Introduction: Character Cake for Non-Skilled People. <PIC> Decorating cakes can be a messy affair, literally and figuratively speaking. I find all the sticky icing frustrating, and those character sheets that run through a printer require special ink and taste weird. Here I show you how to make a character cake with just regular frosting tools. It's simple enough even for those of us who can't draw.
You will need
a cake
frosting
frosting colors
parchment paper or decorating bags
a spatula
chocolate covered malt balls
cling wrap
tape
cutting board or cardboard
serving dish like a plate or tray Step 1: The Picture. <PIC> Find a picture of the character you want and print it out to the size that you will have on the cake.
Make sure that the picture is reverse of what you ultimately want. If you want text, it needs to be reversed as well.
http://www.online-image-editor.com/ is a free image program that you can upload to and then flip the image horizontally.
Tape the picture to a cutting board or a piece of cardboard.
Cover the picture with cling wrap and secure the wrap in place with tape. Step 2: Prepare the Cake. <PIC> Bake a cake. Whatever shape and flavor you want is fine.
I used a boxed milk chocolate cake mix from the grocery store. Well... My husband did. I tried and messed the cake up so bad that nobody wanted to eat it, so he had to make another. He used two 8-inch pans, but the size is really up to you.
Let the cake cool completely, then level the top with a long serrated knife.
Put the cake in the freezer for about 45 minutes. This will help prevent crumbling when you frost it.
Turn the cake upside-down and put it on the serving plate.
Place strips of parchment under the edges of the cake. This will keep the plate tidy as you frost the cake.
I like whipped frosting. You can use pretty much any frosting for this, but if you get it from a can, scoop it out into a bowl and give it a few stirs to get it smooth.
If you are doing a multi-layer cake like I did, spread a moderate layer of frosting on the first cake, then place the second one, upside-down again, on to of the first.
Cover the entire cake with a very thin layer of frosting to seal in any errant crumbs.
Put the cake back in the freezer for twenty minutes.
Finish covering the cake with frosting, then gently pull the paper out from under it. Step 3: Prepare the Frosting. <PIC> When choosing a frosting for the character, avoid whipped or light and fluffy frostings. You can use decorator or just basic frosting.
For coloring the icing, use icing color. Regular food color waters the frosting down and makes it harder to work with.
Stir the frosting a bit to get it smooth before doing anything else with it. Frosting from a can will sometimes settle and compact, giving it a varied viscosity throughout.
Separate the frosting into a separate bowl for each color. Go with a little more frosting than you think you will need so that you can color it once and not have to try to match the color when you need more later.
Add color to the icing a tiny bit at a time and mix it in thoroughly before adding more. A little bit goes a long way.
If you need brown frosting, you can use chocolate or brown icing color. Step 4: Parchment Vs Plastic. <PIC> You need a way to "draw" with frosting. You can buy those tubes of colored frosting, use parchment cones, or use reusable plastic pastry bags. Whichever you choose is up to you. I already had some pastry bags, so I used those and parchment.Parchment Cone
Start with a triangle. The easiest way to make one is to just fold the parchment over to line up the short edge with the long edge then cut on the fold.
Place the triangle with the corner where the two smaller sides meet pointing toward you.
Curl one of the other corners inward and place it right over the corner that is pointing at you.
Curl the remaining corner around the outside and bring it under the others.
Secure the tip with a bit of tape.
Load a spoon or spatula with frosting, then place it as far inside the cone as possible.
Smoosh down the open part of the cone and pull the spatula out, scraping the frosting off as you do.
Fold the opening closed and roll it down.Pastry Bag
Drop a decorating tip into the bag and squeeze it down to the small end.
Fold the top half of the bag down to make a cuff.
Make a "C" with your hand and place the bag inside the "C" and the cuff outside it.
Load a spoon or spatula with frosting, then place it as far inside the bag as possible.
Close your "C" hand around the bag and pull the spatula out, scraping the frosting off as you go.
Straighten out the bag, removing the cuff, and twist the bag just above the icing.
Squeeze the bag a little to get the icing down into the tip. Step 5: Drawing the Character. <PIC> Place the tip of your frosting application device on the cling wrap over the picture and squeeze gently. Move the device slowly, leaving a trail of frosting. You may need to practice this a bit, but it is easy enough to just scrape the frosting off of the cling wrap and put it back in a bowl.
Outline the picture completely, then freeze it for ten minutes.
Fill in the colors by snaking a string of frosting back and forth. Don't worry about going over the outline, as it will show on the front.
When you have filled the picture in, put it back in the freezer for twenty minutes or until it is solid. Step 6: Put the Character on the Cake. <PIC> Cut the cling wrap around the character using a sharp knife.
Gently lift the frosting character off of the board. If it is not stiff enough, put it back in the freezer.
Very carefully flip the character over and place it on the cake.
Press down just barely to adhere the character to the frosting already on the cake.
Slowly lift the cling wrap off of the frosting, starting at one end.
Once the plastic is off, wet a finger and smooth out the little snakes of frosting on the character. Step 7: Finish!. <PIC> Traditionally, the bottom edge of a cake, where it touches the plate, is decorated with a carefully formed border made of frosting. This can be difficult to do, especially with out-of-the can frosting, which is very sticky.  Instead, use candies. Candies can make a nice border, and are an added treat for when you eat the cake.
I used chocolate covered malt balls, but you can use pretty much any candy you want. You could even use bits of colorful cereal.
For the bottom ring, just place the malt balls one at a time, gently pushing them into the frosting to make them stick.
For the upper ring, very carefully cut the malt balls in half then put them on, flat side first, the same way you did the bottom ring.
Please be very careful with this. It would be bad to get blood on all that deliciousness. Cutting yourself might hurt, too.
The cake is now ready to be destroyed by countless ravening roommates who have been circling for hours!


Introduction: Excellent Museli Bars. <PIC> For a while we have been cutting out disposable, non-recyclable plastic from our lives, and at the same time, trying to make more and more of our basics. We outsource so much these days! food, materials, production, education, entertainment, childcare - on and on. This is part of my attempt to bring more of production and creation back into our domain - to insource. So - Museli bars here in Australia are [a] high in sugar and fats, [b] small, and [c] expensive. I already make my own muesli, so why not go a step further... Of course, you can make bars in a cake tin, that you then cut to shape, but my experience is that they are uneven, poorly adhered, look daggy and require a lot of sugary, buttery bonding materials. We need to be able to make our own stuff easily, quickly, and healthily - otherwise it remains simply a novelty activity, and we will return to buying stuff from the the supermarkets. I want this stuff to be mainstreamed.... So: here's the instructable. Making the moulds is the first part; once you have done that, you can make the muesli bars (part 2) in under 5 minutes. Easy peasy. Step 1: Making the Moulds. <PIC> If you want to make good muesli bars, that the kids can take to school and eat and be proud of, you need a decent mould. Lots of shapes will do as moulds, as long as they are flexible to get the finished bar out of. I like working with Pinky Sil, so I used that to make some moulds. I cut the template from wood, and used a laminate trimmer to engrave it with 'YUM'. This doesn't show up on the muesli bars, but if you make chocolate backed muesli bars, it shows up wonderfully. Just a cute touch for the eater... Cut the templates the same size as ordinary shop-bought bars - maybe 3cmx 10cm by 1cm. Or whatever size fits your kids lunch boxes. Make the formwork for the moulds - I used off cuts of plastic, wood and steel rulers. Anything will do, but bear in mind that the wooden templates will float up in the uncured silicon, and that the silicon is initially a liquid, and will leak out of small holes or interstices...so glue down your templates, and ensure a tight formwork. Step 2: Mix and Pour.. <PIC> Pinky Sil is a 2 part silicon and you need to get the quantities perfectly equal, or the silicon won't set. Take this step carefully. For my formwork and bar templates, I needed 100ml of silicon - 50ml of the white, 50ml of the pink. Mix it thoroughly. You have about 8 minutes to work with it. Blow on the mix once it is in the mould to help bubbles escape. Step 3: Demould and Trim. <PIC> As you can see, I stuck down my templates with tape, and the tape was too thick, and silicon got underneath. I should have used glue-stick. Now it is time to trim... Silicon trims easily with artist knives. I like to make in bulk, to save time and resources. So now I have three moulds and can make 6 bars at once. Step 4: The Bonding. <PIC> The bonding agent is oil, honey and sugar. If you look on the web, most people give recipes that use heaps of oil and sugar. What a load of hooey. I have worked it out that you can bond 6 bars together very well and firmly with 2 teaspoons of sugar, 1 large tablespoon honey, and one tablespoon olive oil. You can add a bit of butter, or lemon juice or other stuff if you like to put flavour in here. Bring to the boil in a small saucepan, and as it browns, add the muesli, and remove from the heat, stirring vigorously. For six bars, you need about 1.5 cups of muesli. You'll just have to experiment a bit to get it right. If you have too little - thin bars. If you have too much - poor adhesion. Step 5: Form It Up. <PIC> The mix should be nice and sticky now. Spatula it into the moulds, working it down firmly. I use a flat steel to finish them, pulling the steel lengthwise down the mould, pushing hard to pack the mix into the mould (pic 2). Refrigerate to help it set. 30 mins is fine. Step 6: Finished Bars.. <PIC>  Now that is as good as you get in the shops. Each bar has about 0.5 teaspoon sugar, 1/6 tablespoon honey and oil. That is pretty healthy. You might even be able to drop out the sugar. Total time to make the bars- once you have the moulds, is about 5 mins. To keep with the non-plastic approach, I made reusable bags for the bars. My kids love them. My wife seems quite pleased too.  Cut out plastic! Reclaim production! Happy eating!


