Banoffee Pie

I have made this a few times now firstly cos it is utterly delicious, and second cos it is easy peasy to make! Heres the recipe.....ENJOY!!

350g (120z) ready-made shortcrust pastry...or better still ready made pie shells!!

FOR FILLING

150g (5oz) butter

100g (3 1/2oz) dark, soft brown sugar

1 x 397g can sweetened condensed milk

FOR TOPPING

2-3 ripe bananas

300ml (1/2 pt) double cream lightly whipped

Chocolate sauce and cocoa powder to decorate

1 - Preheat the oven to 180c/160c for fan assisted/gas 4. Roll out the pastry and use a 20cm (8") loose-bottom tart tin. Line with baking parchment and baking beans and bake blind for 15-20 mins or until golden brown. Remove paper and beans and return to the oven for 5 mins or until crisp. Allow to cool.

2 - To make the filling, place the butter and sugar in a non-stick saucepan over a low heat, stirring until the butter melts and the sugar dissolves. Add the condensed milk and bring gently to the boil, stirring for about 6-8 mins, to make a caramel. As soon as it thickens, remove from the heat. Spread over the base, allow to cool. then chill for about 6-8 hours, or overnight, until firm.

3 - Remove the pie from the tin. Slice the bananas, fold half into the whipped cream, and spoon over the pie. Decorate with the remaining bananas, drizzle choc sauce over, and dust with cocoa, and serve!!

Fabric Flowers

**Quick update. Here is a picture of a two fabric flower that I made. I then sewed it to an elastic hairband for my daughter. She has to wear a school uniform to school and so I made it in her uniform colors so that everything would match. Let me know what you think!***


The other day when I made my canvas bag I said that I would post how to make the Fabric Flowers. So here is a little tutorial. I love these flowers they can be put on anything. You will likely see them on a few things that I post over the next few weeks. If you like these please comment. They are so Simple to make!

Step 1: First choose your fabric. You can use one or two colors. On the one above I only used one color. But it looks very effective with two colors as well!

Step 2. Trace a circle on your fabric. I used the top of a candle on these ones. The more you do them the more you will realize that the bigger or smaller the circles the bigger or smaller the flower. 

You will need 8 circles in total. If you are using two colors colors then you will want 4 circles of each color. 

Step 3. Fold the circles in half and then cut them in half. I find it easier to get them right in the middle is you iron them in half first.
Step 4. Fold each half circle in half again wrong sides together. Then you will sew 1/4 " down the straight side of the flower.
Step 5. Cut the excess thread from each "petal" and turn them right side out. They will look a bit like a cone.
Step 6. To make the bottom layer of the flower Stitch a running thread through the bottom curve of each petal.  You can alternate colors or have the whole bottom layer of the flower one color and the top a different color. On mine I use 9 petals on the bottom. 
Step 7. Pull tightly on the thread to form the flower and secure it with back stitches. Leave approx 8 inches of thread on. TIP DONT CUT NEEDLE OFF!! YOU WILL NEED ANOTHER NEEDLE FOR THE NEXT BIT!

Step 8. Repeat the above steps for the top layer of the flower. I only use 6 petals in the top layer of my flower. REMEMBER TO NOT CUT THE THREAD ON THIS LAYER EITHER!! You will need it to sew the button on.

Step 9. Using the left over thread from the bottom layer hand stitch the top layer to the bottom layer. Secure it with a back stitch. Now you can cut this needle off. You are done with it. 

Step 10. Select the button you want to use and sew it on to the top layer of the flower using the excess thread from the top layer. You can use any kind of Buttons. Here is a picture of one of my flowers.

If you wanted a really cute elastic hairband when you go to sew the two layers together sew a ponytail into it as well. These look adorable in little girls hair!! Good Luck. If you have any questions please let me know!!

Honeys Read 2..... Our Virtual Book Club

Have you ever wanted to be a part of a book club but thought I dont have the time to go to weekly or monthly meetings? To go along with the theme of Homemaking I have started Honeys Read 2 is a virtual book club. Every month a new book will be chosen. Once you have finished reading it come back and leave your thoughts or comments on the book and read others thought and comments on the current book. Enjoy the benefits of a book club without ever having to leave the comfort of your home.

