Petit caramel chocolate surprise ^^

What do you do with leftovers? And boy do I have LOTS of leftover everything from the last bake-out for Big's farewell party!!! 

Well, lucky for me, pook@dailydelicious posted her peanut butter chocolate cups.. and I knew what I could make with my leftover shortcrust dough, toasted almond slices, chocolate ganache filling and caramel filling! Petit caramel chocolate surprise cups, of course! ^^

And the "surprise" could be anything you want to put inside the filling, between the caramel and the chocolate topping.. could be some peanut butter jam, strawberry pieces, toasted nuts, anything that tickles your fancy. ^^ or you could just fill the tart shells with just chocolate and caramel.. but you should know, it does tastes really nicer if there's another layer of flavour in between ^^    

Petit caramel chocolate surprise cups (recipe inspired by daily delicious)

Leftover shortcrust pastry dough

Leftover caramel filling

Leftover chocolate filling

Peanut butter jam, strawberry pieces, or anything you like ^^

Leftover toasted almond slices

1. Put pastry dough into mini tart moulds. Bake at 180C for 15-18 minutes.

2. Place some caramel filling (do not overfill!) into tart shells, and bake for 15 minutes.

3. Remove from oven and place your "surprise" filling, and top with chocolate ganache, and toasted almond slices, if you have/like.

4. Chill for a bit before serving. ^^  

a choc+caramel cup.. the other, can you guess the "surprise" filling? ^^

I love how these petits turned out! Quite quite delicious! mmmmmmm.. ^^

Bon voyage, big!

My Big pig has left.

It's exactly 2 weeks today that he left for college far away in the States. I cried buckets when he left. And I cried every day for almost a week, before my tears finally dried up. I'm good now. And I'm happy he's all settled in nicely and liking the college he picked. And he's making new friends. What exciting times for him! ^^

Anyways, before he left, we had a big farewell party for him. I can tell you, Big pig was a HAPPY boy! Great company, beautiful home/venue by the lake (generously hosted by his aunt Chet) and lots of yummylicious food! What more can a boy ask for, rite! And I think we outdid ourselves with the food! But I'm sure kicking myself for forgetting to charge my camera battery and not taking pics of the mains and desserts.

As always, I volunteered to do the desserts. I made red velvet cuppies, hokkaido chiffon cuppies, apple crumble, peach crumble, banoffee slabs and key lime squares. Big made brownies ^^. I also made mini caramelized onions bacon quiches, mini caramelized onions chicken quiches and of course, macarons, for appetizers, at Big and Baby's request. ^^

my 1st successful macs!

Yup, you heard right. Macarons. The dreaded macarons. Which I've not had any success and had given up on 2 years ago, after 3-4 failed attempts! That one! Aaaaaaaargh! But what to do, my piggies want it.. so I gave it another shot. And finally.. success, at last! But macarons are still "iffy" for me.. sometimes I get them right, but not always! Anyways, I'm soooooo DONE with macarons! No more! Not for a long, long time! ^^  

leftover not-so-nice-looking macs ^^

To my dearest Big, I'm the one who's blessed to have had you to love, and to have you love me back too. So, till you come back in 9 months time.. blinkers on, and kick ass in college! Love you sooooooo sooooooo much! ^^