Eating my Blues Away

This post has absolutely nothing to do with my baking project, it is completely left field and more an opportunity for me to off load than anything else, sometimes we just need to get stuff of our chest and not knowing if there is actually anyone out there that is reading or better still enjoying my blog that would be vaguely interested in what I have to say I thought, yes, why not send this post out into the void that is syber space to get muck off my chest... big breath... here I go..

 4.30 am this morning had me rise and shine, not willingly of course to drive my beloved husband to the airport for a weekend of play with his long lost boarding school buddies in Brisbane. So early in fact that when we were walking out the door I asked our pup Gaia to join us for the drive, she in turn rolled her puppy eyes at me and sighed a mournful sigh.. we took that as no.

Freddy has been my best friend for over 12 years, my partner for 11 years and my husband for 6 of those, we are seldom apart and I found myself becoming girly, tears welling in my eyes as we said our good byes. It is not like he is disappearing for months on end, instead he will be gone only 2 days, returning from his trip on Sunday morning just in time for yum cha at our favorite Chinese restaurant the Golden Boat.

Not one to cope with being left out and personally blaming the wedding that I will be djing at this evening I am suffering from a small case of the green eyed dragon, actually, my dragon is massive, ghastly and soaring across the sky as dragons do breathing a rainbow of flames from the orange, green and red spectrum's.. I wish I was with him!

So, what does one do when feeling left out and abandoned to endure the worst load in of all time for tonight's gig? One turns right at the the roundabout at the airport an drives directly to my home towns icon.. Rusty's Markets. I was one of only three other people crazy enough to be out of bed and at the markets at what I like to call stupid o'clock in the morning!

After purchasing the spikiest acid free egg plants, some onions, potatoes, passion fruit and a paw paw I drove home to my neurotic cat and food driven pup. I let my fur children out into the world and we walked together through my garden, a garden that is alive with the sent of passion fruit flowers, lemon and lime blossoms and tomato bushes.

Each year our garden is gifted with mysterious tomato bushes, where they come from no one knows, we let them grow and produce fruit until we can no longer cope and then pull them out, currently we have three tomato bushes growing out of control through our cordilines, each day I pick a punnet of delicious cherry tomatoes that burst in your mouth when you eat them, in fact they are so delicious that my puppy can not stop eating them, and through bribery with cherry tomatoes she now sits, drops and stays.. we are so proud of her.

I returned inside, popped a food inspired movie into my dvd player pressed play and turned half a dozen french pork sausages that were drying out in the fridge into a cherry tomato inspired curry sausage dish that I then ate with left over mashed potato, I washed that down with pancakes with lemon and sugar and baked a delicious spinach and feta quiche filled with my home grown cherry tomatoes.. delicious!! If I could bake all day I would, unfortunately I have a gig to load in, a load in of terrible proportions.. awful, awful, awful!! I must fly, load my car and prepare myself for a beautiful, musicly inspired, food filled day!

Is there anyone out there? I just don't know!

White Chocolate Chip and Macadamia Cookies

There is something memorable and truly delightful about home made cookies (biscuits). My dad is animate that biscuits are biscuits, not cookies, I tend to agree on that comment. I was born and bread an Australian woman, I am proud of my heritage through and through although, out of habit I do tend to call biscuits cookies which leads me to say that these cookies are worthy of wrestling Cookie Monster to the ground for.

 I found myself standing by the cooling rack eating them quicker than they could bake hence leaving me with a full, swollen belly when I took my young staffy pup Gaia to dog obedience that evening, thinking to myself.."Ohhhh I so shouldn't have eaten so many of those cookies." I think it was the crunch of the macadamia nuts that sold me, they added much deserved texture to the sweet goodness of white choc chips that added bulk to the cookie.. I mean biscuit!!

