Make your own jigsaw cookies!

Last year I went through an obsession with making Sara's lemon and elderflower shortbread. I made it every week for about two months, flogging at the local café (for the good of the park rather than YT, honest) and just putting it in my mouth at regular intervals.

This had to end. Partly because of the Olympics, and partly because if I ate any more shortbread I would have exploded.

Now, unless you've been under a brick for the last four years you will know that our interest in cookie cutters knows no bounds. I mean, it's not like we need any more ways to shape dough, but need and "I would quite like that please" are two very different kettles of fish-shaped biscuit.

With that in mind, I take a great interest in this lovely jigsaw cookie cutter from Cox & Cox. In part, because it is mega. And also because it's on sale for £2.25 down from £4.50. But really because I think it would be amazing on Laura B's ice cream bread.

Delicious.

Baking for Beginners: Ice Cream Bread

Ice cream bread has been doing the rounds of this here internet malarkey for the past few days, and obviously my Foodie-sense (like Spidey-sense, but way better) went into overdrive at the mere whiff of a new vaguely bonkers recipe to try.

BUT WAIT! STOP AND THINK! COLLABORATE AND LISTEN! It isn't bonkers at all: ice cream has all the bits you need to make a sweet bread (not sweetbread, actual boak-town), namely fat, eggs, and sugar - all we have to do is add some self-raising flour and ta-da! BREAD. Using two ingredients. TWO.

I used honeycomb ice cream, but you can use whatever flavour you like! I've fiddled with the quantities a little to suit my own loaf tin (selfish to the core), but it's a standard 2lb tin so you're bound to have one in the back of your cupboard.

Ice Cream Bread (makes one small loaf)
You will need:

• 750ml ice cream, any flavour, softened 
• 300g self-raising flour
• Hundreds and thousands. Not literally hundreds and thousands of them, but loads.

Make it!

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4. Grease or line a 2lb loaf tin (9 x 5 x 2¾"/23 x 13 x 7cm).
2. Combine the softened ice cream and the flour in a large bowl. Stir (no need to use a mixer!) until the ingredients are combined and you've got a doughy-looking mixture. Don't overwork it, not least because you'll end up with a broken wrist.
3. Scoop the dough into your loaf pan, smooth the top with a spatula, and bake for 60-80 minutes in the centre of the oven. Use a toothpick or skewer to test whether or not it's baked through - whatever you poke in there should come out clean. 
4. Leave to cool before turning out. Serve as you would normal bread - I toasted mine and plonked some butter and hundreds and thousands on top (like the Dutch delicacy of hagelslag on toast - they are geniuses, those Dutch people) for maximum ice creamy effect.

What have we been reading recently?

What books have we been carrying around in our handbags? Which authors have been getting us talking? Here's what we've been reading recently.

Sian: I recently found myself in possession of an eReader (after Frances and I went to a Kobo event and ate all of the canapes). I was skeptical, but I love it. After sterling recommendations from Sara and Kat, my very first ebook purchase was Life After Life. It's a fabulous book, tragic and gripping without becoming sentimental. I'd wanted to read Mr Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore for a while and although it started off brilliantly, it really dragged in the middle. Now I'm lost in The Night Circus (a year after everyone else) and it's absolutely dreamy.

I haven't totally turned my back on books! I recently nabbed a first edition of The Poisonwood Bible - my favourite book . And call me biased, but I devoured The Rough Guide to Vintage London the second it landed on my desk. It's full of actual insider information and great big fabulous chunks of it were written by our very own Frances Ambler.

Kat: Having quite enjoyed the 100 Year-Old-Man Who Climbed out of the Window and Disappeared last month, I took the Kindle store's recommendation and went for The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. It was ok, but felt weirdly empty in the middle which some lovely writing couldn't solve. Much more excitingly, I rediscovered a childhood favourite: L.M. Montgomery's Emily of New Moon trilogy. Emily, a dedicated writer with an other-worldly nature, is a far more engaging heroine than Anne of Green Gables, and Montgomery clearly finds her much more interesting to write. The whole thing is 77p on Amazon, so do yourself a favour and plug yourself in.

Laura B: I started the month reading Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg's book, Lean In. It explores gender inequality in the workplace, and encourages women to be assertive when it comes to their career ambitions. Although criticised for being written with über-women like Sandberg in mind, I found it relevant to my life. Next up was Guardian columnist Hadley Freeman's new book, Be Awesome, which is a brilliantly funny and wise book of essays, filled with '80s and '90s pop culture references and feminist awesomeness.

