Freckle Shapes - The Sweet Swap

Originally, I didn't plan on getting involved in The Sweet Swap. Mainly because my cooking skills aren't too great and I don't have much time for cooking these days. After hearing everyone raving about this event and checking up a few recipes, I eventually gave in just for the curiosity. And I definitely do not regret this at all! Seeing the talents of everybody getting their hands dirty into making beautiful desserts was a sight to see. 

What is The Sweet Swap? It is an Australian food blogger initiative organised by the talented Amanda from Chewtown and Sara from Bellyrumbles where you register and receive your 3 matches. With that, you make and mail three equal batches of handmade sweets to those three bloggers while you wait to receive three more batches for three other food bloggers. You do not find out who you receive the sweets from until it gets delivered to you. And it's all done for charity with proceeds going towards Childfund Australia.

I wasn't sure what to make at all before signing up. Cannot think of my own recipe so read through as many recipe websites and cookbooks as possible before deciding on the sweet to make. I initially planned to make apricot balls but the final taste was a downer (I kept coughing every time I tried a piece) so it was back to the drawing board. Mum really praised it though. Maybe I'm just too harsh on myself...

Original plan: Apricot balls

Thanks to one of my fave mags, Frankie Magazine, I found a recipe for Freckle Hearts in their Sweet Treats recipe book. I will definitely recommend this book as it has lots of decent sweet options based on your cooking skill. The one that stood out for me was the Freckles because of the limited number of ingredients and its seemingly easy (yet incredibly messy!) process. While the original Frankie recipe was called 'Freckle Hearts', I decided to give it more variety by making the chocolate freckles into various shapes - mainly to save time and also for the sake of curiosity. The following recipe was also inspired by a similar recipe that I found on Best Recipes except with double the portion of the ingredients. It was tiring when balancing the sweets together especially when some of the shapes didn't turn out right. Despite that, it was all made with love...and on a Saturday night! Thanks Rage TV for keeping me sane...

Chocolate porn ;)

What did I end up getting?

Sweet Swap 1: Chocolate honeycomb snaps by Muppys

I freaking love these treats! Soo addictive! I'm also a massive fan of honeycomb so I gladly ate as much as I could before mum came back from North America finds this lot in the fridge...and ate the rest! Looking forward to reading the recipe for this ;).
 

Sweet Swap 2: Copycat Green Tea Kit Kats by Julie from I Dream in Chocolate

A cute, quirky and slightly healthier choice compared to lots of sweets. Great to share with mates (my mate loves anything with green tea!). The melty kiss is so adorable and I really enjoyed eating the green tea kit kats - both the rich and scrumptious handmade "copycat" ones and the real one.

Sweet Swap 3: ???

Sadly at the time of writing this post, I still have not received my third Sweet Swap package :(. I have a feeling that maybe there was a post slip to collect the parcel but it got lost somewhere. Hopefully it shows up eventually. If not, hopefully you see this post and let me know one way or another. I am very curious to see what it was especially since I really enjoyed what I've got so far.

My lucky (or unlucky) recipients of my handmade sweets were Chanel from Cats Love Cooking, Eileen from Soft and Stiff Peaks and Julie from I Dream in Chocolate (LOL we got matched up both times! :P). Hope you all enjoy these treats as much as I had fun making them.

After a few minor alterations to original recipes, I present to you The Random Foodie's first recipe post everrrrr! From what I've heard, these are amazing treats for kids, parties, picnics and even for brekkie! (thanks Julie! :P)


Freckle shapes 

Great for vegetarians! Not so great for those on a diet :-p.

Total prep time: 30 minutes (including 10 mins cooking time)

Makes: 25-30 freckles (NB: this depends on the size of your cookie cutter, I used small cookie cutters)

Ingredients:

250g good quality chocolate - I used 70% cocoa dark chocolate
20g Copha, chopped
1/2 cup of 100s and 1000s

Instructions:

1. Line trays with baking paper
2. Lightly grease your cutters with butter or oil and place it on the baking paper
3. Melt the chocolate and copha into a small pan/saucepan
4. Remove the small pan once you start to see tiny bubbles otherwise the chocolate will burn
5. Place about a tablespoon of chocolate mix into each cutter (this may need more or less depending on the cutter size. I learnt it the hard way when making the first batch)
6. Cover with hundreds and thousands and refrigerate for about 30 minutes or until set.
7. Remove the chocolate freckles from the cookie cutters and store them in an airtight container in the fridge.


Storage: This can be kept refrigerated in an airtight container for up to six weeks.

Variations: You can also use milk chocolate or white chocolate as the chocolate mixture.

