Well it is national cream tea day

I never knew that national cream tea day was such a thing, (please tell me I am not the only one) until I saw a Facebook post just a couple of days before the said day.

The timing couldn't have been more perfect as I was just sat pondering what to bake for my weekly treat for the troops at work - I try and take something in on a Friday for work colleagues at the end of the week- and it just so happened that last Friday fell on national cream tea day so I knew straight away it would have to be some lemon and blueberry scones.

I have been wanting to make them for a while but never got round to them, so this really was the perfect chance.

I made mine with a slight twist. These scones are made with buttermilk, rather than just regular milk and they are filled with a mix of light mascarpone cream & low fat Greek yogurt and then finished with  drizzle of lemon curd. 

You can of course stick with the traditional clotted cream, but do give the mascarpone filling a go - it works a treat with the sharp lemon curd. I promise you won't be dissapointed. 

To make 12-15 scones you will need

250g bread flour

250g plain flour

Zest of a whole lemon

5 tsp baking powder

80g caster sugar

80g soft butter 

2 medium eggs

100g blueberries

240- 250 ml buttermilk*

150g low fat marscapone

4 tbsp low fat Greek yogurt

1 tbsp icing sugar

12-15 tsp lemon curd

• Preheat your oven to 200c, ( fan ) line a baking tray with greaseproof paper and set aside

• Place both flours in a bowl, along with the sugar, baking powder, lemon zest and stir together. Add the butter and use your fingertips to rub the butter into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs. Stir in the bluberries

• Whisk the eggs, add them to the flour, slowly incorporate the buttermilk and mix together carefully until you get a soft dough.

• Lighty dust your work surface with a little flour and use your hands to flatter out the dough to about 1-2 cm thick. Cut out your scones with a 5cm cutter.

• Transfer the cut out scones to the tray and brush with beaten egg over the tops. Bake for 15-18 minutes until golden. Remove from the oven and leave to completely cool.

• Whilst the scones are cooling, make the filing by mixing together the marscapone, yogurt and icing sugar. Split the scones and fill with this mixture, top eachwith a teaspoon  of lemon  curd, dust the scones  with icing sugar on top just before serving

* buttermilk is readily available from most of the branded supermarkets. You can easily make your own by adding a teaspoon of lemon juice to every 100ml of milk and leave it to sit for about 20 mins - then just use as above.

Gingerbread men

Ginger bread men are something I have never (yes never.. you read that right) ever made in my entire time since discovering a love of baking, but I thought an attempt was well overdue and now I have attempted them I know they will be appearing in my kitchen quite possibly all year round.


I decorated mine simply with an outline of royal icing and added a simple smile, and three dots for buttons. You can go as detailed as you wish, let the kids go all out with colours or go classic and keep them totally plain.

To make about 6-9 gingerbread men you will need:

75g soft light brown sugar
2 tbsp golden syrup
1 tbsp treacle
1 tbsp water
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp  ground ginger
1/4 tsp all spice
95g butter
1/2 tsp soda bicarbonate
235g plain flour

• Place the butter, both syrups, sugar, soda bicarb and water into a saucepan and melt on a low heat, stirring together to ensure the mixture doesn't stick or start to burn. Once melted remove from the heat and leave to cool 
• In a bowl, add the flour and all the spices and stir together. Slowly add the cooled syrup mixture and stir together with a wooden spoon. Once all the syrup mixture has been added, use your hands to bring the dough together and ensure there are no bits of flour that haven't been mixed in properly
• Leave the dough to completely cool, trying to roll it out and handle it will be difficult whilst it is warm and it will just tear. I left mine for about 25- 30 minutes, alternatively you can place the the dough in the fridge to cool it quicker, for about 15 minutes. Ensure you wrap it in cling film if you're placing it in the fridge.
• Once the dough is cool enough to handle, flour your work top and rolling pin as this is a dough that will easily stick and you want to try and handle it as less as possible so that you're not over working the dough.
• Roll your dough out to 3-4mm thick if you want biscuits that are thin and snappy or for softer and thicker gingerbread roll out to 4-6mm thick. Use gingerbread cookie cutters to cut out your gingerbread men, or whatever shapes you fancy.
• Bake them on a greaseproof lined tray, in a preheated oven at 160c (fan) for 10-12 minutes or until the edges just slightly colour.
• Leave to slightly cool once removed from the oven, then place onto a wire rack to completely cool before decorating as desired

The Easiest shortbread in the world

This really is the easiest shortbread in the world, super quick to make, light and buttery and is so good with a big mug of tea. This version is a chocolate chip one but I love swapping regular caster sugar for lavender or vanilla infused sugar to make it that little bit more extravagant. 

