recipe Archives - Handmade by Carolyn

baby swing and coconut ice

27/12/2020 4:33 pm \ 6 Comments \ Carolyn

Tim and I made this adorable little swing for Arthur!

peekaboo!!

Kelly found the design and Tim suggested it be a joint project between us, with me making the swing and Tim taking care of the woodwork etc… Kelly and Arthur and I went to Spotlight together and bought the stuff… apart from the fact that it was like 41C that day it was fun!

Arthur’s first trip to Spotlight!

We bought this cute orange-based kangaroo? wallaby? print which Kelly thought would go really nicely with their deep blue/grey walls and jarrah floors, bamboo wadding, which I used doubled up for extra padding, and white webbing and a white clip-in catch to make a safety belt too… also Tim got pine dowelling and nylon rope from Bunnings. We based our swing on this one on a blog the Thud… I think that Kelly had found it through Pinterest? I think? anyway I recommend checking it out because she is hilarious!!

I did have to make adjustments to practically every dimension though for several reasons:

a. the dowel Tim had was 2.54mm (1″) instead of the 19mm dowel used in the tutorial so extra height was needed at every top edge.

b. we wanted the back rest to be above the arm rests because it makes good sense to have the back highest, I think and also makes a nice visual to the layers.

c. I wanted all the kangaroos/wallabies to face UP, so I split the bottom/side piece into two, and cut and joined so the animals stood up each side. Furthermore, I arranged it so the seam in the back/side piece was on the opposite side for each piece, the inside and outside of the swing, if that makes sense.

d. I added a little seat belt for safety. The part that goes around his waist is stitched in each side of the back piece of the swing, and the front is stitched in with the seam between the front and the bottom/side piece,

e. I also made a little flat, square, seat cushion, partially for comfort and also so the kangaroos face up when you look inside the swing too. In addition, I made an extra, super-fat cushion to sit in the back of the swing, which looks cute, and also narrows the opening a little so he’s less inclined to pull his knees up and try to stand up in it. Although, Tim and Kelly tell me that when he’s in it he just loves chilling out in his swing, mostly just sitting quietly resting against the cushion in it, and happily swinging.

Here is my (amended) pattern…

and Arthur, chilllaxing in his swing … CUTE!!

Oh, and of course everything is going to be an anticlimax after that cutie patootie! but anyway… so, every Christmas I usually make some sweet treat as a gift for extended family and friends. This year I made coconut ice, but partly due to small supplies of red food colouring I decided upon a slightly different colour scheme from the usual.

I think it all turned out super pretty! Also, delicious, obviously! btw, this quantity pictured looks a bit mean but is really just for “pretty” photographic purposes, because everyone got at least four times this amount in little reusable lunchboxes. I used this recipe from Taste.com…

Posted in: crafty stuff, sewing \ Tagged: babywear, own design, recipe

dog treats

19/07/2019 10:57 am \ 12 Comments \ Carolyn

Recently I made a large batch of dog treats for Clara and she’s completely obsessed! And I, unlike many bloggers, do not use that word lightly! She would do absolutely anything for these, and what’s more they cost roughly a third of what we’ve being paying for dog treats up until now… so I thought I’d record my recipe for posterity…

this is her “super attentive and totally focused on me” face…

We’ve gone through a metric tonne, give or take, of dog treats in our quest to train this adorable, but quite feisty little wench… I must say I don’t remember Sienna ever being such a handful but maybe like having babies, you forget. Anyway,… she had a definite favourite treat, that’s proven quite difficult to lay our hands on because it seems to be perpetually sold out. This elusive treat is like a rusk; it’s made with real beef, and sometimes has cranberries and rosemary in it too. It’s also pretty expensive. Anyway I decided, how hard could it be??

I made up my own recipe and it was staggeringly successful! I’d googled “dog treat recipes” and the options that came up, well WOOF; and I don’t mean that in a good way. Most of them didn’t even have meat in them, while still claiming to be a tasty “treat” for your dog. I mean, Clara likes not-meat things too, but meat is definitely her very favouritest thing in the whole wide world to eat! In the end, I got inspiration from a baby-rusk recipe, of all things. This one to be specific; although if you look at it you’ll see it bears zero relation to mine here.

Without further ado!

Dog treats:

500g minced beef
2 cups plain flour
1 large egg

Cook mince in a frying pan, stirring constantly so as to keep it all broken up and no lumps. If mince is very lean I sometimes start with a little water to keep things moving and avoid the mince sticking to the pan; but usually the meat’s own juices are sufficient… When cooked let it cool to lukewarm. Tip mince into a food processor with the flour and blend thoroughly… it should end up with a mealy/breadcrumb-y texture. When thoroughly “crumb-y” add the egg and pulse again, the mixture should form a good dough-like texture that is not sticky and can be rolled out easily. If it is a bit sticky, knead in a touch more flour. Roll out, cut into shapes, and bake at 180C for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown and quite hard. The length of cooking time depends on how thick you’ve rolled it… I rolled to about 4mm, and this yielded a HUGE quantity of bikkies.