Introduction: Liquid Apple Pie (xxx). <PIC> I first heard about this drink on a TV show I like "Justified", it intrigued me enough to look it up online. Incidentally, this recipe barely resembles the drink from the show as moonshiners just mix their moonshine 50/50 with apple juice. Anyway, there are a litany of recipes for the drink all over online, but this is a blending of multiple recipes and of course plenty of trial and error, even though my 1st batch was perhaps the best I've ever made.The name "Apple Pie" hits the nail on the head as each drink tastes exactly like a bite of apple pie. Even better, this drink has enough booze to warm you up during the cold nights of the Holidays I make it for, especially Thanksgiving and Christmas. But perhaps most surprising is even with the considerable amount of grain alcohol (essentially legal moonshine) in this recipe you can barely tell there is any alcohol in it at all as long as you let it age a little. The taste right after you make it barely resembles the finished taste after a week of aging.I promise any holiday gathering you serve this at or bring to will make you the toast of the party. I give small mason jars of this for Christmas gifts. I rarely get very much of it because as soon as word is out I have a batch, you would think I won the lotto with all the friends and family who come out of the woodwork.Fair warning in advance, this isn't something you make on a whim. The amount of time it takes to make and age relegates it to special occasions rather than random cravings.  Step 1: Gather Ingredients. <PIC> 1 Gallon Apple Cider*If you notice in the picture, the cider I used was lightly colored and cloudy, as a result the finished product wasn't as pretty as usual. *Keep in mind that some cider's have more sediment than others, if you get a sediment heavy variety, you might want to strain the finished product through cheese cloth.1 Gallon Apple Juice4 Cups Granulated Sugar(Haven't tried raw sugar, but have high hopes for it)1 Tbs. Vanilla Extract6-10 Cinnamon Sticks1 750 ml Bottle Everclear (180 proof grain alcohol)*White Rum +50% volume can be substituted*But Everclear gives better results and it takes less1 Apple(Optional) Step 2: Combine 1st Set of Ingredients. <PIC> Turn stove to setting 8 out of 10In large stockpot combine:Apple JuiceKeep Empty Jug for laterApple CiderKeep Empty Jug for laterVanilla ExtractCinnamon Sticks (6 of them)Sugar(Wait until the mixture is steaming to add the sugar. Add the sugar slowly while stirring)You should still haveLiquor6 of the cinnamon sticks*This is mostly decoration, but also increases the cinnamon profile slightly1 apple (optional)*This is strictly decoration to have in the serving container, especially if it is see through, I personally don't like to include it, but my mom does Step 3: Heating. <PIC> Keep stockpot uncovered Adjust heat if necessaryEssentially you want steaming and almost a low rolling boil, you shouldn't see bubbles forming and rushing up from bottom of pot, but you should see the liquid rolling at the surface making it look semi-turbulentThe length of time to leave on the stove is largely choiceAt minimum, heat until the cinnamon sticks unroll most of the wayThe longer you heat, the more volume you lose and the richer the flavor I recommend 4-6 hrs.  Step 4: Cooling. Remove stockpot from heatLeave it in the stockpot, separating it out into the storage containers at this point will cause problems(You would not believe the blooper reel I could put together)Separating into various containers will come later Let stand until the product reaches room temperatureMoving on to the next step while the product is still hot will result in evaporation of the alcohol(Once I moved on to the next step while product was still being heated on stove, and another time right after I took it off the stove, this is a bigger problem than you would think since you can't add alcohol to taste, as aging is critical, so any change in alcohol content will result in you waiting the entire aging time without knowing if it is too strong or too weak.)Remove the used cinnamon sticks from the pot Step 5: Add Liquor . <PIC> With the product cooled to at least room temperature (cooler is better)Pour the liquor into the mixture slowlyHave grain alcohol splash into your eye, and you will appreciate the slowly part of this step Step 6: Bottle for Aging. <PIC> Regardless of how you intend on serving it, the two best choices for bottling during the aging processPour into 2 gallon jugsBecause of all the volume loss from the heating stage, the entire concoction, even with the booze added should fit back into the two gallon jugs left over from the Apple Juice and Apple Cider if you so choose.Pour into smaller bottlesI have used old small liquor bottles I had keptGood option for gift giving, just throw a bow on itThis facilitates your rationing so you don't run out unexpectedlyApple cider often has sediment in it, add in the sediment that can come off of the cinnamon sticks and you can have a significant amount of foreign material left at the bottom of your containers. This can be off putting to some so if you like, you can put cheese cloth in the funnel when bottling the product to get rid of it.*This is the only time I have tried this and while it is a pain in the backside, it filtered it out exceptionally wellAdd cinnamon sticks to the bottles whether they are the final product, or just being used for the aging processLet set undisturbed for at least 5 days, although I consider a week the minimum.The product must remain cool during aging and storage thereafter.The longer you leave it to age the better the flavor up to 10 days, at that point aging will no longer change the product.The longer you leave it to age the less you notice the presence of alcohol up to 10 days, at that point the drink is what it is.I wish I could tell you how long the shelf life it, but it never lasts long, even when I manage not to suck it all down, as soon as the word gets out I have a batch, friends and family suddenly flood through doors and windows, so the longest I have ever stored it was one of the bottles I gave as a present that was stored for 3 weeks after I let it age a little more than 1 week. So I can guarantee that it is safe and good for at least 4 weeks as long as you keep it coldSince this drink is most popular during the colder months, depending on where you live you could get away with storing it in the garage. If not, the fridge is your only choice Step 7: Serving. As discussed earlier, it can be given in small bottles as gifts and of course can be consumed directly from the bottle, even with the cinnamon stick still in it. Or a similar way that has gotten a much better response is to put in small mason jars with decorative fabric over the lid, under the ring, with a ribbon glued around the ring, of course each jar has its own cinnamon stickWhen we are hosting parties, we have a large glass jug in the shape of an apple with a spout at the bottom. When serving this way, of course add cinnamon sticks, but if you choose you can include apple wedges as well for decoration. I prefer the flavor better when served cold, even in the cold weather the drink warms you up all on its own, some prefer it room temp and some prefer it warmed slightly, decide for yourself.When done properly, even with the large amount of grain alcohol, more than a few people have had no idea that it contained alcohol. But it is in there, so be careful, it is stronger than the average cocktail.My favorite holidays to make this for are Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas/Christmas Eve, New Years and the only warm weather holiday, the 4th of July(after all, what's more American than Apple Pie? especially with booze in it)


Introduction: How to Make Personalized Candy Bars . <PIC> Last year I tried to make candy bars, just plain melt and pour ones but it did not turn out as expected. I did not want to give up because I have seen many people do it and it looks so simple to make. I was wondering where I went wrong and finally I guessed it may be due to microwaving of chocolate. So, this year, with an additional twist of personalization I am going to show how to make personalized candy bars with almond/caramel filling (Yum! Yum!). Lets get started. Step 1: Supplies . <PIC> Chocolate chips (I used Ghirardelli Milk chocolate chips) Double boiler ( I used a pan and snuggly fitting bowl on top) Chocolate mold Almonds Caramels (I used Werther's original Chewy caramel) A tsp of milk  Spatula Toothpick  A new paint brush Edible color mist (I used wilton gold color mist)Stencils of your choice Step 2: Melting the Chocolate. <PIC> Fill the bottom pan of the double boiler with water and bring it boil.(The water should not touch the bowl you keep on the top) Switch off the flame. Place the top bowl and pour the required amount of chocolate chips. Use spatula and slowly stir them around until the chocolate is melted smooth and shiny. Step 3: Fill Thin Layer of Chocolate in the Mold . <PIC> Now fill the mold with a thin layer of chocolate and use the paint brush to paint the chocolate on the corners of the mold to create a bowl for almonds or caramel filling. If you are doing plain chocolate bars, you can just fill the mold with desired thickness of the chocolate and follow the next step. Once you are done, bang the mold on the counter top or table(Wherever you are working) several times to release the air bubbles formed. Use a tooth pick to burst any bubbles and go around the corners of the mold to ensure there are no air bubbles. Allow the chocolate layer to freeze in the fridge . Step 4: Prepare the Almond & Caramel Filling. <PIC> To roast the almonds , Take a cup of almonds in a baking tray.Preheat the oven to 350 F and place the tray for 10 mins. Take the almonds out and give it a mix and put it inside the oven for 10 more minutes. You will now start to feel the smell of roasted almonds. You can take it out at this moment or allow it for 5 more minutes if you want. But be careful not to burn. Once it is cooled down, use a knife to chop them into pieces. Don't use blender to break the almonds into pieces . It will not work (Believe me! May be you will get almond flour ;) ).For the caramel filling, take the 6 to 7 pieces of caramel (For 2 candy bars) and add a tsp of milk to it and microwave it in 30 seconds intervals. It took only 30 seconds for me but it may vary depending on your microwave. Mix it well for the goey caramel filling. I made a mistake here, I added too much of milk to melt caramel so I ended up with the thin consistency of caramel which started to come out of the chocolate bars after freezing the candy bars. So take care while you do this. Add more milk(I mean more than a tsp) only if you want. Step 5: Fill the Mold With Almond & Caramel Fillings . <PIC> Take the mold out of the fridge and now it is time to fill the almonds and caramel. I decided to fill two candy bars with almonds. One with caramel and one with a combination of both. I went little overboard while filling the caramel. As I said in the earlier step, the consistency of the caramel was runny and also I filled it till the edges. So be careful while you do this, don't fill it till the edges.The filling should always be within the chocolate bowl to avoid caramel explosion later (You know what I mean, right? ). Step 6: Melt Another Batch of Chocolate. <PIC> Now melt another batch of chocolate chips, and pour it on the top of the candy bars to seal the filling. Step 7: Allow the Candy Bars to Set. <PIC> Allow the candy bars to set in the fridge and once it is done. Remove them from the mold. Step 8: Applying Personalization. <PIC> Now comes the fun part of decorating the candy bars. Take the stencil and place it on the top of the candy bar, cover the remaining  candy bars with the paper towel. Spray the edible color mist in a swing motion for the design to transfer on the candy bars. I created my stencils with electronic die cutting machine. You can make them if you have one or use a craft knife and cardstock to create your own. I also used a snowflake punch to create stencil for two candy bars(Hexagon and rectangle one). I used the snowflakes itself for the hexagon one and the negative space as a template for the rectangle one.(Isn't it amazing?) Allow it to dry for sometime and then wrap them in plastic wrap to gift it to your family and friends. Oh My God, I don't know how to explain the taste of these candy bars in words. The roasted almonds and the milk chocolate combination was great and top notch. I don't know why I was always opting for semi sweet chocolate.What do you think? These personalized candy bars make a perfect place card for your holiday table. If you try these, what filling you prefer? Also make sure you select good quality of chocolate chips to make your candy bars. I would say I liked the Ghirardelli milk chocolate best(Not sponsored to say this,I just loved the taste) compared to all the previous chocolate chips I have used. If you haven't tried those for any reason, I would say do try them. Share what you think about these candy bars in the comments below. As always I will be happy to hear from you.If you like this idea of personalized candy bars, do vote for me in the "chocolate contest" and "Homemade gifts contest". I would really appreciate it. If you like DIY/craft ideas like this, visit www.vikalpah.com for more ideas.


Introduction: Healthy Fettuccine With Hidden Vegetables. <PIC> Do you want a savory fettuccine alfredo recipe that doesn't have all the calories and fat?  If so, this healthy fettuccine recipe uses pureed cauliflower as a faux-creamy base instead of all the unhealthy cream and butter that you'll see in other recipes.  I normally cook for a very picky eater every night who hates cauliflower.  He absolutely LOVES this recipe and still doesn't know it's made with a vegetable that he absolutely hates. He even went back for seconds! I'm going to keep this secret for as long as I can.  I hope you like this recipe! Step 1: What You'll Need:. <PIC> 1 pound Fettuccine 4 cups Cauliflower (cut into large chunks) 2 cup Milk 2 tablespoons Butter 2 large Shallots (finely minced) 1/2 cup White Wine 1/2 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano (freshly grated) 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper 1/3 cup Parsley (chopped) Olive Oil Salt and Pepper Step 2: Cooking the Creamy Cauliflower. <PIC> Place half the milk and the cauliflower in a large sauce pot and season with salt and pepper. Bring up to a boil and reduce to a simmer, cover and cook until fork tender, about 8 to 10 minutes. Using a slotted utensil, transfer the cauliflower to a blender. Add the leftover milk from the pot and add the additional cup to make a creamy puree. Add the butter and continue blending until smooth. Taste and adjust seasoning. Step 3: Cook the Pasta. <PIC> Bring a large pot of water to a boil and season generously with salt.  Cook the pasta one minute less than the packaged instructions.  Don't drain the water that cooked the pasta.  This will come in handy later. Step 4: It's All Coming Together Now.... <PIC> While the pasta is cooking, place a large saute pan over medium heat and add 1 to 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add the shallots and season with salt and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, or until slightly tender. Deglaze with the white wine. Reduce by half, about 1 to 2 minutes. Add the cauliflower puree and loosen with about 1/3 cup of pasta water.  Add the pasta. Step 5: . <PIC> Add a few sprinkles of cayette pepper.  Toss the pasta again and add more cooking water if the pasta seems too dry. Add the Parmigiano and parsley and toss to coat. Serve and enjoy!


