Cinnamon Rolls!!

Having never made these before, i'm very chuffed with how my cinnamon buns turn out!!!

Yay for Autumn!!!

Autumn Equinox

It's the first day of autumn! A time of hot chocolatety mornings, and toasting marshmallow evenings, and best of all, leaping into LEAVES!"~ Pooh Bear!!

Who can argue that Pooh Bear really sums up the perfectness that is Autumn.
For the is Autumn/ Mabon celebration i've chosen to bake cinnamon and apple swirls! as nothing quite like the aroma and taste of these perfect autumn fruit and spice.
if you wish to make these then heres the recipe that i shall be following:

Ingredients

• 250 g strong bread flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 40 g caster sugar
• 15 g fresh yeast
• 20 g butter, oftened
• 150 ml warm water
  
  
  For the filling:
• 30 g butter, softened
• 100 g sultanas (i'm using dried apple slices)
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 egg, beaten
• 100 g caster sugar
• 100 ml water
  
   Method

  1. Lightly grease a baking sheet. Combine the flour, salt, sugar, yeast, butter and water in a blender and mix thoroughly until the mixture forms a smooth dough.
  
  2. Knead the dough on a floured surface for 5 minutes before returning to the bowl and leaving to rest for an hour.
  
  3. Roll the dough out into a large rectangle about 1.5cm thick, and spread the butter on top, then sprinkle on the sultanas and dust with cinnamon.
  
  4. Take the smaller end and roll the dough into a sausage, then cut 5cm thick discs and lie them face down on the prepared baking sheet. Leave to rise for 45 minutes.
  
  5. Set the oven to 190°C/gas 5. Brush the swirls with the beaten egg and bake for 20 minutes.
  
  6. Meanwhile, place the sugar and water into a small saucepan, bring to the boil and simmer for 2 minutes, until the sugar has dissolved and the syrup has thickened slightly.
  
  7. Remove the swirls from the oven and immediately brush with sugar syrup.

  
  

  Have a very blessed mabon! i hope your wishes come true!

  
  

Candle delights!!

I'm a sucker for candles! When me and other half went over to the Southampton Ikea, the boy sighed as we entered the candle section, needless to say i bought a berry mix of tea lights and cinnamon, spice and vanilla. lighting candles and seeing the warm glow coming from them is just lovely. Candles are a big thing for me when Autumn arrives out come the rich spicy scents, i tend to have lighter smells like lavender or Jasmine in the Summer months. So what am i getting to you wonder?..... Well yesterday my Mum came into work with a Yankee Candle bag!, Yankee candles are my ultimate candles! they don't lose there smell and last for ages!, and they come in some pretty delicious smells too, Black Cherry, Cinnamon stick, Jack Frost and Cranberry chutney being just a few of my favorites, so when she handed me the bag i couldn't help but "Ooooohh", Inside were 3 scents from the Halloween range. Everyday on our way home from work i walk past the islands yankee store and can't help but always look in the window, when i saw the Halloween range my heart did a little flip of excitement, i made a mental note to make sure i put a little money aside so i could treat myself. But i don't have to now as my Mum had seen the candles and thought of me and bought me them... how great are Mums?



The three scents i have are :
Trick or Treat, this one has two scents in it making a swirl affect, Sweet Candy Corn and Buttercream. Now I'm not sure this would be for everyone, as it is pretty sweet smelling, I've not lit it yet so it might be softer when burning, but i like it.

Candy Corn: unlike the very sweet smell of trick or treat, it would seem the smell of candy corn on its own is still sweet but soft sweet, theres an element of spice in there too that almost reminds me of a warm pumpkin pie.

Witches Brew: Spicy sweet aroma of exotic patchouli, this has a very musty smell, very warm and almost erotic, that must be the patchouli, as we know Halloween isn't all about the sweets, this is a lovely smell and a bit addictive to sniff.

