Maple Pecan Meringue Kisses

If you are anything like me you will love maple syrup. I love the stuff and have done since I was a child. I have it on my porridge, over pancakes, waffles. The real stuff is the best to get, but I do also have a soft spot for maple flavoured syrups too.

But real maple syrup, the sap from maple trees, actually has many health benefits. It can be beneficial for your immune system, soothe a grumbly tummy and has anti-aging properties. So pouring this stuff over your breakfast dish isn’t quite as sinful as you might think.

When The Canada Shop got in touch to ask if I would like to try some of the Brien maple sugar they sell, I jumped at the chance. I had never heard of maple sugar and wanted to give it a go. Made from 100% maple syrup, it has an intense maple flavour and is delicious sprinkled on cereal, ice cream, stirred into coffee etc. But I wanted to use it in my baking.

And what better way than in a meringue kiss. A crisp delicate meringue with maple flavour would be ideal. I decided to top each kiss with some chopped pecans as the nuts compliment the flavour of the maple well.

You make these in the way you would normal meringues and bake them the same. But when they come out of the oven you have to seal them in an airtight container, as soon as they cool down, otherwise they go sticky and have to be popped back in the oven.

I discovered this by accident after making one batch and left them overnight to find a sticky mass of blobs. The next batch I checked were nice and crisp, but as soon as I left them out overnight – they went sticky again. I baked them once more at a low temperature and they crisped up perfectly, so I transferred them to an airtight container, and they stayed crisp just fine.

Check out the Canada Shop website to get your mapley goodness here in the UK.

Here’s the recipe for these maple flavoured melting kisses of deliciousness…

Maple Pecan Meringue Kisses

Maple flavour meringues
sprinkled with pecans

Cuisine:	Sweet	Category:	Baked	Yields:	lots of kisses
Prep Time:	10 Mins	Cook Time:	1 Hr 45 Mins	Total Time:	1 Hr 55 Mins

 

Ingredients

• 3 egg whites, room temperature
• ½ teaspoon cream of tartar
• 85 grams maple sugar
• 20 grams pecans, finely chopped

 

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 100C and line a couple of baking trays with greaseproof paper.
2. In a bowl of a stand mixer, place the egg whites and cream of tartar. Beat until soft peaks form.
3. Continue beating on high speed and slowly add the maple sugar about a teaspoon at a time.
4. Continue beating for 5 minutes until the mix is thick and glossy.
5. Transfer to a piping bag with a star tipped nozzle (mines was about a half inch).
6. Pipe swirls on the baking tray, close to each other as they won’t spread.
7. Lastly sprinkle each kiss with some chopped pecans.
8. Bake in the oven for 1 hour 45 minutes then turn off the oven and leave them to cool completely.
9. Transfer any you are not going to enjoy immediately in an airtight container.
10. If the meringues do go soft, bake them again at 100C until crisp to touch, 30 minutes to an hour.

Disclosure Statement: I received the maple sugar free to use in my baking. I was not asked to provide a review of the product or the canada shop. Any opinions expressed are my own. 

Getting to Grips with OXO POP Containers

If you are a regular follower of mine you will know that my domestic arrangements have changed recently.

Disneyboi has moved into mine, after his place sold and we are waiting to get mine shifted. (If anyone is looking for a spacious 2-bed flat on the north-east coast of Scotland close to all amenities please do get in touch!!). We have put most of Disneyboi’s stuff in storage for now apart from a few essentials.

However, we now have double the amount of food in our cupboards which is making my baking supplies difficult to store. With the amount of baking I do, you can image I have a lot of ingredients. I also have a very untidy cupboard which houses these baking items – please see image below…. (embarrassed face)! Full of half empty folded over bags all piled on top of one another.

When the kind folk at OXO Good Grips got in touch to ask if I would like to give their POP container range a try I leapt at the chance – a chance to get some of my essentials in some form of tidiness.

I received three containers  - a tall 3.2 litre capacity one, a big square 3.8 litre capacity one and a 0.9 small square container.

