Mango Meringues.... super easy!

While everyone else is watching Kate and Will's big day, I decided to occupy myself with some experimental baking. *I love weddings but the media coverage over the last few weeks killed it for me so in protest I REFUSE to watch it!*


I had left over egg whites from our dinner of Cannelloni tonight and instantly thought I'd make some meringues, but with a twist. I found this recipe for MERINGUE KISSES COOKIES and adapted it a little to make some mango flavoured meringues as was voted by the rest of the family, even though I wanted strawberry or lemon AND I'd like to add that I think MY flavour choices would have been even yummier!


INGREDIENTS:
4 egg whites
1/3 cup caster sugar
1 packet flavoured jelly of your choice
pinch of salt
pinch of Cream of tartar

METHOD
preheat over to 130 DEGREES CELSIUS
line baking tray with greaseproof paper
in a clean, dry bowl, mix eggs whites and pinch of salt and cream of tartar. Once eggs whites have become glossy and form peaks, start adding sugar and jelly crystals SLOWLY (about a tablespoon at a time). Continue to mix on highest speed, until all the sugar and jelly crytals have dissolved. You can check this by placing a small amount of mix on your fingers and rubbing them together to make sure it is smooth and you cant feel any grains of sugar. Continue to mix until the egg whites and sugar form stiff peaks.

Fill a piping bag with the mixture and pipe 12 small circles onto your baking paper. I chose to pipe into small cup cake patties for something pretty, but the little piped 'kisses' were cute too. If you want, add sprinkles. Put into oven and bake for 25-30mins (less time will result in a chewier meringue as opposed to the longer baked that are crispy).

Serve with some cream and fresh fruit, or scoff down by itself... YUMMMMMMM!

Shiny Eggs

At Spotlight today I decided to grab a few things for an Easter craft I thought of. They came out prettier than I expected :). Be warned though, this activity does take some patience, but if you want to keep the kids busy for a while it's a good one! They will require supervision as there are sharp objects involved, but Miss almost 4 managed to do it without getting hurt - great for fine motor skills.

MATERIALS: styrofoam eggs, sequins, pins (we used Birch- Sequin & Bead Pins). 

INSTRUCTIONS: simply pin the sequins onto the styrofoam eggs until completely covered, or make a pattern... you may want to take a break in between (like my kids did lol).

sequins and pins in our paint tray

Mr 7- starting his pattern

trying to claim mummy's work!

Miss 3 and her efforts :)

our 3 completed eggs- they look prettier in person

EASTER rehatched

I know, I'm slack with my blogging. Parties, invites, felt food, study and my little family keep me so busy these days! BUT I can't NOT post something for Easter... so a re-hashing (rehatching) of our previous years Easter crafts/activities is what we have for you :)

An Easter tree!

Made from twigs we spray painted and stuck into an easter pail then covered in wool. The eggs were bought but you could make them by covering styrofoam eggs with tissue paper.

Easter Cupcakes

My son, who was 3, decoarted these (the icing looks odd I know!) but all you need are a packet of small hard shell easter eggs to decoarte some cupcakes with.

Bunny Ears

Window Decorations

Blank piece of paper, draw patterns onto it using wax candle. Paint over using diluted food colouring and then cut into egg shapes. The are so pretty with the light shining behind them and so simple to make.

String Easter Eggs

This is my favourite and they are on our table again this year, we just revamped them by adding some colourful ribbon bows :)

Blow up a water balloon. Cut lengths of string and place into a bowl of PVA glue. Coat string in glue and wrap around water balloon. Keep wrapping around balloon until you have a complete egg. Leave to dry in the sun and then pop the balloon and you have a lovely string egg to decorate with. We dyed our white string using food colur to get our coloured eggs, but you could purchase coloured string instead.

Egg Biscuits

Kids favourite this tiime. Arnotts Arrowroot biscuits, some icing (we love Betty Crocker Vanilla) and some more icing or tubes of food gels to decorate. Easy, fast, and yummy... and kids go crazy with excitement decorating their easter eggs.

Face-washer Bunnies

Lay face-washer out in a diamond, roll up starting from one corner. Fold in half, then half again and wrap a rubber band around a samll section to create the face. Pull top so that 'ears' stick out. Glue on some googly eyes and a pom pom for a nose, you can also glue a pom pom to the back for a tail. Place a chocolate egg in the back of your bunny and give to a friend HAPPY EASTER!