Getting Christmas Wrapped Up with Hamper.com

December is fast approaching, and despite working two more jobs than I was this time last year, I feel that I've got this Christmas lark well and truly under control. I'm so organised that I actually hate myself right now. I've bought and wrapped presents, hand made a pom pom wreath , baked a Christmas cake, prepped ingredients (including a 2018 silver sixpence) for making a Christmas pudding on Stir it Up Sunday this weekend, and even planned my menus for the festive period. 

If you see me out and about with a smug grin on my face then kick me and tell me to get a grip and remind me that it's still only November!

LUXURY GIN HAMPER

Fortunately, for those of you that don't have Christmas wrapped up yet, there's still plenty of time for shopping before the big day. If you don't have the time or inclination to fight the crowds on the high street, or sift your way through the stream of 'hot deals' online, fear not, there is a simpler 'one stop' way to shop for your family and friends this Christmas, and you will barely have to lift a finger.

Whether your recipient is into wine, beer, gin, chocolate or even cheese, there are ready made Christmas hampers to suit all tastes and budgets at hampers.com.

I've received three such hampers, with the first being the Luxury Gin Hamper containing a half bottle of Hendrick's gin, a couple of Fever Tree tonics, chocolate limes, shortbread and olives. It arrived in a strong double walled cardboard box lined with wood shavings. The hamper.com website shows the contents of each box clearly on the page, in both the description and images scrolling underneath, and all hampers come with free UK delivery, and in many cases the delivery is next day.

CHRISTMAS CRACKER HAMPER

The second hamper I received was the Christmas Cracker hamper, which again arrived in a presentation box and was filled with treats to enjoy over Christmas, including a jar of luxury cranberry sauce and a Christmas pudding to serve 3-4.

CHOCOLATE INDULGENCE HAMPER

The final hamper would suit chocoholics out there, and is presented in a wicker basket, although disappointingly it wasn't the white one that was pictured on the website. There's a great selection of indulgent chocolate treats in the basket though, including a hot chocolate stick, truffles, popcorn and honeycomb.

LUXURY GIN HAMPER UNBOXED

Whilst it's definitely cheaper to put hampers together yourself, not everyone enjoys shopping for the individual items to fill a basket as much as me, nor may they have the time. Ready made hampers from hampers.com come with the utmost convenience and are available to deliver all over the UK, and a limited number of hampers can also be sent to many countries worldwide. If you don't quite see what you're looking for within the huge range of ready made hampers then it's also possible to create your own, and include anything you like from fresh apples and oranges to Wensleydale cheese and Champagne.

If you're looking to send a surprise to friends and family that you can't be with this Christmas, whether you're living overseas or they are, then sending a hamper is the perfect gift. Who doesn't love receiving a hamper filled with your favourite goodies!

What are you waiting for? Go and get your Christmas wrapped up too!

In collaboration with hampers.com

Cherry Chocolate No Churn Ice Cream

It's been a crazy busy few weeks, with starting two new jobs, as well as getting stuck into my new gym membership. The weather has been great, which means we've been spending more time that usual sitting in pub gardens and socialising with friends.  We've got holidays to look forward to, and then before we know it we'll be in the thick of the pre Christmas build up!

Before all that though, I'm hoping we've still got a good few weeks of Summer sunshine left, with barbecues and al fresco dining aplenty.

Home made no churn ice cream can be the perfect ending to a barbecue, especially as it's simple to make in advance, and if served in a cone there's no additional plates or bowls to wash.

A couple of weeks ago I shared a recipe for Peanut Butter & Pretzel No Churn Ice Cream, which went down extremely well in our household, even with the self confessed peanut butter hating husband.

No churn ice cream made using condensed milk is a simple way to make ice cream, which can be tailored to suit all tastes. To the basic condensed milk and cream base you can stir through your favourite chocolates or biscuits, such as these previous recipes of mine for Chocolate Oreo Ice Cream, After Eight Mint Chocolate Ice Cream and Caramel Ice Cream, or with home grown fruit, such as this Rhubarb Ripple Ice Cream.

This Cherry Chocolate Ice Cream was also extremely to make, made with fresh seasonal cherries, dark chocolate chunks, and a little Nutella.

Once you've made your ice cream you then need to make sure you freeze it at the correct temperature - too cold and you'll need a chisel to serve it, and not cold enough it will begin to thaw.

The arrival of our Samsung American Fridge Freezer from AO came just at the right time for us; in the middle of a heatwave. The large capacity fridge and freezer with all around cooling, means that even when it's full to the brim, all the food is evenly chilled at the correct temperature, without any warmer or colder spots.

