Scrapping Tonight

During the Easter Holidays we had the great pleasure of entertaining the Deacons!
We decided that we would have afternoon tea.




Menu :

Open cheese and cucumber finger buns
Open cucumber and ham finger buns
Brownie and cheescake topped cupcakes baked by Holly Deacon
Scones with clotted cream and Jam
Oat and honey biscuits



As you can see a lot of fun was had!
Thank you to Sue, Holly and Em for coming to see us, we loved having you!! Why not invite your friends over for an impromptu afternoon tea.

Thanks for stopping by
Anna xx

Nothing that I am sure you don't already know, but I love making cupcakes and baking in general. Not so keen on eating them as I dont like the butter cream topping much to be honest. Just love swirling and sprinkling!
Well in Ikea at the weekend I spotted these, and  fell in love!


I made little chocolate chip muffins




imagine this with swirly butter cream topping and covered in sprinkles, they would look like mini ice creams don't you think!
I also have a bit of an obsession with cupcake cases as well, I have wow too many in every shape, size, pattern and colour imaginable!

By the way, do keep up with my photography news over here, I am keeping my photography and daily bits seperate from now on, LOL

Thanks for stopping by
Anna x

Today Izzy has had to come up with something she can sell, either a service or a product, and make profit.
Izzy chose to bake cupcakes. Yesterday after school she and a frined took over my kitchen and made 24 small cupcakes and 24 mini cupcakes and a tray of Rocky Road. Cakes were iced and sprinkled with a little help from me.






This morning we took in the cake stand adorned with 48 cupcakes and flags to a classroom of oo's and has; I think she felt good ;)

I hope she comes home with an empty cake stand and an empty tray!!

Thanks for stopping by,
Anna x

Now you can understand why I have been so busy! Inspired by all the amazing inspiration out on the www, and SJ's Mad Hatters Tea party she held for her birthday last year, Lilly decided to have one too!!
The downside is when you are a working photographer, a baking expert wanna be, a "wish I could do kids birthday parties for a living" kinda mum, you end up giving yourself a ton more work than most people !
Thankfully the wonderful Miss SJ made the invites for Lilly using her Mad hatters download, and this was the start of things to come!
After realizing that china tea cups for a bunch of 7/8 year olds wasn't a perfect combo, I bought a few pieces for decoration and then found the most gorgeous paper plates, flags and cake stand that evoked old floral china; a much safer bet!

Three Alice's sat on a bench

Jelly babies spilling from floral tea cups

The Rainbow Layered Cake

 So with flowers in a Cath Kidston pink glass jug, china cups piled and toppling on the table overflowing with jelly beans and jelly babies, all adorned on a pretty floral tablecloth, it was time to pop some food on the table.
We had finger sandwiches, sausages, sausagerolls, cheese and pineapple, queen of hearts mini biscuits (jammy dodgers), cake pops, biscuit pops, Mad Hatter cupcakes that I slaved over, LOL, (and realize I am no sugar paste expert), and a selection of drinks.



The finale was the Rainbow Layer Cake, and boy did it impress me! I am not one for blowing my own trumpet, but this did look A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.

The kids were mighty impressed as well, so a big thumbs up!

Tomorrow I will share the costumes, everyone really did out do themselves!

Thanks for stopping by
Anna x

The weather here has been dull, dreary and damp, a perfect day for lounging in front of the TV and baking comforting goodies to eat!

Izzy is becoming a bit of an expert in the kitchen, and today made some chocolate muffins with white chocolate chunks. Of course I had to test one *wink wink*




What you will need :

2 eggs
200g caster sugar
130g plain flour
50g  cocoa
2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla essence
160 ml milk
160 g melted unsalted butter
150g white chocolate chunks



Method :

Pre heat the oven to 170c
Mix the eggs and sugar together until light and creamy. Add the sifted flour, baking powder, cocoa and salt a little at a time with the milk and vanilla essence.
Mix well.
Now fold in the melted butter and add the chocolate chunks.

