Life of Pie

That's right. I made A Life of Pi Pie. Or to make it a bit simpler let's just call it A Life of Pie. I was so proud of it I actually did a little dance around my kitchen once I was done. And as there was no one home I made Posy and the cats and even Gary the tortoise admire it for a full 10 minutes before they returned to their busy schedule of sniffing things and pretending not to have been fed. 

If you don't understand the reference or just simply don't understand how I could be this much of a geek I made the pie to celebrate not only the brilliant film that is 'The Life of Pi' but also to celebrate the fact that it's the Bafta's tonight! There is quite literally nothing I like more than an award ceremony and an award ceremony that actually starts at a reasonable hour! Well that's just too much. A few weeks ago I stayed up till 5 in the morning to watch the Golden Globes which was kind of worth it but also kind of totally not worth it at the same time... Anyway as you can see I'm very excited! And when I'm excited I like to bake. Life of Pi was one of my favourite films of the year, I've tried to see all the Oscary films this year and I think in the end Life of Pi and Silver Linings Playbook were my favourites. But it's harder to come up with a Silver Linings Playbook themed dessert, so I just settled with Life of Pie. For anyone that hasn't seen it, this picture might explain. And yes, I know there's no sail, but without a sail my 'boat' just looked like a mouldy pea pod...

I used a recipe I saw on A Beautiful Mess for Buttermilk and Honey Pie. The only reason I went for it was because I actually had some buttermilk in the fridge which basically never happens! So I got all over excited and made this. I used Agave Syrup instead of honey because I'm not a huge fan of the actual taste of honey and it turned out really well! I decided to make mine 'Halfway Homemade' as well and I bought some mini pastry shells from M&S as well as a big one. The recipe made enough filling for a big pie and 6 mini pies so I ended up with kind of a lot of pie! I probably shouldn't say this but buying ready made pastry shells was amazing! The whole thing took about 5 minutes and the result was probably yummier! 

Life of Buttermilk and Honey Pie Recipe.

From A Beautiful Mess. 

Ingredients:

- 3 eggs,

- 150g caster sugar (2/3 cup)

- 1/2 cup of honey or agave syrup. 

- 2 tbsp plain flour.

- 1 cup of buttermilk.

- 1 tsp vanilla extract. 

Step One - Whisk the eggs with the sugar and honey and stir in the other ingredients. 

Step Two - Pour into store bought pie crus (or homemade!) and bake at 174C (350F) for 40 minutes (the mini pie's took 20 minutes) or until the sides are golden brown and the pie is set (it will still have a slight jiggle at the centre). 

Step Three - While your waiting for your pie to cool make a little boat! I made the boat and the rubber ring out of black fondant (available from Waitrose) and then I stuck a cocktail stick into the boat with a sail shaped sticker attached. I drew the line with writing icing. 

If you decide to make your own Life of Pie (remember, it could be any pie!) for tonight please tweet me a picture and also if you come up with any Bafta movie related food puns. My only other idea was Argo Fro-Yo but I'm not sure how to make frozen yogurt... 

Lots of Love Scarly x 

12 Days To Go - Baker Ross Christmas Activity Pack!

A few weeks ago the lovely people at Baker Ross (an awesome kids arts and craft supplies shop) got in touch with me and asked if I would like to create a recipe for their Christmas Activity Pack eBook. I, of course, said yes and after much pondering I decided to create an extremely easy but extremely tasty recipe for Celebration Chocolate Rocky Road. In case the title doesn't give it away it's basically rocky road with a whole box of chopped up celebrations thrown in, and it's very yummy!

The eBook is free and contains lots of other fun crafty activities and recipes. If you have kids, if you are a kid or if you still think your a kid I would definitely recommend downloading it!

You can download it by clicking HERE.

And in case you weren't already sold, here's a picture of the rocky road...

Lots of love Scarly!

Smores Rocky Road Recipe

I know this might sound wierd to some people but for the first 13 years of my life I had no idea what smores were. I would hear people talking about making smores and had absolutely no idea what they were. Then on a camping trip I had my first ever smore and everything changed. Okay, to be honest not that much changed. But it was very yummy. For anyone else who's still in the smores dark, smores are basically a sandwich of biscuit, chocolate and marshmallow which you can melt together while camping to make one lovely gooey chocolaty yummy thing. 

