...
I used the same chocolate cupcake recipe as I have previously done. The M&M icing is from the chocolate frosting recipe in the same book, just with added M&Ms! The book is Divine Cupcakes by Tamara Jane.

M&M Icing:

• 250g butter, softened
• 500g icing sugar
• 2/3 cup cocoa
• 125ml milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla essence
• 1/2 cup M&Ms (or more to your taste)

1. Beat the butter until it is well softened. Add half the icing sugar, cocoa and milk. Beat until it is light and fluffy. Add the remaining ingredients and beat again until it is smooth.
2. Crush up your M&Ms (I used a rolling pin), until they are small enough so that they will get through your piping tip.
3. Pipe onto your cooled cupcakes.

Chocolate Cupcakes:

• 430g plain flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 250ml hot water
• 100g cocoa
• 250ml cold water
• 200g unsalted butter, softened
• 560g caster sugar
• 4 eggs
• 4 teaspoons vanilla essence
• Makes 36

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C. Line three 12-hole muffin trays with cupcake papers.
2. Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl whisk together the hot water and cocoa until you have a smooth paste. Add the cold water and whisk until evenly combined.
3. In a separate bowl, cream the butter for 1-2 minutes. Add the caster sugar and two of the eggs. Beat until light. Add the last two eggs one at a time, beating until well combined, then stir in the vanilla essence. Add half of the flour to the creamed mixture and beat on low speed until combined. Add half of the cocoa mixture and beat until combined. Repeat this process but do not over-beat as this will toughen the mixture.
4. Divide the mixture between the cupcake papers.
5. Bake for 25 minutes or until springy when pressed in the centre.

Cool cupcakes in the muffin trays for 5 minutes before removing the cupcakes to a wire rack to cool completely.

Belgian Biscuits

For quite a few months now my partner has been asking me to make Belgian biscuits (as he loves them) and I have never got around to it until this weekend. Absolutely terrible of me to have not done these sooner! I personally don't like them (I'm not really a biscuit fan), but according to him these taste really good! I did have lots of fun using the cookie cutter... The following recipe was from the Taste website. I don't currently have a food processor, so I just used an electric beater and they came out fine, so I have amended the recipe to how I did it.
Enjoy :)

Belgian Biscuits:

• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
• 250g butter, softened
• 1 egg
• 2 1/2 teaspoons mixed spice
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 2 3/4 cups plain flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/3 cup raspberry jam

Coloured Sugar:

• 1/4 cup white sugar
• red food colouring

Icing:

• 1 cup icing sugar
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 1 teaspoon butter, melted

1. Place sugar, butter and egg into a bowl. Mix with an electric beater until well combined. Add mixed spice, cinnamon, 1 3/4 cups of flour and baking powder. Pulse until combined. Add remaining flour. Mix until it forms a dough. Remove to the bench.
2. Divide dough in half. Shape into two 10cm diameter discs. Wrap each it glad wrap and place them into the refrigerator until firm (about 30 minutes)
3. Preheat oven to 180°C. Line four trays with baking paper.
4. Roll each disc out between two sheets of baking paper until it is about 5mm thick. Using a 6cm cutter, cut out the biscuits. You should end up with about 56cm biscuits. Place them onto the trays and bake for about 10-15 minutes, until golden. Stand for 5 minutes, then transfer onto a wire rack to cool.
5. Spread half the biscuits with jam and sandwich with the remaining biscuits.
6. To make the coloured sugar; put the sugar in a snap lock bag. Add one-two drops of red food colouring. Rub the bag between your hands to mix the sugar and colour together.
7. To make the icing; sift icing sugar into a small bowl. Add the milk and butter. Stir until the mixture is well combined and a good spreadable consistency. Spread over the biscuits, then sprinkle over the coloured sugar.