Strawberry Fudge

What better a way to welcome Summer than with delicious Strawberry Fudge?  It’s quick and easy to make too!

Ingredients:
395g can condensed milk
475g white chocolate melts
1 drop red food colouring
4 teaspoons strawberry powder (I used Nutrafresh)
3 teaspoons strawberry essence

Method:
Grease and line a 20cm square tin.
Add the chocolate and condensed milk to a medium saucepan and mix constantly over a low heat until the chocolate has melted.
Stir in the strawberry powder and essence. Add the food colouring, mixing in more if you prefer a darker colour.
Stir constantly for 5 minutes before transferring into the prepared tin.
Refrigerate until set, before cutting into squares.

*As an alternative to strawberry powder, add in 100g more white chocolate, 1 extra teaspoon of strawberry essence and try chopping up 5 – 6 fresh strawberries into chunks and stirring them through the fudge mixture just before you pour it into the prepared tin. 

Halloween Spider Cupcakes

These are the last Halloween inspired treat for 2012, aren’t they cute?! In a creepy crawly kinda way… I think they would look great on a party table next to our Witches Hats, Meringue Bones and Sausage Mummies. You could always whip up one batch of cupcakes and decorate half as these spiders and the other half like Mel’s amazing Brain Cupcakes!

To make these creepy treats you will need:
Cupcakes
½ cup sugar
1 tablespoons cocoa
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¾ cup flour
1 egg
¼ cup milk
75g butter (melted)
½ teaspoon vanilla essence
Pinch of salt
¼ cup boiling water

Basic chocolate icing
1 cup Chelsea rich chocolate icing sugar (you could use icing sugar and cocoa)
1 teaspoon softened butter
2 tablespoons boiling water

To decorate
chocolate hail for the body
24 m&m’s for eyes
licorice for the legs (straps work best but you can cut any licorice from the assortment box to work)

Method:
Pre- heat your oven to 180°C and line a muffin tin with 12 cupcake cases.
Place all the cupcake ingredients in a bowl EXCEPT the water. Add water last - do not mix until it is added.
Beat well with a hand held mixer for about 2 minutes and once combined and smooth spoon evenly into your cupcake cases.
Bake for 12-15 minutes or until you can remove a skewer cleanly from the centre of your cupcakes or they spring back when lightly touched.
Make your chocolate icing and using a knife apply liberally to each cupcake using a pallet knife (a butter knife if you don’t have a pallet knife will suffice).
Sprinkle chocolate hail over the ‘body’ of your spider and put matching m&m’s on the front for eyes.
Use a skewer to make three small holes in the sides (I know spiders have 8 legs but it looked a little crowded so I went for 6) of each cupcake to put your licorice straps in as legs.

Lunchbox Bakes - Halloween Sausage Mummies

These are super easy to make and make a delicious treat for the lunch box or as a snack.

12 precooked sausages (I used Smoked Cheese Kranskys)
2 sheets puff pastry
1 teaspoon mustard

Preheat the oven to 180°C.  Line a baking tray with baking paper.  Cut the pastry into thin strips, about 5mm thick.  Wrap strips of the pastry around the sausages like a bandage (brush the strip with some ice cold water if it is not sticking very well).  If the strip is not long enough for the sausage, start using another piece.  Place on the prepared baking tray.
Bake 15 – 20 minutes or until the pastry is puffed and golden.  Use the mustard to dot eyes onto the sausages before serving.

For more lunchbox baking ideas check out our Lunchbox Bakes page.

Custard Slice

Custard Slice is my Mum’s favourite thing to buy at the bakery. So, I popped around to her place after work and snuck some of this into her fridge for her (and Dad, and my ‘should really be moving out of home soon’ brother) to find once she got home. I found it surprisingly easy to make at home, it looks fiddly and complicated, but trust me, it’s not. The custard slice is delicious and is just as good as a store bought one (if not better because it was made at home with love – cheesy much?!)

Ingredients:
2 sheets frozen butter puff pastry, partially thawed
1 ⅓ cup caster sugar
1 cup cornflour
¾ cup vanilla custard powder
4 ½ cups milk
75g butter, chopped
2 egg yolks, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Passionfruit Icing:
2 ½ cup icing sugar
10g butter
½ cup passionfruit pulp or sauce

Method:
Preheat the oven to 200˚C. Grease and line a 6 cm deep, 20 cm cake tin, extending the paper 3cm above the edges of the pan.

Line two baking trays with baking paper. Place 1 sheet of pastry on each tray. Bake one tray at a time for 8 – 10 minutes or until golden and puffed. Carefully flatten the pastry (using an oven mitt is a good idea – it’s hot!). Set aside to cool.

