A Wintry Supper

A few weeks I bought myself a new cookbook. Now I rarely use cookbooks as I tend to get most of my recipes from the internet (blogging or recipe searches) and magazines but the title caught my eye 101 One Pot Dishes by the Good Food magazine. With a busy family life this was just what I needed, the fact that the book is small and cheap (€7.50) had me sold. I have made a number of dishes from this book and all have been really tasty and received the thumbs up. Because I like to cook food from scratch I haven't followed all the recipes in their entirety and have therefore used more than one pan but the end results have been great. This recipe has been adjusted from the book.

Chicken with Creamy Bacon Penne

1tbsp olive oil

4 skinned, boneless chicken breasts, cut up

5 bacon rashers (slices) chopped up

6 tbsp dry white wine

6-8oz frozen peas

8 tbsp cream

450g cooked penne

Heat the oil in the pan, gently fry chicken and bacon on high heat fro about four minutes.

When chicken has browned add the wine and let it bubble over a high heat until most of the wine has evaporated.

Add the peas, cream, penne and season. Stir then cover with a lid and simmer until chicken is thoroughly cooked.

Enjoy.

Gingerbread Men

Apparently gingerbread men are a traditional Luxembourgian dish as well so Mollie baked a batch on Tuesday. She plans to take some in for her teacher so we'll see if a bit of bribrey works! You'll find the recipe here.

Ham in Hay

Many of you who follow my blog will be aware that Mollie is currently working on a project about Luxembourg. The information from the Embassy arrived within a week and Yvonne has been so helpful with loads of information and kindly answering a few questions about life in Luxembourg. Last week we decided to try out a Luxembourgian dish, ham in hay. It really is what it says it is, ham cooked on a bed of hay. Our vedict: unfortunately the ham was a bit fatty and we found it too salty but I did like the earthy, straw like taste it got from being steamed in the hay.

A Snackalicious Super Dish

When I saw Robin's post which involved the chance to share recipes and be entered in a draw to win a cookbook I signed up straight away, then spent the next two weeks wondering what to post. Well I changed my mind a few times and finally decided to submit this bacon and pasta recipe, adapted from cookiecrumb who throws together the most wonderful dishes. As I've said before my photography is not up to much but this dish is delicious and it is easy to cook up a huge bowlful for those social gatherings.

Cook up required amount of tagliatelle, grill bacon rashers so nice and crispy, gently fry red onion and garlic. Drain pasta, add some olive oil and stir in the bacon, onion and garlic. Stir well and sprinkle grated Parmesan over the top. Serve with fresh bread, I recommend this no knead bread.

N.B. The bacon, onion and garlic can be cooked in advance making this a very quick and easy meal to serve up.

Divinity from Above

Tennis winter league started today, we got off to a good start with all our team winning their matches. As we were hosting the match we provide the tea after. I am getting a bit of a reputation with my baking so I decided to wow everyone with this.

And wow them I did. I have to confess that it is very easy and as for the icing...divine!

Angelic Chocolate Cake

(recipe taken from You magazine)

Angel Sponge

8 medium egg whites

1/4 tsp sea salt

1 tsp cream of tartar

250g icing sugar, sifted

110g plain flour, sifted

30g cocoa powder, sifted

Icing

100g milk chocolate, broken up

15g unsalted butter

30g cocoa powder, sifted

50ml water

1 tbsp golden syrup

Preheat oven 170C/150C fan oven, grease 20cm angel food tin (or 20cm deep loose-bottom cake tin).

Whisk the egg whites, salt and tartar until stiff peaks are formed.

Whisk in the sugar.

Fold in the flour and cocoa.

Pour into tin and bake for 35-40 minutes. Leave to cool in tin.

Gently melt the butter and chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water.

In another pan heat the cocoa, water and golden syrup, whisking until smooth.

Combine the two to make a thick icing.

Gently ease the cake out of the tin and slap on the icing. Leave to set.

