My After Eight Brownies Recipe

I think we all knew I'd be back with another brownie recipe at some point didn't we? I just can't help myself. Last year I made many varieties - Bourbon Brick Brownies, Lotus Biscoff, Oreos and zesty Jaffa Cakes. Just before Christmas as we had many After Eights in, as I'm sure most do for the festive period, I decided to make a batch of minty brownies. I adore mint chocolate, I adore brownies, why not put them together? Whilst I did make these in time for Christmas, let's face it After Eights can be enjoyed all year round so make these whenever you feel like it!

Ingredients:

100g butter

200g golden caster

200g dark chocolate, chopped into chunks

1 tsp peppermint extract

2 eggs

100g plain flour

12 After Eights (or a Supermarket's own mint thins)

Method:

1. Pre-heat your oven to 180 degrees (160 fan) and grease and line a square baking tin

2. To start, place your butter and sugar into a large saucepan and melt over a medium heat. Once the butter is completely melted and the sugar has dissolved, take off the heat

3. Add in the broken up dark chocolate and stir until melted and it's completely mixed through

4. Add in your peppermint extract and give the mixture another stir. It should be quite a thick mixture now

5. Leave your chocolate mixture to cool slightly before adding in your two eggs

6. When you've added your eggs, using an electric whisk, whisk your mixture until it's smooth and glossy

7. Sift in your flour and fold in gently until fully incorporated. Be careful not to overmix!

8. Pour into your prepared tin and smooth over with a spoon

9. Break up 12 After Eights. I broke up most in half but a few others into quarters. Top your brownie with the After Eights, push them in slightly

10. Bake in the centre of your oven for 45-50 minutes. Insert a skewer or sharp knife to check if it's done or not, if it comes out gooey then they need a little longer

11. Once your brownies are done, leave to cool completely in the tin before cutting into squares!

Whenever I try out a new recipe, I'm always a little dubious of how it'll turn out but like with the rest of the brownie recipes I've shared, these went so much better than I could have hoped. The peppermint flavour was perfect - subtle but clearly there and the After Eights were the perfect mix between gooey and crisp on top. I did end up leaving these in the oven for a little too long so I did find the edges were a bit chewier than usual but as long as you stick to the 45-50 mins cooking time, yours should be absolutely fine. I already can't wait to make these again!

Did you get any baking done over Christmas?

Recipes - Marshmallow Rice Krispie Treats // White Chocolate Cookie Dough Buns // Triple Chocolate Cookies

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My Highlights Of 2019

At the start of a new year I always like to put together some sort of roundup and reflection post of the previous year so obviously this had to be one of my first blog posts for January. Usually I go month by month but this year I'm doing things a little differently and just picking various highlights instead as let's face it not every month is packed full of amazing things and life can be pretty boring at times. Whilst 2019 still had it's rough times, overall it was a great year for many reasons so I'm really excited to look back and pick out some of my highlights. Let's get started, this could go on for a while!

My Birthday Meal

My first highlight of 2019 was my birthday meal in Leeds. I'm not sure if it's a blessing or a curse to have a birthday so close to Christmas as in one way it feels like the celebrations just keep coming but then they can both sort of blur into one aswell! Last year George and I went to Leeds for the day and had the most amazing meal at Bill's. It's a place I've always wanted to go for a meal and it did not disappoint, I still think about it!

Many Trips To York

George passed his driving test early on in 2019 so we finally got a car which has meant we've been able to do so much more than before. We've had loads of different day trips but York has become even more of a favourite of ours. We first went for our minimoon a few years ago so it's special to us and each time we go, I just love it more and more. I adore The Shambles, it's full of cosy coffee shops and they do Christmas so incredibly well. Bear loves it there too.

Waitress & Come From Away

In April we had a few nights in London and we saw two musicals, Come From Away and Waitress. Both shows I'd been obsessed with for a long time so it was a dream come true to see them both. Come From Away is such a heartwarming show and seeing Katharine McPhee in Waitress was something I'll always remember. 

We Brought Bear Home!

Of course, the biggest thing to happen in 2019 was that we got a puppy! We first met Bear when he was 3 weeks old and it was love at first sight. He came home in April and since then he has just made me smile every single day. George and I have always wanted a dog of our own, it was just waiting for the right time but everything clicked into place and he has just made our life complete. There have been tough times, it's been far more difficult than I ever thought it would be but I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat, and we 100% will in a few years time. He is just my absolute everything.

