My Easy Banana Bread Recipe!

Hey beaut's!

Arhhh banana bread, oh how I love you he he! Despite being a huge lover of banana bread I rarely make it because I never have any banana's left that are over ripe (we always eat them too quikcly you see), but I over bought some banana's this week in the hope to have a couple left to use and here we are... with a banana bread recipe! In my recipe I like to use light brown sugar and a tiny bit of cinnamon, this gives the bread the most amazing caramel-banana-y flavour and wow it's immense!

What You Will Need
140g butter
140g light brown sugar
2 large eggs or 3 medium
140g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
half tsp cinnamon
2 very ripe bananas mashed
50g icing sugar

How To
1. Firstly pre-heat your oven to gas mark 4 /180 and line a loaf tin with greaseproof paper.
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar until it's whippy and fluffy, then slowly add the eggs one at a time. 
3. Then fold in the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and bananas and pour into the loaf tin and bake for about 30 minutes until a skewer comes out clean. One thing I love to do just before I put my batter in the oven to cook  is to sprinkle a little bit more light brown sugar across the top, this gives an amazing crunch to the top of the loaf once its cooked!
4. Once the banana bread is completely cool, mix the icing sugar with a couple of teaspoons of cold water to make a runny icing, then drizzle the icing across the top of the loaf anyway you like, you could also decorate with some sliced banana on the top if you wish and voila!!!

And there you have it beaut's, a super easy but very very tasty banana bread which hardly requires any skill and it's made up of pretty basic ingredients! You definitely have to try this one out if your a lover of all things banana'y he he!

Easy Victoria Sponge Cake Recipe

Hey beaut's!

My other hobby aside from blogging is baking, I absolutely love to bake and when I made this yummy Victoria Sponge recently it tasted too good not to share the recipe! Victoria Sponge is just a 'go to bake' for me, I always have the ingredients in the cupboard as their so minimal and no matter what the occasion a vicky sponge will always go down a treat!

What You Will Need For The Cakes

225g unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing

4 large eggs

225g caster sugar

225g self-raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

2 8 inch sandwich tins 

What You Will Need For The Filling

100g of soft unsalted butter

200g icing sugar

1tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp milk

Strawberry or raspberry jam

How To

1. Firstly preheat your oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4 and get the sandwich tins greased and lined.

2. In a large mixing bowl, whack in all of the butter, eggs, caster sugar, flour and baking powder and mix everything together until it's all combined, then divide the mixture evenly between the tins.

3. Pop into the oven for around 20-25 minutes or until they are golden brown on top.

4. When the cakes are done set aside to cool and whip up a batch of yummy buttercream, I like to beat the butter with an electric whizzer for a couple of minutes first until it starts to go pale and fluffy then gradually add in the icing sugar and beat again for a few minutes, then add in the vanilla and if you need to loosen the buttercream slightly add 1 or 2 tablespoons of milk.

5. To fill the cake I like to pop lashings of buttercream on first, I don't do this too neatly because I love the buttercream to be edging out of the cake slightly, then pop your preferred jam on top of the buttercream again quite messy so it's edging out of the cake!

6. Once the cakes are sandwiched together I like yo finish the cake off by popping a couple of strawberries on the top in the centre of the cake and then I like to add a light dusting of icing sugar and voilaaaa!

This is such an easy, versatile cake and recently I've been doing some fondant covered cakes for birthdays and this is my go to cake recipe I use, it's such a classic isn't it!

Are you fond of a Victoria Sponge beaut's? What's your go to bake? I'd love to know!

 

Easy Malteser Cupcake Recipe

Hey beaut's!

I've been baking again and this time around I went for Malteser Cupcakes! I'm slightly addicted to Maltesers, their like Pringles for me as in once I open a packet I have to scoff the lot he he. So I thought I'd take my addiction up a notch and try Malteser cupcakes and honestly these are one of the easiest yet tastiest cupcakes I've ever made, they may look slightly rustic but the taste is just WOW!

