Happy Halloweek! 

Today on the blog i'm sharing a SUPER EASY recipe for Pumpkin Spice Cookies!

You can easily have these made and baked in an hour and they taste amazing, not to mention they also made my house smell amazing too. 

All you need for this recipe is:
155g of Plain Flour (3/4 cup + 3 tbsp)
100g of Chilled Butter  (1/4 cup + 3 tbsp)
2 teaspoons of Pumpkin Spice
50g of Plain Granulated Sugar (3 tbsp + 2 tsp)

Cube the chilled butter and then add it to the flour, sugar and Pumpkin Spice. Mix until it's almost like bread crumbs and then merge it all together until you have one big ball of dough. 

Roll out onto a floured surface until it's around 5mm thick. Then cut out your desired shape using your chosen cookie cutter. If you don't have a cookie cutter,  a round glass will easily do. 

Place greaseproof paper onto baking trays and then place cookies on top. Chill in the fridge for around 15-20 minutes. While they are chilling, pre-heat the oven to gas mark 5, 190 degrees celsius. Once chilled place in the over for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. 

Leave to cool and enjoy!

I also used the tip of a butter knife to gently add small details into the cookies like eyes and a mouth. These would also be great with cinnamon icing dip!

Thanks so much for reading this article! I actually share a whole load of Halloween things on my instagram so if you'd also like to follow my daily (almost) updates then head on over to HERE. You can also follow on Facebook now too! ​

If you're like me then one of your favourite times of the year is when the the Pumpkin Spice Latte is back at Starbucks. Over the years more coffee shops here in the UK have adopted this seasonal drink and you can now find it in other coffee shops such as Coffee #1 and even Greggs!

I will admit I am quite fussy when it comes to Pumpkin Spice coffee and if it's not as good as the Starbucks flavour then it's a no from me, which is why I decided to try and create something myself that can easily be whipped together in less than ten minutes and will mean you can have Pumpkin Coffee any time of the year. 

Over the past few weeks I have been looking into other recipes on how to make a nice creamer and after quite a bit of tweaking I feel like this is the best I can make it! So here it is, my own Pumpkin Spice Creamer. Luckily this year Asda has decided to stock tinned Pumpkin, along with Sainsburys (who seem to have it all year) so if you're struggling to find pumpkin, try there first. If you have no luck, Amazon is your friend. Oh and if you don't have pumpkin spice available just mix up 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon of ground nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon of ground ginger and 1/8 teaspoon of ground cloves. Increase the quantities to make a nice large batch and maybe keep a jar in the cupboard throughout the year?

You will need:
250ml of heavy cream
250ml of Milk
4 tablespoons of soft brown sugar
2 table spoons of tinned pumpkin (or use the soft flesh from a fresh pumpkin, blended)
1 tablespoon of pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla 

In a saucepan add the pumpkin pie spice, sugar, vanilla, pumpkin and half of the milk over a medium heat. Whisk together until the milk is just about to boil. 

Remove from the heat and add the remaining milk and cream and whisk together until it is all full mixed. The creamer should be fairly cool at this point so you can easily place it into a small jug, bottle or container and then leave in the fridge.

You can use this right away in your hot drinks or leave over night for everything to really fuse together in the fridge. Be sure to give the creamer a little mix before use and only keep for around 4-5 days. 

Thanks so much for reading this article! I actually share a whole load of Halloween things on my instagram so if you'd also like to follow my daily (almost) updates then head on over to HERE. You can also follow on Facebook now too! ​

If you love Pumpkin Spice then you will love these! Pumpkin Spice Dumplings are a quick and easy treat that I created a couple of weeks ago and ended up devouring the whole batch. 

Since making these I have created different variations for these which I have suggested at the bottom of this recipe for those of you who fancy a little different taste to your sweet dumplings. 

They take less than an hour to make and can also be made completely vegan. I can see myself making these for many years to come and will most likely be eating even more of these throughout October. Find out how to make your very own Pumpkin Spice Fudge Dumplings below:

You will need:
2 Tablespoons of brown sugar
1/2 Teaspoon of salt
1 Teaspoon of ground cinnamon (sweet cinnamon preferable) 
3/4 Teaspoon of ground ginger
1/2 Teaspoon of ground cloves
250g Self Raising Flour
2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil
Water
Fudge Cubes

First you'll need to preheat the oven to 190 Degrees C/375 Degrees F/ Gas Mark 5.

Sieve the flour into a bowl and add all of the spices, sugar and salt into the flour. Mix together and then add the oil. Mix once again and then with a jug of cold water, add a small amount to the mix and keep mixing more water into the mix until you get a dough that isn't sticky but easy to roll. You might need to use your hand to really mix it all together but try not to mix it too much as you'll remove all of the air from the dough. 

Once mixed tear off a small amount and roll out into a circle (The diameter of a standard mug) around 1cm thickness and place one cube of fudge into the centre of your rolled out dough. Wrap the dough around the fudge cube to make a ball. Continue to do this until you have no dough left. 

