Easy and moist apple and banana loaf

Toasted banana and apple bread - delicious

Easy and moist apple and banana loaf

Ingrid and I were catching up at the beach for a relaxing morning (hmmmm not sure relaxing was the right word) with our kids to enjoy the beginning of the warm weather. We usually make all sorts of bits and pieces for our kids to eat and often I feel for the time I spend, things only get nibbled and they come home again with me and can't really be eaten at a later stage. This time I decided to use up what I had in the fridge and just make one thing, a moist fruity loaf.
The recipe came from the magazine Recipes+ however as always, I have changed it a wee bit.
The great thing about this recipe is it is very adaptable. I added all the leftover apple slices that were browning in my fridge and cooked it in a square dish rather than a loaf tin.
The loaf was divine, very moist and Ingrid as I scoffed nearly all of it whilst sorting out the numerous arguments our boys had over toys and ignoring the pleas of "mum ma push me, push me" on the cute tree swing we sat besides...
The photos is what was leftover, toasted in my panini maker and spread thick with butter and eaten for breakfast.

What you need
125g melted butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups banana mashed
1 cup chopped apples
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
How to make 
Oven 180 regular 160 fan forced
Grease a loaf or cake tin
Melt the butter and stir in the sugar, eggs, mashed bananas, vanilla and cinnamon.
Sift the flour and baking powder and stir through until combined.
Add the chopped apples
Pour into greased tin and bake for an hour or until a skewer or knife comes clean.

Chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream and marshmallows

Want to keep it simple: Omit the icing and marshmallows and just dust with icing sugar.

This cake has been doing the rounds in our family, lots have tried making it, experimented with it, and changed it up a bit, so it's a cake that can be personalised.

Recently I even made a tractor cake!!! for my son's third birthday using this recipe. I changed the cocoa for melted dark chocolate and I made a creme fraiche chocolate icing with the number 3 ploughed out of the icing (and a few chocolate flakes broken over the ploughed field) and a toy tractor on the side. It was a kids birthday cake, that the parents enjoyed as well. However, it wasn't as pretty as this cake and I wont be posting a pic. It needed a bit of visual refinement.

I'm not a fan of cakes that don't look like cakes anymore....or food for that matter, I cant stand green or blue cakes (Thomas!!!) I know the kids love it but I just don't get why you would want to make a cake that simply looks like a rainbow of additives and chemical components.

Therefore this cake is my 'go to' for any special occasion, I know it works, it can be dressed up or down, and it tastes like a REAL cake. Enjoy, Ingrid

Chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream and marshmallows
What you need:
2 cups of flour
2 cups of brown sugar
1 cup cocoa
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla essence
1 cup cream
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
handful of pink marshmallows

How to make:
Preheat oven to 180c. Mix everything together until smooth. Pour into greased 20cm diameter (deep) cake tin and bake for 45mins (approx). Test with skewer, cake is ready when it is clean.

Vanilla buttercream
What you need:
125g unsalted butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 cups icing sugar, sifted
2 tbsp milk

How to make:
Beat butter and vanilla with electric beater. Gradually beat in half the sifted icing sugar, milk, then the remaining icing sugar. Add milk to get the consistency you desire. Spread onto cake and top with marshmallows.

Lemon Syrup Yoghurt Shake

Hundreds and thousands bring back childhood memories...

Lemon ideas part two 

My last post was like making pancakes, the first one is never the best! The recipe is great but I wasn't happy with the images or the font. Last night I had a 3am moment (well to be honest it was 5am and I was up with bubba #2) thinking about lemon syrup...

I thought about all the lemony things I love. Tip Top lemon yoghurt ice-cream and Puhoi lemon yoghurt  being two of the best I have been indulging in for a while and you cant go past a good zesty lemon curd on your toast. This sparked my imagination for a lemon yoghurt shake and I couldn't wait to get out of bed and make it...

