Recipes & photos from the kitchen...

Ratatouille Pasta

By On 05/03/2013 In Food With No Comments Permanent Link to Ratatouille PastaPermalink

Apologies for not posting last week – I always feel so guilty when I don’t post! In my defense I had a 5 day wedding festival down in Tassie that I was attending. I had intended to capture some photos to share here but it was all a bit too hard as I was part of the bridal party. The wedding was a beautiful day with perfect Tassie weather. The venue, Quamby Estate was an amazing location and I can’t recommend it highly enough. If you’re ever planning a road trip around Tassie, book a night in here (especially if you like golf!).

This week we decided to make the most of the end of the summer tomatoes. We made our way to the Queen Vic’ Market late Saturday afternoon and managed to score some super cheap tomatoes just as the store holders were packing up. 25kg for $10, cheap as chips! We went home and made two MASSIVE pots of grandma’s ‘liquid gold’ chutney (I’ll share this with you next week). After the two pots of chutney we still had plenty of tomatoes left so we made around 10L of delicious tomato passata, followed by my favourite summer time meal – Ratatouille. When I was a little girl mum would always ask me what I’d like her to make for my birthday dinner. Every year it would alternate between Ratatouille or Chicken Cacciatorre. Very Mediterranean but it’s what my Mum does best!

 

 

I only just found out that Ratatouille is originally from Nice in the south of France, which is literally just around the corner from my grandmother Doule’s home town – Menton. The smell of all the ingredients simmering away instantly reminds me of her kitchen.

Mum tells me the most important part about cooking ratatouille is to cook all the ingredients off individually to ensure all ingredients are browned off nicely. The dish uses a fair amount of olive oil but that’s what gives it it’s delicious flavour (we’ve never been a low fat diet family). Mum would often make this for us as kids and would serve it either with pasta, polenta or rice. Top it off with a good sprinkling of parmesan cheese and you’ve got one tasty (vegetarian) meal.

Bon apetit!

x e.

 

 

Ratatouille Pasta

1 large onion finely diced
1 aubergine (eggplant) diced
2 courgette (zucchini) diced
1 red pepper cut into thin strips
1 yellow pepper cut into thin stips
4 tomatoes skinned (or a can of tomatoes)
3 cloves of garlic finely chopped
1/4 cup red wine
5 basil leaves
salt
olive oil

pasta
parmesan cheese

1. Cut aubergine into cubes, sprinkle with salt and leave for a 5 minutes. This ‘draws’ out all the bitterness (I’ve read these days most people don’t do this as the bitterness has been bred out of aubergines but my Mum still does so I wanted to stick to tradition). Wipe away moisture with paper kitchen towel.

2. Add a good glug of olive oil to a hot frypan and add onion. Cook until well browned and set aside in a bowl. Next add aubergine to the re-oiled frypan and cook, again until browned. Once cooked set aside in the same bowl with the onion.

3. Next cook off the peppers together until soft then add the aubergine, onions and courgettes all together back into the same frypan. Add tomatoes squishing them down into the stew as you stir. Add chopped garlic, red wine and chopped basil leaves and a good few pinches of salt. Let cook for 15 minutes or so until the courgette is soft.

4. Whilst the ratatouille is cooking, add pasta to a saucepan of boiling water and follow instructions for perfectly al dente pasta. Serve with big spoonfuls of ratatouille piled over the top and sprinkle with good parmesan cheese.

Ho-Co-Fro-Yo (aka: Homemade Coconut Frozen Yoghurt) & Pineapple Sorbet Icy Poles

By On 19/02/2013 In Food With 6 Comments Permanent Link to Ho-Co-Fro-Yo (aka: Homemade Coconut Frozen Yoghurt) & Pineapple Sorbet Icy PolesPermalink

It’s been so incredibly hot in Melbourne this past week. It’s not too bad during the weekdays when I’m at work (in the safety of the air con with a cardigan on!). I can bare with it on my way to work, during lunch and after work when it’s cooled down slightly. This weekend however, for me, was a killer. We don’t have air con at home and it… is… hard. Hard to cook, hard to clean, hard to get comfortable – hard to do anything! BUT the good thing about this hot weather (lets not forget it is actually AMAZING) is that we can go to the pool (I’ve been going at least once a week after work). We can eat our lunch on the lawn, we can type our blog posts outside on a balmy night (like I am right now), we can enjoy evening BBQs with loads of delicious fresh salads and of course, we can eat all sorts of delicious sorbets, ice-creams and frozen yoghurts. Mmmmm.

