Pumpkin Spice Chocolate Chip Cookies🍪 🎃

It is that time of year that Pumpkin Spice becomes part of our autumnal food intake and I came across this recipe on Delish's website and gave them a go! They were super delicious so I thought I would share the recipe over here to share it with you! Disclaimer that this recipe is from Delish and not my own I'm just sharing it over here because so many people liked them I thought I'd find an easier way to share it! I've also converted the measurements into grams to make it easier for myself and UK readers!

INGREDIENTS

• 280g all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 225g unsalted butter, softened
• 150g brown sugar
• 100g granulated sugar
• 170g pumpkin purée
• 1 large egg
• 2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 350g semi-sweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 190°c and line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. 
2. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, pumpkin spice, and salt.
3. In a large bowl using a hand mixer*, cream together butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in pumpkin, egg, and vanilla extract until combined, then add flour mixture. Beat on low until no raw flour appears, then fold in chocolate chips. Refrigerate dough for 30 minutes.
4. Scoop 1” balls onto prepared baking sheets, 2 inches apart, and bake until puffed up and golden around edges, about 12 minutes.

*I used my Kitchenaid to make the cookie dough rather than a hand mixer and then used a wooden spoon to hold in the chocolate chips

My Christmas Gift Guide 2018🎅🏻

Its coming to the time of year where its time to hit the shops in aim to get the perfect Christmas presents. I've put together a collection of gifts that I think are suitable for a whole range of different people in your life, from your bff to your uncle.

For the foodie I found a few perfect gifts for those who love a tipple or a nibble at Christmas time.



The first thing for foodies I found is possibly the most exciting present I saw and perfect for all the family (or yourself I'm not judging😉) Personalised Quality Street tins. Pick three or more of your favourite flavours to fill your tin, in selected John Lewis & Partners (Oxford Street, Glasgow and Trafford) you can even have the tin personalised and keep to refill year after year. Available at John Lewis & Partners Bluewater, Cambridge, Cheadle, Cribbs Causeway, High Wycombe, Kingston, Liverpool and Westfield White City.



The second gift I saw was the John Lewis & Partners Red Wine and Nibbles Christmas Hamper. This eclectic mix of of nibbles is the perfect all-rounder present and at £40 its not going to break the bank. Coming in a black and white hamper its a ready-to-go gift with minimal effort but still thoughtful for anyone busy in the run up to the festive season. There are so many other hampers by John Lewis I just picked this one out as I thought the price point was good.



For the baker in your family I saw this little Penguin Cookie Baking Mix, complete with a penguin cutter. Perfect as a secret Santa gift or as a stocking filler. Also a good thing to keep kids busy this Christmas when the toys loose interest. They also do a unicorn version should that be more appropriate for your recipient!



The last thing I thought of for those who like a tipple, the people at Edinburgh Gin have brought out so many good sets this year. The one that I thought was so pretty and instagrammable was the Rhubarb and Ginger Liqueur and Glasses set.  The two branded cocktail glasses that come with the set are perfect for that evening tipple and the reverse of the box has a cocktail serving suggestion for the set. Its one of their bestselling flavours and good opportunity for any gin lovers to show them another distillery for them to try out.


The next two gifts I picked out seemed to be some good presents for the men in your life. First off you can't seem to go wrong with good old fashioned socks, though Happy Socks take these to a new level with their outrageous colours and design. They have a selection of different designs contained in a cracker for the ultimate Christmas socks.  I also thought this Barbour Land Rover Defender Belt and Card Holder gift set, exclusive to John Lewis. This little luxury set is a thoughtful but handy gift for any man in your life whether its your other half or family member.



This year a lot of us were obsessed with blue Planet this year and our environmental impact so something I thought that was a good gift for those who like their morning coffee on the go or to carry cold water re-usable bottles have been on the rise. S'well drinking bottles are the perfect gift for those caffeine addicts or people up on their hydration. They come in so many different designs as well as either 260ml or 500ml sizes so there is one for everyone.