I am hoping that this will get other women reading. That we can share thoughts and feelings on books. Hopefully this will allow us mothers a few moments to connect with other women and talk about something other than children and housework. If you are interested in joining us please visit the new site:

Add us to your favorites and share the link with your friends and family!

Handmade Bag

I believe this will have to be a two part post. And will explain why in a minute. Ok so here is what I made this morning:

See in my house I cant make something for myself and not make the same thing for my daughter. So I made myself a canvas bag and then made my daughter one out of the fabric which she choose the other day. These bags were so easy to make in total I would say each one took about 45 minutes. The reason this will have to be a two part post is because the flower on the front of the bag is made separate. So tomorrow I will post how to make the flower. Which might I add is lovely and can be used for so many different things.

For the handbag all you will need is:

Canvas type fabric, something really thick (unless you want to use a lining which I couldnt be bothered with)
Sewing machine
Matching thread
Backing Fabric

Directions:

1) Cut your fabric 48 cm x 38 cm. You will need two pieces this size so I folded my fabric in half before I measured so as to not have to do any sewing on the bottom.



2) Next you will need two strips both 140cm in length or if folded in half 70 cm in Length and about 10 cm wide. Again if it is folded in half it makes it easier when it comes to sewing it.

3) Cut your Backing fabric about 1 inch wide by 38cm in length. you will need two pieces this size.

4) Turning the fabric so the right sides are facing each other, fold the top of over on both sides about 1 1/2 inches over the top of the backing fabric. and pin it down. the backing fabric will make the bag a little more sturdy at the top. Also pin all the sides of your bag together.



5) Now you are ready to sew the bag together. This really is simple. Start with the top of the bag and sew the bit with the backing fabric first. After the top has been done then you can sew the sides together.



6) Fold both straps(140cm) in half with the face towards each other (inside out) you will then need to just run it through the sewing machine on each side (the left and the right). Do this to both as these make the handles for your canvas bag. Do NOT SEW THE TOP CLOSED! You will not need to sew the bottom either as you will have folded it over ONLY SEW THE SIDES!!

7) Once the straps have been sewn together using the top where it is still open turn the handles right side out. This does take a little while to do. But isnt too difficult since we made them 10 cm wide.

8) Sew the handles onto the canvas bag at the top. One handle for the left side of the bag and one handle for the right. DO NOT CROSS OVER AS YOUR BAG WILL NOT LAY PROPERLY!


There you have it your canvas bag is finished. The next thing I did was make Fabric flowers:

and sewed them onto the front. You can use these fabric flowers for hair clips, purses, and sort of decoration. They are easy to make but there are quiet a few steps which is why I will post the directions of these tomorrow. Or later this evening. In the meantime enjoy making your handbag.

When Life Gives you Lemons.... Make Homemade Lemonade!! Mmmmm

In my opinion there is nothing better on a hot day than a TALL glass of homemade Lemonade. I have looked and looked for the perfect recipe and never really found one that I liked loads. So What I have done is take a bit from a few pretty good ones and combined them together to make what I consider the Lemonade of all Lemonades. So I thought I would share it with you. I hope that you enjoy!!



Ingredients:

6 Lemons
4 Limes
5 - 5 1/2 Cups Water (depends on how strong you like it) 1/2 cup separated out
1 1/2 Cups Sugar
Lemon & Lime Zest if Desired

Directions:


1) Poke your lemons and limes with a fork several times. Place them in the microwave for 1 minute on high.

2) Take the lemons and limes out and with the palm of your hand roll them on a hard surface to loosen up more of the juice.

3) Cut the Lemons and limes in half and using a manual juicer juice them.
4) Strain the juice to collect all the seeds and pulp and set the juice aside.

5) In a sauce pan bring to a boil 1/2 cup of water. Once boiling reduce the heat and add the 1 1/2 cups sugar and the lemon and lime zest. Continue to stir until the sugar has dissolved and has formed a thin syrup.

6) Remove completely from heat and add Lemon/ Lime juice. Pour into your favorite pitcher and add 4 1/2 - 5 cups of water depending on how strong you like your lemonade.

