Perfect Blueberries and Goldilocks porridge

Bet the blueberries you buy don't look like these....well maybe if your from a different country, not sure about that, but around here they have a weird white sheen.

I'm going to share my perfect blueberry secret with you.

Enjo. Yup they don't just clean bathrooms and floors, they have an Enjo cloth to clean blueberries. OK not specifically blueberries, it's to use on all fruit and vegetables and it's kinda awesome.


Only problem is you might need to have an Enjo party or attend one to actually buy some of these super cool babies. CLICK HERE for more details on the Fruit and Veg cloth.*

And while I'm in a sharing mood have y'all seen the last issue of Tickle the Imagination, the free online magazine.

The current issue is the Once upon a Time kids issue filled with gorgeous fairytale inspired inspiration and what better recipe for them to include than my Goldilocks porridge which is healthy, delicious and just right.
 
CLICK HERE to check out the latest issue of Tickle the Imagination Magazine.

Yeah and I'm sure I will get tired of my Greengate china but it's not happening this week.........still love it.

 
* I was not sponsored in any way by Enjo, really it's just a pretty awesome cloth so I wanted to share, however Enjo you can feel free to send me another cloth, or some of those great tea towels anytime ;)

Blue Speckled Robin Egg Cake Truffles (cake pops without the sticks) for Spring or Easter

Ok I'll admit it, I have been making a lot of bird themed stuff lately.

I'm blaming the bird baby shower I made stuff for late last year. 'Cause while I was thinking up stuff to make I came up with lots of other ideas. Like when I made up the speckled 'bird egg' macarons I thought, hmmmm......they sure would make pretty cake pops.

And then once I've thought that it's not like I could stop thinking it. It's like a done deal.

Also I blame the birds, or rather the graphic designers who make birds look so cute. In real life birds aren't really that cute. Well around here anyway, they are pretty swoopy in the spring time. specially when they are nesting, more kinda the Alfred Hitchcock type deal.

But in my mind they are protecting cute little chicks that will grow up to be whimsically pretty with rosy cheeks so I can forgive them all the swooping and still pretend they are adorable.

And this is what their eggs will look like :)

I used blue Wilton Candy melts to make these delicate looking speckled eggs, but you could use any color you like including plain white chocolate, which would give a lovely creamy colored egg.

I mixed Blue and White candy melts together to get a more subtle light blue color for my eggs, and y'all might think, well why didn't you just color your own chocolate.

So I thought I might share my reasoning with you:

• Regular food color can not be used on chocolate - Water is chocolate's nemesis and most regular food color is water based, even those gel colors. You need to buy special oil based food colors or get a special product (like AmeriColor™ Flo-Coat™) which somehow magically allows you to mix in the regular color.

• I prefer to use the candy coating for cake pops for a couple of reasons - it sets way quicker than regular chocolate. Also once set it doesn't leave fingerprints as easily as regular chocolate.

• I actually like the taste of the Candy melts/ coating when paired with the cake truffle. It's not really chocolate and from the name you can tell it's not pretending to be. It has a kind of vanilla flavor which is really sweet and I feel lends the finished treat a bit of a lighter taste.

• Plus that's what I had in my pantry (probably for the reasons listed above).

and in case you missed my earlier post. I noticed Fishpond having a 24 pre-order sale on Peggy Porschen's new book boutique bakery, for $21.97 including free postage in Australia - nice!

Boutique Baking: Delectable Cakes, Cookies and Teatime Treats

Blue Speckled Robin Egg Cake Truffle

1 batch Oreo Cookie Truffle or Cake pop mixture#
Blue candy melts
White candy melts
Chocolate
Copha or Paramount crystals
Toothpicks
Clean brush/ toothbrush

# cake pop mixture is cake crumbled up with buttercream or other frosting mixed in until it is moist enough to hold it's shape.

Line a tray with parchment paper. Take around 3 teaspoons of the cake pop mixture and roll it between your palms to make a smooth ball, then using your fingers and palms turn the ball into an egg/oval shape. I find that shaping the mixture into the ball first makes it easier to get a smooth finish.

Place the egg  shaped truffles on the tray in fridge to chill until firm


Melt the chocolate. To get the color I desired I mixed the Wilton Blue Candy Melts and Wilton White Candy Melts at a ratio of 2 parts white chocolate to each 1 part chocolate (eg 400g Blue to 200g White or 14 oz Blue to 7 oz white). Mix in quite a bit of copha or paramount crystals during the melting process until the mixture is very fluid (but not so much that it is watery). The mixture should be like condensed milk.

This is NOT how the finished melted blue/white candy melt mixture should look - this is just showing how I mixed a couple of colors together. It should be a consistent color and much more fluid than this bowl.

I melt my chocolate in the microwave on medium low, medium is too hot and high is way too hot. If you heat your chocolate at too high a temperature it will burn and not be salvageable for dipping .Remember medium/low for short bursts of 60 to 90 seconds.

Grab a bunch of toothpicks. Holding one end of the stick dip the other end into the melted chocolate/candy coating and insert it into a egg shape so the stick is sitting in the larger rounded bottom side of the egg (see picture) and the stick is parallel to the tray. Repeat for remaining eggs.

Place the tray back into the fridge to chill for 10 minutes or until the sticks are secure.

Make sure the chocolate/candy coating is still melted, if needed remelt in the microwave at medium low. Holding the end of the stick dip the whole egg truffle into the melted chocolate/candy coating. Lift it up and allow as much of the candy/chocolate mixture to fall off as possible. Place upright in a stryofoam block to set.

