Lately - the pre Christmas edition!

The boys have been on holidays for a few weeks now and we are getting into a slower holiday rhythm. As the countdown to Christmas is on the boys are getting VERY excited for the big day!

I thought I'd do a quick round up of a few things we've been up to lately.....

Our elves have been busy each night and give us a giggle each morning when we find them in their different activities.

I love the other Christmas touches around the house, like the cushions in the boy's bedrooms....

The circus is in town and we had a great night watching all of the circus acts,  listening to the Christmas songs and riding the dodgems, slides and having a go on the clowns.

We visited Santa while we were at the shops, the boys discussed their Christmas wish lists.

I wanted a photo with all 3 boys with Santa but everyone's schedule didn't match up.

So I improvised!

We did a little bit of baking and made some chocolate Christmas trees and fun little Christmas chocolates.

We went out one night to look at all of the Christmas lights, it's always a great way to get into the festive spirit.

Hydrangeas always say Christmas to me so I got a bunch for Christmas Day.

And on unrelated Christmas news the building work on our apartment above our garage has begun. The slab has been laid and the other work will begin in January. 

We've also been keeping up with all the bush fire news and praying for rain soon to help put out all of the fires. So thankful and appreciative for all of the hard work the fire fighters have been doing.

How have you been lately? x

An afternoon snack - chocolate bark

 I made this Chocolate Bark the other day when everyone was craving something sweet.

I had some milk chocolate melts in the cupboard and a packet of trail mix so I decided to combine the two. It would be even better with dark chocolate but the kids are not fans!

I can't wait to make it again with other toppings like raspberries, coconut etc. Anything goes!

Not to mention Christmas is coming up and it becomes all about the Peppermint Bark from William Sonoma. Have you tried it?

What's your favourite version of Chocolate Bark?

Sunday Sweets - Giant Ice-Cream Sandwich cake

The weekends are when I get a chance to experiment with recipes and put aside ideas that I want to try for the next special occasion. I loved this recipe I saw for a giant ice cream sandwich cake via Oh Happy Day. I think it would be perfect for all the summer entertaining we do.

Take a look.....

For the Ice Cream:

3.5 quarts (from 2 1.75qt containers) vanilla ice cream, softened

Line a 9×13″ baking pan with cling wrap and scoop out the ice cream into the pan. This helps it out with softening more if needed and makes it easier to spread out. If the ice cream still needs to soften let it sit for about 5 minutes then use an offset spatula to smooth it out evenly in the pan. Fold in the edges of the cling wrap and top with one more piece of cling wrap. Freeze for at least 3 hours, preferably 6 or overnight just to make it as frozen as possible, and easiest for you to work with.

For the Cake:

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1 3/4 cup white granulated sugar

1 cup cocoa powder, sifted

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon instant espresso powder

1 cup well shaken buttermilk

2/3 cup vegetable oil

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350F and prep a 9×13″ baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray and a strip of parchment with overhang so you can lift the cake out of the pan easily.

In a large bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, and espresso powder until it’s nice and combined. In a large measuring cup, 3-4 cups is perfect, measure out the buttermilk, then the oil, then add the eggs and vanilla and beat with a fork until combined.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and use a silicone spatula to mix everything together. Add half the batter to the prepared pan, sooth it out with an offset spatula, and bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. If you have two pans then by all means bake up both pans, but if you’re like me and only have one then cover the second half of cake batter with plastic wrap while the first cake is baking. Once that cake is baked let it cool for 10 minutes, transfer to a cooling rack, then prep the pan with the parchment and non-stick spray and bake the second half of the batter.

When that one’s baked let it sit in the pan for 10 minutes before using the parchment handles to transfer it to a cooling rack and let the cakes cool completely.

When you’re ready to assemble the cake, pick the prettier of the two and use the fatter end of a chopstick or a paintbrush handle, something along that size and poke holes in the cake, alternating rows of 4 then 3 holes with each row spaced about 1″ apart. It helps if your cake has been peeled away from the parchment then placed back on there. Once you have all the holes poked place an upside down white chocolate chip in each hole and gently push it into the cake.

