Monthly Archives: November 2012

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Gooey meringues… Part 1…… Cooking for Jacques and testing recipes for Christmas Lunch…

I’ve tried and tested this recipe several times before I got the timing right, yes the goooooeyness is all in the baking time…..

We invited Jacques, a brother of a GOOD FRIEND, for lunch, and what better time to try out those frozen homemade icecream and meringue pots I’ve ordered from the Zest Kitchen at The Beaumont Wines’s open gardens day in early November…. I don’t have the recipe but will give it a go….

It start with baking gooooey meringes

For the Gooooey meringes you will need:
8 egg whites at room temperature
240 g castor sugar
240 g sifted icing sugar
5ml of cacao powder
2.5ml vanilla paste or half scraped out vanilla pod

Seperate the eggs and beat the egg whites until soft peaks. Mix together the castor sugar, icing sugar and cacao and spoon tablespoons full of the sugary dry mixture into the egg whites while continiously mixing, I use my Kenwood on a high speed, but you can use any “freestanding” electric mixer.

By slowly adding the dry ingredients while continiously mixing, the egg whites will turn into a shiney stiff sugary cloud…. mix in the vanilla…

Preheat the oven to 120 degrees.

Spoon egg size dollops of meringue onto a baking tray, I prefer not to use baking paper for these. Use two tablespoons, and scrape the egg size dollop out of the other spoon onto the try, make a twirly point at the top of the meringe by circling the meringe with one of the spoons.

The meringues will double in size, so make sure you leave enough space so they don’t “climb on top of each other”.

Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes at 120 degrees. Do not open the oven door, leave to cool for 2 hours before taking them out.

After 2 hours, remove the meringues from the oven and store in an airtight container.

Click on the recipe card in PDF for a printable recipe card.
Gooooey Meringues RECIPE CARD

And this is what these meringues turned into, recipe to follow later…

Gooey meringe, homemade icecream and blueberry coulis pots…

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Christmas inspiration….

Surprise your friends with a beautiful invite to an early “Christmas celebration with friends”. I wish I have the time to do this every year, the fun of planning an “early” Christmas Dinner is nearly more exciting to me than the dinner itself….

Flashy fab invites, dress up, the garden filled with tiny fairy lights…. and good friends…

A tray filled with shotglasses full of baberton daisies… one per place setting..

Christmas should be RED….

The table under the tree…

The weather…. WILL play along…. (lets hope)

Pretty…

Fill the table with homemade menu’s, nametags, individual flowers, small gifts…..

I love looooong tables, this one should have been longer… with white flowing tablecloths.

Plan, plan plan ahead.

The very important “drinks table”…

And go all out for your friends….

As this night they will remember and always be thankful for being on the “invite list”…

Fill the garden with brown paper bags, filled with sand and candles..

And friends will chat the night away…

Thanks to Liezel for taking the pics for me, as I was running around to get the well planned 5 course dinner on the table….

I LOVE Christmas.

SO, there’s more than enough time to plan your “early Christmas Dinner for friends” this year, they will love you for doing it.

And pleasssssse invite me too.

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Flapjacks and the Rhino art with a heart platter….

On Friday evening we’ve had the Applewood Preparatory School’s auction in aid of “CONSERVING THE RHINO’S of OUR BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY”. The School Art auctions are usually a bit of a “support and buy your own child’s art” fundraiser, but this year, the Rhino Art was really amasing thanks to a very dedicated Art Teacher, Tina Beaumont.

Emma’s class made beautiful platters and I just knew that I had to get my hand’s on one of them, as mmmm yes, I could see the yellow golden flapjacks displayed on it for Saturday morning’s breakfast…..

For the soft warm and golden flapjacks you will need:
2 eggs
250 ml milk
125 ml sugar
500ml or 2 cups of cake flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
pinch of salt
2 tablespoons butter
oil for frying
Blueberries, honey, or grated cheddar cheese

Mix the eggs and sugar, then add the milk and butter and mix well. Add the sifted flour, baking powder and salt, at this point don’t overmix, just mix until combined.

Add +/- 4 tablespoons of oil to the pan and fry tablespoons full of batter to form perfect flapjacks. Once in the pan I like to add 3 x frozen blueberries on top of each flapjack, better to keep the blueberries frozen, then they don’t go too soggy while frying. The pan needs to be warm but I like to fry them over a medium heat, it takes a bit longer but they need to be cooked inside and still light brown….