You can serve immediately over ice or chill in the fridge and serve later. This is so Delish. Do you have a favorite Lemonade Recipe? If so please share!! Or if you try this simple one and really like it I would love to hear!

BLOG AWARD

Thank you to Linda from Monkey Bizness for awarding us with the "One Lovely Blog Award" 

I was so excited when I received the email from Linda what an honor it is to receive an away. I just want to thank..... Ok so this isnt the Grammy's or an Oscar but I do want to Thank Linda for the award. I look forward to the site receiving LOADS MORE!! (fingers crossed)

Here are the rules (as per Cales' site):
1) Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his or her blog link.
2) Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you’ve newly discovered. 

Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award. 

Now I get to Blog Stalk (Something I love doing and find 15 other blogs to pass the award along too. 

I have an idea.... as an award is such an honor maybe you should help me pick I will pick a few and then whatever other blogs get the most votes from you our readers will get the award too!! 

Here are a few of my favorite New Blogs:

1. Tuesday Tell All (The New One)
2. Infarrantly Creative
3. Fun Snacks 4 Kids
4. Nurture Mama 
5. Motherhood for Dummies
6. Mrs D Lightful
7. Gettin Crafty

Now it is up to you! Help me to decide who deserves the last 8 awards!

Pretty Much the Best Chocolate Trifle. Ever.

Even if I do say so myself:). I made this at Thanksgiving last year, and it was requested again at Christmas. It is so yummy, and EASY! It serves at least 12 people and is best made about 8 hours in advance, so it is a great one for if you want to plan ahead.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 (19.8 ounce) package brownie mix (I like Turtle because it has nuts and caramel, so more of a chunkier texture, but any works fine)
• 1 (3.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 (8 ounce) container Coolwhip, thawed
• 1 cup of heavy whipping cream
• 1 (12 ounce) container French Vanilla Coolwhip topping, thawed (a friend thought it was Bavarian cream, he nearly fell off his chair when he found out is was good old Coolwhip)
• Heath bits (or crushed candy bar)
• 1 (1.5 ounce) bar chocolate to grate on top

Optional ingredients:
Strawberries, Mandarin Oranges etc., Almonds

DIRECTIONS

• Prepare brownie mix according to package directions and cool completely. Cut into 1 inch squares.
• Whip the heavy whipping cream. In a large bowl, combine pudding mix, water and sweetened condensed milk. Mix until smooth, then fold in the whipped heavy whipping cream.
• In a trifle bowl or glass serving dish, place half of the brownies, add layer of strawberries or mandarins if you wish, sprinkle on some heath bits, half of the pudding mixture and half of the 12 ounce container of Coolwhip. Repeat layer.
• Shave chocolate onto top layer for garnish, or add toasted almonds and fruit. Refrigerate 8 hours before serving.

Another variation I had thought of, was to buy a chocolate mint pudding mix, instead of just plain chocolate. I bet that would be yummy too, especially with crushed candy cane sprinkled on top of each brownie layer. Enjoy! Serves 12.

And the Winner is ....

JONES TOWN

She said this: " Very Cute Jewelry. I am in awe of you creative souls!! Cute Blog!

Thank you to everyone who entered the giveaway. It was so much fun that I plan to do it again VERY SOON!! I am thinking every other weekish sounds good to me!! What do you think?

I have been working on some really cute stuff the last few days and after this long weekend (YIPEE A 3 DAY WEEKEND!) I will post some more stuff up!! Oh yeah my sewing machine went caput as well my new one should be here Wednesday or Thursday!! I CANT WAIT!!

THANKS AGAIN EVERYONE FOR YOUE ENTRIES!!

Handmade Bracelets and a GIVEAWAY!

Yep you read it right a

GIVEAWAY!!!

For more information Keep Reading on!!

While in the states last month my grandmother bought me something called a Bumble watch. I love it! I love that the bands on it are interchangeable. The only thing I dont love is that being in the UK I cant get the bands. So for the past 4 weeks (I cant believe I have been home for that long) I have been looking at it thinking, "I can make this!" So last Friday I went to the local craft shop and bought a load of beads, necklace fasteners and stretchy string. Look what I made:

So this is the new band for my watch. But then I saw some other WAY CUTE BEADS that I wanted to make something with and this is the bracelet I made:

So now regarding the GIVEAWAY!!

