It has been raining non stop here for 2 days. Is it the same where you are? Where has the summer gone I wonder? In order to pretend it is still summer I thought I would share with you a picture of a recent summer baking project - little sandcastle cakes and seaside biscuits. The sand is made with crushed digestive biscuits (watch out for an appearance of this edible sand in my whoopie pie book too - the oyster pies have their own little beach!!) The sandcastles are constructed using an inverted muffin with a marshmallow on top all covered in buttercream and then rolled in the edible sand. So easy but quite effective don't you think?

There are days when I enjoy the perks of my job! I have been over in Suffolk for meetings and was late leaving last night so popped into our company hotel to see if the lovely chef, Chris Lee, had something that I could take home for supper - I had a two hour drive ahead of me and wasn't going to be home until 9pm so was hoping for a short cut supper! Chris has been super kind to me ever since Masterchef and provided me with lots of training in between filming in an attempt to get my cooking skills up to scratch! I don't think "short cut supper" can quite describe what Chris kindly packaged up for me - home made burgers with truffle mayonnaise, home made picallili, fois gras, home made muffins, a home grown tomato, lettuce and some delicious cheese to melt on top of the burgers. I think my husband thought all his Christmases had come at once when I arrived home carrying my crate of goodies. 10 minutes later we were eating the best burger I have ever eaten! So if you are ever passing the Bildeston Crown in Suffolk (link to the hotel here) I can most definitely recommend the truffle burger!!!

Very excitingly I have been asked if I would like to do a cookery demonstration at the Prince of Wales' "Garden Party to Make a Difference". As you can imagine I had to think about this for all of 1 second before saying yes! So on 12th September I will be doing a cookery demonstration in the Gardens of Clarence House (so so exciting) - the event looks lovely with lots of live music, delicious foods plus the lovely gardens to visit (that don't often get opened to the public) and a central and very important theme of sustainability. The garden party is on between 9th and 18th September. Tickets are available from www.startgardenparty.co.uk - hope that one or two of you might like to go along and support a very worthy cause. Now, what to cook in a Prince's garden...decisions, decisions (and suggestions very welcome!)

Pretty toadstool cookies!

Sometimes it is the simplest of lunches that are the most delicious. My husband Sacha has been away on a silent retreat for 12 whole days - personnally I could never imagine be silent for one day let alone 12 but he managed it and I am very proud of him. As he had been eating very simple food for the duration of the trip, I wanted to make something fairly plain for his return so I made stuffed peppers. Stuffed peppers always remind me of throwback 80's lunches but these were really delicious and I would definitely make them again.

Allow 1 pepper per person, cut in half and deseed and rinse in cold water to make sure any loose seeds are removed. For each pepper half, thinly slice three baby plum or cherry tomatoes. Place in the pepper and top with a few thin slices of fennel, 1 tsp of pesto, slithers of garlic and some torn basil leaves. Drizzle with olive oil and a good sprinkle of salt and pepper and roast in a hot oven for 30 - 40 minutes until the pepper is soft. When cooked, top with some more shredded basil leaves and a good grate of parmesan cheese and serve with the oil from the roasting pan spooned over. The pepper are particularly good with warm brown rice.

My latest article in Country and Town House is a pear chutney. We have been tucking into this over the last few weeks since I made it - Steven Wallis (Masterchef winner) used it to make our pastrami sandwiches on the day of Maren's birthday and gave it a thumbs up! Praise indeed, so I thought I would share with you in case any of you are in a preserving mood.

