Baking: apricot and walnut scones recipe

I fancied baking some scones, because they're so quick and easy, but I wanted a change from sultanas, so I had a rummage around in my cupboards, and this was the result...

Ingredients
• 225g self-raising flour, plus extra for dusting
• 40g caster sugar
• 75g butter, cut into small pieces
• 30g finely chopped dried apricots
• 30g finely chopped walnuts
• 1 egg
• 3-4tbsp milk
You will need...
• Rolling pin
• 5cm round pastry cutter or a glass

Preheat the oven to 220°C /F/gas mark 7. Sift the flour into a bowl and add the sugar. Add the butter and rub in until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

Add the apricot and walnut pieces with the beaten egg and the milk. Mix with a knife, then bring the mixture together with your hands. The dough should be soft but not sticky so add a little more milk or flour as necessary.

Shape the dough into a ball and place a on a lightly floured work surface. Roll out the dough until approx. 3cm thick. Use the cutter to cut rounds from the dough, starting from the edge and place on a non-stick baking sheet.

When you have cut the first batch, bring the dough into a ball and roll out again. Cut remaining scones out.

Dust the scones with flour and bake for 12-15 mins. Place on a rack to cool and serve halved and buttered – delicious served warm and particularly good with apricot jam!

This recipe first appeared on Allaboutyou.com, where I used to work. It was a great website, with lots of top-quality content,including a few recipes from me. Unfortunately, it was closed in January 2015.

Making chocolate cake for charity

We decided to have a Macmillan Coffee Morning at work. I left it to the last minute to come up with a cake, but thanks to Nigella Lawson I found a quick and easy chocolate cake recipe.

Store Cupboard Chocolate Orange Cake appears in How to be a Domestic Goddess and widely online. Basically you melt butter and chocolate, then stir in a jar of marmalade, eggs and sugar, then fold in flour and bake. I decorated mine with grated orange zest and a nasturtium, which is edible.

And it was very popular with my colleagues at the coffee morning, raising money for Macmillan, which was the whole point.

Sewing for myself: the Sorbetto top from Colette Patterns

There are, of course, lots of free sewing patterns online, but one of the most popular must be the Sorbetto top from Colette Patterns. It's a simple loose-cut sleeveless top with two pattern pieces, bias binding around the neckline and armholes and a front pleat detail. It's supplied as a 'patchwork PDF' that you stick together to make the pattern. The instructions are easy to follow, the pattern pieces are easy to put together, and it's very quick to make. And here's my finished top.

Cooking shakshouka

I've been meaning to make shakshuka since I got Yotam Ottolenghi's book, 'Plenty'. It seems to have started a trend: I've seen this recipe or variations of it everywhere, from magazines to menus and everyone I know seems to eat it all the time. I exaggerate slightly. Finally I got round to it last weekend and although it takes a little longer than my normal breakfast to cook, we agreed it was well worth the wait. It's a delicious slow-cooked mix of spiced peppers and tomatoes with eggs broken into the pan.
See Yotam Ottolenghi's shakshuka recipe here

New Year craft resolutions

Finish what I start?
Not always as easily said as done. I like instant gratification and random inspiration, so I'm easily distracted.
Tidy my raw materials?
The yarn is in two wicker picnic baskets now. The sewing stuff is in my découpaged sewing box. However, the felt, ribbons and fabric scraps would be better off anywhere but the torn carrier bag that my OH got when he bought a coat in Florence last year... The jewellery findings are housed, as ever, in a wooden box that first contained Chinese bowls and spoons. I got it as a Christmas present about 25 years ago and later painted it red.
Learn how to crochet granny squares?
Ummm, I believe this was my resolution last year!

Next year's Christmas card designs

Merry Christmas - I know it's nearly New Year, but I'm planning ahead - this is next year's Christmas card! A coastal Christmas tree made of seaweed with whitish stones for lights/baubles and an odd fronded sponge-like plant/animal for a star on the top. Made in minutes on Deal beach on Christmas Day.

My OH was v keen to make our own cards this year but a last-minute trip shortly before Christmas knocked that on the head (along with a generously decorated Christmas tree and a wreath for the door - I got as far as buying the foam ring...)

Will they be finished by Christmas?

Currently racing to finish knitting a snood and a scarf for Christmas - they're presents. Last year I was casting off on Christmas morning - not recommended!

I had also started knitting garter-stitch dishcloths but the green string (Conran Shop) was v hard on the hands to work with so they're abandoned.

Somewhat more successful is the jingle-bell jewellery: I've made a few pairs of these earrings (photo courtesy of That's Not My Age) cos they take about a minute each. I also made jingle-bell rings for my friend's two daughters.