Summer Days Out With Bear

Over Spring and Summer, we had lots of little day trips out with Bear and I just can't wait to do them all over again this year. We've visited a beautiful village called Castleton several times which never gets boring, it's gorgeous to just walk around and Bear always gets SO much fuss. There's also a lovely cafe with the biggest cakes ever. We've also ventured out to places like Bakewell and Bradfield too for lunch and days like that are always my fave. As we headed into Autumn and Winter too, we had loads of long walks with Bear which was just such a nice way for us all to spend some extra time together. I actually much prefer getting out in the colder months, though I'm not sure Bear is as keen as he has to wear his little jumper!

Our First Family Holiday & Our 8th Anniversary

We got to celebrate our 8th anniversary on holiday in 2019 which was so special! It might not be the most adventurous place ever but you can't beat a seaside break can you? We had our first little family holiday with Bear and his two fave uncles came with us too so it was just one of the nicest weeks, I smile every time I think about it. We stayed in Whitby and I'm seriously considering booking it again for this year, it was that good, but we visited Scarborough and Bridlington too so there was LOTS of ice cream, alllll the fish and chips, and the ultimate - seaside doughnuts. The weather was perfect, Bear adored going on the beach and to say he was only just 5 months old at the time, he took to it all so well. He loved it just as much as we did.

We Visited An Alpaca Farm

Since getting Bear, George and I have really realised the impact of having date nights (well more like date days for us) as Bear and work take up so much of our time that sometimes we can go ages without really spending any time together. Last year we fitted in the odd cinema trip when we could or meal out and day trips to places I've already mentioned but one thing that stands out to me is going to an Alpaca farm. I had no idea there was one so close to us but it was such a fun afternoon. We got to feed loads of alpacas who were just so sweet and there was also an array of other animals that were so friendly. I loved it so much.

I saw & Juliet

Back to musicals and in September I was given the chance to see a brand new musical in Manchester called & Juliet. You all know my love for all things musical theatre now so to be invited was just an amazing opportunity that I'm still so grateful for. The show has now transferred to the West End and you best believe I'll be seeing it again in 2020. It was one of the most fun shows I've ever seen and I left so incredibly happy.

We Went On The Emmerdale Tour

I have been a fan of the soaps, Emmerdale, Coronation and Eastenders for as long as I can remember. George and I went on the original Corrie tour in Manchester a few years ago which was excellent so I was thrilled when Emmerdale announced they would be doing their own in Leeds aswell. We finally got round to going in October and it was just so interesting. It was so cool to visit real life sets that are used each week, get to edit our own little clips and see how each episode is made. I learnt so much and definitely see things in a different light now when I watch it each evening.

ALL The Baking

I've always shared recipes on my blog, primarily baking ones but in 2019 I really ramped it up a gear. I shared about a million brownie recipes, lots of simple biscuits, festive cupcakes and loads more and I'm really proud of myself for that. Whilst I bake because I enjoy it, there is no doubt that I'd love to do something more with it in future, it's one of my dreams to have a little stall of my own selling my bakes at Christmas but whether that will ever actually happen or not, I don't know. In 2019 though I really started to perfect certain recipes and now I feel like there are some things which I've got nailed down and I do just want to share them with everyone. In 2020 I want to keep baking, keep improving and hopefully people will still keep enjoying everything.

A Christmas Market Or Two

I adore the Christmas markets. I say it every year but it's something I do genuinely look forward to from January to November (when they all start up again). They are guaranteed to get you feeling festive and I often come home ready to get out all the decorations and turn my home into a little grotto. Last year we visited Leeds and York for the markets - Leeds definitely wasn't my fave and I'm not sure I'd go back but obviously York got it so right. This year I want to head back to Manchester as theirs are always buzzing and they'll be something new every single year. I've also heard great things about Birmingham's market so that's another to consider. I do think 2020 is the year we finally head abroad though for the Christmas markets after literally years talking about it. I'm ready for Christmas again already!

