YouTube Channel

So I've finally done it, I've started a Cherrybomb Delights YouTube Channel. 
Go easy on me though, I haven't set anything up to actually film yet! So I have a couple of uploaded videos made from pictures/musics/text. A bit lame, but I'll get there, and of course I am completely shy when it comes to being in front of a camera!!


So anyway, a couple of treats for you - a link to my very own YouTube Channel where you can view my first instructional video and a picture of my baking/decorating drawer 
Enjoy....

Cherrybomb Delights YouTube Channel

Some of my gift boxed truffles

White Chocolate Crackles

Another Christmas goodie I have made that got rave reviews, mind you, these are VERY rich - so be warned!! Possibly making them a lot smaller than I do is better - mine are just big because I wanted to shape them like trees.


4 Cups Rice Bubbles
1 Cup Icing Sugar
1 Cup Dessicated Coconut
250g Copha (vegetable shortening)
3 Tbsp Full Cream Milk Powder
3 Tbsp White Chocolate Melts


Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl. 
Chop copha and melt in saucepan over low heat, when almost melted, add white chocolate. 
When chocolate and copha are completely melted, add to dry ingredients and mix well.


Place spoonfuls into patty cases. 


Again, you can be really inventive with this, I make them plain and set them in cones made from greaseproof paper, then add decorations to the outside.
For my first batch this year I made them with a paddle-pop stick for easy handling when eating, when I make the next batch they will be much smaller and without the stick - it makes it too difficult to store!

Chocolate Truffles

Super simple, super delicious chocolate truffles!!
Every year that I make these I get request after request for more batches!
This year I decided to get a little bit creative with the truffle recipe and made a white vanilla version as well!!
And here's both recipes!


1 Can Condensed Milk
1 Packet Milk Arrowroot Biscuits (crushed)
1/2 Cup Dessicated Coconut (approx)
2 Tbsp Cocoa (substitute this for Full Cream Milk Powder & tsp vanilla essence for vanilla truffles)


Dark Chocolate Melts
White Chocolate Melts
Copha/Vegetable Oil (small amount)
Red & Green Icing


Combine all ingredients together (you may need to add more coconut - I think it depends on the weather?!).
Scoop out 1 tablespoon of mix and roll into balls. Set on baking paper in the fridge to firm - approx half an hour, again, depending on how hot/humid it is where you live.


Melt dark chocolate with a small amount of vegetable oil/shortening for a smooth and slightly runnier consistency. Drop balls into chocolate to coat, allow to drain (I use a fork for this part) and set back on baking paper and back into the fridge until set.
When set, melt white chocolate (without shortening) - using a piping bag or ziplock bag, pipe white chocolate to resemble dolloped custard. Allow to set.
Lastly, when chocolate is set, use red and green icing to garnish with holly. I used Wilton pre-made icing tubes, which are fantastic for small details and the Wilton tips fit straight onto the tube, so very limited waste/mess!
You could also used chopped glacé cherries, small candies or whatever you like for the tops as well - I just had icing on hand.


Enjoy...
(Note, I halved the batch - it made 19 balls, mind you, I had a nap between the dark and white chocolate and came back to this many left.... Steve had gotten to them!!)

Chocolate Truffle

Vanilla Truffle

It's that time again.... Melted Snowman Cookies

Time for me to start getting all excited over Christmas!!
So far I have made my own bauble wreath (I'll pop up a pic just for the sake of showing it off).
Also my first Christmas cooking creations - Melted Snowman Sugar Cookies.
These were an idea taken from Yoyomax12 (youtube)... 
They are done with marshmallows, starburst candies (carrot nose), royal icing and Wilton pre-made icing tubes - pretty simple stuff and they really come to life when you put their arms etc on!


I have put the recipe at the end because I have been asked a few times about it - I take no credit for it though! It's not at all my own recipe.

Cookies:
4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter softened
2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract 

1. stir together flour, baking powder and salt together, set aside
2. Cream together sugar and butter, add eggs and vanilla and mix until fluffy.
Gradually add flour mixture a little at a time. Divide the dough in half, flatten each half into a disk. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate until firm, at least one hour.
3. Heat oven to 350F. Roll out dough between two sheets of parchment or waxed paper and cut out into shapes or pinch off portion of dough and form into desired shape (about 1/4" thick)
Bake until edges are golden brown about 10-15 minutes depending on your cookie sheet

and my bauble wreath...

