portuguese custard tarts

I just love these custard tarts, or better know as Pasteis de nata! 

One of my favourite coffee shops, Vida e makes them... I ate one and just had to try them myself! So I researched a few recipes and combined a few of them.  And even if I have to say somy self, these are good, and maybe even better :-)

This recipe makes about 12 tarts depending on the size of your pans

What you need:

50ml cake flour

200ml sugar

3 egg yolks

1egg

300ml milk

1t lemon rind shavings

Pre-heat the oven to 250°C (or the maximum your oven can go)

• Sift the flour and sugar together
• Lightly beat together the egg yolks and whole egg
• Put the milk and the lemon rind in saucepan and gradually bring to the boil ( when done remove the lemon rind)
• Pour half of the boiling milk over the flour and sugar and stir until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is smooth, then add this mixture to the remaining milk.
• Pour a few spoonfuls of the hot mixture onto the beaten egg and stir well. Then pour the egg into the flour and sugar mixture, stirring constantly until completely mixed. Now the custard is done and your should leave it to cool down for at least a hour or more. 
• While the mixture cools down you can prepare the pastry cases.
• Flatten the puff pastry slightly with a rolling pin and cut out into discs to fit the muffin pan that you are using
• Press the disc into the pan
• Pour the custard into the pastry cases, leaving about a centimetre between the custard and the rim of the pastry
• Bake 8-12 minutes or until the pastry edges start to brown. You should get brown spots on the custard, but if you don’t, don’t worry. 
• Once you have removed the tarts from the oven, let them cool for a few minutes, then remove them from their pans, and place them on a rack to cool. 

Next you need to make a steaming cappuccino and enjoy!

dafont

I came across this website and I just love it :-) It's freely downloadable fonts...

You choose any font... then type in the text you want at "custom preview" and scroll down through loads and loads of different fonts till you find your desired look!

http://www.dafont.com

heart paperclip

So cute!

Just by bending a paperclip you can transform into this cute heart paperclip!

Here's how...

Place the paperclip with the wider loop to the bottom and the outside end, on your left.

Then bend the paperclip at the black arrow, so that the blue arrow in the first paper clip ends were the blue arrow is in the second clip.

And Voila that's your heart paperclip!

chicken pies

I love these individual chicken pies, they are lovely and they look pretty when served with a green salad.  They are suitable for freezing (you take them out as you need them, very convenient) and works amazing for a picnic. Depending on the size of the pies you want to make, you can use normal muffin pans or the giant muffin pans, but I find the normal muffin pan's works perfect.  This recipe makes about 12 in a normal muffin pan and 10 in giant muffin pan.

What you need:
about 50 ml     olive oil
2 pakkets        chicken thighs and drumsticks (8 to 10 pieces)
250g                bacon cut into pieces
1                      onion chopped roughly
250ml              chicken stock
200g                mushrooms chopped finely (optional)
4 sheets           ready rolled puff pastry
salt and pepper to flavour

Preheat your oven at 180°C.

Fry the chicken, onions and bacon in a casserole with the olive oil until brown.

Add the chicken stock and flavor with salt and pepper.

Place the lid on the casserole and put in the oven for about a hour.

Then remove and allow to cool down. When cooled down, remove the meat from the bones.  Break the meat into pieces, and add the chicken pieces and the mushrooms to the sauce.

There should be enough sauce that the meat isn't dry.  If it is too runny, mix a spoon of flour to a bit of water and add to the mixture to thicken the sauce.  Let the chicken cool down completely before you put it into the pan.

Roll out the dough slightly, and cut so that the pieces cover the muffin pans.  It's best you make it slightly bigger than the hole (needs to hang over once you've filled the hole), so that when you put the top on the pie you can push the sides down with a fork.

Dish the chicken mixture in, and paint the dough rind with beaten egg, and close with the dough lid.
Paint the top of the dough with the egg.
If you want to cut out a heart or a star with a cookie cutter you and place it on top of the lid then pain it with egg again.

 Now put into the hot oven @ 200°C for 20-30 minutes until it's golden brown.

This is not the end of your chicken pies, you now need to take them out of the muffin pan, and place it on a baking sheet - be careful that you don't break the dough and bake for a further 5minutes. This will ensure that the dough at the bottom becomes brown and crispy.

Now your chicken pies are ready to eat!

Bon appetit...

candle in a bottle

Ain't these sweet?

I saw them in an interior shop while I was on holiday and thought, as soon as I get home I'm going to make them! Here they are...
I love using hearts because I'm a heart kind-of-girl. If you're not one, you can use any other shape, or initials, or cut out a word!

What you need:
2 sheets of reading book paper
scissors
an old clean glass bottle
glue
rope or ribbon depending on the size of the neck of the bottle... about 50cm's

Take the page and measure on the bottle what the size of the paper should be. The circumference of the bottle will be wider on the outside than the inside, but measure it to get an idea.

You will have to stick the sheets together, but to start off first stick the one side together and make sure that it is cut straight. Then and cut off the wrinkled edges.

Now measure approximately where you want to cut the hearts or shapes. Lightly fold the paper and cut out your shape.

Before you put the paper in the bottle, glue the one end of the paper, put it in the bottle and spread the paper inside the bottle. Then stick the other end of the paper to the bottle. Almost done.

Now to just finish off the project tie a ribbon or piece of rope around the neck of the bottle, and place a tea-light candle in the bottle.

They are beautiful for the middle of your table or to put a few of them on your windowsill and light them for a pretty picture in the evenings.

Happy crafting and enjoy your pretty candle holders.