Toblerone Dip for Sally

I haven't made this in a while, but it's come up a couple of times lately, and somehow, my friend Sally had never heard of it. This is the world's easiest, but most impressive dessert.

Ingredients:
300ml cream (I like to use pure cream, but whatever you usually use is fine)
1 Toblerone bar, I think it's about 90g
These are pretty flexible, use more or less chocolate depending on what you like, and what you have.Feel free to use dark Toblerone if you prefer.

Method:
1. Melt Toblerone
2. Whip cream (not too stiff - you're looking for a moussy texture in the finished product)
3. Gently fold the chocolate into the cream.

Serve with marshmallows, and soft fruit for dipping (we usually use strawberries, and various kinds of melon - canteloupe, honeydew, watermelon - sliced into fingers) It's amazing how much chocolate and cream many women can justify eating if they eat it with fruit! Alternatively, spoon into bite size chocolate cups.

Biggest and Smallest

I finished the fourth flowergirl dress. Well, except for the handsewing which my best friend offered to do, which is why I had only the biggest and smallest dresses at home. I love the contrast between them. Jade is 9 1/2, and will wear the green dress. Milla will almost be 1, and will wear the tiny, angelic white dress.

Macarons

For some time now, I have been obsessed with macarons/macaroons. I blame Paris, where they are piled up in patisserie windows in multi-hued perfection.So I bought this book

and decided that chocolate is always a good place to start.

The batter, ready to go in the oven.

 

Baked. Crunchy, chewy, and a bit too bubbly.

And sandwiched together with bitter chocolate ganache.

Overall, they were delicious, but definitely not perfect. The extra bubbles made them a bit too fragile, and they lack the 'pied' (foot) that makes them true macarons. Something to keep working at.

What could be more domestic...

than baking bread?

My first attempt was a little patchy

but with a new recipe from a friend, and actually using the oven instead of the BBQ, I achieved reasonable success!

Red Velvet

In keeping with the Valentine's theme, I couldn't resist trying Red Velvet cupcakes, from the Nigella Lawson Kitchen book I was given by my beautiful best friend for Christmas.

Look at the colour of that batter!

And the richness once cooked...

And what could be more beautiful than icing them with buttercream, and topping with chocolate flakes?

Absolute indulgence!

An Inexpensive Valentine

With our wedding now less than two months away, Andrew and I agreed not to spend much for Valentine's Day. In fact, we set a budget of only $10 each. So, to show my love, I went back to my choc-chip cookie recipe, which he loves. Then I went back to the original recipe, which contains peanuts and peanut butter, which I knew he'd love even more (but I hate). I made a couple of big, heart shaped cookies, and used writing icing to outline the shapes, and to write messages.
Meanwhile, he chose to add to my new short sock collection, with a selection of Valentine's coloured socks.