Buttermilk Pie

Bake along
Simply classic America pie, fantastic for pie beginners as this recipe is really easy to make.
Best served with ice cream or fresh fruit.

You'll need...
For the pastry…
125g/4oz plain flour
55g butter, cubed
2-3 tablespoons of cold water

For the filling…
110g butter, softened
150g sugar
5 eggs
240ml buttermilk
1teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons plain flour
1 lemon, juice and zest



To make…
First make the pastry, put the flour in a mixing bowl and add the butter. Use your fingertips to rub the butter into the flour until you have a mixture that resembles coarse breadcrumbs with no large lumps of butter remaining. Using a knife, stir in just enough of the cold water to bind the dough together. Wrap the dough in clingfilm and chill for 10-15 minutes before using.

Roll out the dough on a floured glass worktop saver until around 5mm thick.
Using the dough line a 20cm pie dish. Trim the edges and prick the base lightly with a fork, chill for 30mins

Preheat the oven to 230oC
Mix the butter and sugar together until creamy, beat in the eggs one at a time.
Add all the other ingredients and pour into the chilled pastry
Bake for 10mins then turn the oven down to 190oC and bake for a further 35mins


Scalloped Pie Dish, £16
Folklore Dessert Plate, £6.50
Strawberry Clip Jar, £6
Cake slice, £12

Beginers guide to wallpapering

beginners guide
Now I have a confession... As you all know I design wallaper, but I've never actually wallpapered a wall before! Crazy I know. I decided to have a go at it myself and for my first attempt I am quite pleased with the results. Although I did have a disaster and I ran out of paper on the last strip, so I had to do some tricky horizontal joining which could have been avoided if I'd just ordered enough rolls! So my top advice would be measure your wall very carefully before you start and order a generous amount of wallpaper, as the last thing you need when your covered in wallpaper paste and the house looks like a bomb has hit it, is to run out of paper! Anyway if I can do it, anyone can. Here's my beginners guide to wallpapering.

You'll need...
Wallpaper rolls, Calculate how many you'll need here
A tape measure
A ladder, plumb line & pencil
A bucket or container
A jug of clean water & a clean sponge
A sharp Stanley or craft knife
A wallpaper brush & paste (My paper is paste the wall, and needs a certain paste so check the back to see if it covers this type of paper before you buy it.)



How to...
Firstly measure your wall from ceiling to floor in the centre of the wall where you are hanging your paper. Add about 10cm to this measurement and cut your first piece of wallpaper to this size.

Next measure and mark the centre of the wall.
Then get up your ladder and hold the plumb line 26cm to the left of the central point of the wall.
Using your pencil draw marks down the wall about 20cm apart
Take your time with this as this is your guide to make your wallpaper straight.
Your first piece will hang centrally as this tends to look better generally.

Repeat this dashed line 26cm to the right of the central point of the wall

Then mix your paste according to the packet instructions, mine was 4 pints of water to one packet.
paint on the paste roughly between the two lines on the wall (overlap the lines slightly by about 10cm)



Take your wallpaper strip and climb up the ladder carefully.
line up the paper with your pencil lines and rub the paper on from the centre to the edges.
I found rubbing with an old tea towel helped to make the paper flat and remove the air bubbles.

Once you've rubbed it all the way down, repeat these steps with the next strip. But use the paper as a guide for a straight line rather than marking the wall again.
Measure the wall, cut the piece, paint the paste on, line up the paper and rub a dub dub!


Once your finished, carefully cut the edges top and bottom
and wipe down any areas where the glue has gone onto the paper.

Take your time! With a lot of Patience and gentle rubbing all over you will get a great result.