Attic24

Yippeee Friday

 

:: waking up to blue skies :: yippeee!!

Didn't last long, the grey clouds soon rolled in but at least it has stayed dry and allowed us a very pleasant afternoon in the park.

 

:: happy goldfish in the house :: yippeee!!

Managed to get round to a few light domestic chores today to restore a little order and harmony to the place. The goldfish can now see out again, the floors have been cleaned and underwear has been laundered and dried and returned to empty drawers (there were a few tense moments this morning when a certain family member found himself underwearless).

 

:: hedgehog bread in the house :: yippeee!!

A trip to the local baker to purchase hedgehog bread. We adore this bread, cut thick and spread with butter and jam mmmmmm. Do you think it's Ok to have bread and jam for dinner?

:: Cranberry and pecan Tiffin in the house :: yippeee!!

Baking session with Little Lady resulting in this decadent morsel. Recipe coming next week. Oh, you're gonna love this!

:: BB on the bed :: yippeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Finally finished the last stitch on my beautiful Big Blankie yesterday afternoon.

I'm struggling with the ta-dah photo shoot though I'm afraid. The light has been poor, the blanket is pretty big and hard to lay flat and photograph, and my bedroom is pretty messy and the photographs I took today do not look good.

Will try again tomorrow, I need a bright afternoon so that there is decent light in the bedroom. Oh and a fairy godmother to come and woooosh all the bedside clutter away. Here's hoping.

Have a fabulous weekend one and all....

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Edited to add :: ooo yeah, you probably noticed I made a little change to the look of my blog today (inspired by today's blue sky), I do hope you like it. I also updated my blog list to include ten new blogs I've been really enjoying lately. I continue to love love love being a part of this fantastic community and there are some terrific blogs out there. Happy Blog-hopping!

Drippy Wet

Hello....another very drippy wet day here in my patch (again), although we seem to be having what I think is known as Intermitent Short Sharp Showers interspersed with Brief Sunny Spells. It rains, then it stops. Rains then stops. And each time the rain stops and the sun comes out, Little People go outside to play, hopeful that the rain will stay away for good this time, only to find their games are cut short by yet another downpour. So it's been a rather In-out-in-out kind of morning so far. Right now they are In, although not in at Attic24 :: no, they obviously got bored of their own surroundings and decided to decamp across the road to number 21. So all is peaceful, all is quiet here right now. And I am enjoying the Intermitent Solitude.

This morning, during one of the brief Sunny Spells, I ventured out back to make my daily check on my poor, rain sodden, saturated, drippy backyard blooms.
I thought that they looked quite beautiful in the morning light, laden with drippy wet droplets of rain. My second lily has flowered, and is the most magnificent deep pink colour imaginable (top photo).
I really enjoyed taking these photographs (and yes, I was wearing my pyjamas at the time), and put together a little drippy wet mosaic for you....

Captures the weather of today perfectly :: Sunshine and Showers.

All this wet weather is proving to be heavenly for the local molluscs. Look at this beast, caught in the act of eating his delicious Marigold breakfast. Ah well, thats life :: I do try and adopt the Live and Let live approach to gardening, so refuse to get my knickers in a twist over it.

With the Little People out the house for a short while, I've been taking the opportunity to indulge in some peaceful idling this morning. And my goodness, let me tell you I am Veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeery good at Idling. Could probably do it professionally if I put my mind to it.
I've been sat amongst my blankets and cushions, looking through the August issue of Country Living magazine, for the umpteenth time.

It really is delicious.

Uplifting.

Inspiring.

Beautiful.

Scrumptious.

I enjoyed my mornings Idling a great deal :: thank you Country Living UK, we are very lucky to have you.

In other Idle Moments during the past couple of days, when I've been trying to take my mind off BB, I've been using up the remainder of the Rowan pure wool to make a simple granny square cushion cover. Which also remains unfinished, cos I realised that it too needs that missing blue colour.

So in a weeny short while, I shall finish my idling and go and retrieve my Little People and set forth down the A56 to visit the yarn shop, to purchase the yarn, to finish the blanket, to set the scene, to take the photographs for the long awaited BB-Ta-dah moment. It is almost time folks.

