Bakedin Gluten Free Brownie Mug

At the end of July I came across a fab brand called Bakedin – they create the perfect mixes for all sorts of baked goodies and send them out to you in the post for you to make at home.  I added them to my August lust list after discovering that they had gluten free mixes that can easily adapted to be made dairy free too.  I was just about to place my order on their website, when I received my Vegan Tuck Box (post to come soon) which featured one of these brownie mug mixes!  As you can imagine I was pretty excited, so I decided to leave my actual order until I had tried this one out.

Now mug mixes are easy, they don’t take much time or effort and they usually turn out pretty good.  Bakedin mug cakes are AMAZING – they take legit two minutes in total to put together and cook, and they taste FANTASTIC!  It really is so super easy, you simply melt the butter for 10 seconds, throw in the powdered mix and the splash of milk (I used plant based alternatives for both) mix together and put it in the microwave for one minute.  That’s it!  Leave to cool for a few minutes and tada – you’ve got yourself a pretty damn good dessert ready to tuck in to.

No big messes needed with Bakediin like one!

The mix turns into a delicious sponge – it’s so good that you couldn’t even tell that it was diary or gluten free.  There are no clumpy bits throughout like there normally tends to be in your regular mug cakes – just tasty spongey goodness.  The mix creates the perfect sized cake, just enough to satisfy your sweet tooth but not enough to make you feel sick afterwards or feel the need to leave any.  Every mouthful is as yum as the last one, and you find little chocolate chunks throughout the sponge which adds to the indulgence of the cake.  It’s honestly so good that it’s hard to believe that this was a quick mix fix.

I am absolutely delighted that I got to try this in my Vegan Tuck box this month, I am so in love with the gluten free brownie mug cake – and can’t wait till pay day to place my order for a pack!   I think I’m going to treat myself to one of the gluten free brownie mixes too, just because I’ve got the feeling that it’s going to be equally as good.

Have you tried out any of the Bakedin mug cakes yet?

Until the next one,

All About 'em Coconuts

I’ve been a fan of coconut oil for a long time, probably ever since it became a big deal a few years back.  I think it started when people started cooking with it, and then it progressed into the beauty and hair care items that we know it for today.  These last few months I’ve really gotten back into the habit of trying to use it as often as possible, and I’m happy to report nothing but love and obsessiveness for the stuff once again.

As I’ve had to change my diet dramatically the last couple of weeks, omelettes have become my go to food for my lunch and sometimes even tea too.  I’ve been using coconut oil instead of my regular sunflower oil, and I’ve found it to cook them perfectly and it even adds a little flavour too!  Another thing that I like to cook with it is the fake chicken pieces that my mum found in Sainsburys.  Coconut oil, a little honey and some soy sauce and it gives them a great coating and a beautiful taste.

I first tried out coconut oil for my skin when my eczema had a major breakout in 2012.  Although I find that it doesn’t really do much for my skin when I’m having a breakout, when my skin is nice and healthy it is the ultimate moisturiser for the whole body!  Not only does it leave my skin feeling silky smooth from top to bottom, but it also leaves me smelling like a tropical goddess. 

My latest use for the coconuts is rubbing a small amount through my hair to give it a little bit of extra moisture, as well as a healthy shine.  Coconut oil is perfect for tackling all of those pesky fly away bits, and it has honestly made tackling my mane that little bit easier in the morning.  But best of all, it gives my hair a little bit of fragrance so that I’m smelling sweet from head to toe.  My hair is super curly and also very frizzy, and I’ve really seen an improvement to it since switching to the coconuts!

I've switched to organic coconut oil now, and it really does make all the difference!

I’ve never really been one to use moisturiser on my feet before, and if I do use something I don’t normally persevere with it for long.  However seeing as I’ve been applying it everywhere else, I thought what the hell, and I’ve been give my feet a good coat before I put on my socks each night.  In the morning my feet feel lovely and soft all over – which may not last all day, but hey – it can’t be a miracle worker for everything.

My favourite use for coconut oil is using it to remove my makeup every day.  I’ve read a lot of other blogs who say that they only use it to remove their eye makeup, but I’ve been using it to remove everything from my mascara to the foundation.  It does it ALL, and it actually does it really well.  I’ve ditched the makeup wipes for now for a dollop of coconut oil and a couple of cotton pads.  Even better, it leaves my skin feeling great and well-nourished every day.

Finally, my pugger Hulk absolutely loves coconut oil, much to my friends and families concern.  Not only is it good for us humans, but coconut oil is actually really great for doggies too for their skin and coats.  Most people actually pop a small amount in their dogs foods, however I usually just pop a small amount on one of his toys and let him lick it straight.  I’ve also been using it to clean his skin around his eyes once a day – and I really have seen a great improvement to this area of his skin.

So there we have it!  I bought a 500g jar from Homebargains for just £3.99 – I’ve used about 2/3 of it now and I’ve had it since March.  It’s a great product to have kicking around the house, and when you think about the money that I’ve probably saved by using this one product for so many uses – it would be kinda silly to not jump on this bandwagon and get involved.

What’s your favourite use for coconut oil?

