Affordable Treats is 4 today!

My blog is 4 years old today! I made these cupcakes in celebration (instead of getting an image from the internet like I've done for the past 3 years!). They didn't exactly go to plan, but they still taste nice! I can't believe I've been writing on here for 4 years. It seems to have flown by, but at the same time, it feels like I've been writing a blog forever. I don't know what I'd be doing if I didn't have this hobby and the community it comes with. I've been given so much support from you guys, blog wise and personally. Thank you to everyone who has ever read or commented, and thank you to those who've had endless conversations with me on Twitter. Let's see if we'll get to 5 years!

Ombré Cupcakes!

At the end of my Rainbow Cupcakes post, I said I was going to try ombré ones, and thought I'd show you how they turned out. I'm not sure if they're as pretty as the rainbow ones, but rainbows are hard to beat! I used the same recipe as before, so if you'd like to have a go at making them, just head over there. I'm baking another batch of birthday cupcakes this weekend, and then I'm going lay off them for a while. Maybe try making a banana cream pie or lemon meringue cheesecake!

Rainbow Cupcakes!

I attempted rainbow cupcakes last night! I just couldn't wait to try out my new Wilton Food Colouring Gels/Pastes.

Here's the recipe for the basic mixture, which makes about 12 (To make 12 muffin sized cupcakes, change the 115g ingredients to 200g):

• 115g of softened butter
• 115g of caster sugar
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/4 tsp of vanilla paste (1 tsp of vanilla extract will work, too)
• 115g of self raising flour

1. Preheat your oven to 180C and line your bun tray with baking cases.

2. Put the butter and sugar in a bowl and beat together until light and fluffy.

3. Gradually beat in the eggs and vanilla paste/extract.

4. Sift in the flour and fold.

5. Spoon the mixture into your cases and bake for around 20 minutes.

For the colouring, I separated the mixture into 7 bowls, added a food colouring to each one, and then layered each colour into the cases. A small teaspoon of mixture was enough for each layer. This part did take a while, but I had nothing better to do!

I'm quite happy with the results, I must say! I'm going to try ombre ones in a few days, with some going from blue to green, and some going from pink to orange. The teals and corals in the middle of these ombres will be so pretty!

Sugar Cookie Sandwiches

I made sugar cookies yesterday! I don't think I'd ever tried one up until then, and I'd certainly never made them. Afterwards, I decided to sandwich them together with some vanilla buttercream/frosting. All you need for that is butter, icing sugar, and vanilla extract. I don't usually weigh out my buttercream/frosting ingredients because it all depends on how many treats I make, but your icing sugar ratio should be a lot more than your butter ratio. Then I just split the mixture and added food colouring. 

So, to make around 30 sugar cookies, you'll need:

• 170g butter, softened
• 200g caster sugar
• 2 eggs (1 large egg may be enough)
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 310g plain flour
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt

1. Cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Then beat in the eggs and vanilla.

2. Add the flour, baking powder, and salt, and stir until you achieve a dough like consistency (you can add more flour if needs be).

3. Chill for about an hour. To speed things up, I put mine in the freezer, then sat down and watched an episode of Supernatural!

4. Roll out onto a floured surface and cut with your chosen cookie cutter.

5. Place onto a greasing papered baking tray one inch a part.

6. Put into a 200c oven for about 10 minutes. Obviously, keep checking on them and use your judgement! 

And that's it! The outcome is sweet, soft little biscuits. They're called cookies, but cookies, to me, are chewy and have chocolate chips.

Flower Shaped Shortbread Biscuits

I didn't plan on baking today, but then thought I'd give myself a break from watching Supernatural and Criminal Minds! It's a hard life, eh? I wanted to make some kind of biscuit, and decided on the classic shortbread. Shortbread is so easy to make, and most books/websites have a recipe for it. This time, I followed this recipe. The only thing I didn't do was chill the biscuits in the fridge before baking because there was no room! For the flower shapes, I used the cookie cutters I bought from Wilkinson at Christmas. They were around £1, and have definitely been more than worth it. You can find similar ones on eBay, too. I've just had a quick search and found these for £1.69, and these for £2.09. All I need now is good old cuppa to go with these little treats!

Cake Decorations Haul

I've been getting into baking over the last month, and have bought a few things to make my treats that little bit prettier! 

The first things in the photo above are my favourite out of everything. They're the Wilton Food Colouring Pastes/Gels (which can be bought from this seller for £2.85-89 each). You only need the tiniest amount, so I can see them lasting a while. I bought Pink, Sky Blue, and Violet. I bought the Violet to make my buttercream/frosting whiter. It will counteract the yellowness of the butter (just like a purple toning shampoo counteracts brassy tones in blonde hair).

