Mermaid Beach Inspired Treats.

Since the sale and hand over of Fantasea a few weeks ago ... our trip across to Airlie beach on the ferry has changed slightly .... before we would go straight from Hamilton Island Marine across to Shute Harbour on the mainland ... now we have to often go via Long Island and daydream Island before we get to the mainland ... and while this almost doubles our travelling time to Kindy, one of the bonuses is that almost everyday the girls get to spot the Mermaids at Mermaid Beach on Daydream.

Mermaid Beach is the main beachfront on Daydream Island, its very pretty and on the rocks there are three big iron sculptures of mermaids. The girls LOVED it when we took them for their first trip to Daydream. Its "Little Mermaid" heaven.

In our house we are a bit obsessed with all things water related since this move, and top on our list are mermaids. You may have noticed this in the kids artwork ... we do A LOT of mermaid inspired art, craft and dressing up .... and today its Mermaid inspired cooking!


So Here it is .... This was todays project ....


                                                      Super Spicy Gingerbread Cookies
(An adaptation of my mum's Gingerbread Recipe from the Family Circle Cookbook circa 1980 somthing!)

This is what I work from ... all my recipes are like this ... old and tatty!

We use:

125g butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg yolk
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon bicarb soda
2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons golden syrup

What we do:

Cream butter, brown sugar , adding egg yolk.

Combine all dry ingridents and then add in three parts alternating with golden syrup.
If dough is too dry add a teeny tiny bit of water.

Roll out, cut shapes and bake in moderate oven for 10 mins.

VERY spicy but great with cool lime royal icing!
(Also great for Xmas! The aroma id awesome!)

We spend A LONG time rolling and cutting (and often eating the dough)

This cutter the girls chose in Sydney a while back, its super cute

I kind of dread the icing stage, but the girls LOVE it ... its messy and sticky and we BURN through the decorating supplies ... BUT its half the fun of these cookies ... a LOT of icing is consumed during this stage of this recipe.

And our finished "mermaid inspired treats"

I'll have to admit that I'm also slightly partial to a bit of mermaid myself .... at the Hamilton Island gift shop I've been eyeing off this pretty vase .... I think I might have to take it home as a keepsake for our trip up here ... I have no idea where I'll use it or where I'll put it ... but I think I still need it! Perhaps there is a bit of mermaid in the heart of every Northern Beaches Gal ??