Nice and Cosy Treats

Hi everyone hope you are enjoying the weekend!

As the weather gets more and more autumnal my thoughts always turn to one dish - Pumpkin Pie!  It is quite difficult to get hold of canned pumpkin here in the UK (and lets face it, who wants to be struggling with carving a pumpkin up for cooking??) so I stock up with it when I see it.  I managed to snap up a few cans (together with Marshmallow Fluff) at one of those American style sweet shops that seem to be springing up in many city centres these days.

So, yesterday, we had visitors so I made the first pumpkin pie of the season:

I always add a bit of extra cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg than the recipe on the can suggests as we really love our spices in this house! 

My daughter set to and baked a delicious victoria sponge as well (these particular visitors are always very very hungry) and she filled it with raspberry jam and whipped cream

 

 It was so light and fluffy.  The visitors declared both pie and cake very delicious and not a scrap is left of either!!

But before the visitors arrived my daughter had an opticians appointment.  So after that we had a nice browse around the shops and then decided to go to a lovely little chocolate shop and cafe for a little treat.

I had a lovely hot chocolate and she enjoyed a milk shake made with belgian chocolate

And then as a final treat we had some hand made chocolates

the one in the foreground is pistachio cup and the other is chocolate brownie (we each got a little bar of complimentary chocolate with each drink).  The other two chocolates which had already been devoured were eaton mess and sea salt caramel.  All made on the premises by the shop owners.  So, in total we had

• hot chocolate
• belgian chocolate milk shake
• 2 mini bars of dark chocolate
• 4 hand made chocolates

and the price for all this lusciousness?  £4.93!!!!!!  I have paid almost that for just a coffee at one of those faceless world-wide chain coffee shops.  I know where I will go next time when I need a little pick-me-up when out in town!!

Well, must away, I need to do a bit more research for an assignment Im writing - Im getting towards the end of my MSc course so the end is gradually beginning to come into sight, but Im feeling slightly snuffly and under the weather so we will just have to see how much my brain can take in today!  At least dinner is sorted - Ive made a huge veggie stew and popped it into the slow cooker - it is making the house smell lovely and cosy!

Have a great day!

Helenxx