Wednesday, March 31

Star man - A Beetle Kiss Collaboration

Is up for auction on OZeBaby - A very cute one for the boys out there.



My sister has flown away home again - very sad about that, poor Miss K is devastated that her cousin has gone home and even W is missing her too, they all played so well together. We'll see them again at Christmas but it just seems so far away. But my sister as always has some awesome suggestions on what I can do next, so keep your eye's peeled for those.

To that end though, of course no sewing was completed but the little ones are going to spend Easter with the grandparents at the beach, so I'll be sewing my little butt off over the Easter break. Nappies will be stocked randomly from Easter Saturday, I'll preview them as I get them finished. After the Easter long weekend, we have school holidays here so please don't expect any stock to arrive in store then. We are also in the midst of a bit of house refurbishing including the sewing room, so things might be hit and miss for a few weeks.

Sunday, March 28

March Daring Bakers

The 2010 March Daring Baker’s challenge was hosted by Jennifer of Chocolate Shavings. She chose Orange Tian as the challenge for this month, a dessert based on a recipe from Alain Ducasse’s Cooking School in Paris.



Okay as always I march to my own drum and orange marmalade just doesn't do it for me or any of the rest of the family, so we went with Strawberry Tian

My changes as always are in colour :)

Preparation time:
- Pate Sablee: 20 minutes to make, 30 minutes to rest, 15 minutes to roll out, 20 minutes to bake
- Marmalade: 20 minutes to make, 30 minutes to blanch
- Orange segments: 20 minutes, overnight to sit
- Caramel: 15 minutes, overnight to sit
- Whipped Cream: 15 minutes
- Assembling: 20 minutes
- Freezer to Set: 10 minutes

Equipment required:
• Cookie cutters . Ideally, you should have about 6 cookie cutters to build the desserts in and cut the circles of dough (see photo). The cookie cutters will be the size of your final dessert, so they should be the size of an individually-sized tart mold. If you don’t have round cookie cutters you could use an individually-sized cheesecake mold without its base.
• A food processor (although the dough could be made by hand too)
• A stand-up or hand mixer
• Parchment paper or a silicone sheet
• A baking sheet
• A rolling pin

I used a 24cm springform tin for ours.

For the Pate Sablee:

Ingredients U.S. Imperial Metric Instructions for Ingredients
2 medium-sized egg yolks at room temperature I used 1 whole egg
granulated sugar 6 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon; 2.8 oz; 80 grams
vanilla extract ½ teaspoon
Unsalted butter ¼ cup + 3 tablespoons; 3.5 oz; 100 grams ice cold, cubed
Salt 1/3 teaspoon; 2 grams I ditched the salt
All-purpose flour 1.5 cup + 2 tablespoons; 7 oz; 200 grams
baking powder 1 teaspoon ; 4 grams

Directions:
Put the flour, baking powder, ice cold cubed butter and salt in a food processor fitted with a steel blade.

In a separate bowl, add the eggs yolks, vanilla extract and sugar and beat with a whisk until the mixture is pale. Pour the egg mixture in the food processor.

Process until the dough just comes together. If you find that the dough is still a little too crumbly to come together, add a couple drops of water and process again to form a homogenous ball of dough. Form into a disc, cover with plastic wrap and leave to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Preheat your oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit.

Roll out the dough onto a lightly floured surface until you obtain a ¼ inch thick circle.

Using your cookie cutter, cut out circles of dough and place on a parchment (or silicone) lined baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes or until the circles of dough are just golden.



I put all my dry ingredients in the processor and then added the egg. It looked a bit dry, but I checked and it was actually quiet moist, when tipped out to combine into a ball, it did need a titch more water, but other than that is was perfect. I actually made two large discs rather than one. I used the ring of the springform tin to cut the right size.



For the Marmalade:

Ingredients U.S. Imperial Metric Instructions for Ingredients
Freshly pressed orange juice ¼ cup + 3 tablespoons; 3.5 oz; 100 grams
1 large orange used to make orange slices
cold water to cook the orange slices
pectin 5 grams
granulated sugar: use the same weight as the weight of orange slices once they are cooked

Finely slice the orange. Place the orange slices in a medium-sized pot filled with cold water. Simmer for about 10 minutes, discard the water, re-fill with cold water and blanch the oranges for another 10 minutes.

Blanch the orange slices 3 times. This process removes the bitterness from the orange peel, so it is essential to use a new batch of cold water every time when you blanch the slices.

