The best tasting soil you'll ever eat!

 I was going to call this post Mrs McGregor's Garden but when I shared these cookies at school yesterday the overwhelming comment was... "that's the best tasting soil I've ever eaten!"  Which kind of makes me wonder if my work mates have unusual eating habits LOL

As we all know... Mr McGregor... from Peter Rabbit... is the enemy of Peter Rabbit and his friends, he hates that the three always break into his garden and steal/eat his fruits and vegetables from his farm garden. 

There are a few mentions of Mrs McGregor... mostly the mention of her putting Peter's father... Mr Rabbit... in a pie and eating him.  I prefer to think of her as a lovely woman who decided to collaborate with the rabbits... planting carrots and lettuces for them and they, in turn, not eating her flowers.  

You might be wondering where this is all heading... so best I explain.  You might recall that last month I entered a cookie challenge with Kuki Reka Kani. I'm absolutely thrilled to tell you that I won two awards for my cookies: Technical excellence and Star Baker of the Month :)

When they announced the March prompt I was definitely keen to give it another go!

As you might have guessed 'Veggie Patch' was what caught my eye! I tend to be a bit of a ponderer... I like to think about ideas, put things together in my own mind... and then work out what I'm going to do.  Most of the time I've already 'finished' my design before I actually start to bake... and this one kind of went that way.  

I started off by reading through the creative ideas provided with the challenge... and that helped a LOT

 So without any more procrastinating... here's what I came up with:

 

I ended up doing eight cookies that are the 'same but different' and I'll share them at the end of the post.  So if you don't want to see the 'how to' then feel free to skip ahead.

 

My first decision was what flavour of cookie to make... and after a bit of Googling I found a recipe for Pumpkin Spice cookies.  There's no actual pumpkin in the recipe but it incorporates the spices used to make pumpkin pie.

 

I also had to decide which cutter to use and I chose Pikorua (double twist)... mostly because when I lay it on it's side it felt the most 'garden like'. 

 

I have found that the secret to using these cutters is LOTS of flour sprinkled on the dough before cutting... it helps the cutter release from the dough... and then I just gently brush off the excess flour before baking.

 

Once I had all the cookies on the tray I popped them in the fridge for about 20 minutes... definitely helps them to not spread out while baking.

Ready for the oven

 

While the cookies were baking the kitchen smelt like a combination of ANZAC cookies, hot cross buns... and warm apple crumble.  It was a wonderful combo and I'll definitely use the recipe again. 

Then it was time to move on to all the decorations.  I had a wonderful fondant mould to make all the little garden supplies... gumboots.. watering can... pots... fork and trowel.  I also had a different mould that made little carrots... so happy with how they all turned out.  The little flowers were some I bought at the supermarket... super cute and perfectly sized for what I needed.

 

 

Then I needed some 'soil'.  YouTube came to my rescue and I found a couple of tutorials and then just adapted what suited me.  I ended up using Oreo cookies with chocolate filling and some Arnott's Gaiety biscuits.  I've never had those before but they are DELICIOUS!  The recipes I looked at also combined chocolate chips but in the end I didn't use them for the soil.

Basically I put some of each cookie into a plastic bag and bashed the heck out of them with my rolling pin... ever so carefully of course!  The resulting soil looked more like 'rubble' so I quickly pulsed them in my handy dandy mini processor and got EXACTLY what I was hoping for!

Left is 'rubble'... right is 'soil'

While I'd been YouTube(ing) I'd come across some tutorials for making 'moss'.  I didn't need moss but I thought it looked a bit like fancy lettuce... which of course the bunnies would LOVE.

 

I whisked up my mixture and added some bright green colour.  I actually had to do my mixture twice because the first time I added Colour Mill oil colours without even thinking and all my lovely thick airy batter turned into very thin soupy mess.  I MUST remember that oil and fluffy egg whites do NOT go together! 

