Almond Butter Biscuits

April 16th, 2009

almondbb

One of my favourite memories of foods growing up is these almond butter biscuits. I remember getting a few at the beginning of every school year and always wanting more and requesting them throughout the year.

Melt in your mouth Heaven… with a bit of crunch from the almonds dusted in sweet icing sugar. The icing sugar can be a bit of a mess when eating, especially over black clothes, although this is a small price to pay for something so good.

Almond Butter Biscuits

Makes around 50 biscuits

8oz (250g) butter or margarine (I use salted butter)
3 tablespoons castor sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
½ teaspoon salt
2 cups plain flour
¾ cup chopped blanched almonds or slivered almonds
1/2 – 1 cup icing sugar or mixture

Cream butter with sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy.

almondbb_butter

Sift flour and salt together and blend into creamed mixture then stir in almonds (make mixture just stiff enough to be able to roll it into balls in hand i.e. add a little more flour if necessary).

almondbb_mix

Place in balls the size of walnuts or in crescent shapes on an ungreased tray.

almondbb_shaped

Bake in moderate oven (180°C/350°F) for 15 minutes. Remove from tray and cool slightly. Roll in icing sugar. (Sift icing sugar on the bottom of the biscuits first then on the top)

almondbb_cooked

almondbb_icing1

almondbb_icing2

almondbb_plate

Posted in Cakes, Slices and Biscuits, High Tea, Party Food, Recipes, Vegetarian | 9 Comments »

White Chocolate Mud Cake

April 14th, 2009

whitechocmudcake
Ever since trying the first white chocolate hazelnut mud cake muffin as a potential for our wedding cake I have thought and thought about trying to get a great recipe.

First off, I decided to trial out a White Chocolate Mud cake without the hazelnuts (although I hope to add ground hazelnuts to the next one I try). I found this recipe on a website which gives great variations for the recipe, from dark chocolate to white chocolate, caramel and chocolate with hazelnut mud cakes.

I decided to make this cake as a thank you to those at work for their lovely present and well-wishes for my Wedding (yes, a long-ish time ago now). The cake is lovely and moist, with beautiful subtle flavours. The combination of the glaze with the cake worked wonderfully.

wcmc

I had to cook the cake for a lot longer than the recipe stated and as I didn’t have a solid round tin, I had to use a springform tin instead, with a tray underneath to catch drips. The glaze didn’t turn out exactly how I had hoped, as it was a little too runny – I’m not sure if it’s because I didn’t let it cool enough. I had made slightly less glaze (due to a shortage of cream in the house) in case anyone was wondering why I didn’t have enough to fully cover the cake.

I hope you enjoy the recipe and I’ll try and keep you updated with my next trial/s. 🙂

White Chocolate Mud Cake
(Recipe by kel11 on HubPages)

350g white chocolate pieces
225g butter
600ml water
3 eggs
400g (almost 2 cups) castor sugar
400g (2 ¾ cups) self-raising flour

Chocolate Glaze
225g chocolate pieces
165ml double or whipping cream

Grease and line a 23cm/ 9” round cake tin (use a non-spring-tin as it will probably leak a little). Preheat oven to 170ºC, 150ºC fan forced.

In a saucepan over low heat, heat chocolate, butter and water. Stir frequently until melted and smooth. Remove from the heat and cool slightly.

White chocolate, butter and water melted

White chocolate, butter and water melted

In a large bowl, lightly beat eggs. Gradually beat cooled chocolate mixture into eggs. Whisk sugar and flour into chocolate mixture, continue until smooth and well blended.

Pour mixture into cake tin. Cake for 45 minutes or until skewer inserted into centre of cake comes out clean.

wcmc_uncooked

Turn cake onto wire rack to cool.

wcmc_cooked

Chocolate Glaze
In a saucepan over low heat, heat chocolate and cream, stirring frequently until melted and smooth. Keep warm.

Once cake is cooled, you can cut the cake into layers and spread a truffle mixture through – see the original recipe.

