How To - Step By Step To Crystallized/Candied Rose Petals

Ingredients

1-2 egg whites

Organic or un-sprayed Rose Petals  (pink/red are prettiest but can be any colour)

soft watercolour  paintbrush

very fine granulated sugar (castor sugar)

Method

Gently pluck rose petals, it is best to use slightly closed buds...

Place egg white in a bowl...

gently whisk...

Paint petal gently with egg white, do not paint thickly, try to keep it delicate but completely coat the petal both sides...

Cover petal with sugar both sides. I place the petal on the sugar then sprinkle a handful from above over the petal

turn the petal and repeat to the other side so petal completely coated with sugar...

Place petals gently and  carefully onto parchment/cooking paper.  Make sure they "sit" on the paper lightly, if they are too wet (egg white too thick) they will flatten and ultimately stick to the paper...

Place paper gently onto a wire rack to dry or alternatively what I did was to place them in an oven on a very low temperature 50 degrees celsius for 20 minutes.  I then opened the door and allowed them to dry naturally for the remainder of the night....

completed rose petals. Keep dry in an airtight container, do not store in fridge. They should keep a few weeks.

All images above copyright Lee Caroline Art, please email me for re-use

Some Petal Inspiration:

Collage above designed by myself however photos are sourced from the following:

photo 1 - credit Mark Thomas at Bon Appetit Magazine

photo 2

photo 3

photo 4

photo 5

I hope this gives you some "rosy" inspiration.... Next I will be sharing decorating a sweet little Christmas tree in my Christmas colours for this year, Puple and silver.

Lee oxo

&

Poppy

I am linking with:

My Romantic Home

The Rose Garden In Malevik

Rocky Road Bark from Bakers Royale

Today I am thanking Bakers Royale for allowing me to share this recipe and image with you for Rocky Road Bark. Bakers Royale is a fab site full of great recipes, I definitely recommend you pay a visit.  I have made the Rocky Road Bark myself with a few little additions and added some step by step pictures below.  It was so easy to make and a  "hit" with my neighbour, her daughter and my son and his two friends who said it was the best Rocky road ever... my neighbour described it as "designer Rocky road!" So thank you again Bakers Royale for your unique twist on traditional rocky road :)

Rocky Road Bark

Preparation: Line an 8” x 8” pan with enough parchment or

wax paper for a 1” overhang on either side.

·         10 oz dark chocolate chips (Ghirardelli recommended)

·         1 ½ cups of salted almonds

·         1 ½ cups of mini marshmallows

Instructions:

Place chocolate in a saucepan over a low heat and stir continuously until chocolate is completely melted. Transfer chocolate to a heat proof bowl and cool for 5 minutes.

Add almonds and mini marshmallows and stir to combine. Pour mixture into pan. Use spatula to smooth top.  Leave bare or sprinkle with 1/4 cup finely chopped almonds as in the photo above.  Chill for 10 minutes until chocolate becomes solid.

Lift whole bark out of pan by holding onto parchment or waxed overhang. Split bark into pieces with a fork.

Photo and Recipe above credited to Bakers Royale.

My adapted recipe below, I decided to add a cup of dried cranberries for a touch of Christmas spirit.  I increased the chocolate to 400grams to compensate.  

1. Gather ingredients as in recipe above. I used 2 x 200gm bars of cooking chocolate to compensate for the addition of a cup of dried cranberries. You could use milk chocolate if dark is not your favourite. Save a few of the salted almonds to crush for topping to add texture.  I put them into a plastic bag and roughly crushed them with a rolling pin.

2. Break the chocolate up and put in a stainless steel bowl. I then sat the bowl in a steamer over a saucepan of boiled water turned down to simmer.

3. Stir the broken chocolate until fully melted then remove and allow to cool for 5 minutes.

4. Add your almonds (whole), mini baking marshmallows and dried cranberries, stir and pour into the prepared tray as in instructions in recipe above.

5. Allow about half an hour to set then turn out as instructions above.  I sliced with a knife as I had made it a little too thick to use a fork. I recommend you spread it very thin to make the bark as it should be.  I think I could have used 2 smaller tins and made it thinner. However, it was delicious as the chocolate melted in your mouth leaving you with crunchy, salty almonds and sweet cranberries.

6.  You could place some pieces in a cellophane bag and tie with a nice Christmas ribbon.  I chopped my pieces smaller and intend to present as a hostess gift when invited to friends places over the holiday period...hint...hint my NZ friends :).

My Rocky road bark version with a "cranberry" twist!

I have definitely over indulged in 

 the Rocky Road Bark!....hope you had a great weekend.

Lee xox