British Baking - Chockie Tea

So its the weekend and whats better than chilling out and doing a spot of baking? The good thing about having three housemates is that they can test all my creations for me so I know your getting the best recipes, I am sure they will agree.

Today I have a recipe for you that is quintessentially British! Its important to be proud of where you come from, because it makes you who you are, from the accent to the humour and quirky ways of doing things. There are lots of things about Britain that I love, one of the main things being tea! On my trip to Asia I don't think I had a cup of the good stuff the whole time I was away, mainly because they just don't make it the same over there. Green tea on the other hand is pretty nice but I love the proper builders tea with a dash of milk and one sugar. (I'm not particular at all!)

This is a really tasty cookie recipe and tastes like your drinking a cup of tea without actually drinking it. Its a weird concept but it really works. I dipped the cookie in tea coloured chocolate to add an indulgent feel to the cookie and to make it feel as if its been dipped in the tea. Everyone loves chocolate so you can't go wrong, but if you have not got much of a sweet tooth you can leave it off.

Ingredients: (Makes 12)
125g butter
3 black tea bags
100g light brown soft sugar
125g caster sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
225g self-raising flour
pinch of salt
100g white chocolate
100g milk chocolate

To make:
1/ Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
2/ Melt the butter in a pan or microwave (dont boil). Once all melted add in tea leaves
from the tea bags and mixed until combined. Wait a few minutes for the butter to cool.
3/ Add the sugars to the bowl and mix in the butter and tea mixture until blended.
4/ Combine the egg and vanilla into the mix and stir well.
5/ Sift in the flour and stir in slowly until combined into a dough.
6/ Either roll out the dough into a sausage shape and cut into even cookies or roll into little balls and squash slightly.
7/ Place the cookies on a baking tray, giving enough room between the cookies as they will spread.
8/ Cook for 7-10 minutes depending how soft or crunchy you want them.
9/ While the cooking are baking heat up a pan of water and melt the chocolate in a bowl above the water, making sure the water doesn't touch the bowl otherwise the chocolate will burn. Melt the white chocolate first, adding in the milk chocolate to achieve your perfect tea colour.
10/ Allow the cookies to cool for a few minutes before dunking them in the chocolate and allowing them to cool (if you can)
There you have it! Your very own British biscuit!

 

These really are tasty! and if you want more of a biscuit just give them a little longer in the oven. 

Now I am looking at these again I'm going to have to bake some as I have some spare dough left over from making this batch. If you want to refrigerate the dough like I do and make them fresh each time you fancy one then you can. Your friends will love you for it to!

I hope you enjoyed this British recipe and like the taste of them as much as me and my friends do. 

So what do you think of using usual flavours in cookies and biscuits? Do let me know if you make them, I'd love to see some pictures.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend

Love Khrissie x

Healthy Snacks: Coconut Bites

Today I am going to share with you a recipe that I tried and tested from a wonderful blog called 'My Whole Food Life'. I've been reading a lot of food blogs lately as I have been on the hunt for a healthier version of some of my favourite foods like pizza. I am definitely not one for starving myself on these fad diets, which in all fairness are never really good for you as your weight ends up yo-yoing when you do decide you want to indulge on a pizza.

This year is all about being happy and I am not 100% happy with my body. Its not completely terrible but its not all that good either and rather make myself unhappy by sweating all my spare time at the gym and starving myself of the foods I love, why not just make some small changes that can in turn can make a much bigger difference.

I came across this post and once I tried it I just had to share it with you, specifically from an amateurs perspective. We all known that you see these amazing pictures of these wonderful food, try them and they end up looking like something the cat dragged in! This a gluten free recipe is surprisingly easy, its gluten free and can also be vegan if you find alternatives.

Prep Time: 5 minutes 
Cook Times: 20 minutes

To start of with you are going to need:
1 1/2 (173g) cups raw pecans 
12 medjool dates (remove pits)
1 cup (230ml) sweetened condensed milk (vegan)
1/2tsp sea salt
1 cup (100g) unsweetened shredded coconut
3/4 cup (110g) dark chocolate chunks

You can either buy a set of weighing cups here or use the conversion.

