Pink Ricebubble Marshmallow Squares (Like ICMs)

I've just read a whole stack of blog posts from different authors about how hateful their Mother's Day gifts have been in the past. I sit here gobsmacked. I'm serious, mums are knocking their husbands for organising the likes of massage vouchers, lingerie, wine and chocolate and flowers bought from the service station (seriously who cares where they are purchased?) While people piped up that the articles were satire, I couldn't help but cringe. I'm getting slippers for Mother's day and I'm pretty damn pleased about it. Every time I slip my feet into those warm fuzzy pink things I will remember that hubby and my three little darlings all trotted off and picked them out for me, and that my 5 year old was so excited that he couldn't contain himself and told me what my present was as soon as they got home.
My swollen pregnant feet get so cold in the mornings that I just can't wait to slide into those babies. I've even secretly checked them out while putting away hubby's shirts. Shhh!
So shrinking husbands who don't know what to do get your wives, and who happened to read those blog posts, just remember your wife is not your mother, so anything you buy her in my books, is a win. You don't even have to spend money to make sure Mum gets a memorable Mother's Day. Sometimes I think the best gifts are the ones which are hand made and home made by the kids-the paintings, the weird cutout cardboard thingies and the not so perfect baking.
But here's a foolproof and fail-proof recipe for some yummy treats to spoil mum with that will definitely be appreciated. They're a hit with the young and the old and only have three ingredients. They're quickly put together, are no cook, and are a great recipe for the kids to get involved in.
They're chewy and sweet and look so pretty wrapped up in cellophane and given as a gift. How could you go wrong?
I sprinkled mine with tiny edible pearls. You can leave them plain, trust me they taste just as good!

PINK RICEBUBBLE MARSHMALLOW SQUARES

4 cups marshmallows (I used 2x 180g bags)
1 tbsp butter
5 cups of ricebubbles
tiny edible pearls (optional)

Grease and line a 20x20cm dish with a little oil and baking paper. Ensure the sides of the paper come up higher than the sides of the dish for easy removal.
Place the marshmallows and the butter in a large saucepan. Stirring continuously over medium heat, melt the two ingredients until smooth. Pour in the ricebubbles and stir until well combined. Quickly pour the mixture into the lined dish. Wet your hands with cold water and press the mixture down evenly into the dish until the top is flat. Sprinkle with edible pearls if desired. Refrigerate for 2 hours or more before cutting into squares.

Caramel Popcorn Balls

 My son will not eat corn, hence he will not eat popcorn.
"Mum," he says "if it's corn, it's a veggie." And we all know how hard it is to get the kids to eat their veggies, even if it is in the form of popcorn. Yes, this is the three year old that knows his chocolate custard from his chocolate mousse, and isnt hesitant to make it known. "This isn't custard Dad--I think it's chocolate mousse!" While I beam with pride that my son knows the difference, part of me thinks, we probably conume more mousse and custard than we should.
My two year old daughter on the other hand, is more of the experimental type, and corn in any form does not faze her. In fact, she can't get enough. She went crazy for this popcorn when I made it. Her eyes almost popped out of her head with glee when she saw me pouring hot caramel over the fresh popcorn, and she started clapping excitedly. This recipe for caramel popcorn is from Danielle's blog, Hugs and Cookies XOXO. Danielle is the owner of a delightful blog just bursting with all sorts of scrumptiousness--and I found it hard to choose just one recipe to recreate for this months Secret Recipe Club Reveal. The caramel recipes alone left my keyboard rather drooled upon. Anyway, I've been looking for Christmas recipes for a long time, and when I came across the caramel popcorn it brought back vivid memories of Christmases gnawing away at caramel popcorn in the form of a ball.
My parents ended up making a rule against gift giving among my siblings--there are ten of us kids, so you can imagine the mountains of presents surrounding the tree and everyone getting stressed over what to buy and the lack of coin, especially among the younger ones. So my parents would give us all presents, and we would in turn, add something to the day--the Christmas tree, the wine, the pudding, the candy canes for the tree--whatever we wanted. For many years in a row I recall making caramel popcorn balls tied with ribbon, and hanging them on the tree like baubles as my little gift for the day. It's very economical and fun, and easy enough for children to make. They would make great DIY teacher's Christmas gifts for the end of school as well, tied up with ribbon in a clear cellophane bag. They would also be a great treat to sell at a school fete--cant you just see all the little ones munching away?
Now will my son eat corn?
Only if it's popped kernels covered in caramel and made into a ball shape. Somehow now, it's not a vegetable.

CARAMEL POPCORN BALLS (Adapted from Hugs and Cookies XOXO)

6 cups already popped popcorn
1/2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup honey (golden syrup or light corn syrup and great substitutes)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp bicarb soda (aka baking soda)
1/2 tsp vanilla

In a large bowl, place the popped popcorn. Set aside.
Melt the butter in a medium saucepan, then add the sugar, honey and salt. Stir to combine, then let boil without stirring for 4 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the bicarb soda and vanilla. Pour this hot caramel over the popcorn. Stir thoroughly, then set aside for 5-10 minutes to cool. The caramel is extremely hot, so cautiously test the caramel with your finger to make sure it's cool enough to handle. While it is still warm, scoop handfuls of caramel popcorn and form them into balls, about fist size. Make sure you use some pressure, so that the ball holds together firmly. Set aside to cool before tying with ribbon.

