Choc Nut Fudge

My Taste&Create partner for this month was The Bad Girl's Kitchen. Min created the blog as a meeting place for real women (and men!) who love food and a place to share recipes - and some pretty darn tasty ones by the looks of it. I was torn between quite a few recipes, like these Black Forest Upside Down Cakes or these Chocolate Covered Cherries, but in the end I settled on these chocolate-y peanut-y blocks of goodness. 

This has got to be the easiest fudge recipe out. Which is good, since I have a track record of dismal FAILures with past fudge-making attempts. Best of all is you can make them in the microwave in the space of oh, about 10 minutes. Which includes time to play with your cuddly little kitten. Hypothetical example of course...

These are deliciously gooey and awesome (and have I mentioned insanely chocolate-y?), and they scored full marks in the Creative household. The slight saltiness from the peanuts adds that extra layer of flavour that'll make you want to gobble up the entire tray at once. Not that I would ever do that. *Cough*

Choc Nut Fudge

Adapted from The Bad Girl's Kitchen

Makes 36

2 x 100g dark chocolate slabs

1 x 100g milk chocolate slab

1 x 390g tin condensed milk

1/3 cup plus 1 tbsp peanut butter

1/2 cup salted peanuts

a pinch of salt

1. Break chocolate into a microwaveable bowl, add condensed milk and peanut butter and microwave on 60% heat for 4 minutes or until melted.

2. Stir, adding salt and peanuts until evenly combined. Pour into a greased 18 x 18cm dish, smoothing the top and place in the refrigerator for a few hours until set.

Nutritional info (per square): Calories 89.9, Total fat 4.7 g, Saturated fat 2.4 g, Polyunsaturated fat 0.5 g, Monounsaturated fat 1.1 g, Cholesterol 3.3 mg, Sodium 25.5 mg, Potassium 62.8 mg, Total carbohydrate 12.2 g, Dietary fiber 0.8 g, Sugars 10.7 g, Protein 2.0 g

Spicy Mexican Beef Skewers

It's Taste&Create time again! This month my allocated partner was Katie, from One Little Corner of the World. Katie is a teacher by day, blogger by night and in her own words feels that cooking is in her blood. Hey, I can relate to that!

Pastas seems to be Katie's big speciality, but with the current three month long heatwave we're experiencing (otherwise known as summer), I decided to skip past the pastas and turn my attention to something a little bit more weather appropriate.  And how glad am I that I did!

The spice mixture elevated these beef skewers from simple to sublime. TheHusband even commented that the flavour reminds him of biltong.** Now if that isn't high praise, then I don't know what is! Thanks Katie - we will be making this rub again.

Spicy Mexican Beef Skewers

Spice rub adapted from One Little Corner of the World

Serves 4 as main course

(Serves 6 - 8 as appetizers)

500g beef, cubed

1/2 medium onion, cut into chunks

For the spice rub:

1 tbsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp brown sugar
2 tsp salt
1 tsp peri-peri or chili powder
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp dried oregano

1. In a spice grinder or mortar and pestle, grind all the ingredients for the rub together until finely ground.

2. Apply spice mixture to the beef and, using your hands, coat evenly.

3. Thread beef cubes onto skewers, alternating with onion.

4. Grill in the oven (or on the bbq) for 10 - 15 minutes or until done to your liking.

Serve with a big salad on the side.

Nutritional info (per main course serving): Calories 276.3 , Total fat 10.6 g, Saturated fat 3.9 g, Polyunsaturated fat 0.5 g, Monounsaturated fat 4.6 g, Cholesterol 111.3 mg, Sodium 1255.8 mg, Potassium 584.6 mg, Total carbohydrate 4.9 g, Dietary fiber 1.0 g, Sugars 0.1 g, Protein 38.6 g

Good source of: Vitamin B12 59.4 %, Selenium 59.3 %, Zinc 55.4 %, Phosphorus 32.2 %, Iron 31.2 %, Vitamin B6 30.7 %, Niacin 27.6 %

** For non-South Africans, biltong is our national obsession. It's an absolute must to snack on while watching rugby (our other national obsession). Some people claim that it's similar to beef jerky, while others scoff at the mere idea that anything could come close to it's unique taste.

