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bramble jam

ripe juicy blackberries are everywhere right now, perfect for picking with the kids. after you've eaten just as many as you can bear, turn the rest of your pickings into some very simple & delicious home made jam. here's how:

ingredients: 500g blackberries, 500g jam sugar, knob of butter.

what to do: wash your berries thoroughly and leave to drain. place in a deep pan with the sugar and allow to come to a rolling boil, then turn down to a good simmer, stirring occasionally.  use a sugar thermometer to check on the temperature, remove from heat when mixture reaches 105ªc. allow to cool for ten minutes, then stir in the knob of butter.

sterilize your jars in a pan of boiling water, dry out in a hot oven, and pour in the jam so it reaches just about to the top of the jar.  cut out a circle of greaseproof paper the size of the jar and cover the top of the jam before fitting the lid.  

leave to cool completely, pop in the fridge overnight and look forward to hot buttery toast & jam for breakfast x

real food market

oh, it's hard work watching all these amazing athletes doing their thing, you can work up quite an appetite sitting infront of a giant tv screen.  luckily, if you're out & about along the south bank, the real food market is open every day throughout the olympics, and is offering all manner of delights; seafood paella, goats' milk icecream, indian & thai curries, real chocolate hot chocolate, salami, fruit tarts, sausages, moules mariniere, savoury muffins...... get your running shoes on and run along now

c is for cookie

throughout the summer holidays we will be posting simple recipes to get the kids in the kitchen & hopefully baking enough to take on a family picnic. here's some soft, chewy cookies to kick things off, perfect for an afternoon in the park:

apple, oat & raisin cookies ( recipe makes 12 jumbo cookies )

ingredients: 120g butter, 185g brown sugar, 1tsp vanilla, 1 free-range egg, 150g plain flour, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp baking powder, 100g porrige oats, 100g raisins, 100g grated bramley apple

what to do: set the oven to 180c. cream the butter & sugar using an electric beater.  add vanilla & egg, beat until combined.  add flour, cinnamon and baking powder, mix thoroughly.  finally add oats, raisins and grated apple. roll the mixture into ping-pong sized balls, place on a tray and leave in the fridge for 15 mins for the mixture to firm up a little. on a flat baking sheet, place the balls of cookie dough at least 5cm apart and gently press down so they are flattened slightly.  bake for 15 mins or until golden. leave to cool on the baking tray for 5 mins before moving to a wire cooling rack to cool down completely.

summertime madness

our feet have barely touched the ground these last couple of months, the party season is most definitely in full swing. happy to see that the atrocious weather hasn't once stopped the great british garden party!