Introduction: How to Make Bonfire Cupcakes. <PIC> Halloween is done and dusted now, I hope you all enjoyed lots of spooky treats! The next notable date on the calendar (for us here in the UK anyway) is Bonfire Night. Celebrate in style with these eye catching Bonfire Cupcakes! Made with easy two tone frosting, Matchmakers & Cadbury’s Flake, I guarantee they will bring fireworks to your party table!Here is what you will need to make approx 16. For the Cake 80g Unsalted Butter, Room Temp280g Golden Caster Sugar200g Plain Flour40g Cocoa Powder1 tbsp Baking Powder1/4 tsp Salt240ml Whole Milk, Room Temp2 Eggs, Room TempFor the Frosting 400g Icing Sugar, Sifted200g Unsalted Butter, Room Temp1 tsp Vanilla ExtractSplash of MilkOrange Food Colouring GelYellow Food Colouring GelFor the Decoration 1 x 130g Box of Matchmakers (I used Honeycomb flavour)4 x Full Sized Cadbury’s Flake BarsEssential Equipment 2 x 12 Hole Cupcake Tins16 Foil Cupcake CasesPiping BagLarge Star NozzleFor more awesome step by step recipes, check out www.kitchenmason.com Step 1: The Frosting. <PIC> In an electric stand mixer or a large bowl with an electric hand whisk, beat together the butter, icing sugar & vanilla extract. Start slow (or you will be engulfed in a mushroom cloud of icing sugar!) then work up to a high speed. Beat on high for a good few minutes until the mixture is really light and smooth. Add a splash of milk to loosen it a little and mix again until smooth. Step 2: The Frosting. <PIC> Divide the frosting between two bowls. Using cocktail sticks, add orange food colouring to one and yellow to the other. Keep gradually adding colour until you get the shades that you want. Step 3: Making the Cake. <PIC> Line your cupcake tins with the foil cases and set to one side. Preheat your oven to 180°C/Fan 170°C.In an electric stand mixer or a large bowl with an electric hand whisk, beat together the butter, sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder & salt until it becomes like fine breadcrumbs. Step 4: Making the Cake. <PIC> In a jug, beat together the milk & the eggs. Pour two thirds into the dry ingredients and mix until really smooth. Add the remaining third and mix again until all the ingredients are blended well and smooth. Step 5: Making the Cake. <PIC> Fill each case to about 2 thirds full then bake in the preheated oven for 15 – 20 minutes until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Step 6: Making the Cake. <PIC> Transfer the cakes to a wire rack to cool completely before decorating. Step 7: Decorating. <PIC> Load a piping bag with a large star nozzle. Then carefully spoon one colour of frosting down one side of the bag and the other colour down the other side. It doesn’t have to be exact, just roughly. Step 8: Decorating. <PIC> Have a little practice swirl on a plate to make sure that both colours are coming through, then pipe swirls on each cake by piping circles from the outside in. You may like to pipe another smaller swirl on top like I did. I think it looks good to have a tall fire under the “logs.”Snap some Matchmakers in half and others into smaller pieces. Cut the Flakes into small pieces. Start with a frame of 3 or 4 larger Matchmakers then dot smaller Matchmakers & pieces of flake around the bottom. Repeat until all the cakes are covered and look like super cute mini bonfires! Step 9: Marvel at Your Creation!. <PIC> See! It’s not as difficult as you might think. In fact, If you have children, I bet they would LOVE to get involved in the decorating stage. You’ll just have to watch that those cheeky little monkeys don’t eat all the chocolates before they make it to the cakes!


Introduction: Tropicoco Bar. <PIC> Go Tropo for the Coco Step 1: . <PIC> You will need:230g - White Chocolate Chips500g - Icing Sugar250g - Fine Desiccated Coconut440g - Canned Pineapple Rings425g - Canned Mango Step 2: . <PIC> Take lid off canned mango.Discard syrup. Step 3: . <PIC> Place mango slices on paper towel.Pat off moisture. Step 4: . <PIC> Repeat with Canned Pineapple Step 5: . <PIC> Put Mango and Pineapple in blender.Blend until smooth. Step 6: . <PIC> Add Coconut and Icing Sugar to Mango and Pineapple mixture.Combine well. Put to one side. Step 7: . <PIC> Melt White Chocolate. Step 8: . <PIC> Coat chocolate moulds to create an outer shell.Pour out any excess chocolate back into bowl. Step 9: . <PIC> Fill chocolate shells with pineapple/mango/coconut mixture. Step 10: . <PIC> Pour remainder of chocolate to create base.Leave to set properly. Step 11: . <PIC> Remove from mould and eat.NOTE: This recipe makes an extremely excessive amount of the filling compared to the chocolate it uses. It could also be used as a filling / icing alternative for a cake or ice-cream topping. The choice is yours.


Introduction: CheeseCarrotts. <PIC> Super easy, very fast and delicious!Cut the carrots in slices.Cut cheese in sices.Put the cheese slices on top of the carrot slices.Enjoy this healthy and amazing snack!!!Some people feels weird when they see it, but please try it before judging and you will not regreat it!!!


Introduction: Candied Pig-Nuts (BACON!). <PIC> The question that has haunted bacon lovers has always been: "When will someone find a way for me to enjoy bacon while I am performing tasks that are not bacon-friendly?"  Well my friends, that day has finally arrived!  We proudly present to you: Candied Pig-Nuts .
Just what is a Pig-Nut?  As a point of reference you could consider the Pig-Nut to be a distant cousin of the unfortunately misnamed "Burnt Peanut"; though neither is burnt, and as we mentioned, Pig-Nuts are made with BACON!
To a degree it goes without saying that bacon is one of God's greatest creations.  I know there are some who would argue against this, and quite frankly I'm not going to try to convince them otherwise because that would just inflate the demand. Step 1: Gather the Hardware and Software. <PIC> Raid the pantry or head to the grocery store for the Software
16oz. Shelled Pecans Halves *1
12oz. package thin-sliced uncooked Bacon (Be careful, sometimes bacon packages contain 16oz) *2
1 Large room temperature egg (we'll only need the white)
2tsp. Maple Syrup (or Maple-flavor Syrup)
2tsp. Cold water
3/4C. White Granulated Sugar
1/4C. Light Brown Sugar
2tsp. Ground Cinnamon (Reduce to 1tsp. if fresh-ground)
Butter flavored cooking spray
1/2tsp. Bacon Salt  (TM) *3
OPTIONAL 1/2tsp. Dried Red Pepper FlakesGather the Hardware
Aluminum foil
Cookie sheet
Heavy pan
Kitchen scissors
Chef's knife and cutting board, or food processor
2 Large mixing bowls
Whisk or fork
Silicone spatula
Measuring cups and spoons
* Step 1 Notes:
1. Unroasted, unsalted pecans are best, but if salted is all that's available, use low-sodium bacon.
2. We tested several precooked and shelf-stable bacon products and the results were sub-par.  Cook your own bacon for best results.
3. Bacon Salt is available in the seasoning section of many grocery stores.  Be careful to select a simple bacon flavor such as Original, Maple, or even Peppered.  Cheddar Cheese Bacon Salt is good, but not on Pig Nuts. Step 2: Roast Your Nuts!. <PIC> Wash your hands.  Yes, that should be obvious, but there are a few points in this Instructable where it's very important, so we might as well get off on the right foot. (Or hands)
Position a rack in the center of the oven and Preheat the oven to 350F degrees.
Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil with a sheet of foil an inch or two longer than your cookie sheet.  Crimp the foil around the center ends of the sheet, but leave the corners loose.
Spread the pecans in a single layer then place the cookie sheet with nuts on the center oven rack, close the oven door fully and roast at 350F for 8 minutes. IMPORTANT: Set a timer for 8 minutes and while the nuts are roasting begin step 3
When the timer sounds, reduce the oven temperature to 250F degrees  and remove the cookie sheet from the oven.
Place the cookie sheet on a heat-safe surface and lift the aluminum foil by the corners and remove the foil, nuts and all from the cookie sheet and set the foil on a cool heat-resistant surface, such as a wooden cutting board or a second cookie sheet or large plate.*4
* Step 2 Notes:
4. Leaving the nuts on the hot cookie sheet or the nuts may overcooking from the residual heat. Step 3: Crisp the Bacon. <PIC> While the nuts are roasting we can get the bacon started.  For best results (crispest bacon) use thinly sliced bacon.
Preheat a heavy pan to medium heat. *5
Working on a remote surface to prevent contamination from raw meat, remove a few strips of bacon from the package and using the kitchen scissors, cut the strips into 1/8" to 1/4" pieces onto a plate or paper towel.  Continue cutting until the entire package of bacon is prepped.
Scatter the bacon pieces around the interior of the hot pan.Toss the empty bacon package and paper towel (if used) and WASH YOUR HANDS, scissors and plate!
Reduce the heat to medium low (#3 on a scale of 1-10) and stir frequently with a silicone spatula.
After a few minutes the fat will begin to render and pool in the bottom of the pan.  Slide the pan off the heat for a moment and carefully tilt the pan and remove most of the fat from the pan with a spoon and ladle it into a heat-proof container. *6
Return the pan to the heat and continue cooking until golden brown and crisp.
Remove the bacon bits from the pan with a spoon and place in a single layer on several pieces of paper towel and set aside to cool.
* Step 3 Notes:
5. We cook the bacon low and slow to render the fat and moisture, and to prevent overcooking.
6. The rendered fat can be used in other recipes or discarded after it cools and solidifies. Step 4: Mix the Bacon Bits and the Drygoods. <PIC> A food processor is ideal for this step, but if one is not available, see notes at the end of this step. *7
Add the cooled bacon, and measure in the White and Brown Sugar and the 2tsp of ground cinnamon to the food processor with chopping blades.  Pulse to blend. The bacon should be reduced to a fine chop (the size of half a grain of white rice). *8
Transfer approximately 3/4's of this mixture to a large bowl and reserve the balance in the food processor bowl.
* Step 4 Notes:
7. If you don't have access to a food processor you can chop the bacon to its final size with a knife.  Place the cooked bacon bits into a chopping board and chop with a chef's knife to the size of half a grain of white rice, or roughly the size of a candy "Nerd".  Mix with the dry ingredients in a large bowl using a fork or a whisk.
*8 While white granulated sugar can be easily measured and poured, brown sugar can't because it's a little too sticky.  Use a 1/4C  measuring cup and press the brown sugar into the cup until it's tightly packed and level with the top.  Don't get too OCD with it because close enough is just fine for Pig-Nuts.  Step 5: Whip the Egg Whites. <PIC> The yoke is the "eggy" part of the egg, and since we're not making breakfast here it's got to go.  Fortunately all we need is the white, and it's easy to get to.
Crack the egg on a flat surface and hold the egg over a large bowl.  Transfer the yoke back and forth between the two halves of the shell while allowing the white to slip past the shell and into the bowl. *9
Add the Maple Syrup and the cold water and whisk the wet works until frothy.  (See photos)
* Step 5 Notes:
9. A lot of folks will crack the egg on the rim of the bowl which can drive bits of the shell into the egg.  BTW, if you're wondering what to do with the yoke, it can be refrigerated or frozen and later added to another recipe that calls for yokes, or do as my dog Goody suggests and add it to your dog's food. Step 6: Top Your Nuts and Roast the Glaze. <PIC> Just to confirm, you did catch the part about reducing the oven temperature to 250F degrees, right?  Good.
Add a new piece of aluminum foil to your cookie sheet as in Step 2.
Lightly spray the foil with cooking spray.
Working on a counter or table, line-up your egg wash bowl, the sugar-bacon mix bowl and your foil-lined cookie sheet.
Add all the pecans at once to the egg wash and stir to coat.  This may take a minute, but it's worth taking your time to cover every dry spot on the nuts.
Spoon the egg-covered nuts into the 3/4 of the sugar-bacon mix in a large bowl leaving behind any egg wash that's clinging to the bowl.  Stir to fully coat with the sugar-bacon mix. *10
Rinse the egg-wash bowl and wipe it dry.
Transfer the fully coated nuts to the clean bowl, leaving behind any wet egg wash residue, and add the reserved 1/4 of the sugar-bacon mix to the nuts and stir (more like folding or tossing actually) gently to coat.
Transfer the coated nuts to the foil-lined cookie sheet and spread into a single layer.
Place the cookie sheet onto the center rack of the 250F degree oven and roast for 25 minutes.
Open the oven and slide the rack and cookie sheet out of the oven and immediately top the hot Pig-Nuts with the Bacon Salt and the OPTIONAL red pepper flakes.  *11 & 12
Remove the cookie sheet and remove the foil from the sheet one last time and place it on a heat-safe surface.
Stir the Candied Pig-Nuts to separate from the foil and from each other and to redistribute any run-away bits of bacon.
Your Candied Pig-Nuts are ready to be consumed!
Candied Pig-Nuts are best enjoyed warm, or within hours of roasting.  To store place in an air-tight container (a clean, lidded jar or a large Zip-Loc bag) and freeze or refrigerate.  How long are they edible?  I have no idea because they've never made it through a night!
* Step 6 Notes:
10. Some of the egg wash may remain in the wet bowl. This extra egg wash should not be added to the dry-goods bowl.
11. Our Bacon Salt flavor of choice is Peppered, and though we show Original is many of the photos here, the Peppered just brings so much more flavor to the party.  Maple is good, but with real Maple Syrup already in the mix, you just won't notice it's subtle taste.
12. I almost hate to make this an option because the pepper flakes really kick Pig-Nuts into high gear, but not everyone can handle the heat.


