Macaroon Bars

For quite some time my Hubby and his family have been banging on about these Scottish Sweeties from their childhood and with anything sweet I'm willing to give it a try.  However, the only place that you can get them is Scotland, and I really couldn't be much further away in the UK.  Fortunately though, my mum told me that she would be travelling to Edinburgh for work, so I was straight in with my request for the Macaroon Bars.  And as baffled as me to what these sweets were, she asked about and found the treasure to return home with.  Well wasn't I impressed, and disappointed that I hadn't got my hands on Macaroon Bars sooner.  Not of the patient type, I didn't really want to wait for my Mum to return to Scotland before I could have them again.  So I set about looking up recipes on the internet, and appeared easy and cheap to make.  The biggest surprise of course was that it is made with Potato!  Well at least I could get one of my five a day in, of sorts.  Please give these wee sweeties a try, they will not disappoint. x

• 1 Small Potato


• Icing Sugar


• Chocolate, Plain, Milk or White


• Desiccated Coconut

Firstly peel, chop, and boil the Potato until cooked through. Whilst that's on, put the Coconut into a frying pan and lightly toast.  Place to one side.  Mash the cooked Potato and pop into the fridge for a little while just to cool through.  In a bowl add the Potato and enough Icing Sugar to form a firm dough.  To start with the Potato will go like liquid.  Don't Panic! Just keep adding the Icing Sugar.  The amount you will need will depend on the Potato, so have a big box to hand.  Dust a piece of baking paper with Icing Sugar and place the mix on top, roll out about 6"x6", again this will depend on the Potato, but aim for around 1/4" thickness.  Pop back into the fridge to firm up little more, or a flat surface in the freezer is ideal and quicker.  While you wait gently melt the Chocolate in a bowl sat over lightly simmering water.  Take a large clean plate and sprinkle the Coconut over.  Remove to the fondant from the Fridge/Freezer and cut into your prefered shape or bar size.  Now the production line begins.  Take a piece of fondant and add to the Chocolate, make sure it's covered.  You can use forks or spoons, but i found it easier to just get my hands in.  And anyway it's melted chocolate, so any excuse works for me.  Then just place on top of the Coconut.  Repeat until all the fondant has been covered in chocolate and is on the coconut plate.  Then simply sprinkle the remaining Coconut over the top.  Now put the bars back onto the baking paper and return to the fridge.  Allow to set, then eat.

Marshmallow Makin'

This afternoon, inspired by the front cover of April's Delicious Magazine, I made some Marshmallows with my two lovely assistants.  The sticky results were a joy to the girls, who have never had so much fun cleaning out the bowl.  A bit different to the usually cake batter treat.  And as always with sweets, the end product doesn't hang round for long.  After all they made it, so why not enjoy it?  For some ideas and recipes for fluffy marshmallow head over to Delicious Magazine.

Clotted Cream Fudge

Being of the Cornish persuasion, I like nothing more that nice slab of Clotted Cream Fudge.  I have tried a few fudge recipes in the past, and although delicious, are not a spot on the one that I tried out yesterday.  I tend to try and make Fudge so that my husband can take it to work and share it at 'crib'.  However, it got left behind this morning... Guess I will have to make more for next week, as I don't think this batch will last the day, nevermind the weekend!  Give it a try, I found it to be the simplest, quickest and easiest fudge recipe that I have tried.  Also I have added the link to the original recipe and a video with Gizzie Erskine in the Recipe section.  I will also add that in the recipe it states 1/2 tsp of Vanilla and Gizzie says 1 tbsp in the video, so I went on the safe side and just added 1/2 tbsp, and found it to be enough, but have a try and add more or less as you feel it needs it.

• 275g Golden Caster Sugar


• 100g Light Muscovado Sugar


• 225g Clotted Cream


• 1/2 tbsp Vanilla Extract

Firstly weight out all the ingredients and place in a large saucepan.  Place on a gentle heat and allow all the ingredients to melt together and the sugars to full dissolve.  Then turn up the heat and bring to the boil, cover with a lid and let simmer for 3 minutes.  Now check the temperature with a sugar thermometer, it should be at 116c or soft ball.  If needed allow to simmer with the lid off until it reaches soft ball.  Remove from the heat and beat until the mixture becomes matt, thick and creamy.  Pour into a greased 20cm tin and set aside to cool.  Once fully cooled cut into chunks and store in an airtight container.  And don't for get to leave one or two pieces out for quality control x