House Tyrell Apple Roses

For tonight's episode, we've got our fingers crossed for Margaery and Loras so we're paying homage to their wonderful house and their sigil's golden rose with apple rose pastries. They take a long time to make but are well worth it in the end.

Prep time: 3 hours ( 2 for puff pastries and 1 for apple roses)
Bake time: 40-45 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 frozen puff pastry sheet, thawed
• 3 red organic apples (we used red delicious, but you can aim for a more yellow or golden apple to get that perfect Tyrell look)
• Lemon juice
• Extra flour to use when rolling dough
• 3 tablespoons of cherry syrup, which A Song of Spice and Fire pulled from cherry pie filling, without the actual cherries
• about 2 tablespoons of ground cinnamon
• 1 to 2 tablespoons of powdered sugar for decorating

Puff Pastry Recipe:

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup and 5 tablespoons butter, frozen
• 5 tablespoons cold water

First, chill a large metal bowl. Once cold, sift flour and salt into the bowl. Then finely grate all of the frozen butter into the mix, making sure to toss the flour so as to cover all of the butter. Grating the butter is a bit slimy as the stick runs out, so make sure to wash your hands before and after.

Now, evenly pour the cold water into the mix. Careful, though, because too much will ruin your dough by making it too soft. While a fork can be use to mix thoroughly at this point, it may help to just get dirty and mix with your hands. Again, stay clean. Test the mix by squeezing it. (See? Using your hands is a must anyway.) The dough is ready if it holds without crumbling. Don't work the mix too much, or else it'll be too tough. If the mix really isn't ready and the water has been completely mixed, add another tablespoon of water--or less, don't make it too soft--and then work the dough to incorporate until ready.

Since the dough is now mixed well, gather it up into roughly a 5 by 5 inch square (it doesn't have to be anywhere near perfect, so don't stress) and wrap in plastic. Place the dough in the fridge for about 30 minutes. While it chills, chill out on the couch and begin an episode of Game of Thrones, take a nap, read a book from A Song of Ice and Fire, but be ready to take the dough out of the fridge and roll it out on a lightly floured surface, using a floured rolling pin. Create a large rectangle, about a foot by half a foot, or bigger. Then, fold it into a small rectangle, similar to folding a letter. Take the bottom third and fold that on top of the middle third, and fold the top third on top of the bottom. Repeat this twice more, then freeze the dough. Either freeze for storage, or if the plan is to finish baking soon, just refrigerate for an hour.

This recipe is very common, but A Song of Spice and Fire referenced http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/rough-puff-pastry-dough-230789 specifically, although some changes have been made.

Now that you have your puff pastry, back to the apple rose recipe...

Begin by thawing out the puff pastry. The puff pastry can either be purchased or made from scratch, the recipe for which can be found below. Also, reheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit  

Have a bowl ready with water and about a tablespoon of lemon juice. Once that is ready, go ahead and core and slice the apples, leaving the skin on them. Put the slices in the bowl to keep them from browning, because brown apples are gross looking. Microwave the slices for 2-3 minutes so that the slices are easy to shape. Don't be fooled, though, as the slices and water are going to be super hot. 

Next, create a big area, lightly floured, to roll out the dough using a floured rolling pin. Make very thin strips, each 9 inches long and 1 1/2 to 2 inches wide. Spread the cherry filling across each strip, then sprinkle ground cinnamon along the strip. Then lay apple slices along the strip, going down the long edge of the dough. The apples should lay partially atop each other, and be laid one the very edge of the strip. This way, once the strip has apples all along the edge, the strip can be folded over on the apples. Roll the strip up just like a fruit roll up; it's a little tricky so don't let the apple slices escape! Using the puff pastry recipe provided, about 8 or 9 roses can be made.

Place each apple rose in a muffin pan, if the pan is not silicon make sure to grease it. Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 40-45 minutes. Even if apples look cooked  at 30 minutes, the puff pastry is not, but the tray can be moved to a lower rack in the oven. Let the roses cook for the last 10-15 minutes, then remove from the oven. Use a sieve to gently coat the roses in yummy powdered sugar. Lastly, enjoy the desert!

Fruit inspired flowers aren't too rare, but they are rather tough to make. These apple roses were inspired by http://cookingwithmanuela.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/apple-roses.html

We hope you've enjoyed these apple rose pastries as much as we have! Let us know what you think of them in the comments below and we'll see you next time! 

The House of Sugar and Spice: a Fruit Salsa

Oh, my sweet summer children...you have to try this fruit salsa!

Unfortunately, for us, we've fallen behind in watching Season 5 of Game of Thrones, but we're making a comeback with this blog and to kickstart what we're hoping will be a very eventful summer, and years to follow, we've concocted an easy and quick fruit salsa for you

Here's the recipe:

Prep time: 5 minutes
Total time: 5 minutes

You're gonna need strawberries, blueberries, green grapes (but you can try red ones too, let us know what it tastes like in the comments below, we used green for their tartness), honey, lemon juice, and salt.

Here were our measurements, but yours can vary depending on which flavors you want to bring out...

