Mrs G's Baking Adventures

Saturday, 12 February 2011

Valentine's Day- Love it or Hate it?

Mr G and I are not massive fans of Valentine's Day.

We don't make too much of a big deal about it, but having said that, we don't ignore it completely and I always make the effort to decorate our dining table.
Pink was this year's colour of choice!

When I came back from Harrogate this week, Mr G had made me a lovely Chicken Tikka Masala (from scratch I hasten to add!) from the book "I Love Curry" by Anjum Anand.
Mr G had never made a curry before in his life!

Although I don't generally do posts about savoury items, I had to blog about this curry for two reasons:-

1. It was the nicest curry I have EVER had ( fragrant, creamy and delicately spiced ) and that is saying something as I love Indian food.

2. It was lovingly made for me by Mr G.

And that is surely what Valentine's Day is about?

Letting that all important person in your life know how much you mean to them?

And what better way to do it than through food!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Tuesday, 8 February 2011

Valentine's Day Cupcakes

Mr G and I went to London to visit relatives over the weekend and I decided to take some cupcakes.

(It was the same relatives that we had been visiting when "Burgergate" took place so Mr G was adamant he was not holding the cupcakes at any time!)

I decided on Red Velvet because they seem quite Valentines-ey to me.

Plus I wanted to get the sparkly red glitter out again!

I had bought some cucake wrappers to use.
They are so pretty.

They finished the cupcakes off perfectly.

Cake Mixes

I have a confession to make.

I am obsessed with Betty Crocker cake mixes.

I don't generally use them but whenever I go the States, I have to bring home a few boxes.

I think it is the novelty factor, and the fact that we have a pretty limited supply of cake mixes over here.
They have so many over there: Red Velvet, Bananan Cake, Orange Cake, White Cake, German Chocolate Cake. The list is endless.

Even Cherry Chip Cake!

But one thing I have never seen until now is a Macaron Mix!

Beks went to France recently and reported back that you could get Macaron Mixes in a box!

WOW!

This brand did three types: Chocolate, Coffee and Raspberry.

Now if only I could speak French I could work out how to make them......

Monday, 31 January 2011

Chocolate - covered Toffee Pretzels

I recently saw a post on the Made with Pink blog for homemade Turtles.

http://www.madewithpink.com/

They reminded me of the Take 5 candy bars that you get in America. They are basically a pretzel base with a layer of caramel, peanut butter and peanuts covered in milk chocolate.

Yum Yum.

They inspired me to have a go at making a home made version.

I melted the Werther's original toffees with 1 tablespoon of whipping cream and then sandwiched the toffee between two pretzels.

Yes, it was a messy job. Prepare to have sticky toffee go EVERYWHERE!

At this point, I wanted to add a dollop of peanut butter but I was covered in toffee by this point so decided to give the peanut butter a miss on this occasion.

Then I melted some milk chocolate and covered the pretzels.

Oh. My. Gosh.
A-mazing. With a capital A.

The pretzel shapes make them look like little hearts which is ideal for Valentines' Day!

Warning: they are totally addictive.
I've made them to take to London this weekend for relatives but I am not sure that they will last the week...