Crazy Baking Girl

Experimenting with a different template...

2012-01-22T10:02:00.004+11:00

Just experimenting with a different template. Please bear with me if things don't work quite as they should!

Hope you had a great Christmas and New Years. Life has been really busy here. Hoping to get back to some blogging soon, but if not, it's been a fun ride! :)

Cinnamon Oat Coconut Choc Chip Cookies

2011-11-26T22:12:00.000+11:00

The cinnamon adds a pleasant depth of flavour and warmth. I cooked half of this batch and rolled the rest into a log and froze it. You can slice and bake them with minimal fuss and washing up! Particularly good when you have people come over unexpectedly and don't have ingredients to make something quickly (I usually run out of eggs or butter).

Makes about 24 cookies

Ingredients:

125g butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup caster sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup Self Raising flour

1/2 cup coconut

1/3 cup rolled oats

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 cup choc chips

Method:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Line baking trays with baking paper
Cream butter and sugars together until light and fluffy
Beat in egg and vanilla
Stir in flour, oats, coconut, and cinnamon
Mix in choc chips
Roll tablespoons of dough into balls and place on prepared trays.
Bake for 8 to 10 min or until lightly golden.

Healthier Oat and Date Cokies

2011-10-24T22:23:00.000+11:00

These cookies came into existence because I was thinking about how to make cookies healthier. I love butter as much as the next person, but unfortunately, my love of cookies means I probably eat way too much butter. Not a problem except for the whole weight-gain factor. (That's probably not just the butter though, I'm sure sugar is a culprit as well). So here is what I came up with: Healthier Oat and Date Cookies. Am I kidding myself by classing these as "roughage"?

If you don't like dates, try replacing them with some other type of dried fruit. Apricots, maybe?

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups oats
1/2 cup coconut
1 cup Self Raising flour
1/3 cup maple syrup (you could use brown sugar instead, I just used maple syrup for another depth of flavour)
1 egg
2 tablespoons canola oil
1/2 cup apples sauce
3/4 cup chopped dates

Method

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C, line 2 trays with baking paper.
Mix dry ingredients in a bowl (except dates)
Mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients.
Mix in dates.
Roll into balls and place on trays. Flatten each cookie with a fork.
Bake for 8 to 10 min, cool on trays.

Chai Choc Chip Cheesecake Cookies

2011-10-04T21:37:00.000+11:00

I've been on a bit of a chai kick of late. So I thought I would combine chai with some other of my favourite things: cheesecake, choc chips and cookies. Thus, these cookies were born! They are delicious right from the oven, but I actually think these cookies are better after a couple of days.

Chai Choc Chip Cheesecake Cookies

Ingredients

250g butter
250g cream cheese
1 cup white sugar
½ cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 ½ cups plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
2 tsp ground ginger
3 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cardamom
2 pinches nutmeg
2 cups chocolate chips

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C, line a couple of baking trays with baking paper.
Cream butter and sugars together.
Add eggs, cream cheese, and vanilla extract and beat until well-incorporated.
In another bowl, combine flour with baking powder and salt.
Mix spices into the flour mixture.
Mix flour mixture into wet mixture.
Fold in chocolate chips.
Roll tablespoons of dough into balls and place on baking trays, flatten each cookie.
Bake for 10 minutes, or until edges are lightly golden. They may not look cooked, but they are. Cool on trays.

Chai Tea Cake

2011-09-10T20:28:00.000+10:00

Wow, how busy is life! So many things going on I haven't had a lot of time for blogging lately.

I have a bit of a back log of things to blog. This cake is one such recipe....

This cake far exceeded my expectations.

I really love chai tea, so this really hits the spot for me. I didn't expect the chai flavour to be so pronounced, but was very pleasantly surprised! You can ice it with cream cheese icing, or warm with custard (which is what I did).

Ingredients
2 Chai tea bags
1 cup boiling water
1 cup caster sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp bi-carb soda
1 tsp mixed spice
60g butter
1/4 cup glace ginger (I really feel this is optional, I prefer it without)
1/4 cup dried apricot, chopped
1 egg
1 cup self raising flour
1 cup plain flour

Cream cheese icing
2 cups icing sugar
4 tbs cream cheese
40g butter, softened

Method

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Lightly grease a 21cm bundt tin (I used a silicone pan).
Infuse tea in boiling water. Remove tea bags
Combine tea, sugar, salt, bi-carb soda, mixed spice, butter ginger and apricot in a large microwave safe bowl. Place in microwave in 1 minute bursts, stirring every minute, until butter melts. Set aside to cool.
Stir in egg, then fold in the flours until combined.
Spoon mixture into prepared pan, and place on a baking tray in the preheated oven for 1 hour, or until a skewer inserted into the inner part of the cake comes out clean.
Cool the cake in the pan, turn out onto wire rack when mostly cool.
Meanwhile, make the cream cheese icing by creaming together all icing ingredients.
Ice cake and enjoy!

Apple Pie!

2011-06-18T16:13:00.001+10:00

There's something comforting about apple pie, especially now that the weather is getting a bit cooler. This is one more thing crossed off my list. I've actually crossed off the apple crumble from the list too, but I just couldn't get any photos of it that looked like anything but gross-ness.

Anyway, I suggest you serve this with vanilla ice cream or custard. There's nothing quite like a homemade apple pie! Enjoy!

Ingredients (serves 8)

Pastry:

1 1/4 cups plain flour
1 1/4 cups self-raising flour
2 tbs caster sugar
1/2 tsp salt
200g chilled butter, chopped
1 egg, separated
1/3 cup iced water

Apple filling:

1.5kg Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, quartered, cut into 1.5cm-thick slices
3 tbs caster sugar, extra
1/3 cup cold water, extra
2 tbs fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Method

Place flours, butter, salt and sugar in a food processor. Process until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add egg yolk and 1/3 cup iced water. Process until pastry just comes together. Turn pastry onto a lightly floured surface. Knead gently until smooth. Wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes or until firm.
Meanwhile, make apple filling: Place apples and 1/3 cup cold water in a baking classics saucepan. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer, covered, for 5 to 7 minutes or until apples are tender. Drain. Return apples to pan. Stir in sugar, cinnamon and lemon juice. Set aside.
Preheat oven to 180°C/160°C fan-forced. Grease a 3cm-deep, 20cm (base) round glass or ceramic pie dish.
Place two-thirds of the pastry between 2 sheets of baking paper. Roll out into a 30cm round. Line base and sides of prepared dish with pastry. Trim edges. Spoon in filling. Brush edge with a little eggwhite. Place remaining pastry between 2 sheets of baking paper. Roll out until large enough to cover dish. Cover filling with pastry. Press edges together. Trim excess.
Make 2 cuts in top for steam to escape. Brush with remaining eggwhite. Sprinkle with remaining sugar. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until golden.

Bill's Banana Bread

2011-05-20T14:57:00.002+10:00

Bill Granger is my favourite chef :) (.... followed closely by Nigella).

Banana is a favourite ingredient as well (as you can probably tell). I am forever having dead bananas in my fruit bowl (when they're not so darn expensive), so this is a great use for them.

Bill Granger’s Choc Banana Bread

2 cups plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
125 grams unsalted butter, softened
1 cup caster sugar
4 ripe bananas, mashed
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips

Method

Pre-heat oven to 180C
Lightly grease and line a 19 x 11cm loaf tin with baking paper
Sift flour and baking powder into a large bowl
Mix butter, sugar, eggs, banana, choc chips and vanilla extract in a separate bowl
Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients, stir until just combined
Pour the batter into prepared tin and bake for 1 hour 15 minutes or until bread is cooked when tested with a skewer
Leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool
Serve in thick slices with butter (and maybe make yourself a cup of tea to go with it!)

Buttermilk Scones

2011-04-27T11:07:00.001+10:00

Buttermilk scones to make your afternoon or morning tea brighter :)

Ingredients

2 cups self-raising flour
1 tablespoon caster sugar
Pinch of salt
60g butter, chilled, chopped
3/4 cup buttermilk
Extra buttermilk, for brushing
jam and whipped cream, to serve (I like blueberry, but use whatever you like)

Method

Preheat oven to 200°C. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
Sift flour, sugar and salt into a bowl.
Add butter and use fingertips to rub butter into flour mixture until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
Make a well in centre of mixture and add buttermilk.
Stir until a sticky dough forms, then turn out onto a lightly floured surface.
Knead gently until just smooth.
Using a lightly floured rolling pin, gently roll dough out until 2cm thick. Using a round cutter (I used a small cutter so I would have more scones), cut out scones.
Press leftover dough together and cut out more scones. Repeat until there is no dough left.
Place scones, just touching, on the baking tray. Brush with buttermilk. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden and hollow when tapped on top. Serve with jam and cream.

Oreo and Rice Bubbles slice

2011-04-08T23:04:00.002+10:00

Oreos and chocolate; a great combination. This is an easy no-bake slice that pleases my family when I make it.

Oreo and Rice Bubbles slice

3 Tbs butter

All the white marshmallows from two x 200g packs of marshmallows (use the pink ones in something else, like rocky road)

100g milk chocolate, chopped

2 Cups Rice Bubbles

150g roughly crushed Oreo cookies

Method

Grease and line a slice time with baking paper.
Melt the butter in a large saucepan over low heat.
Once butter has melted, add marshmallows and chocolate. Stir over low heat until everything is mostly melted.
Remove from heat and add the rice bubbles and oreos and stir until evenly combined.
Pour into prepared slice tin and flatten with a spatula (or your fingers, that works too, but you will get sticky).
Set in the fridge.
Lift out the slice onto a cutting board and cut into squares once set.

Microwave Jam

2011-03-29T19:29:00.000+11:00

This is a post I wrote a little while back, I think the hold up was that I was hoping to get some pretty jam pics for you, but alas, I was making this jam at midnight and couldn't make the photos look very exciting (or as exciting as home made jam should be!). Then I forgot to get the photos of the finished product before giving it all away. I know it's not as pretty without all the photos.

This Christmas just past, I went with a "food as gifts" theme and made a lot of tasty things to give as presents. I decided that a good present would be jam using unusual combinations of fruit; combinations you can't buy even from gourmet delis that make that kind of thing. I got thinking about all the different types of fruit I could put together and came up with a few different ideas.

Jam making has always intimidated me a little. I had tried it once previously, when the jam company that I used to get Pear Jam through stopped making it. I really wanted my pear jam back! So I decided to make my own. Let's just say the results weren't very good. I had hard chunks of pear in yucky-tasting jam.... I mean, it set ok, but the flavour was pretty much enough to make me want to vomit. I still don't even like thinking about the smell! Ew!

Being that jam making was kind of scary, and that it had to turn out because I was going to give it as a gift, I started to think I was a bit crazy for wanting to attempt it when the results had to be good! It was then that I found a microwave jam recipe and tweaked it a bit to make it just right. The thought of microwave jam was far less daunting than stirring a mass of sugary syrup on the stove, wondering how I'd be able to tell if it was ready.

Turns out that this is pretty easy, you just have to really watch it, as it has a tendency to overflow and overtake your microwave!!

Microwave Jam

Ingredients

1 lemon, halved
500g fruit remove stone or stalk and chop fruit
1 1/2 cups (335g) white sugar

Method

Juice the lemon.
Place fruit, lemon juice and the rind halves in a large microwave safe bowl. Cook, uncovered, on High/100% power, stirring occasionally for 6 minutes.
Add the sugar and cook on High/100% power for 20 minutes, stiring every 5 minutes, or until the jam reaches setting point. (To do this, cool some jam on a chilled saucer and run your finger through it. If the jam stays separate and doesn't slop back together, it is ready to bottle.)
Discard lemon rind and spoon the hot jam into sterilised jars. Invert for 2 minutes then turn upright to cool.

NB. How to sterilise jars and bottles

Preheat oven to 110°C. Wash jars and lids in hot, soapy water. Rinse well. Place jars and lids in a deep saucepan. Cover with cold water.
Bring water to the boil over high heat. Cover pan. Reduce heat to medium and boil gently for 10 minutes. Line a baking tray with a clean tea towel.
Using metal tongs, remove jars and lids from boiling water and place upside down on tray. Place in oven and heat for 15 minutes. Bottle hot jams in hot jars and cooled jams in cold jars.

It's been too long!

2011-03-23T19:15:00.008+11:00

I know I've been away from the blogging scene for a little while (who am I kidding? I've probably never really blogged regularly).

The past year, my life has gone through some pretty serious upheaval. It's been hard enough to just get through the day, let alone get any creativity flowing. I won't elaborate, but just wanted to give a brief explanation.

I'm going to get back into blogging a bit more frequently. This year has got to be better than last year and I'm going to try to improve my blogging skills this year, along with making a number of other improvements in my life.

So, welcome! Hopefully you will enjoy your time here, and hopefully you will find a reason to come back again :) We will return to the recipes in the next post!

Book Giveaway Winner!

2011-01-02T20:00:00.002+11:00

Entries to win a copy of "A World of Cake" by Krystina Castella have now closed and I have now drawn the winner of the giveaway via Random.org. The list of entrants was randomised and the person at the top of the list is the winner.

The winner of the cook book giveaway is Sumara!

