Recipe: Nanna's Homemade Apple Crumble

When it comes to baking, my first memory was making home made apple crumble at my Nan's house. The recipe is so easy and no matter how many times I make it, it always brings back such lovely memories for me. My Nan often gives us all of the crumble ingredients ready to go in a resealable bag so all we have to do is add the water when we get home (and the apples too of-course!).

This is a definite family favourite of ours - there is nothing quite like an apple crumble after a Sunday Roast!
The recipe is so easy - the weight of the ingredients can vary depending on the size of the crumble, this recipe is just a rough guide.

Ingredients:
240g plain flour
five tablespoons of sugar
pinch of cinnamon
85g butter
four tablespoons of water
5 bramley apples (cored, peeled and cut into chunks)

You will need:
Mixing bowl, baking dish, tablespoon, knife and peeler to cut apples

Recipe:
Preheat the Oven to 200 degrees
Evenly distribute the apples to the bottom of the dish
Mix the flour and the butter together in a bowl with your fingers until it feels like crumbs, then add two tablespoons of sugar and stir together.
Add the water, cinnamon and two tablespoons of sugar on top of the apples
Add the crumble to the top of the apples, ensuring it is all covered
Put the dish into the oven, allowing to bake for around 45-50 minutes or until golden brown
Sprinkle one tablespoon of sugar on top of the crumble.
Serve with custard, ice cream or alone!

Have you got any favourite family recipes? If you do, Wren Kitchens have an Instagram competition to win a AEG food mixer. You can enter by simply sharing your recipe on Instagram using the hashtag #WrenFamilyFavourites
You can check out more from Wrens Family Favourites on their website here.

Peanut Hottie Milkshake

With Summer so close now, its the perfect time to create some cooling and tasty milkshakes. I have teamed up with Peanut Hottie to create a delicious Peanut Butter flavoured milkshake using their very own Peanut Hottie. Peanut Hottie contains just 83 calories per cup - this is perfect if you have a sweet tooth and fancy a tasty low calorie milkshake.

I love anything peanut butter flavoured and I must say this milkshake tastes amazing! I use Peanut Hottie original for hot drinks on an evening, so it is great to know I can mix this with milk to create a yummy cold drink too! I am now hooked on the Chocolate Peanut Hottie version!

This little milkshake is so easy to do, I have included the simple instructions below so you can have a go yourself! Get Shakin'! 

Ingredients

3 Teaspoons of Peanut Hottie Original or Peanut Hottie Peanut Butter & Chocolate

200ml of milk of your choice

Chocolates, nuts, marshmallows (optional)

Serves 1

Method

Take the three teaspoons of Peanut Hottie and 200ml of cold milk, empty them both into a blender and mix to create a delicious peanut butter treat. Why not add a few marshmallows and sweet treats on top too!

Peanut Hottie is available from Tesco, Sainsbury's, Waitrose and Booths for £2.99. Peanut Hottie is made with real peanuts, and it is free from artificial colours, egg, dairy, gluten and gelatine, which makes it suitable for vegetarians and vegans.

You can check out the Peanut Hottie website for more information and other recipes by clicking here.

*Post includes PR samples*

Strawberries and Cream Valentines Sandwich Recipe

Strawberries and Cream Valentines Sandwich Recipe!

Hi everyone. With Valentines being just a few days away, I thought I would share a really cute and unique little recipe from Roberts Bakery with you all. Roberts Bakery has teamed up with nutritionist Dr Carina Norris to create this special romantic themed sandwich recipe. Personally, I would choose a few light snacks on Valentines Day over a heavy meal any day, so the strawberries and cream sandwich is something I thought would be a great idea if you are planning on doing something a little bit different on Valentines Day - and it is really inexpensive to make, too!

I have included the recipe below - it is super simple.

Ingredients:

4 slices of Roberts Bakery Soft & Fluffy White Loaf

Approx. 8-10 strawberries, sliced

1-2 tubs of cottage cheese

Rocket leaves

Freshly ground black pepper

Method:

Lay some of the rocket leaves on the bottom slice. Drain the cottage cheese to remove as much of the liquid as possible. Add a generous layer of cottage cheese, and top with strawberry slices. Season with a grind a black pepper, then top with another slice of Roberts Soft & Fluffy White bread.

Add a Twist:

Use low - fat cheese for a healthier Valentines. Use a heart shaped cutter to add a little bit of love this Valentines.

I was pleasantly surprised as I found the some-what bizzare pairing of the strawberries and cheese quite a good mix. I think the flavours work really well together and I really enjoyed this sandwich. I would definitely recommend trying it out! It is so, so easy to create and takes just five-ten minutes to prepare.

As well as the sandwiches tasting great, I just love how they cut cut into cute heart shapes. I have decided all of my food will be heart-shaped from now on!

I think this recipe would be perfect for a special valentines indoor picnic or even to pop in your loved-ones lunchbox for a nice surprise at lunch time - I bet the heart shaped sandwiches will make their Day!
Be sure to check out the Roberts Bakery website to have a browse of their other products!
 http://robertsbakery.co.uk/

*Post includes gifted items*

Recipe: Bread and Butter Pudding

I was recently offered the chance to share a recipe with you all on my blog, which of-course I jumped at the chance. I love food more than life itself and I could not say no to making bread and butter pudding, the classic childhood favourite. I will be sharing with you the recipe, but you can also read it in full on Sunrise Care's website here.

