Baking Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have never been one to bake cookies and I don't really know why. However, I found the perfect cookie recipe and these are literally divine. They are gooey and chocolatey and melty...they are great!
So if you would like to know how to bake these awesome cookies, then stick around:

 

Ingredients:

 

200g butter

300g caster sugar

1 egg

325g self-raising flour

(or 300g flour, 25g cocoa powder for chocolate cookies)

Dash of milk

400g chocolate (milk, white or dark)

 

 

First off, you want to set your oven to 200 degrees Celsius.

Measure out the butter and caster sugar and whisk them together in a bowl, until creamy. add the egg and again, whisk together. Now add the flour, and if it starts to look a little dry, that's when the dash of milk comes in. It should now start to look like a dough. Now it's time to add the chocolate chunks. Once everything is combined, take handfuls of the dough and place them onto a tray, with grease proof paper. Spread them out, so they don't end up sticking together.

Pop them in the oven for 10-12 minutes, but no longer. They won't look done when they are ready though, but take them out anyway and leave them to cool for around 30 minutes.

Enjoy your cookies as a sneaky treat or with a nice cup of tea!

 

Happy Baking! :)

 

Banana and Chocolate Muffins

Seeing as I have all this time off work, due to it being National Trust and it's seasonal, I am finding it hard to find things to do. So what better way to spend my days than baking?! I love to find ingredients in my cupboard and just put them together and see what happens. I look for recipes on the internet t inspire me and I just get on with it.
Last week I made some banana and chocolate muffins and they were great! So this is how I made them:

 

 

Ingredients:

 

100g butter

2 eggs

175g caster sugar

200g self-raising flour

25g cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

3 tablespoons milk (I used coconut milk)

2 ripe bananas, mashed

75g chocolate, chopped

 

First off, measure out the butter, sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and milk and mix them altogether. Add the eggs and mix them in as well.

In a separate bowl mash up the bananas then add them to the cake mixture. You can them chop up the chocolate and add that in as well. Once you have stirred it altogether, you can now spoon the mixture into the muffin cases.

The muffins can now go in the oven at 180 degrees celsius for 25 minutes.

When they are ready, you can place them onto a cooling rack.

Theses are best served with cream or custard, but that's up to you!

 

Happy Baking!! :)



Zoeva Rose Gold Luxury brush set

I realise that the hype is probably over with these brushes, but I only just bought them. The reason for this is because I just didn't really have the money to buy them and I didn't actually need them. I do own a few eye brushes from Zoeva and they are the best I own. They are great quality and they are a reasonable and affordable price. However, the downside is that they are from Germany, so there is an extra shipping cost of £7.50 to the UK, but you can find all the information on their website.

I thought it was about time I purchased this set, because the brushes I got from eBay have almost had their day. This set includes 8 brushes and literally you can do your whole face with this set and not need any more. Aside from their being great brands of brushes in Boots and Superdrug, it is hard to find a whole set of brushes that are of great quality and affordable.

The brushes included in this set are as follows (using picture 2 for reference of order):

• 106 / Powder
• 102 / Silk Finish
• 127 / Luxe Sheer cheek
• 110 / face shape
• 142 / concealer buffer
• 227 / Luxe Soft Definer
• 231 / Luxe petit crease
• 317 / wing liner

These brushes are so pretty and they definitely add something to my dressing table. They have a gorgeous chocolate, matte brown handle wit their name on and obviously they are rose gold...So what is not to love really?! They are made with natural and synthetic hairs, which means blending is made super easy! Plus they work with both cream and powder products. The kit comes with a very classy clutch, which matches the brushes and I think it adds a really cute touch to the whole set. The retail price for this set is £55, which makes each brush under £7 each. What a bargain!? I really recommend these brushes for anyone.

Have you tried any Zoeva brushes yet? :)

Everyday Make-Up Look

I posted this picture a while back, in November, to my Instagram because I was super happy with how my makeup looked on that day. I think this look is perfect for the Autumn and Winter seasons, plus I have been wearing it like this every day, even at work. So, if you would like to know how I got this look then stick around!

Face:

Rimmel Stay Matte Primer

Rimmel Match Perfection foundation - shade 100 Ivory

Rimmel Wake Me Up Concealer - 010 Ivory

Collection Lasting perfection concealer - shade 2 Cool Medium

Rimmel Stay Matte Powder - 001 Transparent

Sleek face form, Contour and Blush palette (bronzer and highlighter) - Light

Bourjois Bronzing Powder - shade 51

Avon Bronzing Pearls - Cool

Maybelline Blush - 79 Flash Plum

 

Eyebrows:

Avon perfect eyebrow kit - Soft Brown

 

Eyes:

Avon Primer - light beige

Sleek Palette, Storm - Sand Storm all over the lid

Sleek Palette, Storm - Snow Storm in the inner corner

Sleek Palette, Garden of Eden - Flora through the crease and on outer corners

Rimmel Glam'eyes Liquid Liner - Black

Maybelline, The Falsies Mascara - Black Drama

Avon Big and Daring volume Mascara - Black

 

Lips:

Rimmel, Kate Moss Lipstick - shade 03

 

I feel like any lip colour would look great with this look, such as a dark red like Rimmel, Kate Moss - shade 107 or a deep plum colour, such as Avon - Vixen...but literally anything that you feel comfortable wearing!

