Quiet time

Baking is the ultimate stress reliever.  No matter how sleep deprived, busy or cranky I am, I always have time for cooking up sweet treats.  There is truly nothing better than the mechanics of baking - the chopping, stirring, folding, melting, beating - to slow the mind.  This recipe is perfect for this.  The initial chopping of the chocolate, cranberries and pistachios calms you as you focus on the beautiful constrasting colours - creamy white, deep ruby red and jade green.  The best part, though? The almost instant aroma of baked goods filling the house.  Pair one of these monsters with a tall iced coffee and some quiet time shared between you and a good book...heavenly.

Jewelled Jumbo Cookies

250g unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups demerara sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 large eggs

3 1/2 cups SR flour

1/2 cup white chocolate, roughly chopped

1/2 cup dried cranberries, roughly chopped

1/2 cup pistachio nuts, roughly chopped

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.  Beat together butter, sugar and vanilla.  Add eggs one at a time, mixing well in between.  Sift in flour and combine to form a crumbly dough mixture.  Fold through the chocolate, cranberries and nuts.  Use 1/3 cup to scoop out cookie dough.  Push together in hands and form into a thick disc.  Space cookies 5cm apart on lined baking trays and bake for 15 minutes.  Makes 15 cookies.

F. x

Sweet treats

It's no secret that my favourite dessert is Sticky Date Pudding. In fact, I display an abnormal compulsion to order it should it appear on a menu. It's perfection in all its juxtaposing facets: spongy in texture and dense in flavour. Who can go past its sickly sweetness and deep amber colour?

This recipe is slightly more versatile than one I have previously shared. It is baked as a cake and easily prepared in the food processor. You can serve large squares of this incredible pudding cake with warm caramel sauce and ice cream and stick to the traditional, or (as I have done today) cut it into "two-bite" sized bars with a smear of caramel for a light afternoon morsel. No one is going to accept a bowl of hot pudding and ice cream for afternoon tea but they'll be all over this is a jiffy.

The secret to getting neatly cut bars is to put the cake (once cooled) in the freezer for half an hour before cutting. This firms it up and takes off the stickiness that makes slicing difficult. Once out of the freezer, use a serrated-edge knife to portion the cake as you wish. These little bars suit me because you never feel quite as guilty stealing a second one! If you are serving in this way, also set aside your sauce for a couple of hours to cool (and thus, thicken sufficiently). This naughty sauce is a perfect one to have stashed in the fridge for topping ice cream, drizzling over cakes or shortbread (the sweetness cuts through a tart cheesecake remarkably well) or for attacking with a spoon when no one else is looking.

Sticky Date Cake

315g fresh dates

375mL boiling water

1 1/2 tsp baking soda (bicarb)

150g unsalted butter, softened

175g brown sugar

3 eggs

225g SR flour, sifted

Preheat your oven to 160 degrees C. Place dates, water and bicarb in the food processor with the cutting blade. Allow to sit for 5 minutes.  Pulse the processor 3-5 times to roughly chop the dates.  Change to the mixing blade before adding butter and sugar. Process until well combined.  Mix in eggs and flour until just incorporated. Pour mixture into a greased and lined 30cm square slice tin. Bake for 30 minutes or until skewer comes out clean. Allow to cool in tin for at least 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

Sticky Caramel Sauce

150g unsalted butter, chopped

250mL single cream

265g brown sugar

Place all ingredients into a saucepan over a medium heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved.  Bring to the boil, keep stirring and cook for 8 minutes.  Caramel will thicken as it cooks.  Serve hot for a thin sauce or at room temperature if you prefer it thick and gooey.

Don't you wish you were at my house for afternoon tea today?

F. x

Keep Calm

Just a little happy snap of the beautiful cup of tea that I've been looking forward to for....oh, about 6 hours! Finally, it's all mine and I even got 5 minutes to sit on the couch to drink it. Mm mmm mmm!

As I sit here, I'm also taking in the sweet smell of some deliciousness baking in my oven. I can't wait to share the finished product with you later, but until then, can you guess what it is?

F. x

Afternoon Delight

The brilliant thing about a brownie (well, one of the many brilliant things about a brownie) is that even though it's aesthetically ugly, the uglier, the goey-er, the browner....the better! There's absolutely no fussiness in serving them up.  They are a guilty comfort which should look homemade and rustic.  Having some gorgeous ladies over this afternoon meant that I simply had to bake something.  Not sure how much time I would have (if only babies worked around our schedule!) my decision was based on ease and people pleasing.  Who doesn't love a brownie?!

These brownies are quick and easy but also have a yummy twist - coconut.  I, however, cannot take the credit for this addition after being inspired by my mothers groups' recent obsession with Summer Rolls (hence the name of these delights).  You know, that delicious chewy nougat covered in chocolate and coated in coconut - heaven!  As a result, I have also rekindled my lost love with the humble Summer Roll which has obviously now filtered in other aspects of my culinary existence.  Prepare yourself for mouthfuls of chocolatey goodness as you bite through the crisp exterior to reveal a molten and decadent core.  These glorious things are appropriate for all levels of entertaining, be it accompanying a coffee as you steal a quiet moment at home to yourself, or as a dessert served warm with icecream and a dusting of cocoa as you entertain.  And all put together in 10 minutes before you set the oven timer and forget about it until your house fills with the devine scent of warm chocolate baking.  It's too much!  Do yourself a favour...bake these!