Once blanched 3 times, drain the slices and let them cool.

Once they are cool enough to handle, finely mince them (using a knife or a food processor).

Weigh the slices and use the same amount of granulated sugar . If you don’t have a scale, you can place the slices in a cup measurer and use the same amount of sugar.

In a pot over medium heat, add the minced orange slices, the sugar you just weighed, the orange juice and the pectin. Cook until the mixture reaches a jam consistency (10-15 minutes).

Transfer to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and put in the fridge.

I made Strawberry Jam instead of the marmalade, using a microwave jam recipe, it was delicious, beautifully fresh and sweet but with a bit of tang.

To make use 250 g washed and hulled strawberries, cut in half. 3/4 cup of caster sugar and juice of half a lemon. Combine in a microwave safe bowl and then zap on high for 4 minutes. Then zap for another 7 - 8 minutes. I discovered after zapping for the next 3 that my jam had overflowed, so I just zapped at 1 minute intervals until the jam was set - I think 12 minutes all up. Then I allowed it too cool.




For the Orange Segments: I just used sliced strawberries, bugger that they are never uniform in size lol!!

For this step you will need 8 oranges.

Cut the oranges into segments over a shallow bowl and make sure to keep the juice. Add the segments to the bowl with the juice.

[See YouTube video in the References section below for additional information on segmenting oranges.]

For the Caramel: I made a half quantity, because I didn't read the instructions carefully enough oops! So 100 grams of caster sugar and a touch of water and I heated till bubbling, then I carefully added a few spoonfulls of the liquid jam (without the strawberries) and boiled until just caramel.

Ingredients U.S. Metric Imperial Instructions for Ingredients
granulated sugar 1 cup; 7 oz; 200 grams
orange juice 1.5 cups + 2 tablespoons; 14 oz; 400 grams

Place the sugar in a pan on medium heat and begin heating it.

Once the sugar starts to bubble and foam, slowly add the orange juice. As soon as the mixture starts boiling, remove from the heat and pour half of the mixture over the orange segments.

Reserve the other half of the caramel mixture in a small bowl — you will use this later to spoon over the finished dessert. When the dessert is assembled and setting in the freezer, heat the kept caramel sauce in a small saucepan over low heat until it thickens and just coats the back of a spoon (about 10 minutes). You can then spoon it over the orange tians.

[Tip: Be very careful when making the caramel — if you have never made caramel before, I would suggest making this step while you don’t have to worry about anything else. Bubbling sugar is extremely, extremely hot, so make sure you have a bowl of ice cold water in the kitchen in case anyone gets burnt!]

For the Whipped Cream:

Ingredients U.S. Metric Imperial Instructions for Ingredients
heavy whipping cream 1 cup; 7 oz; 200 grams
3 tablespoons of hot water
1 tsp Gelatine
1 tablespoon of confectioner's sugar
orange marmalade (see recipe above) 1 tablespoon

I folded diced leftover strawberry through the whipped cream





In a small bowl, add the gelatine and hot water, stirring well until the gelatine dissolves. Let the gelatine cool to room temperature while you make the whipped cream. Combine the cream in a chilled mixing bowl. Whip the cream using a hand mixer on low speed until the cream starts to thicken for about one minute. Add the confectioner sugar. Increase the speed to medium-high. Whip the cream until the beaters leave visible (but not lasting) trails in the cream, then add the cooled gelatine slowly while beating continuously. Continue whipping until the cream is light and fluffy and forms soft peaks. Transfer the whipped cream to a bowl and fold in the orange marmalade.
[Tip: Use an ice cold bowl to make the whipped cream in. You can do this by putting your mixing bowl, cream and beater in the fridge for 20 minutes prior to whipping the cream.]

Assembling the Dessert:

Make sure you have some room in your freezer. Ideally, you should be able to fit a small baking sheet or tray of desserts to set in the freezer.

Line a small tray or baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone sheet. Lay out 6 cookie cutters onto the parchment paper/silicone.

Drain the orange segments on a kitchen towel.

Have the marmalade, whipped cream and baked circles of dough ready to use.

Arrange the orange segments at the bottom of each cookie cutter. Make sure the segments all touch either and that there are no gaps. Make sure they fit snuggly and look pretty as they will end up being the top of the dessert. Arrange them as you would sliced apples when making an apple tart.