On the subject of hot drinks what else is the perfect way to have a cosy evening than to have some festive pjs and a toasty hot water bottle. These could either be Christmas gifts or part of a Christmas Eve box. There are so many good PJ sets at John Lewis but I went for the Mon Etoile Cotton Pyjama Set with Eye Mask and the cosiest looking Rose Quartz hot water bottle. I can just imagine sitting by a fire with a hot chocolate cosied up, the perfect way to spend cold winter nights.



On the theme of cosy there are some really nice hats and gloves around to keep you warm. My favourite set is the Chunky Lovely Colour Block Beanie Hat and Chunky Lovely Colour Block Snood in Navy Mix. There is also a matching jumper to the hat and scarf which would also be a nice addition. It comes in three different colour block combos but the navy is my favourite.

And now for the beauty gift selection. This was the hardest to narrow down because frankly I want all the beauty gift sets.



My skincare gift set I chose was the ESPA Nourish Treats Skincare Gift Set. This little set includes their Overnight Hydration Therapy, Pink Hair and Scalp Mud and Nourishing Lip Treatment. This is the perfect introduction to ESPA skincare. Definitely one for those who love a spa day, the products smell amazing and work wonders for your skin.




The second set I saw was the Molton Brown Seductive Rituals Gift Set which looked like the perfect pamper evening. The set includes Jasmine & Sun Rose Bath & Shower Gel, Delicious Rhubarb & Rose Mini Scented Candle and Fiery Pink Pepper Fine Liquid Hand Wash. This set it the perfect way to test out the brand and at a good price of £30 for 2x100ml and a 30g candle. Rhubarb and Rose is my favourite Molton Brown fragrance, but this set is perfect for anyone wanting to try out three different scents in one set!



This gift is a bit of an extravagant one but could change your hair styling forever. The new Dyson Airwrap Volume + Shape Styler is the newest way to style and shape your hair on the market. I've seen this in action on other influencers channels and seen it in action on Dyson counters at John Lewis stores and I'm super impressed. Its certainly not a small price-tag but as something that could be pivotal in your hair regime.



The fourth beauty pic I went for was the BECCA Shimmering Skin Perfector Pressed Highlighter Macaron Kit. These adorable little macarons come in 4 different shades; Opal, Vanilla Quartz, Rose Quartz and Prismatic Amethyst. These are the ideal travel size for the glow on the go.



Onto the last gift idea, and still on the theme of sparkle the perfect edition to you highlighters is this beautiful Kate Spade New York Burgess Court Briley Small Makeup Bag in Soft Gold.  As you can tell from my blog I'm pretty Kate Spade obsessed so of course I had to include this little makeup bag. You could even just use it as a handbag tidy, I just think its so pretty and sparkly perfect for Christmas.

I've now come to the end of my top picks of what to gift this Christmas. How prepared are you this year at buying your presents?

Mini Autumnal Pumpkin Pies 🎃

With autumn coming up I decided it was time to get baking ready for the cosy weather. After really liking the flavour of the pumpkin cupcakes I made previously on my blog I thought I would try to make mini pumpkin pies.  Every recipe I look at was rather different so I decided to mesh together a couple of recipes I had seen.

Ingredients:

• 400g Ready Made Pastry
• 250g Canned Pumpkin 
• 1 Large Egg
• 40g Light Brown Sugar
• 1/2tsp Fresh Nutmeg
• 1/2tsp Cinnamon
• 140ml Double Cream

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan)
2. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface and use a round cutter to cut circles larger than the dimension of the holes in a 12 hole deep muffin tin (we use a 9 inch cutter) Gently place the cut out pastry round onto the hole in the tin and press into the shape (using a spare ball of pastry works really well for this) Repeat until all 12 holes in the muffin tin are lined with pastry. Chill until required.
3. Whisk the egg gently in a large bowl and set aside.
4. Combine the cream, spices and muscovado sugar into a saucepan and heat until just simmering, stirring all the time. Pour the cream mixture over the eggs and whisk well until blended. Stir in the pumpkin purée until well combined. Transfer to a jug before pouring the filling into your mini pastry cases.
5. Place into the oven for 10 minutes.
6. Once the pies are in the oven use any leftover pastry to cut out any desired pattern for the top of the pies (I used little acorn cutters)  Once the pies have cooked for 8 minutes the top should be set enough to hold the weight of the pastry leaf cut out. Place this on top of the pies (I also egg washed the top to get them nice and golden) and quickly place back into the oven. Cook for a further 18 minutes before removing from the oven.