With an abundance of lemons check out the previous post to make the syrup. It lasts for ages and has many uses, this being one of my favourites. Its reasonably healthy other than the sugar and a great way to get your kids to drink milk and yoghurt. To thicken it up you could add vanilla ice-cream or for the healthier option throw in a banana.       

Preserving jars make great milkshake containers

In a blender add 1 pottle of yoghurt, 2 pottles of milk, 1/2 -1 pottle of lemon syrup and blitz for a minute or so. To make the hundred and thousands stay on the jars, dip them into the shake (just the rims) and agitate in a saucer of hundred and thousands. I tried chocolate hail but it wasn't very successful, it just wouldn't stick!

Part 1: How to become published food bloggers?

WE WERE SO stoked to be featured in the latest Real Magazine, in a sister vs sister cook off and thought we would share with you the fruits of our labour and a bit of a run down of how we got to do it.Vanessa and I were both eight months pregnant when we managed to score a face to face with the Editor and Art Director of Real Magazine (New World's foodie magazine), we literally waddled in, to two very surprised faces when they both realized that we really did do things 'together'!


HOW TO SCORE A FACE TO FACE?

It really is a 'who you know' kinda senario, I used to work at Fairfax Media Magazines, designing and art directing lifestyle magazines. When Vanessa and I started getting serious about our blog and about our cooking, food styling and photographing, I started getting serious about trying to get us a foot in the door. I started with the Photo Editor at Fairfax, showing her our work, and wondered if she could advise us. Thankfully she quite liked our photo's, and the ball started rolling. She started to mention us to Editors, Art Directors and we sold a few pics that were published in some of the food, gardening and lifestyle magazines. Then we did a job for Life and Leisure Magazine, and finally we had some published work that we could use in our portfolio. (This is invaluable, so even if you have to do some jobs for free, or cheap to start with, your gain is getting a portfolio of published work to use to promote yourself).

Real Magazine - July/ August 2012

THE MEETING

We had about 20 minutes to show them our photography, food styling and we talked (rather frantically) about what we were all about (sisters who loved food, photography, like to write about it blah blah) but the clincher was when we started talking about our sister vs sister food fight - two sisters, one ingredient, very different results, and the faces lit up a bit, so we kept talking (again, way too fast) and we left feeling hopeful we might get a phone call in the near future.

THE BRIEF

A few weeks later the phone rang and Claire, the Editor said "hey girls, lets give it a go and see if it captures the reader's imaginations". Yep, we tried to act all professional, and not yelp....YIPPPPEEEE ! but lo and behold a wee little....yippee......left my lips and went down the phone line. So our brief was set.  Cook Off #1 was Apples. 


WHAT WAS EXPECTED?

• Intro's for each recipe explaining why we chose the dish
• 2 x Apple based recipes + photographs of the finished dishes
• Photos of apples on a light background with space for a heading
• Photos of the kids and us cooking (not as easy as it sounds!)
• Photos of us together (self timer) and profile shots of each of us
• Interesting facts about apples
• Tips for cooking our dish

How it all looked published in the magazine.

WORKING MOTHERS , NEWBORN BABIES

Even though Vanessa and I have two older children, we failed to remember the newborn stage, and kept uttering out loud, " It will be easy, newborns sleep a lot don't they?" even Claire, Real Mag's Editor emailed us saying sorry about the timing, she couldn't even achieve anything for the first six weeks when her son was born. But, with our blinkers shining bright, I had my baby daughter, Eliza a week before the brief was set, and Vanessa had baby Leo a week after,  and off we went  co-ordinating some sort of working life, and baby sleep sync program.

THE INTERVIEW
When we heard we were also going to be interviewed, we assumed it would be by telephone, so we thought, "Great, we can literally stay in the pj's and keep up appearances!", but NO.....that wasn't to be the case, they wanted to see us, and get off the cuff quotes. Thankfully, the journalist who turned up, was a woman called Katherine, who as a mother to young kids herself, was understanding to our chaos, and didn't seem to mind our half finished conversations. Somehow, she managed to fill in the blanks and make us sound like we had it all together.

Just like newsreaders we looked the part from the waist up.