The Brita water dispenser is ideal if you want to have cold water on tap without the need for plumbing in your appliance. The  large water container can be easily filled, and once chilled it dispenses cold water at a touch, without the need to open the fridge doors. Perfect for this hot weather! It's also a bit of a looker..

HANDSOME BEAST

I received the product in exchange for an honest review

Cadbury Creme Egg Chocolate Brownies

Easter is just around the corner, which means that chocolate will be coming out of our ears pretty soon. Why wait until Easter to eat Creme Eggs though, especially as they've been in the shops since Christmas, unless of course you've given up chocolate for lent, in which case you'll have to wait a couple more weeks!

Chocolate brownies are a very popular dessert in this household, especially served warm with vanilla ice cream. For these Cadbury Creme Egg brownies I used the same recipe as my Jammie Dodger Brownies but increased the quantity slightly as I wanted the brownies to be thick enough to surround the Creme Egg half.

Crispy on the top and rich and gooey inside. So indulgent and hard to resist.

If you want neat squares then wait until fully cooled before slicing, however if you can't wait then just grab a spoon and dive in whilst they're still warm!

Cadbury Creme Egg Chocolate Brownies - makes 12

250g butter

240g dark chocolate

325g caster sugar

4 medium eggs

80g cocoa powder

70g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

6 Cadbury Creme eggs, halved

• Add the butter & chocolate to a saucepan over a low heat and stir until melted
• Set aside until cooled slightly
• Whisk the sugar & eggs together until pale and creamy and doubled in size
• Sift together the cocoa powder, flour and baking powder
• Whisk the melted chocolate & butter into the eggs and sugar
• Fold in the flour, cocoa powder & baking powder until fully combined
• Pour mixture into a baking tin lined with baking paper (I used 11 x 7 inch pan)
• Bake in a preheated 160 degree C oven for 20 minutes
• Add the Creme Egg halves before baking for an additional 20 minutes - you want the top to be crispy and the centre to be a little gooey

Triple Chocolate Waffle Ice Cream Sandwich

It's been a bit quiet on the blogging front recently, and I seem to have lost my baking mojo a bit. I just hope it returns very soon as I have mincemeat slices, chilli cheese scones and cookies that I want to make in the run up to Christmas. 

Last week my mojo returned for just one day and I made the most of it but rustling up a quick dessert when Jack had a friend round for tea. I know ice cream is generally reserved for the Summer months, but my kids like ice cream all year round so we usually have a tub of vanilla in the freezer for weekends. Last week I treated them to a tub of triple chocolate, which worked perfectly sandwiched in between homemade chocolate waffles, and then dipped in yet more chocolate.

I saw the idea for Ice Cream Tacos on Facebook recently, and shared the video recipe on my page, whilst thinking 'y'know, I reckon I could give those a go, they look super simple' . Well, like most of those food videos by Tasty & the like, it's not always as easy as it first looks. Firstly, my waffle maker isn't a waffle cone maker (adds waffle cone maker to Christmas wish list), and secondly, unless you have some super duper industrial super fast freezing freezer, you may end up with a drippy mess, much like myself, as the heat of the waffle not only burns your fingers as you try & fold it, but it also melts the ice cream and keeps melting it even when it's in the freezer. So, after the first waffle failed, I decided I would slice the hot waffle in half and once cool I would then add the frozen ice cream slice. If you want to try it the other way then be warned!

Also, make sure you remove them from the freezer approx 10-15 minutes before you want to eat them, unless you want to have dentures for the rest of your life. Again, you have been warned!

Chocolate & Banana Pinwheel Pastries

School holidays are a time when the kids eat us out of house and home. They seem to be always hungry and as they all get up a different times here, the kitchen is being used constantly to prepare food. Despite having plenty of food in the fridge and cupboards they're always complaining that there's no food, yet what they really mean is that there's no 'instant food', apart from toast, cereal & fruit, which they live off mostly when they have to fend for themselves.

These pinwheels can almost be classed as 'instant food' as they take very little time to prepare. They're also pretty simple to make so the kids can make them by themselves, and as the recipe makes so many of them there may even be enough to last a couple of days!

Enjoy a couple of these for breakfast with your morning cuppa, have a couple more with your picnic lunch, and then finish off the day with a couple of warm ones with a large scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Chocolate Crispy Easter Egg with a Hidden Creme Egg

With many children already finished school for the Easter holidays, and others (like ours) finishing at the end of this week, there's still plenty of time to for Easter baking and crafts. You will find plenty of inspiration for baking and yummy Easter treats in my seasonal Pinterest board. These Chocolate Crispy Easter Eggs are one of many simple recipe ideas that you can make with the kids, whatever your cooking ability. 

