Good day, all! We hope February has brought some relief after a rather long January! Considering it is the 9th of February today, time seems to be back on track again. With the weekend approaching, Rose and I thought about Imani in Kenya and decided to share with you one of the recipes her grandmother worked with to make a delicious chocolate apple crumble! Imani usually collects the apples herself when she works with this recipe - it's a process but the results are always amazing. So, here you go - why not try it for yourself? What you'll need: 1 - 8 apples 2 - 1 tspn mixed spice 3 - 100g/3.1/2oz dark chocolate 4 - 125ml/4fl oz brown sugar 5 - 125ml/4fl oz rolled oats 6 - 1 tblspn cocoa powder 7 - 125ml/4fl oz cake flour 8 - 250ml/8fl oz water 9 - 1 tblspn white sugar How to make a chocolate apple crumble: 1 - Preheat your oven to 180/350f/gas 4. 2 - Peel and de-core your apples then cut them into wedges. 3 - Bring your water to the boil in a pot, then place your apple wedges and tblspn of white sugar into your boiling water. 4 - Reduce to a medium heat after 2 minutes then allow your apples to cook for 10 minutes. 5 - Place your brown sugar, rolled oats, cocoa and flour into a large bowl and mix them together well. 6 - Melt your butter on a low heat, and then add it to your flour mix. Mix them together well. 7 - Once your apples are starting to soften, remove them from the heat and drain them. 8 - Grease a baking dish. 9 - Cut your apple wedges into thin slices. 10 - Place them into your greased baking dish. 11 - Sprinkle your mixed spice over them. 12 - Grate your dark chocolate over your apples. With a spoon, gently try to combine your spices and chocolate with your apples, trying not to break your apples too much. 13 - Sprinkle your crumble-flour mix over your apples and chocolate, so that the entire surface is covered. 14 - Place your crumble in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes, until the crumble is golden. Once golden, remove the crumble from your oven and allow it to cool slightly. 15 - Best served warm with a spoon of whipped cream or vanilla ice-cream. You might also want to divide your ingredients into separate dishes, if you have a few dessert dishes that are ovenproof, as seen in the image below. Well, we hope you are excited about making this sweet treat - if you do make it, please send us a photo either via Facebook or Twitter. We would sincerely love to see your creation! Also, don't forget that you can subscribe to my letters to become my pen-pal; I love writing to children and the more friends I have the better! Here's wishing you a sweet weekend! Keep smiling, stay magical, Sasha ~ You Are My Little Sunshine
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Hello, hello! And a happy new year to all of you. We do hope your Christmas was awesome and that you got to create some amazing memories with your family. As 2020 moves on, as time does without stopping, I’ve thought of some character traits I want to better in myself, and so I’ve decided to share them with you. If you agree with them, you can consider them in your own life, too. 1 – loving myself enough, I will share some of my love with others who need it – be it someone who has no food or a warm article of clothing to wear, I will share. 2 – I will not take bad news as being the only news. I will spend a few minutes to research the truth behind every story I am told, so that I do not waste my emotions on illusions. 3 – I will use my creativity at every turn; in my responses to people, in my work, with my family and friends; I will aim to leave a smile on the faces of all those who come into my life. 5 – I will take better care of my environment, and pick-up pieces of trash I see lying around; reduce, reuse, recycle as often as I can. I will also keep my body and mind clean through exercise and positive affirmations. 6 – I will not turn to adverse entertainment, meaning I will only watch movies and listen to music that brings me joy, eliminating horror, thrillers, overacted drama and war from my life. 7 – I will use all of my resources wisely and take nothing for granted. Everything I have now can help me to have a good life; if I don’t have exactly what I need, I will turn to one of my own existing resources to help me to get to where I want to be. 8 – I will not concern myself with political issues. I will make my choices according to how I want life to be around me, not according to what others want me to see. 9 – I will not be affected by the opinions of others, unless I feel they are there to help me. I am aware that everyone lives in a different dimension of reality, according to their history and future wants. 