Recipe | Northern Irish Fifteens

I don't know how I'd lived in England for two whole years and had never noticed the absence of these delicious treats, but it wasn't until I was wandering the streets of London with my friend Tamsin, from A Certain Adventure, and idly mentioned that I'd just love a "fifteen", her complete confusion as to what that was, kind of stopped me in my tracks.

At the time I thought maybe they just weren't as popular in London, until I got back to Lancaster and asked my housemates if they knew what they were, but they had never heard of them either. Long story short, it took me ten minutes of frantic googling to discover that they are actually an exclusively Northern Irish thing. How I never realised this, I genuinely do not know. In any case, I'm proud, they're amazing, and I thus feel it my duty to share them with the rest of the world.

Basically fifteens are a traybake; a baked good or sweet food that is made as one whole piece and divided up for serving e.g. brownies, almond squares, caramel squares. In Northern Ireland we are religious about our traybakes. We also, for some reason, have an ever-growing coffee culture which is probably a contributing factor to this nationwide obsession. There are an absolute ton of coffee shops and cafes in Northern Ireland, all of which will have a fairly decent selection of traybakes, and you will easily find a fifteen down almost every town or village high street.

The only comparison I can think to make to a fifteen is probably a Tunnock's snowball, except there's no chocolate in them. They are so simple and easy to make- even ludicrously so- there is no baking involved, and they are ridiculously good. All you need is:

15 digestive biscuits

15 large marshmallows (halved)

15 glace cherries (halved)

160ml condensed milk

desiccated coconut

Just a little N.B. the measurements of ingredients in this recipe are just a guideline, the most important thing is having the right consistency at the end.

Equipment
1. Sandwich bags
2. A rolling pin
3. A mixing bowl
4. Cling film

Method
1.  First of all you're going to want to get a sandwich bag, or a few, basically as many that can easily hold your fifteen digestive biscuits. Then, take a rolling pin and either roll or whack the bag of digestives to crush them into fine little pieces. It's probably best to employ a combination of the two methods. Or, as Carlo and I did because we couldn't find sandwich bags or a rolling pin, hold both ends of the digestive biscuit packaging and hit it with a hammer (not recommended). It's basically the same procedure as you would follow if were making the base of a cheesecake.

2. Add your crushed digestives into a mixing bowl along with the marshmallows and cherries and mix together with the condensed milk. Basically you’re trying to make the mixture stick together as one whole, none of it should really be crumbling away from the rest and it should have a reasonably sticky texture. I’d recommend you add the condensed milk a little bit at a time and knead the mixture together until it’s sticking well.

3. Lay out a piece of cling film across a table or surface and sprinkle it liberally with a layer of desiccated coconut. Place the mixture onto the cling film and roll it into a sausage shape, ensuring that the coconut is being distributed evenly.

4. Wrap it the mixture up in the cling film and put in the fridge to harden for a couple of hours, then, take it out and cut it into slices. Traditionally, you would cut it into fifteen!

And that's that! If you end up giving this recipe a go I'd love it if you let me know either in the comments or on Twitter (@alphabethblog).

My Etsy Favourites | July 2015

This time last year, before I became a seller myself, I really didn't know much about Etsy. I knew it existed, but it would never have occurred to me then to have a browse through in search of a birthday or Christmas gift, and I really didn't know much about what sort of things Etsy had to offer. 

However, in the last few months since I've been more active on the site, I've found myself ever lusting over some of the gorgeous products up for sale there, and now I really don't know how I ever lived without it! It's an absolute treasure trove of beautiful, creative pieces by some very talented artists and crafters selling everything from ceramics to textiles, homeware to jewellery. Another great thing about Etsy is that every time you buy from there you're supporting independent businesses and sellers too.

I've got so many things in my Etsy favourites at the moment that I'd thought I'd compile a bit of a wishlist and share a few of them with you, if only just to showcase some brilliant Etsy sellers and their products.

Blue bohemian ceramic coasters by Shop Crystal Cove I don't have much use for coasters at this time in my life but I love anything with a morrocan/bohemian print, especially on ceramics, so these caught my eye. I think they'd made a beautiful housewarming gift.

Silk hummingbird hand-embroidery hoop by Pixiecraft Handmade I've always loved embroidery work, and have found some amazing embroidery on Etsy recently, including quite a few embroidery hoops. However, this one was one of my favourites. It's 100% silk and I just think the colours are amazing. So much work must go into producing these as well.

'What's the Story, Mornin' Glory?' ceramic bowl by Suburban Cow Girl Clay

The owner of this shop makes a ton of really gorgeous stamped ceramic bowls. This Oasis-themed one was my favourite, I think it would make a lovely jewellery holder.

Set of two antique hand-painted ceramic drawer knobs by The Collectors Yard As well as shops selling handmade items, Etsy also has an abundance of vintage and antique shops, amongst which I found these gems. Again, because I don't have my own house at the moment I don't have much use for them but I'm looking forward to a time when I do!

'All Good Things are Wild and Free' mug by Small Glow I'm an absolute sucker for mugs, I can literally never have enough of them. I'm not entirely sure what the appeal is, but if you are my friend you will receive one from me at some point during the course of our friendship. I think it's just because, in my opinion, there's nothing quite like having a warm cup of tea in a really nice mug. They're almost like a symbol of home and comfort. This is one of my favourite quotes, in some cool typography, and on a mug! What's not to like?