Place the cake on wire rack and pour warm glaze over the top. With a palette knife spread glaze to cover top and size evenly.

wcmc_iced

Posted in Cakes, Slices and Biscuits, Chocolate, Dessert, Recipes, Vegetarian | 9 Comments »

Chocolate Chip Hot Cross Buns

April 9th, 2009

cchcb

I love the smell of hot cross buns and raisin toast… although the only problem with these is my dislike for raisins and sultanas and other dried fruits. Luckily there are chocolate chip hot cross buns sold at many shops now, which have the lovely spices, without the fruit and with the addition of chocolate. Yum! Around Easter time, I would normally buy a packet a week, eat a few, freeze some, take some to work… and best of all, cut them open, toast and put a little butter on top…

What’s better than store bought ones – Fresh Home-made Choc Chip Hot Cross Buns!! These are the best (almost) straight out of the oven, or at least on the same day as baking. The next day they are already not as fresh, and probably require being heated and/or toasted under the grill, with the addition of butter (if you so wish).

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I thought I’d share this recipe before the Easter weekend for anyone wanting to make them. If the thought of waking up and smelling fresh fragrant hot cross buns sounds appealing and the thought of actually making them after waking up doesn’t sound as appealing – I’ve gone to the effort to test whether the mixture can be made the night before, with the second rising of dough done overnight in the fridge. The results: they did not rise as much as I had hoped overnight, maybe half the amount the normal batch did (not sure whether I was supposed to let it rise before putting in the fridge). After baking in the morning, they still hadn’t risen as much as the normal buns, although they had the same lovely flavour and texture – so I would recommend it if you are low on time for the morning.

Enjoy and have a great Easter long weekend!

Chocolate Chip Hot Cross Buns
(Recipe from Woman’s Day)

Makes: 9 buns

150 ml milk, warmed
8g sachet (1 tablespoon) dry yeast
1 teaspoon caster sugar
2 cups plain flour
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
50g butter, chopped
1 cup milk chocolate chips
2 tablespoons caster sugar
1 egg

Crosses
1-2 tablespoons plain flour
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
2 tablespoons water

Glaze
¼ cup water
2 tablespoons caster sugar

Preheat oven to hot, 200°C. Lightly grease a 22cm square cake pan.
In a medium jug, combine milk, yeast and sugar. Leave in a warm place for 5-10 minutes, until mixture is frothy.

Activated yeast

Activated yeast

Sift flour and cinnamon into a large bowl. Using fingertips, rub in butter until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir through chocolate chips and sugar.

Whisk egg into yeast mixture. Add to flour mixture and mix to form a soft dough. Turn onto lightly floured surface. Knead 10 minutes, until dough is smooth and elastic.

Smooth dough

Smooth dough

Place in lightly greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Stand in a warm place for 40 minutes, or until doubled in size.

Wait until it's doubled in size

Wait until it's doubled in size

Punch dough down once with fist to release gas. Knead lightly. Divide dough into 9 equal pieces. Knead each piece until smooth. Shape into rounds. Arrange in pan. Cover with plastic wrap or a clean tea towel and stand 20 minutes, in a warm place, until doubled in size.

cchcb_tin

Buns that have risen - you could certainly leave it to rise for a bit longer

Buns that have risen - you could certainly leave it to rise for a bit longer

Crosses: in a small bowl, mix flour, cocoa and water to create a smooth paste. Pipe crosses on buns. Bake 12-15 minutes, until they sound hollow when tapped.

cchcb_piped

Glaze: in a small saucepan, combine water and sugar. Stir over low heat for 2-3 minutes, until sugar dissolves. Bring to boil, without stirring. Reduce heat and simmer 1-2 minutes, until mixture thickens slightly. Brush over hot buns. Transfer to wire rack to cool.

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Toasted under the grill and serve with some butter

Toasted under the grill and serve with some butter

cchcb_piping

Posted in Cakes, Slices and Biscuits, Chocolate, Recipes | 15 Comments »

Midori Splice

April 7th, 2009

Bold cocktails are beautiful, especially when layering is involved. And anything that takes you back to a relaxing holiday on a beach is a definite… either on holiday or back home.

midorisplice2

Even though it is getting cooler here in Sydney at the moment, I’m sure there’s still space for a cocktail or two, perhaps on the upcoming long weekend…

The addition of the coconut rum really makes this cocktail remind me of summer, the beach and relaxing. The beautiful layering of green, yellow and white also inspire holiday-like day-dreaming.