This was my first attempt at ever making pumpkin pie so they look a little rustic but they taste delicious! Other recipes finished them off with cream cheese but I liked the little pastry acorns! Let me know if you give them a go!

Chocolate Brownies and Bunny Bark - Using left over Easter chocolate🍫

Seeing as Easter is here I thought I would show you some ways I will be using  my Easter chocolate (other than eating it straight as it comes!). I saw these brownies on BBC Good Food so I thought I would give them a go, as well as some Bunny Bark inspired by Pinterest and Chunkydunkchocs. 

Ingredients

•     185g unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
•     185g dark chocolate
•     3 large eggs
•     275g golden caster sugar
•     85g plain flour
•     40g cocoa power
•      5 foundant filled eggs (Cadbury’s Creme Eggs)
•     150g mini eggs

Method

      1. Put the butter and the chocolate in a medium-sized heatproof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water, stirring occasionally until melted. Alternatively, cover the bowl loosely with cling film and microwave at 30 sec intervals until melted. Leave the melted chocolate mixture to cool to room temperature.

      2. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Grease a 20cm square tin with butter and line with 2 long strips of folded baking paper or foil – one running top to bottom, the other left to right then line the base with a piece of baking paper. The strips will help you lift it out later.

      3. Break the eggs into a large bowl and tip in the caster sugar. With an electric mixer on maximum speed, whisk the eggs and sugar for around 5-8 mins or until they look thick and creamy and have doubled in size.

     4. Pour the cooled chocolate mixture over the egg mixture, then gently fold together.

     5.  Sieve the flour and cocoa into the wet ingredients then continue to fold the mixture gently with a spatula just until everything is fully combined, try not to over-mix.

     6. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and carefully level the mixture with the spatula. Put in the middle of the oven and bake for 20 minutes.

     7. Meanwhile, cut the fondant filled eggs in half and set aside then place the mini eggs into a bag. Crush a few of the mini eggs with a rolling pin but leave some whole. After 20 mins take the brownie out of the oven and press in the fondant eggs, cut side up. Scatter over half of the mini eggs too then put it back in the oven for a further 5 mins.

     8. Once baked, top with the remaining mini eggs, leave to cool completely then place in the fridge for about 1hr to firm up. Lift it out of the tin using the strips of baking paper and cut into squares to serve.

For the Bunny bark I don't have an exact recipe as its just based on me chucking a load of seasonal goodies together for Easter. I used 400g of milk chocolate as the base for my slab, as well as a little white chocolate to marble with the milk. I then topped it with crushed Cadbury's Mini eggs, Galaxy Golden Eggs, edible glitter, Waitrose sprinkles and Milky Bar buttons to create bunny faces and ears. I finished the faces off with pink sprinkles for noses and gel colouring for eyes. This is perfect for gifting or keeping for yourself 😉🐰🍫

Hoppy Easter!🐰🐣

Valentines Baking - Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Cookies and Red Velvet Cookies

Whether your all loved up with your boo or having a Galantines day these biscuits are a really easy gift or just a seasonal snack. I made two batches of biscuits; on batch was Red Velvet Chocolate Chip cookies and the second batch was Red Velvet cookies. As you will see from the pictures mine didn't turn out as red as I had hoped but they still taste great!

Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Cookies:

190g plain flour
30g cocoa powder

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

115g butter, softened

115g brown sugar

50g caster sugar

1 egg

1 1/2 tablespoons milk

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 tablespoons red food colouring

170g dark chocolate chips

1. Whisk flour, cocoa powder, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and salt together in a bowl.
2. Beat butter with an electric mixer until fluffy, about 2 minutes; beat in brown sugar and caster sugar until smooth, about 1 minute. Beat egg, milk and vanilla extract into butter mixture; beat in food colouring until uniformly coloured.
3. Stir flour mixture into butter mixture gradually with electric mixer on low speed until combined; stir in chocolate chips. Cover bowl with cling film; place in the fridge for 1 hour or up to overnight.
4. Preheat oven to 180 C /Gas 4. Line baking trays with baking paper.
5. Roll dough into 5cm balls. Place on prepared baking trays, leaving some space for them to spread out as they cook; flatten slightly.

6. Bake in the preheated oven until edges are lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Sprinkle cookies with a few additional chocolate chips; allow to cool completely.

Red Velvet Cookies:

100g butter, softened

100g caster sugar

Red paste food colouring

1 medium egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

200g plain flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

1. Place the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and beat with a wooden spoon until creamy in texture. Beat in enough food colouring to give a good red colour.
2. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract, then stir in the flour, baking powder and salt, beating until it forms a firm dough. Bring the mixture together into a ball with your hands, then wrap in cling film and chill for about an hour.

3. Preheat the oven to 170 C/ 150 C Fan/Gas Mark 5. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured work surface until it’s the thickness of a pound coin. Using a heart shaped cutter, cut out the biscuits and place on baking sheets lined with baking parchment. Re-roll the trimmings to make more biscuits.

4. Bake the biscuits for 8 – 12 minutes until just firm to the touch. Allow to cool for 10 mins before placing on a wire rack to cool completely.

I finished them off with half dipping them in chocolate and some little pink sugar crystals.




 

Let me know if you try any of these recipes out! Tweet me pics at @lucyrickerby if you do! Hope you have a lovely Valentines! XOXO

Valentines Day S'mores ❤️

With Valentines day coming up I thought I would show you a quick recipe from Waitrose. Whether your celebrating Valentines day or Galentines day these are a perfect little gift for the food lover in your life. With the addition of the popping candy they're just as fun to eat as they were to make.



Ingredients

150g Plain flour
25g Cocoa powder
60g Unsalted butter
60g Waitrose Fairtrade Light Brown Muscovado Sugar
70g Golden syrup
6 Waitrose Pink & White Marshmallows, cut in half (I used heart shaped marshmallows)
50g Waitrose Dark or  Milk Chocolate
1 tbsp Cooks’ Homebaking Freeze Dried Strawberries
1 tbsp Heston from Waitrose Popping Candy

1. Preheat the oven to 180ªC, gas mark 5. Place the flour, cocoa, butter and sugar in a food processor (I used a kitchen aid mixer) and whizz until well blended. Add the syrup and whizz again to make a smooth dough. (it did still look quite dry but when you put your hands in the mixture it comes together better to create the dough)

2. Roll the dough out between 2 sheets of baking parchment then, using a 5cm heart-shaped cutter, stamp out 24 shapes. Transfer to a large parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. ( I used two baking trays so I could just put one tray back in the oven without transferring them all onto a cooling rack)

3. Carefully lift 12 of the biscuits onto a wire rack and reserve. Place a marshmallow half onto each of the remaining biscuits and return to the oven for 1–2 minutes until melted. Sandwich the reserved biscuits on top of each marshmallow and leave to cool – they may need nudging back into position if they start to slip.

4. Meanwhile, gently melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Spread a teaspoonful of melted chocolate on top of each sandwich and sprinkle with the dried strawberries and popping candy. Leave to set completely.



These were really simple to make but look fancy with the dried strawberry and popping candy decoration. They also suggest that you use a piping bag with white chocolate to pipe messages onto the biscuits which could make them more personal. You could get some decorative cellophane wrapping or little paper bags with some ribbon to gift them in.  <3

Golden Egg Baked Chocolate Tart

Since Easter is coming up I thought I would upload this recipe I found on BBC good food for all those surplus Galaxy Golden Eggs. I haven't seen many recipes like this one so I thought I'd give it a go! I was really surprised how easy it was to make as well.

