Orange Cinnamon and Lemon Cardamom Meringue Nests

by Michelle @ A Tipsy Giraffe // November 7, 2014 // 65 Comments

Does this happen to anybody else ever? You have left over egg yolks so you make pudding, but then you end up needing more egg yolks than you had so you end up with left over egg whites. Now you’re just stuck in an endless cycle of using up leftover parts of eggs! It’s not necessarily a bad thing, it means you end up with super yummy meringue nests you wouldn’t have made otherwise! And aren’t unintended desserts the best kind? I’m sure they don’t have as many calories in either 😉

When I have egg whites to use up my first thought is always meringue, it’s one of my all time favourite sweets. There’s just something about the way it crunches and melts in your mouth all at the same time that is just irresistible to me. I thought about making some meringue to crush up and put in an Eton Mess, but then I decided I should make the meringue a dessert all by itself, it deserves to be the star of the show after all!

As a baker I always like to make sure I at least have lemons and cream in the fridge and a well stocked spice cupboard, there are few things you can’t spruce up with the right citrus and spice (plus lemons are insanely useful for so many things around the house) and cream makes everything better and more decadent. As luck would have it, I also had some oranges in the fridge. Orange and cinnamon are natural partners, their familiar dance on your tongue is traditional but still exciting as the first time. Lemon and cardamom may not be as familiar to some, but when they take to the dance floor it’s clear they were always meant to be. And that has to get an award for the weirdest metaphor I’ve written… this week anyway! So I’m no shakespeare, but I think I got my point across – these are flavour combinations made in heaven!

So with those strange metaphors swimming around my head, I added lemon zest to half of the meringue and orange zest to the other half. Baked them and filled the lemon ones with cardamom cream and the orange ones with cinnamon cream. The food colouring added the meringue is technically optional, but I really do think it’s what makes this dessert look so fun and inviting! So unless you have an allergy or an aversion to food colourings, I would definitely keep them in!

Continue reading →

Neapolitan Pudding

by Michelle @ A Tipsy Giraffe // November 5, 2014 // 46 Comments

“What are you making?” my mum asked me. “Pudding” I replied. “Yeah, but what are you making?” she said “pudding!” I responded. “But you can have anything for pudding! Cake, ice cream, pie…” Now I see where our wires are getting crossed “It’s just pudding, actual pudding. It’s its own thing” I tell her. “Oh, okay” she says “but what is it you’re making”. I don’t think she’s gonna get it you guys!

That conversational circle went on for quite a while. Pudding in the UK is a synonym for dessert (if you read the Harry Potter books and wondered why they always ended meals with “pudding”, now you know they weren’t just overly fond of this custard like dessert!), we don’t have pudding like the US does either – the closest we have is custard which isn’t all that dissimilar really. We do have a type of dessert referred to as pudding and those are usually sponge based and steamed in a basin. However, I love America’s pudding – and not just in my cookies. It was only a matter of time until I made my own!

I love neapolitan ice cream, who doesn’t? We were one of the houses where the vanilla would somehow be the only flavour left though – oh the disappointment of opening up the ice cream tub only to see vanilla left! These days I’d be happy to eat up that vanilla ice cream, vanilla is not as boring as young me thought (if it’s done right anyway!). Did anybody else mix up their neapolitan ice cream to make a brown, gloopy mess though? Oh, to be back in those simpler times! Of course, in my adulthood, I can make as much neapolitan yummyness as I want! So when I was trying to decide what flavour pudding I should make with some left over egg yolks, I thought to myself “why settle for just one?” and so neapolitan pudding it was! Being an adult is swell!

I know neapolitan is normally made with strawberry, but I prefer raspberry plus I had some fresh raspberries just itching to be used! Of course, you can make yours with strawberries, just do a straight switch. I do love the distinct layers in this pudding, it was fun to make and fun to look at – but I will admit, I couldn’t resist mixing it all up into dull brown mess when I ate it. There’s still a little kid inside of me after all!

I do love the little pudding packs you can buy in the grocery store, but you can’t beat the homemade stuff! It isn’t hard to make either, it doesn’t even take very long – you just have to be patient while you wait for it chill (which is usually the hardest part, for me anyway!). Then you just spoon it into your presentation glasses – or just mix it all up in a bowl and cut out the middle man 😉 Either way, it won’t take you much effort to get to the point of yummy goodness! And you really will notice the difference in flavour and I think you’ll agree it was worth it.

Continue reading →

Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Peanut Butter

by Michelle @ A Tipsy Giraffe // November 3, 2014 // 26 Comments

Can you believe it’s November already?! Does anyone else feel like the older you get, the faster time passes you by? I swear it was March just yesterday! But here we are, Christmas is looming and I’m only slightly panicking about the fact I haven’t started my Christmas shopping! I have already started my Christmas baking for the blog though, I won’t be posting any recipes for a few weeks yet but it’s good to a get jump start on recipe development and photographing!

On to today’s recipe though! After seeing Peanut Butter & Co’s Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Peanut Butter on The Breakfast Drama Queen’s Instagram I could not get the idea of it out of my head! Peanut Butter and Cinnamon?! Are you kidding me? It’s like they had me in mind when they mixed up this heavenly concoction! Unfortunately, they forget to consider the part where I live in the UK and they don’t seem to sell it over here. Sad sigh. But fear not UK citizens, to the kitchen! Holy cinnamon raisin swirl peanut butter Batman!

