The Best Recipes of 2016

by Michelle @ A Tipsy Giraffe // December 30, 2016 // 2 Comments

15 of the most popular recipes in 2016! Delicious cakes, indulgent desserts, scrummy cookies, and amazing cocktails – Giraffes Can Bake had a very tasty year! Here are the 15 recipes you lovely readers loved the most!

2016! What a year! There’s been a lot of ups and downs, but overall it’s been a pretty good year for me. I experimented a lot more with my second love, mixology, and you guys loved it as much as I did – 6 of the most popular recipes this year were cocktails! There will definitely be more to come in 2017, I can’t wait to get mixing! I also learned to bake gluten free, which was a big, and often frustrating, challenge but I mastered it in the end – 5 of the top 15 recipes were gluten free, I’m glad you liked them as much as I did! Let’s take a look at the 15 recipes you loved the most in 2016, in no particular order…

Gluten Free Cookie Dough Salted Caramel Brownie Bombs

These were the first of gluten free baking successes – and it definitely started my 2016 gluten free baking with a delicious bang! They’re egg free cookie dough, dipped in salted caramel, wrapped in brownie and covered in chocolate! Holy awesomeness batman! I mean you can’t go wrong with these little balls of heaven, especially since they’re so easy to make!

Continue reading →

Nutella Stuffed Shakoy {aka Twisted Donuts }

by Michelle @ A Tipsy Giraffe // April 23, 2016 // 30 Comments

Soft and fluffy twisted donuts, crispy on the outside and stuffed full of Nutella. Really delicious and so quick and easy to make (only one 15 minute rise needed!), these Filipino fried treats will not disappoint!

I have to warn you, these twisted donuts are dangerous! They’re yeast risen but they take hardly any time at all to make, you only need one 15 minute rise – something this delicious just shouldn’t be so easy to make, it’s not good for my waistline! These amazing fried treats were introduced to me by my good friend, Jhuls, who blogs over at The Not So Creative Cook. Don’t let the name fool you, she’s very creative and has some incredible recipes, make sure you check them out. When I saw her Shakoy recipe it went straight to the top of my “MUST make” list. This is Jhuls’ recipe that I have adapted, and I use the word “adapt” very loosely, the only real difference I made is I stuffed them with Nutella – because it’s been too long since I made anything with Nutella!

Continue reading →

Apple and Blackberry Cream Turnovers

by Michelle @ A Tipsy Giraffe // September 17, 2015 // 35 Comments

Homemade, from scratch, flakey, buttery puff pastry with a fall spiced apple and blackberry filling and fresh whipped cream. So delicious and much easier than you think, this recipe includes a step by step guide on how to make your own real puff pastry from scratch! The perfect treat to welcome in Autumn.

I love autumn, I can’t imagine there are many people that don’t love it! But as I sit here and write this post, ready to gush about how wonderful this season is, it’s pouring down with rain and has been all day – that’s the reality of British fall! The leaves may turn beautiful colours, but they’re soggy piles of mulch on the ground! And you can get cosy in your oversized sweater, but you’re gonna ruin the wool as soon as you step outside! On the plus side, the miserable weather is the perfect excuse to stay indoors and fill your house with wonderful autumn baking aromas – and these apple and blackberry cream turnovers are a great start!

Continue reading →

Chocolate and Hazelnut Macarons

by Michelle @ A Tipsy Giraffe // June 26, 2015 // 55 Comments

Amazing Chocolate and Hazelnut French Macarons that are made with ground hazelnuts and filled with a Nutella ganache. With my step by step photo guide, you’ll be able to make these delicious, chewy meringue cookies too!

After my many, many struggles with making macarons, I now really enjoy making them! With all the rules you’re supposed to follow and all the scary stories lots of people will tell you about the horror of macaronage, they can seem very daunting. But once you’ve learned all the tips and tricks and, most importantly, figured out what works for you – you’ll be able to impress everybody with your awesome macarons! In this post I not only have a delicious Chocolate and Hazelnut Macaron recipe for you, but I’m sharing all the tricks I’ve picked up along my journey of learning to make these misunderstood cookies with you – including photos for those of you who are more visual like me! As you might imagine, this is gonna be a long one – but once we’re done, I’m hoping you’ll feel much more confident in macaron making – no matter your baking experience! So hold on to your butts, let’s get started!

Continue reading →

Profiteroles with Warm Chocolate Sauce

by Michelle @ A Tipsy Giraffe // April 3, 2015 // 33 Comments

Light and airy choux pastry buns filled with crème pâtissière and smothered in warm chocolate sauce. Simple enough for a treat after a family dinner, elegant enough for a dinner party dessert!

This post may contain affiliate links. Read full disclosure here

Oh profiteroles, so delicious yet so misunderstood! Profiteroles with warm chocolate sauce are one of my absolute favourite desserts but they get a bit of a bad rap because they’re considered “too 70’s”. Lots of good things came out of the 70’s – Abba! Okay bad example, I hate Abba… um, Disco? Okay, you’ve caught me, my 70’s knowledge isn’t very good, in my defence I was born in the 80’s! All that really matters though is profiteroles were popular in the 70’s and profiteroles are awesome, so that makes the 70’s awesome in my book!

Continue reading →