Place the other cake onto whatever you’re serving it on (I use the baking sheet flipped over) top down then carefully unwrap your ice cream and place that on top of the cake. If the edges need to be cleaned up use an offset spatula to smooth them out. To finish up the cake place the other layer of cake on top with the chocolate chips facing up and serve! If your ice cream is too soft or you still have time to kill then just place the cake in the freezer until you’re ready to serve.

What do you think? It reminds me of the good old Monaco Bar. Yum!

You can find so many more great ideas and recipes on their site here

Recipe and photos via Oh Happy Day

How to decorate Easter Sugar Cookies.

Last week I went to a Cookie Decorating workshop at Little Lane Workshops run by Karen of Sweet n Pretty. She does amazing cakes and cookies so I was interested to learn if she had any tips on how to decorate cookies and work with royal icing as I had never tried it before.

Plus I had just bought a whole load of cookie cutters for 20c each so I thought I had better learn how I could use them!

Karen had baked the cookies for us in various Easter shapes and taught us how to mix the icing, the different consistency needed and some tricks to ensure a smooth icing and how to use a piping bag.

She made it look easy and it was great to see someone do it in front of you first and then have a chance to have a go yourself.

Here are a few photos of the night -

While our cookies were drying it was lovely to wander through the workshop space as it also doubles as a store with various clothes, homewares and furniture to browse. Champagne was on offer and it was great to chat to the other ladies doing the workshop.

Once our cookies were ready to go we boxed them up and headed home. I was so happy with how mine turned out! The royal icing really hides shaky hands and wonky lines, I definitely need to practice making my decorating a bit smoother ;) Although the boys were very impressed when I showed them what I had made.

Karen gave us this vanilla sugar cookie recipe to use at home.

Vanilla Sugar Cookies

Ingredients

2 large eggs

100 grams white sugar

100 grams icing sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

200 greams butter softened in microwave until almost melted

600 grams plain flour

pinch of salt

How to make

Preheat oven to 170 degrees

In an electric mixer beat the eggs, white sugar and icing sugar until light and fluffy. This takes approximately 5 minutes. Stir in the vanilla extract.

Sift the flour add half of it to the egg and sugar mixture and blend until it looks thick and pasty. Add the softened butter and mix thoroughly.

Add the remaining flour - you may need to mix by hand to help form the dough. Refrigerate for at least an hour before rolling out and cutting the cookies.

Roll out the dough to 5mm thickness. Use cookie cutters to cut our shapes and transfer to a tray lined with baking paper. Bake for 8-10 minutes until lightly golden - the cookies should be firm to touch. Cool on a wire rack before decorating.

*Note - make sure the dough is evenly rolled out and uniform before cutting the cookies. If there are any bumps in the cookie dough they will show through the icing.

Royal Icing

Ingredients

1 egg white

320g pure icing sugar sifted

Gel colours (optional)

Piping bag with number 2 tip nozzle

Karen has some more classes coming up at Little Lane Workshops including this cool succulent cupcake one!

Have you worked with royal icing before? Any tips on how to steady a shaky hand? ;)

Healthy Afternoon Snack - Our favourite Bliss Ball recipe

Bliss Balls are the perfect afternoon snack. A little healthy something to get you through to dinner time. I remember eating a Byron Bay Bliss Ball (while on holiday in Byron) about 10 years ago and trying to guess what was in there and recreate it. I never quite managed it but I did happen to stumble across heaps of different recipes and the one below is our favourite.

Recipe for Bliss Balls

1 x cup of pitted dates

1 1/2 x tablespoons of unprocessed cocoa powder

2 x tablespoons of raw cacao powder

2 x teaspoons of vanilla bean paste

1 cup combined of almonds & cashews

Desiccated coconut for rolling the balls into.

I just throw everything into the food processor together and give it a blitz.

Keep pulsing until all the nuts are finely chopped.

Use damp hands and roll them into balls.

