Hi there.

I know, its been months. I have no real reason why. I guess I just needed a break.

But I am back, and fully committed to ensuring that, amidst all the new years resolutions, there is a promise to make something delicious every now and again. Sorry if that messes with your new years resolutions to eat healthier ;)


Summer is in FULL swing here in South AFrica! I think last week has had the hottest day of the season! Phew! So I found a way to cool things down a bit!

This recipe does require an ice-cream maker, but don't despair if you don't own one - just use this no churn chocolate ice-cream recipe from Carla's Confections as your base and you will be A-for-away!

Ok - lets get down to business...


And it starts here - with chocolate of course!



And then it moves onto this (insert heart-eyes face right here!). You can buy it ready-made, or you can make your own caramel treat.


Time for the chocolate ice-cream part.


I guess if you wanted to you could stick a straw in right here and slurp it all up.


Mine, however, did make it into my ice-cream maker.


And then all the non-ice cream stuff that you have been nibbling on throughout the process get added - if there are any left!


And you get this.

The perfect way to cool down on a HOT summers day. To be frankly honest, I kind of think this is a perfect ANYTIME snack, but then again, I am a 'sweet' blogger and I feel that it is OK to eat cake for breakfast!

 Chocolate Rolo Ice-cream Printable Recipe



Source: Bits of Sunshine Original
Prep Time: 20 Minutes
Freezing Time: 30min

Ingredients:
1/2 - 3/4 cup cocoa (depending on taste, 3/4 cup makes a dark chocolate version)
3/4 cup icing sugar
dash of vanilla essence
125ml boiling water
1 cup full fat milk
2 cups full fat cream
1 tin caramel treat
1 cup Rolos

Method:
Make a paste using the cocoa, icing sugar and boiling water
With a hand whisk, mix the chocolate paste, vanilla, cream and milk together
Pop into the fridge and let it cool completely.
Once cool, freeze according to your ice-cream maker's directions
When the ice-cream reaches the 'soft-serve' stage, create layers of ice-cream, caramel and rolos it in a freezer safe dish.
Once all the layers are done, make an S swirls through it all with a butter knife.
Add some caramel and Rolos to the top of the ice-cream for effect.

www.bitsofsunshine.com (c) Heidi Hawyes

I think I just found the perfect brownie. I wouldn't say so if it weren't true. Its true. Try it and see.

I won't even say anything more. Just try it. Ok?!

Chocolate Rolo Brownies Print

• ¾ cup butter
• 2 cups white sugar
• 1 cup cocoa
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1 tablespoon vanilla essence
• 1 ½ cups of rolos

place butter, sugar and cocoa in a in a heavy based pot
place on a medium heat and stir until butter has melted
remove from heat and add baking powder, salt and eggs
stir the mixture until it is glossy
add the flour and mix until combined
stir in the chocolate chips and rolos
pour mixture into an oven proof dish
bake in a preheated oven at 160°C/320°F for 25 - 30 minutes
dust with icing sugar

www.bitsofsunshine.com © Heidi Hawyes 2013

I love Christmas time. It is full of everything I hold close to my heart! The Lord Jesus, my family and friends, giving, and lots of Christmas treats! Its round about this time of year that all the baking bloggers are hard work, measuring, baking, photographing, editing and blogging - all in the name of Christmas Cheer - and I love it! Take a deeeeeep breath - can't you just smell all the goodies in the air! Ah! To make it all the more sweeter, Kristan from Confessions of a Cookbook Queen and Shelly from Cookies and Cups are hosting a fabulous Holiday Recipe giveaway! I mean, isn't that the very best excuse to get your holiday baking on! So, I am entering these Rolo Chip Cookies in the Creative Holiday Recipe Contest hosted by Confessions of a Cookbook Queen and Cookies and Cups!


They were inspired by my addiction to rolos - and they are probably the best cookies I have made to date (not that I am blowing my own trumpet or anything TOOT TOOT!) And they were pretty easy to make!


They started off like this. Anything that starts off like this has to be good!


Then, after a couple of ingredients like butter and sugar and flour and eggs and ROLOS, it looks like this!

Need a closer look?...


There you go! Feeling the holiday vibe yet?


How about now?


Or now?

Ok, ok, I will stop that now! After you have dropped spoonfuls of cookie dough onto a baking mat or VERY well greased baking tray (the rolos are quite sticky when baked), they will take 8-10 minutes until they are golden brown and you can munch on them while you pop the next batch into the oven.

A Silpat is one of the best baking "things" I have invested in. They are pricey, but I have found that even the stickiest stuff just slides off them. If you don't have one yet - and you have been good this year - I suggest you add it to your Christmas Wish List! And perhaps, if you make Santa some of these Rolo Chip Cookies, he may just surprise you with a Silpat :)

 If, by any chance, you have any cookies left after baking these moist, chewy, chocolatey cookies, I think they would make a really sweet gift for any cookie / chocolate lover! I know a couple people who would LOVE these, my only problem is that this whole batch seemed to have vanished already! I guess I will be making more soon to the tunes of Micheal Buble Christmas! Yey!


 So - are you planning on giving baked gifts this festive season? If so - what? Feel free to leave a link to your Christmas baking in the comments so I can check it out!