Right-oh..all that remains for me to say today is a hhhhhuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge big thankyou to all of you who took the trouble to vote for Attic24 over at the Dorset Cereals Little Blog Awards. More than 500 of you have voted in the last 24 hours, and you have totally rocked my colourful little world.

((thank you)) with all my heart.

See you tomorrow...
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Edited to add :: 2.40pm :: The Blue Yarn Has Landed!!! BB here I come!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dahlias

My fresh flowers for this week are these absolutely breathtaking dahlias, bought at the weekend when I was in town. I was walking past the plant stall on route to the nearby cheese stall and these blooms literally stopped me in my tracks. Bang! I was literally rooted to the spot by them.

The plant stall sells mainly plants (obviously), but on one side they always have a small selection of buckets on the pavement containing bunches of fresh flowers. Mostly they are supermarket-stylie mixed bunches of averageness, but I always keep an eye out for any buckets that contain seasonal blooms. You know, bunches of daffs and narcissi in the spring, then sweet williams in early summer, and right now dahlias. 

There were bunches of all different colours (oh how I wish I'd had my camera with me!) all for £2.

 

I bought them home and immediately wanted to photograph them, I was just intoxicated by the colour of them. So rich, so vibrant! So know-yer-socks-off gorgeous!

The light indoors on that day was pretty poor so I took them outside, still wrapped in their paper...and Oh!!!!! Look at that single petal! Oh, just l-o-o-k at that petal!!!! It fell onto my wooden plant bench outside, and I was sooooo transfixed by it's colour(s) against the blue paint....well, you can imagine I expect, knowing me like you do, knowing how easily I get the excitable heebie jeebies.

 

I do so love dahlias, showy-offy as they are, they are flowers full of fun and joy.

 

Can you remember me telling you last summer of my holiday to Northumberland and my experience of the Dahlia Walk at Cragside? oo well I'm just remembering that all over again now after re-reading that post, and loving the knowledge that we shall be there again at the end of next month :: woohooo!

 

This £2 bunch of flowers has really made me very very happy this week.

 

The sight of them sitting in the corner there by the window lifts my spirits, and brings life and colour and happiness to the whole room.

And I think they do look rather fetching next to my hex blanket, which is equally flamboyant and showy-offy and joyful.

Ahhh fresh flowers, they are just the most...the most...well, aren't they just??

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Now then, before I go and begin some baking activities with bored offspring, could I just have your attention for one weeny moment, cos I've got a little something to ask you.

Ok, here goes....

It seems I'm in the running for this months Little Blog Awards, held over at Dorset Cereals rather nice website. Blogs can be nominated and voted for, with a winner being chosen at the end of each month, which seems to me like quite a nice idea.

And seeing as Attic24 is currently in second place, and there are three days left to this month, it occurred to me that perhaps-possibly-maybe the Attic might be able to make it to first place with your help???

I did try and put a fancy vote-for-me widget button thingy on my blog yesterday but it would not work and I gave up. Sorry 'bout that. But if you do enjoy your visits to the Attic (oh please say you do!), and would perhaps like to vote for me, then you can go here and click on the Vote button. I know many of you have already done so and I am truly grateful as always for your enthusiasm and support.

I think it would make me feel very happy to win. And I'm all for happy feelings.

((thanking you very, very much in happy-feel-good anticipation!))

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Tripping to Town

One of the things that I really appreciate about living where I do is the fact that it's less than a ten minute walk from the Attic to the centre of town. I can be sitting at home, dreaming of cream cakes and strawberries, or having run out of toothpaste, and within ten minutes I can be right there in the middle of Main Street fulfilling my dreams and needs. Ok, so it takes a little longer than ten minutes in the school holidays cos the Little People still require a considerable amount of work to get them ready and out the front door, plus they seem to make detours for themselves en route. You know, walls that need to be balanced along, cats that need to be stroked, bits of broken metal that need to be picked up off the pavement and examined, that sort of thing. But it's still a relatively quick walk and quite a pleasant activity to do with the LP in the holidays.

So yesterday, in the late morning, when the rain had stopped raining, I decided on a little Trip to Town.

