Super Gooey Chocolate Brownies

Happy Friday to you all! It dawned on me last week that I haven't actually shown you guys my favourite baked treat before. They have been featured on a guest post over on the lovely Lizzie's blog but I've never put them on my blog. As they are my favourite thing to bake and by far my favourite thing to eat, I had to share the recipe with you guys.

 I mentioned last night on Twitter that there's nothing more satisfying than having a tin full of homemade brownies. As I'm writing this post, I am so tempted to sneak downstairs and have another one, I will try and refrain from doing so as it's just gone 11pm. If I don't just cut them up and eat them straight away, I put them in the microwave for about 30 seconds, they come out all gooey, warm and chocolatey, like they have just come out of the oven.

I made brownies in my Minnie Mouse Silicone cake mould last week and they were super adorable, I posed a picture of those on Instagram if you fancy a look! However, that didn't turn out to be very practical as it involved baking four individual brownies, so it took about three hours in total. Some of the brownie also got stuck inside so all but one kind of failed. I usually just bake them in a square baking tin, as shown above. I line the tin with greaseproof paper and leave two flaps at either side so it's super easy to lift out of the tin when they come out of the oven. As you can see here, I had to use tin foil this week as I forgot to buy greaseproof paper, it worked fine too though! This recipe makes about 12 portions and I promise you after trying this once, it will be your go to brownie recipe!

Ingredients:

300g caster sugar
3 eggs
200g dark chocolate
200g butter
70g plain flour
1tsp baking powder

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4, line a square baking tin with greaseproof paper and grease the rest of the tin with butter. 

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar and eggs.

3. In a second bowl, break the chocolate into small chunks, cut the butter into cubes and microwave until melted. Do this in 30 second intervals, stirring in between each to make sure you don't burn the chocolate.

4. Once slightly cooled, add the chocolate mixture to the first bowl. Stir in until everything is completely combined. 

5. Sift the flour and baking powder into the bowl and fold in gently. Try not to stir the mixture. 

6. Pour into the tin and bake for 25-30 minutes. I find that the trick of putting a knife into cakes to see if they're cooked doesn't really work with brownies as you want them to still be slightly gooey inside. So bake until the edges start to come away from the sides of the tin. 

I hope you'll all give these brownies a go and be sure to tweet me if you do. Happy baking! 

July Favourites

Upon compiling these few bits that I've been loving this month I realised that over half of them are things that I've been using to make sure I smell good this month. It's been so hot and muggy here in July that things like a good deodorant are super important.

Black Clutch Bag 
So, I went a little crazy this month and actually left my house for an evening out. I realised that I don't actually own any clutch bags or even small handbags for taking out with me on a night out. I ventured into Penneys and found this beauty for only €3, which for the amount of use I will get out of it was about all I was willing to pay for a clutch. It's exactly what I was looking for, super simple, matte black faux leather effect with gold detailing and I am in love with it. I may even have to go out a few more times just to use it. 

Boots Extracts Cocoa Butter Body Wash

Last week, I talked about the body butter and scrub from this range, you'll find my review here. I decided to use up the body wash this month as it smells amazing. That's all I'm really looking for in a body wash and this delivers. The smell also lingers on your skin for quite awhile after, so I find myself sniffing my own arm at various points of the day.

Maybelline The Rocket Volum' Express Mascara
Everyone has been raving about this mascara for so long and I am now ready to jump on the bandwagon. It does exactly what it says on the tin, creates amazingly voluminous lashes with no clumps in sight, fabulous! 

Mitchum Advanced Control Shower Fresh Anti-Perspirant & Deodorant 

Like I said above, it's really important to keep yourself smelling fresh all day. This deodorant does exactly that. This has been a favourite of mine for many months now but I decided to add it to this months favourites as it has been well and truly put to the test this month. 

Charlie Black Body Fragrance 

I am a big fan of body sprays, I think they're great to keep in your handbag or overnight bag and spray generously throughout day. something that you're unable to do with a perfume without using up a whole bottle. I'm really enjoying this one at the moment as I find that the scent actually sticks around, so I don't feel like I'm just using it as a room spray! On the boots website the scent is described as "a sparkling creation of mandarincherry and white musk", in case you were wondering. 

So those are the things that I have been loving this month! Leave a comment below telling me what your favourites have been in the month of July! 

Chocolate Swirled Banana Cupcakes

I can't believe it's Sunday again and I haven't blogged since Wednesday. I knew I couldn't go more than a week without posting a recipe though. That's something I want to keep to, if nothing else. I do really miss blogging though, and I cannot wait for my two days off this week to just sit down and blog. Anyway, this week  I am bringing you Chocolate Swirled Banana Cupcakes. Anything that includes chocolate is always a hit for me and there's nearly always bananas in my kitchen that need to be used up.

