Giant Jammie Dodgers (recipe)

3 April, 2013 By 1 Comment

giant jammie dodger

High five! We rock at baking – JD, 5

We spent the last day of the long bank holiday weekend cramming in as much creative activities as possible. We played with playdough, we drew, we crafted with pipecleaners, and then it was time to bake.

We had spotted a recipe for jammie dodgers on The Crumby Mummy’s blog so decided to give it a go. We ended up tweaking the original recipe a little, and Charlotte has kindly let us reproduce it here as part of the ‘A Mummy Too cooks with…‘ series.

So here it is. Charlotte’s dodgers are cookie soft and ‘biscuit size’, whereas our recipe makes 12 huge dodgers with crisp edges, cakey middles and lots of lovely, set jam.

Ingredients

  • 250g butter
  • 100g caster sugar
  • 397g tin of condensed milk
  • 2 tsp vanilla essence
  • 600g plain flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • Approx 220g of strawberry jam
  • 1 big cookie cutter (approx 4 inches wide) and one small one – any shapes will do

Instructions

  1. Beat together the butter and sugar
  2. Beat in the condensed milk, then the vanilla essence
  3. Sieve in the flour and baking powder and kneed into a ball
  4. Roll out the dough to approx 7mm thick
  5. Cut out 24 large shapes, then cut the smaller shape out of the centre of half of them
  6. Place the the hole-less shapes on a baking tray lined with greaseproof (we used two small strays)
  7. Spread each biscuit with a rounded teaspoon of jam, stopping a mm or two short of the edges
  8. Place one of the hole-cut biscuits on top of each, then drop another 1/2-2/3 of a tsp of jam in the hole to just fill it
  9. Bake at 180C (160C fan assisted) for 20 minutes until browning at the edges, but not dark all over
  10. Allow to firm up for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely
  11. Store in an airtight tin and should keep for a few days

Big love to Charlotte – and if you’d like to take part in ‘A Mummy Too cooks with’, please read the details of how it works and then get in touch.

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Mask decorating – a fun, easy craft activity for kids

24 March, 2013 By

mask-decorating

It’s really fun. I’d be more than happy to do it every day. Daddy has really good ideas – JD, 5

Mark picked up a pack of cheap masks in a craft store quite a while ago and we decided to make this snowy weekend the day we finally got round to decorating them.

Armed with pipe cleaners, poster paint, glue and tissue paper, these are our creations.

‘Devil Woman’ by JD

devil-mask

Poster paint detail and tissue paper horns.

‘Electrical ears’ by JD

insect-mask

Poster paint detail and pipe cleaner antennae.

‘Super Lady’ by me

Mask-making

A fat pipe cleaner for her hair, two more for her eye mask and screwed up tissue paper for her mouth.

‘The beardy fireton’ by JD

mask-decoration

Pipe cleaners galore and a little tissue paper.

‘The chocolate man’ by me

chocolate-mask
Painted with dark chocolate, sprinkled strategically with coloured sugar, and finished with a lollypop.

What ever materials you choose to use, I really recommend giving mask decorating a try. It’s loads of fun and we’re going to hang the results on JD’s wall.

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20(ish) things to do with the last weekend of the school holidays

5 January, 2013 By 5 Comments

relaxing

Can we cuddle up and watch a film? – JD, 5

BOO, it’s almost the end of the school holidays! WOOHOO, it’s almost the end of the school holidays!

We’ve loved our time together this Christmas and it’s going to be hard to get back to ‘normal’, especially as we lost a chunk of time to illness. But at the same time, I’ll be glad of the peace and the opportunity to get back to work properly that school and nursery brings.

So, whether you’re sad to see an end to the Christmas break or itching to get the little beasts back to school, chances are you’ll be hoping to make the most of these last couple of days before the new term kicks in.

We’re planning plenty of cuddling time while watching DVDs, a trip or two to the park and a stroll round the local museum to keep us busy.

If that doesn’t float your boat, check out what some of the other mums I spoke to are planning…

Less deck the halls, more clear the decks

For some it’s a case of out with the old, in with the new. Will you be taking down your Christmas decorations like Angie? As Donna says, it’s a great way to “start the new term with a clutter free home and mind”.

Greet the three kings

If you have Spanish / Mexican roots, you might be spending this Sunday celebrating 3 Kings Day. As Maggy explains, it brings “Christmas to an end when the 3 Kings arrive at the Crib” We eat a 3 Kings Day cake (a bit inbetween panatone/ hot cross bun) and someone gets to find a little king figurine inside the cake and is King for the day (a Spanish/ Mexican tradition). Then we take the tree and decorations down.” Vanessa has the same plans with the day also marking the giving of her son’s final festive present of the year – sounds like a lovely way to round off the holidays.

Getting out and about

We love venturing out of our usual surrounding whenever we get the chance, and if you do too, you might feel inspired by Emma, who is taking her family exploring in the woods, Amanda, who has tickets to see Walking with Dinosaurs at the O2, Emma, who is taking her girls shopping to spend their Christmas money, or indeed Penny who is off to review the Sea Life centre in Birmingham – definitely on our to-do list for this year too.

