Sewing, knitting and baking! :)

Hey all, it's been so long since I posted. Sorry about that. I've been crafting on and off; sewing, knitting and baking cool things. First up: Sewing! I made myself a knife roll for work at the start of the year. I also made one for my boss as a present.

Next up: Knitting! I knitted a little purple Milo for a friend's baby. She was thrilled with it.

I also knitted a pair of Newborn Ladybug Loops shorties. They're so cute! I forgot how small newborns are.

Lastly: Baking! I have been teaching J to bake. He can make cookies, pancakes and he helps with a lot of other things. He's a natural, like his Mum. :)

He is quite pleased with himself.

I created a new type of cookie at work last year. It is a gluten free cookie with marshmallow in the centre. I called them "pillows".

Last, but not least. I created a minecraft cake. It was a mudcake, covered in buttercream icing, layered with marzipan and then I applied around 250 "pixels" made from plastic icing. This was my inspiration: A minecraft grass cube.

This was my cake!

I promise I will try to be around a bit more. I am ever so slowly knitting again, so keep an eye out for that. <3

Vanilla Chai Cupcakes

Ingredients:

100g butter
1 cup caster sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste
1 1/4 cups plain flour
1/2 quantity chai spics mix (see below)
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 tsp bicarb soda
1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar

Chai Spice Mix

1 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

Vanilla Chai Buttercream

125g butter
1/4 tsp vanilla bean paste
3 cups icing sugar, sifted
1-2 tbs cold milk
1/2 quantity spice mix

Cinnamon sugar to dust

Method:

Cream butter and sugar. Beat in the eggs one at a time, add the vanilla. Stir in half the chai spice mix. Fold in the flour and the buttermilk, stir until combined but don't overbeat. Mix together the bicarb soda and vinegar and mix into the batter. Spoon into prepared cupcake cases.

Bake 15-20 minutes at 160 degrees celcius until cooked.

To make the buttercream, beat the butter until creamy and pale in colour. Add the vanilla and remaining spice mix. Slowly beat the icing sugar into the cutter about half a cup at a time to ensure that it isn't grainy. If the buttercream is too thick, add a splash of cold milk and beat until the desired consistancy is reached.

Pipe or spread buttercream unto cooled cupcakes. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.

Delicious with a chai tea latte!

Orange and Almond Friands

Ingredients:

Cooking Spray to grease
230g Pure Icing Sugar, sifted
185g Unsalted Butter, melted
100g Almond Meal
75g Plain Flour
6 Egg Whites, lightly whisked
Finely grated Orange Rind of one orange
50g Flaked Almonds

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200C. Spray friand pan lightly with cooking spray to grease.
2. Place icing sugar, butter, almond meal, flour, egg whites and orange rind in a bowl and stir until just combined.
3. Spoon the mixture amond the prepared pans. Carefully place some almond flakes on top of each friand.
4. Bake in oven for 25 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centres comes out clean.

The Ultimate Chocolate Brownie..... with Raspberries!

Ingredients:

320g Unsalted Butter
1 1/4 Cups Cocoa
7 Eggs
3 Cups Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla Essence
1 1/2 - 2 Cups Dark Chocolate Chips
1 1/4 Cups Plain Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
Frozen/Fresh Raspberries (optional)
Icing Sugar to dust

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 160C
2. Line a large baking tin/roasting dish with baking paper (I used one about 24x36cm)
3. Melth the butter in a large bowl (there are a lot of ingredients to fit in here) in the microwave.
4. Using an electric mixer, beat cocoa into melted butter
5. Add eggs, sugar and vanilla and whiz with the electric mixer for 3-4 minutes until the mixture begins to whip up in volume.
6. Using a wooden spoon, mix in the chocolate chips.
7. Sift flour and baking powder in and stir until fully combined.
8. Pour into lined baking dish. Give it a shake to even out the mixture.
9. If using raspberries, dot these evenly on top of the mixture, gently pushing them in just under the surface.
10. Bake in oven at 160C for about 1 hour, or until an inserted skewer comes out clean.
11. Leave to cool in tin for about 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to allow it to cool further.
12. Sift icing sugar over the top
13. Enjoy with coffee, chocolate milk or take to work to woo your co-workers.

White Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

250g butter, softened
250g soft brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
460g self raising flour
pinch of salt
250g white chocolate chips

1. Pre-heat fan forced oven to 190 degrees celcius. Lightly grease 2 baking trays, or just line with greaseproof paper. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Gradually add the beaten egg.
2. Sift the flour and salt into the creamed mixture and blend well. Stir in the white chocolate chips.
3. Roll a teaspoon sized blob of mixture into a ball, place on baking trays and flatten slightly. Be sure to give the cookies room to spread out.
4. Bake in oven for 10-12 minutes or until just golden (I check at 10 minutes and find they are done). Cool on wire rack, or eat them straight away. :)

You can also add 50g of chopped brazil nuts or macadamias to this mixture if you've got them, but they are pretty good without them. Add them in when you add the white chocolate chips.