Bear's first christmas

And to end this post, of course one of my biggest highlights was Bear's first Christmas. Honestly, for years I'd dreamed of moments like that and each Christmas I'd always get that 'when will it be us, when will it finally happen' feeling and in 2019 it did, so to wake up on Christmas morning with this excitable little pup with us too was just everything. He has absolutely made my 2019.

Overall 2019 was a brilliant year and looking back we really did so much. Blogging-wise I might have fallen a little but I just had other priorities and it was no longer one of the main things I had to focus on anymore. Whilst there were moments throughout the year where things got difficult, or I struggled more with anxiety, I ended the year on such a high with my two favourite guys and now I'm just excited to see what's in store next. We have so many plans for the next few years so I just can't wait to hopefully see them all come true.

How was your 2019? Do you have any personal highlights?

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My January To-Do List

First of all, Happy New Year! How the hell are we in 2020?! 2019 flew by, it's actually crazy. So, to kick start 2020 I wanted to do something a little similar to what I did in December actually. Last month I finally shared a monthly to-do list after being inspired by so many other bloggers so now I want to carry on and try and make them a more regular thing. I think I managed to cover everything I wanted to last month so fingers crossed January will be the same! I always start the year off feeling a little anxious at the prospect of a whole 12 months ahead with no clue what's going to come up and I always end up on a bit of a comedown after Christmas so I'm trying to remain positive and focus on some of the good things we have coming up.

De-Clutter

First up I need to have a serious de-clutter in this flat. Anyone else find things just build and build over Christmas but because it's Christmas that's the perfect excuse to leave it all? Our office had somehow ended up being in a bit of a state yet again as we just don't have much storage so that's only got worse and of course there's everything from Christmas that needs to be sorted. Bear has more toys now than he knows what to do with, both George and I need to find homes for our presents and obviously the decorations also need to come down and be stored away. Yes our decorations are still up and will be for a few more days, I'm not ready to say goodbye to them again yet. Anyway, a serious tidy and clean is needed this week for a fresh start for the year.

Get Ahead With Blog Posts

I got into a really bad habit in November/December of leaving blog posts til the very last minute and sometimes not writing them until the day before they were due to go live and there's nothing wrong that and if that works for you, go for it, but the planner in me was horrified by that. I'm usually so organised but towards the end of last year I just lost all motivation. I had so many posts I wanted to share but just couldn't bring myself to get ahead like I usually would and of course that only led to me ending up stressed. Blogging just all became a bit of a chore. I'm already doing better so far as I have all of this week's and next week's posts written and ready to go so let's just hope I can keep up with that for the rest of the month...and year.

See Les Miserables

Finally, something much more fun, we're going to see Les Mis next week! It feels like absolutely ages ago we booked the tickets so now it's almost here, I'm just so excited. As always I've been stressing a little about my birthday, I'm definitely not ready to be 25, but each year it does seem to get a little easier. That being said I did really want to do something special this year and for me there's nothing better than going to see a musical. I've watched the film so many times and listened to the soundtrack more times than I could count so it's just going to be so special to see it live.

Go To The Harry Potter Tour

The day after Les Mis, we're continuing with the birthday celebrations and heading to the Warner Brothers Studio Tour and even better it will be #hogwartsinthesnow when we're there so still festive! Both George and I are huge fans of Harry Potter, in the run up to Christmas especially it's always nice to sit down and watch them so it's a dream come true to go to the tour and find out everything there is to know! So, so excited!

Celebrate George's Birthday

We have another birthday in January and that's George's! We're not 100% sure what we're going to do yet as it's likely George will be working away on the day which is rubbish but we'll deal with it. We're definitely going to find another time to celebrate though as 25 is definitely a big one and we want to do something special. It will be a nice way to end the month though so I'm looking forward to it, whatever we decide.

January is never my fave month of the year and it tends to drag more than any other month for some reason but we do have some really fun stuff planned so I'm looking forward to it more than I usually would! Have you got much planned for this month? Have you been to the Harry Potter studio tour?

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An End Of Year Look At My 2019 Blogging Goals

Every year I set myself a variety of goals, some for my personal life and some for blogging so 2019 was no different. I shared just my blogging goals in January as I didn't feel I had quite as many personal ones unlike previous years and also the sort of ones they were, weren't all ones I wanted to share so let's just see how I got on with my blog over the last 12 months. I already know I've not achieved most of the goals I set out to achieve but hopefully it won't be too bad. At least by setting goals I was more motivated than I might have otherwise been, I find they always give me that push to work really hard even if I don't always end up exactly where I set out to.