 The containers are all airtight – they have a button on top which you press down once to seal. The lid locks and keeps what is inside fresh. Press the button again, it unlocks and the button acts as a handle to easily lift off.

The corners of the containers are curved – perfect for pouring sugar which I transferred into the 3.2 tall container.

I put my flour in the big square container. I love the size of this one, for a lot of my recipes I use cup measurements and this container is large enough for me to plunge the cup measures right in. I have often struggled with smaller, narrower containers for this reason. Plus again, one press of the button and the flour stays fresh.

In the third container I stored some maple sugar I currently have (look out for a recipe soon) and this is perfect for putting in half-cup measures or easily pouring from the rounded corners. As it’s airtight the sugar won’t get too dry and clump up.

 The containers are stackable and I am going to start investing in more so my ‘pantry’ looks organised for once! There are 12 sizes in total to choose from so stacking options are aplenty.

The containers are made from BPA free plastic and the silicone gaskets on the lids are dishwasher safe, with the rest of the container suitable for washing by hand.

I love my new POP containers which are going to make my cupboards a lot less hectic from now on! And I may not stop at just the kitchen - the containers have plenty of uses around the home too.

Disclosure Statement: I received the containers free to review and was not committed to writing a positive post. Any opinions expressed are my own.

Easy Butterscotch Salted Caramel Budino

If you follow me on social media, then you may know that Disneyboi and I were recently on one of our frequent jaunts to London.

We always like to try new places to eat when we are down there and on this visit we happened upon a  new pizza place called NY Fold. Right in the heart of Soho, on Charing Cross Road, it promised the New York pizza experience in the UK. It’s owned by a pizza champ, well known in the states, called Bruno DiFabio

image source

I remember loving pizza in New York when I’ve been there in the past, it’s flavour is like no pizza I had ever had in the UK - until now.

We both tried a couple of pizzas each, with some US beer, and the flavours were amazing. I tried one called a Juliet which had fig jam, prosciutto and balsamic glaze on it, plus mozzarella and gordonzola. It was divine. So was the Starry Hope I tried which was mashed meatballs, whipped ricotta, pesto Genovese and onions and mozzarella. The flavours were just like I remembered from America.

If you happen to be in London, and like pizza, I implore you to give this place a go. You will love the relaxed atmosphere as well as the brilliant pizzas. I can honestly say these were the best pizzas I had ever had in the UK.

You may be wondering where this all fits into this post and the picture at the top. Well, the menu had way more than pizza. You could get pastas too, focaccias and salads. Plus desserts.

You see where I am going…One was called Budino which I had never heard of before. We couldn’t manage desserts as we were too full (the slices of pizza were ginormous) but Budino stuck in my mind. On the menu it promised biscuit crumble, butterscotch pudding, caramel sauce, sea salt and Chantilly cream. I had to give this a go!

Looking at Budino on Wikipedia it tells me it is a sweet Italian dish, like a custard or pudding, thickened with cookies or cornflour. Flavours can vary too, but I liked the thought of the butterscotch with the chocolate oreo flavour.

So, last weekend I whipped up Budinos for our pudding. It is a cheat’s version, but so easy to do and easy on the eye too I think you will agree. You could make pudding from scratch, caramel sauce from scratch, but this is the short-cut version, for all of us who have busy lives.

I crushed up some Oreo cookies, whipped up some Butterscotch Angel Delight, layered on caramel sauce, sprinkled on sea salt and finished with thick luscious whipped cream. Oh yes, and more caramel and Oreos to garnish.

How much of everything you add is up to you. You can tweak the amounts of whatever ingredients you like most. I served mine in little jars, as you can see in the pics, but you could serve it in whatever you like.

Here’s how I made mine.