Obviously you don’t need to cut fancy shapes, because this is the time-consuming bit really; you could just cut into a grid of squares and separate them for baking. Also, this is quite a basic recipe; I just wanted to sound her out to see how it all worked out before getting into gourmet territory. For the next batch I plan to try some variations:

To be added at the same time as the flour and blended in::

1/4 cup of dried fruit, such as apples or cranberries,

and/or 1tsp dried herbs, such as rosemary, sage or parsley

My only regret? That I do not have a dog-bone shaped cutter. I do though, plan to address this awful travesty…

obedience!!!!

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: Clara, recipe

more soap…

22/07/2018 7:04 pm \ 10 Comments \ Carolyn

So, I’ve been making some more soap, trying to develop a few new recipes of my own. Ever since my first go at soap-making, I’ve perused the oil selection at Coles with a lot more interest… and came home with a few new goodies to experiment with. Specifically; macadamia oil and avocado oil. Following the good advice a few kind commenters on my previous soap-making post, this time I used a soap calculator to help formulate my quantities, thank you Becky and Barb! for letting me know there was even such a thing! My recipes also contain different proportions of the other oils I already had, olive oil and coconut oil. I’ve been seeking out the paler yellow olive oil now too, because I wanted the natural colours of the new oils to be predominant …

And since I’m providing recipes here that include the highly toxic and corrosive compound sodium hydroxide, here are a few very important safety tips…

WHEN HANDLING NaOH, ALWAYS WEAR RUBBER GLOVES, PROTECTIVE EYEWEAR AND CLOTHING THAT COMPLETELY COVERS YOUR ARMS.

Never let it get into contact with your skin. When mixing into water, work outside as much as possible so as to avoid inhaling the fumes. Never under any circumstances put your face over or near the container you are mixing it in.
Ensure you are not going to be disturbed for the time you are working with it. Keep all pets and children well away.
If you must take your lye solution inside, keep all windows open and work underneath a range hood with the fan on full blast.
In the case of spills, clean up with copious amounts of water… i.e. a garden hose if outside. If you do happen to splash some on your skin, IMMEDIATELY put the affected area underneath a tap, and flush with water running fully over the area for several minutes at least. If you can see a visible burn or the area continues to sting and burn after copious flushing then seek medical attention immediately. NaOH is not to be trifled with!

Making your lye solution; FOR ALL RECIPES: When mixing NaOH into water, put the full volume of your cool or cold water into a clean, thick sided, glass container that has no cracks, and can hold at least twice the volume of the water you are working with. Add the NaOH to the water, a little at a time, stirring with a metal spoon. You can stir with a wooden spoon, but you may find the solution gets a little discoloured with tannins from the wood. NEVER add water to NaOH, ALWAYS ADD NaOH TO WATER. This is because as NaOH dissolves in water it generates heat and fumes, and is potentially explosive. If you have trouble remembering which is the correct way to mix the two: when I was at school we learnt this little ditty… and the exact same principle applies to working with a strong alkali like NaOH.

(Picture of a gravestone)

“May her rest be long and placid,
she added water to the acid;
The other girl did as she ought-er,
and added acid to the water”

Substitute alkali for acid, it’s the same situbar. After the solution mixes clear, it will be quite hot. Do not seal the container. Supervise it until it cools before using.

Moving on…. here are my recipes:

Macadamia Soap (7/10)

I absolutely love the dreamy cafe-au-lait colour I got with this mixture! whether it’s horrible to use or not I do not know yet, but will definitely update here and write a little review when it’s cured and I use it.

200g coconut oil
500g macadamia oil
300g olive oil
300mL water
137g NaOH

See the above safety note for handling and mixing NaOH.

Gently heat the coconut oil until it is liquid, then add the other oils.

Outside, carefully add NaOH to the water, a little at a time and stirring. Let it sit for a few minutes, uncovered and under constant supervision, until jar feels lukewarm and no longer hot, and fumes are no longer visibly emanating from the surface before mixing it into the oil.

Pour NaOH solution all at once into the oil, and commence stirring with a stick mixer not running. After a few minutes of this, turn the stick mixer on and keep “pulsing” and mixing for about 10 minutes or until the mixture becomes visibly “gelatinous” in appearance.

