You may be on the fence with tweaking the classic mince pie, or you may be firmly in the ‘Yay’ or ‘Nay’ camp; I however, am in the ‘Why have one, when you can have both’ camp. I love mince pies and get very excited when they start to appear in the shops. You can’t beat a classic shortcrust pastry version, so why not have the classics along with some creative alternatives. Whether that’s amaretto mincemeat rather than brandy, a pine infused icing sugar to dust on top or my

I will disclose from the outset that these are highly addictive and wonderfully easy which is a dangerous combination. Please don’t blame me if these end up becoming a weakness for you!! I have fortunately had palmiers on many occasions as I am a lover of all things buttery and crisp, but for some reason I have never made them myself. For a treat that only has a few ingredients, it would be easy to think that one palmier would taste just like another, but homemade and fresh

So here we are, coming to the end of the summer holidays and today we turn into September. I was reading my blog from this time last year and it made me smile as I talked about trying to enjoy the ‘in-betweeness’ of the seasons, with summer starting to fade and autumn coming up on the horizon. I am feeling it again this year - the pull of autumn, this might be because autumn is my favourite season of all and I just want to dive into the flavours of cinnamon and hot chocolat

On the allotment, hidden amongst the mess of straw, the berries have turned red - hooray it’s strawberry season, what a great time of the year. I am lucky enough to live 2 minutes from a beautiful French pâtisserie, which I can often be found in, choosing bread or daydreaming about all the eclairs... they also make very beautiful strawberry tarts. I always imagined they would be tricky to make, but actually it turned out to be simple and I get to use up our strawberry bounty

This weekend is yet another bank holiday here in England - hooray. I am sure that whatever the weather, many people will be digging out their BBQ’s and enjoying the outdoors...well that’s my plan at least! I am going for a walk in the South Downs National Park this weekend, I am looking forward to seeing the springtime waking up all the plants, wildflowers and trees. There are a lot of hills and with this in mind I have planned this week’s blog to tie in with a long walk sn

I am enjoying the amount of light first thing in the morning when I wake up, it lifts my soul and it makes me feel like it’s going to be a good day. I have loved seeing all the floral posts on Instagram of people stopping to enjoy and capture photos of blossoms and blooms, I can never get enough. After a very chocolatey weekend of egg hunting and chocolate spread making from last week’s blog, I felt like baking something fruity and non chocolatey. I have mentioned before in

The weather has certainly cooled down in my little corner of the country and the christmas adverts are in full swing on the telly. When I was thinking of my seasonal activity to share with you this week, I started leaning towards christmas baking, in particular - edible gifts. But it is still autumn, the leaves are still turning golden shades on the trees and the winter coats and hats have only just started being worn. So I am holding fast for a couple more weeks and enjoy

I have been enjoying the small changes that autumn brings. The darker mornings have meant I have seen some wondrous sunrises and the start of the leaves going all their various hues of yellow. Earlier in the week I took myself off for a walk on the South Downs and it was one of those splendid autumn early mornings where the air is cool, the blueness in the sky makes it seem bigger and the sunlight is at its low angles. My mission was to collect conkers from the horse chestn

I don’t know if anyone else feels they do this too, but I have a habit of flitting from missing what has gone to getting excited about what is to come, which means I can miss out on the ‘right now’. I am trying to stay observant of the present, this blog and engaging in the activities I share is helping me to do that. A meaningful marker in my year is when the blackberries appear on bramble bushes. This to me is a sign that the summer season is fading and the autumn season