Cookies – Page 6 – Cupcakes & Couscous

Lemon Easter cookies

Published on April 12, 2017March 23, 2018 by Teresa Ulyate4 Comments

Today’s post is a bit of holiday fun for the kiddies, and given world events over the past two weeks and particularly here in S.A. I think us adults could do with a bit of fun too! In all seriousness though, this is an exceptionally tasty cookie, with or without all the icing and trimmings, and you should definitely give this recipe a try these Easter holidays!

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Competition Time!

Published on March 27, 2017August 26, 2017 by Teresa Ulyate5 Comments

Those of you who follow me on Instagram will have seen me raving about my latest favourite account – @josieluvslocal. Her passion for local products is inspiring! Jo and I are both crazy about Cape Town and supporting our local producers and have decided to team up for a fun (and delicious) giveaway for our Capetonian followers!

One lucky follower will be spoiled with their choice of treats from CupcakesandCouscous.com, yum! Keep an eye on the @josieluvslocal Instagram account where every day this week she will be posting another delicious treat. Give us a follow, tag your friends and you could be our winner. Too easy y’all.

So remember, local is lekker… and good luck!

The T’s and C’s:

Competition starts Monday 27 March and closes midnight on Friday 31 March.
Entrants must be Cape Town residents (our treats probably won’t fare well in the post!).
Prize will be hand delivered to the winner on an agreed date.
The winner may choose one treat from the nine that are featured on Instagram during the course of the competition.
The winner will be chosen at random and announced on Saturday 1 April.

Shortbread and apricot jam square recipe

Orange and apricot jam squares

Published on March 1, 2017October 9, 2025 by Teresa Ulyate1 Comment

Ever had one of those weeks when you feel as though you are having to put up with a lot of nonsense? Well, I feel as though I am there at the moment, and to combat that I am sharing my recipe for good old fashioned no nonsense jam squares. A classic but a goodie. Enough said.

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Recipe round up: 10 fabulous edible Christmas gift ideas

Published on December 16, 2016May 23, 2018 by Teresa Ulyate3 Comments

Happy Friday! Christmas is just around the corner (eek!) and if the thought of hitting the shopping malls this weekend fills you with dread then this post is just for you.

Personally, I love getting edible foodie gifts. But more than that, I love making and giving foodie gifts. Who doesn’t enjoy receiving a parcel of delicious goodies that have been beautifully packaged and made with love? So today I have rounded up some of my most popular gifting recipes that I am sure you and your specials will love too. And without further ado, here they are:

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Christmas biscuit tree

Published on December 7, 2016December 3, 2018 by Teresa Ulyate5 Comments

This week the nostalgic mood continues with another family inspired recipe. When it comes to food there is no question that baking is my first love, and when I think back to my earliest baking memories I am always reminded of childhood Christmases. The much anticipated, long December school holidays that felt like they went on forever were the perfect time for sun drenched afternoons in the pool and fun with friends, but a real highlight for me would be the Christmas baking. Each year I looked forward to making mince pies, biscuits and the decorating of the Christmas cake which my mum would have baked a few weeks earlier using my grandmother’s recipe. (And still does!)

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Almond tart

Published on November 30, 2016March 22, 2025 by Teresa Ulyate15 Comments

Making these cookies is rather like going back in time for me! This is one of my mother’s recipes that my family have enjoyed for as long as I can remember. (Even now, if you were to have a peek in her biscuit tin there is a good chance you would find some of these inside.) There was often a block of almond tart tucked in my lunchbox or gobbled up as an afternoon treat after school.

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A Train Party

Published on November 10, 2016August 26, 2017 by Teresa Ulyate12 Comments

Train cake with buttercream icing and fondant.

October was a rather hectic but very exciting month here at Cupcakes and Couscous HQ. Chaos continued to reign on the home front as renovations went on (we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, hooray!), my sister visited us from the U.K (double hooray!) and we had a couple of special family birthdays – my Dad, and my youngest James who turned two. He is completely obsessed with all things train related and so it was a no brainer as to what his party theme would be. I thought that this week I would share a few snaps from the day, perhaps they will give you a few ideas if you have a train party coming up.

The decor was heavily inspired by a couple of pics I saw on good old Pinterest. There were tons of train party related pins as you can imagine, such fantastic ideas that I probably would not have thought of myself. I went for a blue and green colour scheme and chose the following ideas:

the snacks were served in a train. I painted disposable foil oven trays with blue and green craft paint, stuck black paper circles on the sides for wheels and strung them together with twine. I then used old cardboard boxes to make a train to go at the front (decorated in blue and green of course), lined the carriages with blue and green tissue paper and filled them up with delicious eats.
a cardboard “birthday crossing” sign with paper lights underneath, and another sign that said “Platform 2”.
“Thanks for chugging by” party packs displayed in an open suitcase marked “Baggage Claim”.
the children played pass-the-parcel with train songs as the music.
A train craft where the children could glue their own train pictures using shapes that I had pre-cut and cotton wool. (Apologies for the terrible photo!)

For the food I served a selection of nibbles – fruit and bran muffins, pretzels, crudités, train shaped sugar cookies, fresh fruit, cheese and train crossing biscuits made out of wafer biscuits. It looked rather sweet served up in the train carriages.

The main event of course, was the cake. I decided to make a simple round cake decorated with fondant cut outs and topped with a fondant train cake topper. It worked out great as I was able to make all of the fondant goodies a few days ahead of the party (less stress on the day!). I baked the cakes the day before the party, then on the morning of the big day I simply whipped up a batch of icing, iced the cake and popped all the decorations on.

How to make a fondant train cake topper.

Here are a few more details on how I put the cake together:

I baked two 22cm vanilla cakes. I levelled off the bottom cake to make it easier to stack the other on on top, but I left the top one rounded to give it a “hilly” appearance.
The cake was iced with a thin layer of pale blue buttercream icing.
When it came to making the fondant train I referred to this easy tutorial, adding my own touches here and there.
I also used fondant to make the train tracks (I used a sharp knife to score lines into them to give them a more woody look), clouds, “tunnels” with rocks around them, apple trees and hills.
I finished the cake off by piping a little bit of green buttercream icing around the base to look like grass.

If you have a train party planned for your little one then hopefully this has given you a bit of inspiration. If you have hosted a train party lately I would love to hear about it!

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A photo of a stack of chocolate and vanilla almond butter cookies

Vanilla and chocolate almond butter cookies

Published on September 6, 2016March 31, 2025 by Teresa Ulyate7 Comments

If you are a regular Cupcakes and Couscous reader then you: a.) are awesome and b.) will probably know that I love a good cookie recipe. These cookies came about when the recipe I was actually trying to make went slightly off track, but luckily in a good way!

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