Cheeseymite scrolls - child's play for children

My daughter has always enjoyed cooking and is driven to bake and often wants to make dinner herself. Recently she came home from school with a story of having made Cheesey-mite scrolls and wanted to recreate them at home. I suggested she teach her younger brother to make them.

They had great fun and whilst they weren't perfectly round in their presentation, they tasted delicious and the children were happy they'd made them without any help from me. The scrolls are a favourite with both adults & children. They are great for lunchboxes.

Ingredients

3 Cups Self raising flour

pinch slat

50g butter - cold

marmite

200g grated cheese

milk

Preheat oven to 190C. 

Sift together flour & salt. Rub in butter. Stir in milk slowly to make a dough. Knead gently on a floured surface. Roll out to form a thin rectangle. 

Spread surface with marmite and sprinkle with 3/4 of the grated cheese. Roll from the long side, to enclose cheese forming a long roll. Cut roll in to slices. Sprinkle with remaining cheese.

Bake 15 minutes aprx until golden brown and cheese is bubbling.

Makes 16

Butter toffee crunch bake off

For many years I've been a huge fan of Makana "Macadamia Butter Toffee Crunch". I brought some on a recent trip to Kerikeri. So when I took the box in to Kiwicakes to share with the girls (as a defense against me eating the whole box) I was thrilled to hear Jenny had a recipe she'd been wanting to try for "butter crunch toffee". 

The original recipe states to use almonds, roasted and then chopped in food processor afterwards. But here in Whangarei I can buy both raw and roasted ground macadamia at my local growers market, so I used this instead, saving me a lot of time. 

The photo above is of my Macadamia butter toffee. I let the girls at Kiwicakes sample my recipe, I was a little apprehensive, as I preferred the Makana version. The votes came in at 3 to 1, with my toffee winning the bake off. The 3 votes for my version came from my staff (no, I didn't pay them to vote for me). The single vote was mine. In comparing mine in taste to Makana's version it's my guess that they use white sugar instead of brown sugar, which I used in my version. This is only a hunch, based on the different taste and colour. 

Almond or macadamia buttercrunch toffee

2 C blanched slivered or sliced almonds, or macadamia pieces

1 1/4 C firmly packed brown sugar

2 Tbsp water

115 grams butter

1 Tbsp light corn syrup

and mixed together reserved for later

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp baking soda

175g dark chocolate pieces

Preheat oven to 160C and roast slivered almonds or macadamia pieces until golden brown on a baking sheet. Allow to cool

Once nuts are cool chop finely in a food processor. Place one half of the nuts on a cookie sheet lined with a baking sheet. Reserve the other nuts for sprinkling on the finished coated toffee.

In a medium sized heavy saucepan combine the brown sugar, water, corn syrup & butter. Have the baking soda & vanilla mixed together to the side of your stove top. Place a candy thermometer in your pot, taking care to make sure it does not touch the bottom. On medium heat bring this mixture to the boil. Do not stir. Allow to reach soft crack stage 145C/285F - remove from heat immediately. Stir in vanilla and baking soda mixture.

Immediately pour toffee over nuts on a baking sheet. Carefully place chocolate pieces over surface of toffee. The heat from the toffee will melt the chocolate. After a few minutes you will be able to spread the chocolate flat using an offset spatula. Sprinkle the nuts over the melted chocolate and allow to cool at room temperature (do not refrigerate). Once cool, break into pieces.

Store in an airtight container.

Tips for making toffee and avoiding mistakes

* Ensure your pan is heavy. A lightweight pan will cause it to burn before it reaches the correct temperature

* Use a candy thermometer that has a clip on the side, you have to work quickly so you cannot hold it yourself. 

* Use a wooden or silicone spoon, as toffee will not stick to it, like it will to metal

* Place your candy thermometer in the toffee mixture before it begins to boil. Placing a cold thermometer into boiling sugar can cause it to shatter.
* The taste of this toffee improved greatly overnight. When tasting it as soon as it had cooled, it was very chewy. 6 hours later, it had taken on the texture of the original I was trying to replicate.

Awards night - Woman Of The Year awards for Rachel Jenkinson

Recently I attended the NEXT "Woman Of The Year" awards in Auckland with Rachel Jenkinson (left) from Operation Sugar. Rachel was a nominee in the community category.

