These Tastes of Mine

Cherry Frangipane Tartlets

2010-12-15T16:49:00.000+11:00

Balsamic Tomato Bruschetta

2010-12-08T16:31:00.002+11:00

Chicken and Thyme Penne

2010-11-30T22:16:00.001+11:00

Roasted Tomato Soup

2010-11-26T09:51:00.000+11:00

Mushroom Vols-au-Vents

2010-11-22T18:53:00.000+11:00

New Beginnings (and Mud Cake)

2010-11-18T19:17:00.000+11:00

From now on, this will be my photoblog. No words, no ramblings... just photos. It's been great fun having this blog, and I wish to thank all my readers. Too bad I didn't last one year. Oh well.

...cake?

Earl Grey Panna Cotta

2010-11-15T18:52:00.000+11:00

So... I've made a Tumblr. I'm still in the process of customizing it, but I expect it to be completed soon. There will still be one or two posts before I shift to my new blog. I have, however imported all my posts, so I won't lose anything.

I conjured this recipe myself. I was looking for a delicate cream, scented with Earl Grey, served in teacups. Considering I had no idea what i was doing, this was actually quite tasty (if I do say so myself).

I will send all my subscribers the link to my Tumblr account, and I would greatly appreciate it if they could follow me there.

Cya

Recipe

Serves 6

300ml cream

300ml milk
3 Earl Grey teabags
¼ cup caster sugar
2 tsp gelatine dissolved in 1 tbs boiling water

1. Place cream, milk, sugar and teabags in a saucepan. Heat over medium heat until the sugar melts. Remove from heat.

2. Leave to infuse for 5 minutes. Add the dissolved gelatine and stir until combined. Pour into small moulds and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or until set. Serve.

Peanut Butter Cookies

2010-11-08T22:10:00.000+11:00

Been a while. I am postponing my change to Tumblr as I am having second thoughts. It would be like starting a completely new blog, and I've had this blog for almost a year. I'll probably need a second opinion.

Today's yumminess comes in the form of a cookie.

Cookie? Yes, Peanut Butter Cookie.

I have a friend who is in love with peanut butter. He knows who he is. I enjoy the odd spoonful of peanut butter but can't eat it in a sandwich. I don't know why. I can, however, happily eat a trayful of these cookies. They were flavoursome and yum.

Two types of cookies in a row? I know, but stay tuned because I have something awesome to show you guys in a few days/weeks. Bye.

Recipe

Obtained from The Baker's Manual (fifth edition)

Makes around 40

1 cup creamy peanut butter
170g unsalted butter
120g brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 1⁄2cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 ⁄2 tsp salt

1. Beat the peanut butter and butter on medium speed until smooth. Add the sugars; beat until mixture is light and fluffy.

2. One at a time, add the eggs and beat until smooth. Beat in the vanilla. Add the flour, baking soda, and salt. Beat on low speed just until the flour is incorporated.

3. Form the dough into 4cm; place on cookie pans. Using the tines of a fork, press into dough to make criss-cross patterns, dipping tines in sugar to prevent sticking.

4. Bake cookies at 190°C until edges are golden and centres are puffed and almost set, 12 to 14 minutes. Let cookies cool 5 minutes on pans to set before transferring them to wire racks. Increase baking time for crisper cookies.

Totally Chocolate Chocolate Cookies

2010-11-02T18:25:00.000+11:00

These are totally chocolate, chocolate chip cookies. They contain chocolate in four forms: cocoa powder, melted chocolate, dark chocolate bits and white chocolate bits. The original recipe called for chocolate chips which I found out I did not have. Instead I chopped up some dark chocolate and white chocolate. This resulted in a much richer cookie. But what's wrong with that?

I did give some out to celebrate the end of yearlies. They were hugely appreciated. With so much chocolate, these cookies can sink a ship with its decadence. Due to the price of chocolate, these were probably also the most expensive cookies I've ever made. All the more to prize them for.

Some news: It is very likely that I will be moving this blog to Tumblr. Friends have told me that Tumblr is better for blogs with a lot of photos. If you wish to know my new link, please e-mail me at thesetastesofmine@gmail.com. I am only doing this because there are some people who I do not wish to know my new blog's address. I will keep this blog running but I am not sure what will happen in the future. I would appreciate it if my followers could follow me on Tumblr, once I get the new blog running.

Thankyou~

Recipe

Adapted from a recipe by Nigella Lawson

Makes around 40

125g dark chocolate, minimum 70% cocoa solids
150g flour
30g cocoa, sieved
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
125g soft butter
75g brown sugar
50g white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg, cold from the fridge
125g dark chocolate, chopped
125g white chocolate, chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C. Melt the 125g dark chocolate either in the microwave or in a heatproof dish over a pan of simmering water.

2. Put the flour, cocoa, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a bowl.

3. Cream the butter and sugars in another bowl. Add the melted chocolate and mix together.

4. Beat in the vanilla extract and cold egg, and then mix in the dry ingredients. Finally stir in the chocolate.

5. Roll out tablespoons of the mixture and place on a lined baking sheet about 5cm apart. Flatten them slightly.

6. Cook for 18 minutes, testing with a toothpick to make sure it comes out semi-clean and not wet with cake batter. If you pierce a chocolate chip, try again.

7. Leave to cool slightly on the baking sheet for 4-5 minutes, then transfer them to a cooling rack to harden as they cool.

Cheesecakelets

2010-10-30T11:43:00.000+11:00

Ok. The exams are over. Be happy. No use being nervous now because there's nothing you can do about it.

Happy thought: cookies. I will post some delicious cookies in a few days once I sort through my photos. People who I gave some to loved them so I know they're good.

But for now: Cheesecakelets.

These had a weird texture and left me with a somewhat sour aftertaste. It's probably due to me adding more cottage cheese than the recipe asked for. For some reason the pancakes would not hold together while cooking so I added a lot more flour. It was quite disappointing actually.

This is the only recipe I tried from Nigella Lawson that has let me down. Seriously. I altered it so much that I don't feel like posting the recipe today.

Stay tuned for cookies though! Bye.

Strawberry Swiss Roll

2010-10-24T14:01:00.001+11:00

Short post today and I think you all know why. Yearlies.

I remember eating this at a bakery, and I loved the light cake filled with juicy strawberries. I made two of these cakes - one for my family to eat and another to bring to a picnic. The second one I frosted with some leftover filling.

My pan is smaller than what is called for, so I ended up with a thicker cake. A thicker cake means less creamy filling. This is quite upsetting, but the cake itself is tasty too. I substituted strawberry jelly powder for the gelatine in the filling, which turned it pink and gave a subtle strawberry essence.

This is amazing and spectacular to look at. I have to get back to studying now (yeah right). I'm sure you'll all do great.

Good luck!

Recipe

3 eggs

1 cup white sugar
1/3 cup hot water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup sifted all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar for dusting
1 cup fresh strawberries
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon strawberry jelly powder
1 tablespoon white sugar

1. Preheat oven to 190C. Butter a jelly roll pan (I used a 32x22cm rectangle pan). Line it with buttered foil or buttered parchment paper.

2. Beat the eggs until thick and lemon colored (at least 5 minutes). Gradually add 1 cup white sugar, beating constantly. Stir in water and vanilla extract. Fold in flour, baking powder, and salt. Pour batter into tin.

3. Bake for 15 minutes. It should be springy to the touch, and beginning to shrink away from the sides of the pan.

4. Lay out a tea towel, and sprinkle it with confectioners' sugar. Turn the jelly roll out on the towel. Take off the paper or foil. Cut away crusty edges. Roll the cake up in the towel, and leave it to cool.

5. Whip the cream. Add strawberry jelly powder and 1 tablespoon sugar. Fold in strawberries. Unroll the cake. Spread with the strawberry cream, and roll up again. Chill. Cover the top with more whipped cream when serving.

Mocha Brownies

2010-10-17T15:59:00.001+11:00

I am so nervous about the yearlies, but I'm too lazy to revise. I probably will have to cram in the last few days. Oh well, never been the conscientious type anyway.

Brownies! These mocha (coffee)-flavoured brownies were tasty, but only to those who enjoy coffee. I myself am a tea person so these weren't that exciting. People who love coffee though would love these.

I don't know why but I burnt the bottom of the brownies. Maybe my oven's weird? I don't know. I also added some chopped walnuts for texture.

Bye! (I have to think of a better way to end my posts)

Recipe

Obtained here

Makes 16

113g unsalted butter, cut into pieces, plus more for pan
1 cup all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons instant espresso powder
113g ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 1/4 cups sugar
3 large eggs
(I also added some chopped walnuts)

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Brush a 22cm square baking pan with butter. Line bottom and two sides with a strip of parchment paper, leaving a 5cm overhang on the two sides. Butter paper, and set pan aside. In a small bowl, whisk flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

2. Place butter and chocolate in a large heat-proof bowl set over (not in) a saucepan of gently simmering water. Heat, stirring occasionally, until smooth, 2 to 3 minutes; remove bowl from pan. Add sugar; mix to combine. Add eggs, and mix to combine. Add flour mixture; mix just until moistened (do not overmix). Add instant espresso powder. Transfer batter to prepared pan; smooth top.

3. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, 50 to 60 minutes. Cool in pan for 30 minutes. Using paper overhang, lift brownies out of pan; transfer to a rack to cool completely (still on paper). On a cutting board, using a dampened serrated knife, cut into 16 squares. Store in an airtight container at room temperature, up to 2 days.

Black Forest Cheesecake

2010-10-13T17:56:00.000+11:00

I don't like birthday cakes. They are expensive and often I can replicate them at home. This year, I did not plan on making a cake because I was lazy, but I ended up putting together an easy cheesecake. I found it on the back of a package of cream cheese, but it's also on the Kraft website.

I love black forest themed stuff. It was light and creamy and not too sweet or rich. This was delicious and I was honoured to have it as my 'birthday cake'.

See you guys soon.

Recipe

On the back of a cream cheese package

Serves 10

250g plain chocolate biscuits, crushed
125g butter, melted
415g can pitted black cherries, drained, liquid reserved
2 tablespoons caster sugar
1 tablespoon rum (I omitted)
1 tablespoon cornflour
500g Philadelphia Cream Cheese, softened
3/4 cup caster sugar
1 tablespoon gelatine, dissolved in 1/2 cup boiling water, cooled
1 tablespoon lemon juice
300ml thickened cream, whipped

1. Combine biscuit crumbs and butter and press into the base and sides of a greased 22cm springform tin. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.

2. Place the reserved cherry liquid in a small saucepan along with the sugar, rum and cornflour. Stir over heat until it comes to boil. Set aside to cool.

3. Beat the Philly and sugar using an electric mixer until smooth. Add the gelatine mixture and lemon juice and beat until well combined. Fold in the whipped cream.

4. Spoon half the mixture and half the cherries into the prepared base. Repeat with remaining mixture and cherries. Pour over the thickened cherry topping, then lightly swirl through mixture with a fork. Refrigerate 3 hours or overnight until set.

Baked Rice Custard

2010-10-10T19:44:00.001+11:00

Thanks for the birthday wishes. It's not all fun and games though - I'm nearly halfway to thirty, and that scares me.

My friends were originally going to take me out to the city and celebrate, but they cancelled. Thanks guys. It's kind of like this rice custard/pudding thing. I had high expectations a few weeks back but the actual results just... weren't good.

I'm not sure if it's the way the rice was prepared or because I didn't use enough custard. The rice was hard and grainy and the whole things was not creamy. It's not like the ones they made at a shop I went past during primary school. This is part of a large queue of recipes which I loved the photos, but hated the food. As they (inside joke) say - 'looks can be deceiving'.

I'm not going to post the recipe because I'm tired and I don't think it deserves it. But credit where credit is due, it's from a very old issue of Super Food Ideas.

I had a lovely birthday nonetheless and... tomorrow school starts!

Bye.

Spinach and Cheese Triangles

2010-10-08T10:27:00.001+11:00

I made these delicious triangles for a picnic and they were easy and tasted great. I always loved cheese and spinach triangles that came from the freezer, and these ones were very close. The only problem is that the filling wasn't as creamy and cheesy.

I could only find frozen spinach that came in 250g packages so I used that. Once all the liquid has been drained, it's weight decreased even more, but the ratio of spinach to cheese was just right.

The holidays are nearly over so I hope you enjoyed them, and see you soon!

Recipe

Obtained here, modified

Makes around 24

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
250g frozen spinach - thawed according to package directions, drained and squeezed dry
1 teaspoon salt
100g feta cheese, crumbled
125g cottage cheese
1 egg, beaten
1 packet filo pastry
280g unsalted butter, melted

1. Heat olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and slowly cook and stir 5 minutes or until tender. Add spinach and salt and making sure all liquid has evaporated from spinach, stir in feta, cottage cheese and egg. Cook and stir until thickened, 5 to 10 minutes. Reduce heat to simmer.

2. Preheat oven to 200 C.

3. Unroll filo pastry sheets on a flat surface. Keep a damp tea towel over the sheets while you work. Lay out a sheet on a clean work surface and brush with unsalted butter. Layer a sheet of filo on top, and brush again with butter. Layer another sheet on top, leaving a 3-layered filo stack. Cut into 4 strips lengthwise.

4. Place 1 tablespoon of the onion, spinach and feta mixture at one end of the filo pastry strip. Fold the end of the strip over the filling so that it forms a triangle. Continue folding the strip in triangles until a small, triangular stuffed pastry remains. Brush with unsalted butter. Repeat with remaining filo until you have used all of the filling.

5. Arrange stuffed triangles on a large baking tray. Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until crisp and golden brown. Serve warm.

White Chocolate and Cherry Brownies

2010-10-02T11:36:00.001+10:00

I have a love-hate relationship with white chocolate. I refer to it as fake white crap as in it's not real chocolate, containing no cocoa mass. But occasionally I crave it because dark chocolate is too rich and milk chocolate is too sweet (ironic?). I can eat a small piece of white chocolate, and every piece after that causes toothache. I had to make these blondies though because I love cherries and I was craving white chocolate.

This recipe is called 'Cherry Blondies', but blondies are made with brown sugar and no chocolate. I'd rather call them more accurately, white chocolate brownies. I used a drained jar of Morello cherries instead of fresh cherries, which added sourness against the sweet of the chocolate.

These white chocolate brownies were really nice. Chewy and sweet, without a strong tooth-aching white chocolate taste. The cherries were juicy and paired well with the brownie. They were so easy to make and I plan on making them for a few friends in the future.

Recipe

Obtained here, modified

Makes around 16

100g butter, chopped

180g white chocolate, chopped
3/4 cup caster sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cup flour, sifted
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup drained Morello cherries
Icing sugar, to dust

1. Preheat oven to 180°C/160°C fan-forced. Grease a 22cm x 22cm square pan. Line base and sides with baking paper, allowing a 2cm overhang on all sides. Place butter and chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave on high for 1 minute. Stir. Microwave in 30 second intervals until completely melted.

2. Add sugar, eggs and flours to bowl. Stir to combine. Spread into prepared pan (mixture will be thick and may appear split). Press cherries into mixture. Bake for 30 minutes or until edges are firm and top golden. Cool in pan. Dust with icing sugar. Serve.

Ultimate Mashed Potatoes

2010-09-28T13:37:00.000+10:00

It is the holidays once again, and this time I plan on finishing all my work within the first few days so I can have the rest of the holidays off. I plan to, but most likely I will end up cramming on the last few days.

Moving on, I made mashed potatoes! I used to love mashed potatoes and gravy from KFC, but I detest KFC hence I don't get to eat much mashed potatoes. But I will in the future now that I have this recipe. Normally I would boil potatoes in water until it is soft, but this recipe uses chicken broth which adds a lot more flavour. The soften potatoes are then mashed with cream, butter, sour cream, bacon and chives - only I didn't have chives so I substituted with spring onions.

This was amazing and is far tastier than that KFC crap. I love bacon and it gives the mashed potatoes texture and flavour. The hardest and most tedious part of the recipe is peeling potatoes, but once you try a mouthful of mashed potato it all becomes worth it.

Have a great school holiday!

Recipe

Obtained here (modified)

Serves 6

3 1/2 cup chicken broth

5 large potatoes, cut into even chunks
1/2 cup light cream
1/2 cup sour cream
3 spring onions, chopped
2 tablespoon butter
3 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled (reserve some for garnish)
Generous dash ground black pepper

1. Heat the broth and potatoes in a large saucepan over medium-high heat to a boil.

2. Reduce the heat to medium. Cover and cook for 20 minutes or until the potatoes are tender. Drain, reserving the broth.

3. Mash the potatoes with 1/4 cup broth, light cream, sour cream, spring onion, butter, bacon and black pepper. Add the additional broth, if needed, until desired consistency. Garnish with the remaining bacon.

Teriyaki Chicken and Soba Noodle Salad

2010-09-24T07:10:00.001+10:00

I made this salad for myself when I had a friend over. It was flavoursome and refreshing. The soba noodles were light and the vegetables were crisp. I made my own teriyaki marinade, but I recommend using store-bought which has much more flavour.

