Spider-Man Toffee Apples

by Michelle @ A Tipsy Giraffe // October 16, 2014 // 34 Comments

Okay, I have a confession to make – I hate halloween! There, I said it! Don’t throw rocks at me, please! I actually love all the festivities surrounding Halloween, the dressing up, the parties and of course, the baking, but I have this one extreme phobia that ruins the whole holiday for me! That doesn’t mean I can’t take part in the baking fun though, so enter these toffee apples!

Halloween isn’t all that big in the UK anyway, kids do trick or treat and there’s the odd party, but it’s definitely no where near the scale you find in the US! It’s crazy how much those guys get into the spirit of Halloween, I love it. Or, I would, if I could celebrate Halloween in any way other than hiding in my house until it’s all over! Toffee apples aren’t just a halloween treat, here in the UK we serve them up on Bonfire Night too.

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Autumn Strawberry and Banana Smoothie

by Michelle @ A Tipsy Giraffe // October 13, 2014 // 5 Comments

Happy Monday guys! Well, I say “happy”, I’m writing this post from bed while I’m off work sick. The lurgy has well and truly gotten a hold of me. This autumn strawberry and banana smoothie would definitely warm me up and make me feel better though. In fact, I might get out of bed and make myself one up now!

I was having a real craving for a smoothie and the only fruit I had in my freezer was strawberries. I also had some quickly over ripening bananas. As yummy as a classic strawberry and banana smoothie is, it was a bit too summery for my over enthusiastic autumn mood. So I autumned this sucker up!

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Jam Donuts

by Michelle @ A Tipsy Giraffe // October 10, 2014 // 37 Comments

These yummy jam donuts are week 8 of my GBBO challenge, the theme being advanced dough. It was also the quarter final and the week my favourite contestant left the tent!

I’m going to give you an insight into my brain – it was 1:30am and I couldn’t sleep and was feeling very antsy, so what do I do? Read a book? Watch some television? Nope! I got up and made some donut dough! It seemed to do the trick at least. Normally you would leave this dough to rise in a warm place for an hour or so, but since I wasn’t about to stay up all night making donuts (I may be crazy, but I’m not that crazy!) I left mine to do it’s first rise in the fridge overnight. Having it rise in the fridge slowed down the yeast so it didn’t over prove. The second rise, or actual proving, I did at room temperature and it left me with a perfect donut.

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Plum and Ginger Upside Down Cake

by Michelle @ A Tipsy Giraffe // October 8, 2014 // 12 Comments

Wow, what a day today has been! It’s my day off so I had plans to be pretty lazy and also make some mini poptarts. The lazy part of the plan didn’t work out too well when the dishwasher decided to break and flood my kitchen! So I have spent most of the day trying to fix the dishwasher (and failing), cleaning up the the floods and hand washing everything that was in the dishwasher! I did make the mini poptarts too though and they’re adorable (don’t worry, I’ll be sharing those with you ASAP!). I’m going to spend the rest of the evening watching New Girl and eating pasta!

When a day doesn’t go to plan it can really throw you off, so I decided to cheer myself up by sharing something with you all that went better than planned – this amazing plum and ginger upside down cake! I got this idea from a client at work, she told me about a plum and ginger upside down cake that she makes and it just sounded divine to me, I had to make my own!

I’ve never made an upside down cake before, I’ve always associated them with pineapple and I’m allergic to pineapple so it’s never an idea that’s been at the front of my mind. I’m glad I started with this cake though. The combination of the buttermilk, sour cream, and syrupy goodness make this cake so moist it should be illegal! Yet it still holds its shape well, slides out of the pan with zero effort and isn’t mushy.

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Kale Avocado Banana Smoothie

by Michelle @ A Tipsy Giraffe // October 6, 2014 // 5 Comments

I’ve always been turned off by the idea of green smoothies. I don’t know why, because I love my greens! Spinach? Yum! Kale? One of my favourite foods! But the idea of drinking them just sounded wrong to me! But I am officially a convert, green smoothies are awesome!

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