The Homemade Heart

Business Biscuits

Sometimes Derek asks me to do some baking for business meetings at work.

Home baking breaks the ice, introduces a homely air, and helps to relax the atmosphere. And if he clinches the deal I always take the credit, if my baking has been involved.

Ruled out are squidgy cakes; meringues, flaky pastry, sprinkles, runny fillings, and creamy toppings. As I have said elsewhere, sitting at a business meeting with shards of meringue pattering onto your lap, or jam running down your sleeve, does not conduce to dignified discussion. Like spaghetti bolognese and knickerbocker glories on a first date, these are best avoided. 

Last Sunday evening, I made Pecan Shortbreads for a Monday morning meeting. These are easy to make and have the advantage of being rolled into balls and placed on the baking tray rather than rolled out flat and cut, which is helpful when your kitchen table is piled high with laundry, homework, books, kit bags and general Sunday evening clutter, leaving little space for baking prep.

Pecan Shortbreads

(adapted from The Great British Bake Off book, 2014)

80g pecan halves, plus pecan halves for decoration

250g plain flour

175g butter at room temp

85g icing sugar, sifted

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to Gas 4/180c

Toast the pecans for 5-7 minutes, but do not toast those reserved for decoration.

When cool, chop finely.

Beat butter until very smooth and soft, but not oily. Add the icing sugar tablespoon by tablespoon until fully incorporated. (If you are using a free standing mixer, have it on the lowest setting).

Add the vanilla extract and beat until well incorporated. Add the plain flour and chopped nuts, and mix thoroughly until a stiffish dough is formed.

Flour your fingers; take a walnut sized piece of dough, and roll into a ball, then pat into a small fat disc and place on the baking tray. Top with an untoasted pecan half. Continue, placing the biscuits a little apart on the tray until all the dough is used up. (I weigh each piece at 16g. I know this would have some people screaming with frustration, but I find it reassuring.)

Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, depending on your oven, and the size of your biscuits, until the underside looks fully cooked, and the top of the  biscuits are tinged golden.

Transfer onto a wire rack to cool. When cool, dredge with icing sugar. These keep for  2 or 3 days in an airtight tin.

 

 

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you in your small corner

 

Remember the childhood hymn 'Jesus Bids Us Shine'? It was one of my favourites at school; I loved the image of the candle burning brightly, with a 'cool clear light', illuminating the darkness,  but most of all I loved the line 'You in your small corner, and I in mine'. It identified one of my favourite things in the world; a small corner of my own.

We moved a lot when I was growing up, and frequent moves meant I craved my own 'small corner', to help me feel at home. Anywhere would do; a bedside table, a mantlepiece, a little cupboard that was for my exclusive use. In or on this would go my best loved books; some pebbles and small stones that had caught my eye, a few sweets, a favourite pencil or two, and some paper or a notebook. Having my treasures gathered together helped me to settle in to each new place.

Sharing a room at boarding school, then flat sharing for some years in Edinburgh, cemented this habit. Throughout those years I always identified a corner of my own for music (cassette tapes); magazines ('Cosmopolitan' of course), letters from home, notebooks and paper and a favourite pen, and a few pretty stones.

When I met and moved in with Derek, to the smallest flat imagineable in Glasgow (having left behind my spacious, gracious, shabby but beautiful tenament flat in Edinburgh, which afterwards for many years we wished we had bought instead), I claimed a tiny corner of our tiny sitting room for my stationery, treasured books and correspondence. That little table was a strictly no go area for Derek, with his half empty coffee mugs and dusty album covers. Bemused but obliging, he left it untouched.

Even now, when I have a whole house, and when the rest of the family laughingly regards the kitchen, with its clutter of crockery, cake tins and recipe books, as my personal domain, I still craved my own 'small corner'.

This desire was recently wholly satisfied by the arrival of 'Mrs Doubtfire',* a rather battered writing bureau, found in a charity shop, eagerly purchased, and brought home with some difficulty in the back of my car. I must here reveal that Derek does not share my taste for elderly, shabby pieces of furniture, and despite having agreed to the purchase of 'a desk' actually yelled aloud in horror when he came home from work and saw the particular desk I had chosen. (I suspect he envisaged a flat pack called 'Liatorp' or 'Stuva' from a certain swedish store...) A few tense days followed, where Mrs Doubtfire's remaining in the house seemed in doubt, until he grudgingly accepted that this was the desk I wanted, not a 'nice' new one.

So I now have my ultimate cosy corner. My own desk, beside the fire, and the window that looks out on to our apple blossom trees on my right. It is slowly filling up with my favourite stationery, pens, pencils and notebooks. And it is where I write this blog.

If you are like me, you will want to know what is in all the cubby holes at the back, so here is a close up.

In one of the small drawers, some favourite stones.

I am so happy with my small corner, it is perfect for my needs. There are spacious drawers underneath, where I can slip my laptop when not in use, and keep letters and paper, projects and files, and, like the best treasure chest in the world, the drawers lock, with their own, small, pretty key.

Do you have a cosy corner of your own? A favourite chair or desk, or a table where you keep your treasures? Where do you sit to write letters, or your blog, or stories?

 

*so called because I bought it the day after dear Robin Williams died, and it has bandy legs and is full of surprises.

 

 

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Year in books: January.

I am delighted to report that Laura over at Circle of Pine Trees blog has decided to keep going with her Year In Books project.If you have not yet visited her blog and this particular project, I recommend a visit to pick up some great book reviews and find a diverse group of blogs to visit.

