I like to mix up the kind of sweet treats we eat with healthy ones as well as pure indulgent ones in the mix. My latest healthy sweet treat obsession is frozen yogurt bites. Lately we’ve become obsessed with the stuff even though it’s winter! With Valentines day coming up, I thought it would be fun to make heart shaped versions of our frozen yogurt bites.
I don’t always have time to make party food from scratch especially when there are quite a few dishes to make. Sometimes I rely on shop bought things – I tend to do this more with sweet things and desserts as shop bought desserts can be really good and there is so much to choose from. But even when I buy readymade stuff, I always like to put my own spin on it. Just a simple twist that makes it personal and served with love.
When I have kids over for playdates, one my my go to treats is shop bought madeleines. Madeleines are small enough for little hands and are generally loved by all kids so they go down a treat. Recently I thought about serving these madeleines for a kids party too – but I wanted to dress them up and put my own fun touch on them as I think food should be fun, especially kids party food. Madeleines always remind me of boats – they are shaped like boats and so I decided to turn them in to actual boats.
These couldn’t be easier to put together. I simply attached a sail to each madeleine using a cocktail stick. The sails are cut out of some pretty wrapping paper I had and I’ve taped them on to the cocktail sticks. Next, I put little flags on with each child’s name so that these little madeleines could double-up as cute edible place holders for any kiddy gathering. And to finish, a little sprinkling of icing sugar.
If you’re looking for more kids party food ideas, take a look at my fun fish and chips.
I love cooking but I’m not a fan of baking. When I have friends over I usually get so involved in the main savoury food that I end up buying a dessert or sometimes completely forget to get one at all. Recently I started thinking that I should try and up my dessert making skills but only easy-peasy stuff that still has the wow factor. And preferably no baking involved. So I decided to try a no-bake shortbread vanilla fruit tart and I can’t even begin to tell you how delicious it turned out. And the best part is that it’s so easy to make and you can just use the basic idea and get as creative as you want with toppings. Also it’s a great dessert to get kids involved in too – it’s that simple.
This fruity dessert is a beautiful cross between vanilla cheesecake and a fruit tart but instead of traditional digestive biscuits as a base or a normal fruit tart base, I decided to try shortbread biscuits and it worked so well. The shortbread biscuit base has just the right amount of crunch and sweetness without needing to add more sugar to it.
SHORTBREAD VANILLA FRUIT TART
Serves: 8-10
340 gms shortbread biscuits
100 gms butter melted
3 tubs philadelphia cream cheese (180gms x 3)
100 gms icing sugar
300ml double cream
½ vanilla pod seeds
2 tsp vanilla extract
7 kiwi fruits
Start by putting the shortbread biscuits in to a freezer bag or similar and crush them to a fine crumb with a rolling pin. Add the melted butter to the biscuit crumbs and mix really well. Spoon this mixture in to your tart tin and flatten with a spoon making as even as possible.
Note: I used a rectangular tart tin (35 x 12 cms) for extra wow factor but Anya also made four individual ones in mini round tart tins (9cms diameter). So the quantities above are for making more than a rectangular tart but you can reduce slightly to make just one big tart.
Place the biscuit bases in the tins in the fridge so they can harden and set – leave for at least an hour. While they’re chilling, tip the cream cheese, icing sugar, vanilla pod seeds and extract in to a bowl and mix well. Next add the double cream and fold it in till it’s completely mixed in. Get the bases out of the fridge and spoon the cream cheese mixture on to them. Smooth it out with a palette knife if you have one otherwise just a regular ol’ knife is good enough – it’s what I used.
Let the tarts chill and set in the fridge for 2-3 hours. You can do all this even 5-6 hours in advance. When you are ready to serve, chop your fruit – you can choose any fruit you like or even a few different ones. Top your tarts, serve and enjoy!
This vanilla fruit tart with cream cheese and shortbread is so delicious. And it has such a wow factor too but yet it’s so easy to make. It is quite rich so a little goes a long way. For the fruit toppings, you can use any fruit you like or even a combination of 3-4 fruits. I love the slight sharpness that the kiwi fruits gave to this dessert but berries, mangoes, peaches, plums or any fruit you can think of will work just as well.
*I’ve linked up to Honest Mum’s tasty tuedays.
It’s finally Friday! It feels like it took a little longer to come this week, but it’s here. Today I’ve got some fun things from around the web to make you smile. To begin with, this room has to be one of the most playful kids rooms I’ve come across. So much fun and personality to this room where anything goes and yet it all comes together as a dream space for any little kid. To see more of this room and loads more images of seriously cool kids rooms visit Nynneetliloujos.
This head teacher shows us the ultimate way to announce that school is closed due to snow (hilarious – watch it!)
Got loads of broken crayons lying around? Turn them in to this cute heart shaped Valentines DIY.
How many of these lies have you told your kids? I’m guilty of nearly all of them and often everyday.
Looking for some kids fashion inspiration? Check out how this mum beautifully styles her little girl.
For a Valentines sweet treat, it has to be said that this is too stinkin’ cute!
