Blissfully Sweet: Christmas

Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts

A Nutty Chocolate Upside Down Pav Martini

WOW - try saying that 3 times fast!

More entertaining over the weekend and decided to vamp up my Nutty Chocolate Pavlova (see recipe here). I love to individually serve food ... unsure why, maybe I am just secretly selfish with my food (well that is no secret), but I think more so because I think it always looks prettier! It is ALL about the aesthetics!

So I wanted to use my martini glasses for other than their other delicious reason. So I thought turn it upside down! I am a crazy kind of gal!

Very easy to do - a circled the size of the top of the martini glass on baking paper and turned upside down on my sheet pan. I then piped my pav mixture around inside the circle. Bake as desired and all done.

I used strawberries instead this time because they were so divine! I sliced these in the bottom of the glass and topped with chantilly cream and then the pav sat on top. They looked fab, but they ate even better!

Enjoy!

My Pesto & Meatballs ... a recipe for a dozen different things

Pesto really is the easiest thing in the world to make! Nothing smells more to summer to me than fresh basil. I love also the fact that you can use it in so many different ways.

I wanted to share with you my recipe for pesto as well as my not-so-secret-anymore recipe for meatballs. Recently I presented at the Working Mums Masterclass Christmas Styling Event on Christmas food ideas. I made a few different cocktail food options and one that went down extremely well, was my pesto with meatballs. I served these meatballs on a bed of the pesto in chinese spoons. Such an easy way to present this yummy treat and easy for your guests to eat and talk.

My sons love their GREEN pasta and it is such a easy and simple dinner to make at a snap.

I also used the pesto as a spread on bruschetta bread and topped with some fresh sliced tomatoes and goats cheese. A different take on caprese salad and bruschetta!

The list is endless on how to use this fabulous pesto recipe. The previous week, I filled and rolled a deboned shoulder of lamb with a smothering of this pesto and then layered roasted red capsicums and fetta cheese. We cooked it in our BBQ with the hood closed and it was SCRUMPTIOUS with a capital S!

These beautiful little apothecary jars are from Sweet Style and this is a great homemade Christmas gift!

Perfect Pesto

1 bunch of basil leaves

1 clove of garlic

100 gms pine nuts

1/2 cup grated parmesan

150mls extra virgin olive oil

lemon juice

Blend the basil leaves, garlic, pine nuts and parmesan in a food processor. Process until it has a sandy consistency. Then slowly drizzle in the olive oil until the pesto has a smooth consistency. I then add my lemon juice. Please note I am a lemon addict and my pesto tends to be lemony, which I find lends really well with the basil and oil. I usually add the juice of 1/2 to 1 lemon. Taste and adjust as required. Add salt and pepper as desired.

Blissfully Sweet Meatballs

½ kg veal mince

½ kg pork mince
1 large onion, grated
1 medium-large carrot, grated
3 eggs
¼ cup milk
1 cup breadcrumbs
1/3 cup parmesan, grated
Herbs to taste (I use garlic salt, Italian herbs, All Seasoning)
1 tbs salt

Preheat the oven to 200oC

Lightly whisk the eggs with the milk. Add the salt and herbs. These are to taste and can be varied to what you like. Then whisk in the breadcrumbs and the parmesan. The mixture should be very thick, almost crumbly. If too wet, add more breadcrumbs and if too dry, add a little more milk. Then add the two minces and mix thoroughly together with your hands until well combined.

When rolling my meatballs, I do not make them too large, as I find they tend to be drier.   Mine are usually just a little smaller than a ping pong ball.   Roll your meatballs well.   This can be done ahead of time and kept refrigerated or covered and kept in the freezer ready for another day.

Preheat your oven to 180oC.   To fry, put a small amount of oil in your pan and then brown the meatballs on all sides.   I then layer then on a baking sheet pan and then cook them through in the oven for an extra 15 minutes.
Serve on a bed of the pesto and yummo!

* This meatball recipe can be used for sausage rolls as well as hamburgers.   My sons love these meatballs in their pasta sauce.   Make your usual pasta sauce recipe and then after you have browned your meatballs, throw them in the sauce and let them simmer and stew!

** I have used pork and veal mince for this recipe.   You can easily make these chicken or turkey meatballs by substituting the pork and veal for a mix of breast and thigh chickey or turkey mince.

I hope you enjoy!

