Sharabelle bakes

    A tale of 2 cookies      Forget pies, cups cakes and meringues, there are 2 things I'm always asked to bake for friends  - Scones and Cookies .     For special occasion I bake giant versions of my cookies.  So when a friend asked me to make some for them to give as gifts, I thought why not.  Only one of the giant cookies needed to be Gluten free.    Iv never baked with Gluten free flour before so was slightly concerned, however I do love a challenge.    I'm lucky in away that I only have food intolerances, eating a trigger food will only cause me a lot of pain.  For people with allergies it can be life threatening, either way it adds a whole new level to food safety when cooking or baking.   First cookie: 1    Normally when I bake a Giant cookie, I use an entire batch of cookie dough.  My cookies use a 2:1 ration.   For every 2 oz of flour, I u...

Why Presents can be depressing... Some was asked me the other day how long it was till my birthday, I was pretty shocked to realise that it's only 3 months away.  For me Birthdays and Christmas are pretty depressing times, but probably not for the reasons you would think. Yes I have mental health problems, at those times of the year I start missing the people that are no longer with us. However that's a normal reaction that most everyone has, when they've lost someone close to them.     Gift Idea's: Flower's bouquet of flowers or the simple  gift of some p o tted herbs make a great present.   One of my favourite gifts was the present of some garden pots of plants that my dad had grown and potted himself.  Knowing that gardening isn't really one of my talents What really depresses me is getting presents.  Or to be more precise getting presents, that I can't actually use.   Gift Idea's: For women  Candles, scented perfu...

Christmas Star cookies Forget the 12 days of Christmas, I feel like I'm doing the 12 bakes of Christmas. ~ First Bake of Christmas ~ Started baking on Saturday to restock my snack supply.  Finally settled on making Banana and peanut butter cookies.  I swap the mashed banana for the egg in a normal cookie recipe.   ~ Second Bake of Christmas ~ On Sunday baked the above Christmas Star Cookies as gifts for a few friends.  The recipe I use makes 3 dozen so it was a pretty big bake.  Once they were cooled I drizzled icing over them as decoration.  I stacked them off set so they looked like Christmas tree's. ~ Third Bake of Christmas ~ On the same day started baking for mum's Christmas Hamper.  I made a Christmas Tea loaf, by swapping the raisins for seasonal mixed fruit that included dates and cranberry's.  ~ Fourth Bake of Christmas ~  Prep work for a Bakewell tart.  Iv rolled shortcr...