Monthly Archives: June 2016

Rolo Cookie Cups

10th June 2016
I’ve found baking to be a great help to me of late. With time on my hands at an abundance getting lost creating in the kitchen has both kept me occupied and helped me to discover delicious new treats to add to my daily diet. Of course it’s also making me incredibly popular with family, friends and colleagues and one of my most recent hits were these Rolo Cookie Cups which really couldn’t be simpler to make but look pretty special.
You’ll need:

115g unsalted butter (softned- I find ten seconds in the microwave does the trick)

115g light brown soft sugar, although caster sugar works fine

1 large egg

225g plain flour

Half a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda

12-16 Rolos depending on what size tin you use

What to do:

Preheat your oven to 170c (make it 160 for a fan oven) and lightly grease either a 16 hole mini muffin tin or 12 hole standard bun tin.

Put the butter and sugar in to a mixing bowl and beat until light and fluffy. Mix in the egg then add the flour and bicarbonate of soda.

Using your hands roll small handfuls of dough in to balls and place a ball in to each of the baking tin holes. If the mixture is too crumbly then a splash of milk helps, it’s too sticky then dusting your hands with a little flour will make things less messy.

Now pop the cake tin in to the oven, leaving the balls as they are. Bake for around 12 minutes until lightly golden. Use the baking time to get your Rolos unwrapped and ready.

Once cooked take the cookie cups out of the oven and straight away push a Rolo in to the top of each one (be careful as they are of course going to be very hot!) Leave the cookies to cool in the tin completely before removing and enjoying!

I’ve made these a few times now and have experimented with different chocolates as well, celebrations worked well as did squares of plain old milk chocolate.

Let me know if you make these, especially if you try out some different toppings. They are so quick and easy to do and an instant crowd pleaser!

What have you been baking lately?

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Posted in baking, food, life stuff, recipes

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The Making of a Shoeaholic

08th June 2016

My love of shoes goes way back, some of my earliest memories involve footwear and over the last 29 years I have fallen in and out of love with countless pairs of (usually highly impractical) shoes so when a website called Shoeaholics got in touch asking if I’d like to share my shoe obsession story (and pick out a pair of sandals) I was more than happy to oblige.

It’s a fond family tale, that time I threw a tantrum in the middle of our local Clarks shoes store. My Mum, my Nan and myself were shopping for school shoes- not easy when you’re blessed with feet more like flippers and were severely limited in choice. I had tried on a pair of red shoes, fallen in love with said red shoes but I believe red shoes were either deemed to be not a good fit or not what the adults had in mind for me. No other shoe was good enough for me and I threw a pretty epic tantrum (I should point out I had only just started school here) and you know what? I might just have won that battle as there were some photos knocking around at some point of me wearing red shoes with my school uniform.

Shoes were actually a key feature in many of my childhood photos and if I was better organised I would have dug some out for this post. There’s the ones of me attempting to walk around the garden in Mum’s fuchsia kitten heels, one of me in my first ever pair of (red now I think of it) wellies and one quite hilarious one of me sporting my Grandad’s walking boots when I can only have been about two years old. I also went through a phase of being obsessed with jelly shoes and it still saddens me now that I could never quite squeeze my flippers in to a pair like these.

Dress: H&M | Carvela sandals c/o Shoeaholics

If there’s one thing I love more than shoes then it’s a pair of bargain shoes so Shoeaholics is pretty much my dream website as it stocks brands such as Carvela and Kurt Geiger (to name just two) at up to 75% off their original price. You’ll also find handbags for sale- hugely tempting- and you can get an extra 15% off of your first order when you sign up to the newsletter.

I really am kicking myself now for not having photographic evidence of my childhood shoe escapades but I’m pretty sure there are plenty more to come in my future. Are you a shoeaholic? Make sure to share your memories with me in the comments, or on social media with the hashtag #imashoeaholic.

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Posted in life, life stuff, outfits, shoes, shopping

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The May (2016) Degustabox + a discount for you!

06th June 2016
A new month has arrived and with it brings the next round of Degustabox reviews. The May box was full of exciting treats, most of which were entirely new to me. I’m never one to turn down the chance of a new food discovery and it’s for this reason I rave about Degustabox month in and month out.
Product of the month was handed over to Brioche Pasquier and their croissants this time round. I go through phases with croissant consumption and luckily was in an “I love them” phase when these arrived. You’ll never be able to beat a freshly baked bakery croissant but these are really good and individually wrapped so perfect for taking out and about. They can be eaten warm or cold- which is your favourite?

Also on the baked good theme was some gluten free Madeleines from Mrs Crimbles. Having never eaten a gluten containing Madeleine I can’t compare but these were really tasty and I’m sure for many a welcome addition to the gluten free snack family.

