Jubilee!

My daughter had to make some flags for the end of half term to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.  She was asked to make them A4 size and out of material so that the school could sew them onto bunting tape.

I said keep things simple, but she ignored me 🙂 and made a Union Jack flag all by herself out of felt.  At 7.30am the next morning, the day they needed to be handed in to school, she asked to make the flag I had suggested!!  With very little time I helped her put it together and she did all the sewing on her machine.  This was a blue patterned piece of A4 poly cotton fabric, which we simply cut a little larger than A4 and hemmed around the edges.  I then cut out a silhouette of the Queens head from some white cotton fabric and attached it with double-sided Bondaweb, it has adhesion on both sides so is great for applique.  She then stitched around it on the sewing machine to help keep it in place.

We have also had to make cakes for a ‘Bake Off’ at school and of course made our cakes from the ‘Chocolate Brownie’ recipe that you can find in a previous post, but we put them in cake cases this time.  My daughter iced on a bunting design and added some Jubilee bits and pieces to her cake board.  Cakes fit for a Queen! 🙂

I wonder if anyone else has had to create things for school and the Jubilee?  How will you be celebrating?

Enjoy! x

Chocolate Brownies

Just lately we have been making these brownies and because they turn out so well I thought I would share the recipe with you.  I am no baker by any means, so the fact that they turn out well every time is a wonderful thing.

The reason for making them, apart from them being yummy, is because my daughter could have nut allergies and so has to avoid eating foods with nuts in.  Shop cakes, especially in store bakery ones, can have traces of nuts in, therefore, I thought it was far easier to make our own.  She loves them!

The tin I use to bake these in measures 10.5″ x 7″ (inside) and the time they take to cook is around 30 mins but if your tin is a little larger then the mixture will be thinner so you will probably need to reduce the time.  Ovens will vary also so I always set the timer for a little less time than the recipe suggests and then keep testing it with a skewer until the skewer comes out clean.

This recipe was originally found in Simply Home Made Magazine but I have made a few adjustments.

Recipe

• 400g Golden Caster Sugar
• 225g baking margarine or softened butter
• 60g Cocoa Powder (sifted)
• 1tsp Vanilla Extract
• 4 Eggs
• 225g Plain Flour (sifted)
• ½ tsp Baking Powder
• ½ tsp Salt

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°c/350 fahrenheit/Gas Mark 4.  Line your baking tray with baking paper or grease the tray.
2. Place the margarine/butter and the sugar into a bowl and mix together until it is light and creamy.
3. Add the remaining ingredients a little at a time and mix. ( I add a little of the dry ingredients and an egg at a time until all mixed)
4. Place the mixture into the lined/greased tray and bake for approximately 30 minutes.
5. Check the mixture has baked by inserting a skewer and when it comes out clean its done.
6. Allow the brownies to cool before slicing into rectangles.

Enjoy!