The Tingle Factor Box

Roy Creates Refrigerator Soup

Roy decided that, since it has been so cold and windy recently, it is perfect soup weather. There is nothing better to come home to on a cold day than a nice warming bowl of hearty soup, but many of the children he knows are more used to eating tinned soup than home made. Roy thinks this is a shame, because soup is just so easy to make, most people have the ingredients on hand anyway and homemade tastes much better. He decided that he would make a few soups this winter to show his friends how to do it, and the first he decided to do is a classic in his family - Refrigerator Soup.

Thats Sweet - Bird Feeder

Imagine, you are living Britain in the 1890s. It is winter and very cold. There is a thick layer of snow on the ground and the trees are all bare. Worst of all, it seems that every day you see another bird which has succumbed to the cold and the lack of food. Well, at least you can do a little for the birds, putting out these dishes of food and several little dove cotes for them to rest inside. You just hope that it is enough!

Roaming Roy Holds Court - Hartley Courthouse

This week, with the school holidays upon us, Roy decided it was time to tell you about a place which some of his online friends might be able to visit during their break. Jenolan Caves is a very popular holiday destination, yet many of Roys friends don't take the time to stop by the amazing Hartley Historic Site on the way to the Caves. Roy thinks this is a real shame as the town is not only beautiful but it is fascinating as well. There are many things to look at in Hartley Historic Site, and so Roy has decided to write several posts on the town, the first two of these being this week and next week. This week, Roy will look at the history of Hartley's Courthouse, and next week, he will investigate the amazing convict graffiti found inside.

Roy Creates Chewy Choc Chip Cookies

With the cold setting in and the rain falling this week, Roy decided it was a perfect time for baking. Some of his friends had asked for the recipe for his Grandma's famous chewy choc chip cookies. These cookies are chewy and absolutely scrumptious hot from the oven. They are also easy to make and keep well in an airtight container. After a lot of convincing, he persuaded her to allow him share her secret recipe with his friends. So this week, Roy Creates Chewy Choc Chip Cookies.

You Will Need:

Note: Roy has doubled the original recipe here so that there is no left over condensed milk, but you can easily make half a batch and store the left over condensed milk in the fridge. To make a half batch use 2 to 3 old fashioned tablespoons of condensed milk

• 1 cup of butter or margarine (250 grams)
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1 tin of sweetened condensed milk
• Vanilla essence to taste (Roy uses about 1 teaspoon)
• 2 cups of self raising flour
• 1 250 gram packet of chocolate chips (Roy likes dark, but you can use whatever you like - even mix different types!) The original recipe calls for a block of chocolate, cut into chunks, but chocolate chips work just fine.

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 160 degrees celcius and prepare biscuit trays with baking paper. Roy used 4 biscuit trays (2 in the oven and 2 being prepared).

• Cream the butter and sugar. You can use beaters to do this, but as long as you let the butter soften on the bench first it is easy to do with a wooden spoon.

• Add the condensed milk and vanilla and beat them into the butter and sugar mix.

• Now, stir the flour in. You want to make sure the flour is thoroughly mixed in so make sure you lift any off the bottom of the bowl.

• Stir in the chocolate chips. Try to stir them in well so that they are evenly spread through the mix - this will make sure you get some in every biscuit.

• Use a teaspoon to drop balls of the mix onto trays. You don't need to flatten the dough or anything, but it spreads in the oven so make sure you leave space between the biscuits. Roy usually puts 9 biscuits to each tray.
• Bake the biscuits for 10 -15 minutes or until they are golden. They will be soft when they first come out of the oven so let them harden on the tray for a few minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.

• Now, enjoy!