So these recipes are not filled with nostalgia for me and I have no long formed happy memories of them. They were not made by my mam when I was a child, but more recently by me for my husband.
You see he is a bit of a fitness freak, not a pick of meat on his bones the
fecker and he eats rings around himself, who moans every time I bake something special for him. "Ah no, you shouldn't have made that for me, I can't be eating all of those calories when I'm in training." Now don't ask what he's training for, a cake eating contest is quite possible, because despite all of his protestations I always wake the next morning to find a generous slice has disappeared. And he always throws in a little negative comment about the cake in hand - "it's a bit dry/rich/
chocolaty etc. for my liking", yet he manages to scoff the majority of it proclaiming it's to prevent it going to waste. Waste! Not likely, there is always someone willing to take a slice of
caca milis off my hands if it happens to be going a
beggin', but he is such a little trooper he sacrifices himself for the cause and manages to squeeze in another slice.
I decided to treat him over the weekend as he is carrying a bit of an injury. I say bit, I mean he is only a breath away from passing over to the other side. Last week he mentioned to me that he had a 'twinge' in his back. Not much was said following this comment and so a few days later I asked him to bleed the rads, all shocking exciting stuff. So there he was bent over the rad in the kitchen doing the macho job to please his helpless little wife when all hell broke loose. Water started spraying up the walls drowning the place while he was writhing around howling like a banshee. After a couple of seconds in shock, speed dialling Noah and his team of Ark builders and getting the digits scalded off
meself trying to get the nut (no, not the hubby) back into the rad I managed to decipher the screams coming from him and they went something like this - "
aaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwww meeeeeee baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaacccccccckkkkkkkkkkk,
meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaacccccccckkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk!!!!!!" Apparently, whilst bent over the 'twinge' turned into a major spasm which lead to the very dramatic display I was now witness to.
Now when I find myself in a severe amount of back pain(which I have done in the past) I tend to stay still to avoid aggravating the situation further, but it would seem he is of the Premier League Football school of pain and quite obviously attended a masterclass with
Ronaldo judging by the show he put on. If I had it on camera and put it up on You Tube I'd be shocked (seriously) if he wasn't up for an Oscar come February. Since then I have had a bit of a busy week running hot baths which always seem to be a little hot for his delicate skin (
Jaysus he's an awful baby), getting heat packs, picking stuff up that he can't bend over for, running up and down the stairs for all the crap he has forgotten and moving furniture so he doesn't strain himself
watching the
aul'
telebox! Honest to God, the carry on of him. Now obviously he's perfectly capable of all these little tasks when he thinks I'm not looking but as they say, why bark eh?
But you know how it goes when the man in your life is struck down with man flu or some such ailment, you have to lavish them with love and sympathy. So, I did what any dutiful wife would do and I made his favourite toffee sauce to go with his favourite honeycomb ice cream and as an extra special treat some
scrummy chocolate chip cookies that he has been happily dunking in his tea since, sitting on the now jauntily angled sofa and grinning at me like a prize winning
gurner. Well, if he's happy he's not moaning which means I'm happy, so every one's a winner baby!!!
Toffee Sauce
- 100g/4oz Butter
- 175g/6oz Brown Sugar
- 100g/4oz Caster Sugar
- 275g/10oz Golden Syrup
- 250ml/8fl oz Single cream
Place all of the ingredients into a saucepan and boil for 4-5 minutes, stirring regularly until the sauce is smooth.
(Place in a sterilised jar in the fridge and it will keep for a few months, well supposedly)
Honeycomb Ice Cream
Walk to your nearest supermarket/
gelateria and buy a tub. I have
a lot of time on my hands but unfortunately not that much!
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Will yield 2 dozen + depending on size
- 300g/12oz Butter (at room temperature)
- 1 Egg
- 375g/15oz Caster Sugar
- 450g/18oz Plain/Cream Flour (sieved)
- 1/2tsp Baking Soda
- 250g/10oz Chocolate Chips
- Line a baking sheet with some parchment paper, preheat the oven to 170°C/Gas Mark 3.
- Beat the butter, egg and sugar in a food mixer using the paddle attachment until combined.
- Mix in the flour, followed by the baking soda.
- Add in the chocolate chips.
- Wrap the cookie dough in some cling film and pop into the fridge for 1 hour.
- Roll out the dough onto a floured board to a depth of 5mm.
- Cut out the cookies using a pastry cutter and place on baking sheet.
- Bake in the oven for 20 minutes until golden. (It is OK if the cookies are a little wobbly in the centre, they will cool with a delicious chewy texture.
- Cool on a wire rack if you can resist the urge to eat immediately!
I combined all of the above to make a delicious ice cream sandwich drizzled with the toffee sauce (generously drizzled that is).
