Recipe | New Years Eve - Scotch Pancakes

With New Years Eve just around the corner, it’s likely that a lot of you are making a New Years Resolution. But before you start your healthy diet, I’d say you deserve to indulge for just one more day. 

I’ve never really enjoyed breakfast but when having these scotch pancakes it gives me a good reason to love breakfast, especially being a big lover of pancakes! 

This recipe for scotch pancakes roughly make 18 small pancakes and about 12 medium sized pancakes. So they are great if you are hosting a breakfast or have friends and family over and want to make something other than cereal and toast. 

To make the scotch pancakes you’ll need:

• 200 grams plain flour
• Pinch of salt 
• 1 tablespoon of baking power 
• 1 tablespoon caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
• 1 large egg
• 300 ml milk

You can also add any other optional ingredients to your pancakes like blueberries and chocolate chips, but I kept mine plain. 

Method:

1. Add dry ingredients into a bowl
2. Beat egg and milk into dry mixture
3. Heat frying pan to medium heat and add oil
4. Fry a ladleful of batter until golden on both sides 

To serve these pancakes I fried some smoky bacon  and served this along side some maple syrup! 

I hope you had a lovely Christmas and have a lovely New Years!

Annie xx

Recipe | Made in a minute mince pies

So this is only a small post but I just thought I’d give you a quick and simple way to make yummy homemade mince pies!

So let’s face it, we’ve all been there! Running around last minute making sure everything is in place for when the guests come for Christmas dinner and then suddenly you realise… You have no mince pies...

But don’t worry I’ve got a quick solution!

To make these delicious mince pies all you’ll need is mince meat and ready to roll shortcrust pastry – don’t have any in the house? Don’t worry you can easily whip up some fresh by rubbing together  100 grams butter and 200 grams flour then adding 2-3 tbsp of water until the mixture forms a firm dough. 

Using two cutters, cut out a base (that’ll fit your cupcake tray) and a lid (that’ll fit on top of the base). Fill the bases with a teaspoon of mincemeat then water the sides and places the lid on top, before placing in the oven glaze with egg wash then bake for 15-20 minutes at 200C until golden brown. 

Hope you have a wonderful Christmas!

Annie xx

Christmas Cupcakes

So it's december and you know what that means... It's almost Christmas!

Every year for Christmas I make a selection of treats for guests and this year I didn’t fail to do so. This year I made the classic mince pies as well as a few other Christmas themed cupcakes.

To make the cupcakes I used:

• 100g caster sugar
• 100g self raising flour
• 100g unsalted butter (room temperature)
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

To make the buttercream frosting I used:

• 150g icing sugar
• 75g unsalted butter (room temperature)
• 1-2 tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder (if making the reindeer cupcakes)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180 C / Gas Mark 4. Line a 12 hole cupcake tin with paper cases (I used Halloween ones)
2. Put the flour, sugar, butter, eggs, vanilla extract into a large mixing bowl.
3. Beat the mixture by hand or using an electric whisk until you get a creamy consistency. Spoon the mixture into the cases.
4. Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.
5. Leave to cool while you prepare the butter icing
6. To make the buttercream, beat the butter in a medium sized mixing bowl until soft.
7. Add half of the icing sugar and beat until smooth.
8. Add the remaining icing sugar and one tablespoon of milk and beat the mixture until creamy and smooth. Beat in the milk and the vanilla extract.
9. Then add a few drops of Dr Oetker black gel food colouring until you get a grey coloured buttercream.
   Once the cakes have cooled, use a piping bag to pipe on the buttercream.

To make the melting snowman cupcakes you will need:

• white marshmallows
• writing icing (orange and a colour for the eyes)

To make the reindeer cupcakes you will need:

• salted pretzels (halved to make antler shapes)
• white chocolate buttons
• milk chocolate buttons
• red smarties or red writing icing
• a coloured writing of choice for the eyes

To decorate the christmas themed cupcakes I used a quadruple sprinkle set.

I hope you all have a lovely christmas and I hope these cupcake ideas are useful if you have to make a last minute treat as they are so easy to make!

