One biscuit - two variations

Both of the following biscuit recipes are made using the same base, then varied, and they can be changed again by you according to what you like and what you have at home! For instance try choc mint by adding peppermint essence instead of vanilla extract. Add M and M's instead of choc chips (I have done this before but don't have a photo!), or smashed up Malteser's - the possibilities are endless. 

The base is very sweet and rich, so if you don't like that then this biscuit is not for you! I think they're lovely and they have a nice chewy texture. The original recipe was normal chocolate chips, but I like white chocolate instead, and then adapted it for a jaffa recipe as well, as the husband is a bit jaffa mad! 

White Chocolate Chip Biscuits

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate soda
1 tsp salt
160 g softened butter
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup soft brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 cups white chocolate chips

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Sift together flour, bicarbonate soda, and salt into a bowl. In a separate bowl cream the butter, sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add eggs and beat until just combined. Gradually add the flour mixture to the creamed butter, mixing until well combined, then stir in the chocolate chips. Drop teaspoonfuls of the mixture onto ungreased baking trays, allowing plenty of room for spreading. Bake for 8 - 10 min, then transfer onto a wire rack to cool.

Note: The biscuits are quite fragile while hot but they seem to set somewhat once cool, so just be careful when removing them from the baking tray.

Jaffa Biscuits

Use the above recipe and method, but substitute orange essence for the vanilla extract and substitute smashed up jaffa's for the chocolate chips. The easiest way to smash them is to add them to a strong sandwich/ziplock bag, then smash with a mallet - this way its mess free!

Treacle Snaps

Treacle snaps are one of my husband's favourite biscuits; in case you're wondering - yes most of the sweets I make I don't eat, I just make them for my husband!

What I love about these biscuits is that first of all they are easy, second they are a little different since they're quite crunchy, and contain ground cloves, cinnamon and ginger (and smell really nice when baked), and third is that because they are coated in sugar they catch all the light from my down lights in my kitchen! They look so pretty under light and so many people have commented on them when they walk into my kitchen - telling me how professional they look. If only they knew how easy they were!

Ingredients

185 g softened butter

1 cup white sugar (and extra for coating)

1/4 cup treacle

1 egg

2 cups plain flour

pinch of salt

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground cloves

1 tsp ground ginger

Method

Cream butter, sugar and treacle until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg. In a seperate bowl, sift together the flour, bicarbonate of soda, ginger, cloves and cinnamon. Add to the creamed mixture and beat until just combined.

Preheat oven to 190 degrees Celsius and lightly grease two baking trays.

Roll spoonfuls of the mixture into small balls, then roll these into sugar and place onto the baking tray, allowing plenty of room for spreading. Bake for 10 min, cool on the tray, then transfer to a wire rack.

Makes approximately 30.

Double chocolate Hazelnut Rocky Road

If you're looking for a super simple sweet to make look no further than Rocky road. While I don't actually like it myself I make it all the time for my husband and my father. Rocky road should be made according to your personal taste. For instance my husband doesn't like the Glace Cherries so I leave them out for him but add them for my dad. Also my husband prefers Hazelnuts while I make it with Macadamia's for dad.

Either way, pick what you like, throw it into a dish and leave to set in the fridge for a few hours and you have a yummy and fuss-free dessert!

Ingredients

2 x 180 g blocks Milk cooking chocolate
2 x 180 g blocks White cooking chocolate
125 g Hazelnut kernels
1 pkt large pink and white marshmallows (I have used the small ones before and they don't work as well!)

Method

In a large microwave-safe bowl add two blocks of milk cooking chocolate broken into small pieces and microwave in short bursts until the chocolate is melted and smooth. Add baking paper to a square tin, then place marshmallows and hazelnut kernels in the base and pour over the milk chocolate. In a separate microwave-safe bowl add 1 - 2 blocks of white chocolate (depending on your preference) broken into small pieces and microwave in short bursts until melted and smooth. Pour over the milk chocolate, gently flattening it out to cover, but without trying to mix the two. Refrigerate for about 3 hours, then slice into small pieces and serve. 

Chocolate Rocks

Love brownies? These are the biscuit form of brownies, soft, chewy, easy to make and very yummy.

Ingredients

100 g dark cooking chocolate

80 g butter

1 cup plain flour

2 tbs cocoa powder

1/4 tsp bicarbonate soda

1 egg, beaten

icing sugar to coat

Method

Melt the chocolate and butter in a saucepan over a low heat. Sift the flour, cocoa and bicarbonate of soda into a bowl. Add to to the chocolate, with the sugar, and egg, and mix well.