This mixture took a lot longer to set than my previous batches… at least 48 hours before it was hard enough to remove from the moulds without distorting them at all. I’m hoping this means it will be a really nice, moisturising soap

This recipe has larger quantities and so obviously produced a lot more soap than my previous recipes, I had an old Brie container and used this to mould the excess into a nicely oval-shaped bar of soap, but it was still overflowing and these bars are each quite a bit bigger and thicker. I chopped up some macadamias and sprinkled them on top for both decoration and as an identifier down the track, seemed like a good idea at the time! but then I decided I don’t like how it looks on top of the soap and will think of something different in the future…

Avocado Soap (5/10)

250mL avocado oil
400mL olive oil
110g coconut oil
200mL water
90g NaOH

See the above safety note for handling and mixing NaOH.

Exact same procedure as for the previous recipe…

This mixture got to the gel stage a lot more rapidly than the macadamia soap. The avocado oil was quite a strong natural “grass” green in colour, which gives this soap its creamy yellow-y green colour. This is the entire batch from this recipe: avocado oil is quite expensive and the bottle a small one, thus the smaller quantities.

I just used my 24x24cm cake pan lined with baking paper, there wasn’t enough mixture for the silicone moulds too. The bars are quite deep though.

Just a note on how I’m choosing these quantities, it’s pretty easy to let the olive oil just take over your recipe since it’s so cheap compared to other oils, however I wanted to keep the “special” oil up there as a major-ish component and not just a token one! While for sure, costs are something you always want to consider, I still want to experiment with the more interesting oils, like macadamia and avocado and am quite excited to use both these ones once they cure too!

this is the full quantity of soap produced from this recipe… yes, the avocados are there for pretty, illustrative purposes only and are not required for the recipe!

Update:

I’m rating the Macadamia Soap a good solid 7/10; it’s nice soap to use and I probably will make it again. The macadamia oil makes it a little more expensive to make than some of the others which I why I’m rating it down just a little.

The Avocado soap is getting a slightly low 5/10… I mostly likely won’t make this again. The avocado oil was quite expensive, that pretty green colour faded as the soap dried, leaving it a regular old pale yellow colour, and also I just wasn’t keen on the, albeit subtle, fragrance of this soap. It just smelt a little on the…. “foody” side, is the only way I can think of putting it!

My other soaps, pure Olive soap (4/10), Coconut soap (7/10) and Buttermilk soap (9/10) are blogged here

Posted in: crafty stuff, Uncategorized \ Tagged: recipe, soap

soap!!

28/04/2018 12:48 pm \ 29 Comments \ Carolyn

So, I actually bought a book called how to make your own soap about a year ago, took it home all full of enthusiasm, only to fizzle out once I realised that a lot of the recipes were full of rather hard-to-locate ingredients *sad trombone* I did enjoy looking at the pretty pictures though and dreaming a bit, not much else, kept on buying soap from the supermarket, blah blah blah… Fast forward to a few days ago, and I saw on ig a simply beautiful picture of castile soap Marilla had just made, and she mentioned how simple it was, only olive oil, water and sodium hydroxide! well that, I could manage!! I was inspired! Enthusiasm reignited! Immediately dove straight in; googled the youtube video she recommended, picked up the NaOH next time I went out. NaOH, aka caustic soda, aka lye, can be found in Bunnings in the heavy duty cleaner section.

Watching that youtube video, of course there were links to about a million other, soap-making videos, so I watched another, and another, fell down a bit of a rabbit-hole… who knew there were so many soap-making you-tubers??? Several of them prone to snarking on each other in the comments section, haha… but that’s another story! I did a bit of googling, and found some more simple recipes that also called for ingredients I could easily buy. By the way, I’m linking to the videos and recipes that gave me the proportions but I’m writing my own recipes here too… why? Several reasons: it’s a little annoying to have to sit through a whole video just to catch that moment when they mention the ingredients and quantities they’re using; secondly because I had to convert everything to metric, which is actually a pain in the neck and I don’t want to have to do it again the next time I want to make soap; and thirdly; I’ve altered some of the quantities to better fit in with a. the quantities of things I can buy here and b. for next time what I think is going to make a decent and manageable quantity of soap.

I made three types of soaps, pictured above from left: Castile, or pure olive oil soap, pure coconut soap, and buttermilk soap. I bought all the ingredients from the supermarket apart from the NaOH, which I got from Bunnings. It was lots of fun making soap… and far easier than I thought! 🙂

Since I’m writing recipes here : a few very important safety notes on working with NaOH, or caustic soda… long term readers may know that I’m an analytical chemist, and I spent years working with chemicals day in day out, and when you do that you can get a little lackadaisical with the handling of very dangerous chemicals. But never ever with stuff like NaOH! it is a very strong alkali; highly corrosive and potentially explosive if not handled correctly around, say, water, which you are doing when you’re making soap. So!

WHEN HANDLING NaOH, ALWAYS WEAR RUBBER GLOVES, PROTECTIVE EYEWEAR AND CLOTHING THAT COMPLETELY COVERS YOUR ARMS.