Make lattices by melting some dark chocolate and leave to set. Stick the lattices into the cake as the icing sets.

Enjoy.

After pigging out on the tea at the tennis club I returned home to the beautiful aroma of a lasagne cooking. Since Joules has finished his degree he has loads of spare time and has started making dinner every Sunday. He researches his recipes and makes them all from scratch, no bolognese sauce out of a jar for him. Today he spent two and a half hours in the kitchen and much as I hate to admit it, he made an extremely good lasagne...ok, ok I admit that it was better than mine and, most importantly, he washed up all the pots and pans whilst I sat back with my glass of wine and booked...

Make My Kid Eat.

Deborah, who posts the most mouth watering recipes over at The Humble Housewife is hosting a competition which she describes below:

I get several emails each week asking for recipes that will appeal to kids. As a mother of two picky toddlers I know that this is a constant challenge for many of us. So why not pool our knowledge? So to celebrate my 100th blog post I am hosting a competition to find the best recipe for kids.

Competition, food, blogging, children, great prizes...I can do that I thought and promptly signed up for it before going off on a three week holiday. So here is my recipe that will hopefully encourage your kid eat some healthy food.

Many years ago I was listening to a nutritionist on the radio who was saying that burgers and chips are not necessary bad for children if the burgers are homemade and contain some vegetables they can be better than other seemingly healthy foods. After listening to this I have experimented with making burgers and this works for us. I haven't included weights because I use what is handy adding a dollop of this and that so it doesn't matter if you are not precise.

Burgers

I pack round steak mince
I onion
1 courgette
handful green beans
1 yellow pepper
fresh breadcrumbs
1 egg, beaten
A good dollop of tomato ketchup

You can use any vegetables you like, I tend to use green vegetables as these are the ones my children are least keen on.

Grate the all the vegetables (this take seconds in a food processor). I find that by grating the vegetables they are hidden in the food and the children can't see them and therefore don't complain.

Put all the ingredients into a large bowl and mix well with your hands.
Shape into balls and flatten.
Bake for 20 minutes at 180 oC

I serve these burgers topped with iceberg lettuce in lightly toasted wholemeal pitta bread.

Instead of chips I served the burgers with chessy potatoes skins

4 large baking potatoes
Grated cheese
Sour cream
Chopped chives

Pierce the potatoes with a fork and microwave for 10 minutes.
Place in a hot oven for 30 minutes.
Remove, cut in half and scoop out the potato.
Cut each half in half again and lay out on a baking tray. Sprinkle the grated cheese over the top and bake for 15 minutes.
Mix together the sour cream and chives and serve as a dip.


Finish the meal with a fresh fruit salad of strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, nectarines and grapes.

If your child is old enough to help in the kitchen there is lots for them to do, they will enjoy mixing the burger mixture with their hands or chopping the fruit. If they have helped to make the dinner they may be more enthusiastic in eating it.

The compteition ends in two days so pop over to Deborah to sign up if you have the (the prizes are fantastic).

I appologise for the quality of the photographs, our camera is quite basic and I find it really difficult to take pictures of food.

Livestrong, Eat Yellow.

Barbara over at Winos and Foodies is hosting a food event with a difference to celebrate Livestrong day on Wednesday May 16th. In her own words this is why Barbara is supporting this event:

"You are wondering why someone in New Zealand would be supporting an event based in the US aren't you. Well for the simple reason cancer knows no boundaries. There isn't a person in the world who hasn't been touched by cancer in some way. Either a family member, a friend, work colleague, neighbour or even themselves. One of my best friends and my Dad both died of cancer in the same week. Twelve months later I was diagnosed with cancer and am still fighting the disease, hoping to be cancer free one day. To raise awareness in any country is to raise the level of awareness world wide".

Barbara's challenge was to post yellow food. After much thought and perusing of recipes I chose two dishes to try. After my hectic weekend I have only found time to make one and as I am fast approaching the deadline I decided to post it today.

