Mini Cream Horns & Palmiers with Honey Cream

cream horns with honey cream and nutella cream

What a start off for the summer holiday with rain!  It has been raining for a few days and the kids are feeling bored staying indoor (they may not be that bored if I haven't restricted them to use computer for only 2 hours a day!) So we head into the kitchen and look for things to make.  We have some frozen puff pastry and cream, and I have these cream horn moulds and some very large strawberries. The first batches of the cream horns and palmiers were gone in a flash as we were so hungry and they tasted so delicious.  My daughter made her palmiers with white chocolate and caster sugar from the recipe she learnt at school and I put in nutella with whipped cream for the cream horns for something different.

Mini Cream Horns

1 sheet of puff pastry, thawed

1 egg, beaten

thicken cream, whipped

honey

nutella

strawberries

icing sugar for dusting

Method:

Cut pastry into 12 strips about 2cm wide.  Lightly grease the mould, then starting rolling the pastry onto the mould starting from the points of tins.  Place horns on baking tray lined with baking paper and brush them with egg.  Bake in hot oven till puff up then reduce to moderate until horns are lightly browned and crisp.  Pipe in honey cream or nutella cream, dust with icing sugar and garnish with strawberries.

For honey cream and nutella cream: add 1/2 teaspoon of honey to 1/3 cup whipped cream and add 1 heap tablespoon of nutella to 1/2 cup whipped cream.

Palmiers with Honey Cream

1 sheet of puff pastry, thawed

raw sugar

ground nutmeg

honey cream

Sprinkle sugar and nutmeg evenly over the pastry, loosely roll one side at a time into the middle until both sides meet.  Sprinkle extra sugar onto the bottom of the pastry as you roll up so that both sides are coated with sugar.  Roll the pastry over to form a log shape. Cut pastry into 5mm thick pieces.  Place the cut side up with a V-shape onto the baking tray lined with baking paper.  Bake at hot oven for 15 minutes or until golden brown.  Serve with honey cream.

white chocolate palmiers

My daughter made this for her art project. Couldn't stop hugging it!

Easy Chicken and Potato Casserole

It has been a year since my mother-in-law visit me last December.  I am still trying to finish the food she left behind. (I'm not joking!) It's really the love for her to show that she cares about us but it could be quite a challenge for me to use her ingredients as we have different cooking skills.  I have a few packets of this Continental Spaghetti bolognese powder mix that she left behind and I have made several pasta dish from that already.  In fact, I hardly buy any powdered food like this as I reckon they are space food for the astronaut.  While I'm living on earth, I would prefer to make my own sauce or use the bottle/tin instead.  So I end up putting it into a casserole, my very own "space casserole."

I have tried many western style casserole but the only one that my husband will eat is the apricot-chicken that also use powdered food (French onion soup).  He just doesn't like the taste of canned tomato in casserole, so I put in his favourite tomato sauce (ketch-up) for this casserole recipe.  Even though it is not quite that typical kinds of a casserole, I finally got him to love casserole after all this trial and error.  Waiting for him to tell me what he thinks feel likes waiting for my report card.

Chicken and Potato Casserole

(serve 3 - 6)

6 chicken drumsticks

1 medium carrot, chopped

1 small onion, chopped

2 medium potato, chopped (about 2cm)

1/2 packet (25g) of the Continental Spaghetti Bolognese

1 teaspoon of garlic mince 

1/2 cup tomato sauce

1 1/3-1 1/2 cup water

3 tablespoons plain flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

pepper

a handful of frozen pea

a handful of shredded cheese

Method:

1. Preheat the oven at 200c.
2. Marinate chicken with salt and pepper and set aside for 20 minutes.  Then coat chicken with plain flour.  
3. Heat oil in pan, pan fry chicken until the skin is evenly brown.  Set aside.
4. Heat oil in casserole, stir in onion and then garlic.  Add in chicken, carrot and potato and stir for a few minutes with medium heat.  Then add the spaghetti bolognese powder mix, tomato sauce and water.  Keep stirring until it is well combined. 
5. Finally add the peas and cheese.  Close the lid and bake in the oven for 50 minutes to 1 hour.  Take the lid off after 35 minutes and bake uncovered for the last 15-25 minutes.  If it gets too brown but the potato is still not cooked, cover it with the lid again and bake until it is cooked.

Note: Do not cut the potato too big as it will take longer time to cook.

