A day's work...or two!

On Tuesday, I had my stall on the monthly Farmer's Market here in town...and for a change it was a wonderful day! We worked out that the last 6 have all been wet...which makes a huge difference both to trade and to a stallholder's morale!
I am incredibly busy at the moment all around...Charlie the Coffeeman's wonderful 'real' coffee trailer is now being seen at all the top horse eventing trials...Gatcombe last weekend, Somerley Park at the beginning of this week...and where Charlie & his coffee go, my brownies & other delights go along too! Trays & trays of them...

Although I make so many, I still enjoy the process...perhaps because I make them entirely by hand, so I feel very connected to them - does that make sense?
I make several different kinds...the ones above are my Walnut Fudge...

Double Chocolate - my bestseller. They should really be called Triple Chocolate, as they contain dark, milk & white...but they've been known as 'Double Chocs' for so long that I think it would confuse everyone!

Caramel Chocolate are fairly new...they have a rich caramel sauce swirled through them...

And for the Farmer's Market, I always have a 'Brownie of the Month' to tempt regular customers...

March's offering was...

Easter Egg! I know it's a little early (& the wrong month) but this was the nearest market to the holiday. There was a thick, shiny layer of chocolate ganache on top of these and they contained milk chocolate 'mini eggs' as well as the one on top!

I wanted to carry the Easter theme through the market offerings, so I tried a new recipe (to me) for Colomba Pasquale. For those not familiar with it, it's a rich,sweet & citrussy yeasted cake that's traditional in Italy...formed in the shape of a dove (la colomba!) Very like Panettone, but with no raisins/sultanas and with a crisp, almondy sugary crusted glaze. Delicious!

It took all day to make. Not because it's particularly difficult...but there are 3 stages to the dough...and lots of rising time needed (10 hours in total!) It was worth it though...

Lovely smooth buttery dough...

The finished article - it was baked in a traditional italian 'colomba' paper mould. I have to say that the 'dove' shape has become a little simplified through the ages...but that's the idea anyway!

The middle (I made several including one to test!) was soft, beautifully textured and studded with candied peel...

The outside was crusty & with a lovely crunch from the almonds & nibbed sugar...

The recipe is too long to reproduce...but if you are interested, I found it on the blog of the wonderful company that produces the paper moulds (and many other wonderful hard to find baking products) Bakery Bits

Also for the market, I baked some Lemon Drizzle Loaf Cakes (always a big seller)

and some trays of fresh Plum & Almond Shortbread

So, when I had set up and arranged the stall on Tuesday morning, it all looked beautiful I think...

I 'dressed up' the Colombas in cellophane & ribbons in case they were bought as a gift...

and the selling began. The day went very well...by 2 o'clock, the tables looked quite sad & almost bare...

Still brownies left...but I always make plenty and these platters had been replenished about 5 times!

Let's hope the great weather continues (but some night rain would be good...we are going into drought conditions, with a hosepipe ban coming into force on April 5th)

I wanted to show you  the little Mother's Day cake I made for my darling Mum too...it was a zingy lemon & lime with homemade lemon curd in the middle. Not a huge spectacular one, because we are a small family and no one likes rich, creamy cakes...

but it was perfect for Mum - and that's what counts after all!

I hope your week is busy and filled with sunshine too...now, I'd better get back to the kitchen!

xoxo

Cooking with Mother....or Aunty!

When I was in Australia recently, one of the things I enjoyed most was cooking with - and for - my niece and nephews. They really enjoyed choosing the dishes and became quite adventurous (they are 9, 8 & 4) although they are currently going through a vegetable hatred phase (except for tomatoes, potatoes & raw carrots with the odd avocado thrown in!)

This was an adapted verson of the Surprise Tatin from Yotam Ottolenghi's wonderful book, Plenty. It had a puff pastry base with layered sliced potato, tomato & feta cheese....

Absolutely gorgeous! Another favourite, of course, is pizza. There's something magical to children, I think, in having an individually created dish to themselves and it's so easy. In the Queensland summer heat, the dough for the base rose like a beautiful balloon!

Of course, they got to choose their own toppings. My oldest nephew loves mushrooms, mozzarella & black olives....his sister preferred her fresh, homegrown basil instead of the mushrooms...and the little one just wanted 'cheese & tomato please'!

 And of course there were treats too. Like big batches of chocolate chip cookies...

that I made into ice-cream sandwiches when it was very hot & they'd been very good! I wrapped them in greaseproof paper parcels to store in the freezer....irresistible!

And on the last Sunday we spent together, I set up a 'cupcake competition' for the 2 oldest children. I was scrupulously fair about it! They each had two vanilla cakes, one in a yellow case & one in a green...and they were set on identical plates. I made up some plain buttercream icing and left them with food colours & various sprinkle & sparkles. The brief was to make either the most beautiful or the craziest cupcake...

The one in the top of the picture was judged the most beautiful...a pale pink glittery butterfly on a pastel green background...

 and the one in the foreground below was the craziest...I loved the dribbles of green on the cranberries especially!

Happily for all of us (!) each child won a different category...and picked up a little prize as well as eating their own creations!

It can be so frustrating when children won't eat something that's been lovingly prepared for them. But it helps a lot when they choose and help create the meal themselves. And I know from experience that most of the faddishness disappears in time...my sisters and I were terrible when we were young. Nowadays we will eat just about anything!

Hoping you have a wonderful weekend xo