Tag: baking

Nutella cookies

For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved to read. I think I’ve been a bookworm for as long as I’ve been able to read, and there are photos of me, only a few years old, reading to my brother when he was a baby. And others of me at only nine months old reading a book. Okay, at that point I was probably only looking at the pictures, but still, I liked my books. And I remember as a child, sneakily trying to get away with reading a book under my covers with a torch (I think that was probably about as rebellious as I ever got, trying to read after it was lights out time). And although I’ve previously stated that I read cookbooks like novels, I do like reading novels and my “go to” genre would have to be sci fi/fantasy.

A few months ago, a friend of mine recommended the A Modern Witch series by Debora Geary. It didn’t take me long to be hooked on Debora’s books and I very quickly worked my way through the whole series (that has been published to date that is).  If you like a bit of magic in your books, I would certainly recommend this series.

You may be wondering what this has to do with a cooking blog and nutella cookies. But there is actually a connection. It is almost impossible to read Debora’s books with out getting hungry and/or having the urge to start baking. Food plays quite a large role in these books. Cookies most of all with nutella cookies and snickerdoodles featuring the most prominently. This made me curious to try to bake these cookies, as I had never tried either. And as a recipe for nutella cookies had already been posted on Debora’s website, they seemed like the best place to start. I have also tried to make the snickerdoodles, but I wasn’t that happy with the recipe I used, so I am going to do a bit more research on those and will post a recipe when I am happy with the results. If you have a recipe you recommend, please let me know.

Now I don’t actually like nutella, so judging the success of the cookies was a bit difficult for me. However the cookies were very popular at work, and I got a few requests for the recipe.  I liked the texture, but because I don’t like nutella, the flavour wasn’t really for me. Jerome, who likes nutella, liked them but suggested that they would be better without the extra nutella on top, as he preferred just the cookie itself. Just remember, the most important thing with cookies/biscuits is that they  keep cooking after they come out of the oven, so if you wait until they are completely finished, they will then overcook. I found the recommended bake time worked well for these cookies.

Nutella cookies

Click here for the recipe

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Coconut pie with an easy berry sauce

Given the latest season of My Kitchen Rules starts tonight in Australia, it seems like a good time to share one of my standby dessert recipes that was inspired by  the show. This, for me, is another great recipe for entertaining. Most of it can be made ahead, and even easier you just throw all the ingredients together in the food processor. The most effort you have to make is toasting the coconut. What could be easier? The original recipe was served with mangos, but I like to serve (and eat) this with a quick and easy berry sauce made from frozen mixed berries which I always have in my freezer.

This dessert is more of a slice than a pie, and is quite moist and dense. Any leftovers are great the next day as a treat with a cup of tea.  The recipe is best made at least a few hours before you want to serve it to allow time to chill.

It has been a few seasons since any of the dishes on My Kitchen Rules have become a favourite of mine, but maybe this year will provide me with some more inspiration. I have to admit though that I always record MKR, rather than watch it as it airs, so I can fast forward when the added ‘drama’ (it is reality TV after all) becomes too much.

coconut pie

Click here for the recipe

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Cherry Jam with Lemonade Scones

It was quite hot here in Perth over Christmas. I had to go back to work two days after Christmas, and it was a very warm 41C that day. On top of that the air conditioner at work wasn’t working, resulting in a very unpleasant day. After a very warm day at work, of course it made perfect sense to me to come home and make Cherry Jam. In my defence, I did have what I think is a valid reason for putting myself through a session in front of the stove top in that heat.

On Christmas day my parents gave me a 2kg box of cherries (thanks Mum and Dad). Now I love cherries, but there is no way I can get through 2kg and I really didn’t want to waste them. So, I decided to try making a batch of cherry jam. I’ve never made jam before, though I’ve made lemon butter quite a bit. I found a recipe on-line, bought a cherry pitter and some jam sugar and I was ready to go as I’d already been saving jam jars for a while. I then decided that I needed to make something for the jam to go with, so I made a batch of Lemonade Scones that I had recently learnt from Sarah at babyCakes. I had all the ingredients already at home, although my lemonade was a bit flat which I think resulted in less of a rise than usual. But they still tasted great.