Pre-Christmas Lunch Table

We had the godparents for the 3 boys over for Christmas lunch on Sunday. It was a busy morning with a wedding cake delivery to do first thing, but I wanted to make it a little more special and decided to dress the table up.

My colour inspiration for the table came from Ferrero Rocher chocolates. I wanted to stick with a base of natural colours, as it would be outdoors and then use some colours to highlight. I stayed with the ombre of bronze, gold and silver. This is very easy for me, as I have a lot of these colours in my home. I also dressed a natural wreath in dangling baubles and hung from above the table. I love this. I wish I could find more of those wreaths!

The mirrored placemats I used again (from my 40th) and then just piled around some pillar candles, baubles piled in beautiful compotes as well as some little whimsical wire Christmas trees. I didn't want to go and spend alot of money on things just for this occasion, instead I found my treasured objects and showcased them. I loved the metallic ombre colour scheme and the mirrors made everything shine and gave it a real luxe feel.

The menu was fantastic, if I say so myself (all prepared and made by moi):

Starters:
Homemade Babaganoush with woodfired bread
Entree:
BBQed king prawns with herb butter and a light green salad
Main:
Deboned shoulder of lamb stuffed and rolled with roasted capsicum, pesto and fetta cheese. (This was cooked beautifully by hubby on the BBQ)
Sides:
Mixed tomatoes, with buffalo bocconcini and basil salad
Roasted thyme potatoes
Dessert:
Tiered nutty chocolate pavlova with chantilly cream, blueberries and crushed pistacchios (recipe in my post here)
Chocolate and ricotta cake with mixed berries (this was made by my gorgeous friend Silvia!).

It was a beautiful day with great and treasured friends!

The table. The mirrors and colours gave it a luxe feel.

The table components. The ferrero balls that were my initial colour inspiration. I will be using the same ferreros for my Christmas Day table, but displayed slightly differently! ;P

Looking down over the table through the baubled wreath! I do not want to take this down! :)

Tiered nutty chocolate pavlova with chantilly cream, blueberries and crushed pistacchios (recipe in my post here). I used this different serving variation and loved the effect. I may even try something different on Christmas Day! My friend Silvia bought over a delicious chocolate cake that had a ricotta layer baked in the middle. A simple dusting of icing sugar and some mixed berries on top .... and YUMMO!

and the wreath hanging at the end of the night under our fairy light bedecked back porch. The perfect end to a great day with the best of friends! This is what Christmas is all about!

Nutty Chocolate Pavlova by Blissfully Sweet

Let me start by saying that this is the EASIEST recipe to try and you can do it in sooo many different ways!

Christmas at our place usually concludes with a pavlova, of some variety!   Nothing beats a pav!   I mean seriously, after a huge lunch or dinner and it is generally hot, the last thing we feel like at our place is something heavy for dessert!   Something light, something flavourful .... something YUM basically!

This nutty chocolate pav fits the bill!   Not only does it deliver on flavour, it is easy and it is a show stopper!

I made this recipe and the pavlova tree design for the Christmas Issue of My Little Jedi, see the link to the magazine here.   Below you will see 3 different versions of the same recipe: the pavlova tree, the pavlova in a jar and the 3 tiered pavlova.   You can also make mini individual pavlovas for cocktails.

First up is the Pavolva Tree.   Below are some photos of the pavlova tree assembly and just how easy it is to make (maybe 2 minutes it took!).

All photos are courtesy of Sweet Style.

Version 2 of this pavlova, is the pav in the jar. This is great as take home gifts or a nice little homemade Christmas gift. Do the same assembly as the tree, just ensure that when you make your rounds of pavlova shells, that you make them small enough to fit inside the jar.

Secure the jar with a nice tag and bingo, pav in a jar! Why not even give your gifts the recipe as a bonus!

Try and make these as close to giving as possible and leave refrigerated!

The thrid version is the tiered pavlova. I decided to make a 3 tiered version of this same recipe for a Christmas lunch. It was a hit! So yummy and a put the oven temperature up a little higher (+20oC) and the meringue was a little chewier and it was sooooo yummy!

There you are - same recipe, three different ways! I can already think of even more ways!!