THE COMPETITION

Little did we know the big plan with the Sister vs Sister concept was to get the public voting. And little did we know, sibling rivalry that has lay dormant for a few years, has returned with some gusto. What dish would you vote for? Vote here

JULY 24, 2012

Vanessa's Apple Custard Tart

51% (354 votes)

Ingrid's Sweet Apple Yorkies

49% (341 votes)

WHO's WINNING?

It's pretty close, but Vanessa has the edge with 51% of the vote, it seems voters love the nostalgia of a good custard pie, and the timings seem to be very important. The baked pancake requires resting, so that adds an extra 20 mins to the process, an issue for some time-poor cooks.

In our next post Vanessa goes into more detail about the food, the photoshoot and behind the scenes.

Ingrid's Dish: Sweet apple yorkies 

I love pancakes, but I hate waiting for them. With a new baby and a toddler, I haven't got time to stand over a hot element cooking them, making sure they don't burn. I also made the rule in my household that the one cooking them always gets the first pancake, however, the first pancake always seems to be the malformed, or the thinnest, the one that doesn't bubble. A stack of oven-warmed pancakes arriving on the table just so everybody can eat them together just doesn't cut it for me either. I want them straight from the pan, butter still sizzling and hot enough to melt my refrigerated golden syrup swirls.

This baked eggy puffy cloud packed with sticky gooey caramelised apples is about as close as I can get to my idea of breakfast heaven on a cold winter’s day. It's sort of a sweet version of the Yorkshire pudding (which appeals to my English Hull-born bloke) and also why I call my dish Sweet Apple Yorkies.

It has origins from the Apple Dutch Baby or the German Pancake and could be filled with just about any stone fruit or spice. Caramelised apples, however, are just perfect, and your whole family will get excited watching the magic of the custardy egg rising over the edges of the pan in the oven. One more rule however, these must be eaten immediately, or risk watching them fall.

Vanessa's tip: Top pancake with grilled bacon for a hearty brunch.

Ingrid's sweet apple yorkies

I used 2 x 20cm [pie tins but you could also use a large , 30cm wide, cast iron skillet or deep ovenproof  frying pan and divide the pancake into 4 when cooked – it would save on dishes!


What you need:
Caramelised apples 
25g butter
4 cooking apples peeled, cored and roughly chopped
¼ cup golden syrup

Batter 
¾ cup flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
4 eggs

Method
1. Preheat oven to 200˚C or 180˚C fan. Divide the butter between the pans and allow it to melt in the oven for a few minutes.
2. Place chopped apples evenly over the pan. Pour over melted golden syrup and bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, stirring halfway through, until the apples are caramelised.
3. Sift the flour and salt into a bowl and gradually add the milk and vanilla , whisking to remove any lumps.
4. Add eggs one at a time. Lightly whisk the batter. Let it rest for 20 minutes. Pour batter over apples.
5. Bake for 20 minutes until the batter puffs up and the edges are golden. Serve with a dollop of natural yoghurt.

Preparation time: 30 mins + 20 mins resting time
Cooking time: 20 mins
Serves 4

TIPS
* Resting the batter allows time for the starch to absorb the liquid and air bubbles to form making your batter light and fluffy.
* Don't over mix your batter as you will get rubbery pancakes.
* Remember to have your table set and plates ready, as the yorkies will sink a few minutes after you remove it from the oven.

A tale about travel and a cheesecake

This post was suppose to be about using up lemons, but when I decided to make a classic baked cheesecake, it got me thinking about when I went traveling overland through the Middle East and I set about trying to order a birthday cake in Pakistan.

A bit random, I know, but bear with me. My trip took me from Egypt through Israel, Jordan, Syria, Iran, Pakistan and through into India. I was traveling with two girlfriends and one poor Aussie bloke, pre Sept 11. Six weeks in and after a 24 hour journey in a minivan with 24 people stuffed in every cavity, we arrived in the town of Peshawar, the city that borders the Khyber Pass route into Afghanistan. We were all in need of some rest, vitamins and decent food.