Until the next one,

Chocolate Brownies

A few weeks ago now, when I still had the baking bug, I whipped together a batch of chocolate brownie cupcakes!  I used a recipe I found on the BBC Good Food website that I’ve listed below for you to refer to.  I made some changes when following the recipe, which I found to work pretty well – but you guys might feel better following the pros.  Either way, let me know how you get on below, mine turned out pretty good!

·         185g unsalted butter

·         185g best dark chocolate

·         85g plain flour

·         40g cocoa powder

·         50g white chocolate

·         50g milk chocolate

·         3 large egg

·         275g golden caster sugar

First, I preheated the oven to 180C.  I then mashed up the butter into randomly cut blocks in a large bowl and chucked in the dark chocolate that I had broken up into squares.  I then put the bowl into the microwave for around 3 three minutes – taking it out every thirty seconds to check and stir.  Once full melted, I put it to the side and left it to cool.

Next, I weighed out the flour and cocoa powder and put the two into a medium sized bowl.  The online recipe said to sieve the two before mixing them together, but when my mum pointed out that she never sieves anything (and her baking is amazing) – I decided to skip this step.  I’d probably just make a mess anyways.

The next step was to break up the chocolate bars – which I found to be a hell of a lot easier than what the online method made out to be.  I pretty much just broke the bars up into the squares, and then broke the squares up further into random chunks and mixed it all together.  This resulted in a lot of random sized chunks, which I wasn’t super fussy about because let’s be honest – who doesn’t like big chunks of chocolate in their brownies?

This next part was messy, thankfully though my mum has an electric hand mixer and so it didn’t take nearly as long as I had anticipated.  I cracked the eggs into another large bowl, and tipped the caster sugar in with it.  I then used the mixer on the highest speed for around about three minutes, until it turned to a nice thick and creamy mixture.  This probably doubled in size and the colour became a lot paler – like the online method stated. 

It was then time to pour the chocolate and butter mix in with the egg and caster sugar, which didn’t take very long at all.  I used a wooden spoon to mix it all together, and added in the flour and cocoa powder to the mix.  I added this in little by little, folding it through so that the mixture came to a thick and sticky consistency.  When this was ready, I then chucked in the bowl of chocolate chunks and gave it another stir.

The brownie mix was then ready to pop into the oven – and so I poured a little bit of the mixture into each cupcake case, leaving enough room for them to raise a little.  Around about 25 cases later, the brownie cupcakes were ready to pop into the oven and to be left for 20-30 minutes until they became nice and spongey.  When ready, take them out of the oven and leave for about 10 minutes until cool!  And voila – you’ve got some super tasty brownie cupcakes ready to be munched on!

Does anyone else make their brownies into cupcakes?

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1223/bestever-brownies - in case you prefer to follow the pros.

Until the next one,

Lauren x

Chocolate Chip Cookies

So on Wednesday, I was feeling a little creative and decided that I was going to put my baking hat on and go a little nuts.  I’m not a baker, and so by nuts, I mean I whipped up a batch of chocolate chip cookies.  I followed a recipe on the BBC Good Food website listed below, only I doubled the recipe.  I wanted to make big, chunky cookies, and so doubling the recipe meant that I would still get the same amount of cookies as the standard batch, just bigger!

You will need:

300g salted butter (soften before use for an easier mix)

160g brown sugar

160g granulated or caster sugar

Vanilla extract (to your preference)

2 large eggs

450g plain flour

1tsp bicarbonate of soda

1/2tsp salt

400g chocolate chips

The above ingredients are for the double batch that I made, for a standard batch, simply half the amount per item.

To start, you should preheat the oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5.  After this, I then lined four (that’s right, I had four trays of cookies) with a non-stick greased baking paper to stop them from sticking to the trays. 

Next, you mix the butter and sugars into a bowl, and beat them until thick and creamy.  Once this was done, I then added in the vanilla (which I’m not going to lie, I added about half a 90ml bottle to the mixture), and slowly poured in the whisked eggs.  The toughest part was sieving in the flour, bicarbonate of soda and the salt to the mixture and mixing it all together until it came to the cookie dough.  The mixture was so tough that I actually managed to snap a wooden spoon, how many of you can say you’ve done that whilst making cookies?!  

RIP

Finally, you add in the chocolate chips and stir them in so that they are mixed all the way through.  I used two bags of milk chocolate chips on Wednesday when I made them, and today used three bags, one milk, one white and one dark.  I will be following today’s footsteps forever more, just so you are all aware.

Finally, you’re ready to scoop them out onto your trays and pop them in the oven.  I placed large round blobs of the mixer on the trays, I managed approx. 7 cookies per tray.  Because they were larger, the cookies did take a lot longer to cook (today about 20-25 minutes) – but it is totally worth the extra time!

Once cooked, leave them for about 5-10 minutes and tada!  You’ve got yourself a tasty, and very calorific snack… enjoy!

Please note, that this recipe was sourced from BBC Good Food, I simply altered the recipe to my own preference :)

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2459643/vintage-chocolate-chip-cookies

What’s your favourite dessert to bake?

Until the next one,

Lauren x