Bonds Bright Night: Launch Party at The Rook feat. The Rubens!

Bonds Bright Night: Launch Party at The Rook feat. a live performance by The Rubens (Photos by me and also Morgan from Mojomade Blog)

I’m still thinking about the amazing Lolly Buffet at the Bonds Bright Night event last week! And it’s been so great to be reminded of my exciting night while uploading these photos. Four other bloggers – Morgan, Connie, Steph Emily and I were invited to attend the Bonds Bright Night party here in Sydney. It was held at The Rook bar, beautifully transformed into a whimsical playground full of fresh flowers, lollies, lanterns and candles.

While I enjoyed fruity cocktails I helped myself to the Lolly Buffet – sherbets, jelly beans, smarties, lolly pops, heart and shaped chocolates found their way into my goodie bag. I then mingled amongst the winners of the Bonds Facebook competition enjoying their night drinking with my fellow bloggers.

The night just got better, The Rubens came onto the stage and effortlessly brought a noisy crowd to quiet as we watched the band prepare their instruments. Everyone gathered towards the front in anticipation and as soon as lead singer Sam dropped the first note everyone screamed! All of us then danced, cheered our beers and bopped our heads to the music as they sang songs like ‘Lay It Down’ and ‘My Gun’.

With beautiful lanterns above us, great music and fresh flowers everywhere, my night at the Bonds Bright Night was something special. I am just as excited about the new BONDS Collectibles range (you can view here) as Bonds are. I also know that the winners from the special Bonds Facebook competition were just as excited too.We all had a great time. Thank you Bonds for the night!

You can view the BONDS Collectibles range here, with new colours and patterns released every month. Bonds is available online, and stocked at Myer, Big W, Target, David Jones, Best and Less and Harris Scarfe.

A Recipe: Chocolate Crackles Cookies via The Great Australian Bake-Off

Chocolate, Chocolate, Chocolate. It never disappoints with my circle of friends and colleagues, and most importantly, it never disappoints me. So flicking through my new book from The Great Australian Bake-Off, intending to dog-ear only complicated recipes to challenge myself, I found myself drawn to these simple and delicious cookies. These are made with dark chocolate ( 70% cocoa was stressed) to create a not-too sweet but rich taste and is then doused in icing sugar. Hmmm....

A Recipe: Chocolate Crackles Cookies via The Great Australian Bake-Off 

Ingredients (Makes 30):
100g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), roughly chopped
100g unsalted butter, softened
150g brown sugar
1 large free-range egg, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
175g self-raising flour
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/2-2 teaspoons icing sugar

1-2 baking trays, greased

Instructions: 
1. Put the chopped chocolate into a large heat-proof bowl and set over a pan of steaming-hot but not boiling water (do not let the base of the bowl touch the hot water). Leave to melt gently. Remove the bowl from the pan and stir in the butter. When the mixture is completely smooth, stir in the sugar. Leave to cool for 5 minutes.

2. Beat the egg with the vanilla just until combined, then add to the bowl. Sift the flour and bicarbonate of soda into the bowl and mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon. Cover the bowl with cling wrap and chill for about 1 hour or until firm.

3. Preheat the oven to 200*C. Divide the chocolate dough into 30 even-sized pieces and roll into neat balls. Spoon the icing sugar into a shallow dish. Roll the balls, one at a time, in the sugar to coat thickly. Set the balls on the prepared baking trays, spacing well apart to allow for spreading. (Bake the biscuits in batches, if necessary).

4. Bake for 10 minutes for a softer biscuit, or 12 minutes for a crisp result. Remove from the oven and leave on the trays for a minute, then transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool completely. The biscuits will continue to firm up as they cool. Store in an airtight container and eat within 5 days.

** This recipe was taken straight from the The Great Australian Bake-Off Recipe Book and only found one issue with the process of baking: my cookies did not flatten out, instead it stayed in a round ball shape. At about the 8-9 minute mark of the cookies being in the oven, I just simple got my wooden spoon and pushed the dough down quickly and then let it bake for another minute or so.

The surface of the cookies are meant to crack to look like crazy paving as they cook. They look amazing and taste so good, taking only half an hour to make (with one hour waiting time in the fridge).

Happy Baking! xx