Some gift ideas for ladies - Yankee Candles, Mt. Sapola and a SHELF?

Dearest friends of Hazelnutt House (",) 

Getting gifts for lady friends isn't much of a problem, for me at least.  There are tons of beauty gift boxes to choose from at most malls.  However, if you have friends who aren't exactly into beauty products, this entry might come in handy.  I've three gift ideas as well as a gift card deal from Yankee Candle to share with you.  

Yankee Candle has "buy 4 gift cards at $39.90 each and get the 5th gift card free" deal.  The nice people from Yankee Candle told me that they have this promotion all year round.

In total you spend $159.60 for 5 gift cards. Which means you pay $$31.90 for each card.  

You can make use of each gift card to exchange for, "a Large Jar Candle($39.90), Large Tumbler Candle ($39.90), Large Vase Candle ($45.90) or Jar shade...." (extracted from the clause in the gift card). You do not have to top up the difference if the item cost more than $39.90.

I prefer the tumbler candles as there are two wicks (strong scent when burned) and it is easier for me to stack them up when I need to store them, since the lid is flat.  With the jar candles and their bulbous lids, I am unable to stack them up.

  

Here are the candles that I took home after getting the Buy 4 get 1 free gift card deal.  I decided to cart only 3 home for now and use the other 2 gift cards for later since the gift cards are valid for a year. 

(L) - (R) : Vanilla Cupcake, Fresh Cut Roses and Guava 

The Vanilla Cupcake and Fresh Cut Roses are large tumbler candles and the Guava is a Large Vase candle which retails at a higher price of $45.90.  Therefore, you're definitely get a better deal when you use your gift card  to exchange for these large vase candles.  And nope, you do not need to top up the difference.

You'll find Yankee Candle at these locations.  The buy 4 gift cards and get 1 free deal is only available at Yankee Candle stores and not at the small space that also sells Yankee Candles in Takashimaya.

Here's the gift card...

Please take note of what you can exchange for with the gift card. 

"This gift card can be used to redeem one Reed Diffuser, Large Jar Candle, Large Tumbler Candle, Large Vase Candle or Jar shade...." redeemable at all Yankee Candle stores.

This gift card is valid for a year from Date of Issue.  So you can buy them as gifts or just keep them for yourself to enjoy (",)

Ok, enough on the candles...

Yet another place where you can get something lovely for a girl friend would be at Mt. Sapola. 

picture: herworldplus.com

Check out this Mt. Sapola link for the various locations in Singapore.

I especially like the electric diffuser... it uses an energy saving bulb to heat up the water and essential oils instead of a tea light.  I prefer an electric diffuser to one that uses tea lights coz I am absolutely lazy when it comes to replacing those tiny tea lights.

This is the small electric diffuser which I bought last year and it cost about $70ish.  It comes with the bulb but not the essential oil.

This is the bigger electric diffuser which I got for a friend's new place and it costs somewhere around $110... the peppermint and lemongrass oils are sold seperately.

Now for the final item that I think will bring a smile to a friend who loves loves loves organising.  

It's this Expand A Shelf organiser.  Click here to read more about this expandable shelf. 

Talk to you ladies soon!  

Hope these gift ideas will come in handy (",) 

Bakin' - Blueberry cupcakes with Blueberry cream cheese frosting

Hi hi, friends of Hazelnutt House (",)

The Kid wants to do EVERYTHING when we bake... we hustle and wrestle a lot whenever we bake something.  Flour to be sieved, accurate measurements to be taken, eggs to be cracked, batter to be mixed.....

 and it can become quite a war zone when The Kid wants to have a hand at all these. 

Well, with pancake mix, baking with Kiddo is easy breezy...

Cupcakes with pancake mix... YUP! No Mess!

For the cake,  mix the following together:

MAKES 12

• Two cups of pancake mix
• One and a half cups of water 
• Half cup of blueberries (optional)

Study the instructions of your pancake mix, different brands may ask for different amount of water.

Bake for 10-15 mins at 170 degree Celcius.

For the frosting, use an electric mixer and mix together the following: 

• One block of philly cream cheese (250g) 
• Blueberry jam (adjust amount according to personal taste)

The cakes were too 'pointy' and not exactly suitable for frosting.

So, I shaved off the peaks and they are ready to be frosted.

Kiddo scooping the frosting into the pipping bag.

 Made some lil' flaggies using these patterned tapes.

Oh yes, I picked up this packet of pipping bags from Daiso ($2 store) and they worked perfectly.  It comes with 3 different pipping nozzles and the bags are pretty sturdy.

Have a great Sunday ahead, ladies!

Baking made easier with pancake mix (",)

Pumpkin cupcakes with cinnamon cream cheese frosting

Could a pumpkin cupcake be healthier than a regular cupcake?  

Well, I am not sure... but I sure prefer a pumpkin cupcake to a regular one.  It is slightly chewy and spongy and of coz contains some fibre, carotenoids and vitamins as compared to a plain o'vanilla cupcake.

Kiddo and I decided to try out this recipe from her favourite online chef - Laura Vitale.  

We picked her Pumpkin Cupcakes recipe and here's the ingredient list taken from her website - Laura in the Kitchen.com

Click on ingredient list to take you to her step-by-step instructions.

I simply couldn't find canned pumpkin puree.  I tried several grocery stores and finally decided to just DIY.  Most people use the sugar pumpkin (small orange ones) for pumpkin puree, but I could only find this local green ones at the last store I went to.  Tastes ok to me (",)

So, I halved the pumpkin, removed the seeds and laid the two halves on parchment paper (cut side down) and roasted them for about 30 mins at 200 degree Celsius. 

Here's how the roasted pumpkin looks like.

Once it is no longer hot to the touch, I peeled the skin off and popped the flesh into the blender.

Following Laura Vitale's instructions, I started cup-caking... 
I must have given each cup too little batter as by the time the batter was cooked, it had not risen to the brim of the cups. 

Well, it's ok... I'll make a mental note to portion out more batter next time.  

The Hubs thinks that pumpkin is tooOOooo exotic (since when?).  He wanted the basic chocolate cupcake so I made use of pancake mix and added chocolate chips for his cupcakes.

Here's how the pancake mix cupcakes look like; pre-frosting. 

Ah ha! Here's the Kiddo's and mine (",) 

 I wanted a cinnamon cream cheese frosting so i followed this recipe from Cupcakeproject.com

*** I used only 2 cups of powdered sugar and it was way tooOOooo SWEET! Too sweet for my liking - so I added a bit of salt and sour cream to save my frosting from being over the top sweet.  Well, don't use me for the litmus test for sweetness level coz I prefer my frosting to be less sweet.

Happy Kiddo... always the first to taste test our final product.

I love how simple and organic this cupcake looks... colours from nature.  Not the usual pink and crazy purple ones the The Kiddo loves.

Kimmie got a serving of pumpkin puree too... now... don't start thinking about the colour of her poop *LOL*

Talk to you ladies soon!