How ADOREable is this high tea shoot

So this story starts with a message from Sharnel Dollar asking me if I would like to help her out on a shoot she was doing for Adore magazine.

Come on you guys know what my answer was even without seeing all the gorgeous pictures on this page. Sharnel Dollar Designs Styling + Naomi V Photography + a host of other amazing providers is always going to = a gorgeous result.

Yup I jumped at the chance.

Now I can only take credit here for making the macarons, scones and melting moments, and the recipes for the scones and melting moments are courtesy of Sharnel Dollar. But I am very proud and excited to have helped out at all.

Oh and any of you readers from the US who might want to try out the scone (biscuit) recipe - lemonade is what we call clear soda...7 up would be a suitable replacement, and it is a super easy recipe. Really, really easy fast scones.

Check out the whole high tea fit for a Queen (starting page 96)  including the recipes by clicking on this link.

In fact check out the whole magazine - it's online and free and has some gorgeous stuff in it.

High Tea fit for a Queen credits

Sharnel Dollar - Styling and making of all treats except the couple made by me
Naomi V - Photography
Green and Bloom Wedding Flowers - flowers
Pen & Paperflowers - Silhouette design
Macaron Recipe 

Coconut and Strawberry Macaroon Hearts for Valentine

A macaroon instead of a macaron for a change.

I have always loved macaroons, even before I knew about those pretty little temperamental french almond things I was a fan of the dense coconut confection that is a macaroon.

I used to love the chocolate dipped ones from The Shingle Inn, a bakery in Brisbane nearby where I used to work.

I have tried a few recipes over the years with less than fabulous results. Anyway I spied a recipe in Better Homes and Gardens basics magazine that I though had promise. So I made the recipe a bit smaller and added some finely chopped strawberries and the result was pretty delicious.

and of course then I shaped them into a heart for Valentines day.


Which is really only an excuse because if you have followed this blog for any length of time you would have noticed that I frequently shape or decorate things into hearts, just because they are so darn cute.

Then I made half of them into the traditional little pyramid shape which is pretty cute as well. They are the perfect bite sized treat and not overly sweet so you can have a quite a few if you are so inclined.

I was - inclined to have a few that is, in fact a few too many so sadly my plan of dipping some of the heart shaped macaroons into pink chocolate did not eventuate.

Oh well next time ;) 

Recipe after jump.

Triple Chocolate Heart Valentine cookies

Triple Chocolate Heart cookies made using my favourite super chocolate cookie recipe filled with dark and white chocolate chips. Perfect valentines for those who are looking for something that's not overly cute but still super delicious.

and I didn't even use a special heart shaped pan........that's right no special equipment here just cookies made with love. 

This trick should work for most chocolate chip cookie recipes that do not spread too much during baking. You just get 2 tear shaped bits of dough, place them together in a V and as they bake, rise and expand voila instant love hearts.


Probably works best if you chill the dough in the fridge quite a bit before shaping them into the tear drops and baking, not like the melty sticky ones in the picture above.

I also picked all the red and pink M &M's out of a mini M&M packet and stuck them on the top before baking for a bit of extra valentine cuteness.

Recipe after jump

"My love is blossoming for you" valentine cookies

'My love is blossoming for you" valentine cookies.

Yes another bunch of cute heart themed cookies, I have been a bit out of control with them, I love them, I mean who wouldn't love them.

Well I guess all the husbands and boyfriends and any other random males you might be thinking of bestowing any valentine sweetness on.


Someone mentioned they were cute but her husband would laugh at her if she gave them to him, and I guess it's true so I'll try and come up with something less loving for my next valentine post.

Although in my household, I made these and left them out whilst I popped to the shop and when I got back there weren't enough left for me to take the photo's, I had to make more.

"They smelled too good" he said, but I wasn't tricked they might pretend otherwise but men like pretty just as much as we do.


The lovely red gingham bags and twine in the photo's are from Little Sooti.

Oh and I also made some pink ones, they would look good in any colour really but I liked the red ones best.



My love is blossoming for you cookies simple instructions



These cookies were made using this sugar cookie recipe and cutting out flower shapes - the one I used was 7.25 cm and came from a set that looks like this, but don't get hung up with the sizes use what you have.

When the cookies were cooled they were covered with white fondant by rolling out fondant with a small rolling pin on a cornflour dusted surface and using the same flower cutter to cut out the fondant. I secured the fondant to the cookie with a tiny amount of water brushed onto the cookie and then carefully rolled the fondant on with the rolling pin.

I coloured some of the fondant red, rolled it out and cut small red hearts, securing them to the white fondant covered cookie with a really really tiny amount of water. In fact sometime you can lightly press it on without the water.

My heart cutter was 2.5cm (about an inch) across the widest point and came from a set that looks like this, which I got it from Little Betsy Baker.

Finally using some white royal icing I did a messy squiggly outline of the flower shape. I know my piping is not really that good at the best of times but I promise these ones were meant to be squiggly.



Let the cookies dry for a couple of hours or overnight before packing in bags.

Australia Day Lamington Macarons - MacTweets #15 MacInspirational

The challenge for January MacTweets #15 was to incorporate a favourite dessert into a macaron and I decided to go with the lamington.

So I'm going to come clean with you all right from the start, Lamington's are not my favourite dessert, in fact I don't really like them much at all.

But the thought of them as a macaron intrigued me, not long ago I made hazelnut macarons and filled a few with jam and they were honestly some of the best macarons I have ever made.

