Bitesize Treats iPhone app: a review

It's no secret that I'm into cute. Frills, flounces, buttons and bows, if it's pink and dainty, I find it irresistible.

Same goes for small versions of things - babies, kittens, miniature ornaments and cocktail food. Why have a slice of quiche when you can have a mini-quiche with a baby tomato on top? WHY?

When asked to review this adorable app, I said yes in about negative 2.3 seconds. For many reasons.

1. Bitesize Treats. Treats. Bitesize. Sold!

2. It is based on the Hardie Grant bestselling book Bitesize: 50 Macarons, Cakepops and Cute Things. (Cute Things... #winning)

3. I had just upgraded to an iPhone 4 and I was interested to see how this would work.

4. I am an iPhone app freak. I have pages and pages of them which I refuse to put into folders, because I love them all and want to look at them. They're organised in groups, but I won't hide them. The icons themselves are cute! 

5. I am a cooking app conoisseur. The flour stuck in my earpiece and random greasy butter smears all over my phone are testament to my new-found addiction to recipes on-the-go.

6. I love reading. It's a rare day indeed that I do a straight review, but I am happy to promote books, reading and cooking. To anyone. Anytime.

Macarons! Cake Pops! Cupcakes, oh my!

I have to say, I wanted to make just about everything as soon as I opened the app. That right there is a good sign.

The photography and food styling is gorgeous... everything looked so enticing.

Ok, back up - what? Blueberry mojito? In popsicle form? Genius. When the weather is warmer these will be the first on my to-do list. Mama needs a summer treat. Anyone wanna join me?

I've never made churros before - I suck at piping and I don't deep-fry anything, really. Except pickles. Everyone should make an exception for deep-fried pickles. And anyhow, I cheat and shallow-fry, which I'm fairly sure can't be done with churros. However - chili chocolate sauce should never be overlooked in such a manner. And I like that I can favourite this recipe and make the sauce for something else.

The ingredients tab of each recipe are helpfully accompanied by a plus sign, which when clicked, will add the ingredient to the shopping list section of the app. 

The method tab also has boxes for you to check when you have completed a step. When I was younger, I read a tip that if you put all your ingredients on the left side of your bench, when you're done with it you move it to the right side, so you always know where you're up to. Being able to check off as I go, even though the recipe is on my phone, is incredibly handy for me as I've now got to abandon recipes partway through to prop up a slumping Veggie Baby, or stop the cat trying to sit on her head, or collect her if she's woken early from her nap. I'm likely to forget my own name these days, so having this as an option is a winner.

The shopping list function is exceedingly useful, as I take my phone everywhere, including the supermarket. I love that its organised either by aisle (dried herbs and spices/packaged goods etc) or by recipe. Once you have put the item into your cart, you check the box and the item moves to the bottom of the list. No more confusion and getting home to find you missed the ginger because it was sandwiched in between the celery and vanilla extract on your list and once you collected them you stopped looking at that section.

 And if that wasn't enough, there is even an oven timer, which is great for busy and/or forgetful people like me. Who cook by instinct and only remember something in the oven because all of a sudden it kinda smells like chocolate brownies with a tinge of burning.

The app is available from iTunes, and is priced at $4.49. For more information, you can go here.

If you want a blueberry mojito popsicle, you can come to my house.

*I was given a free app to review. That's all, folks!

Where in the World is Veggie Mama?

Over here. At Cupcakes Frocks and Pink, pouring a cup of tea and chatting with the delightful Mrs Kypo and her painfully pretty blog. Come and join the conversation!

Scones

If it can be served at high tea, you can be dadgum sure I will want to eat it, make it, pet it, love it, and call it my own.

Scones fit neatly into that category.

I still remember my first attempt in eighth grade home economics... nasty, hard little pebbles of... well, nastiness.

Since then I've baked scones more times than I care to remember, and thankfully have never recreated those disasters. My tricks are a phenomenally hot oven, as little handling as possible, and an old-school grandma recipe. They always make the best, don't they?

Ingredients

2 cups self-raising flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
30g butter
3/4 cup milk

Method

1. Preheat your oven to astronomical proportions. Ok, 350-400C. I usually take it up to as hot as it will go, but my ovens have all been models from 1872* and don't get very hot.

2. Put flour, salt and sugar into a bowl. Rub in butter with fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. (I absolutely hate this bit, as I cannot stand getting my hands dirty. Feel free to sponsor Veggie Mama with a pastry cutter!)

3. Mix in combined milk and water, very carefully. I like to use two knives, pulling away from each other. Turn onto a floured surface and knead very lightly until the flour is all mixed.