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Midori Splice

Serves: 1

1 shot (30ml) Malibu (Coconut rum)
1 shot (30ml) Midori
Pineapple juice
Ice
Thickened or Fresh Cream

midorisplice3

Put ice in a tall glass. Pour in Malibu and Midori.
Fill glass with pineapple juice (leaving about 3-5cm at the top). Pour on cream. Serve and relax.

midorisplice1

Posted in Drinks, Recipes | 5 Comments »

Pumpkin Soup

April 6th, 2009

Now after all the baking and rich dinners that I cook, it’s only reasonable that once in a while we make something which doesn’t contain loads of carbs or sugar. Many of you may not think this is an appropriate recipe to add to my blog, but it’s more put up to remind people of easy, budget meals (especially in these times) that anyone can make any time. It fulfils a lot of requirements for dinner:

pumpkinsoup

Cheap – I was able to buy a 3.7kg Kent pumpkin @ $0.98/kg = $3.65 for the entire batch of soup– if this serves 8 people it’s 46c per serve – Bargain!
Not many ingredients required
Low in Kilojoules – If you’re on Weight Watchers it’s 0 points!! (as long as you don’t add cream or eat bread with it)
Easy and Fast
Able to freeze (Just thaw and reheat)

What more could you want?
You only really need two ingredients a pumpkin and some chicken or vegetable stock, or stock powder – for those who won’t use up the rest of container of stock.

You can refrigerate or freeze the leftovers and reheat in the microwave or on the stove (it may form crystals when frozen, but once mixed through it’s fine).

Pumpkin Soup
Serves: 8 or more

3.5kg Jap or Kent Pumpkin (any other pumpkin will do e.g. Butternut, etc)
1 teaspoon chicken or vegetable stock powder (or one cup stock)

pumpkin

Peel and de-seed pumpkin. Cut in small pieces (4 x 4 x 1.5cm) and place in a large pot. Add enough water to almost cover (1-2cm below) the pumpkin pieces. This will make a thick soup, so you can add more water now or after blending if you prefer it thinner. Add the stock and heat over medium heat until the pumpkin is soft and a cake tester or sharp knife goes in and comes out easily.

Stir occasionally to make sure all pumpkin is cooked evenly

Stir occasionally to make sure all pumpkin is cooked evenly

Use a hand blender to blend up the pumpkin.

Blend then serve

Blend then serve

See – I told you it was easy!
Now you can eat your cake or a lovely decadent dessert and not feel so guilty! 🙂

Variation:
You could always fry up one finely sliced onion before adding the pumpkin, a bit of cream after it’s blended to add some more taste and serve with tasty herb bread. Of course the bread and cream make this a bit less healthy, but it certainly tastes great!

Posted in Budget Meals, Healthy Eating, Main Meals, Recipes, Vegetarian | 7 Comments »

Strawberry Roulade and Lemon Cream

April 2nd, 2009

roulade1

When I think of a strawberry roulade, I’m mainly thinking about the strawberry jam and cream rolls I used to eat when younger, or the little rolletes that come in the packets at the supermarket. This is unlike any of those bought rolls, with the beautiful cream contributing so much more to the flavour and experience than expected.

roulade3

When I saw this very grown-up berry roulade recipe in the Marie Clare Magazine, I tore the page out and waited for an opportunity to make it. I decided to use only strawberries, as they looked lovely and fresh at the time I made it. The addition of a sweet lemon cream was fantastic and I know I could have just eaten the whole bowl of cream by itself.

Roulade with Fresh Berries and Lemon Cream
Recipe from a Marie Clare Magazine recipe

Serves: 6-8

2-3 punnets of berries, such as strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and blueberries
1-2 tablespoons kirsch (fruit brandy – optional, I didn’t use this)
Melted butter for greasing
4 eggs
¾ cup caster sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
2/3 cup plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
50g ground almonds
Sugared almonds to serve (optional, I didn’t use this)

Lemon Cream
300 ml thickened cream
½ cup caster sugar
Zest of 1 lemon, finely grated
Juice of ½ lemon, or to taste

Place berries, ¼ cup of caster sugar and kirsch in a bowl and toss well. Set aside for at least 30 minutes (or while you prepare the rest of the roulade).