Banana bread was the first thing that I ever made from scratch, so it's an old favourite of mine. I decided a few months back, after getting bored of the plain banana bread recipe that I would throw some chocolate in the mix, to change things up a bit. This got mixed reviews in my house, some people didn't like the chocolate taste with the banana, but I liked it. As I said earlier, anything with chocolate in it, I will probably eat.
These cupcakes are so easy to make and I made around 18 cupcakes with this recipe. Happy baking!

Ingredients:

150g caster sugar
120ml vegetable oil
2 eggs
2 bananas
220g plain flour
1tsp baking powder
1tsp cinnamon
1tsp vanilla extract
3tbsp cocoa powder

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4 and line the cupcake tin with cases. 

2. In a large bowl, mix  the flour, cinnamon and baking powder. 

3. In a separate bowl,  whisk together the sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla. 

4. Mash up the bananas, in the third smaller bowl. 

5. Slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients until they're fully combined. 

6. Fold in the bananas.

7. Take two small bowls and divide up the mixture, 1/3 in one bowl and 2/3 in the other. 

8. Add the cocoa powder to the bowl with the smaller amount of mixture, add 2 tablespoons of milk if it becomes to dry. 

9. Place 1 teaspoon of the plain mixture into the cupcakes cases, followed by a teaspoon of the chocolate mixture, then a further teaspoon of the plain mixture on top. Continue to do this with all the cupcakes.

10. Swirl the mixture in the cases, lightly, with a toothpick to make the swirls. 

11. Place in the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.

Enjoy!

Sandal Ready Feet

Today I am tackling the subject of a certain body part that most people do not like to talk about, feet. Before you click off this instantly after hearing the word "feet", I promise you there will be no foot close ups or I will not be letting you know the full extent of my foot neglect. I just want to show you guys the little routine that I put into action when it's time to ditch the heavy socks and boots and bring out the sandals.

Firstly, I soak my feet in a dish full of warm water. Most of the time it's more like hot water because I find that softens them the best. I then go in with generous amount of Soap & Glory's Scrub Of Your Life, I mostly use this on my heels. I would also suggest buying a foot file and using it after you wash off the scrub to really get your heels nice and soft. After that, I soak them again, in clean hot water. All that's left do then is to pat your feet dry and apply a generous amount of moisturiser. I use Boots Extracts Cocoa Butter Body Butter all over my feet and I then go in with Soap & Glory's Heel Genius on just my heels. I would suggest putting on a big pair of fluffy socks until all the moisturiser has been absorbed.

My favourite kind of polish to apply on my toes is Rimmel's Salon Pro Nail Varnish. The one pictures here is in the colour, Jazz Funk. I find Gel Effect nail varnish's look best on the toes. They last a super long time and they look really good and shiny for quite awhile. Minimal touch ups required!

Anyone else guilty of neglecting their feet?

Sunday Soup: Carrot, Orange & Lentils

So, my blog has been somewhat lacking in posts this week and I must apologise for that. I really haven't felt myself at all this week and I started my new job yesterday. After breaking my camera and realising that the quality of my photos was going to be awful (and has been for a few posts) it really got me down. I know photos aren't the most important thing about the blog, but in my opinion they are something that needs to be of good quality. So now I am stuck as to what to do next. I'm thinking of buying a compact canon camera that will do me until Christmas when I've saved up some money for a DSLR. I hate uploading a post with really bad quality photos, it doesn't look good and I know people will notice. I'm hoping to get organised on my few days off before working the end of the week & weekend. I really enjoy blogging and I always feel bad when I don't post regularly!

However, earlier this week I started experimenting with soups and although I am well aware of how hot it is, I still can' help myself. I am praying for Winter. I made this wonderful carrot, orange and red spilt lentil soup. The orange makes it quite zest-y and the lentils are a great source of protein. The potato is optional depending if you would like to thicken the soup up or not. It's been tried and tested by myself and my brother this week and it is a hit. So I knew I had to share it with you guys!

600g carrots
1 small onion

2 tbsp butter
1 medium potato (optional)
200g lentils
1 zest & juice of orange
2 vegetable stock cubes
800ml boiled water

1. Place the butter in the pan, along with the onions. Simmer on a low heat for five minutes.

2. Add the chopped carrots and potato, simmer for a further five minutes. 

3. Mix together the boiled water and stock cubes, add this to the vegetables. As well as adding the juice and zest of the orange then also add the lentils.

4. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes until the carrots begin to soften. 

5. Remove from heat and leave to cool before liquidizing with a hand blender. 

6. This recipe makes four big servings and I kept it it in air tight containers in the fridge and freezer!