‘New Holland’s youngest author launches her first book, ‘Party Food for Girls’

 Oratia locals and party experts, Alessandra and Arantxa Zecchini, continued the theme of ‘West is Best’ at Lopdell House in Titirangi last night, launching their new children’s cookery book, ‘Party Food for Girls.’ 

Guests were treated to stunningly decorated surprises, all home baked by the mother-daughter duo (and of course all were recipes from the book), including vanilla dream cupcakes, rose cupcakes with sugar rosebuds, berry and cream cupcakes, chocolate ganache cupcakes, picnic puff pastry pizette. Meringue wreaths and pink sugar hearts adorned the spiral stair case, with billowing white curtains  greeting guests as they walked into the top room of the Lopdell House – complete with stunning views over the Manukau Harbour – the room was definitely decked out to have the ‘wow’ factor – essential for any fabulous girls tea party!

While Alessandra has previously published two books with New Holland, ‘Savour’ and ‘Sweet As’, this is Arantxa’s first foray into cookery writing and published party presentation – and she has clearly has the skills and the smile to be making headway as a young cook.

Photos: © Shaun Cato-Symonds

Above - Models from ‘Party Food for Girls’ on left, Alessandra Zecchini and Arantxa Zecchini Dowling on right

'Party Food for Girls,' by Alessandra Zecchini and Arantxa Zecchini Dowling, with photography by Shaun Cato-Symonds, published by New Holland, RRP $29.99, available now

 And the publishers have kindly agreed to let me post the following extract:

 Teapot biscuits

 If you don’t have a teapot cookie-cutter, use the stencil at the back of this book and cut out your biscuits carefully with the tip of a knife. These biscuits look really special.

300 g sweet shortcrust pastry

easy royal icing (see recipe on page 26)

runny icing (see recipe on page 29)

red, blue and green food colouring (optional)

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Roll out the pastry to 3 mm thick and cut out shapes with a teapot cookie-cutter (or use the stencil at the back of this book). Place them on a baking tray lined with baking paper and bake for approximately 8–10 minutes.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool on the baking tray.

Make the royal icing (see page 26) and use it to fill a piping bag fitted with a small nozzle. Draw the outlines of your biscuits. Set aside for 1 hour to set. Store the rest of the royal icing in the bag, closing it with an elastic band so that it doesn’t harden – you will need it later.

Make the runny icing (see page 29) and divide it into three containers. Add a drop of red food colouring to the first to make a pale pink icing; a drop of blue to the second to make a china blue; and a drop of green to the third to make a pastel green.

Using a spoon, carefully drop a little runny icing onto each biscuit, spreading it evenly to cover the entire surface. Use a toothpick to spread the icing smoothly onto the handles and spouts. Leave to set for 2 hours.

Finally, decorate your teapots with patterns (e.g. spirals, flowers, squiggles) using the remaining royal icing.

Let the biscuits dry for 1 hour before serving.

makes approximately 20 biscuits

 Tips & variations

You can use ready-made royal icing to decorate the outlines, if you prefer. This is available in small easy-to-use tubes from specialist stores and some supermarkets.

Extracted with permission from 'Party Food for Girls,' by Alessandra Zecchini and Arantxa Zecchini Dowling, with photography by Shaun Cato-Symonds, published by New Holland, RRP $29.99