A Surprising Discovery and Chocolate Macadamia Shortbread

Right now I am feeling pretty stupid. For the last two or three months, I have been receiving regular comments on my blog in Chinese. As any blogger will tell you, receiving comments is one of the great things about blogging. It is incredibly gratifying when people find what you write interesting enough to give you some feedback. So I was flattered and would think to myself how nice it is that someone overseas is reading my blog, and be amazed yet again at how the Internet is making the world a smaller and smaller place. Lots of warm feelings....

And then today, I received a lengthy comment in Chinese and started to wonder what on earth my correspondent could be saying. Most comments that I receive run about a sentence or two, while this one appeared to be a lengthy paragraph. I decided to send it on to my clever sister-in-law who can read Chinese characters, who immediately responded "It's a list of adult short films, with a short description of each film. DELETE! DELETE!" So, if you can read Chinese, and thought that I was starting to act as a middleman peddling exotic services, rest assured that I will be sticking to the core business of cooking from here on. Also understand that I have now activated comment moderation, so I will be able to bin the adult services before they get posted on my blog. Apologies to anyone who has been offended in the last month or two. And here I was thinking they must be keen on mango recipes......

Now, onto something sweeter. This shortbread recipe appeared in this month's Delicious in Belinda Jeffrey's column. I really rate Belinda Jeffrey's recipes as scrumptious and achievable. I have two of her cookbooks ("100 Favourite Recipes" and "Tried and True Recipes") and have made so many brilliant things from them, that if I posted all of them I would be reproducing virtually half of each book. I noticed that one of them has recently been reprinted so if you want a recommendation for a cookbook you will keep turning to, I suggest you take a look. Or you can just accumulate her columns from Delicious!

This shortbread was made as a thank you present for a neighbour, who later phoned and asked for the recipe - always a good sign. It came out a little moister than I expected despite my decision to leave it in the oven for an additional ten or fifteen minutes. I think this may have been because it was so hot here when I was making them that my butter was half melted, instead of the firm butter envisioned by Belinda. So the final biscuit, in texture, was closer to a slice than to shortbread. But it was completely scrumptious - just the thing for me to nibble on over a cup of tea as I contemplate how daft I can be at times.

I have been cooking from Delicious all month with Melinda from Melbourne Larder in a challenge to make use of our food magazines. If you would like to join us, drop either one of us a line. Oh, and watch out for any unintelligible comments...

Chocolate Macadamia Shortbread Biscuits
from Delicious Dec 09 / Jan 10

1 1/2 cups plain flour
2/3 cup fine semolina
1/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup chopped roasted macadamias
60g chopped dark chocolate
300g unsalted butter at room temperature, chopped
180g caster sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Grease and line the base and sides of a 18 x 28 cm lamington pan, leaving a 3cm overhang on all sides. Place the flour, semolina, baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt in a bowl and stir well to combine. Stir in macadamias and chocolate.

Combine butter, sugar and vanilla in a food processor and whiz for 1-2 mins till creamy, stopping occasionally to scrape down the sides with a spatula. Stir butter mixture into flour mixture until well combined. The dough should be quite thick and a bit hard to mix - mine wasn't because of the very soft butter. Press the dough into a pan and prick all over with a fork. Chill for 15 mins. Preheat over to 160C. Bake shortbread for 25-30 mins until firm to the touch. While it is still hot, use a knife to score the biscuits. Cool in the pan for 10 mins, then lift out the shortbread and cut into fingers. Keeps for 5 days.

Cappucino Biscuits

On the list of my sins ( far too exhaustive to contemplate listing or even contemplating), both caffeine and chocolate are prominent. For a long time, caffeine kept me moving through the day. Through the infancy of a daughter who wouldn't sleep, through crisis management (an airline collapse, terrorism and anthrax attacks spring to mind), and midnight conference calls, there was always a coffee nearby. Additionally any private management meeting, in my world of open plan offices, also happened "over coffee", which meant downstairs at the coffee shop. Things got so out of control that caffeine stopped it's positive effect on me and started giving me heart palpitations. Yikes. I was forced to severely reduce my intake. Periodically I fall back into bad habits, and find myself having to cut back again. I have never indulged in chocolate as wantonly as I drank coffee - just a little nibble here and there, with a mouthful of bitter dark chocolate usually sufficient to quash any craving. But the chocolate and coffee combination? I adore it. Cappucino? Yes please.