Introduction: Tartar Sauce (The Groper and His Wife Copycat Recipe) . <PIC> In Perth, one of our favourite things to do is have fish and chips down at the beach and one of my favourite places is called the Groper and his Wife.  They have the most incredible fish and chips but more importantly is the tartar sauce you get to dip your crispy chips and fish in.This is my version of their incredible tartar sauce and I hope that you enjoy it to! Step 1: Ingredients. <PIC> - 1 1/4 Cup mayonaise- 1 Medium dill pickle (or about 1/4 cup chopped)- 1 tsp Dijon mustard- 1 Large spring onion- 1-2 Tbsp lemon juice (fresh squeezed)- 1 1/2 Tbsp drained capers- *Optional* 1/4 tsp hot sauce Step 2: Equipment. <PIC> - 1 Mixing bowl- Chopping board- Chopping Knife Step 3: Chop the Ingredients. <PIC> This recipe is great because you can change it to suit your taste. To start chop the capers, pickles and spring onion as fine or chunky as you like. I like my tartar sauce fairly fine as to not have an overpowering taste of pickle or caper. if you were to chop it chunkier you will taste these easier. Step 4: Mix All Together. <PIC> Once you have chopped your ingredients place the mayonaise, onion, capers, pickles, lemon juice**, mustard, hot sauce and salt and pepper in a mixing bowl.  Mix the ingredients together and frefridgerate at least 2 hours.**Add a base of 1 Tbsp lemon juice for flavour. add more to give your sauce a more tangy taste** Step 5: Serve/Storage. <PIC> The tartar sauce should stay in the fridge until being served. The best taste is when it has been for at least 2 hours in the fridge after being made.Keep it stored in an air tight container for up to a week in the frigde.


Introduction: Coffee Bean Cookies. <PIC> I found some leftover instant coffee powder a few days ago. Since I'm not a big fan of instant coffee, I'm thinking of baking something to use the coffee powder. This cute and delicious coffee cookie is very easy to make, and is a perfect match as a dessert for your coffee.    Step 1: Ingredients. <PIC> You will need:--45g butter--30g sugar powder--10g heavy cream--12g instant coffee powder--3g cocoa powder--100g cake flourYou might need to adjust the amount of sugar powder you use based on the sweetness of your coffee powder. And although in most cases a better ingredient leads to a better result, you shouldn't use high end ground coffee powder in this case. It's a waste on one hand, on the other hand it would make the cookie too bitter to eat. Step 2: Prepare the Dough. <PIC> Soft your butter (don't melt it) and combine it with sugar powder. Put your coffee powder, cocoa powder and heavy cream into the mixing bowl as well.  Step 3: Combine the Ingredients. <PIC> After you combine those ingredients together, use a spatula to smooth everything. Then sift the cake flour into the mixing bowl as well. Mix the flour into the mixer, but don't over mix it.  Step 4: Shape the Dough. <PIC> At first it would look like bread crumbs. Then use your hand to press them until it became a smooth dough. It's actually a very easy process as you can see on the right corner of first picture, I shaped a small dough very easily. Step 5: Shape the Coffee Beans. <PIC> Divided the dough into 5g small pieces, shape each one to an oval shape and then press the middle line with a tooth pick.   Step 6: Bake the Cookies. <PIC> Put them into the oven which is preheated to 340°F, and bake for about 20 min.Take them out and let them cool. They are very crispy after they cool down.  Step 7: Enjoy!. <PIC> It's very tasty with the nice aroma of coffee, the shape is also very cute, so I love some of the cookies when I'm having my coffee!Hope you will like this, and if you do, please vote for me in the Caffeine Contest, Thanks a lot!!Enjoy your coffee and your coffee cookies!


Introduction: Sugar Free 5-Minute Chocolate Truffles. Do you know which part of the year is best? Christmas :-) and what is the best sugar free treat? Mine delicious christmas chocolate balls. These truffles are hand-made, no bake and gluten free treat from heaven. Absence of sugar makes them also very healthy.So what is secret behind my very favorite chocolate truffles recipe? 1) Get best cacao powder you can get, it will make recipe much more delicious 2) Pick top grade dried dates 3) Get fresh cinnamon 4) And it is time to make chocolate truffles Step 1: Check Video :-). Ingredients200g/7oz dried dates 3-4 tbsp top grade cacao powder CinnamonInstructions Cut dates into small pieces You can also mix them but remove all nuts from dates In bowl mix chopped dates and cacao powder Mix well by hands until you make nice smooth huge christmas chocolate truffle :-) Divide into halves 3 times (make 8 pieces) Roll out spheres Cover them in cinnamonIf you enjoy my recipes make sure you visit my 7 Diet Meals blog and subscribe to my YouTube channel!


Introduction: Honey Lemon Granola. <PIC> This is a very delicious granola recipe! You can put it over yogurt or with fruit .  Ingredients :-4 cups quick or old fashioned oats (360g)- 1/2 cup honey (168 g)- 1/4 cup lemon juice (60 ml)- 1/4 cup canola oil ( 60ml)Instructions:Preheat oven to 325*F. Measure out 1/4 cup lemon juice and 1/2 cup honey. Mix together with fork until thoroughly combined. - to a large bowl add  oats . Add honey mixture and oil . Stir together completely. - pour into a pan and bake for 25-30 minutes or until slightly brown . Make sure to STIR every 10 MINUTES!


Introduction: Floral Tentacle Cake. <PIC> This is a triple citrus pound cake with vanilla bean buttercream and salted caramel balsamic strawberry filling and it is decorated with an obscene amount of handcrafted flowers and tentacles. This cake was made for my pal Sydney for her 40th. Her nickname is Squidney and her favorite flowers are wildflowers, so I used flowers to represent where she's from: California poppies and billy balls and Texas yellow roses mixed in with wild roses, lily leaves, ivy and filler flowers.We're going to focus on how to make edible flora and aquatic fauna from gum paste.Gum paste (sugar paste) is like adult play doh. It has incredible capacity for fine detailing much like sculpey. You can roll it out paper thin and tool it with fine detail in a way you can not with chocolate or fondant. You can create life like objects with gum paste.  Look at how crazy this guy is!  Soooo good! Look how good you can get if this was you job!Making a lot of flowers takes time as you make each petal individually. It's a rather meditative practice. the cake pictured here took about 6 hours in sculpting time.Gum paste is more brittle than fondant when it dries. It is not delicious to eat, so I don't even bother making it from scratch, although it is easy to make. Gum paste dries fast and hard, so you have to know what you are doing but it also is not difficult to sculpt with. This is actually an ok first project to learn with, since you use a variety of different methods to make flowers and it takes very little practiced skill. You do not need to make the exact flowers I make. Use what tools you have on hand, the techniques are similar for a wide variety of decor. A lily is very similar to an orchid or poppy in how it is constructed. You can guesstimate how to make any flower after you see how the techniques work.For this gum paste tutorial you need specialized tools but you can fudge it ok with some kitchen items:a bucket of gum paste. I get a pound of Satin Ice brand paste. It seems to last forever if wrapped up tight. corn starch (powdered sugar works too) shortening modeling tools: ball rollers,  (you can use a kit like Wilton or clay modeling tools dedicated to kitchen use. I had an old wilton kit with the plastic green tools. The nicer end ones are made of metal. They all work very similarly.) thin foams for rolling out petals food safe floral wire, tape and stamen assortment toothpicks cookie cutter shapes for petals and leaves plastic leaf veining form for leaves flower punch molder rolling pin egg carton or very small bowls (I used some spoons too) to let the flowers dry in a supported cup shape gel coloring pastes (not liquid color)Here are some tips for working with gum paste:work with small amounts because it dries out fast. I keep small bits rolled up in balls under a glass. I also store petals and leaves under a glass until it is time to detail them. rub shortening on gum paste if it dries out. Coat it with small bit of corn starch if it is too greasy, if hand mixing darker colors, use gloves. don't rush. Make these weeks in advance. It is better this way as they need to dry out sometimes for a week anyway to stiffen up and if you are a beginner very often after the drying period bits with crack and fall off and you might need to make more. try to make more items than you need as delicate flowers are fragile. You will have unsuccessful flowers. I have about a 10% throw away rate with this batch. Step 1: Gum Paste Wild Roses. <PIC> With a toothpick, tint a tiny thumb size bit of gum paste a pale yellow color. I use gel coloring paste so that it doe not affect the rigidity of the gum paste. 1. Roll small balls of yellow gum paste  in your palms, paying attention to smoothness. cut your stamen to under half an inch and stick them in the balls. I used around 7 stamens for each ball.Each wild rose will have five petals. Make an extra petal  for each rose so you can select the best one.2. To make petals, roll out your gum paste from the center to the edges to under 1/8 inch thick and use a petal shaped cutter to punch out your petals. There are two kinds of foams we will use for these flowers. The purple one is similar to kid's craft foam, dense and gives very little for applying pressure. we use this to thin out the petal. The pink foam is less dense and has a lot of give and is ideal for rippling the edges for a realistic petal appearance. 3. Place each petal on the harder purple gum paste foam first and roll it out with a ball modeler. Press in the middle first and roll it to wards the edges in a moon shape. You are trying to indent a petal shape very similar to the curvature of your own cupped palm.  I leave a little extra gum paste around the edges so I can have more to work with for the next step.4. On the pink foam, use the same ball roller to press out the edges to create a rippled effect.5. Make a finger's amount of dusty green gum paste. Roll it out and punch out a few calyx shapes.I used spoons to create a cupping supportive shape for the roses to dry on. You could use small bowls or egg crates. I like having a little variety in the slope. the larger your vessel the more open your flower will be.6. While your petals sit  for a few minutes, mix up gum paste glue. This is just pinching off a tiny bit of the gum paste and stirring water. My ratio is about a thumb nail ball of gum paste to a 1/4 cup of warm water. 7. Place the green calyx on the measuring spoon or cup. Wit ha small paint brush dab the center with your glue. add each white petal on one by one, overlapping just slightly every time you add a petal. Use the glue on the areas where the petals overlap. Brush on more glue in the center and lightly press your yellow ball in the center.8. Hope for the best. 9. Get floral wire and make a little hook on the end. Burn it on the stove so it is hot. press it into the bottom of your flower so it melts through and "hooks" in the thickest part. the gum paste should melt around it forming a permanent tomb for the wire.These took two days to dry because the center of the balls take a little bit. if a petal falls off use one of your spares to glue a fresh one back on. Step 2: Gum Paste Tentacles. <PIC> Oh my god this was monotonous to do. Look. I'm NOT a zen person. I can not really meditate. All that chat about meditating before is a big lie. I can't yoga. I  just can't. If you are all namaste about stuff, this is gonna work out great for you. If not, just make a floral cake. No one will judge you. Tentacles are cool to look at though, and without them this cake would be a boring normal floral cake. I guess I lied about judging. Make the tentacles! You can do it!1.Mix up a fist and a half of fondant to a weird sickly squid color. You'll probably want to mix some red with brown and purple or blue. Mix a half a fist of gum paste to a weird underwater squid purple color these are for the suction cups.2.Roll out various sizes of squid tentacles using your pal. this is similar to making your average play doh snake shape. Taper one side, and using the side of your finger make an indentation right through the middle of the tentacle.Curl them in different shapes to evoke cephalopod movements.3.Roll out hundreds upon hundreds of tiny little purple balls.We're talking small like the size of a peppercorn. Hundreds. So many hundreds of these....4. Brush some glue on the tentacle. Using the modeling tool that is shaped like a "nub," press each tentacle into the tentacle indentation. Parallel zippering looks most natural. Dry these out for a couple of days. when you finally place them on your cake you'll find that  some look better flat and some can add a lot of drama and dimension when placed vertically. Step 3: Gum Paste Flowers and Leaves. <PIC> Make more! Tons more.Ivy leaves and other leaves can be cut out with cookie cutter shapes and used as is or with a little floral wire . To attach floral wire to thin pieces jsut use a little extra pinch of gum paste on the back.roses can be made by rolling a ball around floral wire in a teardrop shape and attaching individual shaped petals one it one by one.Poppies were made just like the wild rose but I rolled the style in actual poppy seeds. Yup! Pretty cool. I also mixed a little gel dye and water up to brush on the petals to add color variation. I let some dry out in jar lids and some in measuring cups to have variance in bloom shapes.The small blue and white flowers were made by pressing gum paste in a typical wilton flower mold and popping a hooked wire in the center. these were made into bunches using floral tape. be sure to used food safe floral tape. The daisies were made with a daisy shape cutter and the centers were made with a style mold.The billy balls are rolled into balls and rolled over a bumpy plastic texturizer to create the feel of pollen. These balls were also hooked on to heated floral wire and were dried upside down on my dish rack.To create floral texture for large leaves, you cut the leaves out first then press them against the veining molds before you shape them very gently on the foams. If you want them on floral wire, you can stick the floral wires directly into balls of gum paste and roll it out after, in order to have a very stable leaf on a wire that is thin. use up your gum paste completely by making spirals and x-tra decorative elements. Step 4: Bake, Fill and Ice a Cake. <PIC> For this cake, I baked two vanilla pound cakes with orange, lemon and lime zest. I cut the cakes in half and lopped off their puffy tops for nice flat layering.The icing  was a standard vanilla buttercream, but I scraped some fresh vanilla bean in.The strawberry filling was out of control however- salted caramel balsamic strawberry filling which I made up completely.two pounds of strawberriesone cup of sugarvery fancy balsamic vinegarrest of the scraped vanilla podsaltapricot jamI a saucepan melt you sugar down into a syrup and watch for ait to turn a medium gold caramel. Add half you strawberries in and simmer until it reduces into sexy jam. This took a good twenty minutes.  Fold the rest of your sliced fresh  strawberries into the hot jam and add a couple of spoons of apricot jam. Douse with a heavy pour of balsamic and a tablespoon of salt.To ice your cake it is best to pipe a thick circle of frosting to act as a barrier for  your strawberries which are going to leak into your cake.Layer it up and frost the outside with an offset spatula. I always frost a thin crumb coat on first and refrigerate the cake for 15 mins before doing an other layer, but since we are covering this in fondant it is not as important.  Step 5: Decorate Cake. <PIC> Cover your cake in fondant.Do not use gum paste. fondant is soft and pliable. I usually serve my cakes by peeling the fondant off first unless someone is into eating it for some reason. fondant is not just a decorative element. it keeps your cakes study and moist and it is so great when you are transporting a cake and it has to sit around before cutting.Stick all your decor on the cake. You will want to use your glue for the flat pieces but in some cases it might be best to use a little butter cream icing. A lot of the flowers and leaves are not able to sit flush on the curved surface of the cake. icing helps that.Surprisingly, I had used the leftover bits of gum paste to shape small spirals and curly wiggle shapes. These were very useful in adding dimension and filling up empty space.So pretty! Much oooh. Much Aaaaah.


Introduction: Creamed Rice. <PIC> this is a sweet, simple dessert thats great for cold winter evenings. it can be made with ingredients that you almost always have lying around and is a wonderful blank canvas for toppings and additions!!!
i got the recipe for this in the cooking: a commonsense guide cookbook
i have made a few adjustments myself, and you might too depending on your own personal tastes
this is my first entry into the Dessert Contest, so if you like it, I'd appreciate a vote :D Step 1: The Simple Ingredients. <PIC> one thing i love about this recipe is you can almost always be certain you'll have the ingredients! you'd never believe that a few simple, rather bland ingredients make such a sweet, creamy dessert!!!!YOU WILL NEED
90g short-gran rice (i use about 100g of jasmine rice)
1litre of milk ( i use full cream)
1/2 cup caster sugar (you can use white and i add a bit more!)
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
ta-da! thats all you'll needEQUIPTMENT
large saucepan
various measuring cups (see above to be specific)
a teaspoon measure
colander
a wooden spoon or spatula Step 2: Begin..... <PIC> take your large saucepan and pour one litre of milk in, this step will be much easier i you have measurements on your saucepan or a two cup measure! i use full cream milk and am not sure how other milk or milk substitutes will work. if you try another milk, please do let me know :D
Add the sugar and vanilla, place over medium heat and heat until it is almost boiling, stirring occasionally  to help sugar dissolve and not burn
WARNING: watch your mixture as it begins to boil as the milk sometimes reacts or something and turns into a strange cream-textured frothing mess that may boil over! if you see the milk rapidly rising (it does this in seconds) simply pull it off the heat, and/or clap a lid over it! once its calmed down after a few minutes,you can put it back Step 3: Add the Rice. <PIC> Rinse your rice in a colander or a strainer (if your colanders holes are too big). drain it well before adding to your almost-boiling milk mixture. stir until it begins properly boiling (the book says "return to the boil"..when it only "nearly boils"?)
lower the heat so it simmers and walk away! yes! you only need to come in every little while and stir it a bit!
cook for roughly one hour or until the rice is tender and has soaked up most of the milk (the mixture should be nice and  thick)
you may also need to add more milk during/after cooking as the rice may soak up to much and become dry
when you add the rice you can also add a variety of other ingredients such as
sultanas
grated orange rind
other dried fruit
( i myself have only tried sultanas) Step 4: Serve and Enjoy!. <PIC> now your done! all you need to do is spoon it into individual bowls and serve with cream and/or whatever toppings you like!
need some suggestions? you could try...
chocolate chips
powdered cinnamon (one of my favorites)
jams
chopped fruit
berries
honey, maple syrup or golden syrup
or anything you like!!!!!
please post any comments, questions or suggestions :D
and if you like it, please vote!


Introduction: Authentic Tortilla Soup. <PIC> My son loves this recipe and I like to make it just to see how he enjoys it (I love it too so it's not a sacrifice at all). It transports me to beautiful Mexico full of color and cheerful music and people. The great news is that almost everywhere is very easy to find a latin store to get everything you need.  Step 1: Ingredients. <PIC> 1 pound of Peruvian beans 2 pounds of corn tortillas300 grams of tomato sauce1/4 medium white onion10 branches of fresh cilantroOil to fry the tortillas plus a little moreComplements:Sour creamFresh cheese (My favorite kind is Panela cheese)AvocadoMulatto chilli pepper or chile ancho Step 2: Cook the Beans. <PIC> Wash your beans and put them in an pressure cooker with enough water to cover them, the onion and 2 tablespoons of oil. Close it and let it cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes. This kind of beans are perfect for this recipe because they are so creamy and flavorful. Step 3: Blend. <PIC> Put 4 cups of beans with water (the broth the beans have) in a blender, add the cilantro and blend. You'll notice this turns very green for the cilantro but it will change color when you blend more beans and mix everything in the next step. *Do this when the beans are not too hot or your blender will explode. Step 4: Season. <PIC> Pour your blended mix in a hot pot with a tablespoon of oil. Add 2 teaspoons of salt and your tomato sauce. Mix very well and boil for 8 minutes. The smell will have everybody at the kitchen by this time. Step 5: Fry Tortillas. <PIC> You can do this while your bean mix is ready. Put oil in a pan and let it warm up for some minutes.Cut the tortillas in thin long pieces and put them little by little in the hot oil. Let them fry until they get gold and crunchy. Drain them to get rid of the excess oil. Step 6: Complements. <PIC> Every authentic tortilla soup must have this complements:Cut your chili pepper in thin slices and fry them with 1 teaspoon of oil. We just want them to be crunchy so don't overcook them.Cut your cheese in little squares and your avocado in thick slices. Step 7: Serve and Enjoy!. <PIC> Put the bean mix first, then a handful of fried tortilla, sour cream, cheese, avocado and the chili pepper on top. Enjoy while it's still hot!