Strawberries soaking

Strawberries in sugar

Preheat oven to 200°C. Grease a 20 x 30cm swill roll tin (I used a 25 x 37cm tray) and line with baking paper (cut a piece too large for the tin so paper hangs over edges). Beat eggs, ½ cup caster sugar and vanilla until thick, pale and creamy. Sift together flour and baking powder and, using a metal spoon, gently stir into egg mixture along with ground almonds. Pour batter into tin, making sure it fills the corners. Bake to 10-15 minutes or until golden and firm to the touch.

Remove and cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Sprinkle a clean tea towel generously with extra caster sugar. Invert cake onto tea towel, then gently peel paper from back of cake. Using the tea towel, carefully roll the still warm cake up from the short end and leave for at least 10 minutes.

Rolled up Roulade

Rolled up cake

Lemon Cream
Whip cream together with caster sugar, lemon zest and juice. Set aside for 10 minutes for flavours to infuse, taste and add more lemon juice if necessary.

Lovely Lemon Cream

Lovely Lemon Cream

Carefully unroll cake, but don’t flatten out too much or it will crack. Spread thickly with lemon cream and top with half or more of the berries, then carefully roll up again. Sprinkle with extra caster sugar and sugared almonds. Slice and serve with remaining berries.

Ready to go - I'm trying to keep it tight by resting it against my sugar container

Ready to go - I'm trying to keep it tight by resting it against my sugar container

Note: You are able to leave the roulade in the fridge for a few hours before serving, to stop the cream melting.

Ready to eat

Ready to eat

roulade4

roulade_sliced

Posted in Cakes, Slices and Biscuits, Dessert, Recipes | 5 Comments »

Chocolate Chip Friands with Cinnamon and Almonds

March 25th, 2009

friands

Can you believe after that mammoth feast for my Mum’s birthday, consisting of Butter chicken pie with vegetables and rice, home-made trifle for dessert and a poppy seed cake for the birthday cake, that there would still be time to make, and people to eat, some lovely friands?

Well, not really… there was enough time for me to make these friands, although almost no one had enough room to fit in even a quarter of a friand.

If it weren’t for my bad timing (chosen due to the left-over egg whites from the custard in the trifle), I’m sure these would have been gobbled up by my family… alas… I was ‘forced’ to take most home – with a couple arriving with me at work with the remaining poppy seed cake.

Choc Chip friands with Cinnamon and Almonds
(adapted from Lynne Mullin’s recipe in the Sydney Morning Herald’s Good Living Winter + Food Magazine May 2008)

Makes: 12

6 egg whites
185g butter, melted
125g (1½ cups) almond meal
240g (2 cups) pure icing sugar, sifted
75g (heaped ½ cup) plain flour
100g coarsely chopped dark chocolate
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
25g (1/4 cup) slivered almonds, chopped
Icing sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 200°C. Whisk egg whites in a medium bowl until frothy and small peaks form. Add melted butter, almond meal and icing sugar and stir with a wooden spoon until combined. Add flour, chocolate and cinnamon and combine well.

Egg White beaten until frothy and starting to form small peaks

Egg White beaten until frothy and starting to form small peaks

Divide mixture evenly between a 12-mould friand tin. Sprinkle with chopped almonds and bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden and cooked.

Sprinkle with chopped almonds

Sprinkle with chopped almonds

Rest in pan for 5-10 minutes and the carefully turn onto a cake rack or use a spoon to lift out of moulds. Cool friands and then dust with icing sugar before serving.

friand_cooked2

friand_cooked

friands2

Posted in Cakes, Slices and Biscuits, Chocolate, Egg Whites, High Tea, Recipes | 11 Comments »

Vanilla Poppy Seed Cake with Orange Frosting

March 23rd, 2009

And then there was cake…. as my Mum’s Birthday meal continues…

poppyseedcake

This is one of the first cakes I learnt to make and one of my (very many) favourites. It has no fake orange flavour that you will generally taste, and I very much detest, in many of bought orange and poppy seed cakes. Instead this cake has a lovely vanilla and poppy seed cake with a subtle orange flavour in the icing.