 

 

For the last few months my friends have heard me harping on about this ‘Ho-Co-Fro-Yo’ idea that I’ve been wanting to try – well, let me tell you, it was worth the wait. Partially born from the ridiculously stupid name I came up with (short for HOmemade COconut FROzen YOghurt – get it?) and also a bit of inspiration from this book I bought a few months back (which taught me how to make cultured butter and yoghurt). Well, yeah, I don’t know what else to say but it’s a TASTE SENSATION! The pineapple pairs so well with the coconut (as would a yummy mango version… mmm). The process is a bit time consuming but worth it for a dinner party perhaps (and perfect to prepare ahead of time).

Next week I’m heading down to Tassie for the WEDDING OF THE CENTURY! I’m a bridesmaid but I’m hoping to get as many shots as possible of a friend’s special day set in a beautiful spot not far from Launceston. Fun times.

x e.

 

 

Ho-Co-Fro-Yo (Homemade Coconut Frozen Yoghurt)

400g coconut milk (1 can)
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp good quality yoghurt with live cultures (like Jalna)
thermometer
esky filled with warm water/warm room/heater

1. Place coconut milk in a saucepan and heat up to 46ºC (115ºF). Let the milk cool down to 43ºC (110ºF) before adding the sugar and yoghurt. Mix well to combine.

2. Place the coconut milk mixture into a large sterilised jar and incubate at about 42ºC- 45ºC (108ºF-112ºF) for 8-24 hours. I place my jars in an esky and half fill with warm water (or you can use anything/anywhere that will keep the yoghurt at a warm consistent temperature). Every few hours reheat the water for the esky but ensure the temperature doesn’t exceed 45ºC.

3. After the incubation period, take the yoghurt out of the esky and wait to return to room temperature. Pour yoghurt into a freezable container and place in the freezer for 1-2 hours. If you’re lucky enough to have an ice-cream machine, pop the yoghurt in now and follow the manufacturers’ instructions.

4. Take the frozen mixture out of the freezer and into a food processor and blitz until smooth. If you wish to make icy poles, fill your moulds up half way, put a stick or teaspoon in and freeze again. Wait until completely frozen to add pineapple flavour to the top. If you don’t have any moulds place the fro-yo back in the freezer for another 2-3 hours.

*Normally coconut yogurt is runnier than normal yoghurt so many recipes include a thickening agent such as gelatin. As I’m making mine for freezing there’s no need. If you wish to use this recipe to eat as is, add 1tsp gelatin to the mixture.

 

Pineapple Sorbet

1 small pineapple
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup water

1. Cut off all the skin from the pineapple and chop into cubes. Place into a food processor and blitz until smooth.

2. Add sugar and water and pulse until combined. Pour into a container and place in the freezer for 1-2 hours. If you’re lucky enough to have an ice-cream machine, pop it in now and follow the manufacturers’ instructions.

3. After 1-2 hours place sorbet back in the food processor and blitz until smooth. At this point you can either put it in your icy pole moulds or back into the container to refreeze.

Pickle Club: Nectarine Jam

By On 12/02/2013 In condiments, Food With No Comments Permanent Link to Pickle Club: Nectarine JamPermalink

Last week was topped off with some (well deserved) Friday night fun at Moonlight Cinema.  I quickly rushed home from work, Seb and I made a super-quick picnic basket, jam packed with all sorts of antipasto goodness and made our way to the Melbourne Botanical Gardens. We busted out the blankets, pillows (and warm clothes) and settled in for a slice of classic outdoor cinema – such a good night out. What an amazing setting, aaaand dogs are allowed, so our friends took their super cute dog Olive. If you can’t already tell, we’re getting a bit clucky for a dog. Olive loved it (especially sneaking a slice of prosciutto or chorizo when no one was looking).

 

 

The following day I had all sorts of errands to run, including having my bridesmaid dress altered for the wedding of the year(!), and a quick visit to the gym (to fit into the bridesmaids dress). We then went to visit our friends who had some sculpture work in a group show at the Yarra Sculpture Gallery. Charlie & Wona- both of your works were amazing. The latter part of Sunday was spent in a meat-coma after visiting our friend’s Argentinian BBQ. Hugo and Milly, all in all some seriously amazing food!

