Nutella & Sea Salt stuffed cookies

These cookies are deceiving – plain innocent sugar cookies on the outside, Nutella and sea salt explosion on the inside!

I saw the recipe for these here – and they originally came from here. Given the rave reviews, I decided to give them a go for a recent work morning tea. I was very impressed!

The sugar cookie recipe could be used on its own, it’s light and fluffy and yum but also sturdy enough to hold filling. I was dubious that the Nutella would hold up and not melt and seep through the cookie dough the minute they were in the oven......but the dough held together beautifully and the final effect was a sweet, salty, chocolatey, cookie party in my mouth.

For quality control purposes, my husband and I tried one straight out of the oven with gooey warm Nutella and one cooled (the Nutella goes chewy). We both decided that the cooler one was in fact nicer – good news for my friends eating them the next day.

The only adjustment I would make next time is to add a few more sea salt flakes and possibly to mix them in with the Nutella (the recipe currently suggested sprinkling them on the cookie dough). I would also like to make them smaller, although it is difficult when you’re trying to stuff them.

So if you’re looking for a cookie with a twist - I would definitely encourage you to give this recipe a go! I imagine that you could stuff other things in with the Nutella. When I have a touch more time, I intend to give this much more thought!

Have a great week!

Babies + Birdies

I looked at the invitation and gazed off into space......what would I do? My friend and loyal blog follower (I assume she follows loyally) asked me to make some cupcakes for her baby shower. I was given free reign but she suggested a bird theme.

I decided, after combing through every store at my local shopping centre for a bird shaped cutter, that I could pipe little cupcake toppers! Genius! Cogs turning.....I could use the birds on the invite, print them out at an appropriate size, stick them under my trusty piece of perspex and pipe royal icing over the top! Cue crowd clapping in my head.

These were surprisingly easy and non-time consuming - I love discovering a new design technique! This could be done with nearly anything - could copy invitation designs, favourite patterns, landscapes, cityscapes - oh the possibilities!

These little morsels are citrus white chocolate mud cake - yummy and fresh - perfect for an afternoon gathering of ladies.

Good luck Pippa - can't wait to meet Squirt!

xC

Early Morning Wedding

These delightful little creations were for a small early morning (think 8am!) wedding at Victoria Park Golf Course - an equally delightful venue.

The Bride originally decided on butter cupcakes with a vanilla buttercream swirl, silver cachous and fresh purple flowers. She ended up changing her mind and I must say, while the buttercream would have undoubtedly looked elegant and fresh (with me at the helm, how could they not?) I'm grateful for the decision change. With the alternating heat and rain with a side of humidity at this time of year, my nerves would have been on edge, waiting for the buttercream to melt. Don't get me wrong, the heat and rain affect the fondant as well, I'm just a little better at managing the effects on fondant.

The cupcakes are displayed on a disposable cupcake tower, just the thing for smaller occasions. They are (relatively) cheap, reusable at a pinch and completely eliminate the (mildly) annoying task of getting a hired perspex stand back to the cake shop as the late fees are not to be sneezed at.

And so starts my 2012 caking.......

:)

Flickr

Just a quick post to let you peeps know (if you haven’t heard a trillion different times from my secret PR planted all over the world. I kid. They're on in Australia), I am on Flickr!

 

My name is the sugar shelf (sound familiar?) if you are searching on flickr, you have to be sure to select ‘people’ once you’ve typed in my name otherwise it will try to show you pictures of sugar shelves (whatever they look like).

 

If that sounds to time and energy intensive, here is a link I prepared earlier:

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/61459103@N02/

 

Have a delicious week.

 

C