LITTLE ASPEN COTTAGE

I have been so excited to get home from work all day just so I can share my first ever guest post with you. Lianne Scher sent me this great recipe and astounding picture of a cupcake she made for the Martha Stewart cupcake competition. It was only once she had slaved over this lovely creation all day, taken the picture and tried to upload it onto the ms site that she realised that the competition is only open to us citizens (totally unfair in my book). The good news is that Lianne mailed it to the girls at MS living anyway and to her surprise she got an email back from them to say they had sent the mail onto MS herself ! 

GUEST BLOGGER : LIANNE SCHER

Here is the recipe which for me has to be the most delicious ,and moistest cupcake I have ever tasted , this is a recipe which I have had for years , the original asks for berries of any kind which I obviously omitted. The name of the recipe is Friands.

FRIANDS

1 cup ground almonds

1 1/2 cups sifted icing sugar

1/2 cup flour

175g melted butter

6 egg whites

2 tsp vanilla essence

METHOD

X Combine all dry ingredients

X Beat whites to a soft peak and fold in the dry ingredients and the melted butter as well as vanilla until evenly incorporated 

X Put spoonfuls of the mixture three quarters the way up the case 

X Bake at 190 degress C for 25 minutes or less depending on size of cases being used

For the icing you can use any butter or cream cheese frosting , which after spreading on the cupcake. I sprinkled with coconut to give the affect of snow. I used an extra large sized muffin pan so that it would be in proportion to the "little house". If you were using berries in this recipe finish off with a dredging of icing sugar . 

The house was made of gingerbread to which no raising agent was added , the roof tiles are of wheaties cereal , the flag pole of gingerbread , the flag  rice paper which I put through the printer , the window pane  a shard of caramel which gives it a wonderful warm glow when the little candle is lit , I drilled a hole in the chimney to allow for a flow of oxygen , the little pebbles are balls of gingerbread pressed between fingers before baking,the logs on the side of the house are gingerbread and then the detail is of course royal icing, including the little bird 

I hope this gives you some inspiration to try and bring you as much joy as it did me .

THE DELI

THE DELI 

There is a deli in durban that I have driven past almost everyday for the past year. Why it has never occurred to me to actually stop and go inside is beyond me because ever since I went there last week, it is all i can think about. The staff is super friendly and efficient and the food completely scrumptious. The order of the day was a bowl mushroom and brown onion soup accompanied by 4 little ciabatta soldiers smothered in gorgonzola. Now i am no mushroom soup connoisseur but I am almost sure that The Deli serves quite possibly the best mushroom soup in the universe. I was so sure of this that I took my boyfriend down there for lunch today, just to confirm my suspicion, and it turns out i was right. So next time you are in durban I highly recommend that you go down to The Deli, its on Windemere road, and see if I'm right.

WHIMSY

ESSENWOOD MARKET

Last weekend my little sister came up to visit from cape town. I decided that no trip to durban was complete without a visit to the fabulous Essenwood market so Georgia and I spent our saturday morning sauntering up and down the endless rows of craft filled stores perusing all the eats, flowers and crafty surprises. Imagine my pure joy on discovering the lovely Whimsy stall. These beautiful illustrations, both originals and prints, are the perfect gift for any girl between the ages of 0-100 and should be hung up on any available wall space you can find. If you are too far away to visit the market, you can view more images here www.whimsy.co.za on the whimsy site, it is an absolute must.

MINI PECAN PIES

THESE DELICIOUS LITTLE PIES ARE BEST EATEN STRAIGHT OUT OF THE OVEN WITH A DOLLOP OF VANILLA ICE-CREAM.

INGREDIENTS 

1 quantity pie-crust, unbaked

100 g caster sugar 

125 ml maple syrup 

¼ salt 

1 egg 

30 g unsalted butter, cubed 

¼ teaspoon vanilla essence

50 g shelled pecan nuts, chopped   

METHOD  

X Pre-heat the oven to 170 C  

X Find a clean work surface and dust it with some flour. Roll out your pastry until it is a few mm in thickness. Using a round cookie cutter cut out some pastry rounds and line the prepared mini pie tins. Trim the edges with a sharp knife.

