12 days of Christmas: Day 3, Favourite Christmas Products

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE EVE! Confession: I'm awful at Christmas shopping. Don't get me wrong, I love to spoil all my friends and family on Christmas Day... but I like spoiling myself too. Every-time I go to purchase a Christmas gift, I come out with presents for me (oops). But with all the amazing Christmas products I'm about to show you, who can blame me? It may only be 16 hours before Santa's sleigh leaves the cockpit but I'm sure you still have a few last bits to get... and while you're there, why not pick up some of these Christmas treats - go on, you deserve it.

For the lips:

photo source: www.vita.no

www.pinkpeonies.co.za

                        

I simply couldn't pick one item for my favourite Christmas Lips product so there are two slightly different products. The first is from Maybelline - In 2013, L'Oreal, the owner of Maybelline stopped ALL animal testing so you can purchase this product with the knowledge no animals were harmed in the production process (I'll put a link with the Company's Animal Testing Statement at the bottom).

This is the first year I have tried Maybelline's Christmas Baby Lips - I guess you could say it was fate as the store had sold out of my usual 'flavour' (the Mint One). This one is called Sweet Apple and smells like hot apple cider but BETTER. It has a slight reddy tint to it which makes you look like Snow White which I love. As it's a Christmas product, the packaging is slightly different to the others with cute mittens wrapped around the tube and draped towards the front which adds to the Christmassy feel of the product. 

The second Christmas lip product which I love just as much is Santa's Lip Scrub from Lush. If you haven't used lip scrubs before then you should! It's a great way to eliminate dry lips caused by the bitter cold weather. This one smells like Cola which takes me back to the Coca-Cola Lorry tours at Christmas time and it has edible hearts in the centre. LUSH. I leave this product next to my bed and apply a layer just before I go to sleep each night so it can work it's magic for a long period of time. Another cruelty-free product!  

For Bath-time:

photo source: www.crazyblondegal.com

www.bodyshop.co.uk

Again this is the first year I have used Dashing Santa (I think it's new for Christmas 2015) but another that I will be stocking up on! Dashing Santa looks a little more vintage compared to his fellow Santa bath bomb friends and I love that! He turns your bath a coral colour and actually smells more like Summer than Winter with his citrussy highlights -  but when you're freezing cold it's nice to have a hot bath and think of Summer.

For a post-bath wind down and keeping up with the fruity theme, this Glazed Apple Body Butter from the Body Shop is a great way to end bath-time. I always feel like a total goddess after applying body butter after a long hot bath and this Christmassy moisturiser is no exception. It smells like a juicy apple that's just been sliced but it's very strong... which makes the scent last for hours! Similar to the Maybelline Lip Moisturiser, the packaging has a more festive feel compared to other Body Shop butters with sparkles decorating the Body Shop logo around the image. The texture of this product is one of a softer feel compared to other scents and the colour is a pale green - just like an Apple. I've purchased this product every year since it was introduced in 2013 and I won't be stopping any time                                                     soon!

For the comfort drinks:

photo source: www.whittard.co.uk 

This is the one product on the list that I haven't purchased this year ...but more about that in tomorrow's post! This is Whittard of Chelsea's White Hot Chocolate - in other words, it is heaven. Although it isn't entirely a Christmas product, as a luxury brand and at the rate I drink it at, I can't afford this all year round so I save it for the festivities. I don't think I have to tell you how it tastes or what it looks like but I will tell you it's totally worth the money! On the other hand, for a cheaper alternative - or just to sample it before you splurge, Costa Coffee have introduced White Hot Chocolate to their Christmas menu this year and it taste very similar so you can try before you buy. 

Hope you've enjoyed reading about my favourite festive products. What are yours?

See you tomorrow for the 4th day of Christmas - it's all about my Christmas traditions.

Ciao for now xo

NOTE: I didn't take my own pictures of the product as they have been used and look a little gross compared to other pictures on the Internet.