 

I put 1/3 in a cup... added a different green and did 1/3 in another cup... and then a bit more colour and put the rest in another cup.  Cooked it in the microwave and then turned them upside down to 'set'.  The science behind the upside down part is that the sugar sets creating lovely big air pockets and if you left it up the right way you would get flat little pancakes. 

 The lightest colour turned out to be EXACTLY what I was looking for!

 

The final part was to use the cast aside chocolate chips... I say that like I would EVER cast aside chocolate LOL  I made some chocolate ganache for everything to stick to... plus it was the right colour and texture for what I wanted. 

I got everything assembled and ready to create!

 

Then I just let myself go... I really didn't think about it too much.  I did make sure that I spread out all my fondant decorations so there wasn't one cookie with too much and others with nothing... but apart from that I just created for fun.

 

Here's my finished cookies:

Big pot and lettuce

Trowel and Fork

Gumboots

Watering can

Carrots and lettuce

More carrots and lettuce

Small pot and flower

Lettuce and flowers

The completed cookies went to school on Monday... and none of them made it past 9am!

So what did I learn during this challenge?

• Making 'moss' is super fun... pink and purple moss would make wonderful coral for an underwater theme!
• Cookie soil looks great as rubble and as soil... and it would be perfect for adding to the top of Easter cookies and cupcakes
• Pumpkin spice cookies are really delicious!
• Giving myself time to create and just 'play' is really fun

So there you have it... another month in 2025 almost over and another challenge completed. 

Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the universe :)
Shelley

Ahoy there, me hearties!

On Valentine's Day our school had a Pirate Picnic for the whole school and all the whānau.  It was a stunning day... clear blue skies... warm but not stifling... and everyone was in good spirits. 

We had boat rides with a 'real' pirate... at least he looked pretty real to the kids!  Thankfully Captain Ron didn't make any of them walk the plank :)

A few of us got together and decided to do a 'bring a plate' style picnic and share our goodies... and considering it had been a while since I'd made any cupcakes I thought I'd bring something sweet.

I did a bit of Googling and came across a few ideas that appealed... colours from one idea... sprinkles from another... and fondant embellishments from a couple of others... and here's what I came up with:

I had a lot of fun making these cupcakes... in fact I often refer to cupcakes as my 'first love' in the kitchen!

These ones were a classic vanilla cupcake with buttercream frosting.  If you don't know the secret to a really creamy, silky buttercream... it's a good BEATING!  I usually whip my butter for a good 10 to 15 minutes in my KitchenAid until the butter is fluffy and almost white.  Then I add my icing sugar in two batches with even more whipping before finishing off with a small amount of liquid to get the right consistency... usually milk or cream... sometimes alcohol lol  

Since these ones were for a school event there was no alcohol... but imagine adding a bit of rum to make them really Piratey!!  

Cakes made and cooled... big fluffy swirls of buttercream on top... and then I added some 'treasure' aka sugar pearls and glitter.

 

Before I made the cakes I'd worked on some fondant decorations... I decided on a treasure map and a pirate hat.  This was made MUCH easier because I was able to make myself some small cutters on my 3D printer.

First of all I coloured some fondant with Colour Mill Pebble and then rolled it out and cut it with my new treasure map cutter. 

I decided it needed a little bit of depth... plus I just like using my air brush... so a bit of brown around the edges was added.

To create the actual 'map' I made myself a mini stencil using acetate... it worked brilliantly!  First the black.

 

Followed by some red to mark the spot:

The maps looked a little 'flat' so I grabbed some chopsticks and bent the maps over them.  The fondant started to crack a little  which initially bothered me... until I realised it just made them look even more rustic!

Next I moved onto cutting out some pirate hats from black fondant. p.s. just in case you didn't know (thanks Google) A pirate hat is commonly called a tricorne hat. It has a triangular shape with three points and a wide brim.

I decided the little tricorne's needed a bit of movement as well so I used a few more chopsticks, but they seemed 'flat' in a different way so I added a brush of edible gold paint.

