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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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The Aria Granny Stripe Blanket
This blanket is a variation of the Aria Blanket created by Attic24 in Autumn 2020. I love the look of the original Aria Blanket which is a series of brightly coloured flowery squares connected together. Created by Lucy of Attic24 during the height of the Pandemic, the Aria Blanket was definitely a riot of cheerful…
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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 Yuletide Blanket
When Lucy of Attic24 first posted pictures of her Yuletide Blanket back in late summer/ early autumn of 2021, I knew I had to make it. The stunning , bright jewel colours of the Yuletide blanket, coupled with its square pattern made it an extremely popular blanket. I ordered my kit in the September when…
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Key Lime Pie Ice Cream
Tuesday 13th September 2022. I have been wanting to make Key Lime Pie for a while. Not only is it another challenge for the #100bakeschallenge poster but it’s one I’ve not made for a while. I think the last time I made it I tried to make a healthier version but it ended up going…
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Scotch Pancakes #100bakeschallenge
On Saturday September 10th, which was only two days after the announcement came about the passing of Queen Elizabeth II. I ended up not eating breakfast until later and then decided we needed a little treat. I had been watching all the news updates and feeling so sad. I made us some Scotch Pancakes (otherwise…
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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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June Baking Update #100bakeschallenge
It’s the beginning of July and I’ve been so behind with my SmartCookieSam blog. It seems I only have time to update it in the school holidays at the moment and that really upsets me as I love doing it. I’ve had a busy time recently and as normal, the blogging gets pushed to the…
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Blueberry Muffins- #100bakeschallenge (24)
After the Raspberry and White Chocolate Muffins went down well the other week, I’ve not made any more muffins since. Such a shame as they’re so easy to make. So different to shop bought in size and in terms of sweetness. These muffins are perfect for a breakfast on the go or a snack with…
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Garibaldi Biscuits #100bakeschallenge
Do you like Garibaldi biscuits? I don’t care much for them, to be honest. I don’t know why I’m not that fussed with them and I love eating biscuits far too much! It’s not that they have dried fruit in them. Maybe it’s their texture. I don’t know. But at least they taste nicer than…
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Baking Update!
Hi everyone! I feel as if it’s a lifetime since I last updated my blog. My last post was just around Easter, I think. As soon as we got into the second week of the Easter holidays, I began to feel unwell. I have been using HRT for nearly two years and due to the…
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#100bakeschallenge: Rice Crispie Cakes
Well these strictly aren’t Rice Crispie cakes, as there isn’t a single Rice Krispie in them. But allow me to bend the rules slightly as I wanted to make some Chocolate Easter Nests but you don’t make them with Rice Krispies. Cornflakes or Shredded Wheat. I noticed the wording on my #100bakeschallenge poster (see Crumbs…
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Mini Egg Flapjacks
I can’t get enough of Mini Eggs and I can’t get enough of Flapjacks. So I thought what if I could combine the two? My regular Flapjack recipe is one I’ve used for over 15 years and I’ve lost count of the times I’ve baked it. It’s been baked for my family, for friends, baked…
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International Coffee Cake Day-Coffee and Walnut Cake #100bakes
Today (Thursday April 7th) marks International Coffee Cake Day! Can’t beat a nice bit of Coffee Cake and my Coffee and Walnut Cake always goes down a treat. A tearoom classic, I love a slice of this if it’s ever on the menu anywhere I go. Mr S doesn’t like sickly sweet cakes and lots…
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Salted Caramel Pretzel Cupcakes
On Tuesday I baked some Salted Caramel Pretzel Cupcakes. One of those flavours that was around everywhere a few years ago and it still is popular with lots of people. It’s been a while since I’ve made anything salted caramel related, though. Tuesday 5th April was Caramel Day according to My Legoman’s Foodie Days Of…
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fitwaffle’s baking it easy- a book review
I must admit I’d never heard of Fitwaffle before I picked up a copy of this book the other day. I’d gone to Northallerton to buy baking supplies and saw Fitwaffle’s Baking It Easy on the shelf in WHSmith! I am always looking out for new baking books. Those of you who know me well,…
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#100bakeschallenge: Sausage rolls and scones.
For Mother’s Day this last Sunday I made an Afternoon Tea for my own mum, Mr S and I to enjoy. My son is away at uni and my daughter was working, although I did get to see her in the morning and then she was home to enjoy the Afternoon Tea leftovers later! For…
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My 2023 Temperature Blanket (Part 1)
If you’re reading this and wondering what a temperature blanket is, then let me explain. I started a temperature blanket in 2020 when I was still fairly new to crochet. It was even started before the pandemic and my knowledge of stitches was limited to granny stripes, trebles and double crochet. I was really surprised…
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Easter Catch Up And Baking Round Up.
Hi everyone! I hope you’ve all had a very Happy Easter. It feels like ages since I’ve done a blog post. At the beginning of this year I planned on writing three posts a week. Two baking themed ones and one crochet/ craft one. March was very busy chez SmartCookieSam and we were away for…
SmartCookieSam
Cakes, Cookies, Crochet lovingly made in North Yorkshire.
SmartCookieSam 