I am giving one of these bad boys away. You can choose the color you want and you can choose where you want a watch band or a bracelet. I will make either one for you and post it to you early next week.

Here is what you have to to. Between today, Wednesday the 20th of May, and Friday the 22nd of May at Midnight Pacific Standard Time all you have to do for one entry is comment on this page. For an additional entry blog about our website on your blog with a link to our blog, come back and comment that you have done so. For a third entry either Tweet (twitter) or mention us with a link to our page in your Facebook Status and come back and comment to let me know you have done so. And for the fourth and final way to enter.... Join our Facebook group! Again you will have to comment that you have done so. Easy right? I think so and so totally worth it. I cant believe how many comments I am getting on my watch and bracelet! Oh yeah one more thing since I am in England and most of the readers of our site are in the states... I will throw in a Bar of Dairy Milk Chocolate with the bracelet. Trust me if you have never had British Chocolate you have not lived!! :) It is so YUMMY.

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!

Tutu

My sister posted on here how to make a tutu the other day and so I thought I would give it a go. How totally easy is it?!?!?! I will give step by step instructions for anyone who would like them.

Items needed:

5yds of Tulle

2 Ft Elastic

Anything you want to decorate

First off I have found that if you use two solid colors of Tulle and alternate them it looks much better than using a multi color Tulle. It is so much more effective. 

• Cut the elastic to the desired size. Remember it will stretch. 
  
• Sew the two sides of elastic together making a circle
  
• Cut the Tulle into approx 4" strips. Use the whole length of the Tulle dont cut it in half where the fold is when you buy it. The strips need to be very long!
  
• Keeping the Tulle folded in half Length wise tie it onto the elastic with a loop knot. Pulling the knot very tight and each piece of Tulle close together.

For the decoration on mine I bought 4 yds of really pretty and simple white ribbon. I then tied the ribbon on in four areas with loop knots as well. I did think just as an accent. I hope the picture shows exactly what I mean.   

These are so simple to make that next time I will have my daughter help me. I thought for my first time until I know exactly what I was doing I would do it without her. Next time though she will definitely do it with me or even on her own and she is only 5.

My daughter loves hers. She came down stairs this morning with it on. These are so simple and really really cute too! If anyone else has a go at making them we would love to post your pictures. You can email them to me at amwhitfield.blogspot.com 

National Donut Week

So last week was National Donut Week. I decided on Friday night to try my hand at making some cake donuts. I like Cake donuts better than yeast donuts but have never really tried making cake donuts. I found two recipes and gave them a go. 

The Vanilla Donuts are amazing. I think I might try making them with buttermilk next time rather than ordinary milk. The Chocolate donuts were a little to rich for my liking. Everyone else loved them but I thought they were a little rich. I am such a bad critic on my own cooking though to be honest I am always too hard on myself and even when things turn out perfect I still can seem to find something wrong with it. So give it a try and let me know what you think! Here are the recipes:

Vanilla Donuts (Courtesy of Bakerella. Oh How I love her!)

4.5 cups all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
4 tsps baking powder
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup milk*
2 eggs
1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled
1 tsp vanilla

• Sift flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and set aside.
  
• Beat eggs in a medium bowl until frothy. Add sugar and continue beating until combined.
  
• In another bowl, combine melted butter, milk and vanilla.
  
• Add the milk mixture to the egg mixture and stir until combined.
  
• Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture stir until combined.
  
• Chill the dough for about 30 minutes to make it easier to work with. (Ha!)
  
• Generously flour your work surface and roll dough out about 1/4 inch thick.
  
• Use a doughnut cutter or two circle cutters (1 and 3 inch) to cut out shapes.
  
• Heat about 2 quarts oil (about 3 inchees deep) in a large, heavy pot to about about 360 degrees.
  
• Fry 1-2 doughnuts at a time about a minute on each side. (I didn't actually time this, but it wasn't too long)
  
• Remove and place on a paper towel-lined tray.
  
• When cool, sprinkle powdered sugar or dip them in a vanilla glaze.
  

Makes 12 doughnuts and 12 doughnut holes.