Very Jammy Jammie Dodger Chocolate Brownies

If you've come here looking for a Slimming World recipe then please avert your eyes for a moment. This one is definitely not SW friendly I'm afraid, but I have to keep the kids happy somehow. If I throw in the odd brownie or cupcake they will never know that most of the meals they eat are suited to those following the Slimming World plan. 

I must admit that I wasn't able to cook these, slice them and then photograph without eating some, so I confess that a small piece passed my lips. I did feel that the small piece was enough though, and had I eaten more I would've felt a little sick, and extremely guilty. The kids & husband enjoyed the remainder with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, which looked very tempting!

Recipe for Jammie Dodger Brownies by Helen Jessup on Scribd

If you're planning to cut these into squares you will want to leave them to cool completely, but if you're not fussed about even slices then grab a spoon and tuck in whilst they're warm. With a large scoop of vanilla ice cream!

Just look at those - all gooey and chocolatey and jammy and about 50 syns (at a guess). I'll just eat my apple whilst I drool over the pictures.

Dairy Free Chocolate Freakshake {using Rice Dream}

New year, new me. Blah Blah Blah. 

We all do it, but this year I mean it. I haven't actually said it out loud because I hate the term, but there is nothing like a new year to start a new diet. Or a Monday, or indeed a Tuesday, like today, on which I have jumped aboard the Slimming World bandwagon. Dieting is not easy when your work revolves around delicious food, but I will be zipping my mouth firmly shut and handing over full taste testing responsibility to my 3 stooges. 

First test on the agenda has been for DREAM, who specialise in Diary free alternatives to milk and ice cream. I received some of their Rice Dream drink to test their claim that it offers tea lovers a dairy free solution to the perfect cup of tea. I admit that I am a little fussy when it comes to tea, and can only drink it with skimmed milk in. For coffee I'm a little more flexible, but if there's tea on offer then it has to be skimmed milk, or I drink it black. 

I was a little skeptical at this claim but was pleasantly surprised that my tea tasted no different to usual, despite being a little darker in colour due to the consistency of the milk.

None of the kids are tea drinkers so they weren't in the slightest bit interested in these claims, but they were more than happy to put Rice Dream through their own taste test in a Freakshake.

Freakshakes are a huge trend sweeping the country. Bars and cafés are adding them to their menus, and Facebook is often awash with photos of huge shakes that have enough calories in to see a grown man through a few days! What to do if you're following a dairy free diet though? How about this dairy free freakshake, which is still loaded with all the yumminess and calories, but without the dairy. Most supermarkets stock dairy free products that can be used in this, and although I used a dairy free chocolate ice cream that I found in my local supermarket, DREAM make a salted caramel and a mint chocolate version which is available in Waitrose, and would be a delicious alternative.

Dairy Free Chocolate Freakshake - makes 1

tbsp smooth peanut butter
sprinkles
25g dairy free chocolate
250ml Rice DREAM
1 tbsp cocoa powder
4 scoops dairy free ice cream
2 large cookies (there's a great recipe here for cookies using coconut oil)
handful of sweet & salty popcorn
coconut cream
dairy free brownies (this recipe can be adapted with dairy free spread and chocolate)

• Place the peanut butter in a small bowl and heat for 10-20 seconds in the microwave until runny
• Dip the rim of your glass into the peanut butter to coat the rim approx 1-2cm deep before dipping in sprinkles
• Place in the fridge to firm up whilst making the shake
• Make a chocolate sauce by heating together a tsp of rice Dream with the dairy free chocolate, until melted and smooth
• Use some of the chocolate sauce to drizzle inside the glass
• Add the remaining rice Dream to a blender, along with the cocoa powder and 2 scoops of ice cream - whizz together until smooth
• Pour the shake into the glass and top with another scoop of ice cream
• Make an ice cream sandwich out of the 2 cookies and one scoop of ice cream - making a hole in the centre for the straws
• Top with coconut cream and stick popcorn and brownie pieces around the cream and ice cream
• Drizzle with the remaining chocolate sauce before serving

Rice DREAM certainly passed the taste test in these shakes, and the glasses were soon empty!

If you fancy trying Rice DREAM for yourself then it's available in Ocado, Tesco & Waitrose (rrp £1.49). There is currently a 'try me for free' promotion on certain packs, inviting shoppers to discover the great taste for themselves, or receive their money back if they don't enjoy it. What have you got to lose!

post commissioned for DREAM

Cherry, Chocolate & Almond Bread Ring

After watching Great British Bake Off this week, there was no doubt in my mind what I would be making. It definitely wasn't going to be the Dampfnudel technical challenge as they really didn't look very appealing, and the showstopper was a bit too showstopping for my liking. I love adding flavours to home made bread but I must admit that I used my bread maker to make the basic dough for this loaf (sorry Mr H), but I'll use my frozen shoulder as an excuse for that!

