Sour Cream and Chives Chicken Pot Pies

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and are looking forward to the New Year!
Simon and I received a few boxes of chocolates for Christmas so the thought of baking something sweet makes me feel a little ill at the moment; I’m already eating too much sugar.  So, here is something a little different for you if you’re feeling like me and need a little break from the sweet treats.  These Chicken pies are delish – they are super tasty and look pretty special in their individual ramekins.  They are quick and easy to whip up so I’ve made them a few times for dinner already :)

Serves 2

200g cooked chicken, chopped
¼ cup sour cream
75g grated cheddar cheese
2 tablespoons chopped chives
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 sheet store bought puff pastry, thawed
1 egg, lightly beaten

Preheat the oven to 180°C.  Combine the chicken, sour cream, cheese, chives, salt and pepper.
Cut two circle shapes out of the pastry to cover the top of two 1 cup capacity ramekins.  Divide the mixture between the ramekins and top with the pastry circles.  Brush the pastry with the egg and bake for 20 minutes or until the pastry is puffed and golden brown.

Christmas Tree Cupcakes and An Update

I am feeling a bit time poor at the moment (I will explain more at the end of this post) but wanted to get into the kitchen to whip something Christmassy up so these were the perfect solution. I had seen variations around and thought they were cute and seemed simple enough. For the cupcake I used my tried and true ‘Easy Peasy Chocolate Cake’ batter and placed it into 16 brown cupcake papers – which look like the base of a tree and baked at 180°C for about 15 minutes (or until they can be lightly touched and spring back).

While they cooked and then cooled I used fondant icing to make the little stars to go on top. To do this cut a piece of fondant off the block it comes in and warm it between your hands, once it has reached a workable consistency you can add a few drops of yellow food colouring (you could also use pre-coloured fondant or leave it white and dust it with edible glitter) and kneed it through so the colour is uniform. To cut the stars you need to dust you work surface and your rolling pin with cornflour, roll your fondant out to about 0.5cm thick and cut your stars, placing them on non-stick wax paper to harden so that they can be stuck on top of your trees. These could be made in advance and placed in an air-tight container.

Once your cupcakes have cooled ice them with a buttercream frosting, you could do plain vanilla or something a little more festive and use a peppermint flavor. To do this you will need:

150 grams butter (softened)
2 - 2½ cups icing sugar
2 tablespoons hot water
1 teaspoon vanilla essence (or ½ teaspoon peppermint essence)
A few drops of green food colouring

Cream the butter until it is pale in colour then sift in your first cup of icing sugar as well as adding 1 tablespoon hot water and your essence, beat until combined and then sift in your remaining 1 –1½ cups of icing sugar until you get the desired consistency and add your colouring. Place your frosting in a piping bag and use a Wilton 1M tip or similar to frost each cupcake so it resembles a tree.

To decorate place coloured chocolate drops or the little edible silver balls so that they resemble decorations around the tree and top each cupcake with a star.

 
Enjoy giving these and lots of our other fantastic recipes a go! Feel free to share what you have been up to by leaving comments here, Facebook, or email us – we love hearing from you. I really want to find the time to give the Candy Cane Cookies Mel posted yesterday a try.

Also while I am here I will give you a brief update on what is happening with me – Shane and I have sold our house and are moving to New Plymouth in February 2012 (I will elaborate on this in the new year), we have to be out of our house late January so I will be very busy packing, trying to catch up with our gorgeous friends and family as well as caring for Maxie - who is also having a big 1st birthday extravaganza before we leave, that I am organising on top of everything else! All of this doesn’t leave a whole heap of time for baking and blogging but I promise to do my best to share anything that I get time to bake.

Before I sign off I thought I would share with you an updated pic of Max – he is 10.5 months now (can you believe it? I can’t!).

 
So from me and my family to you and all of yours, Merry Christmas! Have wonderful days with your loved ones xx

Candy Cane Cookies

These cute little swirled cookies with candy cane topping are made from a delicious peppermint shortbread.  They are quick and easy to whip up and the recipe makes about 35.

250g butter, softened
½ cup caster sugar
1 teaspoon peppermint essence
¼ teaspoon salt
2 ¾ cups flour
4 drops red food colouring
4 peppermint candy canes, crushed

Place the butter and sugar in a bowl and beat until creamy.  Beat in the peppermint essence and salt.  Turn the mixer to a low speed and slowly add in the flour.  Beat to form a dough.
Remove half the mixture and set aside.  Add the food colouring to the remaining dough and mix until a uniform colour.  Roll each dough mixture into 30 x 20 cm rectangles on top of pieces of plastic cling wrap.  Place the uncoloured dough rectangle on top of the red coloured dough rectangle and remove the cling wrap from the top.
Cut off any uneven edges, then roll the rectangle into a log using the remaining cling film to help you.  Wrap the log in the cling film and place it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes until firm.
Heat oven to 180°C.  Cut the log into 5mm thick rounds and place onto baking trays lined with baking paper.  Scatter the crushed candy canes over the top and bake for 10 – 12 minutes.  Remove cookies from the oven and place in a wire rack to cool.

