ayonecan-cook

A designer apron was just what I needed to give me  a renewed vigour to  cook something-worth-blogging-about.  Buycuteaprons.com is an online store from the UK that sells a range of designer aprons.  Kirsteen , owner of buycuteaprons.com had been kind enough to send me this elegant vintage inspired Ulster Weaver's apron which I had chosen. Although the red was less vibrant than I expected it did look very pretty once I had put it on. Very Audrey Hepburn-ish. Very vintage. Very hostess with the mostest-ish.  Buycuteaprons.com is stocked with all the top UK and American apron designs. With new styles being added regularly. Mostly feminine, some of them being vintage inspired, some retro, some sexy and some just plain cute-adorable. Designer brands include Cupcake Provocateur, Jessie Steele, Sugar Baby Aprons, Ulster Weavers and many more. They also have cute aprons for children and manly ones for men.  But what took me by surprise was that  Jessie St...

I used to spy these gems at Chinese grocery shops. They were sold amoung many other kinds of biscuits which were stored and displayed in gigantic glass jars with push-down galvanized caps, usually placed strategically at the open end of the shop and were sold by the catty.  Apart form Iced Gems we also had our local 'Oreos', our local Chocolate Bourbons, our local custard creams and our local Jammie Dodgers.....all being delicious legacies left behind by our then colonial masters.  KGB (not the Russian kind) manufactures these biscuits locally today, packs them in large square tins and places them on supermarket shelves. The only thing that's missing in them are Iced Gems and loads of flavour.  So this post was inspired by what I saw at Molliemakes . I now vehemently and officially declare Molliemakes as my number one craft magazine. Trust me ~ However, it wasn't as simple as getting the weighing scale out and dusting off the flour.  I found a (only) recipe for it fr...

I blog in spurts. I keep telling myself that I will never blog in spurts again. It's bad. As bad as gorging on chocolate cream filled chocolatey biscuits when you're trying to be healthy. Or trying to walk in a straight line. Sorry for the an unplanned absence. I have been uninspired and distracted. For many reasons. The heat, mega sales, the heat, friends, the heat and family. And mainly mega sales. And the heat. Nevertheless, these English chocolate cream filled chocolate biscuits are reminiscent of the chocolate bourbons from Marks and Spencer that I gorged on thirty years ago. So busy was I that I got yelled at by a man with a heavy load on his shoulders. I almost walked into him. I jumped out of his way in the nick of time. I'm sure he would have hit me on my head if he could. Thank god Mary Berry had a recipe for it. Thank god I bought her Fast Cakes recipe book thirty years ago. And thank god they taste just like my memory of it. The biscuits I mean. These a...

Thanks to the Foodbuzz community these cookies made the Top 9 on 30th August 2010. Happy Buzz Day. Dreams are strange creatures. You close your eyes again in the hope of dreaming on. Because you want to know how it ends. Like a good movie. But it never does does it? The quest for the complete dream with a beginning, a middle and an end always eludes us. I guess chasing the dream is very much like chasing the 'best ever' cookie recipe. It's endless. So in my quest, this is another new cookie recipe for the festive season. I will still bake the same old good old but there is always room for the new cookie recipe.  This time it is a chocolate cashew sugar cookie. I got the idea from here at Fake Food Free but made them from an adapted sugar cookie recipe. It was chocolaty but I think it needed more cashews.   The recipe ~ 6 oz plain flour 2 oz cocoa powder 1 tsp baking powder 4 0z  butter 6 oz castor sugar About 2-3 oz cashews or however much you like, chopped quite fi...

Despite the success of my dulce de leche I have never considered cosy-ing down into a couch to shovel dollops of dulce de leche from a jar into my face. HO no. The completion of the dulce de leche was no more than a stage in a journey that I had begun when I swiped that can of condensed milk off the shelf.  So you might think I've had sleepless nights thinking "waht do hi do? waht do hi do?" . Ahh ~ truth is ...Hi had known what Hi was to do. HO yes. Hi had plans. This is plan number one : Chocolate Shortbread Thumbprint Dulce De Leche Cookies with a Pistachio Filigree. Long  Cool no? The Chocolate Shortbread recipe came from Oven Haven . A beautiful blog. She on the other hand got it from Nostalgia. It's rich, it's chocolatey and it's short. Add your thumbprint, roll in crumbled pistachios and flourish with a dollop of dulce de leche.  Wooooo...what a twist! I'll let you into a little secret. These cookies are SO chocolatey!! mmm-hmmm   The Recipe ~ 2 cu...

When a gurl gets going the going gets gurrrly. I was in the mood for something purrrrty so I made some 'oysters', filled it with nutella, inserted a silver dragee inside, pulled out my string of pearls, did everything up, around it, in pink and snapped a picture. It looked purrrty guurrrrly. When a gurl gets going the going gets purrrrty gurrrrly. Shells are so pretty. So when I came across a cookie mould that would yield pretty dainty shell shaped cookies I did not overwork my brain. I bought it and these are what came out of it. Shortbread shells with a drop of silver in each purrrty purse. Precious! They are made from Mary Berry's shortbread recipe. They are quite delicious although  I do think it could do with an ounce more of butter. As with a typical shortbread recipe this had a little rice flour in it which provided  those teeny bits of crunch as you bite into it. And it held its shape quite well as it baked. Unless you're moulding them into a fancy shape like I...

These cookies made the top 9 on Foodbuzz today, 26th May. Happy Buzz day! I came up with a peanut thumbprint cookie with a nutella centre. Clever me. It was very very delicious.  The recipe for the peanut cookie was adapted from...here's the Link and Credit Tree......                                        Malaysia Best                                                  |                                 ...

What do you do when you have little kiddies, little grandkiddies or little great grandkiddies? You put them to work. That's what you do. (Aside: I'm a grandma with a dab of mean. And invisible eyes at the back of my head) I waited a long time for this post.  I was excruciatingly eager to get this post up because colors just make my knees go all soft and translucent, like sauteed onions. I think Peace and Light knew that. They knew I would adore these candy coloured sugar cookies. And they were completely right. I do. My sweetie pies. (Aside : We're such girlie girls, my girls and I) At only 11 and 12 they made these all on their own. After their brother H had made the brownies , a few posts ago, Peace and Light thought candy coloured cookies would make a cool post too. And the rest they say ........is a baking tray and cookie dough. Peace loves horses, she rides, she cooks, she bakes, she sews, she knits, she crochets (surpassing her Mom.......... and me ), she decorates ca...