Caramel and Pecan Fudge

Every year around Christmas my dad makes fudge to bring in to work and sometimes I help him make it. It is kind of like a tradition in our family. My favourite fudge that he makes is Pecan Caramel fudge. Mmmm! Here's what you will need to make this delicious fudge:

• 600ml cream
• 125g butter
• 1 cup caster sugar
• 2tbsp golden syrup
• 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
  
  

Simmer the cream in a medium pot for 15-20 mins or until reduced by half.


Add the butter,

sugar,

and golden syrup. Simmer and stir until caramel is Golden and thick.

Like this! Add the pecans now.

Pour into a baking paper lined tin and refrigerate until set.

Once set, cut fudge into squares. We cut ours on the small side because they are quite rich and sweet.

One at a time place each square onto a piece of baking paper about 16x10cm in size.

Fold each long side over and twist ends to seal.

And there you have it! An easy treat to make for friends or family at Christmas!

Shortbread

I was looking for something to bake for Christmas and I thought I would go back to my Scottish background (my mum is Scottish) and bake some Scottish shortbread. The recipe is quite simple- there are only four ingredients. They are 250g butter, chopped; 1/3 cup caster sugar; 1/4 cup rice flour and 2 1/4 cups plain flour.

Beat the butter and sugar together with an electric mixer until smooth.

Sift the flours together, add to the butter and sugar and stir.

Press the mixture together to form a firm dough.

Knead on a floured surface until smooth.

Cut rounds about 7cm in diameter or press some of the mixture into an 11cm shortbread mould. We have a shortbread mould but it is smaller than 11cm so I just stamped it onto the 7cm rounds. If ya get what I mean :)

Bake the 11cm shortbread about 30 mins at 150 degrees C and the smaller ones about 20-25mins. Stand the shortbread on the trays for 5 mins before transferring to a wire rack to cool.

Enjoy! I will be doing more baking for Christmas and will post recipes and pictures. My dad also made some fudge this weekend and I took some pictures so I will put them up as well. I really want to make a gingerbread house but I don't know who would eat it! It would be fun to do though. I'm still not sure what else I will bake but I will keep looking for recipes.

Love,

Little Miss Cupcake.

Recipe adapted from Scottish Shortbread in the Australian Women's Weekly Christmas Book

Countdown to Christmas!

Yay! The countdown to Christmas is on! Only 16 days to go! This weekend we will be putting up our Christmas lights and next weekend we will get our Christmas tree. We have a wooden one (below) that my sister and I helped my dad make. It has hooks on it to hang decorations on.

Ainsley made this advent calender last year from material scraps. We filled it up with Magical Elves and other yummy chocolates!

This is our cute dog Lily wearing a Santa hat. She has grown so much since I last put pictures on here.

I made this wreath last year from twigs out of our garden. I wrapped the twigs around a thick piece of wire shaped into a circle and secured them with thinner pieces of wire. I also made the angel hanging inside the wreath. She has cloves for hair and a pair of wire wings.

That's all for now. I haven't been doing much baking lately but I will be doing some Christmas baking soon and will post pictures.

Lots of Love,

Little Miss Cupcake xx

Italy!!!

Ciao! At the time of my last blog post I was preparing for my school trip to Italy but I am now back home. It was my first time overseas and the longest time away from home but I survived! It was so much fun and it's an experience I'll never forget. I thought I would share some photos of the yummy food I ate in Italy.


Florence. One of my favourite cities that we visited. Not far from Ponte Vecchio I saw a shop selling fresh hot waffles... so of course I had to have one. Boy was it yummy! Not typically Italian but yummy all the same.

Cappuccino! I tried coffee for the first time in Venice. But the best cappuccino I had was at Florence at a bar. It was soooo good!

Gnocchi at Rome. Yummy! I had so much delicious pasta in Italy, but the highlight was probably lasagne al forno at my host family's house. You can't beat homemade!

Chocolate meringues at Venice. They looked so scrumptious I couldn't help taking a photo!

Strawberry meringues at Venice. I wish I tried one!

And of course gelati! I had so much gelati in Italy that towards the end of the trip I swore I wasn't going to have another one. That lasted about four days! Haha! These two flavours were hazelnut (my favourite!) and coconut.

That's all for now. I'll try and put up more photos if I get the time! xx

Focaccia con cipolle e rosmarino

Hello again! I'm afraid I have been neglecting my blog again! I have been so busy with school and preparing for my first overseas trip ever! I am going to Italy in less than a week which means I won't be able to blog for another 3-4 weeks after this. I am so excited though. I thought it was only fitting to share an Italian recipe with you before I go. This recipe is from a book called Mama's Italian Cookbook which my friend gave to me for my birthday. I love it Kelsey!
The recipe title translates to Flatbread with onion and rosemary. It was delicious!

You will need baker's flour, dried yeast, salt, fresh rosemary, extra virgin olive oil, 300ml lukewarm water, 1 red onion and coarse sea salt.

First measure 450g grams flour. Digital scales make measuring soooo much easier!




Place the flour into a large bowl. Add 1 1/2 teaspoons dried yeast.

Add 1/2 teaspoon salt.

Add 2 tablespoons chopped rosemary and mix together. Make a well in the centre.

Mix 3 tablespoons oil with the water in a jug.

Pour into the well.

Gradually mix the liquid into the flour mixture with a round bladed knife.

Gather mixture together with your hands to form a soft dough. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 8-10 mins until smooth and elastic.

Return to bowl and cover with a clean tea towel, then leave to rise in a warm place for 45-60 mins, or until doubled in size. This is the dough after about an hour.

Turn out and gently knead again for 1 minute or until smooth.

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C. Oil a baking sheet (or pizza tray like I used) Gently roll out dough to a round about 30cm in diameter. Technically I didn't roll out my dough I just flattened it out to the edge of the tray (which was 30cm in diameter).

Cover with a clean tea towel again and leave to rise in a warm place for 20-30 mins. I left mine near the fire. This is the dough before rising.

Meanwhile, slice the onion into thin slices and separate into rings. You may not need all of the onion.

After the dough has risen, make holes in the top (about 5cm apart) with the end of a wooden spoon.

Spread the onion rings over the dough, then drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt.

Bake for 20-25 mins in preheated oven.

Yum! Sprinkle with more fresh rosemary. Smells deeevine! I wish I had some now.

I took a big slice like a pizza. Enjoy!