Attic24

Festive Florentines

So tell me :: have you ever heard of Florentines??

I hadn't until last week. Had no idea what these little scrumptious beauties were at all, had never come across them, had never eaten them, and had certainly never thought to make them. But last week I was enjoying a quiet moment browsing through a beautiful book called Christmas Inspirations by Rose Hammick & Charlotte Packer, and there they were on page 121, looking quite festive and delicious. From the recipe they seemed easy to make with only a few uncomplicated ingredients, so I thought I'd give them a whirl. And oh.....what a delight these are!

I ended up experimenting a little with the recipe, making a couple of changes to suit my taste/store cupboard. The original recipe used mixed peel and glace cherries, neither of which I had in or am particularly fond of. So I used a mixture of dried cranberries and apricots when I first made them, but I found the apricots a little sweet so now use just the cranberries. I also altered the chocolatey bit, making mine with a mixture of dark chocolate and milk chocolate orange. And I have to say, in my humble opinion, using chocolate-orange was quite inspired and reeeeeeeaally makes these very special indeed.

So anyhow, here is my version of Festive Florentines.

Or to describe them another way, Cranberry and Chocolate Orange Florentines...

Into a heat proof bowl, put the following ::

50g butter

50g caster sugar

1 tablespoon clear runny honey.

Pop the bowl into the microwave for about 45seconds so that everything melts together, and give a good stir.

Now add ::

50g plain flour

Stir well until you have a smooth paste.

Now add ::

50g flaked almonds

50g dried cranberries

Mix well.

The mixture should make around 18 Florentines, so either use two baking sheets or bake in two batches. You'll need to line your baking sheet(s) with grease proof paper, then dollop on teaspoons of the mixture. Space them well apart as they spread when they cook.

Bake in a preheated oven at 180 / 350 / gas 4 for 8-10 mins :: NOTE :: keep a close eye on how they're doing towards the end as it's easy to overcook them. They should end up a light golden colour.

The picture above is of the first batch I made which were baked for 10 mins, see how they look a bit brown and crispy at the edges?? I now take them out at 8 mins before they brown too much and they look/taste much nicer.

When the baking sheet comes out of the oven, leave for a couple of minutes so the florentines begin to harden, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool.

Now for the chocolately bit....you'll need to melt 120g good chocolate of your choice... I combined 60g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids) and 60g milk chocolate orange, heated in the microwave for about 45secs, then stirred well until it all melted.

Spread a good teaspoon of melted chocolate onto the underside of each Florentine until it's well covered, then leave to cool/set completely.

These little festive Sweet Treats are sooooooo yummy, and very very good alongside a mug of freshly brewed morning coffee.

I'm going to be making up several batches to package prettily and give to family and friends next week as gifts.

Here's hoping they're scoffed with pleasure.

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Stay-home Weekend

Hello my lovelies, thanks soo much as always for taking time out of your day to call in to see me in the Attic. I've been enjoying your visits enORmously of late, all of your comments and continued enthusiasm and support for what goes on in my crazy little muti-coloured world is so very much appreciated. Thank you.

I'm feeling happy and refreshed today after spending a very lovely, sloooooow kind of stay-home weekend with my Little People (J was away partying with old friends for most the weekend). It was exactly the kind of weekend that I needed after what felt like a superly-doooperly long and tiring week. In fact, apart from a little jolly into town on Saturday afternoon to purchase chocolate laden Advent Calendars from here, we did not leave the house. And yesterday, with the rain pouring down for the whole day and with no intention of going anywhere or seeing anyone outside of my immediate family, I did not even get myself dressed. Yup, spent the whole day in my pj's (well, I did manage to change into some clean ones at about midday after a shower). And oh it felt good! Really good.

During the course of the weekend I took a few photos here and there, little snap-shots of our time spent at home. I really enjoy looking back at these "ordinary" photos of every day home life, it gives me a lot of pleasure to record my life in this way, to use my blog as a visual diary if you like.

The above pics are of Little Lady's hastily constructed weekend "den" made in the Big Chair :: you can see how my crochet blankets are in constant use around here, and I can't tell you how much I love that they are used and loved in this way. And although the blanket-den looks a bit makeshift and to be honest very small even for a Little Person, Little Lady did miraculously manage to crawl into it with her little pink fluffy bag of Essentials and spent quite a while in there. She could be heard from under the blanket, talking to her toys and having some long in-depth conversations with friends on her toy mobile phone. Very sweet indeed.

