Baby Shower for Becs

'Girl' Cupcakes

The cupcakes were the Lemon cupcakes with a Lemon Buttercream Icing

'Boy' Cupcakes

Uncooked Turkish Pide bead dough

Cooked

and sliced.....

Eclairs (or profriteroles) with whipped Chocolate Ganache icing and with Custard Cream filling

They don't look glamorous because I ran out of time but they tasted AMAZING!

Ginger and Coconut Crunch....Donna Hay

Annabel Langbein's Chunky Guacamole

Mini sausages wrapped in streaky bacon with Rosemary, Honey and Wholegrain Mustard glaze

Annabel Langbein's Samosas using Spring Roll pastry and deep fried rather than baked. They aren't in the traditional triangle shape because I bought the wrong wrappers (they were too small)

That's Becs....the pregnant one!

Harry with cousins Hollie and Mini

Last weekend we hosted a baby shower for my sister in law Becs who is due with our new nephew (they don't know what they are having but I just KNOW it's a boy and my ring test confirmed it), in just a month's time. It was a weekend of cooking but at least I didn't have to worry about the games etc as these were assigned to the lovely Tori who did a fantastic job of them. 

I made the girl/boy cupcakes which were the lemon cupcakes you can find a few posts ago with a lemon buttercream icing. I bought chocolate molds from my favourite cake decorating supply shop www.kiwicakes.co.nz and while I had intended to use gumpaste to make them, I changed my mind and did white chocolate ones instead with a bit of gold and silver lustre dust and edible glitter to zhoosh them up. I have to say I thought they turned out pretty well.

Having received Annabel Langbein's new cookbook 'Simple Pleasures' from Dons the other week, I was pretty keen to try some recipes from it. All worked out very very well. From it I whipped up the Turkish Pide Bread (really easy and very yummy...the girls asked where I had bought the bread from), Dukkah (easy and yummy with a good EVOO and the bread I made), Chunky Guacamole (fabulous slightly different way to make this old classic and one which I will default to from now on), Samosas (I'm sure my Indian friends at work would be impressed with the flavour of this filling...it was complex and well balanced) and Speedy Peanut Sauce (speedy like it says and tastes way more complex than it is). I also made Ginger and Coconut Slice from Donna Hays new magazine which was delicious. I am very fussy about GC and this one did not disappoint. The sausages were from a magazine called Good Food Australia and will be redone again and agin when there is a gathering. 

So all in all it was a pretty successful day. Thanks to the others for bringing more food on the day....we did not go hungry at all! Finally get Annabel's book...you will NOT regret it!!!

Cannellini Bean Dip with Parmesan, Garlic and Rosemary

SO please excuse the photo quality but I remembered at the last minute to take a photo after my little one had started to devour this dip with cries of "mum you have GOT to make this again...it's yum!". And it is! I was trying to catch up on all the blogs I follow and came across this one from baking=love. If you get some time have a look at her blog as it is a good read and has some great recipes. I'm not sure where she got this one but it is fantastic! In fact I could see myself having it on toast and on a sammie instead of hummus. It would be good with crackers, those yummy Eta Uppercrust chips, frostiness or anything else that might take your fancy...including your finger as you try to stop yourself from eating it. It is very easy to whip up and the texture is just fantastic. If you ever need to make something in a hurry, this would be it. Give it a go because I promise you you will not be disappointed. I didn't have any parsley when I made mine and while it still tasted fantastic, I think it would add yet another level of flavour to it. Oh and just a forewarning beware the garlic breath...or you can make your partner or friends hoe into this as well then you will all be in the same boat with your potent garlic breath...just a thought!


Cannellini Bean Dip with Parmesan, Garlic and Rosemary


1 x 400g can of cannellini beans, drained and rinsed thoroughly
1-2 tsp rosemary finely chopped (she says thyme works well too)
handful of flat leaf parsley
2 - 3 cloves garlic
1/3 c extra virgin olive oil + extra for drizzling (fruity is good)
zest and juice of 1 -2 lemons (I used only one and it was enough)
2-3 Tbsp grated parmesan cheese (but do this to taste)
Salt and freshly cracked black pepper

Place rinsed beans, rosemary, parsley, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice and zest, salt and pepper into a food processor and blitz until just blended, leaving it a little bit chunky for texture. I made mine smooth and loved ti like that but chunky would be good too. Taste and adjust seasoning as you like it.

Drizzle over some EVOO and some freshly ground black pepper.