Easter is such a lovely time of year. The scorching heat of summer is gone but the days are still pleasantly warm. In my life, Easter also means lots of baking time. In previous years I've gone the route of making many cute decorated Easter cake pops, cupcakes, and cookies. This year, I decided to go a little more...
Raisins are not really my thing. Hot Cross Buns however, are. A bit of a dilemma for me. My solution to this problem in the past has been to pick each and every raisin out of my hot cross bun before I can enjoy it. A better solution of course is to make my own hot cross buns. I've been keen to do this for ages, and naturally thought of going the chocolate chip direction. Eventhough I'm not mad about raisins, I think Hot Cross Buns need some kind of fruit to compliment the spices. I was thrilled to discover dried sour...
I have many favourite sweet treats, but cinnamon buns are right up there. In the top 5 at least! Not much compares to sinking your teeth into a warm, soft, cinnamony bun, getting sticky icing all over your fingers (and face in my case - I don't hold back when it comes to cinnamon buns). Variety is the spice of life as they say, so I mixed things up a bit. I kept the delicious cinnamon and sugar filling, then added some buttery apple pieces and drenched the baked buns in a decadent salted caramel sauce. The result is these irresistable...
The sight of figs in the shops always signals the end of summer to me. Which is sad, but not really, because figs are amazing! I felt that this Roasted Fig and Walnut Maple Ice Cream would be a perfect dish to cross over from summer into autumn. The warm, caramelised figs and toasted walnuts hint at autumn, the cool ice cream refreshing enough for a late summer evening. It’s really worth splurging on a bottle of real maple syrup for the ice cream - the flavour is incomparable! Use what’s left to make some Pecan Pie Granola or drizzle over...
After sharing my Caramel Peppermint Crisp truffles and Peppermint Crisp Tart Ice Cream Sandwiches I figured you had probably had enough of the Peppermint Crisp/Caramel flavour combo. I was wrong! My recent Instagram poll has confirmed that 92% of you never get tired of a Peppermint Crisp Tart inspired treat. So I took that on board and whipped up a delicious Peppermint Crisp and Caramel Rocky Road. With just 4 ingredients and 15 minutes to spare, you can create these deliciously chewy, crunchy, caramelly delights. I doubt you'll need more convincing than that, but if you do, remember they are calorie-free! Ok, that's...
If you find the idea of making a Milk Tart a bit overwhelming, then consider these 4 ingredient Mini Milk Tart Truffles. The recipe involves no more skill than melting chocolate, and the result is a crunchy, creamy, cinnamony treat. With that added cute factor! I was lucky enough to find this chocolate mould in the UK when I lived there. They are also available on Amazon in the US or UK (also known as peanut butter cup moulds). In South Africa your best bet would be The Chocolate Den or as a last resort you could use mini silicone cups or some tiny...
The combination of ice cream, popcorn and caramel may seem a little strange at first but let me assure you, it is a wonderful combination indeed. The slightly salty, crunchy popcorn adds a totally new dimension to the sweet, creamy vanilla ice cream. Smother this in rich, salted caramel sauce and you have yourself a Caramel Popcorn Ice Cream Sundae to die for! As with many things in life, homemade is so much better than shop-bought. This is definitely true of caramel popcorn. I find the shop-bought variety sickly sweet with only a mild caramelised flavour in comparison to this recipe. Not...
I had a lot of fun making these Valentine's Day Fortune Cookies! Once you get the hang of the folding and curling, they are very easy to make. And you get to write your very own personal message for your loved one to receive as a sweet surprise! I used a good quality almond extract for the flavour and it really adds something special. The cookies actually taste great without the chocolate too, but in the spirit of Valentine's Day I felt they needed a little "bling"! Ingredients: 2 large egg whites 45ml butter, melted and cooled 2 tsp water ½ tsp Nielsen-Massey Almond Extract (available...
A few weeks ago, I spotted something rather breathtaking on Instagram. A woman (you could call her a genius actually) named Adi Klinghofer invented an incredible "cake" and it went viral. The "cakes" are actually more like a cream tart - 2 layers of biscuits, filled and topped with cream and beautifully decorated with fruit, flowers, sweets, meringues and macarons. The wonderful thing about this Celebration Cream Tart is that you need no fancy equipment or skills to make it! You can make the biscuits into numbers, letters or any shape you like (with Valentine's Day around the corner, I naturally...
Since it's the month of love and all, I'm posting my favourite "romantic" recipes. Obviously, macarons had to make an appearance! If you like macarons but find them a tad too sweet, these Blueberry Cheesecake Macarons are just for you. The cheesecake-inspired filling is rich and creamy but still a little tangy. And then there's the fresh burst of fruity flavour from the blueberry compote. What really makes these Blueberry Cheesecake Macarons so gorgeous is the beautiful little speckles of actual dried blueberries. A bit like a macaron version of a speckled egg! That's thanks to the addition of blueberry powder to...