Chocolate and Hazelnut Macarons

by Michelle @ A Tipsy Giraffe // June 26, 2015 // 55 Comments

Amazing Chocolate and Hazelnut French Macarons that are made with ground hazelnuts and filled with a Nutella ganache. With my step by step photo guide, you’ll be able to make these delicious, chewy meringue cookies too!

After my many, many struggles with making macarons, I now really enjoy making them! With all the rules you’re supposed to follow and all the scary stories lots of people will tell you about the horror of macaronage, they can seem very daunting. But once you’ve learned all the tips and tricks and, most importantly, figured out what works for you – you’ll be able to impress everybody with your awesome macarons! In this post I not only have a delicious Chocolate and Hazelnut Macaron recipe for you, but I’m sharing all the tricks I’ve picked up along my journey of learning to make these misunderstood cookies with you – including photos for those of you who are more visual like me! As you might imagine, this is gonna be a long one – but once we’re done, I’m hoping you’ll feel much more confident in macaron making – no matter your baking experience! So hold on to your butts, let’s get started!

Continue reading →

Peach and Raspberry Iced Tea

by Michelle @ A Tipsy Giraffe // June 19, 2015 // 46 Comments

Cool, refreshing iced tea made with green tea and sweetened with a homemade peach and raspberry syrup, the perfect summer drink

I’m not a tea drinker, I just don’t like it – I know, I’m a terrible brit! Iced tea is a different story though, I believe the fact that it’s cold helps reduce some of the tannin which, in turn, makes it less bitter. This is my first time making my own iced tea and I’m definitely going to start making it more often, it’s so much better than the bottled stuff and you don’t get a lot of iced tea in restaurants here. Making it yourself is great because it means you control how sweet it is and you can get creative with flavours! Plus, it’s so easy to make, what’s not to love!

Continue reading →

Spicy Mango Jam

by Michelle @ A Tipsy Giraffe // June 17, 2015 // 27 Comments

An easy, delicious jam recipe full of sweet mangoes and spicy serrano peppers. Great for spreading, baking and giving as gifts!

This post may contain affiliate links. I received items from Kitchen Craft to review, all opinions and words are my own. Read full disclosure here

Fig” Jam”

Jam, jelly, preserves, whatever you want to call them – jam making is a delicious skill to have under your belt! And it’s a skill that’s really easy to master! I love jam, there’s so many different ways you can use it, but it’s something I thought was really hard or awkward to make. I have made a jam once before, a fig jam, and it was delicious, but I wouldn’t consider it real jam – it’s more of a thick fig sauce I guess. This Spicy Mango Jam is my first real jam, and it was a big success!

Continue reading →

Caramelised White Chocolate and Macadamia Ice Cream

by Michelle @ A Tipsy Giraffe // June 15, 2015 // 27 Comments

A deliciously decadent caramelised white chocolate no churn ice cream with lots of toasted macadamia nuts. The perfect dessert this summer!

This post may contain affiliate links. I received items from Kitchen Craft to review, all opinions and words are my own. Read full disclosure here

Ah, another week and what d’ya know? I’m running behind again! With how often I run behind I might as well call it on schedule! I usually write my Friday post on Thursday and, well, it got to Thursday night and I hadn’t even started editing the photos for the post, oops! And now it’s Monday – still, better late than never, right?

Continue reading →

Chocolate Orange Cheesecake Brownies

by Michelle @ A Tipsy Giraffe // June 12, 2015 // 43 Comments

Delicious and fudgy chocolate orange brownies with a chocolate orange cheesecake top layer! Perfectly chocolately with that creamy cheesecake layer that melts into the brownie!

Chocolate Oranges are my Achilles heel, my weak spot! I don’t buy them often because I can sit and eat an entire one before I even realise I’ve opened it! But when they’re on sale I can’t help but grab one or two, and I’ve been very good and had three in my kitchen for a few months – waiting to be baked with – and I didn’t sneak a taste at all! I’m very proud of myself. I don’t know what took me so long to bake with them, I did have them hidden away too so I wouldn’t tempt myself, so they weren’t at the front of my mind.

Continue reading →