Triple Chocolate Christmas Cookies!

Yesterday I felt like doing some Christmas baking so I had a go at making some triple chocolate cookies. They turned out pretty well, even if I do say so myself.

Kids would easily be able to join in with this recipe and the cookies would make nice gifts for family and friends if decorated and boxed.

Below is the recipe I used:

W is for White #AtoZChallenge

Today I'm continuing with the A-Z Blogging Challenge. This year I'm doing an A-Z of Colours. I'll be doing a variety of posts, including haikus and poems, arts and crafts, fashion and beauty, recipes and more!    

For the letter 'W' I have chosen the colour White.

Keep reading to discover the symbolism behind this colour, see my Polyvore creations and read my white chocolate and raspberry cheesecake recipe.

B is for Brown #AtoZChallenge

Today I'm continuing with the A-Z Blogging Challenge. This year I'm doing an A-Z of Colours. I'll be doing a variety of posts, including haikus and poems, arts and crafts, fashion and beauty, recipes and more!    

For the letter 'B' I have chosen the colour Brown. Brown is a rich, earthy colour that I associate it with comfort, animals and nature.

This Pinterest board shows some beautiful examples of different shades of brown.

Keep reading to discover the symbolism behind this colour, see some of my Polyvore creations and take a look at my chocolate cupcake recipes.

Valentine's Strawberry Sponge

Happy Saturday everyone! Hope you had a great week and enjoyed Pancake Day and Valentine's Day. Our pancakes were a great success this year and although we didn't plan anything for Valentine's Day, when we got home we were surprised with a bag of treats from Matt's mum. She'd bought us chocolate hearts, a special Valentine's meal from M&S, heart-shaped chocolate desserts and a bottle of bubbly! She is so sweet and thoughtful. I was also spoiled with my favourite chocolates, a heart-shaped cookie and a ticket to a production of Oliver at the school Matt works at, while he got a card and some gourmet jelly beans :). The Oliver performance was last night, and it was really entertaining. So I've had a lovely week.

Easter Cupcake Recipe

Earlier this week I made some Easter cupcakes for M with chocolate sponge and orange butercream topping. They make the perfect Easter treat. You could give them to your family as an alternative to chocolate eggs or just serve them as a treat after your Easter meal.

My recipe (makes 12 cupcakes at roughly 270 kcals each).

Mothers Day cupcakes and thank-yous

[© Anstice Potts 03/04/2011]

Happy Mothers Day to all those hardworking mothers out there. I hope you get to relax and put your feet up. If you happen to be my Nan or my Mum, please look away now so as not to spoil your suprise!

Yesturday my best friend came over and helped me bake some cupcakes for my Mum, Grandma, Nanny and M's Mum using my mini cupcake maker. I used the same recipe as I did for the Valentine's Day cupcakes but I had vanilla extract this time so they tasted better. Some had pink buttercream and some had yellow buttercream and they were all topped with an edible daisy wafer.

Why Writing is Like Making Pancakes

Happy Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras everyone! In our household Shrove Tuesday means one thing: pancakes! After work me and M got straight to making them. I made the mix and we both had a go at cooking them. M can make nice, round pancakes, but unfortunately I'm not too good at flipping them and they end up looking more like scrambled eggs. But it was fun to do anyway, and filled us both up nicely.

Anyway, as I was cooking them I started to think how making pancakes is analogous to the writing process, and I came up with the following list.

Healthy Blueberry Muffins

I experimented with some ingredients today and came up with some healthy muffins to eat for breakfast.

My recipe makes 12 muffins at 212 calories each.
Ingredients:
170g dried blueberries (apricots also work nicely)
170g unsweetened museli (I used Alpen)
250g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
250ml unsweetened apple juice
3 tbsp vegetable oil
100ml honey
1 large egg

Valentine's Day Cupcake Recipe

Okay, so I'm definately not a domestic goddess and I usually struggle with the most basic culinary tasks, but I've finally found my baking niche-cupcakes! I have a great book of cupcake recipes and my Mum got me a mini cupcake maker for Christmas. It's a bit like a sandwich toaster and you can just mix up your batter, pour it in, close the lid, wait about ten minutes and hey presto, perfect mini cupcakes.

Yesterday I tried it out for the first time by baking some Valentine's Day cupcakes and this was the result. The icing came out a bit messy but that's my style and they tasted absolutely scrummy. If you want to have a go yourself, here's the recipe I followed: