Easy Easter Baking with Crème Egg

As you might have seen from my recent Friday Favourites post I headed down to the Crème Egg Café, in London yes it is a real place and it is AWESOME with Crème Egg toasties galore providing many new Crème Egg recipe ideas.

The reason for attending the Crème Egg Cafe was to meet Martha Collison from the Great British Bake Off to try some of her egg-cellent (see what I did there?!) recipes. If you are looking for some Crème Egg recipe ideas I have the recipe for you and its super easy!!!

From Martha Collison recipes in collaboration with Crème Egg I have made the 'Crème Egg Gooey Rocky Road Bars' and they are so delicious and very rich with dark chocolate, marshmallows, apricots and of course, Crème Eggs galore. This unique Creme Egg recipe is great to share with friends, especially with the lead up to Easter.

 Although I have not taken the plunge and made a YouTube video Martha has created a simple step-by-step way to achieve that perfect bake Mary Berry would be proud of.

Recipe to make 24 squares

Prep time: 25 mins Chill time: 2 hours 

Ingredients:

· 9 mini Cadbury Creme Eggs  or 2 large ones

· 75g butter

· 220g dark chocolate 

· 2tbs golden syrup

· 150g digestive biscuits

· 50g mini marshmallows

· 180g dried apricot, chopped

Method:

1. Line a 20x35cm brownie tin with baking parchment / if like me there is no baking parchment use some butter and set aside.

2. In a large heatproof bowl set over a pan of boiling water, melt the butter and chocolate together until they are smooth then stir in the golden syrup.

3. Roughly chop the digestive biscuits and mix them with the apricots and mini marshmallows. Eat the extras as you go.

4. Add the dry mix into the chocolate and mix to combine. Make sure everything is well coated in chocolate or the rocky road won’t stick together.

5. Press the mixture into the tin using the back of a spatula or wooden spoon, then push in the whole Mini Creme Eggs in. Space them evenly apart so there will be a massive small piece of egg in each square.

6. Chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours to set.

7. Use a sharp knife to slice into 24 squares. To keep it as solid as possible, store in the fridge until ready to eat.

This recipe was created by egg-spert baker Martha Collison using my faves Cadbury Creme Eggs. Remember to share your photos tagging my Twitter @Time2Gossip and Instagram @FionaLouiseKay

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OOTD: Jumpsuit

I have found a new love for covering up and it's because of this stunning Paisie jumpsuit. I have never been one for jumpsuits, I have always found them quite boxy and quite unflattering on a petite frame but oh how times have changed. This baby has such a nice fitting with a low v-neck with gold buttoning. The fastening is also in a great potions as it really sucks you in, in all the right places, although you can’t eat too much, should of gone for a size 8 really.

As this outfit is basically all black matched with my Primark sandals so I decided to throw a little colour in with a plum handbag from my favourite; Kate Spade, I love this one as it's so simple with a gold twist fastening which matches the gold buttoning perfectly. The bag is quite small so you are going to have to be quite picky with what you choose to go inside, there is enough room for a few bits of makeup, phone and bank cards. I added a glitzy necklace from Kate Spade which is the perfect bit of bling and really sparkles against the light.

Paisie Jumpsuit (Now ON SALE)

Shoes: Similar one from Public Desire

Handbag: Kate Spade
Necklace: Kate Spade

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Friday Favourites: 19th February

I am loving February for a mountain of reasons; I met Edie, my besties new born baby. There is day dedicated to love and even better a day dedicated to the fluffy loveliness of pancakes. If this wasn’t enough my birthday is on the 28^th, so as you can see it’s a pretty decent month so happiness all around. Amongst all of that I thought I would share some of the things I have been lusting over this week:

I received these for Valentine’s day but have not had the time to post about them yet but the perfect way to my heart is food and if you mix this with roses you have a winner. These allbutter rose biscuits are just delicious you can see crystallised rose petals pouring through with a delicate rose flavour and beautiful packaging.

Also I need to do a shout out about the new Evelyn Rose EDP the velvety rose scent is just amazing. The fragrance features soft heart notes with hints of peach, nectar, citrus and amber creating a sensual scent. The bottle is pretty beautiful as well!! 50ml, £45. This scent is also enriched in the Evelyn Rose Body Cream for a heavenly experience. The Evelyn Rose Body Cream is £30.

The other week I headed down to Maître Choux which is based in South Kensington after hearing about the best Éclairs and Choux pastries in town. Look how pretty they look, each one looks like it took hours to make with love poured in. I want more now! 

As you might know I have been on a health kick since January and this week Mini Babybel Light has been my snack of choice, I have been really missing cheese but these little babies are only 42 calories per Babybel and they are delicious. Stacey Solomon has also been getting involved with this campaign encouraging people to be healthier by getting London commuters on pogo sticks to get to work. Why not try them this week to lighten up your lunch?!

I am in love with the SS16 collection from River Island it’s got me really excited to see the other collections from London Fashion Week. The new collection is full of swede, floral prints and cute waistcoats. This SS16 beauties are going to be a winner for sure…what should I buy first?!? 

I headed to the Creme Egg Cafe this week and it was glorious. Humour around every corner in true Creme egg style including a ball pit which I jumped right in. On the menu there are Creme Egg toasties and as a special treat I got to taste some special recipes created by Great British Bake Off star Martha Collison including Creme Egg Rocky Road and Creme Egg Caramel Squares. Keep an eye out for my take on the Rocky Road bars shortly!

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Easy Green Thai Curry

I do love cooking when I get the time but sometimes it's easy to get in a routine of cooking the same meals instead of venturing into the unknown. With so many amazing recipes and with brands making it even easier with ready-made sauces there is no excuse not to try something new. I always try to set some time aside every week to create something new and have found it can be a great way to use up leftover veg. 