 

 

This week I thought I’d post the jam I made for the last Pickle Club meet (in early December). Sorry for the late post but there was so much going on in December already so it had to wait. Anyway, it was a very special edition of Pickle Club as it was being filmed for INTERNATIONAL TV! Whoo hoo. Pickle Club has gone viral. Yes we will be featured as part of the Megalopolis program for the French TV station Canal Plus, so keep an eye out if you’re living in France! It just happened to be one of the HOTTEST days of the year (I think it reached 40 degrees). Amy and I standing over a hot stove stirring our jams and pickles… it wasn’t pleasant. After cooking, the interviewer Alexandra Leroux borrowed a bike and rode with us to Edinburgh Gardens. All in all it was a great experience, and I now have a new found level of respect for any one involved in film!

x e.

 

Pictures above: Pickle Club’s loot, Tassie icon Judith Sweet’s traditional tomato relish
Alexandra Leroux and Alexandra Leroux interviewing Pickle Club patrons

 

Nectarine Jam

910g fresh nectarines pitted and roughly chopped
910g sugar
150ml water
juice of one lemon + its skin

1. Place fruit in the pan with water and juice of the lemon. Let cook until fruit has softened then slowly add the sugar stirring continuously. Bring to the boil and continue until it starts to thicken.

2. If it’s not thickening after 30 minutes, add one half of the squeezed lemon skin into the pot. This will help thicken the jam. (Amy’s mum taught me this trick!)

3. When your jam is almost ready, you’ll need to sterilize the jars. To do this you’ll need to heat the oven to 180ºC. Wash all in hot soapy water and rinse well. Place all jars on a oven tray facing up and not touching each other and pop them in the oven for 20 minutes. After this time, take them out of the oven and let cool to the same temperature as the jam. Never add cold jam to hot jars or vice versa!

Fudgy Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Syllabub Filling & Chocolate Ganache

By On 05/02/2013 In Food With 5 Comments Permanent Link to Fudgy Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Syllabub Filling & Chocolate GanachePermalink

Well, time flies when you’re having fun. This blog post marks my 100th! Whoo hoo! So I thought I’d make a towering (but little) cake to celebrate the occasion. Call me crazy, but I’m not usually a big fan of chocolate cake. Strangely enough I decided to make one to mark this momentous occasion. I’ve been on the hunt for the perfect recipe this past week. It had to be chocolately enough without being too extravagant. I really don’t like recipes that require 64 eggs, 900kgs of butter and gold leaf doo-dahs; I just want great simple recipes. Recipes that don’t require a trip to the specialty store. Anyway, I finally found a few difference recipes that I liked and mish-mashed them all together to come up with this little beauty.

 

 

Now, feeling like a bit of an idiot, I think I may have to retract my previous comment. I DO like chocolate cake. Very much so in fact! I think the reason why I like this cake is because it’s almost like a brownie – crunchy/chewy on the outside and fudgy on the inside. As raspberries are in season I wanted to make the most of them. I found a recipe for a raspberry syllabub with a dash of rose water. It’s not essential but it does give it a nice little ‘je ne sais quois‘. Overall it’s a pretty decadent cake but hey… 100 posts and god knows how many hours later; I think it’s worth celebrating!

x e.

 

 

Fudgy Chocolate Cake

Inspired by recipe by Angela Nilson for BBC Good Food

200g good quality dark chocolate
200g butter
125ml strong coffee
3/4 cup self-raising flour
3/4 cup plain flour
1⁄2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
3 medium eggs
75ml milk
1 tsp vinegar

1. Line two 13cm round cake tins (or one x 20cm round tin) with grease proof paper. Preheat oven to 140ºC (fan forced).

2. Cut chocolate and butter into small pieces and place in a microwavable bowl. Add coffee and microwave for two minutes. Stir thoroughly and microwave for a further 2 minutes.

3. Whilst the chocolate is melting, pour milk into a small bowl and add vinegar and let sit for a few minutes. In your main mixing bowl, add the two flours, bicarbonate of soda, two sugars and cocoa powder.

4. Once the milk has been sitting for a few minutes, add beaten eggs.

5. Pour egg mixture and chocolate mixture into the flour mixture slowly until everything is well incorporated. It’s quite a runny cake mixture so don’t be alarmed! Pour into your lined tin and bake for 1 hour and 30 minutes. Double check the cake is cooked by placing a skewer into the middle; it should come out clean. The top should be quite firm (and deliciously chewy when eating). Leave to cool for 15 minutes before turning out onto a cake rack to completely cool.

