DIY Pumpkin Spice Latte

Everyone and their dog loves Starbucks' Pumpkin Spiced Latte but at nearly £4 a pop this autumn favourite can get a bit expensive, so why not make your own from home? DIY things never work out for me, ever. They never look or taste the same but this recipe is so easy that it tastes exactly like Starbucks'. I even topped my latte off with a slice of Pumpkin Pie. 

For the Pumpkin Spiced Latte you will need: 

- 1 cup of milk (you can use almond milk / soya milk if preferred)

- 1 tbsp of canned pumpkin ( I picked mine up from Waitrose, however I'm pretty sure most large supermarkets stock it. Hint its with the tinned fruit!)

- 1 tbsp of sugar

- 1/2 tsp of ground cinnamon

- 1/4 tsp of ground cloves

- 1/4 tsp of ground nutmeg

- Around 1/2 cup of coffee (this can vary depending on how strong you like your coffee)

In a saucepan over a low heat you want to begin warming all the ingredients except the coffee, mixing them together until they are completely dissolved and warm in temperature. Simply then add the mixture to your hot coffee, give it a quick stir and top off with whipped cream if desired! 

It's such a simple recipe that takes not even five minutes. Personally I think it tastes as good if not better than the real thing by Starbucks.

How much do you love the Starbucks Pumpkin Spiced Latte? 

Any other  DIY Starbucks recipes I should try?

Katie xx

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Easter Treats

Happy Easter everyone, today I'm gonna share with you some Easter treat ideas for all of those with a sweet tooth. All these recipes are super easy and didn't take long at all to make. I hope you guys take some inspiration and get baking, Easter is the best time to eat lots of food especially chocolate and lots and lots of sugary stuff. 

These cookies are the cookies from Tanya Burr's book Love, Tanya however I did develop them slightly. Overall you use round 400g of chocolate and I replaced around half of that with smarties to make them more bright and colourful. Can we also just appreciate how massive these cookies are? Each one is almost as big as my head and they sure are scrumy. I'm quite fussy when it comes to cookies as I like them golden on the outside and soft and gooey on the inside and these hit the spot. 

These Rice Krispie nests are perfect as a snack if you have the family round this Easter, whilst these are super quick and easy to make it can get rather messy, be warned!

You will need- 

- 6 cups of Rice Krispies

- Around 285g of marshmallows  

- 3 tablespoons of Butter

-1/2 cup of desiccated coconut

1/4 teaspoon of water

-Green food colouring (around 4 drops)

-Chocolate eggs / mini eggs

Method- 

1. Mix the water and food colouring together in a small bowl then add the coconut and mix together to dye the coconut a green colour. 

2. Melt the butter and the marshmallows in a pan over the cooker, constantly stirring to avoid sticking.

3. Once melted remove from the heat and add in the Rice Krispies, stirring to completely cover them.

4. Spoon the mixture into a greased cupcake tin and leave to cool.

5. Decorate with your coconut and chocolate eggs and enjoy.

I cheated with these nest cupcakes a little bit because I used ready made vanilla cupcake mix however these are probably my favourite out of the treats I made, they taste great. To make these I just used Betty Crocker's vanilla cupcake mix, once baked I melted two bars of chocolate and mixed into two broken shredded wheat. I then just spread equal amount of the mixture over the cupcake to create a nest shape; you then just want to fill the middle with chocolate eggs. The chocolate eggs I used were Tesco's own micro eggs (they had run out of mini eggs, what?!) 

I hope you guys have great Easter and eat lots of chocolate.

If you try out any of the treat ideas tag me on instagram @katielouise13 or tweet me @MissKatieAlden. I want to see your pictures!

Katie xx

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Non-Beauty Favourites 2015

 Today I wanted to share a few things non-beauty related with you guys that I have been loving recently from CD's to movies and food. Make sure you let me know what you guys have been loving in the comments below. 

Taylor Swift 1989 Deluxe (£16.79)

With the sun shining and the weather getting warmer Taylor Swift's recent album is helping me get right into the mood of summer. If you know me then you know how much I love Taylor and her new album (newish okay?) 1989 is fun and light hearted. It's my current favourite album and its all I seem to be listening to in the car. It's so hard to pick just one favourite song but my top songs are definitely 'Welcome To New York', 'Style', 'Wonderland', 'I Know Places', 'Wildest Dreams', 'New Romantics' and 'I Wish You Would'. 

I do realise I have just listed half the album, I could of listed every song to be honest, I love them all. If you haven't listened to this album yet, GO DO IT! Especially the deluxe version, its worth it. 

