HaPpY HaLlOwEeN!!!!

SPOOKY...
Any excuse to bake a novelty cupcake! Happy Halloween Baking Beauties! XOXO

BBG's Yummy Crumble

BBG reckons this is the best crumble yet and it’s all down to sultanas and good old cinnamon! After making the crumble with more butter than usual (200 g this time) the crumble mixture browned nicely and a sprinkling of cinnamon over the top gave a delicious flavour. The combination of cooking apples and sultanas added to the richness of the dish without the need to add any sugar. Yay!

Cooking up some erm, cookies

Last night we got home after a hard days work.  It was cold, it was raining outside, we've just finished our book and the telly was looking dodgey so what could be better than a warm cookie and cup of earl grey.  We decided to be (a teeny tiny bit) wild and swapped 200g of dark choc for 50g of raisins, 50g of white choc, 5og of milk choc and 50 of the dark stuff.  Mmmm.  Oh and yes we made the plate too..When we were about 11! xoxo

It was actually this slightly posher recipe... Rice pudding all the same though!!

Some delicious rice pudding we made at the weekend. An old school fave!

Rice pudding and Aga's are a match made in food heaven. What could be better than standed over the Aga, wooden spoon in hand, stirring a big pan of yummy rice? Not much really... BBG's idea of heaven!

Plus it's so easy to make, a bit like a risotoo. Just lots of milk, a touch of sugar and butter and rice. De-lish!

Today we met master baker Dan Lepard at an Aveeno event, he taught us how to bake bread-yummmmmm.  His top tip? Swap 10% of your flour for oats, keeps bread and anything else you’re baking moist and instead of using flour on your hands and work surface whilst you knead the bread, spray sun flower or olive oil, it works so much better to keep your hands and work surface clean!  Follow Dan on twitter @dan_lepard  to learn all about his baking adventures!

Look what just landed on our desk!! Brightened our Monday up no end

Jus Rol part 2

So after the excitement of finding the Jus Rol DIY croissants, we couldn't wait to have them for breakfast on Saturday! We actually made them into pain au choclat by putting some dark chocolate inside each one. They were fun to make and so yummy!!

Weekend cooking in the countryside...

 

Autumnal weekends in the countryside can only mean - log fires, cosy pub lunches (we recently went to the newly opened Pig in Brockenhurst and can't recommend it enough!), a good roast and cooking of course! Be sure to check out BBG this week to see more of our baking creations....

Lorraine Pascale's cheese and bacon twists!

This weekend saw us recreate Lorraine Pascale's recipe for cheese and bacon twists and by did they go down a treat!! Easy-peasy and so delicious, we spotted them on her BBC cooking programme last week, which by the way we LOVE!

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 x sheet of Jus Rol puff pastry

1 x packet of streaky bacon

1 x block of strong cheddar

1 x tablespoon Colman's mustard

Method:

1. Roll out sheet of pastry a floured work surface

2. Spread over a thin layer of mustard to cover the whole sheet

3. Grate over cheddar cheese to coat the sheet and grind some pepper over too if desired

4. Lay strips of bacon along the pastry sheet 0.5cm apart

5. Using a sharp knife, cut between each bacon slice and twirl each strip around until the bacon is covered in pastry and sealed in

6. Place each twizzle on a baking tray (use baking parchment too) spaced out

7. Bake in a hot oven for 15 - 20 minutes or until the pastry is golden and well cooked.

8. Serve immediately!

They were gone in seconds!

Girls-I hope you've remembered to bake your cookies???!!! Xoxo

Halloween baking inspiration-with a bit of Halloween beauty thrown into the mix! Love BBG Xoxo

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We heart Kirstie Allsopp!!

BBG loved watching Kirstie Allsopp attempt to bake the perfect scone, the perfect Caribbean Fruit cake and yes, even the perfect home-made Éclair last night in a bid to win the ‘Afternoon Tea’ category of the famous Devon show. Our highlight of the programme though had to be the Damson Jam. Until watching this TBBG had no idea how easy it actually is to make Jam! Kirstie had to pick out 265 individual stones which looked a little time consuming to us; we’re thinking a classic strawberry or raspberry could be the way to go instead.   A simple recipe of fruit, sugar and not much else it could be the perfect home-made Christmas present. Watch this space for BBG's attempt to make Jam…

Too exciting for words! We found them at good old Asda whoop whoop!!

Spotted on the beauty director's desk... It's never too early for a mince pie!

Blondies! Peanut butter and White chocolate pieces of heaven. To quote one of BBG's chief tasters, Spitzer "these are delicious". Top tip-substitute plain flour for spelt flour, much tastier! Love BBG xoxo

Darling Darjeeling Tea Cake

Straight out of our favourite Easy Bakes magazine we just had to try the Darjeeling Tea Cake recipe because, not only do we love tea, but it's packed with fruit so we reckon is nice and healthy right?! The recipe said to make it in a bread tin but we just had our good old cake one handy so went with that. Shapes and sizes don't matter too much, as long as it's tastes good that's all we care about...

We soaked the fruit overnight in the tea to get an even richer flavour and didn't add too much sugar or butter, so out of the oven came a light and tasty wonder that the office all scoffed down in seconds! 

We scattered some sugar over the top to make it look a bit glitzy and add a touch of sweetness. We recommend washing it down with some delicious Earl Grey or Green tea...

Some proper Jasmine tea we enjoyed at Josh Wood's Atelier. Delicious and so good for you! X

Saturday baking adventures with my AGA-Mary Berry will be proud! Love BBG XOXO

Our heroine-the only pre-made bake mix we'd use! Love BBG xoxo

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Spelt Shortbread

Last night while catching up on the delightful Great British Bake Off and Grazia Team Beauty faves Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood, we tested out a shortbread recipe but added a few of our own ideas to it. Following a basic shortbread recipe we chose spelt flour instead or white and dark brown soft sugar instead of white. White bread or sugar = bad. We like to think that a good dose of spelt will be far better but who are we kidding?!

Anyway, here's our recipe:

250g spelt flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
225g butter
100g dark brown or muscovado sugar



1. preheat oven to 170c.

2. cream together then butter and sugar. (we cheated and just put them into our Breville Hand Blender, which by the way if you don't have you NEED in your life right now)

3. sift over the rest of the ingredients and stir into a dough.

4. chill in the fridge for half an hour.

5. form into small rounds about 1/4 inch thick and place on a baking sheet

6. bake for 8-10 minutes.

So they didn't look like classic Walker's shortbread and tasted much nuttier and flavoursome, and of course are much better for you!

Love BBG x

Love these in the window of Cox, Cookies & Cake in soho

We love James Wojcik

Whilst browsing some websites and blogs we came across this fab photo by photographer James Wojcik. Not only is it delish ice cream but it's the most iconic structure in our (second) fave city. We love!

Spinach and Cheese muffins love BBG x

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Cookies for Granny love BBG x

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Welcome to the world of the Baking Beauty Girls!

With a deeply keen passion for both beauty and baking, the Baking Beauty Girls was born out of a shared love for all things yummy... be it Dior lipsticks, Pret carrot cake, Caudalie Beauty Elixir or Ocado. This blog will bring you the best (and maybe worst) of our baking adventures, along with some good old beauty and cooking tips thrown in for good measure.
Love Liz, Lauren, Rose and Angelica X