Too Cute To Resist

I went to a quiz night on Saturday with some of the mums from Offspring #1's school. We'd decided that we'd take a plate of nibblies each, figuring that at least we'd have something yummy to eat if the quiz questions were too hard! As usual, I left it till the last minute to decide what to make and was catching up on a few blogs when some gorgeous little morsels caught my eye.

Those of you who read The Pioneer Woman might have seen that she recently had guests to stay at her fabulously remodelled Lodge. Chief amongst the guests was Bakerella who showed the others how to make, among other things, Cake Balls. They looked irresistible but upon further investigation I wasn't entirely sure I'd not put my whole table into a diabetic coma so I made a couple of changes and came up with something sweet and pretty that was made to feel very welcome at Table 21! It wasn't brain surgery - I bought (nope, didn't make it sorry!) a nice moist Madeira cake, crumbled it and then squished it into balls. I popped them into the freezer to firm up and then dipped them in melted chocolate and drizzled white chocolate over for decoration. As you can see I had a go at some white chocolate ones too and they were a big hit with the kids.

Although I was pleased with how these turned out I didn't think they were much of a contribution in the scheme of things so I also whipped up an Olive and Feta Focaccia - I love this more and more each time I make it. For someone who has never been a big fan of olives I'm fast changing my mind.

I'm Not Convinced

My usual caramel tart recipe turns out a wickedly delicious result everytime but... it's a bit fiddly. When I saw this recipe for caramel tarts in a cookbook I was given for my birthday I thought I'd give it a go. It had fewer steps, fewer ingredients and looked simple. Then I discovered that I've lost the knack of making caramel, even the easier-than-easy, fools version of caramel. Gone. Kaput. Over.

I burnt the first batch. Probably should have just stopped there but I'm nothing if not stubborn so I soldiered on and had a good go at stuffing up the next lot too. I saved it, sort of, but I wasn't exactly happy with the result.

You'd think, after that lead up, I just wouldn't bother posting this recipe. After all, I don't blog every single thing I cook. Some aren't worth it, some don't turn out and some are just too much of a pain for me to suggest that people have a go at it. And I wouldn't have except for one little thing. Almost everyone who tried one thought they were great. And they asked for the recipe. And a few even said they'd like to make them. So in the interests of... something, here's the recipe.

Caramel Tarts

from The Australian Women's Weekly Little Pies and Cakes

18 butternut snap biscuits

395g can sweetened condensed milk

60g butter, chopped coarsely

1/3 cup (75g) firmly packed brown sugar

1 tablespoon lemon juice (yep, I even put this in!)

1. Preheat oven to 160C. Grease two 12-hole shallow round-based patty pans.

2. Place one biscuit each over the top of 18 pan holes. Bake about 4 minutes, or until biscuits soften. Using the back of a teaspoon, gently press softened biscuits into pan holes; cool.

3. Combine condensed milk, butter and sugar in small heavy-based saucepan; stir over heat until smooth. Bring to the boil; boil, stirring, about 10 minutes or until mixture is thick and dark caramel in colour. Remove from heat; sir in juice.

4. Divide mixture among biscuit cases; refrigerate 30 minutes or until set.

Worth The Wait

I have had this recipe in the Ugly Binder for nearly a year and kept avoiding it because I thought it would be tricky, time-consuming and more effort than I could cope with. Gee, was I wrong or what! These cinnamon scrolls were really easy to make, really easy to eat and were enjoyed by all who tasted them.

Cinnamon Scrolls
from Super Food Ideas, September 2006

1 quantity basic scroll dough

150g butter, softened

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

3 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon white sugar

Basic Scroll Dough

3 cups self-raising flour

50g butter, chilled, chopped

1 1/4 cups milk

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Line a baking tray with baking paper.

2. Make basic scroll dough: sift flour into a large bowl. Add butter. Using your fingertips, rub flour into butter until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Make a well in the centre. Add milk. Using a knife, mix together to form a soft dough.

