It was a grand event with a donkey pinata (oooh, I nearly wrote "placenta" then!), great people & terrific food - & I cant for the life of me work out why I didn't take more pictures :/ The only ones I have are of the food I took -
Noni carpet bag (medium size) in Cascade 220, with Noni Spider Chrysanthemum as an embellishment.
All of these turned out much better than I had expected (does that say more about my cooking/making or more about my expectations?) I had great comments about the cake - although they were primarily from my husband, so I'm not sure if they count. People asked for the biscuit recipe & I was happy with the way the bag worked out.
It was the first time I have worked with Cascade 220 yarn & was easy to work with. It was only passed through the wash twice & was not completely felted. I preferred the fabric this way as it was supposed to be a carpet bag I thought it should have some movement in the fabric rather than be solid as it would have been if completely felted.
Here are the recipes for the goodies.
Gingerbread Cake:
1 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup water
3/4 cup molasses
3/4 cup honey
1 cup tightly packed dark brown sugar
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup milk
1 packed tablespoon grated fresh ginger root
1. Preheat the oven to 325. Lightly grease a 9 x 9 x 2-inch baking pan and line the bottom with a piece of baking paper that has been cut to hang over two opposite edges by a couple of inches. This overhang will make removing the cake from the pan clean and simple.
2. Combine the butter, water, molasses, honey and brown sugar in a medium non-reactive saucepan and place over low heat. Stir the mixture frequently until the butter is melted, and all of the ingredients are well blended. Remove from the heat, pour into a large bowl and set aside to cool.
3. Meanwhile, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, all-spice and cloves, and set aside. When the molasses mixture feels just warm to the touch, add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the milk and stir to combine. Fold the dry ingredients into the batter in four additions. Get as many of the lumps out as you can. Stir in the grated ginger.
4. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake in the centre of the oven for I 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours, or until the top of the cake springs back when touched and a cake tester inserted into the centre comes out clean. Allow to cool for 15 minutes, then, using the overhang of parchment, lift the cake out of the pan and cool completely on a wire rack before cutting.
Serves 10 to 12.
160g/6 ounces almond paste, grated (found at Whole Foods)
100 g/half a cup white sugar
120 g/1 cup confectioners' sugar
4 egg whites
200g/1 1/2 cups of pine nuts
3/4 cup of flour
3/4 cup of shredded coconut
Method
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Line 2 cookie sheets with foil; lightly grease foil.
- Mix almond paste and granulated sugar in food processor until as mixed as they can be (the almond paste is reluctant to take the sugar). Add confectioners' sugar and 2 egg whites; process until smooth.
- Once the mixture is smooth add all of the coconut, then gradually add the flour. Add until the mixture comes together & is the right consistency to mold into balls in the palm of your hands.
- Whisk remaining 2 egg whites in small bowl. Place pine nuts on shallow plate. With lightly floured hands roll dough into 1 inch balls. Coat balls in egg whites, shaking off excess, then roll in pine nuts, pressing lightly to stick. Arrange balls on cookie sheets, and flatten slightly to form a 1 1/2 inch round. They will NOT spread during cooking so make them the size that you want the final biscuit to be.
- Bake 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until lightly browned. Let stand on cookie sheet 1 minute. Transfer to wire rack to cool.
- Eat & enjoy
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