Author: emilyharwood

Brownie on a plate

Ultimate Chocolate Brownies

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Chocolate Brownies are hugely popular in the Letstrythisathome house.  They’re incredibly easy to make and pretty much foolproof, even with ‘help’ from the smallest chefs in the family.  The last time we made some, Chief Stick Collector announced that the mixture looked like Nutella.  Lightbulb moment! We added a large dollop of Nutella to the mixture, and waited even more impatiently than usual to see how they would turn out. Chief Stick Collector and Bird Girl were confident. I was tentatively hopeful. A very rainy Sunday afternoon was not the time to have to go out for more ingredients to make a replacement batch if it had all gone wrong.  But luckily, the random addition turned out to be not just as good as the original recipe, but, we thought, an improvement.  Light and flaky on the top but just the right amount of gooey inside, and really chocolatey.  This is now our go-to recipe for brownies. Ultimate Chocolate Nutella Brownies Ingredients 275g (10oz) butter, softened 375g (13oz) caster sugar 4 large eggs 75g (3oz) cocoa powder …

Easy Paper Flower Craft

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Our season tree project got derailed when Bird Girl took such a shine to April’s incarnation – the rainbow tree – that any attempt to redecorate it was met with howls of protest. The rainbow tree now has pride of place in Bird Girl’s bedroom, and for a while I contemplated calling time on the tree-decorating over the summer months, while more exciting and demanding projects, like our vegetable patch, kept us busy. But when a twiggy branchlet got dislodged from our beautiful old silver birch tree, it seemed a shame for it to go to waste, so the seasonal tree project has been revived. Summer means flowers, so what better way to re-start than with some rather fetching pink paper ones? These were so easy to make – all we needed were a couple of sheets of tissue paper in two shades of pink, a pair of scissors, a glass to draw round and some pipe-cleaners. Here’s how we made them (this is a really great craft to let small children try,  although an adult will need to do / …

Paper Rainbow Craft

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We’re a bit late to the party with our April season tree, since it’s now May.  April usually means April showers, but we decided we needed something more cheerful (not to mention easier to make!), and settled on rainbows. The pictures pretty much speak for themselves, but a quick how-to follows the pictures anyway. If anyone has any bright ideas for our May decorations feel free to share! Take seven sheets of coloured paper and arrange them in rainbow order. Cut into strips of equal width (ours were about 2cm) Trim the strips so that each is around 2cm shorter than the next. Staple the ends. Cover the staples with cotton wool (or white paper) clouds. Hang as a garland, mobile or branch decoration.    

Honey Oat Muffins

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    We have been looking for a muffin recipe that feels a bit more healthy.  I know muffins aren’t supposed to be a health-food, but these ones, with the addition of oats, and using vegetable oil instead of butter seemed a bit less ‘naughty’ than others. Although, we discovered that they taste delicious if you slice them open when they’re still a little warm from the oven and spread butter on them.  It defies the whole point of the healthier muffin, but if you’re that concerned about avoiding snacks, just call it lunch! The original recipe came from our BBC Good Food 100 Cakes and Bakes book, but we tweaked it by adding dried apricots in place of some of the raisins and soaking the remaining raisins in orange juice. We made two versions from the same batch of mixture – regular size and mini-size. Honey-Oat Muffins Ingredients 250g plain flour 85g porridge oats 1tbsp baking powder 1/2 tsp cinnamon 1/2 tsp ground allspice 1/2 tsp salt 45g raisins, soaked in 100ml orange juice …

Spring sheep decorations

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“The thing about doing crafts with small children”, said my sister, “is that it seems like a fun idea, but it almost always ends up being really annoying.” She has a point.  It can be incredibly frustrating, to the point that sometimes the effort, mess and irritation seem to outweigh the potential for enjoyment and prevent you even getting started. But she had got me thinking. What makes for a good arts and crafts session with the under-fives, and how do you mitigate against the inevitable irritations? We certainly haven’t cracked it yet, but I have found a few tricks to make it go more smoothly. Keep it short and quick. Small child = short attention span. If they show signs of getting bored, stop. Pick something they can make from start to finish in less than 15 minutes. They lose interest if they don’t see results. Get everything ready before you suggest the activity.  They want to get started RIGHT NOW and won’t want to sit quietly in front of a tempting pot of glue …

Valentine Decorations

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February seems to have come round quickly, and it’s time to re-decorate our seasonal tree.  If it’s February, then it has to be Valentine-themed, which, as everyone knows, means hearts. But before embarking on our tree, I made a paper heart garland.  There are plenty of tutorials online for how to do this, so I won’t bore you with a step-by-step guide.  (If you want to try one yourself, click over to my valentine Pinterest board, where you’ll find links to several different online tutorials.) I used origami paper, cut into strips, and finished off with fabric washi tape to hide the staples, then threaded the hearts onto bakers’ twine (left over from Christmas wrapping!). And so to the tree… At Christmas we had jumped enthusiastically onto the salt-dough bandwagon to make tree decorations. But I found the whole salt-dough thing a bit disappointing. It’s not a great colour, it always takes longer to bake than you think it should, and it’s very difficult to get a flat, even, smooth finish.  You feel like you spend half the time …

Spiced Butternut Squash Soup

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When it’s cold out, a good bowl of soup can be really satisfying.  This one really hits the spot, and it’s so simple to make. The addition of ginger boosts the warming quotient, and the coriander adds a subtle spice without being overpowering. I love this made with chicken stock, for a really rounded flavour, but vegetable stock works well too, to make this a vegetarian dish. I originally came across a version of this recipe in a book called ‘Easy Entertaining’, but the original used allspice berries instead of ginger and coriander.  I definitely prefer the ginger and ground coriander for the warmth and more subtle flavour; but if you’re making this at Christmas time, the allspice is a good seasonal variation. I’m lazy, and think life’s too short to toast your own pine nuts, so I buy ready-toasted ones, but by all means toast your own if you have the time or inclination! This works well with a scattering of fried bacon or pancetta as garnish, but again, only if you have the time …

Four easy DIY bird feeders

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On January 24 and 25 this year, the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch takes place.  We’ve signed up for the event and this week, in preparation, decided to make some easy DIY bird-feeders. The Big Garden Birdwatch is an annual event.  The aim is to encourage people throughout the UK to spend one hour during the weekend counting all the birds they see in their garden, and submit their results to the Big Birdwatch website. The results are used to monitor the ups and downs of the UK bird population.  Why not join in? You can find out more, or sign up for the event, at the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch website. The DIY bird-feeders below are really easy to make, great for children to get involved in, and, most importantly, provide an important source of food for our garden birds at a time of year when food is scarce and the weather cold. While I’m on the topic and before we launch into the how-tos…  if you have small children who are into nature, you really …