So every year, as always, I go Pick-Your-Own Strawberry Picking at Russell Orchards in Ipswich. It’s well documented here on this site, so I won’t go info all the details of the Strawberry Festival and all that. This of course means that I am working on this year’s strawberry treats. First up, this year’s variation on the strawbeey jam… this time with hibiscus which gives the jam a great floral punch. Yum yum!
It’s been three weeks since I baked anything. That might be a recent record. Admittedly, two of those three weeks, I was traveling, but nevertheless, it feels like I am going through withdrawals. That said, there is a lot on the agenda for the next few weeks, so I thought I would get into the swing of things with these easy but delicious blondies. Bourbon, pecans and white chocolate: very yummy!
It’s been a while since I made crumble bars. For a long time now, they have been my “go to” thing to make, to eat “out of hand” (meaning cookie or brownie-sized). They are so versitile: pick a fruit flavor, pick a nut or chocolate type and voila! Crumble bars just waiting to be taken to your next pot-luck!
Making caramel isn’t my forte. Either it comes out to hard, too soft or I burn it, as it goes part the correct temperature, despite using a candy thermometer and it ends up with that burned flavor, even if it isn’t a total loss. After two attempts, I did get this right though and it is really quite yummy. A nice variation would be to add maple extract, or chili salt or cinnamon. For now, I just went with the basic.
Over the Mother’s Day weekend, I paid a surprise visit to my Mum as well as delivering treats a few family friend mothers (not my mum, but people who I have know since childhood). With one of them, I have a running joke about rhubarb, so I had to make a fancy pants rhubarb curd tart. Actually it was really easy and it turned out really nicely.