Category: Snacks

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Caramel Loves Passionfruit

“Caramel Loves Passionfruit” — I liked these enough I thought they deserved a name. 🙂

Passionfruit marshmallows are, I have to say, perfection all on their own. But I wanted to try dressing them up a bit for Valentine’s Day and the winter Patreon treat boxes (details in comments), and I thought the tang of passionfruit would marry well with the creamy sweetness of caramel chocolate.

Melted some chips of Callebaut caramel chocolate, dipped and sprinkled with fine gold sprinkles. Pretty enough for a party! And I think the balance here is right — the caramel chocolate comes through first, and then the passionfruit lingers, cutting through the sweetness to add another dimension. Yum.

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A Patreon Bargain

Hey, folks — I want to highlight that if you subscribe RIGHT NOW to my three times / year Patreon treat box, you’ll be included in the winter 2022 box, which works out to 75% off your first box! So if you get the $40 box ($10 / month for 4 months), you’ll get the first one for just $10. Such a bargain! And subscriptions make lovely gifts for friends and family members…

I’m planning to ship these by the end of February, and I need to know a few weeks in advance how many I’m making, so I’m going to say if you subscribe by Monday 2/14, you get the winter treat box. Sooner is better, though. 🙂

Theme this time around: Valentine’s Day in Narnia — I’m thinking winter woods, plenty of hearts, knitting-themed items to keep you warm… Per usual, it will be mostly tasty treats, with some other surprise items, like soaps, resin jewelry, I think some little fabric bags this time around…

Pictured: Artist’s Valentine rose-cardamom sugar cookies, passionfruit marshmallows waiting to be dipped in chocolate and decorated…

Sign up here: https://www.patreon.com/mohanraj

(And if you can like / comment / share to help make this post more visible, I’d appreciate it!)

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“Artist’s Valentine”

“Artist’s Valentine” rose-cardamom iced cookies — decorated with a paintbrush! Two paintbrushes, actually, one for brushing on the pink, and a much smaller one for flicking in gold luster dust (with some gold sprinkles added after).

I’m not sure that I love this combo of techniques, actually — if I could go back in time, I think I’d do some of the cookies with just the pink brushwork, some with just the gold splatter, and maybe a few with both? But oh well, they’re still cute, and will be delicious regardless.

And one big plus for this decorating technique — it’s fast! I iced the cookies with white last night, which took about 20 minutes of dipping. Let them dry overnight, and then another 15-20 minutes of decorating this morning to finish them off.

If you’re doing the more elaborating outline + flooding technique for icing sugar cookies, it can take much, much longer. I’ve done it, but am not likely to do it again unless it’s for a very special occasion; I just don’t have the patience!

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How Shall I Ice These?

Snowstorm predicted for tomorrow, quiet evening here. Father Brown murder mysteries on the TV, and cardamom-rose heart sugar cookies in the oven. Cool today, ice tomorrow. Now, how shall I ice these? So many options…

These are either for the Valentine’s party / sale coming up on the 12th (link in comments), or for the Patreon winter treat boxes (also link in comments), or possibly both…although the kids will undoubtedly get a few too. 🙂

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Apple-Cheddar Scones

(45 minutes; makes 16 mini scones)

You can tell I was raised in New England, because apple + cheddar is one of my favorite combos. A hearty autumn/winter scone that’s ideal for breakfast or teatime. My kids love these.

1 large apple
2 c. flour
1 t. baking powder
3/4 t. salt
6 T cold butter, chopped
1 c. grated cheddar, divided
1/2 c. whole milk

2 eggs

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Peel, core, and cut apple into big chunks (about 16), roast on a foil-lined baking sheet for 20 minutes. Let cool.

2. While the apple chunks are cooling, mix the flour, baking powder, and salt into a mixing bowl.

3. Work in the butter with your fingers to make an uneven crumbly mixture. Stir in half the cheese.

4. In a separate bowl, combine beaten eggs and milk. Add wet mixture to dry, and stir to create a fairly wet dough.

5. Cut apple pieces into smaller dice, then work them into the dough, reasonably evenly.

6. Press dough into a molded scone pan (spray first with baking spray for easy release), or spoon onto parchment paper on a baking sheet for drop scones.

7. Top with the remaining cheese, and bake 20-25 minutes until cooked through, with the cheese nicely browned. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool. Serve warm or room temperature.

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I’m Going Back in Time a Bit

I was a little rushed getting lots of dishes cooked to freeze and take to Santa Fe for the Feast party I promised to throw for George. Well, it was more that I promised to provide a Sri Lankan feast (in thanks for giving me a place to run away from my life and write for a week), and told him he could invite people, and then he threw the actual party, but you know what I mean. 🙂

So over the next day or two, I’ll post some photos from party prep. If for some strange reason you’re planning on throwing a party for up-to-40 people in another state, it might help to know what freezes well, so I’ll start with this one — pol (coconut) sambol freezes beautifully.

Tip for freezing:

– try to squeeze as much air as possible out of the Ziploc bags when sealing
– try to freeze dishes hard (so at least the night before travel, earlier if possible)
– freeze in flat layers for ease of getting them out of the freezer (you don’t want them to have molded themselves around your bag of frozen peas), and for ease of packing
– don’t try to freeze potatoes if you can avoid it, especially bigger pieces! they go all mealy and weird.