Minnie's Soup Kitchen

Blue July, bright July,  Honey flapjacks Month of storms and gorgeous blue;  Violet lightnings o'er thy sky,  Heavy falls of drenching dew; ... So wrote George Meredith.  I certainly saw some lightning in July but not here in Ireland. The spouse, the younger offspring and I were on the continent. Despite the time away from my own hob and oven, I still managed to get some baking done.  Pecan toffee shortbread: a favourite My first offering consisted of honey flapjacks from a recipe in the Irish Times . You'll see that the basic recipe can be varied: butter can be replaced by coconut oil and honey by maple syrup. Four days later I made pecan toffee shortbread - a personal favourite.  Prize-winners: apple crumble cake and plum and amaretti tray-bake Shortly afterwards I entered the local baking competition, making plum and amaretti cake for the tray-bake section and apple crumble cake for the miscellaneous section. Much to ...

My current project is to work my way through recipes from Norfolk’s Own Cookbook: Everything Stops for Tea , which was a present from J'Zo and G-Cro. J'Zo is delighted that I'm using the book and is even more delighted to be mentioned in my blog. She told me not to write that in my blog. Too late. Last Thursday (18th February) I made three things from Everything Stops for Tea : blondies, apple crumble cake and vintage Cheddar and walnut scones. The spouse, younger offspring and I were heading west to stay with family for a couple of days. I was pleased to have a good reason to progress my project. Everything was well received. Blondies Blondies: Rapture! Blondies are the heart of class! One way or another, you’ll want more of these. You’ll be in raptures after one. I’m dreaming of when I’ll next make them. Ingredients: 200g unsalted butter 450g light muscavado sugar 2 medium eggs and 1 medium egg yolk 3 teasp vanilla extract 280g plain flour pinc...