Congrats Sumara! "A World of Cake" is now yours! The publishing company will be sending your copy of the book to you directly, so could you please email me your address so that I can pass it on to them? Please email me at crazybakinggirl [at] gmail [dot] com.

Thanks to everyone who entered. I enjoyed reading your entries very much!

Book Review: A World of Cake by Krystina Castella

2010-12-27T14:36:00.001+11:00

Well, life has certainly been very busy lately. I hope you all had a very special Christmas :)

Something exciting that has happened lately is that I've been sent a delightful cook book to review: A World of Cake, by Krystina Castella! What's even more exciting, is that the publishing company (Storey Publishing) is very generously offering a copy of this book as a giveaway to one of you lovely people! I'll explain how you can be in the draw in a moment, but right now I want to talk about how awesome this book is!

A World of Cake is not just a beautifully presented cake recipe book, it's also a stroll through the history of the origin of different cakes from all over the globe.

"From scratch" is what comes to mind as I read the recipes in this book; Many of the recipes are made without using pre-made ingredients. That being said, some of these recipes may take a bit of time to make. One thing I would always recommend (not just for this book) is reading the recipe right through from beginning to end, so that you don't get caught out finding that you need to make something like jam while you're in the middle of the recipe. What I normally do is either make certain parts the day before (eg. Make the red bean paste for Japanese red bean buns) or set aside a good block of time in the kitchen.

I really love making things from scratch. It gives me such a wonderful sense of achievement to be able to say that I made every part of a recipe myself. And Generally, I just don't have the pre-made ingredients a recipe calls for, but I do have the ingredients to make them! I believe Homemade is generally best (eg. Lemon curd)! Though I am certainly not opposed to saving time by using pre-made things if you don't have much time up your sleeve.

What I was really very impressed with, was the variety of cakes in this book. They are not just the traditional "what you would consider as cake" sorts of cakes. You know, the dense, buttery, moistness of mud cake or fluffy goodness of sponge cake. There are cakes from all over the world that have a much different texture to the average Australian cake (eg. fried cakes, steamed cakes, crispy cakes etc). There are cakes from many different countries: Africa, India, Japan, Spain and even Australia & New Zealand - to name a few.

The recipes are easy to follow, and informative. There are gorgeous photos throughout. There is a great section at the back which talks about how to make all different sorts of cake icing (that's frosting, for the americans!).

What I am particularly keen to make is the red bean balls from the japan section, because I've never made them, and I've never come across a recipe for them! And besides that, they are super tasty!

I have bookmarked many recipes to try out already & can't wait til I can spend some quality time in my kitchen with this great book.

Now: the details on how you can be in the draw to receive a copy of this wonderful book for yourself!

Leave me a comment with your name and a description of your favorite sort of cake, then tell me why it's the best! The draw will be random to give people equal opportunity to win. This competition is open to all readers wherever you are. Entries close midnight 1st January 2011, Sydney Australia time +10hrs (+1hr Daylight saving) GMT. Once I draw the winner, I will be in contact to get your address details, and the publishing company will send you the book directly.

Now, get describing! :)

Lemon Sour Cream Cake

2010-11-15T19:11:00.001+11:00

I've been neglecting my blog lately because of the enormous amount of things going on in my life. There has also been a very big lack of baking lately.

So, today, I bring you a post that has been sitting in my drafts and waiting for me to add the photos to it... I'm finally getting around to it...

Do you ever buy sour cream for something specific and then forget why you bought it? This seems to happen to me whenever I buy sour cream (or cream for that matter). It sits there all lonely in my fridge until I either remember what I bought it for, or I think of something new. This was one of those "I can't remember what I bought this for" times, and so I decided to make it into a cake. Lemon sour cream cake, yum!

Prep Time - Approx. 30 min Cooking Time - 50 minutes

Ingredients (serves 8)
Melted butter, to grease
125g butter, at room temperature
215g (1 cup) caster sugar
2 eggs
1 x 300g ctn sour cream
1 tbs finely grated lemon rind
150g (1 cup) self-raising flour
150g (1 cup) plain flour
60ml (1/4 cup) fresh lemon juice
Ice cream or cream to serve

Method

Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease a square 20cm round cake pan with melted butter or cooking spray. Line with non-stick baking paper.
Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl until pale and creamy. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition until combined. Add the sour cream and lemon rind and beat until well combined.
Use a large metal spoon to fold the combined flours and lemon juice into the egg mixture until just combined. Spoon into the prepared pan and smooth the surface. Bake in oven for 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
Serve warm with ice cream or cream.

Note: You can also make a lemon syrup to pour on top using 1 cup caster sugar, 1/4 cup water, 1/4 cup lemon juice. Place the sugar water and lemon juice in a 1 litre microwave safe jug, heat in the microwave for about 3 min, stirring every minute or until the sugar is dissolved. While the cake is hot, use a bamboo skewer to prick the top of the cake all over. Pour over the syrup. Set aside for 15 minutes to cool slightly. Remove from the pan and serve.

Choc chip, Nutty Oatmeal Cookies

2010-09-11T19:20:00.003+10:00

I have been searching for the perfect oatmeal cookie for a while now. Every other oatmeal cookie I've ever made just hasn't really "done it" for me. I decided I might just try and make up a recipe myself instead. I got this brainwave when I was trying to use up about-to-expire pantry ingredients... and oh wow, yum! I think my search is over! (Unfortunately if you're a "nut-free" household, this is not the cookie for you. Sorry.)

I wonder if I will ever get round to blogging that list of things I promised a few posts ago.... not today it seems!

No photos... (have been in an absolute photographic slump for quite some time...) might snap a photo tomorrow, but for now, enjoy the recipe!

Makes about 24 cookies - depending on how big or small you want to make them

Ingredients
125g butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 egg
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup hazelnut meal
1 1/4 cup SR flour
1/2 cup dry roasted unsalted peanuts
250g white choc chips

Method

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C, line baking trays with baking paper.
Beat butter and sugars together until light and fluffy.
Add egg and beat well.
Stir in rolled oats, hazelnut meal, and flour.
Stir in peanuts and choc chips.
Roll tablespoons of mixture into balls and place on prepared baking tray, leaving about 2 inches/5 cm around cookies to allow for spreading.
Bake for 8min or until slightly set (they will firm up once cooled). Don't let them brown too much unless you want a crunchy cookie (I prefer mine to be chewy).
Cool on trays.

Yoghurt Berry Banana Bread

2010-08-15T15:09:00.000+10:00

This bread is delicious toasted, and spread with butter. Or even just served warm.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups self raising flour

3/4 cup plain flour

3/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

2 overripe bananas, peeled and mashed

200g (3/4 cup) low fat greek natural yoghurt

2 eggs, lightly whisked

60g butter, melted and cooled

200g fresh or frozen berries (I used frozen raspberries)

Method

Preheat oven to 180°C. Spray a 8.5 x 4.5 inch loaf pan with spray oil and line with baking paper.
Sift flours together into a large bowl and add sugar.
Whisk together banana, yoghurt, eggs and butter in a large jug until well combined. Add to flour mixture and stir until just combined.
Gently fold in the berries
Spoon the mixture into the prepared pan and smooth the surface.
Bake in oven for 1 hr or until skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
Set aside in the pan for 5 min to cool before turning onto a wire rack to cool completely. Cut into slices.
Serve warm, or toasted, with butter.

Quick Cinnamon Scrolls

2010-07-31T14:15:00.003+10:00

I know I promised I'd blog about other things, but who doesn't love easy cinnamon scrolls? A while back, I posted this recipe for cinnamon scrolls. It was long and involved and the results of that baking adventure were well worth it, but if you don't have 5 hours to spare to make them, then this might be more your cup of tea...

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups self raising flour

1 tbs caster sugar

100g butter, chilled, chopped into small cubes

2/3 cup milk

1 egg

2/3 cup finely chopped walnuts

1/3 cup slivered almonds, toasted

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 tbs maple syrup

1 tsp ground cinnamon

Method

Preheat oven to 200°C (180°C fan forced). Grease and line with baking paper: a 3cm deep 19 x 29cm base slice pan.
Combine flour and caster sugar in a bowl. Rub in the butter until mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.
Combine milk and egg in a jug. Stir into flour mixture until a soft and sticky dough forms. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead for 30 seconds or until smooth..
Roll dough out to a 30cm x 40 cm rectangle.
Combine nuts, brown sugar, maple syrup and cinnamon in a bowl. Mix together then spread evenly on top of dough rectangle.
Roll up dough tightly from one long side. Using a serrated knife, trim ends. Cut roll into 12 slices. Place slices in prepared pan.
Bake for 20 to 25 min or until golden.
Serve warm.

Things have been quiet around here...

2010-07-04T14:27:00.004+10:00

Things have been a bit quiet on the blogging front lately. Too much other stuff in life going on. I've still been making things and will blog about all the yummies some time soon.

These things will be coming up on the blog so until I post them, here's an indication of what you can look forward to:

How to make lemon curd
How to make yogurt
Slice recipes
Cookie recipes
Choc chip banana bread

Banana-oat Cookies

2010-06-01T20:29:00.004+10:00

Some of you may have seen this on Facebook, but I decided it should go on the blog too.....

So I had a lone banana in my fruit bowl that was going black. Not enough banana for banana bread so I decided to see if I could make it into a cookie. This is the result.

Ingredients

125g butter softened
1/3 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 large over-ripe mashed banana
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup rolled rolled oats
100g milk choc chips

Method

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C . Line baking sheets with baking paper.
Cream butter and sugars together until light and fluffy.
Add egg and vanilla essence, and beat until combined.
Add in mashed banana and mix well.
Sift in flour and baking powder, and mix until combined.
Mix in oats and choc chips.
Drop spoonfuls of dough onto prepared trays and flatten with a fork.
Bake for 9 minutes, edges should be only slightly browned. They may not look like they're cooked because they are quite pale, but don't over cook them.
Cool on trays.

Oreo & cocoa pop slice

2010-05-23T14:09:00.002+10:00

I've been meaning to post this recipe for a while now but life has been hectic lately. So anyway, this slice is something I threw together when I needed to use up the rest of a packet of cocoa pops.

I found it difficult to stop at one piece. I wanted to eat the whole tray of it, and I may well have eaten way too much of it, but it was just too good not to eat. It's so simple, yet so pleasing. I will definitely be making this again. Though perhaps next time I'll make sure I'm making it for a specific event so that I don't end up eating it all.

Ingredients

150g broken up and lightly crushed Oreos

1 cup cocoa pops

1/3 cup choc covered peanuts or plain unsalted peanuts

100g marshmallows, chopped

2 tbs crunchy peanut butter

500g milk chocolate, melted

Method

Grease a slice tin and line with baking paper.
Chop the marshmallows.
Break up the oreos into small pieces and lightly crush (I did a once-over with a rolling pin).
Melt the chocolate and peanut butter together and stir until smooth.
Mix the rest of the ingredients into the melted chocolate mixture until combined.
Spread mixture evenly into the prepared slice tin and set in the fridge until firm.
Once firm, cut slice into squares.
Store in the fridge (can also be stored at room temperature if it's not the middle of summer).

Baileys Coconut Fudge

2010-04-24T14:05:00.000+10:00

If you love fudge & Baileys Irish Cream, and I know I do, you will most certainly like this. This was gone within hours of making it (no, I didn't eat it all myself, although I was tempted). I was inspired to create this fudge came when I saw a this fudge recipe on Steph Chows.

Baileys Coconut Fudge

Ingredients

400g can sweetened condensed milk

250g milk chocolate, chopped

3 tbs Baileys Irish Cream

1 cup desiccated coconut

Method

Prepare a regular sized slice tin by greasing it and lining it with baking paper. (I usually use spray oil which works well).
In a medium saucepan, pour sweetened condensed milk and bring to a simmer over medium heat.
Stir in chocolate. Stir gently until all the chocolate is melted.
Pour in Baileys Irish Cream and stir until combined.
Remove from heat and stir in coconut.
Pour into prepared slice tin and refrigerate until firm (usually takes a couple of hours, but you could leave it overnight if you wish).
Once set remove from pan and cut into squares.

Peppermint Slice

2010-03-15T23:02:00.000+11:00

This slice is one of my favourites. I was a bit unsure how good it would be the first time I made it but it turned out fabulously and it is one I will be making again and again (much to the disappointment of my sister, who is not a peppermint fan, and prefers good old choc chip cookies)

If you like peppermint and milk chocolate, you will almost definitely like this. Though if you prefer dark chocolate, you could substitute the milk chocolate for that.

Prep time 40 min, plus 20 min setting time.
Cooking time 15 min.

Ingredients
125 g butter, chopped
100g milk chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup caster sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup plain flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
extra 200g milk chocolate, chopped (for the topping)

Peppermint filling:
60g butter, softened
1 1/2 cups icing sugar
1 tbsp milk
1/2 tsp peppermint essence
Green food colouring (optional)

Method

Preheat oven to 180 C. Grease a slice tin and line with baking paper.
Put butter, chocolate and sugar in a microwave safe jug and microwave on high for 30 seconds, then stir. If the chocolate is mostly melted, keep stirring the mixture until it melts completely, the heat from the surrounding mixture should melt it (if you have to put it back in the microwave, put it in for only 10 seconds, then stir, again, if it is mostly melted, stir until it is completely melted. You shouldn't need to put it in again, but if you do, make sure you only do 10 seconds at a time, as it is very easy to burn chocolate). Alternatively you can melt it all together over low heat on the stove.
Stand melted mixture (removed from heat) for about 3 minutes.
Then add eggs and vanilla extract. Stir to combine.
Sift flour and baking powder over mixture and stir to combine.
Pour mixture into prepared tin and bake for 15 min.