Pour mixture into muffin cases, about 2/3rds full. Bake for about 30mins. Leave to cool and enjoy!


I received my copy of Baking made Easy by Lorraine Pascale yesterday, and cannot wait to start baking some treats from her book.
Do you have a favorite cookery book? Do you have a cookery book on your must have list!
I have a very soft spot for The Primrose Bakery and Hummingbird Bakery books at the moment. I also have Cake Pops by Bakerella thanks to Sue, I am just waiting on my delivery of lollipop sticks and then I can start playing!

Thanks for stopping by, and if you do make these muffins I am sure Izzy would love to hear your verdict.
Anna x

Today has been spent doing the usual house work and Suki walking as well as some baking. Its been a while since I had an afternoon baking due to my healthy eating regime. If I cant have cake then no one else can have cake , LOL.
Anyways, I succumbed today and baked 2 lemon drizzle loafs from my Hummingbird cookery book and some more cookies; todays were butterscotch chip cookies, yummy!!

lemon zest

lemon cake in the making

How has your Saturday been? Hope its been a good one.
Thanks for stopping by
Anna x

Better late than never I say! Have any last minute gifts to buy, then why not make some chocolate home made fudge!
Izzy and I made this fudge the other day and gave to her and Lilly's friends when they left after the Christmas tea party we had.
The extra bags will go be hostess gifts over the holidays.


You will need :
 

550g caster sugar
550ml double cream
75g liquid glucose
150g dark chocolate melted




Place the first 3 ingredients in a saucepan. Use a sugar thermometer and heat over a low heat , stirring consistently until the sugar dissolves, then increase heat and bring to the boil. Boil until temperature reaches 118c.



Remove from pan and beat in the melted chocolate. Keep beating until it thickens.



Pour into a lined tin and allow to set over night.

Cut into pieces and place in cellophane bags to give as gifts!




Variations :

Use milk or white chocolate instead
Why not add some rum and raisins to a plain fudge.
Add fruit and nuts

How are your Christmas plans going? Are all your presents wrapped? All the baking finished?
If you are anything like me you will still be spending tomorrow running around like a headless chicken turkey!

I am heading off to bed for an early rise tomorrow!
Thanks for stopping by
Anna x

Ingredients :

1 pack of fresh cranberries
1 cup of sugar or pure maple syrup
1 cup of orange juice or cranberry juice
zest of a clementine or what ever you have and the juice

Pop everything into a pan and bring to boil then simmer for 10 minutes.
The pour into jars (sterilize the jars if you are giving as a gift).

Enjoy with your Christmas turkey or in a cold turkey sarnie Christmas night!

Tomorrow a tour round the house this Christmas
Thanks for stopping by
Anna x

I cannot take the credit for this, although I wish I could as it is so scrummy. Thanks to Sandie who emailed me the recipe after my status on FB about blackberries, and I am eternally grateful!

Blackberry Crumble Cake - 12 -16 sqaures

4oz Butter
6oz Caster Sugar
1 egg
10oz Self Raising Flour
4floz Milk
1tsp Cinnamon
8oz Blackberries

For the Crumble -
4oz Caster Sugar
3oz Plain Flour
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
2oz Butter


Preheat oven to 180c/Gas 4/160c fan oven
Butter and line a 12" x 7" Oblong Cake Tin (9" square works too)
Beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl until the mixture is pale and fluffy.
Whisk in the egg, then carefully fold in the flour, cinnamon and milk until thoroughly combined.
Spoon into the tin and spread evenly.



Sprinkle over the Blackberries.



Mix together the sugar, flour and lemon rind.
Rub in the butter until the mixture is crumbly, then sprinkle on top of the blackberries.



Bake for 45 minutes until the topping is golden and the blackberries start to burst through.
Cool in the tin. When cool, lift the cake out and cut into squares.
This comes highly recommended by my colleagues, the girls and Peter. If there is one thing I recommend you going out to pick blackberries for , it has got to be this cake!