Spooky Cupcakes!

So here are some pretty awesome cupcakes I made for work for Halloween.
Everything on them I made.
And here's the decorating directions.
You will need:
Starburst Candies
Milk Arrowroot Biscuits
Black Icing (I used Wilton Writing Gel)
Green Buttercream Icing
Grey Icing (with a small amount of darker grey set aside)
Toothpicks
Red Gel Food Colouring (Wilton - for the blood)
Oreo cookies (crushed)

Make light grey icing to a thin slightly runny consistancy.
Dip 3/4 of each biscuit into grey set aside, take a toothpick, dip into darker grey icing and swirl through iced biscuit to create stone look. Leave aside to set. Write on "gravestones" when icing is set.

Take 1 pink Starburst, warm in the microwave for approx 5-10 seconds until pliable. Shape into arm/hand - insert toothpick into arm, set aside to firm. Paint on spots of red gel for blood.

Take 2 orange Starburst, warm, roll together and shape into pumpkin, using toothpick to mark segments - top with small amount of green icing for stalk.

Using a grass tip, top cupcakes with green icing. Insert un-iced end of biscuit into cupcake, sprinkle cookie crumbs in front of biscuit and insert hands or pumpkins.

Mini Lasagne Cups

I made these when I was almost out of things in the cupboard - but they were delish!

You will need:

Fresh or dried lasagne sheets (I used dried and soaked them in hot water to make them pliable)

For the meat sauce - see my throw together bolognese recipe - or simply use a store bought one.

For the bechamel sauce you will need;

3 tbps butter

1/3 c plain flour

3 c milk

1 small clove garlic

Really simple, melt butter over medium - high heat, when foamy add flour and whisk to combine, add garlic, cook until bubbling and remove from the heat. Add milk in batches - stirring until smooth, return to heat and cook until thickened to desired consistency.

Grease cupcake/muffin pan, take lasagne sheets and use a cookie cutter to cut into round layers. 

Layer lasagne sheets, meat sauce and bechamel sauce in muffin tin, repeat until full (3 layers for me) and then top with bechamel sauce and cheese - bake in oven for approx 30 minutes at 180c.

Remove and let sit in the pan for 3-5 minutes. 

Remove with spoon and serve hot.

Cinnamon Tea Bun

I definitely recommend this!
Especially if you want to dazzle people with your 'from scratch' baking skills!


1 sachet Tandaco Dry Yeast
3.5 cups plain flour
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp mixed spice
1 cup warm milk
1 tbsp melted butter
1 egg, lightly beaten


1 egg
1 tbsp milk


Icing:
60g butter
1 cup sifted icing sugar
1 tbsp milk
pink food colouring


- Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add milk, butter and egg. Mix well to form a soft dough. Knead for 10 minutes until smooth and elastic.
- Place dough in a greased bowl. Cover. Leave in a warm place to rise until doubled in volume (approx 1 hour).
- Knock down dough (punch once in the centre - fun!) then knead for 1 minute.
- Shape into an oval tea bun (I made 2 rounds). Place on a greased baking tray. Brush top of bun/s with water. Leave in a warm place until doubled in size (approx 45 min).
- Brush bun/s with egg/milk wash. Bake at 200C for approx 20-25 minutes. Cool on wire rack and ice when cool.


Icing:
Beat butter until light and fluffy, add icing sugar gradually as beating, beat in milk - add food dye (I used Wilton Gel Paste).


The package says to ice and sprinkle with pecans and cinnamon. But what I did was drop a little icing on while hot to make a glaze, sprinkled with cinnamon, then when cooled - iced and sprinkled with coconut!


And here's the deliciously finished product....

No Knead Cheddar Cheese Bread

Ok so the recipe makes 2 loaves, I only have 1 bread mold (and even then there was too much! so I made some extra rolls with the leftovers).

So here are the measurements I used....

