Hello everyone!

I've put a lot of thought into it and I've come to the conclusion that I need to take a break for a few weeks. I have a lot of Uni deadlines coming up in the next few weeks and whilst I've been trying to keep up with my 3 posts a week, it's becoming increasingly difficult as I have so much other work to do.

My blog is so important to me and I love sharing all my recipes with you, it makes me so much happier than Uni, but I really do need prioritise for now and I am just so busy all the time, I'm heading for another burnout which will mean I probably end up ill for about a month!

I'm really sorry and you all know by now how much I hate taking a break, I just whizz around doing everything as much as I can, but it really does seem like the only solution.

I hope you'll all join me back in a few weeks when I'll be back with new recipes and nice and relaxed after handing everything in!

Have a great few weeks

X



I link up at these great Link Parties!

So I picked up my new car yesterday and 3 hours later almost lost the front of it as a deer ran out in front of me.

Let's just say I'm glad I was alert and don't suffer from falling asleep at the wheel as it was a bit of a "OMFG" situation.

Anyway apart from that it's all good. Still a bit sad about selling my old car, just so many memories...

I like my new car though, the sat nav flashes at you when you speed (which I never do of course...) it's so funny! :)

Bit annoying for the closet Mariah Carey in me though as I can be singing along and the sat nav tells me to do something and it cuts the music off for a second.

If anyone could hear my singing they'd probably encourage the sat nav to talk constantly.

collection, but turns out it was lemon even though I prefer putting fresh lemon and orange in recipe. In fact that lemon extract I have? Never been opened.

Makes 12

Ingredients for the doughnuts:

> 2 and 1/2 cups cake flour (or 2 and 1/2 cups plain flour with 5tbsp removed and replaced with cornflour)
> 1 cup + 2tbsp caster sugar
> 1 and 1/2tsp baking powder
> 2 eggs
> 3/4 - 1 cup milk (I needed closer to 1 cup)
> 1 and 1/2tbsp vegetable oil
> Zest of 1 orange
> 4tsp freshly squeezed orange juice
> 1tsp vanilla extract

Ingredients for the milk chocolate glaze:

> 10oz good quality milk chocolate (I used Green & Black's)
> 1 cup double cream
> 2tbsp golden syrup

Method:

> Preheat the oven to 160 degrees C/325F and spray a doughnut pan with PAM/bake easy spray (you can also grease them, but I find bake easy works the best). Unless you have 2 doughnut pans, you'll need to bake in batches.
> Place the flour, caster sugar and baking powder into a large bowl and mix briefly.
> Place the eggs, milk (3/4 cup first - add the rest slowly if required), vegetable oil, zest, orange juice and vanilla extract into a jug and beat with a fork until well combined.
> Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix together with a wooden spoon/rubber spatula until well combined. Don't be tempted to over mix though, once the batter is together it's time to stop mixing.


> Place half the doughnut batter into a piping bag and snip the end off. Pipe the batter into the doughnut holes, about 2/3 full.
> Place the doughnuts in the oven for 10-14 minutes until risen, very, very slightly coloured and an inserted skewer comes out clean.
> Leave to cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. If you only have one doughnut pan, re grease it and pipe the remaining batter into the holes.
> Once completely cooled, it's time to make the glaze - break the chocolate up into a medium sized heatproof bowl.
> Place the double cream and golden syrup into a small saucepan and bring to the boil over a low-med heat. Stir occasionally. Once boiling, remove from the heat and pour over the chocolate in the heatproof bowl. Stir until you have a lovely smooth glaze.
>  Place kitchen paper underneath your wire rack to catch spilt glaze and then dip each doughnut into the glaze before returning to your wire rack to set.
> Place a piece of clingfilm over the glaze, press the clingfilm onto the glaze to stop a skin from forming. Leave the doughnuts to dry for 1-2 hours before dipping the doughnuts into the glaze again. Return to wire rack to set again. The glaze does not set hard and will always be slightly sticky.
> Doughnuts will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days.




Enjoy :)


I link up at these great Link Parties!

So how was everyone's weekend?

I spent 7 hours in a car and now I can barely walk as my back and hips are screaming at me every time I try. I had to keep getting out of the car to stretch as my back was in constant spasm. It was agony.

And today, it feels bruised, sore, stiff and I also have sharp shooting pains in my back.

Oh yea, I also have another kidney infection. I had a great weekend! Not.

Anyway, I saw these cookie bars on Table For Two Blog and knew immediately that I had to make them.


