Home Made Easter Gifts

Here are some of the Easter treats we made for gifts this year.  I made these in a few batches - once on my own, once with Mr 3 and once with my friend Claire and her little Miss 3.  The two 3 year olds had a messy ball as you will be able to see in their handiwork!!!!

~ Chocolate eggs filled with salted caramel

Continuing with my salted caramel obsession, I had to try putting this delicious filling inside Easter eggs!  I made the caramel as per the Salted Dulce de Leche that I have referenced twice already - here and here! David Lebovitz's method is my favourite and you can find here.

While the caramel is cooking, prepare the hollow part of the eggs with melted chocolate. I like to use a combination of milk and dark and use the best chocolate I can afford/what is on special...I'm not sure it makes a difference to using chocolate melts, but I personally prefer the taste so use a nice chocolate where possible.

Once the caramel is cold, fill the hollow chocolate eggs with a drop of caramel and then covered it with more melted chocolate.

Once the chocolate has set, join the 2 halves together with some more melted chocolate.  On my first try, I had too much mixture, so the egg didn't join as nicely, so keep the mixture nice and flat for an even join.

First attempt at joining:

Second attempt at joining:

A delicious cross section of chocolate and salted caramel....yum!!!!

~ Freckle eggs

We first made solid eggs by making two solid halves, setting them, then joining them together with more melted chocolate. Then you can either paint or dip the whole egg in melted chocolate and then toss it in 100s and 1000s.  The kids used their hands (of course!!!) and liked to dip the whole egg in - you can see their deliciously messy results below. The paint brush technique was more my style! ;-)

Now, for the kids turn - let the fun and mess begin!!!!

As you can see, the kids enjoyed getting their hands dirty!!! Thank goodness for Claire tidying up along the way all day otherwise my house would have been even more of a barnyard at the end of this cooking adventure!  Of course, the kids enjoyed licking the spoons and their hands most of all. It was surprising that although they were surrounded by so much chocolate all day, they didn't really eat that much...luckily!

I also made some versions of these eggs that were hollow in the middle which were slightly more fragile, but delicious!!!

We made some dark varieties for gift recipients who are dark chocolate lovers and later this week I am making a special batch of white chocolate eggs for my husband.

~ Chocolate & Peanut Butter Easter Birds Nests.  Filled with mini birds eggs and mini chicks from Big W.  This was the most fun and easy for the kids to do.  I made these last year with my then 2 year old and he loved it and it was so simple and cute so thought we'd do it again.  I got the idea and directions from the fabulous Planning Queen Nicole - you can see her post and recipe/directions here.   It was actually after I'd made these and emailed photos to Nic that I first "chatted" with her.  She is one lovely lady and provides me with endless inspiration!  Being a bit more slap dash, I don't mold the nests in a bowl, but dollop large spoonfuls on to baking paper and then arrange in to a nest shape.

~ Maple Muesli - recipe on my blog here packaged up in recylced jars with material scraps and twine on top.

~ Cards & tags made at home on publisher, one zig at a time ;-) and bagged in to cheap but sturdy brown paper bags. I think you should be able to use the picture below as a little Easter gift tag of your own - punch a little hole in it and thread through some twine and you are set.

Happy Easter!  I hope it's a safe and happy and healthy and fun weekend with your loved ones.

Love Amy xoxo

Salted Dulce De Leche Brownies

Yes, I know I'm obsessed with salted caramel, but I can't help it!!!!

These little treasures are a hybrid of two recipes.  The first is David Lebovitz's oven baked Dulce De Leche (recipe can be found here) which I also use for my ice cream found here.  Without turning my little blog in to a David Lebovitz shrine, I must say I can not speak highly enough of his recipes!!!  If you are a keen ice cream maker, or want to be, you must check out his blog and his book "The Perfect Scoop". My absolute favourite (so far!) is his Butterscotch Pecan Ice Cream - AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!  Anyway, back to brownies for now...

David has a recipe for dulce de leche brownies which you can find here. I made them once and they are dark and divine!  I, however, am quite partial to a "trashy brownie"!  By this I mean one that is less dark and a bit more sweet and a bit chewier and gooier!

