Another mince pie or 2

Hey all, G guest blogging on one of my favourite subjects- Christmas mince pies.

A couple of blogs ago, K posted a picture of a pie from the Emerald Hill Bakery at the South Melbourne Markets

 

It was pretty good, pastry was very short, and the mince was fruity and tasty. Definitely worth another go.

 

 

Above are mince pies from  Brunetti's (the one with the star cut out) and Laurent.

 

The one from Laurent had good filling, good balance of spice and fruit, but the pastry was too thin and not buttery enough.  Probs not again.

 

The Brunetti's pie was sadly disappointing.  The pastry was ok, not very buttery and too thick but had a nice sugar crust on top. And whilst advertised as rum mince pies, the rum was too much and you could barely taste the fruit, and certainly no spice.  Won't be bothering about them any more.

So all in all, 2 out of 3 so far reviewed not meeting my admittedly very high standards.

Lunch at Cafe Vue

In the new year I will be working in Carlton, rather than the city. So today I am having a last lunch date with G at Cafe Vue - the affordable Shannon Bennett option.

Today we each had a lunchbox. A tomato and rosemary fondue and crackers, a broad bean and citrus salad, a turkey and stuffing mini brioche roll and a Christmas cake. Yum!

Mince pie for me

Picked up a scarily pale pie from Eclipse on Flinders Lane, Melbourne. Yes, the pastry was too pale but was delicious and the filling was great, full of chunky bits of fruit. A pricey choice, $3.50, but awesome.

Mince Pie macaron?

Yes, really! And it was interesting - really was the taste if mince pie!

Cake decorating time

After my recent class with Jennifer Graham of crabapple cupcake fame I am feeling inspired! So I fished out some tools from the back if the cupboard and bought some new tools too.

Cut out some shapes and then painted some shapes with shimmer paint and put some glitter on others. Still need to put mini cachous in the centre of the blossoms.

Not the first

And unlikely to be the last if the season.

A moment with Nigella

I am loving Nigella at the moment - particularly her Christmas DVD.  G and I watched the DVD over the weekend and swooned for the Chocolate Christmas cake.

There is a comment on the Food Network page about this recipe, recommending that you double the cocoa to make it like a fruity brownie.  Not sure that I am ready to take it that far, but am certainly keen to give the recipe a go.  Has anyone tried it?  Or any of Nigella's other Christmas recipes?

I think I will have to go dried fruit shopping and give the cake a try.