Wrapping up Vicky’s Hen Do this week with the finishing touches. You will have to excuse the fact I just scrunched up crepe paper. The plan was to make flowers, but, you know, it was 2am by the time I got to them.
In case you need a recap of the recipes in this series:
These labels (it’s quite possible your bride’s name isn’t Vicky. I used American Typewriter for the font for the sign)
Step one
Fill the card bags with your favours.
Step two
Print enough of the labels for the number of favours you have. These templates will fit a DL card bag.
Cut them out and score on the back down the centre. Fold in half.
Fold the top of the bag down and staple the label over the top, ensuring the staple secures the bag shut. This is especially important with the sherbet.
Step three
Cut the letters out of for the sign.
Step four
Using blu-tac stick the letters to the wall.
Step five
Assemble. You’ll notice I baked a few treats and got some flowers too. The cookie dough brownie recipe has appeared on the blog before, and I’ll get to the lemon drizzle soon.
There you go. All set to throw a lovely hen party/bridal shower of your own.
It seems a bit strange to be writing this. Not least because the last few weeks were crazy and I got out of the habit of blogging, but mainly because the hen in question is now a WIFE.
What’s that? You wanna see? Oh ok then, here she is…
As you can see from the size of that smile, we all had a ball. It was an amazing day.
But let’s step back a month or three and finish off her favours. This was without a doubt the guests’ fave recipe so, ladies, all of you who asked me for it, sorry it took so long! Without further ado here is the recipe for white chocolate, lime and coconut popcorn.
Remember to downscale the below if you’re making for a smaller group/movie night.
You will need
450g/1lb plain popcorn kernels
600g/1lb 5oz white chocolate
Coconut oil
2 limes (zest)
Step one
You’re going to want to get a biiiiiig pan (one with a lid unless you want to be finding popcorn in corners for years). You also need several bowls to decant the popcorn into and definitely don’t try to pop it all in one go, I think i did three or four batches.
So. Pop the pan on a med-low heat, and drop a tablespoon of coconut oil in the pan. Add three kernels or so and wait patiently for them to pop.
Don’t put all the kernels in straight away otherwise you will burn some.
Step two
Once the three test kernels have popped pour a load more in to cover the bottom of the pan and replace the lid.
As the kernels start to pop I generally shake the pan a intermittently and hover it above the heat. If the popping slows down, place it fully back on the heat for a few seconds.
When the pan is filling up and there’s a couple of seconds between pops remove it from the heat and pour the popcorn into a bowl.
Step three
Repeat repeat repeat until you’ve used alla that popping corn.
Step four
Zest the limes on the smallest ‘setting’ on your grater.
Step five
Melt the white chocolate in a heatproof bowl. As there’s quite a lot of it, it’s really probably better to do this over a pan of boiling water. Otherwise you risk leaving some foil in there, almost blowing up your microwave and burning 600g of chocolate. There might be a small rage blackout to follow.
While the chocolate is still warm stir in a heaped tablespoon of coconut oil.
Step six
This is the tricky bit, you sort of need to distribute the chocolate and lime evenly amongst your batches of popcorn.
Step seven
Stir in the chocolate as well as you can and spread out on baking trays to set. The chocolate won’t fully harden because of the oil but it’s nice that way, I promise.
That’s all folks.
Final instalment next week – the bringing of everything together.
SO. I have been remiss. Friends, stalkers, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to leave you sans blog for two whole weeks. Finishing off my graphic design portfolio kind of consumed my health, social life, eating habits and ability to hold a conversation.
But that’s done now, and I’m back. Picking up where I left off with Vicky’s hen do favours. This week it’s raspberry and white chocolate, and chocolate caramel marshmallows. Not exactly the first time I have made marshmallows on this blog. I really want you to make marshmallows guys.
You will need
For the white chocolate and raspberry marshmallows:
9 gelatine sheets
350g/12 oz granulated sugar
2 egg whites
1 tbsp liquid glucose (you can find this in a squeezy toothpaste type tube in the baking section)
150g/5 oz raspberries
150g/5 oz white chocolate
Freeze dried raspberries (optional)
For the caramel and chocolate marshmallows:
9 gelatine sheets
300g/10.5 oz granulated sugar
2 egg whites
1 tbsp liquid glucose
2-3 tsp caramel extract (I got buttery caramel from natural professional flavours at Lakeland)
150g/5 oz milk chocolate
Cellophane card bags x 30
(makes enough for 30 favours, 150+ marshmallows)
I’ll go ahead and walk you through the process for the caramel ones then pop the changes for the raspberry below.
Step one
In a cereal bowl, soak the gelatine in 150ml/5 fl oz cold water. Set aside.
Step two
Combine the sugar, 150ml/5 fl oz water (different to the gelatine water) and the liquid glucose in a smallish saucepan.
Allow the sugar to dissolve on a low heat, and then turn it up to medium-high. Watch yourself buddy, you’re boiling sugar right now, don’t hurt it or yourself.
