Spiced Apple and Plum Cabbage - Bakemas Day 13

Mulled Hot Chocolate - Bakemas Day 24

It’s Christmas Eve, seriously where did the time go?

Spicy Mulled Pineapple Juice - Bakemas Day 2

What's cosier than spicy mulled juice in front of the fire after a long day? Maybe with a little once upon a time or even a Christmas film. This is all just wishful thinking on my part, it has been a long day and after I'm done writing this I'm going to collapse into bed because I'm wiped.
If you want to be warmed from the inside this winter then this is definitely the drink for you. I've been thinking about making mulled pineapple juice with chilli in for about a year now, the time has finally arrived and it is everything I imagined it would be.

Spiced Chocolate Chip Welsh Cakes

I got a cough, I know what you’re thinking, is that special news? Maybe not special but it’s definitely news. I never get coughs, and when I say never I mean never, blocked sinuses yes coughs not so much. I say cough, I’m pretty sure it was a chest infection because there was dizziness, a fever, everything ached and all kinds of funky coloured stuff being coughed up, there was also a little bit of throwing up but we won’t get into that. I spent the majority of my week moving from my room to the living room in a constant state of napping with random TV shows in the background I didn’t care to pay attention to, which if you know me is also really rare because I really despise naps. I also spent two days only whispering and another sounding like I’d been strangled so all around it wasn’t a pleasant time!

One of the other problems I had was I completely lost my appetite, I always find it takes a while to go back to eating normally after that but the first thing that made me want to eat more than a bowl of rice or soup was some Welsh cakes my mum bought, so after that I just had to make some.
It’s probably been about 4 years since I’ve made Welsh cakes, aside from the 3 batches I’ve cooked up in the past week but the day I made these just coincidentally happened to be St. David’s day. I did test out another flavour which is all of the yummy and will be posted at some point in the future but I couldn’t resist adding chocolate to a batch (well I had to make up for all the chocolate I missed out on while I was ill), I’m surprised it’s never crossed my mind before and I also couldn’t resist adding all of the spices.

Something that Welsh cakes are ideal for is snacks on the go, they travel extremely well and don’t take up a lot of room, not that we had any time to take them out for a snack as they didn’t last long enough but if you can resist them till the next day they keep well and you can’t really squish them as easy as a muffin.

Spiced Almond Hot Chocolate - Bakemas Day 24

The 24th recipe, I made it! It really doesn’t feel like Christmas eve my panic still hasn’t set in and this is not good news. I have two presents left to finish and gift tags to make and its nearly 11pm I honestly think I don’t believe it’s Christmas tomorrow even though there’s presents sitting under my tree.

Christmas eve is about curling up on the sofa with a hot chocolate and a Christmas film, although I think that about everyday of winter it’s especially important tonight, not that I ever actually do that on Christmas eve because I’m always finishing presents off. This is a quick and easy hot chocolate recipe to accompany your Christmas film of choice that takes no more effort than making normal hot chocolate and is really yummy.

Anyway, no time to stay and chat, I’m off to drink this hot chocolate finish my presents and watch all three Santa clause films on repeat until I’m finished. Have a lovely Christmas.

Spiced Shortbread Dipped in White Chocolate and Chopped Pistachios - Bakemas Day 1

I’ve been thinking about this since December 1st last year and I'm still not sure I'm entirely mentally prepared. I'm sure if you’re familiar with the internet and youtube you'll have heard of a thing called vlogmas. For any of you who have no idea what I'm talking about it’s when vloggers/people make a video everyday in December on the lead up to Christmas to document all the Christmasy things they're doing, so being the type of person who likes to set them self tasks that I'm slightly unsure I can achieve naturally I thought this was a brilliant idea. I came up with this idea last year, although I’m sure there are other food bloggers who do something similar, but spent way too long umming and ahhing over it. In that case I've technically had 12 months to prepare for this, although it’s the 1st I’m still pretty unprepared and still a tiny bit unsure this is the best idea but we’re going to roll with the punches. So I'm coining this Bakemas! 24 days, 24 recipes, potentially pictures of all the Christmas I’ve injected into my room which by the way doesn’t even have a tree in yet, I know I know it’s going up tonight, and probably a lot of Christmas stories. I’m sure I’ll spend the majority of the month stressing and having a million and one things to do but I’ve sort of grown accustomed to that feeling. I’ll just keep my fingers crossed that my ability to procrastinate like a champion doesn’t mean I end up spending the entire 24 days in the kitchen and chained to my laptop because having time to watch endless amounts of Christmas films and spend a lot of time in pyjamas drinking hot chocolate is extremely important. On that note, these are the perfect accompaniment to hot chocolate or coffee (I can't vouch for tea but potentially that too) taste amazing and really easy to whip up. Happy Bakemas!

Spiced Pumpkin Seed & Pecan Muesli with Blackberries

I have this very idealistic view of breakfast, early mornings, frost covered grass, sipping coffee, reading a book with a bowl of cereal. I think I just always like the idea of being a morning person and I honestly am, I love getting up early and pottering about, having time to relax and drink coffee before I do anything, although if I’m in a good mood I usually start what I’m supposed to be doing before I’ve even finished breakfast but having the option is nice. Problem is I’m only a morning person when I can actually get up...does that mean I’m not a morning person? Because I like getting up early and getting stuff done and I’m usually sleepier if I get up late, I just don’t like the getting up part. I also like to go to bed at 3 in the morning and unfortunately I can’t really have it both ways. One of the best things about muesli is that its healthy and really quick to make, okay, so it’s not quite as quick as pouring a bowl of cereal but I mean its close. Muesli used to be my favourite thing to have for breakfast specifically this version, but I've been making that for years so I figured it was time to spice things up a little...literally, because who doesn't love seasonal breakfast.

