Macarons with chocolate ganache and raspberry

Ok just a quick post on the new We Should Cocoa monthly chocolate challenge.

When one of the blogs I read mentioned they were having a monthly chocolate challenge I knew I would be up for it straight away, as though I need another reason to make chocolate treats.

Bee cake pops (well ok they're Bee Oreo Pops)

I've been busy as a bee in the kitchen lately and one of the things I have whipped up is these bee Oreo cookie truffle pops.

Based on Bakerella's instructions and tweaked a little for those who are piping impaired like me.

Lemon Buttercream Macarons

This month’s Mac Attack challenge #11 was to bake a macaron inspired by a childhood summer memory.

I had a really happy childhood and stacks of fond memories, but I found they were either difficult to create (due to my inability to source mulberries at the moment), or already posted by other members and I was scratching my head when this came to mind.

My mother's jewelry box, filled with treasures I used to sneak in to look at and occasionally dare to try them on. Sometimes I would be allowed to legitimately try them on whilst sitting next to my mother on her bed, I used to feel so special.

Now I actually know that mum kept her real treasures elsewhere and the stuff in that box was costume jewelry, but I still remember that box and it's shiny baubles with a smile on my face.

My box here is filled with a different kind of treasure.

 

and while I was taking these photo's and piling the macarons in a tower I remembered that I also used to love playing with building blocks and lego so I made a couple of little towers

Oooops - after you get to three its a bit unstable.

My macarons were Lemon Buttercream and raspberry white chocolate.

One of the best parts of these Lemon Buttercream filled Macarons is that they used up 3 egg yolks - wahoo my house is always filled with egg yolk leftovers and any chance I get to use them makes me soooo happy.

Recipe follows.

Mwahhhh, kiss, kiss - stamping cute decorations

Quite a few people asked me about the little lips I used to decorate my tim tam cookie pops with so I'm going to quickly share my secret with you.

Stamps......

Cute little lip stamps that I picked up as part of a 6 pack with other cute stamps from Typo (Australian stationery shop).

 Then I just rolled out fondant (or gumpaste) and cut out a circle.

Popped a tiny amount of gel food colour onto the stamp and started stamp'n. 

So little effort for such a lot of cuteness.

Try to only get it on the lips (or what ever it is your stamping) otherwise you might end up with a messy one like this........

I have a bunch of these here dabber things so you can just put just a smidgen of the food colouring onto the stamp.

and to get the glittery heart look, just sprinkled on some non toxic food glitter straight after stamping while the food colour is still wet,  after it dries brush off the excess with a soft paintbrush.



Oh and make sure your equipment is food safe if someone is going to be eating it and definitely only use it for foodstuff (ie no real ink or paint).

Mwahhhhh, bye for now.

Marshmallowy Chocolate Goodness - Chocolate Marshmallow Recipe

Never been a huge fan of packet marshmallows, I can take them or leave them.

They are completely worthwhile in regards to making marshmallow fondant to cover cakes with and now that I think about it quite a few other recipes, but I guess they are more an ingredient to me than a treat.

That changed a year or so ago thanks to the wonderful blogsphere. I was reading The Unbearable Lightness of Being Hungry and they had a post on a shop called Sweetness the Patisserie and pictures of the most gorgeous marshmallows

(these are not the gorgeous Sweetness marshmallows these are my delicious but not so gorgeous version)

Something came over me, I had to have those marshmallows so I phoned up and had a bunch shipped to me.......chocolate, rose, lavender, raspberry. The customer service was wonderful and soon clouds of deliciousness came to me via Australia post. For a while my artisan marshmallow craving was satisfied.

Until recently when I have been seeing lots of gorgeous pics of guimauve (which is pretty much French for marshmallow as far as I can work out) and I was reminded of these wonderful Sweetness Patisserie marshmallows and a recipe I had copied out at the time from Chocolate & Zucchini.


I have adapted the recipe a bit, it calls for half rose and half chocolate and instead I made all chocolate.

They didn't look as lovely as I had hoped but they sure did taste good. Perhaps with a bit of practice I can improve the look. Also I'm thinking that the lighter colour marshmallows might look a little prettier.


Oh and here are a couple I wrapped in edible rice paper, and popped a food colour heart onto, less sticky but not quite as yummy I think.

I heart sweet cookie pops - Tim Tam Cookie Pop recipe

Not so subliminal message -  I heart sweet cookie pops

I'm on a cookie pop binge at the moment.

I am giving myself a baking breather and cookie pops do not require any real cooking and satisfy my super sweet tooth, and they are fast. Yup ready to eat within an hour.