1 package active dry yeast
6 tblsp warm water
1.5 cups shredded cheddar cheese
6 tblsp shredded Parmesan cheesea
1 cup milk
1.5 tbsp sugar
.5 tbsp butter melted
1 tsp salt
3 to 3.25 cups all plain flour

1 egg white beaten
1 tbsp water

Topping:
1/4 cup finely shredded cheddar cheese
1 garlic clove minced
1/4 tsp sesame seeds
1/4 tsp poppy seeds
1/4 tsp paprika

-In large bowl dissolve yeast in water, add the cheeses, milk, sugar, butter, salt and 3 cups of flour. Beat by hand or mixer about 3 minutes. Stir in enough remaining flour to make a firm dough.
-Do not knead, cover and let rise in warm place until doubled, about 1-2 hours
-Stir dough down, transfer to greased loaf pan. Cover and let rise until doubled about 30 minutes.
-In small bowl combine egg white and water. In another bowl combine topping ingredients. Brush loaf with egg white/water mixture, sprinkle with topping, bake at 190C for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pans and place on wire rack to cool.

Ok - I'm totally guilty, I cut into it while it was warm (not hot), I couldn't wait, it smelled amazing!

The original recipe calls for celery seed in the topping, I could only find celery salt and when I opened it and sniffed it - wow, no way way I putting it on! I did up the topping ingredients too, I'm a big fan of paprika and seeds! 

And here's a link to the original video;

Cheese Bread

Updatey!!

Ok, so it's been quite a few months since I posted anything - apologies to the few who actually read this!!
Work has been poo-house! Hence bringing me into a funk where I didn't even want to bake/cook!!
Anyway, thanks to 3 weeks leave (which I'm still on) I got up the desire to bake again!


So I spotted a 'no knead' cheese bread on one of my favourite YouTube channels (YoYoMax12 - check her out, she's incredible!) - I was so intrigued, but I've never used yeast before - so cautious as well!


Soooo, bought the ingredients - baked the bread! Soooo good (will be putting the recipe up!) and I found a little beauty on the back of the Tandaco Yeast box for a cinnamon tea bun! This is amazing! Steve even liked it (he wasn't keen on the cheese bread cos it was 'greasy' from the melted cheese - coming from a man who puts marmite and cheese on bread and shoves it in the microwave until it's soggy?! The bread was delicious! Ignore his opinion!).


So a few things I learned about yeast...
It's not as scary as I thought it would be!
I now know where the fresh bread gets that smell!
It takes a bloody long time to prep anything with yeast (yet very little cooking time it would seem?!) 
And, kneading dough is very therapeutic!


I hope you enjoy the recipes! 
I'll link to the YouTube video I got the bread from, because I didn't take a picture!

Strawberry sponge delight

1/2 punnet strawberries - hulled and diced
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp strawberry topping
8 sponge finger biscuits (halves length ways)
cream


Combine strawberries, sugar and topping in a bowl, set aside.
Place bottom halves of biscuits on plates, top with strawberries, drizzle with cream & chocolate, replace tops.

Smokey sausage and bean casserole

12 Chippolata sausages
1 cup green cut beans
1 can cannellini beans (drained & washed)
1 carrot diced
1 can crushed tomatoes
1 garlic clove crushed
2 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp smokey paprika


Cook sausages in large saucepan - remove from pan.
Place remaining ingredients in pan - cook for 5 minutes, return sausages to pan, cover and cook for further 30-40 minutes.

Served here with roasted potatoes and pumpkin dumplings (recipe in older posts)

Pea & Ham Soup - slow cooker

My first attempt at pea and ham soup... hopefully I've picked up my Nannas talent here! I'll let you know in 6 hours....


500g bag split yellow peas
2 cloves of garlic
2 medium brown onions
3 baby carrots 
2 medium potatoes
150g diced bacon 
1 ham bone (1kg)
pepper corns
parsley
water to cover


Rinse split peas and layer across the bottom of the slow cooker.
Dice garlic, onions and carrot finely - I wizzed them in a food processor to make really fine. Dice the potato into small cubes - place all in slow cooker and place in ham hock. 
Add pepper corns to taste, a sprinkle of parsley and cover with water. 
Cook on high for 4 hours or on low for 6-8 hours. 
Remove ham from bone and place back into soup with bacon. 