To make 9 chunky squares or 12 ( almost ) bitesize pieces you will need 

250g unsalted softened butter 
125g caster sugar
250g plain flour
125g cornflour
50-75g chocolate  chips

• Preheat your oven to 150c /300f and grease an 8 inch square tin
• In a bowl cream the butter and sugar till light and fluffy
• Add in the plain flour, corn flour and chocolate chips and mix together with a wooden spoon till it just starts to come together. Use your hands to lightly press it all together*
• Transfer the dough into the greased tin and gently press it out into the whole of the tin.
• Prick it all over with a fork, and place in the oven for 50 -55 minutes till it's lightly golden all over.
• Whilst its still a little warm (not hot) sprinkle a little caster sugar all over and once cooled, cut into 9 chunky pieces or 12 smaller almost bitesize pieces. 

* If you prefer you can wrap the dough in cling film, let it chill for about 10 minutes in the fridge, then on a lightly dusted surface, roll out to about an inch thick and transfer to the tin 

Ready Set .... Bake !!

Hands up if you're a fan of The Great British Bake off ?  *raises hands super excitedly* I have to admit I didn't quite catch on to it until the 3rd series, but now as it's currently in its 7th series I am a die hard fan .. I even managed to win myself a signed copy (of my favourite contestant)  John Whaite's debut cook book by entering a Heat mag competition which I'm still quite chuffed about to this day.

I decided to treat myself to this years cook book from the show and one of the things that caught my eye straight away was the recipe for viennese whirls, as my husband loves them and there aren't many a sweet / dessert that he'll eat. 

So with a bit of time to spare on a friday morning before work, I gave them a go and actually found them quite easy to do, and took them in for my work colleagues to taste test for me.

To make 12 biscuits you will need

for the biscuits:

250g unsalted butter

50g icing sugar

225g plain

25g cornflour

for the filling:

100g icing sugar

200g salted butter

1 tsp milk

1/2 tsp vanilla extract/ seeds of a vanilla pod / 1/2 tsp vanilla paste

raspberry jam

• Start by preheating the oven to 190c/375f/gas mark 5
• line 2-3 baking trays with baking/greaseproof paper and using a 5cm cutter draw a total of 24 circles on to the sheets of paper, making sure they are well spaced. Flip the sheets of paper over on to the baking trays so the pencilled circles are face down.
• Ensuring your butter is very soft* cream it with the sugar in a bowl with an electric mixer or hand held whisk. Whisk until the butter is light and fluffy and paler in colour.
• Sift in the flour and corn flour and whisk again slowly to make a smooth mixture that should be soft enough to pipe 
• Spoon your mixture into a piping bag that is fitted with with either a star nozzle or a 2d nozzle. Starting from the inside, using the pencilled circle as a guide, pipe in a spiral motion finishing on the outer edge.
• Bake in the oven for 13-15 minutes until they are pale gold in colour. Don't let them brown as they will turn into a crunchy biscuit consistency.
• Once removed from the oven, leave to cool for a few minutes before removing onto a wire rack to cool completely.
• For the filling put the butter- which again should be soft- into a bowl with the icing sugar and the vanilla extract and mix on a slow speed with an electric whisk or in a mixer. Whisk together until the buttercream is pale and light in colour. Add in the milk and whisk on a fat speed for about 2 minutes. 
• Turn half of the biscuits flat side up, fill another piping bag fitted with the same nozzle with the buttercream and pipe the buttercream from the centre going outwards just as the biscuits were piped leaving a slight gap all around the edge.
• In a small plate or bowl, put just under half a jar of jam, and stir the jam together till you get a smooth spreadable consistency.
• Place a teaspoonful of jam in the middle of each buttercream swirl. Gently top the filled halves with the other 12 plain halves and very lightly press together to make the 12 sandwiches. Dust the tops lightly with icing sugar and serve.

*I put my butter in the microwave and softened by defrosting it in 15 second hurts till it was soft to the touch (even though it wasn't frozen) as heating it up just makes it melt which is what we don't want.

That's the way the cookie crumbles

Cookies are the one thing that i've always struggled with ever since the baking bug bit me. I've lost count of the  different recipes that I've tried where they either are a complete sludgy mess or worthy of chipping your tooth 

After countless attempts, I think it's safe to say I've found an unbelievably quick and easy recipe and gives me the perfect fix for soft chewy morsels of yumminess  


This recipe is for the good old chocolate chip cookie but the variations you could experiment with are endless. Swap half the flour for porridge oats, instead of chocolate chips add dried berries or nuts and fruit for a slighty less guilty version or why not try something a little more adventurous like a rocky road twist ? Id love to see what versions you can come up with 

 so for 10 milk chocolate chip cookies you will need :

125g softened butter
100g soft light brown sugar
125g caster sugar
1 egg
pinch of salt 
1/2 tsp vanilla paste/ seeds of a vanilla pod
200g milk chocolate chips 

• Cream together the butter and sugars till light and fluffy
• Add in the egg and mix well together
• Add in the salt flour vanilla paste and the chocolate chips. Combine with a wooden spoon to form a soft dough
• Chill the dough in the fridge for 15- 20 minutes
• Roll out the dough into 10 balls, place on greaseproof paper lined baking trays.
• Bake at 180c ( fan assisted ) for 7-10 minutes for soft chewy cookies, 10-12 minutes for slightly firmer crunchier cookies 
• leave to cool slightly ( if you have the patience) before removing from the trays and devour away