Ingredients:

6 Slices of white bread, 30g salted butter, 15g currants, 60ml semi - skimmed milk, 20ml double cream, 20g caster sugar, 1/4 lemon (zested), Pinch of greased nutmeg, 150ml vanilla custard, 2 eggs, 20g brown sugar

Recipe:
1. Preheat oven to gas mark 4/fan 160 C/180C and butter the baking dish.
2. Butter the bread, cut off the crusts and arrange a layer at the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Top with half of the currants.
3. Repeat step 2 until the slices of bread and currants have been used.
4. In a seperate bowl cream together the eggs with the sugar until pale yellow, then add the milk, double cream and lemon zest.
5. Pour the mix over the bread making, ensuring all of the bread is covered.
6. Sprinkle with mutmeg and brown sugar.
7. Bake for 30-40 minutes until golden brown.
8. Serve with vanilla custard.

The pudding was super easy to make and I really enjoyed making it! I wanted to stick to as close as the exact ingredients as I could, but I did use raisins instead of currants in my bread and butter pudding because as a family we prefer them, and I also used ordinary custard and mixed some vanilla flavouring with it as I couldn't find 'proper' vanilla custard anywhere - I looked in four large supermarkets and none of them had it. Other than that, I stuck to the ingredients and the recipe and I am really happy with the results! I don't want to sound big-headed or anything, but it tasted absolutely delicious. I had so many compliments on how amazing the bread and butter pudding tasted - it was a definite hit in our house! It is great to know I am able to prepare a slightly healthier dessert for the family with ingredients we usually have in already. I am definitely going to have a read through more of their recipes and choose what to cook next.

This recipe (and others which you can view here) were created by Sunrise Senior Living's award winning chefs. Sunrise Senior Living specialise in assisted living in Edgbaston and other locations. Sunrise Care  know the importance of how our nutritional needs change as we grow older, so it is important that we look at the way we cook our meals and see if we can make any changes to make our meals a little more nutritiously balanced. 

*I was gifted the money to pay for the above ingredients. I shared links to Sunrise Care and their recipes in this post. No further gifting/ compensation was given. You can read my disclosure policy in the contact tab above.*

Recipe: Double Dark Chocolate Fairy Cakes

Double Dark Chocolate Fairy Cakes

I really like baking, but I tend to stick to super easy recipes as I am just not that adventurous. Today I thought I would share with you a little creation I made this week, which was Double Dark Chocolate Fairy Cakes. I simply made fairy cakes the traditional way and added some dark chocolate products in to make them a little more interesting. I used two products that I received in my Degustabox last Month, which were the Dr. Oetker Premium 90% Extra Dark Chocolate and the Dr. Oetker Fine Dark Cocoa Powder. 

What you need:

Eggs,  Self Raising Flour, Butter/margarine, Sugar, Water, Dark Chocolate, Dark Chocolate Cocoa Powder, Cake Cases, Bowl (which is suitable to put over a saucepan on the hob), Saucepan, Whisk, Spoon, Mixing Bowl, Baking Tray

How To Make Double Dark Chocolate Fairy Cakes:

Pre - heat the oven to gas mark 5.

Mix together 125 grams of butter/margarine and 125 grams of sugar in a bowl. 

Add into the bowl 125 grams of self - raising flour and mix.

Add 1 or 2 eggs and whisk all together.

Add a sachet of dark chocolate cocoa powder and mix until all blended.

Equally distribute the mixture into cake cases, and put them onto a baking tray in the pre - heated oven.

Wait 15 - 25 minutes for the fairy cakes to cook, while checking them frequently.

Add warm water into a small saucepan, then put dark chocolate into a bowl and put that on top of the saucepan.

Put the saucepan onto the hob and use a spoon to help melt the chocolate.

Once the cakes are cooked and the chocolate is melted, remove them carefully and turn off the oven and hob.

Add a thick layer of chocolate onto each cake and put them into the fridge to set.

Finally, once the cakes are set, enjoy one with a nice cup of tea!

*This post contains two products which were sent to me to review. All opinions are 100 % honest and my own. You can view my full disclaimer policy on the tab above*

Healthy Breakfast and Dessert Recipe: Granola and Fruit Yoghurt

I took inspiration to making these having read the information card included in my September Degustabox, (you can read my full review here) which included this little recipe idea. I actually feel quite guilty for even calling it a recipe as there is no real effort involved in making this! This is super quick and easy to do, and I think it makes a great healthy alternative to a dessert, or would even make a tasty breakfast. I love simple and quick food like this, as it requires very little effort and time, but still tastes great.

You will need: Granola; any kind, I am using Jordan's Simply Granola which was included in September's Degustabox

Plain or Greek Style Yoghurt

Fruit of your choice; I have opted for strawberries

Honey (optional)

How to make: 1. Use a spoon to add the yoghurt into a bowl or a glass. Add however much you like, I have filled my glass a 1/3 full of yoghurt. 

2. Chop your fruit of choice and add it into the bowl or glass as the middle layer. 

3. Add honey or a sprinkle of whatever you fancy on top of the fruit.
4. Add another spoonful of yoghurt on top of the fruit, and add a few more pieces of fruit on top.

5. Sprinkle a generous helping of granola on top of the fruit. 

That is it! A super easy how-to to create a healthy breakfast or dessert!

*I was sent the granola as part of Degustabox to review. All opinions are 100 %  honest and my own. You can view my full disclaimer policy on the contact tab above*