Golden Pear Chutney
Makes two 500ml jars
Preparation time 15 minutes Cooking time about 1 hour
1 tbsp olive oil
2 onions, peeled and finely sliced
800g.1il 12oz ripe pears
150g/5 1/4 oz dried apricots, finely chopped
250g/8 3/4 oz golden sultanas, such as Orange River
300g/10 1/2oz caster sugar
300ml white wine vinegar
100ml marasla wine
1 cinnamon stick
1 stem ginger preserved in syrup plus 2 tbsp of the ginger syrup
sea salt and freshly ground pepper to season
Equipment: Large saucepan, 2 jam jars, wax paper discs, jam funnel (optional)
Heat the olive oil in a large heavy saucepan and gently fry the onions until soft and golden. Peel and core the pears and chop into small chunks. Add the pears to the pan with the choppped apricots, sultanas, sugar, vinegar, marsala and cinnamon stick. Finely chop the stem ginger and add to the pan with the ginger syrup. Heat the pan over a gentle heat for about 40 - 60 minutes until the pears are cooked and the chutney has a thick syrupy consistency. The actually cooking time will depend on how ripe the pears are. If the chutney still seems thin add anouther 50g of sugar and simmer for a little longer. Whilst the chutney is simmering, sterilize your jam jars. Wash the jars and lids in hot soapy water and rinse well. Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 1/140C/275F place the jars on a baking tray and heat for about 20 minutes. Remove the jars carefully from the oven using a clean tea towel. Season the chutney with salt and pepper to taste and then carefully soon the hot chutney into the sterilized jars, using a jam funnel if you have one, and seal with a wax paper disk and lid. The chutney can be eaten straight away but the flavours will develop if left in a cool dark place for a month and will keep for a year provided that the jars have been properly sterilized.

My friend Lucy, who is allergic to wheat, is off on holiday to Scotland. These are some cookies I baked for her to take in the car with them, adapted from my anzac biscuit recipe. I should point out (thanks Twilth Night Knitter for the prompt) that not all people who are allergic to wheat can eat oats so you need to check before serving them. You can substitute regular flour if you prefer.

Oaty Gluten Free Cookies

150g/5 1/4oz butter

3 tbsp golden syrup

170g/6oz porridge oats

85g/3oz dessicated coconut

60g/2oz flaked coconut

115g/4oz caster sugar

115g/4oz gluten free self raising flour (I use Doves)

Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 4/180C/350F and grease and line three baking sheets. I use silicon mats for biscuits like these as they ensure the biscuits don't stick at all. Melt the butter and syrup in a saucepan. Mix together all the remaining ingredients and pour over the melted butter mixture, stiring well so everything is incorporated. If you want your biscuits to spread out quite a lot (we liked these best as they were buttery and very thin) make 24 small mounds (about walnut size) on the trays whilst the mixture is still warm and bake stright away. If you prefer a more cookie type biscuit (we still thought these were yummy) then leave the mixture to cool completely before making the 24 mounds on the trays - these do not spread as much as the warm cookie mixture. Bake for about 10 - 15 minutes until the cookie are golden - watch closely towards the end of cooking as they can go brown very quickly. Leave to cool on the trays and then transfer to a tin to store. Lucy gave these a thumbs up - she is my gluten free food barometer!

Pretty sweet peas and sunflowers in our neighbour Gary's garden. Just a perfect snapshot of summer!

I thought I would share with you a few photos from our village sewing circle meeting earlier this week. It is such a nice group, with people of all ages and with different craft interests. Kathy was teacher this week and was showing Susan and Lucy how to knit neck seams on sweaters - so far beyond the realms of my knitting skills but it was lovely to see the garments come together (Susan had had a bit of an incident and lost the shoulder on her jumper - I think you had to be there but it made us all laugh a lot when she told the tale). It is always good to have a natter and catch up on village gossip over a glass of wine and Lucy had made some delicious homemade guacamole for us all to try! Everyone looks deep in concentration in the photos - as if we are all very industrious with our sewing but I promise you we are not!

It is a while since our kitten Peapod appeared on this blog and I wanted to share this photo of her with you so you could
see how much she has grown - she is almost a proper cat now although is still at that slightly gangly stage! She spends her days chasing anything that moves - flies and butterflies in the garden and rats and mice in the farm barns next door (she is excellent and we could probably rent her out as a rat catcher). She has taken to giving kisses when she wants feeding, snuggling up with me on the sofa when I am trying to sew and even trying to do handstands on the kitchen cupboard (see below!) - just so adorable!

Brownie Cookies

For some unexplained reason I have been trying to perfect the ultimate "Brownie" cookie - with all the flavours of a brownie, just a little bit less gooey and a bit more crunch. I think I have just about cracked it! So for any brownie lovers out there, why not give these a try. You can add any additional flavourings or nuts that you like - chunks of caramel chocolate, peanuts, white chocolate chips - the possibilities are endless! They are lovely with a large glass of ice cold milk - my favourite drink of all time!

