Bugs - Oh Baby magazine

Exciting!. Today I just got the latest copy of Oh Baby! magazine. And Kiwicakes is featured as the cookie cutter supplier for this awesome bugs party.

I wish my kids were small

Chelsea Buns - My family recipe journey

Until now I'd never made Chelsea buns before, I'd more than eaten my fair share of them. If you've followed my family recipe journey over the years, you'll know my Grandad was an amazing baker. He used to make these for me (even my own special batch, with no raisins, which as a child I didn't like in my buns)

These were easy to make and made the house smell amazing. They were enjoyed by guests. for morning tea - just as well, as the recipe made tons.

I've searched all of the family recipe books and I simply cannot find the recipe, so I used a recipe from our good friends at Chelsea (reprinted with their permission)

Emily's Chelsea Buns

Ingredients Dough
1kg high grade flour
20g salt
50g softened butter
100g Chelsea White Sugar
25g instant active dried yeast
1 small egg
600ml warm water or milk

Filling
50g melted butter
3 Tbsp Chelsea Soft Brown Sugar
½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ cup sultanas

Icing
1 cup Chelsea Icing Sugar
Hot water

Raspberry essence to colour and flavour icing pink (my addition)

Method

To make dough:
Place all the dough ingredients into a large mixing bowl, then using a wooden spoon combine the ingredients together until a dough mass has formed.
Tip the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 10 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic in feel. Kneading is the trick here!
Lightly oil a bowl large enough to allow the dough to double in bulk, then put the dough in the bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Leave in a warmish place for 20 minutes.
Gently knock back the dough in the bowl by gently folding it back onto its self.
Cover again with plastic wrap and leave for 20 minutes then place into the refrigerator overnight.
To assemble buns:
Roll dough into large rectangle.
Use pastry brush to brush the melted butter on and then sprinkle brown sugar and cinnamon over pastry.
Sprinkle sultanas (that have been soaked for 5 minutes in boiling water) over.
Roll up dough and cut into 12 pieces. Bake at 190°C for 20-30 minutes.
Mix together icing sugar and water until a drizzling consistency is reached then drizzle over buns when cool.

Extra tips
As an alternative, you can also glaze with Chelsea Honey Maple Syrup.

Wafer paper flower using the new steam boss steamer

Here's a short little video I made today using the steam boss steamer we sell at Kiwicakes. You can either hold the steamer in your hand or leave sitting on the table as I have done. You can find the steamer here for 50.95, we also sell the wafer paper sheets for 5.95 each including patterned sheets and the wafer paper flower template

Grandma Kiwicakes slice

Grandma Kiwicakes brought this tasty slice to work last week, I grabbed the recipe from her for you all. She's been making it for years, but she says she doesn't make it very often, as the dried fruit/nuts ingredients adds up and it's so tasty, it vanishes in a day, when there's a few people about.

Ingredients
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1 cup desiccated coconut
1tsp baking powder
125g melted butter
1 cup each of pecans, walnuts, dried aprciots and pitted prunes (you can change the fruit and nuts about to suit your self adding cranberries or other dried fruits, whatever you have is fine, you just need 4 cups total)
1 1/2 tins condensed milk (based on 395g tin)

Method
Preheat oven to 180C
Combine first four ingredients in a bowl and stir in melted butter. Press in to a swiss roll tin and bake for 12-15 mins until just golden.
Scatter the nuts and fruit evenly over the base, then drizzle the condensed milk evenly over. Bake for 25 minutes until golden. Cool before cutting.

St Patrick's day chip n dip

The idea for this chip n dip started with firstly a need to create something for St Patrick's day

And secondly because our basil plant was reaching the end of the road, as it always does in summer - which always means it's pesto making time. (pesto recipe at bottom of blog post)

I found these great Farrah's Garden spinach wraps to make my own chips using a little mini shamrock cookie cutter

Simply cut the little shamrocks from the wraps. I got 24 per wrap

Spray with cooking spray or oil and shake over garlic salt, or just salt if you prefer. Bake 7 minutes at 180C, you do need to set a timer and watch them, they burn very easily.

The centrepiece for my chip n dip bowl, was a refreshing pesto sour cream. To get a pesto shamrock follow these simple steps.

Place your cookie cutter in the centre of your pesto sour cream.

Pack with pesto. Lift off. Chill immediately to solidify your shape.

A heaping great spoonful of pesto is mixed in to sour cream to create this super tasty dip. I mix in the container, so I can then spoon in to my clean bowl

To make my pesto, I pack my food processor bowl with basil leaves, add 2 cloves of crushed garlic along with the juice of 1 lemon (qty's need not be exact). Along with a 100g pack of parmesan and a good couple of handfuls of toasted nuts (pine nuts or walnuts whatever you have is fine). I turn my food processor on and down the shoot drizzle olive oil - I never use a fixed amount, just until the consistency looks right 

If ever there was a time to break out the retro "chip n dip" bowl, this would be it. Pile it up with your home made tortilla chips and you're ready to party. My hungry hordes declared these "A taste sensation!"