Passionfruit Macarons

I've attempted macarons a few times now over the years, with very mixed results - the first batch I ever made were overcooked, but had perfect feet (something which I didn't manage this time, although the insides were just the right level of gooey). Part of the inconsistency is due to the pernickety nature of macaron making - and part is also that I never remember which recipe I used the time before!
I avoid recipes which use Italian meringue (I don't own a sugar thermometer, for starters) or egg white powder - I'm a bit of a spur-of-the-moment baker, and so anything which I don't have immediately to hand tends to fall by the wayside.
This time, I used a plain macaron recipe intended to be used to create macaron pops (which I still want to try) from Murdoch Book's Make Me: Cake and Cookie Pops. For the filling, I adapted The Great British Bake-Off: How to Bake...'s butter icing recipe and added the "puree"* of 2 passionfruit (1 gave a better texture, but wasn't zingy enough for me). Lisa advises a ratio of 1.25 buttercream to 1 passionfruit puree - but as mentioned above, I tend to bake on a whim and by the time I get to the icing stage I am officially winging it.

* Apparently passionfruit puree is ridiculously expensive, and I'd had enough of a palaver finding passionfruit (which I love) that I simply cut my passionfruit in half, scooped out the innards, and fed it through a sieve. This got a lovely sweet, yellow juice. I know you can also blend or pulse the passionfruit, and puree them that way - although the presence of the seeds might change the flavour somehwhat.

Strawberry and Rhubarb Crumble

Despite being a lover of crumble (comfort food that reminds me of Sunday afternoons at home with my family? I'm in!), this was the first time I'd ever tried to make it. Turns out it really isn't as tricky as I'd supposed.
I had an idle afternoon, about half a punnet of strawberries in the fridge, a tin of rhubarb in the cupboard (which had traveled to three different houses with me - the marvels of canned food! ...or the wonders of moving three times in eight months. Either way: wowzers), and a copy of Dan Lepard's Short and Sweet on loan from my local library. So why not?
For the fruit filling, I drained the rhubarb, chopped up the strawberries, mixed it all together, and liberally sprinkled with sugar (everything's better with sugar). I might be a bit more inventive next time and add some cinnamon and things (or just remember to have custard. That would help too.)
Whilst trying to find a version of Mr Lepard's crumble mix online, I happened across this wonder of a recipe: Passionfruit Crumble Cake. Definitely one to try, if I can ever find a passionfruit at the supermarket or grocer's (is it only me who has this problem? Are they only in season for a limited time? I know of at least two bars which always have passion-fruit halves to put in their cocktails, so they must be available somewhere!)

Cinnamon Sugar Pull-Bread

Today I made Cinnamon Sugar Bread (originally from Joy The Baker, recipe found via Claire at French For Cupcake) ... sort of.
I've not really worked with yeast before (when I make bread I use those supermarket "mixes" you just add butter to and then knead) - and although I'm tempted to use this as excuse, the ridiculous sticky (and admittedly quite amusing) mess that was my dough was probably caused by two things:
1) A really inappropriate kneading surface (Greaseproof paper. Not attached to anything. I...erm... wouldn't recommend this. Everything gets stuck together, and when you pull it apart there's a sort of cheese string effect - and then your housemate takes photographs of you with a giant gloopy string of dough hanging from your hand. YMMV)
2) A very half-hearted attempt at kneading / forming a proper dough "ball" before letting the mix rise for the first time.
Nonetheless, although the dough couldn't be rolled out and so was in one big clump instead of the wonderful little layers seen at the links above, I persevered - kneading in the sugar and cinnamon mixture as I went along, and coating the top layer of the dough with it. I then slathered it in icing because, well, why not?

Charlene's Chocolate Toffee Crisp Brownies

Last weekend, I rustled up a half-batch of Charlene of Dainty Dresses' Toffee Crisp Brownies.
They were yummy - I was running low on a few things and so winged it a little bit: only used about half the amount of cocoa listed, and chopped up my random chocolate I had been hoarding (some plain, some milk) and used that instead of chocolate chips. Nonetheless, they seemed to be a bit of a hit - I found myself carrying little bundles of them around to distribute to various friends.

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This blog will eventually house bookish ramblings, NaNoWriMo nonsense, chronicles of my baking attempts, and.... whatever else I remember to actually post.