Apple Custard Creams.

Some things, I think I want to make, and then I make them and eat them and think 'mmm these are very good, well done me' and get on with the rest of my day. Nice and easy. On some occasions however, I discover a recipe that sounds intriguing, I add thoughts to my actual paper notebook or perhaps to a Pinterest board if I'm feeling at one with technology on that given day. And then I think about the things I might need that I perhaps don't have to fulfill said recipe, I might buy them, I might decide I don't need them so research and fiddle with said recipe until it seems that I have all that I need and then maybe I make something else and make something else until poor little other recipe feels so left behind that I just havehavehave to give it its chance.

Me telling you this might give you the inkling that perhaps this recipe is one of the latter, and you'd be right. It was the apples that came first...I acquired some apples after Christmas (thanks N&G) that I wanted to save to do something bakey with, but then these happened, and then these and these and the apples sat and withered.

Then I had a week in which I basically planned to be super woman; I wanted to run up all the hills (because up, I can do) and clean all the rooms and bake all the things. And I did, and now I am tired and I slept an extra hour rather than getting up to exercise as planned and I have run out of superwoman steam BUT....I did make thhhhese. 

I really don't think I need to say much about these chaps...I mean, eeeeeveryone loves custard creams don't they? And hellooo...these are apple shaped because they have APPLE IN THEM. I shall let them speak for themselves. With Love and Cake.

Apple Custard Creams.

Adapted from a Woman's Weekly recipe

A few notes:

• These do not keep well...so make them and invite people round for a cup of tea...or you'll just have to eat them all yourself.
• Of course you don't have to make these into apple shapes. They would taste just as lovely (almost) in any other shape you fancy...you could even just use a knife to cut rectangles if you don't have any cutters...just be careful with your work surface. Whatever...just make sure they're somewhere around 6-10cm across...otherwise you'll need to adjust their cooking time.
• If, unlike me, you are a wise person, you'll realise that to be able to sandwich 2 biscuits together and have the smooth side on the outside on both sides of your biscuits, you'll need to bake half with the leaves pointing one way and the other half with the leaves pointing the other way. If you are an unwise person like me, don't worry, you'll just have to stack the biscuits all the same way when sandwiching...it will all become clear, don't fret. 
• It'll be easier to get a smooth apple puree if you use cooking apples, but if you only have eating apples it'll be fine to use them.

Makes around 15

You will need

2 x baking sheets, lined (or cook the biscuits in batches)

For the biscuits

150g apples, peeled and chopped

4 tbsp apple juice

125g butter, at room temperature

75g soft brown sugar

150g self raising flour

30g oatmeal

20g dessicated coconut

1 tsp cinnamon

For the filling

1 tbsp custard powder

1 tbsp caster sugar

125ml milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

125g cream cheese, at room temperature

• Heat the apple and apple juice in a small sauce pan until it cooks down to a smooth and fairly dry puree.
• Let cool completely.
• Beat together the apple puree, butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl until well combined.
• Stir in the two types of flour, oatmeal, coconut and cinnamon so you have a fairly stiff but shiny dough.
• Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180°c.
• When the dough is cool and stiff, divide it in 2 to make rolling out easier.
• Roll the first half between 2 sheets of greaseproof paper to about 3mm thick.
• Using an apple cutter (see notes), cut out biscuits and lay the them on to your prepared baking sheets.
• Gather up the excess dough, re-roll and cut out so it all gets used up.
• Do the same with the second half of the dough.
• Bake the biscuits for 10-12 minutes until just starting to bronze around the outside.
• Leave to cool completely on a wire rack.
• To make the filling definitelydefinitelydefinitely make sure the cream cheese is at room temperature before you start.
• Then pop the custard powder, sugar, milk and vanilla in a small pan and heat, whisking all the time, until it boils and thickens...you want to thicker than you'd want your custard.
• Set aside to cool.
• Beat the cream cheese with a wooden spoon to get it nice and smooth.
• When the custard mix it completely cool, beat into the cream cheese until well combined.
• Sandwich together pairs of the biscuits with a teaspoon of the filling to make your custard creams.
• Dust with icing sugar if you're feeling fancy, and get the kettle on.

Popovers.