It's always excited to put up the Christmas tree than put it away.  Some of our neighbours have their houses decorated with outdoor light and Christmas decoration.  We like to drive along and looking at them every year to pick our favourite one.  Besides the celebration of the born of Jesus, Christmas is also the time for giving, to show our love and care to our family and friends as well as to the needed.  I made this tea cosy for my daughter's friend as she wants to show the appreciation of her friendship.  We are having secret Santa this year for the kids, each kid will buy a present for a cousin (that is picked by random) and also receive a present from another cousin.  I hope this can be a tradition in my family and leave good memory for the kids.   

Crispy Rice Chocolate Christmas Tree and Cupcakes

December is the month full of parties and celebration, there are parties for school, for work and for family and friends.  The host usually ask their guests to bring along a plate to share and we simply have a good time together.  I'd much prefer homebake treat rather than buying from the shop because it is unique and most of the time it tastes a lot better!  I also like to receive comments from other people and that helps to bring up the conversation at the parties.  If you haven't got much time to prepare a treat, this Crispy Rice Christmas Tree is the one for you.  There is no baking, just melt the chocolate and mix it with the rice bubbles. (Who wants to turn on the oven when it's already 30c) It does need a bit of a skill in making the layer but it has very simple steps that a kid can easily master that.  If that's too much, you can simply spoon the rice mixture into muffin cases and sprinkle some lollies, sprinkles, coconut and marshmallow on top.  My kids are taking these to school for their break-up parties then they will start their summer holiday.  We are going to put up the Christmas tree and lights around the house this weekend to begin the celebration of Christmas!

Crispy Rice Chocolate Christmas Tree and Cupcakes


300g milk or dark cooking chocolate (I put in 100g milk and 200g dark)
1 1/2 cups Rice Bubbles
3/4 cup desiccated coconut

For the decoration:
smarties
coloured sprinkles
marshmallow
extra coconut for cupcakes

Method:

1. Melt chocolate in a microwave safe bowl for about 3-4 minutes on medium heat.  Stir till chocolate  is melted.
2. Add in Rice bubbles and coconuts and stir till combine.
3. Line two trays with baking paper.  Spoon mixture into a cross shape.  You will need 6 crosses in graduating sizes.  Sprinkle with coloured sprinkles and smarties.  Chill in the fridge for 1 hour or until the chocolate is firm.
4. To assemble the Christmas tree: place the largest cross on the bottom of the serving plate, spoon a little of melted chocolate in the centre to secure it.  Then sit the next cross on top.  Repeat the procedure for the remaining crosses.  
5. Cut a large marshmallow into star shape with a pair of scissor to put on top of the tree.
6. For the cupcake, spoon the mixture into muffin cases and sprinkle with smarties, marshmallow, coconuts and coloured sprinkles.

 

S'more Cupcakes

This is the quickest and easiest cupcake I've ever come across to (not the prettiest one though because of my poor cooking skill, I have seen some very nice S'more cupcake from other bloggers) It is just a sandwich of cookies with a layer of melted chocolate and topped with marshmallow with some cake decoration.  S'more cupcake or biscuits bar is originated from America which is a popular campfire snack made from a sandwich of Graham Crackers with melted chocolate, nuts and toasted marshmallow.  It's a quick fix for the craving for something sweet in less than 20 minutes.

December is approaching and the crowd waiting for the shops to open in the morning is getting bigger and the Christmas spirits is rising with parties and celebration.  I went to celebrate Thanksgiving with my American friend and got to understand more about this celebration.  It is the celebration of harvest with a big feast.  We had turkey, stuffing, ham, mash potatoes, corn and bean followed by pumpkin pie for dessert.  My friend introduced me to pumpkin pie last year and I made these little pumpkin tartlets for her party this year.  Of course her's taste better but I have lots of fun making these tartlet and the pastry is good, too.

  

S'more Cupcakes
(make 12)

24 digestive biscuits or Graham Crackers
milk or dark cooking chocolate
marshmallows

Decoration:
toasted coconut
coloured sprinkle
pistachio nuts
chocolate balls

Method:

1. Line 2 baking trays with baking paper.  Lay 12 biscuits onto the trays or place them into a big muffin tray with paper case if it fits in.  Add pieces of chocolate on top and then lay another layer of biscuits on top.
2. Bake at 160c oven for about 7 minutes or until the chocolate has melted.  Remove the tray from the oven and cool slightly.  Push the biscuits down to secure a bit.
3. Place some marshmallow on top of each cupcake and bake for further 10 minutes or until the marshmallow brown slightly.  Leave cool slightly, then decorate the cupcake with toasted coconut with pistachio, sprinkles or chocolate balls.  Enjoy the cupcake while it is still warm!