Today I am cooking one of my fave dishes, which I fell in love with whilst traveling round South East Asia; Green Thai Curry (in Thai: Kaeng Khiao Wan) this dish can be found in all corners of Thailand and now all over the world. Now when you look at some of the ingredients required it's easy to be put off but you will be pleasantly surprised about what brands have to offer these days like the Blue Dragon Green Thai Curry ‘3 Step’ one pack is the Thai Green Curry paste, the other is Coconut milk then you have a seasoning pouch with chilies, sweet Thai basil & kaffir lime leaves. The mix of all of these ingredients makes a delicious sweet, hot, aromatic Thai curry that will stir your senses.

You don’t need to make the same old boring stir fry!

With Thai food there are also so many simple starters and side dishes so for this dish I decide to pair Blue Dragon Sweet Chili Dipping Sauce with mini poppadoms usually linked with Indian dishes but they taste so good with the dipping sauce and in dipped in the Green Thai Curry.

Serving Size: 2

·        Blue Dragon Green Thai Curry 3 Steps packet  (If you wanted to make it from scratch you could use Blue Dragon Coconut Milk, Thai Green Curry Paste & Fish sauce)

·        150g Prawns (you can also use chicken or stick with just a veggie portion) 

·        A good handful of mange tout (green beans will also work well)

·        1 X Carrot

·        2 X Garlic bulbs 

·        A good handful of Spinach 

·        2 cups of Sticky Thai rice (You can find this in most supermarkets)

Side Dish:

·        Poppadoms 

·        Blue Dragon Sweet Chili Sauce

I hope this post has made you feel more confident in making more delicious dishes outside your comfort zone and how simple they can be. 

This post is an entry to the Foodies100 Chinese New Year recipe challenge sponsored by Blue Dragon products is available in all major supermarkets at an RRP from £0.69. To find out more, visit www.bluedragon.co.uk.

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Review: Nip & Fab Viper Venom Collection

I have always been a fan of Nip + Fab and with new additions to the best selling Viper Venom collection, I could not wait to try them.

The packaging is black and green to mirror venom and I have admit these colours do not currently feature on my beauty cabinet, they are usually light, white or pastel with rose gold seeping through. By having something a bit different amongst all my makeup I actually found I used it more because it did not blend in with everything else. Note to self...insert colour into beauty routine. 

So in the Viper Venom range there are two new additions:

Micro Blur Fix 

This see through gel is thick and has a slightly rough texture which I believe helps keep your makeup up in place for longer, well that's what I thought it did anyway. When you use the gel its goes on easily and melts into your skin leaving no residue, which is fab. It was definitely a good primer but I am not sure if there was much blurring going on which was one of the products promises but maybe I just have such smooth skin...HA. Anyway it did provide a pretty flawless selfie when it came to taking a photo and thats all the matters in this vain vain world! 

Getting into the nitty gritty details there are some pretty high-tech sounding ingredients including 

• SYN-AKE which helps smooth out all the wrinkles.
• Liftonin-Xpress which reduces the appearance of those pesky pores.
• Aesthetic enhancing polymers which helps to try and create a soft focus finish and reduce shine.

A little tip, when you use Micro Blur Fix pay attention to your t-zone as that is where your skin is usually more oily and allow it to absorb before you apply makeup, a minute or two will do. Micro Blur Fix retails at £19.95.

Frown Fix 

So my frown lines are not so much of a worry for me, it is the ones on my forehead and in-between my eyes that are the problem!!!! It is ok though because Nip + Fab are here with this little peach or in other words 'Frown Fix' and it works on all expression lines (that's better than saying wrinkles, right?!) 

Again this product has the magic ingredient of SYN-AKE which some how freezes lines for a smooth finish. I really like the fact it come in a brush pen as it is so much easier to use and with it's compact size you can easily pop it in your handbag to blur away those lines throughout the day. Again there is more funky sounding ingredients which magical sounding properties:

• SYN-AKE which helps relax your expression lines.
• GRANT-X that reduces lines and wrinkles and also boosts collagen production.
• Hyaluronic Acid that hydrates the skin. 

Frown Fix retails at £19.95.

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REVIEW: Crabtree & Evelyn Spring Nail Lacquer Collection

This latest nail lacquer collection from Crabtree & Evelyn is really cementing the brand to be a big player in the nail polish world. When most people think of C&E I would not say nail polish is the first thing that pops to mind but things will change after they see these delicious, bright spring colours. The shades mirror spring blooms and these lacquers are perfect to match the spring scene and who wouldn't want that ?!?

The great thing about nail lacquer from Crabtree and Evelyn is they are lovingly created with no toxic chemicals that you usually find in other brands and they still last as long with a luscious creamy texture. YEY.

The colours in the collection are stunning and the names are taken from beautiful blooms:

Almond: I do love a good muted beige shade and this one is a little darker adding more definition than the others in my collection. The darker hues make the colour really pop. 

Lilac: You don't usually see this deeper shade of lilac, it is usually more muted tones so this is perfect for something a bit different and perfect with an all white or black outfit.

Peaches & Cream: I think this is one of my favourites for an all day look. The opalescent peachy shimmer is going to be a hot shade this Spring.

Azalea: You always need a brand new bright pink shade for the season and Azalea is just perfect. 

Mint: This colour is perfect for when you want to liven up your nails from the usual shades and too add a stylish tone.

Poppy: With red and orange hues mixing a tinge of pink this shades really mirrors the stunning flower it is named after.

These shades will launch in Spring 2016 but you can get them online now. RRP £6.00.

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