I tend to often forget about the soaking of the poppy seeds, although once they’re in the bowl soaking in milk, there’s plenty of time to get the rest of the ingredients together. Once the poppy seeds are finished soaking, it’s just a case of adding everything else, mixing then baking – very easy!

Poppy Seed Cake
(Not sure of original source of recipe – Sorry)

1/3 cup poppy seeds
¾ cup milk
185g butter
2 teaspoons vanilla essence
1 cup castor sugar
3 eggs
2 cups self-raising flour

Combine poppy seeds and milk in a medium bowl, soak for 1 hour.

Soaking poppyseeds

Soaking poppyseeds

Grease one large bundt tin or a ring tin. Preheat oven to 180°C. Add butter, essence, sugar, eggs, sifted flour to poppy seed mixture. Beat on low speed with electric mixer until combined, then beat mixture on medium speed for about 3 minutes, or until mixture has lightened in colour.

Mix all ingredients together and beat until mixture lightens in colour

Mix all ingredients together and beat until mixture lightens in colour

Pour into prepared pan. Bake oven for about 40 – 50 minutes. Stand 5 minuted before turning on to wire rack to cool.

Cake is golden on top and coming away from the edges of the tin

Cake is golden on top and coming away from the edges of the tin

Leave to cake to cool

Leave to cake to cool

Orange Frosting

60g butter
1½ cups icing sugar
2 tablespoons orange juice

Beat butter in a small bowl with mixer until light and creamy. Gradually add sifted icing sugar and orange juice, beat until frosting is spreadable. Decorate with orange rind, if desired.

Orange frosting on the cooled cake - ready to eat!

Orange frosting on the cooled cake - ready to eat!

Enjoy!

Enjoy!

Posted in Cakes, Slices and Biscuits, Recipes | 8 Comments »

Cherry Compote, Vanilla Bean Custard and Vienna Almond Cream Trifle

March 20th, 2009

trifle_finished

My mum’s favourite dessert ever is trifle. A combination of cake, alcohol, fruit, home-made thick custard and cream can’t go wrong. My idea of a trifle is probably a bit different to my mum’s and I already have a recipe lined up and waiting to make for my trifle – hint: it involves a lot of chocolate :P. Although on my mum’s birthday I can’t be selfish and make my trifle so I’ve endeavoured to find a great trifle to satisfy her trifle needs.

I have previously made only one trifle, so planning for this one was a bit difficult, especially since I had chosen a recipe using fresh black cherries which were already going out of season here. I decided to use bottled Morello cherries in syrup for the base, fresh made sponge, vanilla bean custard and Vienna almond cream.

This produced an extremely lovely dessert, which looks very beautiful when layered in a lovely trifle bowl to show off all the layers. I also love food that can be prepared beforehand leaving a dinner party much more relaxed.

Cherry Compote, Vanilla Bean Custard and Vienna Almond Cream Trifle
(recipe adapted from Trifles with friends by Trish Deseine)

Serves: 8-10

Cherry Compote:
¾ cup caster sugar
700g jar of Morello cherries, with 1 cup or all liquid reserved (or pitted black cherries, if in season)
1 lemon, squeezed

Custard:
300ml milk
300ml cream (thickened or whipping)
1 vanilla pod, split
4 egg yolks
2/3 cup (125g) caster sugar

Sponge:
6 eggs, separated
1½ cups (350g) caster sugar
1 1/3 cups (175g) plain flour
1/3 cup (40g) cornflour

5 tablespoons Marsala wine or Sherry
300ml cream, thickened or whipping
50-75g Vienna almonds, chopped
25g toasted flaked almonds

Cherry Compote:
Mix the sugar, lemon juice and liquid from the cherries in a medium saucepan. Turn heat up to medium and stir until sugar dissolves. Once dissolved, bring to the boil and keep an eye on the mixture to make sure it doesn’t boil over – leave at a heat where it is boiling but not going to overflow. Continue to boil until mixture has decreased to less than ¼ its original size and become thick and syrup like (this may take a while, so you can continue on with other parts of the trifle). Add cherries at end and pour into another bowl to cool.