To make peppermint filling:

Beat butter until light and pale.
Add icing sugar, milk, peppermint essence and a couple of drops of food colouring. Beat until combined and colour is even.
Spread peppermint filling over cold chocolate base.
Set aside for 20 min or so to set (I put mine in the fridge).

Chocolate top:

Melt extra chocolate in the microwave (using the same method as above). Cool for a couple of minutes.
Spread on top of set peppermint filling.
Stand the slice in a cool dry place until chocolate has just set, then cut the slice into squares. It is important not to let the chocolate become rock-hard before you cut it, as if you do, it will be very difficult to cut the slice and the chocolate will break all over the place.

Sweet potato oaty spice cookies

2010-02-28T20:17:00.001+11:00

I made these cookies from BakingBites.com a little white ago. Head on over there for the recipe. I am always on the lookout for interesting-looking cookie recipes, and this one certainly fit the bill, as it incorporated many ingredients that I wouldn't have thought of putting together.

I actually made no changes at all to the recipe, but somehow I still felt that something extra was needed. I'm not sure what. You might want to experiment with it yourself.

I have been searching for the perfect oatmeal cookie. I have yet to find it, but these were pretty good. As were these. Not quite sure if ANZAC biscuits fit into this category, but they are good too.

What about you? Do you have a favourite recipe for oatmeal cookies?

White choc chip Nutella Cookies

2010-02-15T22:19:00.000+11:00

Yum. That's all I have to say :)

Ingredients
125g Butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup caster sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 3/4 cup Self Raising flour
1/4 Nutella
1/2 cup white choc chips

Method

Preheat over to 180 C. Line cookie trays with baking paper.
Cream together butter and sugars until light and fluffy.
Add in egg and vanilla essence and beat until combined.
Stir in Nutella.
Add flour and stir until it has all been mixed in.
Fold in choc chips.
Roll into small balls and place on cookie trays, leaving room for them to spread.
Bake cookies for 8 to 10 min.

Enjoy!

Ginger Crunch Slice

2010-01-25T20:16:00.000+11:00

This slice is just delicious. For me, it's all about the icing. The base makes it all the more easy to eat the icing without the sweet-ness overkill of eating icing on it's own. I could eat this all day, it is incredibly more-ish. I made this for one of our Christmas gatherings, and I really just wanted to leave it at home in the fridge so that I could keep it all to myself (however bad that might have been for my weight!). I got lots of comments about how yummy it was. Thank you Laura for opening my eyes to the wonderment that is Ginger Crunch Slice!

Ginger Crunch Slice adapted from Hungry and Frozen

Ingredients

Base:
250g soft butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons ginger (or more if you really like the taste of ginger)
1/2 cup rolled oats
2 cups plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder

Icing:
100g butter
3 heaped tablespoons golden syrup
2-3 teaspoons ground ginger
2 1/2 cups icing sugar

Method
Making the base:

Set the oven to 180 C. Grease a slice tin (rectangle 16cm x 26cm) and line with baking paper. You can pre-toast the oats if you so desire (it's personal preference, I toasted them the first time I made this, but forgot to do it for the second time - if pre-toasting, just put the oats in the slice tin in the oven for a few minutes while the oven is heating up).
Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
(If you pre-toasted the oats, take them out now) Add oats, ginger, flour and baking powder to the butter/sugar mixture.
Stir together until combined but still clumpy. Tip this mixture into the brownie tray, pressing down evenly.
Bake for 15-20 minutes till nicely golden on top.

Making the icing:

While base is in the oven baking heat butter, golden syrup and ginger in a small pan over a low heat.
When it has all combined nicely, remove from heat and stir in the icing sugar.
When the base is cooked, pour icing over it, and smooth out if need be.
Refrigerate until set before slicing into squares.

I store mine in the fridge, but I think it would be fine to leave it in an air-tight container at room temperature.

Home-made Chai flavoured ice-cream

2010-01-11T22:20:00.000+11:00

Until recently, I had only made home-made ice-cream a few times; once or twice when we used to own an ice-cream maker, and once when I made the margarita ice-cream from Nigella Express. (If margarita ice-cream sounds good to you, you can see the recipe on Cookie-Baker Lynn's blog). I also recently made the Ginger ice-cream from Laura's blog: Hungry and Frozen, as well as her Chocolate Coconut ice-cream (except I used white chocolate instead). Both were great successes, although I wasn't as impressed with my Chocolate Coconut ice-cream attempt until a few days later, I think it got better with age, if that's possible for ice-cream!

I have always thought I would rather buy ice-cream than make it, but from what I've tried recently, it's not too difficult and you get to add all these wonderful flavours that you would never be able to buy at the shops. This recipe for Chai-flavoured ice-cream is just one example of something that is not available to buy pre-made (at least not here in Australia). I think it turned out rather well.

Ingredients
600 Ml milk
1 cinnamon stick
6 cardamom pods, lightly bruised
6 egg yolks
1/2 cup caster sugar
300ml can condensed milk

Method

Place the milk, cinnamon stick and cardamom pods in a saucepan over medium-high heat, and bring to just below boiling point. Remove from heat and allow to infuse for 20 min.
Strain the milk into a jug, then set aside.
Beat eggs and sugar in a bowl until thick and pale.
Gradually add the strained milk, whisking continuously until combined.
Return the mixture to a clean saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring, for 2-3 min until the custard is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
Stir in the condensed milk.
Pout the mixture into a shallow container and freeze for about 2 hrs or until frozen at the edges. Remove from the freezer and beat the mixture. Pour back into the container and refreeze. Repeat 2 or 3 times.

Muesli Slice

2010-01-05T23:07:00.003+11:00

Ok, on with the backlog of recipes to post! I hope you've all had a lovely Christmas and enjoyed your new years celebrations.

I know I'm really not very good at blogging regularly, nor do I think my little introductions are particularly interesting, however, it's always very nice to receive comments from my readers (all two of you that I know about - Hi Laura and Sumara!), and it is certainly handy to keep this blog so that I can find recipes for things I've made previously. I have that many cook-books and recipe magazines, they almost take up a whole bookshelf (which is about 1.5m x 1.5m in size).

Anyway, on to the recipe! This was a huge hit in my husband's office. I think it's because this slice masquerades itself as something healthy with all that muesli and breakfast-y type natural stuff (honey, sunflower seeds, pepitas etc). My husband said this may possibly be the best slice I've ever made. I hope you like it.

Ingredients
3 cups toasted fruit muesli
1/4 cup chopped dried apricots
1/4 cup slivered almonds
1/4 cup pepitas
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/3 cup shredded coconut
125g butter, chopped
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

Method

Grease a slice tin (16cm x 26cm base) and line with baking paper allowing a 2cm overhang on long sides (this helps you to get the slice out of the pan when it comes time to cut it).
Combine muesli, apricots, slivered almonds, pepitas, sunflower seeds and coconut in a large bowl.
Place butter, honey, peanut butter and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring, for 4 to 5 min or until mixture has thickened.
Add butter mixture to muesli mixture and stir to combine.
Press mixture into prepared pan. Smooth top. Cove and refrigerate overnight or until set.
Remove slice from slice tin, and cut into squares.

Gingerbread Men

2009-12-26T11:04:00.009+11:00

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

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.
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.
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).
Space out on trays and bake for 10 minutes or until golden.
The biscuits will keep in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

How does your garden grow?

2009-12-06T19:19:00.001+11:00

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....

2009-11-13T13:17:00.002+11:00

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

2009-11-07T19:54:00.001+11:00

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

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

2009-10-07T16:15:00.002+11:00

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

Cook sweet potato in a saucepan of lightly salted water for 15-20 min until tender. Drain well.
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)
Preheat oven to 180C.
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).
In a bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter, maple syrup, golden syrup, and sugar together until creamy.
Add eggs, one at a time beating well after each addition.
Beat in vanilla extract.
Fold in sweet potato puree.
Sift flour, ginger, bicarb soda and salt into a bowl.
Fold into creamed mixture until combined.
Pour batter into prepared pan, smoothing top.
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.
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).
Seve cake warm or at room temperature, drizzled with icing. It's also really good with the addition of vanilla ice-cream.

Cinnamon Scrolls

2009-09-28T09:53:00.000+10:00

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

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).
Add remaining sugar, milk, brown sugar, vanilla, egg, and egg yolk. Whisk until thoroughly combined, (about 1 minute).
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)
Knead the butter into the dough, and keep kneading until dough is smooth (about 10 minutes).
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.
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.
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.
Using a floured rolling pin, roll the dough into a 10" x 10" square.
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.
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).
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.)
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.
Make the icing: While the rolls are baking, whisk together the sugar and buttermilk in a small bowl until smooth.
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

2009-08-23T17:48:00.005+10:00

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

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.)
Transfer hummus to a bowl.
Serve with carrot and celery sticks.

Pear Bread

2009-07-07T12:52:00.001+10:00

Pear Bread. The idea of making pear bread intrigued me. As I've said before; I'm a little sick of banana bread at the moment. So when this caught my eye, I wanted to make it, and make it soon! I love pears in general so the idea of incorporating it into bread was even more appealing.

The verdict: Not as delicious as I had hoped, but still quite good. I would make it again, but I feel this loaf was missing something somehow... maybe next time I would add cinnamon, and maybe a little extra sugar. This loaf was very good as a breakfast bread, but would not toast well due to pear bits probably falling out of the bread and into your toaster.

Oh joy, it looks like I forgot to photograph this one. Sorry. No pretty pictures today.

Pear Bread

Makes 1 Loaf

Ingredients

1 cup wholemeal flour

1 cup plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

2 tbsp sugar

3/4 cup apple juice

1/3 cup applesauce

1 banana, mashed

2 large pears, peeled & cored

Method

Preheat oven to 180C, grease and line a 8" x 4" loaf pan with baking paper.
In a large bowl, sift together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Cut 1 and a half of the pears into 1cm cubes, grate the last pear half with a grater.
Stir into the flour mixture: sugar, apple juice, applesauce, banana, & pear.
Stir together gently until just combined.
Pour batter into prepared loaf pan or muffin pan 50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

No-bake Lemon Cheesecake

2009-07-01T22:57:00.005+10:00

Aimee of Under the Highchair mentioned on Twitter that she was after a good no-bake cheesecake recipe. It so happens that cheesecake is a favourite at my house, and the most-loved type is the no-bake lemon cheesecake. I haven't got a picture this time, it seems I haven't ever photographed this family-favourite, but let me assure you that it is delicious. It is sweet and tangy at the same time, and is not heavy like some of the baked cheesecakes out there. It's really easy to make and has not too many ingredients too, which is a bonus. Simple and tasty, you will love it. Onward to the recipe:

No-bake Lemon Cheesecake

Ingredients
Base:
200g sweet biscuits (I use Arnott's "Nice" biscuits, but it works with almost anything else)
100g melted butter

Top:
500g cream cheese
1 x 395g tin sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice

Method

Melt the butter either in a microwave safe jug or in a saucepan over low heat.
Crush biscuits in a food processor until biscuits turn to small crumbs.
Mix biscuit crumbs and melted butter together and press evenly into a 23cm pie dish or spring-form pan.
Refrigerate until firm.
Meanwhile, in a large bowl, beat cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk together with electric beaters until smooth.
Beat lemon juice into the cream cheese mixture until combined.
Pour/scrape the cream cheese mixture evenly over the cheesecake base and smooth out the top.
Refrigerate for several hours until set.
You can decorate the top with fresh fruit before serving if you like, we sometimes serve it with chopped fresh strawberries over the top.

Bill's Coconut Bread

2009-06-30T20:49:00.001+10:00

I have wanted to make this since I first laid eyes on it. Bill Granger's Coconut Bread. I make so much banana bread with our dead old bananas, as my husband and I prefer to eat bananas when they are just ripe, and we always end up with a couple of bananas slowly going black in the fruit bowl since neither of us wants to eat them on their own. Waste not, want not, I always chuck them into a banana bread. I have a few favourite recipes, but there's only so much banana bread one can eat and stuff the remaining slices into their freezer.

I decided it was time for a change. As much as I love banana bread, I have eaten far too much of it lately.The other week I made pear bread which I will get around to blogging soon, but I was more excited to post this recipe, so here it is! It is wonderful! Very nice when still hot from the oven, but still really good the next day. It's a fairly dense bread, and it toasts beautifully. Try it! Oh yum, I will definitely be making this one again!

Oh and I'm slowly working my way through my Bill Granger cook books (I highly recommend them!), every recipe I have tried so far has turned out well with little fuss. That's my kind of cooking! Yumminess for not too much effort!

bill's Coconut Bread

Makes 1 loaf; or 10 - 12 slices depending on how thick you like your bread.
Serve toasted, with butter.