degusta box pasta
Despite it being so quick and easy to prepare Ben and I don’t eat a lot of pasta for some reason. I was attracted by the shape of this Garofalo packet though, it lends itself perfectly to a pasta bake and I make a pretty mean garlic mushroom one.
Having recently had some rather lovely weather these drinks from Cranes seemed like a timely arrival. With refreshing summer flavours and being 100% natural these are fantastic straight from the fridge and perfect for a BBQ with friends.
I’m not a fruit juice drinker but my Mum willingly took Pomegreat’s pomegranate juice off my hands as she loves the stuff! This certainly looks lovely and refreshing and it gets the thumbs up from her. The date nectar from Beloved Dates was probably the product that caused me the most intrigue. It just begged to be used in baking and I made up a rather lovely batch of flapjacks with this instead of golden syrup. It gave the traditional tray bake a more modern twist with it’s gorgeous caramel flavour, definitely one to try!
It’s BBQ season of course and the shelves seem to be packed full of new marinades and sauces. This Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey Glaze isn’t something I would use myself but I’ve handed it over to my Dad who will report back…
Oh hi Mae sneaking in there! Kallo are a brand I often wax lyrical about and I love their range of snacks both savoury and sweet. This month we were sent two new to me products- milk chocolate corn cakes which are dangerously more-ish and a good alternative to a chocolate biscuit with your morning brew. The yoghurt coated rice cakes were my favourite though, I love the unique taste of yoghurt coating and it’s smoothness contrasts nicely with the crunchy rice. Yum!
There were two packets of nuts in this month’s box both from The Wonderful Company. Both the almonds and the pistachios are in brilliant on the go size bags and these found their way in to Ben’s packed lunches where they were munched with enthusiasm. I used to think a nut was a nut but since trying The Wonderful Company some time ago you do realise that some brands do it better!

The Get Fruity strawberry and oat bar was something I very much enjoyed as a healthy mid-afternoon snack. Made with gluten free oats and produced on a nut free site these would be excellent for a child’s packed lunch as much as any adult. Yum! There are six flavours available and I’m keen to try them all!

Last but by no means least come the misfortune cookies from Pechkeks. These are seriously cool cookies that are right up my street. You get a black cookie which tastes better than it looks and a hilarious piece of misfortune inside- a brilliant take on the traditional fortune cookie, you just need to remember to take it with the humour in which it’s intended.

If you’re persuaded to give Degustabox a go (and really, you should) you can claim a brilliant £6 off of your first box by entering the code BLDEG15 at the checkout. It’s been a pleasure to work with the brand one and off over the last couple of years and it’s without a doubt something that I will continue to purchase long after our partnership ends. I love the monthly surprise and excitement as well as the chance to discover products I’d otherwise pass up on the supermarket shelves.

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Posted in food, review

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Kate Spade & Space Cats

03rd June 2016
Despite owning many, many watches there has up until now been one designer who’s wrist wear I have been on a mission to obtain. Call me a blogger cliche but there is something about Kate Spade’s watches that makes them instantly covetable so when WatchShop.com got back in touch and offered to send me one to say I was over the moon would be a hell of an understatement.

Watch c/o WatchShop.com (get it here) | Dress: Cutie | Trainers: K Swiss (available here)

Polka dots and rose gold (artfully matched to my trainers, of course) are two of my favourite things so it was a no brainer that I went for this subtle statement piece. Everything about it is just perfect, from the beautiful packaging to the size of the dial. I am pretty sure I say this about every new watch I get but this really is a new favourite and will barely be leaving my wrist.

I thought it would be fun to do a couple of outfit photos as well, making the most of an overnight stay at my parents’ place and having mum willing to play photographer. I’m not really doing much in the way of outfit posts at the moment, not until certain areas of my life improve but there’s gonna be the odd exception and I had to make one for my favourite Space Cat print dress and new rose gold K Swiss trainers that are so ugly that they are beautiful (and I just had to have them).

Are there any watch designers that you’re seriously coveting right now? I feel like I’ve ticked a major box on my “things I wish I owned” list with this one and I shall be forever grateful to WatchShop.com for hooking me up.

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Posted in accessories, jewellery, life stuff, outfits, shoes, shopping

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Tobias Tests out Tabcat

01st June 2016
So by now we’re all familar with Mae’s regular appearances on the blog but I thought that this time I’d hand over the reins to Ben’s cat (well, our cat) as we were recently sent out a new pet tracking device to try out and well, trying to get Mae to co-operate in this kind of road test was going to involve the loss of at least one finger if not an entire hand.

The device in question is called Tabcat and is essentially a little disc you fit to your cat’s collar which enables you to locate them when they are out and about. As we’ve not long started letting Tobias outside our flat we were keen to give this a go as really, we do get a bit anxious about where he gets to and liked the idea of being able to locate him and let him know it’s time to come inside.

We were sent the kit by Tabcat is exchange for a blog review but please be assured these are genuine opinions and we had actually been discussing buying something like this for Tobias but didn’t know where to start! Setting up was easy, you just need to register the disc to the remote, pop it in a silicon cover and slide it on to your cat’s collar.

I was a little worried that Tobias would find the disc intrusive but it honestly doesn’t bother him in the slightest and he’s been wearing it over a week now with no problems.

Tabcat works by activating the remote to pick up a signal from the disc. Once in range you are guided by a series of beeps and lights to locate your cat. The range that Tabcat covers is extensive and because both the remote and the disc on the collar lets off sound it really is so easy to find your feline. We’ve also been training Tobias to take the beeping from his disc as a cue to come home. This has worked brilliantly as now when we stand in the doorway to our flat and press the button he comes running home (this process did involve rather a few treats!)

I feel like I’m not doing a very good job at explaining how Tabcat works so do make sure you check out the website for a more comprehensive run through! Hopefully what you will gather from this post is that both us humans and Tobias really like how this works and at £69.99 for the starter pack which allows you to track up to two cats (you can purchase more discs and track up to four) it’s a worthy investment and far more affordable than the GPS trackers we had been looking at. It’s also a small price to pay for peace of mind- Tobias has a habit of hiding in the bushes in various neighbours gardens for hours at a time which has left us panicked on numerous occasions!

Have you ever tried something like this with your pet? I’d love to know how you got on if you did.

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Posted in gadgets, review

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