Never let it get into contact with your skin. When mixing into water, work outside as much as possible so as to avoid inhaling the fumes. Never under any circumstances put your face over or near the container you are mixing it in.
Ensure you are not going to be disturbed for the time you are working with it. Keep all pets and children well away.
If you must take your lye solution inside, keep all windows open and work underneath a range hood with the fan on full blast.
In the case of spills, clean up with copious amounts of water… i.e. a garden hose if outside. If you do happen to splash some on your skin, IMMEDIATELY put the affected area underneath a tap, and flush with water running fully over the area for several minutes at least. If you can see a visible burn or the area continues to sting and burn after copious flushing then seek medical attention immediately. NaOH is not to be trifled with!

(Picture of a gravestone)

“May her rest be long and placid,
she added water to the acid;
The other girl did as she ought-er,
and added acid to the water”

Substitute alkali for acid, it’s the same situbar. After the solution mixes clear, it will be quite hot. Do not seal the container. Supervise it until it cools before using.

Having said all that, I hope I haven’t unnecessarily scared anyone off! as long as one is careful, knows what is going on with it and has a healthy respect for the dangers, and follows all the above simple and common sense safety rules, you should be fine. On with the soap-making!

Each recipe should make 18 bars of soap approximately the size pictured, give or take a little

Castile, or pure olive oil soap… (rating 4/10)

Based on this recipe…

1kg olive oil… I used an extra virgin olive oil… do not know if this makes any difference
280mL water
130g NaOH

See the above safety note for handling and mixing lye. Outside, carefully add NaOH to the water, a little at a time and stirring. Let it sit for a few minutes, uncovered and under constant supervision, until jar feels lukewarm and no longer hot, and fumes are no longer visibly emanating from the surface before mixing it into the oil.

Pour NaOH solution all at once into the oil, and commence mixing with the stick mixer not running. After a few minutes of this, turn the stick mixer on and keep mixing for about 10 minutes or until the mixture becomes visibly “gelatinous” in appearance.

this was my first effort, and got me hooked, it was so easy and quick! My olive oil was quite a strong green colour, and the mixture looked pretty swampy while I was mixing it, so I was pleasantly surprised at how the colour mellowed and softened into this beautifully soft and creamy, greeny-yellow. MUCH nicer!! We have an olive tree, so I snipped a few leaves to decorate my soap bars.

My second effort was this rather dreamy Coconut Soap ( 7/10)

based on this recipe

900mL coconut oil
340mL water
125g NaOH

See the above safety note for handling and mixing NaOH. Leave the solid coconut oil out in the sun, or even sitting in your car or something until it’s completely liquified. Procedure is otherwise exactly the same as for the castile soap, above.

So, I’ve had a large jar of coconut oil sitting in my pantry for the last ten years or so; we’d bought it for Cassie to make a “beachy waves” hair product that required about 1 tablespoon of the stuff. The hair product was horrible, made your hair revoltingly greasy, and so the jar has sat untouched in our pantry ever since. Well guess what?! *throws a party* finally found a use for it!!!!

Note: I found this mixture gelled more quickly by comparison to the previous mixture, and was a noticeably more solid gel too. LOVE the heavenly pure white colour… like meringue! and I sprinkled some shredded coconut flakes over the top, just for decoration. Afterwards I thought I should have stirred some coconut through the mixture before pouring into moulds, it might make a nice exfoliant in the soap. Next time maybe!

Buttermilk soap (9/10!)

based on this recipe, though I didn’t watch the video… I’d watched enough videos by this time that I was like… got it!!

240mL buttermilk
800mL regular olive oil.. this one was a much paler yellow in colour, not as green as the variety I used for my castile soap
145g coconut oil
125g NaOH

Pour the buttermilk into ice-cube moulds and freeze. Once frozen, tip into a glass jar with a capacity of at least 500mL. Add the NaOH –see the above safety notes – and stir until dissolved. As the two mix, the heat given off will cause the buttermilk to melt quite quickly. I guess this is why you freeze it in the first place, so the heat of this reaction doesn’t burn the milk, or cause it to curdle.

In a large separate bowl, mix the oils, and add the buttermilk/NaOH mixture, and proceed just as previously described.

Compare the mixture’s rather strong yellow colour above with the much paler colour it takes on as it sets and dries, below.

Note: I found this mixture took quite a lot longer to reach the “jelly” stage than the previous two recipes.

