A break from revision...

There is nothing I hate more than revision...and at the moment thats all I seem to be doing. I am booked in for my driving theory test next tuesday and therefore every spare minute of every day has been spent swotting up on my highway code...very very boring but I am determined I am not going to waste the 30 quid I've paid to take the test!

Well this weekend I decided a break from revision was necessary and as I hadnt done any baking for aaages and I had a whole tub of butter in my fridge due to go off in a week and a half I decided it was time to swap my boring old highway code for a couple of baking books instead.

Well what an enjoyable sunday I had! I sent my boyfriend karl off to sit and watch sport all afternoon (he couldnt believe his luck!) while I whipped up several batches of cupcakes and cookies.

The first batch I decided to make were my favourite lemon cupcakes taken from Rachel Allen's book 'Bake'....although I'm not usually a fan of lemon-y cakes I absolutely adore this recipe. It works perfectly every single time and is always a hit with whoever I make them for.

Next up were Chocolate and Hazelnut cupcakes courtesy of the Hummingbird Bakery book. Again, another recipe I have made before but couldnt resist making again...anything that is chocolate and includes nutella and butter cream is most definately a favourite of mine!

And finally, I thought I'd make some Butterscotch Cookies too. This was a new recipe for me out of a new book that my lovely boyfriend karl bought for me called 'Eat Me' by Xanthe Milton. I've had this book a good few weeks now and have frequently sat pondering over what to make from it...everything just looks so good. As a little something extra to the cupcakes I thought I'd make a few cookies..I picked the Butterscotch cookies as I couldnt resist the thought of cookies with chunks of Caramac in them...seriously yum! Unfortunately I was a tad disappointed with these..the recipe said to use an ungreased baking tray. I did think this was a little unusual but as the recipe said to not grease the tray..I didnt grease the tray. Well, the first batch came out of the oven and no matter how hard I tried I could not get them off the baking tray...unfortunately these cookies turned into cookie crumbs and were swiftly given to karl for a snack whilst he watched the formula 1! Not put off by this minor disaster I persevered and put baking parchment on my trays which did enable me to keep my cookies in one piece...hurrah! Although the cookies were good..they werent the best...they were very very sugary and as you can see from the picture went very thin when baked. They did have that lovely chewy texture though that I love in cookies so not all bad! I think if I was making them again I would add more Caramac too...I love that stuff!!

Well, enough blogging for now...I must get some revision done.