And if all of that didn't rev up your Christmas Cheer - I am sure this sweet little dog will!


Here is the recipe [Printable]

Rolo Chip Cookies

First off - THANKS so much Lynna from Hearts in my Oven for her awesome post that she did here, was a winner. She had no clue - but I am totally in LOVE with anything blueberry. I could eat blueberries with anything if I had the chance, speaking of which this berry butter Ree from The Pioneer Woman made would be the ultimate spread for Lynna's muffins! Wow. I am drooling just thinking about it - just kidding! But almost! You muct stop by at Hearts in my Oven and see her wonderful bakes - like this cookies and cream ice-cream pie!

Ok, so I have not fallen off the edge of the coast of Southern Africa! I am still here! And I am celebrating tonight, having just handed in my FINAL assignment for this year! YEY! Now all I have to worry about is the exams coming up at the end of this month - BUT not tonight. I am taking a break from all that 'brain growing' stuff and am taking a lil time out for some 'belly growing' stuff. And these chocolate rolo cupcakes are so worth the belly growing! They are decadent. I am not sure how else to describe them! They are moist, chocolaty, dense and divine! They deserve all these exclamation points this posts seems to be yielding!


I have a thing for cupcakes. They can be turned into anything your heart desires! For example, you feel like a lemon meringue cupcake- yup, you can do that, you want a mini cheese cake - yup! Um, you want bannoffie pie-ish cupcakes - yup! Cheryl from Tidy Mom has even made ice cream cupcakes (yes they are on my list of things to make)! This is the reason I make cupcakes so often. They are like little blank canvases on which you can paint flavours to your hearts content! These Rolo ones are a total original creation, I have always loved rolos and recently became obsessed with them when my sister, Amy, made a Rolo dessert by using a Pilsbury Chocolate Brownie mix and added Rolos (lots of them). It is amazing. So these were inspired by you A!

I made my usual chocolate cupcake mixture, cept I have now found a really lazy way of making them. My mom would be horrified, but, instead of creaming and folding and la la la, I just dump all the ingredients into the mixer bowl, and mix it on high speed for a minute or two and voila! Done! Like I said, this is my blank canvas. Now its time for the good stuff...


And this gets dumped into this...


I don't know if any of you fellow South Africans have noticed the new Rolo chocolate slabs - aren't they great! In fact there seems to be a whole whack of new slabs that have hit the shelves in the last couple of months. It makes me so excited. I love new stuff! Anyhoo...


For these to be the real deal - they need caramel centres. See what I meant when I said decadent, maybe even sinful. If you are really feeling energetic, you can make your own caramel, but if you like short cuts (don't judge, I was busy! I bought the tinned version for these!) you can just buy some! First I filled the bottom of some prepared liners with some of the cupcake mixture, then I popped a teaspoon of caramel on top of the cupcake mixture. Make sure there is enough mixture covering the liners, or the caramel will sink and stick to the liner when they are baked. Which is ok, just a pain to try and get the cupcake out of its liner!


Then I spooned the rest of the mixture over the caramel, making sure that no caramel was peeking through. Check out those chunks of Rolo chocolate sticking out... *melt*


It was tempting, but no, I didn't lick that right off there. I saved what was left in the tin to add the finishing touches on the frosting.


I made some chocolate fudge frosting for these and used a big round nozzle to pipe these swirls on top. And then I used the left over caramel here to finish them off. And added a whole Rolo just for effect, I mean they were so loaded with chocolate they didn't need any more, but it just looked so awesome!

And, here is the good part...


SO worth baking! Really! Just do it! :)

Here is the recipe:

Chocolate Rolo Cupcakes {printable}












 Makes about 24 cupcakes

Cupcakes

2 cups flour
¾ cup cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup full fat mayonnaise
2 tsp vanilla essence
1 1/3 cups freshly brewed coffee
2 slabs Rolo chocolate (about 100g) - chopped
2 tins caramel treat / Dulce de leche
Rolos for decorating

• Preheat oven to 180' C / 350' F .
• Add all the ingredients in a mixing bowl except for the freshly brewed coffee and mix on high speed until combined
• Add the coffee bit by bit until it is all mixed in
• Add the chopped up rolo chunks and mix
• Fill some prepared cupcakes liners so the bottom is covered
• Spoon a teaspoon of caramel into the cupcake liner so it sits on top of the cake mixture
• Cover the caramel with the remaining cake mixture but be careful not to over-fill (¾ way is perfect!)
• Bake for about 20min. (I usually check after 15 min and take them out at about 18min)
• Let them cool completely before frosting them

Chocolate Fudge Icing
(depending on how you choose to ice these (the method I used took a lot of icing!) you may need to make a double batch)

250g softened butter
560g icing sugar
dash of vanilla essence
dash of cream
2 tablespoon cocoa powder
100g melted dark chocolate - cooled but still runny

• In an electric mixture, mix butter and icing sugar until smooth and fluffy, adding the cream bit by bit until a nice smooth piping consistency is reached.
• Add the vanilla essence and mix a bit more
• While the mixer is running, slowly add the chocolate and beat.
• Ice your cooled cupcakes as you wish!