Hertzoggies

Apparently these little tartlets were named after an Old president of South-Africa J B M Hertzog.  They look complicated to make, but they really are not.  They are usually made in a muffin tin or patty pan tin that is not that deep (this recipe makes about 30) but I like it bite size so I make it in a mini muffin pan. This recipe is from the You winning recipe book, a lovely book to have with wonderful recipe's in it.

What you need:
Crust:
250g Flour
25g   Castor Sugar
2 tsp Baking powder
1/2 tsp Salt
125g Butter (room temperature)
3 large Egg Yolks
15 ml Water
Filling:
6 Tbs fine Apricot Jam
3 large Egg Whites
250g Castor Sugar
500ml desiccated coconut (not sweetened)

Heat the oven to 180C

Sift together the flour, castor sugar, baking powder and salt.

Rib the butter into the flour mixture, until mixed and has a crumb texture.

Beat the egg yolks, mix with the water and add to the flour mixture.

Mix until a soft but manageable dough forms.

Add a few drops more water if needed.

Cover and set aside for a few moments.

Spray the muffin tins.

Roll the dough out on a floured surface.

Cut circles large enough for the hole of the muffin tin.  Remember not to measure the size of the hole the dough must go inside, so you will need something a bit bigger.

Now place these circles in the hollows and lightly press down to take the shape of the hollow.

Put about a half teaspoon of jam in the hollow.

Now beat the egg whites until stiff.

Slowly add the sugar bit by bit, beating well after each addition.

Fold in the coconut.

Put a spoon full on each tartlet to make a pretty dome on top.

Bake for 20 - 25 min in the centre of the oven.

Allow to cool on cooling rack once cooked.

Serve as is with tea.

Rice Krispies Stars {no bake treats}

What you need:
3 Tablespoons Butter
1 Pack Marshmallows {about 40}
6 cups Rice Krispies cereal

Line a pan of approximately 35 x 25 x 5 cm with wax paper and cook 'n spray.

In a large saucepan melt the butter over a low heat.

Add the marshmallows and stir until completely melted then remove from the heat.

Add the Rice Krispies and stir until well mixed.

Spread the mixture evenly into the lined pan {make sure that your mixture is not spread thicker than your cookie cutter, but not too thin that it will break}

Allow to cool.

Cut out your star forms with a star cookie-cutter {or any other form that you wish to cut out}

To put it on a stick: Dip the stick into melted white chocolate, then push it into the Rice Krispie star {it just helps keeping it together, not necessary}.

You can cover a piece of Styrofoam with material and push the "stars on the sticks" in this to serve!

Kids LOVE them and adults as well! ;-)

{Store at room temperature for not more than two days in an air-tight container}
{Can be frozen, use wax paper to separate the treats, and remove from freezer 15min before serving}

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...

fun paper windmills

These are fun and easy to make.

You can use them for kiddies parties, baby showers, kitchen teas, weddings, Christmas parties, or just for fun... choose your paper according to your theme!

I'm making a few of these for a friends coffee shop... to give a bit of a festive feel over the Christmas season.

What you need:

• Paper (I find that scrap booking paper work very nice. You get the paper that's printed both sides, that the one you should get! It's square so you get 4 squares out of one sheet unless you want to make a huge windmills)
• Stick (kebab sticks work perfect, if you make small ones)
• Split pins
• Scissors
• Ruler
• Pencil

Cut the piece of scrap booking paper into four smaller squares.

Now fold the small square corner to corner, open and fold the other corner to corner.

You now have lines that cross the square diagonally. Cut along these lines till about one centimeter from the center of the square.

I prick a hole about half a centimeter from the point of every second flap (these are the ones being folded in) and a prick in the center of the square.

You can then fold the pricked corners in and push the split pin through each corner, then through the center. Open the pin at the back, and wrap it around the kebab stick (a drop of glue will help to secure this)

And there you have a paper windmill.  Now stick it into a pot plant, a bottle, into cupcakes... just anywhere you can find to stick them in :-)