Place the dumplings onto some greaseproof paper and place into the oven for around 20-25 minutes. You'll want them to rise to a good height but don't take them out too early as they will sink. The fudge inside will melt during cooking to create a nice runny centre. I did sprinkle my dumplings with a little brown sugar before placing into the oven but this is completely optional. 

Once they have risen take them out the oven and leave to cool for around 5 minutes. I do recommend serving these as soon as possible to enjoy the runny fudge centre. Enjoy!

Extra suggestions:
Why not place a marshmallow and cube of chocolate inside the dumpling to make pumpkin spice S'mores dumplings instead? 
Another great way to enjoy these is either making Cinnamon Frosting or even Pumpkin Spice Cream Cheese Frosting. Place this over the dumplings or in a small bowl for easy dipping! 

Vegan Options:
Replace the inside with any vegan alternative to make these 100% vegan. The dumpling mix itself uses no animal products so it's already vegan. 

Thanks so much for reading this article! I actually share a whole load of Halloween things on my instagram so if you'd also like to follow my daily (almost) updates then head on over to HERE. You can also follow on Facebook now too! ​

Monday

Another week is here and today is a fun day! I've selected a bunch of artists who are currently giving away free activity sheets that you can download right now. So today it's all about colouring pages and puzzles. Johanna Parker currently has free floral cat masks that you can download and colour in. There is also a DIY Paper Doll activity sheet which is also 50% off right now too if you want a little more JP fun. Kris Miners has released colouring pages of some of his book illustrations that you can download and colour in for free.  Skullduggery Ceramics has also released a fun spooky word search via her instagram that you can check out right here.

Tuesday

Today has been declared as Quanrantine-o-Ween by the Halloween community. Halloween has come early for those of you currently at home so get those decorations back out, get the spooky songs on and dress up because spooky day is back! 

What better way to celebrate than with Pumpkin Spiced Latte Jello Shots! Now these are definitely not for kids (although you could make a batch without the coffee liquor and they'll be just fine) but they'll be a hit at your mini party with your quarantine family and friends. 

Make your very own shots right HERE

Wednesday

I know a lot of people right now might not be able to leave their homes unless its absolutely necessarily but currently here in the UK we're still allowed one trip out for exercise per day. So if you're able to leave the house keep an eye open for chestnuts/conkers! 

There will still be quite a few around the ground right now (unless the squirrels got to them first) so if you see any grab a bunch and get making these spooky eyeballs for your plant pots! 

​You can then place them around your garden to add a spooky touch throughout the year. To find out everything you need to do to make these head right over here.

Thursday

This week Thursday is movie night and the film for this week is The Ring! 

The Ring was released in 2002 and follows the story of Rachel and her son Aiden who come across a cursed video tape. Rachel ends up watching the film and discovers that within seven days she will die unless she breaks the curse and reveals the dark history behind it. 

If you enjoy The Ring then also check out The Ring 2! There is also a short film called Rings that ties the first and second film together along with a third film with the same name (although it retcons most of the history developed in the original two films *insert angry face emoji here*). And finally if you want more Rings goodness check out the other ten Japanese and Korean films as well as a 12 part tv series!

Friday 

Another crafty make for you today and also a really easy (and cheap) make that you might be able to make with things already around your home. 

If not you can easily grab everything you need from discount stores like Poundland. The great thing about this make is that you can make it in any colours that you like, so if you have a specific theme in mind or want to make it match your colour scheme at home then it's super easy to do so. 

To make your very own Crystal Ball just click right here.

Saturday

How adorable are these Yarn Doll Ghosts? They're easy, quick and a load of fun to make. If you have kids at home right now then they'll love making these. All you need is yarn, felt, cardboard and some glue. a lot of you will have this at your home already so all you need to do is get making! 

You could even make a whole bunch of these and string them together to make a ghostly garland. 

Make your own little ghosts right here.

Sunday

You've managed to make it through another week and to end it it's time to make a nice hot drink, grab some snacks and curl up with a good book. 

I highly recommend John Connollys The Book of Lost Things. This is one of my all time favourite reads and is definitely worth checking it out. 

Once upon a time, there was a boy who lost his mother . . .' As twelve-year-old David takes refuge from his grief in the myths and fairytales so beloved of his dead mother, he finds the real world and the fantasy world begin to blend. That is when bad things start to happen. That is when the Crooked Man comes. And David is violently propelled into a land populated by heroes, wolves and monsters, his quest to find the legendary Book of Lost Things.

It's quite creepy in parts and will keep you hooked from start to finish. This is a book that you'll remember for a very long time and if you enjoy it be sure to check out some of Connolly's other books. I highly recommend Nocturnes which is a book of short supernatural stories! 

Who to Follow
​
As a bonus extra each week i'll feature an instagrammer who has a spooky profile that you might like. This way you can add even more spookiness to your instagram feed each week too. 

This weeks featured instagrammer is: @notebookofghosts
Check out her awesome instagram for guaranteed spooky treats all week! 

If you would like to be featured just follow the October 31st Instagram or my own (link below) and make some noise! ​