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Sunday

too good not to share


It wasn't so long ago that I used to spend a lot of my time in the kitchen cooking and baking, which I love doing. These days circumstances are such that I don't really do an awful lot in the kitchen, but this morning I really fancied making something naughty. I found this cookie recipe here a little while, and decided to give it a try. the reviews are right, and they're really like proper shop-bought cookies, so I thought I'd share the recipe.

Best Big, Fat, Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies


Ingredients

250g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
170g unsalted butter, melted
150g dark brown soft sugar
50g caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk
325g chocolate chips

Preparation method

1.Preheat the oven to 170 C /Gas mark 3. Grease baking trays or line with parchment.
2.Sift together the flour, bicarb and salt; set aside.
3.In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and caster sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, egg and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon. Drop cookie dough onto the prepared baking trays, with each cookie around 4 tablespoons of dough (for smaller cookies, drop 1 rounded tablespoonful and adjust baking time as necessary). Do not flatten the dough. Cookies should be about 8cm apart.
4.Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking trays for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

If you look at the site itself, you'll see that I've changed the sugar and vanilla extract volumes based on the feedback on the site. I also only added 100g of chocolate (I just had a bar of green and blacks which I chopped up into chunks) and I would probably go with the volume on the recipe! Finally, I used tablespoon sized blobs of the cookie mixture, and came out with the cookies in the picture above - I think if you used the 4 tablespoons that the recipe recommends, then they'd be the size of dinner plates ... although that doesn't sound entirely awful!


phone case


I had a Folksy order yesterday for a phone case. As I passed on some stock over Christmas for presents, I had to make one up from scratch, and I love, love, loved doing a bit of freehand machine embroidery, and just getting back to the machine again. I've altered the design ever so slightly now to add a little elastic button loop, as my experience of using my own case was that without some kind of fixing, the phone kept falling out! More will be added to the shop shortly.

Thursday

a parcel


the first of my ebay purchases arrived today. Which was very quick, and very exciting. I have been collecting Fishley Holland pieces for some time now

large jug

If you have not heard of this pottery before, it is from Clevedon in Somerset and is known for the distinctive grey and duck egg colouring.


small jug

I had a little gap at the end of my shelf just waiting for one final piece, so was really pleased when I found this listing, as I knew the smaller of the two jugs would be just perfect. I don't know what I'll do with the larger one, it seems a bit sad to split them up when they're such a lovely pair, although I expect I might know someone who might like to give it a new home (that means you Mum)


small jug joining some friends

and I thought I'd take a picture of it all in situ, as I love this bit of my kitchen


Tuesday

I still have a little Christmas money burning a hole in my pocket, and as the only shops I've managed to visit this year are supermarkets (sad but true) I've been browsing on line. Today I thought I'd share a selection of lovelies I found in Urban Outfitters


I shouldn't make myself sound like too much of a martyr, as while I haven't ventured to any brick and mortar shops, I have been doing a bit of ebaying; some new OK fabric and some fishley holland jugs to add to my collection. Unfortunately I can't copy the pics over from ebay, so I'll have to save those for when they arrive!

Amber



I was brushing the Boys teeth the other evening, when I found that he'd cut not one but two eye teeth. Anyone with small children around will know that for this event to pass without sleepless nights (I do hope I'm not tempting fate by having said that) is something of a miracle, so I thought I really ought to share the love for amber necklaces. They're supposed to release natural anesthetics that not only help with teething, but also skin problems like eczema. I don't know whether they actually work, or if it's just a coincidence, but I'm a bit scared to take it off until he has a full set of gnashers, just in case. He's been wearing his since he was really ickle, so doesn't seem to notice it. but we do. Thanks for the sleep necklace!


Wednesday

hi ho, hi ho

after two and a half weeks off, it was back to work for me today. And let me tell you, 6:15 this morning HURT! It's been so lovely spending an unexpectedly extended break with the boys (thanks snow) that it was really quite a wrench going off to work this morning. This working mummy thing never stops sucking really. But the positive news is that I've dropped down my hours a little bit this year, so a bit less money, but more quality time at home, which can't be bad... I might even manage to reacquaint myself with my sewing machine if I'm not careful. Speaking of which, when I arrived home this evening, I was very excited to find that a recent ebay purchase had arrived; a 1974 dress/tunic Style sewing pattern. I've never attempted dress making before, but have been wanting to for absolutely ages. I'm afraid that i'm far too settled in my chair to venture out again to picture of it (yes, some may call this lazy, but may I remind you... 6:15) so that'll have to wait for another day, but now I'm sitting looking for fabric. Lovely.

Saturday

2011


well, we've all waved goodbye to 2010 and said a warm hello and welcome 2011..

It seems that Christmas, work, snow and life in general seems to have conspired against me during December, leading to a general lack of focus on my blog and indeed all things twoforjoy.
But it's a new month and a new year now, so I'm determined to get back into my stride with everything. I've got some exciting new projects lined up for the year, which should help me keep focussed. And I can't wait! I hope you'll join me for the adventure.

Happy new year.