a little bit savoury | a whole lot sweet
So when I looked up on the very top shelf of my pantry recently, which I don’t often see given my short stature, I discovered there were four boxes of Oreo cookies up there, patiently waiting to be turned into something delicious (not that they aren’t delicious eaten straight from the packet).
With some friends coming over to visit, I was in the mood to make something chocolate so it was the perfect opportunity to whip up this very simple, four ingredient, No Bake Oreo Chocolate Tart.
I was a little late this month checking out what the Daring Bakers Challenge was for June, but I am sure glad I checked as this little number turned out to be super delicious. Thankfully we were having visitors this weekend which meant I could make this dessert to share so the hubby and I wouldn’t have to eat it for the next week, not that either of us would have minded I suppose.
We were asked to create either a Charlotte Royale or a Charlotte Russe. A Charlotte Royale is made in a bowl lined with swiss roll cake slices (similar to the Southern Bombe) where the Charlotte Russe is assembled in a loose bottom pan lined with ladyfingers. I decided to go for the latter as when looking for inspiration I came across an all chocolate version which was just calling my name.
When this months Daring Bakers Challenge was announced, I was pretty excited as lamingtons were on the menu. You have seen me make these delightful little morsels before when I made the standard lamington covered in coconut as well as the colourful sprinkletons.
This time, I decided to go with chocolate as the main, and only, flavour and whipped up these Triple Chocolate Lamingtons which I have dubbed Chocingtons.
I had grand illusions of another macaron tower recently with five brightly coloured, different flavour macarons to go with a sprinkle cake I was making. One would be the old favourite of Cherry Ripe Macarons, and the other four brand new ones I have had on my wish list to make.
Well for three of them I made the buttercream, but that was as far as I got, but one did end up with its shells and I am glad they did because I was very happy with how these Jaffa Macarons turned out.
Following the Easter long weekend, the hubby and I took the following week off as well to enjoy a short break. Whilst we went away over Easter, when we returned home we pottered around the house and had a little stay-cation. Of course I had big plans of catching up on the ironing, sorting out some of the kitchen cupboards and cooking a whole bunch of meals to put in the freezer, but alas, none of that eventuated.
The kitchen did end up getting a bit of a workout last weekend so stay tuned to the blog over the next few weeks as there is some deliciousness in store for you my friends.
First on the agenda was a batch of macarons. It has been over six months since my last macaron post, and on this occasion I thought I would whip up a batch of simple, but very tasty, Chocolate Macarons.
Last, but by no means least, of the flavours made for the 30th birthday macaron tower were the Cherry Ripe Macarons as chosen by C. When I found out that this was C’s flavour and I can honestly say it was something I wasn’t expecting and was a little bit freaked at first because for whatever reason, I couldn’t recall ever eating a Cherry Ripe before in my life. But I took one for the team and tried a few Cherry Ripes when I was testing out a couple of recipes for the ganache and I can say I am a fan.
Since I first started making the popcorn and malteser macarons, I have had lots of practice at them as they are certainly my most popular variety. It also happened to be one of the first posts on my blog and so some, well the majority, of the photos left a lot to be desired.
Even though I have made them quite a few times since, and have always meant to take some more photos, I never did. When the time came to make the macaron tower I thought I would at least get a couple of new feature photos rather than doing the step by step process again.
Last year, Adriano Zumbo had a television series about his work and in the third episode he headed back to the town where he grew up. In that episode, he visited the local school and made chocolate and caramel brownies with some of the students.
The recipe looked pretty darn tasty which was a good invitation to make it as far as I was concerned.