Pizza!

I've been rather inspired lately by Masterchef, so I decided I would make a pizza that was featured on Friday nights Masterclass. Here is my edited version of the recipe.

Pizza Dough:

15g yeast
20g sugar
20g salt
20ml oil
250ml Water
425g flour

Sauce:
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp garlic
salt and pepper

Toppings:

Finely chopped Flat Leaf Parsley
Hungarian Salami
Pepperoni
Shredded Mozzarella
Baby Mozzarella balls

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius and put pizza stone in oven to heat up.
2. Combine yeast, sugar, salt, oil and water and put in a warm place to activate the yeast. It was pretty cold on the day that I did this, so I put it next to the heater. :)
3. After yeast has activated, tip in the flour and stir until combined.
4. Knead the dough until silky smooth.
5. Place dough back into bowl, cover with cling wrap and put into a warm place to prove until the dough has doubled in size.
6. Open tin of tomatoes and tip into a saucepan with the oregano, basil, garlic, salt and pepper. Puree with hand held mixer, then simmer the sauce down until it is a nice consistency (about 15 minutes).
7. Knock back the pizza dough and divide into 2 portions. Roll out dough to a nice round shape. Place onto the hot pizza stone.
8. Dock the base with a fork all over.
9. Spread pizza sauce onto the base.
10. Sprinkle the parsley all over the base.
11. Add the other toppings to the base except for the baby mozzarella.
12. Put into oven for about 8-10 minutes or until cheese is melted and golden delicious. Mmmmm.
13. Decorate with baby mozzarella.
14. Eat with friends. :)
15. Make another pizza with second portion of dough, you will need it.

5 minutes? Mocha mug cake!!!!

Does this look tempting? I made this today and it was absolutely sensational. I just had to share it all with you. It's the perfect treat to enjoy on a cold, rainy day. So print it out, put the kettle on for a cup of coffee and make this devilish treat and have it ready to eat before the kettle boils.

Mocha Mug Cake in 5 minutes

4 Tbs flour, sifted

4 Tbs sugar

2 Tbs cocoa, sifted

1 egg

2 Tbs milk

1/2 tsp instant coffee dissolved in 1 tsp boiling water

1 Tb vegetable oil

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

2 Tbs Chocolate Chips

1 Coffee Mug

Do it like this...

Put all ingredients in mug except chocolate chips and mix well. Make sure that you get all the flour from the bottom of the mug. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Put mug into the microwave and nuke for 3 minutes on full power @ 1000 watts.

Eat straight from mug with a spoon. Chocolate chips sink down to the bottom and make awesome chocolatey gooeyness.

Nom nom nom.

This recipe is too tempting to avoid, as you are basically only 5 minutes away from a warm mocha treat all the time. Best enjoyed while knitting!!! :)

February lady sweater update & a bit of life

I am on day 9 of knitting this sweater and it's really coming along fast! I am up to ball #7 of yarn now, which is mindblowing! I have never done a project this big before, let alone knit a project like this in such a short period of time.

From 9 balls of this:



Yoke:



Body done:



Lace closeup:



Now I am on to the sleeves. Since they are knit in the round, it is a lot quicker. I am planning to knit up 1 ball of yarn per sleeve, then see how long they are. I want it to be elbow length, since when I am wearing a sweater or cardigan, I push the sleeves up anyway.

Just to prove that I do things other than knit, here's a cake that I baked on the weekend:



It's called gugelhupf. It's a German cake, therefore hubby loves it. It's rich, buttery and very very nice. Because I am also nice, I will share the recipe with you.

Ingredients:

250g unsalted butter
250g caster sugar
4 eggs, beaten
500g self raising flour
125mls milk
few drops of vanilla exxence
handful of chocolate chips
handful of sultanas

Cream butter and sugar. Add beaten eggs. Stir in flour, milk and vanilla. Stir sultanas and chocolate chips. Place into a gugelhupf pan & smooth top. Bake at 180 degrees celcius (fan forced oven) for 40-50 minutes. Dust with icing sugar and eat.

Traditionally, this is served at breakfast. In our house, this is often the case. :D

In case my weekend wasn't busy enough with knitting and baking, we took the little man around for a playdate. He had a ball bouncing on the trampoline, squealing with joy.



See his pants? They were a gift from the awesome Ali. They fit him wonderfully and they are so soft to touch. They are woolybottoms and are made from wool and cashmere. Fancy that? Cashmere for a baby! Lucky boy!