Miss Scarlett

Dear readers,
I don't know about you, but for the longest time I have been on a quest- to find the perfect cookie recipe.
For an age the journey was long and fruitless- I found "biscuits" from the UK bland and far too crunchy. I longed for the sweet, crumbly chewy, chocolaty cookies that I loved so much when I travelled in America.

Finally, my quest is over, the source of my desired recipe was much closer than I thought. After chucking recipe books on the floor in frustration my Grandma, who was staying with me for the weekend walked into the room, and I explained the reason for my temper tantrum. My Gran observed me in calm amusement as she always does during my various calamities, got a piece of paper and wrote down these ingredients:

270 g plain flour,
10 g baking powder,
250 g chocolate chips, (Dark, milk or white depending on your preference)
125 g butter (salted) softened,
187 g white sugar,
10 ml vanilla extract,
3 eggs,
and 187 g dark muscovado sugar.
Makes approx 26.

(Obviously she couldn't remember the exact measurements, these are just the ones I use. You can also change them to suit you're cookie tastes, but I'll go into that later.)

1. Sift all the dry ingredients into a bowl.
2. Cream together the butter and both sugars until the colour has gone a little lighter. (If you use purely white caster sugar, it will go fluffy as well, but these do not make very tasty cookies) and relatively all the sugar granules have combined.
3. Add the eggs and the vanilla extract, mixing slowly.
4. Add the dry ingredients, still mixing slowly. (DO NOT OVER MIX!)
5. Spoon the mixture into balls onto a baking sheet and cook for approx 10 mins at 170 Degrees C.
6. Remove from the oven, eat and burn your tongue, or leave to cool on a wire rack.


I'm not lying: They're the best cookies. I could bake a whole batch and eat them in one go. My Gran said she got this recipe through word of mouth when she was pregnant with my uncle, and wanted to learn to make cookies for her kids. Even our own recipes our different- she prefers her cookies a little sweeter and adds some more vanilla essence, and feel free to do the same with yours.
As some general guidelines:

For extra crunch, alter the sugars to you have a larger quantity of cater sugar, and less muscovado. Extra Chewiness: Vice versa.

If you like your cookies a little bitter, use dark chocolate and omit the vanilla.

For softer cookies, cook for only 8 minutes.

They make great presents, especially when you're strapped for cash. Line a box with tissue, cover in wrapping paper, tie with a bow, add a cute vintage-style card on the top, and you're ready to go!


So that's it. I hope you enjoy, and happy baking!
Miss Scarlett x

Picture from Jupiter Images

Labels: Chocolate, Cookies, Cooking, Recipe, Vintage

Dear Readers,
New feature! Hopefully one that will last. One of my passions in life is film, especially those of the Golden Age of movies, and thought I'd discuss the ones I have seen.
Bus Stop, (Joshua Logan, 1956) the first film to be made with Marilyn Monroe Productions is the coming-of-age story of naive cowboy Bo Decker (Don Murray) who falls for the not so naive "Cherry" Cherie, (Marilyn Monroe) a young girl, trying to make a name for herself in show business, and despite Cherie's protests is determined to marry her.

As far as story goes, I think it was trying to be something it's not. The entire plot seems ridiculous, especially Bo's motives for what he does, as no person in their right mind would do some of the things he does in this film. Now I'm a person who does enjoy a piece of melodrama every once in a while, but it really didn't work opposite the complex Cherie. I assume that the supposed "comedy" element of the film was from Bo, but Murray's performance stuck out like a sore thumb causing me to laugh at him rather than with him. I understand that Murray had to work with the hideous 2D cartoon cowboy that was written for him to play, but come on! How did he ever get nominated for an Oscar!?

Many other characters were equally two dimensional and dull, using various stereotypes, such as the wise-cracking waitress, the sympathetic friend, the firm but fair father figure, none of whom had any sort of depth, and hang around the place like cardboard cutouts.

The only real redeeming thing about this film is Marilyn. After working with the Actor's Studio in New York for a year Marilyn plays Cherie as quite ditzy and fun-loving, yet internally strong but vulnerable all at the same time. Again, because of such a poor script Marilyn's performance is not as stellar as her others, but she does a decent job, and was praised by many critics of the time. Her accent was a little off at times, but overall, she gave Cherie a lot of heart and warmth.

The real problem with this film is that it just cant decide whether it's a comedy or not. If it was, it should have used the same style of comedy used for Bo for all the characters, and perhaps the story could have been excusable. If it wasn't, Bo's performance should have been toned down, and all the others toned up and given flesh on their bones.

Overall, a poor movie. I think Marilyn fans who want to know more about her production company or this point of her life would find it a valuable resource on Marilyn's developments as an actress. Those viewing just for pleasure, give this one a miss.

Ciao!
Miss Scarlett x


Picture taken from Prop Catalogs

Labels: Bus Stop, Film, Marilyn Monroe, Vintage