I can't wait to fill my home with these delightfull smells, its going to be hard to light these before October let alone Halloween.

xXx

... you don't know what you've got till its gone

As you've seen, an old school friend of mine passed away.
i know she's not truly gone for she has become as the words from a favorite poem of mine says:
 

"You are a thousand winds that blow. The diamond glints on snow. The sunlight on ripened grain. The gentle autumn's rain, The soft stars that shine at night" 


It has made me think really hard about things, after talking and seeing so many old faces at the funeral, it really makes me want to pick up those friendships and start a new. You never really no how long we have on this journey on earth, so when you lose someone, it makes you grateful and makes you sit up and pay attention. at the wake the family had put together a collage of photos of Emmaliese with friends and family, photos from holidays, birthdays, beach days and silly girly nights in and meals out. Me and the Mr have 5 cameras between us, and i think its about time we really started jotting our lives in photos. i want to see myself at 70 sat with my grand*children showing them all the things i got up to. i know people say photos are just photos, but to me its a visual reminder of the fun and silly things that we all get up to.
 
At the wake we sent off lanterns with messages for Em, that will forever be carried on the wind. and it may seem morbid but this shot of me and my ever love sending ours off is really sweet. 

Off they go, watching these latterns float off into the night sky bought comfort and a sense of peace, i know Emmaliese is now free from pain and will be one of the sparklest stars.
xXx

Beautiful inside and out

 

 

Rest In Peace,
Always in my heart never forgotten
Beatiful on the inside and out.
a smile that was infectous.
kind caring oh so giving.
Sleep tight.
 

 

 

So to start the slow process for my Sloe Gin!!

Theres roughly 1000g of Sloes in this 3ltr Kilner Jar, about 500g of caster sugar and 1ltr of Tesco Gin,

i was following a recipe but the jar was only half full, so i phoned Lee's Nan and she told me "just  keep topping up with the berries and sugar" She's done this plenty of time before so I'm hoping it'll work out for me.

If you'd like the recipe i followed to begin with, its as follows, really simple and you'll get something really tasty and perfectly festive.

• 500 g Sloes
• 225 g Caster sugar, (150g if you prefer a 'drier' gin)
• Gin (Don't waste your best gin on this recipe as the sloes will infuse their flavour.)
   
• Put sloes in a litre jar with a sealable lid, add the almond essence and sugar and fill up with gin.
   
• . Turn the jar every day for one week and every time you remember thereafter for 3 months.
   
•  After 3 months has passed strain the gin through a piece of muslin and then it's ready to drink.
   
  

So heres to the sloe gin turning out perfect!.... next on my festive treats list = Fudge, Cranberry Sauce , Speculaas  Biscuits and more

Well Hello September

Yesterday i spent my afternoon with the Mr's grandparents, We went Sloe berry picking, since they let me try some sloe gin i decided that it was something i wanted to make, As you know me and Lee have now moved house and though money isn't tight we've decided that we're not going to go overboard this Yule. Last year we made some chutneys and cranberry sauce which were really well received, so i thought I'd do it all again, this time with a few more homemade goods, 1st being the Sloe Gin. So yesterday Nan and Grandad picked us up and we drove over to St Helens Duver (Duver is an Isle of Wight dialect term for an area of sand dunes) the area that we would be picking our  berries was between the beach and bembridge harbour. the place was full of blackberries, Sloes, Rosehips and a whole load of other berries but i have no idea what they were called but knew we couldn't eat them. I enjoyed the berry picking so much that I've asked for a pocket guide to nuts and berries...... heres some photos.

Just getting started

Sloes (Blackthorn)

Lee getting to the good one his height is a huge advantage

Wild Foxgloves

Our load

Lots of berries (yet to be ripe)

Mmm fat and juicy

More berries

Wild Honeysuckle

Not sure what the proper name for these are but Lee's grandad called them "grandfathers beard"

From tiny Acorns grow mighty Oaks

Bembridge Harbour

It was such a lovely afternoon picking the berries but by jo you work up quite an appetite, so we all loaded back into the car and went back to Lee's grandparents for a good ol Sunday roast followed by blackberry and apple pie!

Blackberry and Apple pie

Now these are what i call Yorkshire puds!
(I took this photo from the dinning table!)

Tonight i shall be jarring up the gin and sloes!, blog to follow later.
xxxxx