Recipe: Butterscotch and Marshmallow Slices

Last week was a big time of change for me.  I changed jobs.  I left the company that I've been with for two years which had become all comfortable like a security blanket, and jumped head first into the situation I'd been craving - one of change, and challenge.

It's all be going well so far, but I find that the first hurdle when you go somewhere new is often to make connections and new friends.  I remember going to residential writing courses when I was a youngster, I loved them, but I'd have to share a dorm-room with up to 4 complete strangers and it was always a bit of pot-luck as to whether you'd get on... I learnt from those early days that the best way to disarm people was to reach out to their stomach.  The whisper of a midnight feast is enough to make any pre-teen grin with delight. I employed a simular tactic when I moved into Halls at university; I propped open my door, and whenever anyone walked past and made eye contact I offered them a gummy sweet... bizarrely that too seemed to work too.

So the time has come to reach out to my new colleagues - and as I feel that this might require more than a bag of Haribo - so I've been busy baking.  On Day Two a box of brownies accompanied me on the commute, and we're dutifully wolfed down by my delighted colleagues, and in fact I've had a number of people comment on them subsequently... so in terms of making an impact I appear to have hit my mark.  But my new office is a lot bigger than my last workplace, so I decided this weekend that one batch of brownies just wouldn't be enough.  And so I've gone for something a little more adventurous.

I needed something good enough to follow these fellas...

I've always tend to make something with chocolate, so I wanted a sweet alternative, and this Butterscotch and Marshmallow slice recipe, inspired from one from the Hummingbird Bakery seemed to tick the box...:

Butterscotch and Marshmallow Slices

You will need:

For the base

150g flour

40g icing sugar

120g unsalted butter, softened
10ml milk (depending how well your pastry combines you may not need this this)

For the topping

100g pink and white mini marshmallows

210g caster sugar

150g brown sugar (I used a mix of dark and light as that's what I had in the cupboard)

210g golden syrup

80g unsalted butter

60ml double cream

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

60g crunchy peanut butter

Pecan nuts (enough for sprinkling) - roughly chopped

• Preheat the oven to 170C; grease and line a 22cm x 31cm baking tray.
• Mix the ingredients for the base until a dough forms.  Hubby and I struggled here a little bit, so we added in a very small splash of milk to encourage the pastry dough to bind together.  However this did make a very sticky dough, and so we had to roll it rather than press it into the baking tray.
• When you add the pasty to the baking tray make sure that there is a slight lip around the edge (this is to stop all the liquid topping oozing everywhere later) and bake for 20 minutes or until the edges are a light golden brown and the middle is pale but cooked.   Keep a close watch, as the base is very thin and can burn really easily.
• Once the base has cooked remove from the oven, and scatter the marshmallows on top - as the base is still warm they'll start to melt almost immediately so make sure you spread them out evenly. 
• Place both types of sugar with the golden syrup and 240ml of water and bring to the boil.
• Keep boiling for between 5-10 minutes, or until a small drop of sugar syrup forms a soft "ball" in when dropped in cold water. 
• Remove from the heat and stir in the butter. 
• Bring the butterscotch back up to the boil and allow to bubble away for approximately 3 minutes.
• Take the pan off the heat and stir in the double cream, vanilla essence and peanut butter.  Stir continuously until the peanut butter has melted.
• Pour the mixture on to the base and sprinkle the chopped nuts on top. 
• Allow to set at room temperature for a few hours or preferable overnight. To be honest, this is the hardest part of the whole bake... because it just looks and smells divine!
• Slice into bars and serve. 

Oh my, are these bad boys good?! They're sweet and salty, crunchy and chewy... Fingers crossed my new colleagues give it their seal of approval (and that I just don't scoff them all before tomorrow morning!).

A gift to a very close friend - keep it personal.

I feel really blessed that when I look back on my childhood it is full of wonderful memories.  And I shared a lot of those good times with my best friend at school. Like all friendships we've had our ups and downs (I picked on her at playground because her hair was longer and blonder than mine - a terrible crime, obviously) but I'm proud that after more than two decades we're still so close. As an only child she's the closest thing to a sister that I've ever had.

So when I got the news on Tuesday that she'd  given birth to a beautiful baby daughter I couldn't help but swell with pride. I know that if that little girl ever needs something I'll be there for her.

As I am venturing deeper into the realm of crafting I'd already knitted a blanket for her, but I wanted to post sonething to the new family to know that I was thinking of them all whilst giving them space to do that new family thing.  I hunted around online but I couldn't find anything that hit the right spot. I loved the idea of sending a hamper of bits but I just couldn't find the right combination of thoughtful, useful and celebratory. Either it was all new baby clothes,  or champagne and chocolate.  So I decided to make my own...

I went to my local super market and purchased everything I needed, a beautiful bag, some useful new-parent essentials, some choccies, a baby book that the new Mum and I loved growing up, a range of things! I came home laiden with shopping bags and set to work individually wrapping each gift and writing the reason I had bought it especially for them on the labels.  When you've been close for so long you have a lot of memories and thoughts to draw on, and it made each present special.

I've just come back from the post office and realised that I never took a photo of the finished collection to share, but as they say, it's the thought that counts so I'm  sure you'll appreciate the level of thought that I put into it.  And what makes it better is even with the added cost if postsge my personalised gift was at least £5 cheaper than all the cookie-cutter hampers I found online.

I just hope it arrives safely.

How to: Fun and funky nails for Easter

So the weather is completely miserable.  The sky is grey, it's bitterly cold and, for heaven's sake it is snowing.

 

To make myself feel better for the fact that it is snowing in March I decided that some bright, fun nails would make me feel better. And yeh, they have certainly made me feel cheery.

 

After applying a base coat to protect the nails I selected four easter-egg colours. I raided my nail varnish for colours that most closely resembled mini eggs and I settled on a pink, yellow, blue and orange combo.  Paint one nail each colour leaving your ring finger on each hand. Your ring finger will be your feature nail. Paint this one black.

 

In Primark I found nail art pens for the handsome sum of £2 which are great for fine work. They come a sets of two colours, and I can really recommend the set that comes with the black and white pens as they are useful for contrast.

 

On each coloured nail use a nail art pen, start in the middle of the nail and do four dots down the centre. Then in repeat the dots to fill the nail.

 

Once your dots have dried move to your feature nail.  Using white carefully draw a circle on the edge of your nail. The circle should fill roughly a quarter of your nail, and this will be your bunny's head. Whilst the polish is still tacky I added a pink gem in the centre for the rabbits nose. Finally I drew in some  ears and gave the rabbit some eyes with a quick dot from the nail art pens.

 

Seal the whole lot with a layer of top coat and you're good to go!

 

How cute are they?!