Chill in the refrigerator for ~ 20 min.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius and line a baking tray with baking paper.

Roll dough into small balls, then roll each ball in icing sugar, then place on the baking trays, leaving plenty of room for spreading. Bake for 15 min, leave to cool for on the tray then transfer to a wire rack.

Triple Choc Chip Shortbread

An easy (but flash looking) dessert to take to a party is choc chip shortbread. The shortbread is baked in a flan tin, then cut into smaller pieces. I used three different types of chocolate chips in this recipe, as I only had a small amount of each - white, milk and dark chocolate chips but you can use any of the three if you like.

My top tip for this dish is to cut the wedge shapes as soon as the shortbread is removed from the oven but then leave it in the tin until it cools completely as shortbread is very fragile!

Ingredients

115 g plain flour

55 g cornflour

55 g golden caster sugar

115 g butter, diced (plus extra to grease the flan tin)

40 g chocolate chips

Method

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees celsius, and grease a 23 cm flan tin.

Sift the cornflour and flour into a bowl and stir in the sugar. Add the butter, and rub into the mixture using your fingers until the mixture comes together. Transfer into the prepared dish and press it in to create an even surface. Prick the base with a fork. Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the shortbread and press them into the mixture.

Bake in the preheated oven for 35 min, or until cooked but not browned. Immediately cut into wedge shapes but leave in the tin to cool for at least 10 min. Then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

White Chocolate Mud Cake

This recipe produces a moist, dense, and rich white chocolate mud cake. A sure hit at any family get together, and its quite simple to make as well!!

Ingredients

250 g butter, chopped
200 g white chocolate, broken into small pieces
2 1/4 cups caster sugar
1 1/2 cups water
2 cups plain flour
2/3 cup self raising flour
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract

Icing

Place 250 g white chocolate, 1/2 cup cream and 70 g butter in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. Stir until entirely melted. Set aside to cool, then beat with an electric beater until thickened and fluffy. Spread over chilled cake.

Method

Preheat the oven to 120 degrees Celsius, Place the butter, chocolate, sugar and water in a saucepan over medium heat and stir until the mixture is smooth. Transfer mixture to a large bowl and whisk in the flours, then whisk in the eggs and vanilla. Pour the mixture into a 22 cm cake tin lined with baking paper. Bake for 2 hr or until cooked when a skewer is inserted in the centre. Stand for 10 min then remove from tin and allow to cool on a wire rack. Add icing and serve.

White chocolate mud cake with white chocolate fudge icing.

Easy peasy chicken and sweet corn soup

I have had a lot of chicken and sweet corn soup in this lifetime, and I don't mean to offend anyone but I think this soup is often tasteless. Particularly in Chinese restaurants. It's bland and boring and thickened with cornflour - yuk.

Mine is the recipe my mother taught me. It is fast and the best version I have ever tasted. She probably wont want me to share this recipe, but I don't care! I hate to see a good meal butchered. And my version is so fast that when you don't feel like cooking this can be made in about 10 min. Yes, 10 min!

My recipe is also chicken free since I use a pre-made soup base, that's what makes it so fast. So feel free to add chicken to the recipe if you like, but this will obviously increase the cooking time. You may think this version sounds weird, but trust me - its excellent.

Ingredients

1 can Campbells Cream of Chicken soup

1 can creamed corn

1 can corn kernels

2 L water

6 rashers bacon

1 tsp ginger

1 tsp garlic 

1-2 tbs stock powder (I prefer Vegeta Vegetable stock but chicken stock works equally well)

4 eggs

Method

Dice bacon. Lightly beat eggs.

Combine all ingredients (except eggs) in a pot. Bring to the boil. While this is happening, taste and if necessary adjust the salt level by adding more stock - I like mine a little salty. When the mixture is boiling turn the heat down to simmer and pour 1/4 of the egg mixture slowly into the pot in a circular motion. Wait for the egg to cook and rise and repeat until the egg is used up.

Serve. See - very quick!! 

Cinnamon and apple cake

Got some green apples which look at little too old to eat? The rest of the ingredients for this cake should be in your fridge or pantry.