The chicken breasts I marinaded for many hours, which enhanced the flavour. The soba noodles were very easy to cook, and not much different to pasta. I didn't have beansprouts so I left those out. I had some trouble when I cooked the chicken though because the pan I used was too hot. I ended up steaming the chicken to prevent the outside from burning and the inside remaining raw.

The combination was unbelievable. It was sweet and salty and cool. I will definitely be making this when I am feeling hungry.

Recipe

Obtained here

Serves 4

1/2 cup teriyaki sauce

4 (150g each) chicken breast fillets
270g packet dried soba noodles
1 cucumber
1 large carrot, peeled
Canola oil cooking spray
1 small red capsicum, cut into 1cm-thick strips
2 cups beansprouts, trimmed
4 green onions, thinly sliced
3 teaspoons sesame oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice

1. Place 1/3 cup teriyaki sauce in a shallow ceramic dish. Add chicken. Turn to coat. Cover. Refrigerate for 15 minutes (I refrigerated for a few hours).

2. Meanwhile, cook noodles in a saucepan of boiling water, following packet directions, until tender. Drain. Using a vegetable peeler, cut cucumber and carrot into long, thin ribbons. Place in a large bowl.

3. Spray a large frying pan with oil. Heat over medium-high heat. Cook chicken for 3 to 4 minutes each side or until cooked through. Thinly slice. Add noodles, capsicum, beansprouts, onion and chicken to cucumber and carrot. Combine sesame oil, lemon juice and remaining teriyaki sauce in a jug. Pour over noodle mixture. Toss to combine. Serve.

Strawberry Shortcakes

2010-09-17T22:38:00.000+10:00

My 50th Post! Don't know why it's significant, just thought I'd mention it.

Up until a few months ago, I disliked the idea of Strawberry Shortcake. I'm not sure if it was the relation to the doll, or the fact that I thought shortbread was dry and yuck. Not anymore though, now that I know I don't have to make a big shortcake but can make small scones and fill it with berries and cream.

I don't quite like the recipe for the scones, though, because it was very thick and hard (...). I also made them too big so it was very difficult for people to actually eat. Next time, I will make thin soft scone disks which can be eaten easier. The strawberries were nice and sweet. And the cream!!!

See you guys in a few days!

Recipe

Obtained from

2 1⁄4 cups cake flour, plus additional for dusting
1 ⁄4 cup sugar plus 3 tablespoons sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
6 tbsp cool unsalted butter, cut into chunks
2 ⁄3 cup plain regular or low-fat yogurt (do not use fat-free)
1 L strawberries, hulled and sliced
1 tablespoon gold rum, brandy, Cognac, or bourbon (I omitted)

Sweetened Whipped Cream

1 1⁄2 cups thickened cream
1 1⁄2 tbsp superfine sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract, optional

1. Position the rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 180°C. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.

2. Whisk the flour, 1⁄4 cup sugar, the baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Cut the butter into the flour mixture, using a pastry cutter or a fork, working the butter through the tines until the whole thing resembles coarse meal. Stir in the yogurt with a wooden spoon until a soft dough forms.

3. Lightly flour a clean, dry work surface and turn the dough out onto it. Lightly flour the dough and press it into a circle about 1cm thick (do not roll the dough—it will become too tough). Cut into 10cm circles, using a round cookie cutter or a thick-rimmed drinking glass. Gather the scraps together and gently press into another sheet to make more circles.

4. Place the rounds on the prepared baking sheet and bake until lightly browned, puffed, but dry to the touch, about 20 minutes. Cool on the baking sheet for a couple of minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool for at least 20 minutes. (The cakes can be made ahead of time and stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.)

5. Meanwhile, toss the strawberries, 3 tablespoons sugar, and the rum in a large bowl; set aside to macerate for 20 minutes, tossing occasionally *I blended about 1/3 of the strawberries and mixed with the rest of the strawberries, to produce for syrup* .

6. Beat the cream in a chilled bowl, using an electric mixer at medium speed, until foamy. Raise the speed to high and continue beating, while adding the sugar in a thin, steady stream, until soft, luscious peaks can be formed off the turned-off beaters. Beat in the vanilla, if desired.

5. Slice open the shortcakes. Place the bottoms in soup bowls or other shallow bowls. Spoon on some sliced strawberries and Sweetened Whipped Cream, then add the tops and spoon more strawberries on top and around the bowl.

Blueberry Tartlets

2010-09-15T17:04:00.002+10:00

Remember the Strawberry Tartlets? Well when I was making those I also made a small batch of blueberry tartlets. I was originally planning to make a big batch of these tartlets for a friend's assignment, but cancelled (sorry).

Fresh blueberries are so frickin' expensive, so I simply substituted frozen blueberries. For some reason there was an excessive amount of syrup leftover, so next time I will cook it down a little longer. I did not use the crust recipe given in the recipe, but used the one in the Strawberry Tartlets instead. The blueberry filling made far more than what could be filled in the shells, but they were delicious on pancakes and oats.

The lemon cream was a light and zesty accompaniment to the sweet tartlets. I still have half a package of frozen blueberries in the freezer so I can't wait to throw them in a cake.

Bye!

Recipe

Obtained here

Makes around 6 tartlets

Crust (I used the one in the Strawberry Tartlets)

1-1/4 cups flour

1/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 lemon, zested
8 T. butter, cut into small pieces

Filling
5 cups blueberries (I used frozen)
1/4 cup water
3 tbsp cornstarch
3 tbsp water
2/3 cup sugar
3 T fresh lemon juice
2 tsp lemon zest (about 2 lemons)
Pinch of salt

Lemon Cream

1 cup thickened cream
1 tbsp lemon zest
3 tbsp sugar
2 tsp lemon juice

1. Preheat oven to 190°C.

2. In a food processor, pulse together the flour, sugar, salt, and lemon zest. Then add butter. Let machine run until large clumps of dough form.

3. Lightly flour your hands and press the pastry into your tart pan(s), pressing evenly into the bottom and up the sides. Place your prepared tart pans on a rimmed baking sheet.

4. Place in freezer for 15 minutes. Then prick the bottom of dough, all over, with a fork.

5. Bake until golden, about 20 to 25 minutes. Remove tart shells from baking sheet and let cool on rack.

6. In a medium saucepan, bring 1/4 cup water and 1-1/2 cups blueberries to a boil over high heat.

7. In a small dish, mix the cornstarch with 3 T. of water and stir into the boiling blueberry mixture. Add the sugar, lemon juice and zest. Continue stirring and cooking for another minute.

8. Remove from the heat. Stir in a pinch of salt and the remaining 3-1/2 cups fresh blueberries. Immediately spoon the hot berry mixture into tart shell(s). Let the tarts cool on the counter for about 30 minutes, then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until totally cold.

9. When ready to serve, make lemon cream by whipping heavy cream, zest, sugar and lemon juice together in mixer until thick and fluffy. (Note: If you're making the cream in advance, spoon into a strainer that is sitting in a small bowl. Cover with plastic and refrigerate.)

10. To serve, use the tip of a paring knife to release a few of the edges of the tart shell. Turn the shell over in your hand, place a plate on top, then turn right-side up. Add a large dollop of lemon cream.

Coconut, Chocolate & Banana Muffins

2010-09-11T10:11:00.001+10:00

A quick post today, I'm really busy.

I made these muffins a few weeks ago, and they were very impressive. They had a great texture and tasted fantastic. I think it would taste better if white chocolate replaced the dark chocolate.

The recipe calls for small muffin pans, but I used normal-sized ones and made 15. My mum's going to China tomorrow for a month, so I don't know how that will affect my cooking or this blog.

Bye!

Recipe

Obtained here

Makes 36 muffins

125g unsalted butter, melted

3/4 cup (165g) caster sugar
3 ripe bananas, roughly chopped
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups (300g) self-raising flour, sifted
1 cup (45g) desiccated coconut
1/2 cup (100g) dark chocolate chips (I just roughly chopped up some dark chocolate)
Icing sugar, to dust

1. Preheat oven to 200°C and grease a 12-hole mini-muffin pan.

2. Process butter, caster sugar, banana, eggs and vanilla in a food processor until well combined. Place flour, coconut and chocolate in a large bowl, then fold in banana mixture.

3. Working in batches, place dessertspoons of mixture into pan. Bake for 15 minutes or until risen and golden. Cool slightly in pan, then turn out onto a rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining batter.

4. Serve dusted with icing sugar.

Strawberry Tartlets

2010-09-04T18:21:00.000+10:00

I said I was making a lot of tarts, and I wasn't lying. I immediately wanted to make this when I saw the delicious photo in The Big Book of Baking. The hardest part is the Crème Pâtissière (pastry cream) which ended up lumpy and ugly, but you can hardly see it under the strawberry. The recipe calls for redcurrent jelly, which I couldn't find, so I substituted with strawberry jelly to glaze the top. I halved the original recipe to accommodate my smaller tart pans.

Typing this, I've realised I didn't actually taste one. I think I only made 5 small tartlets, and each of my family members had one, leaving me with none. Hmm... according to them it was very nice. Oh well.

See you guys soon!

Recipe

Serves 8

Pastry

125g plain flour
2 tbsp caster sugar
70g unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 egg yolk (I omitted)
1-2 tbsp water

Filling

1 vanilla pod, split
200ml milk
2 egg yolks
40g caster sugar
1 tbsp flour
1 tbsp cornflour
125 thickened cream, softly whipped
4 tbsp redcurrent (or strawberry) jelly

1. To make the pastry, sift the flour and icing sugar into a bowl. Chop the butter into small pieces and add to the flour with the egg yolk, mixing with your fingertips and adding a little water, if necessary, to mix to a soft dough. Cover and place in the refrigerator to rest for 15 minutes.

2. Preheat the oven to 200°C. Roll out the pastry and use to line four 9cm tartlet tins. Prick the bases with a fork, line with baking paper and fill with baking beans, then bake blind in the preheated oven for 10 minutes. Remove the paper and beans and bake for a further 5 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool.

3. For the filling, place the vanilla pod in a saucepan with the milk and leave on a low heat to infuse, without boiling, for 10 minutes. Whisk the egg yolks, sugar, flour and cornflour together in a mixing bowl until smooth. Strain the milk into the bowl and whisk until smooth.

4. Pour the mixture back into the pan and stir constantly over a moderate heat until boiling. Cook, stirring constantly, for about 2 minutes until thickened and smooth. Remove from the heat and fold in the whipped cream. Spoon the mixture into the pastry cases.

5. When the filling has set slightly, top with strawberries, sliced if large, then spoon over a little jelly to glaze.

Lemon Cheese Tart

2010-08-31T22:26:00.000+10:00

It's the last day of Winter, which means Spring is tomorrow. I'm sad that the cooler months are over, but happy since berries, mangoes, pineapples and other Summer fruit are coming. Technically lemons should be out of season soon, but these days shops have everything all year round. This recipe comes from a cookbook called Cheesecakes by Maxine Clark. I made this for a dinner with family friends, and they all loved it.

Basically, this is a cheesecake in a tart shell. The use of lemon zest is very interesting, and it produced a great citrusy flavour. I had a bit of trouble working with the pastry, but it obeyed me in the end. I also left the tart in the oven too long, giving it a brown surface, but it did not affect the taste.

I have been and will be making a lot of tarts, small and big, these days. This was so nice, but next time I would dust it with a little caster sugar, just to balance out the sourness. I say this year's Winter was awesome, and Spring's gonna rock!

Recipe

Obtained from Cheesecakes by Maxine Clark

Shortcrust Base

250g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
2 tablespoons icing sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
125g unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
2 egg yolks
2-3 tablespoons iced water

Cheesecake Filling

1 unwaxed lemon
75g caster sugar
350g full-fat cream cheese
1 large egg plus 3 egg yolks
2 teaspoons vanilla essence

1. Sift the flour, sugar and salt into a large bowl. Add the butter and, using your fingertips, rub it in until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the egg yolks mixed with at least 2 tablespoons iced water to make a firm but malleable dough.

2. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and knead until smooth. Shape the dough into a flattened ball, wrap in clingfilm and chill for at least 30 minutes before rolling out.

3. Preheat the oven to 190°C.

4. Roll out pastry on a lightly floured work surface to about 5mm and use to line a 23cm tart tin. Prick the base with a fork, then chill or freeze for 15 minutes. Cut out a large piece of paper then fill with uncooked beans or rice.

5. Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes. Remove the baking parchment and beans and return to the oven for a further 10 minutes. Let cool.

6. Using a vegetable peeler or zester, remove the zest from the lemon leaving behind any white pith, then squeeze the juice. Put the lemon zest and sugar in a food processor or blender and process until the sugar mixture looks damp.

7. Add the lemon juice and process again (the lemon zest should have completely dissolved in the sugar), then add the soft cream cheese, the whole egg, egg yolks and vanilla essence and blend until smooth. Pour the mixture into the pastry case.

8. Bake the tart for 25 minutes or until just set and lightly browned on top. Remove from the oven and let cool. Serve at room temperature.

Morello Cherry Clafoutis

2010-08-26T11:25:00.000+10:00

I wanted to use the oval ramekins I got with my blowtorch, and cherries were on my mind so I decided to make cherry clafoutis. Clafoutis is traditionally unpitted cherries baked with a crepe batter. The pits that are left in gives of an almond flavour.

It's still Winter here, so cherries aren't in season. I decided to use jarred pitted Morello cherries. I put too many cherries into the dish before adding the batter, so the result was more sour than I would have preferred.

Cherries are one of my favourite fruits, so I enjoyed this a lot. I look forward to Summer when I can make this with fresh cherries.

Recipe

Obtained here

Serves 4

2/3 cup undrained Morello cherries

Whipped cream, to serve
1/2 vanilla bean, seeds scraped (I used 1/2 tsp vanilla essence)
2 tbs brandy (I omitted)
2 tbs caster sugar
2 tbs plain flour
2 tbs self-raising flour
2 eggs, beaten lightly
1/3 cup milk
1/3 cup cream
40g butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 200°C. Grease 4 ovenproof dishes. Drain the cherries, reserving 2 tbs juice. Fold the cherry juice into the whipped cream cover and refrigerate.

2 Combine cherries, vanilla seeds and brandy in a small bowl; stand 5 minutes.

3 Combine sugar and flours in a bowl, make a well in the centre. Combine eggs, milk, cream and butter in a jug and pour into flour mixture whisking constantly until batter is smooth. Drain the cherries, pouring brandy mixture into batter.

4 Place cherries into prepared dishes; pour batter over cherries. Bake about 15-16 minutes or set. Serve with whipped cream.

Caramel Slice

2010-08-21T18:36:00.001+10:00

The Apple store in Castle Towers has opened and I went to the grand opening with my friends. I got an oversized T-shirt, which was cool. You should all go and check it out, though apparently it's not as big as the one in the city. I wouldn't know, I've never been.

I've loved caramel slice ever since a Year 3 friend gave me a piece of her's. It was sweet, chewy and delicious. My mum would never let me buy one at he shops, though, because she thought it was too sweet. I've always put off making caramel slice because I didn't have the right pan size, but I got one from my recent trip to Victoria's Basement. I ran out of butter(!) when making the chocolate layer so I just used plain cooking chocolate. Next time, I shall use better quality chocolate.

My mum said they were nice, but a tad sweeter than she would prefer. She said it would taste better with chopped nuts. Whatever - I liked them (so did my friend and his mum) and that's all that matters.

Recipe

Obtained here

Makes around 16 pieces

Base

1 cup plain flour, sifted
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup desiccated coconut
125g butter, melted

Filling

400g can sweetened condensed milk
2 tablespoons golden syrup
60g butter, melted

Topping

60g copha, chopped (I was going to use butter but ran out)
125g cooking chocolate, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Line a 3cm deep, 28 x 18cm (base) lamington pan.

2. Combine all base ingredients in a bowl. Mix well. Press into prepared lamington pan. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until light golden. Remove from oven. Cool.

3. Make filling: Combine all ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook, whisking, for 8 minutes or until golden. Pour over cooked base. Bake for 12 minutes or until firm. Cool completely. Refrigerate for 3 to 4 hours, or until set.

4. Make topping: Place copha and chocolate into a heat-proof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Stir until melted. Pour over caramel. Refrigerate to set. Cut into squares to serve.

Caramelised Onion and Mozzarella Omelette

2010-08-18T22:26:00.000+10:00

I wung this recipe when I was away from school. I was hungry for something salty, but I didn't have many interesting ingredients in the fridge or pantry. I did have half a bag of mozzarella cheese stored in the freezer, so I decided to use that.

First I caramelised half an onion. This is actually the most time-consuming part, but you do not have to do much work. I cracked a few eggs and mixed it with salt, pepper and water. Pour the eggs over the onions and cook. Sprinkle over some cheese, fold over and you're done. I was expecting this to be nice with the onions and cheese. It wasn't nice, it was mind-blowing.

The cheese was gooey and stringy, and the onion lent great flavour. Served this with a drizzle of tomato sauce and you have one of easiest but most delicious lunches out there. You should serve this with an undressed salad of lettuce and tomatoes.

