Tanya Burr's Flapjack

Who's up for another sweet treat?

I'm sharing a recipe with you all that i've recently tried from the Tanya Bakes book. Tanya's Smarties Flapjacks. I did swap the smarties for sprinkles as I can't eat chocolate but feel free to use smarties. I loved how it turned out - and it tasted pretty good too if that doesn't convince you to try it yourself.

Buy Tanya Bakes here

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

You will need:

★20cm square baking tin

Ingredients:

★125g butter

★10 tablespoons golden syrup

★100g light soft brown sugar

★250g porridge oats

★1 tube of smarties or another choice of decoration

Let's make the flapjacks!

Preheat the oven to 180℃ / 350℉ / GM4. Line a 20cm square baking tin with greaseproof paper.

Melt the butter in a medium pan over a low heat, then add the golden syrup and sugar. Heat gently until the sugar has dissolved and stir until everything is well combined.

Remove from the heat and stir in the oats. Mix until well combined.

Pour into the tin, spread out and smash down with a metal spoon, then bake in the oven for 20 minutes.

While still hot, press the smarties into the top. Leave to cool in the tin. Once cool, cut into squares.

Go give it a try, you'll love it!

*all credit goes to Tanya for the recipe. Opinions are my own and this post is not sponsored*

Thank you for reading,

Summer Holiday 2016 - Southport

On Sunday 24th July, myself, my brother and Gran and Grandad hitched up the caravan and drove three and a half hours down the country to our holiday destination - Southport. The excitement began to feel real as we reached the services an hour an a half in for a break.

 

As we finally drove along the seafront I knew that I was going to enjoy it. With the windows half winded down and the soft sea air breeze in my hair, the anticipation of the week ahead grew. From setting up on our first day to packing away on our last I never had my camera out of my hand, constantly snapping pictures of the beautiful sights of Southport.

 

I loved how there was so much to see and do so we planned our week wisely so we could see and get to do as much as possible. Our second day was spent having a lovely walk in Victoria Park accompanied by our fury companions, Gran and Granddad's two Rough Collies - Ty and Millie. The park was such a lovely area, very clean and peaceful with other dog walkers and families picnicking and making their own memories of the place. I very much liked the great deal of pretty flowers scattered around the park with their vibrant summer colours - I couldn't resist snapping a picture of them.

 

 

After our little walk in the park we went along to see Lord Street, which if you're not familiar with, is Southport's high street packed with well-known clothing shops, cafe's, restaurants, charity shops, and little vintage home shops - you name it, it's in Lord Street! I was in my element when I found a small little shop selling beautiful home furnishings and shabby chic home décor and believe it or not, it was actually called Vintage Home. I loved this little shop - full of the most beautiful home décor with a very 1950's style to the pieces.

 

Despite my love for Lord Street, Ainsdale beach has to be the most amazing beach I have ever seen. I just loved how we could drive the car right onto the beach and eat our delicious picnic food. The beach has always been my happy place - a place to unwind and just chill so I adored Ainsdale beach. Being able to drive onto it made it so much better because we were near our belongings and our fury friends were able to get a drink when they needed as it was such a warm day so I took the advantage of the moment and snapped some memories.

 

 

My brother loved running down to the sea with Millie and Ty not far behind. I'm not a massive lover of the sea so I stayed behind the camera instead.

 



 

We also had a walk along the pier but sadly we didn't spend too much time as the wind was very bitter against our face but I did manage to get a cute snap of Grandad looking through the telescope getting a view of Blackpool Tower.

 

 

Walking back out of the pier it was such a happy scene as the children were engrossed in the carousel. Their parents standing waving as they passed them on the little horses varnished in gold.

 

 

We took another day of the week to go to Ainsdale beach because we adored it so much and as some of you may know, I'm a massive sucker for pretty sunsets and could watch the sun go down and the sky turn bright shades of orange and pink at any chance I had so I was in my element once again when I could watch the sun set on the beach. It was the most beautiful thing I ever did see. It was as almost like the sun was going to disappear into the shimmering ocean.