I have to say in the end the heat got to me a bit. The jam probably needed another 5 minutes on the stove to make it thicker, but I stopped as soon as I had any kind of set as it was getting very warm by then. I was still very happy with the result. It tastes great on scones. I’ve even spooned it on top of yoghurt for a quick and simple after dinner snack.

Jam and scones

Click here for the recipes

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Crème brulee

This has got to be the most popular dessert that I make. I first tried it at Jerome’s request a few years ago. In return, Jerome bought me a kitchen blowtorch to make it. It is amazing how four basic ingredients turns into this rich and creamy dish. If you don’t have a blowtorch, you can still get the brulee effect by using the grill in your oven.

I got this recipe from Masterchef Australia and I haven’t altered it (I have just replicated it in my own words here). I’ve toyed with the idea of adding some poached rhubarb at the bottom, or adding some lemon zest…but in this instance I have resisted my usual urge to adapt and change the recipe. It just doesn’t need it.

This recipe is best started the day before you need it, or at least several hours before to allow the custard sufficient time to cool and set in the fridge. Which makes it a perfect dinner party dish. All you need to do on the night just before you serve it is blowtorch the sugar to create the brulee, which is a great party trick.

Creme brulee Click here for the recipe

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Healthy breakfast muffins

Instead of a buying a present this year, one of my friends requested a batch of healthy breakfast muffins. She was flying out to Queensland for a holiday Christmas night and wanted to take some healthy food on the flight. On Christmas Eve I found myself awake at 4.30am and unable to sleep, so I got up and baked the muffins.

I adapted a Martha Stewart recipe that we had both tried before and liked. I replaced the ground nutmeg with some mixed spice and cinnamon, and the raisins with dried cranberries (I thought the changes made them more Christmasy). I also used apple sauce instead of mashed banana. The house smelt lovely that morning and the muffins were very happily received a few hours later. I think I’ll bake myself some of these next time I’m flying anywhere. They are also great to have in the freezer for breakfast on the run.

Later in the day, I was dropping off presents to another friend, who on hearing about the muffins exclaimed “We can request baked goods for presents?” I think I might be getting a few more requests next year. But that’s okay, as I’ve always liked giving gifts that I’ve made myself. And it was lovely to receive my handmade smart rider (train card) holder and bike riding garters (so I can ride my recently bought vintage looking bike while wearing a dress) from my friend.breakfast muffins

Click here for the recipe

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Christmas baking – Gingerbread trees, stars and more

Time for the last of my trio of Christmas gifts from my kitchen. This year is actually the first time I have made gingerbread at home as an adult, and I have to say I am very happy with the results. Not only does it taste nice, the gingerbread Christmas tree worked wonderfully, and the stars, snow flakes, angels and other shapes looked lovely decorated with royal icing.

The recipe below can be used to make whatever shapes you want out of gingerbread. You are only limited by either your imagination, or whatever cookie cutters you may have on hand.

My team's gingerbread Christmas tree
My team’s gingerbread Christmas tree

To make a tree out of gingerbread, you will need several star cutters in different sizes. For my larger tree I used 9 cutters ranging from 2.5cm (top stars) to 18cm in size. For the smaller one I used 5 cutters from 2.5cm to 9cm. You cut two stars out in each size. After they are baked and decorated (edges only), you stick them together with royal icing, alternating the positioning of the star so the points are in the gaps of the previous star. From two batches of this dough I got a small and a large tree, and lots of other shapes. I decorated my trees with bought decorating icings and gels, as they were decorated by my team at work. However at home, I decorated the gingerbread with white royal icing, which I prefer as it sets firm.

Mini tree

Click here for the recipe

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