Derbyshire, England

I have seen this recipe on a few sites and think it’s a wonderful idea. I did make a few changes. I used 1 cup of oats, ¾ cup of chocolate chips, ¾ cup of M&M’s (Love the extra color that the M&M’s add to the cookies). I did leave out the pecans, as I am not a nut person. I tried the cookies first of all before I made up the jars (made 28 medium size cookies per batch). The cookies were very good, they had enough crunch on the outside and a wonderful soft inside. I guess the secret is not to over cook them. For the jars, I did find it hard going fitting all the ingredients in, but I am just so pleased with the results. Not only does it look good, but I know the finished product tastes delicious too! I am taking both the jars and the cookies along to a Christmas cookie exchange, I am sure they will be a huge hit.

These have to be the BEST bagels I have made to date. I have tried other bagel recipes but these are just so wonderful. It could be that I am perfecting my baking technique or it could be the recipe, to be honest I think it’s the latter!!! The inside was soft, where the outside had a bit of a crunch. I used the same ingredients but I do make these in a slightly different way, I always use a large round cookie cutter to shape the bagels and then a smaller size to cut out the hole. I find this saves so much time. As I wanted large bagels I make 10 instead of the recommended 12. I was able to boil 3 or these at the same time, sprinkled cornmeal on the bottom of the baking tray, and topped the bagels with grated Asiago cheese. I also made a batch containing chocolate chips for my youngest son. Totally delicious, unfortunately we have eaten them all already!

I looked at the pictures of the little Tuxedo strawberries and thought they looked adorable but difficult to make. I wanted them to finish off my husband’s birthday cake. Firstly I made sure the strawberries were at room temperature and dry before proceeding. I used chocolate bark as I always find it easier to deal with. I brought myself an electric fondue and its perfect for this job, it really did make it so much easier. Whenever I have used a double boiler in the past, I always found it difficult to work with. These tasted just gorgeous and now I know how easy they are to make I will be making these all the time! *Note* The only thing I will say is to use the day they are made, I stored mine in the fridge overnight and they became very wet and full of condensation. Ok but not as good as the day before!