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup caster sugar
150 g (2 cups) shredded coconut (unsweetened)
2 large eggs
1 1/4 cups milk (I used skim milk)
1 tsp vanilla extract
75g butter, melted

Method

Preheat oven to 180C /350F. Grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan & line with baking paper
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Stir in sugar and coconut.
In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, milk and vanilla. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in egg mixture. Stir until just combined.
Add in melted butter and stir until just smooth, being careful not to over-mix.
Pour into prepared loaf pan and bake for 60-65 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Turn loaf out onto a wire rack to cool. Serve warm or cool. It's nice with a spread of butter as well!

Cornbread

2009-06-20T18:45:00.002+10:00

I mentioned a few posts ago that I made cornbread and that I would post about it later. Well, that time is now, so here it is. My husband liked this cornbread, but it wasn't quite what I was hoping for. I wanted to recreate the cornbread that I had at a local cafe late last year. This was still good, but just not really what I hoped it would be. My husband happily ate it with the dhal I made. It seems to go well with things you could "mop up" with this bread. I made another recipe which was very different to this one, I liked it more, though it still wasn't what I was looking for. But I can't find the recipe I used for that one anymore. I have a feeling I only used it as a vague guide anyway. So, this is the bread my husband preferred.

Cornbread

Ingredients
1 cup plain flour
3/4 cup cornmeal (in Australia, this is generally labeled as Polenta)
2 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 egg
2/3 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil

Method

Preheat oven to 180C. Grease an 8 x 4 inch loaf pan.
In a medium bowl stir together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
In a small bowl, beat together egg, milk and vegetable oil with a fork. Pour mixture into the flour mixture. Stir just until flour is moistened and pour the batter into the prepared pan.
Spread batter evenly, bake 25 minutes or until golden. Cut into rectangles or squares and serve with something savoury and juicy.

The "to make" lists

2009-06-15T20:40:00.002+10:00

My "to make" list is always, always being added to. Every time I see a new recipe I want to try, I add it to my list. There are two lists really, one is for "I really want to make that, and make it soon!", and the other is "Gee, that looks good, must make a note of that to make it one day".

This is part of my current "Make it soon!" list (well, the bit I can remember anyway. You see, the list is not on paper, it's in my head):

Apple Pie and Apple Crumble - Just because I've never made either of them, and they seem like they'd be an accomplishment.
Rice pudding - My mum used to make this a lot, so it fondly reminds me of my childhood.
Pear Bread - I love pears and have made so much banana bread that I feel like a change
Vanilla Slice - like the ones you can get at the bakery. I tried it once but the results were very smooshy. So I want to give it another go.

The "make it one day but not right now" list is written down, and is pages and pages long. I have even noted where to find each recipe. It's a handy reference when I'm trying to think of something to make for some event or other. I won't blog it because it will be as tedious for you to read as it would be for me to type out.

What's on your "make it soon" list?

Snickerdoodles - funny name for a yummy cookie

2009-06-09T15:43:00.001+10:00

Snickerdoodles. I've always wondered what they taste like. When I first read about them, I thought they would have something to do with the Snickers chocolate bar, which is a favourite, so you can imagine I was very interested in these cookies when I thought they had Snickers in them. Alas, they had nothing to do with Snickers bars at all. The actual cookies seemed a bit... ordinary, I guess., but that did not stop me from wondering what they were like.

So I decided to try my hand at making some. It's the first recipe I've used that had cream of tartar in it. I'm not exactly sure what the benefit of using cream of tartar over baking powder is, but it seems to be used in place of baking powder.

The cookies are good, and surprisingly more-ish. All in all, not a bad cookie, but not one I am dying to make again in the near future. Give them a try, they are not bad at all. And the little balls of dough covered in cinnamon and sugar are yummy on their own (I know you're not supposed to eat raw cookie dough due to potential salmonella poisoning caused by raw eggs, but I ate a couple of balls of uncooked dough anyway). The little dough balls look like those little donut balls they sell at donut shops as "donut-holes".

This recipe is adapted from Bakingbites.com.

Snickerdoodles
Makes about 3 dozen.

Ingredients

2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
250g butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp sugar
2 tsp cinnamon

Method

Preheat oven to180 degrees C.
Line a couple of baking trays with baking paper.
In a medium bowl, sift together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, cream together butter & sugar until mixture is fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, followed by vanilla extract.
Gradually mix in the flour with a mixing spoon until a dough is formed.
In a small bowl, combine sugar and cinnamon.
Roll tablespoons of dough into balls, then roll each ball into the sugar and cinnamon mixutre.
Place each ball on baking tray.
These cookies will spread, so leave about 5 cm between cookies.
Bake for 8-10 minutes, until lightly golden around the edges.
Cool on trays. Once cool, store in an airtight container.

Whoops, I didn't follow the recipe...

2009-05-27T18:00:00.001+10:00

This recipe came about when I decided to try a new cookie recipe, but didn't follow the instructions. I was supposed to cream the butter and sugar together, but before I realised what I'd done, I had already thrown the sugar in with the flour. Good one. Anyway so I decided to keep going and just see if they would turn out any good. I'm not normally a crispy cookie lover, but these are surprisingly good. My husband says they get better with age (he finished the last cookie a few days after they were made).

Crispy Oat White Chocolate Cookies

Ingredients

1 cup plain flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon Bi-carb soda
1/4 teaspoon table salt
140g butter, slightly softened
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups rolled oats
A few handfulls of white choc chips

Method

Preheat oven to 160 degrees C. Line baking tray with baking paper.
Sift together: flour, baking powder, baking soda, and table salt in a medium bowl.
Mix in oats.
Melt butter however you like to melt butter (I used a small bowl in the microwave).
Add butter and beaten egg to flour/oat mixture. Mix together, then fold in choc chips.
Roll tablespoons of dough, place on baking tray and press down slightly. Leave room for cookies to spread.
Bake until cookies are deep golden brown, about 10-12 min. Cool on the trays.

Choc Chip Cheesecake Cookies

2009-05-21T19:49:00.002+10:00

This recipe was recommended by kate pickle on Twitter. As soon as I saw it, I knew I had to try it. I made mine with white choc chips, because, you know, I'm a white chocolate fiend. Just like Laura :). I wouldn't say these cookies taste just like cheesecake, but they are still scrumptious.

Choc Chip Cheesecake Cookies

Ingredients

225g butter
225g cream cheese
1 cup white sugar
½ cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 ½ cups plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
2 cups chocolate chips

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C, line a couple of baking trays with baking paper.
Cream butter and sugars together.
Add eggs, cream cheese, and vanilla extract and beat until well-incorporated.
In another bowl, combine flour with baking powder and salt. Add by cupfuls to the wet mix. Mix by hand to combine.
Fold in chocolate chips.
Roll tablespoons of dough into balls and place on baking tray.
Flatten each cookie if you want a flatter cookie, as you can see from my photo, they didn't spread much at all. Bake for 7-8 minutes, or until edges are slightly golden. Do not over-bake or they'll taste less cheesecake-y. Cool on trays.

Bill's Dhal

2009-05-15T16:24:00.002+10:00

Hey, I know this isn't baked, or sweet, but it was still yummy, and I guess that's what I ultimately want to blog about: yummy recipes. It's just that most of my yummy recipes are baked, and sweet. Anyway, I'm posting something different for a change.

Whenever I see the word "dhal", I always think of old ladies that say things like "Thanks Darl". I don't know why. I guess it's because of the way we say "darl" in Australia, it really does sound the same as "dhal". Anyway, moving on.... This recipe is adapted from Bill Granger's Dhal recipe in his book "simply bill". I am rather partial to lentils so this appealed to me right away. The other good thing about it is that you can change the flavour if you feel like something different (I made it the way it is in the book the first time round, but the next time I added diced chicken breast, frozen chopped spinach & chicken stock, and it was still really good!). Best of all, this is really very easy to make. I can pretty much make it without needing to look at the recipe now.

We served this with homemade naan bread the first time, but I forgot to take a photo, and I think naan bread is better fresh from your local indian takeaway place/restaurant, so I won't post the recipe for the naan bread I made. The second time I made it, my husband decided that it would go well with the cornbread I had made the day before. I will post the recipe for the corn bread some other time soon.

Dhal is not the most appetising thing to look at, but here's a photo anyway. And I can assure you it was very tasty.

And here's the recipe:

Ingredients
2 Tbs olive oil
1 red onion, finely sliced
2.5 cm piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
3 garlic cloves finely sliced
1 large green chilli, finely chipped
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp ground cumin
250g (1 cup) red lentils
1 tbs lime juice

to serve:
small handful fresh coriander leaves
naan bread

Method

Heat a heavy-based saucepan over medium heat and add the olive oil.
When hot, add the onion, ginger, garlic, chilli, salt and cumin and cook for 10 min, stirring occasionally, until the onion is soft.
Add the lentils and 750ml (3 cups) of water and cook, stirring occasionally, for 20min until the lentils have dissolved.
Remove from the heat and stir through the lime juice.
Top with coriander leaves and serve with naan (or cornbread...)

New blog design...

2009-05-08T11:11:00.007+10:00

I've been thinking for a while now that I wanted to change my blog design. White was all good, clean and uncluttered, but I guess a little boring without any header image or anything. I could have made a header image I guess, but I thought I might try something different.

I don't feel like there's really that much choice when it comes to the standard Blogger Templates, but I never seemed to have the time to look into free templates, and certainly not enough time (or skill) to make my own template. Today, that changes. I have the day off! I found a free template that I liked and have spent the morning fiddling with it. Edit: Went out for a few hours then came back to play around with this more. I like it much more now than I did before. Anyone willing to give some feedback? Do you like it/hate it?

On another note, if you read my blog through Google Reader, the design doesn't even matter, as the design is not shown when you read through Google Reader, you only get the text and images. I'm not sure if this is the same with other Readers.

I'd still like to hear your thoughts, so please leave a comment :)

Pear, Banana & Cinnamon Pikelets

2009-05-04T20:52:00.001+10:00

Sorry, but there are no photos of this one, as the pikelets were all scoffed down too quickly for me to get a shot. When I spied this recipe in my favourite food magazine (Super Food Ideas), I knew I wanted to make them as soon as possible!

These pikelets are delicious. We served them with thick and creamy pasionfruit yoghurt which went down fabulously. Not your traditional pikelet accompaniment, but delicious just the same. These are great as a morning tea or afternoon tea, (well, really, I would eat them any time of day. Even as lunch if the opportunity presented itself!).

Pear, Banana & Cinnamon Pikelets

Makes approx. 16 pikelets

Ingredients:

1 cup self raising flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tbsp caster sugar
3/4 cup skim milk
40g butter, melted and cooled
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 large ripe banana, mashed
1 large ripe pear, cored, finely chopped
cooking spray

Method:

Combine flour, cinnamon and sugar in a bowl. Make a well in the centre.
Combine milk, butter and canilla in a jug, and add to flour mixture. Whisk until smooth.
Stir in banana and pear. Stand for 10 min.
Spray a non-stick fry pan with oil. Heat over medium heat. Spoon tablespoons of batter into pan. You can cook about 4 at a time. Cook for 1 to 2 min or until bubbles appear on the surface. Turn the pikelets over and cook for another 1 to 2 min until cooked through.
Transfer to a plate and cover to keep warm. Repeat with remaining batter.
Serve with pasionfruit yoghurt.

ANZAC Biscuits

2009-04-25T20:06:00.009+10:00

It's ANZAC day today, so I made ANZAC biscuits.

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups plain flour, sifted
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup desiccated coconut
2 tablespoons golden syrup
125g butter, chopped
1/2 teaspoon bicarb soda

Method

Preheat oven to 180°C and line 2 cookie trays with baking paper.
Place the flour, oats, sugar and coconut in a large bowl and stir to combine.
In a small saucepan place the golden syrup and butter and stir over low heat until the butter has fully melted. Remove from heat.
Mix the bicarb soda with 1 1/2 tablespoons water and add to the golden syrup mixture.
Pour into the dry ingredients and mix together until fully combined.
Roll tablespoonfuls of mixture into balls and place on prepared trays , pressing down on the tops to flatten slightly.
Bake for 12 minutes or until golden brown.

When will I be a "proper" cook?

2009-04-20T20:38:00.002+10:00

I don't know about you, but there are some things that although you can buy it in the shops, if you can also make your own home-made version, you feel like a "proper" cook.... there are some such things I'd like to make, they include the following:

Jam - I really want to try and make apricot jam, and I think it'd be cool to try pear jam as well. I don't know why I want to make these when they are readily available at the shops (ok, I have only seen one brand that makes pear jam). Can anyone recommend a recipe?
Passionfruit curd - no idea what I'll use it for yet, but I want to give it a go
Yogurt - Just so I can make up my own flavours like pear and coconut.
Preserved lemons - I don't know why & I don't know what I'll use it for!
Home-made ravioli and pasta - Just so I can say I have made it and see if it really tastes any better than the store-bought version

Such things would also probably include making your own butter and cheese, but I think I'll pass on these and keep buying them in the shops (not so exciting...)

What about you? Is there anything you want to make that would make you feel like a "proper" cook?

I have more things to blog, but no time at the moment, so I will leave you here for now. I made pear pikelets the other day, they were so good! I will blog the recipe next time....

