Well we didn't make a great start to our blog having not written anything since October! This is mainly due to the chaos that was the end of last year. We made the decision in November to move units right in the middle of our busiest time of year. We had to move all our production facilities in one day so that we could continue to make the orders that were flooding in. Thankfully we achieved this and although Victoria and Jo had to camp in the 'office' for a while we have now settled in nicely. Saying that we thought we'd have loads more room but have somehow managed to fill it very quickly. At least we have a canteen area now so the girls can have a proper break!

January has been a month of making specials for Fortnum and Mason and Harrods for Valentine's and Easter. We'll be sampling products in store if you want to come and see us.

We've also just returned from the Spring Fair which is held at the NEC in Birmingham. It's a 5 day trade show and consists of 20 huge halls of giftware. It is truly enormous and lots of buyers come from all over the world to source new goods for the year. It's always a bit strange seeing so many Christmas products when it has only just happened but that is how far in advance we are always working.

Partly due to the move we left it rather late to book accomodation for the show and ended up spending the week in Jo's motorhome on a campsite! We couldn't have picked a colder week but it was toasty inside the van and we spent every evening watching Downton Abbey which was an absolute delight! Can't wait until September for the next series.

We made some great new friends in Birmingham too who have helped us enormously in moving forward some new projects for this year. Hopefully you'll be hearing more about them soon but for now we have to sign off and concentrate on following up all the leads from the show. Wishing you all a happy if belated New Year!

Well we thought it was about time that we started a little blog! We can't promise to write everyday and sometimes it won't even be every week as we are very busy ladies but we'll try to keep you entertained with news from Scarlet Bakes HQ, recipes and anything else we find amusing! As it's National Baking Week we thought we'd start with some of our favourite baking recipes. Today's is an old family favourite and never lasts long!

Millionaire's Shortbread

Ingredients:

Base

115g butter

175g plain flour

55g golden caster sugar

Filling

200g butter

115g golden caster sugar

3 tbsp golden syrup

400ml condensed milk

Topping

200g chocolate (milk or plain)

Preheat oven to 180 deg. cent/ 350 F/Gas Mark 4.

Grease and line a 23cm square tin. Beat all the base ingredients together until they stick together. Press the mixture into the tin and level the top. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes until golden.

Place all the filling ingredients into a saucepan and heat gently until sugar is dissolved. Bring to boil and then simmer for 6 - 8 minutes, stir constantly until caramel colour and thick . Pour over the baked base and then refrigerate until set. Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water. Cool slightly then spread over the caramel. Chill until set. Cut with a sharp knife.