Instructions: 
Preheat oven to 350 
Measure out your raw pecans and add them to your food processor with your pitted dates. Add in the salt and whiz up until the mixture starts to stick together.

Line a glass dish, around 8inches wide with parchment or greaseproof paper leaving some extra at the edges. Add the mixture to the dish, making sure all the base it covered and press down with a fork.

Next pour a cup of the condensed milk over the mixture, making sure it is evenly covered. You then need to weigh the coconut and chocolate chunks and sprinkle them on top of the condensed milk. Lightly press into the condensed milk with your fork.

Then just pop in the oven for 20-25 minutes. This is where you need to catch up on some YouTube or blogs, as time seems so stop as soon as the smell of warm chocolate fills the air.

Get out of the oven and place on a cooling rack until completely cool and slice into whatever shape you like. Now this is even harder but let me tell you, its the best wait you will have. To me it tastes like a bounty with the coconut in, (so of course you can substitute it with whatever you like) but knowing its pretty healthy for you there is no guilt of shame after you have devoured a few slices.

As you can see its a gooey and chocolatey piece of heaven! Get it in the fridge quickly to make it less messy and enjoy it all to yourself, knowing you could be getting 1 of your 5 a day! 

I hope you have enjoyed todays recipe, please let me know if you make it.

I'm going to be doing more in the near future and even going to try my hand at making my own.

Have a lovely rest of the week guys!

Love Khrissie xx

Blogmas Gift Idea: Personalised Cake

Hello there guys!

Today I am sharing with you something else Christmas related as I can not get enough! The other week I received this adorable little cake from 'Baker Days'. This is a company that specialises in making cakes which are customised depending on the occasion. They are changing the way the world sends greetings to their loved ones by giving you the opportunity to send and personalised cake in the design and flavour that you chose.

There are lots of different categories of cake designs you can choose from but I decided to go for the Christmas cakes as theres nothing better than celebrating Christmas, than with food! First off you choose your design so I went with this adorable mint green one with 'Merry Christmas' written on it. The great thing about this is the fact you can personalise it with any name of your choice. I was a little cheeky and added my name as I never managed to find things with my name on and it really excited me.

You then decide on the type of cake you want from vanilla, fruit cake or even chocolate. There are also gluten and dairy free options with the added bonus of getting half and half if you can't decide on the flavour. I of course went for chocolate as I'm really craving that sweet goodness right now.
The last thing to do is choose your size from single cupcakes to large cakes that have a hefty 55 servings. I received the letterbox cake that comes in a cute little tin with a price tag of £14.99. Now this may seem like a lot of money but personalised and custom made gifts are always more as they are all made on a one off basis. The fact you get to choose your design and flavour, receive it in the sweetest tin that you can actually keep as well as a little party pack based on the theme of your cake, you can't go wrong and the best part of it all is, its delicious!

I was worried it was going to be quite dry and flavourless as all the efforts had been put into the design of the cake but once I cut into it I was surprised to see a deliciously moist cake inside. This didn't hang around long with my four housemates sniffing around but I didn't mind as Christmas is for sharing. Seeing as the cake is quite small I was worried about the amount of portions I would get out of it. It states it can serve between 3-4 portions but I cut them smaller as the cake is quite sweet with the icing and I managed to happily get double the amount of portions.

I think this is a wonderful idea for a gift. Especially if its for a family or you know someone who might be on their own this Christmas. Giving feels good and makes the person your giving it too feel loved too so for Christmas or an up and coming birthday, give something different this year and surprise them with a cake of their own. Baker Days actually have banners and balloons on their website too so you know you are catered for.

Because we love to give Baker Days are actually holding a competition where you can win your own letterbox cake. All you have to do is hashtag #bakerdays telling them your best Christmas gift idea and they will announce a winner of the cake shortly.

Right, I need to go order more cake as I'm craving it now after seeing these pictures again.
Have a lovely evening!

