YUM: frozen yoghurt drops

FROZEN YOGHURT DROPS

I am seriously in love with these right now. 

A quick story: i hate strawberry yoghurt. always have always will.

My husband bought me strawberry yoghurt last week (lactose free of course).

I was grossed out by it and wondered if i'd find it as yuck frozen.

Turns out I didn't. Score.

I found this recipe - I feel a bit silly calling it a recipe - on pinterest right here.

Here is the recipe:

Put yoghurt into a snap lock bag.

Snip one corner - this is your non-fancy schmancy piping bag.

Pipe little dots onto a plate.

Shove it in the freezer.

Pick them off and put them in a container and leave in the freezer.

I am loving snacking on them after dinner or lunch.

The ultimate in healthy snacking.

I apologise for the crappy photos too.

Try these. They are just yum.

I need to make some more.

tara louise.

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YUM: Bliss Balls

these are absolutely delish.

a must try!

tara louise.

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YUM: ice-cream sandwiches

YUM.YUM.YUM.

back in the day when i could eat real ice-cream, maxibons were one of my favourite ice-creams. the chewy biscuit and ice-cream. just yum!

i'd been researching ice cream sandwiches and finally decided to take a leap and give them a go. well, they did not disappoint! they were amazing. 

because i needed them to be gluten and dairy free, i adapted this recipe and i made my own ice cream too. 

THE RECIPE:

If you don't have an ice-cream maker, you will need to make this part a day ahead. Either way, make sure you put a tray to make the ice-cream in or the ice-cream bowl in the freezer at least 24 hrs beforehand.

ice-cream:

this recipe is an egg based custard ice-cream, but if you're running short on time, this is a great egg free ice-cream base (but makes a heap, so i'd probably quarter the recipe, and i'd use lactose free milk as the single cream and lactose free cream for the double cream).

150ml lactose free cream

150ml milk (rice, almond, lactose free)

a spoonful of vanilla paste

3 egg yolks

80g caster sugar

Place the cream and milk in a pan and bring to just before boiling point with the vanilla. Set aside and let cool for about 10 minutes. Put your egg yolks and sugar in a bowl and whisk until pale and creamy. Mix in the milk mixture and return to a clean pan. Heat over a low heat stirring pretty much constantly until it's a custardy consistency and coats the back of the spoon (if you swipe your finger across the back of the spoon, it should leave a clear trail).  Transfer this back into a bowl or jug and get some gladwrap. Place the gladwrap over it, so the gladwrap touches the entire surface of the custard mixture - make sure no air or bubbles are on the top - this stops a skin forming. Set this aside either in the fridge for a few hours or if you're impatient like me in the freezer for an hour or so - just be sure to keep stirring it to let out the heat. 

Now you can either pop it in your ice-cream maker and follow the instructions, or alternatively, pour it into your tin which has been in the freezer (i like to line it with gladwrap) and beat with a fork every half an hour or so, replacing it back in the freezer in between with the gladwrap cover again touching the surface on top. This can take up to 4 hours. It's a process! You may like to pop it in the blender to break up more of the ice particles and then refreeze again - depends how particular you are :)

cake/cookie part:

adapted from this recipe

1 1/3 cups plain flour (gf)

1/3 cup + half of a 1/4 cup of cocoa powder

1/2 cup and a good tblspoon butter, softened (nuttlex)

1/2 cup white sugar

pinch of salt

1 egg yolk

vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. 

Beat the butter, sugar and salt until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolk and vanilla and beat. Sift the flour and cocoa onto a plate/bowl and add this a bit at a time while mixing until well combined. 

Line a baking tray with baking paper and lightly spray with oil. spread the batter onto the tray quite thinly. it doesn't raise much, so however thick it is will roughly be how thick the biscuit part is. cook this is the oven until baked and firm to the touch. about 10 minutes. 

remove from the tray + cool on a rack. i popped mine in the freezer to cool because again, i'm impatient. 

assemble:

cut the chocolate base in half and spread the slightly softened ice-cream onto it and spread a thick layer towards the edges. pop the other chocolate base on top and wrap in glad wrap tightly. place in the freezer until hardened again and slice into 6 or so pieces. you can now either leave them like this, or dip the edges in 100s and 1000s, or chocolate flakes - it's up to you. i wrapped my individual sandwiches in gladwrap and popped them back in the freezer, ready to pull out as i wanted one. 

you could use this basic recipe and make so many combinations. here are some combo's i'd like to try:

• banana + almond icecream | choc bikkie
• vanilla + 100s 1000s | choc bikkie
•  chocolate icecream | peanut butter biscuit
• vanilla icecream + a swipe of nutella | choc bikkie/vanilla bikkie

for those who can eat real ice-cream, i'd definitely skip the making the ice-cream stage and buy a tub of ice-cream and spread it over the base. for those who can't, it's worth all the steps!

enjoy. 

tara louise. 

