Author: Jeanri Verster

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2019 Do-It-Yourself Gingerbread Kits

The Festive Season is around the corner, so it is time to stock up on gifts for the special people in your life … from family and friends, to colleagues and clients. And don’t forget the teachers! Cooking Up A Storm’s Do-It-Yourself Gingerbread Kits make great gifts and will really get those creative juices flowing this Festive Season. It is the perfect activity to keep kids entertained during the long school holidays.

Since it was launched in 2017, hundreds of children (and adults!) have been assembling and decorating our gingerbread items with family, friends and colleagues.  Our gingerbread kits are very popular because they are freshly baked and have no added preservatives. They are also 100%  South African! Each kit is packed in a sturdy box – ready to either be placed under the Christmas Tree or to pack on holiday. Our 2019 Do-It-Yourself Gingerbread items for 2019 are:

3D Gingerbread Santa’s Sleigh Kit

This kit consists of everything you need to decorate and build a jumbo size Santa’s Sleigh:

  • 5 x pre-baked gingerbread cookies, royal icing, black and red food colouring, disposable piping bags, comprehensive easy-to-follow instructions, etc. The assembled sleigh measures 13 cm in height.
  • Please note: candy not included.

3D Gingerbread North Pole Express Train Kit

This kit consists of everything you need to decorate and build a North Pole Express Train:

  • 20 x pre-baked gingerbread cookies, royal icing, black, red, yellow, green and blue food colouring, disposable piping bags, comprehensive easy-to-follow instructions, etc. The train consists of a locomotive and three wagons.
  • Please note: candy not included.

2D Gingerbread Nativity Scene Kit

This kit consists of everything you need to decorate and build a Nativity Scene:

  • 33 x pre-baked gingerbread cookies, royal icing, black, red, yellow, green and blue food colouring, disposable piping bags, comprehensive easy-to-follow instructions, etc. The kit consists of 11 characters: Jesus in the crib, Joseph, Mary, three wise men, a shepherd, four sheep, a donkey, a camel, an angel and a stable. The details are stamped onto the cookies before it is baked, which makes decorating easy. There is also support piece(s) for each of the characters.

3D Large Gingerbread House Kit

This kit consists of everything you need to decorate and build a large gingerbread house:

  • 6 x pre-baked gingerbread cookies, royal icing, green and red food colouring, disposable piping bags, quality candy & sprinkles, comprehensive easy-to-follow instructions and a 25 cm x 25 cm cake board. The assembled house measures 16 cm in height.

This kit is also available in a “Bake It Yourself” kit. If you prefer to also bake the house panels from scratch, this is the kit for you! This kit includes the dry ingredients needed to prepare the gingerbread cookie dough from scratch, templates for the panels of a large gingerbread house, a variety of quality candy, royal icing, disposable piping bags and a comprehensive instructions.

Jumbo Gingerbread Man Kit

This kit consists of everything you need to decorate two jumbo gingerbread cookies:

  • two pre-baked gingerbread cookies, royal icing, green and red food colouring, a variety of candy, comprehensive easy-to-follow instructions, etc.

Please visit our online shop to place your order. Please note that the cookies are baked to order. The kits can either be collected from Northcliff (JHB) or couriered (Postnet to Postnet) in South Africa. Please note that it takes 3 to 5 working days for a kit to be couriered from one Postnet to another.  Please take this into account in your planning when your order.

Want to turn the activity into a group workshop?

  • If you prefer to decorate and assemble our gingerbread kits with our assistance? We will be announcing public workshop dates for our 2019 Gingerbread Cookie Decorating Workshops soon. It is also possible to book a Gingerbread Cookie decorating workshop for a private group on a date of your choice.  The workshop can take place at your house or at one of Cooking Up A Storm’s approved venue’s in Gauteng. Please contact us as soon as possible to secure a date as our diary is filling up fast! Please make contact for more information.

Looking for a special gift for a special person?

Are you looking for a gingerbread cookie sleigh, train, Nativity Scene or house that is already assembled and decorated to give as a gift or to use as part of your Festive Season decor?  Please make contact for a quote if you would like us to deliver it to your house or office.

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Hot Cross Buns

Fill your kitchen and your home during this Easter time with the spicy aroma of the very best home made Hot cross buns, made with real ground spices and baked with love for your family and friends!   One of the highlights on the calendar of worldwide annual baking traditions are these buns. A feeling of expectation arises when the pervasive spicy aroma of flavourful yeast-risen buns fill the air in many home kitchens.   Be sure to also try the recipe for Hot Cross Hybrid (Pain Au Chocolat), an Easter-themed pastry.

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Hot Cross Hybrid

This recipe is a cross (excuse the pun!) between a Hot Cross Bun and the popular French pastry, pain au chocolat, which is made with yeast-leavened dough and filled with chocolate.  “Pain au chocolat” literally means chocolate bread.

Be sure to also try the traditional recipes for traditional Croissants and Hot Cross Buns.

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Choc-chip Chocolate Cupcakes

These double chocolate cupcakes were requested by my daughter Mia for Valentines Day.  Thank goodness I baked and decorated them yesterday morning!  With the frequency of load shedding these days it would not have been possible to make them today!