Roll the balls in desiccated coconut.

Store in the fridge.

Super simple!

Another good one is this Peanut Butter Brownie Bliss Ball

Recipe found here

Do you like Bliss Balls? What's your favourite recipe?

Recipe for Pimms, White Wine Sangria and Rocky Road Cheesecake

After my last post I had a few enquiries on the recipe for the cocktails and the Rocky Road Cheesecake. I thought I would share them here.

Recipe for White Wine Sangria.

We originally had this drink for the first time at Manly Wine and they were lovely enough to give us the recipe. It is now a fixture at most of our gatherings. It's so light and refreshing to drink.

Place 1 lemon cut into wedges, a handful of fresh mint leaves, 5 lychees (tinned is fine) 60ml Martini Bianco, 30ml Cointreau and 250ml Chardonnay into a jug. Stir vigorously. Top with ice and lemonade. 

We serve Sangria differently depending on the occasion.

If it is just a couple of friends over we will make up a jug and scoop out the lychees, lemon and mint into each glass as we pour it.

If we have a bigger crowd we will pop the drink into our larger mason jars.

This one from Kmart is our current favourite. (I sprayed the stand white)

To make up the quantities for the 3 litre jar add

180ml Cinzano Bianco

90ml Cointreau (or Triple Sec)

60mls of the lychee syrup from the can

750ml Chardonnay

Topped with lemonade (approx 2 litres)

Add 4 lemon wedges, 4 lychees, 10 torn mint leaves

We also keep little bowls of lemon, lychees and mint nearby so each person can add 1 of each to their glass before pouring in the Sangria. This frees you up as the host as people can help themselves to drinks while you get the food ready etc.

Recipe for Pimms

1 part Pimms

3 parts Schweppes Lemonade

Orange, strawberries, mint (cucumber is a traditional addition but I'm not a fan!)

If you don't like your drink too sweet. Add 1 part of Dry Ginger Ale and take away 1 part of lemonade. 

Same serving suggestions as above -

 If it is just a couple of friends over we will make up a jug and scoop out the mint, oranges and strawberries.

If we are serving from the big jars then little bowls of the fruit will be nearby.

Recipe for Rocky Road Cheesecake.

The first step is to make your Rocky Road. Everyone usually has their own favourite Rocky Road recipe so feel free to use your own if you like. Most recipes use nuts but I leave them out due to lots of people with nut allergies.

I use a Twix Rocky Road recipe. It adds a little extra texture.

Recipe for Twix Rocky Road

4 x 58g Twix chocolate bars chopped

1 cup of rice bubbles

150g marshmallows chopped

400g milk chocolate chopped

40g copha chopped

(1 cup of unsalted roasted peanuts if you like)

Line a rectangular baking tray with baking paper. Combine Twix bars, rice bubbles, marshmallows and peanuts in a bowl. Place chocolate and copha in a pan. Stir over a low heat until chocolate is melted. Cool slightly. Pour mixture over Twix mixture, mix well. Spoon onto prepared tray.  Refrigerate until set. Cut into small squares/pieces.

Recipe for Cheesecake

125g sweet chocolate biscuits

60g butter melted

625g cream cheese softened

395g can sweetened condensed milk

3 eggs

Preheat oven to moderately slow (160 - 140 (fan forced) degrees celsius)

Process the biscuits until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs. Transfer to a medium bowl, stir in butter. Press biscuit mixture over the base of a 23cm springform tin, refrigerate until firm.

Beat cream cheese with electric mixer until smooth, then add the condensed milk and beat until combined. Beat in eggs one at a time, until just combined.

Place tin on an oven tray, pour the cheesecake mixture into tin. Press half of the Rocky Road into the surface. Bake in moderately slow oven about 1 1/4 hours or until set. Cool in oven with door ajar.

Refrigerate 3 hours or overnight. 

Decorate with the remaining Rocky Road and dust with icing sugar if desired.

What do you think? Tempted to give them a go?

They might come in handy if you are entertaining this long weekend.