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Catnip Ice Cubes

honeyanddough

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August 4, 2014

My cats think that The Humans control the weather.

If you open the back door and it’s raining, it is the fault of The Humans.

At the moment it’s quite muggy and hot. This is also the fault of The Humans. Bear Cat has quite clearly melted.

As a crazy cat lady, I thought I would help the fattest and furriest occupant of the cottage cool down.

You will need hot water, catnip and an ice cube tray.

Measure out how much water your ice cube tray can hold and put the same amount of hot water (I boiled some water and let it cool a little) into a heat proof jug. For every 250ml of water add 1 heaped teaspoon of dried catnip and stir. It will smell like bad herbal tea.

Pour into your ice cube tray and freeze.

When they are frozen, either toss a couple in the garden or stick a few in a dish for them to bat around.

She was also quite content to just lick them and stick her nose on them.

The little cat wasn’t so impressed. But we know that cats are fickle and unpredictable so one out of two wasn’t bad.

Welcome to Honey & Dough

honeyanddough

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August 1, 2014

1553 days ago

It was a Saturday night in May. And I was turning the cottage upside down because couldn’t find the recipe to my favourite cake.

The story is a long one. It was handwritten, on the back of a piece of wrapping paper. It’s smudged with cake batter and raspberry smush. I don’t know where it came from. It’s not in my handwriting. There was no use in guessing the quantities although I could reel off the ingredients.

I had bought one of those recipe binders. The ones where you can write in the recipes or slot in clippings. Was it in the binder? No. Because, logic.

I needed a place to keep my things together that didn’t rely on my elite binder organisational skills. I started a blog called Corner Cottage Bakery. I fired off a first post, so safe in the knowledge that I could delete it if I showed it as much love as my binder.

I did show it a lot more love (and blood, and sweat, and a few tears) than I did the binder.

The recipe turned up. Eventually. I blogged about it here.

Today

The Italian Berry Cake isn’t my favourite cake any more. It’s a comfy pair of jeans that fits you but has a hole in the crotch or those worn in converse. And that is what Corner Cottage Bakery has become for me. It’s moved from awful iPhone photography and exclamation marks to the present day. Growth and change is inevitable.

This isn’t a bad thing at all though. It’s good and it’s healthy. I want to widen those horizons, push myself, and a new platform for this is going to be right where you are now, Honey & Dough.

Not a huge amount is going to change. You’ll still get my posts that start off talking about how my handbag has reached sentience or what 16 year old me would think of me. You’ll still get a blog with an owner who won’t sell her soul for a bag of peanuts. A blogger who takes photos of cake because that is what she likes. You’ll still get cat photos on my instagram and nerd pins on my Pinterest. You’ll get more posts on things like how I made my sister an 8ft giant squid pillow too. I hope you’ll stick with me during the transition. I’m unbelievably grateful that you are here.

Boozy Ice Cream Floats

honeyanddough

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July 24, 2014

This month’s We Should Cocoa is hosted by Elizabeth at Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary who has gone for the saviour of the summer and challenged us to make ice cream based beauties and topping treats. You can read all about We Should Cocoa on Choclette’s blog by clicking here.

Say floats to me and I don’t think of creamy, fizzy, brain freeze inducing drinks.

Nope. I think of carnival floats.

The highlight of the Brownie and Girl Guide calendar but now rarely seen. They were themed, I vividly remember wearing a lion costume, with full face paint, for the Wizard of Oz float we did one year. We’d throw sweets and wave at people. Then we would crash out like tiny rockstars, high on sugar and crepe paper and face paint fumes.

These boozy ice cream floats will also make you feel like a rock star. But that kind of depends on how much liquor you put in them.

Ingredients

Full fat coke. No room for diet here.

Your favourite spirit that will mix with coke. Vodka, amaretto, rum or bourbon welcome at this party.

Soft scoop ice cream. Vanilla, preferably. You could posh this up with fancy ice cream if you want to.

Melted dark chocolate

Method

The golden rule with a coke float is fizzy first. Half fill a tall glass with cola and one shot (two shots, who are we kidding…) of your preferred tipple. Gently place in a scoop or two or ice cream. Top with a little melted chocolate.

Drink through a straw or else ice cream float tash.

Dotcomgiftshop’s Christmas in July

honeyanddough

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July 14, 2014

Man, I love Christmas.

Especially, fun and new things for Christmas. These Santa Sacks were one of my favourites.

This cheery chap…

… and this bony bro would make total cute gifts.

Total ceramic porn. Mainly the simplicity of the blue and white stripy set.

Thank you to Dotcomgiftshop for a lovely afternoon and Jenny Wood for her equally as lovely chat.

This recipe and text was originally posted on Corner Cottage Bakery. You can see the original post here.

Why is this post now here? Click here to read all about my move from Corner Cottage Bakery to Honey & Dough.

Coconut & Chilli Cashews

honeyanddough

1 comment

July 9, 2014

I think it’s a myth that if you are an adult, that you have all your shit together. Like you can keep on top of your laundry and you remember to put salt in the dishwasher. You can get yourself ready in the morning leisurely, over some freshly brewed coffee and yes, you even made eggs. There is a meal plan that you write in beautiful calligraphy on a Pinterest worthy chalkboard in your beautiful kitchen. You probably enjoy the finer things in life, like good wine (i.e. ones not bought on offer at Sainsburys), the theatre and discussing politics.

This is pretty much crap. Pure crap.

I’m an adult and the only reason salt is put in the dishwasher is because there is an angry light that lights up on the new dishwasher when there isn’t salt in there. I don’t like being judged by technology. Empty laundry basket? That’s funny.

I dont have time for eggs in the morning. I have time for throwing on an outfit, brushing my teeth and trying to avoid my cats trying to kill me on the stairs. I have a meal plan but am a big fan of coming home in a royal strop and wanting Thai food. Like now. What do I have drawn on my kitchen chalkboard? A ninja. There is a ninja on my chalkboard.

As for the finer things in life; yes, I own posh welly boots and enjoy wine. But sometimes it takes every fibre in my mortal being not to laugh when someone says “nuts”. You’re welcome

Ingredients

1tbsp runny honey

1/2tsp coconut oil

200gr plain cashews (not roasted, or salted)

15gr dessicated coconut

1/4tsp salt

1/2 small dried red chilli, finely chopped

Method

1, Add the honey and coconut oil into a small suacepan and place over a low heat. When the oil has melted, give it a good stir and then add in the nuts. Stir this well until the nuts are completely covered in the honey/oil combo.

2, Remove from the heat and add in the rest of the ingredients. Toss these together so the coconut and chilli sticks to the nuts. Scrape all of this out onto a lined baking sheet.

3, Spread the nuts out, making sure you dont dislodge too much of the coconut from them and bake for 5-7 minutes until golden brown at 180 o/c. You might have to give them a little shake every now and then so they colour evenly.

4, Leave to cool completely before snacking.

This recipe and text was originally posted on Corner Cottage Bakery. You can see the original post here.

Why is this post now here? Click here to read all about my move from Corner Cottage Bakery to Honey & Dough.