Homemade Salt Dough Decorations (inc Tutorial)

I wanted to have a go at these last year but time ran away with me! It's such a traditional craft that puts me in mind of the autumn harvest festivals at church when I was little. But I think salt dough lends itself to all sorts of things. (Loads more info here) It's kind of like a store cupboard Fimo!

For the Salt Dough You'll Need: 2 cups of Plain Flour, 1 cup of Table Salt, 1 cup Water (cool but not cold). Mixing bowl, rolling pin, cookie cutters,  palette knife, baking tray, greaseproof paper, cooling rack.
You can mix up any amount of dough you like as long as you stick to this ratio. 2 parts flour to 1 part each of salt and water.

Method: Mix the flour and salt in a bowl. Make a well in the centre and pour in a little of the water and mix. Keep adding the water a little at a time, (You may not need all of the water) & mix until it starts to form a dough. Then squeeze, knead & roll in your hands until it's a smooth, pliable ball of dough.

Lightly flour your work surface and rolling pin and roll out the dough to about 50mm thickness. Cut out shapes using cookie cutters, or freehand if you're a bit more skilled than I am. I left the surface of my shapes plain as I'm going to paint them. But I guess at this stage you could carefully etch patterns or designs into the surface.

Carefully lift your shapes, using a palette knife, onto a baking sheet covered in greaseproof paper. (A couple of my stars got stuck because I didn't flour my work surface properly). Punch out holes for hanging ribbons. (I used a sturdy drinking straw for this)

Bake in the oven for an hour on a low heat (say 60C) turning them over half way through. Then turn them out onto a wire rack and leave until completely cool.  Leave for another 24 hrs before painting or varnishing, which hopefully we shall be doing this weekend....

White Chocolate Caramel Pears (or Apples)

I had the idea to use pears (instead of the traditional apples) after seeing white chocolate covered pears on Martha Stewart. Meant to be Halloween ghosts, they were cute, but the chocolate cracked right off when you cut them up to eat. I figured the caramel would help hold things together, so I tried it. Amazing flavor, and you won't find them anywhere else.

Plus, pears seem very Christmas-like. Partridge in a Pear Tree and all that.

You want a pear that's not quite ripe, otherwise the stick just comes right back out, and you won't have anything to hold on to while you dip it. The boiling water and warm caramel starts them ripening, so by the time you eat them, they're just right.

The big secret to caramel dipping success is simple: dip the fruit in boiling water for about 10 seconds. This removes any waxes or other residue, and the caramel is guaranteed to stick.

I can't recall where I ran across this valuable nugget of information, but it wasn't on Martha.

So, here it is, my personal recipe/directions for making your own gourmet caramel pears/apples.

4 D'Anjou pears, or 4 Granny Smith apples
 4 sticks (usually included in bag of caramels)

small saucepan of boiling water

1 14 oz bag of Kraft caramels (about 50) or 11 oz bag of caramel bits

1 Tbl water

microwave-safe bowl

Waxed paper

Butter for waxed paper

cookie sheet

2 Tbl sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

12 oz bag Nestle Premier white chocolate chips

2 Tbl shortening

Prepare fruit by washing thoroughly and inserting stick. Then dip in boiling water for about 10 seconds, and allow to dry. This removes all residues and waxes from the fruit, which allows the caramel to stick. (this will also discolor the fruit a little, so make sure the top part that will not be covered in caramel is not dipped in the water, to maintain a nice appearance)

Butter your waxed paper and set on a cookie sheet (in case you need to move it) or on your counter.

Unwrap all the caramels and put in a microwave safe bowl. Add 1 Tbl water. Microwave on high for 1 ½ to 2 minutes. Caramels will not all look melted;

stir to complete melting.

You can microwave for 30 seconds more if needed, but it’s important not to overcook. If the caramel seems really stiff, you can add a little more water, but not too much, or it will be too runny to stick to the pears.

Tilt the bowl, and dip and swirl fruit in melted caramel until evenly coated, then set on buttered waxed paper to cool.

It should take at least ½ hour to set up enough to dip in chocolate. (You can set up faster if you place your cookie sheet on top of ice or other frozen stuff. I have a serving platter with an insert you freeze to help keep the platter cold on a buffet, and I use that under my cookie sheet when I'm in a hurry.) You'll know it's set up enough when you can touch it without it sticking to your fingers.

(if you have more caramel, but no more fruit ready, scoop up caramel with a pretzel, and press another pretzel on top of that. dip in chocolate later, or not. yum.)

Mix together 2 Tbl sugar and 2 tsp cinnamon in a shallow bowl and set aside.

Place white chocolate chips and 2 Tbl shortening in microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high 1 ½ min. Not all the chips will look melted;

stir to complete melting (use a metal spoon - you don't want any extra moisture in this mixture).

Tilt bowl, and dip and swirl carameled fruit in chocolate until evenly coated.

Hold over bowl and swirl to allow excess to drip off. You can also run the edge of the spoon across the bottom of the fruit to help scrape off excess.