First stop the chemist, for toothpaste and Miffy tissues.

Second stop the library, to finally take back The Overdue Book. Dear oh dear, has it really been sssoooooo long? Do I really owe That Much??? Crikey.

Third stop the fruit and veg stall on the market. And I have to say it was really interesting visiting the fruit and veg stall with the Little People.

I needed to buy some sort of green vegetable to have with dinner, and a small selection of fruit. So into my bag goes a head of fresh broccoli, 4 big juicy morrocan oranges (J's favourite), and a punet of sweet strawberries. If I had been on my own, then that probably would have been the extent of my purchases, but the Little People have other ideas...

....they are really eyeing up all the fruit, and it does look very tempting and delicious.

Little Lady begs for plums, that she says are her "absolute favourite-ist fruits". Oh, Ok then. So we buy a bag of deep purpley black plums just for Her.

Little Man pleads for fresh apricots. Are you sure? Are you sure you like them? I seem to have memories of him trying a fresh apricot before and spitting it straight back out again. But he insists, and so we buy a bag of plump, soft apricots just for Him.

I start to get a taste for this more spontaneous method of selecting produce, so I too begin to eye up what's on offer, begin to consider various other fruity possibilities. Melon? Too heavy to carry. Dragon fruit? hmm perhaps a little too exotic. Red currants? My eye suddenly catches Little Ladies fingers poking into a punet of red currants and squishing them one by one. Arrggghhh!!!! Quickly whisk her had away and decided against red currants.

oooohh I can't decide, I am parralised by all the choice. My eyes move across the fruit and into the salady bit. Huge pinky red bunches of radishes, ripe tomatoes, and then.....

 

....Peas. Ahhh how about some peas? Seasonal and fresh and possibly local? Yes, why not, I suddenly have a real need for fresh, sweet peas popped out of their green pods and straight into my mouth. So we buy a bag of fresh green peas just for Me.

 

We are done at the fruit and veg stall now as my bag is suddenly very heavy. And the Little People are suddenly declaring themselves to be staaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarving hungry. So we make a fourth stop and call in to a local baker to buy some freshly baked hot sausage rolls for an early lunch. I suggest we take them home to eat, but no no no, they are staaaaaaarving and cannot possibly wait, need to eat Right There and Then.

So we cross over the road to the Town Hall where there is a little cobbled square with wooden benches and big tubs planted with bright flowers. All the benches are full so we end up sitting on the Town Hall Steps and enjoying a quick picnic lunch of sausage roll, fresh peas, apricots, plums and strawberries. Quite delicious.

We do happen to have made other purchases from the bakers, eh-hem, it's not all healthy fruit and veg with us you know, where's the fun in that???! But I do manage to persuade the LP to bring the Naughty's home to eat, cos I am quite desperate for a cup of tea with my purchase.....

 

There are gingerbread men for the Little People (essential to pick out their smartie eyes first don't you know)....

 

....and a Sicillian Lemon muffin for Mummy.

 

mmmmmmmmmmmmm, the muffin is delicious. As is the book I borrowed from the library.

 

The book is "Creating Vintage Style" by Lucinda Ganderton. High Grade eye candy indeed. I personally don't really do whole-hearted Vintage Style in my own home, but I know a great many of you in Blogland do love this style. I like small elements of it. For example, I do love old enamelware.

 

And you can never go far wrong with a pretty jug stuffed full of beautiful fresh flowers.

 

Oh and blankety things, yes yes, I do really love the blankety things.

I mean, whats not to love? A Granny Square blanket draped over a bed, why it's the stuff of my dreams!!

Talking of which, what has happened to the Story of BB I hear you ask? When is the Ta-dah post gonna be happening? Did I get more yarn? Is BB finished?

Well no, I have not yet been able to get more yarn :: trips to buy yarn seem altogether more complicated with Little People in tow. But I shall try very hard to go today. BB is currently sitting in a neatly folded pile on the arm of the sofa, waiting patiently for the End-of-The-Edge-of-The-Edge to happen.

Soon my friends, it'll be soon.

And thats a promise.

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One week down

Ahhhhhhhhh Monday morning, and we've survived the first week of the Summer hols :: one week down and only six more to go.

