Posts Tagged ‘christmas’

Gingerbread House: Version 1.0

Wednesday, December 8th, 2010

This winter I wanted to have a go at the traditional gingerbread house, thick with sweets and sugar snow, so naturally, that meant prototyping. I needed a test piece to determine 3 things.

1. Is the ginger biscuit recipe I picked going to produce structurally stable pieces? (I opted for my sister’s recipe in the end as it seemed the tastiest and most durable, especially when slightly overcooked)

2. How much will said ginger biscuits shrink or expand during cooking?

3. Is royal icing alone going to be enough to stick my house together or will additional supports be needed?

And here are the results:


1. The biscuits are perfect for my purposes.

2. Larger pieces expand less than smaller ones while cooking.

3. Royal icing is sufficient with a little patience.

So with testing out of the way, I can start the planning for the real thing!

Cookies Kit Kat

Wednesday, October 14th, 2009

While I don’t really see the need for a cookie flavoured biscuit I couldn’t say no to this Kit Kat. Mostly because it is the first one I have ever come across in a rigid cardboard box. For some reason I have always had a fondness for sweets in boxes and used to buy my smarties and fruit gums packaged that way when I could – in fact, if I am honest, I don’t even like smarties or fruit gums when they are not boxed, the same goes for malteasers. I am sad to say that I was initially disappointed by the contents of this pleasing package. The ‘fingers’ are wider than average and are individually wrapped which robs you of that wonderful feeling you get when you snap a Kit Kat in two, I especially enjoy it if I can run my thumbnail through the foil first (this is the main reason I dislike Kit Kat chunkys , however, I also think the ratio of biscuit to chocolate is unbalanced). Despite being a biscuit flavoured biscuit, they do taste markedly different from a regular Kit Kat thanks to a malty layer of ‘cookie’ that gives them a cerealy taste. All in all a tasty snack, but no where near as exciting as the adorable mini Ramune flavour Kit Kats.

Cookies Kit Kat

Cookies Kit Kat

Mini Ramune Kit-Kats

Monday, October 12th, 2009

I’ve always believed that, since we have to eat, we might as well enjoy it and so I try and put as much care and imagination into everything I eat and cook as I can. That doesn’t mean I never get lazy and phone for a takeaway, I do – perhaps more often than I should admit to, but when I do, I look forward to it! My parents brought me up encouraging me to try new things and over the years I have developed to the point where I get incredibly excited when ever I come across a food I have never heard of before. Usually this results in me grabbing a new ingredient from the shelves and running home to google it, or ordering something from a restaurant menu that makes everyone within ear-shot give me funny looks but when I heard that in Japan there are literally dozens of flavours of kit-kat on the market at any one time, it resulted in an obsession. I immediately resolved to try them all and spent a scary amount of money acquiring as many flavoured kit-kats as I could get my hands on from various internet sources.

The first batch arrived today and as I delve into the weird and wonderful world of Japanese snacks I will post my thoughts and pictures here. The first little prize I laid my hands on was the mini Ramune Kit-Kat. I had to look this up, but apparently “Ramune” is a popular Japanese soft drink that has an amazing way of opening it – you have to pop a marble into the bottle to get at the juice – and a sort of lemon-lime flavour. First of all, miniature kit-kats are adorable. Secondly, these miniature kit-kats are a wintry blue colour and when you break the seal they immediately fill the air with a sour/sweet smell. Initially, I thought they were maybe a little bit too sweet and a little bit too bubble-gummy, but as the flavour develops it becomes tangy and you could swear that the kit-kat was actually fizzy. This was its saving grace and why I am glad there is more than one of the little cuties!

Ramune Kit Kat

Ramune Kit Kat