This recipe has been entered in the ‘Jingle all the Way’ event hosted by Edible Entertainment.

And has been sent to Tickling Palates for their Baked Goodies event.

Mini Chocolate Cupcakes with Strawberry Santa Hats

Don’t these look cute?  I saw a picture of something similar to these the other week that were made from what looked like chocolate brownie that had been cut into circular shapes before being topped with the strawberries – too much fuss for me!  I decided to create mine using mini chocolate cupcakes instead.  The cupcake recipe I’ve used is delicious – it has a nice fudgy taste and goes so super well with the frosting and strawberries.  They are super easy to make and I think I’m going to have to re-use this recipe again :)
I’ve put the recipe for the mini muffins first, followed by the frosting and decoration recipe so you don’t get confused with a long list of ingredients.

Makes about 36

Mini Chocolate Muffins:
1 ½ cups all purpose flour
½ cup cocoa powder
2 teaspoon instant coffee powder (optional)
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
¾ cup milk (low fat is ok)
½ cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

Preheat oven to 180°C.  Line 36 mini muffin cups with paper liners.
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa power, instant coffee powder, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
In a medium bowl, whisk together milk, vegetable oil, vanilla extract and vinegar.  Pour into dry ingredients and stir until just combined and no streaks of flour remain.
Distribute batter evenly into prepared muffin cups, filling each about ¾ full.
Bake for 10-12 minutes, until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean.
Turn cupcakes out onto a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting and Decoration:
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups icing sugar, sifted
½ teaspoon vanilla essence
Pinch of salt

36 strawberries, leaves removed

Using an electric mixer, beat the butter on high until light and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes. Reduce mixer speed to low.  Gradually add the sugar, then the vanilla and salt, and beat until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.
Pipe the frosting mixture into a circle on the top of each mini muffin.  Place a strawberry in the centre of each frosting circle.  Pipe a small ball of frosting onto the top of each strawberry as the pom-pom for the Santa hat.

How to make Lemon Curd

A little while ago Courtenay posted up a recipe for Lemon Meringue Cupcakes and coincidentally my flatmate Ashley (who has previously contributed the Tropical Muffin recipe to our blog) had made some too!

Ashley’s (pictured in this post) were slightly different from Courtenay’s as they were popped them under the grill for a few seconds to brown the tops.  She also made the lemon curd to go in the middle and has passed the recipe on to me, so I thought I would share it with you all :)

You will need:
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
⅔ cup fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer for about 2 minutes.  Slowly add the eggs and yolks.  Beat for 1 minute.  Mix in the lemon juice.  The mixture will look curdled, but it will smooth out as it cooks.
In a medium, heavy-based saucepan, cook the mixture over low heat until it looks smooth (the curdled appearance disappears as the butter in the mixture melts).  Increase the heat to medium and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens, about 15 minutes.  It should leave a path on the back of a spoon and will read 75°C on a thermometer.  Don't let the mixture boil.
Remove the curd from the heat; stir in the lemon zest.  Transfer the curd to a bowl. Press plastic wrap on the surface of the lemon curd to keep a skin from forming and chill the curd in the refrigerator.  The curd will thicken further as it cools.  Covered tightly, it will keep in the refrigerator for a week and in the freezer for 2 months.

Thank you Ashley for the recipe and photos.

Sand Art Brownies – Recipe Card Download and How To Guide

I’ve made up a another jar of Sand Art Brownies to give as a Secret Santa gift and thought I would share a printable version of the instructions to accompany the ingredients jar for you to download and use.  I’ve included a few different fonts for you to choose from.  You could simply cut out the set of instructions that you like the look of and put them inside a greeting card, or I have included a little bit of a guide on how I made my simple recipe card below if you want to do something similar.



Sand Art Brownie Instructions

How I made my Recipe Instruction card:
-I printed off the instructions, cut them out, then glued them onto a piece of card; allowing enough room around the instructions for the width of the ribbon I wanted to use.


-Next I glued on the two pieces of ribbon (just cheap stuff from Spotlight) down the sides of the instructions.  Then I got my contrasting ribbon which I measured and cut to fit between the two side pieces of ribbon.


-I glued on the top and bottom pieces of ribbon.  Once the glue (I used PVA) was dry I used the ribbon as a guide and cut off the excess card.

Easy Peasy!

I’m sure there are many other ideas that you can come up with for making the Instruction Cards.  I haven’t tried it before, but I reckon printing the recipe then stitching a border around the outside with a sewing machine would look super cute and sophisticated.  Or, if you are putting together jars of Sand Art Brownies with children, you could decorate the instructions using potato stamps!

