Friday 25 March 2016

Happy Easter


Happy Easter Everyone!! 

You might remember this outfit from last year? I loved it so much and I had more photos that I wanted to share with you featuring my favourite golden friend I got for Easter! 
I hope you all have a wonderful Easter weekend.
I am off to bake lots of goodies and prepare for my Easter Egg Hunt on Sunday, follow along on Instagram here for all my Spring adventures! 


Thursday 24 March 2016

Easter Treat Party


Now that you have baked baskets full of delicious Easter Treats it's time to invite some friend's over and share the yummy goodies with them! 
These pictures are from last year, as I didn't get a chance to share them over Easter with you all back then, I thought I would save them to share and it's been fun to look back on these pictures from a year ago! You can bet I'll be back in the kitchen again tomorrow baking up goodies for this weekend. 
I set up a cute Easter table displaying the cookies and nest cakes on cake stands and the blondies in a ceramic Farmer's Market basket I found in TK Maxx, all surrounding a little Easter tree we've had for years. We always have plenty of the little yellow chicks around the house at Easter time too, it wouldn't feel quite like Easter without them! 
Hang some burlap bunny bunting (DIY found here) and you are party ready! I even invited a little golden friend to join in, I had to watch him though, he was after those blondies! 

Wednesday 23 March 2016

Easter Bunny & Chick Cookies


I got the cutest Easter cutters last year so I wanted to bake some cookies for my Easter picnic.

I use either of these cookie recipes normally

Shortbread Cookies 
(from Stacie Bakes)

Ingredients

100g plain flour
300g unsalted butter
150g caster sugar
Seeds scraped from 1 vanilla pod

Method

Preheat oven to 190 degrees celsius and grease a large baking sheet

Combine the flour, butter, sugar and vanilla seeds in a bowl and rub in with your fingertips or combine with a food mixture

Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to about 1cm thick, cut out your Easter shapes and place on the baking sheet

Bake for 15 minutes and leave to cool completely before decorating



Gingerbread Cookies

Ingredients

225g unsalted butter
175g soft light brown sugar
175g golden syrup
550g plain flour
1 Tsp baking soda
3 Tsp Ginger
1 Tsp Ground Cinnamon

Method

Preheat oven to 160 degrees celsius and grease a large baking sheet

Melt the butter, sugar and syrup together in a pan over a low heat. bring to the boil, then remove from the heat

Sift together the flour, baking soda and spices. Beat this into the butter/sugar mixture until smooth

Wrap the dough in cling film and chill in the fridge for 10 minutes

Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to about 1cm thick, cut out your Easter shapes and place on the baking sheet

Bake for 12 - 15 minutes, they will be still be soft and harden as the cool so don't over cook them. Leave to cool completely before decorating


To Decorate

I'm not very good at icing cookies, so I just used ready to roll icing and used the cutters to cut out the correct shapes.

I coloured some yellow for the chicks and also coloured some small amounts in Spring pastel colours to make bows for the bunnies and chicks too. Just use some clear alcohol to stick the icing shapes to the cookies.

Tomorrow I will be sharing how I set up all these treats for my Easter Party.

Tuesday 22 March 2016

Easter Mini Egg Cornflake Nest Cakes


Mini Egg Nest Cakes are an Easter classic in my opinion and I have been making them for as long as I can remember, you can whip these up in a matter of minutes, you just have to wait for them to set (or you can just eat them warm with a spoon hehe)

Makes around 12 nests

Ingredients

100g cornflakes (or you can use shredded wheat or Rice Krispies) 
100g milk chocolate
50g butter
2 Tbsp Golden Syrup 
Cadbury Mini Eggs

Method

Melt the chocolate, butter and golden syrup in a bowl and mix well (sometimes I just use chocolate, it works just as well in my opinion)

Mix in the cornflakes, making sure they are all covered in the chocolate

Spoon into cake cases and top with 3 Mini Eggs

Leave to set in the fridge for at least 30 minutes



Tomorrow I will be sharing an Easter Cookie recipe with you all! 