In the spirit of New Year Resolutions, I have decided not to buy any new books until my 'To Read' shelf has been thoroughly gone through and the forty two unread books on it have been tackled. There are a couple of caveats: books for my non virtual book group; books from charity shops or book stalls, and if I visit the Edinburgh Book Festival again this year, I may be wholly unable to help myself.....

On with this month's book choice:

This was published last year, and has had a mixed reception but I will read it this month and am looking forward to it. (Coincidentally, Deborah Moggach is quoted on the back cover; I am currently reading her book Tulip Fever, )

On the topic of books, here is the pile of gorgeous books that came my way over Christmas:

Thrilled with them all. Did you receive any longed for books at Christmas this year?

 

 

curious and excited

Last October, as the old year was collecting its bag and coat, and easing on its winter boots, ready to take its leave, I participated in my first ever blog swap, organised by Kimberley of Creative Chaos. This was a Christmas Gift swap, with some guidelines given by Kimberley.

Coincidentally, I was paired with Kimberley when she drew the names from the hat, so I was both curious and excited to email her and  find out about her likes and dislikes (and check for any allergies; it's hard to leave my nursing days behind sometimes...), before I made up her parcel, and posted it off, hoping she would like what was inside.

Just before Christmas, Kimberley's parcel arrived for me all the way from New Zealand, doesn't it look exciting?

First I opened the envelopes:

The card with the figgy pudding on it has a recipe for Spiced Almond Shortbread crescents written inside. I have tucked it carefully inside my Christmas baking book for future reference.

Inside the box were:

A neat christmas notebook; stampers, and washi tape ( all of which have already been put to good use)

Not only this, but also...

...lovely festive cookie cutters, now safely stashed in my cookie cutter box, and beautiful,bright, spotty, dotty fabric, ready for a future project.

Not to mention these Christmas essentials...

(Is this a good time to admit I ate the chocolate stars on the spot.....?)

However, my most favourite gift in the box was a tin (I love anything in a tin, so it was always going to be a good start) of these gorgeous, polaroid style mini cards:

These are just so perfect, I have put them away for next Christmas and will use them as message tags on my gifts; as mini artworks to pin on cupboard doors, as tiny thank you cards to send after Christmas; as small perfect landscapes slipped inside picture and mirror frames- I can think of a thousand uses for them.

So thank you again to Kimberley, for organising the swap, and for sending me such a gorgeous, imaginative and varied gift, all the way from New Zealand to Scotland. Kimberley also blogged about the swap here, including photographs of what I sent to her, so do pop over and have a read, and visit Kimberley's busy, crafty blog at the same time.

Did you take part in any blog swaps this Christmas? Did you enjoy it if you did?

 

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when I started

When I started this blog, on 1st January 2014, exactly one year ago, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I knew I wanted to start a blog; having been inspired in particular by Jane Brocket and Mary Addison (theirs, and Ben Pentreath being the only blogs I followed with any regularity up until that point). I anticipated writing about baking, and not much else. I imagined weekly posts with a photograph, and recipe. I wrote my first, tentative post, held my breath and pressed the 'Publish' button. I wondered if anyone would ever read my words, look at my photographs, or be remotely interested in my blog.

However, with that first post, I had dropped The Homemade Heart pebble into the vast pool of the Blogsphere, and  I did not then anticipate the ripples that would spread both from this blog towards others, and from others to me (albeit in a very small way).

Keen to feel part of this world I had entered, I looked for promising blogs to read. I found interesting,  lovely, and inspiring blogs and bloggers. I was amazed by how clearly bloggers personalities came through in their blogs (and wondered if my personality came through as clearly in mine). As I followed and commented on the blogs I liked, I began to feel part of a little community; even more so when readers began to leave comments under some of my posts. This was an exciting development! Now I could respond to indiviual readers; it was a two way conversation.

I quickly realised that some bloggers feel just right; they write well, truthfully, and with integrity. They may be writing about cupcakes or quilts, but they are honest, kind, funny, warm. Some I just wish lived   right  next  door. Some, I feel a bit intimidated by, but love them nevertheless. Finding my own blogging voice has been hard; I read my posts and think I come over as a bit stand-offish, a bit formal; rather like catching sight of yourself in a shop window and being amazed that you look just that frumpy... However, I accept that this is all part of blogging; you do your learning in public. Uncomfortable as that is for me, it's probably good for me too.

Reaching out and linking with other bloggers through projects such as The Year in Books at Laura's beautiful blog, and the August Break photography project with the hugely talented Susannah Conway, has brought richness and variety to my blog, and enabled me to read some amazing blogs.

Rather to my surprise, I have found myself writing about many more topics than I had originally anticipated. I don't question myself too closely about this, I accept that my blog has become more of a reflection of my life (albeit small parts of it) rather than the baking blog I had envisaged. Things that matter to me have found there way here, almost without my realising; books and reading, music, the seasons, my love for Scotland, baking (of course) and even running. My family are the dearest people in my life, I adore them body and soul, but I am careful what I write about them; I must respect their privacy, so I write less about them than their vital importance in my life warrents, but only for the best of reasons.

Taking photographs for the blog has also been a very steep learning curve, and I am still not atall confident in this area. However thanks to my lovely husband's thoughtful christmas gift, I will be attending a photography course in the Spring, so perhaps my photographs will improve after that!

Last January, I thought I'd blog for a year, then review my feelings about whether I wanted to continue. I didn't for a moment imagine that I would share the review with you, dear reader.....so what does that say about blogs and blogging? Perhaps, that I love being here, that I am starting to relax, that I have found a community that is vibrant, interesting, friendly, and inspiring. I'm keen to share more of my writing, and my atrocious photographs, and the occasional recipe, and if you'd like to share too, I'd like to stay.