OH MY. Like seriously. These are, just wow. I thought they were just going to be delicious hot, but they were pretty good when they cooled down as well. The chocolate obviously melts when it’s cooked but it doesn’t go solid again when the pie cools down.

Ingredients:

3 oz. fresh raspberries

1 bar of milk chocolate (typically 150g)

1 egg beaten

1 pack of short crust pastry or homemade

Method:

First of all, start by cutting out 8 circles of pastry in one size of cutter, relatively small but large enough to fit a couple pieces of chocolate and some raspberries on.

Next cut out 8 larger circles, big enough to cover the filling and crimp down the edges.

Now you can do the filling, put two squares of chocolate in the centre of the smaller circle and put a few raspberries on top.

Using the beaten egg, brush some around the rim on the pastry circles and then put the large circle over the top and use a fork to crimp the edges. The egg helps to seal the two pastry circles together.

Once you have sealed all of the pies, take a knife and cut 4 slits in a cross on the top of the pies to allow any moisture to get out. Then put an egg wash on all of the pies.

Put the pies in the oven at 190C for 25 to 27 minutes.

Wait for them to cool slightly or the raspberries will burn your mouth. Then enjoy, no doubt you will!

Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with Blue Buttercream Icing

Ingredients:

Cupcakes -

4 oz self raising flour

4 oz butter

4 oz sugar

2 eggs

½ oz cocoa powder

1 pack of chocolate chips (typically 100g)

Icing –

5 oz butter

10 oz icing sugar

1 – 2 tbsp milk

Blue food colouring

Methods:

Start by making the cupcakes. Cream together the butter and sugar until it is light and fluffy. Add in the eggs and mix together well. Fold in the flour and cocoa powder to the mixture then do the same with the chocolate chips.

Spoon the mixture out into 12 cupcake cases and put in a preheated oven at 160C for roughly 20 minutes.

It is always best to cook cakes on a low heat so that you get an even bake and you don’t burn the tops. When it is coming to the end of the cooking time, keep a close eye on them and keep checking by either sticking a knife in and seeing if it comes out clean or pressing lightly on the top and seeing if it springs back.

Take the cakes out of the oven and leave them to cool.

In the meantime, make the blue icing. Obviously you can make them any colour but I wanted to do something a bit different instead of my typical pink!

First cream the butter till it is smooth, and then slowly adds in the icing sugar making sure that it is all blended together. Then add in the milk and food colouring. Whisk it all together until it is thoroughly blended together then pour into a piping bag to pipe onto the cakes.

C … is for Crisps

My weakness, the ultimate guilty pleasure, and the one thing it is hardest to give up.

I WILL get there and I WILL give them up for good, I just need to find something to replace them with first, and that is going to be a challenge and a half.

For me, the deal breaker has always been crisps. You could hand me a packet of practically any flavour and I would most likely eat them.

It’s a problem, someone please help me!

B... is for Baking

I love making cakes, with pink icing of course! I haven’t been baking as much recently as they aren’t healthy but I will always love it. Here’s some cakes I’ve made before!

I recently made a cake in a soup tin (I washed it first don’t worry) and it actually worked! It wasn’t the prettiest cake I’ve ever made but it was still cool to make.

It was also my sister’s birthday at the beginning of the week so I also made her birthday cake. Pretty normal looking huh?

And as if by magic, there are malteasers inside!

Until next time.

The Sad Reality

I’m not sure if many of you know but over the summer I’ve been working in a local convenience shop (which I cant name or I’ll be in trouble!). So while I’ve been working there, I’ve really noticed the eating habits of some of our customers.

Now I will just add in here that I know it is quite hypocritical what I am saying and that I shouldn’t be so judgemental when I know that I have also been out and spent £5 or even more at a time on junk food. However, saying that the whole point of my blog is that I am on a journey to a better life, and by the time I have children I will have figured out a good balanced diet for them! I certainly don’t want them having sweets every night…

I mostly work evenings, which obviously doesn’t always paint a very good picture as the customers are normally there for the chocolate or alcohol.

But this is honestly not the most shocking part. The amount of sweets that parents buy for their children is incredible, incredibly awful that is. We often have our regular customers come in on a daily basis and since I work 4 or 5 days a week I do pick up on what they buy quite a lot.

Cringey I know but with obesity in the news headlines more and more frequently, it’s interesting to observe families to see what they’re like! And who doesn’t love a good bit of people watching.

Anyway there’s one particular family that comes to mind as I’m writing this. As far as I’m aware I have only met the two sisters and their mum.

The sisters argue like crazy, even in the shop, I even get embarrassed serving them – it’s that bad!

Every day that I work, they come in a buy so much junk food, it makes me feel sick even thinking about it. Obviously the shop has a small chilled section and we have steak slices or chicken and bacon or chicken tikka, you name it! The girls also buy these because they are normally on offer…they have got to be the most awful looking things ever!  Plus the thought of all the calories, fat, carbs and processed meat that goes in them makes me feel quite nauseous!

I’m going a little bit off topic here. So out of the two sisters, one must be about 14 who is a pretty average size (surprisingly because of what she eats) and the other is about 15 but she is without a doubt overweight, obviously at no surprise to any of us. I think its really sad that this has happened to her but whenever they come in with their mum, it’s not like she does anything about it and still lets them buy it.

No their mum is a different case, the complete opposite to myself, where she doesn’t eat enough…and it’s pretty obvious.

I think its pretty bad that we live in a society where eating disorders are so common nowadays. Yes, the NHS say that they are addressing it but they clearly aren’t or obesity cases wouldn’t be rising so rapidly and unfortunately it’s something I see everyday. I’m only one person out of thousands who are obese but I am slowly getting there and one day I hope to be able to influence and help people on their own journey to a better life.

Also, if you actually read this, please let me know! I have no idea who really reads it so it would be nice to actually thank whoever you are. (sorry family, you don’t count because I give you no choice but to read it!)