I’m not entirely sure why I turned into a superhero’s side kick then, a superhero I hate too (ooh, getting controversial now)! But I learned long ago not to question where my brain goes and just roll with it! Even with the world’s poorest excuse for a superhero, this peanut butter cannot fail you! It’s so yummy, it’s easy to make and it only has 4 ingredients! You will need a fairly decent food processor to make it, a mini one is fine as long as the motor is good. My poor little mini food processor was not happy making this peanut butter, it was quite literally smoking by the end of it! Burning out my only food processor was totally worth it though, it died creating something beautiful! I could easily eat this stuff out of the jar with just a spoon, I really did have to force myself to put down that spoon if I’m being quite honest!

There’s so many things you can use this peanut butter for too. It’s great just generously spread on your morning toast, but why stop there? Use it in smoothies and milkshake, bake with it, whip up some pancakes, spoon a dollop on your porridge, spread it on celery and take your ants on a log to whole new level – the possibilities are endless! And once you know how to make it yourself, there really is no stopping you! And if cinnamon raisin swirl ain’t your thing? No problem (other than the fact you’ve probably lost your mind)! It’s easy to swap out the cinnamon and raisins for many other yummy additions! The peanut butter gods are very accommodating!

Have I sold you on this wonderful peanut butter swirled with cinnamon and raisins yet? I sure hope so, because the recipe is just a couple of sentences away!

Do stop by and say hello on social media once you’ve read the recipe and updated your shopping list! You can find me on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, Google+ and Bloglovin’. And if you like this post, why not subscribe to receive my posts direct to your inbox (enter your email in the subscription box on my sidebar) – I’ll be posting an awesome recipe where I use this peanut butter soon!

I’m bringing this yummy homemade peanut butter to Fiesta Friday, grab a spoon guys!

Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Peanut Butter

2014-11-03 21:10:29

Homemade peanut butter swirled with cinnamon and raisins

Write a review

Save Recipe

Ingredients

500g Roasted peanuts (unsalted)
100g raisins
3 tbsp ground cinnamon
2 tbsp brown sugar

Instructions

Put the peanuts in your food processor and blitz until it's smooth. This can take up to 5 minutes depending on your food processor, just keep trucking it'll happen. Scrape down the sides of the bowl where necessary.
Once smooth, add the raisins, cinnamon and sugar and blitz again for another 30 seconds - 1 minute until all combined.
Spoon into jar and store in the fridge

Notes

This recipe makes enough for a 250ml/8oz jar. But can be easily doubled.
Unsalted peanuts are best, but if you can only get your hands on salted they'll work, your peanut butter will just be on the salty side (which isn't a bad thing per se, I like salty)
You can, of course, roast your own peanuts too.

By Michelle @ Giraffes Can Bake

A Tipsy Giraffe https://www.atipsygiraffe.com/

Sharing with…

Time to Sparkle, Hit Me With Your Best Shot, Project Parade, Inspire Me Wednesday, Create It Thursday, Foodie Fridays, Pure Blog Love, Fiesta Friday, Super Saturday, Scraptastic Saturday, Motivation Monday, Inspiration Monday, Sweet and Savoury Sundays, Frugal Crafty Home

Chocolate Chip Cake Batter Pancakes

by Michelle @ A Tipsy Giraffe // October 31, 2014 // 55 Comments

It’s an unseasonably mild October afternoon and you’re expecting some bad news, but instead you’re given good news – well, not good but better than expected at least. That only calls for one thing – celebratory pancakes for dinner!

What is it about having breakfast for dinner (or “brinner”, as my friends on Scrubs call it) that makes it taste so much better? Maybe it’s because it feels like you’re being naughty? Or maybe it’s just because breakfast food is the best type of food, so eating it for dinner is like double the treat! These chocolate chip cake batter pancakes were the perfect celebratory “brinner”, they’re so fluffy and soft it’s like eating a cloud! A buttery, chocolate chip loaded cloud!

Continue reading →

Pumpkin Pie Smoothie

by Michelle @ A Tipsy Giraffe // October 29, 2014 // 24 Comments

“I thought our story was epic, you know. You and me. Spanning years and continents. Lives ruined, bloodshed. Epic” No, I’m not talking about this smoothie! It is very, very good but I can’t say it’ll ruin any lives. I’m just trying to softly introduce you to my tendency for getting way too involved in the lives of fictional characters, that quote is from an episode of Veronica Mars I am watching as I write this. Now, I don’t know if you ever watched Veronica Mars – but if you have, you might understand why I’m a bit misty right now (their story was epic, just FYI).

Now, that was your soft introduction – now I’m just going to through you into the deep end! Today was a big day for Marvel fans, a lot of their upcoming movies were officially announced and let’s just say it’s been a bit of a roller coaster of emotions – from their first female lead movie being announced, to their first black superhero lead movie being announced to the confirmation of a specific storyline they’re going to be delving into that will most likely kill off my favourite Marvel character. I’m going to leave it at that or you’ll all run away before you get to know more about this yummy, seasonal smoothie.

So, I will actually start talking about this recipe now and stop crying about Steve Rogers! This pumpkin pie smoothie made a bit of a mess in my kitchen this morning – and by that I mean I discovered my blender was leaking when I picked it up and smoothie started pouring out of the bottom! Luckily, I managed to save enough to savour the yummy autumn flavours and have a good breakfast!

It’s basically like drinking pumpkin pie and it’s good for your tummy. It not only contains pumpkin puree and the spices, but it also has kefir milk. Kefir milk is something I recently discovered after it was recommended to me by a friend, and now I put it in all my smoothies! I normally like to keep dairy out of my smoothies, but this is a fermented milk using kefir grains (not really grains, it’s a yeast/bacterial fermentation starter) making the milk full of tummy loving probiotics! It’s also packed full of protein and also low in lactose for those of you who are sensitive to high amounts. It doesn’t just improve the health factor of the smoothies either, it’s super yummy -it’s got a similar taste to greek yogurt, so why not replace the yogurt in your smoothies with kefir for that same tang, but extra goodness!

Continue reading →