jesska.co.za

A Johannesburg based food and travel blog filled with recipes and reviews

Cadbury Oreo Cookie Pops

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Hello fellow Oreo enthusiasts. Sit down, because what I’m about to tell you will make you fall over from excitement. Oreo and Cadbury have celebrated a delicious marriage and everyone is invited to join in on the celebrations.

Yip that’s right, Cadbury Dairy Milk Chocolate covered Oreos. They are crazy good. If you see them in the shops, you better grab a packet quickly. They are launching this July in South Africa (I’ve already seen them on the shelves at some Spars)

But since the title of this post is Cadbury Oreo Cookie Pops, let’s get to it. A couple of years ago, my sister and I attempted to make oreo cookie pops from scratch. To say it was a dismal failure is a bit of an understatement. Just see for yourself.

So @riggaroo and I decided to #playwithoreo Erm 😕😂

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These new chocolate coated Oreos make the process 100000 times easier. Simply take a sharp knife, dip it in boiling water for about 30 seconds, dry it off, then very carefully and slowly, insert it into the middle of the Cadbury Oreo.

Don’t push too hard or too fast, you will split the Oreo in half (if this does happen, just stick it back together with some melted chocolate.) Once you have a small hole made by the knife, take a wooden skewer and slowly insert it into the cookie, twisting and turning it gently to get it into the Oreo. And voila, your very own Cadbury Oreo Cookie Pops.

I stuck on some decorations with melted chocolate, because I’m fancy like that. These would be great for birthday parties and other celebrations.

Looking for other Oreo goodness? Try out these posts:

Disclaimer: This post was sponsored by Oreo. Yay cookies!

Banana Bread Doughnuts

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banana-bread-doughnuts-2

When life hands you bananas, what evil crime are you being punished for? Let’s just say I’m not a fan of the yellow monsters. I am however, a big advocate for banana bread. So when the Food Network sent me a press drop that had some of the devils fingers lingering among some other interesting ingredients, challenging me to make a banana and peanut butter sandwich, I was having none of that.

Instead, I whipped out my new doughnut pan (I used it to make malva pudding doughnuts a while ago – recipe here) and set about making the only thing I ever use bananas for.

banana-bread-doughnut-1

Banana Bread Doughnuts, topped with peanut butter and decorated with caramel corn and peanut brittle. Ridiculously simple, and the best way to use up any vrot bananas that you have lurking at the bottom of your fruit bowl.

You can find the recipe I used for the banana bread here. (Thanks mom)

Simply add the mixture to a piping bag, squeeze some into each of the doughnut holes in your magnificent doughnut pan, and bake for about 10 mins until they are golden brown.

banana-bread-doughnuts-3

Spread generously with peanut butter, or if you are really looking to impress, try making some of this Peanut Butter and Nutella Frosting to smoosh on top.

Decorate the Banana Bread Doughnuts with caramel popcorn or small pieces of peanut brittle and enjoy.

The Food Network is promoting their new show called The Big Eat which airs on DSTV (channel 175) on Thursdays at 8pm. It’s a South African foodies take on comfort food, sweet treats and meaty goodness. If you happen to catch the show, let me know what you think?

I’ll have to wait for it to air on ShowMax (hint hint DSTV, add it to the catalogue pretty please)

 

Disclaimer:I received a press drop with some ingredients which I used to make these instead of a banana sarmie. Yay for a bit of inspiration and a new blog post after 400 years. 

Malva Pudding Doughnuts Recipe

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Malva Pudding Doughnuts - 3

Yes, I went there, because let’s face it, the only reason people read this blog is for anything doughnut related. Malva pudding doughnuts are the business. The sweet, sticky, caramelised goodness of malva pudding in perfect hand held doughnut form. It’s the best thing that has hit my thighs this winter.

I’m going to level with you, I’ve made malva pudding the sum total of once in my life. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve consumed kilograms of the stuff (thanks Woolworths) but making it from scratch just seemed like a waste of time. Until now…. 

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Beef Mince Empanadas {Recipe}

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Beef Empanadas - 3

Pastry. Crunchy Pastry. Crunchy pastry filled with deliciousness. If these words sing to your spirit animal, continue reading. Empanadas have been on my “to make” list for about 3 years. I kept putting them off, because making pastry terrifies me. I have no idea why I waited so long. The pastry for these mini Argentinian pies is so simple to make and the end result is flaky, buttery goodness that my sister declared nicer than store bought puff pastry.

Beef Empanadas - 2… 

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Pink Salt & Vanilla Popcorn Brittle {Recipe}

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Vanilla Popcorn Brittle - 1

Happy 2016 err’body! I spent the holiday period eating way too much food and not doing half the things I planned to do. I did, however, get around to making some of this glorious vanilla studded Popcorn Brittle based on a recipe for Peanut Brittle from Sam Linsell’s recipe book Sweet (I wrote about it in my Gifts for Foodies List last year).

 

Did you know you get two different types of popcorn seeds? I didn’t, until I googled how to make Kettle Corn. You get the regular, sold at every shop in SA, ‘butterfly’ type and then you get the rounded beauties used for kettle corn which are described as ‘mushroom popcorn’. Since I have never seen this ‘mushroom popcorn’ at any grocery store in South Africa, I used pre made Kettle Corn from Woolworths. They have a whole range of flavours, and it costs about R20 for a 70g bag.

Woolworths Kettle Corn

In this recipe I used the Himalayan Pink Salt & Vanilla Popcorn, but I think it would be equally delicious with the Cinnamon Sugar Coated Popcorn as well.

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Scones: A Recipe for the Food Processor

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Hello Scones

When I was a kid, Saturday mornings were always filled with freshly baked goods for breakfast. Whether it was crumpets (with special small ones made just for Barbie), muffins or scones, my sister and I would sit in the kitchen watching my mom bake something delicious for us to smother in syrup, jam or nutella.

