If you follow me on Instagram you'll know that I do a fair bit of baking. Especially of biscuits. My late Gran's ginger biscuit recipe is well known locally as they've been enjoyed at numerous WI, school governor and other committee meetings over the years. I was thrilled therefore to see an invitation pop into my inbox from Bacofoil to join a baking masterclass with Great British Bake Off Quarter finalist Benjamina Ebuehi where we would be creating her new white chocolate and coconut cookies using Bacofoil's non-stick baking paper. Over the years I've been lucky enough to meet a few bake ... read more
The Great British Bake Off Range at Debenhams #GBBO
Who doesn't love the Great British Bake Off? With the series 7 final tonight, it's fair to say that this year there's probably been more publicity than ever, especially about whether or not Channel 4 have been had by spending millions on a tent and Paul Hollywood. Whatever happens in future years the Bake Off (and Mary Berry in particular) will always be a British tradition as far as I am concerned. Although ironically WI meetings always seem to clash with when it is on live, I do make sure I see each week's show and make a real point of staying off social media until I get to catch up so I ... read more
How to make flowerpot bread
I do love it when the kids get slightly unusual Christmas presents and one of Little Miss C's uncles really came up trumps this year (not that the other two uncles didn't, if you're reading, as the kids love all their presents too thank you!) with a flowerpot bread making kit. Flowerpot bread you may think - what on earth? The idea's quite simple really. You make bread, but rather than put it in a traditional bread tin or on a baking tray in the oven, you instead bake it in terracotta flowerpots. It's incredibly easy to do and a great activity to do with kids, so here's my how to ... read more
Millionaire Shortbread
When I was working in London there was a coffee shop just down the road from my office that sold the most amazing millionaire shortbread ever and since then I have been addicted to the stuff. Some places make it a bit too sweet and sickly, but I've followed this recipe a few times now and it always seems to turn out really well. I just have a handwritten version of this recipe from my sister which I have then gone on to tweak, but I believe that it's originally from the Hairy Bikers. Ingredients Base 125g butter 50g sugar 175g plain ... read more
Three hours
I'm sure I can't be the only person who gets to the end of the day and wonders what I've actually acheived that day. When you're at home with little ones it can be quite easy to just concentrate on "surviving" and it can be easy to lose track of what has kept you busy all day. Realistically though, stay at home parents usually acheive loads, but they simply don't have the time to step back and take stock of just what they have done. This morning Mr C went out to a first aid course so I thought I'd keep track of just what I got up to in that time - admitedly, ... read more
Toddler cupcakes
After the scathing comments about "mummy bloggers" that appeared courtesy of Ms Jones in yesterday's Daily Fail (I refuse to link to them and give them any SEO credit at all for this) I felt slightly bad about today's post being about cupcakes, but still. I may be one of these parents who stays at home knitting and baking whilst blogging and bringing up my children, but that's completely fine with me. And also with my husband who gets to eat the fruits of my baking activities when he comes home from work. Little Miss C has really got into baking recently and one of the ... read more
Taking a step back
This week was supposed to be a nice little "holiday" between Mr C leaving one job and starting a new one. We acknowledged that there were likely to be some little jobs left to finish off in our new loft conversion, but the reality is that we've actually been running round like headless chickens all week trying to make decisions, but things and get everything sorted. Today we've made quite an effort to make the day a bit calmer and fun. A spot of baking - mainly prompted by the need to use up some bananas that were going very brown in the fruit bowl - a pub lunch and a wander ... read more
Buns for new friends…
If a new friend has invited you round for tea then you can't turn up empty handed. Luckily I had a little assistant to help me in the kitchen. ... read more
Chocolate Easter nests
The long Easter weekend and we decided that it was the ideal time to introduce Little Miss C to the joys of cooking with chocolate! The three of us followed the Chocolate Easter egg nest cakes recipe from the BBC food site that seemed to be very much like the one I remember from childhood. Chocolate, melted with butter and golden syrup and then mixed in with cornflakes, before being topped with mini-eggs. It couldn't really be much more simple. With two of us at home LMC could be picked up to watch as I melted the chocolate on the hob and then she got very involved in helping ... read more
Homemade fairy cakes
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