Peanut Butter Crinkles - Biscuits

Two of my gorgeous followers Sarah from Shabby Chic Sarah and Little Blue Mouse
asked if I would share the recipe for Peanut Butter Crinkles which I made for my  Vintage Tea Party.

I'm very happy to share the recipe and here it is.

PEANUT BUTTER CRINKLES

125g (4oz) butter

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon grated lemon rind *

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup brown sugar, lightly packed

1/3 cup peanut butter **

1 1/4 cups plain flour

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

pinch of salt

1.  Cream butter, vanilla, lemon rind, sugars and peanut butter.

2.  With a wooden spoon work in sifted flour, soda and salt, making a stiff dough.

3.  Roll heaped teaspoonfuls into small balls with floured hands and place on greased oven trays or trays lined with baking paper.  ***

4.  Press biscuits down lightly with a fork, first crosswise and then lengthwise, for a crinkled effect.

5.  Bake in moderate oven for 15 minutes.  Cool biscuits on oven trays.

Makes about 25, but I always manage to get a few extra.

*  The addition of lemon rind isn't necessary but if you have a lemon on hand, it adds a little something extra to these yummy biscuits.

**  Any peanut butter will do, but I use chunky 'cos that's what is in the pantry.

***  I don't usually flour my hands, the mixture doesn't seem to be  too sticky.

Recipe from The Big Book of Beautiful Biscuits - The Australian Women's Weekly Home Library

Here is a photo to remind you just how good these biscuits look.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Anne  xx

P.S.  It feels like the temperature has got to 30C already and it's only 11.10am.  Off to hang out the towels and sheets on the line.

Comment moderation

Hi everyone.  Just a quick post to let you know I have enabled comment moderation on this blog.   I have had one or two anonymous people commenting on totally unrelated things which make absolutely no sense and I have since deleted their comments.

I may have inadvertently offended someone recently when I commented on another blog on the subject of decluttering.  If you are reading this anonymous, no offence was intended.  In the meantime comment moderation has been enabled so my lovely followers and readers are not being bothered by nonsense unrelated to the content of my posts.  Thanks for your understanding.

Anne  xx

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOUISE

Hi everyone.  I want to let you know that the 9th of August is the birthday of my good friend Louise from the blog Ramblings of a Roachling.

I met Louise just over a year ago when I started blogging.  Since then from following her blog, I have enjoyed some absolutely beautiful walks she has been on, in and around the area she lives.  I have learnt  historical facts about places she has visited, things about animals, birds and plants found in the U.K. which are unique to me being an Aussie.

Some of the things I've learnt about Louise are:

She loves flares.
Her favoured footware is either flip flops or wellingtons.
Loves walking in mud, in her wellingtons of course  :)
Loves going for exploratory walks.
Loves taking photos for her blog.
Is a vegetarian.
She and her boyfriend Dave, are big Dr. Who fans, and one winter made a Dalek snowman.....AWESOME!!!
Rolling down big steep hills is not only for kids.
 Works in the education industry and is on holidays now, the lucky duck.
Is glad to see the back of Wolverhampton.
She and Dave are FINALLY together after years of commuting to Woverhampton on the weekends.
Loves living in the country.
Loves the Roaches with a passion.
Is a FANTASTIC friend.


And she doesn't like birthdays....he, he and I've just told everyone about it!!!  :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOUISE!!

I got in very early Louise because you  need a good few days to CELEBRATE.  One day just isn't enough!!

Wishing you a wonderful birthday and have loads and loads of fun whatever you do.
 
 Anne  xx

Blogging

I feel a philosophical post coming on, so if you are looking for a lighthearted breezy post today, this isn't going to be one of them.

I wanted to say a few things about blogging and what it means to us.  There are many different reasons why we blog, but I think one of the main reason we do is to communicate, to have a sense of belonging to a community, to have a voice and for someone to listen.  I will be talking a bit about myself here so please tune out now if you wish.

I started blogging back in July last year, actually I stumbled into it and had no idea where it would take me or whether I had anything interesting to say and contribute.  I now find that is not the most important part of blogging for me.  The best part about blogging is getting to know other people and enjoy some of the experiences they have and their achievements.  For example Louise takes me on these most amazing walks (through her blog) and I'm discovering things about England I never knew.  Lucy and Jacquie have taught me how to crochet through their fantastic tutorials.  I'm learning just how strong women can be from Amy and  Donna even in the most difficult of circumstances.  You won't find what I'm referring to in just one post by these ladies, you would have to trawl their archives to get the full picture.  But WOW, they are amazing people, although they would be the last to say that.