So, for my actual brownie recipe, I used this one as a basis.  I really like this recipe and it was different to other brownies I've made before. Especially creaming the butter rather than melting it.  I changed the recipe a bit, mostly the chocolate components, so I will outline my version below, but purists, please feel free to go directly to the source for an excellent brownie!

Salted Dulce De Leche

Ingredients:

• 1 can of sweetened condensed milk
• Flaked sea salt

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius
• Pour the sweetened condensed milk in a pie dish, cover with foil and place in a large baking pan and fill half way up with hot water.  Bake for 1-1 1/4 hours - remember to check regularly that the water level is still half way and top up as needed.  See more details on this process from the master here.
• When the milk is dark and caramel, remove from oven and sprinkle with salt flakes.  Allow to cool completely.

Brownies

Ingredients:

• 200 grams of best quality chocolate (I used half milk and half dark, but each to their own!!!)
• 250 grams of unsalted butter - at room temperature
• 250-300 grams of golden caster sugar (if you use more milk than dark, you can use less sugar if you like)
• 3 large eggs plus 1 egg yolk, lightly beaten
• 80 grams of plain flour
• 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
• 40 grams of cocoa powder

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius
• Grease and line the base of a 23×33cm baking tray
• Melt the chocolate gently over a pan of hot water, take off the heat and set aside to cool

• Beat together the softened butter and the sugar until really creamy and fluffy

• Slowly and gradually add the eggs while the mixer is still going. Only add more egg once the previous one is fully incorporated. Go slowly as you don't want the mixture to split!
• Continue beating for 5 minutes until the mixture is very fluffy and has increased in volume 

• With the beater on low, add the cooled melted chocolate and then the flour & baking powder - do not over mix at this point, but ensure the ingredients are all combined 

• Pour 2/3 of the batter in to the prepared tin
• Add tiny dollops of the cool salted dulce de leche all across the batter

• Pour over the remaining batter and smooth out gently (the photo below makes the mixture look lighter than it was, but you the gist!)

• Prepare a shallow ice bath - I just use my kitchen sink.  Make sure it's not too deep, otherwise when you plunge the pan in, the water will over flow in to the brownie and we do not want that to happen!  There is more information about the reasons behind the ice bath in the original recipe, but trust me, it was worth it!!!
• Cook for 25 minutes and then check with a skewer. If the skewer comes out just a bit sticky, then it's done, but if the skewer is coated in raw mixture, then put back in the oven for 2-5 minutes. Check again. If needed, cook for another 2-5 minutes.  You don't want the mixture raw, but you definitely don't want it cake like, so do allow the skewer to be a bit sticky when you pull the pan out of the oven.
• Plunge in to ice bath and leave for 1 hour...if you can resist it for that long!  

I packaged some up for gifts using regular brown lunch bags folded over and trimmed with a mini doily to fasten the tops. I heart doilies!!!!

I have another chocolate post coming this week, but after that, I will try to switch back to savouries...well, at least one! ;-)

Happy Baking!

Love Amy xoxo

  

Roasted Cauliflower and Baby Carrots with Hazelnuts, Crispy Sage & Goats Cheese

Hi there lovelies,

Apologies for the sporadic posts, but that's kind of the way I think this blog will be!!!

This is a dish I LOVE to make. It's an excellent accompaniment for meat dishes for carnivorous guests, but very yummy and substantial for the vegetable loving folk too.

It was originally inspired by dishes from two of my favourite casual but lovely Melbourne restaurants - Rumi and Birdman Eating.

Again, this is more of a set of directions rather than a proper recipe, but I hope you try it and love it!

Ingredients:

• 1 head of cauliflower
• 1 bunch of baby carrots
• a handful of hazelnuts
• a small bunch of sage leaves 
• Marinated goats feta - my favourite brand is Meredith
• Excellent quality olive oil

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius
• Cut the cauliflower into small florets
• Arrange the cauliflower in a large baking dish (I use my beloved Bessemer!), douse with olive oil, sea salt flakes, cracked pepper and the sage leaves

• Roast in oven for about 15-20 minutes
• Meanwhile, scrub the baby carrots & remove any "hairy" bits from the bottom and the long stalks - I keep a bit of the stalk on because they are pretty and I don't peel them

• Add the baby carrots to the  partially cooked cauliflower, toss well to mix around the cauliflower - the bottom side usually is dark and caramelised. Add extra olive oil as needed. You don't want the mixture to get too dry