These tiny cookies bring all that is good about chocolate and coffee into one little biscuit. And they are really a little treat. The dough is rolled out into sausages that are about 3cm in diameter before being chilled and sliced and then baked. They wind up the perfect size to sit on the saucer next to your coffee - a tiny unit of energy to nibble while you read the paper or take that conference call or manage that crisis or do whatever. The recipe comes from a wonderful old cookbook of mine by Barbara Tropp: "The China Moon Cookbook". If you ever see this cookbook, even if you don't like Asian food, grab it for the cookie recipes.





Cappuccino coins
from "the China Moon Cookbook" by Barbara Tropp

makes 10 dozen cookies
125g cold unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
¼ cup packed dark brown sugar
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 extra-large egg
1 cup plus 2 Tbs. all-purpose flour
1 ½ tsp. instant coffee powder or granules
1 ½ tsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
½ tsp. cinnamon
¼ tsp. fine sea salt
½ cup finely chopped semisweet chocolate

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and both sugars on medium speed until smooth, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the egg and mix until smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add the flour, instant coffee, cocoa, cinnamon, salt, and chocolate bits; mix thoroughly for 2 to 3 minutes.

Gather the dough together and turn onto a lightly floured board. Using lightly floured hands, roll the dough into 2 or 3 even 3cm-thick logs. Wrap the logs separately in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour. Preheat the oven to 175C. Move an over rack to the middle position. Line large baking sheets with parchment paper.



Slice the logs into 1/2 cm thick coins, and place them ½ inch apart on the prepared baking sheets. One sheet at a time, bake until the cookies are lightly golden and are firm enough at the edges to slide off the parchment without sticking, 15 to 17 minutes. Cool on the baking sheets set on wire racks.

Chocolate and Strawberry Macarons

A couple of weeks ago, I had the distinct pleasure of selecting something to make for a shower tea. We have a new bride entering the family and we all wanted her to feel special and welcome. Because she is also a foodie, I wanted to make something completely delicious and a little out of the ordinary, and so settled on macarons.

Macarons are certainly the indulgence of the moment. Ever since Sophia Coppola featured them in all their pastel glory in Marie Antoinette, a macaron craze has been sweeping the world. Websites debate where the best macarons in Paris can be found, while magazine features show lovingly shot piles in exotic colours and flavours, or parfums as the French say. But for me, especially as a first time macaron chef, I was not considering liquorice or lychee or anything exotic. I decided to stay with strawberry and chocolate as good safe bets, especially since there would be kids at the shower.

Having watched the Masterchef macarons, and after reading various blog posts about the trials and tribulations of making macarons, I was prepared for the worst. And yes, I completely stuffed up the first batch by whipping the egg whites firm (correct), but then adding the remaining ingredients into the mixer instead of stirring in by hand (definitely not correct - the egg whites lost their stiffness and I was left with a mixture that was way too runny to pipe). So I started again.....with a little more success. I used egg whites from the supermarket (non-refrigerated as I had forgotten to leave any out overnight). I also did not leave the piped macarons to stand for 4-5 hours; instead I left them for a couple of hours. Make sure you only bake one tray at a time - when I went to swap my trays half way through the cooking all the bottom macarons were cracked, so I left the trays as they were and the top ones remained uncracked. (You can see a cracked macaron hiding in the top left of my picture). I also kept the cooked but unfilled macarons in the freezer for a couple of days with no problems.

When it came to making the chocolate macarons, I decided to try another recipe, this time from Martha Stewart. The flavour was really good - my youngest told me they tasted just like the ones from the Lindt Cafe and you don't get higher praise than that. The downside was that they were a bit thicker and not as crisp as the strawberry ones. I will keep experimenting with recipes, but in the meantime I would make both of these again. They were really really good - the Gourmet Traveller recipe lighter and crisper, Martha's chewier and denser. I guess it depends where your preferences lie : one or the other or both!

