Halloween Inspired Treats

Hi everybody!

When an opportunity presents itself, why not take it?
In other words, as Halloween is just around the corner, I decided to take to the kitchen and bring out my inner household, or shall I say kitchen goddess. As my boyfriend and brother, who were present on "experimenting recipes day", enjoyed snacking on little Halloween treats, I slaved over orange food colouring and cookie crumbs. But all was well and pretty fun as the recipes were simple to follow and fun to do. I was quite chuffed with the way everything turned out as well. I have chosen 5 of the easiest but most amazing Halloween treats to share with all of you today for a lovely Halloween party or just something to do on Halloween night or on the weekend. I did have to switch up and substitute a few things in the following recipes to my preference, so feel free to do the same and work with what is best and most convenient for you.

Ghostly Lemon Cake Pops

Ingredients:-

• 1 twelve ounce plain puns cake
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butte, softened
• 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
• 18 popsicle sticks
• 8 oz white chocolate, chopped
• dark miniature chocolate chips

Method:-

1. Crumble the cake into a food processor. Add the butter, lemon zest, lemon juice and sugar and pulse to combine. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and shape into 18 balls. 
2. Gently press them into ghost shapes and ease each one into a popsicle stick. Stand the pops upright in a large piece of styrofoam.
3. In a large microwave safe bowl, heat the white chocolate at high power until three-quarters melted. Stir until completely melted and cooled slightly. Working quickly, dip the cake pops into the white chocolate, letting any excess drip back into the bowl. Stand the pops upright in the styrofoam and let the chocolate set.
4. Use the chocolate chips for eyes on each cake pop.

Owl Cookies

Ingredients:-

• 1 1/3 cups butter, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 3 tablespoons milk
• candy corn
• miniature chocolate chips

Method:-

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a bowl, with a mixer on medium speed, beat butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar until blended then beat on high speed until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until well blended. Add flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and beat on low speed.
3. Divide dough into three portions. Place each portion between two sheets of floured plastic wrap. Roll dough evenly into flat rounds and stack them on a baking sheet and chill until firm.
4. With one portion of dough, peel off the top sheet of plastic wrap. Cut into shapes with an owl cookie cutter and transfer to baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Repeat with leftover dough.
5. Bake cookies until firm to touch and slightly darker brown around the edges for about 8 minutes. Cool the cookies on a rack.
6. To make the icing, combine powdered sugar and milk, mix until combined and smooth. Spread icing over cooled cookies and decorate with candy corn for a beak and chocolate chips for eyes.

Scroll to the bottom to get an owl cookie cutter.

Halloween Marshmallow Dippers

Ingredients:-

• white chocolate
• large marshmallows
• Orange food colouring
• Halloween themed straws
• wax paper

Method:-

1. Lay out some wax paper. Stick straws into marshmallows.
2. Melt white chocolate in a microwave safe bowl on medium heat. Stir in a few drops of orange food colouring into the chocolate.
3. Pour different coloured sprinkles onto separate plates. Dip marshmallows into chocolate and then immediately into the sprinkles. Place on wax paper to cool.

Source from bombshellbling.com

Candy Corn Halloween Popcorn

Ingredients:-

• 1/2 cup popcorn kernels
• 1/2 cup orange candy melts
• 1/2 cup black candy melts
• 1/2 cup candy corn M&Ms
• 1/2 cup candy corn 

Method:-

1. Cover a baking sheet with waxed paper. Make popcorn and lay a single layer on covered baking sheet.
2. Melt candy melts in separate bowls over a double boiler or in the microwave. Stir frequently until completely melted
3. Pour candy melts into disposable piping bags. Snip of the tip of the bag and drizzle on top of the popcorn. Add remaining candy. Allow to cool. Store in airtight containers.

Candy Corn Rice Krispy Pretzel Stick

Ingredients:-

• Rice Krispy Squares
• white chocolate, melted
• orange, white and yellow sprinkles
• pretzels rods

Method:-

1. Cut/shape the Rice Krispy into candy corn shapes by making a triangle to start, and rounding out the vertices.
2. Gently press a pretzel rod into the middle of the Rice Krispy so that the top end of the pretzel rod almost reaches the top section of the triangle.
3. Remove the pretzel rod and pour melted white chocolate into the hollow that the pretzel rod has left behind and then put back the pretzel rod, press firmly.
4. Cover the 1/3 of the bottom of the triangle with white chocolate and dip into yellow sprinkles.
5. Cover the middle 1/3 with white chocolate and put orange sprinkles and the top 1/3 with white sprinkles.
6. Place each of them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and allow to set.