Last week, as I think I mentioned, we had J at home with us. It was a week consisting of very little in the way of plans, a week of taking each day as it came and muddling through. It was easy going, relaxed, quite lazy at times and due to the very unpredictable nature of the weather we found ourselves housebound for quite a lot of it, waiting for the rain to stop, hoping for grey skies to turn to blue. Some days it happened and we saw sunshine, but for many days it did not.

Because of the weather, we  predictably ended up with a fair number of extra children in the house at any given time of the day, with the number of pairs of shoes in the hallway giving me an instant headcount of visitors. Lots of surprisingly noisy games of hide and seek went on. Lots of thundering up and down stairs (boys can never just walk up and down stairs can they?).

And while the Little People did their thing, J and I spent the first half of the week attending to some very long overdue domestic chores and took on a bit of a clear out and sort out. Some rearranged furniture, some new storage solutions, a great deal of reorganization  and an incredible amount of junk turfed out and recycled/slung. It was quite a theraputic way to spend a few wet days indoors, if a little dull and unholidayish.

We took to eating quite a few of our meals picnic-style last week, all four of us sat cross legged on the floor around the little battered wooden coffee table. The Little People just love to eat this way, and I can remember feeling the very same when I was little, there's just something intrinsically happy and carefree about picnicking, even if it's done indoors.

Our normal, sensible, bowls of school-day cereal were replaced with holidayish warm chocolate chip brioche rolls. Fresh orange juice replaced water. The Little People thoroughly approved of this holiday breakfast routine. Smiles and chocolatey fingers all round.

In amongst the predominantly grey, wet weather of last week, we did experience some wonderful little spells of sunshine. Small pockets of summertime, small moments to be savoured. And on these mornings it was a delight to sit myself on the warm front step, coffee in hand, my face upturned to the sun, listening to the sound of the Little People and assorted neighbourhood children playing up and down the street.

Ahhhhhhhhh the sounds of the summer! Shrieking, yelling, excited children doing their thing. Wheels and balls, bubbles and chalk, blankets and dolls. Some squabbling too, tears as well, but mostly good natured play.

I tried very hard last week to feel positive about the weather, to feel OK about the endless droplets of rain that fell. My garden is loving it, plants are thriving. The countryside is looking green and lush and beautiful. Plus it made it reasonably OK to stay in pyjamas all morning, which quite honestly is a real bonus for the likes of me as I love love love wearing my pyjamas. Really. I am wearing them right now in fact, just so you know.

And yes, it wasn't all grey and wet all week, like I say, there were the odd pockets of sunshine...I took the above photo late one afternoon after it had been raining most the day. I had made myself a cup of tea and looking out the kitchen window I noticed that as if by magic, all the rain clouds had been blown away by the wind and the grey skies had indeed turned blue. I took my tea out in my little back yard and really, truly enjoyed that little snippet of summer weather before it too got blown away. You have to grab it while you can. Grab it and savour it, enjoy the moment.

 

As we did the day before yesterday too :: a spontaneous little mid afternoon outing to our local reservoir, when the sun was shining and blue skies were above. We parked the car at the boathouse then walked the footpath right around the water, stopping at this spot to spread a blanket and brew a cup of tea. Chocolate biscuits. Peaceful and tranquil, well thats if we can ignore the squeals of the Little People as they hurl stones into the water and see who can make the biggest splash.

Ahhhh summer holidays, I do have to say I love em for the most part, even in variable weather.

Here's hoping I'll feel the same at the end of week seven.

Ever hopeful, thats me.

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The Good and The Bad

The Good News :: my little finger has recovered and I've been deliciously sat in bed this morning working BB's final scallopy round.
Bliss.

The Bad News :: with only twenty three scallops left to make, I've Run Out Of Yarn.
Arrrrrrrrrgggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

To be continued........................

The edge of The Edge

Working the final scallopy edge of The Edge of BB.
The End is in sight.
I have developed a Hookers Injury :: a very stiff joint on my little finger due to waaaaay too much hooky business going on around here.
But like I say, the End is in sight.
I cannot possibly stop now.