Monday 21 March 2016

Easter Cadbury Mini Egg Blondies


Last Year on Good Friday I spent the morning baking lots of Easter Sweet Treats, some I took on a picnic with me later that day and the rest I saved for a little party on Easter Sunday.
I thought I would share with you all the super quick and easy treats I made that will be perfect to whip up this coming weekend.

These blondies have made multiple appearances on the blog & Instagram in various different varieties and they are always a big hit! 



makes a 9×9 pan

Ingredients

1 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 c. butter
1 c. brown sugar, packed
1 egg, beaten
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 c. chocolate chops
1 – 1 1/2 c. Cadbury Mini Eggs (or Easter coloured M&M's)



Directions

Mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

Melt 1/3 c. butter. Place it in a mixing bowl then add 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar; mix well and cool slightly. Add egg and vanilla and blend well.

Add the flour mixture a little at a time, mixing well. Mix in about 2/3 c. of the Mini Eggs and 1 c. of chocolate chips.

Spread in a greased 9×9 pan. Sprinkle more Mini Eggs on top (about 2/3 c. more, or desired amount).

Bake 20 to 25 minutes at 350 degrees. *Double the recipe if you would like to make it in a 9×13 pan.*




I'll be sharing some more simple Easter recipes all this week on the blog and then showing you the cutest table set up for a little Easter Treat Party, you'll get a sneak peek in the recipes post! 

Friday 11 March 2016

Stacey's Smiles


A Pink Bakery is always going to win me over!

Buttermilk Pancakes with Orange Curd & Hazelnuts for Sunday Brunch.

Take home treats from Pump Street Bakery.

We finally got a sprinkling of snow!

Spring Tulips.


HAPPY FRIDAY!!!


Wednesday 9 March 2016

Spring Refresh

Spring has arrived, well officially it has but the Spring weather doesn't seem to be with us quite yet. So while I am waiting for it to start warming up outside and the flowers to start blooming I have been spring cleaning and adding a few spring touches inside to brighten up the day. I am loving that the evenings are starting to get lighter and the florist is stocked full of Spring blooms. I have already started shopping for Easter decor and I got some DIY supplies to make some more. I also got the cutest Easter Egg hunt signs from T.K Maxx, can you tell I am excited hehe! 

Valentine's Roses

Tidying up and rearranging shelves. The flamingo tape holder is from H&M!

My growing Jo Malone collection. My big bottle of Nectarine Blossom and Honey is so well used the label has worn off, whoops! 

A peek at the gallery wall I created with Command Strips


Tulips are one of my favourite Spring flowers! 


What are some of the things you are looking forward to this Spring? 



Monday 7 March 2016

Mother, Daughter, Sister


It was Mother's Day yesterday here in the UK and I for one am very grateful for my Mum. She has always been there for me when I need her, even if she isn't feeling well herself, she'll always put me first. 
I am also very proud to have a little sister too! So I thought this year it would be nice to get my Mum & sister a gift that will always remind us all of the bond we share.

I wanted to get something a bit different so Uncommon Goods seemed like perfect place to search, I love how unusual all the jewelry pieces are. I decided to go for necklaces as they are the one piece we all wear on a regular basis and the selection (found here) left my stuck for choice.

I ended up going with these stunning handcrafted 'My Heart Within Yours' necklaces. They are a beautiful handmade lace dipped in gold and silver and I love how every single one is slightly different and unique. You can find the earrings to match here.

If you are looking for a piece of jewelry with something a little bit different you will be spoilt for choice. Not only will you find unique pieces like these necklaces you will also find many pieces made from up-cycled or recycled materials, how fun! Make sure to read about the maker of each piece too, they have the most wonderful stories to share.  Check out more unusual jewelry here.

If you live in the UK you've missed your chance to shop for your Mother's Day gifts but luckily most countries celebrate in May and Uncommon Goods have fast shipping all over the world, so you still have time to find endless gifts for you Mum here

Thank You to Uncommon Goods for sponsoring this post. All opinions are my own.