Makes 18 Baking time 10 - 15 minutes Preparation time 10 minutes

125g cream cheese
170g butter
140g caster sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla essence
170g plain flour
55g cocoa
150g plain chocolate, chopped
100g walnuts, chopped
30g salted pretzels (optional - its just that I have a thing for pretzels in cookies at the moment!)

Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 5/190C/375F and grease two large baking trays. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the butter, cream cheese and caster sugar until light and creamy. Add the egg, vanilla and sift in the flour and cocoa. Mix well until all the flour is incorporated. Fold in the chocolate, walnuts and pretzels (if using). Place 18 tbsp of the mixture on the trays a small distance apart and bake for 10 - 15 minutes until cook and firm to touch. Transfer to a rack to cool. Dust with a little edible glitter for that little extra bling if you wish!

The spa where we stayed in Thailand served delicious herbal teas and tisannes and I have taken to making my own since we got back. I have never been a fan of herbal teabags which always smell so nice but seem to taste of very little - not my cup of tea at all! My drink of choice at the moment it fresh ginger and rosemary "tea". Just place a washed sprig of rosemary with a few slices of fresh ginger in a mug, pour over boiling water and leave to steep for a few minutes before drinking. It is so refreshing and I'm sure good for you too!

I know it is a somewhat sad thing to confess to but I do love Glee. I am sure it is not everyone's cup of tea but I do love naff singing musicals! Luckily our niece does too so I had the perfect excuse to be Glee-ful last weekend for her birthday! The cake was a treacle carrot cake - my brother had sent me the recipe from America saying it was the best cake he had ever eaten. I think if you loved treacle it would be heavenily but I am not a big fan of treacle at all. Still everyone else seemed to like it. Topped with cream cheese orange frosting, maple popcorn and cheerleading pompom style foil wands, it did just the trick!

Blueberry Lemon and Limeade

I made this lemonade at the weekend for our nephews and nieces who came to visit on Sunday. They loved it so I thought I would share the recipe with you. It is the perfect drink for summer!

150g blueberries
5 lemons
5 limes
200g caster sugar
borage flowers to decorate
ice

Slice each blueberry in half and place in a large heat proof jug or bowl. Using a vegetable peeler or zest remove the zest of 3 lemons and 3 limes (taking care not to include any of the white pith as this is bitter). Add to the jug, with the juice of all the citrus fruit and the sugar. Pour over 500ml of boiling water, stir well and leave to cool. When cool top up with cold water (how much will depend on how strong you want your lemonage - I used about 1 1/2 litres), lots of ice and decorate with borage flowers.

This weekend was my friend Ros' birthday. Poor Ros is very sick so we wanted this party to be super special for her. This was the cake I made - very English Country Garden with fresh roses and sweet peas on top and matching cupcakes underneath. The rice paper roses are my decoration of choice at the moment - I can't use them often enough (available at http://www.makeawishcakeshop.co.uk/ if you want some - I am not on commission honest!) Ros loved her cake (she had three slices!) and we all enjoyed the party very much. Happy Birthday Ros xxxx

My Mum and I have recently started a new joint collection, which I thought you might like to see - knitted tea cosies! We combined our collection for my tea party and I am sure you will agree we have some real beauties! They are all so lovely that it is hard to have a favourite but I do adore the little knitted cupcake with a cherry on top and cream tea scone one! Cup of tea anyone?

Poor neglected blog and poor neglected blog readers - I am truly sorry for disappearing for such a while. I wish I could say it was because I have been busy doing nice things but the sad truth is that work has been very very grotty and I have had struggled to think of anthing nice to write about. I have however just had weekend with Maren who was visiting and we held a tea party for her birthday with 35 people and a vast amount of cake! Lovely Steven Wallis from Masterchef came and leant a hand expertly making cucumber and tomato sandwiches and a nice time was had by all. I failed to take any photos but Steven is sending some through so I will post them as soon as I have them. Needless to say I don't think the party could have been any more "English Country Garden" if we had tried - lots of bunting, flowers and rose petal punch. I think Maren had a nice party and it was so good to be able to do something special to celebrate her birthday having missed her actual birthday party for the whoopie pie shoot. In the meantime I thought I would share with you one of the presents I made for Maren - a little wren picture. I have to say I quite liked it for myself so perhaps I will have to stitch it again one day soon!

