Gingerbread Men

I know I have a whole big backlog of recipes to post, but seeing as it's the Christmas season, I thought I'd just jump ahead and post this Gingerbread Men recipe. I'm no good at decorating them (nor do I have the time), so these were just plain. Even so, they were well loved.

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope you've had a good one!

Ingredients

• 125g butter, softened
• 1/2 firmly packed cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup golden syrup
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 1/2 cups plain flour
• 1 tbs ground ginger
• 1 tsp mixed spice
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Line 2 large baking trays. In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar using electric beaters until light and fluffy.
   
2. Beat in golden syrup and egg yolk, then use a spoon to fold in flour, ginger, spice and soda until it forms a smooth dough. Form into a ball and cover in plastic wrap. Chill for 30 minutes.
3. Bring dough to room temperature then roll out between baking paper to 5mm thick. Use a gingerbread man cutter to cut shapes (or indeed any other shape you desire, in which case you might end up with gingerbread stars or something other than men).
   
4. Space out on trays and bake for 10 minutes or until golden.
   
5. The biscuits will keep in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

How does your garden grow?

And now for something different! Stepping away from the kitchen for this post, and into my garden. Well, the pots on my balcony that is. I have a number of plants from chilis to herbs (and more non-edible plants). How does your garden grow?

I promise we'll be back to the regular program next post! In the mean time, enjoy the pics.

Chili of some description, I think it has ebony in the title, but my little sister who gave it to me couldn't remember the name.

Basil, my most favourite herb. I love making basil and pinenut pesto!

Mint! I love just touching the mint and smelling the aroma it leaves on my fingers. Is that weird? There's just something so refreshing about the smell of mint!

Lemon tree seedling! I took these shots a while ago, and unfortunately the bird have eaten this one. Actually, they ate all the seedlings that I grew from seed. I was so annoyed. I will try again though!

Next time: I have a really long backlog of food photos, and just have to match up the recipes to them now, you'll be getting one of those recipes next time!

Time for a change....

I decided it was time for a change of blog design. Cupcakes are an appropriate theme, but not sure if I'm convinced regarding the two column side bar thing. Feedback, anyone?

Apple-pie cookies

When I saw these cookies over at Bakingbites.com, I knew I had to make them immediately! Straight out of the oven, these cookies were pleasantly crisp on the outside, and wonderfully warm and moist on the inside. They keep well for two to three days in an air-tight container, but the outside of the cookies will lose the crispness. They are still delicious the next day, but I believe they are best consumed on the day you bake them. I am surprised there were even any left for the next day, I wanted to eat them all as soon as I'd made them, they were that good! Take note that as these cookies lose their crisp outside the next day, they are likely to stick together if stacked on top of one another in a container. You can get around this by layering plastic wrap or baking paper/grease-proof paper (my preference).

You really should make these cookies right away. You won't be sorry!

Apple-pie cookies
Adapted from Bakingbites.com

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bi-carb soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
125g butter, softened
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 egg
2 tbsp maple syrup
1 1/4 cups diced fresh apples (about 2 apples)
3/4 cup toasted pecans, coarsely chopped (I used walnuts)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Line a cookie tray with baking paper.
2. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until well combined and fluffy.
3. In a separate bowl, sift flour, baking powder, bi-carb soda, salt and spices.
4. Beat in egg and maple syrup.
   
5. Mix in flour mixture with a spoon or any other mixing utensil you desire, until combined.
   
6. Stir in apples and pecans.
7. Drop by spoonfuls onto lined cookie tray.
8. Bake for 12-15 min, until cookies are browned around the edges.
   
9. Eat one as soon as they're cool enough to pick up and eat.
10. Enjoy!
11. Cool the rest of the cookies for 5 minutes on tray, finish cooling on a cake rack.

Makes about 20 medium-sized cookies

Sweet Potato and Ginger Cake

Wait, before you click away due to the hideously ugly photos below, hear me out....

Wow, those photos actually make this delicious cake look rather bad. You might be surprised to hear that this cake is actually really good. Despite the sweet potato (or kumara as it is known in some parts) and ginger... it kind of doesn't sound very appetising does it? I'm not sure what possessed me to make it, but I'm glad I did, because it was one of the best cakes I've ever eaten (aside from Nigella's Chocolate and Guinness Cake which I made not too long ago, and was recommended to me by the ever-entertaining Laura from Hungry and Frozen). So moist and satisfying, even a couple of days later. I highly recommend you give it a go... unless you don't like ginger, then maybe you should make the Chocolate and Guinness Cake instead.

Oh, now I know why I decided to make it, the picture in the magazine made it look fabulous... and it has white chocolate icing (yum!). My photos really don't do it any justice at all. Might have to go and make it again just to get some good photos! (....and maybe to eat some more of it).