They looked so amazingly fudgey and delicious. And they really were! I couldn't stop eating them! The fudgey centre was addictive!


Look at that centre! The oatmeal cookie wraps the fudgey centre perfectly, it is soft and sweet.

And I don't know about you, but since the cookie dough is full of oats I'm certain it balances out all the chocolate... Haha.






I link up at these great Link Parties!

Now, I love my boyfriend to the moon and back.

But sometimes I just don't get him.


I've mentioned before that he's from another planet and doesn't like cake. He has got better since I've started baking and will always try the things I make.

Most of the time he loves what I make, but forgets to eat it.


The other night, one of the very few times we had no cake in the house, he decided he wanted cake. It was 20:30 and I was like "Well, I can make you a quick sponge cake, what do you want?"

I nearly fell off of my chair when he asked actually. Then I had to frantically check what we had in the fridge/freezer in order to make him a cake. I found some frozen peaches, defrosted them and chucked them in a gorgeously buttery sponge cake.


He loved it! It's the first time ever he's practically eaten a whole cake to himself over a period of days.

He just kept going back for more, which made me super happy! I tried this cake too and it was delicious. Moist, buttery and dense packed with peaches. I'm not normally a peach person, but in this cake they were fabulous! It's super quick to put together and there's no frosting involved so as soon as it comes out of the oven you can dig in (if you're impatient like us!) I hope you love it as much as we did!

Print

Recipe by Annie

Makes one 8 inch round cake

Ingredients:

> 1 cup plain flour
> 1tsp baking powder
> 2 cups chopped peaches, fresh or frozen - if frozen, defrost them until semi-soft
> 1 cup caster sugar
> 2 sticks (226g) butter/marg
> 1 egg
> 1tsp vanilla extract
> Icing sugar to garnish, optional

Method:

> Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C/350F and grease and line an 8 inch cake tin.
> Place the flour, baking powder and chopped peaches into a medium sized bowl and toss to combine. (Tossing the fruit in the flour will stop them sinking to the bottom of the cake!)






I link up at these great Link Parties!

Oh good Lord. I've discovered Biscoff Spread.


For some strange reason I thought it was peanut butter or at least had nuts in? I really needed to get educated so once I saw we could actually get it here I had to pick some up and read the ingredients.

And guess what? No nuts.

I amaze myself at how dumb I can be sometimes.


So now, no jar of biscoff is safe from me. I eat it off of the spoon and I've now got my Mum started on it too. I feel the need to apologise to my hips.


So since I had some over ripe bananas in the house, I decided I had to make some banana bread. I added in some dark chocolate chips to cut through the sweetness of the bananas and it turned out great. With more biscoff spread slathered on top and some sliced bananas, I was in heaven!

Anyway, since this has bananas in, it means it's healthy right? Well that's what I'm telling myself anyway.

Print

Recipe adapted from Oh Sweet Basil

Makes one loaf (in a 2lb tin)

Ingredients:

> 1 and 3/4 cups plain flour
> 3/4tsp bicarbonate of soda
> 1 and 1/4tsp cream of tartar
> 1 and 1/4 cups dark chocolate chips
> 1/3 cup butter
> 1/3 cup light brown sugar
> 1/3 cup caster sugar
> 1/3 cup Biscoff spread (to be honest, since I love this so much, I'd probably up this to 2/3 cup if I made this again)
> 2 eggs
> 1 cup mashed, over ripe bananas (this was 4 small/med bananas for me)

Method:

> Preheat oven to 180 degrees C/350F and grease and line a 2lb loaf tin.
> Place the flour, bicarb, cream of tartar and dark chocolate chips into a medium sized bowl and mix until combined.
> Place the butter and sugars into a large bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes on med-high speed.
> Add in the biscoff spread and eggs.


> Mix until well combined and smooth, about 1 minute on med-high speed.


> Add in the mashed banana and mix until incorporated.
> Add in the flour and chocolate chip mix and mix on a low speed until well combined. Don't over mix the batter.


> Tip the batter into your loaf tin and level off with a spatula or wooden spoon. Place in the oven for 50-60 minutes. For the last 10-15 minutes place some tin foil over the banana bread to stop the top browning too much. Banana bread is done when risen, golden on top and an inserted skewer into the centre comes out clean.
> Leave to cool in the loaf tin for at least 2 hours, before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. This bread takes quite a while to cool completely!
> Will keep in an airtight container, at room temperature for up to 4 days.




Enjoy :)


I link up at these great Link Parties!