Asparagus Custard.

This was delicious, I can safely vouch that the four mouthfuls I ate before I noticed the smoke and flames billowing out of my top oven were divine, I was even looking forward to eating the leftover slice for my lunch today. Easy to make and delicious to eat, unfortunately my piece and the leftover piece had to be thrown in the bin due to the toxic ash which had settled all over my kitchen/dining room.

The recipe (taken from You magazine):

400g asparagus
1 onion
15g butter
7 large eggs
40g grated parmesan
320ml double cream
1 1/2 tbsp finely chopped chives

Grease a 25cm flan dish.

Trim and peel the asparagus and cut into 4-5cm pieces. Bring a large pan of water to the boil, add asparagus and cook for two minutes. Drain and lay on a piece of kitchen towel for 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 210C/410F.

Melt butter in a pan and gently fry onions until soft.

In a large bowl beat the eggs. Beat in the cream, parmesan and chives. Mix in the onions and asparagus. Pour into flan dish and bake for 20-25 minutes until golden and puffed.

If you are using your grill to make your daughter an omlette as she will not eat the above please ensure you turn off said grill before shutting the door, thereby turning the grill into an oven and causing the silicone sheet in the grill pan to catch fire.

Fun Monday #8

I thought I'd post my Fun Monday post on my Sunday as it is in fact Monday down under, (also I have a busy morning tomorrow so it leaves me time to be tempted by all your yummy recipes). I was going to post three recipes giving you a three course meal but ran out of time, in fact you are lucky to have the dessert because there was only one slice left by the time I remembered to take a picture. I also have to appologise for the bad photographs. I'm no photographer and it's hard to take a photo of a steaming dish when your stomach is telling you it wants to eat the dish not wait whilst you flaff around taking pictures.

The first recipe I have chosen is a firm favourite in our house and I end up making it most weeks in fact we call it cheesy chicken. It is tasty enough to serve to guests and very easy to prepare in advance. I got this recipe from The Avoca Cafe Cookbook.

BAKED CHICKEN WITH PARMESAN and WHOLEGRAIN MUSTARD
(often referred to as Italian chicken)

8 chicken breasts skinned and diced
4 oz(110g) Parmesan cheese freshly grated
2 tablespoons wholegrain mustard
110g/ ¾ pt double cream
300ml/ ½ pt chicken stock.
Parmesan shavings, to garnish.
(Serves 8)

Place the diced chicken on an ovenproof dish, cover with the cheese mustard and mix well. then add cream, stock and season with freshly ground black pepper and bake, uncovered in pre-heated oven 180 oC for 30 mins.
Remove from oven, the recipe calls for you to pour off sauce from chicken and whist until smooth, if you wish you can thicken it by whisking in a nugget of butter and flour together over the heat. I choose the easy option and serve it as it comes out of the oven, pouring the chicken and sauce over freshly cooked white rice. It's delicious served with salad and fresh, crusty bread.


For dessert I highly recommend Gateaux Diane. This is a favourite in Joules family and I learnt this recipe from his mother. My Bristol family were very impressed when I made it for a family barbeque last summer. Again it is easy to prepare in advance and the chocolate and rum cream give it the wow factor.

Gateaux Dianne

6 egg whites
12oz caster sugar
500ml double cream
300g milk chocolate (I'm sure you could use dark if you prefer)
3 tblsp dark rum.

Whist the egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Whisk in the caster sugar so that the mixture is thick and glossy.

Prepare three baking trays with parchment paper or lightly oil the trays. Spread the mixture over the trays in a circle shape, I make them as big as a pizza baking tray. These can be made days in advance if you wish.

Cook for 1 1/2 hours 110 oC.

I find this bit easy but other people mess it up by over whipping or something. I melt the chocolate in the microwave for two minutes and stir it. Add the melted chocolate to the cream and rum and whisk until a nice thick consistency. Take care not to over whisk the cream. The cream can also be made hours in advance.