I also bought a few pots of decorations from Tesco. The Dr. Oetker Sugar Stars were £1.29, the Tesco Multi Coloured Confetti was £1.50, and the Strawberry Glimmer Crunch was... I've forgotten, but it was probably around the same price!

The Rainbow Dust Edible Cake Decoration Glitter in Hologram White is from the same seller as the Wilton Food Colouring Pastes/Gels, and was £2.95. I chose this colour because it will go with everything. I'm tempted to buy a few others, though!

The muffin cases were from this listing, and cost £1.20 for 24. I think they're expensive, but they're big, thick, and I'm using them for my sister's birthday cupcakes/special occasions. They're not cases to be used every time you bake!

The Dr. Oetker Wafer Daisies were also from Tesco, and were £1.49. These are also for my sister's birthday cupcakes :)

From TK Maxx, I bought some Silicone Baking Cases for £3.99. I've wanted some of these for a while because you can reuse them, making them more cost effective in the long run!

I also bought the Confetti Sprinkles for £2.49. They're more expensive than the ones from Tesco, but the pot is double the size. These are the ones I used in my Chocolate Chip Cookie Slabs.

The Cookie Cutters were bought from TK Maxx a couple of months ago, but thought I'd include them because I saw some similar ones when I bought the Silicone Baking Cases and Confetti Sprinkles the other day. I also wanted to include them because they're so colourful! These were £2.99.

I also bought a piping bag and some cupcake boxes, which were also from eBay, but they weren't pretty enough to make this post ;)

Chocolate Chip Cookie Slabs

Hello! I made these chocolate chip cookie slabs (with Galaxy and sprinkles) yesterday, and they're delicious, so thought I'd share them with you! I mostly followed this recipe, but made a few changes. Instead of 200g of chocolate chips, I used 100g of chocolate chips and 100g and chopped up Galaxy. I also added sprinkles to, and on top of, the mixture before I put it in the oven. I also didn't make tranditional round cookies, but put the entire mixture into a huge tray. This just saved space, and I didn't have to worry about the cookies expanding and running into each other. Also, the recipe says to bake for 10 minutes, but mine were no where near done at that time, so I left them in for about 20 minutes (And have done every time I've made them so far). This may be because I made a giant one instead of individual small ones. I'm really happy with the sprinkles. I didn't know if they would hold up in the heat, but they did, making the cookies look pretty. I'm going to add more to my sister's birthday cookies to make them as colourful as possible!

If you've got any baking recipes you swear by, send them my way!

Ombre Meringues

I made meringues for the first time today! I've recently got into baking, but never saw myself making meringues because I've seen many horror stories on Come Dine With Me (gotta love that show). They were actually really easy, though. I was initially going to use this recipe, but didn't want them to turn out coffee coloured. So, after a little researching, I found that you could leave the icing sugar out and just increase the caster sugar to make white/cream meringues.

I used:

• 4 medium egg whites (had no large eggs to hand, but it all worked out fine)
• 200g caster sugar

Method:

• I whisked the egg whites for about 8-10 minutes, and then whisked some more (I wanted to be sure!). I stopped when they were fluffy and could hold the bowl upside down without it spilling out.
• I then added the caster sugar tablespoon at a time, and made sure each one was fully whisked in (this took about another 5 minutes).
• Then, I dolloped the mixture onto baking paper lined baking trays (the recipe says to use parchment paper because the meringues will stick to baking paper, but mine were fine). Next time, I want to pipe them on to make them look extra pretty.
• For the gradual change to pink, I added a little bit of Wilton's Food Colouring Paste/Gel in Pink (I bought mine from this seller for £2.84, including P&P) after every few dollops. This stuff is seriously pigmented, so be careful. I'm glad it is though because it means the pot should last a while! I also love it because Wilton is my family name haha.
• Lastly, I popped them into the 100°C oven for 1 hour 45 minutes.

This recipe made around 15 medium meringues.

I'm going to serve these with the classic cream and fruit combination. Not 5 per person like the photo suggests, though! 2-3 should be plenty. I'm pretty pleased with my first attempt! If only there was an occasion coming up (with the exception of Father's Day. My dad hates meringues!)

Kallo Rice & Corn Cakes

I love rice cakes. They're a quick and healthy snack. So when offered a couple packs of Kallo's new flavours to try, I kindly accepted. I only like sweet flavoured rice cakes, and have tried caramel ones before, but was intrigued by the blueberry & vanilla ones (as you can see, I couldn't resist opening them before taking photos!). Both flavours don't have strong tastes, and this could be a good or bad thing depending on your preferences. Some people love the Snack a Jacks caramel rice cakes (including me), but some people find them overly sweet. If you do, you'll probably like these ones better. Also, I really like the packaging!