This rocky road recipe combines all the loveliness of smores, plus toasted almonds. Using marshmallow fluff instead of actual marshmallows means it stays soft and gooey in the middle even after you put it in the fridge! 

Ingredients: 

- 8 graham crackers (or if you cannot find them, good old digestive biscuits will do fine)

- 1 1/2 cups of almonds, toasted and chopped. (to find out how to toast almonds, click here, it's v easy!)

- 1 cup of marshmallow creme, (I used fluff) 

- 340g of chocolate chips. 

- 1 can of condensed milk. 

Step One: Preheat the oven to 190C. Line a 9x13inch baking tray with baking paper. Then line the tray with the graham crackers. Bake for about 8 minutes until biscuits are lightly toasted. 

Step Two: Roughly crush the biscuits into large crumbs and then toss with the almonds in the bottom of the tray. 

Step Three: Dollop the marshmallow creme on top of the biscuits. 

Step Four: In a heatproof bowl set over a pan of boiling water, melt the chocolate and condensed milk, stirring occasionally until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth. 

Step Five: Pour the mixture over the marshmallow creme and use a knife to swirl the mixture with the creme and the biscuits and the almonds. 

Step Six: Refrigerate until set (about 2 hour) and then cut into small pieces. 

You should end up with a lovely chocolaty marshmallow mixture over a bed of crushed biscuits and almonds.

Happy Monday! I have parents evening tonight, SCARY! 

Love Scarlett x. 

Halloween Baking

With only a few hours left till Halloween (YAY!) I thought I'd share some fun Halloween baking I've been doing recently. First I had to make some Scream Cheese Brownies. I found the recipe on the Betty Crocker website. Like my pumpkin cupcake recipe, this one's also a bit of a cheat as it uses brownie mix, but the results are so awesome that I definitely don't care at all!  

Then, to make the brownies EVEN MORE awesome I turned them into Marshmallow ghost brownies using another Betty Crocker method. This is one of the easiest but most effective cake decorating methods I've ever used and I loved how the spooky little brownies turned out. Unfortunately once I'd finished the brownies and left them out on a cake stand for everyone to see, my extremely fat cat Badger came along and decided what he really felt like for dinner, much more than catfood, was 8 little marshmallow ghosts. I think it's safe to say that the ghosts met with a pretty terrifying end. I just hope they gave him scary nightmares to pay for his horrid crime. 

I'm going to my first Halloween party in three years tomorrow! Which is pretty scary but also kind of exciting. I'm dressing up as a cat which I KNOW sounds boring but I think I'm gonna make it pretty awesome (hopefully). I'll be doing a round up of all my Halloween posts tomorrow so check back for some fun ideas. In the morning me and a friend are cycling to a shop to buy pumpkins and then coming home to carve them which will be fun/disgusting (I secretly always kinda hate carving pumpkins)

I hope everyone has a very happy Halloween!

Lots of Love Scarly. 

Recipe - Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes

Now, I want to get something straight, on the whole I disagree completely with cheating. Cheating in tests, cheating on your boyfriend, cheating at monopoly, all very not okay in my books (except for maybe monopoly, if your the bank, and no ones looking). But sometimes, when it comes to baking and crafts, cheating can be allowed. And I think of all holidays halloween is the one where it's most OKAY to cheat. 

This recipe for pumpkin pie cupcakes is most definitely a 'cheat' recipe. It uses cake mix for one thing, and ready made cream cheese icing for another. But it's still yummy, it's still not TOTALLY a cake mix, and it's very very Halloweeny. So it's up to you weather it's worth the cheat, but I personally think it is. 

Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes

Ingredients:

- 1 pack of vanilla cake mix.

- 1 cup of canned pumpkin puree. 

- 2 teaspoons of cinnamon. 

Steps:

1. Put the cake mix, pumpkin puree and cinnamon in a bowl along with the oil, egg and water required from the cake mix.

2. Mix together until smooth. 

3. Bake according to the instructions on the cake mix box. 

4. Your done! Could that be any more easy? (no) 

Don't be alarmed at the texture of the cupcakes. Due to the canned pumpkin they come out more like little pumpkin pies rather than cupcakes so they won't look super pretty. But they taste amazing enough to make up for this. There like the cupcake equivalent of an ugly but very clever person, which we all know is better than a pretty stupid person... 