3. Pat dough out to about 1inch thick, and cut into rounds. I didn't have any cutters for these scones, so I cut them like a pizza into triangles. It's just not the same!

4. Place quite close together in a greased tray. Brush tops with a little milk and bake 10-15minutes until golden brown, and the bottoms sound hollow when tapped.

5. Put the kettle on. It's the law.

* I KNOW there were no electric stoves in that time. You may or may not substitute 1965 for 1872...

Stupidly easy caramel tarts.

Pin It

I almost feel bad posting this, as it's so easy. But everybody needs to know they exist! They are that good.

1. Warm some Arnott's Ginger Snap biscuits in a warm oven in each hole of a patty pan/cupcake/mini muffin tin until soft, then push them down with a spoon to create a cup.

2. Open a can of Nestle's Caramel Top N Fill and dump the contents into a bowl. Microwave for a few seconds until smooth.

3. fill shells.

4. Pretend to your friends you spend hours hand-crafting them.

Lemon tarts

Perfect for a tea party!

Or a Tea and Wii party!

See? dainty little  shortcrust pastry cases with the sweet-tart smoothness of homemade lemon curd.

deeeeelicious!

Ingredients:

Crust: 
1 1/2 cups plain flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

1/4 cup white sugar

1 egg, lightly beaten

Lemon Curd:

3 large eggs

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice

3/4 cup sugar

4 tablespoons butter, at room temperature and cut into small pieces

1 tablespoon lemon zest


Method:

Lemon Curd:

1. In a bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water, whisk together the eggs, sugar and lemon juice until blended. cook, whisking constantly until the mixture becomes pale and quite thick, about 10 minutes.

2. Remove from heat and whisk the butter pieces in until melted.

3. Add lemon zest and cool.

Shortcrust Pastry:

Preheat oven to 200C.

1. In a bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

2. Gradually add the beaten egg, until just incorporated.

3. Add flour and salt and mix just until it forms a ball. Don't overwork or the pastry will be hard.

4. Flatten into a disc, cover and refrigerate 30 minutes until firm.

5. Roll dough out on a lightly floured surface until about 3mm thick (mine was way thicker... was in a hurry! but worked really well with the amount of lemon curd). Keep lifting and turning to prevent sticking, or roll out on greaseproof/waxed paper.

6. Cut with a pastry cutter to whatever size your muffin pan is, and gently place in the holes.

7. Bake the pastry cases for 10-15 minutes until lightly browned. Cool.

8. Fill with lemon curd.

9. Wipe your hands before touching the Wii remote.


Recipe adapted from Joy of Baking.


Little Lemon Tarts

Tea and Wii

Just a little teaser for some recipes coming up soon... I had the lovely Bec and her partner over from Gay Fourth and Multiply over for some wine, some Wii, and some homebaked treats with tea.

Buttery Scones

There is basically two schools of thought on scones - you're either on the dense, buttery side, or you're on the light and fluffy side.

Or you can be me, who is on the side of a magical, mythical scone that is both light and buttery, and exists only in my dreams.

For today, indulge in the buttery scone. The kind that literally melts in your mouth and mingles with the indulgent chantilly cream. I will deal with the light and fluffy later.

Quick - somebody put the kettle on!

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups self-raising flour (or the same of plain flour with 1 tablespoon baking powder added)

1/2 teaspoon salt

125g butter, grated (I used a wee bit more for extreme melting texture)

1/4 cup sugar

2/3 cup milk

Method:

1. Heat oven to SUPER HOT... we're talking 275C... that's the highest my oven goes, anyway. You want these babies to rise fast and cook through.

2. Put flour and salt in a large bowl and stir to mix.

3. Add butter and rub in with your fingertips until it looks like breadcrumbs, or sand (picture follows, because I always used to be concerned I wasn't doing it right). You could also use a pastry cutter, but I've never had one.

4. Add sugar, toss to mix.

5. Add milk and mix slowly - I used to use two knives and cut in opposite directions as you really don't want to over-work the dough. Now I just gently use a fork until the dough just holds together.

6. Sprinkle some flour on your workspace and put the dough on top. Press out gently until the dough is about 1cm thick.

7. Dip your scone cutter (I use a glass) into the flour and cut out into rounds. Give the rounds a little squeeze and a spin to puff them up a bit to help them rise. (pictured below)

8. Lay them on an ungreased baking tray quite close together. this helps them rise up instead of out! Brush the tops with milk.

9. Bake in super hot oven 10-15 minutes until brown and the bottoms sound hollow when tapped.

10. Top with jam and so much cream you can barely see what is underneath. Oh... is that just me?