Once you have neatly arranged one layer of orange segments at the bottom of each cookie cutter, add a couple spoonfuls of whipped cream and gently spread it so that it fills the cookie cutter in an even layer. Leave about 1/4 inch at the top so there is room for dough circle.

Using a butter knife or small spoon, spread a small even layer of orange marmalade on each circle of dough.

Carefully place a circle of dough over each ring (the side of dough covered in marmalade should be the side touching the whipping cream). Gently press on the circle of dough to make sure the dessert is compact.

Place the desserts to set in the freezer to set for 10 minutes.

Using a small knife, gently go around the edges of the cookie cutter to make sure the dessert will be easy to unmold. Gently place your serving plate on top of a dessert (on top of the circle of dough) and turn the plate over. Gently remove the cookie cutter, add a spoonful of caramel sauce and serve immediately.

To assemble.

Place baking paper on the tray (spray lightly with oil which I didn't go and some of my toffee stuck). Arrange strawberries in a pleasing pattern (this isn't easy to do lol!)



Pour toffee over the strawberries (it will set)



Cover with the whipped cream, then a pastry disc spread with the jam, then more cream and then a pastry disc. Set in freezer about 20 minutes. Turn out and pour over more caramel - which I didn't have, since I only made half quantities. But it still tasted damn good :)



Resources:

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-tian.htm (An article about the dessert known as tian.)

YouTube link on how to segment an orange: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZG5mcEEBlcI

To learn more about Pectin: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pectin

What to substitute for Pectin: http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/Dictionary/P/Pectin-6222.aspx

Saturday, March 27

The Glass Bottomed Boat

Isn't she gorgeous!!!






She's going up here

Stocking of any nappies will be a bit thin on the ground over the next few days, as my sister is coming for a visit. I'll still try and get something up every day, but it may only be one or two items. Next item up will be a collaboration with the lovely Mel from Beetlebums over at my OZeBaby Store.

Friday, March 26

And now for something

Completely different lol!

Okay okay, I know it's hand dyed, but I'm loving these, they are still WIPs but I hope to have them finished today along with a couple of other surprises. I love them, I hope you do too!




And don't forget I'm giving away a nappy or two - at Cloth Nappies Made Easy - so invite a friend and share the love :)

You only have until the end of March to go into the draw.

Monday, March 22

Girly Fleece Nappies




I've put up 9 Girly Fleece nappies here

Sunday, March 14

Want to win a nappy?

Don't forget to pop along and join in at Cloth Nappies Made Easy

This is for a custom nappy to the value of $60 - as you know these are rare as Hen's teeth and you only have until the end of March to enter.

I won't be doing customs or semi-customs for a couple of months, so this maybe your last chance for awhile to nab one.

Don't forget that Gossamer Dreams stocks 15th March - Monday night at 8pm Queensland time.

After that, I should be back on track to stock something everyday from Wednesday to the end of the hunt. Stockings will remain random.

Wednesday, March 10

I love these .................

These are from the Gossamer Dreams Mystery Asian Auction, I think they turned out gorgeous

One is a Chinese Junk on mottled green with chinese letter on the sagey green front. The other is a Panda Bear, I quite adore him. The bamboo gave me some moment of oh my goodness what am I doing, but he turned out quite divinely I think. The bamboo leaves are hand embroidered for depth and a feature. All appliques are hand drawn by me and then appliqued on by machine but freehand, so no two are every exactly the same.





Sunday, March 7

What happens when a Beetle kisses a Cherub?

Some super gorgeous goodies and some surprises!!!



Here's a little girly set.

But we have another boyish one going up later today and a surprise! With more girly sets to follow :)

Pop on over to OZeBaby

Friday, March 5

Well what a week

Our computer suffered a catastrophic failure and can no longer be jollied along :( So it was off to computer heaven for them both and off to procure another one, which is lovely, but will take a bit of getting used to on my end.

Lots and lots of bucketing down rain, mostly when you pick up the kids from school, so lots of drowned rats.

I'm fairly under the weather and according to my GP it will take sometime to recover, so I apologise in advance for delays in orders or anything. Please make angel your first port of call if you need anything at all, and we will endeavour to have you sorted in the shortest possible time. Please remember though that angel has two small children herself and generally only answers emails morning and night. If your query is urgent please mark it as such in the heading.

Items will continue to be stocked randomly throughout the hunt, but given the above it may be hit and miss at times.

Mel has let me know that her second boys nappy is just about complete, and I've finished the first half of a scrummy girls set. I'll pop a sneek peek up when I can.