Tomorrow I will have an Inspiration Monday inspired by blackberries and a step by step layout. Alos the winner of the Pink Paislee Rak

Hope your weekend was a good one.
Thanks for stopping by
Anna x

This is a must make recipe. Make enough to use now and keep back some for Boxing day. Perfect with cheese, yummy!

Spiced Blackberry Chutney - makes 2-3 jars (500g)



500g washed blackberries
2 red onions sliced ( about 140g)
140 g sugar
2 tbsp of fresh ginger ( I used fresh ginger puree 1tbsp)
1 tbsp of dijon mustard
150ml white wine vinegar
salt and pepper

Place all ingredients except the vinegar into a saucepan and cook until the black berries are softened
Add the vinegar and boil for 10 minutes
Pour into sterilized jars and close immediatly.

Yes its that easy, and totally delicious!

Stop by later for a gorgeous Blackberry Crumble cake!!!

See you later
Anna xx

PS: you have until 12pm GMT tonight to enter into this RAK

I have never seen so many blackberries in my life, as I have seen surrounding the countryside here in Cambridgeshire. Now we are out twice a day with Suki, we have found our favourite bushes that have a super crop, and we are seen daily with our bags, filling them to the brim with large juice blackberries.

Now there is only so much you can do with a blackberry, or thats what I thought until i tried a few things, googled a few recipes, and was sent a few recipes.
I believe the blackberry season is coming to an end, so if your freezer or fridge is not jammed pack with these juicy black beauties , I suggest you go for a lovely country walk and pick pounds of them this weekend, because this weekend is dedicated to BLACKBERRIES



This post I am going to talk Jams. I know its an obvious one, but dont think just Blackberry Jam.
You need very little specialized equipment for jam making, but there are a few things I would recommend having in your cupboard.

A heavy bottomed saucepan
A funnel
Cooking themometre

I highly recommend shopping at Lakeland for all your preserving/jam making needs. Although I do purchase jam jars, I also recycle jars.
Some Jam Basics:

Sterilizing Jars -

To sterilize your jars, wash in warm soapy water, rinse and place into the oven at 90c for 5 minutes. Alternative pop into the diswasher. Jams will keep for months when the jars are sterilized correctly. So get jamming now for Christmas presents.

Setting point -

If you dont have a cooking themometre you will need to check if your jam will set. Pop a saucer into the freezer whilst boiling your jam. Once you are ready to check setting point pop a tea spoon of jam onto the plate and pop in fridge. Check back after a minute or so and see if the jam has set.

Quantities -

Also use the same qty of fruit to sugar, easy!

Perfect Partners -

Blackberry and Apple
Blackberry and Plum
Blackberry and Elderberry
Blackberry and Sloe

all the above are growing wild in our English countryside!!


Blackberries contain enough natural pectin which  makes for perfect jams, and no need to buy specialised sugars!



Blackberry Jam - will make 3 - 4 jars (500g)

2lbs washed blackberries
2lbs castor sugar
1/2 cup of water
rind and juice of 1 lemon

Place blackberries into a large saucepan and cook until soft.
Add the sugar, lemon juice, rind and water. Boil until you reach jam setting point (108c) The jam will have a frothy top!
Boil for a further 5 minutes.
If you like your jam fruit free, then strain using a muslin cloth.
Using your funnel add the jam to warm sterilized jars.
Let cool and decorate and label your jars.



Blackberry and Plum Jam - will make 3 - 4 jars (500g)

This recipe we use to add as a glaze to ham and an accompaniment for cold meats.

11/2lbs washed blackberries
1/2lb stoned and washed plums
1/2lbs sugar ( use 2lbs sugar if you wnat this as a sweet jam)
1/2 cup of water
Rind and juice of a lemon

as above but let jam coming to boiling point and decanter into jars. This will not be as firm as above jam. Perfect to add to the Christmas ham.

