Baking

We have had a very busy weekend for visitors. Last night I got an urge to practise my domestic goddess skills and looked up a simple shortbread recipe. This morning I baked. 

Delia Smith's shortbread with my touch - dried cranberries and chocolate chips. 

I was a bit worried about how dry it looked. I measured everything very precisely using my electronic scale. Cute spotty wee thing. When I managed to get it together into a dough I decided it resembled the Loch Ness Monster. 🐲

The biscuits were tricky little beasts to cut as the cranberries made the edges crumble. 

They turned out just fine though. 

While they were baking I picked some raspberries to make muffins. 

I used my usual Alison Holst fruit muffin recipe. The mixture looked glorious. 

My kitchen smelled like raspberry jam. Heaven. 

Perfect!

Also perfect! 

I don't bake very often as I only end up eating the delicious results, but with three lots of visitors coming today, it was well worth doing. The shortbread was lovely with the slightly tangy cranberries - highly recommended. Not many people would have a cup of just-picked raspberries on hand, but frozen ones would do. They are less sweet once cooked than blueberries, but make very yummy muffins. Chunks of white chocolate would be fabulous in them. 

We had some incredibly heavy rain not long ago. It pelted down. The day was lovely, but right now you never know what the weather will do next. I need to ride Zanny tomorrow, among other things. Time is racing by.