Zumbarons

On a recent visit to Sydney, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to stop by Adriano Zumbo's store and try some of his famous macarons, or should we say, Zumbarons. For those of you who may never have heard of Adriano Zumbo, this man is a renowned pattissier, however, not of the ordinary kind. Here in Australia, he is most definitely famous for his crazy macarons; producing these in flavours completely bizarre and unimaginable, from cola to fingerbun, and pig's blood to hamburger. Adriano is someone who we have been both intrigued and inspired by for quite some time, and thought it was a must to visit his Manly store. Upon walking in the door, it was impossible to miss the beautiful glass and copper cabinet, filled with all manner of delectable goods. We chose a selection of macarons which included Blackened Vanilla, Malted Milkshake, Choc Mint and Choc Donut. We also purchased his book, Zumbarons, which has inspired us to create our own macarons when we have some spare time. Here are some pictures of these gorgeous little sweets that we thought we'd share with you! 

C&S

{Selection of tarts and pastries}

{Selection of Zumbarons}

{Malted Milkshake}

{Our new copy of 'Zumbarons', ready to be used}

{Blackened Vanilla & Choc Mint}

Two Thousand and Thirteen

Happy New Year everyone! 2012 was an incredible year for us both, and we really hope 2013 will be just as incredible! Thank you so much for stopping by our blog whenever you do - we get such a kick out of knowing that others are supporting us from all over the place!

Hoping that you all enjoyed a relaxing, safe and happy Christmas and New Year!

C&S

New Year's Fortune

Homemade Fortune Cookies have been high on our to do list since we found a gorgeous image on Pinterest months ago, and New Year's Eve seemed like an ideal occasion to try them out. We were initially a bit worried about the whole folding process, but, after watching this video tutorial, it was easier than we had anticipated. With their very own homemade fortunes inside, these little treats are going to be the perfect sendoff to the year that's been, and the perfect introduction to 2013... Here's hoping their fortunes come true!

C&S

{Using a template to achieve perfect 9cm rounds}

{Once folded in half, and still pliable, cookie is bent over the rim of a mug to make the crescent shape}

HOMEMADE FORTUNE COOKIES

2 large egg whites
¾ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon zest (optional)
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
8 tablespoons plain flour
1 ½ teaspoons corn flour
¼ teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons white sugar
3 teaspoons water

Write/type fortunes of pieces paper that are about 7.5cm long and about 1cm wide.
Preheat oven to 150°C.
Grease and line two baking trays with non-stick baking paper, and 2 9cm circle templates underneath per tray.
In a medium bowl, lightly beat the egg white, vanilla extract, lemon zest and vegetable oil until frothy, but not stiff.
Sift the flour, corn flour, salt and sugar into the bowl, and add the water (more water may be need if mixture is too thick).
Stir until batter is smooth.
The batter should not be runny, but should drop easily off a wooden spoon (mixture should be somewhere between the consistency of pancake and crêpe batter).
Place level tablespoons of batter onto the baking paper, spacing them about 5cm apart.
Gently use the back of a dessert spoon to make circular motions on the surface of the batter, to form circles about 9cm in size using the templates as a guidelines.
Bake until the outer edges of each cookie turns golden, and they are easy to remove from baking paper with a thin spatula (about 15 minutes).

Working quickly, remove the cookie with a spatula and flip it over in your hand.

Place a fortune in the middle of the cookie.

To form the crescent shape, fold the cookie in half, and then gently pull the edges downward over the rim of a mug.

Place the finished cookie in the cup of a muffin tin, so that it keeps its shape as it cools.

Continue with the rest of the cookies.

Makes about 14 cookies.

NOTE 1: Place no more than 2 cookies in oven at one time. 

NOTE 2: If after cooking and folding the cookies the centres are still soft and pliable, or not golden enough, you can pop the folded cookies back into the oven for a minute or two to let them harden and colour in the muffin tin. Just be careful not to leave the cookies in the oven for too long as they will turn dark brown and/or burn.

http://ceramiccanvas.com/2010/01/homemade-fortune-cookies/

Farewelling Xmas

{A real-life baby reindeer}

It's always something hard for us to accept, but with the New Year only days away now, it is time to say goodbye to the merry and jolly Christmas fever that we have grown to adore over the past few weeks. In order to farewell Christmas, we've put together a small snapshot of a few of our favourite things from this year's festive season.