We have lots of sloes and elderberry about at the moment, and I will be picking elderberry to add to jams and sloes in October. Freeze a few pounds of blackberries now for use in October.

Over the weekend we will be looking at a savoury blackberry chutney, perfect with cheeses on Boxing Day, and the most delicious cake using blackberries; One not to be missed! FB followers may know what I am talking about!
No scrapbooking addict would not miss the opportunity to scrap some photos. I will be doing an easy step by step tutorial using a blackberry theme.

Its all gone a bit blackberry mad here!
If you have a favourite blackberry recipe do share.
You may have noticed I have added a new page to the blog "recipes". I am working on this over the weekend, and I will have all the recipes from the last 4 years linked to this page.

Thanks for stopping by
Anna x

In our garden we love to grow as many veggies as we can.

The girls Lilly enjoy's planting the seeds, she then can see the seeds grow into something she recognizes, the girls then pick said veggie, and I cook and present on a plate for them to enjoy!
So you may see many a recipe on here over the coming months, from our veggie garden and the fruit in abundance that surrounds us in the fields; apples, plums, blackberries and sloes.



At the moment we have an a lovely selection of green beans, cos lettuce, green chillis and beetroot. Waiting on the tomatoes to turn red and potatoes to be ready. We also have an impressive herb garden; oregano. basil, coriander, mint, parsley and chives
I will be preparing the patches for more lettuce and some purple sprouting broccoli soon.

Our neighbours are organic gardeners also, and handed me a huge, and I mean HUGE marrow. My lot looked at it as if it had landed from Mars! "What is that large green torpedo shaped thing Mum?"

So a stuffed marrow was not on the menu, instead I opted for a chutney; will be perfect on the Boxing Day table! Well thats if it is still around by then!
 
Ingredients:
 
1kg Marrow, peeled, deseeded and chopped into 2cm chunks
750g preserving sugar
juice and rind of 1 1/2 lemons
1 chilli sliced in half
5cm piece of ginger peeled and chopped in half
 
Method :

• Peel, dessed and cut marrow into 2cm chunks. Place into a large bowl and cover with 250g of the sugar. Cover and leave overnight.

• Place the marrow and all the juice into a large pan and add the rest of the sugar to the pan.

• Take half a new Jcloth or piece of muslin, and add the lemon rind, chilli and ginger.
• Tie with string and place into the pop with the lemon juice.

• Bring the pan to the boil and keep boiling until the jam is at setting point; about 45 minutes. I used a food themometer to check that my pan was at the correct boiling point for jam. (120c)

• Pour/spoon chutney into sterilized jars, leave to cool before placing the lids on. ( to sterilize your jars, place into the oven at 100c for about 10 minutes)

• The chutney will improve with age! But who is gonna wait and find out, LOL

My chutney is definitley on the chunky side but I rather like the rustic chunks. The marrow chunks do settle. Don't you just love the golden colour with specks of chilli.

Next lets decorate with some vintage style tags.



I have designed a set of tags and recipe cards for you to download for FREE. All you need to do is print them onto white card or use on your next digi project as I have supplied images as both jpeg and psd.

And now for a fantastic giveaway from CPS Stores in America. CPS Stores have a huge range of Dutch Ovens or what I call casserole dishes which is where my money would go if I was allowed to enter LOL. I strongly suggest you have a good browse around their cook shop, because you could be the 1 lucky reader who wins an $80 gift voucher from CPS Stores! This is open to everyone .You will have to pay shipping if you are outside of the US though. Use the voucher in part payment or full payment towards your choice of product.
All I ask of you is to leave a comment for me, and post a link to this post on your blog, and why not spread the word about Crafty Fridays as well!

