hollyberries

Hello again friends! Long time. Long time. I have broken my blog fast (not a thing) to bring you these wondrous cupcakes , sent down from actual heaven above. They literally floated down from the cloudless sky on a heart-shaped board, accompanied by a choir of singing cherubs . For reals.  Only joking.  The sky isn't cloudless. This is the British summer, people. But seriously, these are the Ryan Gosling of the cupcake world.   Dreamy.  Nutella on Nutella on Nutella. And here's how to make them. Ingredients (makes ~12): For the cupcakes: 100g plain flour  20g cocoa powder 140g caster sugar 1.5 tsp baking powder a pinch of salt 20g ground hazelnuts 40g butter (room temp.) 120ml milk 1 egg Nutella (enough for a dollop per cupcake - precise, I know.) For the frosting: 180g cream cheese (1 pack of Philadelphia) 100g Nutella* Chopped hazelnuts (to decorate) *It's up to you how Nutella-y you want the frosti...

Hi friends. ONLY ONE WEEK OF EXAMS LEFT. Woo .  5 down, 2 to go, and I'm not going to lie the motivation is flagging majorly. As is the will to not just live off pizza and  chocolate biscuits .  I came back after Easter determined to try even harder than normal to eat as healthily as possible, which isn't so easy when exam stress hits. That's where these cookies come in: Perfect for a library snack! Not only are they not packed with sugar and butter, they're really easy and super quick to make! Put on some music, throw some shapes in your kitchen and whip up these beauts - the best type of revision break. Ingredients (makes 9 small cookies): 2 heaped tbsp peanut butter 4 tbsp runny honey Half a ripe banana 4/5 dates, chopped into small pieces (raisins would work too) 1 cup oats 1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp vanilla extract Method: Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius and line a baking tray with greaseproof paper. Gently heat th...

With only two breakfasts left at uni this term, I had obviously meticulously planned out how to optimise what I have left in my fridge/cupboard. And last night I dreamt up this breakfast of champions . I was clearly also feeling particularly sassy as I found myself waking up to this this morning: Charming. So these pancakes definitely have the 'more is more' thing going on. But hey, it's the end of term SO THAT'S TOTALLY ALLOWED.  Seriously you guys, I have made a lot of pancakes in my time (sorry Instagram followers), and I might even go as far as saying these are my best ever . A bold statement if there ever was one. Yes, we are still talking about pancakes. BUT JUST LOOK AT THEM. And they're not even that unhealthy...I mean, everyone knows dark chocolate has health benefits and maple syrup comes from a tree so it's basically a vegetable . #pancakelogic I kind of just chucked stuff into a bowl so some of these measurements aren't ...

THESE ARE GOOD YOU GUYS. HASHTAG SORRY NOT SORRY BECAUSE THESE ARE SO DARN GOOD YOU GUYS. But seriously. Peanut butter + banana + chocolate = heaven . And you know it. I think the fact that I was commissioned (not really) to make a second batch of these just from my Instagram photos says it all really. Ingredients (makes approx. 12 flapjacks): 75g light muscovado sugar 140g peanut butter (I used smooth, but crunchy would add new levels of awesome) 4 and a half tbsp runny honey 1 ripe banana, mashed 140g oats 140g plain chocolate (ok, so I actually bought a 150g bar but I needed a pre-baking snack alright, JEEEZ.) Method: Line a 15cm by 15cm baking tin. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees C. Heat the sugar , peanut butter and honey in a saucepan on low heat, mixing until smooth. Transfer into a large mixing bowl with the oats and mashed banana , and mix until all the oats are coated (you should end up with a giant blob (- technical term)). Place your batte...

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...

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/...