Mothers Day at Aldi

In my usual, 'what shall I do today' style, I decided a little trip to my local Aldi would get me out the house for a bit!

When I got there I noticed,  they had their Mothers Day items in stock! Luckily for me, they started today, so there were plenty of items to choose from!

What I bought.........
I picked a pair of cute pyjamas for my mum.
And of course I couldn't leave without a little something for myself, so went for the cosmetics bags set, as I've been wanting to get a new toiletries bag for holiday.

How much............
The pyjamas were £7.99.
The 3 piece cosmetic bag set was £4.99.

What I thought............
The pyjamas. I will only be able to do a limited review on these, as they are for a gift.   Size wise I am pleased, my mum always struggles to get items in 10-12, as most shops do either 8-10 (too small), or 12-14 (too big), but these were perfect.  For those of you who prefer a 12-14, they did this size too! All bases covered, well done Aldi!  They had a number of designs, so plenty of choice to fit your own mums taste. They are made of 100% cotton, so are lovely and soft.  Maybe I will come back and add some more of what my mum thinks when I give her them!! But I can honestly say, if hubby bought me some from Mstr J & Miss Iz, I would be a happy mummy!!

The cosmetics bags.  The gift to myself! Lol! I've been wanting to get a new decent sized bag to put my toiletry bits in for holiday, and the large bag looked perfect, the others were an added bonus.  The large bag and the smallest both have a satin feel. With the medium one being a wipe clean plastic.  Inside the large bag it's one large open space with 2 small pockets on one side. The pockets will be perfect for my little hair clips etc that disappear in the big space.  There's plenty of room for all my bits, bobs, bottles & what nots I will be taking away.  The medium waterproof bag I will use for any little bits I'm taking down the pool.  It will even be good for putting my watch in to keep it from getting wet or sun lotion hands on it!  The small bag is great for taking your little bits out with you in a hand bag.  Whenever we're going out for the night, I always want to take my lipstick & blusher, for top ups in the night. They either disappear in among the junk in my hand bag, or the blusher leaks dust into my bag, very annoying. This will mean I can find them easily among everything in my bag, & no mess!!

Other things they had.........
Above were the items I chose, but there was more, and may suit your mother on Mother's Day!!
Leather purse £4.99
Leather handbag £6.99
Ballerina slippers £2.99

Yet another success under Aldi's belt in my eyes!!

Easter bunny biscuit on a stick !!

Since Mstr J started school in September I've been wanting to do a little more to help the school.  Helping them is helping my boys future in my eyes!

So, I decided to join the PTA, and working with my fellow mummies, we've decided to do a Easter fete, the first theyve ever had!! This is no mean feat, all of us being new & wanting to make it a success.

As I do love my baking, I took to Pinterest for some ideas, putting Easter as my search.  I soon stumbled across a Easter bunny mask type biscuit on a stick.  It was just an image, so I had no means of how to create such a thing.  Using my baking knowledge, I decided to try to create my own version, and today, was my trial run...........

The biscuit

First I needed some sort of stencil, I used a piece of card, and holding it in front of Mstr J's mouth, marked roughly the width of his face, & the height from nose to chin. I then drew a rough bunny mouth outline.

Biscuit recipe.... I used the following.....

260g plain flour

2g salt

226g butter

60g icing sugar

4g (1 teaspoon) vanilla extract

In a bowl, whisk your butter until creamy.  Add the sugar, & whisk again until smooth. Add the vanilla, and whisk again.  Add the flour and salt & gently stir through until combined.  On a surface, flatten into a disc shape & wrap in clingfilm.  Chill for at least a hour.

I created the dough at about 1pm and it was left until Mstr J was home from school & we were ready, about 4.30ish.

I found the dough quite sticky still, so you will need more flour for dusting the sideboard & rolling pin.  We rolled a piece of the dough out until it was about half a cm thick.  I placed my stencil on top & used a sharp knife to follow the outline & cut my bunny face out.  I then placed a lolly stick vertical in the middle of the biscuit, almost from the top, straight down & out the bottom for the handle.  You then push it down into the biscuit a bit.  To help secure it in place, take a piece of dough, roll it into a small sausage shape, & place over the stick, & smooth/flatten on top of it.  Then turn the biscuit over, and place on a lined baking tray.

We made four of these as it was just a trial run.  There was tons of left over dough, so together, Mstr J and I, made dinosaurs & hearts.  We even added some chocolate chips to some of the dough to see how they would come out.

Baked at 200c, for about 10 minutes, they were ready.  We left them to cool.

In the meantime, Mstr J decided he wanted to watch a film, so left mummy to it.

I decided rather than the icing it looked like on the image I saw, I would use fondant icing.

I rolled out simple white fondant icing to a thin layer, only a few millimetres.  Using my template, I cut it out.  I also made an additional template for just the nose section.   I added a tiny amount of red food colouring, to a small piece of fondant. This made a lovely pink colour. Again, rolled out thinly, I cut out the nose templates.

The next stage...... Putting it all together.  Being a baker, I have edible glue in my cupboard but you could probably use something sticky like jam instead, just thinly applied.  I then stuck the white face section to the biscuit, and then the pink nose on top.

The final finishing touch...... The smile/teeth!! Again, I have a edible pen, but you could use icing, or gels.  I drew a big bunny smile, with big teeth and whiskers!!

I think the final result is rather cute!!!

And Mstr J was super excited to try one out!!! Hee hee

Daddies verdict, Yummy!!!

I wonder what the children at the fete will think........