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your chutney!
Anna x

Comments close on 20th August midnight GMT

I had hoped to have posted this earlier in teh day, but I have been out all day looking for a new car and I am now the proud owner of a Honda Jazz Sports, thanks to my gorgeous darling husband. I pick my car up on Wednesday! I am soooo excited!!!
Anyways, back to a healthy muffin recipe for you to try tomorrow morning for Mums breakfast!

Ingredients

75g butter
200g plain flour
75g caster sugar ( you may want to make up to 100g, Peter said they were not very sweet, I love them!)
1/2 tsp of bicarb
2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1 egg
200ml buttermilk or 100ml plain yoghurt and 100ml semi skimmed milk
200g blueberries

Method



Pre heat oven to 200c and fill 12 muffin pans with cases
Melt the butter and leave to cool a little
Mix all dry ingredients
Mix buttermilk, egg and cooled butter in a jug
Add to dry mixture, do not over mix
Fold in gently blueberries
Spoon mixture into cases
Cook for 18-20 minutes



Eat warm, yummy!

Have a wonderful Mothers Day to all UK yummy mummys out there!
I will be back tomorrow night with layouts to share.
Thanks for stopping by
Anna x

Well I was suppose to be baking today with my new toy Nana handed down to me, but like most Mondays, they never quite go as planned!

Its been a busy day in the Bowkis household. A last minute dash into town to Waitrose and some last minute gifts.
Then home for that yearly baking marathon!

Mince pies
Petite Fours
Peanut Brittle
Ham

Have yet to do more cookies and some brownies. We are hosting Boxing Day this year, so I have tomorrow to do some more baking! To include mini pecan pies with my new mini morsel tray!

As promised here is my Cranberry Sauce recipe. Photos have not been downloaded yet, sorry!
Do make this tomorrow morning, it takes 15minutes from start to finish!

Ingredients :

1 pack of fresh cranberries
1 cup of sugar or pure maple syrup
1 cup of orange juice or cranberry juice
zest of a clementine or what ever you have and the juice

Pop everything into a pan and bring to boil then simmer for 10 minutes.
The pour into jars (sterilize the jars if you are giving as a gift).

Enjoy with your Christmas turkey or in a cold turkey sarnie Christmas night!

Have a very Merry and wonderful Christmas!
From the Bowkis's
xxxx

My family are cookie monsters, so I am often baking a batch of cookies at short notice. I need to have a recipe that's quick, easy and ingredients that are always in the cupboard.


I have that perfect recipe and I am going to share it with you. Be sure to make a batch this Christmas, your family will be thanking you!
Now here goes the PW style cook class. Unfortunately I don't have PW light and a PW kitchen...

Ingredients for 12 cookies:

to be honest 12 is never enough and I ususally double this mixture.



4oz softened butter
4oz caster sugar
6oz plain flour
1 egg lightly beaten
1tsp of vanilla essence
6 - 8oz chocolate chips/ nuts/ raisins/ mix of all 3! ( I used a mix of orange infused cranberries, golden raisins and choc chips)



Pretty simple so far..

Pre heat oven to 180c/350f
Line 2 baking trays with parchment paper
Cream sugar and butter to a smooth consistency





Add egg and mix until you have a pale creamy and fluffy mix, not a scrambled egg consistency!

Keep mixing...



Add the vanilla essence
Fold in the flour and chocolate chip mix
Drop tablespoons onto your baking tray and flatten with a fork .



Bake the cookies for 10 minutes, or until golden

Pop onto a wire rack and try and leave to cool. Whilst cooling, pop the kettle on for a brew and then sit down and enjoy that freshly baked cookie!


I love this fruit and chocolate mix i did. Another favourite is dried cranberries and white chocolate, mmmm.
Whats your favourite cookie mix?
Back tomorrow with my quick and easy homemade cranberry sauce, nothing like the real stuff on your turkey.


Thanks for stopping by, only 2 more sleeps left till the big man arrives!!
Hugs
Anna x

Abbreviations :
PW : Pioneer Woman ( see my blog list for link)