Was working from home yesterday and cooked some of my colleagues lunch. Did my Beef & Guinness Stew since it’s 1) easy to cook and can be prepared early and 2) it’s great comfort winter food. You’ll find the RECIPE here in a previous post since I made it before. The beef could’ve been softer this time and I need to figure out a way to bring out the flavour of the Guinness beer more.

All the required ingredients

First I coat the beef with flour and pepper, then fry to brown

Then I cook all the veggies and add in tomato paste and some crushed tomatoes

In goes the Guinness beer and beef stock

Pop in some bay leaves for more flavour

Then let simmer for around 2 hours

Serve with buttery, creamy mash

And since I’ve been baking quite a bit recently, I decided to make some nice Honey Cupcakes with Vanilla Icing. These take ~15 mins flat to make – 5 mins to mix the ingredients, and just over 10mins to bake. Too easy! I made a big batch so I could share them with colleagues – it’s a really cheap and tasty little treat. They’re actually meant to be perfect and round with icing drizzled over evenly, but I’m just too lazy so I just whacked them in closely together, which is why they’re a bit funny shaped 😉

Just a handful of ingredients is all you’ll need

Drizzling the vanilla essence in

Then pop in the eggs and beat

Fold in the flour and custard powder

And whack it in the oven

Voila!

Honey Cupcakes with Vanilla Icing

Honey Cupcakes with Vanilla Icing (makes 15)

2 tbsp honey, warmed
120g butter
1.5 tsp vanilla essence
1 tbsp brown sugar
2 eggs
1 cup self-raising flour, sifted
1/4 cup custard powder
For icing:
20g butter
1 cup icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
4 tsp hot water

1) Beat butter and honey in a bowl until creamy
2) Add vanilla, sugar and eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition
3) Gently fold in flour and custard powder
4) Spoon into cupcake wrappers and bake approx 12 mins at 180c until lightly golden. Cool.
5) To make icing, combine all ingredients and gradually stir in hot water to a smooth consistency. Spread over cupcakes when cool.