Sandwich meringue layers together with a layer of cream and put cream on top. Sprinkle over some grated choc and enjoy!!!

If you are bringing this somewhere the meringue stays hard for quite a long time unlike pavlova!

I hope you enjoyed reading about our favourite meals and that you may even be tempted to try and make them yourselves.

Below is a list of all this weeks Fun Monday participants. I don't have Paige's URL if anyone can help me out please do, also if I've missed anyone out let me know and I'll add you to the list.
Sabrina
Nikki
Lisa
Enidd
Margaret
Amy W
Bethany
Little Miss Moi
Frannie
Lotta
Liza
Paige
Elena Jane
Jenn
Steffi
Min
Karmyn
Dodo
Robin
Mommiebear2
Tiggerlane
Sally
Vicki
Willowtree
Swampwitch
Chrisb
The artist formerly known as purpleworms
2crazzie4u
Sam
Erik
Girl con queso
Stephanie

The wonderful enidd formerly known as enid has agreed to host next weeks Fun Monday so pop over to say hello and sign up for whatever challenge she may have in store for us.

Flapjacks: The Recipe.

I was suprised after reading the comments to my post yesterday that flapjacks are not commonly known throughout the world as I know them. After some research I am unable to ascetain where they originate as a Scottish site claims they are not Scottish but they seem to be particular to the UK and Ireland. Indeed after reading wikepia anything can be called a flapjack:

'The word elements: flap- meaning a tossed mixture and jack, an uncertain word suggesting a variety, imply any ingredients could be called a flapjack'.

In Australia flapjacks are known as muesli bars, this makes sense to me because when I made Breakfast Muesli Bars I felt the bottom layer was similar to a flapjack.

So after all the interest and because I've already prepared two tasty recipes for Fum Monday here is the recipe I used to make flapjacks.

Flapjacks

275g Butter

275g Brown Sugar

7 Level tbsp golden syrup

450g Oats

Set the oven to 150 oC (325 oF)

Prepare a 14 ½” by 10 ½“ baking tray by lining it with baking parchment. Alternatively you can grease the tray well but any disaster may result in throwing away said tray!

Melt the butter, sugar and syrup over a gentle heat until melted.

Stir in the oats.

Press into the baking tray.

The trick is in the cooking and knowing your oven. I turned my oven down quite low and baked the flapjacks for 20 minutes even though the recipe states 30 minutes.

The flapjacks should just begin to change colour but will still be moist when they are ready to be taken out of the oven. Do not be tempted to leave them in any longer as they harden considerably as they cool down.

Leave them to cool in the tin for four minutes then cut them into squares.

Leave them in the tin for another 20 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.

Roll on Summer!

'We're all going on a summer holiday
No more worries for a week or two
Sun and laughter on our summer holiday
For me and you oooh ooh
For a week or two'....(or three)

To quote Sir Cliff we are going on a summer holiday and it's been booked, yippee. My parents-in-law have booked three houses in France and want their three sons, one daughter, three daughters-in-law and seven grandchildren to join them for three weeks in June. Actually the three son's won't make the three weeks as they all work for their father and have to cover minding the business but they'll each get two weeks.

Much as I am very excited about a three week break in the sun, with tennis court and swimming pool I have a dilemma. I plan to spend my time looking hot (and feeling hot no doubt) in a sexy bikini swanning around the poolside. The problems with this are as follows:

1. I do not have a sexy bikini.
2. I do not look hot (and would not even if I did have a sexy bikini).
3. I do not know how to swan around (though I'm sure I could learn).
4. My mother-in-law is half the size of me.
5. My sisters-in-law are gorgeous and skinny.
6. I am not.