Introduction: Pineapple Empanada Pie Pi Press. <PIC> I’m a shop guy/tinkerer/builder. Not a baker. So this challenge was a stretch for my skill set once past the woodwork. I decided to make an Empanada press. I've seen and eaten little fruit pies of this shape, even a meat pie once. I never saw how they were made or shaped, obviously it would be no problem to invent such a thing. Little did I know.
The first part of this submission is how to make the press. The second is my adventures in making it work. This is the first time I have ever baked a Pie. Step 1: Stuff You Need. <PIC> CNC STUFF
Computer
Vector drawing program (http://www.freecad.com/CAM_Programs/)
Cam generator (http://www.freecad.com/CAM_Programs/)
Mach3, EMC or similar (http://www.machsupport.com/) (http://www.linuxcnc.org/)
CNC Router or contract fabricator (www.100Kgarages.com)
Tooling bits
Drill
Sanding equipment
Mineral oil
¾ “ Maple or other hardwood
BAKING
All purpose Flour
Butter
Crisco
Sugar
Salt
Egg
Vinegar
Water
Milk Step 2: Skills I Need!. <PIC> More time, more money, more patience.
Writing skill
Photography skill
Baking Skills
Not necessarily in that order Step 3: CAD – (Computer Aided Design). You can skip down to the baking section if that’s what you’re interested in, but it’s from an amateur. Don’t get your hopes up.
There are so many design programs out there  (http://www.freecad.com).  Some are free, some are not. Try the free ones, or the trial downloads, and spend some time assessing their capabilities. Make sure you look at what they can import and export. This will be important in moving your drawing files to the CAM generator (more about that later). The higher end ones, have a steep learning curve and take a while to be comfortable with. The lower end and free are getting better all the time.  Check out Sketchup (free) with the ruby script that allows output in .stl and .dxf formats. Sweet!  (http://www.guitar-list.com/download-software/convert-sketchup-skp-files-dxf-or-stl)
I use several CAD programs depending on my mood and how complex the design will be. This time I used Vectric as the output would ready for the CNC Router.
Starting with a 5" and 6" circle from the same origin, and bisecting it in half, I then separated the two halves with a gap of .5".  To round the corners, I created .75"  circles and placed them over the sharp parts of the two haves of the larger design, then clipped out the extra vectors. With .5" circles, I repeated the process on the inner 5" diameter halves. Now I had two symetrical parts that had .5" border on the curved portion and .125" at the hinged (straight) edge. For the second version (the first had triangles) I selected a .25" circle, to fill in the wider border.  I copied it 34 times and placed them equidistant from each other within the .5" border section.  Vectric allows one to covert a 2D vector drawing to 3D, so using their modeling features, I made divots of the small .25" circles and a concave shape of the center section. Lastly I took a pi symbol bitmap, converted it to vectors, placed it in the center of each half of the mold and created a raised (convex) shape.
This sounds difficult , but you can see the result easier than I can describe it. Step 4: Tooling Bits. <PIC> On our homemade CNC machine is a Porter Cable Trim Router.  It will accept ¼” shank bits. I chose a ¼” shank, ¼” end mill for the rough cut, and a ¼” shank, 1/8” ball mill for the finish cut.
Our router only goes one speed in rotation and maxes out at 25 linear inches per minute, so the only control we have is how deep it cuts per pass, and the inches-per-minute speed it travels through the material. As I was to cut maple, a fairly hard wood, and didn’t want to break those expensive bits, I set the toolpath depth to cut just .1” deep on each pass. Also I slowed the feed rate to 12 inches per minute.
Before any machinery is turned on, install the bit into the router you have. Be VERY careful, they are quite sharp. I don’t know anything about bleeding on my project (hah!), but there are a wide range of band-aids and compresses readily available in our shop, just in case. Step 5: Material. Most of the time for a test run, I will select blue or grey insulation board. This time chose to skip this part as I wanted to test the result with real dough. Can you imagine all those little bits of foam in a perfectly baked pie? Maybe not such a good plan. If I had started with foam (ignoring the obvious results), it would have allowed me to see how many things I screwed up in the CAM and CAD. It’s also a prototype that can be checked to see if it really looks like what you had envisioned.  Lastly, I have a template that may prove useful.
Make sure that the piece you load on the machine is bigger than the project. Additionally I place a sheet of cardboard under the material to protect the bed of the machine. Seems obvious, doesn’t it? Right.  Also, make sure that it is oriented correctly in the X and Y plane. I never make those mistakes.
Stabilize the wood. Many treacherous opportunities lie here. Cut the wood larger than the project -- just a reminder). You want extra room for clamping down the outer edges with screws, cam locking devices, or even double-sided tape.  In this case I used screws around the outer edges. Regardless of the method, one wouldn’t want the highly rotating router bit or the router itself crashing into something hard and unyielding. Some very interesting results WILL occur and you really don’t want that experience. The least is you may lose some steps in the g-code and get the remainder of the cut all cockety-wampuss, and the worst is flying bits of high speed steel flying around. Which brings us to the all-time favorite subject of OSHA -- Ta-da: SAFETY! Step 6: Safety. <PIC> Here we go, ignore this at your own peril.
Ok, the condensed version:
-Ears - CNC machines are loud. I like to put on noise cancelling earphones with my favorite music playing in the background. Not too loud as you want to lightly hear the machine as it runs, giving you a heads-up to any problems.
-Eyes and face – Flying objects do sometimes come from the machine, best to protect them. I use a face shield.
-Breathing – All materials have some dust created during the cut. Use at least a filter mask for non-toxic woods and cardboard something better for MDF and plastics.
(If at all possible make or buy a dust collection system to keep the fumes and dust to a minimum. That’s the next project for us after this contest. Wish I had done it earlier.) Step 7: Power. At last the fun begins. Power the machine and computer and open up Mach3 or EMC. These are the interfaces that actually translate the g-code into movement by the router. EMC is the open-source Linux version, Mach3 works with windows. Next load the g-code using a flash drive, wireless or whatever you move files with from your cozy office to the cold and manly shop. Click the Reset button. Now you can move the non-running router around to position the 3D coordinates (X, Y and Z) of the bit by using the number pad on the keyboard. Step 8: Zero, Zero, Zero. <PIC> Now you really want to fire that thing up. You’ve been at it for a while. You’re impatient (well that, at least, describes me at times). But we have to get off on the right foot, or inch, or thousandths of an inch.  X, Y and Z must be zeroed. Most of the time, this point will be the topside-lower-left corner of the material.  Using the keypad, be slow and careful to NOT run the bit into the material or hold-down clamps. The tooling bits, I’ve found, do break, and are pricey. Once over the zero, lower the bit ever so gently down to just above the top of the piece. Then I place a feeler gauge below the bit and, extremely slowly, move it down to just touch the gauge. Using .002 gets the bit located in space just half-a-hair above the material. You do remember NOT to have the router on during this step, don’t you? Right. Step 9: Magic. <PIC> It’s finally time to turn the router on and start the sequence of cutting from Mach3.  Just like your mother used to say “don’t forget your mittens,” remember the safety stuff.  Turn the router on first.  Then click the green button on the screen labeled Cycle Start. You’re off and cutting. Yeah!  If it takes off in some bizarre direction, be ready to shut it down by clicking the STOP button. Remember the adage that computers, (along with dangerous machines attached to them) only do what you tell them to do, not what you want them to do. If all is going well, just watch and enjoy the moment. To me, this is amazing stuff, I used to hand cut all of these projects. It’s a wonderful world!
When the cycle ends, and the router comes back to zero, turn it off. Then remove all the screws, or what-have-you that is holding the material firmly. Pick up the piece and be amazed.  Remove the waste sections, and vacuum or blow off the dust so the machine is ready for the next fabulous project. Step 10: Check and Re-do. Now is the time to really look at your product. If it looks lousy, go back and try again, even if it means more hours and hours of shop time. Oh the joy! You are doing this for fun, aren’t you?
Most of the time, it takes several iterations and tests to get it right. This one took four tries to achieve the high standards I aspire to. Something like approaching infinity, I’m never quite there.
If yours is perfect, move on down to finishing. Step 11: Finish. <PIC> I’ll fly through this part, as I’m sure most of you will have some experience at this. I used an X-Acto knife to clean up feathers left from the cut. Then using foam-sanding pads, and a dremel sanding pad, I smoothed all the surfaces.
Then apply Mineral oil (food safe) to all surfaces and let dry completely. Just an hour or two will do.
Last the hinges must be attached to the two parts. I clamped the parts with about a 1/8” gap (the thickness of a file I had) between them. Then laying the hinges in what looked good to me position, I drilled the holes with a self-centering hinge bit (if you haven’t tried them they are wonderful). I was careful to aim the drill a bit to the side so as not to cut into the cavity. Put the screws in and you are ready to go baking. Step 12: Baking Adventures. If you skipped all that, you’re all right anyway. Here I must say again, I’m NO baker. Luckily I have friends in the restaurant business, cookbooks, and a good wife.
None of them, at first, could figure what to do when the first trials failed. What happened, was that I got a beautiful impression in the dough, but when cooked, all those clear impressions just disappeared. Bummer!
Turns out that as the fats melt, any shape in them or the dough tends to go away, little did I know.
So after checking with those more knowledgeable, a possible solution was tested. Step 13: Dough. <PIC> This recipe was sent to me by a fellow friend and Instructable fanatic:
Perfect Piecrust
Mix together in a large bowl:
4 cups all purpouse flour
1 Tbs sugar
2 tsp salt
Add and mix with a fork or pastry cutter till crumbly
1 3/4 cups Crisco or lard or butter (room temperature)
In a small bowl beat together:
1/2 cup cold water
1 Tbs white or cider vinegar
1 large egg
Mix the wet into the dry ingredients with a fork until it just holds together.
Turn out onto the counter and divide into four equal pieces.
Smush each portion into 1" thick patties and wrap with plastic wrap.
Refrigerate until stiff (at least 1/2 hour).
Makes 2 double crust or 4 single crusts.
Can be frozen indefinitely. Step 14: Using the Mold. <PIC> I figured out eventually that the dough was sticky, to the counter, to the rolling pin, to me, everything. Then, eureka, I remembered Grandma always threw flour on the counter and pin, and then started rolling. We should remember, they might have had a reason. Well, that worked real well. After rolling the dough out to a big enough size and thickness, I flipped it on top of the mold and pushed the dough down with my fingers, used a spoon to find the pi symbol and cut around it with a knife to expose the image. Then I applied the secret, a band-aid, ie. another piece of dough on the inside. Step 15: Filling. <PIC> I took a can of pineapples, drained and drank the juice, then mixed the fruit with some corn starch and brown sugar till it looked good. How much to put in the cavity seemed a trial-and-error sort of thing. Sure enough, I overfilled it the first time and had a mess when the two halves of the mold were squeezed together. The second trial went better. Step 16: Baking. <PIC> The oven was set to 350F and the empanada fruit pi was placed on a cookie sheet and put in the oven. Within just a few minutes the pi symbol had gone. I let it cook for 45 minutes just to see if was edible. It was, but the impression wasn’t what I wanted.
This is when another chef gave me the idea to cut the symbol into the dough and place another thin piece of dough on the back (inside) as a sort of band-aid. Well this seemed a bit too fiddly, so being a shop guy not a baker, I went back and re-cut the mold twice more at different depths to see if thicker dough would hold the impression better. No joy, that approach was no better and made a lousy tasting pie. Step 17: Voila!. <PIC> By now all you experienced cooks and pie makers must be rolling on the floor. This is fun, and now I know a bunch of things that don’t work. Back to my friend’s idea seemed the way to go. By now I was too invested in this concept to walk away and the contest was drawing ever closer.
I went back to the original mold and figured out how to use a spoon to squish the dough down to expose the symbol and carefully cut the dough around it using a knife, then place a band-aid on the inside before filling ( you will see this in Step 14). Way fiddly, but the result was what I was looking for. The last improvement was suggested by my lovely wife. Mixing egg and milk together and brushing it on the dough before cooking gave them a pleasant golden sheen rather than pasty white. Step 18: Conclusion. And there you have it. My first attempt to bake a pi.
The press worked extremely well, but trying to emboss images into dough (either positive or negative) was not at all successful.
I think next time, I will make a cookie cutter like device from sheet metal to cut the pi symbol. It might work as well, probably better.
And the band-aid idea---brilliant!
Another Instructable maybe?