C&S

{Christmas lights in the city}

{Owl on the clock tower}

{Gingerbread snowflakes}

{An array of wrapped presents beneath the tree}

{Homemade gingerbread house}

{Pretty light display while out night shopping} 

{Festive chocolate cake pops}

Christmas Cupcakes

Seeing as Christmas celebrations are in full swing, we thought it would be the perfect opportunity to whip up some festive cupcakes for the occasion. With the Christmas air around us everywhere we go, and the beautiful smell of pine from the tree filling the house, we were inspired to prepare an array of cupcakes which reflected this jolly season. We used the same vanilla cupcake recipe as previously posted here, and this new vanilla buttercream recipe which includes a bit of lemon juice, adding a beautiful, light touch and cutting through the usual sweetness of the icing. Using roll out icing dyed various shades, we created little candy canes, stars and holly leaves to sit on top of the cupcakes.

Wishing all of our readers a very Merry Christmas!

C&S

Homemade Mixed Berry Cordial

Seeing as we've been blessed with gorgeous, summery weather lately, we were inspired to make something that was light and fresh, and that would be the perfect refreshment coming into the warmer season. We came across this easy recipe for Raspberry Cordial a few weeks ago, and have been waiting for an excuse to give it a go. We adapted the recipe slightly by substituting half the raspberries for mixed berries, which was a simple, yet delicious addition. Not only will the syrup go hand-in-hand mixed with sparkling mineral water or lemonade, but its coulis-like consistency will lend itself perfectly to being topped on vanilla ice cream or accompanying some fresh brownies. 

MIXED BERRY CORDIAL

300g frozen raspberries, just thawed (or 150g each of raspberries & mixed berries)

1 cup (215g) caster sugar

Chilled sparkling mineral water, to serve

Crushed ice, to serve

Combine raspberries, mixed berries and sugar in a medium saucepan over low heat. 
Cook, stirring, for 1 minute or until sugar dissolves. 
Increase heat to high and bring to the boil. 
Cook, stirring, for 2 minutes or until syrup thickens slightly. Remove from heat.

Place raspberry mixture in a food processor and process until smooth. 
Transfer to a sieve and strain into a medium glass bowl. 
Pour into a sealable bottle.

Pour cordial among glasses, top with sparkling mineral water, ice, and fresh mint.

http://www.homelife.com.au/recipe/raspberry+cordial,4026

One Year

Honey & Lulu is finally one year old! We thought it was only fitting to celebrate such a milestone by sharing this cute, Vanilla & Chocolate cupcake from The Cupcake Bakery. It has been such a joy writing and photographing things for our blog throughout 2012, and we couldn't be more happy to know that there are people out there that seem to enjoy Honey & Lulu as much as we love maintaining it. 

Time really does fly, and it seems like only yesterday that we posted our first instalment on Honey & Lulu. We cannot we more thankful to all of you who have been with us since the very start - it is been your kind words of support and encouragement that inspire us to keep doing what we're doing. The past year has been incredibly hectic for both of us, and we know coming in to 2013, it too, is going to be one that will be busy, however we will try our very hardest to post as frequently as we can.

So, we want to thank you again for stopping by Honey & Lulu whenever you do, and leaving us gorgeous messages - you are the reason we continue to post on the blog!

Happy 1st Birthday Honey & Lulu... We look forward to many years to come!

C&S

Liebster Blog Award + Wonderful Team Member Readership Award

Reading lovely comments and messages from readers of Honey & Lulu never fails to put us in a good mood, and after coming across two comments from the gorgeous Bec, author of Daisy and the Fox, we were put in an ultra happy mood. Bec has very kindly nominated us for two more awards! We are again so grateful to have been recognised in this way for our blog, after only being online for nearly a year now. We wanted to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you that read and comment on our posts – it is such a joy to know that others like and support what we’re doing, and we love reading the positive feedback that Honey & Lulu receives.