 Source: adopted and modified from the cookbook 500 cupcakes from Fergal Connolly

Birthday Pizza Cookies

I made this pizza cookies for my son's birthday.  We invited a few of his friends for a sleep over party, we had pizza and pasta followed by these cookies.  The boys came to our house with big bags, not full of clothes but full of water guns and toy guns that they had so much fun playing that they don't need much of a sleep.  

This cookies is inspired by the Betty Crocker Cookie Book.  If you don't want to bake, you can use store bought sweet cookies then ice the cookies with frosting and decorate with some chocolate and lollies for small pizza.  It will be a crowd pleaser at any kids party!

Birthday Pizza Cookies

1/3 cup caster sugar

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup butter, soften

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1 egg

2 cups plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

For the frosting:

100g dark chocolate

1 tablespoon butter

1/2 cup icing sugar

4 tablespoons or more milk

For decoration:

mini marshmallow

smarties

white chocolate, melted

Method:

1. Preheat oven at 180c.  Beat sugar, butter, vanilla together until creamy.  Add egg and stir in flour and baking powder.  Cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm.
2. Roll dough to the base of the pizza pan or shape dough into small round shape for small pizza.  Bake about 30 minutes or until the cookies is golden brown.  Cool cookies at wire rack.
3. For the frosting: melt chocolate and butter in a small saucepan under low heat.  Add in sugar and enough milk to make a smooth paste.
4. Use a knife to spread frosting to cool cookies.  Then top with marshmallow and smarties.  Drizzle cookies with melted white chocolate.  Keep cookies in tin to retain freshness.

  

Marmalade Almond Muffins

When I was flicking through my recipe books for my weekly bake, I found this recipe that would use up the marmalade I made a while ago.  I have changed the almond flakes into almond meal and half the flour with wholemeal flour to make this zesty muffin packed with fibre.  If you're tired of having marmalade on toast, why not making this for breakfast with a cup of coffee?

Summer is coming in December but the temperature has already reached 30c.  I am really looking for the summer holiday to take the kids to the beach or just hide myself in the air-conditioner room while having hot curry!

  


Marmalade Almond Muffins
(make 12)

1 cup self-raising flour
1 cup wholemeal self-raising flour
125g butter, chopped
1 cup almond meal
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/2 cup orange marmalade
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
almond flakes for extra topping

Marmalade Syrup:
1/4 cup orange marmalade combine with 2 tablespoon hot water

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200c.  Place muffin paper cases into muffin tin.
2. Sift the self-raising flour into a bowl and then add the wholemeal self-raising flour.  Rub in butter with finger tips to the flour.  Stir in sugar, eggs, almond meals, marmalade and milk.  Sprinkle extra almond flakes on top.
3. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until the skewer comes out clean when inserted into the muffin.  Brush warm muffins with the marmalade syrup.

Almond Crisps

I had the draft of this cookies in my blog for a while, I actually made this in winter when it is was cold and the butter took so long to soften.  I ended up beating it with sugar in a double boiler with hot water to speed up the process.  It is really buttery and crispy like the Danish cookies and it is a perfect thing to go along with a cup of tea.  When I was living in Hong Kong, our relatives usually give us tins of Danish Cookies for Chinese New Year.  And in Australia, those Danish cookies can only be seen around Christmas time.  There are about 7 weeks to Christmas and 3 more weeks for the school ended for a long summer holiday.  With the preparation for Christmas and end of the year activities at school, life couldn't be busier at this time of the year! 

   

Almond Crisps


Ingredients:
125g butter, softened
1/4 cup caster sugar
1 cup self-raising flour
1/4 cup almond meal
2 tablespoons flaked almonds

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200c/180c fan-forced.  Line baking tin with baking paper.
2. Beat butter and sugar in a mixing bowl with electric mixer until smooth.  Stir in flour and almond meal.
3. Roll level tablespoons of mixture into balls, 5cm apart.  Flatten slightly with a fork.  Sprinkle with flaked almonds.
4. Bake about 10 minutes or until brown.  Cool on wire rack.

Source: adopted from Australian Women's Weekly - Mix -Cakes, Muffins, Biscuits + Pudding