Summer Brownies

175g unsalted butter, chopped

175g dark chocolate, chopped

3 eggs, lightly beaten

1 1/2 cups caster sugar

1/2 cup dessicated coconut

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup plain flour

1/3 cup cocoa

Preheat oven to 170 degrees celsius. Melt butter and chocolate together in a microwave safe dish, stirring every 30 seconds.  Set aside to cool slightly.  Sift together flour and cocoa.  In a different bowl, mix together eggs, sugar, coconut and vanilla.  Fold through chocolate mixture and combine well before adding flour and cocoa.  Ensure all ingredients are combined and pour mixture into a pre-prepared 20x20 baking tin (or a slice tin).  Bake for 35 minutes.  Top will be crisp but inside will still be soft.

This will become your 'go to' brownie recipe, I am sure of it!

F. x

Cookie Dough-oh-oh

My lovely bun is now baked and out of the oven.  Anna Mae arrived on the 15 December 2012 at 10:20pm and has been making my life sweeter ever since! Now that my mini muffin has vacated her lodgings of the past nine months, my sweet tooth (and energy) have well and truly returned.  And so, my lovelies, here is my first post of 2013. 

It is well known that pregnancy places certain limitations on ones ability to consume particular delicacies...one of which is raw batter.  This has been (not over-reacting) quite devastating for moi, and today, I suddenly realised, "if I want cookie dough, I can eat cookie dough!" Hallejulah moment, right here!  And eat cookie dough I did.  I even saved enough to put in the oven to have cookies at the end of it...just.  It was a beautiful moment of guilt-free batter consumption that I just had to share with you.  As always, though, I must also share this gorgeous recipe with you.  It just wouldn't be fair otherwise. 

White Chocolate and Macadamia Cookies

125g unsalted butter, softened

1/4 cup caster sugar

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups plain flour

1/2 baking soda

3/4 cup macadamia nuts

180g white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Cream butter and sugars.  Add egg and vanilla.  Sift in flour and baking soda and mix well to combine ingredients into a dough.  Roughly chop the macadamias before adding to the batter with chocolate chips.  Stir well to distribute.  Space tablespoon-sized dollops of the batter on baking trays and bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown.

These are definitely worth the restraint required for them to make it into the oven!

Bliss in a biscuit.

F. x



Smiles.

After an incredibly hectic first week back at school, I was more than happy to spend today baking up a storm. A day in the kitchen is simply the perfect way to relax. However, relaxation was not, in fact, my main reason for today's 'session'.  Tomorrow afternoon, I will be taking a cupcake decorating workshop with a group of 12-year old girls.  One of my colleagues runs a wonderful program called GirlLife.  In a nutshell, GirlLife gives these girls an opportunity to broaden their world view by seeing that there is so much more for them in life than they may have experienced.  I simply cannot wait to show you some of their creations which we intend to enjoy in a lovely high tea. 

In order to conduct such a workshop, of course, I have to prepare the cupcakes for the girls to decorate.  So I was busy, busy, busy.  Naturally, when I found that I had some extra cupcakes, I couldn't resist having a mess around with some of the yummy toppers that I had prepared for tomorrow! I baked my Mum's Chocolate Cake recipe before topping with Vanilla Buttercream and a sweet chuck of liquorice allsort. Both my chocolate cake and buttercream recipes are tried and true.  How could you not look at these and smile?

F. x

Tea Time Tempter

I have found the perfect tea time cake.  Now, I understand that this sounds like quite a claim but it's completely true!  In fact, I have made this cake twice this week.  Initially, the desire to make this cake came from the gorgeous fresh oranges that were taking over my fruit bowl and filling my house with the scent of citrus.  I took it along to a morning tea with my ladies, warm from the oven and all agreed that it was perfection.  It could be described as a dense cake, delightfully moist and yet at the same time, it is not at all heavy.  It's not overly sweet at all and a big, fat wedge goes down a treat with a freshly brewed pot of English Breakfast. 

As I said, the first time I baked this cake, I served it warm from the oven with a sweet drizzle of orange juice and caster sugar.  My husband was very pleased that some cake actually made it home from our morning tea, so I decided to make another one for him to take with his lunch.  This time though, I wanted to finish the cake with a thick swirl of light buttercream and some finely grated rind.  It just looks so delightfully homely - I adore it and just couldn't help but 'test' my creation straight away.  I just know that this cake is going to become a firm favourite.  Perhaps, it already has.  My dear friend, Emma, is today baking this cake and intends to whip up an orange cream cheese frosting to finish it off. 

I just can't help but sing the praises of this darling cake and have missed the biggest positive of all - it is all blitzed together in five minutes with the food processor.  Could it be any more fantastic?  No, it could not.  This recipe comes from the beautiful Janelle Bloom and can be found on her amazing web site, along with a myriad of other quick, fabulous recipes.

Whole Orange Cake

220g chopped navel oranges (this was 1 and a half oranges for me)

185g unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 eggs

2 1/4 cups S R Flour

Pulse the chopped orange 3 - 4 times in the bowl of a food processor.  Add butter, sugar and extract before pulsing until combined.  At this stage, the mixture may look curdled but is fine.  Pop the eggs into the bowl and pulse before adding flour.  It is important just to pulse until flour is incorporated and not over mix.  Pour the batter into a prepared 23cm springform tin and cook in a 170 degree oven (lower for fan-forced) for 60 - 70 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.  Allow to cool for at least 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.

Whipped Orange Buttercream

145g unsalted butter, softened

2 cups icing sugar, sifted

3-4 tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice

Beat butter for 5 minutes until colour lightens.  Mix in 1 cup of icing sugar well before adding the orange juice.  Beat for a minute.  Add last cup of icing sugar and beat with an electric mixer on high for 8-10 minutes.  Buttercream should be light in colour and texture.  You can add more icing sugar or orange juice until it reaches your desired consistency.

F. x