Aside from a number of other brands, L'Oreal' own Maybelline and Body Shop which are featured in this post - for their stance on animal testing click here:

http://www.lorealusa.com/corporate-social-responsibility/loreal-answers/the-question-of-animal-testing.aspx

Blueberry and Lemon Cheese-less Cheesecake

Whilst looking for vegan recipes on Pinterest last week, I came across a blueberry and lemon cheesecake on call-me-cupcake.blogpsot.co.uk. However, after using around £22 worth of coconut oil alone last week in my Peta Great Vegan Bake Off entry (see blog archives) I thought it was probably best for both my weighing scales AND my bank account if I just took the post as pinspiration (see what I did there?) and improvised a non-vegan option. Having never made cheesecake before and with no internet access while walking round my local Tesco, I decided to 'wing it' with the ingredients... only to come home and discover cheesecakes contain ACTUAL cheese (who knew?) which obviously leads to the 'cheese-less' part of this week's bake.

As you can probably tell, I don't make a lot of 'no-bake' bakes, this is just my second- after my own take on my mum's 'special' tiffin - which I'm sure you will see in a future post. Although the no-bake experience began with a cheese-less disaster, I will 100% be making more of these in the future because they're SO quick to make - and if it wasn't for the mess I created bashing up the biscuits, (above) this recipe also creates very little washing up - BONUS! Does Blueberry and Lemon cheesecake sound like your thing? Try it for yourself and tag me in your photos!













   















Ingredients:
250g digestive biscuits
100ml butter
375ml condensed milk
350ml double cream
250g blueberries
2 lemons

Method:
1. Place the biscuits in a bag and crush them into fine crumbs.
2. Melt the butter and add the biscuits, mix together.
3. Press the biscuit mixture into the tin and place in the ridge to set.
4. Whisk together the condensed milk and double cream, adding the blueberries a handful at a time. Grate and juice the lemon and add the rind and juice to the cream mixture.
5. Pour the mixture onto the biscuit base and spread evenly. 
6. Place in the fridge for 2/3 hours to set. Eat up!

For extra baking photos and videos add me on snapchat: oh_annah.

PETA: The Great Vegan Bake Off - Chocolate Chip Coconut Cookie Jars

Peta are running the Great Vegan Bake Off for the third consecutive year and after succeeding in making my own recipe for Orange and Cranberry crinkle cookies (see this month's posts) I decided to try it again to demonstrate my support for the radical animal rights charity! 

As an avid chocolate lover, plain chocolate was the first thing I could think of when pondering vegan foods and after finding Lindt Coconut Excellence on the chocolate aisle, I decided to base my recipe around the little bar of lusciousness. To further emphasise the coconut flavour, I added coconut oil as a substitute for butter - I even made my own flour by putting oats in a food processor my parents received for their wedding 25 years ago (can you believe it still works???)

I chose to make the cookie jars individually as in a rush of excitement I bought (non-oven-proof) glass jars... oops! So to check that the glass wouldn't explode in the heat, I made them one by one. If you want to try them for yourself, the recipe below provides ingredients per jar so if you want to make one for an evening snack you can... or if you want to make 50 for a party you can just multipy the measurements by 50.

Ingredients (to make one jar):
1 tsp. baking powder
3 tbsp. caster sugar
45g ground almonds
85g oats
2 tbsp. coconut oil
40g lindt excellence dark chocolate coconut squares

Method:
1. Mix together the baking powder, caster sugar and ground almonds.

2. Weigh the oats and pour them into a food processor to grind into a flour consistency and add it to the mixture.

3. Stir in the coconut oil to make into a sticky dough and add the chocolate.

4. Put the mixture into oven-proof jars or make into teaspoon size cookies (optional).

5. Bake in the oven at 160 C for 20 minutes. Eat up!

                  

Orange & Cranberry Crinkle Cookies

'Lemon Crinkle Cookies' aren't really my thing but when I came across a recipe for them on cookingclassy.com they sounded too delicious to ignore... so I switched a few of the ingredients and made my own version - Orange and Cranberry Crinkle Cookies.