Apricot Beef Cabbage Rolls

Ok this is something I made up tonight - I was originally going to do a tomato thing, but I didn't have the ingredients for the recipe - and out of pure laziness, I decided to go with what I had in the cupboard, so the cabbage wrap idea wasn't mine, however, the filling is.

We'll see how it goes!

Ingredients:

Cabbage leaves

[sauce]

1 x pk french onion soup mix

1 x can apricot nectar

2 tbsp orange marmalade 

[filling]

500g mince beef

finely diced zucchini

finely diced pumpkin

finely diced onion 

cooked and cooled white rice (1/2 cup uncooked, which becomes about 1 cup cooked)

1 egg

ginger (to taste)

seasoning

a few tbsp worcestershire sauce

Mix sauce together in a bowl - allow to blend while preparing the rest.

Remove the outer, larger cabbage leaves carefully and blanch for a few minutes in boiling water until pliable - drain on paper towel.

Combine all filling ingredients together - lay out cabbage leaves and wrap around filling to create rolls. 

Place rolls in baking dish, pour over sauce, cover tightly with foil and bake in over (180 degrees) for 1 hour. 

Churros

Home made Churros - ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!


This one is a really big surprise, because it definitely tasted authentic!! I was shocked, and you will be too when you see the ingredients.
They were so bloody good... I may/may not have made myself sick eating too many - this will remain unconfirmed ;-)


1 cup plain flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 cup water
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp vegetable oil
pinch of salt


Mix flour and baking powder in a large bowl.
Add the rest of the ingredients to a saucepan and bring to the boil. Remove from heat and add to flour mix. Mix until dough forms.


Let cool while heating oil to (deep or shallow) fry - I shallow fried and rolled them.
Place dough into piping bag with extra large star tip (or round tip/cut open end if you're like me and have lost your extra large star tip!). I made lines - cut them into smaller pieces [I was using a small pan] and fried in batches, a few minutes each was all they needed. Then I drained them on paper towel and rolled them in cinnamon sugar.


ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!!?
I have no words for how delicious they were. 

Cheats Fried Rice

This is an awesome throw together that I made tonight for something different.
Normally I would have soy sauce on hand, but considering our previous house guests child spilled my entire bottle through my fridge I had to be a little inventive!


The secret to this fried rice - Mi Goreng Noodles! haha!
So steal the sachet of fried onion, soy sauce and flavoured oil from a packet of Mi Goreng (seal the noodles back up in a zip lock bag).


1 cup cold cooked rice 
1 egg
handful of frozen peas & corn
1 baby carrot diced finely
2 slices of ham
ginger
seasoning to taste


Beat egg and pour into fry pan and spread into thin layer, cook on both sides (this is where I seasoned) slice thinly.  Heat small amount of oil in fry pan - stir fry veg with soy, flavoured oil and ginger - add rice and ham - heat through, add egg, remove from heat and serve.


Seriously easy, and it actually tasted really good!
It looked really good too, very colourful and fresh!

Breakfast Casserole?

Ok so this one I am putting here because I want to try it and I needed to store it somewhere...
Will obviously let everyone know whether it's a keeper?

RECIPE: SUNSHINE BREAKFAST CASSEROLE

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* 

INGREDIENTS:
1 lb bulk breakfast sausage
6 Eggs
1/2 c Sour cream
4 tb Chopped onions
4 tb Chopped bell pepper

DIRECTIONS:
Brown sausage, onions and bell peppers in heavy skillet.
Drain. Line baking dish with 3/4 of the sausage mixture.
Combine eggs and sour cream. Season to taste. Pour over
sausage mixture. Bake at 180 degrees until eggs are semi-
set. Stir egg mixture and top with remaining sausage.
Bake until eggs are firm. 

Yield: Serves 4 to 6.

Fondant Cupcakes

Just because I was bored and wanted to try a few fondant techniques... They turned out better than a lot of my other creations... I did make another 5, but I wrapped them up ready to transport before taking a picture, I'll try to remember to take more pictures when I get to work tomorrow.
Oh, and they are chocolate fudge cupcakes underneath!

 This guy is my favourite!!