Sweet Potato Brownies

I saw these brownies in a magazine a while back and I instantly knew I had to try them. Granted, it does sound a bit odd combining a vegatable with something as sweet as a brownie. But odd in a little-boutique-London-cafe/bakery kind of way. There is something very appealing about healthy alternatives to exceedingly unhealthy but delicious favourites. This, I suppose is just like that. It isn't just the sweet potato that makes these stand out. These little delights are packed with antioxidants and use all healthy and nutritious ingredients. They are also super quick and easy to make. So get baking, and trust me, you will love these!

Ingredients (makes 10)

• 2 large sweet potatoes
• 14 Medjool dates
• 90g of ground almonds (almond flour)
• 70g of buckwheat flour
• 4 tbsp of raw cacao
• 3 tbsp of pure maple syrup 
  

Pre-heat the oven to 180C and peel the sweet potatoes. Cut them into chunks and put them in a steamer for about 20 minutes (or until they become soft and start to fall apart). Put the steamed potatoes in a processor along with the pitted dates and blend. If you don't have a food processor then a hand blender will do nicely. Put all the other ingredients into a bowl and stir well until fully combined before mixing in the blended sweet potato-date mix well.

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Spoon this mixture into a lined baking tray (10 x 20cm) and cook for about 20 minutes. Remove from oven and cool.

xo

Double chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter centre

I love to bake. I am not the best at it, but I do enjoy doing it. My baked goods usually excel in the taste realm rather than the appearance one. I can't actually remember where I got the idea for these, so if it was from someone I know then this is me crediting you now. Trust me these are delicious, though maybe not for the savory lover, they are pretty much sweet on sweet on sweet.

Ingredients (makes 12):

• 50g of cocoa powder (+ 1 tablespoons set aside)
• 1/2 cup of natural yogurt and milk mixed
• 80g of self-raising flour
•  1/4 teaspoon baking powder + baking soda
• 80g of butter (+ 1 tablespoon set aside)
• 90g of caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup of smooth peanut butter
• 40g of icing sugar
• 1/2 cup of double cream
• 120g of chocolate (dark or milk

 1. Preheat the oven to 180 Celsius. Mix the cocoa powder in a bowl with 1/4 cup of boiling water until a paste is formed. Add the yogurt/milk. In a separate bowl, sift the flower with the baking soda, baking powder and add a pinch of salt. In another bowl beat the 80g of butter with the sugar until fluffy. Add in the eggs and beat before mixing in the dry ingredients and the cocoa mixture. Spoon the mixture into 12 lined muffin cups about two thirds. Let them cook for 15-25 minutes until cupcakes are springy. Let cool

2. Beat the peanut butter with the table spoon of butter until creamy. Sift in the icing sugar. Spoon this mixture into a piping bag if you have one. If you are pipingbag-less like me then take a zip-lock bag and snip off a tiny part of one of the corners. Push the peanut butter filled bag into the cupcake and pipe until the centre is filled. If you are using a zip lock bag, then make a small hole in the middle of the cupcake with a skewer, before filling. Scrape any filling of the top of the cake and repeat until all cakes are filled.

3. In a small saucepan bring the double cream to a simmer. Add the chocolate until melted, and leave the mixture to cool. Once cool, spread the icing onto the top of the cupcakes.

ET voila!


xo

Boxing-day blues Hot Chocolate

 

    After having watched the Polar Express for about the 18294027204750376th time, I found myself in the mood for Hot Chocolate. What a welcome mood that is. It just so happened to also be the perfect thing to help me combat the Boxing-day blues, which I don't suffer too badly from. I actually quite enjoy Boxing-day. I love the left-overs, discovering presents you didn't even know you had and, in my case, watching all the Christmas movies you didn't have time for earlier in the month. But I know that Boxing-day is a bit of a let down for many. So I have come to your rescue, bearing a dangerous and very more-ish mug of steaming hot chocolate. Or maybe just the recipe for you to brew up yourself. Enjoy!

What you will need:

Hot Chocolate powder (I like Bournville best)

Spices

Warm milk

Water

A Christmassy mug

Nutella

Mini marshmallows

Add a heaped teaspoon of cocoa powder into your Christmas mug. I am cheating and using a Chai Latte powder that I got at the whole foods market, but any mixed spice will do. Add the same amount of mixed spice.

Fill the mug up, half with hot water, half warm milk.

Stir in as much nutella as the mug will hold, without eating it all yourself.