This Aussie bloke just happened to be in the worst shape, sick from all sorts of travel bugs, but mostly sick from lack of nutrition. He was pretty fussy, he only ate plain, simple food. His favorite dish being pasta with sliced tomatoes and grated cheese, followed by cheesecake. Now I can't imagine getting to adulthood and with all the options for food in Australia and picking this meal as my all time fav - however this was the case and it went against him when traveling in such countries as we did.

As it turned out, it was his birthday the week we were there, so us girls thought, lets cheer him up and make him his favorite meal. Easy, if your at home, easy if we were in Europe, probably easyish in Asia, but not so in Pakistan. But we weren't deterred, hey, we had mince and cheese pies at the Australian embassy in Pakistan, we must be able to get pasta, tomatoes, cheese and a cheesecake. So we set about our mission and by the end of the day we had procured our ingredients and found a local bakery that were willing to bake a cheesecake for us.

The next day, we surprised the Aussie bloke with his bowl of plain and simple pasta, sliced tomatoes and grated cheese. He just smiled. But wait, we said, there's more. We produced a cake box, he lifted up the top, and in sat a cake, a birthday cake, with grated cheese melted on top. He smiled.

fyi: Grated lemon rind not grated cheese on this one!

Donna Hay's classic baked cheesecake

330g cream cheese, softened
500g ricotta
4 eggs
1⅓ cups (295g) caster (superfine) sugar
¼ cup (60ml) lemon juice
1 tablespoon grated lemon rind
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1½ tablespoons cornflour (cornstarch)
1½ tablespoons water
base
⅓ cup (40g) almond meal (ground almonds)
¾ cup (105g) plain (all-purpose) flour
¼ cup (55g) caster (superfine) sugar
90g butter, chopped

Preheat oven to 150°C (350°F). To make the base, place the almond meal, flour, sugar and butter in a bowl. Rub the mixture with your fingertips until a rough dough forms. Line the base of a lightly greased 20cm-round springform tin with non-stick baking paper. Using the back of a spoon, press the mixture into the base. Bake for 15 minutes or until light golden. Set aside. To make the filling, place the cream cheese, ricotta, eggs, sugar, lemon juice and rind and vanilla in the bowl of a food processor. Combine the cornflour and water until smooth and add to the cheese mixture. Process the mixture until smooth. Lightly grease the sides of the tin and pour the filling over the base. Tap the tin lightly to remove any air bubbles. Bake for 1 hour. Turn the oven off and stand the cake for 1 hour, leaving the door closed. Refrigerate until cold and serve with fresh berries, or sprinkle with icing sugar and lemon rind (Ingrid's suggestion) Serves 10.

Extracted from Donna Hay

TIP: The only problem I had with this recipe, was trying to remove the baking paper from the bottom of the cake, so I would just grease the bottom of the cake tin, unless you don't mind the baking paper being there at serving.


More recipes using lemons


New York style lemon curd cheesecake 

Fig and Honey Tarts

Fresh figs from the neighbours tree

Figs, love em or hate em? They don't seem to be the most popular fruit on the block but they do have a certain romantic and sensual quality. They always seem to be paired with blue cheese and oozing juice. Mine unfortunately, didn't ooze and because the birds get there before me, were picked a little under ripe.
According my buddy Google, you can't ripen them off the tree, I thought its worth a try so left them in a bowl for a few days. I also read that they are ripe when the stud at the bottom starts to open.

Fig and Manuka honey tarts

My figs started to seep a fragrant liquid but never reached the beautiful deep ruby colour I was expecting. They were soft and edible but the taste was rather neutral. The dilemma was what to do with them?  I even googled "what to do with un-ripe figs."
I decided EASY was the way to go and happened to have some sweet pastry in the fridge from a failed attempt at jammy pinwheels for morning tea at school. I also decided that the figs needed, as they say in France a little bit of "Je ne sais quois"...
A type of syrup would work but keeping it EASY, I though why not honey - its syrupy, sweet and even better I had a pot of delicious Manuka honey sitting in my fridge.