• Roast for another 10 minutes, then check - give it another toss around and return to oven for another 5-10 minutes if needed
• Meanwhile, roast the hazelnuts, rub off the skins and halve them
• Combine the veggies in a serving bowl and scatter with the hazelnuts, the marinated goats feta and extra olive oil (or oil from the feta) if needed

• Serve as part of a help yourself feast! I often serve it with the following dishes:

• My interpretation of one of my favourite ever vegetarian dishes from another favourite Melbourne restaurant - The Moroccan Soup Bar - chickpea and pita bread bake with yoghurt and almonds.  I shall  endeavour to blog this shortly. This is my ultimate comfort food and I adore it!!!! I love this restaurant soooo much!
• Warm eggplant & buckwheat salad - a variation of the lovely Emily & Saskia's dish that you can find here.  These ladies have some delicious recipes on their blog - one of our family favourite's is my version, of their version, of Jamie Oliver's cauliflower and broccoli cannelloni. So yummy!!!
• Crumbed lamb cutlets for the carnivores  
• Rocket salad (which missed out on being in the photo below!)

Thanks for reading and checking out one of my fave dishes.

Love Amy xoxo

Nutella Cheesecake Brownies with Toasted Hazelnuts

I was requested a Nutella themed homemade birthday gift from my Nutella loving friend last week, so I obliged with these babies.

Yes, these are as rich as they look and sound!!! But oh so yummy!!!

I searched for Nutella based recipes and found some very yummy looking baked treats. I am a huge brownie and cheesecake fan, and I love the combination of the two so I decided to do a Nutella version of this.

I found a few recipes, but none were quite what I was looking for.

This one here looked really delicious so I used it as a basis, but wanted to keep the cheesecake element white and decided to try piping Nutella on top to add a soft Nutella hit!  The toasted hazelnuts on top added a much needed darker flavour and crunch.

Nutella Cheesecake Brownies with Toasted Hazlenuts.
Adapted from a recipe from Alpineberry.

Ingredients
Brownie Layer
- 140 grams of melted butter, allow to cool
- 1/2 cup Nutella
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup of plain flour
- 1 cup of golden castor sugar (or regular castor sugar)
- 3 tablespoons of cocoa

Cheesecake Layer
- 250 grams of cream cheese at room temperature
- 1/3 cup golden  castor sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1/3 cup of plain flour
- 2 teaspoons of vanilla paste

Toppings
- 1/2 cup of hazelnuts toasted, skins removed and cut in half
- Extra Nutella to pipe

Directions:
- Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius
- Grease and line a 20cm x 28 cm slice tin
- Mix together the wet ingredients for the brownie until well combined - I just used a wooden spoon
- Mix in the dry ingredients until well incorporated
- Spread brownie mixture evenly in prepared tin

- In a mixer (or by hand!!!!) mix the cheese, sugar and vanilla together until smooth, light and fluffy
- Add the eggs gradually until well incorporated and the mixture is smooth and fluffy again
- Gently mix in the flour until well combined, but don't over beat at this point
- Pour the cheesecake mixture over the brownie mixture and spread out evenly on top

-Fill piping bag with Nutella and dip the nozzle in to the cheesecake mixture and pipe nutella dots or flowers in any formation you like.  I (clearly!) didn't go for anything too pretty or perfect looking!

- Scatter the toasted hazelnuts over the top

- Bake for about 40 minutes - depending on your oven and the tin you used.

- Allow to cool before cutting it in to small pieces

I packaged up the treats for the birthday girl in a white cardboard food box and used the stamps she gave me to add some theming to the lid!

I also had been recommended by the lovely Cat to try the homemade Nutella recipe that is David Lebowitz's wonderful blog.  I made a batch of this for the birthday girl too.  Recipe can be found here. I did sieve my Nutella, but not in a super fine sieve so there was a bit of texture which I liked.  If you are chocolate and hazelnut crazy, you should try this recipe for sure!!! My only issue with it, is that it only lasts 1 week in the fridge...I gave away 4 jars and still have some here that I don't want to eat all on my own!!!

I think (hope!!!) the birthday girl was happy with her gifts!

Love Amy xoxo