Lipsmacking Blarney Kisses - Mwah!

Pin It



Sometimes a kiss will leave your heart pounding. Sometimes a kiss will leave your legs trembling. Sometimes a kiss will make your head spin. If all three sensations occur at once, and you begin to speak with unaccustomed expressiveness, there is only one possible explanation: you have just kissed the Stone of Eloquence (aka the Blarney Stone).

The experience goes something like this:

Stroll through beautiful blossom-filled gardens that line the approach to the 15^th century tower.

Blarney Castle, Co. Cork

Next, climb the steep, narrow, shadowy spiral of stone that could loosely be described as a staircase - but could more believably pass for a curly ladder, with steps worn to a smooth shine by 500 years of history.

Don't look down!

By the time you have ascended 6 hair-raising flights, your heart is galloping and your legs are shaking – from exertion or from terror or both. Now all you have to do is lie on your back on the parapet and wriggle over the edge. Don't worry, a friendly Irishman will grab a hold, preventing you from falling to your death.

There follows an enormous backbend (lucky you took those ballet/yoga classes eh?) as you pucker up and slap a kiss on the legendary blue stone – which is embedded much further down the battlements than you originally thought. If your eyes aren’t squeezed shut with fright, you’ll get a fleeting view of the perfect green lawn 6 storeys below. Eeeek!

The stone from below, (just above the top window);            "Don't look down";

Before you have time to panic, you are helped to your feet. You did it! Wait a few moments and pretend to admire the astounding view while your heart rate returns to normal and your head stops spinning.

Now all you have to do is get back to ground level, via another terrifyingly whirly flight of stairs.

Here is my latest creation – the Blarney Kiss. It is a walnut shortbread, with a toffee/caramel embedded to represent the stone, and a white chocolate x on top for the kiss. Whimsical? Yes,  but be sure to pack a few of these when visiting the Stone of Eloquence. You'll be grateful for the sugar hit as you make your way back to the ground.

Have a kiss and a cuppa!

For approximately a dozen kisses you will need...to pre-heat the oven to 170°C

175g butter, softened

80g caster sugar

200g plain flour

50g corn flour

¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

a pinch of fine table salt

50g walnuts, roughly chopped

2 tablespoons iced water

approximately 12 soft toffees/caramels

75g white chocolate

1          Place the butter and sugar in a food mixer or a large bowl and mix together until fluffy and paler in colour.

2          Mix in the plain flour, corn flour, vanilla extract, salt, chopped walnuts and iced water and mix just until the ingredients come together in a ball.

Press a toffee 'stone' into the centre of each

3          Roll the ball of paste out on a floured surface to an oblong roughly 7mm / ¼ inch thick and using a knife dipped in flour, trim to a neat rectangle.

4          Cut the paste into rectangles large enough to frame the toffee/caramel which you are going to embed in the centre of each - making sure to push the toffee into the paste but not all the way through. Transfer to a non-stick (or lightly floured) baking sheet. Squash any off-cuts into a ball and re-roll.

5          Bake the cookies in the pre-heated oven for 12 – 15 minutes or until the biscuit is evenly golden and the toffee has melted.

6          Transfer to a cooling rack. When cold, melt the white chocolate and using a piping bag (or a freezer bag with a tiny corner snipped off) place an x (the kiss of course!) on top of this melt-in-the-mouth shortbread.



Mwah!

These are not sophisticated, but they are Mwah!
X

Pin It