Children in Need

As you may already know, Children in Need was on Friday the 13th this year and because I was in placement at a primary school this year, I thought it would be fun to bake some cakes with Pudsey Bear and sprinkles on for the children. 

I didn't have a clue how on earth I was going to make the Pudsey faces, all I knew was that I needed coloured icing and a cutter somehow... 

Well, in the end I had to trace a picture of Pudsey from my computer and then copy it onto a cardboard cut out for me to be able to make my Pudsey Bear faces better. It took forever but there were amazing even if I do say so myself. Proper proud of myself!!! 

I was up until like 2 in the morning making these... I put a lot of effort into them and at least the children all behaved as they knew there was cake on the go hahaha!! Luckily there were a few left over so I got to take the rest home.

 This one was by far my best Pudsey face, I love it!!! 

The best thing about being in placement is that I get to join in with all of the activities the children do to guide and support them even though I'm really enjoying them too hahaha!! 

Halloween we were allowed to dress up as someone from Harry Potter and for Children in Need I dressed up as a super hero and donated to the charity and did my bit... did you do yours?? 

Let me know if you did anything like this for Children in Need, it's such a great cause!! 

Hope you have all had a great week and keep sending you're thoughts and prayers to all the families in Paris, no one should ever have to go through anything like that!! 

Melishia x

You know it's Christmas when....

Now Halloween and Bonfire night are over and done with, it is now the countdown to Christmas with a lot of Christmas related things happening which I cannot wait for!!

There are many things that happen from November onwards that make you say "It's Christmas". I know because I do this allll the time!! I have say this at least once a day possibly more...For me there are about 5 things that happen to make me say "It's Christmas!" 

1. When the advert for "I'm a Celebrity" comes on the TV, which was in October, that's one sign to say Christmas is almost here. When the advert came on this year during the XFactor I think I screamed that loud the whole street heard me!! I love I'm a Celeb!!

2. Going through the Town Centre and seeing shops with Christmas related gifts and clothing. I have seen a lot of Christmas jumpers and socks and I reallllly want them all!! Oh, and can't forget the Christmas candles!!

3. This has just recently happened this Friday... the release of the John Lewis advert!! 

I think this is the advert of the beginning of Christmas adverts, once this one has been on, all of the rest follow. If you haven't seen it, you need to!! A tear came to my eye watching it (like always) 

4. When the days start getting shorter and starts getting colder and all you want to do is stay inside with a warm drink and cuddles in front of the TV. The Polar Express has already been on the TV too which got me realllly excited because it's my all time favourite Christmas Film. 

5. And finally, the time you know Christmas is here is with one specific advert... THE COCA COLA ADVERT!!!! Once this advert has been on, that's when Christmas is here!! It was on TV a year ago today during XFactor again, so my eyes will be glued to the TV hoping for it to be on today!!! 

These are some of the things that make me feel so Christmassy and how I know Christmas is not that far away!! I just want to put my Christmas tree up now, is that acceptable yet??? 

Melishia x

Things to do for Christmas

It's the 1st November, we all know what that means... IT'S ALMOST CHRISTMAS!!!! *ahhhhhhh* 

As I have said time and time again, Christmas and Winter are my favourite things to look forward to and when it comes to this time of year, I have so much in mind that you could do. So I' going to share these ideas with you so you too can make your Christmas magical and the best it can be!! If you have younger children in the family I'm very sure they will love to all of these too!! 

1. Visit a winter wonderland/Santa's Grotto 

This is just a magical experience in it's self. Tweddle Farm I have just visited in one of my last posts, they do a Winter Wonderland experience with fake snow and reindeer with a Santa's Grotto walk way and it's just magical. Good for the children or big kids too. 

2. Christmas Markets 

Everyone has to love a good Christmas Market!! With all the Christmas smells and all the lights and decorations. It's amazing!! I'm hoping to go to two this year at York and Durham. I know there are plenty happening up and down the country, If there is a one close to you I highly recommend you go!! 

3. Trip to the Panto

Pantomimes are Brilliant!! *oh there not* oh yes they are!! (Sorry I couldn't resit it hahaha)  I haven't been to a Panto in quite a while. The last one I went to see was peter pan and I'm hoping to try and get to another one this year. But it is fun for all the family not just the children. 

4. Cooking Christmas Cookies/Cakes 

This is one activity I am going to be doing very soon!! and there will be a blog post on it obviously!! Ginger bread men, Snowmen marshmallows, reindeer cakes you name it, you could probably make it!! On my Pintrest I have lots of Christmas food related posts pinned go check it out! 

5. Christmas meal out   

One year I went out for a Christmas meal with Friends and Family and the pub we were at had a Christmas sing along it was great!! 

6. Christmas film day/night 

Cuddled up on the sofa in front of the fire, Drinking hot chocolate and eating sweets and Christmas related foods. This would be a perfect night in. Don't forget the Christmas candles!!! 

7. Walks in the snow 

Obviously you can only do this if it actually snows *fingers crossed* Taking a sledge out with you too and building snow men having a snow ball fight. Act like big kids really. 

8. Visit the CocaCola Truck 

When the CocaCola advert comes on the Tv you know Christmas is almost here!! So why not go and visit the CocaCola truck in real life? I did one year and it was great! It tours around the UK and the dates and places are on their website I think. 

9. Making Home made decorations 

Our local Library do this every year. One year I made a wreath for the front door. But it did die because we used real holly and outside things, but it was great fun. We also made little Rudolph decorations which I still have. But you can still do all of this at home, I'm sure there are a lot of activities on Pintrest. 