The smell of apple and cinnamon in the oven is absolutely amazing and this cake is very soft and crumbly and yummy! Note this recipe only makes a small cake, but I think its enough, the cake itself is not terrible rich but the apples combined with cinnamon and butter make a rich topping. 

Cake
2 cups self-raising flour
4 tbs Castor sugar
6 tbs softened butter
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2/3 cup milk

Topping
200g green apples, peeled, cored and sliced thinly
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp cornflour
1 1/2 tbs butter, melted

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C. Lightly grease a 23 cm round spring form tin and line with baking paper.

Sift the flour and sugar into a mixing bowl. Add the butter and cut into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Stir in the egg and milk and beat to a smooth batter. Be careful as this is quite a thick batter! Spread over the base of the prepared tin.

Combine the apple, cinnamon, and cornflour in a bowl coating the apple evenly. Arrange on top of the cake batter. Drizzle the melted butter on top of the apples.

Bake for 55 min or until cooked through. Cool on a wire rack and remove tin when cold.

Passion fruit slice

As mentioned in a previous post my mother has a small farm and she sends me home with oodles of produce which I have to somehow find a way to use! Poor me right? Just kidding. Anyway, she found passion fruit vines growing wild on her place, and so we pulled it up, and planted it in the garden and grew it over a trellis. After more than a year there was bright green fruit all over it, however, it just never seemed to become purple. There were many, many conversations along the lines of people telling mum that it must be an ornamental variety (which you can't eat), however, smart me tells her to wait for the weather to change (because it was many, many months of cloud, followed by rain, followed by cloud.....) and lo and behold, what happened.....we ended up with hundreds of passion fruit. Literally. Told you so mum!

So what to do with all this passion fruit??? Well I can promise you I ate about 60 or so myself cause I remember mum came over one day with 90 passion fruit, I tried to sell some off but no one was really interested so I ate about 60 and froze about 30. Did you know you can freeze passion fruit? Since passion fruit are expensive I would recommend buying them when they are on sale and freezing them in their shells. They freeze really well and when you defrost them you can't taste the difference and there is no change in consistency of the fruit.

Finally just a little note on the recipe, this is not a cake, its very much like passion fruit-flavoured shortbread with icing! 

Base
3/4 cup softened butter
1 cup icing sugar
1/3 cup passion fruit pulp
1 1/2 cups self-raising flour
1 cup cornflour
pinch salt

Icing
90g butter melted
2 cups icing sugar
2 tbs pulp

Method

Preheat oven to 180C. Lightly grease a square slice tin. For the base, cream the butter and sifted icing sugar until light and fluffy, then beat in the passion fruit pulp. Add the sifted flour, cornflour and salt and mix well to combine. Press into a prepared tin and bake for 30 min.

To make passion fruit icing, beat together the butter, sifted icing sugar and passion fruit pulp until smooth. Once slice is cool, top with icing and cut into small fingers, as they are quite rich!

Satay Chicken Noodles

If you like satay this is a really amazing recipe that's actually pretty simple to make and does not require any really extravagant ingredients - most of these should be in your pantry or fridge. And its a great way to incorporate a lot of veggie into a meal. The recipe makes quite a bit of sauce and this may help to hide vegetables from fussy eaters.

Ingredients (sauce)
1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter
1/2 cup coconut cream
1/2 cup chicken stock
2 tbs sweet chilli sauce
1 tbs lime juice
1 tbs soy sauce
1-2 tbs brown sugar

Ingredients other
1 tsp crushed ginger
1 tsp crushed garlic
1 onion segmented
1 pack tofu
3 carrots julienned
1/2 head broccoli
500g chicken thigh
250 g hokkien or udon noodles
2 tsp ground turmeric
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground coriander
Vegetable oil

Method

1. Dice chicken, add to plastic bag, add coriander, cumin and turmeric and shake to coat.

2. Cook onion until soft, add capsicum and cook for a few min then add ginger and garlic. Remove into a separate bowl. Add more oil and cook chicken in batches and drain on absorbent paper.

3. Cook broccoli and carrot in the microwave or stove top until just soft.

4. Make sauce by combining all ingredients in a large jug, mix to combine using a rotary beater if you have one cause the sauce is quite thick!

5. Add onion, capsicum, and chicken back to wok, and heat through. Add sauce, when it starts to boil, add vegetables and noodles back to wok. Stir through for a few min being careful with the noodles to prevent them from breaking. When the sauce has thickened serve.