Here are the chocolate ones (Which I found in a Cookbook. I know who uses those anymore.... Me I guess :)

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 large eggs
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/3 cup buttermilk
3 tablespoons butter, melted
6 to 8 cups vegetable oil for frying
Mocha glaze, (optional) recipe follows
Instructions:
1. In a bowl, mix flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. In a small bowl, whisk eggs, sugar, buttermilk, and melted butter to blend. Stir into dry ingredients until well blended. Chill until cold, at least 1 hour or up to 3 hours.

2. Scrape dough onto a generously floured surface. With floured hands, pat dough out to about 1/2 inch thick. With a 3-inch doughnut cutter, cut out doughnuts. Pat together scraps of dough and cut again. (Alternately, shape dough into ropes about 5 inches long and 1/2 inch thick; join rope ends to form doughnuts.) Place doughnuts on a well-floured baking sheet.

3. Meanwhile, fill an electric deep-fryer to the fill line or pour about 4 inches of oil into a 5- to 6-quart pan; heat to 375°F (190 C) (see Fry Right). Place one doughnut at a time onto a wide spatula and gently slide into oil, frying up to three at a time. Cook, turning once, until puffy and cooked through, 3 to 4 minutes total (to check timing, cut first one to test). With a slotted spoon, transfer doughnuts to paper towels to drain. Repeat to fry remaining doughnuts.

4. When cool enough to handle, dip the top half of each doughnut in warm mocha glaze and place on a plate. Let stand until glaze is set, about 5 minutes.

Makes about 16 (3-inch) doughnuts.

I Made a Glaze for all my donuts. When I make glaze here is what I use approx because I dont really measure much:

2 c. Powder Sugar

1 Tbsp Butter

1 tsp. Vanilla

Milk (Until the consistency I want it to be)

I just cream all together in the order listed.

Here are a few pictures of my donuts:

My Kitchen Counter. I was making homemade Pizza at the same time so it was a MESS!

Fry Baby!

Getting ready to Glaze

Glazing

Mmmmmmmmm!!!!!

Strawberry and Almond Muffins

I found this great recipe and knew straight away I was gonna make them cos they sounded SOOOOO delicious....AND THEY ARE!!
I wasn't too sure how the fresh strawberries would turn out in the muffins, and whether it would make them soggy, but it didn't. Seriously, they are divine, so heres the recipe below!

RECIPE INGREDIENTS:
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup whole milk
1 1/2 tsp. almond extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
2 cups strawberries, sliced
3/4 cup sliced almonds
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time, and blend until fluffy. Mix in the milk and the almond extract. 2. In a separate bowl, sift together the flours, baking powder and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the milk mixture and blend until just combined. Fold in the strawberries and almonds. Fill the muffin cups to the top and bake for 30 minutes. Makes 12 muffins.

They didn't suggest a topping, so I just whipped up some double cream with a little sugar, and then garnished with fresh strawberries!!

Pillow Case Apron

So I have been wanting to make an apron and could not find my pattern so I found this website http://tipnut.com/56-free-apron-patterns-you-can-make/ that has 52 apron patterns for free. I just wanted to do a quick one and had some pillow cases hanging around the house so I finally found a use for them. It took me about an hour to do this one because I had not done one before but You can easily make it faster and cuter if you have a pillowcase that has designs on it.

Victoria Sponge Cake

One of the many treasures of England is the Victorian Sponge Cake. I love this little treasure and it is definitely a recipe I will be taking home with me to the USA when I move back. This cake is so light. Its not too sweet and make a perfect summer treat. Anyway here is the recipe for the cake. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

175 g or 3/4 cup Butter

175 g or 3/4 cup of Caster Sugar

3 eggs

175 g or 3/4 cup of Self Raising Flour

1. Set the oven to 180C/gas 4 or 350F. Lightly butter two cake tins. 
2. Cream together the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, and then slowly add the beaten egg. 
3. Fold in the sifted flour and spoon the mixture into the prepared cake tins. 
4. Bake for 20 minutes. Leave to cool and then remove from the tins.

Filling

Fresh Strawberries

Strawberry Jam

Double Cream / Cool Whip

Really you can use whatever toppings you want. I put more of the topping in between the two layer and a little bit of the topping on the very top. 

I hope you enjoy this little British Treasure as much as my family does!