Thursday, August 13, 2015

Candylicious Macarons


I love it when I have left over macarons and get to have a play around. I had half a dozen of these pretty purple mac's sitting around plus a bit of the teal ganache and we always have sprinkles and candy sitting around so I whipped up these cute Candylicious macarons.

They might be my new favourite macaron, well to look at anyway. They look so pretty and party ready and of course they are a little bit inspired by Katherine Sabbath's beautiful cakes.




Mostly you just melt the ganache and spread it onto the top and gently push it over the edge so it dribbles down then press a few pastel pearls and sixlets onto the top. I added some mini shards of pastel chocolate as well.

You can buy your macarons or here is my recipe CLICK HERE

My macarons are coloured with Wilton Violet and the ganache is tinted using Americolor teal. The larger rounds are sixlets in shimmer white, shimmer pale pink and bright pink and I chopped some in half to give different heights. The mini pastel pearls are Queen Fine Food soft pearls in Australia you can pick them up at the supermarket. I have popped in a link to a similar US version below :)



Happy Baking



Linda Vandermeer is a blogger, baker, maker and author of the Children's cookbook Sweets on a Stick: More Than 150 Kid-Friendly Recipes for Cakes, Candies, Cookies, and Pies on the Go! Published in the USA in 2011 the book is still available at Amazon and many online bookstores.

Affiliate links may earn me money and contribute to supporting this blog.

Original ideas, photography and recipes Linda Vandermeer please do not reuse without permission.

Sunday, August 9, 2015

A touch of Whimsy water colour cookies


Do you have a favorite cutter? One that when you pull it out you know that the cookies you make will be super adorable no matter what you do.

This Deer Aimee cutter from Cakes by Bien is one of my go to cutters it's just about as cute as you get, so when my friend asked me about it for her daughter's first birthday party I was a bit excited.

I know it's not completely normal to get excited about cookies but you know I write a blog about baking so you'll just have to humor me. Deer cookies = big excitement for me :)


Anyhoo the whimsical theme was based on the birthday girls super sweet bedroom colours so I came up with a set of cookies and macarons to tie in with it.

These 'A Touch of Whimsy' water colour cookies were some of the filler cookies. You know easy to make cookies that match in with the more complicated design but still look great. But I think you can tell from the first photo they are impressive enough to have all on their own.

And the fabulous thing about the technique in this tutorial is that you can apply it to pretty much any cookie shape with any colour theme and it will look just as pretty.


I'm hoping to pop up a video tutorial of me making these cookies on my you tube channel soon, plus I will definitely have tutorials for the other A Touch of Whimsy cookies soon.

Happy Baking


If you love these deer cookies check out my previous deer cookie posts here:
- Deer Heart Linzer Cookies
- Oh Deer! These cup edge cookies are too cute
- Sweet Deer cookies with silver leaf

A Touch of Whimsy Deer Cookies
I've added edible gold leaf to the cookies but if you don't have it just leave it off and they will still be super cute.

Deer Cookie Cutter (mine from Cakes by Bien)
Small Plastic Rolling Pin
Cornflour (cornstarch)
Ready Roll Fondant^ (around 300 grams (just under 11oz)
Roll out sugar cookie dough (recipe below)
Gel food colour (I used teal and violet)
brushes
water
1 sheet Edible Gold Leaf (I used transfer sheets)

^fondant dries out quickly, when not in use store in an airtight container or ziplock bag. To use fondant knead until pliable and smooth and roll out on a workbench dusted with cornflour (cornstarch)


Using the cookie dough recipe roll make deer shaped cookies. The dough will make around 60 small cookies. Bake as per instructions until golden.

Knead the fondant until pliable. Dust the workbench with cornflour (corn starch) and using the small rolling pin roll out the fondant until quite thin. Use the deer cutter to cut out a fondant shape.


Lightly brush the cookie with water and place the fondant onto the cookie. Gently press the fondant down onto the cookie using the rolling pin to smooth into place.

