Happy New Year everyone! Yes it’s 8 days in but we have all been chilling out and getting back into the swing of normal life after a few weeks of over-eating and drinking.

So this morning (possibly afternoon…) Doug and I wanted a very very easy brunch. Preferably one that would use up items we already have and that may be about to expire. This is so easy that I feel guilty showing it on this blog. It’s not really a recipe and can be adapted left right and centre, but man alive is it good…

Baked Eggs – adapted from Tasty Kitchen and Delia

Take rammekina and grease them with butter. Crack an egg into each rammekin and then add some seasoning. I used a pinch of salt, pepper and cayenne pepper. Then add a teaspoon or two of cream cheese, I used a really good quality cream cheese that was almost like a mousse (because we had it in the fridge) but you could also use cream, yoghurt, milk, anything of that ilk! Then I topped it with a handful of grated mozzarella (my new favourite ingredient). Place in a baking tray and pour boiling water to halfway up the sides of the rammekins.  Then bake for 15 minutes at 175 C or 350 F. Tuck in with toast or a warmed pitta bread!

As this year draws to a close and 2012 is about to begin we thought we’d give you a quick roundup of the past year here

Continue reading: DtS 2011 roundup

This month, for the Secret Recipe Club, we were lucky enough to be assigned Bewitching Kitchen. This is a bit of international food blogger love, because the author of Bewitching Kitchen was born and raised in Sao Paolo, Brazil. So we were pretty excited to try our hands at some Brazilian recipes! I’d been meaning to try Pao de Queijo (pronounced “little cheesey popover things”) for a while now, so this was the perfect excuse! They’re delightful little popovers, be careful, it’s easy to eat a bunch of them…

Continue reading: Pao de Queijo (Brazilian Cheese Bread)

Obviously December is not the only month where we’re allowed to enjoy cookies. So here is a round-up of tasty homemade gift ideas we’ve posted, in case you need any more inspiration!

Brownies are always a favourite with the sweet obsessed (by which we mean us). Lucy will be making a few trays of cheesecake topped chocolate brownies this weekend while Shannon, unsurprisingly, leans towards a brownie with booze – bourbon cherry brownies.

Cupcakes are still really popular and we may have made a few of these over the last couple of years. Amongst others we have peanut butter cupcakes, beer cupcakes, St Patrick’s day cupcakes and Victoria sponge cupcakes.

Lucy seems to have a weakness for muffins with fruit – apple and toffee muffins or chocolate and banana muffins

Biscuits/Cookies – amaretti and ginger biscuits

Someone on the list who doesn’t so much have a sweet tooth? How ’bout Soft Pretzels:

And if you truly can’t be bothered to make anything, our recommended gift lists from last year still stand (part 1, part 2). We would gladly still accept anything by Le Creuset.

Now this is a nice and easy edible present. Also one that will last longer than cakes and brownies and will hopefully be used in many meals to come! Nearly two years ago at my mother’s birthday dinner I had a lovely Cajun Chicken Salad. Once I had demolished the plate in an obscenely short amount of time I turned to Doug and said “I need to find a recipe for this”. Then my main course came along and this happy thought went right out of my head as so many of my food related thoughts do! So when I was poking around the the Secret Recipe Club one day and saw this recipe it all came back to me at once

Continue reading: Gift Week: Cajun Spice Mix

I’m sure I generally come off as being quite the lush. We homebrew beer & cider, we’ve been aging our own whiskey, we build a bar in our house, and, yes: I went to grad school in Scotland. I’ll let you do the math on that last one. But really, I think I just find alcohol more fascinating than anything else. The scientific process of creating alcohol, whether through distilling or fermenting, the aging process, the history of it, and of course just the social aspect (we won’t get into the psychological aspect of it).

But that social aspect is what makes it a great gift. Graduations, engagements, celebrations of all kinds. But Irish Cream in particular, I think makes a wonderful retirement present. Because for the rest of a retired person’s life (hopefully), they not only get to drink coffee for the enjoyment of it instead of to get them through the work day, it also doesn’t matter if they spike their morning coffee, because they’re retired.

This week we’re focusing on homemade gifts, something to give for Christmas or Hanukkah (or any other holiday of your choice!) This is pretty good timing for me as this coming weekend I will be in the kitchen making tons of homemade gifts so they are at their freshest for giving!

Whenever I’m deciding what gifts to make I automatically think of sweet things: there are so many different types of biscuits, cookies, muffins, brownies, blondies etc to bake and these all make wonderful gifts. My young cousins would be furious if I didn’t include plenty of sweet things for them. But not everyone loves sweet things all the time. In my experience thinking of savoury things to include can be a bit of a challenge so I’ve tried to focus on the just as delicious savory angle this week.

Parmesan and Black Pepper Biscotti (from the ever wonderful Smitten Kitchen)

Continue reading: Gift Week: Parmesan and Black Pepper Biscotti

Earlier today I posted the recipe I used for the Food Blogger Cookie Swap, Millionaire’s Shortbread. But I thought I’d give some link love to the people who sent me their cookies!

Fashioned by Grace sent some wonderful Cowboy Cookies:

Vaikai ir Vanile sent some delicious (and appropriately named) Crack Cookies:

And Chirky made Norwegian Delicacies, which I’d never had before but fell in love with:

They were all so delicious, I highly encourage you to pop over to each site and bake a batch yourself! Maybe not all in one day, but, you know, eventually!

If you want to play along next year, sign up for the swap.

The Scots love their sweets. I mean, not as much as I do, but I’ll give them credit for trying. One of the most popularly Scottish sweets is shortbread. Everyone’s seen the tins or boxes with the red tartan on it. Shockingly, I actually don’t really like plain shortbread. I don’t know what it is, too buttery for me maybe. However, I LOVE Millionaire’s Shortbread, which is shortbread bars with caramel and chocolate. Can’t be missed. And if you add a little fleur de sel on there? Heaven in bar cookie form.

So, when I signed up for the Blogger Cookie Swap, I figured this recipe was the way to go. It says a little about our blog, and it’s delicious, and while it takes a little while, it’s pretty easy. And pretty. And packs pretty well. So Christina at Stracciatella, Esme at Chocolate and Croissants, and Carrie at Clever Mommas all received some Millionaire’s Shortbread and get to discover how deliciously disastrous it can be to your waistline. But that’s what Christmas is for! And the cookies I received were completely delicious too, I’ll post links to the recipes later!

ALSO this kicks off Gift Week on Double the Sugar! This year we’re looking at homemade gifts, because we’re skint! But we’ll also give you other gift ideas in each post, so stay tuned!

I am a big fan of any meal that is simple to cook, leaves minimal washing up and tastes like you’ve spent a lot more time on it than you have. So this meal is one of my stand by after work dinners but also a great starter at a dinner party.

This is adapted from a Real Simple recipe that I found through the oh-so-addictive Pinterest. I played with the quantities and added some aubergine to the mix. This would serve four with a side of cous-cous or rice, or even pasta. However I am ashamed to admit that Doug and I scoffed the entire amount with doorstep style slabs of bread in just one meal. We just couldn’t resist. In fact, when I realised Doug was going back for seconds I jumped up from my seat to make sure he left some for me

Continue reading: Feta topped roasted prawns with aubergine and tomato