If you're interested, these retail for £1.79 each.

The best thing I've eaten this week...

Crunchie ice cream!

Lemon Fairy Cakes Recipe

I've just made these yummy little treats and thought I'd post the recipe! I didn't get this recipe from anywhere specific - It's just from my general knowledge.

Lemon Fairy Cakes Recipe - Makes about 25

You will need:

200g of self-raising flour

200g of caster sugar

200g of soft butter or margarine

3 large eggs/4 medium eggs

1 teaspoon of baking powder

The rind of 1 lemon

Lemon juice (About half a lemons worth)

Lemon icing-

100g icing sugar (This will cover about 12 fairy cakes. If you do not want buttercream or plain ones, just double the amount)

1-2 tablespoons of lemon juice

1-2 tablespoons of water

Lemon buttercream (I didn't weigh these ingredients, so just use your own judgement!)-

Butter or margarine

Caster sugar

Lemon juice

1. Preheat the oven to 190C and line your bun trays with baking cases.

2. Cream together the butter, sugar, beaten eggs, lemon rind and lemon juice.

3. Add in the flour and baking powder, and beat well.

4. Distribute the mixture evenly in the baking cases.

5. Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes.

6. Wait until the fairy cakes are cool and then decorate with lemon icing and/or buttercream (To make the icing and/or buttercream, just beat the ingredients together).

Crunchy Peanut Butter Biscuits Recipe

Hello! I've caught the baking bug. I made cookies yesterday (They're misshaped, but taste really good), I've just made crunchy peanut butter biscuits and I will be making a lemon cake tomorrow.

I absolutely love peanut butter, so I can't see these lasting long! I thought I'd post the recipe, so you can make them too, if you would like. I got the recipe from The Farmhouse Kitchen Baking Book. I picked it up at a charity shop a while ago.

You will need:

175g of plain white or wholemeal flour (I used plain)

125g of caster sugar

50g of light soft brown sugar

75g of softened butter or margarine (If yours has just come out of the fridge, place in a bowl and microwave for a few seconds)

4 tablespoons of crunchy peanut butter

1 medium egg, beaten

1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda

1 tablespoon of milk

1. Line trays with baking paper (I used 1 large baking tray because I didn't separate the mixture. I cut it into slices after it was baked) and preheat the oven to 200C.

2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter or margarine, and the two sugars.

3. Add the beaten egg a little at a time, beating well after each addition.

4. Beat in the peanut butter (Again, to make it easier, I put the peanut butter in the microwave for a few seconds).

5. Sift the flour and bicarbonate of soda into the mixing bowl.

6. Fold the flour into the creamed mixture, add the milk and beat. Add a little more milk, if necessary, to achieve a soft dropping consistency.

7. Place onto the baking tray(s). I covered the whole baking tray, but if you want to bake separate portions, place teaspoons of the mixture about 7.5cm/3 inches apart on the trays and flatten each one.

8. Bake for about 10-15 minutes. Allow the biscuits to firm up on the tray, then turn out onto wire trays to cool. I then cut mine into slices.

The recipe states that it will make around 30 biscuits. I made 20 large biscuits, but I could easily cut them in half again and make 30-40.

They're similar to a flapjack consistency and are really delicious!

Please let me know if you make them!

Happy baking!

Today's purchases and a delicious lunch!

InStyle magazine £3.60, Tesco's Highlighters free

With this months InStyle magazine you get a free The Body Shop Lip and Cheek Stain. I am so pleased about this because I'm running out of my current one and was going to buy a new one. Now I don't have to! I picked up Rose Pink and next time I'll pick up Bronze Glimmer.

The highlighters were free because they didn't have a bar code on and no one came when the guy called for someone. Yay! Saved me 50p ;)

Now onto my absolutely heavenly lunch!

French stick with chicken tikka pieces, lettuce and tomato, prawns and a slice of caramel shortcake.

Prawns and caramel slice are two of my favourite foods! :D

Hope you're have a good day :)

xo

Lunch of today

I don't write these types of posts because A. My meals are normally boring and B. This isn't a blog where I keep track of my diet. BUT today my lunch was scrummy and it makes me look healthy ;)

Tomato soup with a diced fresh tomato and pepper corn, accompanied by wholemeal rolls.

Yum!

I find soup boring so I added the tomato to have something to chew on!

x

Mmm

The most pointless post ever aha but I just made grilled cheese and tomato on toast and it was delicious!

One slice had cheese on top (I already ate one half of it before I took the photo) and the other slice had the tomato on top. When the tomato is on top, the juices taste so much better. We only had cherry tomato's so that's what I used.

Again, pointless post, everyone knows how to do this but I forgot how good it tasted.

Well.. it tastes nice if you like cheese and tomato :P

x