Once set you can lay the cloud pops back down on a tray to work on.  Holding the toothpick securely twist and pull the toothpick out and repeat for all the eggs.

Make sure you still have some of the melted chocolate. For this step I like the chocolate to be nearly set, but not quite.Make sure your hands are really clean (I know you would be doing that anyway) or pop on gloves and stick your finger into the melted chocolate. Then press the chocolate into the hole left by the toothpick and smooth it around with the tip of you finger.

Next melt up very small amount of the dark chocolate you can add a little copha or paramount crystal if you like.

Place one of the eggs away from the others on a clean workbench (like your kitchen bench). Dip your brush in the chocolate and then holding the brush by one hand, run your fingers through the bristles sot that the chocolate splatters onto the egg.

Yup just like you used to do when you were a kid.

I like to hold the brush down just under the larger rounded bottom side so that the flicks of chocolate are larger down there and graduate up to less at the top of the egg, but that's just my preference.

Repeat for remaining eggs.

Eggs can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 3 days.

If you enjoy cake pops, my book Sweets on a Stick has lots of recipes for making cake pops from scratch and more fun ideas is a US Release however there is a conversion chart in the back of the book for metric.It's available from bookstores in the US and here online at:

Or here at fishpond (Aus/NZ)

Peanut Butter Chocolate Ganache Blue French Macarons

What flavor do you think of when you pick up a blue sweet?

I bet it's not Peanut Butter, and you might also think that peanut butter is a strange pairing for a french macaron.

But not so surprisingly when you think about it the filling, which has a touch of saltiness, balances out the sweet almond shells quite nicely.

This is the same peanut butter chocolate ganache that I used to top the If This is Wrong I don't want to be right Peanut Butter Mini Cheesecakes I made up a few weeks ago.

Oh and just in case you missed it, I did a tutorial for some plane cookies over at Polkadot Prints Blog, click over and have a look, they are based on the super lovely Flying High printable range.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Ganache filled French Macarons

Macaron Shells makes around 20 filled macarons

190 gram (6 5/8 oz)almond meal (almond flour)
190 gram pure icing sugar (6 5/8 oz powdered sugar)
190 gram granulated sugar (6 5/8 oz)
48 grams water (1 5/8 oz)
140 gram egg whites aged split into 2 lots of 70grams each (5 oz split into 2 lots of 2 1/2oz each)*
dark blue food colour
*ageing egg whites refers to separating the yolks from whites and then leaving the whites to age for a few days. This can be done on the counter if your countries climate permits or in the fridge, wrap the bowl with plastic wrap and then pop a few holes in the top. Alternately you can pop the egg whites in the microwave on high for 10 seconds or so - I used the microwave method in this batch pictured.

1. Mix the ground almonds and icing sugar together and pulse a few times in food processor to make almond meal finer. Do not over process as the meal can become oily. Sieve into a large bowl. Add colour and 70g (2 1/2 ounce) of the egg whites to the sugar/almond mixture but don’t mix in.

2. Place remaining 70g (2 1/2 ounce) of egg whites in bowl of mixer fitted with the whisk.

Yup - I really use this super old fashioned thermometer I have had for about 20 years to make my macarons

3. Pop granulated sugar and water into saucepan stir to combine and cook without stirring to 118C (245 F). Once the mixture reaches 115C (240 F) start mixing the egg whites on high. Make sure you have a pouring shield on your mixer, when the sugar syrup reaches 118C (245 F)remove from heat and immediately pour in a thin stream down the side of the mixer bowl continuing to whisk on high.

4. Continue to whisk the meringue on high until the side of the bowl is only a little warm to touch, around 50C (120 F).
.

5. Add meringue mixture to almond mixture and using a large spatula fold the mixture together until it starts to shine and forms a ribbon that disappears back into the mixture after about 30 seconds.

6. Add the mixture to a piping bag fitted with a plain tip (or just cut the end of a disposable piping bag) and pipe in lines onto parchment lined baking sheets. To make the macarons as even as possible I apply a constant slow pressure to the piping bag and count a few numbers like up to 3 for each one.

7. Set aside for about 30 minutes or until the macarons have formed a skin so that the macaron mixture does not stick to your finger when gently touched.

8. Meanwhile preheat oven to 140C (285 F). Once ready bake the macaroons for around 13 to 15 minutes depending on size, they should not be browned. Remove the baking trays and immediately slide off the macarons and the parchment onto the work surface and let cool completely before removing the shells.

9. Once cooled match disks into like sizes and sandwich together using the ganache.

Peanut Chocolate Ganache

1/4 cup smooth peanut butter
1/4 cup icing sugar (powdered sugar) sifted
3 tsp or 15g  unsalted butter (1 US Tbsp or 1/2 oz)
4oz Dark or Semi Sweet Chocolate 
1 oz cream 

 pinch salt
1 Tbsp or 20g (1 1/2 Tbsp US or 3/4 oz) unsalted butter at room temperature

Chop the chocolate into fine pieces. Place in a microwave safe bowl with the cream and heat in the microwave at medium low heat for 1 minute bursts until melted. Make sure you do not overheat the chocolate. 

Cover and allow to set at room temperature until firm.

Place peanut butter, sugar, 3 tsp (1 US Tbsp) unsalted butter and pinch of salt into a bowl and mix until well combined set aside until required.

Beat the chocolate mixture on high for a couple of minutes until it lightens in color. Add the Peanut Butter Filling and mix well at medium speed, add the 1 Tbsp ( 1 1/2 US Tbsp) butter and continue to beat at medium speed until the mixture comes together, do not over mix.