Free Clip Art from Pixabella

Scotch Shortbread

Scotch Shortbread

Scotch shortbread is a biscuit that is soft and luxurious it simply melts in your mouth when you take a bite. The high in fat content in the butter prevents the biscuit from baking hard and gives you that lovely soft crumbly texture when baked.

Traditionally Scotch shortbread was made into three shapes, one large circle which was usually cut into segments after being baked, round biscuit shapes or finger like shapes like you see above in the Scotch shortbread clip art.

To add a little interest to the top of the shortbread the tines of a fork are used to create a pattern just like in the shortbread clip art. If you want to be a little adventurous you can use what ever shaped cookie cutter. At Christmas or on Valentines Day Scotch shortbread biscuits or shortbread cookies can be cut into the shapes or hearts or even Christmas trees.

This type of  biscuit is so easy to make and positively mouth watering that it can be served anytime of the day or night. Draw a fresh pot of tea or coffee and enjoy!  To make Scotch Shortbread you use the recipe below. Read more »

Strawberry Jam

Strawberry Jam

Last week when I was at the Supermarket I bought myself some strawberry jam and designed this cute strawberry clip art jar (jelly for my American readers). I love strawberries and I absolutely love strawberry jam, it’s my favourite. The thing is,  I have this rule about strawberry jam or any jam for that matter. It must be flavorsome, contain loads of fruit and is not overly sweet.

Having a strawberry jam criteria requires a little patience and light reading at the supermarket but it’s worth it in the end. You know the old saying. “You are what you eat” so I took the time to compare the amount of sugar used verses fruit, size of jar, and price. Did you know, that some jams contain more sugar per 100grams of the product than fruit?

I find this quite alarming, consumers think they’re buying strawberry jam and in actual fact they’re eating sugar with a bit of colour and fruit thrown in. If you’re going to buy this kind of jam you may as well save your money and sprinkle some sugar on your toast.

Don’t get me wrong some strawberry preserves have their place in the supermarket, just not on my toast. If I happen to buy a jam that’s too sweet, what I usually do is save it and use the jam as a filler in biscuits, cakes and slices.

Especially when I make jam on toast I like the toast to be so hot that the butter melts and mixes with the strawberry jam when you spread it all over the toast. Who can’t resist the aroma of hot toast and freshly brewed coffee first thing in the morning. Hmmm yummy!

Choosing more fruit over sugar does make me feel good as I am reducing the sugar in my diet and I get more fruit for my money. For brand names sake I am not going to mention the name but I will share the info about the fruit verses sugar content so you can be sure to buy real jam.

The sugar verses fruit content for a 340gram jar of strawberry jam will be something like this;

Sweet Strawberry Jam

45g fruit per 100g of product

60g sugar per 100g of product

Real Strawberry Jam

60g fruit per 100g of product

44g sugar per 100g of product

If you would like to make a difference to your family’s sugar intake, take your time and read the ingredients on the label, because you’ll be surprised how tasty real jam is. To download this strawberry jam clip art jar just right click on the image once then again and choose the “Save As” option from the drop down menu.

Christmas Candy Cane

Christmas Candy Cane

Year after year buying Christmas cards can be a little boring so this year why not mix it up a little and make adorable Christmas greeting cards using my Christmas candy cane clip art.

The Christmas candy cane has been made to a fairly generous size so if you want to you can make a larger than normal Christmas greeting card or a small candy cane gift tag.

There are no rules here so have a little fun adding a Christmas greeting phrase to the front of the card. Maybe a Merry Christmas to all or Seasons greetings would look beautiful underneath or above the Christmas candy cane clip art.

If you’re looking for a minimalist looking candy cane greeting card just forgo the Christmas greeting phrase and print the clip art directly onto the Christmas card. Make sure the Christmas card is light in color or alternatively print onto lighter card and mount the Christmas candy cane onto darker card.

To make unique looking Christmas greeting cards using the same Christmas candy cane clip art just add or remove Christmas greeting phrases, play with the color of card, add glitter glue or other embellishments.

Get your Christmas candy cane greeting cards underway today by right clicking on the graphic twice choose to save it to your desktop. From here you can import the candy cane into another program that handles PNG files or re-size it through the printing options before it goes to print.

Pikelet Clip Art

Pikelet Clip Art

If you like the look of this pikelet clip art wait until you smell and taste these pikelets. Making surprise pikelets for a flatmate or friend it’s always a good breakfast idea. With the will to make breakfast I mosied down stairs and got a strange look from my flatmate. It was the look of “oh you’re up and oh you’re going to disturb (read between the lines, annoy) me”.

As I am such a nice person, I made myself a coffee and sat on the couch trying really hard not to annoy him. With the coffee drunk, and my brain and body now in sync I headed for the kitchen to make surprise pikelets.

I recall the last time I made pikelets I had a small problem with the mixture, the pikelets looked like rubber coasters. Hmm the second batch I made was also less than appetizing so we opted for cereal. Oh well, I guess in this instance it was the thought that counted.

Given my track record for yummy pikelets verses rubber coasters I thought I would find another pikelet recipe online. The recipe I found looked perfect, it was easy enough to prepare with minimal ingredients. I did change the recipe slightly by adding a little sugar to sweeten the pikelet mixture.

Having whipped up the ingredients into a smooth mixture I added a dob of butter to the pan. With the frying pan on a low to medium heat I placed my first tablespoon of pikelet mix into the pan and perfecto! This morning we will be eating nice thick pikelets for breakfast. Yippee! Read more »