6. When the cake is cold, cut each small cake horizontally in half. If you’ve made one big cake you may be able to cut it in thirds. Fill with a little raspberry syllabub between each layer, but not the top! Drizzle the top with chocolate ganache and decorate with delicious fresh raspberries.

 

Raspberry Syllabub

Inspired by Nigel Slater’s Raspberry Syllabub

70g frozen (or fresh) raspberries
1/2 tsp rosewater
3 tbsp sugar
40ml sweet white wine
100ml double cream

1. Into a small bowl, add raspberries, rosewater and sugar. Squash the raspberries with the back of a spoon and mix well with the sugar so it’s all combined well.

2. With a mixer, whisk cream until whipped. Add the wine a little at a time, beating continuously.

3. Add berry mixture to the cream and mix until it’s completely incorporated.

 

Chocolate Ganache

100g good quality dark chocolate
150ml double cream
2 tbsp castor sugar

1. Pour cream and sugar into a pan and place on low heat until it is just about to boil. Add the chocolate and stir until it’s completely melted.

Pad Thai

By On 28/01/2013 In Food With 4 Comments Permanent Link to Pad ThaiPermalink

I hope everybody’s feeling nice and relaxed after the Australia Day holiday? I was quite happy to have a pretty relaxing weekend to be honest. On Saturday Seb and I popped around to a friend’s place for an Aussie BBQ, followed by a bit of basketball in the park. Good ol’ fashioned fun.

For this week I decided to make Pad Thai. When we moved back to Australia just over two years ago, we stopped through Thailand for a couple of weeks. Whilst staying on the Island of Koh Lanta, we booked ourselves in for a Thai cooking course. As it wasn’t peak season, we were able to choose which dishes we could learn to make; needless to say we chose Pad Thai as one of the courses!  Pretty sure we ate that half the time we were there. I’ve made it a few times since then and it always takes me back. But I have to say, this was easily one of the best versions of the dish we had whilst we were there.

The last time I made it was over a year ago, and I’ve been meaning to make it for the blog ever since. If you’re keen to give it a try, be sure to make this for dessert. It’s an amazing sticky coconut rice and fresh mango dessert, often found in traditional Thai restaurants. You have to try it!

x e.

 

 

 

 

Pad Thai

Feeds 2

200g rice noodles
2 large handfuls of bean sprouts
2 spring onions, finely chopped
3 tbsp fish sauce
3 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp tamarind paste diluted in 1/4 cup water
2 tbsp sugar
200g organic non GM tofu
6-8 large king prawns, shelled and deveined
ground roasted peanuts
2 eggs
1 tsp chili powder
lime

1. Soak nice noodles in water for at least 30 minutes. Heat wok and oil over medium heat and add noodles, fish sauce, oyster sauce, tamerind, sugar, chili powder and cook until tender.

2. In a frypan, add oil and cook on medium heat until hot. Add tofu and let cook until all sides are nicely browned. When they’re almost done, push the tofu to one side and crack two eggs onto the pan and let cook whilst stirring. Once the egg have almost cooked, add prawns to the pan for 3-5 minutes.

3. Transfer the tofu, egg and prawns to the noodles in the wok and stir through. Add a good handful of bean sprouts and the spring onions to the noodles.

4. Serve on a plate with a good sprinkling of ground peanuts and squeeze of fresh lime.

Nutella Lamingtons

By On 22/01/2013 In baking, Desserts, Food With 3 Comments Permanent Link to Nutella LamingtonsPermalink

This week I thought I’d make something traditionally Australian for the upcoming national holiday – The Lamington. Oh goodness they’re amazing. If you’re reading this post in some exotic country and have never heard of lamingtons, well then you’ll HAVE to try this recipe – there’s no two ways around it. They’re small squares of sponge cake, dipped in chocolate and covered in coconut (and sometimes with a strawberry/raspberry jam filling). Whilst brainstorming for this weeks Australia Day post I came up with the brilliant idea of Nutella Lamingtons – genius, if I do say so myself!