Morrocan Lemon Meatball Tagine

Since receiving a tagine as a wedding present I have really gotten into the Moroccan cuisine. So much so that cumin, which is widely used in Moroccan cooking, has become one of my favorite herbs, and so features as part of the name of my blog. This dish is very plain without the preserved lemons, so maybe a good one to try if you're new to Moroccan. But I love the preserved lemons and would not have it without them. Preserved lemons are very easy to make, and a recipe for them can be found in an earlier post of this blog.

Ingredients (Meatballs)

• 1/2 onion finely chopped
• 2 tbs chopped flat leaf parsley
• 2 slices white bread, crust removed, or 1 cup bread crumbs
• 1 egg
• 500g minced beef/lamb
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp paprika (sweet or smoked) powder
• 1 tsp crushed garlic
• freshly ground black pepper
• salt

Ingredients (Herb and Lemon Sauce)

• 1 tbs oil
• 1/2 onion coarsely chopped
• 1 tsp paprika powder
• 1 tsp ground turmeric
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 375 ml chicken/vegetable stock
• 2 tbs chopped coriander
• 2 tbs chopped parsley
• 2 tbs lemon juice
• 2 preserved lemons (or less - to taste)

Method

1. Finely chop the onion and parsley. Process bread slices and egg in a food processor, if using bread crumbs add onion, parsley, breadcrumbs, egg, meat, garlic, salt and pepper, cumin and paprika to a large bowl. Knead to achieve a paste like consistency. Roll into walnut sized balls, put balls on a tray in the fridge until needed.
2. Roughly chop onion, gently fry over low heat. Add paprika, turmeric, cumin and cayenne pepper and cook stirring for 1 min or until fragrant. Add the stock and coriander and bring to the boil.
3. If using a tagine add meatballs to tagine and add boiling sauce over tagine. Otherwise add meatballs to sauce and cover, cook over low heat for at least 45 min. Add most of the parsley and the lemon juice. Remove preserved lemon from jars, discarding flesh and pith, rinse really well under water (as these are very salty), cut into strips and add to saucepan and cook for about 5 min. Serve with cous cous and/or crusty bread and sprinkle with remaining parsley.

Fragrant Thai Meatballs

Recently hubby asked me to make him some snack food for work. He is a tradie, so walking around a workshop he sometimes has time to eat small bites of food. This was one of the things I cooked for him, and I served it with a homemade satay sauce. They're easy to make, and very yummy with a lovely coriander and curry paste flavour.

Ingredients

• 500g minced beef
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 stalk lemon grass finely chopped (or 1 tsp lemon grass powder)
• 4 shallots, finely chopped
• 2 tbs chopped coriander
• 2 tbs green curry paste
• 1 tbs lemon juice
• 1 tbs fish sauce
• 1 egg
• salt and pepper to taste
• rice flour
• vegetable oil

Method

Combine all ingredients except flour and oil. Mix well, roll into walnut sized balls. Roll in rice flour to coat. Then fry in batches until browned.

Serve with satay, sweet chilli sauce or kecap manis (thick sweet soy from Asian grocer - get it, it's amazing!).

Cherry Clafoutis with whipped cream

As previously mentioned I had some left over cherries from Christmas which I froze. Then wanting to make a special dessert for mum and myself I whipped this up. It was easy, fast and yummy. This recipe is best for the cold weather though as it's a hot dessert. Just as a tip, the original recipe said to serve hot but I would leave it at least 5 min, otherwise it breaks as you serve it like mine did! Don't worry though, it was still taste good.

Ingredients
800 g frozen cherries (well drained)
1/2 cup plain flour
pinch salt
1/3 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup milk
1 tsp melted butter
icing sugar, to serve
whipped cream, to serve

Method

1. Grease a 23 cm pie tin with butter, and lay out the cherries evenly.
2. Preheat oven to 180C.
3. Combine sifted flour, salt and sugar in a bowl.
4. Mix eggs, milk and vanilla in a separate bowl.
5. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and gradually incorporate wet ingredients, then beat until smooth.
6. Pour mixture over cherries and bake at 180 for 30 min or until risen and golden brown.
7. Dust with icing sugar and top with whipped cream.