Although not my favorite chocolate chip biscuit recipe it is one that I will repeat from time to time. My favorite all time biscuit recipe was given to me by a work colleague who new quite well that if she waved the recipe in front of me she would in turn reap the benefits and be gifted with delicious chocolaty cookies, I will bake these cookies for you and share the recipe when I have reached the end of my sweet baking experiment.

So here it is, the recipe for delicious, crunchy white choc chip and macadamia cookies.

INGREDIENTS

125g butter, softened
3/4 cup (165g) brown sugar
1 egg
1 3/4 cups (255g) self raising flour, sifted
1 cup (190g) white choc bits
3/4 cup (140g) coarsely chopped unroasted macadamias.

METHOD

1. Preheat oven to 170oC/150oC fan forced. Grease and line two baking trays with paper.

2. Using n electric mixer,beat butter and sugar until pale and creamy, add egg; beat until just combined.

3. Stir in flour; add white choc bits and macadamias. Mix until well combined.

4. Roll level tablespoons of mixture in balls; place about 4cm apart on prepared trays, gently press down on dough to flatten slightly. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden. Set aside to cool on trays for 5 minutes; transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Have a sensational baking experience everyone, get carried away. I loose myself as I bake, everything around me becomes less important and I feel totally at ease with myself, I believe the combination of the process, the ingredients and smell of my goods baking in my oven is the key, I wish the smell of baking biscuits could be bottled, the person that comes up with that concept will be a very happy person indeed.

Live, love and share your creations.

Caramel Mud Cake

I know that I said that I was cooking each recipe as they come, true to form I have strayed from my plan and skipped six recipes ahead and baked a delicious, not quiet perfectly cooked caramel mud cake for my big sister on her birthday.

My husband and I purchased our home five years ago, a small house on a large block surrounded by palm trees with a beautiful creek in the back yard complete with giant eels, the down side of our wonderful purchase was that our home came with a 30 year old gas oven that cooks unevenly and never bakes a perfect cake. I wait in anticipation for the day that we can afford a brand new oven, my dream oven, fan forced, one that cooks evenly and leaves me feeling warm and fuzzy in side and excited about baking, rather than feeling angst at the sight of my cake as I cut into it, no disappointed sighs, just plain pride of my baking achievements.

True to form my oven failed to please me, my cake wasn't perfect leaving me with a sunken feeling inside, annoyed with myself for not baking the cake at my dads place who lives only 10 minutes up the road and owns a kitchen to die for. My failed mud cake was still devoured by my sisters three teenagers who praised me for my efforts and promised to train even harder the following morning at squad to work off the overload of calories they consumed the night before.

Here is the recipe for the Caramel Mud Cake, WARNING it is rich, delicious and terribly moreish, I can't wait to bake it again in an oven that is more forgiving than my own. I trust that you will enjoy baking this cake, I decorated mine lavishly with chocolate and ferrero rochers but the caramel icing is decoration enough. Happy baking everyone!

INGREDIENTS

250g, butter chopped
1 1/3 cups (200g) white chocolate melts
1 1/4 c9100gups (255g) brown sugar
1/4 cup (60ml) golden syrup
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
300g sour cream
3 eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups, (3--g) plain flour
2/3 cup (100g) self raising flour

CARAMEL ICING

90g butter, chopped
3/4 cup (165g) brown sugar
1/4 cup (60ml) thickened cream
2 1/3 cups (360g) icing sugar, sifted.

METHOD

1. Preheat oven to 140oC / 120oC fan forced. Grease and line a deep 22cm round cake pan.

2. Place butter, white chocolate melts, brown sugar, golden syrup and vanilla bean paste in a small saucepan. Stir over low heat until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is smooth and glossy. Remove from the heat; transfer mixture to a large bowl, stir in sour cream and allow to cool slightly.

3. Stir in eggs. Stir in flours. Pour into prepared pan. Bake for 1 hour and 45 minutes, cover with foil and bake for a further 45 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out mostly clean.