Recipe

Serves 2 (or 1 hungry person)

Half a medium onion, sliced thinly (any type of onion works fine)
1/2 tsp balsamic vinegar (optional)
1/2 tsp brown sugar (optional)
2 eggs
Pinch of salt
Pinch of pepper
2 tbsp warm water
Small handful or mozzarella cheese
3 tbsp vegetable oil

1. Heat 1 tbsp oil on medium heat in a large nonstick frying pan. Tip in the onions and cook until just starting to wilt.

2. Once the onions are fairly browned you may wish deglaze the pan with the balsamic vinegar and brown sugar (this gives a more complex flavour). Turn the heat down to very low and cook, stirring constantly for 15 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, combine the eggs, salt, pepper and water in a bowl. Whisk thoroughly.

4. When the onions have wilted down, pour in the rest of the oil. Pour the egg mixture into the pan. Using a wooden spoon, scrape the cooked egg on the sides into the middle, allowing the uncooked eggs to take its place. Do this for 30 seconds, to achieve a light texture.

5. When the omelette is almost cooked through, sprinkle on the cheese. Once the egg on top is just cooked, use a spatula to lift up one side of the omelette and flip it over. Remove from heat and slide onto a plate. Serve.

Butterscotch Self-Saucing Pudding

2010-08-15T14:29:00.000+10:00

I GOT A BLOWTORCH!!!!!!! So happy.

I have mentioned before that I rarely make things I have before. Last week I tried out a self-saucing pudding recipe from Taste. Quite simply, it blew my mind. It was rich but not too sweet, and the sauce was thick and delicious. I tweaked the recipe, adding more water and golden syrup for more sauce.

We had it with cream, and everyone loved it. The top is crunchy, but underneath is a soft spongey cake. The sauce is thick and works perfectly. My sister was about to cry when she realised there was none left. I promised I will make it again, which I did. I made it again this Friday with the same delicious result.

I couldn't believe that such a simple recipe could be so delicious. I am waiting to buy a can of Butane gas so I can finally used my new blowtorch.

Hmmm... What should I set on fire first?

Recipe

Modified from here

Serves 6

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 1/4 cups (190g) self-raising flour
100g butter, melted
1 egg
1/2 cup (125ml) milk
5 tbs golden syrup
1 tbs cornflour
2 cups (500ml) boiling water
Cream, to serve

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease a 1.5 litre (6 cup) ovenproof dish. Combine 1/4 cup of the brown sugar and all of the flour in a bowl. Add the melted butter, egg, milk and 2 tbs of the golden syrup and stir until combined. Spoon into greased dish.

2. Combine the remaining 1/2 cup of brown sugar and cornflour. Sprinkle over the pudding mixture.

3. Combine boiling water with the remaining 3 tbs of golden syrup. Pour over the top of the pudding mixture and bake for 40-45 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Serve with cream.

Penne alla Boscaiola

2010-08-11T18:28:00.000+10:00

Heh, who knew having an eye infection for three days can give me time to cook loads of yummy food.

I was feeling hungry yesterday and I looked in the fridge, then the pantry, then back at the fridge. I had bacon, mushrooms, cream and some other vegetables. I decided on pasta, which seemed the easiest way to go. I boiled some Penne, and made half a batch of Boscaiola sauce to top it with.

Boscaiola sauce is made with bacon, mushrooms, onions, parsley and cream. This sauce was quick and tasty. I think I used the wrong type of mushroom, though. Oh well, most mushrooms taste the same anyway.

I think I am really getting the hang of cooking pasta. This recipe is a keeper.

Recipe

Adapted from here

Serves 4

500g pasta (I used Penne, but any pasta works fine)
1 tablespoon olive oil

1 brown onion, finely chopped
175g shortcut bacon rashers, chopped
200g Swiss brown mushrooms, thinly sliced
300ml thickened cream
1/3 cup flat-leaf parsley leaves, chopped

1. Boil a large pot of water. Once at a rolling boil, add a big pinch of salt and pour in the pasta. Cook according to packet instructions or until al dente. Drain.

2. Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add onion and bacon. Cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until onion is tender.

3. Add mushrooms. Cook for 3 minutes. Stir in cream and parsley. Bring to a gentle boil. Reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer for 5 minutes or until sauce is reduced slightly. Season with salt and pepper. Serve over pasta.

Chicken and Corn Soup

2010-08-09T12:16:00.002+10:00

Whenever I go to an All-You-Can-Eat Buffet, there will always be Chicken and Corn Soup. I always loved this soup, but knew it contained many preservatives and artificial flavours. I was browsing through a cookbook, when I found a recipe for Chicken and Corn Soup, so I decided to try it out.

I realised, after I had started, that I did not have enough chicken stock, so I made up the volume with chicken broth, which has less gelatine, but still has good chicken flavour. Make sure you do not do what I did and mix one tablespoon of cornflour with 3 tablespoons water, when you're supposed to mix 3 tablespoons of cornflour with 1 tablespoon of water. This caused the soup to be very thin, when the desired consistency is very thick.

Despite the soup being thin, I still loved this. I will definitely be making this again.

Recipe

Obtained from The Basics: A Really Useful Cookbook by Anthony Telford

Serves 6-8

250 g chicken breast, finely chopped
1 teaspoon minced ginger
100 ml Shaoxing rice wine
1½ litres chicken stock
1 x 400 g tin creamed corn or 400 g fresh corn kernels, blanched in boiling water and blended
1 teaspoon salt flakes
3 tablespoons cornflour mixed with 1 tablespoon cold water
3 egg whites, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon sesame oil
Finely chopped spring onion, to garnish

1. Mix the chicken, ginger and rice wine in a bowl and set aside.

2. In a pot, bring the chicken stock, corn and salt to the boil, then reduce heat to a simmer. Add the chicken mixture and stir well.

3. Mix the cornflour with just enough cold water to make a smooth paste. Stir the cornflour paste into the simmering soup, bring back to the boil and remove from the heat.

4. Stir in the egg whites then add the sesame oil.

5. Serve in bowls with a sprinkle of spring onion.

Pancakes

2010-08-05T16:35:00.000+10:00

Lately I have realised that I do not eat a very traditional breakfast. People I know eat cereal and bread. I am fortunate enough to have my grandparents living with me, so each morning my grandma makes rice for me. That's right, rice breakfast and dinner. But sometimes I get cravings for more western breakfasts. When I was younger I would occasionally surprise my parents by making breakfast for them. I would fry eggs and bacon, and make toast. While I love savoury breakfasts, it's always good to have a sugar hit first thing in the morning.

This recipe is from Taste, and is fairly basic recipe as far as pancakes go, though there is a recipe for 'Super Fluffy Pancakes' in one of my cookbooks I want to try. I was never really picky about my pancakes. To be honest, I only had pancakes made from those pancake-mixes which come in jugs. Come to think of it, it's he first time I've made pancakes from scratch.

I like my pancakes plain, but some adornments never hurt anybody.

Recipe

Obtained here

Makes around 12

2 cups (300g) self-raising flour
1/2 cup (75g) plain flour
2 tbs caster sugar
2 1/3 cups (580ml) milk
80g butter, melted, cooled
1 egg, lightly whisked
Extra melted butter

1. Sift flour into a bowl. Add sugar and stir well. Add milk, butter and egg. Whisk until well combined.

2. Brush two small non-stick frying pans with a little of the extra melted butter. Heat over medium heat. Add 1/3 cup of mixture to each pan. Cook for 2 minutes, or until bubbles appear on the surface. Carefully turn over and cook fro 1 minute.

3. Transfer pancakes to a plate and wrap loosely in a clean tea towel to keep warm. Repeat with remaining batter, greasing pan between each batch. If you find the pan is getting too hot, reduce heat slightly.

4. Serve pancakes.

Amaretti Biscuits

2010-07-31T08:31:00.001+10:00

I got this recipe from my new cookbook The Big Book of Baking. The recipe was called 'Almond Macaroons', though I prefer the Italian name Amaretti biscuits. Macaroons are made with egg whites and coconut. Macarons are a complicated French biscuit made with almond meal and egg whites, with some sort of cream sandwiched between. People on TV (*cough* MasterChef), pronounce Macarons 'Macarooooons'. They're wrong.

Anyways, Ameretti are an Italian cookie made with almond meal, sugar and egg whites. That's all. The recipe called for halved blanched almonds to be placed on top, but I prefer the colour and ease of a whole almond. This recipe also added a drop of almond essence, though I don't think it's at all necessary. They were delicious morsels eaten with tea.
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Recipe

Obtained from The Big Book of Baking

Makes around 12

1 egg white
85g ground almonds (almond meal)
85g caster sugar plus extra for rolling
1/2 tsp almond extract (optional)
Around 12 almonds

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Line two baking trays with baking paper.

2. Beat the egg white with a fork until frothy, then stir in the ground almonds, sugar and almond extract, mixing to form a sticky dough.

3. Using lightly sugared hands. roll the dough into small balls and place on the prepared baking trays. Press an almond into the centre of each.

4. Bake in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, or until pale and golden. Place on wire rack to cool.

Crepes Suzette

2010-07-26T21:07:00.000+10:00

Adam won. Yay!

[Rant] While on the note of MasterChef, I will not willingly watch a single episode of Junior MasterChef. It's not because I'm jealous that I'm a year older than the maximum age, it's because it is so racist. In the ad, I could not see any Asian dishes. Where are the plates of stirfries? The big bowls of wontons? And seeing these kids serve up so much pretentious, western food makes me feel angry and sad. It goes to show how much their parents impact them. Where are the kids whose families don't eat roasts every week, or can't digest the fact that other people don't use woks. Heck, where are the children who don't speak English? The kids who only know Asian dishes and who don't have a chance, because the judges are all western people with western palates.
The judges are wowed and impressed by a three tiered cream cake with strawberry buttercream and candied raspberries, but when someone turns up with a plate of sticky rice pudding (a delicious Asian dessert), they say 'It's a bit plain'. What does that say about the judges? They see pretentious western food as glorious, yet Asian food plain. Well I'm sorry if Asian dishes don't have ass-loads of butter and bucketfuls of sugar. And yet that's what the judges expect from contestant. I don't mind it when it's adults competing, hopefully they can take it. But I just feel sad for the children. Having to learn western food and impress the judges with what the judges like, not what their families eat everyday. I can imagine a little 9-year old Chinese kid looking at a recipe and thinking, 'WTF!!! 500 grams of butter? That's going to clog veins and everything! Oh well, at least the judges will like it and give me the advantage for the rest of the week!'
The judges can't seem to be able to understand children are being westernised and are disowning their own cultures. They teach children how to make French-style this, Asian-style that. It's not Asian! It's a western cut of meat marinated in soy sauce! That makes it Asian!? God. I love MasterChef, and enjoy watching the normal one, but not this Junior crap. [Rant finished]

In my last post I promised sugar, alcohol and fire. I was referring to Crepes Suzette, a dish of pancakes soaked in orange syrup and alcohol, flambéed (set on fire). I was so excited - I made my own crepes and everything. Sadly, to put it bluntly, it was disgusting. It was horrible, and it tasted like bitter alcohol. Bitter from the orange zest and alcohol from the Cognac. I used Cognac, a type of brandy, instead of Grand Marnier (an orange liqueur) because I did not have it. Not sure if it was because of that, but there was a bad alcohol taste.

The crepes themselves were nice, but I know I need a lot of practice to get them right. I was hoping for a big flare when I lit the alcohol. That didn't happen. I tried again. Only small blue wisps of fire appeared. It wasn't very exciting, and I could not get a very good shot.

Aw... look at that insignificant glow...

Nobody in my family like them, and I honestly don't know why you would want to make this. I know many people like this dish, but I think my family's just not into alcoholic desserts. Because I am in a pissy mood, and I'm tired, I won't be posting a recipe. But I shall return with something (hopefully) spectacular and delicious. Though I wouldn't advise holding your breath.

Shepherd's Pie

2010-07-23T22:56:00.001+10:00

This is a recipe that I have made a while ago. I didn't feel like posting it because it wasn't very successful. The mashed potato was too salty, and the filling was a bit greasy. I'm posting it now because I have run out of things to post.

The reason this was so unsuccessful is partly because it lacked taste. While I added a ton of salt in the potatoes (causing it to become too salty), I omitted the Worcestershire sauce as well as the bay leaf. I baked it in individual ramekins, instead of a large bowl. The original recipe is probably delicious, and it was my fault this turned out so bad.

The good news is I am going to make something very exciting tomorrow. I'm not saying what it is, though it does involve sugar, alcohol and fire! See you guys soon.
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Recipe

Obtained here

Serves 4

1 tbs olive oil
1 brown onion, halved, finely chopped
1 carrot, peeled, finely chopped
2 celery sticks, trimmed, finely chopped
500g lamb mince
2 tbs plain flour
500ml (2 cups) beef stock
1 dried bay leaf
1 tbs Worcestershire sauce
1 tbs tomato paste
Salt & freshly ground black pepper
4 (about 200g each) Desiree potatoes, peeled, chopped
40g butter
125ml (1/2 cup) milk
Melted butter, to brush

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion, carrot and celery and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until soft. Add lamb mince and cook, stirring to break up any lumps, for 5 minutes or until lamb changes colour.

2. Add the flour and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes or until combined. Add stock, bay leaf, Worcestershire sauce and tomato paste. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low and cook, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes or until sauce thickens. Taste and season with salt and pepper.

3. Meanwhile: cook potato in a saucepan of salted boiling water for 15 minutes or until tender. Drain well. Return to the pan with the butter. Use a potato masher or fork to mash until smooth. Add milk and use a wooden spoon to stir until combined. Taste and season with salt and pepper.

4. Preheat oven to 200°C. Spoon lamb mixture into a 2L (8-cup) capacity ovenproof baking dish. Top with mashed potato and use a fork to spread over lamb mixture. Brush with butter. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes or until mashed potato is golden brown. Serve immediately.

Chocolate Cherry Trifle

2010-07-19T21:01:00.001+10:00

Oh no, it's the end of the holidays and the beginning of another gruelling school term. Yeah, it's okay though, they can't hurt us - it's against the law.

On Saturday, a few family friends came over and I was in charge of snacks and desserts to have with tea. Black forest was on my mind, and it was between this trifle and a cake. Trifles always win.

There are so many things I want to say about this trifle, but I'm just going to sum it up in a few points:
1. This makes a ton, like 1000kg. Well not literally, but enough to serve an army.

2. It is very fattening, so be aware!

3. It is so simple, yet so complicated with the heating and warming and reheating.

4. I made my own chocolate cake, instead of buying 2 pound cakes - they were alright.

5. Use much less cream than called for, it's just too rich.

6. It also uses 8 egg yolks, so yeah.

Yeah, that basically sums up this delicious but calorific trifle. Hope you guys had a great holiday and all the best for this upcoming term.

Recipe

Obtained here

Serves 16 (!)

Approximately 680g chocolate cake

1/2 cup black cherry jam
1/2 cup cherry brandy (or use liquid from cherries below)
2 cups drained bottled sour cherries (680g Morello cherries work best)
115g good quality dark chocolate, chopped
1 1/3 cups milk
1 1/3 cups cream
8 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup cocoa
3 cups heavy cream (use less, I beg you)
Dark chocolate

1. Slice the chocolate cake and make jam sandwiches with the cherry jam, and layer the bottom of a large wide trifle bowl. Pour over the cherry brandy (or drained liquid) so that the cake soaks it up, and then top with the drained cherries. Cover with cling wrap and leave to macerate while you make the custard.

2. Melt the chocolate on low to medium heat in the microwave, checking after 2 minutes, though it will probably need 4 minutes. Or you can place it in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. Once the chocolate is melted, set aside while you get on with the custard.

3. In a saucepan warm the milk and cream. Whisk the egg yolks, sugar, and cocoa in a large bowl. Pour the warm milk and cream into the bowl whisking it into the yolks and sugar mixture. Stir in the melted chocolate, scraping the sides well with a rubber spatula to get all of it in, and pour the custard back into the rinsed saucepan. Cook over a medium heat until the custard thickens, stirring all the time. Make sure it doesn't boil, as it will split and curdle. Keep a sink full of cold water so that if you get scared you can plunge the bottom of the custard pan into the cold water and whisk like mad, which will avert possible crisis.

4. The custard will get darker as it cooks and the flecks of chocolate will melt once the custard has thickened. And you do need this thick, so don't panic so much that you stop cooking while it is still runny. Admittedly, it continues to thicken as it cools and also when it's chilling in the refrigerator. Once it is ready, pour into a bowl to cool and cover the top of the custard with cling wrap to prevent a skin from forming.

5. When the custard is cold, pour and spread it over the chocolate cake layer in the trifle bowl, and leave in the refrigerator to set, covered in cling wrap overnight.

6. When you are ready to decorate, softly whip the cream for the topping and spread it gently over the layer of custard. Grate the chocolate over the top.

Garlic Crisps

2010-07-16T11:03:00.002+10:00

I originally wanted to make garlic bread, but I did not have a baguette (or French loaf), so I had to make do with normal sliced white bread. because white bread is so much thinner than what garlic bread is normally, I am calling this 'Garlic Crisps'. I simply made a batch of garlic butter, and then spread it onto some sliced white bread, cut into triangles. I topped it with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese, and toasted it in my sandwich press.