Place the sugar, cornflour, custard powder and 1 cup of milk, in a heavy-based sauce pan over a medium heat. Gradually stir in the rest of the milk until smooth and combined. Add the butter. Cook, stirring constantly for 8 to 10 minutes or until the mixture simmers and thickens. Remove from the heat and stir in the egg yolks and vanilla.

Trim the pastry sheets to fit the baking tin. Place one pastry sheet in the bottom of the tin. Pour the hot custard over the pastry. Top with the remaining pastry sheet. Set aside for 30 minutes top cool.

To make the passionfruit icing, place the sugar, butter and passionfruit in a heat proof bowl over a pot of simmering water. Stir over the heat until smooth and combined. Refrigerate for four hours or until cold. Cut into squares before serving.

China used in photographs c/o The Vintage Table.

Chocolate Witches Hats

I had a go at making Witches Hats as a Halloween treat.  They are pretty simple to make and the recipe will give you 15 little hats.  I used midnight cookies as a base (I’ve put the original recipe below which will make a few more cookies than you need) which worked perfectly as a delicious accompaniment to the cone of the hat.  Inside my hats I hid some candy corn lollies (found at Martha’s Backyard), but you can include whatever candy is your favourite. 
We took the finished Witches Hats around to share with Simon’s family and his nieces were pretty excited when they found the hidden lollies!

To make Chocolate Witches Hats you will need:
a batch of midnight cookies (see recipe below, or alternatively, you could try your fave store bought biscuits)
15 kid sized ice cream cones
375g milk or dark chocolate, melted
Bag of Pebbles of Mini M&M’s, to decorate
½ cup of your favourite candy, to hide inside the hats

Midnight Cookies:
125g butter, softened
175g caster sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
125g flour
35g cocoa powder
½ teaspoon baking soda

Preheat the oven to 180°C and line several baking trays with baking paper.
Place the butter and sugar in a large bowl and beat together until light and fluffy.  Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix until smooth.  Sift in the flour, cocoa and baking soda and beat until well mixed.
With dampened hands, roll teaspoon sized pieces of the dough into smooth balls.  Place on the baking sheets, spaced well apart.
Bake in the preheated oven for 10 – 12 minutes, or until set.  Leave to cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool completely.

To make the Witches Hats:
Roll the cones in a bowl of the melted chocolate to coat the outsides.  Stand on a wire rack to allow the chocolate to set.  Dip your Pebbles of Mini M&M’s into the remaining melted chocolate and adhere to the chocolate cones.
In the centre of each cookie, place the candy you want to hide inside the hat. 
Dip the rim of an ice cream cone in the melted chocolate and put it onto one of the cookies, repeat the process.
As a finishing touch you could tie a thin ribbon around the ‘brim’ of each hat.

Halloween Meringue Bones

These are super easy to whip up for a Halloween treat, although only half my batch really resembled bones as I piped some too thick and they puffed up a bit too much. Next time I might print out some type of template and lay it under wax paper to help keep them uniform.

Ingredients:
3 egg whites (size 6)
¾ cup of caster sugar

Method:
Pre-heat your oven to 180˚C and line two baking trays with baking paper.
Beat egg whites until stiff but not dry, add half the sugar and beat well, add remaining sugar a tablespoon at a time, beating well after each addition.
Drop oven temp to 120˚C and pipe in the shape of bones (or ghosts) onto an oven tray lined with baking paper.
Bake for 20 minutes or until meringues are dry but not brown. Leave in the oven until it is cool before removing.
*Tip – do not open oven door while cooking!

Meringues like Pavlova can be different in texture each time you make them due to things like the weather and the humidity so can take a little bit of practice. If you love meringues but can’t make them or enough of them you could always get in touch with our newest sponsor Fab Meringues!

This will be my last post for the next week(ish), we are moving back to Auckland this Friday which means an end to the last nine weeks of solo parenting while Shane has been away working (yay!). I am so excited to be living as a family again and to be living close to Mel and my new house has a far bigger and newer kitchen than the one I have had here in New Plymouth!

Cosset Café

Yesterday afternoon (yay for holidays – suck that it’s back to work on Monday!) Simon and I went and checked out Cosset, a café on New North Road in Mount Albert, Auckland.  I think we went at the perfect time as there were only a few groups of people there, unlike the masses of people I usually see spilling out of this popular café when I’ve driven past on the weekends!

Cosset serves fair trade, organic, vegan and vegetarian food.  I tried out a spinach filo parcel a lemon cupcake (which came on a china plate with the sweetest looking hand painted bluebirds) and a berry smoothie.  Simon had a coffee (they serve kokako), bagel and then got a sweet potato tart.  The food was scrumptious.  I want to go back and try out more of the delicious baking they had on display.