Preserved Lemons

Silky preserved lemons are an essential ingredient in Moroccan and North African cuisine. They impart a fragrant, sweet yet sour taste to tagines and salads and go particularly well with lamb and chicken. Once pickled, you can eat the whole thing, rind and all. I generally only use the rind, discarding the flesh and pith from each, then rinsing well under water. I started preserving lemons because I love Moroccan cuisine, but I have been doing them a lot more lately since mum has a lemon tree and I have been getting all the unwanted lemons - lucky me!! Also they make a lovely gift; my mother in law, sister in law and grandmother in law have all received a jar!

Ingredients (to fill a 500 ml jar)

10 medium unwaxed lemons
Rock salt
4 bay leaves
15 peppercorns
15 coriander seeds
6 cloves (optional)

Method

Cut 9 lemons into wedges, 8 per lemon, then remove the seeds. Squeeze the remaining lemon and reserve the juice.

Firmly press a layer of lemon wedges into the bottom of a sterilised jar. Cover with 1 teaspoons of salt, a bay leaf, a few peppercorns and coriander seeds and 1 or 2 cloves. Press down another later of lemon wedges and repeat the salting and spicing process. Continue until there is only 3 cm or so of space at the top of the jar.

Now pour in the lemon juice, top with boiling water and seal the jar. Store in a cool, dark place for 1 month before using. The lemons will keep for about 1 year.

You may want to check the lemons ever few days. Some batches will let off a bit of gas and briefly opening the lids will relieve the pressure. But this problem is unlikely to occur if you’ve used enough salt. Before eating, rinse the lemons well under water to remove the salt. Return the jar to the fridge with a layer of olive oil to cover the lemons.

Snickerdoodles

These are my favourite biscuit, they're buttery and kind of like a cinnamon donut but in biscuit form. They're so good the kids (and the hubby) will love them!

Ingredients
60g softened butter
3/4 cup Castor sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup plain flour
1/2 cup self-raising flour
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Other
2 tbs Castor sugar mixed with 2 tsp ground Cinnamon, in a bowl

Method
Preheat oven to 190 degrees Celsius. Lightly grease baking trays.

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and mix well. Sift in flours and salt, add vanilla and combine well. Roll into 2 cm balls, then roll the balls in the cinnamon/sugar mix to coat. Place onto trays, allowing room for spreading, and bake for 10 - 12 min. The biscuits should crack over the surface but be crunchy.

Makes 24.

Peking Duck Breasts

Recently whilst shopping at Coles I picked up a pack of 2 duck breast fillets. I have tried duck several times and never really got into, finding it too fatty or too dry. I wanted to try to make something I knew hubby and I would love, especially since hubby had never really tried duck. I researched this recipe on the Internet and then modified it to my liking. It was honestly one of the nicest things I have ever cooked, and I will definitely be cooking it again!!

Ingredients

2 duck breast fillets
1 1/2 tbs tomato sauce
1/2 tbs plum sauce
1/2 tbs sambal olek
1/4 tsp hoi sin sauce
1 tbs Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 tbs brown vinegar
1 1/2 tbs sugar
small pinch five spice powder
2 tbs water
sesame seeds

Method

Preheat oven to 180C. Combine all ingredients except duck and sesame seeds in a saucepan, heat to dissolve sugar, and allow to concentrate to a thick sauce (about 10 min), stirring frequently.

Place duck breast skin side down in a moderately heated dry fry pan, cook for 4 min, turn over, cook 1 for min, add to dry baking dish skin side up, add a spoonful of Peking sauce to each, reserving some for plating up, cook for 12 min, at 180C (they may still be a little pink in the centre but duck is a coloured meat and completely safe to eat at this point). Remove from oven, add reserved sauce and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Serve with Asian vegetables; I used Choy Sum and julienne carrots and served with a thick soy based sauce.

Cherry lattice pie

I made this one for my New Year's Eve party in 2011. I was given a whole box of left over cherries from Christmas day. So I went and bought a cherry pitter for about $15 and got stuck into it! I wish I took a photo of my hands at the end, they were bright purple, quite pretty!

The cherries I did not use in this recipe I froze and used later to make a Cherry Clafoutis. Just FYI they froze quite well, but needed to be well drained before using.

