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!"

Pizza bases are quick and easy to make - and cheap too!

Last summer we installed a cheap and cheerful little concrete pizza oven. Our family has been having so much fun with it. With 2 little people in the house that could be considered picky eaters, individual pizzas are great as we can all choose what we want - and everyone is happy! Pizza bases aren't cheap to buy at the supermarket and let's be honest most of them taste terrible, I've likened many to cardboard!. The pizza bases I make just costs cents each to make and can be frozen, so you can make a big batch and pull them out as you need them. You can make individual sizes or larger ones - it's up to you.

Pizza bases recipe

1 1/4 Cups luke warm water.

1 tsp sugar

1 Tbsp dried yeast granules

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 tsp salt

3 Cups flour (either white or wholemeal, or a mix of the two)

1/2 tsp baking powder

In a stand mixer (mix by hand if you don't have one) place water, oil, sugar and yeast and leave for 5 minutes, I do this first and then get all of my other ingredients and bits and pieces organised by which time, the yeast mixture is activated and all frothy.

To this mixture add remaining ingredients and leave mixer fitted with dough hook running for 5-6 minutes. Leave to rise 5-10 minutes (I have left this step out when in a hurry and they've still work fine)

Your mixture should be nice and stretchy, remove from bowl. And give a quick knead by hand to knock back down.

For an 8'' pan, I take a piece of dough that fits in my hand a bit smaller than a tennis ball. I roll it out to fit the pan size.

Then I lightly dust my pan with flour

Drop the dough in to the pan and prick with a fork to dock the dough.

You can make thicker too if you're not a fan of thin bases

I par bake in an oven at 200C for aprx 5 mins - at this stage they can be kept aside for your pizza party or frozen for later use. Remember you don't need to fully bake them, as they'll be further cooked when your pizza bakes.

Savoury Shamrock Stack - from Kiwicakes test kitchen

Today I continued on my St Patrick's day buzz and used our large shamrock cookie cutter to theme a quick but effective savoury snack. Gotta love no-bake, no-fuss options that taste this good.

Savoury Shamrock Stack (serves 6+)

2 packs store-bought spinach flavoured wraps (down the bread aisle)

1 packet of baby rocket leaves (or a large bowlful from your summer garden)

1 packet of onion soup mix

250g pot sour creme

1 cup mayonnaise

100g pottle of pesto 

Combine sour creme, mayo and onion soup mix and chill in advance. 

Check that you will fit two shamrocks out of each wrap then cut in half. The spinach tortillas are greener on one side and browner on the other, so be sure to reserve some nice bright green for the tops. Spread one side with 1 desert spoon of creamy mixture and 1 teaspoon of pesto on the other. These will act as the 'glue' to hold the wraps and rocket together. Fill with a generous handful of rocket (removing any excessive rocket stems) and invert the lid. You can continue building upwards and make your stacks 3 or 4 or 5 or even 6 stacks high, alternating the layers. 

Working on a hard surface like a clean bench top, press the large shamrock cookie cutter through your layers. Simply press the stack out of the cutter gently onto your serving dish to reveal the beauty. You can see how cleanly the cutter slices through the rocket and wraps to make a restaurant-looking item.

This tasty St Paddys day snack goes well with a Guiness and would be great as a picnic meal shared outside. 

We continually add to our range of cookie cutters on offer. There are nearly 30 categories to browse for all your baking, decorating and general kitchen needs.

On the 24th day of Christmas - Eve preparations

On the 24th day of Christmas....... Feta & pesto tarts

On Christmas eve I like to prepare ahead of time what I can for dinner the following evening, so I'm not stuck in the kitchen for too long on Christmas day. This is one hors d'oeuvre that is at every family gathering without fail. It originated with my sister in law Vanessa. During the year I make them in a mini muffin pan. But at Christmas I can't resist being festive and using my mini Christmas tree pan. When placed on the table, they vanish within minutes. It is a recipe (such as it is - it is so simple, it can hardly be called a recipe) that I am asked for every time I take these somewhere. You can make them the day before and simply bring the tray out of the fridge and in to the oven 15 minutes before you need them.

The instructions are the same whether you use a mini muffin pan, or a shaped pan.

Using a cutter that is larger diameter than the size of the pan cavity, cut circles from sheets of ready made "savoury short pastry" (in the freezer section at the supermarket). Push each piece of pastry down in to cavity. For the round mini muffin pan, the circle should form a perfect round tart shell, with a slightly frilled edge. For the trees. use an off set spatula and using the rim of the pan, slice of any pieces of pastry that are uneven, to trim in line with the top of the pan..

Fill each cavity with aprx 1/2 to 1tsp of pesto. I've used basil and sun dried tomato pesto here. then place a small cube of feta in to each cavity. Bake until pastry is golden aprx 15 mins at 180C. Just a word of warning, don't be tempted to use flaky pastry, I tried it once, the pastry puffed up so much, it dumped the pesto and feta out of the cavity and all through the oven and over the baking tray.

My favourite feta EVER comes from Kamai Cheeses - check out their website by clicking here it's not easy to find in the supermarkets yet. But it's starting to pop up in a few more places. Now that I've tried it, nothing else compares.

On the 22nd day of Christmas - Nut baskets

On the 22nd day of Christmas my true love gave to me...................... Nut baskets.

These super cute little baskets, take just minutes to make and look super cute. Mixed nuts always featured in my home as a child at Christmas. This little basket was made using 1 foil cupcake paper, around which was wrapped 1 romantic lace cupcake wrapper. I used scalloped edge scissors, on regular white paper to create a handle, which I adhered in place using a small piece of sellotape. These would look lovely on your main Christmas table, as place setting name tags. Or on snack tables, simply to be eaten straight from. They certainly make an inexpesive gift, as each costs less than $1 to fill.