Apricot Shortbread Crumble Slice

2009-04-05T12:13:00.005+10:00

Sorry for the lack of updates, but I haven't been baking much. We have just moved and the only thing I have made since then that wasn't dinner was our favourite banana bread. I must say that I am impressed with the oven!

A while back, I made this slice, but never got around to blogging about it. It's not my favourite, but it was quite nice. I made it for a Kitchen Tea, but all the chocolate-type slices were eaten before this one. Obviously jam is not as popular as chocolate.

This recipe is adapted from Strawberry Pecan Shortbread Crumble Bars by Nicole at Baking Bites

Apricot Shortbread Crumble Slice

Makes about 24 small slices

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups plain flour
1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
250g butter, softened
1 large egg
3/4 cup apricot jam

Method

Preheat oven to 180 Degrees C. Lightly grease and line a 9-inch slice tin with baking paper.
In a large mixing bowl, mix together flour, sugar, and salt. Stir in the butter and egg until mixture is crumbly.
Set aside 2 cups of the mixture, and pour the remaining mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan. Press down firmly and evenly, into the pan to cover the base.
Spread jam over the shortbread layer. Sprinkle remaining crumbs evenly over the top. If the mixture is too wet to sprinkle, simply break it up with lightly floured fingers and spread it out.
Bake for 40-45 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool in pan before slicing.

It's been a while....

2009-02-12T18:44:00.000+11:00

My blogging has been on an unintentional break for a while. I just have not been making anything exciting enough to blog lately. The main reason for the non-exciting-ness is the fact that hubby and I are currently on the CSIRO diet. We're aiming to lose a bit of weight and to get our BMIs (Body Mass Indexes) down to a more acceptable level.

I don't mind the diet, we've been on it for about 4 weeks I think. The diet doesn't make me feel deprived of things (well, I mean, I still miss all the baked goods, and it is a bit low in carbs.... I do miss them a bit), but I don't feel too hungry all the time, nor do I get sick of the food, as it's all stuff you buy in the supermarket and cook up yourself. The recipes in the CSIRO book are really good, and you can also modify other recipes to fit in with the diet, so it keeps things interesting. I may end up posting some of the recipes I've modified to fit in with the diet, but I have to remember to photograph them first!

I've lost a few kilos so far, which I can attribute to the diet, my gym attendance and my 10,000 steps per day. I'm doing pretty well with my goal of getting 10,000 steps per day, and if there is a day that I don't quite get there, I make a note of how many steps I need to make up and make sure I do them the next day or so. The goal of going to the gym 3 times a week on top of my steps is not going as well as I had hoped. I do still go at least 3 times a week, but if I haven't done enough steps for the day, sometimes I go to the gym just to walk (usually only if it's dark outside and I don't want to walk alone in the dark).

I have lost my momentum with my other goal for this year of finding a Japanese course and getting enrolled, as life has been hectic enough with my more active lifestyle and a multitude of other things (like buying a house!). Hopefully I will be able to enroll in a short course next term or semester or something. Anyway, for now, that's on hold.

We're moving to our new place in a few weeks time and I'm looking forward to doing a really big clean out of stuff and getting rid of things that clutter up the place and that we don't really need. This blog has some great tips for living an uncluttered life, but suggests to get rid of things you haven't used in the last 6 months, and I wonder if this isn't long enough?? Well, this weekend I'm going to give decluttering a go. I'll let you know how I go with it.

Back to the recipe blogging soon. In the mean time, check out these great blogs:

http://hungryandfrozen.blogspot.com/ - Laura makes some really yummy things, has mouthwatering food photos, and her witty humour makes this blog a very pleasant read!
http://www.eatmedelicious.com/ - I've been perusing this blog on and off for a while now, lots of recipes here I'd love to try.
http://twofatals.com/ - Lots of photos and recipes to see here. I wish I was that good at food photography.

What do you hope for in 2009?

2009-01-05T18:07:00.001+11:00

The beginning of the new year tends to make people think about what they want to achieve in the coming year. I guess it's kind of like turning a new page. This year I have a few goals and have thought about trying to achieve some of the things I hope for in life.

My first goal is aiming to be more active. Partly because being more active has lots of health benefits, but the other part of it is that I want to be able to enjoy the fruits of my baking-labour without feeling as guilty.... Anyway, the first part of this goal is to try to walk 10,000 steps per day, the second part is trying to get to the gym at least 3 times a week on top of my 10,000 steps per day. I got a new whiz-bang pedometre for my birthday, which counts your steps, measures how far you've walked, and how many calories you've burnt. You can set your stride-length down to the nearest centermetre, and enter your weight to ensure more accurate readings. I have joined up to the website: 10000 steps.org.au and I am entering my daily steps in there, and there are other things you can do on the site, like set goals/challenges and tick them off as you get there, but I haven't yet explored that area. Even if I can only achieve part of this goal, I'll be happy, if I can achieve both parts, then all the better.

I don't expect it to be easy, but it's what I am aiming for, and even though I'm sure it will be a lot harder when I go back to work (currently on holidays), I'll give it my best. I'm also trying to get my mum interested in joining me in setting walking challenges and reaching for them, as she is always talking about how she needs to be more active, and more walking is the first step (so to speak) to a more active lifestyle. I have even given her a pedometre, so hopefully she will have no excuse not to do it. It's a bit of a shame we don't live closer as we could walk together if we did.

Something else I'd like to do this year is either join a Japanese class or get a Japanese tutor, as although I can already speak/read/write Japanese, I would like to become fluent somehow. Even if I don't become fluent this year, I'd like to at least work towards becoming fluent.

Well, they are the two main things I'd like to do this year, and I feel they are achieveable. There are lots of other little things I'd like to do, but for now I am just concentrating on the on-going challenges.

What are you aiming for this year??

I'll be back to blogging recipes again shortly, lots of yummies coming up in the near future!

And I thought I was observant!

2009-01-03T10:38:00.001+11:00

You may or may not have seen this, but I came across it recently, and found it very interesting! Take a look and let me know what you think!

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=ubNF9QNEQLA

Hummingbird Cake

2008-12-31T19:00:00.002+11:00

Now that Christmas is over, it's on with the show! I feel like I can start to enjoy things again because I don't have a million and one plans or things to do! It's new year's eve and I am hoping for a less crazy year next year. Tonight I think we will be dropping in at hubby's work to watch the fireworks from his harbour-view office window (nice view that he gets to look at every day, except not usually with fireworks!).

I had a nice birthday; a bit of shopping and out to dinner, and a whole lot of birthday messages from friends and family. Fun times :). We also got a new fridge which was delivered on my birthday (but was not my birthday present) and I am still excited about it. Not sure if it's weird to be excited about having a new fridge, but I am!

I'd also like to mention that Sumara makes EXCELLENT lemon butter! I don't know what recipe you used Sumara, but it is superb! Thanks for the jar you gave us, that wonderful husband of mine also loves it! I feel that home made gifts are very special because of the thought, time and effort put into them. Well done Sumara, it was a great idea and great success!

And because it's been a while since I last posted something I baked, I am going to post the recipe for the cake I made recently. It had been a while since I made any baked tasties for my husband's office, so I decided to try my hand at a Hummingbird cake. This turned out really well according to the co-workers (hubby brought the left-overs home because it was the last day of work before the office would be closed, no moldy cake for them to return to next year! So I got to try a bit, and I thought it was very good). I think I will have to make it again some time. This recipe comes from taste.com.au

Ingredients (serves 8)

2 cups self-raising flour
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup desiccated coconut
1/2 cup pecan nuts, chopped
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup mashed banana (you will need 2 large, ripe bananas)
3/4 cup sunflower oil or canola oil
450g can crushed pineapple in natural juice, well drained
Cream cheese icing
60g butter, chopped (I used about 2 tablespoons)
125g light spreadable cream cheese
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 1/2 cups pure icing sugar, sifted
toasted shredded coconut or chopped pecan nuts (I didn't do this, it was fine without).

Method

Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease and line the base of a 6cm deep, 22cm (base) round cake pan.
Sift flour, bicarbonate of soda and cinnamon into a large bowl. Add sugar, coconut and pecans. Stir to combine.
Combine eggs, banana and oil in a large jug. Add egg mixture and pineapple to flour mixture. Using a large metal spoon, gently stir to combine. 4 Spoon batter into pan. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool cake in pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Make cream cheese icing Using an electric mixer, beat butter, cream cheese, vanilla and icing sugar until smooth.
Spread icing over cake. Sprinkle with toasted coconut. Slice and serve.

On that note, I'll conclude. Happy new year everyone! Hope your 2009 is full of all the good things in life :).

Christmas time

2008-12-23T18:54:00.005+11:00

Warning, this may be a rambling post....

I think my Christmas Spirit ran away without me this year.

Christmas time is not all that enjoyable to me. I know it should be, but I am always too stressed with trying to figure out how we can possibly have time to see all the family we should, because seeing all the family is what keeps them happy. Why is it that all the families want to have Christmas lunch? Why do none of them ever want to have Christmas dinner instead? Makes it very difficult for us; we can't be in more than one place at a time. The other thing is how long is an "acceptable" amount of time to stay at a family thing (acceptable in that we have spent enough time there for them to feel like we care) if we have to run off to some other family event on the same day? Don't get me wrong, I do love my family, and spending time with them, but I just don't like it when I have to try and see all of them in the same couple of days...

I also really dislike "secret santas", you know, when you get given a name and you have to buy for that person. It's really frustrating for me because I'm not that good at buying presents for people I know well, let alone people I don't know very well. You want to get them something that they will like, but I find that almost impossible if you don't know the person well. I suppose the best thing to do is take a guess and just get them that. I guess that they must do the same, because it shows that they don't know you very well by what they get you. That's why I think that while it's a nice gesture, "secret santas" are a waste of time because generally, everyone gets something they don't want/need. I don't like just buying something for the sake of it.

I don't like Christmas shopping, and I really don't like the crowds of Christmas shoppers. Ok, so I don't love shopping in general, but Christmas time makes it worse than normal.

By the time Christmas is over, I am all partied-out and socialised-out, and just need to veg for a week to get over it... and invariably, I don't feel like doing anything at all on my birthday which is a few days after Christmas. All too soon it is new years....

I wonder if anyone else feels this way around Christmas?

I feel like such a scrooge. Bah, humbug.......

Peanut Butter Squares

2008-12-15T20:12:00.004+11:00

We went to two weddings last weekend. There was a luncheon/afternoon tea thing that was on after one of the weddings, and I helped out by making a couple of slices. I thought it was the perfect time to try something new, so I decided to make the Peanut Butter Squares from Nigella's book How To Be A Domestic Goddess. (The other slice I made was the tried and true Coconut Ice). The Peanut Butter Squares were very yummy. They have been likened to the American candy: Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, and I can see why, however this recipe is more delicious in my opinion. Although you really want to keep eating it, it is very rich so it's recommended to cut it into small pieces rather than large.

Ingredients:

for the base:
50g dark muscovado sugar (I used regular brown sugar, and it worked perfectly)
200g icing sugar
50g unsalted butter
200g smooth peanut butter (I used crunchy peanut butter which I think was a better choice)

for the topping:
200g milk chocolate (I used 300g milk chocolate and skipped the dark, as I had none on hand)
100g dark chocolate
1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Method:

Stir all the ingredients for the base together until smooth.
Some of the dark muscovado sugar stays in rubbly, though very small, lumps, which is not a problem in this recipe so don’t worry about it.
Press the sandy mixture into the lined brownie tin and make the surface as even as possible.
To make the topping, melt the chocolates and butter together (in a microwave for ease, for a minute or two on medium, stir every minute until melted otherwise it's likely to burn!) and spread on the base. Put the tin in the fridge to set. When the chocolate has hardened, cut into small squares.

I'm back....

2008-11-19T12:34:00.008+11:00

I've been so busy the last month or so, and have also been sick, so haven't had much time or inclination to blog (or cook for that matter). I did however make something for an afternoon tea on the weekend which I thought was noteworthy and worth making again. It is the Apple and Blueberry Shortcake from bill's food by Bill Granger. There are lots of good recipes in this book that I really want to try, just have to find the time to try them!

I didn't get any photos of the shortcake unfortunately, but here is the recipe:

Apple & Blueberry Shortcake

Ingredients

4 large Granny Smith Apples
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons sugar
125g unsalted butter
125g caster sugar
1 egg
185g plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
155g (1 cup) blueberries

Method

Peel the apples, remove the cores & cut each apple into about 16 slices.
Put the apples, lemon zest, sugar & 2 tablespoons of water into a medium saucepan, then cover & stew over a low heat for about 10 minutes, until the apples are soft but not mushy. Allow to cool.
Cream the butter & caster sugar together in a bowl until fluffy & smooth.
Add the egg and mix well. Sift the flour and baking powder into the mixture and stir until combined.
Turn onto a lightly floured surface & knead until smooth
Divide into two and place in the fridge for 30 minutes
Preheat the oven to 180c.
Roll each half of cake dough into a round approximately 22cm across.
Press one round into a 24cm non-stick springform cake tin.
Spread the apples over the dough, leaving a small border around the edge. Sprinkle with the blueberries.
Place the other round of dough on top & press the edges together.
Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, then allow to cool in the tin for 20 minutes before removing.