So that’s it! For moulding the soaps, I used a silicon, 6 capacity muffin tin and a 20cm x 20cm metal cake tin lined fully with baking paper, and let them sit for 24 hours before removing from moulds and cutting.

the buttermilk mix…

The muffin “tins” were great because the soaps just popped out ready formed and don’t need any further shaping… but I like the more conventionally shaped bars I cut from the slabs of soap too. The soaps need to cure for at least 6 weeks in a non-airtight container before using; I used old cardboard cereal boxes and have stored them up high on my overhead kitchen cabinets so they’re out of the way.

buttermilk soaps

I can hardly wait until they’re ready! My pouring skills drastically improved with each batch, so my castile soap bars started out a bit messy with blobs of soap slopped up on the sides, a little rough and ready, the coconut soap is still kinda choppy but more attractively so, and my buttermilk soap bars are smooth and silky things of beauty to my eyes! I’m reeeeally looking forward to when they’ve all finished curing so we can try them out. According to my reading, if you start using them too early before they’re fully cured, homemade soaps will wash away faster and be used up too quickly, which would be a waste… we don’t want that!

the whole lot…I’m roughly estimating that this might be… maybe, a year’s? supply? though I’ve never really kept tabs on “how much” soap we use so that’s a pretty wild guess and I’ll have to wait and see.,.

I read that olive oil soaps apparently don’t give as much lather as other oil soaps, again we shall wait and see!

When I’ve tested them all out I’ll come back here and write an update! Stay tuned!

Update: so I’ve rated the soaps up there…. clearly my favourite is the Buttermilk soap, with a rating of 9/10… I love this soap! silky smooth and beautiful to use, and a lovely very soft, unobnoxious fragrance.

The Coconut soap I’m giving a good solid 7/10; although it has quite a hard texture I don’t mind this too much in a soap, but I am deducting a few points just for that. It has a nice, very subtle fragrance, and coconut is one of my favourite fragrances.

The Castile, or pure Olive Soap is sadly my least favourite of the bunch, it turned sloppy in the soap dish quite quickly and actually dissolved very quickly too. I’m not ruling out that I made some boo-boo while making it, it was my first go at soap-making after all! but all the same, I think I just prefer the others… 4/10

The other soaps I’ve made, Macadamia (7/10) and Avocado (5/10) are blogged here.

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Posted in: crafty stuff \ Tagged: recipe, soap

Easter eggs

01/04/2018 9:30 am \ 4 Comments \ Carolyn

I made a batch of these yummy things a few years ago, following a recipe on The Londoner, and they were such a hit with my family and friends that I made them again for this year! except this time I adapted the recipe so as to:

a. neatly dovetail in with the quantities of ingredients that you can buy here in Aus,

b. up the citrus tang, to better suit our palate, and

c. give the ginormous quantities that my family can put away in a sitting… these are super yummy and a wee bit addictive!

Cheesecake Easter Eggs

3 x 250g cartons of hollow chocolate eggs, the ones that have 15 eggs in each carton

for the lemon-y “egg white” filling:

500g cream cheese
1 cup icing sugar
juice of 2 small lemons + 1 lime
300mL whipping cream

Beat the cream cheese and icing sugar together until soft and fluffy, add juice. Whip cream separately until stiff, and fold into the cream cheese mixture. Gently chip a little bit off the top of each chocolate easter egg and use a skinny teaspoon to spoon the filling into each egg,pushing it down so as to fill completely. This quantity of filling should fill all 45 eggs nicely. As you fill, sit each egg into an empty egg carton and put in the fridge to set.

for the passionfruit “egg yolk” filling:

170g can passionfruit pulp, or 5 passionfruit
1 tsp butter
1 tsp gelatine

Strain the passionfruit pulp into a ceramic bowl, put the dab of butter on top and sprinkle the gelatine over in a layer. Heat in a microwave, 20 seconds at a time, stirring thoroughly after each zap, until the mixture is almost hot, and blended well. Leave to cool slightly.

Take the chocolate eggs and scoop out a depression, dribble a little bit of passionfruit filling into each egg. Put back into the fridge until set.

Eat!

Happy Easter everyone!

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Posted in: crafty stuff \ Tagged: recipe

mini Lamington petit fours, and baby birds

24/12/2017 6:13 pm \ 42 Comments \ Carolyn

scaling Mt Lamington…

Before the onslaught of sewn Christmas gifts, and, I’m sorry, but there’s a LOT to share… here is a rare appearance of some baked Christmas gifts! We kind of have a no-gift policy within our extended families for Christmas nowadays, but I still always like to still give just a little something. There have been years in the past when I used to make little Christmas ornaments and tree decorations but lately I’ve stuck to edible treats. I dunno, but food seems less of an intrusive gift? if that makes sense? it can be kept for personal consumption if the recipient so desires, or else passed around at the ubiquitous seasonal parties at a pinch… and, unlike ornaments which can sorta impose upon people an expectation that they’re hauled out for display every year; they’re consumed, i.e. they GO! No random stuff to add to the household clutter, yay!

