Christmas Mince Pies

 I love this time of year. Christmas time. I love it because it is such a 'giving' time, we give food and gifts and time to each other and it reminds me of how much a appreciate all my family and friends. It is also a time to remember that God, the creator of the universe, GAVE his only son to us - that through Him, we can have eternal life. This is the greatest gift of all. This is the gift that is the most precious. Every day of the year I have a hope and real life, I have meaning! Thank you Lord!

I don't think that Christmas celebrations can happen properly without REAL Christmas fair...hence, I tried out some mince pies for our Christmas celebrations, which i am REALLY looking forward to! They were VERY easy to make from scratch - no rolling - just pressing and grating.

 

and filling...

and baking...

Seriously, it was that easy. They are not as daunting as they seem in your head, nor do they take hours to make, more like minutes! And I am sure once you have tasted their sugary melt in your mouth deliciousness, you will NEVER buy those tasteless shop bought ones again, EVER (I clearly have nothing against them :) )

These make really thoughtful gifts too!

Download the recipe card here:

Christmas Mince Pies

 Enjoy!

xxxx


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Lemon Meringue Pie

 

   

“Come join Love the Pie with TidyMom  sponsored by Cherokee USA, Le Creuset, Wilton, Bags by Bloom and  Harvard Common Press”







 Today is the LOVE THE PIE PARTY day. I have been waiting eagerly since Tidy Mom put the word out, and since last weeks poll winner was lemon meringue, it just seemed perfect to post my lemon meringue pie!

I am a BIG fan of a tennis biscuit crust for 2 reasons: its really easy and its really really delicious! Just whizz the biscuits in a food processor until fine and mix with melted butter - no baking, no fuss, always turns out good!

After preparing the pie crusts, I mixed some lemon juice, condensed milk and egg yolks with my electric mixer until smooth and glossy and poured it over my pie crusts.

Then I used the egg whites and sugar to make a meringue topping. To get a really nice meringue, always ensure there is NO grease in the bowl or beater and there is NO egg yellow that slipped in with the whites - both could potentially ruin your meringue! I pipped the mixture on and then whirled the meringue with the back of a spoon to get a couple of effects on the topping.

I prefer the "messy twirl"  rather than the uniform twirl...

Then they got popped into a moderate oven...

...and baked for about 20min until the meringue was a nice light brown colour...

...mmmmm...

*Just a side note here, you can devour it as soon as it has cooled, but I really recommend leaving it in the fridge for at least a couple of hours, it enhances the lemon tang ( I am convinced) and the whole pie is just so much firmer and more enjoyable!

 
Dig in and ENJOY!


Download the recipe card here:
Lemon Meringue Recipe Card

Chocolate Cupcakes

Where has this week gone! Its Friday already and I haven't posted anything yet..EEEKKKK! So here i am - finally ready to share my next post with you. Part of the reason I haven't posted yet is that I registered my domain (if you noticed :) ) www.bitsofsunshine.com! I had no idea what it all entailed, so I have been back and forth with the guys that registered it and finally got it right! So because I had to lose the "little" in my domain name, I decided to revamp my header and that lead to the revamp of my entire blog...VERY TIME CONSUMING (all that code makes your head spin)- but I am very pleased with the outcome :)

So, now that my BIG news is out of the way, here is some more big news (for me), my younger sister is getting married in less than a month! I cant believe how time has flown. In that respect, we held a kitchen tea for her. Her wedding theme is green hearts and bird, so I made some chocolate cupcakes....

mmmmm...

the mixture was sticky and dark

 
which made sticky and dark cupcakes!

 ... and iced them  with chocolate icing and green vanilla icing

I made these cute tags to match her wedding invites.

I was so please with how they turned out, they were moist and delicious and sooo cute! I am hoping to get a design side to my blog running soon, then I will post these cute toppers and the game cards that we used at the kitchen tea. They were a winner!

Hayley, Hazels soon to be sister in law, made Haz this totally awesome cake - 

I wish I had managed to get a better shot of the cake, it was the sweetest thing ever - literally! Well done on such a gorgeous cake Hayley! Hayley has promised to share the recipe of this soft, light vanilla cake with us soon! 

One last thing - this was just too cute not to share: Josh, my sweet little nephew, clearly thought the highlight of the day was the green icing!

Thank you for stopping by! Until next time ...

Brownie Tiramisu

Part 2 of the brownie project:

I had bought some mascarpone cheese and cream to make Shane some Mozart Cake, but without my Kenwood (which is now fixed :) ) it was impossible. So with the need to use them up before they went bad and with a combination of these ingredients, what choice did I have?

This was a first time for me, I had always thought of making tiramisu, but never got around to it, so I checked it up on Joy Of Baking (fantastic site, all their recipes are tried and tested)...

*Isn't today's technology awesome :) *

First I made the custard stuff, then soaked the biscuits, then did the assembling part...this is where I added my twist to the tiramisu... I added a layer of crumbled brownies!

After all this assembling - I left it to set over night hoping that the next day it would be nice and firm, but when I took it out of the container, it stood for about 2 minutes before slowly sliding apart...

I am not sure what went wrong that made the custard part too thin, I am pretty sure I followed the recipe exactly (except for the rum, which I left out), but you never really know...

I was still divine! The brownies added a totally new level to an already awesome dessert!

I will definitely try this again, more carefully next time!

Find the tiramisu recipe here:
Joy of  Baking