Love Khrissie x

Baking | Graveyard Cupcakes

Halloween is only a few days away so why not bake some tasty treats for your friends and family, or even yourself if your feeling a bit peckish. I wanted to create something which was super quick and easy where you didn't need too many ingredients. I have for you some halloween haunted graveyards.

You will need: 1 pack of chocolate cupcake mix / 1 Egg / 125g Butter / Pack of Oreos / A pack of icing pens / Halloween sprinkles / Piping bag or knife

Step 1: Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees
Sift the chocolate mix into a large bowl to get rid of any lumps

 Step 2: Add in one egg and 2 tablespoons of water

Step 3: Once mixed well, pour into the cupcakes cases and place in the centre of the oven between 10-15 minutes until bouncy to the touch.

Step 4: While the cakes are in the oven mix the icing sugar together with the butter until a smooth and creamy consistency is formed. Melt the chocolate chunks in a pan of hot water (leaving the chunks the bag) then add to the mixture and stir well.

Step 5: Get the cakes out the oven and allow to completely cool. Once cooled you can top them with the icing. Dont worry about it looking too neat as the chocolate is acting as mud for our graveyard.

Step 6: Take an Oreo and cut of the sides to look like a gravestone. The Oreos will crack but that all adds to the effect of an old weathered gravestone. Then place into the centre of the cupcake.

Step 7: To make the gravestone look a little more realistic, use some green icing pens to create some grass around the base.

Step 8: If you have some green sprinkles or some bats or ghosts add these around the graveyard too. This adds some texture to the cake as well as some spooky atmosphere (I got mine from Lidl) & there you have it, a spooky graveyard cupcake. I think it works well as it has received good feedback from the people eating them.

Step 9: For some spooky extras you can crumble the Oreos to look like soil, add blood (red icing) to the tops of the gravestones or even make eyes, using some white buttons for the whites of the eyes.
This would make for a great centrepiece at a halloween party.

I hope you have enjoyed this simple and quick recipe for Halloween.
Do let me know if you have a go yourself or if you create your own recipes.

Happy Halloween!
Love Khrissie x

Blogger Event: Afternoon Tea

source: charlotte street hotel

source: Charlotte Street Hotel

So today I went on Twitter (shocker!) and I saw that there was a little bloggers event happening that Sophie Morgan had organised. It was to meet at the Charlotte Street Hotel and have afternoon tea and a chat which sounds like the perfect thing to do on a Sunday afternoon so I decided to go along.

The girls at the event were: Jess Dante, Sunny_London, Katie Matthews, Sophie Morgan, Lottie Pearce & April Todd / Make sure you check them out as they have great blogs!

I hadn't met any of the bloggers before or even talked to many of them but one of the points of me doing a blog is to help me gain confidence and this was a perfect way to do that, as well as meet some lovely bloggers. There was a choice of two teas to choose from so I picked the traditional which included:

Sandwiches: Cheese & Pickle / Salmon / Egg
Scones with cream and jam (which were still warm! yum!)
Cakes: Victoria sponge / Carrot Cake / Orange Chocolate cake
Tea: A wide variety from English Breakfast to Green Tea
Price: £23

I was so nice hearing all the bloggers stories and getting to know them all. It's interesting to hear their back stories and what they do as a job, engagement stories! Congratulations Sophie, your story was adorable <3

I hope I get to meet them again and go to more events like this as its so relaxed with no pressure on taking photos etc. Make sure you go to the Charlotte Street Hotel if you get a chance as the food is so delicious and the interior is gorgeous! I just spent some of my time staring at the paintings on the walls.

Thank you so much for inviting me :)
Khrissie x

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The British Tag #tealovers

Hello there,

So I'm a new blogger I have been trying to find ways to connect and meet new bloggers as my friends just don't get this whole 'blogger' thing so it's nice to talk to people with the same interest. After looking at Becky Bedbugs blog I saw that there were weekly chats for lifestyle, beauty and fashion bloggers etc and so I just had to get involved.

On one of these chats we ended up getting onto the conversation of tea and how much we love it, what biscuits if any we like to dunk etc... and so the hashtag #tealover was born! I was so content that this became a thing and so when Emily May done the British tag and nominated me I had to do it!