Introduction: No Tuna Salad. <PIC> No Tuna but no less Tuna on this item. Tastes delicious and a mixture of range of flavorful stuff. Make it , store it to enjoy through out the week. It's one item that's not going to fail your taste bud.Ingredients :> Chickpeas : 1 can ( 540 ml )> Vegan Mayo : ¼ cup > Vegan sour cream : 1 tbsp> Lemon juice : 1 Tbsp > Celery : ½ cup , chopped > Red onion : ½ cup , chopped> Garlic powder : ½ tsp> Black salt and pepper to taste> Carrot : ½ cup, chopped > Spring onion : ¼ cup, chopped>Ground mustard : 1 tsp> Paprika : ½ tsp> Dried dill weed : 1 tspDirection :1.Drain and rinse your chickpeas, place in medium size bowl and roughly mash with a fork or pulse in food processor until they become crumbly.2. Add the remaining ingredients into bowl . Toss together until well combined .3. Enjoy it plain or serve with toast, wraps or fresh veggies.


Introduction: Hippo-Bubblepizza. <PIC> Greetings dear Readers!Hereby I present to you the Hippo-Bubblepizza!We all know Pizza, I guess. Normally it's a flat disk of bread covered with tomato-sauce and topped with cheese and some other ingredients to your liking.This time we will make a different kind of Pizza.Bubblepizza is not flat, but it contains the main ingredients of Pizza: Pizza-dough, tomato-sauce, cheese and other ingredients to your liking.Because everybody's favourite ingredients are different, I will stick to the plain "Pizza Margherita". You can add whatever you want to your Bubblepizza.Now, because we are on Instructables, and plain Bubblepizza wouldn't be quite enough, I will show you, how to make Hippo-Bubble-Pizza, as seen in the picture.Let's get started! Step 1: Making the Dough. <PIC> Alright, now let's start with the dough.If you have your own favourite Pizza-dough recipe, of course you can use it.You can also buy Pizza-dough in a supermarket or from your favourite Pizza-restaurant.If you buy your dough, or use your own recipe, you can skip this step. If you want to know how to make Pizza-dough yourself, read on.I made the dough like this:3 and 3/4 cups of flour2 pinches of sugar2 tablespoons of salt1 package active dry yeast1 and 1/2 cups of warm waterand 2 tablespoons of olive-oilPut the dry ingredients in a mixing-bowl and mix them carefully.Add the water and oil and start kneading until the dough starts to form a ball. You can use a mixer with kneading-hooks, or you can do it by hand. If the dough is too wet, add some flour. If it's too dry, add some water.Once the dough starts to form a ball, scrape it out of your mixing-bowl, onto a flour-covered surface. Knead in flour, until the dough stops sticking to your hands and is formable.Put your dough back into your mixing-bowl, cover the bowl with a damp towel and let it rest in a warm place for about 45 minutes.Your dough should have doubled in size by then. Now we are ready for forming! Step 2: Forming. <PIC> Alright, let the fun begin!The dough is ready, now let's start forming.For normal Bubblepizza you take out bite-sized pieces of dough and roughly form them into balls.They do not have to be the same size. The more the size of your Pizza-balls differ, the bubblier the Pizza will look.If you want to add something into your bubbles, now is the time. You can fill them with cheese, for example, knead pieces of onion, bacon, corn, or other things into them, or leave them plain. Use your imagination.Place your bubbles into a casserole-dish with some space between them. (They will rise in the oven.)For the HIPPOS you take one about fist-sized piece of dough. Cut off about 1/3rd of your dough-piece and form the lager bit into a Hippo-body. (Stuff it with cheese, onion-pieces, bacon, ... to your liking.)Place the body into a casserole-dish.From the smaller part of dough, cut off about 1/4th and use the bigger part to form a head and nostrils.Form an eggshape and put it to the body into the casserole-dish. Then gently press it in shape with your fingers to form the nostrils and the face. (I wouldn't recommend stuffing the head, because I think it will be difficult getting it in shape, when you have harder pieces in the way.)The small piece left divide in half and form some round ears. Use a toothpick or something like that to shape them and gently place them onto the head. (Water helps to make them stick.)For eyes and nostrils I used chopped and frozen Basil, but anything small and dark will do. I just think chocolate-chips or raisins do not go well with Pizza... But if you like that sort of combination, go on and try it. ;) Step 3: Finishing and Baking. <PIC> And we are nearly done!Pizza needs tomato-sauce and cheese.For the normal Bubblepizza carefully cover your bubbles with tomato-sauce and pour some in between. Add ingredients to your liking to the sauce. Then cover it all with cheese and put it into the oven. I added some chopped and frozen Basil, but as mentioned before: Add ingredients to your liking!For the Hippos carefully pour tomato-sauce all around them. Add ingredients to your liking into the sauce. Roughly cover the sauce and the Hippos with cheese, but be careful to leave their faces free, so you can still recognize them. Then they are ready for baking.Bake your (Hippo-)Bubblepizza at 180°C or 350°F at air-circulation-mode until the cheese turns golden-brown and the tomato-sauce looks very dark at the edges. Time will differ from oven to oven. But I would recommend checking after 15-30 Minutes. Step 4: Enjoy Your Meal!. <PIC> Once baked you can serve the creative Pizza!I hope you liked my instructions and enjoy making Hippo-Bubblepizza.If you liked my instruction and the idea of Hippo-Bubblepizza, please vote for me in the Baking-Contest!Thank you very much and have fun making Bubblepizza in all shapes and tastes!All the best wishes from Austria, Europe.Enjoy your Pizza!!!


Introduction: Linseed Sandwiches. <PIC> Most of the time I make these sandwiches in summer, but... I just can't wait so long. These sandwiches are very simple. They can be made in 10-15 minutes and it requires just a few products. P.S. They are really healthy Step 1: Ingredients. <PIC>
          Ingredients:    linseeds (500g or less);     1 or 2 garlic pieces;     a pinch of salt;     herbal spices (aren't necessary, but they give extra taste.);     bread (you can use any bread you want);     mayonnaise.  Step 2: Cooking. <PIC> Cooking is very simple. First of all, take a pan which will be big enough. Then heat it up till it gets really hot. After this, pour all seeds in the pan and cook for a few minutes. Now it's time to squeeze the garlic, pour a pinch of salt and spices. Cook for another few minutes, but reduce a heat to avoid burning linseeds. After you cooked the seeds, wait till they gets cold. P.S. You don't need to use oil, because linseeds have OMEGA3 oil which is really healthy and useful for your organism. Step 3: Making. <PIC> When cooked linseeds get cold, you can make sandwiches. So take a bread and slice it. After that take a butter knife and grease bread slices with mayonnaise. When you have done that, just put bread slices with mayonnaise facing down, in to the bowl with seeds. They will stick to the greased bread. And that's it! P.S. It's even more tasty if you eat them with pickles or tomatoes. P.P.S You can try to add sesame seeds for a different taste. Bon appetite!


Introduction: Candied Cumquats. <PIC> Some of the best I'm-not-that-hungry-but-I-want-something-to-eat snacks. Bittersweet, glistening orange cumquats. Sitting there in sugary syrup. Who can't resist them? Ok, they're not for everyone as they are quite bitter and sour but there's something about them I just can't resist.
I'm sure it'll be the same for most of you!
What You Need:
1 cup chopped cumquats
1 cup caster sugar
1/2 cup water Step 1: Syrupy Goodness. <PIC> Now to make the syrup to cook the cumquats in. I used 1/2 cup water and 1 cup sugar for my 1 cup of cumquats.
Bring the water and sugar to the boil, and simmer it uncovered for a couple of minutes. That's how easy the syrup is. Step 2: Cumquats. <PIC> I found that the easiest way to chop the cumquats without them spurting their juicy goodness all over you is to quickly and smoothly chop them on an angle.
Ok, throw the cumquats into the syrup and simmer them for 10-15 minutes. They will smell really good when they are done. Use a slotted spoon to get them out of the syrup, and put them i a bowl for serving.
But they're not done yet! So don't go poking your fingers in for a bite. Step 3: Now for the Syrup!. <PIC> Reduce the syrup for another 5 minutes or so. Now, just pour your desired amount of it over the yummy, glistening cumquats! They are now ready to eat!
The cumquats can be stored in the fridge - jarred, or just eaten straight away with almost anything.
I hope you like them!


Introduction: Santa's Lump of Coal for the Naughty (Chocolate). <PIC> Santa's never given me a lump of coal for Christmas, but I know there's probably a couple of years when he should have. :)
This instructable will teach you how to make a lump of coal out of chocolate for the naughty people in your life. They make great stocking stuffers or the perfect novelty gift. Step 1: Ingredients. <PIC> You will need the following ingredients:
2 Bars Special Dark ChocolateEdible Black Glitter
Black Sanding Sugar2 Lumps of Coal Chocolate MoldsEquipment:
Measuring cup
Baking sheet lined with parchment
Black Ribbon
Wilton Treat Bags - 3 x 4'' Step 2: Chop & Melt Chocolate. <PIC> Place the chocolate bars onto a cutting board. Chop chocolate with a knife. Create a double boiler by placing a medium saucepan filled half-way with water on the stove . Bring water to a simmer and turn heat turn low. Place a heat safe metal bowl on top of the saucepan. Add the chopped chocolate & stir frequently until velvety & smooth.
Remove the pan from the heat. Pour chocolate into a small measuring cup.  Step 3: Fill Molds With Chocolate. <PIC> Place Lump of Coal Molds on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Pour edible glitter into each lump of coal mold. Then sprinkle a thin layer of sanding sugar on top of each mold and use your finger to smooth it out. Using the measuring cup filled with the chocolate to fill  each mold. Gently tap mold to even out the chocolate. Sprinkle a thin layer of black sanding sugar on top of each mold filled with chocolate. Gently use your finger to smooth out the sugar.
Place mold in the refrigerator for 30-45 minutes.  Step 4: Sprinkle Sides With Glitter & Sanding Sugar. <PIC> Remove the molds from the refrigerator. Place left over chocolate back onto the double boiler. Melt chocolate until smooth. Remove from the stove.
Pour 1/2 cup of the sanding sugar onto a plate. Sprinkle edible black glitter on top. Using a silicone brush, brush each side of the lump of coal with the melted chocolate. Pick it up and gently roll coal into the sanding sugar & edible glitter to coat. Repeat for each lump of coal.
This will ensure each side of the coal will have a beautiful shimmer.
Return coal to baking sheet and place in the refrigerator for another 30-45 minutes.  Step 5: Wrap Lumps of Coal. <PIC> Wrap each lump of coal in a cellophane treat bag and tie with a black ribbon.
Make sure to give these to all the naughty people in your life!
Happy Holidays!