Raspberry and White Chocolate Friands

 
I had been wanting to try my hand at making friands for a long time but had never tried one before so was kind of put off by the not knowing how they should turn out. However, this obstacle was removed a couple of weeks ago when my Step-Mum bought out a batch when visiting – they were so yummy that I had to give them a go myself and I was very pleased with the results.

They were beautifully golden on the outside but fluffy yet still moist in the middle. Everyone at my house on Saturday found them incredibly morish, between Shane, Max, two of my sisters and I, we managed to polish off the batch!

Ingredients
½ cup plain flour
1½ cups icing sugar
1 cup almond meal
6 egg whites, beaten lightly
150 grams melted butter, cooled
80 grams white chocolate finely chopped
1-2 dozen raspberries (fresh or frozen)

Method
Preheat oven to 180°C fan-forced. Lightly grease 12 friand molds or if you are like me and wanting to try your hand you can use a regular sized muffin tin.
Sift the flour and icing sugar into large mixing bowl. Stir in almond meal, egg whites and melted butter until combined (this can also be done in your electric mixer using the paddle attachment on a low speed). Add the white chocolate and mix again to ensure even distribution through your mixture.
Divide mixture among prepared pans (approximately ¼ cup mixture into each one). Top each one with 1 or 2 raspberries.
Bake in your preheated oven for 20-25 minutes until cooked through and golden (when a skewer is inserted into centre, it should come out clean).
Once baked leave them in the tin for 5-10 minutes to cool and then remove and place on a wire rack to cool for a further 15 or so minutes before dusting with icing sugar and serving.
*** I found I had enough mix left over to make a further 12 mini friands in a mini muffin tin – these only needed about 8 minutes in the oven and I popped them in while my full size batch were cooling.

With the summery flavor of the raspberries and festive red and white colour combo these would be a lovely addition to any Christmas function you have coming up but of course they can be enjoyed all year round. Enjoy!

Christmas Baking Ideas

No doubt you will see some more Christmas themed baking up here before the 25th, but I thought I would write up a summary of the recipes we have previously shared incase you are already in the mood!

It’s always nice to put the time and effort in and make something as a gift for someone else.  Baking is also a great gift idea for kids teachers too!  Courtenay used to always put together packages of shortbread for our colleagues at work, which went down a treat!

For a twist on traditional shortbread, I quite like this recipe which includes pecans.  It tastes delicious.

Courtenay has also tried making Chocolate Peppermint Shortbread :)

If you want to make biscuits but aren’t keen on Shortbread you could always make some cookies and decorate them in Christmas colours, like the ones pictured above – this recipe yields quite a few biscuits.

Or, give baking some Cranberry and White Chocolate Biscuits a try.  They look quite festive with their flecks of red and white.  One of our readers has suggested swapping the pecans with pistachios to add in some green!

Something else that would make an awesome gift are these Mini Chocolate Christmas Puddings.  They are marshmallows covered in chocolate, which are super yummy and easy to make. Also, I think they look super cute!  Courtenay made something similar using my Mint Chocolate Truffle recipe (which would also make an awesome gift without the jazzing up).  Yum!

You could always make some fudge (try my caramel fudge – super easy; no sugar thermometers or fancy ingredients needed) or coconut ice (pictured above with the Chocolate Peppermint Shortbread) too.  Wrap it up in some festive coloured cellophane finished with a bow.

Red Velvet is the perfect colour for this season – make some cupcakes, a cake or whoopie pies.

Speaking of whoopie pies, try decorating the Double Chocolate ones that I’ve put on the blog to suit the season – add white icing to the top with red and green sprinkles to make them look like mince pies or roll the sides of them around in crushed candy canes.

And, if you want to give some baking as gifts but don’t have the time, put together some beautiful jars of Sand Art Brownies ready for someone else to make!

Keep checking back for more Christmas recipes.  In the mean time, I hope this post gives you some ideas and inspiration.  Merry Christmas!

Miss Melicious Cupcake Boutique

The Miss Melicious Cupcake boutique opened this week, you can find her and her delicious goodies in Te Atatu, Auckland. She has the most delicious and innovative range of cupcakes on offer so it might be a good idea to check out her website and familiarise  yourself with some of her creations before you visit. The boutique shop is pinkilicious and has gorgeous accents like the chandeliers (even in the bathroom!), cool artwork and retro serviette holders as well as room inside and out to sit and enjoy cupcakes and tea. I was lucky enough to pick up four fantastic flavors while Shane, Max and I were out exploring this afternoon, they were strawberry, choc berry, peanut butter and toffee pop! All scrumptious, moist and with the perfect ratio of cupcake to icing.





So if you are in Auckland and are after a delicious treat go and check out Miss Melicious. Once you do I’m sure you will be a fan, just like me – and you all know that if you are a fan you should do the polite thing and ‘like’ her on facebook to help spread the word, remember you to ‘like’ us as well while you are there, if you haven’t already!



Miss Melicious
80 Gunner Drive, Te Atatu Peninsula, Auckland
P: 027 635 637
E: mel@missmelicious.com
http://www.missmelicious.com/