Totally Boss chocolate malt Macarons

Now y'all know I wouldn't lie to you. These macarons are totally boss.

Lindt milk chocolate whipped ganache filling with a hint of malt and topped with a chocolate malt ball. Yup complete yuminess!

I created this recipe for Mr Sweet's birthday celebrations and assembled them on Friday for Sunday night. I was a teensy bit worried that the ganache swirl would sink into the macaron or the chocolate malt ball would be a bit stale tasting. Luckily it all held up beautifully.

You can put that on your list of good things to know - you can make these a few days in advance.

And if any of you out there are not fans of malt or allergic, that's ok. Just omit the ovaltine/malt bit from the recipe. You don't need to replace it with anything - just leave it out completely and enjoy super delicious milk chocolate macarons.

Chocolate Malt Macaron Recipe

Macaron Shells
CLICK HERE for a blog post with my macaron recipe. I made a regular batch colored brown with food gel color as I thought chocolate shells would overpower the filling.

Chocolate Malt Filling

350g (12 3/8 oz) milk chocolate (I used Lindt milk chocolate)
150g (5 1/4 oz) cream
40g (1 3/8 oz) Ovaltine (Ovaltine is a chocolate malted milk powdered drink mix. You can replace with powdered malt or leave out completely if you do not have it)
40g (1 3/8 oz) unsalted butter cold and cut into small cubes

Pop the chocolate and cream in a microwave safe bowl and then microwave on high for 2 minutes. Leave for a couple of minutes and then using a whisk stir until smooth and lump free. If necessary reheat further in the microwave for bursts of 30second to 1 minute to remove/melt all lumps.

Whisk in the Ovaltine.

Cover and allow the ganache to set - I left mine at room temperature overnight.

When set use an electric mixer to mix the ganache and butter at high speed for a couple of minutes until light and fluffy.

Assembly

Match macarons so that each shell has a matching one the same size (if you hand pipe the shells there will always be a little variance in size).

Pop the whipped ganache into a piping bag fitted with an open star tip (I used Wilton #18) and pipe a swirl onto half the macaron shells. Press another macaron on top and then pipe a small dot of ganache onto the top middle. Press on a chocolate malt ball.

Refrigerate at least overnight and up to 3 days in an airtight container. Remove from fridge 20 minutes before serving.

Linda Vandermeer is a blogger, baker, maker and author of the cookbook ' Sweets on a Stick': More than 150 kid friendly recipes for cakes, candies, cookies and pies on the go!. Published in the US the book is available at most online book stores:

Link to Amazon:

Sweets on a Stick: More Than 150 Kid-Friendly Recipes for Cakes, Candies, Cookies, and Pies on the Go! 

Or at Fishpond (free shipping Australia)

 

 Sweets on a Stick: More Than 150 Kid-Friendly Recipes for Cakes, Candies, Cookies, and Pies on the Go!

Kids playroom makeover on a budget

Upcycled dining room table - Ikea Expedit storage in background

The kids are growing up so I thought it was time for a play room overhaul.

No more small plastic Ikea tables and play kitchens, it was a bit sad saying goodbye to some of those old toys. But I had not problem waving bye to all those little plastic pieces of pretend fruit and veg that used to get left all over the house.

Anyhoo this is just a quick post on what I did for the kids while my creative space room was getting reorganised. As my room is out of bounds for the kids I made them their very own craft space.

 This is my creative space - CLICK HERE to see the makeover for this room

I pretty much had a budget of $0 for the kids room, although I did go over as I bought new oilcloth for the table and cane baskets. But that's ok - I sold their old Ikea table and kitchen on Ebay and as well as freeing up lots of space the proceeds paid for my little overspend.

Everything else I used was from around the house, existing furniture or the kids already had.

The main focus of the room now is this lovely table which is my old dining room table that we removed from my creative space. I painted the legs white and then stapled pretty oilcloth to the top. It's a fabulous solution as the table is so easy to keep clean and the nice wood is still intact underneath if I want it again in future.

Yup this is all I needed, you don't need to hem oilcloth, I just cut and stapled :)

Boy oh boy has oilcloth had a revamp since I was young, I actually like this Clarke & Clarke one I picked up.

If your looking for a less permant solution you can always just cut the oilcloth to size and use like a regular tablecloth, but I found the kids were always making it slip off the side. So stapled on for me is the way to go.

Then I just painted the chairs white or blue and covered the seats in the same matching oilcloth.

Upcycled dining room chair

Oh my goodness, oilcloth chairs for the kids is amazing, cause my kids are super dooper messy and always spilling stuff. It is so easy to clean crayon, pen and paint just wipe off in a few seconds with a damp cloth like magic.


To store all their craft stuff I used this old pine tv cabinet, pulled off the doors, painted it white and bought some cheap cane baskets. It's so easy for them to pull out to access what they need.

Repurposed old TV cabinet with cane baskets inserted

and no the room does not ever look like these pictures. It's a kids craft and play room and made to be used so it has piles of homework and craft projects underway all the time.

But that's ok I can live with a bit of mess if I get creatively inspired kids in return :)

White pen holders - Ikea, Blue bin repurposed ice bucket

Craft table and chairs- old dining room set painted and then covered with oilcloth
Craft shelves - old tv cabinet painted white with doors removed and cane basket inserted
Oilcloth - Clarke & Clarke Rosetta  (in Australia try Fabrics online for similar)
blue bin - ice bucket repurposed for bin
white pen holders - Ikea
Large white shelving in background - Ikea Expedit with cane basket inserts

Craft storage stand - repurposed planter from hardware store

Linda Vandermeer is a blogger, baker, maker and author of the cookbook ' Sweets on a Stick': More than 150 kid friendly recipes for cakes, candies, cookies and pies on the go!. Published in the US the book is available at most online book stores:

Link to Amazon:

Sweets on a Stick: More Than 150 Kid-Friendly Recipes for Cakes, Candies, Cookies, and Pies on the Go! 

Or at Fishpond (free shipping Australia)

 

 Sweets on a Stick: More Than 150 Kid-Friendly Recipes for Cakes, Candies, Cookies, and Pies on the Go!

Apple Spice and all things nice cupcakes in Tickle the Imagination

Apple and Spice.......

and all things nice,

that's what these cupcakes are made of.

Recipe for these seriously moist and moreish Apple Spice cupcakes with delicious cinnamon cream cheese frosting recipe on pages 30 - 34 in the new edition of Tickle the Imagination magazine out now.

Plus there is a cute little write up on me and my craft space on pages 90-91 with some pic's and a little interview, plus lots of other awesome stuff that's not about me on the other pages:

CLICK HERE to get to the free online Tickle the Imagination Magazine.

Linda Vandermeer is a blogger, baker, maker and author of the cookbook ' Sweets on a Stick': More than 150 kid friendly recipes for cakes, candies, cookies and pies on the go!. Published in the US the book is available at most online book stores:

Link to Amazon:

Sweets on a Stick: More Than 150 Kid-Friendly Recipes for Cakes, Candies, Cookies, and Pies on the Go! 

Or at Fishpond (free shipping Australia)

 

 Sweets on a Stick: More Than 150 Kid-Friendly Recipes for Cakes, Candies, Cookies, and Pies on the Go!