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Icing.

To make your cheat cinnamon cream cheese icing simply mix together one tub of Cream Cheese Icing and about 4 teaspoons of cinnamon. I love cinnamon but you might not want this much so keep tasting it along the way to test the flavour. 

Now simply pop your icing on your cupcakes and enjoy your Halloweeny goodness!

Love Scarly. 

The Perfect Chocolate Chip - Milk Chocolate and Walnut

Continuing on with the theme of perfect chocolate chips I am following the white chocolate and cranberry recipe with this milk chocolate and walnut one. I took the biscuits in last week after forgetting to do my home work the night before because I was so busy baking (good start to the new term?) and I think (and hope) they went down very well, everyone seemed to like them which was a good thing although I did have a dream the night before that I ended up poisoning everyone in my class with my horrid baking, luckily this didn't happen! 

I had a very big realisation on the weekend which I thought I would share just in case anyone else was as stupid as me and has been making this mistake. I use a lot of American recipes when I'm baking and almost every recipe calls for baking soda. Well, I have now been searching grocery stores for baking soda for about a year without any luck! I usually end up trying to find a different recipe or using double the amount of baking powder instead. This weekend after nearly refusing another recipe due to the fact that it called for baking soda and I still could not find any I realised that baking soda and bicarbonate of soda ARE THE SAME THING! Now I know this I realise it was probably the stupidest mistake of my whole life but it still caused me a lot of pain and trouble over the years and I thought on the off chance that anyone else is making this mistake I would share my story. 

Okay, now that embarrassment is over, here is the recipe! Enjoy! 

Milk Chocolate and Walnut Cookies - adapted from All Recipes

Ingredients:

- 226 grams of butter (1 cup)
- 1 cup of caster sugar
- 1 cup of light brown soft sugar
- 2 eggs
- 3 cups of plain flour
- 1 teaspoon of baking soda (or bicarbonate of soda)
- 2 teaspoons of hot water
- 1/2 teaspoon of salt
- 2 cups of milk chocolate chips
- 1 cup of finely chopped walnuts

Method: 
1. Preheat the oven to 175 degrees C (350 degrees F)
2. Cream together the butter caster sugar and light brown soft sugar.
3. Beat in the eggs one at a time then add the vanilla extract.
4. Dissolve the baking soda in the hot water and add to the mixture along with the salt.
5. Stir in the flour then gradually add the chocolate chips and walnuts.
6. Drop spoonfull's onto an ungreased baking tray making sure to space them far apart (they really spread out!)
7. Bake for 10-12 minutes until the edges turn golden brown.

Love Scarlett. 

The Perfect Chocolate Chip - White Chocolate and Cranberry

Well, I’m officialy back at school! Which is weird and a little scary but hopefully will be very good in the end! On my second day back my new form teacher announced something called ‘form baking’ which is where our whole form takes turns baking things for our weekly form period. I was, of course, very excited by this idea and immediately offered to bake for our first form period! Form period is on Tuesday and I’ve decided to bake chocolate chip biscuits in an attempt to bake my way to some new friends!

Finding the perfect chocolate chip biscuit recipe is definitely a challenge as there are SO many different kinds. But after lots of searching I think I may have found my perfect recipe. If you’ve ever had Millie’s Cookies  before these biscuits come out pretty similar to them and are VERY yummy. I have three different chocolate chip recipes to share over the next few posts and here is the first and my personal favourite – white chocolate and cranberry! Enjoy.

White Chocolate and Cranberry Cookie - adapted from All Recipes

Ingredients:

- 226 grams of butter (1 cup)
- 1 cup of caster sugar
- 1 cup of light brown soft sugar
- 2 eggs
- 3 cups of plain flour
- 1 teaspoon of baking soda (or bicarbonate of soda)
- 2 teaspoons of hot water
- 1/2 teaspoon of salt
- 2 cups of white chocolate chips
- 1 cup of dried cranberry's 

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 175 degrees C (350 degrees F)
2. Cream together the butter caster sugar and light brown soft sugar.
3. Beat in the eggs one at a time then add the vanilla extract.
4. Dissolve the baking soda in the hot water and add to the mixture along with the salt.
5. Stir in the flour then gradually add the chocolate chips and cranberry's.
6. Drop spoonfull's onto an ungreased baking tray making sure to space them far apart (they really spread out!)
7. Bake for 10-12 minutes until the edges turn golden brown.