I'm currently dipping in and out of Cucina Povera by Pamela Sheldon Johns, a wonderful collection of Tuscan peasant recipes (cookbooks make excellent bedtime reading), and I'm about to start rereading The Secret History by Donna Tartt, because it's one of my favourites, and I can't wait until her new book is published in October!

Frances: I spent this month catching up on books people have been eagerly thrusting under my nose for years, starting with The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Cell research? Normally straight over my head but this story skilfully balances the story of Henrietta - whose cells became the most commonly used cells in research the world over - with larger political and ethical issues, and in a way even the most unscientifically minded can follow. If you like Brain Pickings, you’ll probably adore Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird. Lamott is a funny and generous guide and the book is full of wonderfully worded thoughts I want to commit to heart.

My only new release this month was Leanne Shapton's Was She Pretty? a collection of illustrations and neat one liners, inspired by the strange feelings we have towards ex-partners and the exes of exes. It feels voyeuristic, a bit painful and was utterly impossible to put down. My current book is a slightly gentler poke at relationships: Barbara Pym's Excellent Woman. Written in 1950s, it’s got vicars, anthropologists and jumble sales and I can’t wait to find out how it all unfolds.

Hazel: Once again it's all cook books for me! Pasta - Mastering the Basics has been in my kitchen all week, it covers pasta making and drying then moves onto recipes that are all simple and really appealing, the rigatoni with sausage and parmesean was the most comforting thing I've eaten in ages. I also found The Pleasures of Cooking with Wine by Emily Chase which was first published in 1960 and could have been written just for me. It  has a whole section on booze salads, yes BOOZE SALADS! Marvellous stuff!

Laura H: I've been on a crime-spree this month... that is reading about it, not committing it. I'm starting with the classics, and so far have covered Edgar Allen Poe's 'The Murders in the Rue Morgue' and Thomas De Quincy's On Murder. Poe is at his best with his insouciant, oddball genius crime solver C. Auguste Dupin - a precursor to Mr Holmes - the grizzly murders always drawing to a surprising conclusion. De Quincy is deliciously dark, reveling in and dissecting a series of notorious murders committed in 1811 in an alarmingly funny way.

I've also been wallowing in the delightful ambiance of our featured book of the week, The Ethicurean Cookbook. Produced by the team of four friends who run the same-titled restaurant just outside of Bristol, the book is a thing of beauty; finely bound and beautifully produced inside and out - much like their food.

What have you been reading recently? What should we read next?

Shop in the Spotlight: Little Mistress

Little Mistress is a brand that's bubbling under my radar for a while now. For every dress I spot that I like, there are three that looked like they belonged in Lipsy (I'm in two minds about this particular dress, it could be fabulous but it's teetering into air cabin crew territory). But, it was this blue and white lace dress (only one left in a size 8, hurry!) that made me want to explore a little more.

At first glance, I thought this pink skater dress was a little too cutesy. But on closer inspection, I really like the retro print. I also like her orange lippy. £55 well spent.

It's hard to make out the lace daisy print down the centre of the dress, but it's there, looking adorable. There's a yellow zip down the back as well. This dress is £50 and it's a keeper. Until you throw burger sauce down it.

Not just dresses, I like this floral skirt as well. It's only £39 but please don't wear it with the matching top, you're not a backing singer for a Spanish girl band.

Woah. This lace panel dress is super sexy (this one is too pink, but it's nice to have options). Dress it up, wear it to a wedding. No one will suspect it was only £52.

I might well be blinded by her fabulous skin, but I think I like this mint green playsuit very much. It might be a bit Peter Pan. I might think that's a good thing. I's £42.

I love the gold trims on this floral maxi dress. I think I'd need to see it in the flesh, but it could be a winner. It's £65.

Let Her Eat Cake: Hazelnut Cake with a Blackberry Sloe Gin Glaze

There is one thing I love most of all about the start of summer. Is it the fact that the sun makes everyone  miraculously willing to share picnic tables with complete strangers? No. Scantily clad men stirring jugs of Pimms whilst practising their best Mr Darcy wet-shirt pose? Not even. It's the BERRIES. Finally, berries are edging their way back into season. Hooray! Time to celebrate by combining them with sticky booze into a fruity, sticky, booze cake.

Oh no! Mr Darcy, you seem to have stained your white shirt with blackberry cake. Pass it here. You don't need it anyway. 

Hazelnut Cake with Blackberry & Sloe Gin Glaze

You will need:
For the cake

• 175g butter, very soft
• 175g caster sugar
• 3 free-range eggs
• 140g self-raising flour
• 40g ground almonds
• Handful of hazelnuts, chopped

For the glaze

• 100g fresh blackberries (you can use frozen as well, or replace with raspberries or mixed berries, as you prefer). 
• 5 tbsp sloe gin
• 2 tbsp caster sugar (I used vanilla sugar: stick a used vanilla pod in a pot with some caster sugar and leave it for a bit. Hey presto).