Great creative at home

Like us, Cat has the baking bug: “I have promised E we can do some baking. I’m thinking brownies and maybe some of Annie Spratt‘s fudge.” Love it! And if you fancy cooking with the kids this weekend, there are lots of family friendly recipes in our food section to inspire you *cough* :)

Take a break

Or perhaps you’re grabbing a bit of grown up time after two weeks of child-centred madness. Clare will be shipping her son off to his grandmother’s, Amanda will be letting her hair down at a belated New Year fancy dress party, while Jane says, “I am taking my mother to London for a show, a meal and a night in a hotel, it is time for daddy day care.” Lucky them!

I must admit I went a bit green with envy when Vicky told me, “The boy is with his dad this weekend so I am having a much needed lie in, having a sale at home for my gift business and getting OH to take me out for a grown up meal tomorrow night followed by drinks at the pub!”

Back to the old routine?

For many, though, it’s back to the usual routine of keeping up with their little people’s busy social calendars. Marianne has swimming and a birthday party, Helen is in London watching the eldest be a mascot for his favourite football team, Kiera is planning to scoot round the park and Becky is filling the week with “ballet, bike rides and earlier bedtimes“.

Looks like we’re all going to be pretty busy, whatever our plans. So, over to you…what will you be doing this weekend?

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Pictionary – reading, communicating, getting arty (game review)

20 December, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Pictionary (game review)

I really like this game – JD, 5

Pictionary has been an absolute joy to play with JD (5), who loves words almost as much as he loves drawing.

In case you don’t already know, Pictionary is a simple game where you get given a word to draw and someone else has to guess what it is within a set time. The board game element is pretty straightforward and adds a bit of variation to help decide what word you have to draw.

In the box you get:

  • 123 x Adult cards (10 words per card)
  • 83 x Junior cards (10 words per card)
  • 2 x Card boxes
  • 4 x Category cards
  • 4 x Pencils
  • 4 x Drawing pads
  • 1 x Game board
  • 4 x Playing cubes
  • 1 x Sand timer
  • 1 x Die
  • 1 x Instructions Sheet

Now, since the game has an RRP of £24.99, you might wonder, “why spend all that money when you can just sit with a pen and paper and think up your own things to draw?” and of course you’d have a point, but having played with JD several times over the last couple of weeks, I can say with confidence that it’s worth it.

It’s bright, colourful and the drawing and guessing parts are broken up with some time on the board, meaning it seems to engage him and hold his attention for longer. So yes, playing Pictionary is more fun than a pen and pad alone and it gets kids drawing, communicating and thinking creatively.

I would highly recommend this game as a Christmas gift, just note that although JD is 5, he’s an advanced reader and the game is actually aimed at children aged 8+.

Disclosure: we were sent Pictionary free of charge for review. No payment was received for this post. All posts are 100% honest.

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The Vampire Diaries – teen horror never looked so good

31 October, 2012 By 3 Comments

You’re dead, dude. Get over it! – Damon

It’s Halloween, so what better time to sit watching the entire first series of teen horror series, The Vampire Diaries.

The premise is this. Small town girl, Elena Gilbert is busy trying to get over the death of her parents and has recently returned to high school when it comes to the attention of two vampire brothers that she bears a striking resemblance to their old vampire flame, Katherine Pierce – last seen in 1864.

So, first the good brother (well, the one trying to stay off the red stuff) Stefan, and then the not-so-good brother Damon hot foot it back to the town to gaze upon her, but with differing motives.

I won’t say too much more as it would spoil the show, but suffice to say there’s plenty of sibling rivalry, high school angst, romance and blood.

It’s a sexy series, aimed, I suspect at a market a little younger and with more mainstream tastes than my own, but it’s good fun, and I may or may not be on the hunt for series box sets 1-3. Y’know, just to pass the time.

Disclosure: we were sent The Vampire Diaries Series 1 free of charge on DVD for review. No payment was received for this post. All posts are 100% honest.

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Spookily good monster crispy cakes (recipe)

29 October, 2012 By 3 Comments

I seeeeee you – JD, 4

We have three Halloween traditions in our household. We have a party (because it almost coincides with JD’s birthday), we carve pumpkins (JD draws a pattern on and Mark cuts it out) and we make monster cakes that peer right back at you.

Here’s how to make 12 of the little lookers…

Ingredients

  • 200g marshmallows
  • 30g butter
  • 120g rice crispies
  • 2 tsp green natural food colouring
  • 12 white chocolate Lindor (white chocolate truffles)
  • A pack of icing pens (including black, green and red)