Aside from the obvious changes to the recipe (lemon = orange and cranberry) I also switched from granulated sugar to brown caster sugar. This is mainly down to personal preference - but I'm going on holiday in 3 days and will be wearing a bikini most of the time so brown sugar > white sugar (every little helps).

This was the first time I have ever used 'cups' as a form of measurement - it didn't go as badly as I first imagined... but a little bit of the ingredients were lost each time you transferred containers and I used the same 'cup' each time so I had to clean it each time I added something - it was a lot of faffing basically! For this reason, I think I'll stick to more precise measurements and a weighing scale in the future - or maybe purchase some proper weighing cups so I don't have to keep washing up? Mason Cash have some really cute ones, hmm...

Here are a few snaps from this week's bake - add me on snapchat to see more baking blunders: oh_annah.

I made sure I took a photo before they went into the oven because my 'cookies' always turn into 'cookie pie'. 

As well as turning into a cookie pie... this time the 'pie' also went a little crispy round the edges -  so I attempted to save the soft centre while still making them look pretty with a heart shaped cutter.

Ta-dah! Despite the many dramas, while baking, these cookies made the whole house smell like Christmas (the cranberries were coated in cinnamon). 

Give them a try for yourself... do you know how to keep your cookies 'cookies' and not 'cookie pie'?  I have translated the measurements from cups to grams to hopefully make it easier for you to follow.

Ingredients:

160 g plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

150 g unsalted butter

250 g caster sugar

5 tsp orange extract

2 eggs

1/2 vanilla extract

10 g cranberries (approximate)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 C (160 C fan oven) and lightly coat your pan with low-fat butter

2. Separating the 'wet' and 'dry' ingredients: in one bowl mix together the plain flour, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl mix together the butter, sugar and orange extract until the mixture becomes pale and smooth.

3. To avoid curdling - add one egg to the 'wet' ingredients, and one to the 'dry' ingredients before stirring the two mixtures together. Add the cranberries.

4. Using a teaspoon, scoop the mixture onto the baking tray to make little cookie dough balls. Bake at 180 C for 20 minutes until golden. Eat up!

'Skinny' Cookies & Cream Brownies

'Skinny' isn't something you often see in the same phrase as 'brownies'  - so when I came across this recipe on Pinterest - I had to put them to the pintertest. A lot of the ingredients are 'reduced fat' or 'non-fat' which is what makes them so low in calories - personally, I stuck strictly to the recipe, with a beach holiday on the horizon - but for a cheaper and 'fatter' option you can also go for full fat alternatives!

Although I'm not completely convinced at the 'skinny' claim, I was genuinely surprised with how well these mini treats turned out. Usually my baking tastes pretty gurrrd (if I do say so myself!) but it comes out the oven looking like a tiny monster has stomped all over it. My mum was the first to comment on the better presentation of my cookies & cream brownies, noting the shiny glaze on top. Seeing as this recipe has just 1/4 of the sugar I usually use, I think the glaze is from the natural yoghurt -  I'm not quite sure - but I'll be sure to incorporate more yoghurt into my baking in the future for sparkly treats all round!

Give these brownies a try yourself and tag me in your photos. Let me know what you think.

To make 15 scrumptious brownies you will need:

90g plain flour
60g cocoa powder
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
28g unsalted butter (melted)
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
96g granulated sugar
60g non-fat greek yoghurt
90ml non-fat milk
9 reduced-fat oreos

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 160 C (140 C fan oven) and lightly coat your pan with non-stick cooking spray or low-fat butter

2. Separating the 'wet' and dry ingredients: whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt in a small bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together butter, eggs and vanilla. Stir in the sugar before adding the greek yoghurt and milk. Stir until smooth. Add the dry mixture and stir before folding in two thirds of the crumbled oreos.

3. Spread the batter into the pan and gently press the remaining oreo pieces into the top. Bake at 160 C for 15-20 minutes. Carefully cut your brownies into squares and leave them to cool on a cooling rack. Eat up!