Delicious with Greek yoghurt

What you need
1 packet of sweet short crust pastry
Fresh figs 1 small one per tart
Honey 2 teaspoons per tart

How to make 
Put the pastry into muffin trays and smooth up the side - no need to line or butter.
There is no need to blind bake either
Chop up the figs in cubes and place into the pastry parcels.
Drizzle 2 teaspoons of melted honey onto each tart.
Bake for about 20 minutes at 180 degrees or until the pastry is golden.
Remove form the trays after about 5-10 minutes. (If you leave them in the trays the honey sets like toffee so they may stick!)

If you are lucky enough to discover a fig tree you can raid - get cracking and give these treats ago!
If you get beautiful ripe figs, make a BIG tart and slice the figs into quarters and arrange in a stunning circular pattern. Serve with yogurt, ice cream or custard.
Vanessa

Hosted this month by Emma @ www.mydarlinglemonthyme.com

Check out her beautiful blog and if you live in NZ get involved in  the monthly blogging event - Sweet New Zealand...

Apple puffs with passionfruit custard

FLAKY PUFF PASTRY has to be the best pastry to have on hand in your freezer. It's so simple to use, you can make a multitude of different dishes - fruit pies, custard squares, vanilla slices, danishes, Vanessa's peach pastries, and savoury dishes such as Vanessa's smoked fish pie, pinwheels, turnovers, empanadas or my leftover's mexican pie but I find the best thing about this type of pastry is you don't feel like you've eaten a whole load of fat. It's light and airy and fools you into thinking, you could get away with eating more than one! Ingrid

NO TIME? USE STORE BOUGHT CUSTARD AND MIX THROUGH PASSIONFRUIT PULP

APPLE PUFFS WITH 
PASSIONFRUIT CUSTARD
MAKES 12
WHAT YOU NEED
400g flaky puff pastry (thawed and rolled out flat)
3 egg yolks (separated from the egg whites*)
1 egg (for egg wash)
100mls milk
25mls cream
75g castor sugar
4 passionfruit (pulp of)
1 apple (sliced thinly)


HOW TO MAKE
APPLE PUFFS:  Set oven temperature to 200C. Roll out pastry on a floured surface. Using a cookie cutter or a glass, cut 12 circle shapes. Brush each circle shape with egg wash (1 beaten egg mixed with 1 tablespoon of water). Add 2 slices of apple to each circle. Bake in oven for 15-20mins until pastry has puffed up and is golden. Serve hot or cold.


PASSIONFRUIT CUSTARD: In a saucepan bring milk and cream slowly to the boil. Take off the heat and reduce element to a low heat. In a bowl whisk three egg yolks and sugar until pale. Add egg mix to hot milk and stir quickly. Put saucepan back on low heat and stir until it thickens. Take off heat and add passionfruit pulp. Mix through. Pour over apple puffs.
TIP: If your stretched for time, just buy store-bought custard and mix through passionfruit pulp.


*WHAT TO DO WITH THE LEFTOVER EGG WHITES?
FREEZE: Pour into freezer bags for future use, make sure you label the bag so you know how much is in there. Alternatively you could store each egg white in an ice cube tray so you can pop one out when you need it.
MAKE: Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's Chocolate macaroons or Pistachio Baked Meringues from foodblog Cannelle Et Vanille

1 BEATEN EGG + 1 TBSP WATER = EGG WASH

MORE PUFF PASTRY RECIPES FROM FOODOPERA

NO FRESH FRUIT? Check out Vanessa's recipe using puff pastry and tinned peaches. 

