The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

Here is the recipe I mentioned in my September Bake Off post for chocolate chip cookies. This recipe is very easy, the only trick is that you need to know when to take the cookies out of the oven. Keep your eye on them and when they are near to the end of their baking time check to see that they are just beginning to toast lightly at the edges - not too brown as that means they are getting drier and crisper. What you're aiming for here is a chewy middle and a crisp outside. The best combination for a cookie, not too dry and not too gooey. 

Chocolate Chip Cookies

150g soft butter 

125g soft light brown sugar

100g caster sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 egg, fridge cold

1 egg yolk, fridge cold

300g flour

half a teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

325g or thereabouts of chocolate chips

A large baking tray (I line mine with parchment or greaseproof paper)

1. Pre-heat the oven to 170c or gas mark 3

2. Melt the butter and let it cool a little. Put the sugars into a bowl and pour in the butter and beat together. 

3. Beat in the vanilla, the cold egg and the cold egg yolk until all creamy. 

4. Add the flour and bicarbonate of soda and slowly mix until blended, then fold in the chocolate chips. 

5. Scoop the cookie dough into large gobstopper size pieces and place on the baking tray with enough space apart to allow them to spread and settle while cooking, bout 5 to 6 centimetres apart. It will probably take two batches to get all the mixture baked into cookies. 

6. Bake the cookies for about 15 minutes, depending on how fierce your oven is - I find different ovens really do differ, so keep your eye on the cookies in the last couple for minutes and as soon as they start to turn a gentle golden brown at the edge - TAKE THEM OUT!!

7. Leave them to cool on the tray for 5 minutes before transferring to a plate or tin.  

This is a great recipe for children, who can't help but eat the dough before it's in the oven it tastes so good! 

Summer Memories

Here is just a little snap shot in time from earlier this summer when I spent a few days at my parents farm. Thumper played with the farm dogs and they had such fun running through the long grass. This is home to me and always will be.

September Bake Off!

Summer is passing fast and yes I know, I haven't done a blog post about the Edinburgh festival. The thing is as locals you kind of take the festival for granted - it comes round each year and it passes so fast, you've been getting on with everyday life and suddenly it's over and you didn't get to show. That's kind of what happens to me anyway.

We've been busy doing other things. Guests over for lunch, birthday parties, days in the garden, as well as running the business which was pretty busy in August. Now September is here and it's one of my favourite months. The sun seems to take on a golden light and the fading summer is at it's most beautiful here in Scotland.

This Sunday we had a trip to our local park where they were raising funds for renovations. There are big plans for the park including a new play area and a cafe with public toilets. Great for winter months when I'm walking the dog in freezing rain and I can get a hot chocolate to keep me warm!

This weekends fundraising was a bake off and I entered a lemon syrup loaf. A plain cake but with a zesty sweetness. It's a family favourite and one that I make often.  I wasn't expecting anything as it's not a fancy cake but....I won second prize!!! I'm not someone who is used to winning prizes so I'm also the kind of person that gets very excited that I've won a prize!

The day was gorgeous with a hot sun and light breeze. I had made the lemon syrup loaf in the morning so that it was cool enough to remove from its tin, and the wee one made chocolate chip cookies - a great recipe that makes then soft and chewy with a light crisp on the outside. Not dry and not doughie, just right.

The bake off was busy with lots of families attending. There were mini sports for the children to take part in and of course the obligatory bouncy castle.

The cake tent was...eh...busy! To say the least. It was cake chaos!

Lots of tea and cake was eaten and the judging was underway!

And here is the second prize winning cake! I decorated it with rose leaves and lemon zest as it is such a plain cake to look at. But it's delicious with a cup of tea as it's not too sickly as the sharp zest of the lemon cuts through the sweetness of the syrup. 

Someone had had enough by the end of the afternoon. 

Here is the recipe for the 

Zesty Lemon Syrup Cake 

For the cake;

125g butter

175g caster sugar

2 large eggs

zest of a lemon

175g self-raising flour

pinch of salt

4 tablespoons milk or water

For the syrup; 

Juice of 1 and a half lemons

100g icing sugar

Preheat the oven for 180C or gas mark 4. Butter and line the loaf tin. (Actually I don't do this as I'm lazy and also because I use a silicon tin which doesn't seem to need it.) 

Cream together the butter and sugar and add the eggs and lemon zest, beating them in well. Add the flour and salt, folding it in gently. This is when I say you are mixing the love into your cake. Then add the milk or water and one final gentle mix so you have a creamy consistency. Spoon it into your tin and place in the middle of your oven for 45 minutes. 

