no sewing but there is stuff...

I have no sewing news from the last couple of days.  My man came back from the course he was on, which meant a day cleaning and tidying the house for me first, then I've either been in the kitchen or asleep on the sofa.  Quite literally.  

I made two bricks loaves of bread...

brown bread bricks...

It tasted really nice, but jeez you needed strong jaws...  upside - no forgetting to chew properly with this stuff!

What else?  I made vegetarian sausage rolls for dinner.   Roasted Butternut Squash soup for lunch.  One of my better Banana Cakes

And saving the best for last....  introducing...  "STUFF"

"Stuff"  probably has a proper, boring name, and I'm sure someone out there will know what it is...  In my house though it has always been and will always be, quite simply, stuff.   Trust me, it is AWESOME.

To make Stuff:  (and you should, at least once - it freezes well if you think it makes too much, it is pretty sweet)

Crush 20 good digestives to a nice fine crumb.  Food processor is easiest, but you cant beat putting them in plastic bags (double bag it) and walloping the crap out of them with a rolling pin.  Set aside for later.

200-300g 70% dark chocolate, chopped finely.  (200g should do it, but if you want a thick snap of chocolate on top you might want more.)  Set this aside for later too.

Line the bottom of a baking tray with greaseproof paper.  

In a large pan (thick based if you have one) put 8oz (pretty much a whole block) of butter (margarine works too)  12 oz sugar, one can of condensed milk, and 3 table spoons of golden syrup.

Put on a medium heat and stir slowly.  First the butter will all melt away, then you're looking for all the grains of sugar to disappear.  Now you've got a thick gloop the colour of far too milky tea.  Keep stirring...  you'll start to get a few tiny flecks of a dark colour - its cooking, very important to keep stirring now.  Keep it moving (stir and make sure you're not forgetting any patch of the bottom of the pan basically) and let it get a bit darker.  I always get a bit panicked at this point cos it is so easy to burn it and if I spilled it I'd end up in casualty with 3rd degree burns....  Anyway.  You do want it a nice golden colour, and from my experience there's nothing to worry about if you get a few big flecks of dark bits...  Just not too many!  

When its a pretty colour (darker than solid honey, lighter than runny honey - does that make sense? Mum, is this right?!) Take it off the heat, and stir in the digestives, and pour it into your lined tray.  Tip the tray about a bit to help it level out.  DO NOT LICK THE SPOON!  Leave the pan and spoon alone for the moment.  Sprinkle your chopped chocolate evenly across as much of the top of your stuff as possible.  In about 5 to 10 mins or so the choccy will be melted, so you can give it a little bit of a spread around if you feel it needs it (like if you've missed a corner).  The pan and spoon will be cool enough to scrape a bit off to taste it now.  You should you know, you'll be waiting a couple of hours for the stuff to cool properly enough to cut....

And that is stuff.  It's gooooood.  It is very sweet, cut it small.  It is very addictive, if you're the only one eating it freeze half the batch for later!