 

 

It was a bit of trial and error to see how it would work out, but as a whole I’m very happy with the result (and so were my taste testers!). I’ve mentioned it here on the blog before but Nutella is my downfall, my weakness. I bought a jar on Saturday and it was opened before I even made it back through the door. Once home I had a few more teaspoons… I couldn’t help myself. Annoyingly I didn’t quite have enough chocolate sauce to cover them all in the end because I was such a piggy. I’ll say I’ve learnt a lesson but I’d probably do the same again – I just can’t help myself. Damn you Nutella.

Anyway, whilst asking friends and colleagues about lamingtons I noticed there are a lot of people out there that feel very strongly about the jam filled version. For me, I’m not a fan so I made these sans jam. I also think that with the hazelnut flavour it didn’t really need it, but if you’re a jam fan you should definitely add some in.

Australians – enjoy your lamingtons (jam filled or not) and your Australia Day.

Rest of the world – you should really give these a go :)

PPS. These are the BEST lamingtons ever!

x e.

 

 

Nutella Lamingtons

Remember to make the sponge 24 hours beforehand.
Sponge recipe by Natalie Dick

2 heaped teaspoons flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 level tsp cream of tartar
gluten free cornflour
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
4 eggs
3/4 cup sugar

400g Nutella
1/2 cup milk
2 heaped tbsp icing sugar

1. Preheat oven to 200ºC conventional or 170ºC fan forced. Into a measuring cup place flour, bicarbonate of soda, cream of tartar. Fill the rest of the cup with cornflour.

2. Meanwhile, beat eggs and sugar on high for 7 minutes. The mixture should doubled in size.

3. Whilst beating the eggs, sift the cornflour mixture 3 times onto greaseproof paper. After the eggs have finished beating slow the mixer down to the lowest setting. Add the vanilla, let mix for 30 seconds or so and slowly mix in the sifted dry ingredients.

4. Place the mixture into a large square tin and cook for 20 minutes. Cool on a wire rack and set aside for 24 hours to become slightly stale. Leaving the cake to slightly harden makes it so much easier when coating them in chocolate. Once covered in chocolate they’ll become quite moist again.

5. Next day, transfer the nutella into a small saucepan and place on low heat. Slowly add milk and icing sugar until it runs smoothly (and is easy to drizzle over the cakes).

6. Place coconut onto a plate or shallow bowl. Cut the sponge into small squares. Spear them with a fork and spoon the chocolate mixture over the top. Scrape off any excessive chocolate before rolling them in coconut. Place them on a nice place and lick the chocolate mixture off your fingers!

HEAVEN!

 

Homemade Falafels with Tabouli & ‘Fancy Sauce’

By On 15/01/2013 In Food, Salads With 2 Comments Permanent Link to Homemade Falafels with Tabouli & ‘Fancy Sauce’Permalink

Christmas and New Years are behind us, and I’m well and truly back into the swing of things.  This was my first shoot for the year and honestly, I felt a little rusty! It’s actually been quite a while since I photographed some food. I completed shooting all the Christmas recipes at the end of November (ages ago). All December was spent posting on the blog and getting the book ready for print. As I said last week, although it was a mammoth undertaking, it was all totally worth the effort!

This Christmas my sister gave me the most amazing cook book, called The Lebanese Kitchen. Everything in it looks simple but delicious. I’ve been wanting to make felafels for quite a while, so this book was perfect. I was lucky enough to try my very first falafel in Jerusalem (probably its birth place) – and I have to say, my first experience of this Middle Eastern classic was mind-blowingly good. I’d never had another quite the same… until now. As soon as I tasted this homemade version it took me straight back to that small alleyway. Such an explosion of flavour! It was amazing! I really wanted to share some photos from my trip with you, but I’ve run out of time.

Anyway, I just had to pair the falafel with a traditional (but tasty) tabouli, and my own ‘fancy sauce’!

Falafels are actually super easy too! Enjoy!

x e.

 

 

 

Falafels

makes 20 falafels

1 cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 small onion chopped
3 cloves garlic
1 tbsp fresh coriander
1 tbsp fresh parsley
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1/4 cup chopped almonds
1/2 tsp each salt and pepper
1/2 tsp baking soda
olive oil

1. Add all ingredients into a food processor and blitz until smooth and thoroughly combined. Put the mixture into a bowl and press down with the back of a spoon. Cover with cling film and refrigerate for a few hours or overnight.

2. Preheat the oven to 200ºC. Take small walnut sized spoonfuls (I used a small icecream scoop) of mixture and place them on a hot, well oiled oven tray. Repeat with the for the rest of the mixture.  Gently squash each ball of mixture down slightly into a patty shape.