10 – I will fill the world with love, my whole life through – just as my grandmother did - and I will put my health first in everything I do. Without my health, life will be harder than it could be for me. These may seem like minor resolutions to have, and you may not connect with them at all. But, if you perhaps read through this list again and develop a feeling for each point, you will see just how easy it can be to live a peaceful life that is wonderful and purpose-driven. While I have been alive for hundreds of years because I am a tooth-fairy, I know humans only have a short lifespan. More than anything I want you to know that it is entirely possible to live in happiness more often than not, and I believe the steps above are the way. Well, Rose’s artist has almost completed the illustrations for the third book in her ‘The Tales of Banjo and the Superhero Dentist’ series, and she is more than excited about this as it means it will be ready to share with you in a few short weeks. Until then, all of us are working at what we love, living our dreams, and caring for humanity as we do! Don’t stop! Keep going strong – we’re all here to love and be loved. Until next week, keep smiling, stay magical, Sasha ~ You Are My Little SunshineGood morning, all! Thursday is blog day. As promised, today I'll be sharing a very simple Christmas cookie recipe with you. I love to bake, although my cookies are the size of breadcrumbs to you! If you've not met me before, my name is Sasha - AKA Rose's Little Helper. I love to keep in touch with Rose's friends here, and I help her to tell people about the awesome books she has written. I love writing to kids and receiving letters as well, so if you'd like your child to be my pen-pal, just drop me a line via my page on this site. For now, we hope your Christmas season is in full swing. It's the best time of year and everyone is preparing to spend precious time with friends and family. Baking cookies is a task on many people's list this time of year, too, and that's why I've chosen to share this recipe with you! What you'll need: Cookie dough - 1 - 1 cup of butter 2 - 3 cups baking flour 3 - 1 cup of castor sugar or icing sugar 4 - 1 teaspoon of baking powder 5 - half a teaspoon of salt 6 - 1 large egg 7 - 1 teaspoon vanilla essence 8 - 1 teaspoon of milk 9 - 1 large mixing bowl 10 - 1 medium-sized bowl 11 - 1 (or 2) greased baking tray 12 - 1 spatula 13 - 1 rolling pin 14 - cookie cutters (although you can shape your own with a knife if you do not have cookie-cutter shapes) Icing/frosting - 1 - 1 cup of soft butter 2 - 5 cups icing sugar 3 - a quarter cup of whipped cream 4 - food coloring of your choice (just a drop of each color) 5 - half a teaspoon of vanilla essence What to do: 1 - place your flour, baking powder and salt into your large bowl then blend them together well. 2 - in your medium-sized bowl, blend your butter and sugar together well. 3 - once your butter mix is well-blended, add the vanilla essence, milk and egg. 4 - add your butter mix to your flour mix. 5 - combine the ingredients thoroughly. Once you have made the dough, shape it into a short and fat sausage then wrap it in plastic-wrap, then place it in your fridge for one hour. 6 - after 55 minutes or so, preheat your oven to 180c or 350f. 7 - after the hour, remove your cooled dough from the fridge. Sprinkle flour over a clean, flat surface area then use your rolling pin to flatten the dough, so that it is ready to cut and shape - it should be roughly 5mm to 7mm in thickness. 8 - once you've cut the shapes you want from the flattened dough, place your shapes onto your greased baking tray/s then place your shapes on the tray/s into your freezer for 8 to 10 minutes. 9 - by this time your oven should be ready. Place your cold cookie shapes on your tray/s into your oven, then bake the cookies for 8 to 10 minutes. You'll know they are ready when they begin to look golden brown along the edges. 10 - once they're baked, remove them from your oven and place the baking tray/s on a cool surface. 11 - prepare your icing sugar/frosting by blending the butter, icing sugar, cream and vanilla essence together well. You should be left with a large bowl of icing/frosting. You can divide this mixture into four or five separate bowls, adding a drop of whichever food coloring you want to use to each bowl separately - you should be left with four or five colors of icing/frosting. 12 - once your cookies are cold, decorate them with your colored frosting. If you're not sure how to make your own icing bags, you can watch this video. Well, I do hope you'll have some fun making your own cookies for your friends and family, and don't forget to leave some for Santa and his deer - he'll be working hard this year and could do with a sugar boost! We would certainly love to see your cookie creations once you're done. Please share a picture with us on Rose's Facebook or Twitter pages, or you can send them to me via my subscribe page here. As a note, folks, because next Thursday is the day after Christmas day, also called 'Boxing Day', we won't be posting a blog on that day as we'll all be where we belong - with family! But I'll be back again in the new year, of course! And so, from Rose and myself it's Merry Christmas to everyone around the world - may this time bring you both joy and peace, and may the new year bring you very many happy returns! Love to all of you, Sasha and Rose ~ |