Apple Pastry Roses

I am totally loving these apple roses!  I shared a video on my facebook page months and months ago but finally got round to making them.  They are super easy to do and so quick!  Perfect for when you want to impress with little effort. 

All you need is a packet of puff pastry and some nice red skinned apples.  I used Pink Ladies.

Start off by de-coring and thinly (I mean thin - think potato crisps) slicing the apples. 

Once they are sliced put them in a saucepan of hot water with a little lemon and simmer until slightly softened.   A lot of the tutorials/videos online don't mention this bit and let me tell you it's messy and annoying if you skip it.  When it comes to rolling the roses it makes life so much easier.  Trust me!

Meanwhile roll out your pastry or if you are really lazy (yep that's me) buy the ready rolled stuff.  Make sure it's been sitting at room temperature for at least an hour otherwise you will find it cracks.

Cut into 1 inch wide strips, brush with egg wash and sprinkle with cinnamon and a little brown sugar.

Then get your slices of apple and lay them along one side of the pastry strips. 

 Turn the other side of the strip over on top of the apple slices and start to roll.

Voila you've got yourself a lovely apple pastry rose!

Place in a muffin tin.  I used a silicone one so I didn't need to grease it but if you are using a tin I would suggest buttering the tin first. 

Bake at 375 for 40-45 minutes or until golden 

Delicious served with whipped cream, a sprinkling of icing sugar and cinnamon.

Enjoy!

Sugar for my honey

So Valentines Day is approaching and I've been thinking of things to make.  I have seen these sugar cubes appear around the web for sometime now so I decided to make my own. 

They are SUPER EASY to make and SUPER QUICK 

Honest!!

You only need 3 ingredients:

Sugar

Food Colouring & Water 

To make the heart shapes I used an ice cube tray but you can use a cookie cutter if you don't have an ice cube tray.  However, it's SO MUCH quicker with a tray.  

Keep an eye out in Lidl for these, super cheap but great for making chocolates, mini jellys, novelty ice cubes etc

How do you make it? I hear you ask.  Well it's quite simple really, so simple you will probably think, is that it? when I tell you.

Place sugar in a bowl (for the ice cube tray I used approx 1 old fashioned tea cup full of sugar), add 1 tbsp water and 1 drop of pink colouring (or whatever colouring you are using.  The more you add the deeper the colour)

Mix together until it has the texture of damp sand.  Spoon into the ice cube trays making sure to push it down with your finger.  I don't have a picture of this bit as I got way to excited and carried away!!  Yes, seriously I did :O) 

If you don't have an ice cube tray you can use a cookie cutter but this is pretty tedious, too much so for me!!

You have to spoon the mixture into the cookie cutter and then gently, I mean REALLY GENTLY push it out of the cutter and repeat for each cube.  I really love my boyfriend a lot but I'm not sure he would appreciate such effort ... especially as he doesn't even take sugar in his tea/coffee.  I'm only making them to add to my table of treats that I have planned for Valentines Day :O)

For the ice cube trays you leave the mixture for about an hour to dry out and then gently lay the ice cube tray on a plate and turn out.  (Kind of like when you make a pineapple upside down cake).

I have one of those sandwich trays which is perfect for this kind of job :O) 

The cuteness is just tooooo much !

I coudn't wait until Valentine's Day though.  

I had a friend come round for tea this evening and she got them, with a couple to take home for her pony or boyfriend or maybe one each :O)

So there you go cute little sugar lumps for your lovely.

So are you going to make some?

Let me know if you do, would love to see what other versions people come up with?  I've already been scouring my drawer of cookie cutters planning the next batch of sugar lumps.

So cute

So simple

So cheap 

So lovely 

Have a lovely weekend peeps x

New Year Knitting

While lots of you were out partying last night for the new year I was curled up by the fire trying out some new knitting patterns for Spring. 

Yes you heard right. 

Christmas is barely over and I'm already thinking about Spring.  I'm hoping to have another Country Cottage Craft sale and I don't want to be as stressed as I was for the Christmas one so I'm starting early.  See ... there really is method in my madness, well sometimes.

Miranda was fresh on my mind so I made a little brooch as a keepsake ....

Speaking of which ... this is the bruise on my leg after battling it out with the badger the other night!!

I also made a slightly larger version of the chook and stuffed it. I think I'll make these for easter as they are just the right size for a cadburys' easter egg.

After much testing I have come up with a super easy pattern for the chooks.  I'll put together a tutorial and share with you soon.

Before the big knitathon last night I discovered a fab new pasta recipe.  The fridge was looking pretty unappealing and all I seemed to have was sausages so this is what I came up with. 

*** Rigatoni Ragu ***

Here's the recipe if you fancy trying it too.

Enjoy!