I never thought I would say this about clothes hangers, but these DIY ones are so pretty!
Have a wonderful weekend friends and don’t forget our shop sale is still on. See you next week – nomita x
This week’s picks for mama and baby… this Halloween, let mama make these bone shaped meringues while baby wears that fashion icon inspired Halloween costume.
Happy Halloween!
Thank you all for the amazing support this year and for all the likes, comments, shares, email messages and so much more. It’s been a great year and I look forward to sharing lots more with you in 2013. In the meantime have an amazing Christmas and a fun New Years celebration. I’ll be taking a little break and will see you back here in the new year. Before I go, I wanted to leave you with a few festive crafts and treat ideas that you can try out over the holidays.
1. Fun and delicious chocolate mustaches and you can even go a step further and make a white chocolate Santa beard! 2. Super cute candy snails that will go down a treat for kids and adults. 3. Pretty DIY glitter acorns that are so festive and easy to make. 4. A cute little DIY wooden family that you can decorate and adorn as you like.
See you in 2013 ~ nomita xx
My daughter turns 4 in a couple of months and I asked her what kind of party she would like. Her answer, without a seconds hesitation was ‘I want a pink party’! So, a pink {and white} party it will be. I’ve been searching the web for ideas to create a tasteful pink party and I have found many like these cute bunny cookies. The plan is to have lots of white in there too, to balance out the pink. I’ve started putting together a pink party inspiration board on pinterest and if you’re on there you’ll know just how fun and perfect pinterest is for something like this. So that was the inspiration behind today’s post. I’m seeing pink everywhere and thought I would share a few things I’ve liked in the last few days; some are party related but others are just lovely pink things. I hope you like them too and have a wonderful weekend wherever you are.
1. Adorable bunny cookies with fluffy little tails… 2. A cute owl poster for a kids room… 3. A cool pink wooden tank toy that even I feel like playing with… 4. Neon and wood mini elf decorations for Christmas or any party.
A few weeks ago I wrote about some pretty pink things because my daughter informed me that pink was the best colour in the world. She then told me purple was a close second and so I felt inspired to share some lovely lilac things with you. Now she has informed me that yellow is the third best colour so today I have my sunny yellow finds for you. I hadn’t planned for this to become a little series but you’ve told me you enjoy it and I love putting it together so why not:
1. Love the bold yellow and white combo of this stylish origami light shade.
2. How cute are these handmade little newborn booties for boy or girl.
3. A sweet little knitted doll perfect as a clutch toy or pram companion for a baby.
4. Peach and mango popsicles with a burst of bright pink raspberry… delicious and healthy!
Pink seems to be the colour of the moment in this house. My daughter is beyond obsessed with the colour and yesterday even asked if she could have ‘pink teeth’! While I’m not a blue for boy/pink for girl type of mama, I have no objection to pink in moderation… just like any other colour. When there are so many wonderful colours to choose from why restrict yourself to just one or two. But since we’re thinking pink these days, I went in search of some pretty pink things and here’s what I found:
1. Love this origami pendant light which comes with a choice of pretty pastel coloured cables so you can mix and match … 2. This is one of the most gorgeous tutu’s I’ve seen in a while… the vibrant, almost neon pink colour is so striking. 3. Just looking at these beautiful pink raspberry cookies makes me want to head to the kitchen and get baking… so delicious! 4. Last is this super cute polka dotted cloud cushion which would make a very sweet cot companion.
This past weekend I was browsing Paper blog when some brown mustaches caught my eye. On delving deeper I found a beautiful site filled with utterly divine looking recipes and I’ve picked out some that I think would make super fun food for kids parties. I know I’m going to include some of these for my daugther’s next birthday bash:
You’d never dream of eating a mustache but how delicious do these chocolate mustache lollipops look? So perfect as a sweet treat for a kids birthday party. But I don’t think the adults will be able to resist either! (I NEED these at my kid’s next birthday do.)
Put these heart shaped pies on a stick and teddy bear bread rolls on your kids party menu and watch all the kids make a beeline for them. You can fill them with whatever you like… sweet or savoury or maybe even a few of each. With the pies, you can go for any shape you like including stars, circles (lollipop pies!), triangles… the list is endless.
I love this idea of elevating a simple cupcake to new heights! These balloon cupcakes look so pretty and best of all you don’t need to spend hours decorating with icing to make them in to a party treat. This couldn’t be simpler but has a huge wow factor.
All these divine looking (and I’m sure tasting) treats are the creation of Sandra Mangas Hernandez, a Spanish mama who has a flair for creating extraordinary food. Sandra gives much of her food, especially the kids stuff, a fun and exciting twist making it extremely inviting to eat. Serve up any of these inspired treats at your kids next birthday do and you’ll impress not only the kids but the adults too, not to mention how stunning and tempting your table will look. You’ll find all these recipes and more at Sandra’s blog called La recita de la felicidad and thankfully there’s an English version of the site too.
P.S. Have you entered our fabulous Oeuf NYC giveaway?
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