I’ve Written A New Cookbook!

And you get to choose the cover!

Yes thats right, I’ve been keeping a secret! I have written a new book 🎉 Have I kept the secret well? Jury is still out on that one, there has been quite a few teases in the last few newsletters if you were paying attention. But yes, for just over a year now I have been working away on a secret project, and what a fun project it has been.

First day filming Bake Off, with no idea the direction my life was about to take...

Before I tell you about the book I wanted first to say a massive thank you. It is not lost on me that I have been doing this job for a VERY long time (this is my 14th year of self employment) and to still have the support of so many of you still blows my mind. It is because of your continued support of my work that I am able to follow this dream of mine, the dream to make a life from butter sugar eggs and flour. So thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, I appreciate it more than you’ll ever know.

Introducing

SMALL BATCH COOKIES

coming into to the world in Aug/Sept

The book is a celebration of the small moments, baking for weeknights, a treat at the end of a tough week, a cookie to fulfil a craving, a cookie just because. When it comes to your average cookie recipe, you are lucky if it makes less than twelve but in reality most recipes make even more, 20-30 is pretty common. Whilst that works for many occasions, when you have a big group of people to share them with, what happens when you just fancy a cookie? Sure you could make that batch of 24 and freeze the 23 you don’t need right now, or you could just bake 1. What if you want to bake come cookies for friends coming over? You could bake that batch of 24 and freeze the 18 you don’t need or you could just bake the 6 you do need. I love small batch baking because it fits neatly into our lives where traditional baking, designed for celebrations, does not.

Small Batch Baking also works for people like me who like to bake for fun and want to do so regularly. When I making large batches I need to constantly find homes for all of the leftovers. Yes it is fun to share, and I love that aspect of baking, but it also becomes expensive if you're making things multiple times a week and giving almost of it all away. Sometimes baking can and should just be for us, a nice way to wind down at the end of the day to make something delicious for ourselves or to enjoy with a partner or friends coming over for dinner. Baking isn’t always about catering for a big party, it can also be for those quieter, more low key moments.

Small Batch Baking is also brilliant for food waste and budget bakes. When I was testing out these recipes I found that so often the amounts of ingredients called for, especially things like tahini, peanut butter and chocolate, often equated to what I had left over from other recipes, that last bit of tahini in the jar, the last few chocolate chips in the bag, the last dew drops of maple syrup. The recipes in this book are perfect when you have small amounts of ingredients left over and need something to use them in so that they wont go to waste. Because the recipes are also smaller they don’t need large amounts of expensive ingredients. It also means that the ingredients you do need to buy last longer.

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RELEASE DATES

UK - AUG 29th

US & CANADA - Sept 10th

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Choose The Cover

The reason I am telling you today? Partly it’s because I told my publisher If I didnt tell you all soon I would accidentally end up blurting it out, so I needed to get it off my chest. But mainly it is because I need help choosing the cover. We have narrowed it down to two choices and I want all of you to help me choose the one that goes to print.

Do you prefer the version with Oreos or the version with red velvet sandwich cookies? Let me know in the comments.

What can you expect from the book?

As we are still a little while out from publication I’m not allowed to share too much, but what I can tell you is that the content of the book is incredibly varied so no matter what style of cookie you are looking for the book will have you covered, from crisp and crunchy numbers to gooey gooey treats and of course a very healthy dose of chocolate recipes, there is something for everyone. Talking of everyone there is also a generous amount of Vegan and Gluten free recipes (no hard to find flour blends, binders or expensive vegan ingredients are called for other than vegan butter). As we get closer to the publication date I will start sharing more from the book but I hope that is enough to wet your appetite.

Also, let me know where you want me to come when I do my booktour later on this year. It is always so much fun meeting all of you, and I want to share the cookie love wherever you are.

Pre-Orders

I know you have heard this many times before but pre-orders are so incredibly important to the success of a book, it basically tells retailers you are excited about the book, so if you are considering buying the book pre-ordering it can be a huge help. You can also pre-order a copy from almost everywhere books are sold, from the online retailers, the chain bookshops and the independents, so you can pre-order where most convenient to you.