Chicken, Spinach, Bacon and Tomato Pie

2008-10-25T12:14:00.003+11:00

This was another thrown together meal. I had some baby spinach and cherry tomatoes that were on the way to being unusable, so I thought I would throw them in a pie with a few other ingredients, and this is what I ended up with.

Ingredients:

300g Chicken breast, cut into small pieces
100g Bacon
6 Silverbeet leaves (or equivalent amount of another type of spinach), roughly chopped
1 leek, washed and thinly sliced
2 celery stalks, finely sliced
1/2 small punnet cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 can Creamed Corn
3 eggs, lightly beaten
150ml milk
3/4 cup grated cheese
2 sheets puff pastry, (or enough to cover the base and sides of the dish)

Method:

Preheat oven to 160 Degrees Celcius.
Thaw puff pastry, and arrange along the base and sides of the dish.
Bake in the oven until slightly puffed (about 10 min), then remove from oven.
Cook chicken, bacon, leek and celery in a fry pan over medium-high heat until chicken is browned.
Add silverbeet leaves and stir in, cook until wilted. Remove from heat
Add cherry tomatoes, and creamed corn and stir through.
Mix eggs and milk in a jug.
Spoon chicken/bacon mixture over puff pastry in dish.
Sprinkle grated cheese over the top.
Pour egg/milk mixture over the top of the pie, pressing down the mixture so that all ingredients are moistened with the egg/milk mixture.
Bake in the oven for about 45min or until the centre is set.

Quiche!

2008-10-19T09:03:00.004+11:00

This was the first ever quiche recipe I made and it has become a favourite. I can make it without the recipe easily now. What I like about it, is that you can tweak the ingredients to make it taste different. eg. I have made it with cut up sausages a few times.

Ingredients:

3 eggs
150ml milk
150ml cream
250g bacon, chopped
½ brown onion, finely diced
200g button mushrooms, sliced
6 spinach (silverbeet) leaves, washed and roughly chopped
½ cup grated cheese
1 to 2 sheets puff pastry (or enough to make a crust covering the entire dish)

Method:

Preheat oven to 160 Degrees Celcius.
Remove puff pastry from freezer and allow to thaw.
Meanwhile, finely dice onion, chop bacon and slice mushrooms.
Cook in a frypan until onion is soft.
Rinse spinach and chop roughly. Add to pan and stir often.
Once spinach is wilted, remove pan from heat and allow to cool.
Arrange puff pastry in pie dish and pre-cook in oven until slightly puffed (about 10 min).
Grate cheese.
Beat eggs together in a small jug, add milk and cream, and stir to combine.
Remove pie dish from oven and spread bacon mixture evenly over base.
Top evenly with cheese.
Pour egg mixture all over bacon mixture. Press down any bits that are not wet with egg mixture. They don't have to be covered, but they should at least be wet.
Bake in the oven for about 45 min or until the cheese on top is golden, and the middle of the quiche is set.

(Sometimes if I am running out of time to serve dinner, I will bake it for as long as I can, and then stick it in the microwave for 4 min or so to finish it off. The pastry doesn't come out as flaky, but at least the middle of the quiche is set.)

Potato and Bacon Pastry Parcels

2008-10-12T12:08:00.003+11:00

I had this idea for a pastry parcel that incorporated potato and bacon, and this recipe is the result. We ate it with a side of salad for dinner.

Ingredients

2 potatoes, peeled and chopped into small pieces
150g bacon, diced
1 leek, halved and thinly sliced
3/4 cup grated cheese
3 tsp sour cream
2 sheets puff pastry, thawed

Method

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius.
Remove puff pastry sheets from freezer and thaw.
Peel and dice potatoes into small pieces.
Dice bacon.
Thinly slice leek.
Grate cheese.
Cook potato, leek and bacon in a fry pan on high to medium heat, stirring occasionally, until potato is cooked through (I think this took about 10 min). Remove from heat and allow to cool a little
Transfer to a bowl, and add cheese and sour cream. Mix to combine.
Cut puff pastry sheets into quarters (squares).
Add enough potato mixture filling to make a nice pastry parcel.
Seal edges of pastry parcels with either your fingers or a fork to press down along the edges.
Bake in the oven for about 25 min or until pastry is puffed and golden.
Serve hot, perhaps with a yummy salad or vegies on the side.

Lack of posting

2008-10-06T17:13:00.004+11:00

Sorry for the lack of posting of late, I haven't been baking as much because we have been so busy; I've started a new job, we're house-hunting (and I'm hoping to have found something we like and have moved by the end of the year), we just got a new camera, and we've been doing a lot of visiting friends etc.

Today is a public holiday here, and we have just got home after been out all day. I'm hoping this week might be a little less busy....

In spite of all the busy-ness, I have been cooking new things lately (dinners, not baked goods). I will have to organise myself and post some of the recipes, as they seem to be worth sharing.

I will be back soon with more recipes and photos!

Strawberry Bread

2008-09-24T18:24:00.004+10:00

This recipe comes from a recipe site: Recipezaar . There are so many recipes on this site, and it comes in handy if you're looking for a specific recipe or some inspiration.

It is delicious, I wish I could eat it every day! I made a couple of slight changes, but if you want to see the original recipe, click on the link above. Now, on with the recipe!

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups fresh strawberries, quartered
1 cup granulated sugar, divided
1 cup plain wholemeal flour, 1/2 cup plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup butter, melted

Method:

Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly grease and flour a standard glass (8x5") loaf pan.
Rinse, hull and cut the strawberries into quarters (or smaller pieces if you're using huge strawberries); place in a small bowl and sprinkle with 1/2 cup sugar.
In a large mixing bowl, blend together the remaining sugar, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
In a medium bowl, beat the eggs until foamy, then add the vanilla and melted butter. Make sure the melted butter isn't too hot-just barely melted.
Stir in the strawberries. Combine the two mixtures, blending until just combined.
Pour batter into the pan and bake for 60-70 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Remove the pan from the oven and cool on a wire rack for 20 minutes before removing the bread from the pan.

Honeycomb choc chip cookies

2008-09-22T17:36:00.008+10:00

More and more cookies!! Made these for a get together and my mum said that of all the cookies I've ever made, they are her favourite. :)

Makes about 24 small to medium cookies

Ingredients:

125g butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1 cup self raising flour
1 handful of choc chips
1 cup chopped honeycomb pieces

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180 Degrees Celsius, and line two cookie trays with baking paper
2. Cream butter and sugars together until light and fluffy
3. Beat in egg and vanilla essence
4. Stir in flour until just combined
5. Fold in honeycomb and choc chips
6. Roll spoonfuls into balls and place on prepared trays
7. Bake for about 9 mins or until very slightly golden.
8. Remove from oven and cool on trays.

Mince and Rice Pie

2008-09-21T16:41:00.008+10:00

I remembered that I told my good friend Sumara I was going to blog this, and just realised I haven't done so yet! So, here it is; Mince and Rice Pie.

The idea for this recipe grew as I was cooking it, I wanted to make something for dinner that I hadn't made before, and this is something I thought I could throw together without too much fuss. The best thing about this recipe (in my opinion) is that you can change the ingredients a bit to make a different flavour, so doesn't get too boring if you make it more than once in a week. Would go very well with a salad too.

I used a 28cm springform pan for this, greased with canola oil spray, and lined with baking paper, but I'm sure you could use any other similar sized pan, though you may not be able to get the pie out of the pan in nice wedge shapes. It tastes the same either way of course.

Ingedients:

500g Beef mince
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1 clove minced garlic
1 carot finely chopped
1/2 zucchini finely chopped
2 cups beef stock
1 cup uncooked white rice
1/2 cup chopped sundried tomato
1/2 cup grated cheese
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup milk
100g baby spinach

Method:

Preheat oven to 170 degrees C.
Cook mince, garlic, and onion in a saucepan large enough to hold all ingredients, drain any fat from the pan.
Add carrot and zucchini and mix well.
Add the stock and rice, and bring to the boil. Then reduce heat to allow it to simmer for about 10 minutes (or until rice is cooked).
Stir in sundried tomato.
Add beaten eggs and milk, stir to combine.
Lightly grease and line a 28cm springform pan with baking paper, press pie mixture into pan.
Top with grated cheese and bake in the oven for about 40 min or until the top of the pie is slightly golden.

Disaster and success

2008-09-19T09:15:00.004+10:00

Tried to make up my own version of custard slice. It did not work. :(
= Disaster

Ok, well it tasted pretty good, but it didn't stay together...

On the plus side, that low fat banana bread recipe I posted a while back turns out excellent with strawberries
= success!

Success! Cheesecake Slice!

2008-09-16T15:23:00.003+10:00

I successfully made up a cheesecake slice recipe! This got the thumbs up at our father's day get together. Yay!

White Chocolate Cheesecake Slice with Milk Chocolate Swirls

Ingredients:

Base:
180g (approx.) Crushed biscuits (I used Arnott's "Nice" biscuits)
100g melted butter

Topping:
500g Cream cheese
250g white chocolate, melted
1 tsp gelatine, dissolved in 1/8 cup boiling water
150g milk chocolate, melted (to swirl on top)

Method:

Line a 27cm x 18cm slice tin with baking paper.
Mix melted butter and crushed biscuits together in a bowl, and press firmly into prepared slice tin. Refrigerate until firm.
Beat cream cheese until smooth
Add melted white chocolate and beat until combined
Beat dissolved gelatine and 1/8 cup boiling water into cream cheese mixture.
Pour cream cheese mixture over prepared base and distribute evenly.
Swirl melted milk chocolate throughout cream cheese mixture. (I used a bamboo skewer to do this, but a knife would probably do)
Put in fridge for a couple of hours until set.

Voila! No baking necessary this time!

Milk and White Choc Chip Cookies

2008-09-13T16:31:00.008+10:00

Another cookie recipe made up by me. I made these as part of a present for my sister's birthday, since she loves cookies so much.

Makes about 24 small to medium cookies

Ingredients:
125g butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 egg
1 and 1/2 cups self raising flour
3 handfuls of milk and white choc chips

Method:

Preheat oven to 180 Degrees Celsius, and line two cookie trays with baking paper
Cream butter and sugars together
Beat in egg
Stir in flour until just combined
Fold in choc chips
Roll spoonfuls into balls and place on prepared trays
Bake for about 9 mins or until very slightly golden (depending on if you like your cookies softer or crisper, bake for a little longer if you prefer the crisper sort).
Remove from oven and cool on trays.

Photos but no recipes...

2008-09-04T21:00:00.005+10:00

I made a cake for my sister's birthday on the weekend. I think I've found something that I'm not so good at baking: cakes. I don't know if it was just the recipe, or if it was my lack of cake-baking skills, but this cake I made turned out only "so-so".... it didn't turn out fluffy and light like I thought it would, but it tasted ok (mostly because of the white chocolate icing I think). Anyway, I didn't think it was particularly worth sharing this recipe unless someone actually wants it. It's just a vanilla cake.

I thought I might share a photo anyway:

Back from overseas!

2008-08-27T16:22:00.003+10:00

The blog has been neglected while I have been overseas. I'm back now and will get back to the baking as soon as this darn jet-lag wears off. Seriously, it took me hours to get out of bed today! I have no energy and feel like I should be asleep right now. Glad it didn't affect me this bad at the start of my trip!! So so so glad that I'm not having to go back to work until next week. I really hope it wears off soon because I want to be able to write up another job application with a clear head and submit it before the closing date.

I'll be making a cake for my sister's birthday lunch on Saturday, I'll try to make sure I take a photo of it before it is eaten!

And now for something totally random!

2008-08-11T20:33:00.003+10:00

Is it just me, or is this kind of funny?

http://www.jellotime.com/

Recipe sources and thoughts on cooking

2008-08-08T19:40:00.001+10:00

Sorry, no recipe today. I haven't been baking as much the last week or so. Today you are getting random wonderings about recipe sources and thoughts on cooking.

I don't know about you, but I wish that I had the time to put all my recipes into a database so that I could just search for recipes rather than try to remember what recipe book/magazine/website the recipe I'm searching for is in/on. All I really want in a database is to be able to put in the names of the recipes and then a reference of where I can find them. I use some handy recipe websites, but they don't help me with all my recipe books and magazines, as I can't add recipes that aren't on the website.

Have you seen these recipe websites and blogs? There's some interesting things there, you should check them out:

www.taste.com.au
www.allrecipes.com
www.bakingbites.com
www.bakeorbreak.com

I usually go to recipe sites either when I'm looking for something specific and want to find it fast, or when I want to be inspired. I love seeing yummy recipes that I'd like to try, and when I do try them, I often add my own little twist.

I never used to be able to just "make something up", I always needed a recipe otherwise it wouldn't turn out. Now I'm finding that I can easily make up my own recipes, which is nice when you don't have all the ingredients for a specific recipe, but want to use up some ingredients. It's a lot easier now to think of things that go well together and make up my own creations. I've discovered that cooking in general can be a bit of a creative outlet, whether it's dinner or dessert, there's opportunity to try something a bit different.

These days I'm enjoying cooking a lot more than I used to. I have always enjoyed baking and making desserts/sweet things, but now I'm also enjoying making dinners (well, enjoying a bit more anyway, still not as fun as baking!).

I'll be back with more baking recipes soon!