The temperature you want this to get to is 118 C. It will feel like it will never get there, but stay strong.
Step three
While the sugar is bubbling you can take a moment to dust your brownie tray with icing sugar. Add a small amount of olive oil first so it sticks.
Step four
When the sugar gets to somewhere around 112-115C whisk the egg whites into stiff peaks. Take care not to use a ceramic bowl else you will get grey marks like I did. Glass or metal though and you’ll be golden.
Step five
When the sugar reaches 118C take it off the heat.
Squeeze the gelatine out a bit and add it to the sugar mix. It will bubble right up so don’t panic. It should settle pretty quickly.
Step six
Pour the hot sugar into the eggs, but make sure you’re whisking continually to avoid a big lump of sugar at the bottom of the bowl.
Whisk until the mixture holds its shape well and is quite thick. This can take up to ten minutes.
Somewhere during the whisking (probably when you need to give your arm a rest) add the flavouring. I used buttery caramel (as mentioned in the ingredients) but they will take basically anything you fancy.
Step seven
Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and smooth out as much as possible.
Dust with icing sugar and leave to set for about an hour.
For the raspberry and white chocolate marshmallows
Step eight
Before starting the marshmallow mix make a puree by adding the raspberries, 50g of the granulated sugar and half a tablespoon of water to a small saucepan.
Heat on a low heat until bubbling away happily. Stir while the mixture reduces (looses water) for about 5 minutes.
Step nine
Strain though a sieve to remove the pips. It may need a little stirring for encouragement. Don’t forget to scrape the excess off from the underside of the sieve before throwing away the pips.
Step ten
Follow the same steps at the caramel recipe, but instead of adding the extract, stir in the puree. I saved this to near the end to keep a bit of a ripple effect.
Step eleven
Pour into a second dusted brownie tray and leave to set.
Step twelve
Once the marshmallows have set (at least an hour, preferably more) turn them out onto a surface dusted with icing sugar.
Cut them into cubes, and dust all the sides. Don’t worry if they are a little sticky, they will dry out a bit more.
Try not to eat them all just yet.
Step thirteen
Lay the caramel marshmallows out in rows on greaseproof paper or cellophane and melt the milk chocolate. I used a piping bag to drizzle the chocolate over the marshmallows, you could use a sandwich bag and snip the corner.
Step fourteen
Repeat with the raspberry and white chocolate marshmallows.
Step fifteen
Once the chocolate has set place 5 in each bag, 2 of one flavour, 3 of the other, alternating as you go so you don’t run out of one.
As I mentioned last post I’ll be doing a wrap up post with all the finishing touches, so stay tuned for that. For now, here’s our lovely hen chowing down:
Hi there. First off, apologies are in order. I missed my Monday night slot this week. I am deeply entrenched in finishing my portfolio and got really, really, involved in designing a book cover, more on that another time.
ANYWAY. My lovely housemate Vicky had her Hen Party a few weekends ago. Sadly I had something I had booked up a year in advance to go to so I couldn’t make it. Sad face. Instead I thought I would leave Vicky a little surprise on the dining table so she’d know I was thinking of her while she partied on down with her hens.
This is a little four part series, showing you how to make three different little hen/bachelorette party favours at home; the final post will detail all the finishing touches. You might prefer to use them as wedding favours or for childrens’ parties instead.
Heads up: I made 30 of each recipe, so if you’re looking to make a sweet treat for an evening in, divide, divide, divide the quantities of the recipe, don’t send me the bill for your fillings.
We’re kicking off this week with a recipe for orange sherbet. I just need to clarify for the sake of my US (and possibly Canadian?) readership, we mean something different when we say sherbet. You mean sorbet. We mean sherbet.
You will need
300g/10.5 oz Icing sugar
300g/10.5 oz Granulated sugar
175g/6 oz Caster sugar
125g/4.5 oz Orange jelly powder (again, America, you mean jelly when you say jello)
1-2 tsp Yellow food colouring
1 tsp Orange extract
60 small, or 30 regular sized lollipops
Cellophane DL card bags
(makes 30)
Step one
Mix together the granulated and caster sugars with the orange extract and colouring. If you want it to be a really bright colour, go for 2 tsp, I wanted a more subtle yellowy-orange so went for one.
Just in case you think I’ve lost it…the colour dilutes when you add the other ingredients.
Step two
Add the jelly powder and stir again until fully combined. Give it a little taste at this point. For a stronger flavour add more jelly or more flavouring, but for the record, I think you’ll be set.
Step three
Add the icing sugar and mix again thoroughly. See, now you you know what I mean about the colour? Nice and subtle isn’t it?
Step four
Weigh 30g portions and pour into the card bags.
That’s where I’m leaving you for today I’m afraid folks, the finishing off will be in my round up post in a few weeks. The suspense is killing you I know.
In the meantime, just when you thought you weren’t even getting a gif this week. Here’s a tinker in her dungarees:
