Cranberry Scones

I searched online for the easiest, most delicious scones recipe. I tried this one from AllRecipes.com and really like it. Scones are best served right out the oven. This recipe makes about 8 scones:

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup dried raisins or cranberries
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon milk

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2. Sift the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt into a large bowl. Cut in butter using a pastry blender or rubbing between your fingers until it is in pea sized lumps. Stir in the raisins/cranberries. Mix together 1/2 cup milk and sour cream in a measuring cup. Pour all at once into the dry ingredients, and stir gently until well blended. Overworking the dough results in terrible scones!
3. With floured hands, pat scone dough into balls 2 to 3 inches across, depending on what size you want. Place onto a greased baking sheet, and flatten lightly. Let the scones barely touch each other. Whisk together the egg and 1 tablespoon of milk. Brush the tops of the scones with the egg wash. Let them rest for about 10 minutes.
4. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, until the tops are golden brown, not deep brown. Break each scone apart, or slice in half. Serve with butter or clotted cream and a selection of jams - or even plain.

Mini Fruit Tarts

I found the recipe on www.JoyOfBaking.com, and there is even a video!

Pastry Cream Recipe:

1 1/4 cups (300 ml) milk 

1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise or 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste

3 large egg yolks

1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated white sugar

2 tablespoons (20 grams) all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons (20 grams) cornstarch

Optional:1/2 tablespoon liqueur (Grand Marnier, Brandy, Kirsch) 

For lighter pastry cream - fold in 1/2 cup (120 ml) softly whipped cream to cooled pastry cream.

For Chocolate pastry cream - add 2 ounces (60 grams) of finely grated bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate to the hot pastry cream. Stir until melted.

For Coffee pastry cream - add 1/2 - 1 tablespoon instant espresso or coffee powder to the hot milk.

For Raspberry pastry cream - add 1/4 cup (60 ml) raspberry sauce to pastry cream.

instructions: 

In a medium-sized heatproof bowl, mix the sugar and egg yolks together. (Do let the mixture sit too long or you will get pieces of egg forming.) Sift the flour and cornstarch together and then add to the egg mixture, mixing until you get a smooth paste.

Meanwhile, in a saucepan bring the milk and vanilla bean just to boiling (just until milk starts to foam up.) Remove from heat and add slowly to egg mixture, whisking constantly to prevent curdling. If you get a few pieces of egg (curdling) in the mixture, pour through a strainer. Remove vanilla bean, scrape out seeds, and add the seeds to the egg mixture. (The vanilla bean can be washed and dried and placed in your sugar bowl to give the sugar a vanilla flavor.) Then pour the egg mixture into a medium saucepan and cook over medium heat until boiling, whisking constantly. When it boils, whisk mixture constantly for another 30 - 60 seconds until it becomes thick. Remove from heat and immediately whisk in the liqueur (if using). Stir in vanilla extract if using instead of a vanilla bean. Pour into a clean bowl and immediately cover the surface with plastic wrap to prevent a crust from forming.  If not using right away refrigerate until needed, up to 3 days. Whisk or stir before using to get rid of any lumps that may have formed.

Makes about 1 cup (240 ml). Preparation time: 20 minutes.

I took a short-cut for the pie crust and bought already made dough. So I just rolled it out, cut circles and baked in a cupcake pan. 

I poked the bottoms with a fork:

With extra dough, I cut out little flowers/stars:

The pastry cream cooling down:

I made apricot glaze to brush onto the pie crust before pouring the pastry cream on to keep it from getting soggy:

Apricot Glaze

1/2 cup (120 grams) apricot jam or preserves

1 tablespoon water

Heat the apricot jam or preserves and water in a small saucepan over medium heat until liquid (melted). (Can also heat in the microwave.) Remove from heat and strain the jam through a fine strainer to remove any fruit lumps.

One thing I would have done differently is to pour the pastry cream into the pie crust/tart while it is warm. When the cream cooled, it became thick and sticky. I felt like I had to re-heat it, but I didn't, so the cream got lumpy.

I added strawberries, blackberries and the little flowers as decoration. They were delicious!

Pie Pops

My friend and I made some pie pops! We found the recipe from Bakerella; click here for the link. However due to time constraints, we used already made pie crust/dough and a can of cherry pie filling. Oh, we also used those green foams that you use for floral arrangements to stick the pie pops on to while it cooled and we needed the baking pan for the next batch. Since the green foam worked so well with cake pops, I figured it would be good for pie pops too.

It was truly so easy to make. You just need a baking pan, parchment paper, lollipop sticks, pie crust dough, pie filling, a circle cutter, some flour for dusting, egg whites and a baking brush to coat the top.

We cut out many circles:

Ready to go in the oven! Yes we put a bit to much of pie filling but we got a lot better by the 4th batch. ;) 

See them in action at the birthday party:

Fondant Lego Topper Cupcakes

How I pipe frosting on cupcakes. It is super easy and practically fool-proof. =)

With a large star tip, pipe a ring around the cupcake like this:

Then pipe a smaller ring in the middle. When you get to the center, dip the tip down a bit, then lift up and stop squeezing the piping bag. Done!

I made these Lego toppers with fondant. I rolled it out to the thickness of a real Lego, and cut into desired size. I turned the real Lego upside down and imprinted where the dots will be on top of the fondant Lego. I re-rolled the fondant to a thin layer to make the dots. I used a #5 piping tip as my cutter to get little circles. I rolled each one, and pressed into the imprint on the fondant. If it doesn't stick, use a little dab of water (from a clean small paintbrush) to "glue" it together.

      

Homemade Jamba Juice

I made Caribbean Passion Jamba Juice (my favorite) in my own kitchen! It tastes good too. I followed a recipe I found online.

What you need:

• 2 Cups of Frozen Strawberries
• 1 Cup of Frozen Peaches, chopped
• 2 Cups of Orange Sherbet
• 1 Cup of Ice, crushed
• 12 ounces of Passion Mango Juice
• Blender
• Cup
• Straw

• Add 12 Ounces of Passion Mango Juice to the blender.
• Add the 2 cups of Orange Sherbet. 
• Add the fruits - 2 Cups of Frozen Strawberries and 1 Cup of frozen chopped Peaches. 
• Add the 1 Cup of Chopped Ice to the blender.
• Blend ingredients for about 20 seconds on a medium intensity, then 10 seconds on a high intensity. Your goal is to blend the smoothie until it swirls around in the blender without any chunks.
• Once your smoothie appears "smooth", it's time to enjoy your homemade Jamba Juice. Poor the smoothie into your cup, stick your straw in the cup, and drink your refreshing Caribbean Passion!