Black Forest Cookies

2008-08-05T09:32:00.002+10:00

This is another cookie recipe I made up. The name of the cookies is courtesy of my husband. While he was eating one of them, he proclaimed "these are the best cookies ever!". Yay!

Makes about two dozen small-ish cookies

Ingredients
125 grams butter
1/4 cup caster sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
1/4 cup cocoa, sifted
1 egg
1 and 1/2 cups self raising flour, sifted
8 Strawberry Cream Bears, chopped into small pieces (I used the Aldi ones, but strawberry Freddos or similar would work too)
Handful or two of milk chocolate chips

Method

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
Cream together sugars and butter.
Beat in egg.
Combine sifted flour and sifted cocoa, then mix into butter and sugar mixture .
Mix in chopped strawberry bears/freddos and chocolate chips.
Shape tablespoons of mixture into balls, place on lined tray/s with a bit of room for spreading.
Bake for approx 10 minutes.
Allow to cool on tray.

Creamed Rice

2008-08-02T10:48:00.004+10:00

Sorry, no photo this time (I forgot to take one). Made this yummy creamed rice the other day, first time making it instead of buying it (not that I buy it much). Turned out well. I think the trick is keep it on a low heat. This would be tasty with fresh berries or banana slices.

Ingredients
1 litre milk
1/3 cup caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup uncooked medium or short grain rice

Method

Combine milk, sugar and extract in a large saucepan.
Bring to the boil and gradually add rice to milk mixture.
Reduce heat, and simmer, covered, stirring occasionally for about 50 minutes or until rice is tender and milk is almost absorbed.
Serve warm or cold.

Fresh Apple Cake

2008-07-28T13:02:00.002+10:00

Told you I would cook something else other than cookies some time soon. (I think I like making cookies so much because they're so easy to make and fun to eat).

Anyway, here is an apple tea-cake type thing. It's quite tasty but it's nothing like those apple tea-cakes you get from Woolies, so if that's what you're after this recipe isn't what you're looking for. I have enjoyed this one as a morning tea or breakfast treat over the last few days. Great served warm with custard!

Ingredients
1 cup Brown Sugar
2 Eggs
1/2 cup Canola or vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla essence
3 tbs milk
4 apples, peeled, cored and diced (I used Pink Lady Apples)
2 cups wholemeal flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

Method

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Grease and flour a 22 cm round cake tin.
Beat together the sugar and eggs until thick and light.
Beat in the oil and vanilla and milk.
Stir in the apple.
In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and spices, then fold this into the apple mixture. Pour into the cake tin.
Bake for 45 min.

White Choc-Chip Cookies

2008-07-23T17:30:00.004+10:00

Last night I cooked salmon fillets for dinner. Sure, they were tasty, but they stunk out my apartment! I spent most of today trying to get rid of the smell. Googled a lot for ideas on how to get rid of it, reading suggestions about putting something next to the stove when you're frying it (handy if I had read that before I started cooking it last night, not so handy now) and a bunch of other things like wiping your kitchen down with lemon juice and using bicarb soda....

None of it worked so as a last resort I decided to make a batch of cookies. Lucky for me, it seems to have worked to get rid of the salmon smell. And lucky for you, my readers, as I am about to post the recipe. These are tasty and as always, more-ish. Hope you're not sick of my cookie recipes lately. I swear I will get to making something else soon!

Makes about two dozen medium sized cookies

Ingredients
125 grams butter
½ cup caster sugar
½ cup brown sugar, lightly packed
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 egg
1 and 1/2 cups self raising flour
½ teaspoon salt
As many white chocolate chips as you want (as long as the batter still holds together... if you're after more of an idea of how many, just grab 3 handfuls).

Method

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
Cream together sugars, butter and vanilla essence.
Beat in egg.
Add sifted flour and salt.
Add white chocolate chips and mix well.
Shape tablespoons of mixture into balls, place on lined tray/s with a bit of room for spreading.
Bake for approx 10 minutes or until just starting to turn golden
Allow to cool on tray.

Choc chip coconut cookies

2008-07-13T16:38:00.004+10:00

Well, I've been away in QLD visiting my sister, brother-in-law and my niece, so I haven't been baking much lately. I did make another banana bread the other day (a different recipe from the last one I posted, but there aren't any photos of that because it got eaten too quickly).

Anyway, here's a cookie recipe I made up today. I really like these cookies, they are very chewy and more-ish.

Ingredients
125g Butter, softened
1 cup Plain Flour
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla essence
3 small handfuls of desiccated coconut
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 handfuls choc chips

Method

Preheat oven to 180 Degrees C. Line two cookie trays with baking paper.
Cream butter and sugars together until light and fluffy, then beat in egg and vanilla essence.
Sift in flour and baking powder, then add coconut. Stir to combine. Fold in choc chips.
Drop spoonfuls of dough onto prepared cookie trays.
Bake for 12 to 15 min until just slightly browned.
Remove from oven and cool on cookie trays (this helps to maintain the chewy-ness).

Berry Custard Slice

2008-06-30T21:32:00.010+10:00

I haven't actually made this one in a while, so I don't have a picture to post, but this is a favourite recipe of mine, so thought I would share.

This is a fantastic slice. I have made it several times for special occasions and it has been a hit every time. Some people like to serve it warm, but I prefer it chilled. It's not the "picture perfect" slice, but it is really tasty. If you're taking it to a get-together, I would suggest you transport the slice either in the pan, and cut it at the venue, or lay the cut slices in a single layer on a plate or in a container because it really doesn't stack well.

Ingredients (serves 12)

200g butter, softened
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 1/2 cups plain flour, sifted
1/2 cup desiccated coconut

Berry topping
450g mixed fresh berries (I usually just use strawberries, but I think the extra moisture of them is what contributes to the slice not looking perfect).
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
1/3 cup caster sugar
1 3/4 cups thickened cream
3/4 cup milk

Method

Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease a 3cm deep, 24cm x 29.5cm slab pan. Line with baking paper, leaving a 2cm-ish overhang at both long ends.
Using electric beaters, cream butter and sugar until well combined. Stir in flour and coconut. Mix well.
Press pastry evenly over base of prepared pan. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until light golden. Remove from oven. Set aside for 10 minutes to cool.
Make berry topping: Spoon berries over pastry base. Whisk eggs, egg yolks and caster sugar in a large jug. Add cream and milk. Whisk to combine. Strain custard through a sieve over the berries.
Bake for 30 minutes or until centre is set. Cool for 1 hour in pan. Lift slice out of pan using the baking paper overhang. Cut into pieces and serve warm or cold.

Nutella and Mars Bar Cookies

2008-06-15T18:21:00.006+10:00

Ok, here is a yummy cookie recipe for chocolate lovers. These are nice and chewy. Shared these delicious cookies with Sumara the other night while we watched Sweeney Todd (first time I had seen it, quite gross, but really really well done! ...Though I might never eat another meat pie again! lol).

Makes 24 cookies

Ingredients:
125g butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla essence
1/4 cup Nutella (choc hazelnut spread)
1 and 1/3 cups plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/3 cup chopped Mars Bars

Method:

Preheat oven to 180 C. Line a couple of baking trays with baking paper.
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugars until smooth
Beat in egg then stir in vanilla
Mix in Nutella
Combine flour, baking powder and baking soda in a separate bowl, and then stir into butter/sugar mixture until just blended.
Fold in Mars Bar bits.
Drop dough by spoonfuls onto baking trays, leave lots of room between cookies as they spread.
Bake for 8-10 min, remove from oven and cool on tray.

Tooth drama

2008-06-04T20:18:00.003+10:00

So, I'm eating my lunch today at a farewell/retirement lunch for one of my colleagues, and all of a sudden I feel this hard thing in my mouth. I thought it was part of the lunch I was eating, but no, it turns out to be part of one of my teeth. A huge chunk of tooth actually... well, it's about a quarter of the very last tooth at the back on one side of my lower jaw. Ouch, right? Actually, no. It doesn't hurt really. It's feeling a bit ache-y, and it certainly feels weird in my mouth, but there's no excruciating pain, which I'm glad about, and I guess means that I haven't uncovered a nerve... It's really weird because I'm really good with dental hygiene and I've never had a history of bad teeth, never even had a filling. Admittedly, I haven't been to the dentist since I had to get my wisdom teeth out about 9 years ago... man that's gone fast!

Anyway, I'm off to the dentist tomorrow morning to get it looked at. I hope they don't have to pull it out. I'm not a fan of injections in the mouth.

Also going to QLD for the weekend (really bad timing for a broken tooth!), so no chance for baking this weekend. Back to that next week!

Exercise and weight loss

2008-06-03T10:43:00.002+10:00

I've started to go to the gym during my lunch break every day with a friend. I've only been doing it for two weeks now so I know I shouldn't really expect to see noticeable results yet, but I can't help it!! I stepped on the scales for the first time since I started this routine this morning, and was disappointed that nothing seems to have changed yet. I even have scales that show what percentage of your body is fat, and that seems to have gone up even though I haven't eaten heaps of baked goods and my energy expenditure has gone up. Very disappointing! I guess I just have to keep at it and not weigh myself until after a few more weeks have gone by....

Lemon Cheesecake Crumbles

2008-06-02T09:45:00.008+10:00

This is the first time I've attempted this recipe and the first time I've made any sort of crumble, and I have to say it turned out pretty well. This batch went to hubby's work for his birthday the other day, and it's lucky they did, because I could eat way too many of these!

Ingredients (makes 12)
500g cream cheese, softened
2 tbs finely grated lemon rind
1/2 cup caster sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup thickened cream
1/2 a lemon's worth of juice

Crumble topping
50g butter, chilled, chopped
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup plain flour
1 cup rolled oats

Method

Preheat oven to 150 degrees C (or 130 degrees C for a fan-forced oven. Line a 12-hole 1/3-cup capacity muffin tray with paper cases.
Use an electric beater to cream cheese, lemon rind, lemon juice and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add eggs, one at a time, beating until combined.
Add cream, beat until combined.
Spoon into paper cases.
Make crumble topping - Rub all ingredients together with fingertips until mixture looks like course bread crumbs.
Sprinkle topping over cheesecake mixture.
Bake for 30 min until cheesecakes are puffed up and crumble topping is golden.
Cool on bench-top until sufficiently cool enough to refrigerate.
Refrigerate for several hours or until cold.

Random wonderings

2008-05-28T15:25:00.001+10:00

Ever stop to think about something you've never really wondered about before? I have. Here are a few of my random wonderings:

Is it just me, or does strawberry flavouring not taste very much like strawberries?
Why is vanilla essence in nearly every baking recipe I own? Does it really make that much difference to the overall taste?
How come it's so difficult to think of interesting things to make for dinner, but so easy to find a baked-good recipe that I want to try?
Why don't I like coriander?
Why are slow-cooked meals traditional for winter?
Why do recipe magazines all have slow-cooked meal recipes at the moment, do they think people miraculously have more time to cook in winter? I sure don't!

And non-food related wonderings:
What is so good about make-up? No offense to anyone who likes it and wants to wear it, but I don't really see the attraction (I'll admit I'm a bit clueless when it comes to how to apply it and make it look good, but I'm glad I don't wear it much, if ever, because I wouldn't be able to cram it into my morning routine).
How come ironing is such a pain in the butt?
Why is it that whenever I cook salmon, I can still smell it days afterwards, even when our house has been ventilated well and there are no dishes to clean up?

------------------
On another note:

Hubby's birthday today, so we are out to dinner tonight. Made him very yummy cheesecake crumbles as his birthday cake last night. Will post the recipe and photos later.

Banana Bread - low fat

2008-05-26T18:51:00.005+10:00

Sumara very kindly pointed out that she is waiting for this week's baked goodness. Well Sumara (and others!) here is a very yummy banana bread recipe! The bonus is that it's tasty, AND it's low-fat!! No butter!! You can add 1 and 1/2 tsp of cinnamon to this recipe if you like, but I prefer it without. You can also add 3/4 cup chopped walnuts which is a tasty addition, but bumps up the fat content a little.

Unfortunately I didn't get to photograph this creation before it all got scoffed on the weekend, but here is the photo-less recipe anyway:

Ingredients:
2 cups self-raising flour
1 tsp bi-carb soda
2/3 cup caster sugar
1 cup skim milk
2 eggs
1 tbs olive oil
2 large over-ripe bananas, mashed

Method:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C (or 160 degrees C for fan-forced oven).
Grease an 11 x 21cm loaf pan and line with baking paper (cooking oil spray is handy for greasing).
Combine flour, soda, cinnamon and sugar in a large bowl. Stir in milk, eggs, oil and bananas until just combined.
Spoon into prepared pan, and smooth the surface.
Bake for about 50 min or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean (another way I use to tell if it's cooked is to lightly press the centre of the loaf, if it springs back then it is done).
Stand the loaf in its pan for about 5 min before turning out onto a wire rack to cool.

Enjoy!!

Home made after-dinner mints are way too more-ish.

2008-05-15T20:10:00.004+10:00

I made these after-dinner mints from one of my cook books the other night, just for fun, just because I wanted to see how they would turn out, and just because I was looking for something to make with the stuff that was already in my food cupboard. Not because I actually wanted to eat them. Alas, since I have made them and they have not migrated to hubby's work or anywhere else, they have been staring me in the face, and beckoning me to eat them. All. At once.