Bushes used:
Real Techniques, Zoeva, eBay brushes, Avon

Like I said, I have been wearing this everyday, probably since Summer last year. I think it is a really simple, classic look and is perfect for any occasion!

Enjoy the rest of your week! :)

A Healthy Way to Start the Day

What a better way to start your day than with a smoothie! It's fresh and tasty and full of goodness. I realise that not everyone has time in the morning to blend fruits, but you do have time in the evening. You can put it in the fridge and by morning you will have a cool fresh drink to start your day!
You can literally put any fruits into a smoothie and this is one that I made today and it was great:

Ingredients:

 

2 bananas

2 strawberries

15 blueberries

Small glass of coconut milk

Half a glass of orange juice

2 tablespoons of plain yogurt

 

This recipe serves 2 people and it was super tasty.

I am the worst at eating fruits, so this is a fab way to eat multiple fruits at once and at least try to feel healthy!

Have a fab Monday and enjoy the rest of your week! :)

 

Happy New Year

I am a little bit late with the 'Happy New Year', but better late than never! I completely lied in my last post as I said I had 'lots more Christmas posts to come' and I wrote nothing! I am not going to make excuses, I just didn't do it and my job just took over during the Christmas period. BUT I am back and I wanted to share with you, my New Years resolutions! Lets go...

Number 1...GET FIT! Now I realise that this is probably something everyone says every year, but I don't want my goal to be 'to lose weight', because I am pretty happy with my size, I just want to tone myself up and feel healthy. I am going to drink more water and smoothies and start slowly with ab exercises then, as I have 2 very healthy sisters who love keeping fit, I am going to follow in their footsteps and maybe go running...I said maybe, don't push it.

This leads me on to Number 2...BE HAPPY! Like seriously I spent the first half of 2014 and pretty much the whole of 2013 being negative and boring and OH MY GOSH, it sucks! I realise now that it was just a waste of time using all my energy being negative and I never went anywhere or did anything and I knew that it had to change! Don't get me wrong, I have those days where my soul is black and my heart is made of ice, but that's not often! I have changed so much since last year and I know that sounds so lame, but it's true. I want to keep my positive energy and actually do stuff this year and stop thinking 'what if', because quite frankly, I have nothing to lose! I frustrate myself, its annoying. Someone said to me 'do what you want, whenever you want to do it' and that is enough to keep me motivated!

Number 3... JUST SAY YES! I am such an over-thinker and it gets me nowhere. I just want to have fun this year, because I don't go out and I think going out with new people will be good for me. I am one of those people that waits for a miracle to happen and I just need to start making things happen myself. I spend most of my days sitting at home, moping around, when really I could be out there doing something interesting, but I don't and I HAVE NO EXCUSE!

Number 4...STAY ON TOP WITH MONEY! Last year I was a bit careless with my money. I was like, 'I have the money, I'm gonna spend on useless stuff that I don't need and will never use or wear', but like no, you can't do that. I have a notebook where I am going to write down how much I have and how much I am spending and it does help that my Dad is an accountant, so he can do the maths!

Number 5...READ MORE/WRITE MORE! I love the idea of sitting down and reading a book, but I just never do. Last year I went a tad book crazy and just bought book after book after book, but never read any of them. WHY?! That's not even logical, oh my, I have problems! So, this year I am going to try and read a book a month, but hopefully more and not buy any more books, until I need to. Along with reading, I plan to keep up with my blog and actually do regular posts. Last year was just a tester really and writing is a real passion of mine, so yeah!

Number 6...PAMPER EVENINGS! I am rubbish at looking after my skin. I have all these moisturisers for my body and I never use them. I am just hopeless! My sister bought me a facemask from Lush, for my birthday and I am using that and it is so therapeutic and I just want to look after myself a lot better...man that sounded lame.

A very personal one at Number 7...STOP BITING MY NAILS! This is the worst and most disgusting habit and I need to stop because eww! I don't even know why I do it, but nothing I do, or what anyone says, makes me stop. I mean, even my doctor told me stop and I really try, but clearly not hard enough, so that's definitely a big one for me.

Lastly at Number 8...BE SPONTANEOUS! Like I mentioned before, I don't do much. So this year, I am going to try and be more spontaneous and surprise not only everyone lese, but myself also! Should be fun!

So those are my goals for this year and I just really want to be happy this year and do stuff! Happy New Year and have a good one!

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