Happy Holidays!

Keep entering the giveaways and you might win!! Winners will be picked on the 9th of January 2013. Cake Mould Giveaway (1 Winner) Update(Feb2013) - The company has stopped responding to me and not sent out prizes as promised. :-/ Book Giveaway (6 Winners) Thanks for reading my blog! ...

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Book Reviews and More Giveaways!

I was recently sent copies of the books pictured below to have a little review of them but also to give away 3 copies of each book, 6 lucky readers will win one of the books!! If you didn't enter or win the last giveaway, make sure you enter this one using the rafflecopter form at the end of this post. Winners will be selected on the 9th of January 2013! Winners will be contacted by email and must be over 18 with a valid UK or Ireland mailing address....

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Book Review: Tart It Up by Eric Lanlard

I normally feature cupcakes or other sweet treats on here with the occasional savoury recipe. However, I haven't featured many tarts or pies here, sweet or savoury. It's not that I haven't tried making them because I have had this fabulous book, Tart it up! by Eric Lanlard, for awhile but my efforts although tasty have not come out looking as beautiful as they taste. I think I need another masterclass with Eric to work on my presentation skills....

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Candy Cane Sugar Cookies

So I had quite a bit of crushed candy canes leftover from the last recipe, Candy Cane Mocha Cupcakes! I decided that I could use them with sugar cookies. I whipped up a quick batch of sugar cookie dough (use your favorite recipe) and formed them into little dough balls then thoroughly coated them in the crushed candy canes. Pop them onto a nonstick paper lined baking tray, so they don't stick and then bake according to the recipe that you are...

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Book Giveaway!!

To get even more into the holiday spirit, I am giving away The Hummingbird Bakery: Cake Days book to one lucky reader in the UK! After buying this book last year, I started baking quite a lot and then started this blog. Many of the recipes featured on here are based on recipes from this book. Who knows if I would have even started blogging if it wasn't for getting this book?! All of the recipes that I have tried from this book have been wonderful...

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Candy Cane Mocha Cupcakes

Happy December everyone!! To get into the holiday spirit, I decided to make Candy Cane Mocha cupcakes and use these reindeer cupcakes holders from PartyDelight.co.uk. The holders come with cupcake liners as well and thought it would be perfect for this recipe! The recipe comes from the Hummingbird Bakery book and I added my own little touch to the recipe. I love mochas and with the addition of peppermint candy canes, it made these cupcakes very...

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Earl Grey Tea Cupcakes

My friend Jennifer came over to do some baking with me. She looked through my baking books a few weeks ago and wanted to try out these Earl Grey cupcakes from the Hummingbird Bakery book. I love Earl Grey tea but wasn't sure what it would be like as a cupcake. As always the Hummingbird Bakery recipes are super easy to make and we only added an extra teabag to the recipe. Not only was it was an easy recipe but it was very yummy. The cake had a...

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I love Chipotle Chiles!!

I love chipotle chile peppers so much!! I discovered them a few years back and love adding them to recipes, I just love the smoky subtle heat that these chiles add to a dish. I use all versions of the chiles from its natural dry state to powder to sauce! It can sometimes be hard to find chipotle chile in shops in the UK, but you can easily find them on the internet. I just found one seller saying they can even be used in dessert recipes, I have...

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Pumpkin Pie Cookies

I found some more free time, so I decided to do more baking and another blog post! As we are getting closer to Halloween, I wanted to make a recipe that had pumpkin in it. I should have made a more Halloween inspired recipe but maybe I can squeeze another baking session in before then, but for now we have a Pumpkin Pie cookie!! As soon as I saw this recipe, I knew that I had to try it out and I didn't really make that many changes except for using...

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Mediterranean Croissants

Finally a new recipe on here!! Sorry, that it is been so long since I have shared any recipes on here, life has been very busy the last few months but I am getting used to my new schedule and found time to write a blog post. About 2 years ago, we went on a trip to Greece and we frequently visited this little cafe in Athens for lunch. They had all types of baguette sandwiches and I particularly liked what I think they called a Greek baguette. It...

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Guest Post: Tip-top picks for baking accessory specialities

Hey readers!! Sorry, that I have not posted any recipes lately... I have been so busy the past few months with work, changing to a part time job, and then starting full time university. I am hoping now that everything is set up and I am starting to get a routine, that I can return to baking for the blog. In the mean time, please enjoy the guest post below from blogger Tamsin McCahill and I will be back with yummy recipes shortly! :) Take care, Mike Tip-Top...

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Jubilee Cream Tea Cake

It has been nearly a month since I have done any baking for my blog. I have been pretty busy the last few weeks... I had great success raising over £250 for the charity, Restless Development, doing the Live Below the Line challenge. We then went down to Cornwall for a little holiday and had a lovely time. We had lots of sunshine and yummy food. I love it down there! Being inspired by Cornwall and the Queen's Jubilee, I found the perfect recipe...

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Live Below the Line: Day 5, Final Day

I have made it through Day 5 of the Live Below the Line challenge!! I was in much better spirits today than yesterday, it must be because I could see the light at the end of the tunnel and my coffee headache was pretty much gone today. The day started off again by taking a banana and 2 boiled eggs into work to have as breakfast and for 2 snacks throughout the day, these 3 things cost me 28p. I love bananas but I have eaten so many eggs this...

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Live Below the Line: Day 4

Day 4 of living below the line is now complete and I am ready to be back ABOVE the line! I am tired of the same ingredients everyday and overall just don't feel like I have much energy... no run for me today. I started off the day again by taking a banana and 2 boiled eggs into work to have as breakfast and for 2 snacks throughout the day, these 3 things cost me 28p. For lunch I made 2 roast small potatoes mixed with baked beans and mixed...

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Live Below the Line: Day 3

Day 3 of living below the line is now complete! Today was just an ok day... I think living below the line is getting to me. I see all these yummy things around me and I can't have any of it... and I want it all. I can't stop thinking about food! I started off the day again by taking a banana and 2 boiled eggs into work to have as breakfast and for 2 snacks throughout the day. These 3 things cost me 28p and were ok, I think it is mainly the hard...

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Live Below the Line: Day 2

Day 2 of living below the line is now complete and I am feeling pretty good except for this headache I can not shift... coffee withdrawals! I started off the day with taking a banana and 2 boiled eggs into work to have as breakfast and for 2 snacks throughout the day. These 3 things cost me 28p and they kept me pretty satisfied today. I usually snack throughout the day but didn't really notice not being able to. I brought my lunch into to work...

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Live Below the Line: Day 1

Day 1 of living below the line is now complete! I feel like I have eaten more food today then I do on a normal day. Although on a normal day, I always start it off with a cup of coffee but not today, I couldn't afford it in my £1 budget. I am definitely having coffee withdrawals and this headache won't go away, oh well all for a good cause. My breakfast this morning consisted of 2 sunny side up fried eggs seasoned with mix herbs and 2 small...

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Live Below the Line: Shopping Day

I can't believe the Live Below the Line challenge that I signed up for in March is finally here and starting tomorrow. I did my shopping today and really wish I would have created meal plans but never got around to it and so I looked at some sample ones online and popped over to the store hoping for some good deals. To the right and below is everything I bought for the week to feed me! My grand total for Live Below the Line week is £4.93... I might...

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