If you don't mind butter (ie. fat), this is delicious. If you love garlic bread, but hate that the flavour doesn't penetrate deep enough, try this. It's buttery garlicky goodness all the way through.
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Recipe

Garlic Butter recipe obtained from 'The Basics: A really useful cookbook' by Anthony Telford

Serves about 8

150 g salted butter, softened (if using unsalted, add 1/2 teaspoon of salt)
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley or chives
¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
12 slices white bread, crust cut off and sliced into triangles (or any shape you prefer)
Parmesan cheese

1. Preheat sandwich press. toast bread slices until slightly crisp. Remove from sandwich press.

2. Combine butter, olive oil, garlic, herbs and pepper. Spread a generous amount onto each triangle, and top with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese. Toast under a sandwich press until cheese is melted and bread is crisp.

Cream Cheese Brownies

2010-07-13T14:57:00.001+10:00

It's not often that I make something I have before. If I did, it was probably because it was so immensely delicious. This time, I revisited the marbled brownie because I accidentally bought a block of cream cheese. I wasn't exactly happy with my previous low-fat one, so I decided to look for the real deal.

This version tastes so much better than the other one. I don't have a brownie preference, fudgey or cakey all works for me. The middle of these brownies are chewey and the top layer of cream cheese contrasts the dark chocolateness.

Both times I've had trouble swirling the mixture, resulting in an ugly pattern. I blame a really thick brownie batter, though I don't understand why. I suggest dropping spoonfuls of the brownie and cream cheese batter separately, to produce a more defined pattern.

If I ever make brownies, I will head immediately to this recipe. I also bought a new cookbook yesterday, so I want to make something out of that.

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Recipe

Obtained here

Makes about 24 pieces

115g unsalted butter, plus more for the pan

170g finely chopped dark chocolate
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon fine salt
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Cream Cheese Marble

250g cream cheese, softened (the microwave for 45 seconds at 50 percent power is a great way to do this)
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 180° C. Line a 20x30cm baking pan with parchment paper, so that the edges of the paper come up the sides. Lightly butter the paper.

2. Put both the chocolate and the butter in a heatproof medium bowl. Fill a medium saucepan with a couple inches of water and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Turn off the heat; set the bowl of chocolate over the water to melt. Whisk until smooth. (Alternatively, melt in a microwave at half power, for 1 minute, stir and then heat for another minute or until melted.)

3. Whisk the flour and salt in a bowl.

4. In a large bowl whisk together the eggs, sugar, and vanilla. Stir the chocolate mixture into the egg mixture until smooth. Add the dry ingredients and mix until just blended. Take care not to over mix the batter. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan.

5. For the marble swirl: Whisk the cream cheese with the sugar, egg, and vanilla until smooth. Drop very large spoonfuls of the cream cheese mixture onto the surface of the brownie batter. Insert a butter knife through the batter to the bottom of the pan. With the flat edge of the knife, make swirling motions through the batters, occasionally lifting the knife through the top, until the dark and light batters are marbled.

6. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the brownies comes out coated with a fudgey crumb, 30 to 35 minutes. Cool the brownies in the pan on a rack.

7. To take the brownies out of the pan, lift the edges of the paper. Cut the brownies into squares. Serve.

Spaghetti alla Carbonara

2010-07-09T09:49:00.002+10:00

I've had carbonara sauce when I was smaller from the glass jars they sell at the supermarket. I remembered a delicious creamy white sauce with bits of bacon and mushroom in it. I realised I had the ingredients to make an authentic version yesterday, so I went ahead and made it. Authentic Italian carbonara contains no cream, although the recipe I used wasn't completely authentic because I did not use an expensive bacon (such as pancetta or guanciale), and I added garlic.

The creamy texture is achieved my beating eggs and pouring it into the cooked spaghetti while it is still hot, to cook the egg and turn it creamy. One hazard is that the pan or spaghetti is too hot and the egg immediately scrambles, ie. cooks too much and solidifies. That surprisingly didn't happen to me, seeing as it's my first time making it.

The spaghetti carbonara was delicious. It was rich and creamy, and studded with bits of crispy bacon. Top with black pepper (you must - it's the rules) and parmesan, and you've got yourself one of the best pasta dishes ever.
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Recipe

Obtained here

Serves 4-6

500g dry spaghetti
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
100g pancetta or slab bacon, cubed or sliced into small strips (I used double the amount, and used cheap bacon)
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 large eggs
1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (good parmesan), plus more for serving
Freshly ground black pepper
1 handful fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil (about 5L of water and 2 tsp of salt for this recipe), add the pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until tender yet firm (as they say in Italian "al dente.") Drain the pasta well, reserving 1/2 cup of the starchy cooking water to use in the sauce if you wish.

2. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a deep skillet over medium flame. Add the pancetta and saute for about 3 minutes, until the bacon is crisp and the fat is rendered. Toss the garlic into the fat and saute for less than 1 minute to soften.

3. Add the hot, drained spaghetti to the pan and toss for 2 minutes to coat the strands in the bacon fat. Beat the eggs and Parmesan together in a mixing bowl, stirring well to prevent lumps. Remove the pan from the heat and pour the egg/cheese mixture into the pasta, whisking quickly until the eggs thicken, but do not scramble (this is done off the heat to ensure this does not happen.)

4. Thin out the sauce with a bit of the reserved pasta water, until it reaches desired consistency. Season the carbonara with several turns of freshly ground black pepper and taste for salt. Mound the spaghetti carbonara into warm serving bowls and garnish with chopped parsley. Pass more cheese around the table.

Mangomisu

2010-07-08T08:43:00.002+10:00

A few days ago, I made my own cheese again. This time I made mascarpone - a soft Italian cheese made with cream. I had a few problems with it, either it not curdling enough or not making firming up. In the end I made a considerable batch, but it was still no enough. I used spreadable light cream cheese to make up for the rest. I used the cheese to make Mangomisu. People may know what Tiramisu is - an Italian coffee-flavoured dessert, but this is mango-flavoured instead.

The recipe says to put a layer of sliced mangoes on top, as decoration, but I ran out, so I left it out. It looks really good even without it. It tasted deliciously creamy and the savoiardi biscuits turn into what tastes like a sponge cake.
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The structure of the cake wasn't very stable though. It nearly separated into two when I was takeing it out of the pan. I also could not slice it properly. But this no longer matters once you take a bite of this Mangomisu. The recipe also gives a raspberry sauce which I did not make.
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Recipe

Obtained here

Serves 6

500g mascarpone cheese
600ml thickened cream
1/3 cup (50g) icing sugar
2 egg yolks
1 vanilla bean, split, seeds scraped
1/2 cup (125ml) Grand Marnier (I substituted with more orange juice)
Juice of 2 oranges
300g savoiardi (sponge finger biscuits)
3 mangoes, flesh sliced 1cm thick

Raspberry sauce

1/4 cup (55g) caster sugar
250g fresh or frozen raspberries
Juice of 1 lemon

1. Line the base of a 22cm springform cake pan with plastic wrap or baking paper. Place the mascarpone, thickened cream, icing sugar, egg yolks and vanilla seeds in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat on high speed until thick and well combined.

2. Combine the Grand Marnier and orange juice in a separate bowl. Dip half the sponge fingers into the juice mixture and layer in the base of the cake pan. Spread with one-third of the mascarpone mixture, and top with one-third of the mango slices. Repeat the process, then top with the remaining mascarpone mixture, reserving the remaining mango slices to serve. Cover the cake and chill for 2 hours or until firm.

3. Meanwhile for the raspberry sauce, place the sugar and 2 tbs water in a small pan over medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Cool slightly, then add the berries and lemon juice. Whiz in a food processor until smooth, then pass through a sieve. Chill until ready to serve. (You can store the sauce, covered, in the fridge for 3-4 days).

4. To serve, carefully remove the sides and base of the cake pan and transfer the mangomisu to a platter. Decorate with curls of the reserved mango, then slice and serve with berry sauce.

Peach and Cream Cheese Mille Feuille

2010-07-05T08:20:00.000+10:00

I have been eye-balling this recipe since I received my copy of Simply Heaven. When I bought the packet of filo pastry, I wanted to make this but I didn't have time. Yesterday marked the start of the school holidays, so why not make it?

Mille Feuille means thousand leaves in French and is originally 3 layers of puff pastry filled with a cream of some sort. This is a more contemporary version, with cream cheese and canned peaches. For some reason my cooking spray wasn't working properly, so the layers of filo did not stick together. I used the single sheets to make round 3-layered mille feuilles, and the sheets which stuck together for 2-layered rectangular ones.

The canned peaches are coated in a syrup made with vanilla essence and brown sugar. I used my very own vanilla essence which I made a few months ago. It smells fantastic. Spreadable cream cheese is then combined with caster sugar to create the 'cream'.

The result was absolutely delicious. It was fruity and creamy. The crunch of the pastry also adds great texture.

Recipe

Obtained from Simply Heaven, by Philadelphia

Serves 6

4 sheets filo pastry
Olive oil spray
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
825g can peach slices, drained
250g Philadelphia Spreadable Light Cream Cheese
1/4 cup pure icing sugar
Extra icing sugar for dusting

1. Spray each sheet of filo with oil and stack on top of each other. Cut into 12 even rectangles (or circles). Place on a lined oven tray and bake in a hot oven 200°C for 4-5 minutes or until crisp and golden. Cool on a wire rack.

2. Heat the brown sugar and vanilla in a non-stick frypan stirring until dissolved. Add peaches and cook a further minute until coated. Allow to cool.

3. Combine the Philly and icing sugar. Place one filo rectangle on a serving plate, gently spread with the Philly and top with peaches. Place another rectangle on top. Repeat with remaining filo, Philly and peaches to make 6 stacks. Dust with icing sugar. Serve immediately.

Macaroni Cheese

2010-06-30T18:57:00.003+10:00

A super short post today, because I haven't made much this last week. I have always known Macaroni Cheese as an American pasta food which come in packets in the supermarket. I have never thought of making it before something snapped and I suddenly had a huge craving for it. I have never tasted Macaroni Cheese before, so I didn't know where to start. I decided on this recipe, which was very simple.

The dish was very salty, maybe because I used tasty cheese instead of cheddar. Apparently, they're the same thing, though I suspect cheddar has a better and less salty flavour. The crumb topping was way too thick. If I will be making this again, I will either halve or get rid of the topping altogether.

Recipe

Obtained here.

Serves 6

350g macaroni

For topping (I suggest halving this)

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 cups coarse dry breadcrumbs
1 cup coarsely grated extra-sharp Cheddar

For cheese sauce

3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon dried hot red pepper flakes (I used cayenne pepper)
2 3/4 cups whole milk
3/4 cups heavy cream
4 cups coarsely grated extra-sharp Cheddar
2 teaspoons mustard
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1. Preheat oven to 200°C and butter a 3 litre shallow baking dish. Fill a 6 litre kettle three fourths full with salted water and bring to a boil for macaroni.

2. Melt butter and in a bowl stir together regular bread crumbs and Cheddar until combined well. Topping may be made 1 day ahead and chilled, covered.

3. In a 5 litre heavy saucepan melt butter over moderately low heat and stir in flour and red pepper flakes. Cook roux, stirring, 3 minutes and whisk in milk. Bring sauce to a boil, whisking constantly, and simmer, whisking occasionally, 3 minutes. Stir in cream, Cheddar, mustard, salt, and pepper. Remove pan from heat and cover surface of sauce with wax paper.

4. Cook macaroni in boiling water until al dente. Reserve 1 cup cooking water and drain macaroni in colander. In a large bowl stir together macaroni, reserved cooking water, and sauce. Transfer mixture to baking dish.

5. Sprinkle topping evenly over macaroni and bake in middle of oven 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden and bubbling.

Triple Chocolate Cheesecake

2010-06-28T19:03:00.001+10:00

It's been ages since my last post, because I have been busy working on school stuff (mainly SRP). People have been telling me to import my blog into Tumblr, but I'm too busy right now. Maybe in the school holidays. After inspecting my tags, it seems I make a lot of cheesecake. It's weird because I'm not that much of a cheesecake fanatic. Nevertheless, I have come with another cheesecake recipe - a triple chocolate one, no less.

I find it weird how some think chocolate and cheesecake don't go together. It's not rocket science: chocolate - yum; cheesecake - yum; hence chocolate cheesecake - double yum. Well, triple yum if it's triple chocolate cheesecake (quadruple yum?). One downfall is the number of bowls you have to use - I had to use 6.

The texture is moussey light, and tastes deliciously chocolatey. Even non-chocolaholics will enjoy this cheesecake, because it's not deeply rich. I will be back soon with a savoury recipe. Cheesey, no doubt.

Recipe

Obtained here, modified.

Serves 8.

200g plain chocolate biscuits

80g butter, melted
1/3 cup cold tap water
4 teaspoons gelatine
500g cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup icing sugar
1/2 cup milk
150g white chocolate, melted
150g dark chocolate, melted
1 1/2 cups thickened cream, whipped
100g milk chocolate, grated
cocoa powder, to serve

1. Grease and line a 24cm (base) springform pan. Process biscuits in a food processor to fine crumbs. Transfer to a bowl. Add melted butter. Stir until well combined. Use your fingertips to press into base of prepared pan. Refrigerate for 20 minutes or until firm.

2. Place water into a heatproof microwave-safe bowl. Sprinkle over gelatine. Stand for 1 minute. Microwave, uncovered, on HIGH (100%) power for 20 to 40 seconds or until gelatine dissolves. Set aside for 15 minutes.

3. Using an electric mixer, beat cream cheese, sugar and milk until smooth. Stir in gelatine. Divide cream cheese mixture between 2 bowls.

4. Stir white chocolate into 1 cream cheese mixture. Stir dark chocolate into other.

5. Fold half the cream through white chocolate mixture and half through dark chocolate mixture.

6. Pour dark chocolate mixture over biscuit base. Freeze for 10 minutes or until firm to the touch. Carefully spread white chocolate mixture over dark. Cover. Refrigerate overnight.

7. Release sides of pan. Place cheesecake onto a serving platter. Sprinkle with grated milk chocolate. Dust with cocoa. Cut into slices with a warm knife. Serve.

Quiche Lorraine

2010-06-19T19:09:00.000+10:00

I've made Quiche before, with vegetables, but never Quiche Lorraine. Quiche Lorraine doesn't have any vegetables except for onions, but some recipes don't have that either. It's just bacon, cream, cheese and eggs. Not at all nutritional, but oh so delicious.

I wanted to make this last week, but I don't know what I did wrong with the shortcrust pastry. I believe the fact that it shrunk whilst blind baking an unbelievable amount was due to me not resting it after lining the tin. They say you should always leave the pastry in the fridge for at least half and hour before, and after, lining the tart tin. The first time, I baked it straight after lining. This time the pastry still shrunk, but not as much. The filling leaked through the sides, which were cracked, but did not affect the taste or look of the Quiche too much.

I also planned on making an acidic salad, with orange segments and almonds, but I didn't have any lettuce left. The Quiche was tasty, but too greasy for my taste. All the bacon, cream and cheese put me off. If I had the salad to go with it, it would have been more enjoyable.

Recipe

Obtained here.

Serves 6.

2 sheets ready rolled shortcrust pastry (I made my own pastry)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 brown onion, finely chopped
4 rashers (200g) bacon, rind removed, finely chopped
1 cup grated tasty cheese
3 eggs
1 teaspoon plain flour
300ml cream
1/2 cup milk

1. Preheat oven to 200°C. Lightly grease a fluted 3cm deep, 23cm (base), loose-base flan pan.

2. Line base and sides of flan with pastry. Trim excess. Line pastry with baking paper. Half-fill with dried beans or rice. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove paper and beans. Bake a further 10 minutes or until golden.

3. Heat oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Add onion and bacon. Cook for 3 minutes. Drain on paper towels. Cool. Sprinkle over pastry. Top with cheese.

4. Reduce oven temperature to 180°C. Whisk remaining ingredients and salt and pepper in a jug. Pour over bacon. Place onto tray. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until set. Stand for 5 minutes. Serve.

Apple Cannoli

2010-06-16T18:30:00.000+10:00

A few days ago, I bought filo/fillo/phyllo pastry, because it was on sale. I've always seen recipes which use filo pastry, but I thought it was an America-only product. Not so, apparently. Filo pastry is basically very thin layers of pastry, layered together with oil in between, and then baked, to produce a crunchy and flaky result. The first thing I made was Apple Cannoli, which is delicious apple filling wrapped in filo pastry. I did not make the vanilla dipping sauce, because I was lazy. It probably would have tasted great, though.

The recipe uses 3 types of apples - 2 Golden Delicious, 1 Granny Smith and 1 Fuji. I just used 4 Granny Smith apples. I also used oil spray instead of brushing the filo with melted butter, all in the name of laziness.

The filling had a slight tartness, and was very delicious (you'd expect anything with this much butter to taste great). The pastry was crunchy and flaky and yum. I can't wait to experiment more with filo pastry.

Recipe

Obtained here, modified.

Makes 48.

4 Granny Smith apple
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 cup light brown sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons butter
20 sheets filo dough
Cooking spray

1. Preheat oven to 180ºC.

2. Peel, core, and dice the apples. In a large bowl, combine the lemon juice, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Add the apples and toss to coat.

3. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, melt the butter and add the apples. Cook approximately 10-12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until apples begin to soften. Remove from the heat and cool completely.

4. Unroll filo dough on dry work surface. Spray one sheet of filo dough with cooking spray, and stack another sheet on top. Repeat until five sheets have been stacked and sprayed. Carefully cut the filo stack in half across the width, then cut the two halves once more. Make two evenly-spaced cuts across the length of the stack for a total of 12 squares.

5. Top each square with one tablespoon of the cooled apples, spreading slightly diagonally from corner to corner. Fold opposite corners over the apples to form a tube, pressing gently to seal the top. Repeat layering and filling process with remaining filo sheets and apples until there are 48 cannoli.

6. Place pastries 5cm apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake in preheated oven for 12-14 minutes or until pastry is flaky and golden brown.

7. Take out of the oven and remove the cannoli immediately, to prevent the caramelised juices hardening and sticking to the tray. Cool and serve.

Creamy Chilli Prawns

2010-06-12T09:37:00.001+10:00

My friends have been telling me that I say too much in my posts and nobody really reads them. I guess I am just so into food that I get carried away. So from now on, I will write minimally and let the food speak for itself.

I made another recipe from Simply Heaven, this time a recipe called 'Garlic and Chilli Prawns', using the new Cream for Cooking. It was very simple to make, only a few ingredients but, me being clumsy under pressure, forgot a key ingredient - garlic. I mean, it was there in the name! So because I left out the garlic, and because the dish was so deliciously creamy, I'm calling it 'Creamy Chilli Prawns'.

It was delicious nonetheless, but next time, when Cream for Cooking is on sale, I shall try this recipe again with garlic. It feels really weird to say so little, but hopefully I'll get used to it.

Recipe

Obtained from Simply Heaven, by Philadelphia

Serves 4

30g butter

4 spring onions, diagonally sliced

3 cloves of garlic, crushed (I forgot)

1-2 teaspoons finely shredded chilli (I added more, because I like spicy)

500g green prawn cutlets (use any de-shelled prawns, I used those frozen ones)

250mL Philadelphia Light Cream for Cooking

Rice, to serve

1. Melt butter in a large frypan and sauté the spring onions, garlic and chilli for 2-3 minutes. Add prawns and continue cooking for 3-5 minutes until prawns are cooked through.

2. Stir in Philly and simmer gently until the sauce is heated through.

3. Serve immediately with rice.

Pumpkin Soup

2010-06-07T20:58:00.001+10:00

Just a pre-message: I know (nearly) everyone who reads this blog, and most are from my school, but I still appreciate comments. I mean, here I am rambling on about some crap I made a few days ago and it feels like nobody's listening. If you read this blog please comment once in a while, even just to say hello, because it gets lonely here, and comments cheer me up. So if you read, please comment (and subscribe!).

I was excited about making something from Simply Heaven again, and this time it turned out far better than last time. The pumpkin soup had very clear flavours and it was very healthy. The only 'fat' in the soup was Philadelphia Spreadable Light Cream Cheese, which added richness and creaminess to the soup. Other recipes I found online used regular cream, which contains more fat than Philly, so the choice is obvious. I actually found the soup just a tiny bit too rich, and after eating (drinking?) a bowl of it, my throat got a bit itchy. My whole family loved though, which was surprising.

The absolute hardest part of making this soup is cutting the pumpkin. Definitely. It's not difficult, as such, but the amount of pumpkin you have to cut into wedges and scoop seeds out of is very large. A kilo is needed, which is about a whole pumpkin. I literally spent an hour preparing the pumpkin and cutting it into a rough dice. The pumpkin is then tossed in some olive oil, along with an onion and a head of garlic. It's then baked until tender, then boiled with 6 cups of stock. I shamefully admit that I use stock cubes, but they are just so cheap!

Next comes another tedious part - the processing. Normally, if you don't mind a chunky soup, you can skip processing and eat it as is. This doesn't apply to pumpkin soup because the pumpkin is so stringy that the texture is wrong, and looks unappetising. I don't have a food processor or a blender, so I have to use a 'Magic Bullet Blender' which only blends a bit at a time. All in all, I think I made about 10 trips to the 'blender' and back. The hard work pays off though, as the result is smooth and creamy, and delicious. The croutons are just slices of bread that I baked, cubed and baked again in the oven until crisp. It's very nice with the soup.

This was definitely a success, and I hope to make more of it in the future.

Recipe

Obtained from Simply Heaven, by Philadelphia

Serves 6.

1kg pumpkin, peeled and chopped
1 onion, roughly chopped
1 head garlic, broken into cloves and peeled
1 tablespoon olive oil
6 cups chicken stock
250g Philadelphia Spreadable Light Cream Cheese
Salt and pepper, to taste
Parsley and croutons, for garnish

1. Toss the pumpkin, onion, and garlic in oil. Place on a lined oven tray and bake in a hot oven 200°C for 20-25 minutes or until tender.

2. Place roasted vegetables in a large saucepan with stock and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly. Blend or process the soup until smooth then return to the saucepan.

3. Whisk the Philly into the soup until smooth, simmer for a further 5 minutes until well heated. Season to taste then ladle into serving bowls and garnish with parsley. Serve immediately.

Apple and Oat Streusel Muffins

2010-06-04T08:10:00.000+10:00

Ack... my internet died yesterday so I couldn't post, but now it's all better.

After making chocolate chip muffins, my craving for muffins didn't ease. I craved (fantasized?) about apple muffins and remembered eating a delicious apple muffin somewhere which I cannot remember. I also imagined it topped with oats or a crunchy streusel. I couldn't find a recipe that was suitable, so I made do with an apple recipe topped with an oat streusel recipe. Let's see how that turned out...

The apple muffins are from Taste, and they received rave reviews. I didn't have Granny Smiths, so I used Red Delicious instead. People who are familiar with baking with apples know that Red Delicious is an eating apple, and should not be used in baking. Well I planned on reducing the sugar and liquid from the mix to make-up for it, only I forgot and the result was too sweet. I omitted the raisins as well, because I don't think my family likes raisins. The oat streusel is from a book called The Baker's Manual, but it seemed to have too much butter. I wanted whole oats to add interest to the top of the muffins, but I didn't have that either, nor brown sugar, so I had to make-do with crushed oats and white sugar.

I can say that these were nice, and they were, but so many things went wrong that I really don't see it as a success anymore. They tasted fine to me, but others said they were too sweet. The muffins were also too soft, due to the excess moisture in the apples. I can't believe I used up all the cinnamon powder in these, now I have to buy some more.

I trust that the original recipe for the apple muffins taste great, with the Granny Smith apples, but my ones didn't turn out so great. I am currently looking forward to making other recipes from Simply Heaven, such as pumpkin soup, so stay tuned. I'll give the original recipes for each, because I think my 'adapted' version is just too pitiful.

Recipe

Obtained from Taste and The Baker's Manual

Makes 12

Muffins

Melted butter or margarine (optional), for greasing
300g (2 cups) plain flour
1 tbs baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
150g (3/4 cup, firmly packed) brown sugar
2 medium (about 375g) Granny Smith apples, cored, peeled, chopped
125g (3/4 cup) seedless raisins
125g butter or margarine, melted, cooled
2 eggs, lightly whisked
185mls (3/4 cup) milk

Oat Streusel (I halved this and still got some extra)

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 ⁄2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1 ⁄2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 ⁄8 teaspoon salt
1 ⁄2 teaspoon
1 ⁄2 cup unsalted butter, melted

Make Oat Streusel

1. In a medium bowl whisk the flour, oats, brown sugar, and salt together until well combined. Stir in the melted butter and mix well with your hands. The streusel mix should be crumbly but form clumps when squeezed.

Make Muffins

2. Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease or line muffin trays.

3. Sift the plain flour, baking powder and cinnamon together into a large bowl. Stir in the brown sugar, apples and raisins until well combined.

4. Whisk together the butter or margarine, eggs and milk until well combined.

5. Add the milk mixture to the flour mixture and stir with a large metal spoon until just combined. It is important that the ingredients are only just combined.

6. Spoon the mixture evenly into the muffin pans.

7. Bake the muffins in preheated oven for 20 minutes or until golden and cooked through.

8. When cooked, remove from oven and stand for 2-3 minutes before turning onto a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Chocolate Chip Muffins

2010-05-30T21:50:00.001+10:00

I promised chocolate-packed, high-calorie recipes, and I deliver. I honestly have not eaten many muffins, and I don't know why, but one thing's for sure - these Chocolate Chip Muffins are the best muffins I have ever tasted.

This recipe is by Nigella Lawson, so I knew it was going to be good. She made this recipe in one of her TV shows, but in it, she added 1 3/4 cup of sugar. In the recipe I got from Foodnetwork, it says to use 3/4 cup of sugar - that's less than half of what she said. I only noticed this after I made the muffins though, so I couldn't do anything about it. Fortunately the sweetness was just right and everyone who tried them said they were delicious. Muffins are one of the easiest things to make - a dry mixture and a wet mixture combined together creates the muffin batter. Be sure not to over-mix though, as over-mixing causes the muffin to have a tough texture. The easiest way to fill muffin cases, I've found, is to use an ice-cream scoop that has those release lever... things. They are easy to scoop the right amount and release cleanly into the cases. But if you don't have one of those, don't worry, as two spoons work fine.

Notice the paper cases? I used them because I thought it would go well with the theme. These paper cases are called 'Tulip' muffin wraps or paper cases, and I originally planned on buying a packet, but the local shop wasn't in stock. I ended up making my own by simply cutting out squares and folding them. It was extremely tedious and I will reserve this time-consuming practise to muffin recipes who deserve it. I can safely say, though, that this recipe most definitely deserves it. A friends said it tasted like something from a café, which proves just how delicious they are.

If you try one of these muffins while they are still warm, you will find little pockets of molten chocolate suspended in the muffin. Let it cool to room temperature and these pockets harden into delightful chocolate chips. Everything about these muffins are wonderful, so if you are craving a chocolate hit, try these. I guarantee you will not be disappointed. Make sure you use good quality chocolate chips (at least 35% cocoa) and good quality cocoa powder, and sprinkle a generous amount of extra chocolate chips over the top, because there is not such thing as too much chocolate.

Recipe

Obtained here.

Makes 12 muffins.

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons best quality cocoa powder
3/4 cup superfine sugar (blitz granulated sugar in a food processor)
3/4 cup semisweet (dark) chocolate chips, plus 1/4 cup for sprinkling
1 cup milk
1/3 cup plus 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Grease or line a 12-hole muffin pan.

2. Put the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa, sugar, and 3/4 cup of the chocolate chips into a large bowl. Pour all the liquid ingredients into a measuring jug.

3. Mix the dry and wet ingredients together, remembering that a lumpy batter makes the best muffins. Spoon into the prepared muffin cases.

4. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup chocolate chips on top and then bake for 20 minutes or until the muffins are dark, risen and springy.

Guacamole

2010-05-27T15:35:00.000+10:00

While browsing through my copy of Simply Heaven, I remembered I had half a container of spreadable cream cheese leftover in the fridge. I began looking for a recipe which used spreadable cream cheese, and my eyes fell on Guacamole. I know it doesn't sound very exciting (even for those who know what it is), I was drawn more to the prawn fritters. Unfortunately I didn't have time to make the fritters, so I just made the Guacamole.

I realised, too late, that my avocados weren't very ripe. They were really hard and quite bland, but it was too late to turn back. Everything worked fine until I squeezed all the juice from a lemon into the mixture. It calls for one tablespoon, and somehow I think a whole lemon has much more juice. It tasted very sour, so I ended up adding another avocado. The coriander and lemon juice totally overpower the avocado taste, but, surprising, my family loved it. Instead of (unhealthy) chips or nachos, I ripped up some Lebanese bread and toasted them in my sandwich press. Within minutes they crisped up and tasted excellent dipped in the guacamole.

I know this is another short post, but I haven't gotten into the cooking groove recently. I am definitely in a muffin mood, though, so get ready for high-calorie, chocolate-packed recipes. Oh, and for the record, I bought the square bowl just for shooting the guacamole in. Yeah, that's how much I'm dedicated to foodography.

Recipe

Obtained from Simply Heaven, by Philadelphia

Makes about 1 cup

125 grams Philadelphia Spreadable Light Cream Cheese
1 avocado, peeled and mashed
1/4 cup chopped coriander
2 teaspoons grated lemon rind
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Salt and pepper, to taste
Extra coriander for garnish

1. Combine the Philly, avocado, coriander, lemon rind, juice and seasonings. Spoon the dip into a serving bowl. Chill.

2. Garnish with coriander and serve.

Cookies and Cream Cheesecake

2010-05-23T13:16:00.000+10:00

Did I mention I love cheesecake? Did I also mention I love Oreos? Well I love both, so what's better than combining the two and making a Cookies and Cream Cheesecake? I had a craving for cheesecake so I found this recipe on the Kraft recipes website. It is basically a New York cheesecake with bits of Oreo cookies. I should have expected it to be a bit too rich, seeing as my previous New York cheesecake, was too rich, but it was delicious nonetheless.

Another reason why I decided to make cheesecake was because if I bought 3 Philadelphia products, I could get a Philadelphia cookbook for free. It's called 'Simply Heaven', and it contains delicious recipes which all use Philadelphia cream cheese, as well as the new 'Cream for Cooking'. I am definitely going to try some of the recipes in the near future.

I bumped into a few troubles whilst making this cheesecake, but also solved a few that I had encountered previously. Firstly, if using Oreos, make sure to remove the white filling. Last time I didn't remove them and it was very difficult to crush. I also found out why my cheesecake mixtures were always lumpy - the cheese was not soft enough. I microwaved them for longer time and it worked wonderfully. Remember, for every 250 grams of cream cheese, microwave for 30 seconds on high. One problem was that I forgot to grease or line the base of the springform pan, so most of the crumbs stuck to the bottom, and the whole cake 'ripped' in two. I had to use cutters to cut a few circles out that were relatively presentable, but there was barely any crust.

Another thing, I baked this in a water bath, but that did not prevent cracking. The Oreo pieces seemed to protrude out the top, making little cracks which expand while cooling. If you really do want to use a water bath, place the tray on the lowest level of the oven, because no matter how tightly I wrap the springform pan, water seems to always leak in.

Did you see my amateurish attempt at a plate 'garnish'? Yeah, totally failed. Stay tuned.

Recipe

Obtained here.

Makes 16 servings.

1 cup crushed Oreo cookies (about 12 cookies)

1 tablespoon (14 grams) butter or margarine, melted

4 pkg. (250 grams each) Philadelphia Cream Cheese, softened
1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

4 eggs

20 Oreo cookies, quartered

1. Preheat oven to 325°F (160°C) if using a silver springform pan or 300°F (150°C) if using a dark nonstick springform pan. Mix crushed cookies and butter; press onto bottom of 9-inch (22 cm) springform pan. Bake 10 minutes.

2. Beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each addition just until blended. Gently stir in quartered cookies. Pour over crust.

3. Bake for 1 hour or until center is almost set. Run knife or metal spatula around rim of pan to loosen cake; cool before removing rim of pan. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight. Garnish with additional cookies, if desired.

Banana Bread

2010-05-20T18:49:00.000+10:00

Rejoice! My exams are over! It's like a huge weight has been taken off me. Although I had exams, I still managed to make a really quick and simple Banana Bread. I was busy revising, so I only got one good shot before I had to go back, so this will be an extremely short post. Don't worry though, the next post will be completely full on. I'm thinking cheesecake... I'll tell you how it goes.

This recipe is from Taste. It is one of the most highly rated recipes on the site, so I decided to use it. It turned out fine, but a bit fry because I added toasted almonds without adjusting any wet or dry ingredients. Next time I add nuts, I shall reduce the flour. It tasted delicious, but if you slightly toast it after slicing - even better. Please note, the butter in the photo is only there for decoration purposes. We don't eat butter on bread, so that was scraped right off. For those who do eat butter on bread, please consider cream cheese spread, or ones made with olive or canola oil. Butter is extremely unhealthy if eaten regularly.

That was just a note on health I learnt a while back. Try this recipe if you have a few overripe bananas, and I'll be back with more goodies in a few days.

Recipe

Obtained here.

Makes 1 loaf.

Melted low-fat dairy spread, to grease
265g (1 3/4 cups) self-raising flour
40g (1/4 cup) plain flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
140g (2/3 cup, firmly packed) brown sugar
125ml (1/2 cup) skim milk
2 eggs, lightly whisked
50g butter, melted, cooled
2 overripe medium bananas, mashed

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Brush an 11 x 21cm (base measurement) loaf pan with melted dairy spread to lightly grease. Line the base and 2 opposite sides with non-stick baking paper, allowing it to overhang.

2. Sift the combined flours and cinnamon into a large bowl. Stir in the sugar and make a well in the centre. Place the milk, eggs, melted butter and banana in a medium bowl, and stir until well combined. Add the banana mixture to the flour mixture and stir until just combined. Spoon the mixture into the prepared pan and smooth the surface.