If you follow me on twitter then you have probably seen my near constant tweets about Pretty Little Liars. Going to put it out there and say that I'm well and truly addicted. I watched all 5 seasons in about a month, pretty good going if you ask me. After searching around Netflix for something to watch I'm glad I stumbled amongst this. I don't want to give away any spoilers in case you haven't watched it yet, but I highly recommend it, probably one of my favourite ever TV programmes apart from Friends of course! If you watch Pretty Little Liars let me know who you think A is before the reveal on the 24th! I can't work out who I think it is! 

Love, Rosie (£9.99)

Who doesn't love a good chick flick? I watched Love, Rosie after it came out on DVD at the beginning of the month. It's a classic love story where two people are meant to be together but there are all sorts of problems along the way. This is a light hearted, fun film that leaves you in a great mood. 

Love, Tanya (£6.49)

I'm not a big book reader but I couldn't help but pick up Tanya Burr's new book 'Love, Tanya'. It's full of great helpful tips from Beauty to Hair to Baking. I love Tanya as a person, she is such a happy, bubbly person and this really shows in her book. 

Clipper Pure Green Tea (£2.79 for 80 tea bags)

I've always been a big fan of Green Tea, drinking at least a cup a day but recently I've found myself getting more into Green Tea and its benefits. It's full of great antioxidants and helps with weight loss. The main Green Tea I drink is Clipper pure Green Tea however I have recently been trying out Matcha Green Tea, which is a powdered Green Tea and is supposedly the equivalent to drinking ten cups of regular Green Tea, I must admit it does taste a bit weird when you taste it at first as it is very strong but I'm slowly starting to grow to love it. 

I've been craving Avocado recently and have been eating a lot of Avocado and Bacon Salads. This salad from Bills is by far my favourite, a side of chips and ketchup is all it needs. 

Katie xx

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Christmas Treat Ideas

Merry Christmas Eve everyone! I can't believe Christmas is tomorrow, its definitely come around quick as I really don't feel very Christmassy at all. I haven't even got round to watching Elf yet!!  Today I'm showing you how to make some Christmas treat ideas, these are super quick to make and taste yummy. 

M&M Pretzels

This first recipe are for these super yummy chocolate pretzels. They take about 5 minutes to make and don't require much effort at all. To make these chocolate pretzels you will need:

-A bag of salted pretzels

-A bag of M&M's

-Two bars of milk chocolate (however you could use white or dark if you prefer)

The first step is to place your pretzels on top of some greaseproof paper on a baking tray, you then want to place a square of chocolate on top of each pretzel. Placing the baking tray into a preheated oven at around 170 degrees you want to melt your chocolate ever so slightly for about a minute or two so it is soft to touch. Once ready you want to place an M&M on each chocolate square. Now for the hard part, waiting for the chocolate to set before you can eat them! Once the chocolate has hardened enjoy!

Peppermint Bark

Peppermint Bark is probably my favourite treat at Christmas, the Candy Canes make it super festive. This recipe is also a super quick treat with the hardest part again waiting for the chocolate to set. For this recipe you will need 

-Two bars of chocolate (I've just used milk but white also taste super nice!)

-Around 5/6 Candy Canes 

This quick Peppermint Bark is so simple feel like it really doesn't need a recipe. All you need to do is melt your Chocolate and crush your Candy Canes. To crush your Candy Canes I just personally put them into a sandwich bag and use a rolling pin to crush them. Once your chocolate has melted you want to mix around three quarters of your crushed Candy Cane into the chocolate and our it onto some greaseproof paper making sure it is spread out evenly. With the remaining Candy Cane just sprinkle it on top of the mixture and place the tray into the fridge to set. 

Festive Hot Chocolate

I'm a big fan of having a hot chocolate in the evening snuggled up under a blanket to watch a movie and what a better way to jazz up a hot chocolate and make it all festive with a candy cane. I found these Tumblr-esque Mason Jars in Tescos for only £3 each! 

For this festive hot chocolate you will need:

-Hot Chocolate powder of your choice

-Milk or Hot Water (whatever you like to make your hot chocolate with)

-Whipped Cream 

-A mug or glass of your choice

-A Candy Cane

To start of with you want to make a hot chocolate to your personal preference, for mine I used half milk and half boiling water, whisking the powder as I go. To top of your hot chocolate just add some whipped cream and top it off with a candy cane. Voilà your finished, enjoy!

I hope you guys find these Christmas treat ideas useful for making some treats over the festive period for you and your loved ones. I hope you have a great Christmas and eat loads of food and have lots of fun! Merry Christmas everyone! 

Lots of Love, Katie xx

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