The café interior was a mix of different second hand furniture and there is outdoor seating as well.  It is also child friendly too; there’s an area with toys and games to entertain the littlies.  Anyways, I’m going to stop typing and let the pictures do the work!  For more info, checkout their website or find them on facebook.

Cosset
1087 New North Road, Mt Albert, Auckland
Ph: 09 846 0655
E: cossetnz@yahoo.co.nz
www.cosset.co.nz

Lunchbox Bakes - Pumpkin + Spinach Bread Cases

1 teaspoon olive oil
¼ small onion, finely chopped
150g butternut pumpkin, peeled and diced
25g spinach
12 slices wholemeal bread
1 ½ eggs, whisked
¼ cup reduced fat milk
60g ricotta cheese, crumbled
Olive oil spray

Preheat the oven to 200°C.
Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat.  Add the onion.  Cook while stirring for 3 minutes, or until softened.  Add the pumpkin.  Cook for 5 minutes or until it is tender.  Add the spinach and cook for 5 minutes or until it is wilted.  Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.
Meanwhile, using a rolling pin, flatten out the pieces of bread on a flat surface.  Using a 7.5cm cutter (or the rim of a glass), cut out a round from each piece of bread.  Press each piece of bread into a hole of a 12 hole muffin tin.  Lightly spray the bread with oil.  bake for 5 –6 minutes or until just golden.  Remove from oven.
Whisk the egg together with the milk.  Season with salt and pepper.  Spoon the pumpkin and spinach mixture between the bread cases.  Top with the ricotta.  Pour over the egg mixture.  Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden and set.

Chocolate Salted Caramel Cupcakes

These are super yummy and use the salted caramel sauce that I posted last week. They are super easy to make, just use your favourite chocolate cupcake recipe (I used my easy peasy chocolate cake recipe halved to make a dozen cupcakes).

Ingredients:
Cupcakes
½ cup sugar
1 tablespoons cocoa
½  teaspoon baking powder
½  teaspoon baking soda
¾ cup flour
1 egg
¼ cup milk
75g butter (melted)
½ teaspoon vanilla essence
Pinch of salt
¼ cup boiling water

Salted Caramel Buttercream
100 grams butter, softened
100 grams cream cheese, softened
¼ cup salted caramel sauce
½ teaspoon vanilla paste
2 ½ cups icing sugar, sifted

Method:
Pre- heat your oven to 180°C and line a muffin tin with 12 cupcake cases.
Place all ingredients in a bowl EXCEPT the water. Add water last - do not mix until it is added.
Beat well with a hand held mixer for about 2 minutes and once combined and smooth spoon evenly into your cupcake cases.
Bake for 12-15 minutes or until you can remove a skewer cleanly from the centre of your cupcakes or they spring back when lightly touched.
To make the buttercream, beat butter and cream cheese in a mixer until pale and fluffy. On a low speed add 1½ cups icing sugar and mix to combine with butter and cream cheeses. Add the salted caramel and vanilla essence mixing again. Add the rest of your icing sugar and mix again. If you find your frosting is a little bit thick add some room temperature milk 1 tablespoon at a time. 
Use a large star shaped piping tip (like a Wilton 1M or 2D) to frost cupcakes. Drizzle cupcakes with a little salted caramel sauce to finish.

Cupcake toppers c/o – Wink.  Thank you to Pop Roc Parties for the picture at the top of the post, sharing their attempt at the cupcakes using this recipe.

Salted Caramel Sauce

Doesn’t it look tempting?! A big jar of gooey goodness and the uses for this jar of amber deliciousness is endless! Keep you eyes peeled over the next few days for a post about salted caramel cupcakes which involves using it to make buttercream frosting. You can drizzle it over ice cream, brownies or biscuits or then again you could try dunking apples in it – perfect for Halloween (check out this post from Pioneer Woman for inspiration)!

Ingredients:1 cup white sugar
30 grams butter, chopped into cubes
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup of cream (room temperature)
1 teaspoon flaky sea salt

Method:
Place the sugar in the bottom of a medium-large saucepan and head over a medium-high heat, whisking it until it begins to melt. Don’t worry when it starts to form clumps, these will dissolve.
Once all the sugar has melted and you are left with a clear liquid you can stop whisking and start swirling the pan occasionally while the sugar cooks.
When the sugar has reached a deep amber colour (a reddish brown) it is ready, the best way to be sure of the readiness is to use a a candy or instant read thermometer, your caramel will be 175°C when it is ready. Caramel can go from perfection to burnt in a matter of seconds so it is important that you keep an eye on things. It is at this point you can add the butter and whisk to combine it with the sugar. It will bubble up but keep whisking.
Remove your pan from the heat and pour in the cream, again it will bubble up but you need to keep whisking to ensure it is incorporated and you end up with a nice smooth sauce.
Sprinkle over your flaky sea salt and stir.
Set aside to cool for at least 15 minutes and place in a jar. Cool completely to room temperature before storing in the fridge. It will keep for about two weeks.