3. Bake for about 15 minutes or until well browned, flip and cook for another 10 minutes. Serve hot.

 

Tabouli

20 cherry tomatoes
1 cup fine grit bourghal wheat
1 large bunch of parsley
1 cucumber
2 spring onions
10 pitted kalamata olives
1 red capsicum
juice of one lemon
2 tsp salt
1 crushed garlic clove
good couple of drizzles of olive oil

1. Place the bourghal wheat into a bowl and cover with boiling water. Let sit for 15 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, chop and dice the tomatoes, capsicum, spring onions, cucumber and parsley into a large bowl.

3. Drain the excess liquid from the wheat with muslin cloth and add it to the rest of the salad. Mix in well. Squeeze the lemon, drizzle the olive oil and crush the garlic over the top of the salad and toss well. Top off with some Kalamata olives and freshly made felafels.

 

Fancy Sauce

1/2 cup thick Greek yoghurt
1 tsp cumin seeds toasted and ground
1 tbsp honey

1. Combine all ingredients into a small bowl and serve with the falafels and tabouli. Delicious!

Spiced Shortbread

By On 08/01/2013 In baking, Christmas, Food With 2 Comments Permanent Link to Spiced ShortbreadPermalink

Hello again! Long time no hear! I ran out of time just before Christmas to wish everyone a safe and happy holiday break. I hope you all had a great time off; it can be a pretty manic and busy time of year. We flew down to Tassie on the Saturday before Christmas and had the pleasure of enjoying family and friend’s company 24-7 over the past two weeks. Needless to say I’m exhausted.

We spent New Years Eve on the beautiful east coast of Tasmania, in Swansea. It was amazing. We went fishing, caught squid, went bike riding and most importantly, ate lots and lots of delicious food. I have to give a special shout-out to Rob’s famous ‘Haroomi’ wraps – yep, halloumi cheese, kangaroo and his special sauce all in a tasty wrap. Good one Robby!

It’s scary to think that now, only a few towns further north of Swansea, people have lost their homes and businesses to the devastating fires that have ripped through the east coast of Tasmania. Friday was a stinking hot day with strong winds; I met up with a friend to go swimming in Dodges Ferry, which is close to one of the affected areas. I didn’t realise at the time just how close the fires were. Within just two hours the smoke, haze and severity of the fires had increased rapidly. Thousands of people from the Tasman Peninsula and east coast have lost so much over the last few days I can’t comprehend how they must be feeling. As we’re now back in Melbourne I wasn’t exactly sure how we could help out. I’ve called on people and businesses I know to donate simple goods that we all take for granted. Please, if you can, donate to help these poor people in need here via the Red Cross 2013 Tasmanian Bush Fires Appeal.

 

 

Back to the usual business – shortbread and gingerbread men are my two favourite Christmas biscuits. In the lead up to Christmas I had a lightbulb moment – why not combine them and make spiced shortbread? I couldn’t find a good recipe so I made this one up and for me, it ticks all the boxes. Again, they’re perfect as little homemade presents – any time of year.

I’ve been meaning to share this recipe since I launched the Adeline & Lumiere Christmas book but time just slipped away. I hope you all enjoyed the Christmas book!?! I had initially anticipated to print 30 books, mainly for family, friends, send some off to media people and 10 to sell. However, after I mentioned I’d be printing some I had all sorts of people interested in a copy. In the end I sold 60 but could have easily have sold double that again! I was astonished to see it so well received. Thank you so, so much! It was the best Christmas present ever.

x e.

 

 

 

Spiced Shortbread

200g softened butter
1⁄2 cup caster sugar
2 cups plain flour
1⁄4 cup rice flour 
1 1⁄2 tsp cinnamon
1⁄2 tsp mixed spice
1⁄2 tsp nutmeg

 

1. Preheat oven to 160ºC and line a tray with grease proof paper.

2.  Beat butter and sugar until pale and creamy. Sift flour, rice flour and spices into the mixture and be careful not to over mix.

3.  Press the mixture onto the prepared tray. Place a piece of grease proof paper over the top and roll out with a rolling pin. Use a butter knife to mark out biscuits and prick each one 3 times with a fork.

4.  Bake in the oven for 50-60 minutes or until slightly browned. Cool on the tray for 10 minutes and then turn out onto a board and cut into pieces. Cool on a rack and wrap up for the perfect little gift.