Nutty Chocolate Pavlova Tree Recipe

6 egg whites (room temperature)
330 gms caster sugar
1 tbs cornflour
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
25gms cocoa powder
6 Ferrero chocolates, crushed
600mls thickened cream
1 vanilla bean, scraped
1/3 cup icing sugar
Pistacchio nuts, hulled and crushed
Punnet of blueberries

1. Preheat oven to 140°C. Line 2 baking trays with baking paper.

2. Using an electric mixer, beat eggwhites in a large bowl until soft peaks form. Gradually add in the caster sugar. Continue beating until meringue is thick and glossy, about 5-7 minutes. Sift cocoa powder into meringue and fold in the crushed ferrero chocolates.

3. If making the pavlova tree, spoon the meringue mixture into rounds on your baking paper using different size circles. This will achieve the Christmas tree cone shape. Make as many rounds as you like and make the tree as high or wide as you like.

4. Put the trays in the oven and immediately lower the temperature to 120°C. Depending on the size of your shells the cooking time will take between 1 and 1½ hours. Keep checking. The shells will be ready when the surfaces are hard. Turn the oven off and leave the door ajar until the oven is cooled.

5. To make chantilly cream, beat thickened cream together with the scraped vanilla bean and icing sugar until stiff peaks are achieved.

6. To assemble, get your favourite cake stand or plate and place a small blob of cream on the stand and start layering the pavlova shells, with the larger circles on the bottom and work your way up. In between each layer, pipe the chantilly cream with sprinkle with the pistachio nuts and blueberries. Top the tree with a swirl of cream and a luscious blueberry.

7. Serve and enjoy!

** To make the pavlova in the jar, make the circles small enough to fit inside the jar.
*** To make the tiered pavlova, make the tiers the desired sizes. To achieve the tiered look, make 3 different size circles.

Recipe by Blissfully Sweet
Jars, Printables and cake stand Sweet Style
Photography Sweet Style

25 Days of Inspiration, a Revelation & a Resolution!

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Unlike the chicken and the egg story, I know what came first ... the inspiration not the revelation. However, the two have now come together and become a resolution!

To start from the beginning would be a good start! :)

In the madness that has been November, and most of 2011 for that fact, I have had something niggling in the back of my mind.   Not that it is not in the front of mind most of the time, but it is now screaming at me for attention!   OK .... I am still jumping ahead!

To know me before Blissfully Sweet (BS), would be to know a slightly different variation.   All the same mainly, but at the moment there are a few things amiss!   To all and sundry for as long as I can remember, I have been known as " the organiser", the "Martha", the "person to go to".   I think I always have been really.   Memories of organising dinner parties for my parents when I was 11 years old and making out my own menus with choices and ensuring I wanted to have the right servingware .... yep, definitely always been! Do not get me wrong, I still am those things, but inside my mind, something was screaming! .....not something, someone and it was me!

I have many faults (which I refuse to list here lol), but my main fault or inability at the moment is to say NO!   I have always been a pleaser, wanting to achieve, or even overachieve at everything I do. I think it is the scorpion in me and also the fact that I am definitely my mother's daughter!   I refuse to believe that I cannot do anything I put my mind to (except singing I think) and have always lived my life like that, fearless and determined.

When I started this venture, I suppose I was naive in wondering where it would lead to. I was a self taught wannabe cake decorator with only one goal - to make people happy with cakes!   The beauty of this dream was that I could achieve it from my own home and that I would be able to enjoy time with my family and still be able to nurture them, as well as my own creative soul, and hopefully even a business.

Like all of us in this same business, I am sure we all started with nervous quiverings of anxiety and hoping that it will be good enough!   Our main strength, and foe, is our own critical eyes - we see everything! The good, the bad, the forgotten.   The main critic we fight with everyday is ourselves!

I was lucky from the first I think.   However I do not see it as luck, I see it as a reward of persistence!   I worked with client's that were easy to deal with and were excited about what I could do for them. Word of mouth spread and 3.5 years later, I can say that I have never had a week without an order or preparation to be made. I feel very proud that a large majority of my clientele are repeat customers as well as referred customers. I still get bewildered when I get very excited requests from clients that have seen my work online.   I say all this not to toot my own trumpet, because if you know me, you know this is not true.   I say this as background information.

2011 has been by far the busiest time of my life on all counts - personally and business wise.   I have 3 boys - Liam aged 8, Ben aged 5 and Noah aged 14 months.   This alone tells you of a busy personal life.   However I am very lucky to be married to a man that grounds me everyday and is my best friend.   My boys adore him as much as I and without his constant support, none of this would be possible.

