APPLE PIE A LA MODE
Ok I’ve been away from the blog world for sometime! Have been über busy at work the past couple of months. So what’s in the news? Promotion, new car on the way and holiday to Orlando, FL on the horizon. Not bad work for three months into the year. I’m living upto the goals I set out. Really excited to be back. Off to Cambridge today for some shopping and chilling out. I love Cambridge, especially if the weather is good which it has been. However, today it’s not looking good! Anyway, I’ll be back!
First post of the new year! We made it to 2012! I know this year is going to be the one, just something about those numbers that spells prosperity and happiness! One to remember for sure! Forgetting about all the disappointments of the past couple years, putting them all behind and following my imagination not my heart. Last year was probably the most useless year of my life and as much as I wanted it to, nothing special actually happened (apart from Glasto of course) So this year, career change is a happening because apparently you can’t just wake up and suddenly be the next Carrie Bradshaw blah blah blah – ahhh well at least I tried!! Wasted a good 6/7 years in the process but you learn from your mistakes I guess! So…I’ve figured the next best thing to get what I want will be to go with the second original plan – the one after being the next Madonna. Did I mention I’m a bit of a dreamer?!
Can’t say too much atm because of karma and all that jazz but just watch this space!
Whatever happens this blog ain’t going nowhere tho!
Hope everybody had a good Christmas and got everything they wanted! I’m loving my Beats By Dre, listening to Michael Jackson’s Stranger In Moscow on them now and one word…amazing!
Wow, that was all very deep. On the non deep side….I got nothing!
Truth is I didn’t just make snowflake shaped spiced cookies but I also made Santa Claus, Reindeer, Sleigh, Snowman and Gingerbread Men shaped spiced cookies too using icing cutters and cookie cutters. I love how the icing cutters mark the cookies! I then dipped the backs of the cookies into vanilla icing and allowed to set before transferring to a festive shaped bowl!
It’s been snowing!
I love the sleigh!!
Cookie Bowl
Santa Claus & Gingerbread Man
Day Off Number 2 of 3 this week:
What do you do? BAKE!
When I say these are super easy to make I seriously mean it because they SO are! The recipe is taken from Nigella’s Christmas. It’s been roughly 8 years since I looked to Nigella la Domestic Goddess’s recipe books for inspiration but I was looking for a biscuit recipe and she came up with the goods!! To make the cookies into little snowflakes I used a PME icing cutter press which I usually use for, you guessed it, fondant icing!! Don’t they look fab?! I put them into a little snowman shaped bowl on the coffee table in our conservatory where we have our Christmas Tree and where we tend to gather when we have guests round so people can help themselves. Because of the peppery and spicy scent of the biscuits they also smell lush combined with the pine scent of the tree!
How fun are these Birthday Cupcakes?! Everyone in my house is born in December and has had a massive cake baked for their special day. My mum’s birthday is the fourth and final which is tomorrow so I baked her some Jazzy Birthday Cupcakes seeing as I’ve already made party ring and Oreo cupcakes this year and wanted to do something a little different! The cupcakes are vanilla topped with white chocolate buttercream. To get the jazzy-esque look I rolled the side of the cupcake in sugar balls. Find the recipe in More From the Magnolia Bakery!
It was my birthday last weekend when I turned the ripe old age of TWENTY-THREE!! Sooooo I flicked to a page of Magnolia Bakery’s Baking Bible and baked a beautiful caramel pecan cake. LUSH! Took a great pic with my Hipstamatic cam on ye olde iPhone. Looks fantasmic i think!
It’s December tomorrow, I can hardly believe it! Last week I made mince pies for the first time ever in my 22 years of living! Not just ordinary mince pies either; mince pies with an orange flavoured wholemeal cointreau pastry crust and cream cheese. Best I’ve ever tasted. Period.
For the crust I followed the below (linked) recipe, however I did use the food processor to help me with the dough. For the crust I used a mixture of wholemeal and white flour (only because I ran out of white) but I think that made them taste better!
Marks & Spencer’s Luxury Mincemeat was a delicious filling as was their cream cheese. Definitely recommend! I mixed a little Lamb’s Rum with the mincemeat too!
Really love my gingerbread flavour cupcakes! These taste most amazing when paired with a gorgeous cup of tea or coffee! The recipe comes from the Hummingbird Cake Days book although the frosting is just vanilla buttercream as opposed to the lemon cream cheese frosting the book recommends. The fondant icing decoration finishes off these cupcakes beautifully! I used a stencil for the gingerbread man and santa hat, but used a plunger cutter for the snowflake. For the snowflake decoration I wanted to add a touch of pizzazz hence the addition of the edible glitter!
With Bonfire night only a day away, I’ve got the ultimate feast to make sure your taste buds are toasted in the crisp and cold! This dish is so easy to make and is guaranteed to give your friends and family a Bonfire night to remember!
Frank’s Red Hot Sauce Chicken BLT with Sweet Potato Fries and French’s Spicy Mustard Dip
Ingredients
For the sandwich:
- A bottle of French’s New Spicy Mustard
- A bottle of Frank’s Red Hot Sauce
- Whole Chicken Breast (allow one per person)
- Oscar Mayer Smoked Streaky Bacon (allow a rasher per person)
- Lettuce and tomatoes to garnish
- Fresh Bread (I used Sainsbury’s Bakery So Organic White Loaf but you could use Tiger Bread, Sourdough or your favourite fresh bread)
- Raw Sweet Potato
- Molasses
- Olive Oil
Today is one of those horrible, miserable November days when you’d rather be in bed with a nice hot chocolate watching Friends rather than being rushed off your feet at work. When you arrive home from work, these little Chocolate Chip Biscotti treats definitely make all that hard work worthwhile!
The recipe I used is in Tate’s Bake Shop Cook Book. Tate’s Bake Shop is actually a cute little store situated in the Hamptons, NY state in the USA. At least, I like to believe it’s a cute little store considering I’ve never visited (it’s on the list). Anyway, Kathleen King, who owns the store has released this amazing book featuring recipes of the goodies they sell in their store and I bought the book on Amazon after watching her bake Tate’s Chocolate Chip Cookies (also the most incredible recipe) on my fave show Barefoot Contessa on Food Network UK.
I kept to the recipe, apart from brushing with a mix of Bailey’s Irish Cream, Instant Espresso Coffee, Nielsen’s vanilla and Monin Chocolate Cookie Syrup halfway through baking.
I also added a chocolate glaze by melting chocolate, butter and the remains of the wash; Baileys, Coffee etc and then used a spoon to drizzle each Biscotti!
JOY!