So last week I decided to tackle my problems and started my healthy eating campaign. I cannot diet because to me that means depriving yourself of food and I love food but I can cut down on the biscuit, sweet, sugar intake and eat more fruit. So far so good, in a week the only bad food to pass my lips have been one packet of crisps, a slice of cake and a scone. Hell, I may not go on the holiday looking sexy or thin but I'll look better than I do now, (and I think I'll buy a decent one piece swimming costume)!

With my healthy eating campaign underway I was delighted to read Barbara's blog last week. I had contemplated linking to Barbara on Fun Monday because out of all the food blogs I read I consistently make her recipes, from jam to apple cake to baked omelette's. I consider them straightforward recipes to make with ingredients I can easily purchase. The only reason I didn't link to Barbara on Fun Monday was because I knew there would be lots of reading and decided to link to one post only plus I already had the idea of writing this post.

So back to Barbara's post (I fear I am rambling a bit today) as soon as I spied the title 'blueberry breakfast bars' I was hooked, within seconds I was drooling over the photograph and knew that I would be making this no matter what the ingredients were. I hopped over to Farmgirl to get the recipe and all I needed to purchase was the blueberries. As this is not the season for blueberries they are very expensive but I had to make this recipe so purchased two cartons. When I started to measure my ingredients I was well short of the three and a half cups needed. After a quick search in my freezer I found some blackberries so added those to the blueberries, having made the recipe I think you could substitute the blueberries for a variety of fruit.


These are so yummy, OK I kid myself they are healthy but I am limiting myself to one a day. Dillon, when he tried them elevated me from 'a wonderful mum' to a 'wonderful, wonderful mum' but then asked whether I felt guilty for depriving him of these for the last 13 years! Some compliment I think.

Jam for Toast

Reading Barbara's post last week when she made cranberry and blueberry jam was just the inspiration I needed. I'd seen fresh cranberries and knowing how much Dillon loved cranberry sauce I had wondered what to make with them. Yesterday while shopping in town I ran through Marks and Spencer's food hall when the sight of the beautiful, red cranberries stopped me in my tracks and they were half price. I couldn't remember how much I needed for the recipe so bought four packs (I could remember that Barbara said the recipe only made 2-3 jars). I also purchased three large packs of huge, plump blueberries.

This jam is very easy to make, be warned you do need a large pan, mine is large and the mixture bubbled up to the top. Also the recipe said to boil the mixture until set, I wasn't sure how set it should be but I would describe it more as thick and gloopy than set. The jam tasted delicious on my toasted homemade wholemeal bread this morning.

Not the day we planned

Got to the computer first today!!

We had our day planned, visiting a friend for coffee and running a few errands and a little more shopping. Unfortunately when Mollie woke up this morning she had a pain in her stomach and looked very poorly so she was sent back to bed. After a quick phone call to Clare who was busy baking a Kerry Apple cake for our coffee we swapped venues from her house to mine, Mum will have to go see Clare's new kitchen next time she's over. Clare arrived with warm apple cake and cream all intact and we had a good chat until Clare had to rush off to work.

I baked two more loaves of bread that were prepared yesterday, June has more ideas on making a wholemeal variation.

Mollie perked up at lunch time, in fact she's made a pretty much complete recovery. She was feeling very hungry and ate two slices of toast and marmite, two slices of eggy bread and a yogurt during the afternoon.



Decided to make spicy tortillas a recipe from Mollie's cookbook Kids in the Kitchen by Sara Lewis. I made it last week (Mollie was going to but was at a party one day and playing tennis the next). It was very popular so I decided to try it out on Mum. Mum wasn't too keen on the idea of tortillas and her verdict was 'yes, perfectly fine' so I guess I won't be making it for her again. As for the rest of us we enjoyed it and it's full of vegetables so a good, hearty, healthy meal.