Melting the chocolate

Pouring the chocolate into the cutters

The finished product

What I love about The Sweet Swap was finding out what sweets I've gotten as well as seeing what everyone has received. If there is anything that I would change for the next Sweet Swap it would definitely be my packaging. Mine was quite rushed with plain takeaway boxes and cards so it didn't look as pretty compared to everyone else's. Seeing the package delivered to my house and opening them up was the best moment ever. It feels like opening your Xmas pressie! Will put more thought into how it should look next time. Will also spend more time making a variety of sweets. It's actually loads of fun.
A final thanks to Amanda and Sara for doing an amazing job in organising The Sweet Swap and bearing with my impatience as I continue to wait for my final package. 

For more info and checking out what everyone else made on The Sweet Swap:
http://www.thesweetswap.com/

Pasta Masterclass at Alio Restaurant, Surry Hills [CLOSED]

Thanks to a Scoopon deal, I got the chance to attend a Pasta Masterclass at Alio Restaurant hosted by Ashley Hughes who owns the restaurant along with his sister, Tracey. I have already made a couple of visits prior to this class in the past and loved every moment of it. Try their Linguine alle Vongole. It's the bomb!


If you are expecting a hands-on cooking class, you may be disappointed unless he picks you to help him out. If you are just expecting a cooking demonstration of some of Alio's well known recipes including a couple of Italian classics as well as a free 3-course meal at the end then it is definitely something worth experiencing.


Ashley taught us how to make pasta and focaccia bread from scratch and offered tips and techniques on what you should/shouldn't do when making them. He also gave some interesing stories about his time working in London at The River Cafe (where Jamie Oliver also worked :D!). During this demonstration, he taught us how to make one of his River Cafe recipes which is the spinach and ricotto rotolo.

It was so much fun seeing him performing various techniques especially with the pasta machine where it is clearly important to make sure it is as flat as possible in order to make a rotolo dish. Seeing the pasta sheet with the filling being rolled into a large rotolo was also a sight to see as he could manage to put so much into the pasta without much mess especially when cutting it into a number of equal slices for us to taste later.

Rolling and kneading the dough

Using the pasta machine

Spreading the spinach and ricotto filling onto the pasta sheet before rolling it into a cylinder shape, wrapping and then cooking it

Marinating the olives

Using the remaining pasta and the attachments from his pasta machine, he displayed the wide variety of pasta types from tortellini to tagliatelle and even some of the more unusual ones that look very similar to the more common pasta types. He even offered tips on which sauces and fillings are suitable to the designated pasta.

Various types of pasta

As we wait for the rotolo to get ready, we nibbled on some olives which got so addictive for me as they tasted sooo nice especially with the chilli.

Marinated olives with a bit of spice

I was gorging over the focaccia bread that I didn't end up taking photos when Ashley was making and proofing the bread dough. Sprinkled with rosemary and olive oil; the final result end up being a freshly made bread which is light, crispy, and fluffy. It is just so delicious to eat on its own. I was somewhat disappointed that I only got one piece of the bread as the class was over capacity that day.

Focaccia bread with rosemary and olive oil

During the class, Ashley also taught us how to make a simple salad with pear, witlof and feta cheese. An unusual combination of ingredients that end up tasting rather nicely together along with a bit of verjuice, olive oil, and pepper.

Persian feta, witloaf and pear salad

Finally the pasta dish we've all been waiting for! The pasta tasted so lovely with its thin and silky texture. I am a massive fan of anything involving sage and burnt butter sauce thanks to the gnocchi dish at Bird Cow Fish (RIP) and this dish is no exception with these ingredients making a positive impact on my tastebuds. The spinach and ricotto filling did not taste as overpowering as I expected. It sure was creamy and sitted quite nicely with the pasta wrapped around and the chestnuts decorated on top to give it the crunch factor that it needed.

Spinach and ricotto rotolo with sage and burnt butter sauce

One dish that I wish we learnt to make is the tiramisu. Thankfully we got recipes for all dishes that day. It was definitely one of the best tiramisu I've ever had. So light and the texture with the layers being neatly presented just as I like it. It did not go soggy like some of the other versions of tiramisu which make this version so delicious. In Alio's recipe, Ashley uses real chocolate instead of cocoa which has made a difference to the taste. Will definitely attempt this recipe sometime soon.

Tiramisu

While I was initially hoping for a hand on lesson, seeing what was offered in the class was enjoyable enough for me on a nice Saturday afternoon. Would love to come back again not just for dinner but for one of their other classes like Italian Feasts as I certainly enjoyed it.

The deal that I got for this class pops up on various deals websites every now and then so look out for it if you aren't keen on paying the full price.
For more information on upcoming classes, check out the Alio website for further information on classes, schedule and contact details to make a booking.


Alio Restaurant
5 Baptist Sreet, Surry Hills, 2010
(02) 8394 9368
http://www.alio.com.au/