Watermelon 'Sorbet'

I bought a whole watermelon a while ago and we were unable to finish it so I froze it rather than waste the delicious fruit. I had the vague idea I could use it to make watermelon slushies. When we were ready to make the slushies, I started blending...

When it started looking like this I thought it would be a shame to waste this on a slushie when it looked just like sorbet. So I put it in a glass instead and ate it.

Instructions:

To make Watermelon 'sorbet' freeze cubes of watermelon. Once they are frozen blend the cubes until it is a sorbet consistency and serve in a glass or ice-cream cone. I added maple syrup to this to make it extra sweet. Mmmm, delicious.

Rainbow Cake

My son wanted my to make him a rainbow cake for his birthday. To start with I thought he wanted a swirly marble cake (I'm not sure why since he didn't ask for a marble cake). After a few hiccups we discovered that he really wanted a cake similar to one my fabulous cousin made last year when we were visiting her. That made it easier. All I had to do was get the recipe from her and make it.

The hardest part of this cake is sorting all the m&ms. Good thing I have lots of willing helpers and don't mind the helpers taking payment via the occasional m&m that disappeared into their mouths and not the bowls.

After the m&ms are sorted, the cake baked and cut into shape, the only part left to do is ice the cake and stick all the m&ms on in rows.

Gingerbread houses 2012

This year we decided to change the recipe we used to make our gingerbread houses and make the gingerbread houses much smaller. We found that the bigger ones look prettier and can fit more decorations on them, but that the children just east all the lollies instead of eating the gingerbread. This recipe is one that the children like eating, so I was hopeful it would be more successful.

Ingredients:
125g margarine
1/2 cup of Caster Sugar
1 egg yolk
2 cups of plain flour
3 teaspoons of ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1 teaspoon of bi-carb soda
1/4 cup of golden syrup warmed for 20 seconds in the microwave

-beat butter and sugar until creamy

-add egg yolk and mix thoroughly

- sift flour, ginger, pepper and bi-carb soda together and then add to the butter mixture along with the golden syrup. This should bring the dough together into a thick stick ball of dough

- knead dough on lightly floured surface and roll out to a 1/2cm thickness

-cut the house pattern out of the dough and bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown.

Makes 1 house and a few tiny biscuits to taste test.

I used the computer to make house shapes to print out so I could use them as templates for cutting out my gingerbread house pieces.

It is a good thing that royal icing can make up for our wonky house pieces!

The children had a lovely time decorating the houses and then eating them.

Biscuit Wreath

This year my oldest son wanted to take in a gift to share with all the teachers from his school and he wanted it to be something edible. While we were sitting in a waiting room at an appointment he found a picture of a biscuit wreath and decided that this was exactly what he wanted to make.

We made a butter biscuit recipe with white chocolate added to the mix for a richer biscuit. Once we cut out the biscuits we 'glued' them together into a wreath shape with melted chocolate. I thought this was easier than a royal icing alternative and the children could manage without my help.

White Chocolate Butter Biscuits

200 grams of butter

1 cup of caster sugar

1 egg

2 1/4 cups of plain flour

100 grams of grated white chocolate

Extra 150grams  white chocolate for joining the biscuits

Icing sugar for sifting over the finished wreath

Cream the butter and sugar then add the egg and mix well.

Slowly add the flour and grated chocolate to the mixture. 

Once the mixture comes together in a big lump put it in the fridge for half an hour.  

Roll the mixture out and cut out various sized stars, place on a baking tray and put in the oven at 180C conventional or 170C fan forced. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until they start to colour - these biscuits are not meant to be brown, so stay close to the oven when cooking as the chocolate in the mix ensures that they go from cooked to burnt in a few minutes!

Once the biscuits have cooled, melt the extra chocolate and use it to glue the stars in a wreath shape. Sift icing sugar over the top to finish.

Cold Banana Ice-Cream

I had a few bananas that were starting to get very ripe so I peeled them, broke them into pieces and froze them. All I had to do was wait for the perfect combination of a hot day, and a day when I remembered that I had these frozen gems all ready to make some mini 'ice-creams'. After the children had worn themselves out on the trampoline we enjoyed our home made ice-cream (I know it doesn't have any cream in it, but any other descriptive term doesn't encompass the creamy texture of the creation).

I put the frozen banana pieces into the blender and turned it on. I forgot to put my hand on the top and the lid came flying off. Our second attempt was more successful.

The bananas take around 5 minutes to blend properly in my blender. I had to stop blending a few times to scrape down the sides. Then we were able to see it happen...our banana lumpy mix turned from this mix here (see below)...

To this incredible looking soft serve banana ice-cream.

All there was left to do was put them into some tiny ice-cream cones.

This banana ice-cream mix does not refreeze very well without crystalising and becoming more like an ice-block rather than ice-cream, so I mostly just freeze 2 bananas at a time and that gives all of my children a lovely serve.

Gingerbread House

Here we have our Christmas gingerbread house. Last year I decided to just buy a gingerbread house kit from the supermarket (seen above). This year we are planning on making our own to give friends as presents, so hopefully I'll be able to post it before Christmas as well as this one. We  made some royal icing to glue the lollies on to the house as decorations. This icing dries really quickly, so it is ideal for small children to use as glue! I found that this recipe made enough icing for two houses. 

Royal Icing Recipe

2 cups of sifted icing sugar

2 egg whites

1 lemon

1. Whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks 

2. Gradually add the sugar with a squeeze of lemon juice.

Gingerbread Christmas Trees

This is an easy recipe for gingerbread that can be transformed into a variety of gifts. James is very fond of making gingerbread Christmas trees. This consists of cutting out 2 stars in each size and sticking them together with melted chocolate. James then tipped the rest of the chocolate over the top as snow. I then package up in cellophane and ribbons for a present.

Ingredients:

125g margarine

1/2 cup of Caster Sugar

1 egg yolk

2 cups of plain flour

3 teaspoons of ground ginger

1 teaspoon of bi-carb soda

1/4 cup of golden syrup warmed for 20 seconds in the microwave

3 different sized star biscuit cutters

white chocolate melts

hundreds and thousands

-beat butter and sugar until creamy

-add egg yolk and mix thoroughly

- sift flour, ginger and bi-carb soda together and then add to the butter mixture along with the golden syrup. This should bring the dough together into a thick sticky ball of dough - if it is too sticky then add a little extra flour

- knead dough on lightly floured surface and roll out to a 1/2cm thickness

- cut out equal amounts of stars from each sized cutter

- bake for 15 minutes or until golden

- remove biscuits from the oven and cool on biscuit racks

- melt white chocolate and use to stick the star biscuits together. Each tree consists of 2 large, 2 medium and 2 small biscuits. Drizzle remaining chocolate on top of the biscuits and sprinkle hundreds and thousands on top.

Christmas Puddings

One of my favourite times of year is the lead up to Christmas (okay, getting started early...). I love trying to think up new and exciting ways to involve the children in preparing gifts for our families and friends.

This is one treat that the boys like to make for their friends (usually I manage not to eat all the lollies before we make them!!). Faux Christmas Puddings.

We start out with a packet of Chocolate Royals, mint leaves, white chocolate melts and jaffas. Melt the chocolate, cool it a little and dribble it onto the chocolate royals. this forms the glue to hold the jaffas and mint leaves in place. I usually cut the mint leaf in half most of the way and then wedge it around the jaffa. That way I can balance everything on top and let it set in the fridge. Otherwise I'd be waiting around for the chocolate to nearly set before I could place the lollies on top.

Mmmmm.... all the puddings need now is some cellophane and ribbons to make a tasty present for someone special. That is, if they last that long.