Pink Tapioca Tea Party

Do you like tapioca? I had never tried it until yesterday. I came across a pretty little recipe that showed photos of the tapioca served in individual ramekins with fruit on top. So I bought a box of instant tapioca and gave it a try!

Then I thought, what about pink tapioca? Why not! First I added some marachino cherry juice to the mixture, but I could see that it wasn't going to be pink enough for me, so I added a drop of pink coloring! I thought using teacups instead of ramekins would be adorable for a tea party, and I garnished them with pink hydrangea flowers from my garden. The pink of the hydrangea looks more violet colored next to the pink tapioca!

Then I noticed that I had a box of mini tart shells just lying there and I thought pink tapioca tarts? They were luscious!!

The teacup looked so pretty garnished with a pretty pink amaretti cookie! (see my previous post for the recipe)

What did I do with all of these pink lovelies you ask? I threw a tea party for my daughter!

Here is the recipe for you to try:

Classic Vanilla Tapioca

Ingredients:

1/2 cup sugar

4 tbsp instant tapioca

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs, lightly beaten

3 1/2 cups milk

Combine all the ingredients in a medium saucepan. Set aside for 10 minutes to soften the tapioca. Over medium heat, bring mixture to a full, rolling boil, stirring almost continuously (more stirring means less chance of burning the milk). Pour the mixture into individual teacups or ramekins and refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours.

I started thinking how fun it would be to try different variations .... cherry vanilla - add a bit of marachino cherry juice and garnish with a marachino cherry, or raspberry rose - add a bit of rosewater to the mixture and top with a raspberry.....don't get me started!

I thought the tapioca was delicious! Have a delicious day!

Having Fun with Pink Amaretti

I've been wanting to bake some Amaretti for a while, and it won't surprise you to see that my Amaretti are PINK! Never heard of pink Amaretti? Well, I really think that adding the color pink to anything improves the flavor! (LOL)

I just purchased these adorable bags from this etsy shop. As soon as I got them, I wanted to bake something pretty to fill them with! I don't think they are meant for baked goods because they aren't greaseproof, but I love them! (and Amaretti don't have any butter or oil!)

I couldn't decide how to decorate them, so I tried them three different ways. First, I pressed a royal icing flower onto the cookie before baking.....

Then I decorated some with sprinkles.....

And finally, I sprinkled some with powdered sugar before baking. I couldn't decide which I liked the best! The recipe is called Crisp Amaretti, and I got the recipe here. I must have done something wrong, because the cookies didn't turn out crisp, but soft and chewy. They have a really good flavor being made from almond flour, egg whites, powdered sugar and almond extract. There are many many different versions of Amaretti, and I'm going to try several more to compare.

Whether they are crisp or chewy, these little cookies are very yummy,and this recipe is very easy! The hardest part is waiting the 2 hours for them to sit before baking. (not all Amaretti recipes call for this step)

So get your pink food coloring, sprinkles and all your little do dads together and have some fun with Amaretti! Then share the love!

Lovely Lovely Meringues

I adore meringues...... that crispy, melt in your mouth cookie. I like the fact that you can pipe them any shape you want, and color them to match your party theme. I like that you can add a bit of flavoring to them, or add chocolate chips or nuts. Today I tried a meringue recipe that used powdered sugar instead of granulated, and egg whites. Just two ingredients - how simple is that?!

I got the recipe from here. I tinted mine a pale green with sprinkles for fun, then I used an open star tip and piped them in a sort of "S" shape.

Make these when you know you won't be needing your oven for the rest of the day because they go in at a very low temperature, then stay there until they are dry. They don't really bake, they dry. Some vintage recipes call these forgotten cookies because you tend to forget that they are in the oven!

Here are some other beautiful meringue photos that I found on Pinterest that I wanted to share.....

Gorgeous! Love the soft colors.....

Love the pale aqua with sprinkles to match the cloth underneath...

Lovely rosewater meringues!

Beautiful pink & shabby meringues...

Pink Meringues piped in a rose shape then dipped in chocolate!

The fear with meringues is that they don't do well in humid weather. I actually made these today with it raining outside, and they're fine. What you do when they are ready is take them out of the oven, cool them, and put them in a zip lock bag. They will be fine for many days as long as you keep them air tight! So get your creative juices flowing and make some lovely meringues for your next party! Just click on the link for the recipe. Have a great day!