Macaroons with a twist

I've not made macaroons before and always imagined they were tricky, fragile and temperamental. How wrong I was!

Yesterday was the first craft club of 2017 and I had volunteered to take along some cake for our mid-afternoon snack. Trawling through my recipe folder I found a recipe which I think originally came from the Waitrose Kitchen magazine. It was for Date and Walnut Ricciarelli - a type for macaroon which originates from the Italian city of Siena. I think, traditionally, these are a fairly regular almond macaroon but this version has the added zing of orange zest, a hint of orange blossom water, and sweet chewiness of chopped dates.

The list of instructions was minimal but I was concerned how sloppy the mixture would be and, consequently, how messy they would be to roll into a ball and place onto the baking tray. My concerns were completely unfounded and they turned out just like the picture. They also tasted amazing, with everyone asking for the recipe.

These are definitely going to become part of my repertoire for 2017. Delicious!

Mission: poncho

Have you ever started a project and then quickly regretted it? My latest project began in exactly this way.

A few years ago I spotted the instructions for a lovely crocheted poncho in a magazine. The pattern didn't look too complicated - the instructions only covered one page - and it seemed to consist more of holes than yarn so I was keen to have a go.

The opportunity arose when I found out that my poncho-loving friend was going to be spending a month in the UK over Christmas and so I decided to make it for her as a Christmas present. However, as someone who only wears black, I first had to track down some suitable yarn.

The pattern is from the yarn company Bergère de France (from their magazine 166 if you are interested). It's a lace-weight cotton and, perhaps understandably, comes in lovely summery shades, but not black. However, I managed to track down an almost identical weight yarn by Rico Design and was all ready to begin. It was mid-December and was due to meet up with my friend in mid-January so I was feeling confident.

That was until I actually read the pattern. The first instruction was to create a chain of 667 stitches. A bit bewildered as to how I was going to manage to keep count, a colleague at work suggested I put a marker every 50 or 100 stitches. Of course, simple really! So, armed with a collection of unusual but, for this purpose perfect, safety pins I set off.

Unusual safety pins, perfect as stitch markers

Having proudly produced a chain of 667 stitches I looked at the next instruction which was for a series of quadruple-treble stitches linked by chains of 11. Don't worry if you are not a crocheter and this makes no sense to you because I had never come across a 'quadruple-treble' stitch before either so was quickly seeking out instructions before I tentatively set off to complete row one of the poncho...

An hour and a half later I completed the first row. Yes, you read that correctly. It took me an hour and a half to complete one row of the poncho. Only 61 to go! Yes, it was at this point that I had serious doubts about my choice of project/Christmas present. I was also thinking if it would be possible to delay meeting up with my friend, perhaps only agreeing to wave her goodbye at the airport as she flew home again?! Friends were also trying to convince me to give it as a Christmas present in 2017 or even in 2018. However, I am a stubborn - I mean determined - soul and so I ploughed on.

No need to ask or even guess what I did this Christmas and New Year. I crocheted! When it rained - I crocheted. When others were going out walking on lovely crisp sunny days - I crocheted. When I babysat - I crocheted. When I thought about going to the cinema to see that interesting new film by Jim Jarmusch/J.A. Byona - I stayed in and crocheted!

I do have to say that not every row took 1.5 hours. Just two rows in every seven. Two of the rows I could complete in a speedy 15 minutes, and the big loopy rows could each be completed in about 20 minutes. There was a little complication around the opening at the neck (which made a hole far to big but I resolved that at the end by adding a couple of rows to the neck hole) but in the end I completed the final row after about 50 hours of crocheting. I also enjoyed as many hours of podcasts thanks to BBC's Drama of the week and NPR's TED Radio Hour which inspired, entertained and educated in equal measure.

It did take me a further 2.5 hours to finish off the ends and add the tassels, but this final step completely transformed it from a pile of yarn I was, quite frankly, sick of seeing to a really lovely garment.

I completed it just 14 hours before I boarded a bus to meet my friend but it was complete and I was very pleased with the result. I was even more pleased with my friend's reaction. She absolutely loved it. That was worth every hour - every minute - of work I had put in.

Mind you, that doesn't mean I'm going to be rushing to make another one for quite some time.  If ever!

Pavlova Bar

What better way can there be to see in the New Year than helping yourself from a Pavlova Bar? Exactly! So, that's just was I created as my contribution for this year's gathering: three different flavoured meringues; a selection of fruit, some soaked in booze and some completely unadulterated; a couple of sauces; and a pile of whipped cream. What could be simpler for people to help themselves from throughout the evening.

I began the day before by making the meringues. I used three egg whites per flavour which gave me five meringues of each, fifteen in total. Weigh the egg whites and then weigh out twice the weight in caster sugar in a separate bowl. Using a large, very clean bowl and an electric hand whisk, whisk the egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Then, very slowly (about a dessertspoon at a time) add the sugar, whisking in each spoonful thoroughly before adding the next. Once all the sugar is mixed in, continue whisking for another 5 minutes until the sugar has dissolved into the egg whites. If you put a small blob of the mixture between your finger and thumb and rub together you shouldn't be able to feel the sugar granules.

Once you reach this point you can add your flavourings. For chocolate, fold in a dessertspoon of sifted cocoa powder so that you have a marbled effect. For a nutty flavour, stir in 2 tablespoons of finely chopped nuts - I used hazelnuts but you could use pistachios. For something fruity, buy a tube of freeze dried berries - you can buy freeze dried raspberries and strawberries in a tube in the baking section of a decent supermarket - grind up about a dessertspoon of your chosen flavour to a fine powder and fold this into the egg white mixture.

Meanwhile, draw 10cm circles spaced across a sheet of non-stick baking paper, turn the paper so the drawing is on the underside and place on a baking sheet. Heat your oven to 100C. You should still be able to see the drawn circles through the baking paper and so use these as a guide as you dollop your meringue mix onto the baking sheet into a series of discs, leaving a dip in the middle of each (to eventually pile in your cream and toppings). For the berry meringue you could add a few drops of pink food colouring gel to the top of each meringue disc and gently swirl these in with a cocktail stick. If you choose to make pistachio meringue you could do the same with green food colouring. You could also dust the chocolate meringues with a little cocoa powder. Bake for 1.5 hours then leave in the oven to cool, opening the oven door slightly to let any moisture escape.

Repeat the process until you have enough meringues in sufficient flavours.

The rest should be fairly simple. Grab a selection of fruit. I defrosted some cherries, popped in some dried cherries and soaked the whole lot overnight in a generous splash of Kirsch. I also used fresh blueberries, raspberries and blackberries. I chose to provide a salted caramel sauce and some lemon curd 'thinned' to pouring consistency using limoncello.

Actually, lemon curd is a bit of a must, not least because it's one of the things you can make with the egg yolks you have left over after making all that meringue. I found a recipe on line that used all egg yolks rather than a mixture of yolks and whole eggs. I adjusted the quantities as appropriate - I had nine egg yolks to use up which produced two and a half jars of lemon curd. The half jar perfect for adding to the pavlova bar.

Huge thanks to Sainsbury's Magazine and The Meringue Girls for the inspiration, K for the use of her tiered tea plates and table runner and for making the bar sign and to J for the party. Happy 2017 to one and all!