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YUM: Peanut Butter Cups

When I saw this recipe on pinterest (where else!?) I just had to give it a  go. I love Reece's peanut butter cups, but haven't been able to eat them since I could no longer eat chocolate. These are so much better though! They are amazing!!

Here is the recipe:

Grab 2 blocks of dairy/lactose free chocolate (big w has a yummy one! or use lindt 70% cocoa). 

Break it up into nice tiny pieces.

Melt it in a bowl over a pan of boiling water. 

When it's melted, mix in a tablespoon of coconut oil - if you don't have that, a bit of copha or butter should do the trick.

Pop some patty pan cases in a muffin tray (this recipe makes about 8-10 treats).

I spray the patty pans with a bit of oil - it stops the paper sticking to the chocolate.

Take a spoonful (about 1 tablespoon or so) of melted chocolate and pop it into the bottom of the patty pan and then twirl it in your hands to spread the chocolate around on the bottom and up the sides a bit.

When you've done this to all of them pop it in the freezer for about 10mins. 

Get a big spoonful of peanut butter and a tablespoon of icing sugar.

Mix together in a bowl (it should be way less sticky than before) and shove it in the freezer too.

After the 10mins, or when the chocolate has hardened, take the chocolate bottoms and peanut butter mix out of the freezer. 

Pop a small spoonful of the peanut butter on the chocolate bottom and i spread it out a bit over the base.

How much peanut butter you put in depends on what you prefer with a chocolate - peanut butter ratio.

Once you've done that to all of them, cover them all with the rest of the chocolate.

It should cover the tops and meet the sides of the chocolate bottoms you did before.

And then if you fancy it, pop a bit of sea salt on the top.  

Man, it tastes so good!

The original recipe was for peanut butter and jam cups, but i'm not the biggest fan of jam with peanut butter, so i stuck to the original!

And you know you've enjoyed something when it's all over your face!

I sent this pic to my husband on my way back to work from lunch one day...

(he'd been laughing at me the night before because I had chocolate all over my face)

I leave these in the freezer until I've eaten them all - which, let's be honest, takes no time at all.

I prefer to leave them out of the freezer about 10 mins before i eat it, as I quite like all my teeth firmly in my mouth at the moment. 

i hope you enjoy these as much as i do. i think it's time to make another batch in fact!

tara louise. 

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A little animation

Last weekend i made cake pops for the first time and had my first taste of a cake pop.

i made gluten and dairy free ones with vanilla cake and carob ganache with hundreds and thousands.

they were yum. very sweet though.

i might have a go at making some different types + sell them at the handmade market.

tara louise.

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a yummy drink

If you, like me have been deprived of chocolate thickshakes/milky drinks for awhile now, you understand the need to drink a milky drink occassionally. i've had HUGE cravings for milkshakes lately. i purchased myself some full fat zymil milk and created this little drink (i couldn't and wouldn't call it a recipe) yesterday morning. so simple and easy and tasty! it's a bit like a caramely tasting drink.


you'll need:

about 2 tbspns of brown sugar (depending on how sweet you want it)

a splash of vanilla.

some lactose free milk (i don't like the taste of caramel with soy/rice milk which is why i've gone the lactose free milk - it still tastes like real milk. bonus!)

pop the sugar into the bottom of your cup. add a wee bit of hot water and a splash of vanilla essence. mix it together so the sugar starts to dissolve a bit.

then pour in your milk and you are done!

to normal people (and by normal i mean those who have the gift of being able to consume dairy with no problems whatsoever) this probably tastes like crap, but to me, who hasn't been able to drink anything like this in a few years, thinks it tastes bloody amazing!

i hope you do too!

tara louise.

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this past week i've baked....

.....the most delicious red velvet cupcakes, because i'm tired of paying lots for them, i made some bliss balls, i also made some cottage rolls (vegetarian sausage rolls) and i'm calling it baking because i mixed things...a delightful lemon and sugar scrub.

red velvet cupcakes...i substitued all dairy things with lactose free versions.

[the whisk after i'd made my red velvet cakes] 

my very healthy bliss balls

and the simple instructions for the lemon and sugar scrub....

simply pour some sugar (i used caster sugar) into a bowl, squeeze some lemon juice in.

mix with your finger (less washing up then) and apply to your face.

i read this in a magazine somewhere and my it is great.

the sugar scrubs while the lemon apparently eats away your dead skin

rushing off to work now...

tara louise.

