Cheesy Pull-Apart

It's quick and easy and oh-so cheesy.

Have you ever just wanted to make something tasty but time wasn't on your side. Or maybe the fridge or pantry were the enemy.

This instant cheesy pull-apart is simple, no-fuss, no-mess (okay maybe a little) and appetizing little snack. It serves great as a side dish and can really be enjoyed at anytime of the day from breakfast to dinner.

It is full of flavour with a wonderful blend of garlic and parsley butter.

You will need:
- 1 round Vienna bread
- 2 -3 cloves of garlic - minced
- A small bunch of parsley or any herb of your choice - chopped.
- 2 - 3 Tbls of butter or margerine
- Cheese to desired taste. I used Parmesan and Vintage Cheddar - Yumo!
- Salt and Pepper to taste

1. Pre-heat oven to 180°C

2. Cut 1 inch vertical slices though the Vienna bread. (Be sure not to cut all the way through the bottom otherwise it won't have the pull-apart effect).

3.  Repeat this process by cutting the bread horizontally.

4. In a small dish, mix together the minced garlic, butter and parsley.

5. Roughly spread the garlic-herb butter on all slices of the bread. Drizzle a bit of olive oil to cover the cut pieces of the bread (otherwise it will be dry).

6. Sprinkle a good dash of salt and pepper.

7. Stuff grated cheese in between the bread.

8. Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes or until golden and crusty.


Like I said, it's simple to make and pleasant to eat.

Let me know how you guys go.

Enjoy.

Blue Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

RED is so last year.

Put a little twist to that delicious red velvet cupcake. I've used the same great recipe but instead of using red, I've use blue food colour.

The colour really pops out and the floral piping technique makes it look attractive.

Although this tastes just as amazing as it looks, I must admit there is something psychologically delicious about the 'red' velvet cupcake. I just couldn't stop thinking about it.

To get this eye catching and vibrant blue colour, I use Wilton blue gel colour and Queen's liquid blue. You need to put a generous amount of blue food colour otherwise it will turn into an pleasant green colour. I also slightly reduced the amount cocoa powder (but not too much as I still wanted that delicious hint of cocoa to come through).

I just love piping flowers on cupcakes. It's my new thing to do. It's not as hard or tricky as it looks. it requires some patients and very steady hands. The first time I every piped flowers was when I did the Mother's day cupcakes and I was please with how good they turned out (however I do still need to brush up on some techniques). Like they say 'practice makes perfect' (and.. we get to eat cupcakes too).

Choux Pastry

So I've been meaning to make this gorgeous pastry for a while now. Pâte à Choux or Choux (pronounce shoe) Pastry is a delightful French pastry. It is light, crispy on the outside and usually consists of a delicious cream or custard filling on the inside.

I piped my Choux in the shape of a swan and filled it with passion fruit cream. Although this picutes makes it look like a heavy dessert, it actually wasn't. It was very light and almost delicate in texture. The passion fruit cream add a refreshing touch, and that's why this was a huge hit with my husband.

This simple choux pastry recipe can be used to many many different treats; such as profiteroles, éclairs or croquembouches. You can also make a savoury version by making gougère which usually includes cheese in the choux mixture. I haven't made gougère before but I can't wait to try it. 

Choux Pastry:

Ingredients:

1 Cup water

½ Cup unsalted Butter

¼ Tsp salt

1 Tsp sugar

1 Cup plain flour

4 eggs

Directions:

- Preheat the oven to 210°C. Line a baking tray with baking paper.

- Place the water, butter, sugar and salt in a medium sized saucepan and place on medium heat. Remove from heat as soon as the butter has melted and the water is boiling.

- Quickly add in all of the flour. Mix for at least two minutes and until the mixture is smooth and there are no lumps of flour. (I prefer to use a silicon spatula). Note: The residual heat of the pan dries the dough as you are stirring. If the mixture is still a little running return the pan to heat unit it starts to dry up. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and allow it to cool for about 5 minutes.

- Add one egg and beat with an electric mixture until the egg is fully incorporated. Add the other three eggs, one at a time, in the same fashion. Each egg takes about a minute to be absorbed into the batter.

- Fill the mixture into a piping bag, pipe according to what you want to make.

Éclairs: Pipe a long 10cm long log using a 1.5cm star nozzle

Profiteroles: Pipe dough in a swelling motion forming a small ball.

Swan Shape: Using the 1.5cm star nozzle, pipe the swan body. (it should look like an upside down tear-drop shape). To make the swan heads, use a 1/2cm round nozzle and pipe a question mark shape.

- For small puffs, bake at 210°C for 20 minutes, Lower oven temperature to 150°C and bake for another 15 minutes. To insure that the inside of the choux pastry does not get soggy after baking, pierce each puff and return the tray to the oven that has been turned off. Leave them in the oven with the door slightly open for 10 minutes. If making swan, Bake Swan heads for 10 minutes.

Cupcake bouquets

It was Mother’s Day yesterday. This year, instead of getting the mama’s overpriced flowers, I decided to make them cupcake bouquets.

This year for mother’s day, I threw the lovely ladies in my life a little high tea party. My guests included, my mum, mother-in-law, grandma, sister-in-law (first time mum) and her mother-in-law.

This was my first attempt at making cupcake bouquets, and I must say I was very pleased with how it came out.

Funnily enough nobody noticed they were cupcakes until my mum mentioned it. Then they complained it was too beautiful to eat. Just can’t please these mothers I tell ya *sigh*.

Overall, it was a great event and everybody had fun. I think I heard them talking about making it an annual event.

Apple tartlets

These gorgeous apple tarts are one of my husband’s favourite desserts. They look beautiful and taste sensational. I came up with this dessert after seeing several rosette tart photo’s  and I thought to myself what a great idea.

The pastry is very short, ie. it’s very buttery and crumbly, and it's my go to pastry recipe. I have used this pastry as a base for several other tarts I made before. Most of the rosette tarts recipes I've read either don’t have a filling or uses custard for filling. I really wanted this dessert to taste as amazing as it looks, so I decided to make apple compote for the filling. Compote is French for mixture (generally fruit mixture).

My version of apple compote (enough to fill 6 individual tartlets)

1 apple, cored, peeled and diced

1/2 cup water

1 ½ tbs spoon brown sugar

1 tbs ground cinamon

1 tsp ground nutmeg

Few drops vanilla essences

1 tbs lemon zest

Place all ingredients in a saucepan and cook on low heat for about 20 minutes.  Mash all the apples unit it resembles a smooth paste. 

Finally, dress up your tarts by thinly slicing apples, place them into a bowl and coat it with ground cinnamon and sugar. Slightly cook them in a pan so they become soft enough to assemble. Fill your tart shell with compote, and assemble your sliced apples to form a rose shape. I also like to bake the finished tart in oven unit the sliced apples become crispy.

 

Vanilla ice cream goes really well with this warm apple tart.