Margarita Cupcakes

I recently stumbled upon a great blogging event called Taste & Create. The basic premise is that each blogger gets assigned a partner and the partners have to make something from the other person's blog. This is of course a great way of discovering some great blogs (and recipes) and meeting fellow bloggers.

I got partnered with Stef of Cupcake Project for my very first round. And of course I let out a double whoop (say it with me - whoop-whoop!), since I adore her site. She always has super-creative cupcake ideas and a trawl through her site left me unable to decide between all the delicious options. Should I throw all caution to the wind with her Baked Bean & Tomato Cupcakes? Go all exotic with her Sesame Honey Cupcakes? Or play it safe with Kosher Chocolate Cupcakes? The choices were haunting me in my sleep (okay just in my waking hours) and I stewed on it for a couple of days.

Then we were hit by a heatwave in the Western Cape and out came the crushed ice and the tequila and we were making cocktails by the bucketload - margaritas, pisco sours (a delicious mix from Peru) and of course tequila sunrises (which TheHusband is an absolute pro at). And of course, in the light of that, how could I make anything but her Margarita Cupcakes?

On her blog, Stef poses the question "Can a cupcake be dangerous?" and my answer to that is a resounding yes! These are grown-ups-only cupcakes brimming with all the classic margarita flavours - tequila, triple sec, salt and lemons. And they will make you do all sorts of crazy things. Let me tell you though, these are absolutely stirling partners to a liquid Margarita... ask me how I know. :-)

So what are you waiting for? Whip out your tequila, switch on your oven and get cracking making these delicious cocktails in cupcake form. You'll be hooked. And that's a threat promise.

(PS: When you've emerged from your Margarita coma, be sure to check out Stef's delicious rendition of my Malvapoeding - yes she converted them to cupcakes and they look very pleased with their new incarnation!)

Margarita Cupcakes

Adapted from Cupcake Project (who got the recipe from Baking Bites, who originally saw it in Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World)

Makes 12 cupcakes

1/4 cup lemon juice

zest of one lemon

1 cup milk

1/4 cup sunflower oil

2 tsp tequila

1 tsp triple sec

1/2 tsp lemon extract

1 cup sugar

1 1/3 cup cake flour

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1. Preheat oven to 180C.

2. Mix lemon juice, zest, milk oil, tequila, triple sec, lemon essence and sugar in a big mixing bowl until just combined.

3. Sift the dry ingredients together and add to the wet ingredients. Using an electric whisk, blend until there are no more lumps.

4. Grease a muffin tin and divide the batter evenly among the holes - be careful as the batter is very liquidy.

5. Bake for 20 minutes, or until lightly browned on top and cooked through (use a thin metal cake tester to test for doneness).

For the icing:

1 cup icing sugar

2 tsp tequila

1 tsp triple sec

1/2 tsp lemon essence

a drop or 2 of green food colouring

+/- 1 tbps of water

yellow sugar crystals for sprinkling (optional)

salt, for dipping (optional)

1. Mix everything except the water and salt together. Add just enough water to achieve a smooth and spreadable consistency.

2. Ice the cupcakes, then sprinkle with yellow sugar crystals and dip the edges in salt. The easiest is to pour some salt onto a plate and then roll the cupcake in it, circling to lightly coat the edges.

Nutritional info (per serving): Calories 188.2 , Total fat 4.9 g, Saturated fat 0.7 g, Polyunsaturated fat 3.0 g, Monounsaturated fat 1.0 g, Cholesterol 1.6 mg, Sodium 221.5 mg, Potassium 48.2 mg, Total carbohydrate 33.0 g, Dietary fiber 0.0 g, Sugars 11.5 g, Protein 1.6 g