Add mini marshmallows, chocolate buttons or any other little treats.

Drink away :)

xo

Karlies Kookies

I feel as though i definitely don't incorporate enough recipes into my blog posting schedule. It's not that I don't ever bake, merely that when I do I am so excited to get them in the oven and then my stomach, that I tend to forget to take pictures. However this time I remembered, which should be celebrated :)
Karlie Kloss has for a while now been my absolute favourite model and top role model. Not only does she have an other-worldy beauty to her and is one of the most in demand models of the past five years, she is still aspiring to go to medical school and has set up her own COOKIE CHARITY. I know. A charity that sells cookies and donates the profits to FEED , she is a genius. And the cookies just happen to taste great and be healthy alternatives to usual ones too. So inspired by Miss Kloss, my lovely friend shona and we set out to bake our own 'healthy' cookies.

What you will need

• 2 cups of almond flour
• 1 cup (gluten-free) whole oats
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 slivered almonds
• 3/4 cup of dark chocolate chips (preferably more :)
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp xantham gum (alternatively 1 egg)
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup agave (alternatively 1/2 cup golden syrup)

First, preheat the oven to 150 (c) and grease or line a baking tray with paper. Lightly toast the almonds in a frying pan and then let them cool. Now mix your dry ingredients (including the chocolate and almonds) together in a bowl, with a wooden spoon before adding the liquid ingredients in and stirring well. 

Once mixed evenly, scoop the dough out onto the tray into individual, little (for want of a better word) blobs. Cook them in the oven for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.

Now leave them to cool before inhaling delicately placing them on a pretty plate and sharing them with everyone you know.

xo

The Benefits of being a Tea Junkie.

If I'm being honest with you, I probably do have three to five cups of tea a day. Most of which is herbal (think green tea, berry or chai). I did this mainly because I love tea and it keeps me warm, but upon closer inspection, I found that Herbal teas (green in particular) have fantastic health benefits and are highly recommended by well-being folk. “In a lot of ways, we might get more benefit from a good organic tea than from a vitamin pill,” says herbalist Marianne Beacon of Elderberry Herbals in Peterborough, Ont. Don't take it from me, take it from Marianne, who clearly knows what she is talking about. In case I haven't already talked about Teas enough, here is a list of different ones and what good they can do for you :

Green Tea

Increases metabolism, therefor good for weight loss, good for dental hygiene and skincare.

 

Clipper Green Tea

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chamomile Tea

Good for calming and soothing. Also cures bad coughs apparently?



Tea Pigs Chamomile Tea

 

Peppermint Tea

Relives muscle spasms, good for nausea and feeling sophisticated. :)

Storm Peppermint Tea

Rooibos Tea

High in antioxidants, helps sooth eczema and ward off signs of ageing.

Bloom Rooibos Tea

Bibi's Cake Boutique

You know when you come across somewhere slightly out of the way but completely unique and gorgeous? And you kind of feel like it is yours? No? Right....Well that is what finding Bibi's Cake Boutique was like for me. Totally unexpected and special. It couldn't have been more welcome on a rainy day when walking around a town and trying to find a tourist shop selling a parka wasn't exactly all it had been made out to be. 

Their Cupcakes were absolutely to die for and restraining myself to only buying one, was a small form of torture. They had every flavor imaginable, some slightly more odd than others, but all beautifully photogenic and frosted to perfection. Once the laborious decision of what to have was over, your Cupcake was then swiftly packaged away in a pretty complex little box, before being handed over to you for the devouring to begin. I believe they also do celebration cakes too, and trust me, from what I saw, they were worth making up a celebration for. Or just celebrating the cakes themselves.

If Bibi's Cake Boutique hadn't gone well, then the owners would've no doubt pursued a career in interior design. The decor in there was like something you would only ever see on Instagram and never come across in real life. The window displays too, were unmissable. They would most certainly draw customers in if the smell of Cupcakes hadn't already. Visit Their website here for recipes.

These two cupcake were the ones I gladly took home with me :)

xo

Making Blondies

 I only learned of the existence of this baked wonder a few months ago. Shocking I know. For those of you who are in the same position as I was back in those dark, misinformed days, a 'Blondie' is a white chocolate Brownie. Creative name, I know. But don't be fooled, the Blondie is just as scrumptious as it's darker friend, if not surpassing it on the sweetness scale. Perfect with a huge cup of tea on a rainy day, in front of your favourite movie (preferably Disney), or on a cake stand for afternoon tea, if you are the sophisticated type. They are seriously freaking yummy, to put it bluntly.  You will love them, I promise.