We had a late breaskfast on Saturday morning consisting of a huge pile of scotch pancakes with strawberry jam and syrup (fabulous recipe from here), but we were still hungry enough to enjoy a spot of Elevenses a little while later....fruit and a bun in front of some atrocious kids tv for the Little People....

....and a cuppa and a bun in front of a lovely magazine for me.

I hadn't found time to do any baking at all last week and had missed it (both the act of baking and the end results), so on Sunday morning I put my apron on over my pyjamas and enjoyed a very pleasant little baking session in my weeny kitchen.

I made some apricot flapjacks....

....and an iced lemon cake.

Both very satsifactory indeed, if I do say so myself.

There was also time during the weekend to partake in a little hooky business. Of course. Can't possibly have a stay-home weekend without hook and yarn, that would never do.

I spent a little time pinning out and spray-starching my Granny Stars...Oh-my-goodness, I can't tell you how fabulous this starchy-stuff is!!! It's the first time I've tried it out on crochet and it works an absolute treat. You just have to try it! Prior to their Spa Treatment, my stars were looking yummy but decidedly flopsy and roundy on the corners and no good for stringing into a garland really.

 

But not so any more!! Now they are all pert and pointy-cornered, crisp and flat and uncurly and gorgeous. And I'm sooooooo happy with them!

I finally took down my hanging paper hearts (the ones that've been up since Valentines Day) and am going to string these stars into a long garland to hang in their place tomorrow, to celebrate the start of Advent. Going to see if I can make some more today so that I have 24 altogether (8 more to make), one for each day of Advent. Think that would be good.

As well as star-starching, I also embarked on another Festive hooky project over the weekend. And I am SO EXCITED to share this with you all !!!!!!!

Remember waaaaaayy back earlier in the year when I was in the midst of making BB, when I made the decision to frog out the white borders?? Well as a result of all that bitter-sweet frogging, I was left with a rather giant ball of white wool, and quite honestly I was beginning to think I would never ever find a use for it. I just don't really do White creative things as a rule. Up until two days ago that is.

 

Uh-huh, you do indeed see a little stack of White things there, and they were indeed made by me.

Yes, I did indeed venture into the World of White.

I admit it did not come easy, but I am absolutely thrilled with the results.

So thrilled in fact that I spent a good portion of my pyjama-clad afternoon yesterday hooking and photographing a tutorial for this All-White project.

Yes, I did!

So if you fancy a peek at what I've been up to, call in to see me again tomorrow and all will be revealed.

You can expect a spectacularly colour-less post tomorrow.

See you then.................

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Tea Break

During the six hours that the Little People are at school each day, I am extremely lucky to be pretty much as leisure to please myself. Certain things have to be done to keep the household ticking over,  but mostly I have a great deal of freedom. And I try never to take this gift of freedom for granted. Yes I am a lucky so-and-so to be able to spend my days in this way.

However the flipside of all this freedom is that my days are pretty haphazard on the whole, without an awful lot of structure. I wing it from day to day, going with the flow, deciding on how to occupy my time as the mood takes me. Mostly this is a Good Thing, but sometimes I do end up feeling a little lost in the midst of my day, a little moochy, a little adrift.

One thing guaranteed to perk up any Adriftness is a Tea Break, preferably accompanied by a little bit of home baking. And I find that this is most often needed around about 2 o'clock in that lull of time that comes after lunch and before the school run. Yes, Two O'clock is usually Tea Break time for me.

I baked some fruity flapjack for my tea break today (recipe here), using dried cranberries and a grated apple as the fruity element. I also added in a 1/4 teaspoon of ground cinnamon, although to be perfectly honest, the cinnamon didn't really work out. It was too much. And the truth is that I only really wanted to put the cinnamon in so that I could use my new measuring spoons look.........

......aren't they Lush??? Oh, I am LOVING these lickle spoons!!!!!

I bought them on a complete whim a few days ago after spotting them in the window of a little local kitcheny type shop. My eye spied them, my feet went of their own accord into the shop (yes, I swear they did), my hands grabbed them off the shelf, hurried them to the till and paid for them and these delicious spoons were very quickly mine-all-mine. I was powerless to resist.

 

Enjoyed my Tea Break this afternoon (despite the too-cinnamony flapjack), it was just what I needed.

Right then my lovelies, it's now 3 o'clock and my six hours of freedom is up :: need to pull my boots and coat on and venture out into the grey wet afternoon to go collect my Littln's from school.

Think I'll take them some flapjack to munch on the way home.