From a business point of view, 2011 has had many highs!   I have had the priviledge of collaborating with exceptional stylists that I could only previously admire.   I now call one of them a dear friend, Leanne of Sweet Style, and associate with many others whose work I so admire.   I have had the opportunity in this year to create some beautiful cakes for clients who have given me free reign, which always excites me.  I have made 3 beautiful birthday parties for my boys this year and another for my gorgeous nieces.   I have also been featured on the Amy Atlas blog 5 times since August. I have presented at workshops on food styling and have had my cakes and treats photographed on beautiful tables for outstanding online publications like Birds Party, The Party Dress and My Little Jedi. One of the highlights was being asked to design and make a cake for Cosmo Bride magazine - still excited when I think about it.   My mind is still a whir when I think about the past year!   Such a ball, but again, inside my mind, I am screaming!

I started this venture to try to be everything to everyone and I realise now that maybe I cannot. However, with the beauty of hindsight, I think I still can be that, but I need to prioritise a little better.   Not the cakes though - I need to prioritise ME and also the people who need me the most!

It is with a sad heart that I admit that in the whir of 2011, in the wake of lots of cakes, my family has been left behind, as well as my organised life and organised mind!   Something needs to give!

So I made a revelation that will now become a resolution for 2012 and onwards.

I will start to say NO more
I will ask for HELP

You actually do not know how hard that conclusion was to come to! However, when the penny did drop, it dropped hard and loud and I heard it!

2012 will be a year filled with wonderful opportunities I hope, as well as creative and magnificent cakes to make.    I am completely addicted to the process and LOVE everything about what I do. I feel very priviledged to have the wonderful blessings I do.    I feel like after 40 years I have finally found ME, the me that was waiting.    So bring on a new year with new challenges. However they will be scheduled in AROUND my family and NOT my family around the cakes.   My family need me and I NEED THEM!   I also need my cakes! They give me a sense of my own creative side and to know that this is my niche.

Which leads me onto my 25 days of inspiration!

While laying in bed and scouring magazines, as is my norm, I found something that made me think.   It was an article about 365 days of inspiration.   The article's main point was that every day during that time, this person would avidly look at the inspiration in their daily life, and capture it in photos to remember and remind ourselves about the daily things that really do amount up to the people we are.

So I thought, perfect! I would like to do this in line with my relevation and resolution.   It would be a great chance to practice some photography (another favourite thing) and to put in a journal form as such, the everyday blessings that form my everyday life.   It is also a perfect time, as I am now in the wind down to Christmas and I wanted to ensure that I had this special time available for my family to celebrate the small things together.   I am a COMPLETE CHRISTMAS NUT!   I love everything about it and through this, I think that I will be able to be given a healthy reminder about my initial inspiration!

So, on this last day of November, I leave you with this first photo - titled:

"MAGICAL MEMORIES AND WHERE THEY LEAD".

During this wind down, I am taking the opportunity to spring clean out my pantry, my cook books (I am embarrassed of the size of this collection!) and my new "consultation room". I came across this book late last night and it had sooo many memories. It was my mums. I remember her making our cakes from these pages and I thought this is the perfect first photo to show where it started from .... and I took it in my new room. I love the 60s feel I gave to the photo! It does take me back .....

I will be posting up every few days with my new photos and hope that you will enjoy this small glimpse into my daily inspiration.

I thank you for the time that you take in reading, commenting and appreciating my work. It really is the creative soul of me that shines when I hear such beautiful feedback. Enjoy this beautiful and festive season and I hope that this month leading up to Christmas is joyful, restful and filled with many days of inspiration!

x

A Blissfully Sweet Christmas Wish List

I have been tagged by the ever so lovely and stylish Leanne at Sweet Style and asked to make up my own Christmas Wish List!

WOW! Where to start? I pondered and then I came back to where my tastes lie - classic, vintage, New Hamptons! Me to a T!

Over my mini hiatus at Christmas, I am tidying up my "consultation room" and trying to get it something like those beautiful images above. I love classic lines with character! Mmmm .... lets see what we can achieve - all those may be a little big for Santa's sack! Onto the more realistic!

1. Most people know I am a huge Swarovski devotee and literally have a small shop. However, these beautiful little danglers are perfect for everyday!