For the base:

• 80g butter softened
• 40g golden caster sugar
• 120g self raising flour

For the filling:

• 75g butter
• 100g dark chocolate (70% cocoa)
• 75g golden caster sugar
• 50g plain flour
• 4 large eggs, beaten
• 2 x 80g bags of Galaxy Golden Eggs
• crème fraîche, to serve

1. For the shortbread base, beat the butter and sugar together until light and creamy, then mix in the flour. Press the dough into the base of a 20-21cm tart tin and put in the fridge for 20 mins to harden.
2. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/ gas 4. Prick the base all over with a fork and bake in the centre of the oven for 15 mins until lightly golden.

3. Meanwhile, melt the butter and chocolate together in a saucepan over a low heat. Once melted, stir in the sugar and flour, then gradually beat in the eggs.

4. Pour the filling over the base and cover the top in Golden Eggs. Return to the oven and bake for 12-15 mins or until the fiilling is just set at the edges but the centre is still shiny and a bit wobbly. Remove from the oven and put in the fridge to chill. Can be made a day ahead and kept in the tin overnight. To release from the tin, warm the sides with a hot dishcloth for a couple of mins. Serve with crème fraiche.

Christmassy Baking - Mince Pies and Gingerbread House

To get myself into the festive sprit I deicide to whip up some quick Mince Pies, why by a box when you can make them in a couple of minutes! I simply took some shop bought short crust pastry and filled it with Waitrose ready made mincemeat and to make them look a bit special I cut the tops of the pies into little stars. I did follow a BBC good food recipe for the temperatures and timings which is here.




A Voila!




No one would ever know that you didn't make them from scratch!


I also decided to make a gingerbread house from scratch.... I did not feel this was worthy of a full blog post as Pinterest had raised my expectations over my gingerbread skills! So I just thought I'd add it to this post in case you wanted to try and also make your own gingerbread house! The recipe I used was also from BBC Good Food which can be found here.

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing

I was feeling very seasonal so I decided to have a little bake inspired by pumpkin spice. The recipe was from allrecipes http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/8521/pumpkin-cupcakes.aspx
I personally didn't feel like making my own cream cheese icing, so I used Betty Crocker cream cheese icing as they always taste amazing. If you want to make your own icing the link to the recipe shows you how. I also used spider web and orange cases from Tesco. Finding pumpkin in a shop was quite the challenge but I managed to get it in the American section of a Sainsbury's, I've also seen people get it from Waitrose and Tesco but I couldn't find it. I also added a few spooky eye sprinkles I got from TK Max.

What you will need:

280g plain flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

1/2 teaspoon salt            

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

110g butter, softened

200g caster sugar

5 tablespoons brown soft sugar

2 eggs, room temperature

180ml milk

250g pumpkin, cooked and pureed

Method

1. Preheat an oven to 190 C / Gas 5. Grease 24 muffin cups, or line with paper muffin cases. Sift together the flour, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, clove, allspice, salt, baking powder and bicarb; set aside.

2. Beat 110g of butter, caster sugar and brown sugar with an electric mixer in a large bowl until light and fluffy. The mixture should be noticeably lighter in colour.

3. Add the room-temperature eggs one at a time, allowing each egg to blend into the butter mixture before adding the next.  

4.Stir in the milk and pumpkin puree after the last egg

5.Stir in the flour mixture, mixing until just incorporated

6. Pour the cupcake mixture into the prepared muffin cases

7.Bake in the preheated oven until golden and the tops spring back when lightly pressed, about 25 minutes. Cool in the tins for 5 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack. Allow cupcakes to fully cool and then decorate however you wish. I lined the nozzle of the piping back with orange colouring to try and create a two toned icing but it didn't turn out as great as expected. You'll have to try out the recipe and show me your creations!