"when you can buy pastry for about $2.00 (NZ) a block who would bother making it?"
www.foodopera.peachpastries.com


GREAT USE OF LEFTOVERS Turn leftovers into a simple mexican puff pastry pie
"So I ended up going around in circles, stressing out about cheese all week, (who does that?) only to end up whipping up a puff pastry Mexican pie using leftovers from the night before. "
www.foodopera.mexicanpie.com


HEALTHY PIE No milk or cream
"A change from the usual fish pie with mash and chock a block filled with healthy green veges, its a pie using half the amount of pastry."
www.foodopera.smokedfishpie.com

Boozy Cherry, Plum and Almond Cake

Recently I have been working on a magazine titled NZ Lifestyle Block, which features stories about self-sufficiency, organic gardening, orchard care, herbs and my favorites, cheese making, preserving and cooking from your home garden. Its a great read, edited by a passionate woman called Nadene who in my eyes, is definitely living the dream. 

Of course, I  imagine her starting her day looking out her bay windows in her self built home (TRUE  but with her dad's help!), at the lambs who are prancing around in the front garden, whilst she decides shall I have free range duck eggs on homemade crusty bread for breakfast and wondering if her homemade wine has fermented sufficiently for wine o'clock.

However the truth is she works a hell of a lot harder than that, and booze is actually not her thing which from time to time works in my favor. Being an editor she receives a lot of different products to try and this week she received Morrello Cherries seeped in Kirsch by a company called schnappdragon. To be honest, I just fell in love with the name and decided there and then I was going to make something with these boozy cherries (20% alcohol to be exact). 

Now, if you remember I may have mentioned, Vanessa and I are currently 8 months pregnant, so alcohol is a not on the menu, however used in cooking, we decided it was ok as the alcohol would be absorbed in the baking process, but still retain the kick. A big thank you to Nadene for the treats x


What is Kirsch?
Kirschwasser is a clear, colourless fruit brandy traditionally made from double distillation of morello cherries, a dark-coloured cultivar of the sour cherry. The cherries are fermented complete (that is, including their stones).

Boozy cherry, plum, and almond cake
Serves 6-8 (or 2 very pregnant woman!!!)


What you need
4 eggs
150g caster sugar
125g butter (soft)
300g almond meal (ground almonds)
50g flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 - 3 Black Doris plums (sliced)
2 Tbsp Boozy Cherries (I used Morello Cherries seeped in Kirsch from Schnappdragon) - you could also use blueberries, raspberries, or load it up with plums.


How to make
Set oven temp to 180C. Grease a 25cm quick release cake tin and line the base with baking paper (I cut baking paper into a circle and placed into the bottom of the tin). Beat eggs and sugar together until pale. Add butter. Fold in almonds, flour and baking powder. Scoop mixture into tin. Fan out plum slices around tin. Add boozy cherries between plum strips (up to you how many, I used 2 Tbsp). Bake for 35-40mins. Dust with icing sugar (optional). Serve with cream, greek yoghurt or marscapone.

Stone Fruit Pie

Summer loving and the trees are heaving with luscious treasures...

Peaches, nectarines, plums and apricots - stone fruits that are synonymous with summer. If you are lucky enough to have mature fruit trees or neighbours with tress loaded with fruit, the possibilities are endless.

My neighbour has plums but you have to be quick, firstly the birds get stuck in and with no sense of respect take a few pecks out of each plum.  Secondly its the neighbours on the other side with their big blue bucket! I hope they drop off what ever treasure they are making...

I am loving these colour combinations 

I took a trip to the local Asian market for my colourful array and for no more than $3.99NZD per bag picked up apricots, white peaches and nectarines. I guess with many things "use it or lose it applies" and this certainly applied for the apricots. I like my fruit crunchy, even on the sour side and once its ripened and gone soft it really doesn't appeal to me. Cooking with fruit is a fantastic way to use up fruit past its best by or even fruit fallen from trees. Apricots with pork or chicken, chutneys, fresh salsa, fruity sauces for ice-cream and smoothies, cakes, loaves, muffins, cup cakes and of course desserts.  

Endless possibilities

My first attempt using stone fruit in a cake was OK, it was basically a carrot cake type mixture (oil not butter) and loaded with cinnamon and ginger. I cooked it in a cute paper cake mould BUT whilst watching "one born every minute" I totally forgot and it had about 15 Min's more time than it needed. Also I couldn't resist cutting into it to try so as far as blogging and photographing it - it just didn't happen!

Colourful, sweet and tart

My second attempt was a lot more successful...
I was asked to make a birthday cake for my partners mum as we were having a birthday BBQ, so using what I had in my fridge - stone fruit pie was my idea. to save time I bought a big 700gram tin of cooked apples and already had the pastry packets in my freezer. For the price and convenience, these are so handy!

The easiest pastry in the world

All I basically did was roll the pastry out and made it fit the base and sides of the spring form dish, mix the chopped stone fruit with a couple of generous tablespoons of brown sugar and mix it with the tinned apples. I used apples mainly because I thought the stone fruit alone was a little bit adventurous for my guests and to stretch it a bit further. 

I lined the bottom of the pie dish BUT in hindsight - don't do this, there is no need with the buttery pastry and the wetness of the fruit and the paper didn't mix!  

All that's missing is the icing sugar...

I used 2 packets of pastry and with the excess made some cute little jammy parcels. These were a hit with both the adults and kids alike - really easy and have that homemade feel to them. I used Ingrid's rhubarb jam from a previous post and it was perfect melted into the crunchy, buttery and sweet pastry. 

Perfect for small hands and adults love them too

What you need

2 packets of shortcrust sweet pastry (I used Edmond's and its found in the freezer section)

Uncooked stone fruit - chopped up and of course stoned

1 tin (large 700grams) of cooked apples

2 tablespoons of brown sugar

Spring form pie dish

How to make 

Chop the stone fruit and mix with apples and brown sugar 

Roll out the pastry and fit to the pie dish (I didn't blind bake BUT it may pay to do this?) 

Put the fruit into the pastry and cover with a lid, strips of pastry or even a crumble topping. 

Bake at 180 degrees for about 30 minutes - keep watching the pastry so it doesn't over brown. I put some tinfoil on the pastry edges to stop it browning whilst the rest of the top cooked. 

Delicious with ice-cream

Christmas baking with kids

Easy chocolate chip cookie mix!

Christmas is a busy and expensive time. Like I said in the last post, there is nothing better than a (good) homemade Christmas present. When you have kids, there are many presents to buy, not just for them but for their teachers, daycare staff and friends.
My son loves to get involved in anything I am doing and cooking is no exception. Its always messy, pretty hectic and fingers crossed what we cook works out!
These cookies are really easy, in-fact I would say "no-fail". They are also the sort of cookie you can adapt and add what ever you want.

Really easy to make - Chocolate chip cookies 

I bought chocolate buttons instead of chips because they were the cheapest at the time, in hindsight next time I would go for the chocolate chips as they look better. We did try crushing them up with a rolling pin but doing this with a nearly 4 year old boy - wasn't that successful!
Another tip is to make the cookies small, just a teaspoon full is all you really need. You will probably have to bake a few batches but they don't take long at all.

A great gift for daycare or kindy friends or even the teachers! 

Now for the credits, the recipe came from "Allyson Gofton, BAKE". The only change I made was adding real vanilla paste. You could add dried fruit, spices, nuts or white chocolate - really anything would work! It seems a really forgiving recipe meaning if you get the exact amounts a little wrong, it really shouldn't make a huge difference. If you have baked with kids you will know what I mean!    
I plan to wrap them in cellophane with a ribbon and a hand stamped swing tag with either a name or Merry Xmas. I saw on Facebook that "OFFICE MAX" has the entire alphabet for about $30. I am going to hunt them down.   

The book 

    

Allysons Goffton toll house cookies

What you need 

175 grams butter
¾ cup brown sugar
¾ cup caster sugar
2 eggs
2¼ cups flour (I used self raising and NO BP - worked fine) 
1 tsp baking powder

2 cups chocolate chips

How to make 

Beat the butter and sugars together until light and creamy.
Add the eggs one at a time beating well after each addition.
Sift the flour and baking powder evenly over the creamed mixture. Sprinkle over the chocolate chips and fold together.
Place heaped tablespoonfuls of mixture onto a greased baking tray, leaving room for the biscuits to spread.
Bake at 180ºC for 20 minutes or until the biscuits are beginning to lightly brown and are firm to the touch. Transfer to a cake rack to cool. Store in an airtight container.