2. Vera Wang silver tray. I received the square one for my birthday recently and would love to have the matching rectangle one.

3. I love silver/pewter/anything antique really. When I found this image, I loved it all. I want all those beautiful stands and little compotes.

4. A holiday. Maybe not quite laying on a deckchair in Positano, not yet anyway, however a little sojourn somewhere just with me and my boys ..... bliss!

5. Love this dress at Country Road. Perfect for summer cocktails.

6. Oroton Signature Hobo Bag. Now I know Santa will bring this, because I just purchased it for myself online! Love classic Oroton!

Now onto tagging some of my favourite blogs:

Hope Santa brings all you ask for .... and maybe a little bit more!

Christmas Cookie Swap 2011

I was contacted a little while back by the oh so fabulous Linda from Bubble & Sweet. I have admired Linda's work for quite some time now and her email had me thrilled and flattered at the same time.

She wanted to arrange for a cookie swap! She had enlisted 5 other (including herself) cookie artisans and wanted me to join the ranks! Seeing that cookies is not really what I am known for, I was very pleased to be associated with this group of ladies!

The rules were simple, create and make a small group of cookies to send off to one of the other cookie artists. The theme of course was Christmas and the rest was left to our imaginations. The draw was anonymous, so we only knew who to send our cookies to and not who we would get it from .... are the suspense! Now, what to do???

I immediately thought of one of our own household traditions. Writing letters to Santa, so that became my theme and I decided on stamps, an envelope and letter. As I will quite openly admit to piping not being my forte, I decided to handpaint my decorations! This is more my style!

At the last minute before these were sent, I found these adorable mini mailboxes from the Little Big Company and knew that I had found the right thing to send my cookies in!

Come now and look inside my cookie package:

You've got mail!

The stamps, the airmail envelope and the handscribed note to Santa!

So on Monday, I sent my care package off to my secret swappee. I can reveal now that my cookies were made especially for Three Honey Bees. Very nervous about sending them, mainly hoping that they would get there in one piece, but also that they would cut the muster!

The next day, my birthday, I received the best present ..... my cookies arrived and when I saw who they were from I squealed with delight! Noo from Dessert Menu Please was my cookie maker - how lucky am I?! I have admired Noo's cookies FOREVER and to see them in the flesh was fantastic!

Excited to rip it open! A beautiful little note from Noo and beautiful boxed cookies!

Hopefully they have photographed as beautiful as they are! My own Blissfully Sweet cookie shop window cookies! They all jigsaw together as well! Such beautiful attention to detail and of course the piping, gorgeous!

Thank you soooo much Noo!

There was also another special surprise from the Cookie Swap organiser, Linda from Bubble & Sweet. She had sent us all a little sampler pack of cookies! How sweet is she? My mouth gaped open in awe when I opened them - just beautiful!

Thank you Linda for this fabulous idea and including me in on the fun!
Thank you to the other lovely ladies for taking part! You can visit their fantastic online sites here:

An "Apple" Christmas Cake for Dedicated Teachers

I wanted to make a small cake for Liam's teachers because they have done such a fabulous job throughout the year and I wanted to say thank you!

I did not want to make a usual Christmas style cake, but something a little different.

So I decided on an apple, but a very sweet one!

So I included Santa's Little Helper to hold the cake message with a sprig of holly to finish it off.

Everything is handmade and completely edible.

The cakes are chocolate mud cake with dark chocolate ganache.

Handpainted and shiny as a really apple!

A cheeky little elf

An apple each for the teachers.

Merry Christmas!

:o)

More Christmas Cupcakes ......

Tis the season ........

36 Christmas cupcakes to celebrate the festive season the Aussie way .... with a pool party!

I am already feeling festive ......

Cakes & More at Christmas Carnivale

More than a few months in the planning, but the day finally came for the bi-annual Christmas Carnivale for Liam's school, St Charles.

Myself and the delightful Lisa Anderson ran the cakes stall, Cakes & More, and we killed it!!

Not only did we have a dedicated staff of beautiful mums who helped on the day as well in the months leading up, we were blown away by the generous baking donations of our wonderful school community.

setting up on the day

I am Cakes and Lisa is More and together we are one great team ... she is the best!

Even more beautiful women. Every single woman has a small empire to run (their own family) and yet they generously gave so much of their time on the day - it was great!!