Easy Butterscotch Salted Caramel Budino

Oreo cookies, butterscotch pudding
Whipped cream and salted caramel

Cuisine:	Dessert	Category:	Pudding	Yields:	2 servings
Prep Time:	10 Mins	Cook Time:		Total Time:	10 Mins

Ingredients

• 7 Oreo Cookies
• 1 package of Butterscotch Angel Delight Pudding Mix
• 300 ml milk (to make the pudding)
• Shop bought caramel sauce
• Double cream
• Sea Salt

 

Instructions

1. Make your pudding – preferably with a mixer, this aerates it and makes it even thicker than normal. Leave it to beat for a good few minutes if using a stand mixer.
2. Place the Oreos in a plastic food bag and crush with a rolling pin or other heavy object.
3. Beat the double cream in a separate bowl until thickened.
4. In the bottom of the jars, spoon in crushed Oreos, leaving just a small amount to sprinkle on top.
5. Spoon half the butterscotch pudding on top of each layer of Oreos.
6. Dollop some caramel sauce on top of this.
7. Grind some sea salt over the top of this – amount is up to you.
8. Spoon cream over the top, making sure it is thick and heaping!
9. Drizzle more caramel sauce, grind more salt and sprinkle more Oreos on top.
10. Stick your spoon in and enjoy!

Treat Petite July 2015 Round Up

It’s been a mad month for me, but everyone else seemed to have a great time baking up a storm despite the warm weather in some places.

The theme was Summertime Special for Treat Petite this month and we had loads of great entries;

Sarah at Tales from the Kitchen Shed entered these gorgeous Strawberry Tartlets

Nic at Nic’s Bakes made Matchpoint Pavlova – the matchpoint comes from the name of the fruit salad she used in the recipe here (it was Wimbledon time!)

My Treat Petite co-host Kat, The Baking Explorer, made Pimms Cupcakes, a great flavour to use in baking.

Anitha at Healthy & Tasty Vegetarian Recipes made Badam Burfi or Almond cake. Made from almonds, milk, sugar and ghee it looks almost a bit like Scottish Tablet. Looks very nice indeed.

Back at the Kitchen Shed, Sarah made Cheese and Garlic Twists. I would love these to snack on, or have at the side of a bowl of pasta!

‘Fanny’ at Keep Calm and Fanny On made Egg Mayonnaise Tartlets from one of Fanny Cradock’s books. They are slightly racist which our Fanny does apologise for – as for the Real Fanny, it was a different time!

Lili at Lili’s Cakes made black sesame and yuzu ice cream petit fours biscuits. They are sugar-free so you could treat yourself to more than one…

Helen at Family Friends Food made individual Tropical jellies with whipped coconut cream – these scream summer!

Jen at Jen's Food made beautiful strawberry, rhubarb and rose macarons. The photographs here are stunning!

Caroline at Caroline Makes made gorgeous mini lemon meringue tarts which I bet were mouth-puckeringly good!

Angela at ‘Only Crumbs Remain’ made griddled peaches with macerated strawberries, basil and cream. Fantastic idea for a BBQ!

Lucy the Baking Queen got all fancy and made financiers – Pistachio, Cardamom and Rose flavour. They look stunning!

Caroline at Caroline Makes grabbed herself a bag of blueberry icing sugar and made mini vegan chocolate blueberry cakes. Love that icing!

Lili at Lili’s Cakes made an Apricot ice-cream and cava dessert. It looks so refreshing and summery.

Choclette over at Tin and Thyme made Blueberry and White Chocolate Flapjacks – I love the combination of those flavours and Choclette’s bake looks delicious.

Ros , the More Than Occasional Baker obviously agrees with me that they are a good flavour combo as she made Blueberry and White Chocolate Buttermilk Scones. I could really go one of them with a cup of coffee right now!

Shaheen at Allotment 2 Kitchen made Cherry, Raspberry and Strawberry Pancakes. These triple berry beauties would be perfect for a weekend brekkie, or as Shaheen had them, for lunch!

A decidedly different entry into Treat Petite, from Sadhna at Herbs Spices and Traditions, was Paneer Tikka – these barbecue skewers or as Sadhna is used to calling it braai. These would be great on a summer grill.

Caroline at Caroline Makes also entered Pina Colada Cupcakes with Pina Colada icing sugar she bought. These look really tropical and fun.

Elizabeth at Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary shared with us her mother-in-law’s recipe for 4 ingredient hazelnut cookies. So easy, but very impressive. Love these.

