As I wrote in my previous post about the Pizza flavoured Savoury Pastries, Italian birthday parties always have some sort of savoury pastries in the menu. After taking care of the kids with Pizza, I though I should make something more suited for the adults (even though, let me tell you that many of the…
PARMIGIANO REGGIANO COOKIES
I love savoury cookies and I love cheese! I had been wanting to make these cookies for a very long time and I finally got a chance for my daughter’s party! These taste AMAZING… so much better than the cheese crackers you buy! These are made with Parmigiano Reggiano and anything tastes better with the…
SMOKED SALMON AND PROSCIUTTO CRESPELLE SNAILS
For my daughter’s 6th birthday party, I wanted to make a few savoury items as well. As the theme was fairies and nature, I thought of playing around with shapes. My first thought was to make sandwiches and cut them into cute shapes, but then I changed my mind as I wanted something a bit…
PIXIE DUST MARSHMALLOW POPS
Pops are always a great idea for kids parties. I love cake pops, but they can be quite time consuming to make and as I was already making quite a bit of time consuming food for Victoria’s 6th birthday party, I decided to go for marshmallow pops instead. They were a great hit at her…
BUTTERFLY CUPCAKES
My eldest daughter requested some cupcakes for her Tinkerbell birthday party. I love cupcakes, I think they are the cutest little things, but I was making a cake covered with fondant, serving marshmallows, chocolate and lots of other sugary items already. The thought of making frosted cupcakes too, was not really appealing to me. I…
TINKERBELL CAKE
My eldest daughter Victoria loves Tinkerbell… she has all 4 movies and watches them endlessly together with her little sister. They sit together on the couch, under a blanket and watch these movies with great pleasure. When the time to choose her birthday cake came, she requested a “Tinky Cake”. I immediately decided to make…
VICTORIA’S 6TH BIRTHDAY
On the 16th my eldest daughter turned 6!!! I cannot believe how fast time flies. Before I had kids, a year seemed to last forever… now it’s finished before I even get used to saying “Victoria is 5”!!! She is turning into a precious little girl and she can look so “grown up” at times……
RICOTTA CROSTATA
After showing you how easy it is to make “ricotta” at home, I thought I would also show you an additional way to cook with it. I love ricotta, both in sweet and savoury dishes. Sicilians are famous for their ricotta desserts and I must admit I love sweet ricotta. It is lighter (also in…
2 YEAR BLOGIVERSARY!
Today we are celebrating my site’s 2nd blogiversary! It feels like yesterday that I sat down at my computer and created Manu’s Menu! I still remember all the research I did and all the hard work I put into figuring out all the technicalities that are behind these pages! I have always cooked, but working…
Peppa Pig Chocolate Cookies
Peppa Pig Chocolate Cookies are playful piggy delights. The chocolatey dough and cheerful icing always bring giggles to the kitchen and make baking feel like a muddy-puddle moment children love. I made these cookies for my daughter’s 3rd birthday party. The theme was Peppa Pig, so I prepared a whole table of themed treats, including…
Peppa Pig Muddy Puddle Cups
Bring giggles to little faces with Peppa Pig Muddy Puddle Cups. Creamy chocolate panna cotta, crumbly cookies, and sweet fizzy worms turn playtime in a cup into a tasty party treat. If you have ever seen an episode of Peppa Pig, you will know Peppa’s favourite game is jumping up and down in muddy puddles….