A few weeks ago, our friends R and J became Australian citizens after a looooooooooooooooong and extreeeeeeeeeemely drawn-out process, and celebrated with an “Australian” party; we all were to take a plate and I took a plate of petit fours, specifically that all-Australian classic: Lamingtons. But not the big honkous ones, oh no, little elegant bite-sized ones. They disappeared from the dessert table in quite a satisfactorily quick manner, so I decided to make them again for this years’ Christmas gift.

By the way, want to know what I wore?? I wore this ensemble!! haha, well if I’m going to wear it anywhere, it should be to an Australian party! Some people at the party were even very kindly interested to know the whole story!

Your classic Lamington is usually quite big, like 5-6cm (2+”) square, but I prefer them made in this bite-sized form a LOT more. They look sweet and more appetising, and just more fun … well anything in miniature is more fun, no?

My recipe… adapted from various sources. This makes a generous, party-sized batch; for gifts I made several batches to get enough.

Lamingtons

Sponge cake; if you’re short on time you can buy a ready-made sponge cake which makes this a super quick and easy treat! however it’s not that hard to make your own. If you do make your own, it’s best to make it a few days earlier and leave it to harden up and get just a little bit stale. Stale cake? yes sounds horrible, but trust me, the Lamingtons really are the better for it.

5 eggs
3/4c castor sugar
1 c SR flour
90g melted butter

Beat the eggs until thick and creamy and pale; while still beating add the sugar very gradually, and continue beating continuously until dissolved. Fold in butter, then sifted flour. Spread into a 25x30cm Swiss roll pan lined with baking paper, make sure the mixture is only, like 2-2.5cm deep, at most! and bake at 200C for about 10 minutes, or until a light golden brown. Turn out immediately and allow to cool completely. Once cool put in an airtight container and let it sit in the fridge for a few days until a little hardened and slightly stale before assembling the petit fours.

A few days later: take out the sponge and cut it into neat and even squares BEFORE you prepare your icing. Mine are about 2.5cm (1″) square in size, but obviously you can go whatever size you wish… square, however, is traditional!

Also before preparing the icing, have the desiccated coconut ready in a shallow bowl for the coating step. Only then, continue!

Icing:

3 1/2 c icing sugar
1/4 c cocoa powder
1 Tblsp melted butter
1/2 c boiling water

Large quantity of desiccated coconut for coating… around 300g should be plenty

mix all ingredients except coconut! together thoroughly. To save time and an extra pan; (remember the first rule of baking; minimise washing up at all costs!!) I just put the unmelted butter on top of the dry ingredients, and just slowly pour the boiling water on top of it; it quickly melts the butter into the mixture, saving you the extra step of having to melt it first.

To assemble the lamingtons; dump sponge cake squares into the chocolate icing and fully coat them, take out and let excess icing drip off for a second then quickly roll them in desiccated coconut. Messy, but just do it fast! It’s far better to do this step while the icing is still pretty warm, as it stiffens up pretty quickly as it cools… you can add tiny bits of boiling water to make it runny again but it’s not as good.

Set the freshly finished Lamingtons onto a wire rack and into the fridge to set completely. They can be frozen, and in fact are DECLICIOUS eaten frozen during the summer. Personally, I prefer them frozen… in any case it’s best to at least keep them in the fridge.

Real talk; this rather prosaic and un-pretty packaging below is how my family actually receives them…. when it comes to serving them up to guests I like to arrange them either in a militarily, strict grid on a square plate… OR even looking all dishevelledly pretty in a jumbled mini-mountain of lamington-boulders, like in the picture at top; but to give them away I buy these airtight, snap-lock boxes from the supermarket to pack ’em in. Not super glamorous but they are super practical… so people can pop the boxes straight into the freezer, and keep the containers afterwards to store other food in them, if they wish.

Also I just wanted to show here our gift tags for this year… made using the leftover bits of card from when I made my iceberg advent calendar recently. There was this little pile of randomly shaped card leftover and I couldn’t bring myself to throw them out with a need for Christmas gift tags just around the corner! I once again wielded my trusty old star stamp … oh, and can I just say, if I could say something to my younger, newly adult self, it would be GOOD ON YOU! for buying a small selection of stamps and high quality ink pads during that early, brief card-making phase, because for decades now I have continued to use these every year to make Christmas gift tags for practically nothing since they’ve paid for themselves a gazillion times over now.

waste not want not!

Merry Christmas, all!!!

Oh! and a random note about life here lately… I just have to share this… we’ve had a little family growing up in our garden over the past few weeks! a couple of willy wagtails built a beautiful and perfect little nest up in the upper boughs of one of our potted ficus by the pool… we watched with great interest as the two birds took turns sitting on the nest, until one day…

and then the next day…

and the next:

last Sunday:

Monday;

Tuesday:

Wednesday:

Thursday:

on Thursday arvo, one of them popped out of the nest!! it sat on the bough for a few hours but later on hopped back into the nest for the night. Every night a parent would sit on them all night…

on Friday, the parents started teaching them how to fly!

obviously I kept Clara inside all of this day and the next… I didn’t want them stressed out about her presence. It was too cute watching the babies in their wobbly attempts to fly, flopping onto our outdoor table and weaving a little drunkenly through the patio.

