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Sunday 6 January 2013

First bake of the new year

Hi everyone and welcome to my new followers. I'm so glad you're here!

I decided that Saturday is going to be my regular baking day. So I kicked off yesterday making vanilla thins. I am going to write out the recipe for you below, but I got the recipe here from the Good Food site.




I have a brand new oven which is uber efficient so at the moment I am still getting used to it and trying to get used to it, hence they are a little too brown.

Here is the recipe:


325g plain flour
200g chilled salted butter
125g/4½oz golden caster sugar
2 tsp good-quality vanilla extract
2 large free range egg yolks


(I love my mixing bowl. It was given to me by a friend last year)

1.Tip the flour into a food processor. Cut the butter into small pieces and drop them into the bowl, then whizz until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs.
2.Add the sugar, vanilla and egg yolks and whizz to a small dough.

Rubbing in
If you haven't got a processor, rub the butter into the flour in a large bowl, then add the remaining ingredients and mix to a dough with your hands.




1.With your hands, roll the dough on a lightly floured surface into a sausage shape about 25cm/9in long and 5cm/2½in in diameter. Wrap the roll and chill for at least 1 hour. (The roll can be frozen for up to 6 weeks. To use, remove from the freezer and allow to thaw for one hour at room temperature so that the dough is soft enough to be sliced into biscuits.)



2.Preheat the oven to 180C/gas 4/fan 160C and lightly grease 2 large baking sheets. Using a sharp knife, cut the dough into slices, each a generous 5mm/¼in thick, then arrange them on the greased baking sheets, spacing the biscuits slightly apart so they have a bit of room to spread as they cook.



3.Bake for 20 minutes until the biscuits are just turning pale golden around the edges, then transfer to a wire rack to cool. Dust generously with icing sugar. The biscuits will keep fresh for up to one week stored in an airtight tin.

These are my finished biscuits.



Now, I didn't get around to dusting them with icing sugar before they were wolfed down and mine weren't particularly neat either, but by goodness they were yummy. Give them a go. Really easy to make. Plain yet tasty.

See you soon
Ally
xx



Friday 4 January 2013

It's a boy!

Hi again. 2 posts in 2 days. I'd like to say that this is the way it is going to be this year, but I think I'm setting my expectations a bit high. I'm starting a new teaching job on Monday and know that whilst I have really good crafting and cooking intentions, in reality I will be mega tired and I'll get round to it at the weekend if I feel up to it!!

Anyway, making the most of it, here is today's card:


This is the front of the card. I've used a digital stamp by Pink Gem called Baby Boy Bundle.

and here is the inside.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp - New something (new baby)
Cute Card Thursday - Something new (new baby)
Milkcoffee - New beginnings
Sarah Hurley - Celebrate (celebrate the arrival of a new baby)
Totally Papercrafts - Something new (new baby)
Crafts4eternity - Something new (new baby)
Crafty Catz - Anything goes

Hope you like it.
Ally
xx




Thursday 3 January 2013

Birthday card for a girl

Well hello and happy new year to you all!

So, this is the first card I've made this year. I hope it's one of many!!

For this card I have used an image by Pink Gem called Faye on a Toadstool. I've decorated the card with papers from Dovecraft (Back to basics III) and flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts. 


 This is a close up of the image and flowers.

Because of the flowers, I had to make a box to post the card in.

I am going to enter this card into the following challenges:

Cards galore - anything goes
Papertake weekly - anything goes
My mums craft shop - anything goes
Crafty creations - anything goes
Inky impressions - anything goes

Hope you like it. Speak soon!

Ally
xx









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