Bec is not only a fantastic blogger, but also a very close friend of ours, and is always posting the most tantalising recipes and beautiful photos on Daisy and the Fox. We love stopping by her blog whenever we get the chance, and highly recommend that you all do too!

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The first award we received was the Liebster Blog Award. A Liebster Blog Award is given to talented bloggers who have less than 200 followers. ‘Liebster’ is a German word that means ‘Dearest’, but also means ‘Favourite’. So, in a way, the award not only recognises these bloggers as amazingly gifted in their own right, but also as your very own personal favourites.

The rules to keep this award going are as follows:

- Add the award icon to your blog

- Link to your nominator to say thank you

- Answer the questions the nominator has set for you, and create 11 questions for your own nominees to answer

- Choose 11 bloggers with less than 200 followers, go to their blog and tell them about the award

Questions from Daisy and the Fox:

1. Warm or hot weather? Warm

2. Lamp or candle? Lamp

3. Beach or snow? Beach

4. Mac or Windows? Mac

5. Fruit or vegetables? Both – fruit is a great, healthy snack during the day, but no meal is complete without a side of vegetables!

6. Movies or books? Movies

7. Dancing or singing? Singing (in private… aka, the shower!)

8. Vintage or modern? Definitely a mixture of both – old and new are a classic combination

9. Shopping or TV? Shopping, most definitely! However we really do enjoy TV...

10. Red or blue? Blue

11. Smoothie or milkshake? Milkshake (vanilla, always!)

Questions for Nominees:

1. Summer or winter?

2. What’s your all-time favourite movie?

3. Facebook or Twitter?

4. New York, Paris or London?

5. What's your favourite Christmas carol?  
6. Which iPhone app do you use most often?

7. Breakfast, lunch or dinner?

8. What’s your favourite holiday destination?

9. Online shopping or offline shopping?

10. What’s your favourite lifestyle brand?

11. Black & white, or colour photography?

The deserving recipients we have chosen to award are:

- Vintage Kitchen Notes

- Food, Fork & Good.

- The Red Apron

- It Bakes Me Happy

- Walk On The Style Site

- To Food With Love

- Adirondack Baker

- Laura Loves Cake

- Minty's Kitchen

- The Red Apron's Cravings

- Cakes and Teacups

- eat sweet. by carla sue

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The second award we received was the Wonderful Team Member Readership Award. To quote the creator of this award, “As bloggers, we are also readers. That is a part of blogging as listening is a part of speaking”.

The rules are simple – pass on the award to 14 nominees!

The deserving recipients we have chosen to award are:

- XxxLoveIsBeautyxxX
- My Creative Flavours
- Food Corner
- sheislovely
- A Cup of Mascarpone
- Kitchen Belleicious
- Alchemy in the Kitchen
- My Little Expat Kitchen
- Manila Spoon
- Ichigo Shortcake
- Slice of Southern
- The Hungry Mum
- Angie's Recipes
- Bake for Happy Kids
- Sister Couture

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Congratulations to all that have been nominated for these awards – each blog is most certainly deserving of either acknowledgement!

Hoping you all had a wonderful weekend, and thank you once again to Bec for nominating Honey & Lulu for both the Liebster Blog Award, and the Wonderful Team Member Readership Award!

C&S

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Wow, we can't believe it is already December! Which means... Christmas is just around the corner - 19 days to be exact! 

Christmas is definitely our favourite season and a highlight as the year draws to a close. It is such a lovely time of year with the echoes of carols ringing whilst shopping, and baking all manner of festive treats, which fill the house with the comforting aroma of spices such as ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg. Watching the Christmas tree glitter with its colourful ornaments and glowing fairy lights never fails to bring a smile to our faces as the anticipation of Christmas grows. It is a time of year which you can spend with family and friends and give back to others in the community. There is nothing better than embracing the season head-on with a spot of Christmas shopping, gift wrapping and baking (of course!), which was exactly what we did when the 1st of December came around.

{Cinnamon Sitck Red Rose Wreath from Provincial Home Living}

{Homemade advent calendar}

{Gingerbread (using recipe as previously posted here)}

{Sweet printed Christmas gift wrap}