10. Decorating the house with Christmas colours and smells 

It's always good to be able to decorate your home with Christmas things. Warm colours such as red and golds make it feel so Christmassy and having candles that smell like Christmas too. This is probably one of my favourite things to do. While you're doing this, play some festive songs, it's always a great idea. 

These are my top ten things to do. I could probably think of more when I'm not trying to think of them, if you get me? But I hope this has gave you some ideas of what you could do the lead up to Christmas as now it is just around the corner. 

It can be a stressful time of year but if you don't think about the stressful side and just have fun and make it Christmassy and the stress will go away. I just can't wait for Christmas!!! 

I hope you have all had a great weekend!! 

Melishia x 

Cookies and Cup Cakes

Last Sunday I though I would be creative and bake some cookies and cupcakes, just because I was bored and had nothing else to do... apart from the college work I almost forgot to do... I know some of you were looking forward to this post to know how to make them yourselves!!

Toffee Popcorn Cookies 

225g Soft Butter 

250g Demerara Sugar (brown sugar) 

1 Large Egg 

300g Self Raising Flower 

1/2 tsp Baking Powder 

100g Toffee Popcorn 

100g Dark Chocolate 

Method: 

1. Pre-Heat your oven to 180, fan 160, gas mark 4. 

2. Whisk the butter and sugar together until all combined, then add the egg and whisk together. 

3. Pour in the flour, baking powder and half of the popcorn, then add a pinch of salt and mix together with a wooden spoon. 

4. Split the dough into golf size balls and place them onto a large flat baking tray with baking paper/grease proof paper. Lightly flatten each of the dough balls and press the remaining popcorn into the top of the dough. 

5. Bake the cookies for about 15-20 minutes (but I would check them at about 10 minutes just to be safe). leave the cookies on the tray to cool for 2-3 minutes then transfer them to a cooling rack. 

6. Now, you can melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of boiling water then drizzle it over the top, which I forgot to do...

Princess Cupcakes: 

100g Sugar 

100g Butter 

100g Self Raising Flour 

2 Large Eggs 

1 tsp Vanilla Essence 

Cupcake casings 

Method:

1.Add the sugar and butter into a mixing bowl and whisk them both together until light and fluffy. Then add the two eggs and whisk again until all combined. 

2.Pour in the flour and whisk again until all the mixture is combined and add 1tsp of vanilla essence. 

3.Once all the mixture is combined together, add your cake casings into a pudding tin (I doubled the casings over so the mixture didn't spill out.) Then spoon the mixture equally into each of the cases. 

TIP:Don't fill the cases right to the top, you have got to give them enough room to be able to rise and so they don't spill over the cases. 

4.Place into the oven at around 180(Fan) for around 15-20 minutes. To make sure the cakes are cooked, place a knife into the middle of one of the cakes, if no mixture is left on the knife, they are ready. 

5. Leave to cool on a cooling rack for about 25-30 minutes before decorating. I used the butter icing recipe from the back of the icing sugar box (which I put in the bin so I can't remember the brand but it is in a pink box). 

I used a piping bag to do my icing which you can get from any supermarket I think. Then used some pink and purple sprinkles from home bargains to place on top of my cakes too. The cake boxes were two for 50p from Tesco if you were wondering.

So that is how I made both of these and they were delicious!! I would suggest eating the cookies within 2-3 days of baking them as the popcorn goes a bit dry and soggy after a while, other than that I really enjoyed baking them and eating them hahah!! 

I hope you enjoyed this post and if you bake these send me your pictures I would love to see the end product!! 

Have a great weekend 

Melishia x

Triple Chocolate Brownie Recipe

Okay guys here it is, been saying for days now I will post the recipe I use to bake my Brownies and I'm finally getting round to doing it!! 

So first of all you are going to need your ingredients:

• 190g- Unsalted Butter 
• 140g- Dark Chocolate 
• 50g- White Chocolate 
• 85g- Plain Flour
• 40g- Cocoa Powder 
• 50g- Milk Chocolate 
• 3 Large Eggs
• 285g Golden Caster Sugar 

Also, of course you are going to need Scales,oven (or brownie maker), bowls and other utensils but I will include these in the steps. 

1)  With a small pan, melt the butter and dark chocolate on a low heat. Stir regularly to stop butter burning. Leave aside to cool. 

2) Sift the Flour and Cocoa Powder in a separate bowl. 

3) Chop the Milk and White Chocolate into small chunks. Or, place into a bag and hit them with a rolling pin. 

4) In a separate bowl, whisk the Eggs and Sugar together until pale and fluffy. Then add the cool Chocolate and Butter mixture and fold together. 

5)Add the Sifted Flour and Cocoa Powder and fold together again. Once folded, add the chocolate chunks. 

6) In a Brownie maker, leave them about 10 Minutes then to check if they are cooked, stick a knife or spatula into a brownie and if there is mixture left on it then leave them for another 1-2 minutes. 

7) For an oven I would leave them for 10 minutes on 200 degrees and if they are not cooked, leave them for another 10 minutes until they are cooked. (place the mixture into a greased baking tray or trays.)

I did use a brownie maker for mine but should be able to cook them in an oven as well. I hope you enjoy making these brownies (if you do) They are delicious!!

You can see my other Brownie post from the 5th of August and there are images there. 

Melishia x