Slutty Brownies

Warning and disclaimer - These are the most droolworthy brownies in the world. You'll become obsessed.

Thanks to the lovely Rosie at The Londoner http://www.thelondoner.me/ I found myself making her fantastically decadent recipe for slutty brownies.

It's a ridiculously good combination of oreos, chocolate brownie and cookie dough.

As i'm a foodie blogger and don't like cutting corners too much I followed her recipe but used a homemade recipe for chocolate brownie and cookie dough, rather than using a box mix.

You simply make a cookie dough, add oreos on top and then finish off with the chocolate fudge cake.

Absolutely immense when served warm with ice cream.



Here's the cookie dough with oreos on the top!



Delicious brownie when cooked

Just before I tucked into it!

My Kitsch Kitchen

I just wanted to share this fantastic teapot with you all. A present from my Grandma, it's the perfect thing to brighten my kitchen. I love it...but for obvious reasons, the husband isn't as keen...

My Kitchen Aid Mixer

Yes, this is an incredibly late post, but i couldn't help but share the news that I have a brand spanking new, bright pink Kitchen Aid mixer....and I love it.

www.kitchenaid.co.uk

Scandalicious Baking

It's been a while since I last posted. So apologies - it's been incredibly busy (but that's not an excuse!)

I was sent the new book, Scandalicious Baking by the lovely Signe Johansen to review a couple of months ago and I wasn't disappointed. Take a look here for more info: http://www.signejohansen.com/

Nordic is big business in the UK at the moment, thanks to the likes of the Nordic Bakery and Signe's books, Brits are beginning to realise there's more than meets the eye to Scandinavian cooking, including baking.

Scandalicious Baking is a fantastic book which gives you plenty of recipes to get stuck into which give you a taste for baking these delights without being too intimidating. From Chocolate and Orange Marmalade Loaf cake, through to Queen Maud muffins and Grilled Cheese with mushroom and hazlenut, there are plenty of recipes to satisfy a sweet or savoury tooth.

The photography in the book is a good enough reason to buy this book alone. Beautiful images that conjure up ideas of being the domestic goddess I'd always imagined I could be.

The first recipe i've had a go at from the book was the Cinnamon Bun Sharing Cake. Absolutely stunning. I'm always a little intimidated by any recipes which involve yeast, but this really wasn't a tough one to do...and the results were so impressive.

My lovely cinnamon bun!

 

I'll be using this one regularly - especially when I want to impress guests.

Pick up a copy from your local bookshop or on Amazon.co.uk

Bread Making

Just a very quick post on BREAD!

 

I love the smell of fresh bread baking and have always wanted a bread maker - so was excited that I finally had a few pounds put away to buy one. There's plenty of different ones to go for - all with different selling points so I won't go into that!

 

But below are a couple of recent efforts - getting used to the machine now...

 

However, I planned pretty badly and have started a Paleo diet, so the bread maker is fast becoming my hubby's favourite toy instead...

 

 

A classic white loaf

Sun dried tomato loaf

Silken Hotel Diagnol - A review [TRAVEL]

There are plenty of hotels to stay at in Barcelona and as a visitor you are really spoilt for choice. Normally I'd have gone for a boutique type hotel or as I have done before, a self catering apartment.

However, we were attending a wedding and the groom had advised all guests to stay at the Hotel Silken Diagnol. http://www.hoteles-silken.com/hotel-diagonal-barcelona/

And it was a great recommendation. Located near the Glories underground stop and only around 7 minutes by tube to Las Ramblas, it was a pretty central location. It was also within walking distance of the beach down a road crammed with bars and restaurants.

The hotel itself is next to the Torre Agbar, the Barcelona equivalent of the gherkin, which lights up at night in a myriad of colour. The hotel is modern in design with low lit lighting throughout.

The corridors to the rooms are incredibly dark with only modest lighting.

The room we had however, felt light and bright. From the Bang & Olufsen TV and phone through to the see through bathroom and the shutters on the windows, everything felt modern, clean and well thought out.

The other great thing about this hotel was the room terrace with small swimming pool (too small to be used - but it looked nice) along with a bar. The perfect place to end the night before heading back to your room.

All in all, a pretty fantastic hotel for a weekend break or work visit. Perfect for couples...maybe not so much for families.

Credit: Pictures taken from Hotel Silken website

Dinnr - an easy, impressive meal at home

I love being able to head home to a lovely home cooked dinner when it's something more exciting than spaghetti, stir fry or curry, which are my staple recipes. But by the time we've got back from work it's usually heading on for gone 8pm and hunger means creative cooking takes a back seat.  Which is why I love the idea of Dinnr!

 

Dinnr www.dinnr.co.uk/ is a company which gives you everything you need for a perfect meal in. Go onto their website and simply choose a meal that you fancy. I went for A Crusted Rack of Lamb with Roast vegetables and Bulgar wheat which looked absolutely delicious and a little bit fancy.

 

They then deliver your ingredients pack to your desk/or home with every little thing you need to create the meal and an easy colour/picture led step by step guide to recreating. I love the fact that the meat was from Waitrose (well, i would seeing as I work for them!) and that they popped a candle into the bag so you could 'add a little romantic atmosphere'.

 

 

They also sent over a playlist - so they'd even picked out the tunes for a perfect evening.

 

The delivery bag with contents - great quality items for only £20

The recipe was pretty straightforward to make and was delicious. The best thing was, I would never have thought of making something like this on a weekday due to time in the evening, but actually it showed me it doesn't take that much longer to create something you'll really enjoy.

 

 

Here's my final dish:

 

 

 

And here's what it should look like:

 

 

 

Not bad....not bad....

 

This is a genius idea for someone wanting to cook for a date at home but who works late and won't make it to the shops, someone who just wants some inspiration or perhaps just as a treat.

 

I was sent this as a review kit, but i'll certainly be buying again in the future.

 

I fancy the look of the thanksgiving feast for £60 for 4 - looks good https://www.dinnr.co.uk/recipes/15

 

Note: I was making this one handed as had hurt my right hand...so that's why it looks messier than usual (or that's my excuse)