Source from lovefromtheoven.com

I hope you have enjoyed this blog post and it has hopefully given you some ideas for your Halloween treats. I did make a couple more recipes but these are the few that I found were best. Like I mentioned before, do feel free to go ahead and change the ingredients or methods according to your preference. My favourite one out of the 5 is definitely the marshmallow dippers because I just absolutely love the look of them. They are so simple and straight forward to do, which is the reason why, I believe, they turned out extremely successfully. The bright orange along with the sprinkles are eye catching and looks very promising therefore it will make a good treat to have if you will be having a get together/party. You can definitely make them in huge batches because they are so easy to do. The owl cookies will definitely be more on the baking aspect whereas everything else is a somewhat assembly job but they are extremely cute especially when they are laid out on a huge platter to serve to guests. I also love the Halloween popcorn as they are a great munch during a scary film or a Halloween film this 31st.

I got my owl cookie cutter for the owl cookies from eBay. However, I will leave links below on where you might be able to find them. One of the links is to another eBay site so it is not definite that you will be able to get it there but do check out the other alternatives online or, stop by your local party shop/ kitchen appliance shop. Owls are a slightly more uncommon shape for cookie cutters but in the spirit of the spooky season, you might just get lucky and if not during Halloween then when do people actually buy owl shaped cookie cutters, so have a look and if you are in no luck. improvise.

Comment below sharing your favourite Halloween inspired treats or you can share them on Instagram using the hashtag #jessthedream. Also, don't forget to check out my other social media sites.

Have a great day ! Xx

Use the hashtag #jessthedream on Instagram to share your favourite treats or if you have tried out these recipes.

Twitter: @jessieashleyyy
Instagram: @fashion_jessie
Email: jessicashleyyy@gmail.com

To get an owl cookie cutter:-
eBay: http://www.ebay.co.uk/bhp/owl-cutter
Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kitchen-Craft-Cookie-Cutter-Medium/dp/B000YJES5A
notonthehighstreet.com: http://www.notonthehighstreet.com/redberryapple/product/cute-owl-cookie-cutter
Squires Kitchen: http://www.squires-shop.com/uk/product/small-funky-owl-sugarcraft-cutter

Lush Haul + Autumn Bath Essentials

Hi everybody!

I hope you are all doing well this week, as you might know I have just made my way back home quite recently after a fairly long working season for Fashion Month. Now that everything seems to get a little bit more under control and not too crazy, I decided to treat myself to a nice shop around during the weekend. After stumbling into Lush and purchasing almost the entire shop (jokes), I decided to share with all of you my bath essentials for autumn. I thought this is the perfect time to do this blog post as autumn has arrived and the weather outside is getting a lot colder which means that it only makes sense to sit in a lovely bath more often. Personally, I find a relaxing warm bath at the end of a crazy, stressful, cold day one of the many simple pleasures in life. However, a bath is only a bath until the you set the mood for a lovely pamper style evening. So today, I will be sharing with you everything I love for a nice bath in the autumnal weather.

LUSH HAUL

Bath Bombs:-

• Granny Takes a Dip (£3.35)
• Space Girl (£2.35)
• So White (£3.50)
• Father Christmas (£3.50)

Bath Melts:-

• You've Been Mangoed (£3.35)
• Floating Island (£4.35)
• The Melting Snowman ( £2.35)
• Dreamtime (£3.35)

Bubble Bars:-

• Magic Wand (£5.25)
• Candy Mountain (£2.75)
• Sparkly Pumpkin (£3.50)

Other Products:

• Honey Trap Lip Balm
• Cosmetic Warrior Face Mask
• Oatflix Face Mask

BATH ESSENTIALS

LUSH
Candy Mountain

Granny Takes A Dip

Melting Snowman

Magic Wand

Floating Island

THE WHITE COMPANY

White Christmas

Fireside Votive

White Lavender Bath Milk

SOAP AND GLORY

Flake Away Body Polish

Hand Food Hydrating Hand Cream

YANKEE CANDLES

Autumn Wreath

Juicy Peach

Christmas Cookie

Cinnamon Stick

JO MALONE

Green Tomato Leaf

I seem to only appreciate baths during the autumn/winter seasons therefore my bath essentials include quite a number of Christmas themed items. During the rest of the year, I am definitely more of a shower person. As you might also be able to tell, I do go quite crazy over candles because I think it definitely sets the mood, and the smell of candles reminds me that we have come to the end of the year which never fails to put me in good spirits.