So I shall be back soon for a very special ta-dah moment.
Excited?
Moi?
ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh words cannot describe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   

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The Edge

Morning all!

A little quick update today on hooky goings on in the Attic :: mainly consisting of my ongoing love affair with BB.

Actually, TOTALLY consisting of this and nothing else.

Yes, yes, we are in the final throes of getting it together, and oh, it's HUgeLy passionate here on The Edge!!!!!

BB has been On The Bed with us  for the past three nights, making the bed look glorious and splendid, if a little hot. Poor J is tolerating it, but does seem to get a bit hot and kicky in the night, resulting in BB mostly ending up on the floor by morning. But we are OK with this arrangement for now.

It goes like this ::

I make the bed each morning and have little excited heebie jeebies laying BB out.

I check in to the bedroom at various points throughout the day to admire BB.

I take BB off the bed in the evenings to continue working on The Edge, then back onto the bed it goes when we go to bed.

BB then gets kicked off again, and the next morning I pick up where I left off the previous morning with the heebie jeebies an' all.

Like I say, it's an OK arrangement.

So yes, BB is still not entirely finished, so it'll be a little while longer before the final ta-dah reveal (can't wait for that!!). I'm currently working on row four of The Edge, and really enjoying the looooooooooooooooong, soothing, repetitive, rhythmic clusters of granny trebles. I can do it with my eyes shut (literally) and with some speed too.

I want to make quite a wide border of these plain granny rows before the final scallopy bit begins, so I made a little order sequence using each of the colours (excepting yellow) so I know what I'm doing.

There'll be 11 plain rows, with a final light blue scallopy bit to finish.

 

Talking of Scallopy Bits, I remembered at the end of last week that I've been promising you my scallopy edging pattern haven't I, the one I used for the Summer Garden square throw?

I know that a few of you have been waiting on it, and I do apologise for the quite lengthy delay. What happened was that when I actually came to do the tutorial some weeks (months?) ago, I realised that the original step by step photos I took for it were really rather poor. Very poor in fact. I think you would accurately call them Pants.

So yesterday I finally got round to re-doing it for you :: I had to make up a quick granny square in order to have something small to work the edging around, but you know, I can knock up a granny square in the blink of an eye these days, so it was no bother.

Took lots of pics, and then spent most of yesterday afternoon uploading them and writing out the pattern for you. It's surprisingly time consuming writing tutorials. Not that I don't enjoy it, but you know, it takes time. But time I had, and a tutorial I did indeed write.

So if perchance you could use a rather pretty Granny Square Edging pattern, if you have something beautiful and granny squareish that needs a final flourish around The Edge, then you can find the pattern over in my sidebar, usual place, down at the bottom listed as a Page.

Here it is.

Hope it's Helpful.

Happy Hooking!

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ooo lots of h-words happening there!

Pottering and Pondering

Another quiet day of Pottering and Pondering for me today, and I'm more than happy with that. It's also yet another day of wet drippy stuff too, it seems quite relentless at the moment.
I was forced to abandon my beloved sky blue crocs this morning and dig out my wellies instead to walk to school. The rain this morning was Proper Rain, a real downpour, and crocs would have been a disaster. It's not cold though here, I was still wearing a teeshirt underneath my old leaky raincoat, but wet, yes it really was wet indeed. The canal towpath was flooded in a couple places, so Little Man got to practice his long jump (he refuses to wear wellies to school) and Little Lady practiced her splashing. It was quite a nice start to the day, despite the wet :: we splashed and jumped and chatted and stopped to coo over some teeny tiny fluffy little ducklings covered in droplets of rain.

I came home from shcool and while I still had my wellies on, I went through my little morning routine :: coffee machine on to warm up and I step out into the rain to say good morning to my back yard flowers. Lots of growth is happening out there and it makes me so happy to see it. Mind you, the growth is balanced out by quite a bit of chomping action  too, most especially my poor, poor marigolds which've been serisouly munched by the resident snails/slugs.

I picked a small sprig of fresh fragrant mint to bring inside, just for the pleasure of holding it's minty scent under my nose as I pottered about in the kitchen making coffee. And for the record, I confess I ate two-and-a-half pieces of caramel shortbread with my frothy chocolate dusted coffee :: tut-tut! Good job I don't have a bikini holiday in the pipeline.