6 strawberries
3/4 cup of blueberries
A dozen grapes
1-2 tbsp honey (to taste)
1/2 tsp lemon juice
a pinch of salt

Cut up your strawberries and grapes so they blend easier, then put them in a food processor (you can try a blender, but we suggest slower speeds because you're aiming for a salsa, not a smoothie, but let us know your results in the comments section). Add the blueberries, honey, and lemon juice then mix to your desired consistency. Lastly, add the salt, try to sprinkle it add evenly, then stir the mixture with a spoon.

You're ready to serve! And, we have a few suggestions:

You can't go wrong with torilla chips (we used Tostitos), plain torillas for a wrap (we spread Nutella on ours before adding the sauce, then add whip cream and syrup on top for ooey gooey perfection), ice cream (you can never go wrong with vanilla, plus we added Nutella again), and waffles. Our dad gave our mom a belgian waffle maker for Mother's Day so she's been making waffles every weekend. We also added Nutella and whip cream to the waffles as well. What can we say? We really love Nutella!

With three episodes left of Season 5, hopefully you'll feel drawn to add our sauce to one of your viewing party menus. Remember: me parties are parties too.

Let us know what you think of our fruit sauce in the comments section below and we'll see you next time!

Olenna Tyrell Hot Toddy

Good ol' Olenna Tyrell and her crafty, clever ways. She definitely reminds us of a southern woman
with her fierce love of family accompanied by a ruthless streak. This is one woman who isn't afraid to get her hands dirty to get done what needs to be done.

And since we hated that little twirp Joffrey, we're glad this tough cookie is in King's Landing!

So for tonight's episode, we'll be raising a glass (well, we older gals anyhow) to Olenna Tyrell and sipping on hot toddies.

Here's to Olenna Tyrell! The matriarch we love the most in Westeros.


Olenna Tyrell's Hot Toddy Recipe: 

- 1.5 oz rum
- 1 Tbsp honey
- 1 c hot water
- 1 bag of black tea
- a dash of lemon

Dragon Treat S'Mores Bars

Chocolate Chip Cookie S'Mores Bars for Your Dragon

If you're anything like we are, you've been killing yourself trying to think of a good treat for you and your dragon to share. Well look no more. You won't need a fire to toast these s'mores, but you will love the melted marshmallows, chocolate chips. and graham cracker crust. 

This original recipe uses chocolate chip cookie dough without brown sugar to create a s'mores cookie bar that even your dragon will want to keep eating. Our dragon loved it! Not to mention that this dessert is easy to make and takes no time at all. Who said you need fire to make a good fireside snack?

Prep time: 15 minutes

Bake time: 25-30 minutes

Makes a 9x13 pan or s'mores bars

Ingredients:

1 cup (2 sticks) softened butter

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups chocolate chips (I used mini chocolate chips)

1 bag (10oz) mini marshmallows

10 graham crackers

3 Tbsp melted butter

Step 1: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 

Step 2: In a large bowl, mix together the 1cup of softened butter and granulated sugar on medium speed. Add eggs and vanilla extract. Cream together.

Step 3: Stir together flour, baking soda, and salt in medium-sized bowl. Add dry goods to the large bowl and mix together thoroughly.

Step 4: Stir in chocolate chips completely. Add mini marshmallows and stir in. Make sure they are completely stirred through the dough.

Step 5: Using a food processor, crush the graham crackers. You can also do this is by putting them in a plastic bag and crushing the crackers with a rolling pin. Pour the graham crackers into a small bowl. Stir in 3 Tbsp melted butter. Using a spoon or your fingers, press the graham crackers mixture into the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Make sure the crust is evenly spread across the bottom.

Step 6: Spread the dough over the graham cracker crust in the pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until the top of the marshmallows is beginning to brown. Test with a toothpick to make sure that it is cooked through completely.

Trust me, these cookie bars are delicious. The graham cracker crust and marshmallows add something extra to a cookie bar that will leave your mouth watering. Not to mention, your dragon's mouth.

Enjoy!

Toasting Joffrey's Wedding with Blood Orange Mimosas

Happy day! Callooh! Callay! It looks like King Joffrey is getting married soon. And since we…love?…him so much that we have decided it’s time for a toast from North of the Wall in his honor. 

You may recall from our last North of the Wall post that the oldest one of us is now living in Germany. Since the rest of us have been nice and warm in Atlanta (relatively... Yes, Starks, winter came to the south), we let our oldest in the not-so-frozen north of Germany warm us up with some tasty drinks. 

For our toast today we’ve decided to settle on Prosecco, the Italian version of Champagne which is just a little sweeter than its French cousin. 

But just pouring out a glass of Champagne and toasting with you all would be pretty boring, so let’s make mimosas instead. 

Remembering the Red Wedding and with a nod towards the future, we’re changing up our fruit a little and using blood oranges for our mimosas. 

Blood oranges are a bit different than the typical orange. With a distinctive red coloring to their pulp, these oranges are a bit smaller than navel ones and also a little sweeter. 

Blood Orange Mimosa Recipe:

2 parts blood orange juice 

1 part prosecco

If you prefer to use champagne or another sparkling wine, that's fine too. 

Let's raise our glasses this week, shall we?