Comment below sharing your favourite bath time/pamper evening products and check out my other social media sites which I will leave down below. Have a great day everyone! Xx

Use the hashtag #jessthedream on Instagram sharing your favourite bath essentials

Twitter: @jessieashleyyy
Instagram: @fashion_jessie
Email: jessicashleyyy@gmail.com

Product Of The Month

Hi everybody!

We have once again, come into a new month in the calendar which means only one thing and one thing only... Product Of The Month time !!

Before we get into that, I would like to reflect on the month of September because it has been one of the most insane, if not the most insane month for me. I was insanely busy throughout the month of September doing work, travelling, preparing for fashion week.. the list goes on. All the rush and stress aside, it has been such an exciting month and sitting here today, I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to witness fashion week in all its true fashion glory. I am currently still on work duties, so I am not at home and I have been away for almost 3 weeks now which is a little crazy for me. However, I have no complains as everyday here gets more and more exciting. As some of you might know, Paris Fashion Week has just ended which marks the end of the Fashion Month celebrations and festivities. I will be returning home in about a week's time and hopefully by then, all the chaos that goes on before, during and after Fashion Week will be a little calmer, which gives me more time to work on some blog posts about Fashion Month for all of you.

Busy or free, travelling or home, sick or healthy, you guys know that I will not ( try my very best not to ) miss a Product Of The Month. With that said, I will be reviewing the Tarte Amazonian Clay 12-hour Full Coverage Foundation as well as the Tarte Amazonian Clay 12-hour Blush. I thought I would combine the two as I have been using these together almost everyday throughout September and I do not remember a time where I have used either one of it by itself. To me, they are best together and that is just how I look at them - as a package, they must come together.

Amazonian Clay 12-hour Foundation
I got mine for £32.50 from QVC UK and it came with a brush so I have been using that brush to apply this foundation and it makes my skin look very healthy and natural. I would say that this is a light to medium coverage, hence the more natural finish. It is also extremely long wearing as the name would tell you. I only use a fairly small amount of this foundation and buff it into my skin. Following that will be some concealer to cover up any outstanding imperfections for a flawless finish. Never forget to powder to set the foundation and concealer for a longer lasting effect. I use face powder religiously and at the moment, I am loving the Too Face Amazing Face Powder Foundation which doubles up as a powder and a foundation but can be used with a foundation base or just on its own. This is obviously, as said before paired with the Tarte Amazonian Clay 12-hour Blush.

Amazonian Clay 12-hour Blush
Again, I got this from QVC UK for £23.00. I believe there is about 16 shades to choose from however only 5 of which are available on the QVC UK website and the last time I checked, three of them are sold out. Fortunately, the one that I will be reviewing today is still available on their website which is the shade Fearless which is a beautiful pink coral. I have also picked up Blissful which is somewhat similar and Exposed which is amazing for sculpting out those cheek bones if that is what you are after.

As I have been doing so much running around and travelling for Fashion Week in September, I didn't want to experiment with new makeup products everyday and I stuck to what I knew would work for me. This combination of the Tarte foundation and blush did not fail me and I absolutely loved it. Comment below sharing what products you have loved throughout the month of September and if you have tried out any of the products mentioned above, do share your views on them as well. I will link my last Product Of The Month blog post below where I talked about Urban Decay Ink For Eyes Eyeliner so do check that out if you want to. Also, don't forget to check out my other social media sites as well. Have a great day ! Xx

Use the hashtag #jessthedream on Instagram to share your favourite beauty product(s) of September

Twitter: @jessieashleyyy
Instagram: @fashion_jessie
Email: jessicashleyyy@gmail.com

To check out my previous Product Of The Month blog post, click here