Oreo filled s'mores brownies

This summer has provided the perfect conditions for outdoor family vacations. When Finley was little we dabbled in camping and really enjoyed being outdoors but now with Milo having such vocal night terrors I can't imagine being outdoors through the night and not waking every family near us... My in-laws have a caravan which we stayed in the other night and it reminded of how much I loved the camping/caravan lifestyle so hopefully we'll be able to coerce them into lending us their lovely caravan sometime soon ;)

5 ingredient peanut butter cookies

I came across a recipe on Pinterest for peanut butter cookies which looked too good to be true. 5 ingredients - that's it. I thought there was no way it could work, but after extensive googling it seems I'm quite behind in my thinking and this simple recipe really is as easy (and yummy) as it looks!

I love recipes like this as they are made using things I always have in my cupboards and my boys love peanut butter so with the summer holidays just around the corner, I know I can make these as a treat to store in the cookie jar as they keep well for up to a week (if they last!).

Strawberry Puree recipe

The current heatwave in the UK means that a lot of our fruit plants are seeing an abundance of yummy fruit - but you need to pick it quick as the heat also means it is decomposing a lot quicker too.

My friend Maidie kindly let me pick some strawberries from her community garden and after I scoffed a 'decent' amount, I still had some leftover so I thought I'd try my hand at making some strawberry puree as I've been trying to perfect my strawberry buttercream recipe.

Spiced oatmeal cookies with maple syrup drizzle

A couple of weeks ago I tried my hand at making oatmeal creme pies. I've never known my husband rave about a cookie as much as he did when I made that one but it inspired me to look into the humble oatmeal cookie a little more...

I think oatmeal cookies have an air of 'adulthood' since they tend to be chocolate-less and they really do improve with age. I like a crunchy edge on my cookies in general but oatmeal cookies need to be chewy and packed full of flavour so I found a few recipes online that add in copious amounts of cinnamon/nutmeg/ginger to give that hearty taste.

Homemade chalk paint

In my bid to expand my list of summertime activities with the kids, I have been scouring Pinterest looking for some cheap and cheerful things I can make with the boys that will hopefully keep them amused for more than 5 mins during the summer holidays...

Like any typical boys they love to make a mess and Milo has a real creative streak that has him asking to 'do painting' whenever he wants a fun activity to fill his time. As a baker with a tiny house, it's not always practical to get the tablecloths and painting equipment out so when I came across the idea of making my own chalk paint for the garden then I knew this would be perfect!

Patriotic marshmallow pops

I'm positively spoiling you all with 2 blog posts in one day but I just wanted to share a very quick and easy way to celebrate any special occasion with a yummy treat.

I've made these marshmallow pops before and I tend to use the idea for last minute occasions where I don't have the time (or ingredients) to bake.

Patriotic oatmeal creme pie cookies

Happy 4th July everyone! I wanted to make a few sweet treats for the family to make up for the inevitable bbq's and fireworks we're missing out on so I've been searching for a recipe that utilises my cupboard ingredients AND brings home the taste of America for me.

Making room for Swirls Bakery

Happy 200th blog post! (sorry, just needed to celebrate that achievement).

Next month sees the 2nd anniversary of my announcement about my 2nd bakery, Swirls Bakery, becoming a reality. For those if you who missed it, I teamed up with the amazing Maidie from Heavenly Cupcakes to form a new cake bakery business specialising in premium cakes and cupcakes for corporate occasions and other large scale events. We have over 9yrs experience running bakeries so our clients will start to benefit from the work of 2 fab bakers instead of 1!

Swirls has gone from strength to strength over the last couple of years and the time has now come to start to complete our bakery merger and filter all work under the new brand - Swirls Bakery.