 

The next morning I realised that the cross bones didn't really stand out so I added a small piece of white fondant behind it... what a difference!

 

So... back to the cupcakes which had buttercream and 'treasure' and now it was time for the maps and tricornes!

The picnic was awesome... the tamariki all had a wonderful day playing, swimming, going on the boat and of course eating (which is what picnics are all about after all).

Thanks for stopping by
Shelley

Getting Lost - February

Last weekend I did an impromptu trip to Taupō after my weekend plans changed... thanks Zara!  I'm super pleased I did because I hadn't quite caught up with the fact that tomorrow will be March... how on earth have we almost finished two months of 2025?

I completed eleven photo prompts this month and they were all taken with my camera rather than the iPad or my phone.  I've been using my camera quite a bit lately and really enjoying it.

#1 Find a busy spot. Set a 10 second timer and see what wandered in to your shot.  On the way to Taupō I passed a couple of vintage cars so when I saw this prompt I knew exactly what I wanted to try and capture.  It took six photos and lots of practice counting to work out when to push the timer but I'm super pleased with the result.

 #2 Stop at the next signposted attraction and take 10 photos. This was an awesome prompt to do. First signposted attraction leading into Taupō was Lava Glass... and taking 10 photos was no problem at all... in fact I took 115 photos!  The hardest part was culling them down to what I wanted.  I ended up making a collage page - and yes I know I've got more than 10 but I'm okay with that :)

 #3 Stop for a treat (and take a photo of it!) Awesome prompt... and I knew exactly where I wanted to go... one of my favourite places in Taupō... Baked with Love.  Their baked treats are just as delicious as they are beautiful.  This time I got a Lemon Syrup and Blueberry Loaf and headed off to a local park to enjoy it.

 #4 Find a line in nature to draw you in to the heart of the picture. I honestly couldn't believe it when I read this prompt.  I'd just stopped at the park to enjoy my treat (prompt #3) and right beside me was the exact thing to photograph for this prompt... perfect!

 

#5 Close your eyes, spin, stop and shoot. I'll admit that I took a few of these shots during the day... just for fun... and this one is my absolute favourite.  

 #6 Find a building. Zoom your lens to the widest angle. Move in close to make dramatic angles. Not far from the 'heart' photo, I spotted the Great Lake Centre which provided lots of angles to use... and this one was my favourite... both for the angles and the colours.

 #7 Take as many steps as you have battery percentage left and frame your shot. I wasn't too sure what I was going to find at the end of 37 steps... but it turned out pretty good!  At first I thought this might have been the main letters from the Taupō lake front but it turns out they must have been from a different venue. I've got evidence of that later on :)

 #8 Put a frame around a landscape using what ever you find around you. I honestly felt like someone was really looking after me on Saturday because not far from the letters in prompt #7 I came across a landscape that was completely framed by nature... all I had to do was take the photo!

 #9 Leading lines or rule of thirds? For the life of me I couldn't remember what the rule of thirds was... it was getting pretty warm... and my feet were starting to get a bit sore... but I wasn't ready to go home... so I chose leading lines.  After looking around at a few options I suddenly spotted this and knew it would be perfect.

 #10 Take a photo of a moving object while panning to blur the background. My brain wouldn't kick in on this one... I couldn't work out panning, blurring and moving all at the same time so I went with ... Take a photo of a moving object.  I actually managed to get THREE moving objects in my photo... a parachute... a sailing boat... and a motor boat.  I'm going to call that a win!

 #11 Head in the same direction as a car the same colour as your last photo.  Thankfully that car was heading in the direction of Rotorua... and then they turned off the main road so I followed... and I followed... and just when I thought maybe it wasn't going to work out for me they turned again... into the Huka Falls... brilliant!

