Malteser Cupcakes Recipe

I've taken a bit of a break from blogging, social-networking (I've missed you all) and, tragically, crafting for the past couple of weeks as I've been too busy with work to fit anything else in.  After two weeks of non-stop work, I spent Easter weekend painting, sanding, filling, glossing and doing all manner of other DIY-like things to my hallway so I feel I've earned a treat.  I made these cupcakes for my sister's birthday celebrations and kept a couple back to enjoy with a cuppa while I sat on the stairs, admiring my work so far/sinking into despair at how much more was left to do.  

--------------------

I've done Malteser Cookies, I've done Malteser Refrigerator Squares, and now Malteser Cupcakes.  What can I say?  I just love the chocolatey, malty deliciousness of a melt-in-the-mouth Malteser.  The actual cakes this recipe produces are not too sweet or rich but the mountain of Malteser frosting on top makes up for this!  I used Ovomaltine, the Italian version of Ovaltine, because I'm cosmopolitan and exotic like that.  And also because I just happened to have some leftover from my trip to Rome at Christmas.

This recipe produces a whopping 24 cupcakes as I needed that many for a family gathering.  It can easily be halved to produce 12.

Ingredients

Cakes (makes 24)

220g butter or butter style margarine

220g caster sugar

4 free range eggs

220g self-raising flour

4 heaped tbsp Ovaltine (the traditional kind, not the light version)

4tbsp milk

Malteser Frosting

500g icing sugar

75g Maltesers

250g butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

A few tbsp of milk, as required

Extra Maltesers for decoration

Method

Pre-heat oven to Gas Mark 4/160C

Cakes

1. Beat butter and sugar in a bowl until light and fluffy.  Add the eggs, flour, Ovaltine and milk.  Beat until smooth.

2. Split the mix into 24 paper cases, and bake for 15 - 20  minutes or until cakes have risen and the centres spring back when lightly pressed.  The cakes will have an ever so slightly sticky top.

3. Transfer to cooling rack and leave to cool.

Frosting

1. Using a blender, food processor or good old-fashioned bashing with a rolling pin, crumble, blend or crush the Maltesers until you have a fine Malteser dust.  There will be a few larger chunks of chocolate in the dust and that's fine:

2. Beat the butter until it begins to look pale and light.  Add the icing sugar, a third at a time, beating as you go.  Add the vanilla extract and beat until incorporated.  Add the Malteser dust and continue to beat until you have a light, fluffy buttercream.  You may need to add a few drops of milk to loosen the mixture as you work.  Add no more than 1tbsp at a time to ensure you don't loosen it too much. 

Pipe or spread the frosting onto the cupcakes and top with a Malteser.

  

Jenny

x

Malteser Cookies Recipe

As my friends and family all know me very well, I always get lots and lots of Maltesers for Christmas and birthdays.  This is obviously brilliant, but even I have a limit as to how many Maltesers I can eat (I don't actually, that's a total lie, but I did fancy a change).  I made a Malteser Refrigerator Cake a few months ago which went down really well and I wondered if I could make Malteser cookies by adding some bashed up Maltesers to a basic cookie mix.

A quick search on Google revealed that others had gone before me and that the general consensus was that Maltesers do very nicely when incorporated into cookie mix and baked in the oven.  I adapted a basic cookie recipe and came up with the recipe below which produced 28 of these beauties:

These are by far the best cookies I've ever baked.  They're not as chocolatey as others, and not quite as sweet.  I think the dry centres of the Maltesers really takes some of the richness away, although I did make them pretty small so maybe that's the real reason I was able to eat three in one sitting.

Here is my recipe for the tastiest, chewiest, maltiest cookies:

--------------------

Malteser Cookie Recipe

Makes 20 - 30 depending on size

• 250g buttery-style margarine or softened butter
• 150g demerara sugar
• Half a teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 free-range egg, beaten
• 220g plain flour
• Quarter teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• Pinch of salt
• Crushed Maltesers to taste (I used about 130g)
• 50g milk or plain chocolate chips (optional)

Pre-heat the oven to 200C/Gas Mark 6

1. In a large bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until fluffy and well combined.
2. Beat in the vanilla extract and egg until well combined.
3. Add the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt and mix well until mixture is smooth.
4. Add the crushed Maltesers and chocolate chips (if using) and stir well until evenly distributed throughout mixture.
5. Spoon generous dollops of mixture onto a baking sheet, leaving plenty of space around each one for spread.
6. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until the edges are light golden brown. Stand for a few minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

--------------------

The cookies are amazing straight from the oven but will keep well for a few days in an airtight container.  Even my boyfriend, who generally doesn't have a sweet tooth, loved these cookies.  They're delicious and I will definitely be baking these again soon.

Enjoy!

Jenny

 x

Malteser Refrigerator Cake

When I was little, a neighbour used to make an amazingly rich creation for parties that we kids all charmingly called 'Chocolate Poo Cake'.  I now know it to be more commonly known as Refrigerator Cake, or Traybake, being a mixture of melted chocolate, crushed biscuits, butter, and anything else suitable you have to hand, such as glace cherries or raisins.

I was planning on making two types of cupcake for a family party at my auntie's house this weekend, one fruit based and one chocolate based.  Whilst trawling the Internet for ideas for a Malteser cupcake, I came across several recipes for refrigerated traybakes and as I'm not one to turn down the easy option, I decided to go down this route instead.  

After assembling the most unhealthy group of ingredients I've ever used in one recipe, I was a bit worried it would be too rich but the dryness of the Malteser centres takes the edge off so it's definitely worth leaving them whole rather than crushing as I've seen in some recipes.  You definitely need to serve it in small squares though!

Recipe (makes approx 20 small squares)

200g milk chocolate
2 tablespoons golden syrup
100g butter
250g crushed digestive biscuits
135g Maltesers (one large bag)
100g white chocolate

1. Break the chocolate into small chunks and slowly melt over a low heat with the butter and syrup, stirring regularly (you can microwave but I prefer the bowl over a pan of hot water method)

2. Mix in the crushed digestives and the Maltesers until evenly combined

3. Pour into a large baking tray lined with clingfilm and press down to ensure an even thickness.  Leave in the fridge for a couple of hours or until fully cooled and set

4. Melt the white chocolate and drizzle or spread over the top. Return to fridge until set, then cut into small squares with a sharp knife.

Hell, yeah

Jenny

  x