I’m guest posting over at Muffin Top Vintage whist Katrina’s finishing her dissertation. Go on, you know you want to.
October 11, 2011 – 5:16 pm
I made these a couple of weeks ago (well a slight variation on, but this recipe is better – thanks Mum!). There’s definitely a link between having to revise and wanting to bake lots….
Anyway, they’re good. Just saying.
You will need
- 175g dark chocolate
- 4tbsp unsalted butter
- 175g plain flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 2 eggs
- 150g caster sugar
- 1tsp vanilla extract
- 60g icing sugar
And then you need to:
- Melt the chocolate and butter in a bowl over simmering water (making sure the bottom doesn’t touch the water) or in the microwave
- Mix the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl
- Beat the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy
- Beat in the cooled chocolate mixture and vanilla extract, followed by the flour mixture and then put the mixture in the fridge for a couple of hours
- Once out of the fridge, shape the dough into small balls (a bit bigger than walnut sized) and then roll them in the icing sugar
- Place them on a baking tray, flatten a little and then bake at 160c for 12-15 minutes.
- Leave to cool on a rack and then EAT
Last summer we went to Sweden, and although our trip to Scotland was lovely, it feels like months ago. I’m desperate to go back to Scandinavia, and in a bid to bring a Scandinavian summer to London, today I made Nigella’s Swedish Summer cake.
It’s very creamy and was pretty fiddly, but YUM. I adore strawberries too, so I was totally sold. It’s the first bit of baking I’ve done in ages – things just keep getting in the way. I’ve also finally got round to starting to make the roman blind I’ve been meaning to do for ages – it’s amazing how lack of time focusses the mind.
Saturday was unfortunately spent sweltering in college listening to world’s dullest man, so it was lovely to be able to spend the evening sat on a balcony having a BBQ with some friends. They had new kittens too. I’m not normally a cat person, but they were SO cute!
Talking of Sweden, I would very much like this apartment please. Thank you.
Hope you’ve all had a lovely weekend. xx
April 18, 2011 – 10:08 pm
It was a weekend, so I baked. Standard, I know – I should probably get out more. I did however make foxes and polar bears (you’ll see a repeating theme over time). I also made bunting biscuits! We’re having a royal wedding picnic on the 29th, complete with Pimms and cucumber sandwiches. Maybe. Actually, I don’t think I’ve ever eaten cucumber sandwiches.
The icing bled a bit, and they weren’t particularly neat, but practice makes perfect and all that.
I pretty much didn’t leave the house on Saturday other than for a swim. I hadn’t been swimming for years until last week & I’ve now been four times, I love it! I should probably invest in swimming cap though (ooh the glamour), I do hate getting my hair wet.
Sunday involved a quick trip to the shops (no exciting purchases I’m afraid. Apart from an iron? No? Didn’t think so), but it did allow us to take a couple of photos and the weather was beautiful – fingers crossed it stays that way, I have next week off & I’m envisioning picnics and laying in the park. Hurrah!
xx
Hello hello,
I hope you’ve all had a splendiforous week. I’ve had a day of wondering round London finished off with a bit of baking (via a sex exhibition at the Natural History Museum). And yes, that is a tortoise who was pushed onto his back by another tortoise who then went off and shagged the girl. Poor tortoise.
Also, Daylesford on Westbourne Grove – tasty tasty sandwiches.
xx
March 27, 2011 – 10:46 pm
It’s been a funny weekend but particularly marked by the purchase of….. my new KitchenAid mixer! I have dreamed of owning such a thing for about 6 years, and after spending Thursday evening making an absolute racket with my clapped out hand mixer, Tom relented and let me buy one! Although, I will now be spending no money whatsoever in April…..
It also meant that I got to try making teacakes (of the Tunnocks variety) from my new cookbook (which is also incidentally, one of the most beautiful cookbooks I have ever laid my eyes on) – British Baking.
Anyway, it is yellow, it is beautiful, and I have somehow not managed to take a photo to show you. Ooops. I will, I promise. I do however have photos of the teacakes and other random things (a.k.a. flowers, it is Spring afterall) from this weekend:
xx