SmartCookieSam: Baking and Crocheting
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SmartCookieSam’s Crafty Update
August 2023: It’s been ages since I’ve posted a Finish or a Ta-dah moment post on here. I’ve got a couple of crochet blankets on the hook at the moment and needless to say, progress has been a bit slow. I’ve had to frog back both blankets. One was down to me not blinking well…
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SmartCookieSam’s August and September 2023 Round Up.
This post was in draft form on Saturday 2nd September and has remained so for the past month. It has been about six weeks since my last blog post but there has been lots going on in my life. Mostly great, but tinged with a terrible sadness. It was the day after we had come…
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Pecan Pies #100bakeschallenge no 87
As you all know I really enjoy a challenge. The #100bakeschallenge poster has been going on since January 2022. I am still working my way through the challenges but am so pleased to be on bake number 87 now. I love Pecan Pie, although it is not something I have ever made before. A few…
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Honey Madeleines- #100bakes no 86.
I’d completely forgotten I’d already made these Honey Madeleines before! Click on the link below and you’ll find out how I got on back then. Jo Wheatley’s recipe from her second book Home Baking has been a success for me, whereas another recipe I tried out made the madeleines turn out rubbery! Jo Wheatley was…
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My #100bakeschallenge poster- progress so far!
For Christmas 2021 I got a fantastic present from my friend, Amy. It’s a large poster from Crumbs By Collette who makes a few different scratch off challenge posters. The one I got for my present was the 100 Bakes Challenge. The poster features 100 scratch off squares arranged in a 10×10 array. The idea…
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Jane’s Patisserie Everyday- a Book Review.
I’ve been a huge fan of Jane’s Patisserie’s recipes for a while now. I find Jane’s recipes work every time for me. Before I discovered Jane’s method for making cheesecakes, my cheesecakes never used to set. I don’t like using gelatine to make cheesecakes set but as soon as I used one of Jane’s cheesecake…
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Fitwaffle’s Baked In One- A Book Review
It’s been a while since I’ve done a recipe book review. Having said that, I’ve not bought many recipe books over the past few months. The last one I bought was Fitwaffle’s Baked In One which I chose to buy with some birthday money. After buying Fitwaffle’s first book last year, I was really excited…
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July 2023- SmartCookieSam Roundup
I can’t believe we are at the end of yet another month in 2023. This year is flying past. We have had one week of the summer holidays already. To be honest I have found July to be an extremely stressful month. At the beginning of the month I felt absolutely terrible with a massive…
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Happy Yorkshire Day- Celebrating Yorkshire Baking.
August 1st is Yorkshire Day! Happy Yorkshire Day! Although I wasn’t born in Yorkshire, I have lived here for 30 years (minus one year living in Kent when I was a Newly Qualified Teacher in the mid 1990s). My Dad’s side of the family are Yorkshire born and bred, with his ancestors coming from various…
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Strawberry Milkshake Cupcakes
I’ve not baked much recently as I’ve been so busy with other commitments. But I had some Sugar and Crumbs Strawberry Milkshake Icing Sugar which I wanted to make something with. Last weekend Mr S and I were out for the day and we stopped off at a farm shop for lunch. The farm shop…
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Attic24 Sweet Pea Blanket
As I type I’m so happy with my latest crochet blanket finish: the Attic24 Sweet Pea Blanket. To think that before lockdown I had no confidence to try more complicated crochet patterns. It had taken me 5 years to get the hang of plain double crochet, treble crochet and doing granny squares. But thanks to…
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Iced Gems: #100bakeschallengeposter No 81/100.
Do you remember mini Iced Gems made by McVities? The tiny biscuits you get in small multipacks which are in the lunchbox treats aisle in the supermarket. One of the biscuits of my childhood. I know they are still around and I’ve been meaning to buy a packet for a bit of pure nostalgia. But…
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Family Fruit Cake
This is a recipe which should have been posted over the weekend to celebrate Father’s Day. I sadly lost my Dad just over two years ago and we miss him very much. He was always encouraging of our interests and hobbies and my baking was no exception. As an eight or nine year old I…
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Easy Eyelet Ripple Baby Blanket
I needed to make a neutral coloured baby blanket a few weeks back. But the yarn I’d originally chosen and ordered from Ebay was a bit of a disappointment to me. It was a variegated bamboo yarn with shades of white, grey and silver in it. Looked perfect for the blanket I was planning but…
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Aquamarine Cosy Stripe Blanket- A Friday Finish!
Ever since I was expecting my daughter 26 years ago, I’ve enjoyed making baby blankets. Back then I was into knitting as I had absolutely no confidence with a crochet hook. From time to time if a friend or family member was having a baby, out would come the knitting needles to make a blanket.…
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May 2023 Round Up.