Makes approximately 6

Mad Easy Jam Coconut Macaroons

Coconut, shmokonut, we all love it around here. Thanks to this subtropical climate I live in, such flavours are much desired and a great match for the other tropical fruits that grow locally here, such as mango and banana. But there's long been a combination I've desired to see together. I'm a terrible matchmaker-most matches I make end in tears, so I'm better of sticking with food rather than ill-suited couples. I give myself brownie points for trying though (lets make that dark chocolate fudgy brownie points).
The local Woolworth store here has these amazing coconut drops with strawberry jam on the top, and I have been long looking for a recipe. The coconut is sweet and moist, but the little drops hold together beautifully and hardly look cooked--how do they do it? Anyway, I have not been able to find any recipe to compare. But I'm back with the Secret Recipe Club after my post baby break, and I was given the blog A Couple In The Kitchen to cook from. They have a great 4 ingredient recipe for coconut macaroons--and I just had to try it. It's so simple, quick, and gluten free--exactly the type of recipe a new mummy like me needs between baby sleeping and waking. They're also strangely addictive, and are sure to disappear from the kitchen very quickly.

When you first inhale that warm coconut aroma, and the sweet scent of boiling strawberry jam, you will realise that eating these coconut jam drops straight out of the oven is well worth burning the tongue for.

I've adapted the recipe a little to see if I could make them anything like the Woolworth's coconut drops. (It turns out, to my absolute glee, that they are very much like those delicious morsels! They're soft, sweet and moist with a little crunch on the outer--divine!) My husband also has a strong aversion to almond essence, which was in the original recipe, so I made them just vanilla instead. I also did not have sweetened flake coconut (I don't think we even sell sweetened coconut here in Australia!) so I used dessicated coconut, and found that the sweetness from the condensed milk was enough to satisfy any sweet tooth. I think the addition of strawberry jam also added just a little more sugar, and made these darling little coconut jam macaroons the perfect addition to an afternoon tea platter or even a festive little treat for the Christmas table.
Please don't forget to check out  A Couple In The Kitchen's blog...they are recent award winning bloggers!

MAD EASY JAM COCONUT MACAROONS (adapted from A Couple in the Kitchen)

3 cups dessicated coconut (unsweetened)
300g sweetened condensed milk (approx. 3/4 can)
3 tsp vanilla essence
1/4 cup strawberry jam

Preheat the oven to 180C.
Line one large baking tray with non stick paper. In a large bowl, place the coconut, condensed milk and vanilla essence. Stir until well incorporated. Scoop amounts the size of a golf ball into your hand and gently form into a round shape. Using your index finger, make a small indentation to the top, and place on tray and lightly flatten. Repeat until all the mixture is used up. Then fill the indentations with a little jam. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until lightly browned. Allow to cool on the tray before removing.

Makes approximately 18

Choc Chip Cookie Dough Bites

Most people wouldn't believe me when I said I have 6 brothers.
And that I was rarely teased by them.
But both are true.
I can remember just about every instant that I was teased, because it was so infrequently. I'm a super sensitive type, so I suppose that is maybe the reason I didn't get teased as much as most people would have been in my situation.
One instance I remember being teased, if it can be called that, is when my brother told me that I was going to get worms all throughout my body from eating raw pastry dough. I loved eating those "scraps" that were cut off my mother's quiches, and it terrified me that I was full of worms from eating so much of it.
So you can imagine my slight hesitation when I looked at Mis-Cakes Oven Adventures S'mores Cookie Dough Bites recipe and discovered them to be completely raw. I loved the sound of it, but the memories of that pastry incident flooded back, and I had a good laugh.

I made them, ate a few and felt like a very naughty little child for doing so. There's something so wrong about eating raw dough and not at least putting a bit of it in the oven. 

So wrong, but so right, because it's so yummy and you know none of it has to be baked. It's a completely safe recipe, as it contains no eggs, so even heavily pregnant me was able to delight in them. It would be the perfect snack to whip up for a ladies night in.

I didn't have any marshmallows on hand, so I can't honestly say that they are s'mores dough bites. I think they would be amazing with the addition of the sweet and spongy marshmallow bits though. I dipped mine in a little chocolate to make up for the lack of marshmallow. 

Don't forget to head over to check out the other recipes from The Secret Recipe Club reveal!

CHOC CHIP COOKIE DOUGH BITES (Adapted from Mis-Cakes Oven Adventures)

1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
2 tbsp. milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla essence
1 cup plain flour
1/3 cup mini chocolate chips, plus an extra 1/2 cup for melting and dipping if desired
1/2 cup coarsely crushed biscuits

In a medium bowl, beat the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add the milk and vanilla and stir until just combined. Add the flour. Beat until a firm dough forms and all ingredients are incorporated. Add the chocolate chips and crushed biscuits, reserving a few tablespoons of the crumbs for sprinkling later. Stir into the mixture until combined. Roll into balls about the size of a walnut, placing each on a baking tray lined with with non stick baking paper.
Refrigerate for half an hour. Meanwhile, melt the extra chocolate chips. Dip half of each refrigerated dough ball in the melted chocolate and sprinkle with the reserved crumbs. Serve chilled.