After seeing a friend get caught up in an online "debate" about the price of shop bought cupcakes and whether or not they were value for money I felt that there was only one thing that I could take round the next time we met for tea and cakes - good old fashioned homemade fairy cakes! As a child I don't think anyone here in the UK had quite invented cupcakes like we have them now with huge towers of fattening icing or elaborate decorations. Instead fairy cakes, or if the event was very special butterfly buns, often appeared on the plate at tea time along side scones ... read more
The holy grail of flapjack?
In this house we've always been looking for the hold grail of flapjacks. Something that's got a bit of crunch to it, but is also deliciously chewy and moist. To date we've failed to find it, but I'm not deterred and whenever I see a new flapjack recipe I'm prepared to try it in the hope that this might be the one. Hannah over at Muddling Along Mummy recently posted her dairy free flapjack recipe and I thought I ought to try it too. I did make one (slight) tweak to the recipe though. Not being a dairy free household we don't have any dairy free spread in, so ... read more
Chocolate Tiffin
A sure sign that a recipe is a good one is the fact that I have completely failed to take a photograph of the finished article every time I've made it as it never stays around our kitchen for very long! If you love gooey, chocolate treats then this is definietly the recipe for you. It's incredibly simple and doesn't require the oven at all. I found it handwritten in the back of my old school home economics book and it's noted as having come from a family friend. I remember making it with my mum and sister as a child and making it again now it still tastes just as good as I ... read more
Elevenses
In some ways Little Miss C is a very girly girl. She loves playing in her little play kitchen and one of the Christmas gifts that she loved most was a tea set that we bought her. We often have pretend tea parties together and I don't think it's coincidence that two of her first words were "cake" and "tea". The tea parties aren't all make belive though. Most mornings after a good play session or a quick trip out I do try to make sure that we stop and sit down for a spot of elevenses together. By that stage of the day I need a cup of tea (normally Earl Grey these ... read more
Avon calls on you to Bake for Breast Cancer
Nearly 48,000 women in the UK are affected by breast cancer every year. There are very few of us who don't know someone effected by this awful disease or other types of cancer. All of us want to help find a cure, but for many of us the best we can do is to donate money to the scientist who are working hard to understand the disease better and to develop drugs to fight it. You can help to raise money for Breakthrough Breast Cancer by hosting an Avon Pink Pamper Party and Avon have made it even easier to raise money through a bake sale with their Crusade Baking Set. The set ... read more
Gran and her biscuits.
When I started blogging here over three years ago I had no idea if people would actually read my blog or not. I certainly had no idea what would be popular with readers and I'm still amazed when I see what people searched for to come across my blog. There is one post seems to attract more hits than all the others though - Gran's Ginger Biscuits. Now I know that they are completely delicious, but I didn't realise how many people were in search of ginger biscuit recipes! I've had some lovely comments and messages from people saying how much they like them, so if you ... read more
Banana & Chocolate Chip Muffins
With a fruitbowl full of ageing bananas and a little girl who refuses to eat them I went about finding a recipe to use them up. Inspired by some yummy banana and chocolate cake that a local cafe sell I knew I wanted to combine the two, but I drew a bit of a blank with all my cookbooks. The internet came up trumps though. I used this recipe for these banana and chocolate chip muffins and it all worked just perfectly. The muffins were light and tasty with an even spread of banana throughout. The chocolate chips were slightly gooey whilst retaining some of their structure so to give nice sweet ... read more
Breakfast without words
(Blueberry pancakes from the fantastic River Cottage Baby and Toddler Cookbook) ... read more
Oat and Raisin Cookies
I've got the NCT girls coming over this afternoon and after a long weekend at home the cake tin and biscuit barrel are rather bare. Last night I had a quick look through my various cook books and came up with this recipe for oat and raisin cookies from The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook. One thing I did notice when looking at the recipe was that it required 4 baking trays for 20 cookies. Now, I don't know about you I don't actually own four baking trays. Mr C thought I was a bit excessive having three, but seeing as my oven only has two shelves I couldn't work out how to fit four ... read more
Be-Ro Victoria Sponge
For years my late Gran told me to get myself a copy of the Be-Ro cookbook and last year I finally did - I just wish I'd done so sooner. This book has in every standard baking recipe you could ever need which is pretty impressive when you bear in mind it only costs £1.50 a copy! Unfortunately this Victoria Sponge never made it to its intended recipient as an ill Little Miss C had to take priority. There was one bit I had to disagree with though; Step 5: When cool, fill with jam or cream. Or??? Surely that should read "and"! ... read more