Rachel hadn't been to Auckland before, so it was a pleasure to be her chauffeur and guide for her whirlwind trip. I collected Rachel and her sister Tracey from Auckland airport just before noon and we headed straight to Little & Friday in Newmarket for lunch, where we'd arranged to meet some of the Auckland based Operation Sugar bakers that Rachel is in regular contact with. It's funny how I only thought to photograph our dessert at lunchtime, but we did eat mains I promise and they were really tasty. I've only ever had great food at Little & Friday.

We had a military tight schedule during Rachel's stay, before we knew it lunch was over and I was whisking Rachel off to get checked in at the Stamford Plaza, where NEXT had arranged accommodation for the out of town nominees. From there Rachel and I walked around the corner to the hair salon Vivo where we were looked after exceptionally well and got the chance to catch our breath, have a glass of wine and get our hair made over for the evening ahead.

NEXT sent taxis to the Stamford Plaza to transport us to the Orakei Bay function centre where the awards were held. When we arrived we were greeted with Bollinger champagne (one of the sponsors for the evening) and photos were taken by NEXT's official photographers (you can see them here on NEXT magazines facebook page). Thankfully NEXT had produced the brochure above, so we were able to double check the other nominees names and their nomination categories as when presented with a room full of women, it was hard to keep everyone straight.

We were seated at large tables of 10 that were beautifully decorated. Shown here in the background is NEXT editor Sarah Henry and judge Theresa Gattung.

Former NEXT Woman of the Year winner 2012 Julie Bartlett from StarJam gave a lovely speech.

We were treated to a lovely meal. And lovely wines from Kim Crawford with champagne from Bollinger.

Seated at our table (amongst others) were Debra Chantry (far right - business nominee) and Juliette Haigh (centre left - Sports nominee) with her husband Mahe Drysdale.

Debra was seated next to me throughout the evening. We had a real blast, I'm glad I had such a fun dinner companion.

The tables were decorated with these lovely Ecoya candles which were a gift for us to take home.

As we were leaving we were given a goody bag bursting with beauty products, vouchers and other goodies.

As well as a copy of the latest NEXT magazine showing Julie Chapman from KidsCan who was the supreme winner.

Each NEXT nominee received a silver Pandora charm bracelet as they arrived. Knowing this, I had arranged  two special charms for Rachel a cupcake and a panda bear (the panda is Operation Sugars mascot/logo). I had the great pleasure of presenting Rachel with these two charms and a card with messages from many Operation Sugar bakers who'd wanted to show their support for all that Rachel does. It was terribly sweet, poor Rachel was just about in tears.

I managed to steal Rachel's bracelet for just a minute to take a photo - the Royal crown charm was presented to each nominee along with the bracelet.

We had an awesome evening and although Rachel didn't win, she told me she felt like a winner simply being a nominee.

The following day Rachel and I went along to Chelsea's sugar factory in Birkenhead to meet with their product manager Sam. Chelsea is also a sponsor of Operation Sugar. 

Chelsea is an amazing company that is approaching 130 years in business in New Zealand. It was apparent to me after my visit just how well Chelsea looks after not only their staff but their community as well.

Chelsea's factory is set in amazing park like grounds, which are open to the public for walking. You can pick up a free sugar cube map at reception that points out many of the highlights in the area. Whilst we were there, we saw people kayaking, walking their dogs and enjoying the views.

We were treated to some Chelsea goodness before we left (to see what I made with my pink berry icing sugar click here)

I adore this photo of Rachel and Sam next to a giant sugar bag. I wonder how many cakes could be made with this? Sam has very kindly given me a ton of Chelsea recipe cards, many of which I'll be sharing with you online and in your Kiwicakes orders over the coming months.

Rachel was back on a plane to Balclutha on the second day, but not before we made a whistle stop at Delish Cupcakes and Petal Cupcakes so Rachel could take home some Auckland sweetness for her family.

Auckland misses you Rachel and Tracey - come back soon! 

Lemon Cupcakes with lemon chocolate transfer garnish

Recently my daughter Poppy had to make a large batch of cupcakes for a fundraising bake sale for school camp.

As our small lemon tree is often over burdened with lemons, she decided lemon cupcakes were an obvious choice. We made over 4 dozen standard size and 4 dozen minis. It took us all afternoon in a normal oven, but the lovely lemony smell was heavenly in the kitchen. 

