I
always avoid the biscuits in aisle two, averting my eyes while simultaneously
speeding up the trolley. However, last week, I was on a mission and purposefully
went off-course, making a beeline for probably the most decadent there is and
it’s all because I got lured in by some excellent marketing.
Great
imagery coupled with enticing cocktail names had me from the get-go. The worst
thing was that it came on the tail end of Easter and we needed more chocolate
in the house like a hole in the head.
The
kids cleaned up this Easter. I mean really cleaned up. On top of their usual
haul, the three of them won prizes in their school Easter raffle with Master
Ten taking out the top prize – a hamper filled to the brim with goodies.
They
were rapt of course and, as a result, we’ve had chocolate coming out our ears.
To
help save the kids’ teeth, like any good mother would do, I usually gorge the
night before holidays end which simultaneously removes temptation from myself
enabling me to start afresh on the exercise/eating healthy front the following
day. This year, there was just too much so I ended up freezing and hiding it until
all that remained in the fridge was a bunch of boring hollow rabbit body parts
and a trail of chocolate crumbs and tinfoil.
Wednesday
morning, with the kids back at school, and in exercise gear ready for my
morning run, I switched on the computer. And what do you think should pop up
but a new range of Tim Tam biscuits, sculpted into chocolate cocktail glasses
no less!
It was
only Wednesday – the equivalent to a Monday, it being the first day back – but already
I was drooling. Strawberry Champagne (I love strawberry champagne!), Pina
Colada (I love Pina Colada!) – what were Tim Tam trying to do to me and my drop
the two Easter kilos plan?!
Reluctantly,
I scrolled past this imagery and cast it from my mind. Until the following
morning when it appeared again. In addition, later that night, I opened up my
Woman’s Day and turned to a whole page devoting a recipe to Strawberry
Champagne cupcakes, using said Tim Tam biscuits. The Tim Tam marketers had
lured me in and I was sold. I tore the recipe out, and the next day jotted the
ingredients onto my list and headed for the biscuit section.
There
they were, twinkling at me like they’d known all along. I huffily dropped them
in my trolley and looked for the next item: freeze-dried strawberry powder, now
this would be a challenge. No doubt it would be situated with the likes of
gelatins and polentas and other unknowns.
Breaking
my own rule, I strayed from the usual stop-offs and spent a good ten minutes
scrutinising every item in the baking needs. Oh I found all sorts of alluring
items and it took all my will, not to fill my trolley up with them. Instead I
turned away unscathed, apart from a packet of tempura beer batter mix which I’ve
subsequently questioned, and rolled up to the lady stacking shelves.
Predicting
the blank stare it would generate, I asked if she knew where the allusive frozen
strawberry powder was.
I was
already regretting embarking on this recipe as she stared back blankly and I
turned away and continued down aisle three. It was halfway down that said lady
found me.
“I was
just thinking,” she said. “Perhaps you could try strawberry yogurt powder. It
might work and you will find it at the beginning of aisle two.”
Now
that was service and she didn’t even know what it was for. I bet if I’d waved
the recipe in front of her, she too would be drooling and asking for a copy.
Back
home, Miss Seven and I rolled up our sleeves and got in baking mode. She was
soon joined by her brothers and the three of them licked the bowl like piggies
while I popped the cork to the Lindauer Fraise and had a serious bake-off. (The
Lindauer Fraise was for the frosting but the rest would come in handy later.)
They
stopped licking the cake batter bowl long enough to chop the biscuits in half
ready for me to place in the centre of each cup cake, before they tucked into
the frosting bowl with their three spoons.
Anyhow,
the yogurt powder worked a treat and all the fancy marketing wasn’t misleading:
the end result was the best little cupcakes I had ever tasted, even if I do say
so myself. I had two, then felt sick so, after giving several away, stuck the
remainder in the freezer with the rest of the Easter stash.
Now I
just have to trick my brain into forgetting that it’s there.
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