Black Bottom Pumpkin Spice Crumb Topped Muffins

This time of year is just not complete without pumpkin muffins. Maybe this will become an annual thing for me, last year it was pumpkin doughnut muffins dipped in chocolate and the year before it was pumpkin pudding muffins which I frequently still mentally drool over and sweet potato cupcakes now they’re crumb topped! YES I did say crumb topped, if I could add a crumble topping to everything I honestly think I would. I called these black bottomed because I’m not really sure how else to describe these in less than a really long sentence, I realise black bottom cupcakes are something entirely different and these don’t involve cream cheese of any kind, actually they’re completely dairy free but these do technically have black bottoms. If you were misled am I forgiven? Because instead you get a layer of chocolaty goodness at the bottom of your seasonal crumb topped muffins and I don’t know how you could be upset at me for that, I’m ticking every box in the “perfect muffins chart” – that should be a thing. Have I talked these muffins up enough yet? Because really all that’s left is us drooling over them and actually making them, although obviously I’ve already made them, I get to eat them while you drool over them. Happy muffin making!

Pumpkin Spice Latte

Last week was pretty tiring, pretty much every waking minute I was cooking, baking or packing photos. We’ll skip over the fact that I actually spend a large portion of my time dancing while in the kitchen and I was also re-watching supernatural while I was packing photos but it was still a lot of late nights and it shows, it looks like I’ve been punched in both eyes with a fat lot of no sleep. I managed to spend a lot of time starting things and not having time to finish them, my mid week bake was a flop and just fell apart, literally, some ended up on the floor...and then I accidently trod in it, yes it was one of those kinds of weeks. I mean it tastes bloody fantastic, although we might be eating it for about a week, it just didn’t withstand gravity or the test of time, I’ll explain what actually happened when I brave re-making it and get it right but I was not all too pleased that my day of slaving in the kitchen was a waste. Thankfully all the orders are finished; printed, packed and given back to the schools, apart from the last few straggler orders but I’m just ready to curl up with a coffee, copious amounts of cookies and watch action films for about a week, if only I had the time to do that.

Pulp Muffins (Pear, kiwi, spinach & lime with dark chocolate, Carrot, orange & apple with cinnamon & pecans and Beetroot, apple & carrot with a spiced crumb)

I am here to solve all your juicing problems, okay, I can’t solve the fact that you have to clean the juicer up (yes, I’m talking about that again) but I can give you something to do with the leftovers. I’m sure these are already a thing, but I have my mum to thank for this genius of an idea. I’ve been calling these pulp muffins which obviously sound extremely appetising...I’m not really sure what else you could call them though, and “pulp muffins” is pretty fitting. Maybe I should actually explain what these are for those of you who aren’t really sure what I’m going on about. That pulp you have left over from making a juice, don’t chuck it away! There are quite a few recipes out there of what to do with your leftover pulp and some of them...aren’t so tasty, but muffins solve everything. These are so much fun to make, they’re always an experiment and you don’t always entirely know what you’re getting, but that’s the fun of it. You can add more flavours, experiment with toppings and fillings, basically you get a fancy muffin to match your juice and some added nutrients and fiber, don’t you just feel better about eating muffins now. The pear, kiwi, spinach and lime with chocolate chips are definitely my favourite, but then maybe that’s just because there’s chocolate in them and green muffins? Yes, I’m the type of person that wants to eat green muffins.

Apple Butter with Vanilla Pancakes

After we plucked our apple tree we had an abundance of apples all lined up in bags in the garage. Although it's not near as bad as when we had two apple trees I figured I needed to do something with them, we couldn't just freeze them all, our freezers would be overflowing with fruit and they're already full of boxes of blackberries.

I'll be honest Apple butter is kind of just fancy apple sauce although it is definitely worth the few extra hours you have to leave the hob on. This recipe is just perfect autumn breakfast....or lunch, maybe dinner? or a snack. Maybe just eat it for all meals, there's carbohydrates, protein and fruit you're all set.

I got a little carried away with this recipe, the pancakes were actually sort of an afterthought, in the days leading up to making this they were always a shall I shan't I, and I'm glad I shalled! These pancakes are the perfect mixture between crepe and pancake, although I didn't purposefully make them this way is was a pleasant and welcome oops, maybe I'll make them like this more often they just seem lighter this way.

Apple Cinnamon Doughnut Muffins

Autumn is upon us, well, sort of, it's still relatively warm here and we keep getting threatened with heat waves which is very un-autumny and I am not impressed. I like layers and coats and arm warmers and England's having none of that.

Have you ever had one of those day where you just struggled to photograph something? I suppose that only applies if you take photos of things but I'm sure you've felt the same about something else; this was one of those days. It had been a long day in the kitchen and I was tired and uninspired, the food was so worth it in the end though. Doughnut muffins are one of my favourite things to make...and eat, they're just so moist and delicious, they're so much easier and quicker to make than doughnuts and the coating of cinnamon sugar really doesn't hurt.

Orange Spiced Cheesecake

There's a possibility I might be making orange spiced everything this autumn, I've cottoned on to the idea and I want to put it in everything. When I mentioned I was going to make an orange spiced cheesecake I got a few oh's and um's people weren't that enthralled by the idea and slightly apprehensive. It's safe to say I was on the right track for the season, it basically tastes like christmas in a cheesecake, I realise it's a little early for christmas for some people but I say it's never too early.

I love this type of cheesecake with jelly in, it's lighter and more refreshing than a lot of cheesecakes, it doesn't feel like it's weighing you down after a meal or filling you full of cream. It's one of those desserts that makes my mouth water while I'm still eating it, the only bad thing about it is you feel like you could eat the whole thing, I wouldn't advise it!