Annie xx

Garden Barn - Cotesbatch

Happy Sunday!

First of all I’d like to apologies for the lack of posts but I’ve been extremely busy with school work and as a result am now suffering from the dreaded cold! But I just had to tell you about a cafe I went to recently!

Last weekend we had some family friends over and on the Sunday of their stay we went to a barn – which holds a cafe and shop – not too far away from my hometown. The place was called The Garden Barn and it was lovely! Surrounded by fields and in the middle of country side the place had a really nice atmosphere and aside from the rubbish weather we had a lovely visit.

The barn was originally bought by the Posser family in 1963 and was a dairy farm up until 1991. The barn which now holds the shop was built in 1975. As you walk in to the building the first thing you see is the shop – full of one of a kind ornaments and lovely garden decorations it really is a place to visit. Due to it being December there were or course a lot of christmas decorations – to my delight – and all of which were beautiful! i spent a long time admiring all of the tree decorations they had on sale as well as the other Christmas themed gifts they sold, I ended up buying a little sign that i can hang in my room which says ‘Silent night, Holy night, all is calm, all is bright’.

After we all had a good look around we ordered some nice warm drinks to warm us up, and I – being the chocolate lover I am – ordered the hot chocolate deluxe. Once ordering we made our way upstairs to where the seating area is and sat ourselves next a large window which, although the weather was bad, had a lovely view.

Above is the view I had from my seat and although it looks dark and miserable I actually found it very calming and surrounded by people I love I had a pleasant experience. Below you’ll find a picture of the hot chocolate I had which I’d give a 10/10 for! Filled with rich warm cocoa a giant marshmallow topped off with a load of whipped cream, a flake and chocolate sprinkles it definitely tasted like heaven in a cup!

So if you are ever in the Leicestershire area and fancy a relaxing setting I’d highly recommend going here! Although some prices are a little high, especially some of the items sold in the shop, it is definitely worth the visit!!

Annie xx

P.s. I am hoping there will be a few more updates within the month of december especially with school holidays just around the corner and now that we are in the run up for CHRISTMAS I am hoping to do a few more christmassy bakes that I will be sharing with you! But for now I hope you are well and that you enjoyed this brief update and I hope to speak to you all soon.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Cupcakes

So my neighbours popped round earlier with these amazing cupcakes, and unfortunately I can’t take the credit for them! I thought they were awesome and i just had to share it with you so I decided that I'd share how I think you could make them.

To make the cupcakes you will need:

• 100g caster sugar
• 100g self raising flour
• 100g unsalted butter (room temperature)
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

To make the the buttercream frosting you will need:

• 150g icing sugar
• 75g unsalted butter (room temperature)
• 1-2 tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Food colouring of choice, they used Dr Oetker’s gel food colouring

For decoration:

• Green royal icing
• Orange royal icing
• White Royal icing
• Black writing icing

Note: the Royal icing can be bought as colours or you can buy white and dye yourself using food colouring of choice 🙂

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180 C / Gas Mark 4. Line a 12 hole cupcake tin with paper cases (I used Halloween ones)
2. Put the flour, sugar, butter, eggs, vanilla extract into a large mixing bowl.
3. Beat the mixture by hand or using an electric whisk until you get a creamy consistency. Spoon the mixture into the cases.
   Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.
4. Leave to cool while you prepare the butter icing
5. To make the buttercream, beat the butter in a medium sized mixing bowl until soft.
6. Add half of the icing sugar and beat until smooth.
7. Add the remaining icing sugar and one tablespoon of milk and beat the mixture until creamy and smooth. Beat in the milk and the vanilla extract.
8. Then add a few drops of Dr Oetker black gel food colouring until you get a grey coloured buttercream.
9. Once the cakes have cooled, use a piping bag to pipe on the buttercream.
10. Then using the green royal icing make the face shape, you may need to use a picture as reference. Then using the orange icing, roll it into a thin strip about 5mm in width anyplace along the top half of the head. Create two small white icing balls per face for eyes and using the writing icing make a pupil on each and then draw a mouth.