3. Bake in preheated oven for 45-50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Remove from oven and set aside in the pan for 5 minutes. Turn onto a wire rack to cool completely. Cut into slices to serve.

Caramelised Croissant Pudding

2010-05-14T22:33:00.000+10:00

I am so sorry it's been so long since my last post. It is currently school exams and I have been cramming like mad (yeah right...), and my blog has been bugging me so I thought I'd just pop by. I haven't been very busy cooking, due to exams, and I don't have much time now, this post will be fairly short. The recipe is also short, but insanely delicious. But beware, it certainly can't be good for your waistline.

The recipe is Caramelised Croissant Pudding, from Nigella Lawson. I just love Nigella's recipes as they are simple, unpretentious and dare to use full-fat everything. It's fine to dabble in strange and exotic recipes once in a while, but there's beauty in simplicity. I have made this recipe twice in two weeks, that's how much I love it. It's extremely easy and delicious. My family says it's too sweet, so for those without even the tiniest sweet tooth... don't bother. All that is in this pudding is sugar, water, milk, cream, eggs, a shot of alcohol and croissants (preferably butter).

I say it is extremely easy, but there is a step which calls for heating sugar and water until deep caramel-coloured. That may sound daunting, but it's not. Simply pour the sugar and water into a saucepan and heat on high heat. Do not be timid and heat on low, crank it up! It'll reach the right stage in no time. Another thing is to keep stirring while pouring in the cream. It foams up because the cream boils instantly, but keep stirring, because if you don't lumps of sugar will form. That's what happened the second time, but if you heat on low and stir constantly, the lumps disappear. Do not worry if there are lumps of cooked egg in the 'custard' mixture, because once baked, it blends into the rest of the pudding.

If you have stale croissants (or even fresh ones) lying around, please try it out! Well, it's back to study for me. My next post will probably be after my exams finish, so nothing from me for at least a week. Bye!

Recipe

Obtained here.

Serves 2 greedy people

2 stale croissants

100g caster sugar

2 x 15ml tablespoons water

125ml double cream

125ml full-fat milk

2 x 15ml tablespoons bourbon (Can substitute 1 teaspoon vanilla essence, or omit)

2 eggs, beaten

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4.

2. Tear the croissants into pieces and put in a small gratin dish about 500ml (I used a lid of a Pyrex dish).

3. Put the caster sugar and water into a saucepan, and swirl around to help dissolve the sugar before putting the saucepan on the hob over a medium to high heat.

4. Caramelize the sugar and water mixture by letting it bubble away, without stirring, until it all turns a deep amber colour; this will take 3–5 minutes. Keep looking but don’t be too timid.

5. Turn heat down to low and add the cream – ignoring all spluttering – and, whisking away, the milk and bourbon. Any solid toffee that forms in the pan will dissolve easily if you keep whisking over low heat. Take off the heat and, still whisking, add the beaten eggs.

6. Pour the caramel bourbon custard over the croissants and leave to steep for 10 minutes if the croissants are very stale.

7. Place in the oven for 20 minutes and prepare to swoon.

Apple Tart

2010-05-07T22:06:00.000+10:00

Continuing the list of things I made when guests came over last time is apple tart. Now, apple tart is not the same as apple pie. Apple pie has a top layer of pastry, and tarts do not. I think apple tarts are easier to make solely because you don't have to fiddle around with another layer of pastry. I've never actually made an apple pie before - shocking, I know. Another reason why I prefer to make tarts is I don't have a pie plate, and it's the shape of the plate that gives the pie its rounded shape. But I will get around to making an apple pie, promise.

This apple tart is a recipe by Paula Deen, from Foodnetwork.com. When I first read the recipe, I was surprised that the crust had no sugar or salt, and had sour cream. Always curious, I decided to make it as apples were on my mind.

I do not have a food processor, so I simply rubbed the butter into the flour until it resembled fine breadcrumbs, and added the sour cream. I used about half a tablespoon more sour cream, because I was working by hand and the cream wasn't distributed evenly enough. The dough was... interesting to work with. Don't worry if the base of the tart looks a bit thin - it's perfectly fine. The recipe doesn't call for it, but I blind baked it with weights, although I doubt it made much of a difference though, so next time I won't weigh it down.

The 'custard' mixture almost overflowed, but didn't which was good, but the glaze made too much. I would recommend halving the recipe for the glaze. Oh, and if you can't get orange juice concentrate, just use plain orange juice, much cheaper and I don't think you can get the concentrate in Australia. This tart was a hit with the guests who each had two slices. I will be definitely making this again.

Recipe

Obtained here.

Makes 6 servings.

Crust

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (114 grams) butter, room temperature
2 tablespoons sour cream

Filling

About 6 medium apples, peeled, pitted, and sliced (I used Granny Smith)
3 large egg yolks
3/4 cup sour cream
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour

Glaze

1/2 cup apricot preserves or jelly
1 tablespoon frozen orange juice concentrate (Or just plain orange juice)
Mint, for garnish
Whipped topping, for garnish

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

To make the crust:

2. Place the flour, butter, and sour cream in a food processor and pulse to combine. When the dough has formed a ball, pat with lightly floured hands into the bottom and sides of an ungreased 10-inch tart pan with a removable bottom and 1/2-inch sides, or a round au gratin dish.

3. Bake for about 18 minutes, until the crust is set but not browned. Let cool while preparing the filling.

4. Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees F.

To make the filling:

5. Peel and thickly slice the apples. Arrange the apple slices in overlapping circles on top of the crust, until it's completely covered. Overfill the crust, as apples will shrink during cooking.

6. Combine the egg yolks, sour cream, sugar, and flour and beat until smooth. Pour the mixture over the apples.

7. Place the tart pan on a baking sheet and bake for about 1 hour, until the custard sets and is pale golden in color. Cover with an aluminum foil tent if the crust gets too dark.

8. Transfer the tart pan to a wire rack to cool. When cool, remove the side wall of the pan.

To make the glaze:

9. Combine the preserves or jelly and orange juice. Spread with a pastry brush over the top of the warm tart.

10. Serve the tart warm, at room temperature or chilled. Garnish with fresh mint.

Orange Self-Saucing Pudding

2010-04-30T22:23:00.000+10:00

When guests came over last time, I made four(!) desserts. My mum said that the two desserts I planned to make weren't enough to feed 12 people, so I had to make something else. I had oranges and... nothing else. We hadn't been shopping in the past few days, so I didn't have any special ingredients. I was in search of an easy dessert with oranges as the main ingredient. Taste came to my rescue again, with their Orange Self-Saucing Pudding.

Self-Saucing simply means is comes with its own sauce, which means you don't have to slave over the stove with a pot of simmering syrup. At first I didn't realise this but, as an added bonus - it's a microwave dish! My mum is always raving on about how the oven costs so much to use because it uses a lot of electricity, and how I turn it on and off and on and off. I was happy when I found out, because it meant I didn't have to spend much effort making it.

One thing you should note though, is that it uses a cup and a bit of orange juice, so you will need a lot of oranges. I actually ran out of oranges, so I used a mixture of orange and lemon juice for the sauce. Next time, just use shop-bought orange juice, please. If you really want to juice your own oranges, do it, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with making it easier for yourself. Every single component of this dish is made in the microwave, including the sauce. I also downed the amount of sugar, and that along with the lemon juice gave it a sweet and sour taste, which asian tastes seem to enjoy.

The recipe says caster sugar - don't bother. If you have it, use it, but if you don't, just use plain sugar! It really defeats the purpose of a self-saucing pudding if you have to drive to the shops to buy an ingredient, or blitz sugar until it's powder. If you can make something easier for yourself, do it.

The pudding was served with vanilla bean ice cream, which added another dimension of cool, creaminess. Please try this recipe, when you are 1) tired, 2) stressed, or just lazy - it really doesn't take much effort, while still tasting fantastic.

Recipe

Obtained here.

Serves 4.

1 cup self-raising flour, sifted
1/3 cup caster sugar
1 orange, rind finely grated
60g butter, melted, at room temperature
1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1 egg
ice-cream, to serve

Sauce

2/3 cup caster sugar
1 1/4 cups freshly squeezed orange juice

1. Lightly grease an 8cm deep, 6-cup capacity, heatproof, microwave-safe dish.

2. Combine flour, sugar and orange rind in a bowl. Whisk together butter, juice and egg. Stir into flour mixture until well combined. Spoon into prepared dish. Smooth surface.

3. Make sauce: Place sugar and orange juice into a heatproof, microwave-safe bowl or jug. Cook on MEDIUM (50%) power for 3 minutes, stirring every minute, or until sugar dissolves. Cook on HIGH (100%) power for 1 to 2 minutes or until sauce comes to the boil. Pour hot sauce over the back of a large metal spoon to evenly cover pudding.

4. Place pudding onto a microwave-safe rack or upturned dinner plate. Cook, uncovered, on MEDIUM (50%) power for 8 to 9 minutes or until a skewer inserted around edges comes out clean but centre is still a little sticky.

5. Cover tightly with foil. Stand for 5 minutes or until centre is no longer sticky. Serve with ice-cream.

Lemon Friands

2010-04-27T19:36:00.000+10:00

Man, it's been ages since my last post. I have been busy since school started and other stuff. I have created many things since last time, but I only photographed a few, as circumstances weren't suitable for others. Because we eat desserts at night (like normal people) I rarely get the chance to shoot a slice of cake or a cross-section, due to bad lighting. But this Anzac long weekend has granted me the time to try out many new recipes. I have made Coconut Panna Cotta, Zucchini Slice, Apple Tarte Fine, Friands, Orange Self-saucing Pudding, Vanilla Bean Ice cream, Apple Tart, and Caramel Croissant pudding. It's a huge list for four days, but we had guests over for dinner so it gave me an excuse.

I received some vanilla beans a few weeks back, thanks to a good friend, and have been aching to make vanilla ice cream. Vanilla beans are the second most expensive spice, and though they look wrinkly and unappetising, they are great in desserts. The first thing I did with them was make my own vanilla essence. In Australia, vanilla essence/extract/anything is very expensive. That's why ever since I heard you could make your own vanilla essence, I wanted to. Homemade vanilla is simply split vanilla beans seeped in alcohol. Vodka is recommended, but I didn't have any so I used Cognac, a kind of brandy. And don't worry, I did not drink a drop of it (as of yet). You shake the bottle every few days to let the flavour seep out, and it is ready to used in 8 weeks. Once a quarter of the essence is used up, you simply fill with more alcohol. This is much cheaper than buying vanilla from the shops, and they make great presents for other foodies. I will be posting about the vanilla ice cream in a short while.

Now, onto friands. I have read about friands, and I knew they were little cakes made with almond meal and egg whites, quite like macarons, but are much simpler and have, obviously, a different taste and texture. Traditional friands have blueberries in them, but I did not have any, so I searched for a lemon flavoured one instead. It is another recipe obtained from Taste - man I love that website. The leftover egg whites from making ice cream convinced me to make them, plus the woman who was coming over asked me if I knew how to make friands the last time she visited.
.

I do not have friand moulds, so I used a muffin tray. The mixture is very easy to mix together - no whipping egg whites, no heavy machinery needed - which was great. Do not fret if the mixture is lumpy and/or thick, it is the way it is meant to be. Although I filled 3/4 full, I only got ten friands, opposed to the 12 advertised. Though that did not matter at all. The friands were not overly sweet, with just the perfect lemon flavour and aroma. Every body enjoyed them, and the light dusting of sugar helped with presentation and taste.

Friands are ridiculously easy, and are a welcomed change to cupcakes and muffins. They are not as complex as other recipes which require egg whites - you need not whip the egg whites. So try them when you have leftover egg whites.

Recipe

Obtained here.

Makes 12 (or 10 in my case)

190g unsalted butter
60g plain flour
1 1/3 cups (200g) icing sugar, plus extra to dust
120g almond meal
5 egg whites
Grated zest of 1 lemon

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Melt butter and use a little to grease a 12-hole friand pan. Dust with a little flour, shaking out excess.

2. Sift the flour and sugar into a large bowl, then stir in the almond meal.

3. Place egg whites in a small bowl and lightly froth with a fork. Add to dry ingredients with melted butter and zest, stirring until completely combined.

4. Fill each friand hole two-thirds full. Bake for 25-35 minutes until golden and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.

5. Remove from the oven, leave in the pan for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

6. Dust with icing sugar just before serving.

Caramelised Onion and Goat Cheese Tartlets

2010-04-16T15:12:00.000+10:00

Remember how I made a batch of goat cheese the other day? Well by itself, it tasted bland and I didn't quite like it. It's probably the fact that I've never tasted commercial goat cheese before, or goat milk for that matter. But why would I dive head-first into cheesemaking with goat cheese? Well it was to make Caramelised Onion and Goat Cheese Tartlets. I've searched online, and it seems only goat cheese goes well with caramelised onions in this recipe, so as to avoid paying more for commercial cheese, I made my own.

Cheesemaking involves heating milk to a boil and adding acid, like vinegar or lemon juice to it, to separate the curds and whey. Once separated, the mixture is poured into a colander lined with a cheesecloth (I just used a kitchen towel) and the whey is strained out. Depending on how dry you would like your cheese, you can tie the cloth up and let it drip for an hour to further extract the whey. In my opinion, goat cheese should not be overly dried.

Because I didn't know just how salty commercial cheese is, I was wary of adding salt. I add a teaspoon, tasted, added some more, tasted again. I seriously could not tell the difference. As much as I hate to say it, it really depends on your taste. I didn't add any herbs because I didn't have any on hand, but herbs would have added a nice touch.

The tartlets were okay, but the crust was too hard. I opted to make my own shortcrust pastry, but I didn't know what went wrong. It was extremely hard, and shrunk every time i rolled it out. They were placed into the fridge for 20 minutes and blind baked for 10 minutes. I made less than planned because the cases that were not in tartlet cases flattened into discs of thick pastry. I caramelised the onions, and they were delicious. Onions are my favourite vegetable when they are cooked, but I don't quite like them when they're raw. They make me cry too much. I topped each pastry case with a quinelle of caramelised onion, and a quinelle of goat cheese. They looked very cute. I brought them to a picnic with a bunch of friends, along with a batch of ham and pineapple pizza scrolls. Adults seemed to like the tartlets, but children seemed to stay away from them and took the scrolls instead.

Now that I have tried cheesemaking, I may make my cheeses from now on. With cheeses so expensive these days, people really should start making their own.

Recipe(s)

Goat Cheese

1 litre goat milk
1/8 cup lemon juice or vinegar
Salt and herbs
Candy thermometer (I had to use this because I didn't know when to take off the heat)
Cheesecloth, or a clean kitchen towel
Colander
Large bowl

1. Pour the milk into a large pot (Do not use aluminium) and heat on medium-low heat.

2. Heat milk to 180-190°F (82-87°C) and take off heat. Pour the lemon juice or vinegar into the milk and stir. Leave for 15-30 seconds to let the milk separate.

3. Place the colander over the large bowl and place the cheesecloth over the colander.

4. Carefully pour the milk into the colander and stir constantly.

5. Once most of the liquid has drained down into the bowl you can tie the corners of the cheesecloth together and attach to a stick, like a wooden spoon. Let hang over a bowl and let drip for 1-1.5 hours.

6. Remove the cheese from the cheesecloth and season with salt and herbs.

~

Caramelised Onion and Goat Cheese Tartlets

Obtained here.

Makes about 20 tartlets.

2 tbsp olive oil

4 onions, thinly sliced

2 sprigs fresh thyme

Salt and freshly ground pepper

3 sheets shortcrust pastry

Butter

100g fresh goat's curd

1. Heat olive oil in a heavy-based pot. Add the onions and thyme and season with salt and pepper, cooking over medium heat and stirring frequently for 10-15 minutes.

2. The onions on the bottom should become quite dark but not burnt - when it darkens, remove from heat and allow to sit for 3 to 5 mins for the onions on top to sweat and soften those underneath.

3. Stir well, return to the heat and continue to cook for about 10 mins until the onions are completely soft and dark, golden brown, removing the pot from the heat occasionally to allow further softening. Adjust seasoning if necessary.

4. Preheat oven to 180°C.

5. Lay the pastry sheets out on the bench and cut into 5cm circles. Line buttered tartlet cases (you could also use muffin trays) with the pastry and refrigerate for 20 minutes. Bake blind for 10-12 minutes or until golden. Set aside to cool.

6.Spoon equal amounts of caramelised onion and fresh goat's curd into cases and serve.

Strawberry Swirl Cheesecake

2010-04-13T09:34:00.000+10:00

I don't know what it's about with me and cheese. I LOVE cheesey pizza with tons of stringy mozzarella on top. I love melted cheddar on toast, with it's tangy saltiness. And I love cheesecakes. I know people 'believe' that cheesecakes should be firm and dense, and should not have excessive air mixed into the mixture. I, on the other hand, do not mind either a dense cheesecake, or a rather light and fluffy one. Light ones are actually easier to swallow (not the literal meaning) because they are not as sticky, and almost mousse-like. But while I adore this product of milk, I know that in every bite of my cheesy pizza, cheddar-topped toast and delicious cheesecake, I am swallowing countless calories. That's exactly why I don't buy piece of cheesecake at every cake shop I pass. But when a neighbour's friend requested it, how could I refuse?