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stripes, hearts and fabric oh my!

my fave pins on pinterest this week....

1. yummy healthy iceblock

2. doily mirror diy

3. pretty little necklace ( i wish i could get away with wearing!)

4. A-frame tent (filed in the "when we have kiddies"file)

5. doily table runner

6. fabric covered books

7. diy heart tights (can i get away with wearing these at 26?? please let me!)

8. simple style

9. peter pan collar. stripes. tan belt (3 of my loves all together in a lovely dress)

END NOTE: THE DRESS IN NUMBER 9 IS TOPSHOP. I'M NOT SURPRISED AT ALL. THERE'S A 4TH LOVE RIGHT THERE!

I have a few more blog posts up my sleeve yet...

tara louise.

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mothers day present

i'm sharing with you what i did for my mum for mothers day today. it had to be budget friendly and quick.

confetti dipped bag

choc-dipped marshmallows with 100s + 1000s, coconut or plain.

a tasty bag of goodness!

such a quick and easy present idea.

tara louise.

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this sums up my thoughts exactly about ice-cream. i am forever telling my husband: i'm so happy with an ice-cream in my hand. so happy  :)

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happiness is...

...iceream. i love ice-cream. since only being able to eat sorbet i have been researching great ice-cream recipes that i can make at home, becasue well, as much as i LOVE the chocolate sorbet with lime sorbet combo i always rely on, nothing beats yummy rich ice-cream.

i found one recipe by accident which was a custard based ice-cream. now it was delicious. however i am far too impatient to make custard, wait for it to cool, freeze, whisk, freeze, whisk etc. and far too poor to buy an ice cream machine.

since the first delicious time-consuming recipe i have made a tofu ice-cream: massive fail and a milk and cream based ice-cream: ate it but it wasn't great.

then by complete accident again i came across the best and easiest ice-cream recipe yet. i am well impressed with this find! it came disguised as a cream cup (and i can't find the recipe link anywhere!) while i was madly looking for a quick dessert to make during the week. The original recipe is to be frozen only for 8-10mins, however i froze the lot and let me tell you when it's melted a bit. my gosh it is yum.

Simply put 1/2 a tub of tofutti/cream cheese (i'm so impatient i only ever do half batches of ice-cream coz i really can't be bothered to wait for the lot to freeze...and i get bored of flavours quickly) into a bowl with half a cup of icing sugar and about 3/4 cup of cream (i used lactose free cream). Add some vanilla extract and whatever flavours you want. You may need to adjust the sugar/acidity/cream according to taste. Add a touch/small pinch of salt if it is too creamy and to bring out the flavour you've chosen. And that's it. Whisk it or pop it in the blender to get all the lumps of cream cheese out. Pour into individual cups or leave in the bowl and freeze. Last time i just left them and they were fine. This time i'm whisking and freezing and whisking and freezing everytime it starts to freeze   whenever i remember. Want to see what difference it makes.

Today I am making rum and raisin flavoured ice-cream because i've had the biggest craving for it. Might try coffee again next time. Try it. it really is simple.

tara louise.

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Monday: Make. Create. Sew

maybe i should rename this one bake.create.sew for this week.

it's been awhile since my last blog post but i just had to share the most delicious cake recipe i've made in a long time. if you don't like fluffy, moist, airy light cakes, then i give you full permission to leave the blog right now. if you do love these types of cakes, then read on....

i was reading this post the other day on design sponge on a california wedding (which i love alot by the way. so many delightful things about it) and saw that the gift for the guests was a min bundt cake. i'd heard that word pop up a few times lately but bad no idea what type of cake it was, so as you do, i googled mini bundt cake. this recipe by martha stewart came up and i had a go at making it last night. i used a large bundt tin and didn't double the mixture like the recipe said, coz i'm stingy and didn't want to fork out for twice the amount of ingredients! turns out i didnt need to anyway. for quite a small amount of mixture, it rises quite a bit.

i meant to take a photo while i was assembling the cake but got caught up in the moment. you put half the batter in the tin, then sprinkle over the almond, cinnamony sugar mixture then more batter. i also made mine gluten and dairy free by substituting the flour, butter and sour cream/yoghurt with products i can eat.

so here's my delicious cake...

ok so it doesnt look that pretty, but my gosh it's delicious!

maybe if i'd been more patient and waited till all the lumps were out of the icing sugar or until the cake had cooled properly it may have looked prettier, but meh, it all tastes the same.

you can see in the second picture the line through the middle, thats the yummy cinnamonny part.

have a go and make it today.

you'll love it.

tara louise.

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