"POPovEEEERRRs....ow isn't butter divinity"

Ow good golly gosh, I really need to READ Little Women. You see I am about to get all gushy about it, but only referring to the film instead of the 19th Century novel just sounds so low-brow....and while I know that high-brow doesn't feature tooooo heavily in this little life of mine, I do like to keep up the pretense ...you know, I listen to radio 4, have a double barreled name and have a massive thing for Pachelbel's Canon in D and pearls, so I can kid myself most of the time that I am some kind of sophisticated....despite the copious amounts of sweat I drip over my spinning bike and the amount of time I spend in pajamas and the way my hair looks when I've slept on it a bit damp.

Maybe if I pretend it's the old Elizabeth Taylor film version I'm talking about....that's fancier isn't it?

Ow whatevs. There are a million and 1 books I 'have to' read so I might as well just get over it and fully confess my love for Winona Ryder and Kirsten Dunst and Susan Sarandon as the March family and CHRISTIAN BALE as Laurie. So much love.

So yes...popovers, they appear in this very wonderful film and I'm suresure they appear in the book and I have always been fascinated by them while having no clue what they were; Little Women being the extent of my experience of them. Turns out...they're basically Yorkshire Pudding for breakfast (a la Dutch Baby) and heck that is just plain genius. They're not even filling and fatty because they puff up so much that you're pretty much just eating tasty air.

So maybe you have a day free soon, and you want to feel all homey and civil war chic....well than I suggest you make these and crack open a bit of Louisa May Alcott....and well, if you're not, make these and stick on the film....did I mention the CHRISTIAN BALE thing. With Love and Cake.  

Popovers.

Recipe by King Arther Flour

A few notes:

• For those out there that are popover mad, you can indeed get specific popover pans; a bit deeper and skinnier than traditional muffin pans.
• I mixed my batter in a blender to get a really smooth mixture, you could do it with an electric hand whisk or just a plain old balloon whisk too; just make sure everything is really well amalgamated, with no streaks of egg or lumps of flour.

Makes 6

You will need

1x6 hole muffin pan, very well greased with a flavourless oil

2 eggs

120ml milk

pinch salt

88g plain flour

22g butter, melted

• Make sure your oven is set up so the shelf you're going to use is in the lowest third of the oven with plenty of space above it for the popovers to rise.
• Preheat the oven to 230°c.
• Put the eggs and milk into your blender and whizz until totally smooth.
• Add the flour and whizz again to incorporate.
• Finally, blend in the butter so you have a batter about the thickness of thick double cream.
• Make sure the oven is definitely up to temperature before dividing the batter between the muffin holes in your tray so they are 2/3 to 3/4 full.
• Bake on your prepared oven shelf for 20 minutes, then turn the temperature down to 170°c and bake for another 10 minutes. Try and let this all happen without opening the oven door; only doing after the initial 20 minutes baking has occurred if you're worried about burning.
• When the popovers are fresh from the oven, stab them with a knife or skewer to allow any sog-making steam to escape.
• Serve immediately, dusted with icing sugar, maybe with jam, or honey or syrup or chocolate sauce or anything you just so happen to feel like .

Cinnamon Swirl Bread.

OMGeeeee spring is here....well maybe not spring quite yet but weather that means you can walk the 10 metres to the car without a coat, hat, scarf and gloves without perishing of hypothermia. I am SO excited I feel like running up and down these pretty little streets, squealing, skipping and doing cartwheels.

It's ok though, i won't. And I will try and remind myself that this one lovely day swiftly follows a day of inches of snow and that more doomy gloomy greyness is probably round the corner.

 In the meantime though, I am going to relish frolicking in the sunshine and pretending that it's ok to wear little shoes and no socks and that 'no it's fiiiiiiine...of course I can still feel my toes'.

That's why this bread is so perfect for this sort of time. It's got the lovely squishy cinnamonyness of pastries that helps you pretend you're on a veranda somewhere continental...squeezing your home grown oranges as the sun comes up. But it also has the heft you need when you get reminded that hey, it is still February in Scotland and, well, thermals are still probably a good idea. With Love and Cake.

Cinnamon Swirl Bread.

Adapted from a Martha Stewart recipe, via Honey and Jam.