Boil cherry liquid and sugar until reduced and thickened

Boil cherry liquid and sugar until reduced and thickened

Cherry Compote

Cherry Compote

Custard:
Place the milk, cream and vanilla pod in a medium saucepan, bring to the boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. While this is occurring, beat the egg yolks with the sugar until light and fluffy. Once the cream mixture has come to the boil, pour into the egg yolk mixture, mixing constantly. Pour custard mix back into the saucepan and heat on low until mixture thickens. Do not allow custard to boil. (I found this custard did not thicken a much as I expected – like the Portuguese custard tart custard I’ve made).

Custard before thickening

Custard before thickening

Thickened custard

Thickened custard

Sponge:
Preheat oven to 180-200C. Mix the egg yolks with half the sugar until light and fluffy. Beat the egg whites until stiff, then add the remaining sugar and beat to combine. Fold the egg white mixture into the egg yolks. Sift the plain flour and cornflour together and fold through the egg mixture gently, in three batches. Pour into tray, cake tin or individual tins, greased and lined with baking paper. Cook for 20-30 minutes or until golden and cooked through. Stand for 5-10 minutes, then remove and leave to cool.

Egg yolks and sugar beaten until light and fluffy

Egg yolks and sugar beaten until light and fluffy

Egg white and sugar beaten

Egg white and sugar beaten

Fold through plain flour and cornflour

Fold through plain flour and cornflour

Golden cooked sponge

Golden cooked sponge

Assembly:
Once cooled, place the cherry compote in the bottom of the bowl(s). Cut or tear sponge to fit into bowl and place on top of cherries. Sprinkle Marsala wine or Sherry over the sponge and refrigerate for 10 minutes. Pour custard on top of sponge and refrigerate overnight.

Place sponge on top of cherry compote layer

Place sponge on top of cherry compote layer

Layer custard on top of soaked sponge

Layer custard on top of soaked sponge

Before serving, whip up cream until thickened and add chopped Vienna almonds. Layer cream mix over the custard layer and scatter toasted flaked almonds on top. Serve (you may serve with ice cream, but it doesn’t need it).

Fold Vienna almonds through whipped cream

Fold Vienna almonds through whipped cream

Layered Trifle - sorry about the light for the photography

Layer Trifle with cream

One big scoop for man...

One big scoop for man...

...one small scoop for my mum

...one small scoop for my mum 🙂

🙂

Posted in Cakes, Slices and Biscuits, Dessert, Egg Yolks, Recipes | 6 Comments »

Butter Chicken Pie

March 19th, 2009

Happy Birthday Mum!

So many birthdays close together… Well I guess with a large family already, when you add friends and extended family the number of days between birthdays becomes few.

butterchickenpiecut

When I asked my mum what she’d like for her birthday dinner, she replied “Whatever you’d like to make”. Just like last year and the year before and the year before….

It takes only a few threats that we will not make her any food if she doesn’t choose what she wants, before she finally comes around to choosing things that she does want for her dinner. For dinner she asked for a butter chicken pie, one of the recipes Nick introduced to our family. Dessert and Birthday Cake is another story…

Butter Chicken Pie

Serves: 8

1 kg chicken, fat removed and diced
1 tablespoon peanut oil
3 carrots, diced
4 small potatoes, diced
1 sweet potato, diced
1 large jar (540g) butter chicken sauce (we used Patak’s – although we’ve made our own before, which tastes great)
1-2 sheets shortcrust pastry
1-2 sheets puff pastry
1 egg, lightly beaten

Preheat oven to 180°C.

Place carrots, potato and sweet potato in a saucepan with water and bring to the boil for 5 -10 minutes until almost cooked.

Heat oil in a saucepan over medium to high heat and add chicken stirring until brown. Add butter chicken sauce and heat through.

Add drained carrots, potato and sweet potato and cook until sauce has thickened a little.

butterchickenpie

Line a lasagne dish with shortcrust pastry, add chicken mixture and cover with puff pastry. Slice some holes in the top of the pastry and brush with beaten egg. Cook for 30 minutes in oven or until pastry is golden brown.

Posted in Main Meals, Recipes | 7 Comments »

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