Friday 14 August 2009

Tiffin (with recipe) & Chocolate Caramel Shortbread (amongst other things...)

The other day...

...I posted this little suncatcher off to Eire, it should have arrived by now, hope they like it!

I originally made one in red and one in purple. Both are now sold and I'm not making any more! I made the design a little too complicated for the size of the suncatcher and therefore for the price at which I can sell them.

That afternoon, I picked some peas...

...I love peas!...

...they're just so scrumptious straight from the pod...

... and I love the curlywurlyness of them as they grow.

On Thursday I was having some Mums & children over in the afternoon and was hosting our fortnightly craft evening so I made some...

...TIFFIN - very easy & tasty (no baking required!), here's how:

8 oz (225g) unsalted butter
4 tblsp golden syrup
2 tblsp cocoa powder
16 oz (250g) broken biscuits (tea biscuits or digestives or ginger biscuits or mixture - I like 8 oz ginger nuts & 8 oz rich teas!)
1.5 cups raisins
12 glace cherries, quartered.
8 oz (225g) chocolate (milk or plain or a combination - I mix 4 oz milk & 4 oz plain)
1 tblsp brandy/whisky (optional)

1. Melt the butter, golden syrup and cocoa powder in a saucepan.
2. Break up the biscuits (easiest method is to put them in a plastic bag then bash & roll with a rolling pin - you want a mixture of small and larger sized crumbs so that the tiffin has some crunch to it)
3. Add the bashed biscuits to the melted mixture in the pan along with the raisins, cherries and brandy (if using)
4. Stir until well mixed.
5. Place the mixture in a tin lined with non-stick baking paper or foil and spread evenly (make it quite thick - 1.5 cm or so - don't feel you need to spread it out over the whole tin. The quantites I use fit a 19 x 30 cm tray exactly).
6. Melt the chocolate (I use the microwave) and spread it evenly over mixture.
7. Refrigerate for a couple of hours.
8. Slice into squares & eat!

I also made some...

...CHOCOLATE CARAMEL SHORTBREAD!

I ate about 5 pieces of the chocolate caramel shortbread for lunch today, it was delicious! The recipe is from Nigella's How To Be A Domestic Goddess, but can be found on many internet sites, just search for "roxanne's chocolate caramel shortbread" and you should find it straight away! The caramel is made using the microwave so it's much faster to make than the traditional method of boiling it on the hob.

Today (Friday) it is rather a rainy day.


Unfortunately, I forgot to put away the deckchairs last night so they'll be a little soggy!


As is Muck, but he doesn't mind!

I took a few more random garden shots while out with my camera in the rain...


A little peek of the back garden.


Japanese anemone


The view from the what we call the back door (it's actually on the side of the house, as is the front door for that matter!)


A close up of the pebbles on the picnic bench, these are the ones I brought home from our summer holiday in Ireland.


The jackdaws on the chimney pots as seen from the back door.


Jackdaws again.


Shed door birdie.

3 comments:

rockinloubylou said...

Idly clicked on your blog icon on my desktop today, not expecting an update so soon - delighted to find one! Love the shed door birdie. Did you make it yourself? Garden and rooftops look great in the rain. There's something about wet slate roofs that I love.

Pomona said...

That is a really beautiful sun catcher - and I like the bird, too!

Pomona x

andamento said...

I bought the shed door birdie a couple of years ago from...



... Ikea!

I've another one on a stick plonked in a flower bed, it's often hidden by flowers/weeds though.

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