When I was a little boy, my mum lived in the Bush of Africa, far, far away in the middle of nowhere. She managed a number of camps and resorts surrounded by wildlife.

My brother and I would visit her on our school holidays and there weren’t any fancy shops about, so she would make us pizza, ice cream and all sorts of other yummy treats from scratch, seemingly out of nothing.

She would often have to shoot deadly snakes in the garden to keep us safe. It was wild! I have the most incredible memories of my holidays there, but my greatest memory is always her baking. Her name is Sharon –

Her little bungalow was on top of a cliff above a huge lake and hippos would come and eat her plants at night. In the beginning, she didn’t even have glass windows, just wire meshing. I always thought she was a superwoman, being brave enough to live there on her own.

Someone once left their handbrake off on their Land Rover and it rolled back down the slip way where boats were launched - all the way into the water. Even though the lake was full of crocodiles, and it was not uncommon for people fishing on the shore to get eaten, my mum dove in and hitched a cable to the front of it so that it could be towed out of the water.

There are so many recipes and flavours that transport me back to that time . Some of my happiest memories involve food because my mum has always put so much heart into her cooking and baking . It's a gift that i have gotten to enjoy all my life and i really feel like it should be shared.

Of all the things she bakes , one of the simplest but also one of the most delicious is her marzipan cookies. Her name is sharon and as they are a cookie i thought i'd call them shookies .

Shookies are a bit like a macaron but chewier. They are very marzipany and they actually get better with age. They are also Gluten free.

They are made with love, inspired by love and you can really taste the quality of the ingredients in them. They are quite simple but cute and sophisticated , each one is carefully shaped and they just taste incredible. The idea is that Shookies are little pebbles of joy and sending them to someone is a bit like sending a lot of hugs to someone you care a lot about. So, if you are reading this having received some Shookies as a gift, know that you are loved

The Shookie Jar is a mother and son collaboration but every shookie is hand crafted by the very hands that shot those snakes and hitched the tow cable to that landrover.

The online shop is now open if there is someone you miss and want so send some love to . Or perhaps you just fancy a delicious treat yourself. I hope you enjoy them and that maybe, just maybe, more and more people will get to spread and share the Shookie Love  at a time when it is no doubt needed more than ever.