3. Turn dough onto a lightly-floured surface. Knead lightly until smooth. Roll out to a 30cm x 40cm rectangle with 1 short end closest to you.

4. Beat 125g butter, brown sugar , vanilla and two teaspoons cinnamon until pale and creamy. Spread over dough, leaving a 2cm border along short end furthest from you.

5. Starting from the short end closest to you, roll up dough like a Swiss roll. Using a sharp knife, trim end then cut rolls into 9 even slices (use a light sawing motion so you don't squish it!). Lay scrolls flat in 3 rows on prepared tray, allowing a 2 cm space between each. Bake for 25 minutes, or until light golden. Stand for 5 minutes on tray.

6. Heat remaining 25g butter in a heatproof, microwave -safe bowl. Stir in white sugar and remaining cinnamon. Brush over scrolls. (I kind of messed this up a bit and threw all the butter into the spread mix and didn't feel that it needed any more! I just sprinkled some white sugar on the scrolls as soon as they came out of the oven and it stuck very nicely.)

By Popular Request

Okay so one person asked for it, but with my limited audience that merits the 'popular request' tag so... here is the perfect Honey Joy recipe. It has been handed down from generation to generation ( although it's probably on the back of the cornflakes packet) so treat it with care, treasure it, enjoy the end product BUT don't make them too often or they just won't be special anymore!

Honey Joys

3oz butter
3oz sugar
1 Tablespoon honey
3 cups cornflakes
1 Tablespoon coconut

Combine cornflakes and coconut in a large bowl. Put butter, sugar and honey in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Boil 8 minutes then add to the conflakes/coconut. Mix thoroughly, but be careful not to crush the cornflakes too much. Spoon into paper cup cake holders. If you are being really fancy you can decorate with coloured sprinkles (or for those in Australia who have, by some bizarre feat managed to never taste honey joys, sprinkle with 100's and 1000's) .

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Big thankyous to those who left comments, you made me feel not quite so alone - except the self-proclaimed Protea King. You know who you are and you also know that you spoke to Hubby far longer than I spoke to your beautiful wife on the phone this evening!

Speaking of which, we had a lovely chat with the former Across-The-Roads tonight. It was so great to chat with them and catch up on their news. Offspring #1 loved talking to their kids who he used to see at least once every single day. He talks about them constantly and it makes me so sad that by making this move we took him away from R and J, especially J who is roughly the same age and adored by Offspring #1. On days that Offspring # 1 is not travelling so well all I hear is "I miss J, when can we see him again" and I'm afraid that telling him we'll see them all at Christmas doesn't do much to ease the pain for him or the guilt for me. It's all very well telling myself he's 4 and he'll get over it but a Mummy's guilt is a powerful force. It really doesn't help that in the list of The Top 5 Things I Miss the very same people are high on the list.

People in this town just aren't neighbourly like they are/were at home. We lived in a quiet street, with slightly-larger-than-average blocks on the outskirts of the metro area and all waved to the neighbours, said hi as they wandered past the front gate and chatted with them over the fence. The Across-The-Roads and the Next-Doors were the same age as us and our kids all fitted in together age-wise. It was great to be able to pass a kid over the fence for half and hour, or yell out that the kettle was boiling and did anyone want coffee, or run across and borrow whatever you needed. These people were such an important part of our everyday life and that interaction is what I miss so much. Our new neighbours are... interesting. On one side are a young couple with a couple of kids, lots of yelling and a number of late night Friday drinks with friends. Unfortunately their entertaining area is right next to our front door and sometimes it sounds like they are about to come through the door. Meanwhile, across the road are a very young couple with even more yelling, a baby, several car wrecks littering the yard and, as of this week a lounge suite, in their carport. They seem to prefer sitting in the carport to using their lounge-room or even the back patio. Of course, I realise this is not helped by living on an average sized suburban block for the first time in several years. But I have to say, as much as I miss neighbourly interaction, I don't think I'll be inviting any of this lot in for a cuppa anytime soon.

Question of the day: Are your friendly with your neighbours? Do you want to be?