X In a medium saucepan, combine the caster sugar, maple syrup and salt and bring to the boil. As soon as a rolling boil has been reached, switch off the heat and leave the syrup mixture to cool slightly (about 20 minutes.) 

X Put the egg in bowl and whisk for a few seconds until it is just mixed. Slowly pour the warm syrup mixture into the bowl containing the egg, stirring briskly all the time to avoid making scrambled eggs. 

X Add the butter and vanilla extract and mix it until all the butter has melted and all the ingredients are evenly dispersed. 

X Fill each pastry shell with a couple of pecan nuts and then pour the filling on top. Top each little pie with one whole pecan. 

X Bake the mini pies for about 20 minutes or until they are a dark caramel colour with a slightly crusty surface.

PIE-CRUST

125 g butter

1 teaspoon baking powder

250g flour

1 tablespoon sugar

2 tablespoons full cream milk

METHOD

X Crumb together the butter, baking powder, flour and sugar knead in the milk to form a smooth dough.

BABY PEA AND LEEK SOUP

IM GOING HOME TO CAPE TOWN TOMORROW, TRADING THE WARM AND BALMY CLIMATE OF DURBAN FOR THE COLD AND STORMY TEMPER OF CAPE TOWN. 
I FIGURED, IF IM GOING TO TAKE ON THE COLD, I MIGHT ASWEL DO IT WITH A DELICIOUS SOUP IN HAND. ENJOY!

INGREDIENTS

500g baby peas

2 small potatoes

5 medium leeks 

1 big onion

1 tablespoon olive oil

a knob of butter

2 cloves garlic crushed

850 ml chicken stock

METHOD

x Boil the potatoes until they are cooked, remove them from the heat and put them aside.

x Remove the outer skin of the leeks, give them a rinse and then chop them into approximately 

3cm thick chunks.

x Heat the butter and oil in a pot and add the onion, leeks and garlic cloves and sweat them untilthey become sweet and tender and the onions become translucent. Add the peas and potatoes and cook for about a minute add 2/3 of the stock and simmer for 10 minutes.

x when the simmering is done, blend the soup to the desired thickness and use the excess stock to adjust the consistency.

PINENUT AND HONEY SQUARES

THIS IS A LOVELY, SUMMERY CAKE IDEAL FOR AFTERNOON LUNCHEONS UNDER THE TREES

INGREDIENTS

250 G SOFT BUTTER

2 CUPS CASTER SUGAR

3/4 CUP SOUR CREAM

6  EGGS

2 CUPS PLAIN FLOUR

1/4 CUP SELF-RAISING FLOUR

1/2 CUP PINE NUTS

1 TABLESPOON TREACLE SUGAR

1/4 CUP HONEY

METHOD

X LINE A 23CM LAMINGTON PAN WITH BAKING PAPER AND PRE-HEAT THE OVEN TO 170 C

X BEAT THE BUTTER AND CASTER SUGAR TOGETHER UNTIL IT IS LIGHT AND FLUFFY. ADD THE EGGS ONE AT A TIME. STIR IN THE SOUR CREAM AND FLOURS IN 2 BATCHES. 

X POUR THE MIXTURE  INTO THE LINED TIN AND BAKE FOR 15 MINUTES.

X WHILE THE CAKE IS BAKING, MIX TOGETHER THE TREACLE SUGAR AND PINE NUTS.

X CAREFULLY REMOVE THE CAKE FROM THE OVEN AND QUICKLY SPRINKLE WITH THE PINE NUT AND SUGAR MIXTURE. 

X PUT THE CAKE STRAIGHT BACK  INTO THE OVEN AND BAKE FOR ANOTHER 45 MINUTES. (KEEP AN EYE ON THE NUTS WHILE THEY BAKE, IN MY EXPERIENCE THEY TEND TO BROWN RATHER QUICKLY SO I OFTEN PUT A PIECE OF TINFOIL OVER THE CAKE ONCE THE NUTS ARE BROWNED TO MY LIKING.)

X REMOVE THE CAKE FROM THE  TIN.

X IN A SMALL SAUCEPAN, HEAT THE HONEY UNTIL IT IS HOT AND RUNNY, POUR IT OVER THE CAKE AND LEAVE TO COOL.