Macarons with white chocolate and strawberry ganache adapted from Australian Gourmet Traveller

130 gm pure icing sugar
110 gm almond meal
105 gm eggwhite (about 2), at room temperature, left out overnight
65 gm caster sugar
4-5 drops rose food colouring

White chocolate and raspberry ganache
50 ml pouring cream
100 gm white chocolate
45 gm raspberries, coarsely chopped

Process icing sugar and almond meal in a food processor until finely ground, triple-sift into a large bowl and set aside. Whisk 90gm eggwhite in an electric mixer until soft peaks form (1-2 minutes). Add caster sugar, a tablespoon at a time, whisking continuously until incorporated and mixture is thick and glossy (2-3 minutes), then add food colouring. Stir in almond mixture in batches until incorporated and mixture slowly slides down sides of bowl when bowl is tilted. Add remaining eggwhite to loosen mixture, spoon into a piping bag with a 1cm plain nozzle, pipe 3cm-diameter rounds of mixture onto heavy baking-paper-lined oven trays, stand until a crust begins to form (4-5 hours).

Preheat oven to 140C. Bake macarons until firm but not coloured, one tray at a time (10-12 minutes), set aside, cool completely on trays.

Meanwhile, for white chocolate and strawberry ganache, bring cream just to the boil in a small saucepan. Remove from heat, add chocolate, stand until melted (5 minutes), stir until smooth and glossy. Refrigerate until firm yet still pliable (45 minutes-1 hour) then stir until smooth. Add raspberries, stir to form a ripple effect, then spoon a teaspoon of ganache onto half the macarons. Sandwich with remaining macarons and refrigerate until set. Macarons will keep for 1-2 days refrigerated in an airtight container.

Chocolate Macarons

adapted from Martha Stewart

1 cup icing sugar
1/2 cup almond flour

3 Tbl unsweetended cocoa powder
2 large egg whites, room temperature
Pinch of cream of tartar
1/4 cup castor sugar

Pulse icing sugar and almond flour in a food processor until combined. Sift mixture twice.
Preheat oven to 185 degrees. Whisk whites with a mixer on medium speed until foamy. Add cream of tartar, and whisk until soft peaks form. Reduce speed to low, then add castor sugar. Increase speed to high, and whisk until stiff peaks form, about 8 minutes. Sift flour mixture over whites, and fold until mixture is smooth and shiny.

Transfer batter to a pastry bag fitted with a 1cm plain round tip, and pipe 3cm rounds 3cm apart on parchment-lined baking sheets, dragging pastry tip to the side of rounds rather than forming peaks. Tap bottom of each sheet on work surface to release trapped air. Let stand at room temperature for 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees. Bake 1 sheet at a time, rotating halfway through, until macaroons are crisp and firm, about 10 minutes. After each batch, increase oven temperature to 375 degrees, heat for 5 minutes, then reduce to 325 degrees.

Let macaroons cool on sheets for 2 to 3 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. (If macaroons stick, spray water underneath parchment on hot sheet. The steam will help release macaroons.)
Sandwich 2 same-size macaroons with ganache (recipe below). Serve immediately, or stack between layers of parchment, wrap in plastic, and freeze for up to 3 months.

Chocolate Ganache

Makes 3/4 cup ganache
1/2 cup pouring cream
100g dark chocolate, finely chopped (preferably 70 percent cacao)
15g unsalted butter, softened

Pour cream over chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Let stand for 2 minutes. Add butter, then whisk mixture until smooth. Let cool, stirring often. Use immediately.

Strawberry Shortcake Cookies from Martha

Martha Stewart sends me (and probably most of the rest of the English speaking world) three emails every day: one with a Cookie of The Day; one with a Craft of the Day and one with an Organizing Tip of The Day. Some are very useful:

- a downloadable stain chart to stick on the inside of the laundry cupboard

- how to fold a T-shirt (who knew there was a "right way'?)

Some are stupid:

- Rope seat stools which seem to me a good way to make a perfectly comfortable stool a lot less comfortable

- Clothespin picket fence for pot plants when surely not even the most desperate housewife feels the need for picket fences around her pot plants.

And some make me want to run straight into the kitchen and start cooking.