This recipe is adapted from the Woman's Day "Everyday Food" magazine. This magazine comes out quarterly and is a small and handy size to sit on your kitchen bench as you work. I really like this magazine as the recipes are always quite easy and there's a lot of recipes to choose from. I am a bit of a sucker for shiny new recipe magazines and books (that include photos).

Ingredients

500g Sweet Potato, peeled and chopped
125g Butter at room temperature
75ml Maple syrup
75ml Golden Syrup
1/2 cup tightly packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 and 3/4 cups plain flour
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp bicarb soda
1/2 tsp salt

White chocolate icing
2 tbs pouring cream
100g white chocolate chopped or broken into pieces

Method

1. Cook sweet potato in a saucepan of lightly salted water for 15-20 min until tender. Drain well.
2. Using a food processor, blend sweet potato until pureed (you can also use a potato masher, but you might be at it for a while). You'll need 1 cup sweet potato puree (you can chill any left over sweet potato in the fridge for 2-3 days)
3. Preheat oven to 180C.
4. Lightly grease and flour a 6 cup ring cake pan or kugelhopf, shaking out any excess (I used a silicone kugelhopf placed on a cookie tray).
5. In a bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter, maple syrup, golden syrup, and sugar together until creamy.
6. Add eggs, one at a time beating well after each addition.
7. Beat in vanilla extract.
8. Fold in sweet potato puree.
9. Sift flour, ginger, bicarb soda and salt into a bowl.
10. Fold into creamed mixture until combined.
11. Pour batter into prepared pan, smoothing top.
12. Bake for 40-45 min until cake pulls away from sides and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean and dry. Cool in the pan for 10 min or so.
13. Meanwhile, in a microwave safe jug/bowl, add chocolate and cream. Microwave for 30 seconds at a time, mixing after each 30 second increment, until chocolate is almost all melted, do not microwave for longer or it is likely to burn. Any chocolate lumps can be stirred vigorously until the mixture is smooth. Set aside for 10 min to cool to room temperature (you can do this in the fridge for a shorter period).
14. Seve cake warm or at room temperature, drizzled with icing. It's also really good with the addition of vanilla ice-cream.

Cinnamon Scrolls

Obviously I have been absent form here for a while. Life stuff has been getting in the way, as has lack of motivation. I've been making things but never getting around to blogging about them. I'm on leave at the moment, and while I'm on leave I thought I'd like to do all those things that have been put aside for "later". So, here I am. Let's get on with the show.

Cinnamon Scrolls; one of those things that I've been wanting to make an never really got around to making. I wanted an inspiring recipe that used yeast and not just self raising flour, so when my husband emailed me this recipe, I knew it was what I'd been looking for.

These turned out so beautifully. The bread was nice and soft, even the next day. I was a bit surprised about that, as every time I've made bread before, it's been nice on the day, but it only good for toast the next day, and I could never get the crumb quite right. My bread has always been crumbly, and if you tried to bend it in half, it would break. Not like the store-bought bread which you can fold in half without it breaking. So I was very pleasantly surprised that this turned out nice and... what's the word, ...elastic? Well, un-crumbly anyway (obviously I'm not a writer, I'm not eloquent enough! haha!).

One thing I will note about this is that I actually used way more flour than the recipe states below, as the dough was very sticky, (originally, the recipe instructed me to use a stand mixer with a dough hook, but I don't have one of these so was doing it all by hand) I kept adding flour by handfulls until it wasn't too sticky to knead. I suspect this is why my rolls turned out so huge (they were supposed to fit into a 9" x 13" pan, but I ended up using a large baking dish, which is maybe twice that size).

I won't lie to you an say it was the most easy thing in the world to make, and it was no-fuss, (it took me about 5 hrs from start to finish - most of that was rising time so I could do other things in-between), but the results were well and truly worth it. I would even make them again, I was so impressed.

This recipe is adapted from Saveur.com

MAKES 8 ROLLS

Ingredients

FOR THE DOUGH:
7g package active dry yeast
1⁄2 tsp. plus 1⁄4 cup sugar
1⁄2 cup milk, at room temperature
2 tbsp. brown sugar
1⁄2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 3⁄4 cups flour, sifted, plus more for kneading
3⁄4 tsp. salt
8 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for the pan

FOR THE FILLING:
1⁄2 cup sugar
1⁄4 cup brown sugar
1⁄4 cup finely chopped walnuts
1 tbsp. ground cinnamon
1⁄2 tsp. fine salt
1⁄8 tsp. ground cloves
2 tbsp. maple syrup
4 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
8 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
(Note; the original recipe also includes 1⁄4 cup finely chopped pecans and 1⁄4 cup raisins or sultanas, but I didn't as I didn't have any, and they turned out just lovely anyway)

FOR THE ICING:
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1⁄4 cup buttermilk