A few notes:

• Feel free to leave out the sultanas if you fancy.
• If the top of the loaf starts to brown before the cooking time is up, just cover it with foil and pop it back in the oven.
• My fav way to eat this is toasted with lots of butter.

Makes 1 loaf

You will need

1x2lb load tin

2 tsp dried yeast

240ml milk, hand hot

420g strong white bread flour

55g butter, melted

50g caster sugar

1 egg, lightly beaten

pinch salt

2 tsp cinnamon

90g sultanas

For the filling

100g caster sugar

1 tbsp cinnamon

1 egg, lightly beaten

• Mix together the yeast and milk and set aside so the yeast has a few minutes to dissolve and start getting busy.
• In a large bowl, combine the flour, butter, sugar, egg, salt and cinnamon.
• Pour in the yeast mixture and, using your hands, bring everything together to form what will be a fairly sticky dough.
• Turn the dough out onto a clean, floured surface and knead for around 5 minutes. Don't worry about it sticking to the surface at first, it will get shinier and less sticky the more you knead.
• Knead in the sultanas in about 3 batches so well combined and easily distributed amongst the dough.
• Put a spot of oil in the bottom of the mixing bowl you just used, pop the dough back in the bowl and rub a little oil over the dough.
• Cover the bowl with clingfilm or a tea towel and put somewhere cosy for an hour or until it has about doubled in size...this may take much longer than an hour as there are lots of variable factors so don't worry (see this post for lots of my hard learned tips on bread making).
• To make the filling, simply stir the sugar and cinnamon together with 1 tbsp of water to form a paste.
• When the dough is ready, tip it out onto a floured surface and use your hands to press it into a rectangle; the short side of which should be about the length or your loaf tin.
• Brush the dough all over with some of the egg and spread over the cinnamon sugar.
• Roll up like a Swiss roll from the short side of the rectangle and tuck the ends under so you have what looks like an uncooked loaf of bread.
• Transfer to your loaf tin and put back in the cosy place for another hour or so.
• Preheat the oven to 200°c.
• Bake the loaf for 45 minutes.
• It will probably split and spill out some of its cinnamony filling which means you should remove it from the loaf tin as soon as poss and that you might need the help of several implements as it'll be fairly delicate.
• Leave to cool completely on a wire rack before doing the toasty butter thing.

Rosemary and Oat Breakfast Cookies.

None-runner types might think that running millions of miles a week; plodplodplod, round the corner, eek there's a car, OMG will this hill EVER end, phew I'm pooped, might mean that biscuits for breakfast, scones for lunch and cake for tea becomes a more regular occurrence; the more miles you do and calories you churn through, the more the clotted cream comes out to play. 

But I don't think that is necessarily the norm. For me anyway, the more I run, the more obsessive I get and the more I pay attention to all the teenytiny variables...nutrition being a major one; it's not the biscuits I reach for before a hard sesh, but the spinach and the peanut butter...the game is 'how green can I make my smoothie and keep it tasting good'. A couple of Chocolate Teacakes are not going to see you up that beast of a hill without a wimp-out...and I no one likes a wimp-out.

However....my current state of affairs sees less sweating up hills and more groaning and moaning as I get up off the sofa like it's time for a stairtlift installation...my body is not playing the game...and while yoga and spinning are brill and I love them and are most definitely necessary at the mo, I just don't care quite the same. So basically, this is me, telling you, that right now is a biscuits for breakfast kind of time, hence today's offering.

Honestly though, I think these lend themselves well to being breakfast...there's oats, there's fruit, there's nuts and juice...helloooooo, is that not all the major food groups covered? I think so. It's not like eating Digestives for breakfast...these will fill you up with good stuff and have enough sugar and butter to cheer me up on beautiful morning when I'm stuck inside doing downward dog. So any hip specialists, I need your help, hit me up, any runners, have these on your rest day...and everyone else...breakfast. With Love and Cake.

Rosemary and Orange Cookies.

Adapted from a Women's Weekly recipe

A few notes:

• This recipe is easily adaptable as long as you follow the fundamentals...maybe you don't want coconut, well sub in more oats, maybe rosemary isn't your thing at all, you can happily leave it out entirely...the cookie world is your oyster.
• When these come out of the oven, they will look waaaaay underdone, but don't fret, as long as the edges have started to brown, you're fine, just leave them to firm up a bit on the baking tray...this way they'll end up a bendy cookie rather than a hard biscuit.

