Homemade rose creams – think pink
What was I thinking of when I gave my sugar-addict 12 year-old daughter a sweet making recipe book for Christmas? Was it a case of displaced present-giving (when you buy something you want for a member of your family)? Or an urge to shop in my comfort-zone (as exhibited by my husband when he bought me a putter for my birthday after I’d had three golf lessons)? Or perhaps nostalgia?
My most avidly read non-fiction when I was 12, was a cook book called ‘How to make sweets’ and I think it was by Marguerite Patten. This plain-looking paperback with no pictures stimulated my childish cooking imagination. I remember talking my lovely Gran into letting me attempt toffee-making in her kitchen but ended up with a treacley mess. Sweet-making is much more difficult than you imagine, especially without the right equipment (a sugar thermometer being top of the list). The fall-back, no-cook recipe that my sister and I made most often were peppermint creams. A dough made of icing sugar bound with egg white, a drop of peppermint essence and some green food colouring, rolled out and stamped into hundreds of little rounds with an apple corer.
My own daughter is much more ambitious than I was and turned browsing into action pretty quickly after receiving the book. I was presented with a long shopping list and the kitchen commandeered until I had to put a limit on the amount that she was allowed to make in one week. I tried to channel this enthusiasm by suggesting a home-made sweet stall at her school Spring Fair which I’ll tell you about some other time.
One of the first recipes she made though, was actually a more luxurious version of our old favourite. Rose creams have a boudoir kind of name and make you want to drape yourself over a velvet chaise longue to nibble one.. or two… or three.
My daughter made these unsupervised by me. She did a good job of making them didn’t she? They would make a superb gift if going out for dinner or just an indulgent treat at home. And if you eschew soft centres in a box of chocolates (like I do – orange creams – yuk) let me tell you these are nothing like. Be warned of their addictive nature (oh and dogs like the look of them too!).
If you have a penchant for pinkness you might like to pop over and visit Sarah at Maison Cupcake who is hosting this month’s Mingle themed ‘Think Pink’ (brainchild of Meeta of What’s for lunch, Honey?
Rose creams – slightly adapted from Life is Sweet by Hope and Greenwood*
Makes 20 rose creams
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons double cream
- Pink (rose) gel food colouring
- 3 tablespoons rose syrup
- 275g (10oz) icing sugar
- 200g (7oz) good quality,dark chocolate, broken into small bits
- 1 teaspoon groundnut oil
Method
- Place the double cream, a small dab of pink food colouring and the rose syrup into a bowl and mix well. Sift the icing sugar over the cream mixture and stir to combine. Tip the mixture out onto a work surface lightly dusted with icing sugar and knead the fondant with your hands until it all comes together in a firm ball (add more icing sugar if necessary). Place in the fridge for about 30 minutes.
- Using your hands, roll 20 teaspoon-sized lumps of mixture into balls, then flatten them slightly and place on a plate. Heat 5cm (2in) of water in a pan. Pop a heatproof bowl on top, making sure that the bottom of the bowl is not touching the water. Place the dark chocolate and the groundnut oil in the bowl and warm until melted. Remove from the heat and cool for 10 minutes.
- Line a large, flat baking sheet with baking parchment. Carefully take a fondant ball, one at a time, and, using two forks, dip it in the melted chocolate until coated all over. Do this quickly, as you don’t want to melt the fondant. Place the coated fondant ball onto the baking parchment. Leave to cool and set in a cool place.
*Read Leotie Lovely’s very entertaining interview with Miss Hope.
What were your favourite childhood sweets (or candy if that makes more sense where you live)?
Trackbacks
- Think Pink! The Monthly Mingle Round Up | maisoncupcake.com
- Souffle suspense – Come Dine With Me Dubai (part 3) « My Custard Pie
- Sticky ginger cake with Turkish Delight icing | My Custard Pie
- A glance over my shoulder – top 10 posts of 2013 | My Custard Pie
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My Custard Pie 
I too was a Marguerite Patten fan in the same era Sally – I still have her ‘all colour cookbook’ which I was awarded at school!
Childhood favourites would be rhubarb and custard sweets, and cough candy (dragon sweets) but I would have no idea how to make them!
I do remember making home made fudge involving lots of Fussells condensed milk (and I would polish off the the tin!) at Christmas…..these rose creams look DELICIOUS and yes I would definitely nibble them in my boudoir!