They can always feed it to the ducks if they don't care for it's cinnamonyness.

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Edited to add :: the spoons are of the soft silicone variety and made by "Zeal" :: see here.

 

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Thoughts on Baking

I've been doing a lot of baking just recently, pretty much on a daily basis. Aside from the obvious joy of having a constant supply of scrummy sweet-things to nibble on with morning coffee/afternoon tea, it's been the actual activity of baking which I've felt the need for of late.

Could be down to the weather (ie the need to feel warm and cosy in the kitchen when the weather outside is so rotten), could be hormonal (ie a form of Nesting Instinct), could possibly be Procrastination (ie baking when I should be doing other forms of more dirty, mundane housework), or it could be the Desire to Provide (ie complaints from family members when the cake tins are Empty, shock horror).

Whatever the reason, baking for family and friends (ok, and myself too) gives me a great deal of pleasure. And as a stay-at-home Mum, I guess it kind of comes with the job description :: baking is so very utterly Domestic and Homely that it would seem odd to me not to do it as a part of my daily/weekly at-home routine.

I love to include a little home-baked something in with the Little People's lunch boxes, just as my own Mum always did for me. As a child, my lunch box was often full of crumbling, homemade fruit cake or sticky little jam tarts, and shamefully I often longed for the pre-packed shop-bought chocolate biscuits that my friends always had. Its only now that I'm providing for my own children in the exact same way that my Mum did for me, that I recognise how wonderful and thoughtful those home-baked offerings of my childhood were.

I wouldn't say I'm a particularly skilled baker. I don't seem to have the bakers equivalent of gardeners green-fingers (hmmmm what colour would a bakers fingers be I wonder??). I quite often have disasters. But over the years that I've been making cakes and biscuits, cookies and buns, I've built up a small but satisfying little pile of fail-safe recipes, many of which I've shared with you here in the Attic. If you look at the Categories over in my sidebar there, you should see one called "Baking" :: click onto it and you'll have access to all my archive posts which contain bakey goodness, many with recipes included.

Occasionally I do like to try new things, get inspired by recipes I come across. The above picture is from the pages of Prima magazine (Novemer issue, the one that contained the free calendar). I was WOWed by the picture of those cookies in the vintage tin, by the title that said "Easy Bakes" and by the ingredients which included white chocolate, pecan nuts and cranberries.

But the recipe to my mind was overly complicated (included ingredients I didn't have, and involved chilling the cookie dough).

So what I did was to use my fail-safe recipe for cookies that always works out for me (my Chocolate Chip cookie recipe, which you can find here), substituting the 100g choc chips for 100g chopped white chocolate. And as the magazine recipe instructed, I mixed half of the white choc in with the cookie dough, and sprinkled the other half on top of the cookies, then studded the top of each one with some dried cranberries and half a pecan nut.

They turned out beautifully, and I'll be making these again for sure.

I find that I choose to bake cookies, buns and tray-bakes far more often than big, full-on cakey-cakes. Something about embarking on a grown-up Big Cake that scares me slightly :: I've had many, many disasters in this area, many hissy fits over undercooked cake middles and flat things that have refused to rise and look properly cake-like.

A few weeks ago, I tried out a new recipe called "Moist Orange Cake" from the Be-ro book, and it was not good. The resulting cake was tasty, and moist yes, but it failed to rise. It was flat, flat, flat and looked soooo sad! But not to be put off, I decided to give it another go last week, this time using my old recipe for Lemon Drizzle cake (which you can find here). This is an amazing recipe and has never failed me :: it always rises beautifully and the sponge is moist and light. So I kept the basic recipe the same, changing the lemon zest for orange zest, the milk for orange juice, then topped the finished cake with an orange glace icing instead of a sticky lemon-sugar drizzle......

....and oh it was good! I was so proud to have made a proper grown-up cake which could be put proudly on my cake stand!

 

Yes it really was good.

Scrumptious and scoffable.

And so we come to today's baking, today's morning activity of choice.
Clean the floors? Tidy the piles? Nah....let me bake chocolate cake!!!!

Another recipe from the Prima magazine, a Nestle Carnation promotion I think. you can find the actual recipe for this Chocolate Fudge Cake on the Carnation website here.

This was a very adventurous cake for me, involving two round tins and some fierce praying for Good Rising. And hey-ho, it did indeed rise, like a proper, grown-up full-cake should! I was sooo happy!!