Makes 12-14

You will need

2xwell greased baking sheet, or cook is batches

125g butter, at room temperature

2 tsp orange zest

220g light brown sugar

200g self raising flour

100g chopped nuts, I used a mixture of types

100g sultanas

2 tsp chopped fresh rosemary

80ml orange juice, from approx. 1 orange

50g dessicated coconut

60g oats

• Preheat the oven to 180°c.
• Beat together the butter, orange zest and brown sugar until you have a smooth paste.
• Stir in the flour, followed by the rest of the ingredients.
• Pull off tablespoonfuls of dough and roll them into a ball. Flatten the balls slightly onto the baking sheets, leaving a good 5cm gap between each cookie.
• Bake for 15 minutes until the middle looks squishy but the edges are bronzed (see note).
• Leave the cookies to firm on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool.

Chocolate Ganache with Sea Salted Caramel and Brazil Nut Crumble.

I probably shouldn't tell you this online, for burglars and dodgy types to see, but I'm going to be home alone for a month, the Mr is in Chile playing with seals or whatever it is he does for a living...and a month is a looooong time, long enough for me to definitely want to complain about it on here at least once and long enough for me to go mental and start talking to myself more often than usual, and I feel I should alert you, so you can be on the look out for any signs of crazy-pants-dom and come and save me.

Anyway....I really don't think anyone would bother coming allllll the way to deepest darkest Fife just to rob be of my things...which mainly consist of second hand teapots, and if they did, well, HA, I just sorted us out with contents insurance and am now officially protected and a grown up (a grown up with 17 German Shepards and a highly proficient alarm system of course).

So anyway...yes. Last weekend I was sad because I had been abandoned for said seals (or is it porpoises this time mmm?), so turned to chocolate...obvs. This, however, is not you're average 'sad snack', oh no, this is no family sized Dairy Milk. This is Chocolate Ganache with Sea Salted Caramel and Brazil Nut Crumble. Read those words again. Chocolate. Caramel. Crumble. SALTED CARAMEL.

AND. The bloomin' ganache is only made of 2 things; chocolate and water. WATER? Who knew this was even possible? Chocolate is good for you yeah...so you add water and it can only be even better. They should serve this in gyms. Can you tell I'm not sad anymore. With Love and Cake.

Chocolate Ganache with Sea Salted Caramel and Brazil Nut Crumble.

Adapted from a delicious. magazine recipe

A few notes:

• So this is a dessert of 3 parts, ganache, caramel and crumble topping...and they are FAB.U.LOUS together, but if that just sounds like too much to be bothered with for you, they work equally well as individuals. The ganache on its own would be a divine pud, or you could top it with just the caramel. And if you're looking for a salted caramel recipe for any other purpose, well, your search is over.
• This makes a lot more caramel and crumble than you need; you could halve the recipe and still have enough....but atop vanilla ice cream, well, there are worse ways to eat leftovers.
• I made 2 rather greedy portions...my excuse being that I don't really have any smaller receptacles, but you could definitely use the same amount to serve 4 in little ramekins or dainty espresso mugs.

Serves 2-4 (see notes)

You will need

either 4x200ml ramekins or 2 larger ones (see notes)

For the caramel

100g unsalted butter

100g light brown sugar

1 tsp sea salt

25g milk chocolate, finely chopped

For the crumble

30g Brazil nuts

50g plain flour

15g demerara sugar

15g caster sugar

50g cold butter

pinch sea salt

For the ganache

170ml water

140g dark chocolate, finely chopped

60g milk chocolate, finely chopped

pinch sea salt to serve

• First things first, we make the caramel. Heat the butter, sugar and salt over a medium heat until the butter has melted; stirring all the time.
• Bring to the boil and let bubble for a few minutes; still stirring constantly.
• Add the cream and stir in.
• Remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate until it it melted and smooth. Set aside to cool.
• Now for the crumble. Preheat the oven to 180°c. Toast the nuts for 10 minutes in the oven.
• Chop the nuts roughly when they're cool enough to handle.
• Rub together the flour, sugars and butter until the mix looks like fine breadcrumbs.
• Mix in the nuts and salt and spread out the crumbs on a baking sheet. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes, then set aside to cool.
• Now the final part; the ganache. Pop your ramekins in the fridge to chill.
• Bring the water to the boil in a pan. Remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate until melted and smooth.
• Pour into a bowl and beat, hopefully you'll have an electric hand whisk, for 10 minutes or until the mixture is cool and just beginning to thicken.
• Pour the mix into your ramekins and chill for 20 minutes; it may still look wobbly in the middle but will set after a while don't worry.
• When you're ready to eat, sprinkle the salt over the ganache, drizzle over some caramel and finish with a a few spoonfuls of the crumble.