Ingredients - Shortcrust pastry

400 g plain flour, sifted

240 g chilled unsalted butter, chopped

120 ml cold water

1/2 tsp salt

Ingredients - Cherry filling

140g caster sugar

2 tbs cornflour

zest and juice of a lemon

680 g stoned cherries

Method

Preheat the oven to 200C. Sift the flour and salt into a large bowl and add the butter, using your fingertips rub he butter into the flour until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Make a well in the centre of the mixture and pour in 60 ml chilled water into the well. Mix with a flat-bladed knife to incorporate the water. When the mix starts to come together as a dough gently life onto a lightly floured work surface. Gently press the dough into a ball, kneading if necessary to ensure the dough comes together. Press into a flat, round disc, cover with cling wrap, and refrigerate for 30 min. Grease a flan tin (~23 cm) with butter and preheat the oven to 200C. Roll out the 1/2 the dough to the size of the tin, roll the dough over the rolling pin and use this to transfer the dough onto the tin. Press the dough into the flan tin to create an even surface all over. Mix the sugar, cornflour, juice and zest of lemon together. Pour this mixture over the cherries and toss to coat evenly. Add the cherries to the pie, and return the pie to the fridge while the pastry lattice is prepared. 

 

Roll out the second disc of pastry dough. Using a sharp knife, cut the dough into 1 inch strips. Arrange the lattice top by weaving the pieces between each other then pressing them down at the edges of the tin to seal. Bake the pie for 20 min. Check the crust and if necessary cover the edges with aluminium foil to prevent over browning. Continue baking for 35 - 40 min, until the cherry filling bubbles and the crust is golden brown.

 

Transfer to a wire rack and cool for 1 hr. Serve warm with whipped cream.

 

Thai Pork Dumpling Soup

This is a lovely soup I invented for my husband, who loves Thai/Chinese food, but is not keen on soups. He loved it of course, its very yummy! In addition the dumplings can be eaten on their own with a nice dipping sauce such as sweet chilli or satay sauce.

Ingredients - dumplings

500 g pork mince

1 tsp crushed ginger

1 tsp crushed garlic

1/2 bunch finely chopped coriander

1 tbs sweet soy sauce (Kecap Manis - available from Chinese stores)

1/2 cup breadcrumbs

1 tsp fish sauce

1 finely diced red chilli

1/2 carrot, finely grated

4 dried shitake mushrooms, soaked in hot water then finely chopped

Ingredients - soup

2.5 L water

250g rice noodles, cooked in hot water and drained

2 carrots, julienned

1/2 head broccoli, cut into small florets

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup oyster sauce

2 tbs chicken or vegetable stock powder

sprigs coriander to garnish

Method

Combine all dumpling ingredients in a large bowl, and combine well with your hands. Roll into 3 cm bowls and place onto a lightly greased tray, refrigerate until required.

Cook noodles in boiled water, for approximately 5 min, using a fork to separate them, then drain, rinse and allow to drain again.

Chop broccoli and carrot, add to pot with 2.5 L water and allow to come to the boil. While this is happening add the remaining ingredients to the soup. Taste the soup as you may need to adjust the flavour with additional stock powder.

Place a bamboo steamer lined with baking paper (which has been pierced to allow steam to travel through) over a wok filled with boiling water. Add dumplings and cook in batches for approximately 10 min or until cooked through.

Serve the soup into individual bowls, add noodles to each bowl. followed by 3 or so dumplings, garnish with coriander and serve.

Pistachio cupcakes with lime frosting

These cupcakes were also made for Christmas dinner. My husband's family are a little mad about pistachio's so I thought I would give these a try. The lime frosting really makes them, and one cupcake is definitely not enough!

Ingredients - Cupcakes

85 g unsalted pistachio nuts

115 g butter, softened

140 g golden Castor sugar

140 g self-raising flour

2 eggs, lightly beaten

4 tbs natural yoghurt

1 tbs chopped pistachio nuts, extra

Ingredients - Icing

200 g icing sugar

115 g butter, softened

2 tbs lime juice cordial

a few drops green food colouring

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C, grease 2 x 12-hole muffin pans and add silicone cases if you have them. Add the pistachio nuts to a food processor and process for a dew seconds until finely ground. Add the butter, sugar, flour, eggs and yoghurt to a mixing bowl, add the pistachio nuts and mix well. Spoon the mixture into the muffin tins so that they're about 2/3 full. Bake for 20-25 min or until well risen and springy to the touch. Transfer to a wire rack and allow to cool completely.

To make the icing add the butter, lime cordial and food colouring to a bowl and beat until light and fluffy. Sift in the icing sugar and beat until smooth. Add icing to each cupcake and then sprinkle with chopped pistachio nuts.

