4am Essay Biscuits

So Rachel and I both had massive essays due on Monday; cue stocking up on tea and fizzy drinks as we prepared for the inevitable all-nighter. We made one big mistake though: there was no baking in the house. So at 4am on Monday morning I made Burnt Butter Biscuits to fuel us.

Yours will be much prettier than mine because it won't be 4am. Or maybe it will be - I'm not judging.

There are a grand total of 4 ingredients, and they take 5 minutes to make. I reckon they're the only thing I could've made at 4am, which should give you an idea of the ease! In terms of taste they're pretty special too: warm, buttery and melt-in-the-mouth, and the perfect accompaniment to a cup of tea.
The perfect biscuit? Maybe.

Ingredients:
- 100g butter
- 100g caster sugar
- 150g self-raising flour
- 1 egg

1. First, preheat the oven to 180°C. Then grab a saucepan and throw in the butter. Melt, and keep on the heat until it turns a golden brown colour (or is generally starting to burn the bottom). Put to one side to set a bit for 5 minutes while you weigh out the other ingredients and beat your egg.
2. Cream together the butter and sugar, then tip in the egg and mix. Stir in the flour 'til there are no white streaks.
3. Grab small amounts of dough and roll them into balls (put your index finger against your thumb knuckle: about that size) and place onto a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper. They'll spread out a fair bit, so I'd say no more than 6 per baking tray (unless it's 4am, in which case just make random-sized balls and throw them all onto one tray...).
4. Use the back of a fork to flatten them slightly, then bake for 15 minutes until golden. Sprinkle with caster sugar and allow to cool and firm up, then dunk in cups of tea to your heart's content.

I'm not entirely sure how many the mixture should make because I didn't size them properly - but I'd guess something between 12 and 18. Also, I can't claim they're super-powered-biscuits until we get the marks back, but we both got our essays in on time. So that's definitely something.

London lunches

GOSH and Kenwood House

So, quite frankly, this summer has been the busiest ever. I don't feel like I've stopped since June... With my internship and volunteering at Kenwood House with English Heritage and working at University in the admissions department, I've barely had the time to cook anything... 

Except lunches. I've made (not really cooked) SO many packed lunches. When I'm at GOSH I usually eat my lunch in Russell Square Gardens, apart from the few times it rained and I went and sat in the British Museum. While I started off the summer with the generic crisps + chocolate + sandwich combination, I quickly got bored and started packing random things, like quinoa and roasted vegetables and salads and things. So I decided I'd put together this post, which is basically a compilation of lunch ideas and inspiration. Because packed lunches are cheap and incredibly easy.

Russell Square Gardens

Number 1: The easy lunch

Chocolate + sandwich + savoury snack. (Book optional)

This is my go to lunch. The sandwich is cheddar cheese and Branston pickle, the chocolate is fancy stuff that was slightly out of date and therefore free, and there are cashew nuts in the little pot. I love fancy black pepper flavoured ones, but because they're quite expensive I mix them with plain and boring generic cheap cashews to stretch out the flavour as much as possible.

Also, the sandwich box was 80p in Tesco, which is cheaper than an actual pack of foil and totally environmentally friendly. Winning.

Number 2: The slightly more complicated lunch

Wraps + snacks +dip

These are Warburtons (GLUTEN FREE!!!) wraps, which are awesome. I hope they sell them in Egham Tesco... I made them up with brie and salad. The snacks are salt and pepper rice puff type things, and the dip is mango chutney. I think I had this combination in the one Graze box I ever had, except this way you get to pick what you get to go with it.

Number 3: Easy pasta

Pasta + red pesto + (optional) roasted vegetables

If you're having pasta for dinner the night before, cook up an extra portion and pack it up in a box for lunch the next day. Don't forget a fork...

 Number 4: Anything you can eat that fits into a box.

I really enjoyed my vegetarian lasagne in a box. Not even kidding.