Brownies (again)

Year 11 is more stressful than they tell you; I've had revision pretty much non-stop, so I haven't had much chance to plan new posts (sorry!).

To make up for it I'm here with what are possibly the best brownies I've ever made. They're fudgey and gooey and a little bit cakey. 

I had a look at some other recipes, then pretty much made these up as I went along.

Ingredients

200g milk chocolate (or use dark if you want a richer taste)

200g butter

100g plain flour

2tsp cocoa powder 

1tsp baking powder

3 medium eggs

125g caster sugar

Any extras you want to put in (I had some white chocolate chunks and some mini marshmallows)

Method

1- Preheat the oven to 170C and line an 8x8 inch tin with greaseproof paper, You don't want your tin to be too shallow.

2- Break the chocolate into small chunks and cut your butter into cubes. Place into a large microwaveable bowl, and heat on high for 20-30 seconds. Take out the bowl, stir, and repeat until everything's melted.

3- In a separate bowl, sieve the flour, cocoa powder, and baking powder.

4- Stir the sugar into the chocolate.

5- Beat your eggs in a separate bowl, then add to the chocolate in two parts, mixing well in between. Make sure your chocolate isn't too hot, otherwise you'll end up with a sad bowl of chocolate scrambled eggs. 

6- Add in the vanilla essence and fold in the flour. Add in any extras (chocolate chips, marshmallows, nuts- it's up to you).

7- Put the brownies into the oven for 20 minutes. 

My favourite thing about these brownies is that they can all be done by hand, no mixers involved.

Try them! You won't regret it!

Love, Shay. xo

Musical Mondays

I've been obsessed with The Sherlocks recently- I'm going to see them on 1st November in Manchester and I'm so so excited! They released a new single recently and I've had it on non-stop.

Love, Shay. xo

Musical Mondays

Love, Shay. xo

Musical Mondays

I've decided to start a new feature on the blog! Basically I'm going to share a song that I've been listening to a lot over the past week.This first one is Robbers by The 1975. I've been in love with The 1975 recently; I listen to them pretty much every day, and I'm absolutely gutted that I can't go to see them. But at least I can blast them through the house. It's all about the perks.

Love, Shay. xo

Friday favourites: Man crush

Thought I'd share a little bit of eye candy with you this week. I just want to clarify that these are not all the ones in my head, and they aren't in any particular order.

1- Matty Healy

2- Harry Styles

3- Tom Hiddleston

4- Theo James

5- Matt Hitt

6- Liam Fray

7- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

8- David Tennant

9- Alex Turner

10- Andrew Garfield

Aren't you glad I shared? I have no idea where most of these pictures are from, 'cause they're just off my computer. Now I'm going to go and do the history revision I was supposed to start an hour ago.

Love, Shay. xo

Friday favourites: Autumn

I'm really sorry this is a day late, it completely slipped my mind!
Hello! I've not done one of these in a while, so because we're getting into autumn and it's a new month I thought I'd start it up again.
I am so so so excited for autumn. It is absolutely my favourite time of year; it's still not bitter enough to be winter, but its chilly enough for big cardigans and woolly tights- both of which I'm wearing right now. All the trees look magical, and crunchy leaves are one of the best best things, especially when you find some that aren't a bit soggy from British rain. Plus, autumn is the perfect excuse for a warm milk or hot chocolate (apparently it's not acceptable to have these at four o'clock in the afternoon during English summer).

 1- Soft, woolly blankets to snuggle into
 2- Building super cozy forts with said blankets

 3- Super crunchy bright leaves that aren't damp
 4- But even when it rains you don't mind so much, because it's a great excuse to curl up on the sofa

 5- Pies that come in every shape and size. You can see how to make this one here
 6- Hot chocolates bigger than your face

 7- Bonfire night and fireworks and, um, bonfires

 8- Getting all dressed up with no where to go, also known as halloween (or, you know, every other day of my life)

9 & 10- The bestest chunky knits and cute outfits

This is what I'm looking forward to most about autumn. I'm less looking forward to being in my last year at school, but life goes on and I'm sure it'll be okay in the end. I just need to organise myself, and not burrow down with blankets and hot chocolate and books until all my work is out of the way. As much as I would like to.

Love, Shay. xo

Today is: Full

Today is the last day of the summer holidays for me, so I have to go back to school tomorrow. I'm trying to make the most of the day- this morning I sat in bed for a while with my dog, just relaxing. In the afternoon I went out to film some media coursework that needs to be handed in really soon. And I still have some art coursework to do. So, full.

Listening to- Temples. I'm going to see them in December, and it's great music to listen to when you're trying to have a productive day.

Thinking about- Everything. All the homework I have to do, going back to school, when my shoes will be delivered, how much time I have before I have to do stuff before I go to bed. My mind is buzzing.

Looking forward to- Being more productive with my days instead of lying in bed all day.

Making me happy- Organising myself. Planning things. Getting myself together.

Speaking if planning, I think I'm going to go out and buy myself a bunch of cute little notebooks for loads of different things; school, blog ideas, to do lists. You get the idea.

Love, Shay. xo