I see them and think, 'yeah, I'd like to have one of those', just one mind you, but I can never stop at just one. As soon as it has been eaten, I feel like a REALLY want another sugary hit, right away! So I eat another one, but I can't stop there either. I want that sugary taste to stay in my mouth, it's not that I am actually hungry or that I particularly love after-dinner mints, it's that feeling of 'more sugar would be good right now'. So this goes on until I get the feeling I've had way too much sugar.... then I feel like I really really must brush my teeth. I should just brush my teeth after one mint, so that the taste would be out of my mouth and I wouldn't be tempted to eat any more. That would be sensible. Or what would be more sensible is if I sent them away, to hubby's work, or took them somewhere where everyone else could eat them, and I could be saved.

I won't post the recipe unless someone particularly wants it. I don't know if this recipe would have the same effect on anyone else, maybe I am just a sweet tooth (maybe!), but I thought I would save you from potential sugar-induced diabetic comas or something like that and not post the recipe.

On another note, totally un-food related, I'm trying to write up an application for a new job (well, a temporary transfer to another department for up to 6 months), and it's really difficult! I know I can do all the stuff listed in the selection criteria, but I find myself writing up stuff and using the same words over and over like "organisational" and "essential" and "time management" etc etc. I think I need to use a thesaurus or something so that it doesn't end up sounding like a broken record. They only want a two page document addressing the criteria, but there are 8 criteria, and you have to do a paragraph on each one! I don't know how you're supposed to make it sound good enough to actually get chosen for an interview in such small amount of space! I'll let you know how it goes. If actually end up getting the job, it means working in the city (which is only about 15 min from home rather than an hour to where I currently work), and slightly higher salary, so that would be nice.

Banana Cheesecake

2008-05-13T19:59:00.004+10:00

Some good friends of ours came over last night to help us eat the desserts that I forgot to take to my mother-in-law's. Both desserts got the thumbs up. Here is the recipe for Banana Cheesecake, note that you will need at least 3 hrs cooling time, so it can be better to make it the night before and cool it over night:

Banana Cheesecake

Ingredients:
1 pack of Arnott's 'Nice' biscuits, crushed (you can do this by hand, but food processor is much quicker)
1/3 of a 250g block of butter, melted
2 packs of 250g packs of cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup caster sugar
2 tsp vanilla essence
1 and 1/2 cups mashed over-ripe banana (this is approx. 3 large bananas)
3 eggs, beaten lightly

Method:

Preheat oven to 160 degrees C (Fan-forced. 180 degrees C if conventional oven).
Grease and line a 23cm springform pan with baking paper.
Place crushed biscuits in a bowl and mix with melted butter. Press firmly and evenly into prepared pan. Then refrigerate while preparing other ingredients.
Beat cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla essence until smooth. Add banana and eggs, beat until smooth.
Place tin on an oven tray, pour cheesecake mixture into tin. Bake for about an hour and a quarter, or until just firm.
Cool in oven with door ajar (cooling baked cheesecakes too quickly can cause cracks on the surface). When cool to the touch, transfer to fridge and refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight.

Very banana-y and sweet without being sickly sweet.

Coconut Ice

2008-05-11T18:58:00.004+10:00

I mentioned in my last post that I successfully made coconut ice. Well, here is the recipe:

Please note you will need to make this a day ahead, as it takes ages to set.

Coconut Ice

Ingredients
5 cups icing sugar
3 cups desiccated coconut
3/4 of a 395g tin of sweetened condensed milk
1 egg white
1 tsp vanilla extract
red food colouring

Method

Lightly grease and line a 20cm square cake tin (I actually used a standard slice tin, but this recipe doesn't entirely fill one of those).
Combine icing sugar and coconut in a large bowl, then add condensed milk, eggwhite and vanilla extract. Mix until combined.
Divide mixture evenly between two bowls, then add a few drops of red food colouring to one bowl and mix until combined (I actually had to knead the 'dough' to get the colouring to spread evenly. You will probably get red food colouring on your hands if you do this, but it washed off easily for me).
Put pink mixture into the prepared pan, and press down, evening it out. Top with white mixture, pressing down to even out.
Cover and either put in the fridge overnight to set, or leave it out on the bench. I left mine out on the bench and found that it set quite nicely.
Next day, cut into squares or rectangles to serve.

You might be wondering what you are going to do with the rest of that can of sweetened condensed milk.... well, that's what I am wondering too. The left overs of mine is in the fridge, awaiting instruction. I figure I might use it in a cookie recipe, as I have seen cookie recipes that call for only two tablespoons of sweetened condensed milk. I'll try and find one and post it for you so that the rest of your can doesn't go to waste... if you're desperate, you could always eat the rest by the spoonful!! (That's what hubby would probably be wanting to do if he realised there was any left!)

I presented my coconut ice in a box to my mum for mother's day, and she was thrilled (it's one of her favourites).

On another note, you know how I was attempting a baked custard tart and a banana cheesecake? Well they were supposed to be for mother's day to take when we were visiting my mother-in-law, but after all my efforts, I totally forgot to take them with us!! I was so annoyed because I realised that I didn't have them when we were almost there. We then had to stop off and get something frozen to have for dessert instead. We got Nanna's Apple Crumble and custard. Sorry Nanna, your apple crumble is nice, but it just doesn't cut it compared to something home made :(. I guess the desserts I made will have to go to work with hubby again if we can't find someone to come over and eat them in the next couple of days!

New attempts!

2008-05-09T20:51:00.003+10:00

I have just re-attempted making coconut ice. The first time I made it, it was a bit of a disaster, tasted oh-so-good, but was such a gooey mess that you practically had to eat it with a spoon. It just did not set! This time after a bit of tweaking to the recipe, I have success!

I am just about to attempt a baked banana cheesecake and a baked custard tart for the first time. Wish me luck!

Photos and recipes will follow shortly!

Yummy cake!

2008-05-06T20:24:00.001+10:00

I made this awesome cake on the weekend. It was Pear and Ginger Upside-down cake. I made two of them in two small loaf pans (as the recipe called for one large-ish square cake tin, and I don't have one of those... and I didn't want to be bothered with halving the recipe). Yes, one of these delicious cakes went to work with my husband again. The other one got sampled and the rest of it got cut up and frozen for later! (I'm getting quite a lot of use out of my freezer, I think I need a bigger one!)

Pear and Ginger Upside-down Cake

Ingredients:
2 cups brown sugar
250g butter melted and cooled
3 packham pears, peeled, cored and chopped into thick slices
1/3 cup golden syrup
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup honey
2 eggs
1 tsp bicarb soda, sifted
2 and 1/2 cups plain flour sifted
2 tsp ground ginger
200g light sour cream

Method:

Preheat oven to 150 degrees C. Lightly grease 2 8x4 inch loaf pans or one square 23cm cake tin. Line with baking paper.
Sprinkle 1/2 cup sugar over the base of the prepared pan/s, pour 1/3 cup butter over sugar.
Arrange pear slices in a single layer on top of the butter and sugar.
Place remaining butter in a large bowl, mix in all the syrup, eggs, bicarb soda, flour, ground ginger and remaining sugar. Then mix in sour cream.
Pour batter over pears.
Bake for 1 and 1/2 hours or until skewer inserted comes out clean.
Stand for 10-15min, then turn out onto a platter and serve.

Cooking dinner ahead is the key...

2008-05-05T20:58:00.007+10:00

... to more time in your day. It may not work for everyone, but I find it works for me, being one who works full time and tries to make it to the gym after work, while still getting home in time to have dinner on the table at a decent hour (let me tell you, it's really hard work! It doesn't leave me with much time to cook anything interesting).

I'm talking about cooking food for dinner a day or so ahead. I don't necessarily mean cooking the entire meal in advance (you can do that too if you really have time), but sometimes cooking a side dish ahead of time is a big help. (This works well for meals like meat and 3 veg etc). I like vegies and meat better on the first day they're cooked as they never seem to taste quite as good the next day heated up in the microwave (maybe because microwaves tend to cook everything just a little bit more), so cooking a side dish a day or so before it's going to be eaten is one less thing that I have to think about for the next dinner.

Last night for example, I cooked risotto to go with tonight's dinner (in my rice cooker! So easy!). All I had to do when I got home today was cook up the chicken and the vegies. Vegies and meat don't take much time to cook, so all I had to do was heat up the risotto while the vegies were steaming and chicken was cooking. Easy! Dinner is ready in about 15 min as opposed to half an hour or more.

If there's left-overs, you can either use them up another night, or freeze them in portion sizes for future use. I did this with the couscous I made last week, but I didn't think about freezing it in dinner sized portions, so it might be a bit difficult to defrost only the part that we need to use... maybe I'll try and put it in one of my home-made soups. I don't know if it would go, but I'm willing to try it!

I'm trying to get organised enough to do this more often, but I usually only find that I can do it on the weekend.

I'll leave you with my risotto recipe. I don't know how long it took to cook, as once it was in the rice cooker, I went to do other things and didn't really think about it again until it was finished. It doesn't have as much sauce as risotto usually does, but I enjoyed it all the same:

Rice cooker Mushroom Risotto
Serves 6 to 8 as a side dish, or 4 to 6 as a main

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon oil
1 tablespoon butter or margarine
1 onion
1 clove crushed garlic
250g mushrooms
1 and a 1/4 cups brown rice
4 and a half cups cold chicken stock

Method:

Put oil and butter/margarine in a frying pan over medium-high heat.
Finely dice the onion and add to frying pan with crushed garlic.
Cook, stirring for 2 to 3 min.
Chop mushrooms and add to fry pan.
Cook for a further 3 min or so (it doesn't need to be totally cooked as it will finish cooking in the rice cooker), then remove from heat.
Put rice in rice cooker, add mushroom mixture and mix together.
Add chicken stock and stir, making sure that the rice is even spread on the bottom of the pot. (I used cold chicken stock as my rice cooker book says that you need to use cold water when cooking rice, but I don't know if this would make a difference to the end result in the case of risotto).
Set to the "cook" setting and cook until the switch switches to "warm"
Stir again to get the mushrooms etc spread evenly.
Serve (or save for later!).

If you're making this as a main, I would suggest adding peas and corn or some other vegies in step 6, and then cooking some diced chicken to add in just before serving. Also, just a note that if you're using white rice instead, you would need to reduce the amount of chicken stock (to about 3 cups), as brown rice uses more water to cook (and takes longer).

I hope it works for you as well as it worked for me. It's my own recipe, so I made it to my taste I would recommend experimenting and adding other things you like.

I would show you a photo of it, but it was rather brown and not that interesting-looking, and half of it is gone now.... maybe if I remember to take a photo next time I will post it.

If only I could be so organised all the time....

Baking and watching your weight

2008-05-04T12:45:00.006+10:00

Unfortunately this post is not some new idea about how to lose weight while baking (I wish there was such a method!). It's actually about the dilemma of being someone who wants to get fit and is watching their weight but loves baking too much. Baking is like a hobby for me, I love trying new recipes and seeing how things turn out.

The problem is that I also like to sample the fruits of my labour; a cookie here, a piece of banana bread or cake there.... I am a lot better than I used to be, in that I used to just not be able to stop at just one or two samples, if it was there, I would want to eat it and would probably eat much more than I should have. Now I have a bit more self control and can be satisfied with one or two samples.... but of course the danger is that whatever I've baked will go off if it's not eaten, what a waste! My one or two samples become one or two samples a day, which over a few days can add up to quite a bit.

The best way I've found to combat this is to bake something, save a small portion for home, and send the rest to work with my husband. Problem solved! I've had my baking-fix, tasted the goodies, and now the temptation of eating more is no longer there! I think my husband's work colleagues will be starting to complain that I'm making them fat if I bake too often though. So far this hasn't happened, whenever I need to call my husband at work, if someone else answers first they're always saying "thanks for the cookies" or something like that. My husband says that they have a theory; whenever they say thanks for the cookies, it means that I will make more to send to the office in the very near future. They might be right, or it might just be coincidence, but they get their baked goods often, so everyone's happy.

If you love baking as much as I do, perhaps you should do what I do and send your baked goods to work with yourself or your husband. I would take them to my work, but there are too many people in my office for just one batch of cookies. I would have to bake quite a bit more in order to feed the masses at my work, so unless I make a giant batch of something, my baked-goodness is going to work with my husband.

Another idea is baking for a school cake stall if you have kids (which I don't so this doesn't work for me), or some family event where you have to bring something. I always volunteer to bring dessert as 99% of what I bake is sweet stuff. But my preferred method of getting my tasties out of the house is to send them to work with my husband, because if I'm trying a new recipe and it doesn't work out, then there's no pressure to have an end result (as in, it doesn't HAVE to work out, because they never expecting me to send things, so it's a bonus when I do).

Does anyone else love baking as much as I do? What are your methods of sending your sweet temptations out of the house/What do you do with your baked goods?

Eventually I hope to put up some recipes here so keep your eye out.

Nothing to see here yet

2008-05-02T20:03:00.002+10:00

Unfortunately there's not much to see here yet. I've been thinking about starting a blog for ages and have finally set one up... though I have nothing else to say as yet! It'll get there eventually.... one day...