Introduction: " Toddy" the Indian Beer. <PIC> in southern parts of india, in villages, most of the people wont consume liquor alcoholics like beer,wine,vodka,whiskey etc. they have a unique drink called kallu. it gives the same pleasent mood as a premium beer can give. here i am showing how to make this drink. actually its not the exact way how it makes. but it tastes same. Step 1: Thing You Need.. <PIC> 1.some coconuts 2.sugar 3.yeast if you take one coconut take two tablespoons of sugar and a pinch of  yeast. take this proportion as more the coconut you have. Step 2: Break the Coconuts and Get the Water.. <PIC> now lets break the coconuts and get the water in it. if you can get some tender coconuts you can have plenty of water. Step 3: Adding Sugar and Yeast. <PIC> put the coconut water and sugar and yeast into a pot like this and mix  well. glass pots will work too. but DONT USE bottles have a small neck. and metal bottles such as bottles made with aluminum,steel etc. wrap and cover the mouth of the pot with a neat cotton cloth.(sorry image not available) Step 4: Wait for 48 Hours. <PIC> after 48 hours it will look like this.. and its ready to have.. IT IS ADVISED TO DRINK THIS BETWEEN 24 HRS AND 48 HRS. IT WONT GET GOOD IF KEPT LONGER LIKE WINE. IT WILL BECOME BAD IF KEPT FOR MORE THAN TWO DAYS.. Step 5: . <PIC> READY TO DRINK.... IT WILL BE MORE TASTY WITH SOME SPICY DISHES LIKE KERALA FISH FRY.  (kerala fish fry recipe http://www.givoli.com/recipes/164) IT IS CONSIDERED AS A HEALTH DRINK IN SOME PARTS OF SOUTH INDIA. IT WONT MAKE A HANGOVER OR MAKE YOU FEEL TIRED. BUT IT GIVE A PLEASENT FEEL. IF DRINK FOUR OR MORE GLASES. ABOUT 1 LITRE. TRY IT...


Introduction: Simple Microwave Egg Sandwich. <PIC> Tasty and simple and very quick Step 1: Ingredients. One egg, bread or toast, butter, tbls water, ceramic bowl. Step 2: Butter the Bowl. Lightly butter the bowl Step 3: Add Water. Add one tablespoon water and whisk with fork to scramble Step 4: Cook. This is really fast so watch while cooking.
Only about 30 seconds in microwave! Step 5: Done!. Egg will slide out of the bowl.
I add some mayo and some salt / pepper.
Yummy and fast snack.


Introduction: BANOFFEE BANANA SPLIT PUDDING IN CHOCOLATE BALLOON BOWLS. <PIC> BANOFFEE BANANA SPLIT PUDDING IN CHOCOLATE BALLOON BOWLSFOLLOW ME ON SOCIAL MEDIA! YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6-aoDG0ePzoI_8M...Twitter:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6-aoDG0ePzoI_8M...Instagram:  https://instagram.com/treat.factory/ Tumblr:  http://treatfactory.tumblr.com/ Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Treat-...Website:  http://www.thetreatfactory.com/ Step 1: CHOCOLATE BOWLS. <PIC> Milk Chocolate Yellow Candy Melts Balloons Temper the milk chocolate and melt the yellow candy melts. Make a base for the chocolate bowls by placing a spoonful of the chocolate on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper. Dip the balloons in the melted chocolate and pipe the melted candy melts on top before placing on top of the chocolate base. Place the chocolate bowls in the fridge or freezer to dry. Once dry, pop the balloons and strengthen the bowls by brushing another coat of chocolate on the inside.  Step 2: BANANA PUDDING . <PIC> 4 Large Egg Yolks75g / 1/3 Cup Caster Sugar 2tbsp Plain Flour 1tbsp Cornflour 375ml / 1 & 1/2 Cups Milk 2tsp Vanilla Bean Paste 240ml / 1 Cup Double Cream 1tsp Vanilla Extract 1tbsp Icing Sugar 3 Bananas Whisk the egg yolks and sugar together. Sift in the flour and whisk again. Heat up the milk and vanilla bean paste in a saucepan then temper the egg mixture with the hot milk mixture by slowly pouring in the milk and whisking rapidly. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan, bring to a boil and then cook for 30 seconds. Cover with cling film and leave to cool. Chop the bananas and add to a blender along with the milk and blend until smooth. Whip the double cream, vanilla extract and icing sugar to stiff peaks. Place the cooled custard, bananas and whipped cream in a bowl and gently fold together.  Step 3: TOFFEE SAUCE. <PIC> 56g / 1/4 Cup Unsalted Butter 200g / 1 Cup Light Brown Sugar 1tbsp Black Treacle 240ml / 1 Cup Double Cream 2 Bananas Heat up all the ingredients on a low heat for 15 to 20 minutes. Chop up the bananas and add to the toffee sauce.  Step 4: TOPPINGS. <PIC> Whipped Cream Chocolate Fudge Sauce Walnuts Glace Cherries Serve your banoffee banana split pudding. Step 5: ENJOY. <PIC>


Introduction: Proper Spicy Curry Powder - Without Chili!. <PIC> Many people think chilli is a spice; many in fact think it is the only spice!  I don't; I think it is a wrecker of flavour and destroyer of taste buds.  Many years ago a friend of mine at university showed me how to make curry powder. Like me, she didn't like chilli. It isn't necessary - recipe is nice and spicy, and has some heat, but allows the subtle, complex depth and combination of curry flavours to come through. It is worth the time and effort to mix your own blend for this reason alone. Because the blend keeps well, especially when kept in an airtight jar, the time exerted will repay you many times over! Step 1: Ingredients List. <PIC> As you will see from this first photograph you need a selection of spices ...yes, proper spices, and as you will see, there is no chilli amongst them!What you need:Cloves (I buy whole cloves and grind them myself)      Nutmeg (again, whole ones, I grate them myself)      Fenugreek *      Cardamon *      Fennel      Ginger (dried and ground - it keeps well so that's how I buy it)      Cinnamon (again dried and ground)      Garlic powder      Turmeric      Cumin (dried and ground)      Coriander (dried and ground)      SaltThose marked with an *asterisk may be left out if you can't get hold of them - but do try to, as they help to create a good, well rounded flavour. Step 2: Cloves. <PIC> As I said earlier, I grind my cloves as I need them. I've re-purposed an old pepper mill, so that I can grind them without any fuss any time I need them.You will need about a teaspoonful of cloves. Step 3: The Essential Oils. <PIC> The next spices we are going to add are valued for their essential oils.You need to grate about one teaspoon of nutmeg. Use a small grater and try to scrape all the spice from the grater. You do not want to waste any. Empires have been built and wars waged over this little spice. It deserves respect!Half a teaspoon of fenugreek is enough, and about the same of cardamon. These are both slightly peppery and add interesting flavours when mixed into the curry powder.A good teaspoon of fennel completes this section.Gently mix the five spices together, pulling them from the edges to ensure that everything is mixed thoroughly. Step 4: The Flavour Ravers. <PIC> Ginger add a gentle warmth to the mix. Dried ground root ginger does not have the fire and zing of fresh root ginger, but I am not aiming for a Chinese or Thai style  curry here. Use one teaspoon of ginger.Cinnamon comes in many grades of quality. I have found that cheap supermarket brands are inferior. As you can see, I use a well heaped teaspoon of this brand of cinnamon. If you are using a superior quality of cinnamon, you can reduce this to a level teaspoon.Chopped garlic powder is used for convenience, as it saves having to prepare fresh each time we cook. Add one teaspoon. Step 5: The Earthy Notes. <PIC> Curry is usually a nice cheerful golden yellow colour. That's because is has turmeric in it. Use three teaspoons of turmeric.I also add three teaspoons of cumin. Cumin is used a lot in Indian cookery, but also in a lot of Mexican foods like enchiladas.Coriander adds a lemony zest to the mix. Again, add three teaspoons.I try not to add too much salt, 1/4 to half a tea-spoon is more than enough to enhance the spice flavours while maintaining one's blood pressure! Step 6: ...having Said That.... <PIC> As you can see, my arsenal does include some peppers! I have black pepper, paprika and cayenne. To add warmth you can add any of these to your taste. I add 1/4 teaspoon of paprika to the mix.When I was 40 one of my Cousins bough me a really great spice rack with 18 jars of herbs and spices. One of those was ground bay leaves.  That has long been used, fortunately bay grows readily in my back garden (...and my front garden!!!) so I occasionally harvest, dry and rough-ground my own bay leaves. Accordingly, I only need about 1/2 a spoon-full. Purists may argue that Bay is not part of the mix, but hey, I think it add a certain something. Step 7: Finishing Off. <PIC> Carefully mix all the spices (and herbs) on the saucer then carefully pour them into a dry jar.  Replace the lid then gently tumble the ingredients together for a few minutes.Then put it into a cool, dark, dry cupboard for at least a day to allow all the essential oils and flavours to combine.Most dishes will need only about 4 teaspoons of powder to add flavour and colour, but if your taste-buds are lacking, you may need to use up to six. Add after browning off meat and/or vegetables, turn the heat well down, add the curry powder and gently roast it for about two minutes before adding stock and simmering for a couple of hours. Add some coconut milk and simmer for a half-hour or more before serving.Enjoy!


Introduction: 5-minute Milkshake. <PIC> Hi There!
I am going to show u how to make a (banana) milkshake.
It only takes about 5 minutes to make ,but u can enjoy it for hooooouuuurrrrsss :D
So grab ur stuffs and get moooving :) Step 1: Pick Ur Stuff Together : Ingredients and Tools. <PIC> Ingredients:
1. 1 or 2 banana(s)
2. Milk
3. Vanilla Flavoured Ice Cream
4. Vanilla Sugar
Tools:
1. Measuring Cup
2. Mixer
3. Spoon Step 2: Making the Shake. <PIC> 1. Add 200ml Ice Cream (can add more or less)
2. Add 2 bananas in slices.
3. Add 2 sacks of Vanilla Sugar (around 4/5 spoons)
4. Add 150ml Milk
5. Mix it all up. Step 3: Enjoy :D. <PIC> Just Drink it up : )