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!

                  

LUSH HAUL!

When I say 'haul' I mean 'not really a haul at all... haul'. I am poor. Yes, I still attempt to 'haul' with a £1,500 student overdraft to pay off.

My first 'haul' post HAD to be Lush. I just love the smell when you walk in and the friendly staff and (almost) everything is pink and glittery and rainbows and unicorns and if you've ever had a lush bath you'll know exactly what I mean when I say you come out feeling like an utter goddess! ...Not to mention the fabulous brand ethics too. As lush are retiring a few of these products at the end of the summer (boohoo) I dashed to say a final goodbye to some of my faves. 

Sex Bomb - The first product is a regular in my bath basket... the Sex Bomb. They're not actually retiring this one but I bought it anyway because I couldn't resist. It smells so florally and turns your bath a magenta-y pink and even the petals dissolve on this one which makes cleaning the bath afterwards so much easier!

Blackberry Bath Bomb - The next is the Blackberry Bath Bomb. This one looks sort of boring because its just a generic bath bomb shape but it actually has a little surprise in the middle! It smells citrusy, which I love and turns your bath an unusual violety colour which you don't get from a lot of lush products.

Fizzbanger - Third on the list is the Fizzbanger... which they are not retiring- thank goodness -  because I think it might be my new fave. I always put off buying yellow/orangey colours when it comes to lush and other bath products because I think it makes your bath look like you've done a little wee... but I was pleasantly surprised to see it actually turns your bath GREEN (silly me!). My boyfriend pushed me to get this one after a lot of umming and arring - we both love the smell which is really lemony and citrusy again - notice the theme? It is made with popping candy which crackles in your bath and also has a little surprise inside, just like the Blackberry Bath Bomb. Definitely on the favourites list.

Rose Jam Bubbleroon - Up next is the Rose Jam Bubbleroon. I haven't actually tried this one before but I always buy the same bubble bars so this time I decided to go for something different. It smells light and floral-y and I'm hoping it will turn my bath pink but you never know! Due to the design, they split quite easily compared to the other bubble bars which I think is fabulous... but my boyfriend thought they were stuck together and pulled one apart which made me laugh - and then we had to walk away before anyone noticed what he'd done, oops.

Dorothy - Now its time for the ones that are being retired (so sad:(). This one is a bubble bar called Dorothy. My bestie, who works at lush has been recommending this to me for a long time now and I've always shrugged it off with a 'yeah yeah' and religiously stuck to my usual bubble bars. Now its leaving I wish I had tried it sooner. It smells floral-y and turns your bath a pale blue. 

Granny Takes a Dip - This is the hardest goodbye for me. Granny Takes a Dip bath bomb and the final bath product of my Lush 'haul'. When a kind lady first sold this to me about a year ago when it first launched, she told me it smelt like m&ms. I wasn't quite sure what she meant because to me, Lush just sold citrusy, florally smelly things - but when I first used it I knew exactly what she meant! This bath bomb is the epitome of Lush... it swirls as it dissolves, looking like a rainbow in your bath or 'My Little Pony' hair, taking me back to my childhood. I'm so sad to see this one go... but SO excited for the new Granny Takes a Dip bubble bar to be launched nationwide.

Vanilla Dee-Lite - The final product in my Lush 'haul' and another fave that's being retired is the Vanilla Dee-Lite body lotion. I love the smell of vanilla which is what initially drew me to this product. Sometimes though, I find the vanilla-y scent can be quite overbearing when it comes to bathing products, but this one is mildly floral-y too which I really love! Despite what it looks like on the outside, when you squeeze it out it is actually a really pale pink-y colour. The texture is quite light too which I look for in a moisturiser as my skin is really sensitive and thick products can bring out a rash. Another sad farewell.

I hope you enjoyed my Lush 'haul'. What are your Lush faves? What should I try next? Let me know in the comment box below!

'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!