It's Rugby Sunday, time to bake some treats!

Mr P is an avid rugby supporter of our local team. You can guarantee that from September onwards every year that I become a rugby widow. I don't mind. It's free time for me... meaning that I can get on and be creative in the kitchen and spend some time tending to my crafty needs and desires. I love rugby, but Sunday afternoons are time for him to spend with his dad - bless. Nothing wrong with a bit of male bonding.

However, word got round that I'm a bit nifty in the kitchen and that I like to bake. Really!?! So this season I've started to send him to rugby with a tin of goodies for the crowd of people that he sits with. They get totally spoilt. It means I can fulfill my baking urges and not put any weight on... bake and give away! I like that (ok, we might keep a slice or two back for us to try!).

So far they have had Nigella's Guinness Gingerbread, Chocolate Brownies, Tiffin, Granola Bars, Muffins... and cake in general. I pack Mr P off with the tin and all the slices wrapped up in their little tinfoil packages to that they can be handed out. Feedback has been very good! I think his little crowd of rugby buddies are starting to look forward to the Rugby matches on a Sunday not just for the game, but for the cake! I like getting the feedback as well, it gives me that warm and fuzzy feeling. I can just see them all sat there in the cold with their flasks and cakes... mmm gonna have to pull something out of the bag for the Christmas / New Year matches!

This week I've made some date and almond crumble bars from Rachel Allen's "Bake" Book. I love this book. It's got some really good sound recipes in. I especially love the Mocha Cake which I actually turn into cupcakes, and the savoury cheese and chili scones which make quite a bit... but Mr P requested the date crumble bars, so date crumble bars it is!

I was really lucky to buy a new square cake tin the other week. My cake tin collection was lacking, and I got it for a steal - under £10.00 in the sale at Home Hardware in Truro. It's really good quality as well. Spring loaded and comes on it's own serving platter - good idea! So it got christened yesterday. The date bars are sooooo easy to make. I was actually multi-tasking in the kitchen with trying to put the shopping away, making falafel burgers (round 2! see earlier giraffe post - you'll be glad to know they worked this time, baked in the oven!)... and making these bars!

The recipe states for 200g of dates, but I actually use between 250-300g as I like to have a nice date layer in the middle. No scrimping there please! I am sure that you could adapt this recipe to use apricots... mmm there's an idea! I added some mixed spice to the mixture and I added flaked almonds and a sprinkling of demerara sugar to the top half of the crumble mixture to finish it off.

The smell coming from the kitchen was amazing! When they came out of the oven I had to beat Mr P off with a wooden spoon (don't worry, I didn't hit him hard!!!). He couldn't wait for them to cool down and was desperate to try a slab along with a cold glass of milk. Mr P's verdict - very good! So, fingers crossed they go down ok at rugby this afternoon!

Hope you had a good weekend!

Nic xoxo