I knew that any type of bread with chocolate in would go down well with the kids, and this loaf, with it's crisp exterior and gooey filling, was no exception.

Cherry, Chocolate & Almond Bread Ring

500g Strong white bread flour

1/2 tsp salt

50g caster sugar

50g butter, softened

7g dried yeast

1 egg

225ml milk (room temperature)

filling

50g ground almonds

50g +20g butter

10g caster sugar

200g dark cherries (I used frozen ones), chopped

100g dark chocolate chips + extra for drizzling

• add the bread flour to a bowl (if you're using a breadmaker, add the ingredients in the order that your instructions state)
• add the salt, sugar, butter, yeast & egg 
• add approx 200ml of milk & start mixing everything together, adding more milk if necessary
• once the dough has come together, take it out of the bowl & knead for 10 minutes, until smooth & elastic 
• place in a large bowl & cover with clingfilm
• leave in a warm place to double in size
• once the dough has proved, turn out onto a lightly floured surface
• Roll into a large rectangle, approx 40cm x 30cm
• mix the ground almonds with 50g softened butter & spread over the dough
• scatter the chopped cherries and chocolate chips evenly over the dough
• roll up along the long edge into a tight sausage 
• form into a ring and pinch the ends together
• snip the dough with scissors approx every 2" around the ring
• place onto a lightly buttered baking sheet, cover with clingfilm and leave to rise for approx 1 hour
• brush generously with 20g melted butter
• bake in a preheated 200C oven for approx 15-20 minutes
• leave to cool on a wire rack before drizzling with melted chocolate

I am joining in with the Mummy Mishaps Great Bloggers Bake Off

Chocolate Cake Shake

We're well into the second week of the Easter holidays here and the kids have been enjoying spending a bit of time in the kitchen rustling up their own breakfast, which is usually followed by a milkshake of some kind whizzed up in the Nutribullet, and a big mess in the kitchen!

We get through a lot of milk in this house, with the boys eating endless bowls of cereal as well as their milkshakes. Whilst none of us suffer from any intolerance to milk, many people do. Believing that they are suffering from lactose intolerance they cut milk from their diets, however some of these sufferers have discovered that it's the A1 beta-casein protein in milk that they're intolerant to rather than the lactose. a2 milk is a natural milk which is free from the A1 protein, and if you're interested in finding out how they produce it, you can see a clip of the feature on last week's episode of Food Unwrapped here.

We've tried a2 milk before and Jack loves it, so I bought some more this week, along with some additional dairy free ingredients for the kids to make their own Chocolate Cake Shakes - perfect if you're a lover of cake and ice cream, even if you're intolerant to the A1 protein in milk.

Chocolate Cake Shake - makes 1

100ml a2 milk

large scoop of dairy free chocolate ice cream

1 slice of dairy free chocolate cake (or 1 small cake)

chocolate sprinkles

• add the milk & ice cream to a glass & smash the ice cream with a spoon
• crumble up the cake and stir most of it into the milk & ice cream (reserving some for the top)
• serve with crumbled cake & sprinkles on top

It really was as good as it looks - you might need a spoon as well as a straw though!

a2 milk - easier to digest

I found a2 milk in a Tesco Store close to us for £1.39 for 1 litre, however it's not available in all Tesco stores - you can find a full list of stockists here. Available in semi skimmed or whole.

this post has been commissioned by a2 milk

Easter Mini Egg Rocky Road

This recipe is a lovely simple sweet treat to make with the kids over the Easter holidays, and by using these disposable trays makes it a great little gift to give to friends and family - just wrap in cellophane and secure with some ribbon!

Easter Mini Egg Rocky Road

250g milk or dark chocolate

50g butter

75g golden syrup

115g digestive biscuits, crushed

4 Party Ring biscuits, roughly chopped

75g Cadbury Mini Eggs

60g Marshmallows, cut into small pieces

for decoration

Chocolate carrots (I found these in Asda)

coloured sprinkles

Cadbury Mini Eggs
yellow crispy sprinkles

• Melt the chocolate, butter and syrup together in a bain marie - set aside to cool slightly
• Stir in the crushed and chopped biscuits, mini eggs and marshmallows, and mix well
• Press into two 18cm x 11cm foil trays (or use one larger tray)
• Top with your chosen decorations and press down lightly
• Place in the fridge to set completely before slicing into squares