Peanut Butter Biscuits.

I have a guilty secret: I love these biscuits & would eat them every day if I could. Which is why I don't make them too often. In just in loading up this blog page, I have eaten three. So now you see why I cannot be trusted. YOU are however, I am sure, totally trustworthy. Therefore, you must make these right now.

Peanut Butter Biscuits

1 cup plain flour

½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

Pinch of salt

½ cup butter

¾ cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla essence

1 cup crunchy peanut butter

1. Sift together the flour, soda & salt. Stand aside for later.
2. Using electric beaters, cream together the butter & sugar, until light & fluffy.
3. In another bowl, mix the egg & vanilla & gradually add to the butter mixture.
4. Stir in the peanut butter & blend through thoroughly.
5. Stir in the dry ingredients & then chill for at least 30 minutes, until firm.
6. Preheat the oven to 180oC & grease 2 – 3 baking trays.
7. Spoon out rounded teaspoonfuls of the dough & roll into balls.
8. Place the balls on to the baking trays & press flat with a fork, making a criss cross pattern.
9. Bake for 12 – 15 minutes until lightly coloured.
10. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
11.  Makes approximately 24 biscuits.

More little dresses.

Last weekend & this weekend I made two more of the little dresses, in glorious polka dots, and this time I added the sun hats. I think these will be the last ones of this pattern that I make for a while, but they were fun to do as first projects.

Getting back into sewing.

My maternal grandmother was a brilliant craftswoman. She did tapestry, fine crochet, knitting & just about anything else you can name. What I really remember however, was her as a seamstress. I used to spend a lot of time with her, & I best remember her making beautiful dresses for the rich women of Ballarat. I was a little kid, sitting quietly in the corner, watching her take their measurements, discuss the style they wanted & then she would make up the patterns. Her work was exquisite & she was quite busy with that work. Luckily, she also spent a lot of time with me, teaching me all she knew. Also, luckily for me, after she died, I was given all her craft supplies, some patterns & leftover fabrics & tapestry threads. I cherish them so much, often just pull them out to look at them, touch them again & I remember her so well from each item.

Recently I decided to get back into sewing, just for something to do as I used to really enjoy it, especially when the boys were little. This is my first project! I was so thrilled with how it finished up: it looked like it had been "professionally" made. And even more thrilling, a dear friend of mine bought it for her daughter. She sent me photos of her modelling it & I became all teary, because she looked so pretty in something that I had made, & I didn't even stuff up the button holes!

 

Honey Jumbles

Do you remember being able to buy Honey Jumble biscuits from the supermarket? They don't seem to around to much any more, which is really sad. Jeremy just loves them, so I made some yesterday, from a recipe I found on taste.com. It's an easy recipe, makes 20 HUGE biscuits, & is really true to the original taste. Hope you try them, & let me know what you think.

Honey Jumbles.

Biscuit:

• 60g butter, chopped
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups plain flour
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp mixed spice
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 2 tsp milk

Icing:

• 1 egg white
• 1 1/2 cups pure icing sugar, sifted
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• Pink food colouring

Biscuit:

• Combine butter, honey and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat.
• Cook, stirring, for 3 minutes or until butter has melted. Bring to the boil.
• Remove from heat. Set aside for 10 minutes.
• Sift flour, bicarbonate of soda, ginger, mixed spice and cloves over butter mixture.
• Add milk.
• Stir to combine. Cover.
• Set aside for 1 hour or until mixture has cooled and thickened.
• Preheat oven to 180°C/160°C fan-forced.
• Line 2 large baking trays with baking paper.
• Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead lightly.
• Divide dough into quarters.
• Roll 1 portion into a 25cm-long log shape. Cut into 5cm-long pieces.
• Place on prepared trays, leaving room for spreading. Using a wooden spoon, flatten each piece of dough until 5mm-thick.
• Repeat with remaining dough portions. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until light golden.
• Stand on tray for 10 minutes. 
• Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Icing:

• Using a whisk beat the egg white in a bowl until foaming.
• Gradually beat in icing sugar until combined.
• Stir in lemon juice.
• Spoon half the mixture into another bowl.
• Tint pink with food colouring. Spread half of the biscuits with pink icing.
• Spread remaining biscuits with white icing.
• Set aside for 30 minutes or until set.

Where to buy barberries?

For those who were asking, I found a barberry seller! They are located in Melbourne with various shops around, but they also post out. Mine should arrive in a few days, & I am a tad over-excited by the prospect. Perhaps I should get a life.

You can buy your barberries from NSM Wholesalers. They were so nice & helpful, made it all quite a pleasant experience. And if anyone else finds any other barberry recipes please let me know.

16 Years of Marriage

Jeremy & I recently celebrated our 16 year wedding anniversary. Who would have thought it? I must say it has been a great 16 years, full of laughter, not too many arguments & always feeling loved by a genuinely nice man. He is my biggest supporter, biggest critic & my bestest friend in the whole wide world. So, Jem, thanks for the past 16 years, thanks for our sons & our life together. And thank you for my lovely anniversary flowers. I love you to the moon & stars & back again.

I won a Kreativ Blogger Award!

Wow! Yesterday I won a Kreativ Blogger Award, nominated by a dear friend of mine, Stephanie. You simply must have a look at her lovely blog There She Goes where she shares her thoughts on life, love, children, work & all things. You will enjoy yourself, her words are lovely.

So, in line with the Kreativ Blogger award rules, here are 7 things about me that you may or may not know:

1. Last year I completed a course which I have been wanting to do for such a long time. I am not going to say what it is (in such a public forum) as I do not want to jinx myself. My results & application have been submitted to where they need to go & now I am just waiting to hear the outcome. All bits crossed for my dream being achieved!
2.  I love sewing but have not done so creatively in a very long time. I had the sewing machine serviced this week so I have no excuses to make something fabulous now & have various projects swirling in my head.
3. I love tapestry & cross stitch, & have made quite a few which I am so proud of. I must post up some photos of them actually.
4. I absolutely loathe other people's feet & am not too dramatically fond of my own. I will never suck your toes.
5. Both of my parents arrived in Australia post WW2 from Holland. I cannot believe how brave their parents were in bringing the family to a totally new country to give their children ( & subsequently me) a chance at a better life.
6. I love living in Ballarat. I love the weather, the peacefulness of where we live & the chances that we have with truly great schools, the University, the food & the friends that we have here.
7. I am very intolerant of whingers & whiners, the people who always feel hard done by when in fact, life is a tad difficult at that particular time. The genuine ones: I am with you all the way & will fight for you, but to those with the victim mentality: suck it up, get on with it & remember there are always others far worse off than us.

And so, to my Kreativ Blogger Award winners: thank you to each & every one of you as you bring joy & interest to my life xx

1. A Bex & a Good Lie Down: I love Hazel & her world view. She makes me laugh & have a good think about things in general. 
2. A Goddess in the Kitchen: Ella is a fabulous cook who recently moved to PNG with her husband. This blog is about cooking & life in PNG.
3. Art Deco Buildings: my friend David has taught me so much about the beauty that is an art deco building. I had no idea that they were so lovely.
4. Flower Garden: Annie is a lovely lady in Ballarat, with gorgeous photography skills. This blog is peaceful & pretty.
5. Kabri's Blog: this is my friend Karo who lives in Finland. She also has briard dogs & she is a fab photographer.
6. Missy Mao Mao: Marilyn is a very talented & creative sewer. I do feel envy when I look at all her stuff & have one of her beautiful handbags.
7. Gleeful: Jayne's blog is inspiring in just appreciating something each day & feeling thankful for what we have & do. Simple concept, but very awesome.