COOKIE MONSTER CUPCAKES!!!!

OMG!!!!! So last night me and Carly made Cookie Monster Cupcakes!!! And WOW they are soooooo cool!!!

I have yet to eat one tho because when we were making them I ate far far far too much butter cream icing that now I feel a bit sick thinking about it! But I'm sure later today I'll be craving the icing and the cake of course :D 

The best thing about them is that its not just boring sponge mix for the cake its Rhubarb and Ginger so a bit fancy too! The recipe for the sponge is from The Primrose Bakery Book but instead of using fresh Rhubarb as there wasn't any available atm we used tinned which is almost as good. For the Topping we made a vanilla butter cream icing with blue food colouring in it. And the fluffy bit is coconut. I put a load in a bowl and added food colouring and mixed really well until desired colour. Then laid it out on a baking sheet till dried then it was sprinkled onto the icing which was put on the cake by spoon. For the eyes we used white chocolate buttons and choc drops stuck on with icing. Then for the cookie use any type you like, we just used supermarket ones. Once the cake is iced and the coconut is on it make a slit through the icing and cake to fit in the cookie. Then put the eyes on after.

The cupcake would have looked nice also with a bit of the blue icing on and a little coconut sprinkled on the top too. Also what would be fun would be to change the colours of the icing and coconut and have some fun with it.

Invasion of the Cookie Monster in our fridge!

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Few Bits

OK so I thought id post a few pics of things me and Carly have made in the kitchen over the last few months as we are really getting into cooking, and now making preserves and chutneys :D

Rhubarb Syllabub! This was absolutely delicious! 

Recipe:

Few sticks of Rhubarb cut into small chunks

1-2 pieces of Stem Ginger finely chopped

few tbsp Stem Ginger Syrup

75g Caster Sugar
100ml White Wine

100g Mascarpone

300ml Double Cream

50g Icing Sugar

Put the Rhubarb, Ginger, Caster Sugar and White Wine into a pan. Bring to the boil then simmer till Rhubarb is soft and slightly broken down.
Meanwhile Whisk together the Mascarpone, Cream and Icing Sugar to soft peaks then fold in the Ginger Syrup. 

Let the Rhubarb mixture cool right down in the fridge with the cream mixture for about 30 min to an hour.

To serve use small pretty glasses or bowls and layer the mixtures alternately, then enjoy!! 

Smoked Mackerel and Horseradish Salad

Serves 4

4 Fillets Smoked Mackerel 

1 bag New Potatoes

2-4 tbsp Horseradish (depending how hot you like it)

Juice of 2 Lemons

Tub of Creme Fraiche

1-2 bags of watercress and rocket salad or any salad of your choice.

Boil the New Potatoes in salted water until cooked.

Meanwhile make the dressing by mixing the Creme Fraiche, Horseradish and Lemon juice. Add some black pepper but not any salt as the fish is quite salty and the potatoes have already been seasoned.

Drain the potatoes and set aside to cool for a few minutes. when cooled a little mix in the dressing and flake in the fish (but not the skin). Mix together Gently and serve on the salad leaves.

For an added extra bit of healthyness we added some Tender Stem Broccoli as it needed using up and it worked really well with it. Also a wedge of Lemon for some extra ZING!

Our Home-made Strawberry and Gooseberry Jams :D

Millions of recipes and be found on Google.

I haven't tried any of them yet but Carly has and says the strawberry is yum! Yet to try the Gooseberry which was our first ever jam eeek!

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