I found the cooking time given (20-25mins) was wildly inaccurate though, it ended up needing more like 35mins, and even then I don't think one of the halves was completely properly cooked. But no matter, the amaaaaaaaaaazing chocolate-fudge icing covered up that little sticky sunken undercooked middle bit, and helped to produce a cake to be proud of.

 

Wow....does that look good or what????

I've yet to taste it as I'm waiting to present it to my family with a flourish at the dinner table tonight, and it won't quite look the same with a great big slice cut out the side of it. I have high hopes though, and think I might even be brave enough to make this cake for a school fundraiser event in a few weeks time.

Gosh, has this seemed like a long post to you?? I feel like I've been sat here chatting to you for ages!! Thanks for being here with me and allowing me to blather on, i do appreicate your company.....right, time for me to go and have my afternoon cup of tea with a little bit of something sweet from the cake tin.

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Ps meant to say that the very top picture is of my new cake tin, given to me for my Birthday by a lovely friend...isn't that old Ladybird illustration fab???!!

Edited to add :: Oh. My. Golly-goodness. That cake! That c-a-k-e!!! It's quite honestly stupendous. The sponge :: light and moist, the chocolate fudge icing :: incredible. The Little People were beside themselves with excitement and joy over being allowed this cake for pudding and it was given a score of 100/10. J was very complimentary too. And as for me...well, yes, can you see my Domestic Goddess Halo shining brightly?

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Banana and Chocolate Buns

Some days are just made for baking, for the warmth and comfort of putting on a favourite apron, switching on the radio and pottering in the kitchen. Throwing a few ingredients around the place (I'm a messy baker it has to be said) and whipping up a little tasty comfort to accompany a cup of  afternoon tea.
Today in my patch is just such a day :: the weather is exceedingly grey and  damp and perfect for afternoon baking.

A new recipe today, concocted by yours truly to make use of a very sad looking blackened banana left over from last week. And so I present to you Lucy's Banana and Chocolate Buns.

Into the bowl ::

100g butter/margarine

80g light brown sugar

Beat until light and fluffy.

Into the bowl ::

1 very ripe mashed banana

I beaten egg

Beat until well combined.

Into the bowl ::

110g Self Raising flour

1/2 teaspooon baking powder

Mix well.

Into the bowl ::

50g chocolate buttons, broken into small bits

Mix well.

Into 12 bun cases ::

spoon in the mixture , bake at 180 / 350/ gas 4 for 20mins until risen and lightly golden.

 

Put the kettle on.

Make a cup of tea.

Consume one bun whilst still warm.

Mmmm!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Eat two more to "make sure" of the recipe before sharing it :: optional but recommended.

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Three Things

 

Three Things that are making me heart-skippy-happy today..........

Thing #1 :: on my table ::

 

:: a winter cherry plant, bought this morning from the supermarket ::

Thing #2 :: in my tummy ::

:: freshly baked carrot cake, with a hot cup of tea ::

Thing #3 :: in my bag ::

 

:: 16 scrumptious balls of yarn, with a new project about to start ::

Happy Wednesday to you all, hope you find some heart-skippy-happy things to enjoy today!

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Edited to add :: the carrot cake recipe can be found here, and the yarn is Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino, which you can find more of here....more details about the yarn/project planning to come!

Cranberry and Pecan Tiffin

Cranberry and Pecan Tiffin :: this is one ScRumPtiOuS recipe, and I'm delighted to be passing it on to you all. You're gonna love it. Your family and friends are gonna love it, and they will love you for making it and sharing it.

When it was J's birthday earlier this year, he told me quite matter of factly that he didn't want any presents, and he didn't want cake. No, what he really wanted more than anything else was homemade tiffin. And that is what he got.

This recipe is my own. I had never made Tiffin before J's birthday request, although I had eaten it. I have a faded memory of eating the most delicious, scrumptious cranberry and pecan tiffin someplace, somewhen, somewhere that I can't quite recall. But I remember how completely I loved it, and how that combination of the slightly sharp cranberries with the sweetness of the chocolate and the crunch of the biscuit was just divine. Heavenly.
I searched the internet for a cranberry-pecan-tiffin recipe and could find none. But there are a gazillion recipes out there for Tiffin (often known as Refrigerator Cake), and I found they all varied wildly in both the ingredients and the quantities. So I ended up kind of combining several different bits of various recipes to make my own version, based on that elusive memory of the original one I tasted in some unknown cafe in some forgotten place.