Dip and roll in cinnamon sugar mixture, and/or hold fruit over bowl and spoon/shake cinnamon sugar onto fruit. This is a little messy (and difficult to photograph by yourself - both hands are busy), because the chocolate will still be dripping a little, but you have to do it before the chocolate sets up, or the cinnamon sugar won’t stick. I discovered that if I put some in the bowl, to set the fruit on, and some in a shaker, to sprinkle over, it's a little less mess. You'll have some cinnamon sugar coated white chocolate drips in the bowl - but that's okay, because they're a tasty treat once they set up.

Set back on waxed paper and allow chocolate to harden before serving.

These will keep for only a few days. I don't recommend refrigerating them, just put in a covered container. If you refrigerate, they tend to get too chewy, plus, the juices will run, making it a bit soupy. I generally make them the night before an event, or, if I have time, first thing that morning.

Granny Smith apples have a tart flavor that I think goes nice with the sweetness of the white chocolate. Fuji are sweeter, and seem to go better with milk or dark chocolate. You can use any kind of apples, as long as they are crisp and fresh.

Substitute regular or dark chocolate chips for a different look and flavor, drizzle more melted chocolate over the first coating, or double or triple dip the fruit in different layers of chocolate. Use crushed cookies, chopped nuts, crushed candy bars, or sprinkles instead of cinnamon sugar.

If you already have a home-made caramel recipe you like, you can use that instead of melting commercial caramels. I just do it this way because it's reliable and easy.

Note to those not in the US: not sure what kind of caramels you guys have available. For this recipe, you want a soft chewy caramel.

Edit: should have said - coming to you from House Full of Monkeys

Cute "Coffee Cup" tutorial

Hi everyone! I'm Jana and I blog about sewing and such over at 98 Red Balloons. I'm all about making gifts and in the past that has mostly meant baking. I made these little cakes this weekend to give to teachers who are writing me letters of recommendation, and I thought I would write a little tutorial for CCC while I was at it!

A cake is baked in each mug. Then they are covered in chocolate ganache to look like coffee and topped with homemade marshmallow. These are great because they don't need to be refrigerated as the marshmallow won't melt at room temperature like some icings will. I baked chocolate-coffee cake in half and pumpkin spice cake in the others. 

I use this pumpkin cupcake recipe from Joy of Baking. The only change I made was to use margarine. I'm all about butter when butter is necessary - don't skimp! - but this recipe already has a lot of pumpkin weighing it down and plenty of leavening, so you don't need to worry about having enough volume from the sugar/butter mixture. Margarine is so much cheaper out here, it's nice to use it when you can.

The chocolate-coffee cake recipe is my own, adapted from the famous Hershey's cake recipe. 

2 cups sugar

1 3/4 cup all purpose flour

3/4 cup cocoa powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

3 eggs

1/2 cup sour cream or plain yogurt

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 dram LorAnn coffee flavor or 1 tablespoon instant espresso powder

1 cup strong hot coffee

Mix all dry ingredients together, including sugar, and wisk them thoroughly. Add the eggs, milk, oil, yogurt or sour cream, and flavorings. Wisk on high speed for about 2 minuets, until the batter begins to look smooth and silky. Add the hot coffee and stir slowly until incorporated. Bake on 350 for 20-30 minuets.  

So back to the mug tutorial! I just went to the second hand store, Goodwill, and bought some pretty mugs in good condition and gave them a good scrub. I particularly like wide-mouth mugs for this, they're so pretty! Do not grease or oil inside the mugs as this will discolor them as they bake. Just make sure they are very clean and dry, and fill them 1/2 full with batter. Bake and check after 15 minuets. 

And they'll look something like this! Perfectly domed and ready for a layer of ganache. 

I used a 1:1 ratio ganache for this which will set up after a few hours but won't be hard. That means equal amounts of heavy whipping cream and chocolate make this ganache. Put the heavy whipping cream on low heat until it just starts to steam. It should NOT boil. If it begins to bubble the cream has been overheated. 

Poor the heated cream over the chocolate and step away. The key to a perfectly smooth ganache is forming an emulsion between the fats in the chocolate and the cream. Leave for at least 2 minuets, and then stir with a wisk. The hot cream should have begun melting the chocolate. It will look piecey at first, but keep stiring and you will have a silky, beautiful ganache!

Yum! Poor the ganache over your baked cakes and let them sit for several hours. The ganache will take quite a while to soft-set, but it's delicious and very worth the wait. 

See those little bubbles? The air from the cake will escape for a few minuets after you poor the ganache, but the bubbles will go away on their own pretty quickly. As soon as the ganache has set, you are ready to pipe on fresh marshmallow!

 I love this marshmallow recipe from Food Network's Alton Brown. It's simple to make and incredibly tasty. Stop whipping your marshmallow just before it's done, so it will be easier to pipe. I used a disposable piping bag fitting with a coupler but no tip, just for big fluffy swirls on top of each "coffee"

I can do a tutorial for homemade marshmallow if anyone is interested. For now, have fun with the mug idea! They are very pretty wrapped in clear cellophane and make a very cost-effective gift for neighbors and such.