Sweet & Savoury Pumpkin Seeds

Happy Halloween everyone! We hope you have a perfectly spooky day whatever you are doing, and we hope you've enjoyed all of our Halloween posts here at Eight & Sixteen.

This recipe may not be spooky, but it is great for making the most out of your pumpkins! Toasted pumpkin seeds are a very yummy snack and can be flavoured in tons of ways.
I've chosen a sweet and a savoury combination for my pumpkin seeds, and they were both super tasty.

Ingredients based on seeds from one large pumpkin:
Sweet:
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon light brown sugar
Savoury:
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper

First you'll need to scoop out the seeds from your pumpkin and rinse them thoroughly. Be sure to remove as much pumpkin flesh as possible. Place your seeds onto a tea towel and rub to dry them off.

Place your seeds in a bowl, add your flavourings and mix well. Spread out evenly on a baking tray and bake for around 45 minutes at 150°c. Check every 15 minutes and mix the seeds around on the tray; if you don't do this (especially with the sweet variety) you'll find that the seeds stick to the tray.

Once baked, leave to cool and sprinkle a little more of your chosen flavourings on top if needed. Enjoy!

We'd love to hear from you if you give this recipe a go - use the hash tag #eightandsixteen to share your photos with us!

Skye

email | twitter | facebook | pinterest | bloglovin'

Recipe: Golden Snitch Truffles Inspired By Harry Potter

For our We Love... Harry Potter series, we knew that a recipe was a must have. There are endless paragraphs in the books that leave your mouth watering with all the magical treats on offer, so it seemed only natural to try and re-create that magic.

This recipe was found via Pinterest (you can see the original recipe here) and as soon as I laid my eyes on these truffles I couldn't wait to give them a go.

I couldn't find any gluten free edible gold glitter powder, so I had to use the Onken gold shimmer spray for the whole recipe, but it worked really well and I was pretty impressed.
I also halved the recipe - here are the measurements I used to make 12 truffles:

• 120g milk chocolate chips
• 85g whipping cream
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 45g cocoa powder
• 50g dark chocolate

First, you need to whip your cream and vanilla extract together to form stiff peaks and then fold this into your melted milk chocolate. Pop into the freezer for about 45 minutes, then mix in the cocoa powder and create your truffle shapes.

Use the shimmer spray to cover your truffles all over. Place these onto a separate plate and then pop into the fridge.
Then you need to melt the dark chocolate for the snitch wings. Using a piping bag, start drawing out the wings onto a sheet of baking paper.

For 12 truffles I needed to make 24 wings, but I made about 30 in case any broke (they did!). Pop this sheet into the freezer for a few minutes to set, remove and spray with the shimmer spray, and then return to the freezer to set for 10 minutes or so.
Take your truffles from the fridge and wings from the freezer, and then stick the wings to the truffles. The chocolate melts super quickly so it's fiddly but also quite easy to get the wings in place. Repeat with all of the truffles and then step back to admire your handiwork!

These are some of the tastiest truffles I've ever made, and definitely the most magical - I think this recipe would be great for a Halloween party!

We'd love to hear from you if you give this DIY a go - use the hash tag #eightandsixteen to share your photos with us!

Skye

email | twitter | facebook | pinterest | bloglovin'

Recipe: Nutella Milkshake

Our final instalment in the We love... series this month is an easy peasy and mouth-wateringly delicious milkshake.
These quantities will make two glasses of milkshake, but why not try doubling them up and keep some chilling in the fridge (I wish I had done this!).

Ingredients:
• 2-3 heaped tsp Nutella
• 3 tbsp vanilla ice cream
• 2 cups milk

(Optional: Ice cubes)

Add all of the ingredients together in a blender, and blend until smooth.

Tip: If you've found yourself scraping the last of your Nutella from the jar after this series, don't worry! Remove the label from your jar and you've got yourself a perfect tumbler to serve the milkshake in.

We'd love to hear from you if you give this recipe a go - use the hash tag #eightandsixteen to share your photos with us!

Skye

email | twitter | facebook | pinterest | bloglovin'

Recipe: No-Bake Nutella Cheesecake (Gluten Free)

I recently saw a Nigella recipe for Nutella cheesecake and knew I had to try out something similar, as it turned out it was perfect for our first We Love... feature!

As the original recipe used pretty large quantities and wasn't gluten free I adapted it a little bit to make it work for me. Here's how I did it...

Ingredients: 200g Nutella, 300g cream cheese, 60g icing sugar, 1 packet of gluten free digestives (approx. 170g), 60g butter, chopped hazelnuts (enough to add a tbsp into the base mixture & to cover the top of the cheesecake)

1. Place the biscuits in a zip up plastic bag and crush with the end of a rolling pin. Melt the butter in a pan, remove from the heat and mix in the biscuits plus a spoonful of chopped hazelnuts

2. Place the base mixture into your (lined) tin, press down using the base of a glass and pop in the fridge for around 20-30 minutes to set

3. Whilst the base is setting it's time to create the filling. Beat together the cream cheese and icing sugar, then when fully mixed add the Nutella and mix thoroughly

4. Spread the mixture evenly over the biscuit base, sprinkle the top generously with chopped hazelnuts and put back in the fridge to set for a few hours or overnight - then eat & enjoy!

We'd love to hear from you if you try out this tasty recipe - use the hashtag #eightandsixteen to share your photos with us!

Happy baking,
Erin

email | twitter | facebook | pinterest | bloglovin' 

Recipe: 3 Ingredient Nutella Brownies

First up in our We love... series this month is a super simple Nutella brownies recipe. These brownies are super simple to make and offer the best of both worlds; the outer pieces are soft and chewy whilst the centre pieces are soft and gooey!

Ingredients:
• 280g Nutella
• 10tbsp plain flour
• 2 eggs

(Optional: Flaked almonds to sprinkle on top)

To make, simply combine all the ingredients together in a mixing bowl, transfer to a greased baking dish and bake for 30 minutes at 180°c.

We'd love to hear from you if you give this recipe a go - use the hash tag #eightandsixteen to share your photos with us!

Skye

email | twitter | facebook | pinterest | bloglovin'

We Love... Nutella

It's time to introduce another feature here at Eight & Sixteen that we are both super excited about.
We love... is a monthly feature that will shine a spotlight on a variety of different things that we love from foods to films and more.
So for our first feature, it seemed only right to go with one of our greatest shared loves - Nutella!

Over the next month we will be sharing some pretty tasty recipes with you using this magical ingredient - stay tuned!

Erin & Skye

email | twitter | facebook | pinterest | bloglovin'