So to make this wickedly, heavenly recipe, you will need ::

200g digestive biscuits
100g dried cranberries
50g roughly chopped pecan nuts
200g good chocolate (I use half and half dark/milk)
200g unsalted butter (it HAS to be unsalted and it CANNOT be margarine)
2tbs golden syrup (or corn syrup in the US)

This is a very child friendly recipe, and it's also a no-bake recipe. It can also be a very messy recipe if you have Small Helpers.

Put the biscuits into a bowl and smash to bits. Use whatever implement you fancy...rolling pin, wooden spoon, your child. We started out with a wooden spoon, then went in with Little Lady's hands toward the end to break the crumbs up more finely.

You don't want to end up with dust mind you, so go steady with the pounding. The biscuit should be a mix of very fine crumbs and slightly larger bits too, as pictured above.

Assemble your cranberries, and roughly chop your pecan nuts.

 

Add the fruit and nuts to the smashed biscuit and mix well.

In a separate heatproof bowl, put the chocolate, butter and syrup and heat gently until melted. I used the microwave, heating for about 30-45 seconds at a time, then stirring, then heating a little more, then stirring until there is a lovely, luscious bowl of brown melty smooth deliciousness.

Ahhhhh the smell......it takes all my will power not to stick my face right in the bowl and slurp.

Now add the biscuit/fruit/nut mix to the melted chocolate/butter/syrup mix and stir well.

Pour into a lined tin (I used an 8inch/20cm square brownie tin, lined with baking parchment).

Then put the tray into the fridge and leave to cool/set...takes at least an hour, and this is by far the hardest bit of the whole tiffin-making experience, especially if you are doing it with Little People.

You can distract Little Minds for a good while by allowing them to clean the bowl out with their bare hands. Be warned, it will be Messy.

But once the bowl has been cleaned, the Pestering will begin.

Is it ready yet?

Can we check?

Is it ready now?

Can I go look?

I lost track of the number of times Little Lady went to the fridge to see if the chocolate had set, but there were a lot of little finger prints all over the surface of our tiffin.

No matter...it did eventually set of course....

....and it did eventually get eaten with mmmmmm's of appreciation. Words cannot describe how delicious this stuff is.

And Oh. My. Goodness. Just looking at these photos this morning is making me want to rush out the house this very instant to go buy the ingredients to make this again. Really. I'm seriously thinking to myself :: right, its 9am, the supermarket is open, if I put my coat on over my pyjamas and go right now this very minute, I could be eating cranberry and pecan tiffin with my (late) morning coffee.

Oh yeah.

See ya.....I'm off.............

Edited to add :: a note about digestive biscuits...I realise now, a very English ingredient. According to Wikipedia, in the US you can substitute with Graham Crackers, if this makes any sense??!!

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.

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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

Rainy Day Baking

 

This happens to be a very appropriate book for this half term holiday, the weather has left a lot to be desired around these parts. Yesterday morning it was bloomin awful, and today is looking even worse. Along with the drizzle, we've got thick fog to contend with :: I'm up in the Attic and I can barely see my town, let alone the hills today.

But still, I am trying not to complain, because in actual fact I'm loving being home with the Little People, and the dire weather does kind of narrow down the indecision of the  what-shall-we-do-today question. 

Baking seems to be the In Thing in our house right now. I mean, I am always baking, and have often involved the Little People in this pleasurable activity. But as they grow older, baking is increasingly becoming something they want to do for themselves. Which is simultaneously great and alarming. 

Can you remember Little Man a few weekends ago, concocting his very own bun mixture in the kitchen All By Himself?? Well since then, he has really taken an interest in baking. I've written out a few simple recipes for him on squares of paper so that he can easily read the ingredients with their quantities, and the order in which they go into the bowl. He is doing great. He weighs meticulously, to the exact gram. He uses a wooden spoon vigorously, beats with gusto, so his buns end up light and airy. Of course, it's a little messy. Sometimes it's a lot messy. But oh, the joy! How can any Mum not be proud of her six year old almost daily begging to make buns, flapjacks, cookies??

Anyhow, back to the book. This is "The Rainy Day Book" by Jane Bull. I'm not sure if this book is still in print (we've owned it for quite a few years now) but I see on Amazon that she now has many other titles too, including a Baking Book, which will be a definite future purchase for my little Baker.

This book, and this page in particular has been so very, very loved over the years, not only by my Little People, but by various visiting Little Friends too. I've made this sweet dough recipe countless times when my two were little, and its a fantastic activity for children of all ages.

The ingredients are easy to remember, and the proportions are 1:2:3

1 part :: sugar (normal, white granulated sugar)

2 parts :: soft butter or margarine

3 parts :: plain flour.

