Sweet and Lovely

Pic from here

So, back in July we had a Christmas party complete with Christmas goodies and stockings.  One of the good-est goodies were these de-licious cookies from Nigella Lawson's Nigella Christmas book!  Since they have cranberries, they're meant to be eaten at the holidays but I think they're perfect year-round - buttery, chewy and a wonderful mix of sweet and tart.

Now, we didn't try it with the amaretto since we didn't have any in the house but it was still amazing.

I'm planning to try out a variation with dried cherries and dark chocolate chips... mmmmm....


P.S. Sorry the measurements are all in metric, American readers!  I had the book and they were adapted.  But Google can convert them all and it's totally worth it!






Cranberry and White Chocolate Cookies

INGREDIENTS

• 100gm butter
• 40gm sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 100ml Amaretto
• 1 egg yolk
• 140 gm flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 125gm ground almonds
• 150gm white chocolate buttons, chopped into slivers
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 50gm icing sugar

METHOD

Serves: 12 - 16

1. Cream butter and sugar, add vanilla, Amaretto and egg then mix until combined. Add flour, baking powder and almonds, then mix lightly until combined.
2. Stir the white chocolate and cranberries into the mix by hand until evenly distributed. Roll tablespoonfuls into balls and bake on greased trays ( they will spread so leave enough room) at 150ºC for about 15 mins or until cooked and lightly browned.
3. Cool on wire racks until they are cool enough to handle and roll in the sifted icing sugar. Leave to cool completely on rack.

Honey and Chocolate!

So, Saturday is my favorite t.v. night of the week - that's when the Cooking Channel is pure fun from 9 - 11 p.m. - the perfect way to begin my weekend. We also made the night even more food-tastic by making Nigella Lawson's Honey Bee Cake.

You can see the recipe here, but I just had to post pics of the gooooorgeous cake! It looked just like the real thing! Very exciting!

Any moments of great accomplishment for you all this past weekend?

P.S. Feel free to follow me! I promise only ever to lead you to bright, sunny places!

P.P.S. I have a brand, new original album out! If you download it and looooove it, please write a lovely review on the site from which you purchased it!

I Contain Multitudes...

Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes.

- Walt Whitman

I am always fascinated by other people's passions - not only the ones that really dominate their lives (mine is definitely music) but those others on the side - bird watching, crocheting, tea, etc. I have many, many passions (including above randomly mentioned ones): I adore children's books (I even have a secret blog reviewing my favorites!), I love yoga (I trained as a teacher), and I'm obsessed with stationery (I'm planning for an upcoming blog entry about some of my finds). And clearly an unhealthy obsession with parentheses.

But one of my biggest passions is food. I think a ton of people adore food but the Cooking Channel has truly dominated my evening entertainment - Nigella Lawson, Ina Garten, Jamie Oliver, David Rocco, Rachel Allen - I am brought to a zen-like peace when I see people smiling at the camera whilst slicing avocado and lining pans with parchment paper.

So, what is one of your passions? Yes, I know fashion and vintage, etc., but what are some that barely, if ever, surface on your blog?

P.S. Feel free to follow me! I promise only ever to lead you to bright, sunny places!

P.P.S. I have a brand, new original album out! If youdownload it and looooove it, please write a lovely review on the site from which you purchased it!