Homemade Christmas Decorations

By On 21/12/2012 In Other With No Comments Permanent Link to Homemade Christmas DecorationsPermalink

I don’t usually do ‘craft’ here on the blog but I was quite inspired after looking through Pinterest (who isn’t with all the amazing things you can find on there). Check out my Pinterest over here. I found this recipe by Woodside Kitchen here via Pinterest. The recipe was just like baking so I had to give it a go. I used foliage and lace to make patterns in the dough before using cookie cutters to cut them out. This is a great project to work on with little ones too (especially now school holidays are in full swing!). I also used these decorations as gift tags on my presents – they look so cute!

x e.

 

 

Homemade Christmas Decorations

1⁄2 cup cornflour
1 cup baking soda
3⁄4 cup water

1.  Preheat oven to 80ºC. Add cornflour, baking soda and water together in a small saucepan. Place on medium heat and stir continuously. Cook until the mixture looks like mashed potato then take it off the heat.

2.  Place the mixture in a bowl, cover with a wet tea towel and let cool for 5-10 minutes. Once cool enough, knead it on a surface dusted with cornflour. Roll the dough out to 5mm thick and cut with cookie cutters and decorate. Use a skewer or straw to punch out a hole for the string.

3.  Line a baking tray with grease proof paper and place the decorations on the tray. Bake the decorations in the oven for about an hour. Once baked, thread some ribbon or twine through the holes.

* Use leaves, lace, anything with a pattern to imprint the dough before punching out shapes with the cookie cutters.

Traditional Christmas Cake – best ever

By On 19/12/2012 In baking, Christmas, Food With 5 Comments Permanent Link to Traditional Christmas Cake – best everPermalink

I’ve discovered there are quite a few people in this world who don’t  like Christmas cake. I can’t believe it! Christmas cake would have to be one of my favourite treats out there (as long as I have a corner slice with marzipan and icing – that’s the best part). Like it of loath it, this is my version of the famous seasonal cake (with a little extra this and that, soaked in booze) and I love it!

x e.

 

Traditional Christmas Cake

Inspired by Delia Smith (I love her).

450g currants
175g sultanas
175g raisins
50g dried cranberries
50g mixed candied peel
3 tbsp Grand Marnier,
plus extra for ‘feeding’
225g unsalted butter
225g soft brown sugar
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
225g plain flour
1⁄2 tsp salt
1⁄2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 tsp ground mixed spice
50g almonds, chopped
50g walnuts, chopped
1 level tbsp golden syrup
grated zest 1 lemon
grated zest 1 orange
20cm cake tin

1 packet of marzipan
1 packet of icing fondant

 

1.  Start the day before and measure out currants, sultanas, raisins, cranberries and peel into a bowl and mix the Grand Marnier through the fruit thoroughly. Cover with a clean tea towel and leave to soak overnight.

2.  Next day, preheat oven to 120ºC (fan forced). Place butter and sugar in a bowl and beat until pale and creamy.  Whilst continuing to beat, add eggs a tablespoon at a time until incorporated.  This will prevent the mixture curdling.

3.  Sift in flour, spices and salt into the butter mixture. Lift the sieve up high to add as much air as possible. Gently fold in flour into the mixture until it just comes together.

4.  Fold in the soaked fruit, nuts, golden syrup and  zests to the mixture. Ensure everything is well mixed and place into a well lined tin, pushing the mixture into the corners.  The cake will be in the oven for at least 4 hours so it’ll need to be  protected so it doesn’t burn. Place 2 layers of  baking paper over the top with a few large holes to allow steam to pass through. Wrap two layers of grease proof paper around the cake tin and hold it in place with a piece of twine. This will protect the outer edge.

5.   Place in the oven on the lowest shelf and leave it for 4 hours. Check the cake after this time. You’ll probably need to place it back in the oven for up to another 3/4 hour. Let the cake cool for 30 minutes in the tin before putting it on a wire rack.  Once it’s cool, make small holes in the top of the cake with a skewer and ‘feed’ it at least a tablespoon of Grand Marnier or brandy over the whole cake.

6.  To ice the cake, roll out marzipan big enough to cover the cake completely. Place it over the cake and press it down along all sides. Do the same for the fondant and flatten it all out around the edges. Decorate the cake with any excess fondant.

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