What You Will Need For The Cupcakes

*Makes 12 Cupcakes*

135g unsalted butter, softened

2 large eggs

¼ tsp vanilla extract

1 ½ tbsp milk

5g Cocoa powder

25g Horlicks (any malted milk drinking powder will do)

95g Self-raising flour

125g Caster sugar

¼ tsp Bicarbonate of soda

Pinch of salt

12 cupcakes cases of your choice

What You Will Need For The Buttercream

150g unsalted butter, softened

350g icing sugar

¼ tsp vanilla extract

milk optional

100g crushed Maltesers

Extra Maltesers for the top 

How To

1. Firstly pre-heat your oven to gas mark 4 and line a muffin tin with your cupcake cases.

2. Then in a large mixing bowl, throw in all of your cupcake ingredients apart from the milk and whizz together with an electric whizzer for about a minute or until your cupcake mixture is lovely and smooth.

3. Depending on how thick your mixture is you may need to add some milk just to loosen it up slightly, I added one and half tablespoons to mine which I found made the perfect consistency but you may want to add more, less or none to yours, it's totally down to what you think.

4. Pop a tablespoon of the cupcake batter into each cupcake case and the top each one with any left over batter.

5. Bake in the oven for around 20 minutes or until the top of your cupcakes are springy to the touch.

6. Once the cupcakes are completely cool it's time for the fun part, frosting and decorating. In a large bowl, beat the unsalted butter with your electric whizzer for 3-4 minutes or until your butter goes pale in colour and is a soft and whipped consistency. Then pop in your vanilla extract and gradually add in your icing sugar and whizz again for another 3-4 mins, trust me beaut's the longer your beat your buttercream mixture the nicer it will be so just persevere.

7. If you find your buttercream is too thick and not pipable/spreadable then pop in some milk a tablespoon at a time, I popped one tablespoon of milk in mine and that was plenty.

8. Once your buttercream is at your desired consistency pop in your 100 grams on crushed maltesers, to crush mine I just popped my maltesers in a sandwich bag, wrapped it in a tea towel and beat with a rolling pin. Mix the crushed maltesers throughout your buttercream and frost your cupcakes how you'd like.

10. Once I frosted all of my cupcakes I just finished them off with any left over maltesers I had. You could always sprinkle the tops with more crushed maltesers too if you'd like.

And there you have it, easy but very yummy Malteser Cupcakes! I was so happy with how these turned out because they where just so tasty, the Horlicks and the smidge of cocoa powder in the cupcake batter just add's that malteser taste and they where so light and moist too and the buttercream was lovely with the crunchy malteser pieces, you definitely have to make these beaut's!

Baking | Pretzel M&M Cookies Recipe

Hey beaut's!

If theres one thing I love to do in the kitchen it's bake, so when I saw Tanya Burr's recent baking video I took total inspiration from it and decided to do my own spin on her Peanut Butter, Pretzel, M&M Cookies, I actually hate peanut butter so I had to change quite a few things up within the recipe so I thought I would share my recipe with you all today just in case their are any peanut butter haters out their like me!

What You Will Need

1 cup of butter (227 grams)

1 cup of light brown sugar

1 cup of caster sugar

3 cups of self-raising flour

2 eggs

1 tablespoon of vanilla

¾ teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda

1 cup of broken up pretzel pieces

1 cup of M&M's

How To

1. Firstly pre heat your oven too gas mark 4 and line a couple of flat baking sheets with greaseproof paper.

2. Then in a large mixing bowl, cream together your butter and both your caster sugar and light brown sugar until it's smooth and creamy, then pop in your eggs and vanilla and mix again.

3. Once all of your wet ingredients are well combined pop in your bicarbonate of soda and start adding the flour gradually, don't just throw it in all at once otherwise it will be so hard to mix together and your likely to get covered in flour in the process he he.

4. Then it's time to pop in your M&M's and your pretzels and give everything a good mix, to break up my pretzels into random sized pieces I just popped some into a sandwhich bag and lightly pushed down on them with my hands, you can use a rolling pin for this but I find if your too heavy handed the sandwhich bag is likely to split so using my hand worked out better for me!

5. Roll your dough into balls and place them on your baking trays spaced apart, I did space mine quite far apart but they still spread massive and ended up touching each other so just bare in mind that the bigger your dough balls are the bigger your cookies will spread.

6. Pop them into the oven and bake for around 8-10 minutes. When you remove your cookies they will probably still look quite dough like but that's completely normal, as long as they are a nice golden colour and slightly browned around the edges they are done and will firm up as they cool.

