Double chocolate almond meringues

I whipped these up a while ago when I found myself sitting with a few extra egg whites leftover from a batch of fresh pasta I had made. The perfect excuse to make meringues! Not just any meringues, no no… but an extra special version with dark chocolate and crunchy almonds. They were so delicious that I have made them several times since. Continue reading “Double chocolate almond meringues”

Double chocolate brownies and a chat with Sam Taylor

In a perfect world I would have hours and hours of free time to spend reading food blogs. I love discovering a beautiful blog, getting inspired by the recipes and images, and finding out a little bit more about the author. I first came across Pomegranate Days a few months ago, around about the time I started Cupcakes and Couscous. I was immediately drawn in by the friendly tone of the writing, the stunning images and the mouth-watering recipes. I knew I had found a gem!

 

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National Cookie Swap 2013 and spiced dark chocolate cookies

Well readers, I can’t wait to tell you about an exciting event that I attended over the weekend. If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter then you will no doubt know what I am talking about – the third annual Cape Town Cookie Swap! This year it was a national event with cookie swaps also taking place in Joburg and Durban on the same Saturday. Proceeds from the event went to Khayelitsha Cookies, and I will be telling you a bit more about this fantastic company in a little bit. 

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Dinner party feast – chicken liver ravioli and double chocolate meringue cake

The Freshly Blogged competition is in its 6th week already, wow! This week’s challenge was sponsored by Robertsons Spices and it was a double whammy with a brief that said that we had to create two dishes, both containing cayenne pepper and cinnamon. The other ingredients we had to use were chicken livers, cream and white chocolate, and we could also include any three fresh ingredients and two grocery items.

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Pear, rosemary and almond praline tart with chocolate and Amarula sauce

Pear and almond praline tart with chocolate ganache
The 5th challenge in the Freshly Blogged competition had all the bloggers excited because it was a sweet challenge for a change. Personally, I was thrilled as this was just what I had been hoping for! The ingredients list was a cook’s dream, with a myriad of recipe options to choose from: Amarula cream, dark chocolate, pears, blanched almonds and cream crackers. The challenge also stipulated that the dish had to include a custard based recipe. The hardest part of the challenge was deciding what dish to make! In the end I decided on a pear and rosemary tart, filled with almond praline pastry cream and served with a chocolate Amarula drizzling sauce.

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Chocolate cherry fudge

Fudge has always been one of those “hit or miss” recipes for me. I have made it many times and tried lots of different recipes, but I find that if I don’t boil it for exactly the right amount of time to the minute, the outdoor ambient temperature is not quite right or the stars are not aligned on that particular day then the stuff just does not set! Alright alright, I may have made those last two things up. My point is that making fudge the traditional way can be problematic. So, I decided to put together a foolproof “cheat” recipe. Straightforward, no sugar thermometer required and you will have a batch of tasty fudge ready in a snap.

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Chocolate hot cross buns

There is a little back story to this recipe which was inspired by a good friend of mine. She recently left Australia where she has been living for the past few years, and where chocolate hot cross buns are readily available. During a recent chat a few hints were dropped about creating a similar recipe… I suspect that since she will be making her way to Cape Town in the next few weeks (and has confessed to being addicted to them) that she was actually being serious! Well of course I accepted the challenge and thought these would be a gorgeous treat to enjoy at Easter.

 

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