Brain Cupcakes

Hello, it’s Melissa here from Baking Makes Things Better.  I made these creepy looking brain cupcakes using Courtenay’s Kiddy Cupcakes recipe (I’ve copied the recipe below for ease).  They are quick and easy to make, and perfect for Halloween.  I injected the cupcakes with jam in the middle to look like blood.  The result is a cupcake that is super sweet and delicious, something you’d probably want to run towards rather than away from!

Ingredients:
250g butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 ½ cups flour
½ cup cornflour
4 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla essence
1 cup strawberry jam

Buttercream:
250g butter softened
5 cups icing sugar, sifted
4-6 tablespoons hot water (warm icing makes the colour take better)
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
Red food colouring

Method:
Pre-heat your oven to 180°C and line your baking tin with cupcake cases.
Cream the butter in sugar until light and fluffy, add in eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Sift the flour, cornflour and baking powder into a separate bowl.
Alternate adding the flour mix and milk & vanilla essence to the creamed mixture, beat on a low setting to combine.
Spoon the mixture evenly into cupcake cases. Bake in a pre-heated oven for about 20 minutes or until a skewer can be removed cleanly or they bounce back to the touch.
Leave cupcakes to cool for 5 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool.

Once the cupcakes are cool, inject jam into the centre of each cupcake.

To make the buttercream, cream butter in or with a mixer until pale. On a low speed add icing sugar alternating with hot water and vanilla essence. Continue to beat until light and fluffy or until it’s reached a consistency you are happy with. Add the colouring to your mix and beat it in.
Fit a piping bag with a circular tip.  Draw a line with the icing across the middle of the top of a cupcake, then pipe a line around the perimeter of the cupcake from one side of the half way line to the other.  Repeat this process on the other side of the cupcake.  Fill each half with squiggles of icing, small zig zags from the centre to the outside of the cupcake look best.

Halloween Inspiration 2012

October is upon us already! Scary how fast the year is going… At the end of the month is Halloween, Mel and I have a whole heap of spooky new treats lined up to share with you over the next month that will be just perfect for trick or treaters or a themed party. If you can’t wait for them are are planning your party right now, maybe you could check out last years Halloween inspiration post or consider some of these options previously featured on BMTB.

Midnight cookies, they look and taste sinfully good and the name has a Halloween feel to it!

Ghost cupcakes! They are so easy to make and are sure to look boo-tiful on any dessert table.

The orange cupcakes Mel posted the other day are the perfect colour for Halloween…

You could easily make them more festive by using toppers like these on my cupcakes from 2010…

Make sure you check out The Pretty Baker’s website, they are one of our fab sponsors! They have a great buy two get one free deal on Halloween sprinkles, awesome skull and cross bone doilies to complete the look for your dessert buffet or to make your own bunting out of and this too cute witches broom cookie cutter that I may just have to purchase!

Keep an eye on the blog throughout October for plenty more Halloween inspiration – think brains, fingers, bones and creepy crawlies! Mel has our first themed post coming your way tomorrow.

Confetti Cookies

These look so darn cute; it was hard picking which photos to use on this post because I like them all!
The cookies are really simple to make too.  They’re a quick and easy shortbread.  And oh so much better than the store bought variety.
Baking or decorating some (or both) would make a great mini project for kids on school holidays.  Got a party coming up?  Change the sprinkles to suit your theme, and you have a great sweet treat.



Ingredients:
175g butter, chilled, chopped
⅔ cup caster sugar
2 cups flour
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
180g white chocolate, melted
190g hundreds and thousands / sprinkles

Method:
Process the butter, sugar and flour until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.  Add the egg and vanilla extract.  Process until the mixture just comes together.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently.  Divide the mixture into two, and shape into two discs.  Wrap both portions in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 170°C.  Line two trays with baking paper.  Roll one portion of dough between two sheets of baking paper until 5mm thick.  Using circular cookie cutters (between 3 – 5cm round), cut out rounds from the dough.  Place onto the prepared baking trays about 2cm apart.  Bake one tray at a time for 8 – 10 minutes or until the cookies are firm to touch, but not browned.  Transfer to a wire rack to cool.  Repeat with the remaining dough.



Spread the tops of the cookies with the melted chocolate.  Dip into the hundreds and thousands and leave to set on a rack before serving.

Confetti Cookies from Baking Makes Things Better on Vimeo.

Plate in first photo c/o The Vintage Table.