 

 

As our week drew to a close, we spent our second-to-last day in Victoria Park. The day was lovely and warm so I took the chance to go to the ice cream van just around the corner from the park bench we were sitting to fetch a refreshing ice lolly back with me. While myself and Gran and Grandad were waiting for my brother in the playground, we sat peacefully and had a good ol' natter. The view from the little wooden bridge was so gorgeous and tranquil, watching the small rowing boats glide past on the lake.

 

 

I just love this snap I got of Gran and Grandad being all cute. It looks so natural as they're in mid-laugh - so adorable!

 

 

I've had the most wonderful holiday this Summer in Southport and I couldn't thank Gran and Grandad enough for making it happen and for being there to share the memories with. I've loved every minute of it and loved spending time with my 'golden oldies' and thank you to the Southport Caravan Club Site for an unforgettable holiday. It was a pleasure to have visited Southport.

 

Thank you for reading,

 



Tanya Burr's Lemon Drizzle Loaf

Hello everyone!

One of my favourite recipes is lemon drizzle and one of my favourite YouTubers is Tanya Burr so I teamed the two together and baked 'Tanya's Lemon Drizzle Loaf' from her book, 'Love Tanya'. 

For the cake:

3 eggs

170g self-raising flour

170g caster sugar

170g butter

1 teaspoon baking powder

zest of 2 lemons

For the icing:

150g icing sugar

juice of 2 lemons

Lets bake!

Pre-heat your oven to 180℃. Mix the eggs, flour, sugar, butter, baking powder and the zest of two lemons into a big mixing bowl. line your baking tin with a bit of butter or use a non-stick baking tin and pour mixture in. Bake for 35-45 minutes - the cooking time depends on the size of the tin and your oven. To check your cake is ready, slide a knife into the centre and if it comes out clean, it is ready to come out of the oven.

Mix together the icing sugar and juice of the two lemons to make the drizzle. Stir it together - it should be quite quite a watery consistency. While your cake is still hot, poke it all over with a skewer or sharp knife, and then pour over the drizzle so it can soak in.

(make sure you sieve your icing sugar because i made the mistake of not sieving mine and as you can see, it looked quite bumpy) ha ha.

Thank you for reading,

Adult Colouring Books & Why I Use Them

Hello everyone!

I'm talking a little bit about adult colouring books today as i thought it was a good topic to include on my blog. So with having anxiety, things can sometimes begin to get too much or stressful and we sometimes begin to get overwhelmed at how much pressure we have on us teens from school etc. Which is why we need something to relieve our stress and sooth our busy little minds so I like to use adult colouring books.

I find that they're the best way for me to de-stress and have some me-time. I particularly like Andrew Davis' 'Rangoli Adult Colouring book' as it has some lovely bohemian and 'bespoke rangoli-inspired patterns' which i absolutely love. They look beautiful once they're coloured in.

I also love Millie Marotta's 'Animal Kingdom a colouring book adventure'. I love this one as there are so many different pretty intricate designs to be coloured. The elephant pages are my favourite in this one as they're my favourite animals.

I think these adult colouring books are a marvellous idea that people have came up with - they could massively improve peoples stress levels and anxiety. I could spend all day colouring them in if I really wanted to.

Thank you for reading,

Valentines cupcakes

 

Hello everyone..

Since it's nearly Valentines Day, I've created some delicious sweet treats for the occasion. The cupcakes are plain sponge flavouring with vanilla butter icing on top but when you bite into the base of the cupcake you see pink and plain sponge marble so follow this recipe and you could create them yourself!