Happy Baking 

Vanessa 

Christmas Fudge

Christmas is for giving FUDGE!

I am a fudge fanatic, I love the stuff. Its strange because after dinner I am usually the one who opts for the cheese board BUT when it comes to fudge, I can't help myself.

I think it all started at intermediate school when I showed an interest in cooking. I would come home from school, raid the pantry for sugar, turn to the back of the Edmonds cookbook and make batches of chocolate fudge. Unfortunately it took a long time to perfect. There were many occasions when it didn't set and frustration would set in however I usually went back for round two if there was enough sugar left. Of course Mum would arrive home and the 1kg bag of sugar would be non-existent and there would be no fudge to show for it either...

Russian and chocolate fudge

Because of my fudge fascination, school fairs and street stalls would ignite my appetite. I would hunt out the homemade packages, buy a few and scoff the lot! Now I am a teacher at a school that has a regular school fair. The first year I jumped at the chance to make and sell the homemade sweet treats. I encouraged the students to make fudge and even sent home recipes. Pity though, many families are too busy to attempt making homemade sweets or deemed it too difficult. I was disappointed as lots of shop bought sweets rolled in!
The Russian fudge I made came from a friend Johanna who bought it along on a camping trip. OMG it was so good sitting outside on a balmy evening tucking into the huge chunks of heaven! She of course passed on the recipe which comes from another food blogger. Its a microwave fudge and probably the best no fail recipe I have tried. 

Parcels of joy!

The other fudge recipe I made was a random one I found on the Internet but had chocolate and peanut butter for a change. It was the traditional one, made on the stove and had more bite ability than the creamy Russian one. Either way they both worked and tasted great. I ended up taking it all into work so I wouldn't be tempted... 

Its important to keep a jar at home! 

So the reason of this post of course is making edible gifts to give for the festive season.
The glass jars came from the warehouse ($2.99 each - so cheap), the clear bags and netting (wedding favours) came from spotlight as did the red noodle boxes.
Get creative and make some sweet fudge for your loved ones - its such a nice personal touch that is seriously dying out!


Russian microwave fudge
You will need

100g butter

1 cup white sugar

1 can (400g) sweetened condensed milk

1 tbsp golden syrup

2 tsp vanilla essence

How to make
In a microwave proof bowl (very large as the mixture rises up) add everything except the vanilla essence.
Microwave on high for 1 minute then stir, then for a further 2 minutes and stir.
Repeat this process until 10 minutes is up. (I actually did it for 12 minutes).
The mixture will darken in colour, if it hasn't  zap it for a bit longer. Be careful as it can burn! 
If you use a candy thermometer, it should be 120 degrees or you are looking for the soft ball stage when you drip it into cold water (I have never used a candy thermometer and the soft ball concept has never really worked for me)
When its done  add the vanilla and beat with an electric beater for about 4 minutes. (It should lose its shine and start to thicken)
Pour onto baking paper that is in dish (anything will do, I used Tupperware)
Cut into cubes when nearly set and leave to cool. 


Recipe from http://www.thinkingaboutfood.com/2008/02/fudge-and-coffee.html


Chocolate Peanut Fudge

What you need

2 cups white sugar

2 tbsp cocoa
1/2 cup milk
30g butter
2 tbsp peanut butter

How to make
In a med saucepan, stir together the suger and cocoa, combining so there are no lumps. Add milk, butter and peanut butter. Heat genlty, stirring constanly until ingredients have melted. Boil to the softball stage (about 7-10 min). 

Stand to cool for a couple of minutes, then beat with a spoon until thick.Pour into a well greased sponge roll tin and set in fridge.

Recipe from http://www.chelsea.co.nz/baking-and-recipes/966/peanut-choc-fudge.aspx

Vanessa