How to: bake chili chocolate brownies

I've had brownies on the brain since making my rolo chocolate brownie cake last month... they are just so quick and easy to do!

So here's a recipe for brownies with a bit of a kick! You'll need the following ingredients:

• 75g plain flour
• 150g unsalted butter
• 175g caster sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 150g plain chocolate
• 100g chili chocolate
• half a red chili
• 75g chopped almonds

Start by preheating your oven to 150 degrees (C), and grease and line a square cake tin to cook your brownies in.

Put a big glass bowl over a pan of simmering water (make sure the bottom of the bowl doesn't touch the water!), and put in all of the chili chocolate, the butter and 100g of the plain chocolate. Stir gently until it's all melted together and is lovely and gooey. Put the bowl aside and let it cool for a moment.

Add the sugar and stir into the chocolate using a mixer (or by stirring really fast with a spoon!). The add the eggs, one at a time, making sure the mixture is nice and smooth.

Add the flour, mix in and then chop up your almonds, chili & leftover plain chocolate. Add this all into the mix, then put it in the oven for 25 - 30 minutes. Brownies should be slightly gooey on the inside, so use a knife to test when it's cooked through, but don't be as strict as you would with a cake!

The result should be lovely chocolately gooey brownies, with a subtle bit of spiciness. Enjoy! 

MoroccanOil

Ages ago there was a lot of hype about MoroccanOil - it suddenly appeared on loads of blogs & everyone was raving about the new wonderful hair product. I was sorely tempted to try it out, until I realised that the RRP was close to £30 for a 100ml bottle - ouch! 

So it sat in my amazon basket for practically a year, and now and again I would swither about it & then decide it probably wasn't worth the cash. Until Christmas, when I got some vouchers & thought I'd finally buy it and see if it lived up to the hype... 

MoroccanOil - £26 for 100ml

My first impressions weren't particularly good - it comes in a nice bottle with a pump-top, which broke as soon as I tried to attach it. Not great! 

But, that's where all negative opinions end. The oil has a really rich smell (which I really love, although if you prefer flowery products on your hair this might be a bit strange), and surprisingly, doesn't leave an oily residue on your hands or hair.

I use a couple of drops, rub my hands together, and then apply it all over the ends of my hair and it's WONDERFUL. Seriously, amazingly, notice-from-the-first-use wonderful.

My hair feels much softer and shinier, and generally feels in much better nick. I've found since using it my hair dries faster, and stays straighter for much longer - so overall I'm using less heat on my hair. 

I thought I would like MoroccanOil, but I didn't realise just how much I'd love it! My hair is naturally a bit mental and frizzy (I've chatted about this - with terrible photos - here), so anything that helps keep it tame and healthy is in my good books.

I know it's expensive, but the bottle does seem to be lasting for ages as you use only a little each day, so I'll definitely be re-purchasing it. Proper love love love.

The Marshmallow Lady

Have you heard of the Marshmallow Lady yet? If you  haven't - get yourself ready to drool & look at these!

The Marshmallow Lady makes gourmet marshmallow that are a million miles away from the pink & white ones you can buy in supermarkets. They are super fluffy and come in an amazing range of flavours - from classic vanilla bean, to key lime pie, millionaire shortbread and Innis & Gunn beer mallows!

I bought a mix & match pack of vanilla bean. caramel & millionaire's shortbread, and devoured half the pack before thinking it might be a good idea to stop and take a photo of them! Not only are they super tasty, but the majority of her marshmallows are gluten-free, dairy-free, and low-fat (making them a pretty guilt-free treat!).

You can buy marshmallows online or, if you're in Edinburgh, visit her shop at 14 Rodney Street, EH7 4EA (at the very bottom of Broughton St/Canonmills).

Outfit: Purple flowers

I spend most of my week living in dresses & tights, so am pretty much always on the lookout for nice dresses that suit both work & fun. I stumbled across this dress a little while ago, didn't really think it was my sort of thing, but tried it on & was surprised by just how much I loved it!

Dress - Matalan

It's a lovely jersey fabric, so will be light enough for summer, has sleeves (hooray for sleeves) and is a super flattering fit. Even just a year ago I don't think I would have been brave enough to wear a mega flowery dress, but one of the benefits of blogging is that you really start to embrace bright fabrics!

It sits just below my knee, so is again a wee bit out of my comfort zone (I'm a shorty, so longer dresses can drown me) but I think it works quite well!

Flat shoes - Melissa*

I'm pairing it with dark navy tights and my beautiful new Vivienne Westwood shoes - how lovely are these?! They are from the Melissa range, which means they are made out of rubber that smells like bubblegum (kind of weird, I know).

I was worried that they wouldn't be comfortable (rubber shoes sounded a bit painful to me) but they are actually brilliant!

Win tickets to the Edinburgh International Science Festival!

Recently I jumped ships, leaving my lovely magazine job to work in the new, exciting world of the Edinburgh International Science Festival. I've been here almost a month (how quickly does time fly?!), and the festival is only one week away!

I feel mildly guilty actually, as everyone is so busy & productive, and I am spending lots of time "learning" (aka going for coffee with clients & visiting tiny children with the science workshop team!). It's useful - promise!

If you don't know, the Edinburgh International Science Festival was the world's first science festival, and is still one of Europe's largest. It used to be aimed at kids & families, but over the last few years they've really stepped up their adult programme & now put on LOADS over two weeks in March & April. It's not all aimed at super-smart people either (although there are lots of lectures if that's your cup of tea!), there's comedy, music, art & fun workshops - loads of chances to be a big kid and play with things! (You can see what I got up to last year here).

One of the most fun-looking events this year is Science Festival Lates, which is going to be the Opening Party of the festival on March 21st. The City Art Centre (used as EISF's flagship children's venue) is going to be open to adults for one night only - you can do experiments, take part in workshops, and just play, with a beer in hand. 

Sound good? Well, I have three pairs of tickets to give away! All you have to do is enter via the rafflecopter form below. This competition is open to all UK entrants... although please do only enter if you are able to attend the event (which is, I repeat, in Edinburgh on March 21st). You also have to be over 18, as there will be drinks aplenty.

 a Rafflecopter giveaway
I'll be picking winners on Wednesday 20th March & will get in touch by email if you've won. Good luck!

p.s. if you aren't one of the winners & still want to go, tickets are only £10 - that's less than £3.50 an hour. Bargain!