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Monday, April 21, 2014

Easter Gift and Mini Cupcakes

Easter Greetings Everyone!

Exactly a week ago today, our mini cupcake arrived. He is a bundle of squirms and smirks; our little Easter gift. To celebrate, I decided to make some cute mini coconut cupcakes. This was perfect since my little cousin's birthday was the day after our little one's birth, so it could be one big celebration!


Here are the minis; naked and cooling. 

To top them, I made a green coconut buttercream. 


On top of the buttercream I sprinkled some colored, sweetened coconut and these adorable, tiny chocolate bunnies.



The bunnies are by Russell Stover and are called "Iddy Biddy Bunnies". To color the coconut, place the coconut in a sandwich or Ziploc bag. Add a few drops of the green dye and shake the bag until the color is evenly distributed.


Look how cute!


Here they are! They totally remind me of the spring I spent in Germany. It is hard to appreciate spring here in the tropics, as we don't experience winter.
After the cold winter it was nice to see the little bunnies hop around the parks and the bright colored tulips pop up everywhere.


Here is a quick recipe for the buttercream I used.

Coconut Buttercream

2 cups icing (confectioner's) sugar
1/4 cup butter/margarine
1 tsp coconut extract
2-3 tbsp coconut milk
3 drops green food coloring (optional)

Method:
Cream the butter and icing sugar together, add the coconut milk a tbsp at a time checking the consistency.To ensure it is creamy but pipe-able. Add the extract and color and mix until combined.


I hope you had a lovely Easter.
Have a delicious week.
Love Jo






Saturday, April 12, 2014

Cravables


Sooo as promised, today I am going to share some of the foods that I've been craving this pregnancy. Oddly enough, a lot of my clients and friends are also expecting and hearing the foods they craved was really interesting.

So here are a few of mine-

Watermelon
Tangerines

Fruit in general (after the 1st trimester)

Ham
Eggs
Souse
Fish Cakes!!!
Cheese
Cou cou


As far as aversions go, I just could not stand the smell of chocolate my first trimester. Ugh! It was horrible as we work with chocolate every day!

Well, working through morning sickness and a huge work load allows little time for personal stuff like making dinner so we had some really quick meals. One of my fav quick meals is quiche. For some people, this isn't a quick meal but you can go ahead and cheat with store bought pastry. Our recipe for the pastry is super easy. What I like to do is make a big batch and freeze it in the pie tin when I have a bit of free time and then pop them out when we are ready to make the quiche. So here is the recipe for the pastry.

Shortcrust Pastry

8 oz flour
4 oz cold cubed butter
pinch of salt
4-6 tbsp ice water

Method:

In a bowl, place flour and salt and mix together.
Add butter. With a fork,(or pastry blender) cut butter in to flour until it looks like fine breadcrumbs.
Make a well in the center and add water. Mix in until it starts to bind. Form pastry into a ball.
Allow to rest in fridge for 10-15 mins before use.

If you are going to freeze the pastry in tins, at this point roll it out and line your tins. This recipe makes two 8" rounds. Wrap the tins well with cling wrap and freeze.

Quiche Filling Ideas:


- Ham, Cheddar and Sweet Peppers
- Bacon, Leeks and Gruyere
-Spinach, Onion and Cheddar
- Tomato, Basil and Mozzarella


Quiche is obviously an egg based dish. For the egg custard for one quiche, I use 4 eggs and 1/4 cup milk seasoned with salt, pepper and nutmeg.


Here is a quick bacon and onion one we made for dinner one busy night. Add a bit of salad and  ...Voila!




I hope you try out the recipe.

Have a delicious week
Jo