We decided on a simple cream cheese icing. When there's nearly 100 cupcakes to embellish, the decoration had to be simple. We settled on yellow sparkling sugar and a chocolate transfer on a dark chocolate background (click here for a tutorial on how to create chocolate squares with chocolate transfers).

A few cupcakes were harmed in the tasting, however I can confirm they were delicious.

Lemon Cupcakes

225 grams butter

2 C Sugar

4 eggs

3 C Flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 C milk

2 Tbsp lemon zest

2 Tbsp lemon juice

Lemon cream cheese icing

250g cream cheese

125g butter

4 C icing sugar

zest lemon

squeeze lemon juice

Preheat oven to 160C

In the bowl of an electric mixer cream butter and sugar together until the mixture is light & fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time.

Alternately add your dry ingredients with your milk on low speed, a little at a time until well mixed.

Add the lemon juice and lemon zest. Mix an additional minute, your mixture should be light & fluffy.

Spoon or pipe mixture in to your cupcake cases (1/2 to 2/3 full). Bake for 15-20 minutes. A skewer inserted in the centre should come out clean.

To make icing, in an electric mixer cream together butter & cream cheese. Add icing sugar a little at a time, mixing well with each addition. Squeeze in your lemon juice to taste, mixing again to combine.

Our cupcakes have the cream cheese icing piped with a 1m Wilton piping nozzle. The chocolate transfer can be found here 

Alphabet Block Cake Topper - from Kiwicakes test kitchen

I am using an easy 3-ingredient rice bubble mixture to keep this cake topper nice and light. Since I can't make it along to my friend's baby daughter's naming ceremony, I'm pleased that my cake topper can represent my wish to be there. As I don't know what type of cake it's going to decorate I need to ensure it's big enough to have presence, but without too much heaviness that could weigh down soft icing or sponge. Kids love to eat this rice bubble treat too, so you can sidetrack them with this and keep your yummy underneath cake for the adults!

Rice Bubble Treats
50g butter

200g white and pink marshmallows (use Mr Mallow brand - trust me, some others do not work)

160g rice bubbles

Melt butter slowly in a pot on a medium heat, add the marshmallows and mix through the butter. This will start to melt the marshmallows. Keep stirring for 1 minute further, then take off the heat and stir in rice bubbles to coat. Work quickly while this mixture is still warm to shape it as needed. For my alphabet topper I roughly pushed some mixture together into a 10cm-ish square block-like shape. Once cool, carve slightly to acheive the desired shape. In my case this was flat even sides. Smart phones nowadays have free level applications if you want to get really technical!. Any leftovers from carving can be resoftened in the microwave and reshaped while still warm. This mixture is ideal for edible decorations that could otherwise be difficult, like standing animals.

Thinly coat your shape with buttercream or truffle or ganache to fill the exterior holes and to act as a glue before covering in a thick sheet of your choice of coloured Fondant Icing. For this block I wrapped a 40x10cm rectangle around the 4 sides and cut a 10cm square to go top and bottom. I used my cake smoothers to get a nice finish on all sides.

For the 5 letter 'C's I coloured 5 small amounts of white fondant with gel paste. I actually cheated and used a circle cutter then the back end of a random icing bag tip to cut out the centre. I kept the centre circles for my friend to use as additional scatter decorations to marry the block with her cake nicely. One cut from a sharp knife turned the resulting 'O's into 'C's.

* This also happens to be a favourite slice recipie for a Canadian friend of mine who mixes in 1/2 a cup of candy with the rice bubbles (you could use any combo of choc/lollies/dry fruit/nuts) and presses it all into a greased sponge roll tin. Great for lunchboxes!

Laura's favourite modelling tool - from Kiwicakes test kitchen

I began cake decorating using a sharp knife to tidy the base of my cakes but it came with the risk of creating unwanted incisions in the fondant and board.

Then I discovered this PME cutting wheel which achieves the tidiest of finishes and is a breeze to use. It is pictured here on blue marbled fondant for a fisherman's cake (to simulate water) that I made. You can see the precision lines it cuts when rolled through fondant icing. It is most commonly used in petal and leaf construction or for freehand shapes.

We also stock a fondant trimmer wheel which is great for those bigger cutting jobs.