Christmas is a little bit different down under. Mulled wine and flaming Christmas puds don't quite cut it when it's 40 degrees out and you're melting quicker than the candles. So Aussies do their festive season a little bit differently and that goes for food too.
In order to educate us Brits on the cultural gap or what she calls "how great Australian food is and sort of bragging a little bit about the fact that we get to have a summer Christmas, but at the same time being somewhat jealous of the fact that you get to have a proper traditional Christmas with mulled wine and roasting chestnuts and stuff", the lovely Jess from the ever so cool Domestic Sluttery takes us through how to get our Australian Christmas Pavlova on for a bit of antipodean munch over Christmas.
See the full recipe here.
Grab a plate of Pavlova, sit in front of the fire and imagine that wooshing sound is the surf on Bondi beach and not the sound of the hoover as it sucks up the pine needles that are all over the carpet.
Flickr image from Yabby's photo stream.
I'm typing this with a hat and scarf on (and no, I'm not blogging al fresco) so I think we can safely say that winter has arrived. Cocktails at this time of year go all spicy and warming, and I've got one for you today that should soon have your cheeks glowing with Christmas cheer!
You'll need:
♥ 3 parts apple juice
♥ 1 part golden rum
♥ 2 tsp brown sugar
♥ 1 cinnamon stick
♥ 1 tsp allspice
♥ 1 slice of lemon
Read on for the method
Continue reading >>
No prizes for guessing the inspiration for today's cocktail, folks: the weather is atrocious here, and it's pressing on my mind rather more than it normally would be as I have to get on a plane in a number of hours and to say that I am not the world's happiest flier would be the understatement of the year...
However, I'm sure I'll feel a bit happier about boarding once I've worked up a bit of Dutch courage courtesy of one of these tempting, tempestuous tipples. The Dark and Stormy is a heady rum-based drink that will give you a warm glow all over. You'll need:
♥ 50ml rum
♥ 200ml ginger beer
♥ 5 Lime Wedges
♥ 5 Dashes angostura bitters
Read over the jump for the method
Continue reading >>
It's almost here! And in a nice twist of fate, the big spooky day falls on a Saturday this year, so even if you're not attending or throwing a Halloween party, you can still have your own spooky night in, complete with a themed menu. What better way to get in the mood than to create some seasonal cocktails?
I've found some great halloween cocktails on the web recently, and wanted to share my faves, starting with these awesome beverages from Dot D, who blogged the recipe for these drinks over at Dabbled. Spoiler alert: her spooky secret is tapioca beads...
Read on for more spooky cocktails!
Continue reading >>
They're cupcakes, they've got Jack Skellington's face on them and they're creepy and kooky! What's not to love? Serve up a plate of these spooky nibbles up this Saturday, and your friends will soon be eating out of your hand.
Following the recipe from Disney Family Entertainment is dead simple, but I'd like to think that Crafty Crafty readers wouldn't dream of buying the chocolate cupcakes pre-made. Use your own favourite cocoa-crammed cake recipe before decorating for double success
Related: Halloween Food Craft: Spooky lemon pie | Jack Skellington Pumkin Stencils (and more)
[image: Dot D on Flickr]
Lemon pie sounds like the least scary of all the baked goods you might think about making on Halloween, but with the smallest of touches you can give it a much more sinister appearance!
The best ideas are always the simple ones, so once you've finished the complicated part of actually making the pie, all you need do is place a cut-out cobweb stencil over the pie's 'lid' and sieve on the icing sugar. Or, if you feel confident to get it right, simply draw on the 'web' with a moistened finger once you've already applied the sugar.
Related: Food Craft: Halloween Bento | How to make creepy cakes for Halloween
Halloween. It's all about blood, guts, decaying bodies and above all sweet stuff. You could just be run of the mill and hand those trick or treaters tapping at your door a handful of penny sweets, some chocolate buttons, or even a nice healthy tangerine (if you can take the sour looks and an egged door afterwards. They'll thank you for it one day). But what fun would that be?
Instead why not freak your freaky visitors out with some hideously crafty Halloween cupcakes? Via the cave of craftywonder that is Craftster we've managed to track down the fangtastic delights of vampire bitten cupcakes and the slightly stomach-churning tastiness of zombie brains cupcakes.
They'll want to eat them but they will possibly have to shut their eyes to do so.
Leaving you the chance to swipe some of their hard-earned candy.
Related: How to make vegan cupcakes
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