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.
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.
A few months ago I finally signed up to be a Daring Baker, which is something I had been hearing about via some of the blogs I follow. The main reason it interested me was so that I would make something I might normally not have made as I tend to stick with what I am comfortable with.
This month was no exception. I had heard of a “three milk cake” a few times recently and it definitely intrigued me. When I saw that September’s challenge was for Pastel de Tres Leches, I had the reason I needed to finally make this cake, even if I didn’t get to eat it myself.
One of the most popular flavours around these days is salted caramel. I see it in tarts, biscuits, cupcakes and certainly macarons. So when B requested Salted Caramel Macarons for her part of the 30th birthday macaron tower, I was excited to give it a go.
There are numerous recipes out there for salted caramel macarons, and the one I used was from one of my 100+ cookbooks being Secrets of Macarons by José Maréchal. It is an awesome little book with lots of info on how to make these fiddly little things and I refer to it regularly.
To mark the first year since I started my current job, I made white chocolate panna cotta with rose water syrup and took it in to share with my colleagues. Since then, I have been encouraged to make it again and so after another two and a bit years I finally did (no need to rush these things).
For a morning tea we were having to mark the upcoming wedding of one of the women in the office, a request was made for me to bring something sweet and after suggesting this dessert to the bride to be, I didn’t need to go through any of the other options I had in mind.
The timing also worked out well as the ingredient for the next Get Your Chef On hosted by White Lights on Wednesday and Four Marrs One Venus was announced and it was chocolate. It was all too perfect so I signed up to participate.
I am quite addicted to piping a rose pattern having honed my skills on a wedding cake, a cake for the local Inner Wheel group as well as on the top of cupcakes. So why not use the same technique for biscuits? The blog that inspired the rose pattern posted some Neapolitan Spritz Cookies earlier this year and I knew straight away that I had to make them. Although I didn’t package them quite the way Amanda at i am baker did (which is super cute), I did show them off on my new high tea stand so these Chocolate Rose Biscuits with Rose Water Buttercream could be part two of my high tea series.
Pavlova can be a very temperamental dessert and with my past experience I was hesitant when Miss B asked me to make it on her visit, especially as I have my mother-in-law’s Pavlova to live up to. I have attempted the Pav a couple of times past, once in our last house where you could not see the temperature on the oven dial and had to rely on the dodgy oven thermometer (so I should have known then and there it wouldn’t work) as well as once in the new house. They both ended up being over cooked, the first one was inedible and the second was able to be saved so we had more of an Eton Mess for dessert that night.
After we got home from the Australia Day festivities, I set about making the mixture and crossed my fingers and toes that it would work out!
In November there is a little race which stops the nation going by the name of the Melbourne Cup. I am not really into the whole horse racing thing, but I would not knock back the opportunity for time out of the office for afternoon tea.
This year we put on a spread, and over catered as usual, with my contribution being some Rose Macarons.
Another one of the cookbooks I purchased recently was SprinkleBakes by Heather Baird. I came across Heather’s blog when I was looking for red recipes to use up the extra food colouring purchased for My Best Friend’s Wedding Cake and I made the Red Spiral Biscuits, also featured in the book.
As I was flicking through the book when it arrived, one particular recipe stood out and I knew I had the perfect occasion to make it. The recipe was for a Southern Bombe and the occasion was yet another September birthday celebration for two of my beautiful friends.
