Rhubarb & Almond Crumble Traybake

baking
There's more rhubarb in the garden than I know what to do with at the moment. And there is only so many rhubarb crumbles you can make! So I've adapted this recipe which is a take on the classic crumble but is a cake style traybake.
It has a biscuit base, fruity cake middle and is topped with crumble and almond.

You’ll need…
250g butter
225g caster sugar
100g ground almond
365g plain flour
2 eggs
2tsp cinnamon
1tsp baking powder
10 sticks of rhubarb
50g almond flakes


To make…
Chop the butter into cubes and put into a large mixing bowl along with the sugar, ground almond and 200g of the flour. Rub the butter in using your finger tips until it resembles breadcrumbs. Put half the mixture into another mixing bowl and set aside.

Add 140g of flour and 1tsp of cinnamon into the other half of the mixture and mix well. Roll together to form a short crust style dough. Add a  splash of water if you need to.
Grease a medium sized, rectangular baking dish and press the dough down into it using the back of a spoon. Bake for 20mins at 180oC.

Chop your rhubarb into short pieces, put into a baking tray, sprinkle with sugar and ginger and a splash of water and add this to the oven for 15mins.

In the meantime make the fruity cake middle, take the 2nd half of the breadcrumb mixture and take out 4 spoons of crumble for the topping and save for later.
Using the rest of the mixture add the eggs, the remaining 25g of flour, 1tsp of cinnamon and the baking powder. Mix until a smooth.

Take the biscuit base out of the oven and top with the cake mixture, add the rhubarb pieces and bake for 20mins more.

Add the remaining crumble and bake for 15 more minutes.
Leave to cool completely, slice and enjoy.


Grow your own

baking
 

Spring has sprung, and so has the rhubarb in my garden! Rhubarb is such an easy fruit to grow. 
It's unbelievably low maintenance and arrives all by it's self every spring. 
We have a huge, well established patch in our garden so we give alot away to friends and family, as there is too much to use ourselves. 
Now's the time to take your first of many cuttings, we get about three a year from May to September. I'll of course be baking in the following few weeks to come so watch out for some recipes using this yummy versatile fruit. 

If you want to have a go and growing your own fruit & veg rhubarb is the perfect fruit to start with. Here's my top tips on growing your own..

I'd recommend getting a young plant or crown rather than seeds from your local garden centre. Plant in the autumn and leave for a year to establish the plant. Your patience will pay off I promise! Allow a large area for the rhubarb to grow as when it becomes established it really does need alot of space.

In the following May your plant should be ready to harvest, the beautiful red stalks and large leaves will spring up the moment you turn your back. Cut the rhubarb at the base with a knife and cut the leaves off as these are poisonous. Cut back any limp stalks and allow the rhubarb to start growing again ready for the next harvest in July.

After the growing season cut back the rhubarb the the crown (base) in the autumn or winter. 
Removing any leaves, stalks. The rhubarb will be dorment during winter, so it really is a feast and famine situation. However it freezes really well, so even if you have too much during the summer you can bake it all and freeze any extra you have.

I always roast mine as it brings the sweetness out of the rhubarb. Chop it into 3-4cm pieces, put in to a baking tray with a couple of spoonfuls of sugar add a splash of water and a teaspoon of ginger and bake at 200oC for 15-20mins.

Norfolk Getaway

Travel


Last weekend we took a little trip to North Norfolk, we were very lucky with the weather as it's been a bit hit and miss lately. But the sunshine was out which made the seaside the best place to be. It was super windy but there's really nothing better than filling your lungs with the sea air! It was Bertie's (our little sausage dog puppy's) first trip to the seaside and he absolutely loved it. He spent the weekend digging and sniffing in the sand, dipping his toes in the sea and playing watchdog for our little beach hut which we hired.

When I discovered you can actually rent a beach hut for a few days I was so so excited! I love traditional beach huts, they are so iconically British and the huts at Wells-next-to-the-Sea didn't disappoint. The colours and detailing are so beautiful! I took far to many photos but these will come in handy for a project in the future I'm sure. I found this amazing website where you can find beach huts for rent daily (Around £25 a day) and also weekly rentals, which I highly recommend www.beach-huts.com They are little adverts and you can get in touch with the owners directly for all the details and prices. 

I finally put my new beach towels to use too. They really came in handy when walking on the beach, just throw them down on the sand and enjoy the views. They really are beautiful quality and print is so lovely and crisp considering they are a fluffy toweling. The designs are hand drawn by me in my studio at Welbeck. There is a deck chair design and an ice cream van design to choose from, I couldn't pick a favourite so I got both!

Beach Towels £20 from my At Home with Ashley Thomas collection 
exclusively at Debenhams.com
Picnic hamper £25




Picnic Collection for Debenhams

Ashley Thomas at home
Picnic season is finally upon us, after a beautiful sunny weekend it's really kick started positive thinking about the summer ahead. I'm planning lovely trips to the Great British seaside and picnics in the local countryside here in Derbyshire. I've ordered in my picnic basket ready for alfresco dining on warm summer evenings after work. So I thought I'd feature a bit about my picnic collection for Debenhams today and post these dreaming photos from the SS16 catalogue. This years collection is bigger than ever and includes everything you need from pretty melamine to vintage style wicker baskets. As all my collections for Debs this range is limited edition, we are all ready working on next years range. So get yours whilst stocks last. Shop online here...

 
Four person picnic hamper, £90

 
Melamine from £10
Here's a little insight into my sketchbook for this collection.

Sunshine & Ice Cream

British sunshine

We've had a beautiful weekend here in Derbyshire and we celebrated with a BBQ, a gorgeous walk in the Peak District, ice creams and pints of shandy, heaven!
Bertie had his very first swimming lesson too in the little stream below Burbage Edge. Very entertaining, I'm not sure if he likes water or not as he was a bit of a wimp after a few minutes.
But he's a very natural swimmer and I was bursting with pride when he took to the water for the first time on Sunday.
He was totally spoilt by the ice cream man with his very own free ice cream cone! Watching him tuck into this ice cream was one of the highlights of the year so far. He actually ate the whole thing! What a greedy boy.  Love this photo of him, which totally captured the moment.