BLOGMAS 2017 || DAY 16 - THE PERFECT CHRISTMAS SUGAR COOKIES (ZOELLA'S RECIPE)

These might not be the most appetising-looking cookies in the world, but they sure do taste good! I always make some festive treats this time of the year, so I thought it'd be useful if I shared with you my favourite sugar cookie recipe.
This is actually a recipe I got from Zoella's blog and I absolutely love how these came out (taste-wise) as I'm not the best at decorating cakes due to lack of equipment but hopefully I'll be able to share more recipes with you in my new house soon.

You will need these ingredients for the cookie batter:
140g Icing Sugar
250g Butter (cut into chunks)
1 Egg Yolk
1tsp Vanilla Extract
375g Plain Flour

For the icing:
225g Icing Sugar
1 Egg White
Cold Water

The Method:

Preheat the oven to 190oC.

In a mixing bowl, add butter, icing sugar, egg yolk and vanilla extract and mix until smooth. Once you're happy with the consistency of the batter, start adding in the flour bit by bit and mix it in until a dough is formed. Wrap the dough in cling film and set aside in the fridge for around 30 minutes.
Spread some flour onto a worktop/chopping board and roll out the dough with a rolling pin (I don't have a rolling pin so I used a cucumber wrapped in cling film hahaha - desperate times call for desperate measures!). Once you roll out the dough, pick your favourite festive cookie cutters and start carving out some shapes. I actually used a pumpkin cutter as I couldn't find any festive ones, so I tried to turn them into baubles but as you can see in pictures they look like something a 5-year-old would make haha. Now that you have your cookies cut out and ready to bake, place them on a baking tray laid out with baking paper to avoid sticking and pop them in the oven for 10-12 minutes or until golden.
While the cookies are in the oven, you can now make the icing mixture. In a bowl, mix in the icing sugar and the egg white until smooth. If you find the consistency a little bit too thick then you can add a bit of cold water to make it more spreadable. Once you have a perfect consistency, put the icing into a piping bag and decorate your cookies once they're cool. And voilá! 

Obviously, my cookies don't look good at all (it's okay I already laughed at my failure), but they really do taste great and are very easy to make! I feel like this is an easy family task everyone would enjoy - especially when it comes to decorating.

Lots of love,

Maya xo

REVIEW || BAKERDAYS PERSONALISED LETTERBOX CAKE - HALLOWEEN TREAT FOR EVERYONE

Halloween is definitely one of my favourite holidays, and when it was combined with cake by Bakerdays my life was made. I was asked to pick a design and flavour of cake to try out, so I picked this gorgeous Halloween design on a chocolate chip goodness.

Now, the size of this cake is perfect if you want to surprise a loved one with a little treat as you can have it delivered straight to their door and have it posted through the letterbox. Unfortunately. My postman was clearly daydreaming as he didn’t deliver my cake until I had to reschedule the delivery as he did not read the sign ‘fits through letterboxes’ on the box and labelled it as ‘too big’ - I had to wait an extra few days for my chocolate cake!!

Once my cake arrived I was super excited to put it to the test! Will it still be fresh? Will it taste nice? Will the design look good? Read on to find out...

I thought the cake looked very cute, it was the perfect size to be a treat for 4 people, but me being my greedy self I ended up having half the cake the day I received it, haha. It looked very moist and gooey on the inside which is honestly my most favourite thing about this cake! It smelt amazing as soon as I opened the box, the chocolaty smell was so overwhelming that I couldn’t wait to try it out. 

I really enjoyed the cake, it tasted like a chocolate fudge cake you’d get at a posh restaurant. The icing was very sweet and slightly chewy which I also like in a cake, but because I had such a big piece for pudding I found myself not being able to finish it! You can also try the cakes with a bit of custard or any type of sauce you like, but be careful to not overdo it like I had as it might ruin your experience.

These amazing letterbox cakes also come in big sizes for big events such as Christmas parties. I know for a fact that I’ll be ordering one for Christmas Day! Another great thing about them is that they last up to 2 weeks from delivery, so you can order it before Christmas and keep it in your cupboard and it will still stay fresh for the special day.

You can get your own letterbox cake from Bakerdays here, make sure to specify any allergies etc. when you create your order.

Have you tried a letterbox cake before? What’s your favourite type of cake?

Lots of love,

Maya xo