Make the syrup while the cake is cooking. Dissolve the icing sugar gently in the lemon juice over a low heat and leave to the side. 

When the cake is risen and golden and a cocktail stick comes out clean,and when it is still hot, puncture the top of the cake with a cocktail stick and then pour the syrup over the cake trying to keep the syrup running into the top of the cake as well as the sides so that it is fully coated and soaked with the lemony syrup. Let the cake cool thoroughly before removing it from the tin, and then enjoy! With cups of tea and a good old natter with family or friends.  

Scottish Scones For Tea

It's been a grey couple of days here in Edinburgh but Les Frenchies headed for Gullane Beach just outside Edinburgh in East Lothian anyway, for a bracing walk on the beach (rather than a summer sunbathe and swim kind of beach day) even if it is July! It's now raining and we're settling in for the evening with a chicken roasting in the oven. When they arrived home they were starving - after all that fresh sea air and an unfortunately disappointing lunch....

I had prepared a batch of scones ready for them straight out of the oven when they came through the door. On a trip to the Highlands the other day they came back describing a horrible stone like cake thing that they had eaten, and which had been dry and tasteless. After some interrogation I discovered they were talking about a scone! Now, the thing about scones is they are often too big, too dry and just not right. Especially when bought in shops. They can be claggy to eat and hard to swallow.

I make my scones small and light, as they should be melt in the mouth softness inside with a gentle crust on the outside. They are at their perfection when eaten with just a good quality jam and thick cream, washed down with a cup of tea. Thankfully, I managed to restore Les Frenchie's opinion of the humble scone.

The recipe I used was a Delia Smith one from her original Complete Cookery Course, first published in 1978. Still one of the best cookery books out there. I found mine in a charity shop in great condition. The original owner had clearly not been a keen cook.

Here's the recipe

8oz (225g) self-raising flour

1 1/2 oz (40g) butter at room temperature
1 1/2 tablespoons caster sugar
a pinch of salt
5 fl oz milk (150ml)
a little extra flour

Oven 220C, 425F or Gas Mark 7.
Grease or flour a heavy baking tray.

Rub the flour in with the butter to make a light sand and then add in the sugar and salt. Slowly add the milk bit by bit to form a soft consistency. The key to all scone making is to be LIGHT with your hands. The dough must be treated delicately. You want a soft, moist dough, not dry. Add a little more milk it necessary but not enough to make it so sticky it falls through your hands - it needs to remain a dough.

Turn the dough onto a floured board or work surface, using the extra flour and sprinkle some on the dough to stop it sticking, and roll gently with a rolling pin (or suitable glass bottle). You want the dough to be just less than an inch thick, not too thin as they need to rise into nice little mountains of fluffiness but not so thick that they end up drying your mouth out with one bite.

Cut small circles using a pastry cutter - I, in fact, don't have any pastry cutters at the moment and so I used a champagne flute. It made just the right size for small delicate scones!

Place the scones onto the baking tray and  brush the tops gently with either milk or egg and then bake in the hot oven for about 10 to 12 minutes - take then out when they are golden brown and the crust is formed. Eat straight away with jam and cream! Or butter!

If you don't have time to rustle up a batch of scones at any time, these freeze very well and can be warmed up in the oven and come out as if they've just been made fresh and not frozen before. They are a great wee treat for afternoon tea, or even for breakfast!

You know your scones have been enjoyed when there's not much left on the plate after five minutes....

A Visit to Anstruther and St Andrews in Fife

Les Frenchies have arrived! My other half's family are visiting for two weeks and we are really enjoying having their company. One of the joys of having guests to stay, especially from overseas, is that you get to take part in their holiday too - so its an excuse to visit places and be a tourist yourself. And isn't it always the way that you never visit the points of interest local to you until you have visitors to show them to?!

Les Frenchies know Edinburgh quite well but they love it very much and like to walk around and just take in the atmosphere. But we also plan trips with them, and so the other day we took a trip across the Forth Road Bridge to Fife and travelled up through the pretty villages there - we took the coastal route through St Monans, Pittenweem, Anstruther, Kilrenny and Crail and Kingsbarns, before reaching our destination, the golfing and university town of St Andrews.  Famous for educating Prince William and where he met his bride, Catherine.

The start of our trip - crossing the Forth Road Bridge

We stopped off at Anstruther for the famous award winning fish and chips at the Anstruther Fish Bar. We sat out at the harbour and ate them looking at the boats and watching the locals walk by. The sun shone for us even though it was forecast rain. Anstruther is a very pleasant little town to visit and stop for lunch. Les Frenchies were very pleased with their very British lunch! Although they ate theirs with only lemon on the side, when I had the full salt and vinegar and tomato ketchup version.  It certainly filled us for the rest of the day. We were stuffed!

