Claire | Things we make

Browsing All Posts filed under »Claire«

Hot Crosses and Big Buns

April 24, 2011

"24 BUNS! What am I going to do with 24 buns?" I asked myself. I didn't know the answer so I decided to make 8 chunky buns and a huge loaf sized one.

Today I feel the need for peanuts, and a peanut butter and jam sandwich just isn’t going to cut it. A while ago I made this very moreish Peanut Sauce within minutes of seeing it on David Lebovitz blog. The darkly roasted peanuts ground up with hot tea have an amazing aroma. It’s even better once you […]

We’ve Published!

April 7, 2011

For the first time I feel justified in putting an exclamation mark in the title of a post, because we have now published the first edition of our magazine! “etc.” magazine is full of articles about Derbyshire people and places, food, destinations and events. It is all put together by Deb and myself so it […]

Crazy Frosting

April 3, 2011

I’m a bit of a sucker for trying something that sounds like it can’t possibly work. This ‘frosting’ fell into that category as it starts with a cup of milk and 5 tablespoons of flour…being cooked up in a pan. Now, I’ll grant you, that doesn’t feel like the start of one of the dreamiest toppings. […]

Layer Bread

March 28, 2011

I baked these layered rolls, based on a recipe from Richard Bertinet’s ‘Dough’ this morning. We had them for lunch, fresh from the oven, with mozzarella, avocado, tomatoes, pesto and rocket. They are very easy to make as there is no shaping, just some random cutting and stacking. I made two batches of dough to […]

Kale Crisps

March 25, 2011

Surely not. It can’t be true that I never got around to writing about kale crisps. We’d better fix that. Right here, right now. Kale is the only edible thing valiantly flourishing away in the garden at the moment. I’m a bit of a fan of the stuff. Have you noticed? Ever since enjoying several […]

Man at Work

March 13, 2011

We have another work in progress. This dark corner of our study has had a makeshift bookcase in it for a few years, awaiting something better to be made. It’s a funny old space. It has a flue jutting into it from when the room was a kitchen and there was a huge boiler in […]

My Polenta Bread

March 5, 2011

This loaf gives you a light, even textured, superbly flavoured bread with a 'not too crusty' crust that's good for toast or sandwiches and lasts for several days.

Picture Post

February 22, 2011

It was Ed’s birthday last week and as well as bestowing upon him the crazy custard cake we gave him this: A drawing of our house by the very talented Lucy Sheeran, complete with little Ern on his window seat. Those who know me will already have heard the story of how I used to love […]

Ed’s Birthday Cake

February 17, 2011

If I ever ask Ed what cake he wants for his birthday, the answer is a victoria sponge, with buttercream in the middle and icing, sprinkles and a cherry on top. Quite specific really. This year though I had an ulterior motive as I wanted to enter a cake into the #nigellaforever challenge. With a […]

Magazine

February 11, 2011

For the last year I have been working with Deb from fabulousplaces.co.uk on a new magazine for Derbyshire called etc. We have had a lot of fun travelling around the county, meeting people, visiting fab places, writing articles and taking photos. It is a real labour of love as every single thing that you will […]

“Improve me”

February 3, 2011

This is something that has been on my ‘to blog’ list for a while: Ice Cream Muffins. When I read that you can make muffins by just using Flour and Ice Cream I was intrigued. When you think about it, a good quality dairy ice cream has eggs, sugar and vanilla in it, as well as cream. Add […]

Khrushchev Dough

January 28, 2011

January’s Fresh From The Oven Challenge is Khrushchev Dough. Apparently this butter rich dough was the favourite bread recipe of the Russian leader Nikita Khrushchev. It was left up to us to decide how to shape and fill the bread. I rolled and stuffed some like Serbian Kiflice, tiny stuffed cheese rolls. I made one third with […]

Pimp My Blog

January 27, 2011

I am taking the lead for this post from looking at my WordPress stats. Instead of everyone searching for cake and woodwork, we have had a few thousand visitors recently looking at WordPress Blog Theme and customisation. It’s because things{we}make is in the ‘Who’s using this theme’ section in the WordPress Themes Showcase. So people […]

Katie’s Cupcake Tower

January 17, 2011

On 1st December 2010 my very special friend, Katie was 40 years old. A magical masquerade ball was planned at Shottle Hall. Unfortunately due to the massive amount of snow we had in early December the party was postponed. Boo! Not to worry though as it was rescheduled to January and even more people could […]

Chocolate Orange Cake

January 8, 2011

I make this cake quite a lot. It serves many purposes: Using clementines makes it feel a little bit festive George always asks for chocolate cake, but I find chocolate sponges a bit ‘meh’ It lasts for days in a tin It is flourless There is no butter in it The flavour is reminiscent of […]

Happy New Year

January 1, 2011

We hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year. Thank you for taking the time to read our posts this year. A special thank you to all of our subscribers for sticking with us. We hope you are occasionally inspired to make stuff too. Let us know when you do. We have […]

List for Christmas Future

January 1, 2011

We had a lovely and quite white Christmas and New Year. But I was left with a slight feeling of disappointment in myself under a general sub-heading of ‘Must-Try-Harder’. I was about to write a list of things to do differently next year, but I just know I’ll lose it so here it is, preserved […]

Bubble and Squeak

December 27, 2010

We hope you all had a good Christmas and are relaxing in this strange lull before New Year. Bubble and Squeak isn’t pretty, but it’s got to be done. It’s something that I avoided as a kid, but I now see as an essential part of Boxing Day and a great way to empty the […]