As if this week hadn't been lovely enough already, I have also been to the photo shoot for my Whoopie Pie book. It is being styled and photographed by Steve Painter who did my Sundae book so beautifully and the food stylist is Maxine Clark. I love Maxine and have lots of her cook books so it is a real honour that she is cooking my recipes for the shoot. On Monday I did a 7 hour round train journey to Hastings carrying 96 rainbow whoopie pies and a heavy glass cake stand - with two train changes this was no mean feat! However it was well worth it to see the photos that were already finished and to help Maxine make the whoopie pie crocquembouche tower. It took quite a while to assemble with Maxine painstakingly brushing away every single crumb with a paintbrush but when we had finished the result took our breathe away just a little bit. I hope that sometime soon I can share a photo as it looked lovely with trailing twisted ribbons and is so me. In the meantime, I can share a quick sneak peak photo of Steve with the peanut butter and jelly pies on his computer screen. I made the tea in the cups!!!! Although it is just a small glimpse I hope you can see what a good job he and Maxine are doing. The pies are peanut butter, with a peanut butter cream and jam filling, a shiny peanut glaze and chopped peanuts. Yum yum! Thanks Steve and Maxine for bringing my crazy pies to life!

I gave an interview last week to the New York Daily News about Sundaes and my book. I was expecting a small piece in the middle of a newspaper. Imagine my delight when the article came through yesterday and it was on the front cover of their Sunday food magazine New York Eats and covered 4 pages!!! 700,000 people read the paper!!!!!! Truly amazing for my little book. I love the fact that they describe it as a "Whole New Swirl of Sundaes" - just lovely! I am so thrilled with the article as you can imagine and a huge thanks to lovely Marny at RPS New York for arranging xxxx

Last weekend was our village fete. It will come as no suprise to you to know that I was on the cake stall! Here were my offerings - Double chocolate pecan cookies, Rainbow cookies, Pretty pink cupcakes, Watermelon cupcakes with edible rice paper and green bootlaces as ribbon (these were red inside and completely mad - I think I will post the recipes for these soon), White chocolate and apricot cookies and Cinnamon and blueberry whirls. We sold out of everything within an hour and a half and a great time was had by all in aid of a good cause. Everything looked very pretty in bags tied up with ribbons and with printed labels made quickly on my computer - so simple but very effective.

At 5.15pm (UK time) today I will be chatting on the Martha Stewart Living Radio programme Everyday Food on Sirius Satellite Radio (Sirius Channel 112/XM Channel 157) about ice cream - yum yum! I am a huge fan of Martha Stewart's website (just the perfect combination of delicious things to cook and crafts to make) so was thrilled to be asked to be on the radio. If you want to listen in from the UK you can registered on the website for a free trial of Sirius Radio www.sirius.com/freetrial/register

I have recently developed a bit of an obsession with old teasets. I now have 5 sets which I am sure is more than I could ever need in one sitting and absolutely no where to store them - they are currently in the dresser in the shepherd's hut in our garden! These are my two latest acquisitions - the pretty white and gold one was sitting in the window of a charity shop when I passed buy - honestly who could ever throw out such a pretty set of cups and plates. Luckily I snapped it up and it has gone to a good home. The forgetmenot tea set was another "absolutely necessary" purchase as it matches my violet tea set - exactly the same shape and colour, just different flowers. Afternoon tea for 30 anyone?

I have been somewhere fun recently although I am not yet able to say why! As I walked to the studio my stomach churned as if I was going back to cook in the final again (luckily I wasn't). I hadn't been to the studio since the day we finished filming three years ago - talk about taking a trip down memory lane!

My little Rooster may be tiny, but he will protect his "girls" to the hilt. Last week the window cleaners called me to say that there was a standoff going on outside and I thought that one of the hens and the rooster were disgreeing. Alas no the rooster had taken on the peahen, about 10 times his size. I am pleased to report that noone was injured and the rooster was victorious, seeing the peahen off. True David and Goliath stuff!