hollyberries

Happy almost New Year everyone! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and is looking forward to 2015 ...and, really, what better way is there to welcome in the new year than with trifle?   ... (tumbleweed)... Exactly . And these ones are perfect! Trust. They're easy , yet impressive , plus necessarily indulgent (it's not January yet people!) As ever, my sister and I were in charge of puddings for Christmas day, and I just happened to stumble across this genius concoction on BBC GoodFood (http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/890640/baileys-banana-trifles), and there was no going back. These can be made a few hours in advance and kept in the fridge. INGREDIENTS (makes 4 individual trifles): 200ml double cream 5 tbsp Baileys 4 brownies (make your own for the best results)* 2 bananas, sliced 350ml vanilla custard toffee sauce (optional) grated chocolate (optional - we used some crumbs from the brownies) If you have time, homemade brownies really...

So the original plan was blondies . I ADMIT IT. They didn't turn out exactly as I was expecting. HOWEVER. They were still delish . Sooooo... No qualms. (I have no idea if that is an appropriate use of that expression.) Anyway, I present this traybake/blondie/cake of chocolate chip and banana awesomeness. Let's just take a moment.  Think of them as slightly cakey blondies. Or slightly more dense and squidgy cake. Either way, my family polished them off with no complaints! Ingredients: 100g unsalted butter, softened 175g soft light brown sugar 3 eggs 1 tsp vanilla extract 125g plain flour 1 tsp baking powder 2 very ripe bananas, mashed  150g dark/milk/white chocolate, broken into chunks* *I used dark chocolate but any would totes work. Or maybe even a mixture. Go crazy.   Method: Preheat your oven to 170 degrees C . Line a 20cm by 20cm tin with greaseproof paper. Cream together the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Beat the eggs ...

Hiya internet friends!  It would seem that Winter has appeared overnight. Seriously, when did it get so cold? I think we had almost a whole week and a half of Autumn there, classic Britain, and now it's positively freezing. So wrap up warm kids, and start your day off with one of these scrumptious (and healthy) (well, 2 out of 3) breakfasts ! BREKKIE NUMBER ONE. So. Overnight oats, They're pretty great. Usually. Something just went wrong, I think I added too much milk, they were too sloppy and the flavour combo just wasn't working. It's safe to say it was an upsetting morning. UNTIL, I had the genius plan of transforming this soggy, fruity, oaty concoction (sounds appealing, I know) into a smoothie . And it was DELICIOUS. Fab colour, am I right?! This is a pretty free recipe, throw in whatever you fancy! But here's what I used (roughly, this was actually a while ago, shhhh). Ingredients (makes one smoothie): 5 tbsp porridge oats 200ml almond mil...

Whenever I ask someone which year of university was their favourite, I've found the majority answer "2nd year" . So obviously I was pretty psyched to begin mine. Freshers' week (as an actual fresher) is built up to be the most amazing week of your life, and I know not everyone feels this way, but mine really wasn't. Don't get me wrong I had loads of fun , met loads of new people , and got loads of freebies (#win), but for me, moving away from home was pretty scary and all the new people, new places and new experiences were rather overwhelming . So it took me the week to find my newly independent feet and properly settle in. So for any freshers out there reading this, if you feel the same way, do not worry, it is completely normal and that feeling goes away. This brings me to the freshers' week of 2nd year, 'Freshers' 2.0' if you will. Exeter start ridiculously early for some reason so I'm actually coming to the end of mine but hopefull...

What up internet. So we've got a bit of a heatwave going on in the UK at the moment (or in my garden, at least), which I am LOVING. However because of this, the old parentals have turned off the AGA (so that our kitchen doesn't become a roasting tin), which means, my friends, when one (me) fancies a spot of Wednesday afternoon baking, the lack of oven may be seen as somewhat of an obstacle... But of course we can't let that stop us, so what's the perfect cake for this uncharacteristically warm British summer? Fridge cake of course! Nom.  The great thing about this is you can pretty much throw in whatever you have! But here's what I used. INGREDIENTS: 150g unsalted butter, softened (not essential, you're going to melt it anyway) 100g dark chocolate, broken into pieces 1 tbsp cocoa powder 3 tbsps golden syrup 200g digestive biscuits handful of mini marshmallows* handful of fudge chunks* 100g milk chocolate* Other suggestions: raisins/...

Why hello there ! So I'm one of those people that likes to have music on all the time. Like all the time. I just think it makes life better. Plus I can't listen to music without singing along , that's just a fact. And going to concerts and gigs , and just live music in general, is one of my fave things ever. Anyway, you'll see from this post I've got quite a strange variety of music tastes, so I thought I'd share them with you. Maybe you won't like any of it, maybe like me you'll love it all, or maybe you'll find something you've never heard before. Either way, I'm hoping there might be something for everyone ...err, ok maybe not everyone, I mean I've got no death metal, afro-cuban jazz or celtic hip-hop (apparently that's a thing) in this list but we shall persevere... Anyone who knows me will know how bad I am at making decisions and it was hard enough to choose just ten albums, so the numbering is just for good old organisation...

Hi hi! So last weekend my mum asked if I could bake something for her to take to her tennis team for their post-match tea as she didn't have time to make anything herself. And I'll tell ya, I don't need much persuasion when it comes to baking ! So for some reason I thought 'Hey, I feel like making carrot cake .' And that I did, my friends. The flavour combo in this traybake is so yummy, and the textures are pretty great too - really moist sponge, crunchy pecans and creamy frosting.  INGREDIENTS: For the cake: 300g soft light brown sugar 250ml sunflower oil 3 eggs 150g self-raising flour 1 tsp ground mixed spice a pinch of salt 250g grated carrot (about 3 large carrots) 100g chopped pecan nuts the zest of half an orange For the orange syrup: the juice of half an orange 20g caster sugar For the frosting:  400g full-fat cream cheese (2 tubs of Philadelphia) 100g icing sugar  the zest and juice of half an orange To decorate: ...

Hi everyone! And welcome to my blog I guess... So I've decided to start a blog (because, hey, why not?!) and I hope it will manage to amuse/inspire/entertain in anyway anyone who stumbles across it!  Firstly a bit about me? Yeah, ok. 1. I've just finished my first year at Exeter University . 2. I'm studying French and Spanish (no, I am not fluent and no, I don't want to be a teacher). 3. I am the youngest of 3, one brother, one sister. *E.g the beautiful Rafa. 4. I have 2 beautiful black labradors (except one of them just farted...less beautiful). 5. I am a real girly girl, I love baking , shopping and anything pink . 6. For some reason, my nail varnish never chips. 7. I like getting my hair cut really short without telling anyone. 8. I am in love with far too many celebrities* (like seriously, it's not healthy). 9. Dancing always make me feel better. So does chocolate . 10. I think I do quite a good Australian accent. Australians have told me ...