Chocolate and Brown Sugar Teacakes.

This has got to be one of the loveliest and most satisfying things I have made recently. After a few fails and kitchen tantrums, maybe it wasn't wise to embark upon a recipe of three parts; one being meringue, but my goodness I am sooooo glad I did.

When you're having 'stressy, not paying proper attention, having a bit of a paddy' times in the the kitchen, the only thing you can really do to fix it is to step away and do that big exaggerated breathing thing...you know, iiiiiiiiiin through the nose, ouuuuuuuut through the mouth like you're blowing out your birthday candles, accompanied by over the top birdy arms just to emphasie the point, to yourself mainly. Like when you see Claudia Winkleman (I LOVE HER I LOVE HER I LOVE HER) throw around a lemon meringue pie so it basically ends up looking like it's already been digested, you just want to shake (and hug, realllly squeeze) her and say calllllm doooown. That's when all your actions become more considered, methodical and therefore more likely a success.

That is what this recipe made me do. I knew I couldn't wing it on a hope and a prayer but had to plodplodplod. And I did, and it worked, and they are delicious and the meringue is probably the most beautiful thing to have come out of my kitchen, all mother of pearly and shimmery and do you know, EXACTLY like the marshmalloweyness inside a Tunnock's teacake. Magic.

So if you need to press the reset button on your kitchen endeavors  or maybe just on life, may I suggest you make these. Or maybe you just want to eat a darn good biscuit...make these. Perhaps you want to eat marshmallow with a spoon...definitely make these. With Love and Cake.

Chocolate and Brown Sugar Tea Cakes.

Adapted from a Jamie Magazine recipe.

A few notes:

• Weirdly, the recipe I adapted from asks for half an egg for the biscuit dough...I wrote my recipe as such so as not to confuse matters but I actually used an egg white as I was defrosting some for the meringue, but I think you could also happily use an egg yolk if you have some them over from the separating eggs for the meringue.
• The easiest and more aesthetically pleasing way to put the marshmallow meringue on the biscuits is with a piping bag...if you don't have one, first, think about getting one if you bake in anyway regularly and second, I'm sure spooning on the meringue will be on ok substitute  maybe dip your spoon in boiling water at regular intervals to prevent sticking.
• If you don't have brown sugar, feel free to use caster instead...I had the opposite problem and only had brown.

Makes about 40

You will need

2 x baking sheets, lines with greaseproof paper

For the biscuits

110g butter, at room temperature

110g soft brown sugar

1/2 a beaten egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

150g plain flour

30g cocoa

icing sugar, for dusting

For the marshmallow meringue

275g soft brown sugar

4 egg whites

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

For the chocolate topping

100g dark chocolate

20g butter

• So first we make the biscuits. Beat the butter and sugar until pale coffee coloured.
• Whisk in the half beaten egg (see notes) and the vanilla extract, then stir in the flour and cocoa until combined to a dough...it will look like it will never mix together but be persistent and you will get a dough eventually.
• Divide the mixture in half and wrap each half in clingfilm. Leave to chill in the fridge for a couple of hours.
• Preheat the oven to 180°c.
• Dust a clean surface with plenty of icing sugar and roll out one of the halves of dough to about 5mm thick.
• Cut out biscuits using a 5cm round or crinkled cutter, and place them on a baking sheet. Gather up all the excess dough, re-roll and cut out, until it's all used up.
• Do the same with the other half of the dough.
• Bake the biscuits for 12-15 minutes, swapping the trays around so they both get a turn at the hotter, top of the oven.
• Leave the biscuits to firm up and cool on the baking tray for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool completely.
• Now it's time to make the marshmallowey topping. Put the sugar, egg whites, cream of tartar and 1 and 1/2 tablespoons of water in a large heatproof bowl.
• Whisk with an electric hand whisk for a minute or two until a bit fluffed up and pale.
• Put the bowl over a pan of just simmering water and whiskwhiskwhisk for around 10 minutes, until the mixture is superdooper shiny and voluptuous.
• Fit the icing bag, either with a 1cm plain nozzle, or go nozzle-less so you can pipe thickly and cleanly.
• Fill the piping bag with some of the meringue mixture and pipe swirls onto of the biscuits; aiming for around 3-4cm high...don't worry about scrimping on the meringue so you can cover all the biscuits, there's plenty to go around.
• Set the biscuits aside to set a bit while you make the topping. Melt the chocolate with the butter until smooth and shiny, and set aside to firm up a bit for 10 minutes.
• Drizzle the chocolate over the top each of each of the biscuits and let it drizzle down the sides.
• SO YUM.

