We’ve been busy in the kitchen this week, making edible gifts designed to stimulate the appetite of Harry’s fairy Godmother who is currently recovering from surgery. I’m the first to admit that my kitchen skills leave something to be desired; my husband was mildly astonished by my culinary incompetence when we married – my party trick was to peel off the film from a microwave meal with one hand whilst programming it with the other – and things have improved only slightly since then. As such, Harry and I look for recipes which produce stunning results but require very little skill. Often, we make them up as we go, as we did with these White Chocolate and Strawberry Pastilles (above); a perfect Christmas gift for a foodie, and startlingly simple to make. Our Edible Gold-leaf Florentines are a cheat’s version of the classic florentine, as we simply sprinkled the chopped fruit and nuts on the top of ours, before daubing with edible gold leaf…
To make these, you’ll need…
- white and milk chocolate (chips, chunks; you choose. We used 200g of each and produced a LOT of sweets!),
- freeze-dried strawberries – try the home-baking section of the supermarket, and if that fails you can of course use sprinkles, balls or cake decorations instead, as shown below
- for the Florentines; a selection of chopped nuts and fruit. We had candied peel, raisins, glade cherries and flaked almonds in the cupboard already so used those, but chopped mixed nuts would be great.
- I used a silicone macaroon sheet from here to get perfect shallow discs, but if you don’t have one lying around (and who does, frankly?), just drop small dollops of the melted chocolate on a baking sheet and flatten and shape into rounds with the back of a teaspoon.
For both the pastilles and the florentines, melt your chocolate in your usual way (experts whizz it in the microwave; I am not very vigilant here so prefer to melt it over boiling water on the stove, using the double-bowl method). When melted, drop small spoonfuls into your mould or onto your baking sheet, and smooth the tops with the back of a teaspoon. Leave to set for about 10-15 minutes; you don’t want them to harden, but simply to lose some of their runniness so that the topping doesn’t cause them to spread and spill. Now you can add your topping; for both recipes, just sprinkle your chosen topping over the chocolate discs. For the florentines, I placed a flaked almond on each then sprinkled the chopped fruit on top. Don’t worry if they scatter everywhere; once the chocolate is fully set you can retrieve stray fruit, nuts and sprinkles.
Now pop in the fridge for an hour to harden. Once hard, you can gild your florentines (and then remember to tell your friends later; ‘what did I do today? Well, y’know, gilded my florentines…’. Take a clean paintbrush and use it to dab a little edible gold leaf on to the top of each one.
Once you’ve done this, you can taste-test them with any small kitchen helpers, before wrestling the remaining few precious sweets away so that you have at least a handful to package up as a gift..
I packaged our white chocolate and strawberry pastilles in a little gift box, layering with white baking parchment. For the florentines, I used the cracker templates from the last post to make a pretty cracker using sturdy gift wrap (birdcage wrap from here), and carefully stacked the florentines in there.
A word of advice; store these beauties in the fridge until you’re ready to use them, and encourage your recipients to do the same; like all chocolate which has been previously cooked, it will take on a slightly dusty greyish appearance if you just store it in a cupboard – the taste won’t change, but they’ll be at their most shiny and gorgeous if you keep them chilled.
Other things….
Crackers! Thank you to everyone who shouted ‘Yes PLEASE!’ last week in the cracker snap giveaway; Harry made the draw last night and later this week crackers will be winging their way to 10 readers across 3 continents. A number of you asked where to buy snaps from so that you could source them yourselves, so I’ve done a bit of research and here’s a start point for you…
- In the UK, try here for different sizes packs of snaps or here for cracker kits – or ebay.co.uk which always has a few sellers
- In the US/Canada, try here for online ordering, or US friends tell me that Michaels often stocks them near the gift wrap in store at this time of year
- For Australia and New Zealand, try here (they also shop to certain other countries)
The next big DIY; I’ve just sourced this slightly mouldy and very cheap bookcase on ebay to make Harry’s Christmas present; a play hardware store and garage (I know, I know; go with me on this one….). He loves his kitchen and shop, so this is the last piece of play furniture that we have room for; I’m thinking petrol pump, pretend car wash – I’ll keep you posted!
The Impossible Pirate Cake: and finally, my birthday cake pirates are taking shape! I’ve found it’s actually quite therapeutic rolling fondant in front of the TV of an evening, glass of red wine in hand – kind of like the grown-up version of Play-doh. I’m still trying not to think about how I make the actual cake/ship itself..
It all looks like it’s been made by a super exclusive chocolate shop so I really don’t think you need to be worrying about your skills in the kitchen! Amazing as always.
Chocks look yummy and Im sure the cake will be amazing ….
still loving your blog and hoping it will stay going more than the year you said at the beginning
Keep posting we all love it …..
Thanks Helen! Yes, decision time soon – my husband asked me the same question
Ok seriously, how do you this? I am blown away by it all. Those pirates are adorable – dip them in shallac & keep them forever. Love it all! Claire
Hi Claire, your comments always make me smile
as for the shellac, I confess I’ve already lost one pirate under mysterious circumstances… Harry’s staying tight lipped, but the observant would notice that they’re very black lips, with dashes of red and gold…
Hi Kate, I love reading your blogs, they are so inspiring. Your pirates look gorgeous too. I really identify with your comments re cooking…definitely not my favourite thing! Anyway in case you were still looking for pirate ship idea… I found a good one here – http://bakedbree.com/pirate-ship-cake…best thing is it looks simple but really effective. Good luck with it all!
