The last roar.

Hi lovely readers,

After writing emails together since 2016, we have decided that today’s will be our last newsletter. Whether you’ve been reading since we brought back Domestic Sluttery in newsletter form, or you’re a more recent subscriber, we want to say a massive thank you to all of you. You’ve made our Friday afternoons a joy.

There are several reasons for our decision. The way we prefer to work has changed a lot over the last year – less internet, less social media, more pen and paper. We’re enjoying writing without distraction, and working on longer projects has inevitably meant that we’re spending less time online. We’re surprised at how much we love it.

We’ve worked on some brilliant projects together over the years. There was the magazine about gin, the ill-fated travel website, the photoshoot above that accompanied a feature about writing partnerships. In 2019, Laura was even Sian’s bridesmaid. Over the years we’ve written more than 500 emails together and we probably speak to each during the day more frequently than our own partners. We’re the very best of work wives.

And of course, we wrote The Feminist Quiz Book together during lockdown, and we’re so proud of it – there’s still a flurry of excitement when our extensive knowledge of brilliant women comes in handy during an episode of University Challenge.

We’re looking forward to cheering each other on from the sidelines as we write up a storm at opposite ends of the country, knowing that the plentiful puns, the pep talks, and the pretty damn delicious recipes (keep scrolling for Sian’s swansong honeycomb cookies) will never be far away.

We’ve had a blast writing to you each week, it’s meant so much to us. Thanks for being the very best readers.

Sian and Laura
xxx

Brown butter honeycomb cookies

We couldn’t leave your inboxes without a parting gift! This gorgeous recipe makes around 24 soft and chewy cookies, and the dough can be frozen (which is why we’ve eaten a cookie a day since the start of January). They are full of love and made for sharing.

Ingredients

• Three Crunchie bars

• 50g dark chocolate chips

• 140g butter

• 250g plain flour

• 250g light brown sugar

• 1 egg

• 1 tsp vanilla essence

• 1/4 tsp salt plus extra for sprinkling

• 1 tsp baking powder

• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

• 1 1/2 tsp cornflour

• 20ml milk (if needed)

Method

1. In a small pan, brown your butter. Browning butter takes a bit of a leap of faith, but it will give your cookies an extra layer of depth. Keep the button on a medium heat until it foams up and has gone a beautiful caramel colour. It’ll smell all nutty and rich when it’s ready. Decant the brown butter into a bowl and, make sure you get all of those specks at the bottom of the pan – they’re not burnt bits, they’re caramelised milk solids and they’re delicious! Set aside to cool.

2. Meanwhile, pop the Crunchie bars into a sandwich bag and bash them up into chunks, but not so much that they’re entirely smashed to smithereens.

3. Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.

4. Beat the cooled butter and sugar together, then add the egg and vanilla.

5. Now pour the liquid into the dry ingredients and mix everything together with the Crunchie bits and chocolate chips. You want quite a pliable dough, so if it's not quite coming together add a tiny splash of milk without making it too wet (if it goes the other way, just add a touch more flour).

6. Cover the dough and leave in the fridge overnight. Listen, you could absolutely get away with chilling the dough for three hours or so, but the flavours really come together overnight and we can assure you that breakfast cookies are a great way to start your weekend.

7. When you’re ready to start baking, preheat the oven to 160°C/gas mark 4.

8. Grease and line a couple of baking trays so you can get a little production line going.

9. Roll the dough into small balls the size of a golf ball and sprinkle each with a little salt. It’s easy to forget this step midway through the balling/baking process, but it makes such a difference to your cookies!

10. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the honeycomb bits are beginning to bubble and burnish. Use a palette knife to transfer each cookie to a cooling rack. They’ll crisp up as they cool, unless you eat them warm and burn your mouth on melted honeycomb.

One last thing: Give it a Ms | menu of the day | what’s the point of rereading books? | I saw this and thought of you | everything but the kitchen sink.

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