For the quantity of dough pictured below in Little lady's hands, use 25g sugar, 50g butter and 75g flour. This makes about 8 medium sized cookies.

Simply put all the ingredients into a bowl together (make sure the butter/margarine is soft or it'll be hard work), and rub together with your fingers until the dough begins to form. For a little while it may seem like it's not going to work, it looks quite crumbly at the start. But the trick is to really work the mixture so that the butter warms up.

It ends up like a sweet, edible play-doh. Small children can just pull bits off, roll it into balls in the palm of their hands and then flatten/bang it into a cookie shape. when they are at pre-school/playgroup age, they are well accustomed to shaping and manipulating play-doh, so this comes naturally to them. Its a joy to watch.

For my two they will not entertain this slap dash method any more. Far too babyish.

No, they want a rolling pin and proper cookie cutters.

Ok, we can do that.

Little Lady chooses hearts, and little man goes for stars.

He does his completely unassisted and the cookies vary a lot in thickness, but it still all works out OK.

I resist the urge to neaten them up, to flatten the thick ones, to re-roll the thin ones.

The cookies get decorated before they go into the oven. Use whatever you fancy :: choc chips, sugar flowers, smarties, sprinkles.

Bake at a low temp 160/325/gas 3 for 15 mins.

 

You will undoubtedly have a battle on your hands trying to get the cookies from the baking tray to the cooling rack without little hands/mouths intervening.

They are perfect for a little Morning Snack with a glass of milk.

You may or may not wish to sample your Little One's baking efforts.

These are not the tastiest cookies ever made.

And somehow, the fact that the dough has been pounded between Little Palms and slapped around rather brutally kind of sticks in ones mind as one is chewing and swallowing.

But the Kids love 'em.

And thats what counts.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

On Sunday, after all the excitements and energy expenditure of the previous day, I was very glad to have a quiet day pottering around at home in my pyjamas. And part of my pyjama-pottering consisted of a spot of baking :: a cookie recipe that I've not made before. Now I am trying to remain calm here, but let me tell you, I am very excited about this recipe. Cos it is the absolute bees-knees. YES it jolly well is!! I tried it again this morning, you know, just to be sure, and Oh. My. Goodness. I was transported to Cookie-heaven.

Do you remember me telling you about my discovery of the perfect carrot cake recipe back in October? Remember the absolute delight and excitement that recipe generated? Well this is more of that. More delight, more excitement, more mmmmmmmmmmmmm. This, to me, is one Perfect cookie recipe. Simple ingredients, easy to make, and the resulting cookies are so utterly, deliciously scrumptious that one can hardly believe ones luck.

So...please do give this a go any time soon. You and your family will thank me wholeheartedly.

Heat oven :: 180C / 350F / Gas 4

Into a bowl ::

100g margerine

75g soft light brown sugar

I think the technical phrase here is "cream together"? Yeah, thats it, get jiggy with a big wooden spoon (or a turquoise silicone one in my case) and beat it all up till it's smooth, light and fluffy.

Into the bowl ::

2tbs golden syrup

175g self raising flour

100g chocolate chips (my preference is  plain chocolate chips)

Mix well until you form a stiffy mixture.

Line a tray with baking parchment/greaseproof paper, then using your fingers, scoop up small balls of the cookie mixture and plop onto the baking sheet. You don't need to flatten them or shape them, they only need to be in lumps, but spread well apart :: you should be able to get 18.

Bake in the oven for 8-10 minutes. And NO LONGER!! They should be just turning very lightly golden, and will be very, very soft to the touch. They almost look like they are not cooked, but trust me, do not cook them for a moment longer.

Using a spatula/slice, remove them immediately from the baking tray (go careful because they will be very soft and quite delicate), and place them on a wire rack to cool. As they cool they will begin to harden slightly, but will retain that oh-so-good softness inside. You know, that light chewyness that is soooo good about cookies. That melt-in-the-mouth scrumptiousness that makes one moan out loud with pleasure.

These cookies are so very very good. They need to be eaten with love and abandon. Make yourself a mug of something nice to drink, take a warm cookie (or two) off the cooling rack as you leave the kitchen (no need for a plate) and go nestle yourself into the snuggliest, cosiest little bit of your home.

And enjoy The Moment.

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Edited to add :: I've been asked by a couple of you about golden syrup which it seems is a very British ingredient. If you are in the US, I think the closest substitute would be corn syrup. Happy baking!