Note: you may need to use a small amount of water to attach all the icing elements.

I hope this post is useful for anyone who is planning to celebrate a teenage mutant ninja turtles themed birthday for a child or friend as these where loved by everyone who attended an tasted amazing.

Annie xx

Halloween Cupcakes

Happy Halloween!!
So this year I wanted to make something for Halloween and after a lot of thought I decided to keep it simple which these very cute and spooky cupcakes!! These cupcakes can be easily adapted to suit both gluten free and lactose intolerant diets. 

Prep – 20 mins

Cook – 15 mins

Ready in – 35 mins 

To make the cupcakes you will need:

• 100 grams self raising flour
• 100 grams caster sugar
• 100 grams unsalted butter (at room temperature)
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon baking power 

To make the buttercream frosting you will need:

• 150 grams icing sugar
• 75 grams unsalted butter (at room temperature) 
• 1-2 tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
• Dr Oetker black gel food colouring 

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180 C / Gas Mark 4. Line a 12 hole cupcake tin with paper cases (I used Halloween ones) 
2. Put the flour, sugar, butter, eggs, vanilla extract into a large mixing bowl. 
3. Beat the mixture by hand or using an electric whisk until you get a creamy consistency. Spoon the mixture into the cases. 
4. Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. 
5. Leave to cool while you prepare the butter icing 
6. To make the buttercream, beat the butter in a medium sized mixing bowl until soft. Add half of the icing sugar and beat until smooth. 
7. Add the remaining icing sugar and one tablespoon of milk and beat the mixture until creamy and smooth. Beat in the milk and the vanilla extract. 
8. Then add a few drops of Dr Oetker black gel food colouring until you get a grey coloured buttercream. 
9. Once the cakes have cooled, use a pallets knife to top the cakes with the buttercream. You are looking to get a smooth top. 
10. I then got some white Royal icing, dying a third of it black and then made some Halloween themed icing decorations. These being a spider, a vampire, a skull, a mummy and jack the skeleton from nightmare before Christmas! 

So if your hosting a Halloween party these would be perfect! They are quick, easy and taste amazing! 

Hope you have a happy Halloween! 

Annie xx

Love Cake Etc, Swanage, Dorset!

Since I was 8, my family and out close friend would go down and stay in Ulwell Caravan park in Swanage, so the place has become very special to me after spending the majority of my childhood in the area.

This weekend me and my family took a trip down to Dorset for the weekend, and luckily the weather was beautiful so we got to go out and enjoy it. We’d recently decided to buy a plaque down on the pier in Swanage in memory of my Dad's Mum and Dad as although they had never been there it was somewhere that was special to us and we’re more likely to visit. Earlier this week we had received a phone call telling us that it was ready so we took the trip down here and went in search for it, and it was really nice to see. Especially for me as I had never met either of them. 

We then went out for lunch to a little cafe that we found about a year or so ago and really enjoyed it. 

The cafe was called Love Cake Etc and they sell the most lovely things. Like any normal cafe they have a set menu but they also have a specials board, a pie of the day, quiche of the day, soup of the day and pâté of the day. The last few times I have been I have normally had the pie which have been very nice, but unfortunately they had sold out by the time we had arrived at it was around 2 o’clock.like the pies they serve a lot of the dishes with a side of salad but it isn’t your average boring green leaf salad they serve things like pasta salads, potato salad and lovely dressings – all of which homemade! 

This time I had something different and went for the Mac and Cheese, which contained squash and coastal cheddar and I very much enjoyed it and if say it is probably the best Mac and Cheese I have ever had! 

 It also had some whole grain mustard in it and as I’m not a huge fan of mustard I was a bit wary but the taste wasn’t pungent and was very subtle which I absolutely loved!
I highly recommend this cafe as the food is always good and the service is amazing and the plus side is that it is in my favourite place ever and by the sea! So if you’re ever in the Dorset area and happen to be in Swanage definitely make a stop at Love Cake Etc! 

Hope you have a lovely day!

