RECIPE: Banana Loaf // Blogging Anniversary

Today marks the day that I've been blogging for 3 whole years! My blog has changed a lot since then from the name and web page to the design and what I like to blog about most. So today I thought I'd write one of my favourite kinds of posts - baking! It's also fallen on a Wednesday which, as most of you will know is Bake Off day! Last week as the first episode of the new series aired I posted a recipe on Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies, so Wednesday's on Abigail's World could become days for everything baking!

Today's recipe is Banana Loaf which I made a couple of weeks ago and it went down a treat! I originally found the recipe here on BBC Good Food and although I had to alter the cooking time, it was delicious, so if you're a banana lover the recipe is below.

Ingredients:

140g butter (softened)

140g caster sugar

2 eggs

140g self-raising flour

1tsp baking powder

2 bananas (mashed)

50g icing sugar

(optional) banana chips for decoration

Method:

1. Heat the oven to 180C and line a loaf tin with baking paper.

2. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs slowly with some flour. Then fold in the rest of the flour with the baking powder and banana.

3. Pour the mixture into the baking tin and bake for about 30 mins, however mine took slightly longer and baked until a skewer came out clean.

4. Set aside to cool once cooked and make the icing. Mix the icing with 2-3 tsp of water and drizzle over the top of the banana loaf and add the banana chips to decorate.

I really enjoyed baking (and eating) this Banana Loaf, and I can't wait to bake it again soon!

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RECIPE: Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

If you love baking just as much as I do then you'll know that tonight is the start of a new series of one of my favourite shows.... The Great British Bake Off! To get in the mood of baking yesterday I decided to bake these oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. I've never made these before or any cookies with oats for that matter so I wasn't sure how they were going to turn out, but they taste so so good if I do say so myself!

I managed to make 12 (quite large) cookies with this recipe, although there's definitely not even half that many left now!

Ingredients:

150g plain flour

1tsp baking powder

175g unsalted butter

100g dark brown sugar

100g sugar

1 egg

2tsp vanilla extract

250g rolled oats

75g chocolate chips

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees and line two baking trays with baking paper.

2. Stir together the flour and baking powder in a bowl.

3. In a separate bowl, mix together the butter and sugars with an electric mixer.

4. Add the egg and whisk again, followed by the vanilla.

5. Then gradually add the flour to this mixture and mix together with a wooden spoon until combined. Then add the oats and chocolate chips and mix again.

6. Using a tablespoon add the mixture to the baking trays (I managed to fit 6 onto each tray) and flatten slightly with the back of the spoon, but ensure that there's space between the cookie mixtures.

7. Bake for 12 - 15 minutes until golden.

I hope you enjoyed this recipe and let me know if you decide to make them too! They're definitely the best cookies I've ever made before, but would Mary and Paul approve? I hope so!

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London Tourist for a week

If you follow me on Instagram you'll have most probably seen that I've posted quite a few photos of London recently. That's because living up north I don't get to visit London very often, so when I had the chance to spend a week down there this summer I took every opportunity to be as touristy as possible! I know bloggers love London at the best of times so I thought I'd share some of the many photo's I took when I was down there (if I haven't already bored you enough over on Instagram). I spent quite a bit of time in Shoreditch which is where my university exhibition was held, on Brick Lane and I wanted to visit places I'd never been to in London before such as Buckingham Palace and Downing Street.

I can't wait to visit London again and take even more pretty pictures.

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Lush Wishlist

When I was in London a few weeks ago I visited the Lush store on Oxford Street and oh wow I never knew there was one so big. I don't think I'd ever been into a Lush store with more than one floor before! Although I wanted to buy almost every item in there, I only came out with my favourite product which is the Comforter bubble bar (blog post coming soon). So I thought I'd share some of the other things I was lusting after with a Lush Wishlist.

1. Pink Flamingo Bubble Bar - Bubble bars are my favourite Lush product but I haven't tried one of them on a 'stick' before, plus what's not to like about the pink flamingo design.

2. Whoosh Shower Jelly - I remember years ago I had a purple sparkly shower jelly and I had no idea that Lush still do them or brought them back out! The relaxing scent that this jelly has too makes me want it even more.

3. Milky Bath Bubble Bar - I was tempted to buy this bubble bar another one? I know I know but it just looked so cute and I've heard milky bath products are good for the skin so what's not to love?

4. Let the good times roll Cleanser - I actually received a sample of this cleanser when I visited the Lush store because I remembered how AMAZING it smelt from another time. It's based on popcorn and I'm not the biggest fan of popcorn (unless it's toffee of course) but I think it's my favourite Lush smell and I will definitely be purchasing this beauty when I'm employed.

5. Lava Lamp Bath Bomb - I didn't get to see this bath bomb in action whilst I was in store but I own a lava lamp and love them so I'm hoping this would be just as fun to watch as it dissolves.

I hope you enjoyed this post, let me know what you're favourite Lush products are!

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GlassesShop Eyeware

I was recently contacted by the lovely people at GlassesShop.com to choose a pair of glasses* to review for all of you. I've only needed to wear glasses for about a year now so have only ever had one pair before, so when choosing which ones to go for I wanted to go for something different to my usual smart black choice so opted for these pink/purple patterned glasses instead.

I also never even thought of ordering glasses online before but the process was really simple and easy. As you're given the details of your perscription you can just enter these online and your perscription glasses will be sent right to you. They are also well packaged with this large glasses cleaner with the GlassesShop.com branding alongside the clear and branded glasses case.

Perscription sunglasses are also available online which I think I may need to purchase, especially with all this sudden sunshine we've had in the UK lately. I really love the glasses I have chosen, the pink/purple shade and the kind of ombre effect it has, there is also a silver detail on the hinge and arm of the glasses. I will insert a photograph of me wearing these glasses at the bottom of this post (taken by my lovely friend) along with a discount code for you to order online from GlassesShop.com.

To get yourself some prescription glasses or sunglasses with a discount, head over to GlassesShop.com with the code GSHOT50 for a lovely 50% off!

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*This item was sent for reviewing purposes