Love Scarlett.

5 Minute Peanut Butter Fudge Recipe

Lately I've definitely been favouring easy recipes and after the banana ice cream recipe this fudge is definitely the easiest thing I've ever baked! I don't think you can even really call it baking as all it includes is microwaving and stirring! While we were in Cornwall I got it into my head that I needed to make some fudge while we were there (it was either fudge or pastys). I chose a traditional fudge recipe and set about boiling and stirring. Although it felt like I was boiling and stirring and stirring and boiling for HOURS - the fudge still didn't set. It was very sad. 

However in my sadness I stumbled across this recipe and I'm pretty sure I have never tried yummier fudge in my life! And it only takes 5 minutes. It is quite literally a miracle!

5 Minute Peanut Butter Fudge Recipe - (originally from Joy of Baking)

Ingredients:

- 1 cup of smooth peanut butter (240ml) 

- 230g of slightly salted butter (1 cup)

- 1/4 teaspoon of salt

- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

- 450g icing sugar (4 cups)

Step One: Strangely, the hardest part of this recipe is lining the tin! The fudge is very squidgy and formed by the time you put it in the tin so you have to make sure your lining is well stuck down. You can use greaseproof paper or tin foil and the recipe recommends an 8x8inch tin. I lined my tin with butter before greaseproof paper to make sure the paper wouldn't move around when I put the fudge in. 

Step Two: Place the peanut butter, butter and salt in a large microwaveable bowl. Microwave for two minutes on high then stir until the ingredients are combined. Continue to microwave and stir until all the ingredients are melted. 

Step Three: Stir in the vanilla extract and icing sugar until all ingredients are combined.

Step Four: Spread the fudge into the prepared tin and use a spatula to smooth the top over.

Step Five: Place in the fridge and chill for at least two hours (but the longer you keep it in the harder it will be)

Step Six: Enjoy your DELICIOUS fudge. 

Even if you've never made fudge before, or even if you've never baked before, I would seriously recommend trying this recipe, it's fun, quick, easy and I promise you that you will never be more popular than after bringing out a bowl of this fudge. 

Happy Saturday! 

Love Scarlett. 

One Ingredient Banana Ice Cream Recipe

Okay, a lot of recipe blog addicts out there may already know this recipe but if you don't can I just prepare you to have your mind completely blown. At first you will 100% completely not believe this is going to work but TRUST ME it works ever single time. I don't even like bananas that much but this banana ice cream is my family's new addiction. It's yummy, creamy, custardy and just generally amazing. 

Step Two: Pop the banana coins into the freezer for two - three hours.

Step Three: Place all the frozen coins into the blender (or food processor) and blend. This step is magic! In a few seconds they will go from rock hard banana slices to crumbs and then magically turn into thick, rich, creamy ice cream.

If you want your ice cream a little chunkier like the picture above you can take it out of the blender while there are still some pieces in it. The longer you blend the smoother and creamier the ice cream will be. 

This is what my ice cream looked like after a few more seconds in the blender and personally I prefer it this way. 

Once this process is over, chances are your ice cream is going to be pretty sloppy as the bananas have been out of the freezer for quite a while. We found it was best served after chilling in the freezer for a little while longer after we'd made it. But having said that the first batch we made we couldn't resist eating it straight away! 

The ice cream will last perfectly in the freezer so feel free to make as much as you want. But make sure you put a lid on whatever you are storing it in or else it might absorb the other smells from your freezer (my mum loves to keep fish in the freezer.)

The other amazing thing about this recipe is that you don't even need that many bananas. I used three bananas when I was making it and that made two whole bowls of ice cream (both the bowls from the pictures above). 

If you do try out the recipe please leave a comment to tell me how it went!

Love Scarly xx