A Playlist: For Baking

Two things I love: food & music. So when I'm baking away, having music on in the background is a necessity. I've put together some of my favourites for baking. Have a listen and maybe listen to it whilst making my delicious healthy peanut butter cookies.

Enjoy!

Mykonos - Fleet Foxes

If I Ever Feel Better - Pheonix 

Tighten Up - The Black Keys

My Number - Foals

She Moves In Her Own Way - The Kooks

Do You Want It All - Two Door Cinema Club

(Currently craving some of these cookies but I've only got Ryvita and cream cheese!) 

All my Love,

Maddy x

Peanut Butter Goodness - A Healthy(ish) Cookie Recipe

I adore weekends. I mean, don't we all? The opportunity to laze around, eating good food and watching equally great films, without feeling guilty. Weekends are also a great time to catch up with your favourite hobbies. This weekend was spent catching up on vlogs and blogs whilst in the kitchen making these guilt-free beauties: my healthy(ish) peanut butter cookies. 

If the mention of 'peanut butter' makes your excited then these are the cookies for you. They are flourless and butter-less and taste yummy. 

(One thing to bare in mind: they are healthy so don't expect sweet, light cookies. Once you remember that, they are actually rather delicious)

The recipe is easy-squeezy-lemon-peasy with a few ingredients and a 30 minute chill before baking to allow you time to wash everything up… or take photos of your dog being quite frankly adorable 

What You'll Need:

two-thirds of a cup of oats 

two hundred and fifty grams of peanut butter (it's better if you use organic)

ninety grams of light brown sugar

one large egg

one half of a teaspoon of ground cinnamon

one teaspoon of baking soda

seventy grams of dark chocolate chips - optional but completely necessary

What You'll Have To Do:

Temperatures:

- 180C

- 350F

- Gas Mark 4

1. Toss together the oats, cinnamon and baking soda

2. Beat the egg

3. Mix the peanut butter and brown sugar with the egg 

4. Mix in the dry ingredients slowly and you don't want to over-beat the egg 

5. Pop the mixture/dough into the fridge for half an hour to chill 

6. Line two baking trays will baking parchment 

7. Scoop the dough onto the trays - aim for about 1.5 tablespoon sizes (I did mine much bigger and they ended up as monsters!)

8. Press down the cookies will the back of a fork to flatten them and get a rigid effect - use a spoon if you are going for a neater look

9. Bake for 10 minutes and allow to cool on a cooling rack 

and ta dah! 10-14 delicious cookies that are perfect for pre/post workout or just for guilt free snacking and are helpfully very filling. They also taste gorgeous when eaten with raspberries - something I just discovered on the way back to school.

I assure you, they are much better than my dreadful food photography and presentational skills- I'll be working on that! 

Happy baking and have a fabulous week into the new month - crazy how fast it's gone already!

Love and Cookie-Crumbly Kisses,

Maddy x

Spreading Christmas Joy - My Very Simple Christmas Cookies

and the first real post begins...

Christmas is most definitely the most wonderful time of the year, and certainly my favourite. There is nothing I love more than oversized jumpers, crazy Christmas socks and a warm fire crackling near as my family and I watch an endless list of Christmas classics (Love Actually and Arthur Christmas are my favourites) or play board and card games, laughing as one of my brothers gets angry because I won cluedo again!

Today I'll be sharing with you one of my favourite and definitely the most simple christmas recipe. 

I've slowly been trying to start living a healthier lifestyle and in the future you can expect healthier recipes but it's christmas. I also like the idea of a balanced diet being mostly good for your body, but sometimes you need things that are good for your soul.

I love to bake and I love to invent and try new things within baking. This is a very simple biscuit recipe I have adapted from a long road of trial-and-error. 

It's quick and easy-peasy, and decorating them is a whirl. 

All you need is:

• a hundred and fourty grams of icing sugar 

• one egg yolk (dispose of the white)

• two hundred and fifty grams of butter (good for your soul!)

• three hundred and seventy five grams of plain flour 

• a good slosh of vanilla extract - (about one teaspoon)

                                                                 Preheat your ovens to:

190C

Fan Oven: 170C

Gas 5

Aga Bottom Right (well, on mine it is)

How to make these deliciousnesses:

1. Mix together the icing sugar, egg yolk, butter and vanilla extract until all mixed up
2. Add the flour and mix until the mixture is a firm dough - do try to not over mix as this works up the gluten in the flour and the end result will not be satisfying
3. Split the dough in half and squish them both into two flat discs and wrap in cling film before placing them in the fridge for at least twenty minutes (Tip: Get the discs of dough out one by one as it is much easier to cut out the shapes and place them on your baking tray if they are chilled, not warm.)
4. Roll the dough out onto a slightly floured surface so it doesn't stick, and make sure to sprinkle dough onto your rolling pin too. Roll it to a thickness of about a centimetre (or thicker if you want thick biscuits) 
5. Cut out the shapes - I used Christmas Tree, Snowflake, Candycane and Circle cutters for mine
   
6. Place onto either a nonstick baking tray or a baking tray lined with non-stick baking paper and bake in the oven for around 10-12 minutes 
7. Let your scrummy biscuits cool before trying to decorate them

Now onto the funniest part, DECORATING AHH

For mine, I used different methods and got some really fun results, so just play around and see what looks good and what doesn't work

I used icing sugar mixed with water, fondant icing and lots of squeezing icing I found in my local shop's cake section.

Enjoy these little joys, I adore the taste and icing them was so satisfying.

Have a fabulous Sunday and a very Merry Christmas with your loved ones. 

Remember Christmas time is also the greatest time for forgiving and forgetting.

Lots of Love and Christmassy Kisses,

Maddy x