1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
500g extra lean minced beef
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon ground cumin
415g can baked beans
400g can chopped tomatoes
200ml stock (chicken or beef)
salt and pepper

125g mixed frozen vegetables
125g original tortilla chips
75g grated cheddar cheese

Heat some oil in pan and add mince, onion, carrot and garlic. Fry whilst stirring until mince is browned.
Stir in paprika and cumin for one minute. Add baked beans, tomatoes, stock and season.
Bring to the boil, cover and simmer on low heat for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.
When mince is nearly ready cook frozen vegetables and drain.
Preheat the grill.
Spoon meat into a shallow dish, cover with vegetables then tortillas, finally sprinkle over the cheese. Grill until cheese bubbles.

I decided we needed something else to eat besides just a bowl of meat so cooked some basmati rice which I put under the meat in the shallow dish.

Muffin Munchies

When I first moved to Ireland and began baking I decided I'd like to make muffins, then I went to a cookery display held at Powerscourt where amongst other things the chef whipped up some delicious looking muffins. So with Powerscourt recipe in hand and newly acquired muffin tin given to me by my granny I set to work. Now I don't have the recipe anymore but I remember it involving oil and lots of pans. I also remember not being impressed with the results after a lot of work and lots of pans to wash up so my muffin tin was relegated to the back of a cupboard.

Fast forward many years to when I was baking a chocolate cake and there on the side of the cocoa powder tin was a recipe for muffins. Out came my muffin tin, they were easy to make and the results were delicious. I have slightly adapted the recipe and make them regularly.

6oz butter/margarine
6oz caster sugar
3 eggs
8oz self raising flour
2oz cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
200g white chocolate, chopped into small pieces
1/4 pint milk

set oven 190oC

Cream butter and sugar.
Beat in eggs.
Add flour, cocoa and baking powder and stir gently.
Stir in milk and chocolate.
Spoon into muffin cases and bake for 15 minutes.

Enjoy

A hiking he will go

Woke up to an overcast morning, with the rain finally coming down when I was on the tennis court in the middle of a box match! The rain continued on and off throughout the day and my thoughts turned to Dillon who is off on a Sionnach (pronounced shunuck) camp this weekend.

A Sionnach is where the scouts meet in one place and hike then set up camp for the night, and complete another hike the next day setting up camp in a different place before a final hike the following day. Sionnachs are only open to older scouts, 12 years and older and some competitive Sionnachs are held.

This weekend is non competitive and involves five scouts and three leaders from Dillon's troop - 47th Ballybrack Scouts. They are meeting in Crone Wood and will complete a small hike in the dark to the Dargle Valley where they'll stop for the night. Saturday sees them hiking to Lough Dan via Djouce and Sunday is a relatively small hike to Glendalough.

As the scouts have to carry all their clothes, food, drinks, camping and cooking equipment with them their food menu is very basic and consists of pot noodles, packet soup, more noodles, more soup, chocolate powder, cereal and chocolate. So on this cold miserable day I wanted to send Dillon off with a stomach full of warm hearty food. I decided upon sausage casserole which is always welcoming on a cold wintry evening.

This can be adapted very easily and you can make as much or as little as you like. I make a big one as it is very popular with my family and any leftovers taste even better the next day.



Gently fry 20 sausages in a little butter(in casserole pan) until brown. Remove and set aside.
Fry one chopped onion until soft.
Add chopped vegetables such as leeks, carrots, pepper, celery, courgette or anything else you have; a tin chopped tomatoes; 750ml stock and the sausages. Season and simmer for 30 minutes. Check and stir occasionally.
Add pasta, you may need to add more water at this stage and simmer until pasta cooked (this can take longer than boiling pasta in water).
Now your casserole is ready and only one pot to clean, perfect.

Mmmmm Oatmeal Cookies

If you like cookies you will love Caroline's oatmeal and chocolate chip cookies. Even if you don't like oatmeal you may still love them as Mollie and Ben can testify. Neither of them will touch anything with oatmeal in yet pronounced these the most delicious ever! I found that they cooked in seven minutes not the 10-13 minutes the recipe said. Unfortunately my photograph doesn't do them much justice, it was dark by the time they were cooked and the use of the flash spoils the photo!

