Mmmmm Scones (An Englishman's Battleground)

As you may know, I am a dairy-free, egg-free person due to allergies. This means that my treats have to be largely home-made and pretty inventive at times.  However, these scones are so easy to make, and never fail to please (actually, that’s a lie, I made them once with gluten free flour and oh my goodness… that FAILED TO PLEASE. They were disgusting, anyway, I digress)

I make no claims to the recipe, I adapted it from one I found online, however I’ve adapted it to be completely dairy free by using substitutes.

225g S-R Flour
¼ tsp salt
50g dairy free margarine
25g caster sugar
125ml soya milk (+ a little for brushing)

Essentially, sift the flour, add the salt and butter and rub it with your hands to make crumbs. Add the sugar and then add the milk a little at a time (I’ve found you don’t usually need all of it) whilst mixing with your hands until you get a dough.

Warning, this is a MESSY recipe. There’s a reason there’s no ‘during’ pictures – my hands were covered in scone mix. This is very definitely a ‘take off the rings’ recipe, or, if you have a tiny helper that likes doing messy jobs – this is a great one to do with them!

Roll or pat the dough into a flat shape (just less than an inch thick) and then cut into little circles with pastry cutters. Pop on a baking tray, brush with the milk and then pop it in the oven for 10 minutes or so, until they look scone-like. I always end up with one oddly misshapen one, after I’ve cut out as many as I can, I make one small blob-like one with the rest of the dough.

(Incidentally, if you’re wondering, I say scone like gone, not scone like stone. Her Majesty would say scone like soon, obviously that is correct.)

These are so quick and easy to make and are a perfect afternoon snack, especially if dinner is something that is going to take a while. I’ve been known to do them as pudding as well, if we fancy a little something sweet after dinner.

Gosh, aren’t scones a topic of division – I don’t have cream, what with being dairy free and all, but so you know – I put on spread, and then jelly.

Oh what? There’s more room for disagreement? I’m from ENGLAND and I said JELLY? You’re right, I did. Jam has seeds and fruit pulp in it, Jelly does not, it is completely strained and therefore mostly clear.  I know this because my mother makes jelly, and it’s the best stuff in the world! I also do not like jam, but I LOVE jelly.

Are we done with all the contention now? Brilliant, let’s sit down and have a cuppa and a scone!

Katy x

A Whole Bag of Trim

Le GASP this might almost be like a TUTORIAL of sorts. Well, not really, as there’s nothing really to tutor, but I took shots as I MADE this. Madness! This bag was made for a very dear friend Luthaisea because it was her birthday, but also because we both share a love of trim. And by a love of trim, I mean full blown head over heels love.

The only downside to a love of trim is you end up with lots of little end bits of trim, that are not really useful for much (unless there are small people in your life, and small clothes to adorn!) And I needed a project to use up ALL THE TRIM IN THE WORLD *cough* or rather, all the trim in my trim box.

I made a really simple bag, just one piece for the front, bottom, back, and flap over the top, and then separate pieces for the side. In order to get maximum prettiness of trim placement I marked onto the fabric in super magic pens where each piece started and ended.

I then chose which trims I wanted to use – I tried to keep it vaguely colour themed in browns and pinks to blend in with the colour of the main fabric, but I added the occasional strip of blue for visual interest. I took care so that the bottom of the bag on either side ended in lace, and the flap of the bag ended in lace as well – as I felt it would hang nicely that way.

I didn’t put any trim on the bottom or the sides of the bag, as I felt it was already pretty fussy.

Onto construction – starting at the bottom of the front and the back sections I stitched the trim in place using a variety of methods – if the stitching was going to be visible (like the bottom of the pink ribbon in the picture shown) I used a zigzag, however when it was going to be covered by either ribbon stitched over it, or lace hanging down on top of it, I used a regular straight stitch.

I worked one piece at a time, pinning and stitching each piece of trim before I headed to the next one, giving a pretty neat placement. I also played around a bit with how much of each trim was shown.

Next I whipped up a lining for the bag out of polycotton. That was the quickest bit. I made the bag up at the same time – this was not quite so quick, as I had to ensure that the edges of some of the loose bits of trim were caught in the seams – and then at other points, where I wanted it to hang a little looser, they weren’t.

I made a tube strap, and pressed it in the same fabric that the bag was made out of, however I made it super long, as Luthaisea is more than capable of taking it in if she needs to!

Final result? A bag, made ENTIRELY OF TRIM – and it looks pretty cute!

Katy x