What you will need

• 120g butter
• 200g white chocolate
• 120g plain flour
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 120g soft brown sugar

If you are not a brownie - maker - using - cheat like my self, then before anything you should start by pre heating your oven to 180. Now melt 50g of the chocolate with the butter in a small bowl over a pan of simmering water until mixed well. Leave this to cool slightly.
Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Next, chop the remainder of the chocolate into small pieces using a sharp knife and using all your willpower, try to eat as little of it as possible. In a medium sized bowl whisk together the eggs and sugar until well beaten, before adding the cooled white chocolate and butter mixture to this, ensuring it too is well mixed. Now add the chopped chocolate and fold in the sifted flour, make sure to mix this well.

Now, if you are lazy like me and are using a brownie or tray bake maker then simply pour the mixture in to each segment and bake until ready. But if you are a traditional (normal) person, then grease your baking tray of choice with left over butter or line it with grease proof paper. Next pour the mixture in to the tray and pop your golden Blondie mix in to the oven for around 15-20 minutes (you may need them in for more or less time depending on your oven, so check them regularly). Once out, leave your Blondies to cool for around 20 minutes before cutting it into small squares. 

These are especially nice drizzled in a warm white chocolate sauce.

xo

Ice Cream Days

Living in Britain means I don't see all that much sun ( I am becoming increasingly worried about the subject of my blog these days...  'Weather Reporter' wasn't really what I was initially going for). So Summer and all things related to it,  excite me more than they would most. Ice Cream especially, being something that excites me more than it should. Giving that we only get about four months a year where you won't catch hypothermia if you eat it, I tend to jump at every Ice Cream opportunity I get. Whenever we drive past a local family, owned Ice Cream Parlor I am aware of the car speeding up slightly, trying to avoid the question that everyone knows will inevitably escape my mouth. "Hey that looks great! Let's go". There is very little that you can do once the question has been put forth.

 I have absolutely no idea what is going on with my hair here. I do appologise.

Jannettas Gelateria is an award winning Ice Cream parlor set in the heart of St Andrews. I have been there many times before and am never disappointed by the glory that is their desserts. This time I indulged in an Elderflower Sorbet and it was fab. No regrets there. Thank you Jannettas.

Jeans- Topshop (similair)   Top- Khols   Leather Jacket- Forever 21   Necklaces- Local Boutique and River Island   Ring- Accessorize   Shoes- Sisley

Who knew someone could ramble on for that long about Ice Cream...

xo

Lupie's Diner

 For anyone visiting the US anytime soon, there is one thing in particular that I would recommend you do. To visit a proper retro diner. The scruffier and more worn the better. They can be about as American as it gets, and if done well the food is actually great. You are always guaranteed a hearty (and highly fattening) meal served by a friendly face. The decor inside is usually really worth the visit too. With things like blow-up chillies, umbrellas and bicycles lining the walls it was certainly random to say the least.

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The main attraction of small diners of course being the food. Everything is doubled in the size you had imagined and it all has a homely feel to it. My absolute favourite thing the do over here is to serve ice tea in old marmalade and honey jars, it is just the cutest thing.

I, myself indulged in a veggie burger and slaw and Oh my word was I glad I did. Enough said I think. As you can see food photography is not my strong point by any means.

And here's what I wore:
Shoes- Forever 21 (similar)  Dress- Asos  T-shirt- H&M (old)  Scarf- Bought at market

xo

Tea for Two

 So the other weekend as I plodded around my house in an over-sized StarTrek tee and pyjama bottoms, I was overcome by the sudden urge to visit an authentic tearoom, like the type you would expect to find Miss Marple or Mary Berry in. Completely random, I know. But never the less I set out with the lovely Molly (The Mad Hatters Journal) , in the hopes to find a tearoom fit for a Queen... And after a few too many miles added to the car, that we did! Enter SmallTalk a lovely vintage inspired tearoom in an unlikely, modest location. With it's delightful assortment of tea cups and tea pots, gold-framed, old photographs and dangerously moreish eray of homebaking, it was the perfect place for us to spend the afternoon sipping away on Earl grey.

It was such a lovely way to waste away a day. There was something oddly calming about sitting amongst chatty grannies enjoying a spot of afternoon tea and a good catch up. And if you don't mind eating one two many slices of banana loaf, I would highly recommend vintage tearoom hunting to you all. x