Plus it's coming up to Australia Day soon and I thought it would be nice to have a patriotic theme to my challenge.

So I made up a batch of chocolate macarons using this recipe (click here for recipe) and sprinkled some coconut onto them straight away, before the rest period and then filled the cooked and cooled macarons with raspberry jam.

They were nice, chocolate and coconut combined with the jam to make a sweet treat perfect for afternoon tea with a nice cup of tea.  Kinda like a lamington I guess.
I styled this picture with an Old Country Roses cup, I was going for a CWA (Country Women's Association) look and I'm not being disrespectful at all - I own this tea set and most of the CWA could bake me under the table : )

So lamington MacIspired macarons - check......

Next I filled the rest of the chocolate macarons, the ones I didn't pop coconut on with a white chocolate coffee buttercream. They were dreamy and creamy with a pretty piped center. I haven't included the recipe here as it is a work in progress (translation - means I mixed together stuff on the spot and didn't write down the exact measurements for you sorry), but it was based on Italian Meringue Buttercream from the Whimsical Bakehouse cookbook.

Mmmmmm MacDreamy

Checkout MacTweets round up later in the month to see what everyone else came up with.

Valentine Vintage Ruffle Heart Cookies

I'm a bit of an old fashioned vintage loving girl at heart sometimes.

An old fashioned, pink, heart, vintage, cookie loving girl, so I guess is no surprise that I loved these cookies.

 

These cookies are made by cutting out white fondant and then using a thin round 'frilling' tool or toothpick rubbing gently back and forth to carefully stretch the fondant making the ruffles.

I used the same cutter for the fondant as the cookie but if you have one just a little bit smaller that would be even better as all that rolling really does stretch out the fondant.

 

I carefully placed the fondant onto the cookie and using the end of one of my food decorating paintbrushes I lifted the fondant until I got the folds where I wanted them, then I lifted up the ends of the heart one end at a time and brushed on some water and gently secured/rubbed the fondant onto the cookie .

Then I cut a smaller heart in pink and made small holes using the end of a #1 Wilton piping tip. Once again I popped it onto the white heart with a tiny amount of water.


This is what it looked like at that stage.....it's sweet and I liked it but for me I needed to add a little extra heart, so that's what I did, a little extra red heart in the corner.

 Awe, so sweet I could gobble it all up........and I did.

Sweetie valentine cookie tutorial

Goodness it seems Christmas is just over and now after a little break I have realised that Valentines Day is right around the corner.

and that makes me feel happy, not necessarily because I am holding out hope for many boxes of chocolates and candy (forget stuffed animals or jewels the way to my heart is with sugar).

It's purely because Valentine's is so darn cute.

♥   True love..........it was love at first sight for me and the sugar cookie ♥

To start off the cuteness I made some lolly - candy - sweet shaped sugar cookies and decorated them in pink, white and red fondant.

I think you'll be seeing a lot of this theme here at Bubble and Sweet in the next couple of weeks....

and just to show how much I lurve y'all I'm giving you a quick tutorial on how I made them.

Oh and the super cute mini pom poms in the pictures are from Ah Tissue

Sweetie Valentine cookies

Equipment and Ingredients


Sugar cookie dough (click here for recipe)
Ready Roll Fondant or Marshmallow fondant
Red and Pink food colour (I used Wilton gel colours)
Sweet Shaped Cookie Cutter (I got mine from Details Details here)
Heart shaped cookie cutter (mine from the Ikea Cutter set - you can see a picture in my previous post)
Red edible pen
Pink Heart sprinkles (mine from Woolworths, also available from Little Betsy Baker)
Small rolling pin
Small Sharp knife 
Water and small clean brush (kept for food purposes only)
Optional stamp

Roll out cookie dough and cut out into sweet/ candy shapes. Chill until firm and bake as per directions until golden. Allow to cool on wire rack.

For white with red heart.

Roll out white fondant and cut using sweet/ candy shaped cookie cutter. Brush a small amount of water onto cookie and using rolling pin carefully adhere fondant to cookie, ensuring edges are even.

Roll out a small amount of red fondant and cut a small heart shape out, adhere to white fondant covered cookie with a little water. Pop a small pink heart into the corner of the heart as per picture with a little royal icing.

If you would like to add red patchwork 'stitches' around the edge of the cookie allow the fondant to dry/set and then using an edible red pen draw the stitches on by hand.

For pink and white with red heart

Cut out both a white and a pink sweet/candy shape from the fondant and then using a sharp knife carefully cut where the sides of the candy wrapper fan out. Then place a middle pink section and the 2 white end sections onto the cookie and adhere using a little water, carefully join the sections using the small rolling pin.

Roll out a small amount of red fondant and cut a small heart shape out, adhere to pink fondant covered cookie with a little water. Pop a small pink heart into the corner of the heart as per picture with a little royal icing.

For True Love cookies

Cut out both a white and a pink sweet/candy shape from the fondant and then using a sharp knife carefully cut where the sides of the candy wrapper fan out. Place all 3 sections onto the cookie and adhere using a little water, carefully join the sections using the small rolling pin.

Using a food safe stamp, dab on a little red food colour and then carefully press the stamp into the center of the cookie.

If you would like to add red patchwork 'stitches' around the edge of the cookie allow the fondant to dry/set and then using an edible red pen draw the stitches on by hand.