Method

1. Make the dough: In a large bowl, combine yeast, 1⁄2 tsp. of the sugar, and 1⁄4 cup lukewarm water. Stir to combine and let sit until foamy (about 10 minutes).
2. Add remaining sugar, milk, brown sugar, vanilla, egg, and egg yolk. Whisk until thoroughly combined, (about 1 minute).
3. Add the flour and salt. Mix with a mixing spoon until the dough just comes together. Turn dough out onto a well floured surface and knead for 4 minutes. (Note; This is where I kept adding the flour until it was no longer too sticky to knead)
4. Knead the butter into the dough, and keep kneading until dough is smooth (about 10 minutes).
5. Spray a large clean bowl with spray oil. Place the dough into the bowl, then turn once to coat with the oil from the bowl (leave dough oiled side up). Cover with plastic wrap, and set aside in a warm place. Let the dough rise for 1 1⁄2–2 hours, until it has doubled in size.
6. Meanwhile, make the filling: Combine the sugar, brown sugar, walnuts, cinnamon, salt, and cloves in a large bowl; stir to combine (if you're using the pecans and/or raisins/sultanas, add them to this mixture). Stir in the maple syrup. Set filling aside.
7. Punch the dough down and turn it out onto a heavily floured surface. Gently knead the dough until it's no longer sticky, adding more flour as necessary, about 1 minute.
8. Using a floured rolling pin, roll the dough into a 10" x 10" square.
9. In a small bowl, beat the cream cheese with a rubber spatula until it's smooth and spreadable. Spread the cream cheese evenly over the dough square; then fold square into thirds as you would fold a letter to fit it into an envelope. Take the open ends of the resulting rectangle and fold into thirds again, to make a smaller dough square. Invert the dough so that the seam is face down and, using the rolling pin, gently roll into a 10" x 20" rectangle.
10. Turn the dough so that the short sides are parallel to you. Brush the top of the dough with half of the melted butter. Spread the reserved filling over the dough, leaving a 1" border at the edge farthest away from you. Lightly press the filling into the dough. Using your hands, lift up the bottom edge of the dough and roll it forward into a tight cylinder. (Make sure you roll it tight, otherwise it will come apart during the next faze).
11. Place dough cylinder, seam side down, on a cutting board and, using a thin, sharp knife, trim off the ends; cut cylinder crosswise into 8 equal-size slices. Nestle the slices, cut sides up and evenly spaced from one another, into a buttered 9" x 13" baking pan (or, if your rolls are large, use a bigger pan). Cover pan with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm place to let rise for 2 hours. (Alternatively, the rolls may be refrigerated overnight.)
12. Heat oven to 180°. Uncover the rolls. (If refrigerated, let them sit at room temperature for 15 minutes.) Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center of the rolls comes out clean, about 30 minutes.
13. Make the icing: While the rolls are baking, whisk together the sugar and buttermilk in a small bowl until smooth.
14. Transfer the pan of cinnamon rolls to a cooling rack; brush with remaining melted butter. Let cool for 5 minutes. Dip the tines of a fork into the icing and drizzle all over the rolls. Serve immediately.

Ah, warm cinnamon scrolls. Bliss!

Hummus

I've been having a bit of a blogging break (obviously). I have been making things but not having the time to put blog posts together (especially when a lot of what I've been making has been from food magazines), and I've been forgetting to take photos a lot of the time. Like this time, in fact. I decided I would just post this anyway, as although photos are pretty, if you know what hummus is like, you will know how this is supposed to look.

I decided I wanted to make hummus. My sister was having a birthday celebration at my parents' house, so that was the perfect opportunity. I could have easily bought some from the shops but really wanted to try home-made hummus to see if it was as good as or better than store bought hummus. This recipe was really easy, and tasty too! I doubled the ingredients and made double the quantity, which ended up being A LOT of hummus. So I'd only recommend doubling the ingredients if you have a lot of people to feed or you just REALLY love hummus. I do love it, but there's only so much one person can eat, even if my hummus-loving husband helped me eat it, I don't think we would have gotten through it before it went bad. We left what wasn't eaten at my parents' house as there's more people there to eat it.

Anyway, if you love chickpeas as much as I do, make sure you try this. We served this with sticks of carrot, celery and cucumber, and crackers. A relatively healthy alternative to all those full-of-fat dips we could have been eating....

Preparation Time
10 minutes

Makes
about 450g (1 cup)

Ingredients
1 x 400g can chickpeas, rinsed, drained
60ml (1/4 cup) fresh lemon juice
2 tbs tahini
2 tbs water
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1 small garlic clove, crushed
3 tbs plain yoghurt
Salt & freshly ground black pepper
Carrot & celery sticks, to serve

Method

1. Place chickpeas, lemon juice, tahini, water, cumin, coriander, garlic and yoghurt in the bowl of a food processor and process until a smooth paste forms. Taste and season with salt and pepper. (Add a little extra lemon juice or water if the hummus is too thick.)
2. Transfer hummus to a bowl.
3. Serve with carrot and celery sticks.