Head colds & Oatmeal Cookies

Had a very long night last night as both my little ones have head cold and pretty much woke every hour during the night with a mixture of coughs, sneezes and snotty noses, not conducive to a good nights sleep so again for the 2nd morning on the trot i woke up feeling like i hadn’t actually been to bed. Although it has been another glorious day it was cold i decided to hibernate with Dylan in between school runs with Peter. We spent the day cuddled up watching a mix of Disney films for her and a mass catch-up of ‘Spooks’ for me, not a bad way to spend the day even if i do say so myself.
Once the kids had settled down for dinner i decided to make some cookies, i love tradition oatmeal cookie as they are really comforting and thankfully easy. In under and hour i had a bulging cake stand full of oaty goodness. If you fancy giving them a go my recipe is as follows:

175g / 6oz butter
125g / 4oz caster sugar
1 egg yolk
175g / 6oz plain flour
5ml / 1tsp bicarbonate of soda
pinch of salt
80g / 30z of rolled oats

Optional -
The above recipe is fine as it is but i always end up adding more than i first intend and this time was no exception, after a quick scout around the house i threw in,
50g raisins
30g of chopped nuts
2 tablespoons of maple syrup ( you could also use golden syrup )

Method.

Cube the butter and cream it together with the sugar. Once light and fluffy mix in the egg yolk.
Sift in the flour, bicarb and salt and stir it into the butter mixture.
Once mixed add the rolled oats and any other ingredient you may choose to add as extra.
Sir everything together well then put the mixture in the fridge and allow it to chill for 20mins.
If you forget the mixture or leave it in the fridge to long like i did today it will go like rock as the butter hardens. If this happens leave it in the kitchen to warm up slightly, DONT do what i did and try to chip it away with a spatula, mine snapped clear in half!!!!!! Loooooooool!

Preheat your oven to 190c / 375f / gas mark 4

 

Once the mixture becomes playable scoop it out and shape it into a long sausage shape. Cut the sausage length was to give you little slices big enough to roll into balls just a bit bigger than a malteaser. Roll the slices and place them on a greased baking tray. I can normally space about 15 – 20 per baking tray ( depends how even i cut my slices )

Place in the oven for 10mins. After 10mins take turn the tray around and bake for a further 10mins or till golden brown. If you add maple syrup of golden syrup they will go slightly darker because of the extra sugar content.

When cooked use a kitchen knife or palette knife to lift them on to a cooling rack or just leave them on the baking tray untill completely cool and crunchy, store in an air tight container to keep them crisp. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm……………………………………………enjoy x

Gotta Luv London Bridge

Had such a fantastic day! Funny how my day can change from really draining to to carefree in the blink of an eye!!!!!!! I had such a bad nights sleep, soon as I went to bed my baby girl who is two decided to wake up & want to play!!!! She carried on bouncing happily on my bed till 2am while I lay there craving sleep, add that to our manic puppy having more of a mad few hours rather than the average half hour and I woke up at 6am feeling like I’d been dragged through a hedge backwards. Just about got Peter to school with the full intention of coming home & slobbing out for the entire day but on the walk back home I suddenly noticed how beautifully sunny it was and although the chill in the air was a sure sign winter is on it’s way the blue skies were so inviting I decided I couldn’t waste the day doing nothing.
After having a strong cup of coffee at home I wrapped me & the baby up and went for a walk.
The wonderful thing about where I live in London Bridge is that there is an array of coffee shops, patisseries, delicatessens and of course the wonderful Borough Market. We had a lovely walk along the Thames and I managed to have a good root around the Pont Del La Tour delicatessen buying some gorgeous bread and black olives which never last long in our house as the kids love them. We then wandered down to the Galleria past London Bridge and around a mainly closed Borough Market. I feel so lucky to live where I do and being so close to the Thames is an absolute joy!!!!! So after feeling like I’d had a really horrible start to the day a nice walk in the Autum sun made me feel like a new woman!!!!! And after all that instead of cooking a really healthy meal for the rugrats I decided to we would have a real treat of ready made pizza, garlic bread and salad and even worse…………… Cake made not by me but the very wonderful mr Kipling!!!!! Hey ho, nobodies perfect :0)

Hello World!!!!!

So now i have a platform to gibber on about anything i feel like im actually stuck for words.

Welcome to my new blog which will be mainly about all things cakey and bakey but i do warn you in advance i could talk for a living so im guessing i will blather on about a great deal more.

I began baking properly about 10 months ago and just simply fell in love with the whole process. There is something very calming and comforting about spending a morning in a warm kitchen with massive heaps of butter, sugar, eggs and flour and turning them into a sweet feast for the family and of course there is always the joy of the self-righteous feeling you get from making something so yummy from scratch. i am definitely the kids favorite person when the oven is on and the smells of cookies and freshly made cakes start wafting around the house, although i have to confess my new-found pleasure is decimating what little of a waistline i might once have had ;0)

I began my love affair with cupcakes and as the year has gone on i have found myself knee-deep in birthday, christening and even wedding cakes, how did that happen??? Most days my oven is ragging and you can’t see through the cloud of icing sugar in the kitchen as i am far from a tidy cook. My skills and interest have grown at a rapid rate and find i cant pass a bookshop without checking out the baking section and as for the ‘Great British Bake Off’ on BBC2, well no one in my house is allowed to so much as breath while that’s on :0)My family laugh at me because i have never been a perfectionist in anything i have ever done. I’m that person that always say ‘oh that will do, it will be ok’ but with my cakes it’s all different. I have had days where everything goes smoothly and the birthday, christening, wedding cakes without one single hitch but i have also had moments where i am ripping off fondant or remaking a top or bottom layer of sponge or even making up batch after batch of royal icing because it just isn’t ‘right’ or ‘perfect’ enough for me, sometime i just have to step back and take a breathe because i am so picky.

See, i knew i would ramble on and this is only my first blog looool. Oh well, i really hope you enjoy my ramblings and maybe even get something out of my growing experience. I plan to share recipes and photos so maybe the baking bug will be passed on who knows. However it takes shape i hope u enjoy,

Alex x