Originally, he asked for a 'Creamy Mango Cheesecake', but I thoroughly convinced him not to by stating mangoes aren't in season, just because the name says 'creamy' doesn't mean it's any more creamy than other cheesecakes, etc. So in the end he agreed to make Strawberry Cheesecake instead. Apparently, strawberries are one of his least 'hated' foods. I just hate it when someone says, 'Ugh, I hate such and such' or 'I would never eat that!' I mean, I don't like every food in the world, but at least I try everything, and if I don't like it, I don't put it down. I don't say stuff like, ' OMG, such and such is DISGUSTING!' So when my neighbour's kid said, 'Ah, lychees are one of the last few things on the list of food I like', I almost facepunched him.

Anyways, I settled on a recipe from Allrecipes for Strawberry Cheesecake. It looked very appealing, but after reading some reviews I modified it a bit. I reduced the amount of cream cheese to 2 packages, baked it in a waterbath, and since there wasn't any fresh or frozen strawberries at the shops, I used canned strawberries instead. The base and the sauce came together wonderfully, but I have no idea why all my cheesecake mixtures turn out lumpy. I have a theory that my mixer doesn't scrape the edges of the bowl, leaving a layer of cream cheese, and when I scrape that down and start mixing again, it doesn't break down that much. Although none of my cheesecakes seem to have suffered from that which is great.

The strawberry sauce makes leftovers which is made into a deliciously fruity sauce. You really need that sauce to add flavour to the cheesecake, as the strawberriness seems to disappear from the swirls after you bake it. It was actually fairly light, which I prefer, and not a crack in sight, due to the waterbath.

Yesterday, I plunged myself into cheesemaking and made a small batch of goat cheese! I'll be using it in a recipe in a few days, I'll post how it goes.

Recipe

Modified from Allrecipes (Original recipe here)

Serves 12

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter or margarine, melted
400g can strawberries
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 (8 ounce/250g) packages cream cheese, softened
395g can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup lemon juice
3 eggs
1 tablespoon water

1.Combine graham cracker crumbs, sugar and butter. Press onto the bottom of an ungreased 9-in. springform pan. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

2. Preheat oven to 300°F/150°C. Boil a pot of water for the water bath.

3. In a blender or food processor, combine strawberries and cornstarch; cover and process until smooth.

4. Pour into a saucepan; bring to a boil. Boil and stir for 2 minutes. Set aside 1/3 cup strawberry sauce; cool. Cover and refrigerate remaining sauce for serving.

5. In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in milk. Add lemon juice; mix well.

6. Add eggs, beat on low just until combined. Pour half of the cream cheese mixture over crust.

7. Drop half of the reserved strawberry mixture by 1/2 teaspoonfuls onto cream cheese layer. Carefully spoon remaining cream cheese mixture over sauce. Drop remaining strawberry sauce by 1/2 teaspoonfuls on top. With a knife, cut through top layer only to swirl strawberry sauce.

8. Wrap the bottom of the springform pan with at least 2 layers of aluminium foil. Place pan onto a roasting tray and place in the oven. Pour boiling water halfway up the side of the springform pan. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes.

9. Carefully run a knife around edge of pan to loosen; cool 1 hour longer. Refrigerate overnight.

10. Remove side of pan. Thin chilled strawberry sauce with water if desired; serve with cheesecake.

Mango Mousse

2010-04-10T13:54:00.000+10:00

After making Apple Tarte Tatins, I had a rather large batch of wipped cream used to decorate, left over. I thought about making parfaits, mousses and even just eating it right there and then. I trashed the last idea pretty quickly. I looked in the fridge for inspiration, but it struck when I saw a few mangos sitting on the bench. My mind whirled with ideas as I searched for mango mousse recipes.

I found the easiest recipe I could because I was tired and didn't want to make anything overly complicated. It says to use gelatin, but I've never used that in a mousse recipe before. First time for everything! I had to halve the recipe because I remember I whipped 300ml of cream. In Australia, we get 300ml and 600ml bottles of thickened cream... What's up with that? They think that giving us a cup of cream isn't enough, so they give us and extra 50ml? It's rather retarded, the Australian food industry, but not nearly as retarded as the Americans. Watch Food, inc., you'll know what I'm on about.

Anyways, I forgot that I had added 2 tablespoons of sugar into the cream before, so it was a bit too sweet, but only a bit. The mousse mixture turned out quite well, but I had to refrigerate it because it wasn't firm enough for me to pipe. I originally intended on wide straight bowls, but realised there would be too much mousse, and by nozzle wasn't big enough. I settle on small shot glasses, which make them look very sophisticated. I adorned the top with mango cubes and mango slices. They are all very cute.

Recipe

Obtained here

Serves 6

500 g mango slices
1 tablespoon gelatin
¼ cup water
1 tablespoon lemon juice
¾ cup sugar
2½ cups cream

1. Peel mangoes, cut flesh away from stone and reserve a few slices for decoration. Mash remaining mangoes to a puree.

2. Sprinkle gelatin over water, dissolve over low heat.

3. Add to mango puree with lemon juice and sugar.

4. Whip cream to stiff peaks, fold into mango mixture.

5. Spoon into individual serving dishes or large serving dish, refrigerate until set.

6. Decorate with reserved mango slices and, if desired, toasted almond flakes.

Apple Tarte Tatin

2010-04-06T20:49:00.000+10:00

The good thing about the school holidays is that it gives me time and an excuse to make more food. I don't have to worry about school the next morning or an assignment I have to complete. I am feeling so happy right now because I am creating something every day. First it was Hot Cross Buns, then the Lemon and Orange Tart, and now it's Apple Tarte Tatin.

This recipe is from 'Ultimate Cake' by Barbara Maher. I decided on it because it was easy to throw together and my neighbour had some apples that I could use up (Yeah, she's very nice). I made a large Tarte and several small ones, but the big one was consumed (by 10 people) before I could shoot it.

The pastry (pâte brisée, which means shortcrust pastry) came together pretty well, but it all started to get a bit wonky when we moved on to the caramel. It says to put 90 grams of butter and 100 grams of granulated sugar into a saucepan and heat until golden brown. I used caster sugar the first time round, thinking it wouldn't make a difference. I also stirred like crazy in the beginning, which was another mistake. My head started spinning as the sugar clumped together under the layer of melted butter and bubbled like crazy. I don't have words to describe it. It was quite disheartening and rather unsightly.

Another try, with granulated sugar, and we were off to a good start, until I realised you shouldn't stir. So as the sugar edged towards the same fate, I cranked up the heat and told my neighbour not to stir. Both of us watched the pot of bubbling sugar and butter in earnest, hoping it would work. After about 5 minutes, I decided to move the pan to a bigger flame. It bubbled more fiercely and colour started creeping in. For a second we were rejoicing, but then the sugar started burning. We quickly moved it back to the small flame and dropped in the apples. They cook in the 'caramel' for 10 minutes and are then moved away. In the end, we ended up with what looked like caramel but I'm not sure that it actually was.
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The rest of the procedure worked quite well. Preheated the oven without exploding, greased the tin without droppinng it, placed the apples into the pan without breaking. The only problem was that I rolled out the pastry too much. It was too thin so once I inverted it, the base broke into a few large pieces. That wasn't a problem though, as it was gobbled up well within 5 minutes. The individual ones weren't so bad either, but I only baked them for half the time.

I hope everybody enjoyed their Easter as I certainly did. Now it's time for me to relax as it's the school holidays.

Recipes

Obtained from 'Ultimate Cake' by Barbara Maher

For the pastry

1 quantity pâte brisée

For the topping

1.5kg small dessert apples

90gr butter

100g granulated sugar

Cake Tin: 24cm moule à manquer tin or heavy-based, shallow, round cake tin

1. Allow the pastry to come back to room temperature. Remove the cores from the apples with an apple corer. Peel and cut them in half.

2. For the topping, put the butter and sugar into a large saucepan or deep fryer pan. Heat gently until melted. Cook, stirring now and then, until the mixture starts to caramelize and turn golden brown.

3. Take the pan off the heat and add the apple halves. Gently turn them over in the mixture until well coated, return to a high heat and cook, stirring gently now and then, for 10 minutes or until the sauce has thickened even more and the apples are golden brown.

4. Pack the apples tightly into the bottom of the tin, rounded-side down. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface into a circle slightly larger than the top of the tin. Lift carefully on to the apples and tuck the edges down well around the fruit.

5. Bake in the preheated oven (220°C) for 20 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown.

6. Remove from the oven and leave to rest in the tin for 5 minutes so that the juices have time to set slightly; but do not leave longer or the caramel sauce and the apples will stick to the base of the tin and not to the tart.

7. Run a round-bladed knife around the edge of the pastry and carefully turn out the tart on to a plate. Leave to cool slightly. Serve warm with whipped cream.

Pâte Brisée (Shortcrust Pastry)

180g plain flour, sifted
Pinch of salt
100g chilled butter
2 tablespoons caster sugar
1 egg yolk, lightly beaten
1-2 tablespoons iced water

1. Sift the flour once more, together with the salt, into a large mixing bowl or on a clean work surface. Make a well in the centre.

2. Cut the chilled butter into pieces and add to the flour. Lightly rub the butter and the flour together with the tips of your fingers, lifting the mixture and letting it fall back down, until you have a fine, crumb-like mixture.

3. Add the caster sugar to the bowl and stir in with a fork, making sure it is evenly distributed throughout the mixture.

4. Mix the egg yolk with the water until well blended. Drizzle over the mixture while stirring continuously with a small, round-bladed knife.

5. Work swiftly yet lightly, continue to stir everything together until the mixture starts to stick together in little lumps.

6. Gently bring the small lumps of pastry together using the heel of the hand until they form a rough ball. The quicker you do this the better.

7. Knead briefly on a lightly floured surface until smooth. Wrap in clingfilm and chill for at least 1 hour

Lemon and Orange Tart

2010-04-04T10:49:00.000+10:00

Happy Easter! Bring on the eggs, the bunnies and the chocolates!

I was originally planning on posting about the hot cross buns I made. Unfortunately, due to my camera's bad (sucky) viewfinder, I was unable to take a good, clear, shot. I've got a Fujifilm S5000, and it is 3 megapixels! 3!!! Currently, I'm saving up for a Nikon D90. Much better image quality and overallness.

So instead, I'm posting about a tart I made yesterday. I made it with my neighbour's kid, who was visiting from Queensland. Apparently, he likes cooking too, but he doesn't have much experience... Quote: 'It says 2 eggs plus 2 egg yolks, so I think it means just 2 eggs, because there are yolks in the eggs...'

I know. But we worked together and created a beautiful Lemon and Orange Tart, taken from 'Heavenly Desserts' by Linda Fraser. It was delightfully tart and sweet at the same time.

It was the first time I made and actual full-sized tart. I've made tartlets before, but this was a completely different story. The pastry was very hard to work with, and was crumbling on us. Plus, when I took the shell out of the oven, I got this massive burn. It looks like I got stung by a jellyfish or something. But the filling was delicious. We made our own Lemon Curd and folded that into some whipped cream. I didn't whip the cream enough, I think. I whipped it to medium peaks when I should have to stiff peaks. This caused the filling to not hold it's shape that well. It still tasted darn good. It is adorned with a crown of orange slices, which added sweetness and colour. All-in-all, it was a success. I hope you all had a wonderful Easter!

Yes, that is a Wii controller in the background. We were playing Wii!

Recipe

Obtained from 'Heavenly Desserts' by Linda Fraser

Serves 8-10

115g plain flour, sifted

115g wholemeal flour
25g ground hazelnuts
25g icing sugar, sifted
Pinch of salt
115g sweet butter
60ml lemon curd
300g whipped cream or fromage frais
4 oranges, peeled and thinly sliced

1. Place the flours, hazelnuts, sugar, salt and butter in a food processor and process until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add 30-45ml cold water and process until the dough comes together.

2. Turn out on to a lightly floured surface and knead gently until smooth. Roll it and line a 25cm flat tin. Be sure not to stretch the pastry and gently ease it into the corners. Chill for 20 minutes. Preheat the oven to 190°C.

3. Line the pastry with greaseproof paper and fill with baking beans or bread crusts. Bake blind for 15 minutes, remove the paper and continue for a further 5-10 minutes, until the pastry is crisp. Allow to cool.

4. Whisk the lemon curd into the cream or fromage frais and spread over the base of the pastry. Arrange the orange slices on top and serve at room temperature.

Coconut and Mango Ice Cream

2010-03-26T17:31:00.000+11:00

Success! Sweet, Sweet Success!

A few days ago, I dared myself to try another coconut ice cream recipe. I told myself it'll probably turn out like the last one, and why waste another can of coconut milk? I eventually won myself over by finding a suitable recipe.

It's surprising how there is no (well at least I haven't found any) recipes which require just simple ingredients, like milk, cream, sugar and coconut milk. Maybe it's something to do with the coconut taste is too mellow, or the taste too strong. I don't know, and I won't be experimenting.

I changed the method of the original recipe a little bit, to suit me and what I found easiest. The recipe is for coconut and mango ice cream, custard style. Custard style is where you beat egg yolks and sugar together until thick and pale, and then add a hot milk or cream mixture into it, making sure to whisk vigorously, lest it becomes scrambled eggs. Then you pour that mixture back into the pan which you heated the milk in and heat that again. In previous attempts I have always ended up with more than enough cooked egg bits in this step. But this time, it was different. I read somewhere that the temperature has to reach 70-75°C (160-170°F) and then it's ready. The custard turned out perfect, and no stray cooked egg bits to be found.

I refridgerated the mixture for a few hours, but when I took it about, a semi-solid layer had formed on top. I didn't know what it was, so I strained it out. Stupidly I chucked the residue out. Later on, I found that it was cream (or otherwise known as fat), and the ice cream would be a lot more creamy if I had strained that into the mixture. Oh well.

Five minutes before it was finished, I added some squished up mango. I like having bits of mango here and there, so I didn't process it into a puree. I was expecting distinctive swirls of mango-orange, but it just blended into the pure whiteness of the coconut. I guess you can't expect home-made ice cream to be the same as retail ice cream.

After freezing in my ice cream machine, I opted to just keep it in the freezer bowl an didn't transfer it into a plastic container. I'm not sure, but I've go a feeling that it's a bit harder than normal ice cream because of that. Or, it may have been the fact that, technically, it's low fat (ha!). The result was so delicious! The coconut was very subtle, but the nuttiness, almost almond taste, lingers behind on your palate. Then you get little nuggets of frozen mango. Mmmmm! This is one of the best ice cream I have made - along with Cookies n Cream, Green Tea and Red Bean.

Recipe

Obtained from here.

Makes 1.5 litres.

300 mL cream
300 mL milk
400 mL coconut cream or milk
4 egg yolks
1 cup white sugar
1 cup mango pieces/puree

1. Gently heat the cream, milk and coconut milk/cream in a heavy pan.

2. Meanwhile, whisk together the yolks and the sugar in a bowl, until thick and pale.

3. When the milk mixture just boils, take off the heat.

4. While whisking constantly, pour the hot milk mixture about a tablespoon at a time into the egg yolks. Continue whisking until all the milk has been poured in.

5. Pour the egg mixture back into the heavy pan and heat on medium until the mixture reaches ~70°C. To test readiness without a thermometer: Coat the back of a spoon with the custard. Run your finger along the length of the spoon, and if the trail remains on the spoon, it is ready.

6. Refridgerate the mixture until completely cold.

7. Freeze per your ice cream machine's instructions. Five minutes before ready, tip in the mango pieces.

Carrot Cake

2010-03-21T07:46:00.000+11:00

In my efforts to explore and taste all the different types of food in the world, I made a vow to myself that I will try at least one new recipe each week. Sometimes, there are exceptions when I just don't have the time, or don't have the ingredients. Sometimes, the results are absolutely delicious, and I put that recipe into a special file labelled 'Good'. Other times they are quite disappointing. Then there's recipes which I couldn't give a damn about. It may not be a bad recipe, just one that doesn't appeal to me, for some reason or another.

Such recipes include yesterday's carrot cake. I was browsing recipes for bundt cakes to bake in my fluted tube pan (yes, I'm still psyched). I made a list of cakes that I want to bake, and I was planning on having some sort of Bundt Cake Marathon. First up was a carrot and walnut bundt cake, with cream cheese frosting, from Epicurious. I had no idea what carrot cake tasted like, and after extensive research, I gathered it did not taste anything like carrots. I then bought a carrot slice from the school's canteen, but that tasted random. I reckoned it tasted bad because it was filled with artificial crap.

I'm still learning the ins and outs of my fluted tube pan, and still haven't managed to find a reliable technique to stop things sticking. Before, I've buttered it and floured it, but that didn't work. This time, I sprayed it with cooking spray, but a piece of cake still stuck to the pan. I've got a feeling that this contributed to my neutrality to this cake. I was glad the glaze/frosting covered up the cracks, but it was tooth-achingly sweet. When I was pouring the 3/4 powdered sugar over the measly-looking pieces of cream cheese, I said to myself, 'This is gonna be sweet!' Guess what? I was right. The lemon juice and zest cut off a bit of the sweetness but ow it was sweet. I hope the rest of my cakes turn out better.