Take a small amount of teal food colour with the edge of a toothpick. Place some water into a spoon or paint palate and use a paint brush to mix with the water. The colour should be a bit washed out. Dry the brush a little on a piece of paper towel and then lightly brush the side of the paint brush along the fondant covered cookie. If the colour becomes too weak mix in a little more gel food colour.

Repeat the same with the violet. If you find the violet is too dark you may like to add a little rose or pink to the mix to brighten it a little.

Allow the food colour to dry.

Brush a little extra water onto the back of the cookie and adhere a small amount of gold leaf to the fondant covered cookie.

Allow to dry and store in airtight container for up to 5 days.



Sugar Cookie Recipe (makes 24 regular cookies or 60 small)

460 grams plain flour (16 1/4 oz all purpose flour)
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
230 grams unsalted butter (8 1/8oz)room temperature
220 grams caster sugar (7 3/4 oz superfine sugar)#
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
#use regular white sugar if you do not have caster/ superfine sugar

Sift together flour, baking powder and salt.

Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl using an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Reduce the speed to medium low, add the egg and vanilla and mix until combined. Reduce mixer speed to low and mix in the sifted flour mixture until combined. Wrap the dough in plastic and chill in fridge for 30 minutes or so.

Line a few baking trays with parchment/ baking paper.

Dust workbench with plain flour and using a large rolling pin roll out the dough until around 1/2 cm (1/4") in thickness. If the dough is to hard you may need to work/knead it a bit until you can roll it out.

Cut out cookies shapes and place the cookies on the prepared trays. (Knead and reroll dough as necessary, if it becomes to soft you can pop it back in the fridge.)

Pop the cut cookie dough trays into the fridge to chill again for around 30 minutes until firm (or in the freezer for 10 minutes).

Preheat oven to 160 C (320 F) and cook the cookies until they just start to turn golden, around 15 minutes (less or more depending on cookie size).

Cool on trays for 5 minutes and then carefully lift onto a wire rack to cool completely prior to decorating.

- Cookies can be stored in an airtight container for 1 week.


Linda Vandermeer is a blogger, baker, maker and author of the Children's cookbook Sweets on a Stick: More Than 150 Kid-Friendly Recipes for Cakes, Candies, Cookies, and Pies on the Go! Published in the USA in 2011 the book is still available at Amazon and many online bookstores.

Affiliate links may earn me money and contribute to supporting this blog.

Original ideas, photography and recipes Linda Vandermeer please do not reuse without permission.


Thursday, July 23, 2015

Triple Chocolate Meringue Tart for Tickle the Imagination Magazine


Are you ready for chocolate overload. Like really seriously chocolate on chocolate on chocolate overload.

'Cause if you are the Triple Chocolate Meringue Tart I created for the latest issue of Tickle the imagination completely fits the bill.


You can find the recipe for it along with a stack of other amazing things to make and interesting stories about things Australian and handmade in the latest Home issue. Here is a free sneak peek of the magazine: http://bit.ly/1L4Mncb


But wait there's more. In the past few days the Handmade Coorperative - Australian Handmade 4 Kids have been having an online #TickleTour and it's been so fun watching them all make different items from the magazine. I'm kind of needy so I've been getting a big kick out of seeing them post pictures after they make the tart themselves. Plus some of the other crafty stuff they have been making is totally inspiring me to give it a go.


Make sure you pop up a picture on Instagram or Facebook if you get the magazine and make the tart yourself. I'd love to see it.


Linda Vandermeer is a blogger, baker, maker and author of the Children's cookbook Sweets on a Stick: More Than 150 Kid-Friendly Recipes for Cakes, Candies, Cookies, and Pies on the Go! Published in the USA in 2011 the book is still available at Amazon and many online bookstores.

Affililate links may earn me money and contribute to supporting this blog.

Original ideas, photography and recipes Linda Vandermeer please do not reuse without permission.