I also adore rhubarb and custard sweets (quelle surprise!). Condensed milk fudge recipe to follow soon (the stuff that sold out at DC fair).
Oh my god. We can make these? That’s it – Diet’s gone!
A little bit of what you fancy does you good!
SO pretty. The pink colour is just perfect.
I remember making ‘Honeycomb Toffee’ from an ancient, war time like cook book. You boiled up the sugar/syrup mixture, then added bicabonate of soda, and it frothed up, like a ‘Crunchie’ ,but more freeform! It was much easier than toffee (Mum had to throw one of my burnt saucepans away!) and fun doing the bit where it all foamed up.
The rose creams look amazing…
Thumbs up for your daughter!
I was 10 when I bought my first pastry book (I was gathering the money that my parents were giving me for breakfast). I wanted to start with something big so I was trying to make complicated multilayered cakes but the end result was always a collapsed mess. Fortunately, my father was eating everything no matter how messy it was looking.
I see a chef in the making. Will we be sampling these at the park this afternoon?!
Those look absolutely delicious!! Great job by your daughter, even more impressive is that she did it un-supervised! You must be a proud mummy
Wish I could make something that looked even remotely as good 😛
What a delightful post from start to finish!
I used to think pink, (with 2 daughters, to be expected) till they both swore of pink and have claimed blue and purple as their faves. Saying that, they would be tempted to indulge in these, as would I. Great to give you daughter the confidence to do it on her own! Was it hard to let her loose and stay out?
I was remarkably restrained and left her to it! We went through that pink phase too.
How luscious!! I adore anything with rose water in it, and this chocolate is one that me, my honey, and all my friends would swoon over! *sigh* Wish I could have one right now! 🙂
HEAVENLY! rose and chocolate= sid’s addicted.
Hasn’t she done a wonderful job! And the chocolate is all shiny and gorgeous! You have a budding chocolatier there, Sally… 🙂
Oooh, and I meant to say, I love your teapot mug!
I love it too – it was bought in UK from a supermarket.
Guess what? I just made them!!!! 🙂 They’re in the fridge cooling right now. I’ll photograph them and make a post about them later, linking back to your website.
I’m keeping some for us and giving some away to a gal who’s having a birthday tomorrow. I also made her some cashew chocolate no-cook fudge that took all but 5 minutes to make, as well as some chocolate covered pretzels. I’m sure her favorite of the three confections will be the rose creams! 🙂 Anyway, thanks so much for passing along an awesome recipe!! I really appreciate it!! 🙂 Cheers! sheila
That’s brilliant Sheila – can’t wait to see the pics. Enjoy.
hi Sally, I just made a post about them if you’re interested in seeing the pics. And by the way…these lovely candies are amazingly delicious!! Thanks! 🙂
By the way, which book was the recipe found in? Was it “Life Is Sweet” or “How to Make Sweets”? I might have to buy that book and see what other wonderful recipes are in it. 🙂 Thanks again! sheila
It’s from Life is Sweet (I reproduced the recipe as it had already been published online via the Daily Mail). We’ve tried quite a few recipes and the instructions are clear (and the prose humerous) with some lovely pics.
Thanks so much, Sally! I’ve added that book to my wish list! 🙂
That’s exactly the type of book I’d have been reading at that age. I love these rose creams, I think they might be my favourite Think Pink entry I’ve seen so far! Thanks for taking part!
High praise indeed – thanks Sarah…my daughter will be thrilled.
Your daughter is already a chef! what a wonderful creation. The sound of rose cream transports me to dream land, a land of fairy tales. So beautiful.
Oh how lovely- beautifully done by your daughter! And…inevitably, these remind me of a scene from Chocolat (Juliette Binoche). Yet, another recipe I’ll be adding to my to-do list, thanks to you. These are such a fun idea for a gift!
Oh yes – Chocolat! I hadn’t thought of that….was it ‘nipples of Venus’?!
these look diiiii-vine. where’d you get rose syrup?!!
My local supermarket – it’s an everyday ingredient here in the Middle East (which makes the mind boggle really!)
Oh my, how I adore Rose creams. These look heavenly: can’t wait until my daughters are old enough to make them for me!
Goodness! What are these? They not only look pretty, I just want to bite into them:)
Rose creams – one of my most popular every posts and they are divine…
I can well imagine!
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