Make it!
The cake:

1. Pre-heat your oven to 180C/350F/Gas mark 4. Grease and line a 450g / 1lb loaf tin.
2. Place the chopped hazelnuts in a dry pan and toast over a low heat for around 2 minutes. (Watch out, they catch and burn very easily). Tip onto a plate to cool. 
3. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. 
4. Beat the eggs, then add to the butter along with the flour and almonds. Stir to combine, but don't over mix. 
5. Gently stir in the cooled hazelnuts. 
6. Tip into the loaf tin (you've probably already got one handy after working your way through these top ten loaf cake recipes) and smooth over the top. 
7. Bake for 45 minutes until risen and golden brown and a skewer comes out nearly clean. 

The glaze:

1. Place 100g blackberries into a saucepan, along with 4 tbsp sloe gin and the sugar. (Save a few whole berries for decoration and / or surreptitious eating). 
2. Stir together and cook over a low heat until the blackberries can be crushed with the back of a spoon and the liquid has reduced, about 10 minutes. 
3. Place a mesh sieve over a bowl and strain the liquid, smooshing the berry-pulp with a spoon to get all the juicy amazingness out. 
4. Return the clear liquid to the pan and reduce over a low heat again until thickened, another 4-5 minutes or so. 
5. Set aside and stir regularly: you'll want to use this quite quickly before it sets, so have that cake ready. 
6. Prick holes in the top of the cake whilst still warm and pour over the remaining 1 tbsp of sloe gin.  
7. Remove from the paper and place on a wire rack. (You might want something underneath - this bit gets messy). 
8. Spoon the glaze over the cake whilst still warm, pushing to the edges with the back of a spoon. Decorate with the remaining blackberries and bask in the ruby, sticky deliciousness that has now stained your entire kitchen. 

Sluttishly Savoury: Steak and Smoky Chorizo Chilli

Like a lot of good recipes, this chilli started out as a bit of an experiment. What would happen if I mixed chorizo sausage into a beef chilli? Brilliant things happen, that's what. Smoky and spicy things. Tasty things that will send you into a fabulous food coma. I've tried it with minced beef as well as diced steak and it really needs the latter. The ingredients list looks pretty long, but you'll probably have most of them in the cupboard already. This is the perfect meal if you're under the weather and considering hibernating for the rest of May.

Steak and smokey chorizo chilli (serves four)

You'll need

• 1kg diced steak (actually I used a little over, Sainsbury's use strange weights for their meat).
• 1 red onion
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 2 green chillies
• 1 chorizo sausage, yep you need all of it.
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 2 tins chopped tomatoes
• 2 tsp cumin
• 2 tsp hot paprika
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 2 tsp cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tin red kidney beans (if you can find beans in chilli sauce, get them)
• Coriander, to garnish. Maybe sour cream too, if you remembered to buy any.

Make it!

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4.
2. Season and brown the stewing steak in a pan with the onions and garlic.
3. Pop in a casserole dish and mix with the chillies, chorizo, pepper, tomatoes and spices.
4. Leave in the oven for about an hour. Go and watch a surprisingly watchable film starring Channing Tatum.
5. Give everything a bit of a stir and add the kidney beans.
6. You might need to add a little more spice around now, test things, play about, find out. Bear in mind that your dinner is going back in the oven for another hour so don't do too crazy with the chillies - that will develop. If you can feel a warming tingling aftertaste, you're onto a winner.
7. Pop back in the oven for another hour.
8. Serve with rice, tortilla chips and the rest of a surprisingly good film starring Channing Tatum.

Het Paradijs' Flying Bird Cups

Het Paradijs literally means 'The Paradise' in Dutch. It's a shop and studio run by three illustrators - Esther Hörchner, Els ten Klooster and Maaike Burgers. We've actually featured some of their work before - remember the gorgeous bathing ladies tea set we gave away? That was their handiwork.

Now I've got myself excited over their gorgeous flying bird cups. A concept so simple, but incredibly effective.

Each mug depicts an ever so slightly different birdcage, and a cute little bird trying to fly away. Or a bird who is actually quite content to stay where he is thank you very much.

Love the gold touches they've used for the birds. Yep, this design is all sorts of winning.

The individual cups are available from the Het Paradijs website at €8.50 each, or you can buy the set of six from Dutch by Design for £45. I'm hoping they'll starting selling the individual cups as well, I think they'd make absolutely gorgeous 'cheer up, I think you're excellent' presents.