From the kitchen into the living room with my coffee and tut-tut's in hand, and it's all looking quite untidy around these parts. Stuff everywhere. The stuff of daily life with children. Toys, colouring books and pens, shoes kicked off, clothes discarded, blankets and cushions all askew. I took the above photo just now, reminding me that for a delicious little moment  around 6.30ish this morning, I was snuggled there with Little Lady. She had got up early, crept downstairs and installed herself on the sofa under the ripple blankie (now living downstairs as BB is finally On The Bed!!!!!!). She looked so cosy and snuggly that I could not resist and climbed in under the blanket for a quick mummy-daughter cuddle. The best start to the day.

So yeah, my precious cashmerino ripple blanket no longer lives on my bed, but has come downstairs to be shared with the family.
I took the above photo yesterday sometime, after I came across this charming little vingnette quite by accident. I was huffing to myself because I noticed that my precious blanket had been dragged off the sofa and strewn on the floor. But just as I was (rather crossly) about to scoop it up and re-fold it, I happend to notice this teeny tiny meal all laid out. Awwwwwwwwwwwwww, I nearly cried when I saw it, truly I did, I felt quite choked!

Little Lady has recently had her dolls house downstairs to play with, and the above little bits and pieces are part of a very sentimental collection of my own childhood dollshouse accessories. I have lots of wooden furniture, and many very small items too, including these teeny little plates and miniscule cutlery. It has miraculously survived over 30 years since I was a small girl, and it delights me to see it still being used. Funny thing was that when I asked Little Lady about the above meal, she told me that actually it was not her that had set it out. Noone had seen him do it, but Little Man must have had a secret little play with the dolls house things when nobody was looking. Consider my heart strings well and truly tugged there.

So its the last day of school today before the long seven week summer holiday begins :: seven whole weeks, it's a little mind blowing thinking of aaaallllllll those child-filled days stretching ahead, but I keep thinking back to last years summer holiday stay-home days and remembering that child-filled days are good days and nothing to be afraid of.

Next week we have the pleasure of J at home with us, which I am extremely happy about. The weeks he takes as holiday from work throughout the year are usually planned and spoken for and for the most part taken away from home. We usually jaunt away :: to Dorset, Northumberland, the Lake District, for family visits, holiday cottages and youth hostels. But next week we are to be At Home together, and it feels like the greatest luxury.

I had intended to have a grand tidy up today, to make the house all spik and span ready for our week-at-home holiday, but to be honest, I am not in the least bit feeling like it.
Far more pleasurable to sit and chat with you instead.
All I need to do is focus on this gorgeous little pot of flowers and ignore the rest.
Yes, I shall zoom in and put my eyes on Macro Mode.
And instruct the rest of my family to do the same.

Have a fabulous weekend, whatever you get up to....have fun!
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Caramel Shortbread

True to my word, I did indeed bake for you yesterday afternoon, did indeed photograph my baking efforts and now today am delighted to be sharing this fabulous recipe with you all.

Caramel Shortbread :: do you love this stuff? Oh boy, I do.

I do, I do, I do.

However, this is not a recipe I bake often, mainly I think because it doesn't fall into the spontaneous quick and easy baking category. A little bit of time is needed for this creation, plus you need to remember to have the ingredients available. To be honest, a rather large slab of chocolate would not be sitting patiently in the cupboards around here waiting to be melted and used in a recipe. Nor would we tend to have a block of butter or a tin of condensed milk at the ready either. So I have to really make a definite decision to bake caramel shortbread, and go henceforth to the shops to purchase the ingredients. Which is what I did yesterday, especially for You. Well, and me too. And the Little People. Oh, and J too. We were all VERY glad I made that decision yesterday.

There are many recipes for Caramel Shortbread/Millionaires Shortbread to be found on the internet :: the one I use comes from a handwritten recipe written down for us many years ago by J's Nana, which has been baked and adored by generations. It's a real gem.