I can’t believe that it’s the last day of May already. Where has this month gone? It has been a crazy month. May is birthday month in our house- first it was my son’s birthday and then mine comes two weeks later! So there has been lots of excuses to celebrate. At the beginning of…
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Pitta Breads- #100bakeschallenge
Back at Christmas 2021 my friend bought me a really useful gift- a poster from Crumbs By Collette, which features 100 scratch off squares. Each square underneath reveals a picture of a well known traditional bake. As you bake that particular item, you scratch off the square. It doesn’t have a time frame to be…
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Gluten Free Empire Biscuits
My absolute favourite biscuits ever in Gluten Free form! I love Empire Biscuits and can’t get enough of them. So when I planned to test out some GF recipes from Becky Excell’s fantastic books, my heart leapt with excitement when I saw she had created a recipe for Empire Biscuits. Although I am not GF…
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Gluten Free Vanilla Sponge
I must admit I’m not that experienced with Gluten Free baking. As I’m now finding more and more are needing to follow Gluten Free diets, I would like to learn how to bake more with GF products. What does make me annoyed is that gluten free products cost far more to buy. How is that…
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Attic24 Cottage Ripple Blanket
At the beginning of March I decided to have a go at making the Attic24 Cottage Ripple Blanket. The Cottage Ripple was one I’d been wanting to make for ages as I loved all the colours. My favourite colours are in this blanket- the purples, pinks and lavender which echoes the colours found in a…
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White Chocolate Malteser Bunny Slices
It’s now the start of a busy recipe testing time for me in the SmartCookieSam kitchen. I’m so excited when it comes up to Easter as there are all these yummy chocolate eggs and other Easter treats around! The temptation is so real. The other day my son saw my secret stash of Easter treats…
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Pink Ripple Baby Blanket With Daisy Motif
This pink Ripple Baby blanket is a pink version of the Blue Yacht Ripple Blanket I finished right at the end of last year. I had four balls of James C Brett baby yarn in my stash and thought another baby ripple blanket would look really pretty in those colours for a newborn baby gift.…
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Oreo Cookies And Cream Bundt Cake: Bundt Challenge #8.
Last week was National Oreo Cookie Day. I don’t normally buy Oreos to eat but I love putting them into all sorts of bakes. They bake well or make fantastic decorations as well as being delicious crushed and tossed into ice cream. I wanted to bake something to celebrate these well loved cookies as well…
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Nigella Lawson’s Chocolate Macarons: #100bakeschallengeposter No 77.
EDIT: this was meant to be posted on 14th February! So wind yourself back four weeks! I get more chance to bake and test out new recipes as well as trying out more complicated ones when I have more spare time. It was half term week and I had time to try out some recipes.…
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Chelsea Buns- #100bakeschallenge Paul Hollywood’s Recipe.
A Chelsea Bun is a rich yeasted bun flavoured with citrus zest, dried fruit and cinnamon, dusted with sugar and then glazed with a sticky topping, such as warm apricot jam. They originate from the early 18th century where they were baked at the Chelsea Bun House, an establishment popular with the Hanoverian Royal Family…
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Bothy Threads’ Thankyou Ma’am Cross Stitch Picture
Over the past year or so I’ve lost my cross stitch mojo a bit. I used to be obsessed with it. I started cross stitching when I was in sixth form as a welcome distraction for my mental health to help me get through my A Levels. Since then it has helped calm me through…
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Vanilla Bundt Cake: Bundt Challenge #6.
It’s been such a busy half term week catching up on seeing family and friends. It’s gone all so quickly and within what seems like five minutes, I’m back to work and it’s Sunday again. But I love being busy! Our first day back after February half term week was a training day for the…
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Paul Hollywood’s Iced Lemon Whitby Buns #100bakeschallenge no 78.
I don’t know about you, but as soon as I see a recipe has yeast in it, I have this feeling of absolute dread! I’ve never got the results I want from making something involving yeast. Or I can’t handle the dough properly as my hands are always far too hot and sticky- I blame…
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Bundtnuts: Bundt Book Challenge #5.
I chose to make some Bundtnuts on Sunday from the recipe in Bundt by Melanie Johnson. I’d never heard of Bundtnuts before, let alone made any. They are just a hybrid of a doughnut baked in a mini bundt pan with different variations of flavourings and toppings. It was a good excuse to bring out…
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Attic 24 Cosy Stripe and Cosy Cupcake Blankets.
It’s been absolutely ages since I made these blankets and I can’t think why I haven’t mentioned them before on the blog. As you know, I’m a huge fan of the Attic24 blog and admired all the beautiful blanket patterns on the website. I used to think, oh I can never do that. Back in…
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Carrot Bundt Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting Bundt Challenge #4.
I absolutely adore carrot cake and have been wanting to bake one for a ages. It’s been a while since I’ve been asked to make one so I thought why don’t I bake one because I want to? Baking one in a Bundt pan is even better and such a treat. On Sunday afternoon I…
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Blue Ripple Yachts Baby Blanket
In between the adult/ full size blankets I make, I also try to have a baby blanket on the hook. This gives me a change and often looks like something which can be made up quickly, therefore making me feel like I’ve actually completed or achieved something. Sometimes when you are in the throes of…
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Vanilla And Chocolate Marble Bundt: Bundt Challenge #2.
On Sunday, I decided to test out my second recipe from Mel Johnson’s fabulous book “Bundt”. This had been one of the three choices I was going to bake for the first one but the Snickerdoodle Bundt won the most votes in the polls across my social media. I had also asked if people could…
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Cornish Pasties- A Great British Bake Off Recipe.