Image from Pexels

Have My Best Year Since Going Self-Employed

Erm, not a great one to start with! To be fair, whilst I don't think I've had my best year since going self-employed and looking back now 2018 was actually far better than I could have imagined, I don't think I did too badly in 2019. I still worked with a variety of different brands, built up some great relationships with PR's and I got to write about some really fun things so whilst I don't think I'm quite where I was at the end of 2018, I'm still proud of what I achieved. Maybe it's just me but I found there just weren't as many opportunities around in 2019, anyone felt the same? It felt like a real slog to get anything off the ground most of the time. I definitely could have put more into it at times and pitched myself more but getting Bear in April cut out many weeks as he just took up all my time and my life completely changed. Hopefully in 2020 I can get me back a bit as I feel I've lost myself a little in the blogging world.

Get Back Into Pitching To Brands

I did actually pitch my blog to far more brands and PR's in 2019 after really losing my confidence with it the year before and I got some great opportunities from it. I definitely believe that if you want something, you need to go out and get it for yourself, opportunities won't always come to you but it's still a daunting thing to do! I think it's really important to keep in contact with brands you've worked with previously and often that's how I find current opportunities so it's definitely going to be something I'm keeping up with in 2020.

Reach 5000 Twitter Followers

To some this might sound like an easy amount to hit and to other it might seem huge, well I've still not hit it. I know it probably sounds like an excuse but there have been times this year where I genuinely haven't had the time to really use Twitter to my advantage and do the things you need to do to grow so I've just sort of petered along all year but you know what, that's okay. I interact with people when I can, I join in with things when I can, not that there ever really seems to be any chats or comment threads going on like they used to so if I get there one day then I do, but if not, it's not the be-all and end-all. I'm ending the year on almost 3700 followers so slowly but surely I'm getting there anyway.

Reach 2000 Instagram Followers

Ahh Instagram. What a love/hate relationship I have with this. At times it's absolutely brilliant, there are some bloggers who I interact with all the time and I love it for discovering new people. It's also great when your photos are doing well and your followers are growing, but when they're not it can make you feel like absolute crap. I don't just want to blame the algorithm as I know I could have tried harder this year if I really pushed myself but whatever Instagram are doing behind the scenes is affecting so many of us. Our photos are hardly been seen, when they are no one seems to interact like they used too and followers seem to go up and down so much, it's hard to even know where you actually stand with it. I'm so confused that 2 years ago I was getting almost 200 likes per photo and now I struggle to hit 50. I mean, how dis-heartening is that? Whilst my photos will never be exceptional because the photography side of blogging just isn't what I'm good at, I try my best and it's hard when photos you are so proud of, just bomb. I do think sometimes I take things like that more personally than others would but that's just the sort of person I am. Despite staying around the 1700 follower mark all year, I have enjoyed using stories more over the last few months so that's something I want to continue with this year and let's just hope something improves for us all regarding likes because I know so many other people are struggling too.

Get Creative With My Photography

This is kind of what I was talking about in my last post, maybe if I'd really put myself out there and tried lots of different things with Instagram, I'd be doing better than I currently am but I just don't have the imagination sometimes! I've always been a better writer and more about my actual blog content but it seems that's just not enough anymore. My instagram has become more of a personal account too rather than just blogging now so maybe that's not helped? I still share flatlays, beauty photography, lots of different baking ideas and I'm still happy with what I've put out there in 2019. I might not be the most creative on Instagram but I'm never gonna be that person. I've tried new things when I could and I've also stuck to my old style at other times and I think that's just how it's always gonna be for me.

Well, that all ended up pretty negative didn't it? It's hard when some things are out of your control despite how much you try but I'm not going to let it deter me for 2020. There are still milestones I want to hit with both my blog and my social media accounts and I'm going to do my best to get there. I'm starting 2020 raring to go so I just need to put myself back out there, see what works and what doesn't and just enjoy it regardless. Blogging should be fun and at times in 2019 it wasn't so whilst there are things I would like to achieve, if I'm happy that's the most important thing!

How did you do with your 2019 goals, if you set yourself any? Have you struggled more with Instagram and Twitter over the last 12 months?

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