Two ended up in the lemon tree where they spent the night, the third one, which seemed a little less developed than the others, stayed in the nest another night. The parents were still catching insects for all three of them, and caring for them constantly…

Saturday:

all three end up in the lemon tree where they stay huddled up together most of the time. The parents are still spending all their time catching insects for them and looking out for them, encouraging them to fly.

Sunday: empty nest syndrome…. 🙁

they’re still spending most of their time huddled together, although they’re moving about from tree to tree, and while they seem to be catching a few insects here and there the parents are still feeding them a bit.

Well. That’s where we stand. It’s totally amazing how fast they’ve grown up! there were a few days there where I felt they were changing almost by the hour! I can’t even express what a gorgeous pleasure it’s been to witness this little family growing up and such a privilege that the parent birds trusted us just enough to build their nest here in our garden. I just hope the nest will be used again next year!

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Posted in: crafty stuff \ Tagged: baking, Christmas, recipe

a little bit of haute couture…

20/05/2017 7:24 pm \ 28 Comments \ Carolyn

…haha, just kidding. I’ve made some winter jammies for myself.

I bought this lovely, cosy, fluffy cotton flannelette from Spotlight months ago, actually during their 40% off everything sale in the height of summer, you know; when it’s so hot the thought of fluffy anything is too awful to contemplate… however it was rather fun to be able to choose from the full, pre-season range of prints and not just the end-of-season rejects like I normally do, ‘cos I shop at the beginning of winter when all the good stuff has all sold out … it really does pay to plan ahead! Who knew?! I chose this cutie cute-ums woodland animal print… too adorable for words, hmmm?… btw, cutesie little prints are not just for the kiddies. Old hags like me are allowed to wear them too, y’know. I almost bought a pink cupcake print, but this one does co-ordinate nicely with my fluffy slippers.

One’s sleepwear must always co-ordinate with one’s pussycats too, a mandate not often mentioned in fashion must-does even though it’s pretty darn IMPERATIVE

gratuitous pussycat pic

Patterns: well, in the past I’ve used the old pair of pyjama bottoms for all my new ones, and I almost did this time too then I was suddenly like, hold up… I actually have a lovely new pyjama pattern, and one that was named FOR MEEEE!! still pinching myself that Heather was so kind…! Obviously, the ol’ ego kicked in and held sway, and I made Carolyn pyjama bottoms. 🙂 I had to make them a little bit shorter due to not quite enough fabric … I didn’t take into account that my print was directional so I wouldn’t be able to flip the pattern pieces upside down! *kicking myself* I’ve previously made the shorts version of the pattern twice, here and here.

The top; well I used my standby Burdastyle 10-2009; 121 modified a bit… this time to have a higher, wider neckline with no centre front slit. I’ve found in the past that having the low V-neckline in pyjamas, my chest actually gets quite cold in winter and I’ve resorted to wearing scarves over my pyjamas… ridiculous!! so I cut the neckline high so my chest is covered up. I’ve used this Burda pattern three times before… here, here, and here; twice for pyjama tops. It’s pretty plain and boring and the easiest thing in the world to make up since you don’t even have to set in any sleeves… it’s basically like a completely shapeless flat sack with cut-on sleeves, sewn up. I require very little by the way of fancy elegance in my pyjama tops, so boom, done! I overlocked all the raw edges and topstitched the seam allowances down, like faux-flatfelled seams.

You may be forgiven for wondering… why hasn’t Carolyn used the Carolyn top pattern too? well, I did think about it, however I currently have other plans for that top awaiting in the wings; Rosie, @artworkerprojects on instagram has made so many beautiful versions of the pattern including this amazing dress. This version is my favouritest of favourite Carolyns that I have ever EVER seen! and I have the devious intention of shamelessly copying her… very soon, hehehe.

In the meantime… sweet dreams!

Details:

Top; Burda 10/2009;121, white cotton flannelette
Bottoms; Closet Case patterns Carolyn pyjamas, cotton flannelette
Slippers; made by me from floor mops, details here

Also, nothing to do with sewing, so yes, this is a little bit random … recipes make a very rare appearance here on my blog since cooking is not really my thing, but I’ve developed the perfect muesli!! this is SO YUMMY that I just had to share.