Apricot glazed fruit flan

So as I mentioned in my last post I will be working my way from the beginning of my creations through to now. This was the one that started it all really. I made it for Christmas and a cousin told me it was so beautiful that I ought to take a photo of it. Once I did, I shared the photo on facebook and this caused a bit of reaction which only encouraged me further to cook more beautiful and delicious food. Because this was both...a lovely handmade shortcrust pie, a custard filling, fresh seasonal fruit on top, glazed with apricot jam. Yum! And not only that but a few people who have sampled a lot of my cooking said this was one of the nicest things I had ever made. Quite a big statement, but true, this really is the perfect summer pie.

Ingredients

Shortcrust pastry

200 g plain flour, sifted

120 g chilled unsalted butter, chopped

60 ml cold water

1/4 tsp salt

Pastry cream

115 g sugar

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 large egg yolk, lightly beaten

2 tbs cornflour

235 ml whole milk

120 ml whipping cream

2 tsp vanilla essence

Other

680 g white and yellow nectarine, kiwi fruit, blueberry, and strawberry

55 g apricot jelly/jam

1 tsp water

Method - shortcrust pastry

Sift the flour and salt into a large bowl and add the butter, using your fingertips rub he butter into the flour until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Make a well in the centre of the mixture and pour in 60 ml chilled water into the well. Mix with a flat-bladed knife to incorporate the water. When the mix starts to come together as a dough gently life onto a lightly floured work surface. Gently press the dough into a ball, kneading if necessary to ensure the dough comes together. Press into a flat, round disc, cover with cling wrap, and refrigerate for 30 min. Grease a flan tin (~23 cm) with butter and preheat the oven to 200C. Roll out the dough to the size of the tin, roll the dough over the rolling pin and use this to transfer the dough onto the tin. Press the dough into the flan tin to create an even surface all over. Line with baking paper and add baking beads or dried pulses such as chickpeas or lentils. Bake blind for 20 min, then remove from the oven. Brush the base of the tart with a lightly beaten egg. 

Method - pastry cream

Combine the sugar, eggs, egg yolk and cornflour in a medium bowl. Set aside. Place the milk and cream in a bowl over simmering water. Bring to a simmer and then remove from heat. Slowly whisk hot milk/cream into the sugar mixture. When smooth, return to the saucepan and cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until the mixture begins to thicken. Bring this to the boil and cook for a minute whisking constantly. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla. Place cling wrap over the surface to prevent a skin from forming, and chill for a minimum of 3 hours.

Method - assembly

Whisk the cooked pastry cream and fill the tart shell, smoothing the top with a spatula. Carefully arrange the fruit in a decorative pattern over the pastry cream. Warm the apricot jelly/jam in a small saucepan over low heat. Add the water and stir until smooth. Using a pastry brush, glaze the fruit. Then serve!

Cumin, tomato and vanilla??? Is she crazy?

This is not some bizarre new combination of flavours for a dessert (like bacon chocolate cupcakes for instance, now that's weird!). No, this is a blog name. I had to come up with something unique - "Kylie's Kitchen" for instance was taken! So I will explain....

Cumin - my favourite herb, it smells so lovely!

Tomato - my favourite staple, I don't think I could go more than a few days without it!

Vanilla - my favourite scent, and one of the reasons why I love baking, vanilla essence, yum!

So now that that's explained, I will introduce myself, my name is Kylie, I live in the merry old land of Oz, and I love to cook! My mother, who is an excellent cook, taught me the love of the kitchen, and from there I have gone a little crazy! This year I decided I would start trying some new things, challenging myself to try to be a better cook. I started posting all my pictures on Facebook and got quite a reaction out of people, they were surprised I could cook like that I guess. Anyway my lovely sister-in-law suggested I start a blog, and I admit I had toyed with the idea of a blog before, but once she made the suggestion I decided I would definitely start one. So that's that!

I will try to post on a regular basis but to begin with it will be the back log of things I have created up to now (that I have a photo of) so it may seem kind of erratic! My apologies.

Lastly I will say that my focus is always good food, that's relatively nutritious, I like to create things from scratch, I think it tastes better, and I definitely have an interest in preserving since my mother lives on a farm and sends me home with more stuff than hubby and I can eat (see below), so I preserve what I can!

Produce from my mothers small farm; tomatoes, baby carrots, sweet potatoes, figs, potatoes, passion fruit and chillies!

I hope you enjoy my blog and please feel free to comment - I would love to hear what you think and any suggestions you may have for me as I embark on my journey to be a better cook!!