Thursday 3 July 2014

Chocolate Chunk Shortbread Recipe

So Sunday was stocktake day at the shop I work in. I work in a bead shop so this involves a lot of concentrating, counting and weighing. We knew it was going to be a long day, so it only made sense that cake should be there too!



My contribution to the sweet treats were some delicious chocolate chunk shortbread, which were cut out into adorable teapot shapes! (How cute is my crockery btw??)




To make, these cute shortbreads, you will need:
225g unsalted butter
110g caster sugar
110g corn flour
225g plain flour
1 pinch of salt
50g dark chocolate
50 milk chocolate


Method:

1) Line your baking trays, either with baking paper or grease with butter.

2) Whisk together the butter and caster sugar until the colour is a pale yellow. This should take a couple of minutes. Don't forget to scrape down the sides of your bowl with the spatula! Sift in the flour, corn flour and pinch of salt into the butter/sugar mixture and mix until combined. I found a wooden spoon easiest for this as corn flour will fluff up and go everywhere...

3) Cut your chocolate into chunks and add to the mixture. If you'd prefer to use pre-chunked chocolate or choc chips, that's also fine! Mix the chocolate in well.Bring the dough together and put it onto some baking paper. Put another piece of baking paper on top and roll out the dough until it is about 1cm thick. The baking paper will stop the dough sticking to your rolling pin!

4) Cut out the biscuits into the shape you want and pop them onto the lined baking tray. After you have cut all your shapes out, put them into the fridge for 30 minutes while your oven is preheating to 170 degrees celcius.

5) Put the biscuits into the oven for 20 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown in colour. Everyone's ovens are different so you may want to check frequently.

6) After cooking, leave the biscuits on the baking tray for a couple of minutes to cool before transferring to a wire cooling rack. I personally made a small tray out of foil to put until my cooling rack. This is because you now want to sprinkle sugar on top of the biscuits, and sugar will go everywhere unless it's contained! Then you're finished :)

Tuesday 1 July 2014

Loom Band Butterfly: How To!

So I am late at hopping on the bandwagon, I know! Children are going absolutely mad for these small elastic bands, and I should know: I work in a shop that sells them. We can't get them in stock quick enough, it's ridiculous! And it doesn't look like the trend is slowing down any time soon.

Because I am a serious novice, I won't be making many YouTube videos on how to make "Rainbow Loom" or stretch band (or whatever you call it...) bracelets and charms. There are so many other YouTubers out there who have a lot more skill and talent than me in that area of craft!

We got a new book in at work, called Rubber Band Bracelets by Lucy Hopping and I was having a flick through it and saw something that took my fancy: loom band butterflies! The best part is, you don't even need a loom to make them!

I don't have any sort of "official" hook, so I just used my crochet hook, because I have plenty of them lying around my house... I picked up some bands and went for it.

I can't believe how easy it is to make these little butterflies. I had 4 made in no time at all. You can use these butterflies as charms to enhance the bracelets you're making, but I glued mine onto a hairclip and brooch back so I can wear them that way instead.