I prefer a fruit-free muesli, and for years I’ve been a loyal fan of a commercial brand, until it suddenly and inexplicably changed the formula to have quite a noticeable and very strong vanilla flavour. This completely ruined it for me. I been searching for another one, unsuccessfully… all the ones on the market here either have too much fat or sugar, or contain very highly process components like puffed rice; eww! So I finally got proactive and made my own.

This recipe gives a very nutty and wholesome muesli, that is not sweet. I LOVE IT.

Muesli

1/2 c pecans, roughly chopped
1/2 c flaked almonds
1/4 c sesame seeds
1/2 c pumpkin seeds
1/2 c sunflower seeds
1/4 c linseeds
1/4 c black chia seeds (optional; I only included these because we happened to have some that needed using up)
3 c rolled oats

Dry toast each ingredient separately in a frying pan over low heat, using no oil. The only exception is linseeds, which I’ve discovered will fly all over the place like popcorn so I don’t toast these! Stir frequently while toasting to avoid burning, and tip each into the same bowl once toasted and before doing the next ingredient. Do the rolled oats in batches. Mix ’em all together and let the muesli cool completely before storing in an airtight container.

I like it best mixed with natural unsweetened yogurt… enjoy!

Posted in: sewing \ Tagged: Burdastyle 10/2009-121, Carolyn, Closet Case files, pyjamas, recipe

Christmas mignardises

20/12/2015 2:39 pm \ 16 Comments \ Carolyn

So, every year I make something small to give to close friends and family for Christmas, sometimes a Christmas ornament, sometimes a sweet treat to eat. This year, I decided on eatables; mini Christmas-pudding mignardises. Cute, non?

The idea and the details are probably not new but I did adapt from several sources, so I thought I’d compile here my method for making them…

First up, the Christmas cake…

My standard fruit cake recipe, given to me by my old friend V yonks ago, I’ve been using it ever since. It’s a nice boiled fruitcake, very moist, so a good choice for making the cake-balls. I doubled up the ingredients to make two fruit cakes, and this plus one quantity of rum buttercream icing should make approximately 140 bite-sized balls, if you don’t eat any in the meantime 😉

Pineapple boiled fruit cake: (these quantities are for one cake, double this quantity is required for the remainder of the method)

Tip the following ingredients into a saucepan:

450g can crushed pineapple, drained but reserving a little of its juice just in case
125g butter
375g mixed fruit
1 cup sugar
1 tsp mixed spice
1 tsp bicarb f soda
pinch salt (optional)

Boil, stirring, for 10 min, if it starts to stick stir in just a splash of reserved juice. Allow to cool, then add:

1 cup self-raising four
1 cup plain flour
2 eggs

Mix in well. Again, if it seems too thick, add a dash of reserved juice.
21cm square cake tin, 160C for about 40 min or until cooked, leave for 5min in tin, remove to cool completely

As mentioned, this quantity makes just one cake, for this method double up to make two. Once the cakes are cooled completely it’s time to make the balls…

Now; you’re forming the cake into balls using buttercream icing as the binding agent… I found my basic recipe on taste.com but to impart a festive Christmas-sy flavoured air to them I substituted a large dollop of rum in lieu of some of the milk. If you don’t want the alcohol just use all milk and no rum, or just a dash of rum essence, for the flavour. I found this quantity to be enough for the two cakes, so halve this quantity if you’ve only made one cake.

Rum buttercream icing:

125g butter
500g icing sugar
4 tblsp rum + 2 tblsp milk

Cream butter until smooth. Stir in about 1 cup of sifted icing sugar. Add rum + milk and mix. Stir in the remainder of the sifted icing sugar, beating well until smooth.

It starts to dry out straightaway, so use immediately!

I rolled the balls, half a cake at a time,because it’s kinda messy work and this was all I can handle, but whatever works for the individual of course. Anyway, break off a sizeable piece of cake that you can handle and crumble into a large pan. The pieces should be fairly small and crumb-y, but obviously there are going to be some chunky fruity bits, don’t worry too much about a very superfine consistency. To half a cake worth of cake crumbs, add a quarter of the rum buttercream icing and knead and mix it in thoroughly with your hands, then take about a tablespoon at a time, or bite-sized pieces, roll the mixture into balls. No doubt about it, this is messy work, best not pick a day you’ve just had a manicure; although I will say that the butter etc all over your hands impart beautifully soft skin afterwards! When rolled, push them into the bench ever so gently so they have a little flat base, so they can stand upright without toppling over.

Decorating:
I found this quantity of cake to require:

650g white chocolate
400g glace cherries

Melt chocolate in three of four batches for ease of handling, and either dip the balls or drizzle over the cakes, so as to look like custard or brandy sauce as it’s poured over Christmas pudding. Push half a glace cherry on the top or use other glace fruit, if preferred.

Done! Keep them in the fridge until required. They can go individually in mini-patty pans to give away, or not, because I think they look pretty cute all by themselves!