'Blog Ideas' spiral notebook by The Journal Company There aren't many gifts aimed specifically at bloggers out there, so I thought this was a fantastic find. Having nice stationery or a notebook where I can gather my thoughts always inspires me to get a bit more organised- for a little while anyway before I'm back to being my usual disorderly self.

Skunk print lavender sachet by Cafe Lala Another comforting thing, the smell of lavender. I think lavender sachets always make lovely gifts- provided the recipient actually likes the smell of lavender! I'm sure some people don't- and I thought these were really cute and a bit different.

Lilac dip twig pencils by Aubergine Fox I've had my eyes on these for a while, I just think they're so cool and they're made out of actual twigs! Someday I'll find someone to buy them for.

Cactus printed cushions by The Fox in the Attic I genuinely love these, I think they're class! I can see them being a really quirky addition to a living room or bedroom and I'm definitely going to keep these in mind next time I'm doing some interior decorating. If you like these, the seller has a whole range of really cool cushions so I very much recommend you check them out.

'Though she but but little, she is fierce' cuff bracelet by Kaiel Designs One of the reasons why I started making hand-stamped bookmarks was because I really loved the effect the technique produced, so I can always appreciate a good metal-stamped piece. I love these kinds of cuff bracelets, they're lovely and simple, and with a Shakespeare quote too, A+++.

Purple crocheted elephant by The Crocheting Chemist In case you didn't know, these lovely little elephants are made by Hayley who writes the blog Water Painted Dreams. I actually already have one that she made me but they're always a favourite of mine. I think they'd make for a beautiful christening gift or a gift for a newborn. She's actually started selling little crowns to go with them now- so adorable!

Amethyst slice necklace by Aubergine Fox I'm a big fan of Aubergine Fox, it's one of my favourite Etsy shops. They're stuff is really pretty and interesting yet still very on trend. They sell a lot of druzy necklaces and to be honest, I like them all so it was hard to choose a favourite. But I do love the colour of this amethyst one.

Porcelain bird necklace by Aubergine Fox Another of my favourite picks from Aubergine fox. There's so much detail in this pendant, it's so beautiful! 

What are some of your favourite things from Etsy?

North Coast Road Trip | Ireland

I'm currently writing this from my room in Spain and thus bring you another throwback post to around two weeks ago when my housemate, Carlo from uni came to visit me at home. At the time, with my departure to Spain looming and any excuse to explore some of the fairer corners of my tiny homeland being good enough for me, we decided to spend some time on the Irish coast.

I believe I've mentioned this before but my aunt and uncle own a holiday home on the Causeway Coast, an area which makes up the majority of Ireland's northern coastline, stretching some 130 miles. It's considered by many to be amongst the most scenic areas in Northern Ireland and thanks to the National Trust, many of its landmarks and beaches are kept in pristine condition. It's along here that you'll find the Giants Causeway, the area's namesake, as well as a vast number of Game of Thrones filming locations which Carlo was quite keen to see. So, with my aunt and uncle very kindly allowing us to use their house as a base, we decided to spend a few days exploring.

As it turned out, all of these photos were taken on our very last day, in a frantic attempt to squeeze in everything we still needed to see! Thankfully we did manage to fit in quite a lot in just a few hours.

Our first stop was Dunluce Castle, a striking 16th century fortress that sits atop a basalt outcropping, giving the appearance of it rising out of the sea. It had been a long time since I'd been inside the ruins so we decided to go in for a closer look.

There are plenty of nooks, turrets and secret hideaways to explore around the castle, not to mention some dramatic views over the castle walls of the cliffs and sea surrounding it, all of this, as well as some of the features that remain across the castle's sweeping expanse, such as window frames and alcoves are a reminder of its former glory. 

I actually found a really interesting article by the Belfast Telegraph containing '50 things you probably never knew about Dunluce Castle', if you'd like to hear more about the castle's fascinating history. There were plenty of things on there that I'd never heard before!

Our next destination was supposed to be Balintoy Harbour- better known perhaps as the Iron Islands and Pyke, home of House Greyjoy, to Game of Thrones fans- but decided to make an impromptu pit stop at White Park Bay, one of my favourite north coast beaches.

I was adamant that there were caves somewhere along this beach because I'd remembered exploring them when I was younger, so the first thing we did was to set off across the rocks to find them. To no avail, though, as it turned out. The tide was starting to come in at this point so the top end of the beach where I thought the caves were had been made inaccessible. All was not lost though, since the beach is still beautiful, even in its absence of caves.

For some reason I can't find any photos of Ballintoy though I did take some, so unfortunately we'll just have to move swiftly on to the last leg of our journey, a stop at the Dark Hedges in Armoy, a long pathway lined on either side with intertwining beech trees, which once featured as the Kingsroad in Game of Thrones.

Apparently it's the most photographed natural phenomenon in Northern Ireland which is surprising since surely the Giant's Causeway would be the most photographed natural phenomenon? In any case, it really is a sight to behold and photos really don't do it justice. We made it there in the last hour or so of daylight so the light was absolutely stunning. It's one of my favourite places on the north coast for sure.