On the subject of Mini Food I decided to pursue the Mini Pizza. Firstly I had to find something that would cut pepperoni into tiny circles. I went to one of those craft shops that sell things for scrapbooking. Of course I did not divulge my intention of making mini pepperoni but just played along with the assumption that I was scapbooking my families treasured memories. Once I was home I got to work. The little hole puncher worked perfectly.

I cut a small pizza base out of of a bigger one.  Placed the tomato base and pepperoni on top and then sprinkled with cheese and cut up olives.

Then into the oven for just a few minutes and top the pizza with the tiny basil leaves that have only just begun to grow.

And there you have it. A bite size delicious pizza.

No Comments | In: Mini Food, Uncategorized | | #

Well this turned out to be a lot more difficult than I expected. The Raspberry Miroire is definitely something I should try making twice or more in order to perfect.  Firstly there is the sponge which I have never been very good at. I am not sure what the trick is here but whatever it is, I don’t know it yet. Then the raspberry mouse that you need to strain all the seeds out. That isn’t something I would normally bother with either. I am that kind of ‘Bung it all in cook”  Then the jelly. Oh and don’t forget that I decided to make a big one instead of the individual ones.  However the finished product is delicious. Light and fluffy with that divine raspberry taste.

The recipe is from the television show called My Kitchen Rules where participants make a three course meal in their own kitchen with time constraints on the purchasing and preparing the meal.  They have three hours to make the meal and this cake took over three to set. However I did do a big one so maybe the smaller one set quicker.

Recipe Slightly Altered

Ingredients:

sponge base
2 eggs
55g caster sugar
35g self-raising flour
2 tablespoons plain flour
raspberry mousse filling
300g fresh or frozen raspberries (thawed)
165ml of milk
3 egg yolks
85g caster sugar
2 teaspoons powdered gelatine
165ml thickened cream
2 teaspoons icing sugar
raspberry jelly top

raspberry coulis

75 ml water

1 teaspoon powdered gelatine

Method:
1. To make sponge base, preheat oven to 180C.  Grease a 24cm springform tin and line with baking paper
2. Beat eggs and sugar with an electric mixer, for about 5 minutes, until thick and pale. Fold in combined sifted flours. Pour mixture into prepared pan. Spread evenly.
3. Cook for about 6 minutes or until cooked and lightly golden. Invert onto a rack. Remove paper. Cool. Return sponge to pan.

4. To make mousse filling, blend raspberries until smooth. Push through a sieve to remove seeds and form a coulis. Set aside 60ml of the coulis for the jelly and  Reserve remainder for mousse.
6. Heat milk over a medium heat until hot. Remove from heat. Whisk yolks and sugar until smooth. Gradually whisk in hot milk. Return to same saucepan. Stir over a low heat until mixture coats the back of a spoon and forms a smooth custard. Remove from heat.
7. Sprinkle gelatine into 75ml of boiling water. Stir until dissolved. Stir into custard with liqueur and remaining puree. Strain. Cool to room temperature.
8. Beat cream and icing sugar with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Fold cream into cooled raspberry custard. Pour over sponge in spring form tin
9. To make jelly top, stir water,  and reserved 60ml of raspberry puree in a heatproof bowl over saucepan of simmering water until hot. Sprinkle in gelatine. Stir until completely dissolved. Wait until this mixture has cooled without setting then pour over mousse.

No Comments | In: Desserts | | #

So I was thinking….I need to do something different. Something that will make my blog stand out from the rest. And although I haven’t achieved that yet, I think I am on to something. My niece and I have a little thing going between  us. Lily has a doll house and I have a small doll and we like to talk about small furniture and tiny books and all those things that go hand in hand with loving the concept of a world of small things. Her dollhouse is called Stokholm and it is amazing. I secretly want one too. Anyway what I decided to do was make some teeny edible cookies and cakes for her dollhouse family. It was SO much fun. I packaged them up and sent them to her on the other side of Australia.I had to be careful rolling out teeny cookies. I just used normal butter cookie dough. I used a metal lid from  a bottle for the cake tin. You have to keep an eye on the cookies and cake when they are baking as you don’t want to burn them.

Butter Cookies Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

1. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and white sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, then stir in the vanilla. Combine the flour and salt; stir into the sugar mixture. Cover dough, and chill for at least one hour.
2. Preheat oven to 160 degrees C. Roll the dough into tiny balls and find a small sugar decoration to put on top.
3. Bake for 2 to 4 minutes in the preheated oven, or until lightly golden at the edges. Remove from cookie sheets to cool on wire racks.

2 Comments | In: Cookies, Mini Food | | #