4. Cool cake in pan

TO MAKE CARAMEL ICING

 Melt butter in a saucepan. Add brown sugar and cream and cook until smooth and golden in colour. Gradually add enough icing to give a spreading consistency. Spread quickly over top and sides of the cake.

Enjoy baking this cake, there is something truly beautiful about the smell of cakes, biscuits and slices baking in your home, it stirs memories of my child hood and baking with my mum, staring into the oven as patty cakes baked and watching them rise, I always thought it to be magic, my favourite part was icing the cakes, mum would make lemon icing, using the bush lemons in our back yard, they were plump with juice. Every time I smell a lemon it evokes memories of my mum squeezing lemon juice into the icing and me stirring it in, quickly dipping my finger into the mixture for a premature taste test.. ahhhh my memories are grand!

Happy baking everyone.

Hedgehog Slice

There are countless hedgehog slice recipes floating around the world, the recipe that I normally use contains eggs, I have been know to forget to add the eggs in the past and find myself mixing them in at the last moment in a desperate attempt to make good of the recipe. I was delighted to learn that this recipe does not have eggs, a breath of fresh air in my book, knowing that i will not be able to make a mess of it is also simple and fool proof, just the way I like my recipes, no complicated jargon or elaborate processes, just simple and care free.

My first encounter of hedgehog slice was out of a tiny little cookbook produced by the CWA in a small community in South West Victoria called Simpson, a farming town with a pub, a convenience store and two churches. I can remember sitting in the kitchen reading through this book filled with old recipes like mock chicken and passion fruit cordial, I can remember making the hedgehog and believe you me, if I could screw up a recipe any more than I did it would have been a miracle. It is funny the memories that stick with you, that recipe and a small town called Simpson is one of them.

My husband Fred can't stop eating the final product, this coming from a man that is not fussed on sweet treats, I know I have hit a winner with him when he asks why I didn't bring him a slice when I sit next to him on the couch eating my chocolaty treat.

Have fun baking this old favourite everyone, better still get your children involved, let them smash the biscuits with a rolling pin and stir the chocolate mixture in the bowl, you could go one better and even let them lick the spoon.. or you could share the spoon.. maybe a little.. or even hoard it all for yourself.

 

INGREDIENTS
250g pkt plain biscuits
1/2 cup (40g) desiccated coconut
1/2 cup (55g) coarsely chopped walnuts
2 tbsp cocoa
1 cup (150g) dark chocolate melts
100g butter, chopped
395g can condensed milk

CHOCOLATE TOPPING

1 1/2 cups (225g) dark chocolate melts
1 tbsp vegetable oil

METHOD

 

1. Grease and line base and long sides of a 28cm x 18cm lamington pan.
2. Place biscuits in a snap-lock bag; squeeze out excess air; place on a hard surface; hit with a rolling pin until biscuits are crushed.
3. In a large bowl, combine biscuits, coconut, walnuts and cocoa; set aside.
4. In a small saucepan , stir dark melts, butter and condensed milk together over low heat for 4 - 5 minutes until the mixture is melted and well combined. Cool slightly. Stir mixture into reserved dry ingredients.
5. Press mixture firmly into prepared pan; refrigerate for 30 minutes or until firm.
6. TO MAKE CHOCOLATE TOPPING: place chocolate melts in a microwave safe bowl; microwave uncovered on MEDIUM for 1 minute; stir. Repeat process in 30 second intervals until melted, add oil and stir until smooth; spread over slice. Refrigerate for 30 minutes until set. Using a hot knife, cut slice into squares.

HANDY HINT
Instead of chopping walnuts, I buy the bakers walnuts which are already chopped, it saves time and fussing.

Let me know how you went, did you like it as much as I did?

The Best Ever Caramel Slice

When I turned the first page of my new cookbook and found this recipe to greet me my initial thought was that it had an extremely huge reputation to up hold, especially being "the best ever caramel slice."