Larissa, this looks so cool, and – more importantly – so straightforward! Thanks so much for sourcing and sharing…
HI Kate, I Love your blog posts, they are so inspiring. The pirates look gorgeous. I totally get where you are coming from on the cooking front – not my favourite thing, that said you seem to produce amazing results. Found this great pirate cake…if you are still looking – http://bakedbree.com/pirate-ship-cake …it looks simple but effective. Good luck with it all
“Recipes which produce stunning results but require very little skill” – I knew we had things in common. This is one of them!
I can’t wait to see that Christmas present come to life. We’ve been contemplating a bookcase doll house and right now I am still trying to find time to cut out garland pieces.
Ooh, what a cool project; this is where I need a girl to make cool doll stuff for… I’ll watch with interest!
Hi Kate – the pirates look great. My sister made a few shaped cakes for my nephew when he was little and found that a madeira recipe is just a bit firmer and therefore is much easier to cut in to shapes. You probably already know this, but thought i’d mention it in case it’s useful!
B.
Hi Bex, I didn’t know that so thank you – perfect timing as tomorrow is the Big Bake!
Wow; those pirates look great! And I can’t wait to see Harry’s finished Christmas present – I loved the shop and kitchen you made!
I stumbled upon your blog via the Daily News:
Kate, a mother and crafter living in a village on the outskirts of London, England, shares wonderful seasonal projects she does with her son, Harry. From homemade pinecone firelighters to ornament-like winter birdseed feeders, Kate’s arts and crafts activities are not only fun and festive, but beautifully presented on her blog.
The description piqued my interest because I follow another Kate, also a mother living in a village on the outskirts of London. It’s not you. Her son is Felix.
You can find her blog here: http://kateshrewsday.com/
I love, love, love your pirates! Aargh, matey!
Hi Kate! Again you do it. Make “easy” look fantastic, and so creative! This is going on the list of things to make in December. As even I would manage those I suppose. Obviously you have hidden skills in the kitchen department! — as you do think of the loveliest ideas. /Louisa
You are AMAZING!!! Love it all!
Wow, another really easy thing that looks absolutely fabulous! I’m going to make those Florentines. I didn’t know there was such a thing as edible gold, but I’ll look for it.
Thanks Barbara! And yes, I stumbled on the edible gold a while ago and now have to stop myself from adding it to everything.. It comes in either a book of ‘sheets’ or as individual leaves in tiny jars – perfect for adding a bit of sparkle to all manner of holiday treats, though the slightest draught causes it to shoot off the work surface, never to be seen again! Good luck
Good to know. No ceiling fan on while I’m working!
the cooking looks great, the pirates are adorable, and i just can’t wait to see what you do with the bookcase ! i am clearly addicted to your blog
Audrey
Well, I see I just missed the boat on the crackers, but thanks for pointers on where to find them in the US. I love a good scavenger hunt! The pirates are adorable, Harry is adorable, the chocolates look beautiful and I cannot wait to see your finished products.
Well done Kate, you deserve all the crafty coverage you get. Love the chocolates – but most enjoyed your LOL about the microwave party trick. Perhaps the answer for us all is never to raise expectations, but to know that one day, when we need to we can pull it out of the hat… BTW how are your lovely big log decorations in the old chimney breast getting along, as whilst hoovering my laundry basket they came to mind – do you think you’ll have to vacuum them, if not now, maybe in a decade’s time?! I can wait for this answer… Nicola http://homemadekids.wordpress.com
Whoooaah Nicola; you were just doing WHAT? I’m in shock and awe in equal measure. As I’m feeling confessional this evening, I have to tell you that it’s never even occurred to me to vacuum the laundry basket. Just emptying it makes me feel I am a domestic goddess. What low standards; I am shamed. As such, I don’t have to tell you that I haven’t yet tackled vacuuming the log wall… Oh dear.
Easy and pretty and chocolatey – all good things Kate! Thanks for sharing your recipes, and so beautifully and clearly photographed too. I am dying to see what you do with that mouldy bookshelf. I have no doubt that it will be fabulous and fun and colourful. The wee pirates are coming along nicely. Do you ever rest??
Gillian xx
ps. Thanks so much for the cracker snap giveaway!
Hi Kate,
Wow a hardware store and a petrol station!! Sounds super!!
I am very nosy.
I bought some weeks ago a book “Big Little Felt Universe” by J. Lim.
In the book you can find lots of felt projects felt food, a mobile phone,
tools (for the garage). Maybe you can find some ideas/inspirations in the book.
And here is also a link for felt projects:
http://feltorama.blogspot.com
I tried to contact you but I have some problems to find the e-mail address.
So I hope it is o.k. to send you the infos!
Big hug from Germany
Sonja
Wishing I’d seen these sweet treats before Christmas! Look so professional, but the instructions look so easy! My kind of cooking.
Jones x