Monday 2 July 2012

Sweeter Perspectives

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Two birthdays in one weekend can be quite a hassle or a blessing. Both actually. But it just depends on you really. So I took the opportunity to make these two days really memorable and I just wanted to share with you the sweeter perspective of each moment.
















Hopefully I can get those sweet recipes to share with you soon, but for now I really must be going.

And here are the recipes:

Choc Cupcakes With Hazelnut Frosting
Makes 5-6

Ingredients:
45 grams unsalted butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
20 grams ground almond
1/2 cup self raising flour
1 teaspoon cocoa powder
30 grams chocolate
Optional: hazelnut chocolate piece

Hazelnut Cream icing (makes a generous amount of icing for 24 cupcakes)
225 grams unsalted butter, softened
370 grams of Nutella
pinch of salt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
40 grams confectioner's sugar, sifted
6-8 tablespoons milk

Directions:
  1. Preheat oven to 180 C.
  2. Cream butter and sugar together. Slowly add the egg, almond meal, flour, and cocoa powder while mixing.
  3. Melt the chocolate and add into the mixture.
  4. Divide the mix between the muffin lined tin 3/4 full. Bake 20 minutes. Allow to cool.
  5. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and Nutella until well combined, thick and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Slowly add in confectioner’s sugar, and continue mixing until well blended.
  6. Add salt, vanilla, and 3 tablespoons of heavy cream or milk. Blend on low speed until moistened. Add an additional 3-5 tablespoons of heavy cream or milk until you reach the desired consistency. Beat at high speed until frosting is smooth and fluffy, about 3 minutes.


No-Bake Mixed Berry Lemon Cheesecake
Recipe adapted from My Baking Addiction

Ingredients:
2/3 cup sugar
zest of 2 lemons
1 (250 grams) package cream cheese, softened
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup whipped cream
1 cup fresh or frozen mixed berries
1 packet of oreos

Directions:
  1. In a large bowl, mix together the sugar and lemon zest until the sugar becomes moist and fragrant. Add cream cheese and beat with an electric mixer until smooth. Add lemon juice and vanilla mixing to combine. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the whipped topping until well blended, then fold in the raspberries.
  2. Place an oreo at the base of each serving dish and evenly pipe or spoon the filling into the individual serving dishes. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving. If desired, garnish with more berries (or even jelly as I have done).

Sunday 1 July 2012

Baking Under the Rainbow

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I wanted to go for a walk early in the morning but then it started raining. It's not like I have time to go for a walk every morning, but I do love time to myself to just walk around the neighbourhood saying 'good morning' to passerbyers and just looking at the sky and nature. This is the distance I managed to walk-just out my front door to the drive thru and then the drizzling rain began. And at that moment I capture this:

A full arch rainbow and it's 'shadow' in the sky. So I went back into the house and decided to bake. It's just a typical Anzac biscuit recipe from a children's book and I'm sure there's many more Anzac biscuit recipes out there! I just felt like adding dark chocolate chips. So I did!

 Because my colleague gave me a whole stack of child care textbooks (yes, I'm studying to be a primary school teacher remember...), I decided to show my appreciation with these choc chip Anzac biscuits, a recipe from one of the textbooks.
It didn't take too long to wrap, but define 'too long'? When it comes to baking, nothing is ever 'too long' in fact, baking is therapeutic to me as it calms me down and extends my patience. My next assignment was to bake some typical Melting Moments for my cousin and sous chef upon her birthday request or wish, whatever you want to call it.




Somehow the rainbow on a rainy day made my day.
 

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