After those delicious Oreo pops the other day, I thought I would try out some Australian brand cookies and so obviously one of the next cookies of the rank was the Tim Tam.

If your not from Australia, Tim Tams are a grocery store biscuit (that's what we call cookies here) with 2 chocolate rectangle biscuits iced together with a chocolate cream and covered in........chocolate.

Ok not a lot of thought went into that flavour combination there, but it seems to have served Arnott's well as they are a bit of an Aussie icon.

And these pops don't just taste sweet and look sweet, they SAY sweet. Boy I'm as bad as Arnott's not much thought process going on here. My only thoughts are of sweeeet, sweeeeet cookie pops.

I tweaked this recipe by using my Oreo cookie recipe and checking out Not Quite Nigella's post on her Tim Tam pops.

Try these out, if you like Tim Tams I think you'll like them.

Tim Tam Cookie Pop recipe and instructions makes 10 cake pops

1 packet Tim Tams, 200grams (7  1/8 ounce)
80 grams cream cheese softened to room temp (2 7/8 ounce)
150 gram chocolate melts any flavour (5 3/8 ounce) I used white

1. Crush Tim Tams finely in food processor

2. Add cream cheese and pulse until mixture is smooth and comes together in a ball.

3. Shape mixture into balls and roll round in between your palms to shape. Mine are about 25g (7/8 ounce) each. Chill in fridge for a short time.

4. To secure sticks for dipping, melt some of the chocolate melts (I just do mine in the microwave for short bursts on med low) and dip the end of your sticks/pops in the chocolate and push into the firm truffles. Return to fridge.
5. Melt remainder of chocolate, make sure it is completely smooth. Holding the stick/pop dip truffles into the melted chocolate, allow excess to drip off and then place into a holder to set. I use blocks of styrofoam covered in plastic wrap.

Sweeeeeet!

These pops are decorated with some round fondant I cut out using the top of a large piping tip which I then decorated by hand prior to placing them on the pops.

Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.

Here is the link for instructions on how to stamp the decorations

Oreo Cookie Truffle Pops Recipe

 
I am soooo loving cake pops at the moment, for me they are the new cupcake, or macaron, or whatever....... I'm not even up with what's "it" at the moment but for me Cake pops are definitely 'it'.

Not to say I don't still enjoy a couple of macarons each day. Variety is the spice of life. But given a choice I'm going for those cake pops for sure.

Dense, moist and cakey inside and creamy sweet chocolate outside, there's no way I'm tiring of these delicious treats any time soon.

The ones in these pictures are not technically cake pops, they're cookie pops, Oreo cookie truffle pops to be exact.

And how about this, just 3 ingredients: Oreo cookies, cream cheese and chocolate. None of that messy time consuming cake making and baking for these pops.

Do you know what that means, yup they are ready to eat even faster. Just mix, chill, dip and eat.

I served these Oreo Truffle pops at the Ava's Tea Party we held in memory of Ava Rosemeyer, if you haven't had a chance check out the post.

Of course can't mention cake pops without mentioning Bakerella whom has a new cookbook out on...... yes you guessed it cake pops. I'm sure I don't need to tell you to check out her site if you love cake pops like I love cake pops.


Oreo Cookie Truffle Pop Recipe - makes approx 16 truffle pops

Note for US conversion, pretty much just add half the amount of cream cheese to what ever size packet oreo's you get. So if you have a 16oz package of Oreos add 8oz cream cheese which will make around 23 or 24 Oreo truffles.

300g Oreo Cookies
150g Cream Cheese at room temp
397g Packet Wilton Chocolate Melts (mine were pink) or use white eating chocolate with a little copha melted in.

1. Crush Oreo cookies finely in a food processor

2. Add cream cheese and process until the mixture clumps together

3 Roll into small balls, mine are about 25g (7/8 ounce) each and refrigerate until firm


4. To secure sticks for dipping, melt some of the chocolate melts (I just do mine in the microwave for short bursts on med low) and dip the end of your sticks/pops in the chocolate and push into the firm truffles. Return to fridge.

5. Melt remainder of chocolate, make sure it is completely smooth. Holding the stick/pop dip truffles into the melted chocolate, allow excess to drip off and then place into a holder to set. I use styrofoam covered in plastic.

These pops are decorated with modeling chocolate butterflies. If you want to add on any decorations you can either add while the chocolate has not yet set or afterwards you can melt a little more chocolate and add using a little of the melted chocolate as the glue.
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:

Or here at fishpond (Aus/NZ)

Sweets on a Stick also available at the Bleeding Heart Brisbane: contact details info@bleedingheart.com.au