Click on the “recipe card” below for a printable PDF short recipe card.
Flapjacks RECIPE CARD

Serve warm with syrup, honey, cheese or just plain….

Keep any leftover batter in the fridge, cover with clingwrap, and on Sunday morning give it a good mix, add a little bit of milk to loosen the batter and let the smell of sweet flapjacks wake your family to a beautiful morning like right now….

Art in aid of “Rhino art with a heart…” by Abby Green

Thanks again to Tina Beaumont for organising this wonderful and very successful Rhino fundraising event…

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Orange cake ……. (light, easy, moist and delicious!)

This light summer orange cake is ideal for lazy Christmas holiday afternoons. I love making this cake as a gift when we get invited to a summer lunch…. Even if your host serve dessert, this light cake will go down well with late afternoon coffee…

For the Orange Cake you will need:

1 cup sugar
1 cup soft butter
3 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 + 3/4 cup cake flour
1 teaspoon bicarb of soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
rind of 2 oranges

Cream together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, sourcream and orange rind. Mix well. Add the sifted flour, bicarb of soda and baking powder and combine with butter / sugar mixture. Bake in a greased square tin for about 45 minutes.

While the cake is baking prepare the orange syrup:
Simmer together for about 5 minutes, the juice of 2 oranges, juice of 1 lemon, 3/4 cup of sugar and a pinch of salt.

Let the warm cake rest for 15 minutes, turn the cake out of the tin onto a pretty flat serving platter. Pour the warm syrup over the cake.

Serve with fresh berries and a dusting of icing sugar… and a dollop of cream, but not really necessary…

Light, orangy, plain and simple afternoon tea cake….

Click on the recipe card link for a printable PDF recipe card
Orange cake RECIPE CARD

Or serve this lovely orange cake as a light Christmas eve dessert, beautifull and full of Christmas colours and flavours….

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Christmas tree biscuits and burger lollies……

I love Christmas, and what better way to start the Christmas spirit by baking these beautiful Christmas tree biscuits with the kids…. I think Emma will bake and ice biscuits every day till Christmas if I allow her to.

This was the second year that we’ve iced Christmas Tree biscuits, and I think it will become an annual event for the first weekend in November, I am not sure who was the most excited about this years “icing”, me or Emma, she wanted to invite her whole class from school.

Bake basic sweet sugar biscuits from your favourite recipe or use the following recipe:
250g butter
1 cup castor sugar
2 eggs
2.5ml vanilla
2 cups flour
salt

Cream the butter and sugar, add the eggs and vanilla, and mix well.
Add the sifted flour and salt. Mix and cover with cling wrap. Rest for 1 hour in a cool area.

Dust the table and rolling pin with flour and roll the dough until +/- 4mm thick. Cut the shapes with pretty Christmas cutters.
Bake in a preheated oven for 15 minutes on baking paper. Remove from oven, the biscuits will still feel soft to the touch, let it cool.

The Rust and De Villiers families joined us this year, thanks to Caroline for baking “extra” biscuits as you can never have enough….

I lined the table with baking paper, and added little bowls of “anything I could find in my cupboard” for decoration, including edible glitter which will sparkle on the Christmas Tree.

Gifts from my guests…

Yummy messssss

Everyone got into it, even the adults…

Ari licked till right at the end, I think if I send the roll of waxed paper home with her she would have licked it clean by the next morning….

I love these lollipop burgers, ideal “make ahead” to braai quickly after the biscuit icing marathon….. Thanks to Magriet Cherry for this clever idea, originally served with pita breads…

Lollipop burgers…

It does not matter HOW busy I am, there will always be dessert….. I think I am in love with this flat lemon cheesecake from Donna Hay….. and make it whenever I can

I am sure the kids will dream tonight of Christmas and biscuits sparkling full of glitter on the Christmas tree.

Sweet dreams little Emma…

Now the BIG job start of packing out and decorating this year’s Christmas Tree….

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Summer concert snacks….

It’s time again……. for The Paul Cluver Amphitheatre summer concerts.

Let me keep this one short, skewer firm blueberries, raspberries, yummy chocolate brownies and end with cubes of nougat…. serve with bubbly, sit back and let the concert under the stars begins…

Prime Circle… here again in +/- 4 weeks time…

Summer evenings cannot get better than this…. don’t miss Prime Circle & Dan Patlansky ….. 8 December 2012