Lots of Easter eggs...

Lots of Easter eggs..., originally uploaded by Missy Cookie Monster.

Maybe I bought me and the Boyfriend too many chocolate Easter eggs... and this doesn't include the ones from our families... This lot should keep us going until Christmas! We're doing well though - it's Tuesday and we've only eaten three small ones. And a couple of Creme Eggs. Nom.

Cakes in eggs

Yesterday I made Easter cakes, inside egg shells...

I pierced the eggs and emptied the contents, and made the holes a bit bigger. After making the mixture, I used a piping bag to fill the eggs up about 3/4 full (although, after seeing how much spilled out during baking, I think 1/2 full would work).

To eat, crack the egg shell and marvel in the egg-shaped cakiness.

I got the idea here.

I followed the recipe there, but I didn't like the method at all. It seemed alien to mix the sugar and egg, and then add the butter to it - that's completely the wrong way round and didn't seem right. I don't think the cakes taste that brilliant, so if I did this idea again I would use a better cake recipe. And I'd mix the butter and sugar together first.

I think a little dollop of lemon curd, or butter cream, in the middle of the mixture would work really well.

Baby quilt all finished

I've finished my latest nine-patch baby quilt. I'm quite happy with it - a bit different to my normal plain square pattern. The binding is turquoise, although it looks pale blue in the photos, and the backing is lemon (we don't know if baby will be a boy or a girl yet, so I covered both possibilities).

I did mitered corners, although I'm not sure they look entirely how they're supposed to. But that's what practice is for.

Naturally there were a couple of mistakes! Just a couple of wonky stitches that hopefully won't be noticed. There was a patch where I'd sewed the binding through the backing and the wadding, but not the actual quilt top, so I had to do some ad-hoc handsewing and luckily you can't tell now.

Fingers crossed the new arrival likes it (and the mother too!). On to my next baby quilt that's been commissioned now - this one has a specific colour scheme rather than my normal hotch-potch of random patterns and colours. I'm having trouble finding the right kind of pastel green fabric though, so I'm on the hunt before I can start any designs.

On a sour note, the lady at the fabric shop fleeced me. I bought 0.5m of plain white cotton, and when I got home I realised she charged me for 1m. Rip off Britain!

Quitter!!!

Cannot believe that the boyfriend has given up on his Lent 'giving up chocolate' promise. He caved and ate a big slice of a friend's birthday chocolate cake. In front of me, who said no! Horrendous behaviour, I'm so disappointed.

However, retribution will be mine. I've currently bought 16 Easter eggs (plus Cream Eggs, Mini Eggs, and various other chocolate things) and I'm-a-gonna eat them all. Yes, I'll turn into a blimp, but it'll be worth it...

Quilt top done!

The quilt top for my nine patch baby quilt is finished! It's such a thrill when it all comes together and you've got something complete in front of you that's all your creation. Then it gets too exciting and I can't wait to get it finished.

I'm a bit unsure about the turquoise I chose for the binding strips, but hopefully when it comes together with the lemon yellow backing it'll look good. I don't want it to look too blue (although I'm convinced the baby will be a boy).

There's a couple of wobbly wonky bits but that's to be expected!

I covered up the bottom-left cat issue with a different piece of farm animal fabric, and used a fancy stitch to make it look deliberate.

I can't wait to complete it. I'm looking forward to doing the binding; having done it once I've got more confidence and know a bit more about what I'm doing. I just hope it looks good!

Rasp Berries and Cake of Cheese

This weekend's Make was raspberry cheesecake.... Yum.

It's made with cream cheese, sour cream, bit of flour, eggs, and lots of raspberries. I also did a coulis to go with.

But, I've got to do some research about how to prevent the top of the cheesecake cracking. It doesn't affect the taste (it's lovely) but it doesn't look great.

It doesn't necessarily look the way it's supposed to:

But who cares! The recipe can be found on the Good Food website.

Canine cuisine

Today's cookery achievements have been a bit different to normal. First we had banana, vanilla yoghut, and runny honey ice cream:

 Then there were some peanut butter oaty biscuits:

 

But they were all for dogs! Work called for some culinary expertise for a photoshoot on Monday, so unfortunately today's baking isn't for human consumption. Sure the dogs will love them though. 

One more note - peanut butter? It's gross. Official.