Instructions

  1. Prepare the eyes first by drawing a black circle with icing onto the top of each ball
  2. Next draw round the black circle twice with the green pen
  3. Using a very slightly wet finger (I keep a pot of warm water by me as I work) pat the icing down to smooth it
  4. Finally, using the red pen, draw in some spooky detail from the middle outwards
  5. Set them aside
  6. In a saucepan, gently melt the butter, then add in the marshmallows, stirring continuously with a large metal spoon until completely melted
  7. Keeping the pan over a very low heat, stir in the rice crispies and mix until completely coated
  8. Now add the colouring but try to stop mixing before the colour has distributed completely evenly – it gives a spookier effect
  9. Take off the heat
  10. Line a muffin tray with fairy cake cases and when the mixure is just cool enough to handle, spoon it into the cases – you may have to use your hands as it gets sticky very quickly
  11. Wash any mix off your hands and leaving them slightly damp, push down the mixture in each case so that it’s packed firmly – you may have to rinse your hands a few times as you go
  12. Before they set, push an eye into the centre of each cake so that it’s set in by a couple of milimetres
  13. Allow to set completely, then lift out of the tray and there you have it – 12 crispy little monsters!
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Win a family Christmas break in a luxury apartment close to the Derbyshire Peaks

1 October, 2012 By 852 Comments

All the comfort of a luxury hotel, with the freedom of home – Birchover Hotel Apartments

This giveaway is now closed and a winner will be selected shortly

Fancy shunning the usual stress of Christmas and getting away with the family to a cosy luxury apartment? Then you are in luck! This month’s prize is to spend three nights (Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day) in a two bedroom plush apartment at Birchover Hotel Apartments in Derby, a short drive from the Derbyshire Peak District.

The winning family of up to four people (plus baby) will stay in a Darley Abbey Superior Suite. Each apartment features a lounge, dining area and fully equipped kitchen. Every bedroom is en-suite and every apartment has its own private sauna within the bathroom.

Wi-fi, parking and a wide range of items for families travelling with children, including cots, high chairs, bottle warmers and sterilisers, are all provided.

We stayed at Darley Abbey earlier this year so I can promise you first hand that it’s absolutely gorgeous.

How to enter

To enter you must:

You are entitled to up to five bonus entries, if you:

Please leave a separate comment for each entry.

The giveaway will close at 8pm UK time on 31st October 2012 and a winner will be selected at random.

See the prize draw T&Cs - Disclosure: Birchover Hotel Apartments is providing this prize for the purposes of the giveaway. No payment was received by A Mummy Too. Please see my review/disclosure policy for more information. Listed on ThePrizeFinder – UK Competitions, UK Competitions and Competition Hunter.

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The secret to perfect chocolate buttercream frosting

14 September, 2012 By 7 Comments

Can I lick the bowl, please, or shall we share? – JD, 4

I love making cupcakes. It takes minutes to whip up the batter and get them in the oven and once they’re cooked and cooled, you have 12 little blank canvases to go crazy with.

Over the last few months, I’ve been experimenting with toppings and I’m really happy with the chocolate icing pictured above. It’s made from butter, icing sugar and plain chocolate and pipes beautifully smoothly from a large star nozzle before setting just firm enough to hold its shape when bitten without being sloppy or drying out.

Ingredients

  • 150g unsalted butter
  • 260g icing sugar
  • 50g plain chocolate (40% cocoa solids)

Instructions

  1. Put the icing sugar in a large bowl.
  2. Here’s the weird bit. Get your butter out of the fridge, cube roughly and place in a small bowl, then microwave on high for approximately 15 seconds. It will go very soft and some of it should have turned to liquid.
  3. Pour the butter into the sugar and beat with an electric whisk, starting on the slowest setting and working up to full speed until you have a well combined icing – don’t over-beat it
  4. Melt your dark chocolate in a new bowl – either over a pot of steaming water or gently in the microwave.
  5. Start beating your icing again on high speed while slowing adding the melted chocolate.
  6. As soon as it’s well combined and light, stop beating.

That’s it! It’s ready to be piped and perhaps topped with a little rice paper flower.

(The cakes pictured are simple plain sponges, made from 200g caster sugar beaten with 150g room temperature unsalted butter. We then beat in 2 large eggs before stirring in 200g of self raising flour with a metal spoon and then adding 1-2 tbsp of room temperature water to loosen. It splits generously between 12 cupcake cases and bakes in 12-15 minutes at 180C)

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Is it your iPad or the family iPad? (Sponsored Video)

10 September, 2012 By 6 Comments

Can I play of the iPad after breakfast/lunch/tea please, mummy? – JD, 4

When I bought our iPad, I reasoned that I needed it for work. At the time I was commuting between Lincoln and London at least twice a week, occasionally staying in hotels and regularly spending hours tubing it across London to meetings. Owning an iPad seemed like a shrewd business move. And hey, we might also be able to find the odd educational app for the kids.

As it turns out, while I do use it for work, it’s mostly used as a family tool; the social, educational and gaming applications far outweighing those needed for business. Has it been the same for you?

It’s the large touch screen, of course, that makes it such an appealing toy for all ages. At four years old, JD enjoys the educational apps the most; tracing letters with his fingers, sorting shapes or practicing his maths with visual cues. Even Miss J, now 10.5 months old, is able to interact with the more elementary apps.

Launching this month, Mattel Apptivity is interesting because it allows little gamers to use real-world toys to interact with iPad games. You buy from a choice of packs, including favourites like Hot Wheels, Batman, and Fruit Ninja, download a free app and then play by putting the toys on the surface of an iPad.

Sound like fun? Here’s how it works:

What are your favourite family apps?

Disclosure: This video has been sponsored by Mattel but all thoughts are my own.

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