Brie and Fig Croustades

Ingredients

12 Pastry Shells
Egg
Brie Cheese
Fig preserve

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius
Place Pastry Shells on a non stick baking tray and brush with egg.
Bake for 15 minutes and allow to cool.

When the pastry shells are cooled, add the brie cheese and put a quartered preserved fig on the top,
Put bake into the oven and bake for 5 minutes until the cheese is melted and you just have to eat it...

These are easy to make and will impress guests, if you want a selection, make my Scrumptious Salmon Croustades. 

Mmmmmm Macaroons

The girls and I went for breakfast at Macaroon Cafe last week, and I tried my very first Macaroon.

(yes, for breakfast)

It was really delish, and I had a good look at this piece of art...

I have wanted to attempt making these babies since I saw them on Master Chef...

Upon my research, of the recipe and the actual Macaroon, I have decided to not make these myself and frequent Macaroon Cafe more often, and just buy them...

But for your reference, I have looked for a recipe just in case you would like to attempt them, and maybe one day I will too!!

 

The Macaroons from Macaroon Cafe

 Vanilla

Chocolate

Champagne

Recipe:    http://simply-delicious.co.za/2011/05/06/white-chocolate-raspberry-macarons-for-mothers-day/

White Chocolate & Raspberry Macaroons

Makes approximately 40 Macaron ‘sandwiches’

I know the measurements are very awkward but believe me, you want to get them right. So I suggest you use a digital scale when making these Macaroons.

 

230g (8.11 ounces) icing sugar
115g (4.06 ounces) ground almonds
144g (5.08 ounces) egg whites (approximately 4 large egg whites)
70g (2.47 ounces) caster sugar
3-4 drops gel food colouring

Filling
200g (7.05 ounces) white chocolate
50-70ml (2.37 fluid ounces) cream
100g (3.53 ounces) raspberries, chopped

1. Pre-heat the oven to 140°c and line 2 baking trays with baking paper.
2. Process your ground almonds until fine. (South-African ground almonds tend to be too grainy)
3. Sift the processed ground almonds with the icing sugar. Repeat. (yes, it is necessary to double-sift)
4. Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form.
5. Slowly add the caster sugar and beat for another 4-5 minutes until the mixture forms stiff peaks and it looks glossy.
6. Add all of the almond mixture in and fold in. At first the mixture will look lumpy and strange but just keep folding.
7. Place the mixture in a piping bag and carefully pipe small circles (I make mine about 2cm (0.79 inches)) onto the baking sheet. Don’t pipe them too close to one another as they will spread a little.)
8. Bake for 12-15 minutes until they are just firm to the touch. Allow them to cool completely on the baking tray before carefully lifting them off.
9. To make the filling, melt together the white chocolate and cream until smooth. Place in the fridge to set slightly and when thickened, mix in the raspberries. The mixture should be spreadable / pipeable.
10. Place the mixture into another piping bag and pipe small circle onto the macaroons before gently sandwiching them together.

Love Choc Chip Cookies

Love Choc Chip Cookies

This is my first attempt at baking cookies and was quite happy with the result.
These were very easy to make, and economical, considering the amount that it makes, My batch made 36 Love Choc Chip Cookies...

Ingredients

125g of Soft Butter
100g of brown sugar
2 tbs of golden syrup
2 drops of vanilla essence
160g of self raising flour
150g of chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius

Beat butter and sugar together until creamy

Add syrup and vanilla essence into butter mixture and mix

Finally add in the flour and chocolate chips and give a final mix

Cover baking tray with wax paper

Add cookie dough to tray (I used a heart show cookie cutter)

Bake to 12 - 15 minutes until golden brown

Allow to cool before attempting to remove them.

Enjoy them with yummy hot chocolate...mmmmm