Anstruther Harbour from Shore Street

There is a lovely little shop on Shore Street called Harbour Interiors where I bought the most lovely coloured oil cloth, a soft duck eggy bluey green colour with white spots. Absolutely perfect for my kitchen and I've been hunting for the perfect colour for months!

We carried on to St Andrews and had a leisurely walk around the town, eating ice cream and taking in the lovely streets and buildings.

We also had a wander to the golf courses and then the beach. Where Thumper had a nice stretch of his legs.

And then it was back home for a light supper (still stuffed from the fish and chips!) and to talk over the days events. (Please note my lovely new oil cloth was put straight into use!)

www.visitscotland.com/info/see-do/fife-coastal-route

www.anstrutherfishbar.co.uk/

www.visitstandrews.com/

A Summer Holiday In The English Countryside

Well, we're back from holiday. Isn't it funny how you spend months planning and then it's over in a flash. But we did have the most lovely time. It was very relaxing and stress free and a little bit other-worldy as we were staying in a cabin deep in the Wiltshire forest at Longleat. We cycled and swam every day and had barbecues at night. It rained a little, and the sun also shone for us too. We were visited on our first night by red deer, right outside our cabin, grazing on the wild flowers and grass. We had regular visitors of squirrels, a robin and three very greedy ducks which I named Snatchy, Grabby and Greedy. Without fail, three times a day they came to our patio door demanding food, tapping on the glass with their beaks! 

The area was typically British - lush, green fields and forests and beautiful stone houses. We visited Longleat for the day, which was beautiful. 

We spent hours at the Safari Park there but didn't have time to go into the house - there is just not enough time in one day to do it all!

I visited Bath for the afternoon by myself and explored the lovely Georgian architecture as well as visiting the Jane Austen Centre and Sally Lunn's, the oldest house in Bath. I had tea and cake - Elderflower and Gooseberry if you're interested.I just thoroughly enjoyed myself. 

 I love old creaking staircases. 

I bought some famous Bath Buns from Sally Lunn's and enjoyed them for breakfast the next day. They are delicious sliced and toasted on the sliced side only and then spread with butter, toasted again, and then spread with jam. Absolutely yum. You can see I bought a few.....

I also bought some Jane Austen tea which is a lovely blend of Yunnan and Darjeeling teas. A very nice souvenir of my afternoon. 

The Jane Austen Centre was fascinating and has re-ignited my love for all things Jane. I've always enjoyed the books and films but I know I'll be revisiting them again soon. 

Her beautiful wax work was on display and is as close a resemblance that they can imagine given the limited portraits available of her. 

I bought red sealing wax and a brass seal for my letters in the gift shop. I have sealed my envelopes with wax since I was a student in London.  

Bath is such a lovely place to visit. So elegant and pretty and with beautiful shops to visit as well. I never made it to the Roman Baths as I knew that would take the best part of a day to visit. But next time....

I'm So Excited, I Just Can't Hide It!

Tomorrow we are going on holiday! I'm so excited I could pee my pants (easier for a middle aged woman to do than you may think). And it's funny that, because only a few weeks ago, while out walking Thumper, I was pondering life - as one often does when walking a dog, it's very good therapy - and I realised that although I am very, very lucky to feel real joy in my every day stuff, and feel a lot of genuine heartfelt gratitude for that happiness, I realised that I never actually got excited about anything anymore. I could feel happy about something, but never got that giddy high octane feeling that you experience as a child almost every day. So, it was relief when I realised earlier this week that I had finally rediscovered my 'inner excitement' and was getting giddy about our holiday. There's life in the old girl yet!   

We are driving south to Wiltshire, right near the bottom of England, and a beautiful part of the country. It's not an area I have been to before (unless driving through it about 20 years ago qualifies as having been there).

We are staying near Longleat, at the Centre Parks there. We're going to spend the days swimming and walking, having picnics and barbecues and playing swingball and board games. And I'm going to read lots of books - something I don't seem to get the time for at home. Running a business from home and taking care of family and Thumper seems to use up all my allocated time and there is little going spare.

Look at the swimming pool....!

And that's only one of the water slides!

The countryside is stunning down there - I'm hoping we get a sneak peek of the Cotswolds as well.

And Stonehenge.  So ancient and mystical.

And Avebury.

I'm very excited about seeing these wonders.

But I'm also very excited about just spending time, lazily, all day, for 11 days, just together with my family. Now that is exciting!

https://www.longleat.co.uk/

http://www.centerparcs.co.uk/villages/longleat/index.jsp

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/stonehenge/