PIZZA FLAVOURED PIGGY BUNS
I saw these piggy shaped buns on Pinterest and I could not get them out of my mind! They look too cute! As the theme of my youngest daughter’s birthday party was Peppa Pig, I thought it would be a good time for me to try and make them! I had so much fun and…
Peppa Pig Chocolate and Vanilla Cupcakes
Few things brighten a birthday like Peppa Pig Chocolate and Vanilla Cupcakes. The recipe is easy, the flavours are comforting, and the decorations always make little faces light up. These Peppa Pig Chocolate and Vanilla Cupcakes were such a delight to make for my daughter’s birthday party. My children have always loved themed desserts, and…
PEPPA PIG CAKE
My little Georgia is in the Peppa Pig phase… she adores it and would watch it all day long on TV if I let her… So choosing a theme for her 3rd birthday party was quite easy! I immediately decided to make a fondant cake with an image of Peppa Pig on the top. I…
GEORGIA’S 3RD BIRTHDAY
On the 1st my youngest daughter turned 3 and I have been quite busy organising her birthday party. This was also the first time that her nonni were physically present for her birthday, so it was even more exciting for everyone! Yes! My parents are visiting us from Italy and we are having a great…
PIZZETTE
Today I am going to share with you another piece of my childhood. I don’t remember ever attending a birthday party as a child where there was no focaccia and/or pizzette as part of the buffet. Usually you can buy these little pizze (pizzette actually means “little pizze”) at any bakery and kids love them. …
FOCACCIA AL POMODORO – CHERRY TOMATO FOCACCIA
After sharing with you the Basic Focaccia recipe, the recipe for Focaccia with Olives and the one for Onion Focaccia, today I am going to post the recipe for another one of my favourites: Focaccia al pomodoro (aka cherry tomato focaccia)! I remember as a child going to the baker right after school and buying a piece…
MINI CHEESECAKE CUPCAKES
I love cheesecake… who doesn’t? I have made my share of no-bake cheesecakes, but to tell you the truth, I still have to make a baked cheesecake at home. Don’t ask me why, but baking a cheesecake always intimidated me. After making these little gems though, I think I am going to have to bake myself…
CHOCOLATE AND VANILLA SHARK MINI CUPCAKES
I made these mini cupcakes for Victoria’s 5th birthday party. The theme was The Little Mermaid and the sea, so I decided to make the icing blue, like the sea. I decorated them with some shark fins made out of chocolate. As I had already made many sweets for the party, I kept the flavours of…
SWEET SUSHI
I have been wanting to make sweet sushi for a while now! I always thought that it looked great. My daughter’s birthday party was the perfect occasion as it was a “sea themed” party. I have to say that this was probably the most successful dish of the buffet as it did look quite real and impressive,…
SEA MARSHMALLOW POPS
Organising a little girl’s birthday party can be lots of fun… but it also requires a bit of research. Especially when the little one has a clear idea of what she wants (and she’s only 5!). The theme HAD to be The Little Mermaid. So I started looking around the web for ideas (thank you…
THE LITTLE MERMAID FONDANT CAKE
As I am sure you have noticed, my eldest daughter loves The Little Mermaid so she requested an “Ariel cake” for her 5th birthday party. I must admit, I was a bit worried about it as making a human form out of fondant is not as easy as making an animal… in fact, it could…
VICTORIA’S 5TH BIRTHDAY
On the 16th my eldest daughter turned 5 and I have been quite busy organising her birthday parties. She celebrated in school with her friends on the 16th itself and I made her a Little Mermaid Yogurt Cake to take along and some Flounder Shortbread Cookie Pops to give as party favors. When she came…
THE LITTLE MERMAID YOGURT CAKE
Today is my eldest daughter’s 5th birthday. I cannot believe it’s already been 5 years since I first held her in my arms… she was so small! And now she’s growing to be a beautiful and sweet girl. I will be very busy in the next few days as we will be celebrating her birthday…
FAIRY BREAD
The first time I ever heard about “fairy bread” I was at a play-date with 2 other mums. When they explained to me what it was I found it hard to believe that someone could really go crazy for something like “that”. But let me tell you that I completely changed my mind the first…
ONION FOCACCIA
After sharing with you the Basic Focaccia recipe and the recipe for Focaccia with Olives, today I am going to post the recipe for my absolute favourite: Onion Focaccia! I love the taste of soft Focaccia topped with sweet onions… mmmm… I am getting hungry just by writing about it! The recipe is the one…
EASY MERINGUE PIE – MERINGATA VELOCE
Yesterday was my birthday! YAY! Well… usually my husband buys me a chocolate cake from my favourite patisserie in town, but this year he was working in the other side of town and there was no way he could get there in time. So, I made myself a very quick but delicious birthday cake as…