 

What you will need:

 

4 1/2oz butter/margarine

4 1/2oz Demerara sugar/brown sugar

4 1/2oz self-raising flour

3 eggs (2 if large)

1tspn baking powder

red food colouring

Dr.Oetker vanilla icing (squirty tube)

red cake decoratives (red sprinkles)

 

Oven:

 

180 degrees Celsius

bake time: 25 minutes

 

How to make the sponge mix: 

 

Weigh out your sugar, flour and butter and add them to a mixer with your teaspoon of baking powder and eggs. Mix everything together until the mixture has no visible lumps of flour, sugar or butter in it. Add two-three drops of red food colouring to the mixture and stir the mixture in a figure of eight with a knife. This will make the marble effect, so don't jus stir it normally because you'll not get the right effect. Then evenly scoop the mixture into your cupcake cases and bake for 25 minutes. They're done if you poke a knife into the top and it comes out clean.

 

Leave to cool for 10-15 minutes!

 

Decorate the cupcakes:

 

First, grab a plate so that you can squeeze a tiny bit of icing out of the tube before piping. This makes sure the tube is ready to be used on your cupcakes and has broken the seal.

 

Now pipe the icing from the outside of the cupcake around until you reach the middle. Sprinkle some red sugar on the top and you have your Valentines themed cupcakes!

 

 

 

Have fun baking, let me know if you re-create them!

 

Thank you for reading,

 

 



Pancake Day!

 

Happy Pancake Day everyone..

 

Shrove Tuesday! The day you can make some yummy treats and forget about dieting and healthy eating. Whether it be home made flipping or buying scotch pancakes from the shop, you can enjoy Pancake Day how ever you like. We all love a sweet treat every now and then so why not have some Pancakes to celebrate Shrove Tuesday?

 

You may like savoury over sweet but I like them to be sweet and sugary. Spreading a layer of black current  jam between each Scotch pancake creates a delicious sugary sensation! Finishing them off with a sprinkle of icing sugar on the top to create the perfect sweet treat.

 

 

Enjoy eating your pancakes! Let me know what your favourite pancake topping is in the comments.

Are you sweet or savoury?

 

Thankyou for reading,

 

Home made chistmas cake

Happy Christmas..

Today's post is a recipe for my homemade Christmas cake as I've never made a one before and thought I'd give it a go.

 

 

Oven: 150 degrees Celsius or gas mark 2

Time takes to cook: 4 1/2 hours

 

Ingredients:

 

What you'll need (cake mix):

12 ounces self-raising flour

1 tsp. mixed spice (optional)

4 ounces ground almonds

8 ounces butter/margarine

8 ounces caster sugar

4 eggs beaten with 8 tbsps. milk (or 1/2 milk and brandy)/

4 ounces halved glace cherries

24 ounces mixed fruit

 

 

 

What you'll need (top of the cake):

selection of nuts: almonds, walnuts, pecans

glace cherries

 

 

 

First, you'll need to sieve together the self-raising flour, spice (if you're using it) and ground almonds in one bowl. Then cream together the butter/margarine and sugar, stirring the flour and eggs with milk a little at a time in a separate bowl.

butter/margarine and sugar

 

ground almonds and self-raising flour

 

Once the butter and sugar are creamed together, it should look like this. Very light and a fluffy texture.

 

creamed butter/margarine and sugar

 

adding a little flour at a time then stirring together.

Lastly, add you mixed fruit a little at a time to the mixture as well as the glace cherries. You must make sure you mx all of the ingredients thoroughly!

 

 

Then, line and grease an 8inch square or 9inch round cake tin, (I used a round one) with grease proof paper (brown paper). Once you've lined your cake tin, pour in your mixture..

 

scoop in the mixture.

smooth out the mixture with the back of  a large spoon so that it's even.

Now, this part is optional but I then went ahead and arranged a selection of nuts on the top of mixture before it went in the oven. Creating a circle pattern starting from almonds to walnuts pecans and brazil nuts with a small circle of glace cherries in the centre.

 

 

All you have to do now is bake your Christmas cake in a slow oven on gas mark 2 or 150 degrees Celsius for 4 1/2 hours making sure not to let it burn and don't undercook by not giving it the full 4 1/2 hours. Don't open your oven door otherwise it'll deflate!

 

 

Thankyou for reading, have an amazing Christmas, everyone. I'd love to know in the comments if you've tried my recipe out!