I was preparing for an early and very speedy trip to Ikea to pick up a few bowls and jugs for work before settling down to write a job application. Then there was the laundry to do, the house to clean and, if all that was done, I should really pot up some climbing bean and sweet pepper seedlings. That was, until the phone rang and I discovered that a very dear friend was very much in need. Plan A was soon swept aside as I drove off to pick her up so that she could have a weekend of TLC.
Mind you, I wasn't going to let her get off too lightly! After a swift assessment of the situation, I formally proposed that baking therapy was the order of the day. As I began to get my head around my job application and its rapidly approaching deadline, my friend slowly examined my baking folder. Yes, I am an organised so-and-so and tear tempting recipes out of magazines to keep in a folder. But not in just any old haphazard way - oh no! My recipe files are colour coded with labelled section dividers. Oh, and if I'm really honest, no tearing of recipes takes place, all are carefully cut out and, if they go over two pages, equally carefully pasted back together. [Right about now my mother will be scoffing at such organisation.]
Anyway, this meant that I could present my friend with an organised selection of recipes to peruse; although admittedly, if my recipes weren't filed she could have occupied herself for a lot longer, mainly just trying to find the baking recipes! I had decided that much tea was to be consumed over the next two days and something good and sweet would be required to soak it all up.
After due care and consideration, my friend chose a Hemsley and Hemsley recipe for Peanut Butter Shortbread Cookies. They reminded her of something her late mother used to make and I can't think of a better reason for choosing a recipe than that!
After lunch, work on the cookies began by mashing together a tablespoon of soft butter with 8 tablespoons of crunchy peanut butter, 2 tablespoons of maple syrup, a teaspoon of vanilla bean paste, a quarter of a teaspoon of salt, a quarter of a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda and a quarter of a teaspoon of ground cinnamon. Into this was mixed 100g of ground almonds. The crumbly dough was then placed in the fridge for half an hour and the oven was pre-heated to 160C, 140C (fan) or gas mark 3.
Once things were appropriately chilled and heated, tablespoonfuls of the dough were rolled into rough balls, placed on a lined baking tray and gently squidged with a fork.
They were then popped into the oven for 15-20 minutes before being carefully removed and allowed to cool, still on the tray.
It was at this point that I suggested that a walk around the neighbourhood would be good for us both. Besides, the sun was shining and there was a house that D and I had come across a few years ago, fallen in love with but never found again. I decided a mission was required and off we set. We found lots of lovely houses and some even more beautiful gardens and plants, but alas no house. I'm now convinced we must have imagined it or that it lives in another dimension. However, the walk did us both good and we arrived back at the house to be greeted by the smell of fresh baking and cooled cookies.
Oh, and it was just about time for another cup of tea!
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| What a perfect welcome home |
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| Surely not all for me? |
In the end, the job application did get done, as did the laundry; most of the house has been cleaned; and the peppers and beans have even been potted up. That just leaves the trip to Ikea, but there's always next weekend for that!
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