And there you have it, very easy but very yummy Pretzel M&M Cookies! These tasted so good, I'm a huge fan of foods that combine sweet and salty and that's exactly what you get from these, the sweetness of the cookie dough is divine then you get the pops of chocolate throughout from the M&M's and the crunch and saltiness comes from the pretzels, they are so divine! My mixture actually made around 20 cookies however you could get more or less depending on how small or large you roll your dough balls, either way your left with gorgeous cookies!

Do let me know if you give these yummy cookies a whirl beaut's, I'd love to know!

Easy Creme Egg Cookies ♥

Hey beaut's!

I haven't done a baking blog post in absolutely ages which is quite surprising since I'm always baking at home, but today I'm back with an extremely scrumptious recipe that's easy to do and goes hand in hand with Easter - Creme Egg Cookies!

What You Will Need

200g butter

300g caster sugar

325g self-raising flour

1 egg

5 regular size Creme Eggs

How To

1. Firstly pre heat your oven too 180c or gas mark 5 and line a couple of baking sheets with greaseproof paper.

2. Then in a large mixing bowl, cream together your butter and caster sugar until it's pale and creamy, then pop in your egg and mix again.

3. Once all of your wet ingredients are well combined start adding the flour gradually, don't just throw it in all at once otherwise it will be so hard to mix together and your likely to get covered in flour in the process he he.

4. Then it's time to roughly chop up your Creme Eggs into different sized chunks, this is definitely easier to do if your Creme Eggs are at room temperature. Once your happy with your chopped up Creme Egg's add them to your cookie dough and mix again until the Creme Eggs are well incorporated through the cookie dough. You can actually pop in more Creme Eggs than 5 if you like which is what I wish I would of done, the more you pop in the more yummyness you'll get running through your cookies.

5. Roll your dough into balls and place them on your baking trays spaced apart, I did space mine quite far apart but they still spread massive and ended up touching each other so just bare in mind that the bigger your dough balls are the bigger they will spread.

6. Pop them into the oven and bake for around 8-10 minutes. When you remove your cookies they will probably still look quite dough like but that's completely normal, as long as they are a nice golden colour they are done and will firm up as they cool.

And there you have it, very easy but very yummy Creme Egg cookies! These are so nice because not only do you get the chunks of dairy milk running through the cookies but the goo from the inside of the Creme Eggs ends up melting and spreading through the cookies  giving you a slight chewy caramel consistency that actually tastes of Creme Egg, it's amazing! 

Do let me know what you'll be baking over Easter beaut's and if you give these yummy cookies a whirl, I'd love to know!

Easy DIY Hand Scrub

Hey girlie's!!!

The horrible, cold weather in the UK has really taken its toll on my hands leaving them really dry, sore and sometimes they've even chapped. I've used lots of different hand creams and hardly any of them helped so I decided, after doing some research, that a hand scrub was my best option so I made a batch up! It's helped so much and I've continued to make this lemon/sugar scrub since last November. So today I thought I'd share it with you all as its so simple to do and you probably already have all the ingredients to hand at home.

What You Will Need

♥ 3/4 cup of granulated sugar or caster sugar (depending on how gritty you want your scrub to be), this will act as your exfoliant.

♥ 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil, this will soften cracks in your skin and will pack your skin full of moisture.

♥ 1-2 tablespoon's of freshly squeezed lemon juice, this will brighten up the skin, remove dead skin and make your hands smell lovely and fresh.

♥ A glass jar or container that has a tight, secure lid.

The directions for making this scrub are so easy, simply pop your sugar and extra virgin olive oil straight into your glass jar or container that your scrub is going to be kept in and give it a good mix with a spoon. Making your scrub in your glass jar or container just creates less mess and washing up at the end which is always a plus for me ha ha. Once your sugar and oil are well mixed pop in your lemon juice a tablespoon at a time, making sure you put in no more that 2 tablespoons, give it one final mix and voila...

To use your homemade scrub just scoop a small amount out of your jar and rub into dry hands, I like to focus on my nails and cuticles as well, as the extra virgin olive oil really helps to moisturise them whilst the sugar takes away any flaky bits of skin around the cuticle area, then simply rinse your hands well with warm water and pat dry. Afterwards your hands will feel super soft, moisturised and smell lovely and fresh.

The scrub should be stored in a cool, dry place. It will last for a long time but you may need to give it a mix every now and then as the sugar can settle at the bottom.

And there you have it, a quick, simple, effective hand scrub.

I hope you enjoyed a different type of post from me today beaut's and don't forget to let me know if you make this hand scrub too.