Sunday 25 January 2015

Any Excuse to Try Something New

Whenever we have guests over for dinner, I always like to have something nice to serve for dessert. (One day I'll completely mess with their minds and not have a dessert!) Sometimes I'm really organised and I'll do a chilled dessert and make it the day before, or if we're celebrating something I'll make a nice big cake. Other times, I'm not so organised so I have to improvise and think outside the box a little. Most often the reason for this is that I have no time to make something, or that I either I don't have any butter in the house (I know, it can happen), or it's still in the freezer (and I can't be bothered to, or don't have time to thaw it out). When this occurs I usually defer to my Anna Olson Back to Baking cook book, where she has several recipes that are either gluten free, egg free, dairy free, etc.. to solve all my disorganised problems.

These were some egg-free/dairy-free chocolate cupcakes that I made because my butter was still in the freezer... luckily I had the icing in the fridge so these weren't totally dairy free, but luckily no one actually has an allergy. I love having these recipes in the old tool box because you never know when someone will say "have you ever made a cake without using (insert ingredient here)? My niece/nephew/sister/etc. can't eat that..." I love being able to say with confidence, "of course, no problem!" Friends make the best guinea pigs, don't they??



Wednesday 21 January 2015

Tea-Time Choccies for Madeleine

It's nice to have a treat every now and again, but especially on your birthday. I made these choccies  to celebrate the birthday of one of my colleagues who always looks after me, so it was only right that I get her a little something to look after her on her special day.

My best friend gave me the mould that I used, and I had a lot of fun just seeing all the detail in the mould itself. The tea-cups, the jam jars, so sweet! I went another step further and made my first chocolate filling. I went with a chocolate-peanut butter filling, and decided it was dangerous to make this too often for I was likely to eat the whole thing before it made its way into the chocolates... not the best as you hand a friend a box of chocolates and say "Here, I made you some chocolates! They were meant to have a lovely filling, but it didn't quite make it in. It was really good, though!" Nonetheless, I felt they added that extra bit of "special" to the sweets and I'm glad they worked.

Definitely going to experiment with more fillings.... this could a very fruitful experiment!

 

Tuesday 20 January 2015

Office Party Shinannigans

These pops were ordered for a group birthday party at a fellow parishioner's office. She has been quite a faithful customer of late, so I was really happy I was part of their birthday celebrations! 

Nice and simple, for a bit of fun at the office.