 I took quite a lot of photos on Saturday... including a few of the #LoveTaupō letters at the lake front and that's when I realised that I didn't need stock photos for my monthly title pages... I should be using my own photos!  So this is my February title with the evidence that there was indeed another set of letters apart from those in prompt #7

 Loving this monthly project and really enjoying reacquainting myself with my camera again.

Thanks for stopping by
Shelley

I nearly forgot!

Sometimes I think I've shared something only to discover that I definitely haven't... and this is one of those times.  

This year I'm making a concentrated effort to try new things... experiment... push my creative limits and generally being open to new ideas.  So in the spirit of all that I came up with some Waitangi Day cookies... just because I could :)

 

It all started off with a new 'Donut Smould' from Sweetly Impressed.  This very cool (in my opinion) stamp and mould set creates a rounded cookie that resembles the shape of a donut.  

I had only just received my Smould set (Stamp and Mould) and was eager to try it out... and it did not disappoint!  I used my favourite vanilla cookie dough and thanks to plenty of flour dusting the mould it worked perfectly!

Cookies ready for baking

 I had a basic idea in my head for what I thought I'd do... since these were for Waitangi Day that had to have a New Zealand theme to them so I was thinking ferns... kiwis... and a bit of text.

One of the very best things about having a 3D printer is having the ability to make things bespoke... so I started off making a little kiwi cutter.

Kiwi cutter

I also knew I wanted to have a go at making a text stamp... this took several goes but I eventually came up with something useable... not 100% happy with it but it DID do the job.

Looks ugly but it did work

Then it was time to make some fondant kiwi.  I coloured my fondant to a deep, rich brown and then rolled it out thinly before cutting with my dinky little cutter.  It worked brilliantly!

 

Kiwi cut out and air drying

 

I wanted a bit of texture on my cookie and I was pretty sure that I had a fern leaf silicone mould somewhere... thankfully I found it before I had to search my whole house!

 

I coloured up some more fondant using about four different greens until I had something I was happy with.  Then I pushed the fondant into the mould... popped it into the fridge for a few minutes to firm up... popped the fondant out and did the next one... over and over and over again! 

My vision was starting to come together!

 Then I coloured some fondant with Colour Mill Latte... I'm really loving that particular colour at the moment... cut it out with the cutter... stamped my text... added it to the cookie along with a kiwi and fern... and it still needed something... so I added some edible glitter.  

The idea I'd had in my head was a lot better than this one... but I knew I was kind of onto 'something'.

 

First trial... close but no cigar!

• Etymology - Close but no cigar

From the practice of giving cigars as prizes at carnivals in the United States in the 20th century; those who did not win would fail to receive a cigar, even if they came close.

I had a look around on Google trying to come up with an idea when I stumbled across bakers using Impression Mats... and that's when the light bulb went off in my head.  An Impression Mat wasn't all that different from an embossing folder.. and I knew I had lots of those!  I even had some brand new ones that I'd never used so I went for a wee hunt and come up with something perfect!

 

I rolled out some Latte coloured fondant... opened up the embossing folder... pressed it into the fondant and hey presto!

 

What a difference a bit of texture makes!

 

Massive difference between the two cookies!  The fondant embossing almost gave it a Tā Moko vibe.

 

 Now that I was happy with my cookie idea I actually re-did the first cookie and carried on with the rest until I had 20 finished cookies.

I still need to work on placing the text in the right place!

 

 

 

Then I covered them with a net cover overnight and in the morning I packaged the cookies ready to take to school for our staff hui.

 

I was really happy with the final results... and my colleagues were all happy to receive a cookie after our staff hui.  

So what have I learned?

• Texture makes a massive difference!
• Making bespoke cutters really makes things unique and personal
• If I only have one mould it's going to take a while to make multiple elements! Those ferns were a little bit painstaking by the time I had made 20 of them!
• Plus I've learned a new word... Etymology... which means the origin of a word and the historical development of its meaning.

I've got plenty more ideas for this particular 'Smould' set so I'm sure you'll see more in the future!

Thanks for stopping by :)
Shelley