Annie xx

Revile Blend Active - Review and Recipes

For my birthday this year I asked for the Breville Blend Active and I was very happy to find out that I had received, which I was very happy about. I have wanted one of these for a long time as I really enjoy smoothies and think they are a great way to get a boost of vitamins especially in those winter months. We already had a blender that my parents had bought but it wasn’t as good as this and the blades weren’t as sharp as they once were.

When I first heard about the Blend Active through advertising it hadn’t really appealed to me and at the time it hadn’t really bothered me but as I got more and more into making smoothies I wanted a proper smoothie maker. One of my friends who’s in University owns one and told me that she really liked it and that it was definitely worth the money, so I looked into it online and put it on my wish list for my Birthday.

The one thing that really appealed to me was he fact that it crushes ice, which our old one has a real problem with. I also like to idea of the bottle being the blending container which came in very useful as it meant less washing up as well as an easy travel bottle. The product I got came with two 600ml sports bottles and lids, the blade, the blender itself and a booklet of how to use it which also included recipes.

I really liked the idea of how the blade is not built in and it screws onto the bottle and this is where the lid then screws on once it is blended. This makes it super easy to clean and also the product is dishwasher safe, although I haven’t tried putting it in the dishwasher yet this is a very good thing.

Below is an image of one of the first smoothies I made which included rolled oats, Greek style yogurt, milk, honey and about a handful or two of frozen summer berry mix which included raspberries, blueberries, blackberries and red currents. I’m afraid that I don’t have any measurement for this as I did it by eye due to personal preference and in all fairness who actually follows measurements when it comes to making smoothies and milkshakes?

Note: I would advise putting the oats and yogurt in last because it did get stuck at the bottom but once shaken it was fine.

Below I am going to provide some recipes of milkshakes and smoothies that you could either use in the Blend Active or in any blender that you own:
Vanilla Milkshake
• 2 scoops of vanilla ice cream
• 300ml chilled semi skimmed milk

• For a Chocolate Milkshake add 2 tablespoons of cocoa
• For a Strawberry Milkshake add a handful of washed and fresh strawberries
• For a Berry/Fruit Milkshake add a large handful of mixed fresh or frozen fruits.

Super Thick Berry Smoothie
• 300ml chilled apple juice
• 100ml plain natural yogurt
• 1 small ripe banana
• 1 handful of frozen berries
1 tbsp. honey (optional)
To buy one click here

Annie xx

p.s. This is not a sponsored post :) 

Outdoor Cooking - BBQ

Something I really wanted to do this year was have a barbecue with a friend or a group of friends. At the beginning of the year one of my good friends had purchased a small outdoor barbecue from Waitrose, so one day in July we took the barbecue along with food to a field next to where she lived and looked out onto the lake that her house backed onto. We had a really lovely time and the barbecue she brought was really good and worked a treat!
Earlier on in the day we had gone to W.F. Chapman Traditional Family Butcher where we purchased their beef burgers and pork sausages along with some bacon.
We first cooked the burgers along with the bacon and once the burgers had cooked on both sides we placed a slice of cheese on in the hopes of having a cheese and bacon burger, which was absolutely delicious!! We ate this in a roll along with lettuce and tomato and of course tomato ketchup.

While we are the burgers we let the sausages cook and after eating all this food we were well and truly stuffed but it was definitely worth it! 

This was a really nice idea and as popular as barbecues are, doing one with a really good friend on a really nice evening was really enjoyable.

Hope you have a lovely day!

Annie xx

Welcome

Hello reader,

My name is Annie and I'm a 16-year-old girl from England. I've just finished my GCSE's and this year I will be going into my first year of A-levels. One of the subjects I will be carrying on is Food Technology.

When I'm older I would really love to work in the food industry, and I have an interest in food photography, packaging design and recipe testing. I've always enjoyed cooking, especially baking, and I love making cakes and treats for my family.

For as long as I can remember I have really enjoyed cooking, especially baking and the purpose of this blog is to share some of my favourite recipes, things I have cooked and reviews of some of the purchases I make.

I am hoping to upload to this blog as frequently as I can but as I am a student, education does come first.

From Annie xx