A Valentine's day love in

After nine years my boyfriend and I don't really celebrate Valentine's Day and I'm actually away with the girls! Oops. But I do get drawn into the heart shaped food, the vibrant pinks and red and the beautiful flowers. After all, I am a girl! So to celebrate the day of love - because what do I love more than stuffing my face - these heart shaped scones will be perfect. Paired with this gorgeous bunch of red roses* from Blossoming Gifts, they make me one happy bunny. Even if you don't have a significant other, Valentine's Day flowers are always a winner. There's nothing to say you can't treat yourself once in a while. After all, you know your tastes inside out! Buy someone special - or yourself! - a bunch with my special discount code. Simply enter BGIFTS33 at the checkout - the only bouquets exempt are the flowers by post range.

No sweet treat is every complete without having a pretty tin to carry them in. Every bake needs a finishing touch. It's a good job this Orla Kiely set* made its way into my kitchen then. It makes the perfect gift for any baking fanatic and you get five - FIVE! - tins so that means lots of cake. Lot and lots of cake. Food is always the way to a girl's heart. Well this girl anyway! These scones fit in the bottom one perfectly.

Then finally ice cream. Haagen-Dazs Strawberry Cheesecake ice cream* was made for the day of love. Vanilla ice cream is blended together with crumbly biscuit and a tangy strawberry sauce. It really does taste as good as it sounds. It's best to get two as you won't want to share this beauty with anyone!

Recipe taken from good old Martha Stewart. She's a good 'un. As always, I'd love to know if you managed to rustle these up in the kitchen so drop me a tweet. Happy baking!

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Recipe: Scones

Whenever I'm pushed for time and fancy baking up a storm, I always opt for some scones. They're so simple to make and cook so quickly that they're in your mouth before you have the chance to say 'clotted cream and jam please!' This is my go-to recipe adapted slightly from Good Food.

Ingredients:
350g of self raising flour
150g of sultanas
1/4 tsp of salt
1 tsp of baking powder
85g of stork baking spread
4 tbsp of caster sugar
150g of half fat natural yogurt
4 tbsp of semi-skimmed milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg beaten with 1 tbsp of milk to glaze

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees and line a piece of greaseproof paper with butter before placing in a baking tray.

2. Mix the flour, salt, butter and baking powder in a big bowl with a wooden spoon. Then stir in the sugar and make a well in the middle of the mixture.

3. Warm the yogurt, milk and vanilla extract in a the microwave for a minute. Don't worry if the mixture looks a little lumpy, this is normal! Pour the mixture into the bowl and mix in with the dry ingredients. Pour the sultanas in at this stage too.

4. Take the dough out on to a flour dusted surface and fold it over a few times. Roll the dough out to about 4cm thick and cut out your scones. Continue until you have used all the dough.

5. Beat the egg with the milk and glaze the scones before popping in the oven.

6. Leave them in for 10 minutes until they are golden brown and risen. Leave to cool on a wire rack before tucking in with lots of jam and clotted cream if you have some in the fridge. Strawberry is my favourite!

As always make sure you tweet me if you happen to give these a go, I'd love to see how yours turn out. Happy baking!

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