Not another disaster!

So back to those cookies I was baking yesterday, a complete disaster! I was inspired by Gluten Free Girl and as my mother-in-law is a celiac I decided to try out these cookies. Not having almond butter I made my own so maybe that was why it didn't work or maybe it was my cup to oz conversion. Anyway I ended up with gloop all over the oven. As I never give up I found out an old recipe I have for fork biscuits (it's on a scrap of paper so don't know who to credit for it) and followed the instructions from Gluten Free Girl to add the chocolate topping.

Fork Biscuits

Preheat oven 170oC

8oz butter
4oz caster sugar
10oz self raising flour (I used tritamyl flour to make gluten free biccys)

Cream together butter and sugar.
Stir in flour.
Use hands to form a dough.
Make small balls of dough in palm of hand and place on parchment covered baking tray.
Dip a fork in cold water and press down on each cookie.
Bake for about 8 minutes.
Remove from oven and gently press down on each cookie with the back of a spoon.
Sprinkle chocolate chips over and bake for another minute.
Spread chocolate over cookies with a pallet knife.

These are delicious served either warm or cold. They are light and crumbly and incredibly moorish! As you see from my photo I did not use enough chocolate although I put loads on, so pile on the chocolate to get a really good covering. I was going to cheat and melt more chocolate to cover the cookie but decided to be honest!

Success!

Those of you who read yesterdays post will recall my disastrous attempt at the apple cake recipe I saw on winosandfoodies. Well I was determined to try again and was pleased to learn it was not entirely my fault as the amount of flour needed was incorrect. Today I had more time and was much better prepared. I weighed all my ingredients before and followed the recipe to the letter. No attempts at short cuts such as throwing both eggs in unbeaten or not sieving my flour! I even remembered the cinnamon today. The result was very different and a 100% improvement.



Shame I didn't photograph yesterdays gunk so you could see the difference!

Mmmmmm chocolate cookies

It was a lovely morning yesterday so I was delighted to be playing tennis. I used my insider information and played a box match even though the lists do not go up untill Friday. I played well and was pleased with a win.

Alas the weather turned and it began raining in the afternoon. I took this opprtunity to bake some cookies. A mother in Mollie and Ben's school Glenageary Killiney National School, is running the Dublin City Marathon and raising funds for Banardos. She is also holding a cake sale at the school to raise further funds for this worthwhile charity. As she was looking for volunteers both to bake cakes and run the sale I offered my services. The sale is on Friday so I decided to start with cookies as they last when kept in an airtight container.

The recipe I used was given to me by a friend and I regularly bake these cookies. They are very easy to make, I use an electric mixer for the whole recipe and it is easy to make large quantities. I decided to make one batch of plain chocolate chip cookies and one batch of chocolate flavoured cookies with white chocolates bits. I made them simutanously and it took about 10 minutes.

First cream together 8oz butter with 6oz caster sugar and 6oz brown sugar.

Beat in two eggs.

Add 18oz self-raising flour (for plain cookies) or 16oz self-raising flour and 2oz cocoa powder (for chocolate flavoured cookies) and 200g dark or milk chocolate (plain cookies) or 200g white chocolate (chocolate flavoured cookies). I use bars of chocolate which I chop up but you can use chocolate chips if you prefer.

As you may notice I'm from the bung it all in school of thought and don't use a sieve, I don't think it makes any difference but you may choose to sieve your flour and cocoa powder.

On a floured surface roll out the dough into a sausage shape and slice into 1cm slices. Press down dough gently on a lined baking tray and bake for approximately eight minutes at 180oC.

Cool on a wire rack.

Finally, enjoy as these guys do!

I better put them away before they all get eaten!

NB: We often bake these cookies as presents for the kids teachers and wrap them up in cellophane. The teachers always appreciate being given something made by the children themselves and it's not yet another candle or more smelly stuff.