Vanilla bean and almond meringues with mixed berry sauce

Vanilla and almond meringues with a mixed berry sauce.

At the end of November we packed our bags and headed out of the burbs for a weekend in the Overberg. This was a welcome break after a busy few weeks on the home and work fronts, plus a chance to spend some quality family time together. Our destination was a farm called Landmeterskop near Stanford and were invited to join some good friends who had been there before. What a gem of a place!

We stayed in the spacious and comfortable homestead surrounded by beautiful mountains, grazing sheep and the sounds of nature. The farm is a fabulous family destination and the children had the opportunity to feed the animals each morning and evening, milk the goats and go on a tractor ride. The grown ups enjoyed being able to switch off (there was hardly any signal on the farm) and some amazing star gazing in the evenings. Another highlight of the weekend was being able to collect fresh free range eggs in the mornings to enjoy for breakfast. Which brings me to this week’s recipe… but first, here are a few snaps from our trip.

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Brown butter cupcake brownies

 Cupcake brownies with pecan nuts and chocolate chips
I have a lovely cousin in the U.K. (hi Jules!) and every so often she sends me scrumptious recipes that she finds on the web. A few weeks ago she sent me this link and frankly, if you are going to put the words cupcake and brownie in the same sentence then you are guaranteed to get my attention…I had to try the recipe immediately! It was so darn delicious that I simply had to share it with all of you too.

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Chocolate fudge nut pieces

Pieces of fudge with nuts and dark chocolate on a plate.
Such naughtiness on the blog today! I was in two minds about sharing this recipe which was inspired by a treat by Tessa Kiros from her book (and one of my favourites on the cookbook shelf) Apples for Jam. You see, when I tried the recipe it did not come out quite the way I had expected. For one thing the picture in her book shows a toffee square that is much darker and (from what I can see) firmer than what I ended up with. I have made this recipe a few times and I tend to end up with more of a fudgy, crystalline mixture. Still, no complaints about that and the family gave these chocolate fudge nut pieces a thumbs up for blog-worthiness, so who am I to argue.

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Vanilla and chocolate almond butter cookies

Top shot of cookies and milk

 

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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Vegan chocolate nut brittle cake

A triple layer vegan chocolate cake with nut brittle.
This is the first time that I am officially delving into the world of vegan cooking and if you are feeling the chocolate cravings on this post long weekend Wednesday-that-feels-like-a-Monday then this is just for you.

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Festive rocky road

Summer holidays are here again and with them (hopefully) some much deserved down time for you all. For many of us this time of year is steeped in tradition, whether that centres around a getaway to a favourite holiday destination, Christmas festivities or the food we eat. It is also a time for reflection on the year gone by and the inevitable question – just where has this year gone? Continue reading “Festive rocky road” →

Macadamia and cranberry chocolate squares

I made these sumptuous squares of chocolatey goodness over the weekend and they were just too good not to share! The original recipe comes from “Ottolenghi – The Cookbook” and I adapted it to use ingredients that I had to hand. In the Ottolenghi version they included chestnuts and dried figs (which sounds utterly delicious!), but I opted for creamy macadamias and tart cranberries as these also taste fantastic with white chocolate. I also used chocolate coated digestives instead of the regular ones just to up the chocolate even more – go big or go home, right?

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