Emily at Cooking for Kishore is lucky enough to have peaches growing near to where she lives. She went picking (11 lbs worth!) and made some into scrummy Peach Almond muffins. (She also made peach jasmine tea which looked good too!)

Lastly, my entry which was themed on the flavours of Neapolitan ice cream. I made pinwheel cookies with strawberry, vanilla and chocolate cookie dough.

Thanks to everyone for entering your summer inspired treats. Here’s hoping that summer lasts for a good while yet (or actually reaches Scotland this year!). Keep your eyes peeled on ‘The Baking Explorer’ for next month’s Treat Petite theme.

Now That's What I Call New #8

Greetings everyone and welcome to ‘That’s What I Call New #8’. My occasional round up of some products I have been sent to try and let you know what I think. Some are new on the market, some are new to me, and some are just for fun.

Green's Indulgent Range

To start with Green’s the baking people who have been providing the UK with boxed cake mixes for over 100 years (who hasn’t had their divine cheesecake mix!) have launched a new Indulgent range. Included in the range are Chocolate Fondant, Tiramisu, Profiteroles and Salted Caramel Dessert.

I was sent the Chocolate Fondant and Tiramisu. I have tried these over the past couple of weeks and they do taste lovely and aren’t too tricky to whip up. The Tiramisu is a bit more involved with a few steps, the Chocolate Fondant much easier. My only gripe was the requirement for certain baking equipment. The tiramisu requires a 7” square baking tin – which I don’t have (and I have a lot of cake tins). The Chocolate Fondant requires 4 ramekins 8 to 8 1/2 cm in diameter. Again not something I have.

I improvised and things worked out okay, but definitely check what is required for the mixes, before you purchase, to make sure you aren’t disappointed when you open the box! Check them out in various supermarkets soon, including ASDA, starting at around £2.29.

Vita Coco Coconut Water

Next, out of the blue, I was sent some cartons of Vita Coco coconut water. Now, I have had this before, and I don’t love it. I would love to love it, as coconut water is so good for you with many, many health benefits. On our recent trip to London, I discovered that you get various different flavours of the coconut water, such as Lemonade, Pineapple, Café Latte and so on. I would recommend giving coconut water a go, if you haven’t before. It is like sticking a straw in a coconut and if, like me, you aren’t 100% on the original, you can always try another flavour.

Ritz Crisp and Thin Snacks

I was also sent some Ritz Crisp and Thin snacks, to cater for my savoury tooth. You may have seen these in supermarkets recently. They are oven-baked potato snacks, posh crisps really. They come in four flavours. Sea Salt and Black Pepper, Sweet Red Chilli, Sea Salt and Vinegar and Cream Cheese and Onion. They go great with a glass of wine, my favourite being the cream cheese and onion. Disneyboi is torn between salt and vinegar and chilli varieties. They come in small bags and big ones – the latter being very dangerous as they are so scoffable!

The Canada Shop

A company contacted me via Twitter recently asking if I would like to try their maple products. They are called the Maple Cabin on Twitter and their website is The Canada Shop. They sell maple goodies such as butter, sweets, syrup and sugar. I was sent a couple of bags of the maple sugar. When I opened the envelope the smell blew me away. It was so good. I haven’t baked with it yet, but intend to soon and I will bring you recipes soon. However, I have been trying the sugar in coffee and over cereal and I can tell you the flavour is even better than the smell…If you love maple like I do, visit the shop.

Munchy Seeds

Lastly, I was sent some Munchy Seeds to try. You may have seen these around. Munchy Seeds are a range of nutritious seeds which you can top yoghurt with, pop on salads or even sprinkle over a stirfry – or like me scoff as a crunchy snack.

The seeds come in various varieties including Choccy Apricot, with Belgian chocolate coated sunflower and pumpkin seeds, with pieces of apricot. There is the Chilli Bite variety, spicy roasted apricot kernels, sunflower and pumpkin seeds.

They are healthy, nutritious and most important of all – tasty! Sachets start at 69p and tubs at £2.35. Available from Sainsbury’s.

That's all for now folks.