I was excited to put the recipe to the test, so excited in fact that as I was mixing the base in the bowl, one eye on the task at hand, the other on the episode of Futurama I was watching on the telly when, I had a caramel slice base EXPLOSION, tripping over my puppy in the kitchen and creating an aerial spectacular of caramel slice base flying every where. My husband, who was sitting on the couch was in a fit of laughter as I try to fend off the helpless base from the terribe clutches of my over exuberant puppy and her hoover like manner, saying that we, my puppy and I were a match made in heaven, I would create the mess, and she, Gaia would be there to clean it, my own personal Dyson! I must say, in the end it was easier to bake a new base, Gaia was pleased with this decision and lay in her basket with a hard, round belly and a delightfully pleased smile on her face. Win, win I say!

I was even more pleased with the result, so pleased in fact that my husband and I found ourselves indulging in midnight feasts of delicious, gooey, caramel delights, I was so pleased in fact that I strayed from my plan and baked the recipe for a second time.

I am so excited to share this recipe with you, I hope you enjoy your baking experience as much as I did.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup (150g) plain flour

1/2 cup (110g) brown sugar

1/2 cup (140g) desiccated coconut

125g butter, melted, plus 100g extra

2 x 395g cans sweetened condensed milk

1/3 cup (80ml) golden syrup

1 1/3 cups (200g) dark chocolate melts, melted

1 tbsp vegetable oil

METHOD

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees, line a 28cm x 18cm lamington pan.

2. In a bowl, combine flour, sugar and coconut. Add butter and mix well. Press mixture into prepared pan. Bake for 15 - 20 min or until lightly browned. Cool.

3. Combine extra butter, condensed milk and golden syrup in a pan and stir over a low heat until smooth. Pour over prepared base. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool

4. Combine choc melts and oil in a bowl and stir until smooth, pour evenly over caramel. Refrigerate until set. Cut into triangles to serve.



Handy Hint:
Don't wait until the chocolate has completely set before cutting it into triangles, this makes it a little tricky, cutting it when the chocolate is still a little soft makes the task child's play.



 

An Adventure Is Birthed

Recently, on one of my spontaneous trips to Woolworth's supermarket I was perusing the baking section when a promotional offer caught my eye, buy three Nestle products and receive a free cookbook, a free cookbook, WOW! That is the most spectacular promotional offer I have ever come across and of course I need another cookbook to add to my already over crowded and badly organised collection of cookbooks that currently inhabit my book shelf.

I snap up three packets of Nestle melts, fighting off the urge to purchase more than I need as to obtain two free cookbooks, one of course to give to mother, who also owns an over populated book shelf of cookbooks from all corners of the world, I know she would be proud that I said no to temptation, especially due to our over whelming genetic desire to collect culinary cookbooks.

Along with my BBQ chicken, milk and puppy food ( the puppy food being the inspiration to my shopping adventure) I made my way to the register and checked myself out, all the while being terribly proud that I was now the owner of a brand new cookbook filled with sensational pointers on how to consume calories and watch my cellulite grow.

On my return home I sat on the couch and introduced myself to my new cookbook, starting from the first page and working my way back, I began to salivate with anticipation and committed myself then and there to bake every recipe in the book in the order that they appear, and hence my project was born, I began by posting photos of my completed recipes on my facebook timeline, it wasn't long before I was being asked for the recipes it only made sense to turn my project into a blog.

Living in a house hold with only one serious sweets eater I have decided to take my time with my post, only baking a new recipe when the previous one has been completely devoured, this is when I call on my friends and any other willing participants to put you hands up for samples, other wise my thighs are going to swell and my skinny jeans will shrink.. how horrid!

There are 48 recipes in Australia's Sweet Baking Favourites cookbook with the first recipe being "The Best Ever Caramel Slice" this will be the first of many delicious morsels for you to bake, devour and share with friends and family. I would love to read your comments and even see photos of your creations. Well, enough chit chat, lets get baking!!