For those of you not familiar with caramel shortbread (oh how sad), it consists of three layers :: a shortbread biscuit base, topped with a layer of caramel fudge and finished off with a layer of milk chocolate. Its very sweet. And oh-so-moreish. You will not be able to just take one piece and leave it at that, so be warned :: if you are in any way trying to diet, then do not make this recipe.

OK..lets crack on shall we?

INGREDIENTS ::

170g sugar

230g butter

170g self raising flour

1 tin (397g) condensed milk

1 tablespoon golden syrup (or substitute corn syrup in the US)

140g (maybe more) good milk chocolate

LAYER 1 :: the Shortbread.

Into a bowl, measure 55g of the sugar and 115g of the butter and cream together until smooth and fluffy.

Mix in 170g self raising flour until it begins to come together into a crumb like consistency. Keep working it with a spoon (and possibly your hands) to form a soft dough.

Now you will need to spread the dough over the bottom of a shallow baking tray, lined with baking parchment/greaseproof paper. The tray I use is actually called a Swiss Roll tin I think, and measures 20 x30cm (8 x 12 inches).
The dough will be spread quite thin so you need to work it with your hands and fingers, pushing it right out to the sides and into the corners of the tray, flattening it out as you go. It seems for a while as if it's never gonna spread that far or that thin, but persevere, it will work.
Prick it all over with a fork to stop it rising too much, then bake in a moderate oven (gas 4 / 180 / 350) for 15mins until very lightly golden brown.

 

LAYER 2 :: the Caramel Fudge

The magic ingredient here is condensed milk. This is probably not something you would normally buy, it's an incredibly sweet, sticky, sweetened, thickened milk. In the UK, you can easily find it in the supermarket, usually on the shelf alongside the tinned fruit with the other sickly creamy/milky products.

Note :: please don't confuse it with evaporated milk, which is sold in an almost identical tin, because then you will probably get home and realise you have the wrong product, throw a rather large hissy fit, resulting in the need to go back to the supermarket yet again (can you tell I've had this experience?)

 

So, into a saucepan, put 115g of the butter, 115g of the sugar, 1 tbs golden syrup, and the whole sticky tin of condensed milk.

Bring it s-l-o-w-l-y to the boil, over a medium heat, stirring constantly.

Be patient.

It can feel very s-l-o-w.

But you don't want the sugar to burn or the mixture to stick.

 

After much stirring, the mixture will finally  begin to bubble and boil.

At this point, when  you are sure it's bubbling and boiling nicely, set a timer and boil the mixture for FIVE more minutes, stirring vigorously in a jiggy-jiggy fashion.

The mixture will thicken and begin to caremalise and darken slightly.

It will smell delicious.

Pour the caramel fudge straight over the shortbread base and spread evenly.

Then pop the tray into the fridge for 30 minutes to allow the caramel fudge layer to cool/set.

 

LAYER 3 :: the Chocolate

Now the original recipe I have states 140g milk chocolate...but you know what, I think I would recommend using a little more, maybe 180g?? That way you are not fighting with the melted chocolate trying to spread it out thinly over the caramel, and the finished thing will have more of a chocolatey bite.

 

Melt the chocolate (I zapped it for 40 seconds in the microwave until partially melted, then stirred it a lot to melt it all down completely)

Spread the chocolate quickly over the caramel fudge layer, smoothing it out evenly as you go.

Lick the spatula.

Now lick the bowl.

Put the tray back into the fridge for about an hour or so, until the chocolate has set, but is not rock hard.

It's very difficult to cut when it's rock hard, so be warned...try and time it right or else you might end up having a tantrum.

 

Lift the whole slab of gorgeousness out of the tray (should be easy if you've used greaseproof paper) and cut into squares/rectangles of whatever size you fancy. We tend to make ours quite small so they are more child friendly.

And mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm ENJOY!!!!

Extremely good at any time of day.

With a cuppa, or just rammed in with no beverage to hand.

The choice is yours.

Oh, and I challenge you to just eat ONE piece.

I tell you, it's absolutely, totally, completely not possible.

xxxx

Edited to add :: if you're in the US and can't get golden syrup, then I think the closet substitute would be maple syrup light corn syrup (thanks for all your advice on this matter!). And as you're only needing a tablespoon I think it would be fine in this recipe. Hope this helps xx