My sister is not a fan of scones, I don’t think they are sweet enough for her, so she always insisted on crumpets. I personally like scones, and the fact that they are quick to make and all ready at the same time is also a huge advantage.

 

This recipe is entitled “Pam’s Scones” in my mom’s recipe book. My mom used to make them with the dough hook in her mixer, but thanks to the modern marvels of a food processor, that’s the method I prefer to use.

Nougat and Nutella Cinnamon Buns

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Nutella and Nougat Cinnamon bunsThe idea for these nougat and Nutella cinnamon buns started in Clarens. I was browsing the shelves of the Purple Onion Deli, and came across a jar of nougat spread. The label stated that it would be delicious spread on warm cinnamon buns, and the seed was planted.

Fast forward a few weeks with dreams of nougaty cinnamon buns, I received a recipe book to review that fell open on a Cinnabun recipe. Fate I tell you.

The recipe called for raisins (*shudder*), and since that was never going to happen, I smashed some frozen nougat with a hammer and used that as a filling instead. The idea was to melt the nougat spread, so I could drizzle it over the top of the buns, but that resulted in a catastrophic mess in the microwave. Note to self. Plastic bags, sugary treats and microwaves = sticky inedible disasters. And possible fire hazards. I shouldn’t be left unsupervised.

Cinnamon Buns before rolling

I was rescued by Nutella. (If I ever write a book, that’s going to be the title.) I drizzled some melted Nutella over the top of the buns, topped them with chunks of nougat and TADA! Pure Food Magic!

The nougat chunks inside the cinnamon buns melt and start turning into a crunchy caramel. It’s pretty freaking awesome.

Make these if you have patience to wait for dough to rise (patience is not my strong point). Eat them warm. For dinner. And breakfast.

Unbaked cinnamon buns

Recipe adapted from The Ultimate Snowflake Collection (a South African recipe book with easy to follow recipes, and awesome pictures, and it’s only about R200)

Nougat and Nutella Cinnamon Buns
 
Print
Delicious for breakfast, dinner or any other time you need to treat yourself to doughy goodness.
Recipe type: Dessert
Ingredients
For the buns
  • 4 cups (560g ) Snowflake cake flour
  • 1 tsp (5ml) salt
  • ¼ cup (50g) sugar
  • 1 sachet (10g) instant yeast
  • ½ cup (125ml) lukewarm milk
  • 2 large eggs
  • 80g butter melted
For the filling
  • 125g nougat
  • 30g butter, melted
  • ½ cup (100g) sugar
  • 2 Tbsp (30ml) cinnamon
For the topping
  • 4 Tbsp Nutella
  • 1 Tbsp Milk
Instructions
For the buns
  1. Sift together the flour, salt and sugar.
  2. Add the yeast.
  3. Whisk together the warm milk, melted butter and eggs and add to the flour mixture and mix to form a dough (make sure the mixture is lukewarm and not too hot otherwise the eggs will cook and be gross)
  4. Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for 5 to 10 minutes until it is smooth and elastic
  5. Place the dough in a clean, oiled bowl and cover, leave in a warm place to rise until its double in size (this took an hour for me in winter in a sunny spot)
For the filling
  1. Place the nougat in the freezer for 5 to 10 minutes to freeze up. Hit with a heavy object to crush the nougat into chunks. Alternatively cut it with a knife. The smashing is more therapeutic.
  2. Mix together the cinnamon and sugar.
  3. Bash down the dough, and knead it on a lightly floured surface until it is smooth.
  4. Roll it out into a rectangle about 20cmx40cm.
  5. Brush the melted butter on the pastry leaving a 1cm gap around the edges
  6. Sprinkle over the cinnamon and sugar mixture, and the nougat chunks
  7. Roll the dough up tightly from the short end, and cut into 2cm slices.
  8. Arrange the slices on a greased baking tray, leaving a gap of about 1cm between each slice.
  9. Cover the tray and leave in a warm spot to rise for 15 minutes.
  10. Pre heat the oven to 180°C (350°F).
  11. Place the buns in the oven and bake for 15 minutes.
For the topping
  1. Place the nutella in a microwave safe container (I used a teacup) and heat for 15 seconds on high or until warm and slightly runny
  2. Add the milk and mix until incorporated.
  3. Drizzle over the cinnamon buns

 

Disclaimer: I received a copy of the The Ultimate Snowflake Collection from Snowflake to review. All thoughts and views expressed are my own. 

“Mexican” Salad

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Mexican Salad 1
To call this salad Mexican would probably be an insult to the cuisine, hence the quotation marks, but it is an amazing salad inspired by elements in a pico de gallo and nachos.

Lime and coriander are my favourite ingredients, which explains my love for both Mexican and Thai cuisine, as they appear in many recipes from the two regions.

This salad is the perfect accompaniment to a braai, and would be great shoved in some taco shells or wraps. … 

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Retro Swimming Pool Birthday Cake

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Australian Womens Weekly swimming pool cake

A few months ago I bought a recipe book. Not just any recipe book, mind you, but one filled with nostalgia, that didn’t have a place on my bookshelf as a kid, but rather on the bookshelf of my aunt. The Women’s Weekly Children’s Birthday Cake Book. From numbers to barbie cakes to sweet shops and typewriters, this was one of two books my cousins and I obsessively viewed every time a birthday came around, deciding which cake we wanted to take centre stage at our birthday parties.

My favourite cake was (and still is) the swimming pool cake. A chocolate cake topped with jelly and swimming dolls. My mom made that cake for my 7th birthday (I think) and it was seriously THE BEST CAKE EVER!

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