So here it goes.....

1. How many cups of tea do you drink a day? Any sugars?
I would say roughly 1-4 cups a day! Definitely one in the morning and in then in the afternoon, its definitely an 'Ahhhh!' moment for me when I drink it! 1 sugar please!


2. Favourite part of your roast?
Omgosh! How can I decide? I don't get roasts often but I'm going to have to say roast potatoes! Especially how my Grandad does them, they are to die for! (now im dreaming of them...)


3. Favourite dunking biscuit?
As Emily had mentioned in her post, this came up in our chat #tealovers and I am definitely a bourbon kind of girl! I had a good ol' dunk today actually.. so satisfying!


4. Favourite quintessentially British pastime?
Ooo mine would have to be a nice picnic in the park! I've always wanted to buy a proper picnic basket and have a check blanket to sit on with scones and cute little cakes. Ok... I need to make this happen this summer. I'll let you know how I get on.. a perfect picnic pack up post might be coming your way...


5. Favourite word?
oh this is easy 'darling'.... Darling is a great word! I like to talk in a proper british accent sometimes, just to accentuate part of a conversation. Weird I know but its great fun!


6. Cockney rhyme slang?
To be honest I don't know too many. The one that I have used, in what conversation I do not know is 'Bobby Dazzler'. Like...she's a right bobby dazzler (good looker)


7. Favourite sweets/chocolate?
This is hard to answer as I have a favourite chocolate/sweet then I get bored of it and I move on. At the moment I am in love with Daim bars! omg! and they are so hard to find but a part of Kraft. Before that I was loving Snickers..Mmm especially in Ice Cream format, which is British yay!


8. What would your pub be called?
'The Unicorn' I'm sure it already exists but I have a thing with them at the moment and the royal logo features a unicorn on it so real or not its British..he!


9. Favourite British person?
The Queen! She's amazing and I love all the co-ordination in her outfits, even down to the umberllas she uses. I think we can take some learnings from olde' queeny.


10. Favourite pub/restaurant?
I'm not even sure whats classed as British theses days but I bloody love a good pie and Pieminister do the best pie and mash ever! If you can I highly recommend you check them out, theres a pop up in Camden Town, London if your ever visiting....


11. What British song pops into your head?
Spice Girls 'When 2 becomes 1'.... weren't they just the best girl band EVER!!!


12. Marmite?
Uh yes! Sometimes its just needed on toast in the morning but its best in things like stews and casseroles. It's my little trick when ever I am making anything with mince/lentils as it just adds a kick of flavour which really benefits the dish.

Well that was good fun! You should definitely do this tag as I nominate everyone, no matter where in the world you are. You can create a post and link it to me as I'd love to see your answers or just comment below so I can have a gander.

...and don't forget to tweet #tealover if your a fan of the good stuff too!

Khrissie x

Love from Brussels...

Top: Topshop / Jeans, Sunglasses & Necklace: Primark / Boots: Urban outfitters / Coat: New Look

So here are some more picture from my trip to Brussels, these images are from when we went to Ghent for the day. As you can see Ghent is a beautiful city and I definitely want to visit again in the future. The architecture is to die for so walking around with ice cream in one hand and chocolate in the other, was ideal. (Trying out the fruit beers was also a fun time for me)

While we were there we went to the design museum as we thought it might be inspirational for our graphic design minds. I did enjoy it as we got to see the Robert Dyas exhibition as well as some quirky pieces of art. Nick took some images of my outfit while we were in one of the sections of the museum and as you can see I'm not very good at acting serious when Im having my picture taken as I know I have one of those moody relaxed faces ha! So being silly is usually the outcome and it shows my 'fun' side, right?

I'm trying to travel more this year as I have this urge to explore and 'live the adventure'

I feel I'm in a funny stage of my life at the moment as I'm enjoying my job but I kind of feel its not what I'm meant to be doing...and I'm not sure what it is I am? So join me on my journey to discovering where I'm meant to be in life.

Chow!

Khrissie