125 ml sugar
2 large eggs
140 g/250 ml cake flour
60 ml cocoa powder
5 ml baking powder
pinch salt
30 ml oil
5 ml vanilla extract
50 g chocolate chips (optional)

Buttercream Icing
100 g butter
500 ml icing sugar
60 ml cocoa powder
2 ml vanilla extract

To decorate
heart-shaped sprinkles

  1. Preheat the oven to 180 °C.
  2. Line a medium muffin tin with paper cupcake wrappers and grease them with non-stick cooking spray.
  3. Beat the sugar and eggs together in a mixing bowl.
  4. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.
  5. Pour the batter into the cupcake wrappers and bake the cupcakes for about 15 minutes or until the cupcake are firm to the touch and thoroughly baked if tested with a skewer.
  6. Remove the muffin tin from the oven and cool the cupcakes in the tin for 5 minutes.
  7. Beat the butter with an electric hand mixer until fluffy.
  8. Add the icing sugar, cocoa powder and vanilla extract and beat well.
  9. Transfer the buttercream icing to a piping bag fitter with a star nozzle and pipe the icing decoratively onto the cupcakes.
  10. Sprinkle the cupcakes with heart-shaped sprinkles.
  11. Transfer to a serving platter and serve.

12 servings.

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Authentic Panna Cotta

This classic Italian dessert Panna cotta is made of sweetened cream which is thickened with gelatin and usually moulded. The cream may be flavoured with vanilla, coffee, rum, etc. Although the name does not sound appetizing at all (it means ‘cooked cream’ in Italian), panna cotta is silky smooth with a melt-in-the-mouth texture and is as close to perfection as it gets!

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Biscuit Cream Tarts

Biscuit Cream Tarts, also known as Number or Alphabet Cakes, are still all the rage!  These popular tarts were created by the Israeli pastry chef Adi Klinghofer and consists of layers of cookie, pastry or cake with a creamy filling between the layers and topped with anything from fresh flowers, to fruit, macarons, meringues, candy, etc.

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Gingerbread House Workshops 2018

What better way to kick off the Festive Season than with assembling and decorating your own Gingerbread House?   It is a great culinary activity for kids and adults alike!   We will provide everything you will need to assemble and decorate your very own Gingerbread House: pre-baked house panels, a cake board, royal icing, variety of candy, step-by-step instructions, etc.

If you prefer to assemble and decorate your Gingerbread House in the comfort of your own home or while on holiday, we also have Do-It-Yourself Gingerbread House Kits in a variety of sizes. They are great to give as a gift or for a fun culinary activity for the holidays.  In our kit you’ll find everything you need to assemble and decorate a gingerbread house – from pre-baked gingerbread house panels, to royal icing, a variety of quality candy, easy-to-follow instructions, etc.   Each kit is packed in a sturdy box and wrapped in gift wrap with a gift tag – i.e. ready to either be placed under the Christmas Tree or to pack on holiday!

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2018 Do-It-Yourself Gingerbread Kits

The tradition of decorating Gingerbread Houses is over 1,000 years old! If you haven’t done it before, it is not too late to start a gingerbread house decorating tradition in your family or circle of friends. It is the perfect activity to spend quality time with your loved ones during the Festive Season while creating a Gingerbread House masterpiece!  You can even turn it into a gingerbread house building contest if you prefer!  It’s the perfect activity to keep kids and adults alike entertained during the long December holiday’s!

Get the creative juices flowing this Festive Season with Cooking Up A Storm’s Do-It-Yourself Gingerbread House Kits. Since it was launched in 2017, hundreds of children (and adults!) have been assembling and decorating our gingerbread houses with family, friends and colleagues.  Our houses are so popular because they are freshly baked and have no added preservatives. They are also 100%  South African!  In our kit you’ll find everything you need to assemble and decorate a gingerbread house – from pre-baked gingerbread house panels, to royal icing, a variety of quality candy, easy-to-follow instructions, etc.   Each kit is packed in a sturdy box and wrapped in gift wrap with a gift tag – i.e. ready to either be placed under the Christmas Tree or to pack on holiday.

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National Braai Day 2018

Today is Heritage Day, also known as National Braai Day.  South Africans country-wide are celebrating their cultural heritage by spending time with friends and love ones around a braai!. There are of course no rules when choosing what you are going to braai – whether it is tjops, wors, chicken, ribs, fish or fillet!.  You can braai whatever lights your fire!  

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Raw Fish Is Delish!

If you are worried about embarrassing yourself in front of your date, or even worse, a client, because you do not know the difference between the terms carpacchio, ceviche or crudo on a restaurant menu, don’t fear, the answers are here.  Included in this post is basic info on some of the most popular restaurant options containing raw or partially cooked fish or seafood.  After reading this, you will be able to navigate a restaurant menu like a pro.  Not to mention using foodie lingo in conversations. Recipes containing raw fish or seafood can be prepared at home with great success, as long as the freshest and highest quality fish or shellfish is used. Be sure to read the post How To Handle Raw Fish before trying these recipes at home.

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How To Handle Raw Fish

While raw fish may seem like a strange dinner choice for some, chefs around the world are constantly experimenting with new ways to include raw fish and seafood on restaurant menu’s. Read the post Raw Fish Is Delish! for basic info on the most popular recipes where raw or partially cooked fish is used. The photo’s are guaranteed to convince you to try it at least once!

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