I’m still working my way through my #100bakesposterchallenge and am really enjoying it. There are bakes I’ve made before a few times over and some I haven’t tried at all. Usually the ones I haven’t tried are down to whether they look complicated or are much easier to buy ready made. I must admit I…
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Bundt Challenge #1: Snickerdoodle Bundt
My new challenge for 2023 is to bake as many recipes from Bundt by Melanie Johnson. You can read all about this in an introductory post here: Bundt- The New Challenge For 2023. I wasn’t sure which recipe I’d like to make first so I put it to the vote. It was a choice between Snickerdoodle,…
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The Attic24 Woodland Blanket.
The final big project for 2022 was a hybrid of two Attic24 blanket patterns. I used the Woodland colour palette but used the pattern from the Harbour blanket as I wasn’t so keen on doing the wave pattern in the original Woodland. I had been itching to make the Woodland blanket ever since I saw…
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Sultana, Apricot and Marzipan Loaf Cake
Did you know that (January 12th) is National Marzipan Day? I didn’t, until a couple of years ago and found a few posts on Twitter. Last year I celebrated this with a delicious Marzipan, cherry and almond Cake: National Marzipan Day cake which was absolutely scrumptious. This year I had half a packet of marzipan…
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Attic24 Moorland Blanket- Yuletide Version
With some Christmas money last year, I chose to buy an Attic24 Moorland Blanket pack from Wool Warehouse. I had been eyeing this up for about a year and loved seeing photos of others in the Attic24 Facebook group I’m in. It was such a beautiful blanket and the colours just “spoke” to me. The…
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Bundt- The New Challenge For 2023
I’m always up for a challenge as well you know. A challenge which I would enjoy: even more so! I’m still working my way through the last few bakes of my #100bakeschallengeposter but they will be fitted in around as and when I can do them. There are about 27 or 28 things left but…
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Mincemeat Shortbread
Yesterday (January 6th) was National Shortbread Day. Who doesn’t love a beautiful, melt in the mouth piece of chunky all butter shortbread dusted with caster sugar? Me, for one! Shortbread is one of those bakes I never tire of making. It’s so easy to make and you can flavour it with whatever you have going…
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Attic 24 Fireside Giant Granny Square Blanket
During September 2022, Lucy from Attic24 released a new blanket pattern, the Fireside Blanket. It was a blanket using Stylecraft Highland Heathers DK and it’s design was made up of lots of squares of varying sizes. It looked stunning but I’m not so keen on doing squares. Especially if there are lots of different colour…
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New Year’s Day Tiramisu: #100bakeschallenge No 73.
Happy New Year! Hope that 2023 brings you everything you hope and wish for after such a turbulent year last year. I was glad to see the back of 2022 to be honest. But sometimes I think different year, same s***! I have a few things to look forward to in 2023 but I am…
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SmartCookieSam’s 2022 Round Up.🎂🍰🧁🥮
Happy New Year to all my friends and followers on here. I appreciate each and every one of you taking the time to read my posts and comment on them. Although my little blog is only a tiny corner of what’s on the internet, it really does boost and cheer me up when I see…
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My #100bakeschallengeposter Progress Update
Last Christmas my friend Amy gave me a brilliant present. It was a giant poster from Crumbs By Colette and it features 100 scratch off squares. Underneath each scratch off square is a picture of a traditional or popular bake. The idea is that you choose one of the squares, bake the recipe and then…
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The Dune Blanket
I treated myself to the Dune blanket pack when it was the lockdown in early 2021 but at the time I was working on other things! I thought I would be fine with the shell pattern as I had already made a blue, white and grey baby blanket using the pattern. I forgot that I…
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Dundee Cake
It’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve been able to bake and I’ve really missed it. Our kitchen has had a revamp- a new floor, painted walls and soon to have new light fittings. Why not a completely brand new kitchen? For a start there is nothing wrong with our old one and we…
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The Coastal Blanket
The Attic24 Coastal Blanket had been on my wishlist ever since I first saw it online back in 2020. I used the pattern from it several times over during lockdown on baby blankets. It was such a wonderful feeling to master that pattern after several bungled attempts. But both Lucy from Attic24 and Bella Coco…
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October 2022 Baking Round Up
Once again I’ve not kept up to date with my blog, even though there has been several attempts to write posts over the last few weeks. It’s the same with my Facebook page. There’s always something which gets forgotten about and neglected. So this post is rounding up what has been made in the SmartCookieSam…
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The Harbour Blanket (Attic24 CAL)
Until recently I had two Facebook pages managing my two side hustles- SmartCookieSam is my baking business and blog and I also had Sammy Jane Stitches which showcased the baby and single bed size crochet blankets I started making during lockdown. It’s so time consuming managing two pages, two Instagram accounts and a separate Twitter…
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My Temperature Blanket-Part 2.
Can’t believe we are now half way through the year and it’s now towards the end of July! The temperature blanket squares started in January in two week blocks of time show the temperatures in my local area. One round for one day with the highest temperature recorded on that particular day. I chose bright…
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SmartCookieSam 