So blogging fills a need for community in my life.  I find myself somewhat isolated socially because most of my girlfriends work outside the home and I do not.  But I have wonderful people from all over the world who are now a part of my community, those that I follow and those that follow me.   I'm so grateful for you and I'd like to say a big hello to my new followers here.  :)

I realise that this is a rambling kind of post but I'm getting to something else I've been thinking about the last few days and that's we cannot really understand someone unless we have walked in their shoes.  It's quite easy for us to be judgemental toward our fellow man/woman but I would like us to stop for a few moments and think how being judgemental can possibly be helpful to either the person who is being judged or to ourselves.  I'm not talking about our opinions here, we are all entitled to them, it's best they are kept to ourselves sometimes so as not to hurt others.

  I follow a number of blogs that are dedicated to having a beautifully decorated house in the shabby chic, all white style.  I like the look, enjoy seeing all the lovely arrangements they come up with on their mantels, their displays of objects from an era past, but I could never aspire to having a houses like theirs.  A little part of me would like too, so I live out those little dreams by viewing their blogs.  I have in the past viewed some blogs that always seem to be accumulating, acquiring and changing their decorations and asked myself, when will these people ever be happy with what they have?  Then I read a post by Wendy which gave me a totally different perspective on the need for some people decorate and then redecorate and it's called having a CREATIVE OUTLET.  Of all people, I should have understood that 'cos I'm in to all things creative.  I realised that I had been making judgements (silently) about people I had no business to be making judgements about.  It's a bit like me buying more yarn, or more card and papers, or another canvas and more oil paints so I can be creative.

There are some in blog land going through really tough times who see somebody elses ability (financially and time wise) to be creative, as a non essential part of life.  For them they are so hard at work keeping their heads above water emotionally, physically, mentally or financially, there is no room left for anything else.  What might be seen as a case of sour grapes, is the cry of a person who is so depleted of any time to just BE.  To have room for a little head space.  It is very easy for us to judge these people too when the best thing we can do is be empathetic, encouraging and supportive.

So I guess this post is about respecting and appreciating our differences, of realising things may not be what they seem from just reading a couple of blog posts and that we all have something unique to offer if only we'd scratch a little harder under the surface to find it. 

Have a lovely weekend every one and to those of you royal wedding watching, enjoy.

Anne  xx

Thank you and a bit about blogging

In the last couple of days I've been given two blog awards.  I would like to thank Cheryl at  Time to Craft
for the Versatile Blogger award and Terrie at Creative Haven
for the Beautiful Blogger award.  I appreciate my blog being thought worthy enough to receive these awards but to be quite honest, I don't really know what to do now.  You see I blog for a number of reasons, none of which include being given awards.  As I'm still fairly new to the blogging world, I'm not sure of blogging protocol when it comes to awards.

I'm not really sure how to go about expressing myself here, so bear with me if you will as I struggle to tell you what's on my mind.  Let me first say how much I appreciate Cheryl and Terrie passing the awards my way.  I'm surprised and delighted.  Bearing that in mind, I'm hesitant to keep the ball rolling and pass on the awards, not because I can't find anyone worthy of such awards, it's more like how can I not pass awards on to everyone I follow and it's many.  Far more than on my blog roll, I haven't updated it recently.  I just can't show favouritism, because everyone I read, I read for a purpose.  Either their blog is beautiful, interesting, creative, gorgeous, helpful, inspiring, makes me think, enlightens me, encourages me, broadens my outlook, uplifts me, helps me to love the people in the world even more, gives me friendship and companionship, and so much, much more.  Some blogs give me all that and then some more, but I can't show any favouritism because they all make a positive impact on me in different ways and for that I THANK EVERYONE OF YOU!!!

So I'm wondering if I might graciously thank Cheryl and Terrie for their appreciation of my blog and leave it at that.  I would also like to share one very important reason why I blog and love reading all yours.  I suffer depression and anxiety.  If you've read my other blog 'Standing Up While Falling Down', you will already know all about this not so wonderful part of my life and I don't want to go into that on this blog.  However I would like to say that blogging has helped me get through some very nasty times I've had this past winter.  I started blogging in July after first reading about Lucy
over at Attic 24.  Her blog was/is inspirational, a bright, beautiful, colourful light in a very dark hole in which I sometimes live.  I found Lucy through Kathreen at  http://whipup.net 
who had a link to one Lucy's fantastic crochet projects.  So that is where blogging all started for me.  And it helps me on so many levels, too many to list here today.  I started my own blog because I thought I might have something to offer, something to share with all the beautiful people out in blog land who very generously share their ideas, creativity, love, humour, life and even sad times with us all.

At the risk of boring you too much more with my words, thank you to each and everyone of you who read my blog, to my followers, I'm amazed and very happy you do.  :-)  I hope my thoughts on this subject make sense and I certainly hope I've offended no one, I just don't want to be seen as unappreciative.

Have a fantastic day everyone,

Anne xx