Recipe

Obtained from here.

Makes 8 servings.

Carrot Cake

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup olive oil
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups grated carrots (about 3 large)
3/4 cup chopped toasted walnuts

Cream Cheese Icing

3/4 cup powdered sugar (I'd put less)
3 ounces (85 grams) cream cheese, softened
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup (or more) whipping cream.

1. Place rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F.

2. Grease 12-cup nonstick Bundt pan.

3. Whisk flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt in medium bowl until well blended.

4. Using electric mixer, beat sugar, oil and eggs in large bowl on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add flour mixture, beating just until blended.

5. Fold in carrots and walnuts.

6. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake cake until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean, about 50 minutes.

7. Cool cake in pan on rack 1 hour.

8. Meanwhile, blend softened cream cheese, sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest and vanilla until combined. Add enough cream to form a thick but pourable icing.

9. Invert cake onto plate. Cool completely. Drizzle icing over top of cake, allowing icing to flow down sides.

Apple Turnovers

2010-03-17T18:58:00.000+11:00

Ugh! Global Warming... Hate it, hate it, hate it! I hate the fact that we are getting 30 degree days in Autumn, when there should be wind and cool weather. I also hate the fact that our school uniform is made of crappy material that air doesn't travel through, making me, and a whole lot of others, sweat all through the day. I definitely prefer cool windy days that go to as low as 15 degrees. This heat makes me grumpy. Absolutely grumpy.

Talking about Autumn, apples are officially in season. I prefer crisp, juicy apples, as opposed to those soft apples that make you wonder whether they're actually fresh or not. But when it comes to baking, I alsways use Granny Smith. They are so easily distinguished with the fully-green skin. I made a beeline for the apple section the other day and bought a few to make apple turnovers with.

There are many different types of turnover recipes out there. Ones that have sultanas and nuts, others with only apple. Some say to cook the apples first, but the recipe I always use does not. I was searching for an easy apple turnover recipe when I had leftover apples, some time ago, when I came across a recipe on Youtube. I realised that it was the most easiest recipe I had found, so I tried it out. Though I've never actually tried other turnovers, I stuck with this one. It hasn't failed me yet.

Because the recipe says to add 3 tablespoons of orange juice, I had a bit of cinnamony orangey syrup let at the bottom. When I first made it, I did not know any better, so I drizzled that over the filling before rolling it up. During baking, it managed to seep out and turn itself into a burnt caramelly mess that adhered itself to the turnovers. It wasn't only unsightly, it tasted gross. So after that, I always refrain the collective juices at the bottom.

I sprinkled white sugar on top of the egg wash and it contributed wonderfully. Some granules did not melt but that did not matter. It was great paired with the tartness of the apples. I could not get a good photo of a whole turnover because all the photos were blurry due to the crappy lighting.

Recipe

Obtained here.
Makes 8 turnovers

3 cooking apples (I used Granny Smith)
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
1 teaspoon orange zest
1 tablespoon flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 sheets puff pastry, thawed at room temperature
1 egg
1 water or milk
Extra sugar, to sprinkle

1. Preheat oven to 200°C

2. Cut the puff pastry into 8 equal squares by making a cross in each sheet

3. Peel, core and chop the apples roughly into 1 centimetre cubes

4. Add orange juice and orange zest and stir to combine

5. Add the flour, sugar and cinnamon and mix thoroughly

6. Divide the mixture evenly among the puff pastry squares, making sure not to get much of the collective juices onto the squares

7. Fold each square over the filling, making a triangle. It may be necessary to remove a few pieces of apple.

8. Using a fork, crimp the two short edges of the triangle by pressing the twines onto them. Poke one set of holes on top the triangles to allow steam to escape

9. Whisk the egg and milk or water thoroughly, and brush liberally onto the turnovers.

10. Sprinkle liberally with sugar and bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until golden brown on top

11. Take out of oven and let cool for 5 minutes, then serve.

Lebanese Bread Pizza

2010-03-13T11:41:00.000+11:00

Alas, a savoury recipe!

I was at school last last friday and they were selling pizza for 2 dollars a slice. But they weren't ordinary pizzas with a thick, tough doughy base. No, they had a crispy thin base that broke off like Doritos. On top was some tomato pase, chicken pieces, onions, cheese and I think dried oregano. I drizzled mine with sweet chilli sauce, but I think I had forgotten how sweet sweet chilli sauce was. I could not taste anything but the sticky sweetness of the sauce, except for the occasional chicken piece. But the thin crispy base was enough to get me excited about making this pizza.

The problem with pizza recipes are that they tell you how to make your own pizza dough, and exactly what toppings to put on your base. I think the art of pizza is the fact that you can put almost anything on your pizza. So I have long given up searching for pizza recipes. I have one staple pizza dough recipe which came with my bread machine, and basically just top up with whatever we've got in the fridge. But since the base is premade (Lebanese bread), all had to do was to get my mum to drive to the local store and buy some chicken and cheese.

I had read somewhere that you had to crisp the bread up first, then top, then bake. It said to grill on high for three minutes. Of all the five settings on my oven, I've only ever used one, conventional, so I was hesitant to try the grill setting. But I did, and I set it to the highest temperature and put 2 halves of bread on a foil-lined baking tray and put it in the oven. I then went to check the marinating chicken while my grandma sliced some onions. I can't cut onions because they make me cry alot. When the timer went off, it smelt like something had burnt, but I couldn't see because the light inside the oven went off. When I opened the door, I saw the bread was completely black and was on fire. As the smoke alarm went off, the tray was quickly rushed outside. We turned the fan on to let all the smoke come out.

All bakers have to have what they are baking catch on fire at least once. I'm glad I've had mine now, so it won't happen when I'm serving highly-anticipated guests at my restaurant in Paris. Hey, I've got dreams too!

Anyways, I ended up crisping the bread up in my sandwich press instead. I think it works better than the oven because it heats both sides of the bread evenly. I topped off each halve of bread with mushrooms, chicken marinated in BBQ sauce, onions, corn, Mozzarella and Tasty cheese, and dried oregano. Then I baked it in the oven once the smoke had gone. It was really good, but I wouldn't serve this to hungry workers, though. Now I know why you need such thick bases on pizzas - to be filling. There's just nothing there to eat, so I would only make it again for lunch or a snack.

Recipe

Note: This is only what I did. You can put whatever toppings you like.

Makes 4 slices of pizza

2 slices Lebanese bread, cut in half
150 grams dice chicken thighs
1/2 cup BBQ sauce or marinade
1/2 onion, sliced into rings
3/4 cup tomato paste or pasta sauce
1/2 cup corn kernels
1 cup Mozzarella cheese, grated
1 cup Tasty (cheddar) cheese, grated
Dried oregano

1. Place chicken pieces in a bowl and pour BBQ marinade on top. Stir to coat, and cover with cling wrap and place in fridge. Marinade for 20 or more minutes.

2. Crisp up bread halves in sandwich maker or in a skillet, until hard.

3. Preheat oven to 200°C.

4. Briefly heat the chicken pieces in a pan until just cooked.

5. Divide tomato paste equally onto the bread. Divide onion, corn and chicken between the bread.

6. Top with cheese and oregano. Bake for 10-15 until cheese melts.

7. Eat immediately.

Sour Cream Coffee Cake

2010-03-07T17:15:00.000+11:00

So it's officially Autumn now, here in Australia. We were introduced to this new season with three days of heavy rain and a huge flood up in Queensland. But to me, that is good news. I'd prefer a rainy overcast day over a bright sunny day, any... day. Autumn is the season of browning leaves and cool weather, and is the season of apples! I look forward to apple turnovers, apple crumbles and apple bundt cakes.

Anyways, enough about autumn. I finally used my fluted tube pan to make something! I didn't make monkey bread but I did make Sour Cream Coffee Cake. I was tossing over two recipes - one with (wal)nuts and without. My family likes things with nuts in them, so I thought it would be better for everybody if I went with the one with walnuts. I obtained the recipe from 'The Modern Baker' by Nick Malgieri. I keep hearing that cakes with sour cream have wonderful texture and are really soft, so I thought why not?

A vein of cinnamon and walnuts streusel runs through the cake, but apparently my folks haven't tasted cinnamon before. They thought I had put too much baking powder or baking soda. Oh, speaking of putting too much, I greased the pan with too much butter. Before I attempted baking with my fluted tube pan, I had done a lot of research and found that people like to butter they pans first and sprinkle with some flour, even if it is non-stick. So that's what I did, except I put too much butter and just dumped flour into the pan and shook out the excess. That's why my cake unmoulded perfectly, but it had yellow patches on top. I was scared to tell them that it was just butter and flour, or they'd get a heart attack just by knowing. I dusted some sugar on top and that hid the butter just fine.

I couldn't get a shot of the full cake because it was getting late and my sister just wanted cake. Oh well, it tasted great anyways.

Recipe

Makes one 10-inch (25-cm) tube cake, about 24 slices

Cinnamon Sugar Nut Filling

1/3 cup granulated or light brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 cup (about 4 ounces/100 grams) pecan or walnut pieces,
coarsely chopped

Sour Cream Cake Batter

2 cups all-purpose flour
(spoon flour into a dry-measure cup and level off)
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
10 tablespoons (1. sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 large egg yolks
1 (8-ounce/225-gram) container sour cream

1. Set a rack in the lower third of the oven and
preheat to 325°F (160°C).

2. For the filling, mix the sugar, cinnamon, and nuts in a small bowl and set aside.

3. For the batter, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and baking soda in the bowl of an electric mixer. Stir well by hand to mix. Add the butter. Beat the mixture on low speed with the paddle until the mixture is a
smooth, heavy paste, 1 to 2 minutes.

4. Whisk the eggs, egg yolks, and sour cream together. On medium speed, beat 1⁄3 of the egg mixture into the flour and butter mixture. Beat for 1 minute.

5. Stop and scrape the bowl and beater, beat in another half of the remaining egg mixture and beat for 2 minutes. Repeat with the last of the egg mixture.

6. Remove the bowl from the mixer and using a rubber spatula give the batter a final mixing.

7. Scrape half the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Scatter half the sugar and nut filling on the batter.

8. Scrape the remaining batter over the sugar and nut mixture and smooth the top. Scatter on the remaining sugar and nut mixture.

9. Bake the cake until it is well risen and firm, and a toothpick or a small thin knife inserted midway between the side of the pan and the central tube emerges dry, about 1 hour.

10. Cool the cake in the pan for 5 minutes, the invert a rack over it. Invert and lift off the pan, then cover the cake with another rack or a cake cardboard and turn it right side up again. Cool the cake completely.

Coconut (and Lime) Ice Cream

2010-02-28T19:07:00.000+11:00

Ok, I know I post infrequently but that's because I'm a student. hey, study's gotta come first right? But I will try to post 1-2 times a week 'cos that's how many recipes I can make per week. My mum says that I make the kitchen all messy and stuff. >=(

So today I went to a local store called Victoria's Basement. It's full of kitchenware, bakeware, dinnerware etc. and at a fraction of their retail price. Guess what I bought? A footed cake stand, with a cover, a fluted tube pan (it's easier to say bundt pan, but because it's not from Nordic Ware, I can't), and two square plates. The first thing that I will be making with my fluted tube pan is monkey bread. You know, the bits of dough which you have to pull apart that's cinnamon-flavoured and sticky. Well most recipes I've found need refridgerated biscuits. WTF? My first reaction was how on earth do you refridgerate biscuits? Are they cooked? Are they frozen? What's the deal? Then I discovered that they 1) are canned and probably full of preservatives and other nasties and 2) are not found in Australia. Ok, so that's 3 things we don't get in Australia that Americans have at their fingertips. Wonder what else I can add to that list...

Anyways, I made ice cream a few days ago and well... I didn't like it. I've had a bad relationship with limes from an incident a few years back, and still haven't warmed up to them. This recipe for coconut ice cream had barely no coconut flavour and a hell a lot of lime..

Maybe the lack of coconut is because I used only 300mL instead of 400, because I ran out, and used milk for the remainder. I tasted it while it was in the ice cream machine and thought, nah-uh this ain't gonna do. So I soaked some shredded coconut and dropped them in. Baaaad move. In the end, it was super grainy from the still hard coconut pieces and much more liquidy than other ice creams I've made. I also strayed from the recipe by omitting the ginger. I thought, coconut, lime and ginger? I don't think my family's gonna like this. Well turns out they don't like it even without the ginger. It was icy, and sour... yeck. Oh well, you can't always succeed can you?

Recipe obtained from here.

New York Cheesecake

2010-02-20T13:38:00.000+11:00

Feels like an eternity since my last post. Things have been hectic, what with Chinese New Year and people coming to my house etc. etc. Our family celebrate the New Year with tons of dumplings and watching the New Year Gala. It starts at 11pm here in Sydney and goes 'til 4am the next day. I've never been able to stay up for the whole show. Also, some family friends came over and we went to the Blue Mountains, and my god was there fog.

There's this place called Echo Point where you can see the Three Sisters, but it was completely white. Not sure whether to be amazed or freaked out.

Anyways, yesterday I made cheesecake. Cheesecakes rank up there with my all-time favourite desserts, along with fried ice-cream and mango pudding. I can bet that there are thousands, if not millions of cheesecake recipes out there, including baked, no-bake, new york, roman, french etc. etc. I was browsing Kraft's online videos when their New York cheesecake caught my eye. It was simple enough so I decided to make it.

It definitely needed some tartness, in the form of lemon juice and/or lemon zest. It was too simply too rich. I think I aerated it too much because there was this giant ugly crack down one side and it was not dense like good cheesecakes should be. The recipe calls for cherry pie filling as a topping but we don't get that in Australia, nor do we get cool whip, which sucks, so I grated some dark chocolate over the top. It has an oreo base, which is 20 oreos bashed together, but it doesn't say to srape away the white filling inside. As a result, the white filling stuck to the sides of the plastic bag along with alot of the cookie crumbs. Aside from that everybody thought it was nice. Nice, but not fantastic.

Recipe obtained from here.

Marbled Cheesecake Brownies

2010-02-05T07:41:00.000+11:00

As you know, I live in Australia and, according to studies like this, this country has the most number of overweight and obese adults in the world. Of course, with overweight adults come overweight children and teens. Although I love eating the occasional butter-rich cake and sugar-filled(stuffed) dougnut, there comes a time when you have to go down the low-fat alleyway. But being low-fat or low-calorie doesn't mean food has to taste crap, so I went on the hunt for delicious low-calorie desserts.

At that time, I was also browsing around the Kraft website and my eyes fell instantly on their marbled brownies, but they asked for a brownie mix and did not have a nutritional table. So I set off to find a low calorie marbled brownie recipe and found multiple results, but the one I settled on was a recipe from the recipe section of Health.com. Each serving claimed to have only 140 calories, which was encouraging.

The brownie mixture was unbelievably thick. It took alot of effort to coax it to the sides of the pan and smooth it out evenly. This was also the reason why the cheesecake mixure did not marble enough with the brownie - it was just too thick. The taste was good, with the brownie dense and the coffee added to the richness. I think I will be experimenting with other non-low-fat recipes to compare it with.

Of course, replacing one dessert with a slightly healthier alternative is simply not enough to turn someone's life around. You need an all round healthy diet, as well as regular exercise. Still, if you are health-conscious, you should seriously try this recipe.

Recipe obtained from here.

Hello

2010-02-02T21:14:00.000+11:00

To start things off, I shall post a recipe that was made not-so-long ago... Christmas! We don't celebrate Christmas the same way as Westerners. Sure we eat turkey (those store bought frozen ones *ahem* lazy), and we do have a Christmas tree, but we don't give presents nor have friends or family come over for a big Christmas Day lunch. But this year, I did make dessert for our Christmas dinner. This dessert is a wonderful twist on the -Aussie- Chocolate Ripple Cake.

For those of you who are not familiar with Chocolate Ripple Cakes, they are possibly the easiest 'cakes' to make. Instead of -cake- use plain chocolate buiscuits. Whip some cream with sugar and vanilla and sandwich the cream between the chocolate biscuits, and continuing to make a log. Then cover it with the rest of the cream and refridgerate. The biscuits will absorb the moisture from the cream and become cake-like.

This time though, instead of just cream covering the chocolate biscuits, a portion of the cream was mixed with chopped cherries and cocoa. Then the whole ensemble was topped with chocolate curls and remaining cherries.

Now, what do you get when you cross chocolate, cherries and cream? Black Forest Cake! So this year for Christmas, I made Black Forest Ripple Cake, acquired from Taste.com.au - it's a wonderful site which compiles recipes from Australia's food magazines.

I added some chocolate leaves and shaved some chocolate to represent leaf litter, to add to the whole 'forest' theme. Don't do what I did, and soak the biscuits in the liquid from the canned cherries. Yeah, it didn't look very nice when brownish reddish coloured liquid started seeping out the bottom.

All in all, it was very delicious. I love black forest cakes, and this is ok. Personally I wouldn't mind making traditional black forest cake as opposed to this, but it's perfect for those who want a simple yet amazing dessert.

Recipe obtained from here.