Muffins...for Added English.

I've just read the most lovelylovely blog post over at the wonderous space that is Tea and Cookies and do you know, it is sooooo complementary about all things England. Tea, of Tea and Cookies, is American; she lives in Seattle, but says she has always felt at home with Englishness.

Don't you just love it that we, as those who share nationality with the likes of Enid Blyton, Audrey Hepburn and Delia Smith, project an image to outsiders of Vitorian railways, afternoon tea and lace gloves? I do. And while I assume you are most decidedly not reading this as you nibble on crust-less cucumber sandwishes with your little finger sticking out, I think we should definielty keep up the ruse.

That's why I made muffins. Firstly to help with the stereotype that us English folk are all sat around a roaring fire with a split muffin toasting on a stick, but also because I kind of got swept up in the whole 'themepark-England' notion and wanted to actually get invovled. Muffins (reffered to as English Muffins in the states, and increasingly so here too) remind me of Mr Tumnus and the toasty tea he served Lucy. I don't know if muffins were actually described by C.S.Lewis but I feel they must have been included either way. Same with the Famous Five...they must have got through mountains of muffins.

So I hope you hop on over to Tea and Cookies and, if you are English, feel inspired to become a bit more so, and if you are not, can be persuaded that we really do stack our toast in toast racks and spread it with marmalde, and either way, make muffins. Ow and P.S. sorry Scotland...I love you too, just with less nostalgia at the moment. With Love and Cake.

English Muffins

from Cakes, Pastries and Bread by Jennie Reekie

A few notes:

• I used a cutter (actually a glass) to make my rounds but I think if I did it again I'd just pick off blobs off dough and flatten them into rounds by hand for a more rustic look...you do as you see fit.
• I think these are the type of things that you need to make to eat...right there and then. Of course they're delicious the next day toasted, but they stale quickly so I'm kind of kicking myself that I didn't rip one open fresh from the oven and just slather it in butter and eat over the hob. Of course, if you happen to find yourself at Mr Tumnus' for tea, then just follow his lead.

Makes 7-9

You will need

1 baking sheet, greased

1/2 tsp caster sugar

1 tsp dried yeast

125ml warm water

200g plain flour

good pinch salt

15g butter, melted

• Mix together the sugar, yeast and water and set aside for 5 minutes.
• Pop the flour, salt and butter in a big bowl.
• Pour over the yeast mixture and mix everything together to form a dough, adding a splash more water if you need.
• Turn out the dough onto a clean, floured surface and knead for around 10 minutes, until the dough is shiny, smooth and springy.
• Roll the dough into a tight ball, put it back in it's bowl, and cover with clingfilm or a damp tea towel.
• Set the bowl aside in the warmest spot of your house, and leave for at least an hour; until doubled in size.
• After the dough has risen, roll it out on a floured surface to just less than 1cm thickness.
• Cut out rounds with an 8cm cutter (see notes) and put them on your prepared baking sheet.
• Cover the rounds with the clingfilm or tea towel you were using before and put the baking sheet back in the warm spot.
• Leave to rise for around 1 hour.
• In the meantime preheat the oven to 230°c.
• Bake the muffins in the hot oven for 5 minutes, then flip them all over and bake them for 5 more.
• Leave the muffins to cool on a wire wrack...or don't wait, split them open and butterbutterbutter.