I know that I was not the only one to feel that way when this recipe turned up recently, because I saw it surface on blog after blog. Shortcake is an American bakery icon similar to scones, with a texture somewhere between cake and biscuits. These biscuits are easy to make with a very light and deliciously cakey texture. Just the thing to enjoy with a cup of tea and the paper, if the kids don't demolish them first.

Strawberry Shortcake Cookies

from Martha Stewart

Ingredients
Makes about 3 dozen
350g strawberries, hulled and cut into a small dice (2 cups)
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
90g cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
2/3 cup pouring cream
Demerara sugar, for sprinkling

Directions
Preheat oven to 185 degrees. Combine strawberries, lemon juice, and 2 tablespoons granulated sugar. Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and remaining 7 tablespoons sugar in a large bowl. Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter, or rub in with your fingers, until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in cream until dough starts to come together, then stir in strawberry mixture.

Using a 1 1/2-inch ice cream scoop or a tablespoon, drop dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment, spacing evenly apart. Sprinkle with sanding sugar, and bake until golden brown, 24 to 25 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack, and let cool. Cookies are best served immediately, but can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 day.

Brown Sugar Biscuits - Yum

With a couple of dinner parties to attend, it was time to get baking, and make something delicious for the lovely hostessi (do you like my latin plural of hostess?). I am quite taken with baking gifts for friends at the moment, partly because it gives me extra sweet things to write about here. And let's be honest, a batch of biscuits (cookies to some of you) takes half an hour to make, so its easier than ducking out to the shops for a bunch of flowers. This recipe for brown sugar biscuits caught my eye because, brace yourselves, THEY KEEP FOR THREE WEEKS. There is nothing worse than creaming butter and sugar and doing everything else to make the perfect biscuit and then have your beautiful creation taste much less delicious than it should because it has gone stale in half a day. Grrrrrr. These beauties would never do that to you.

And as for taste? They have a similar flavour to a pecan pie with the combination of the pecan and the dark brown sugar. They are really crunchy (maybe not the best choice for someone with teeth problems) and are scrumptious dunked in a hot cup of coffee or tea. They even look perfect. I will make these again and again and again. Just don't tell my friends how easy they are.

The recipe comes from "From Market To Table" by Joan Campbell and Barry McDonald. Coincidentally, this was the book that supplied my first post just over a year ago. Since August is my blog's birthday month, I am giving away a food magazine subscription. If you haven't already entered send me an email or leave me a comment with a suggestion for what you would make for a milestone birthday.

Brown Sugar Biscuits

from "From Market To Table" by Joan Campbell and Barry McDonald

125g butter softened

250g dark brown sugar

1 egg, beaten

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups plain flour

pinch of salt

1/4 tsp baking powder

pecan halves to decorate

Preheat oven to 185C. Line two baking trays with baking paper.

Beat butter and brown sugar together until they are light and creamy. Add the egg and vanilla and beat well. Sift together the flour, salt and baking powder, and beat into the creamed butter mixture until just combined.

Roll teaspoonfuls of mixture on a lightly floured surface, then place on the oven trays, leaving about 5 or 6cms between each. Press a pecan onto the top of each ball, flattening it a little. Bake for 15 mins or until golden. Cool on a wire rack then store in an airtight container up to three weeks.

Cranberry Orange Scones

Good scones are a very lovely thing indeed. I make them from time to time because I think they are so much nicer than any that you can buy. The commercial scones are always enormous and tough - I'm sure that on a scale running between cake and bread, they come in at something like cement. So homemade it has to be. (And since my favourite scone recipe takes you from start to scone in about half an hour, why not?) I like to serve them as a Devonshire tea with lavished cream and jam - to me, this is one of those things that makes all feel right with the world.

No surprise then that this month's Barefoot Bonus Challenge was a welcome one - cranberry orange scones, from "The Barefoot Contessa at Home" by Ina Garten. I was keen to try these and see how they stacked up against the plain ones. I did play with the recipe below a little. Firstly I halved it. I have discovered that a lot of Ina Garten's recipes make what I would regard as a commercial quantity - so half a batch of these scones was easily enough for a generous morning tea, with leftovers as well. I also left off the icing glaze, as I didn't think I needed to ramp up the sugar any more.

I also played around with the method a little. The dough for scones needs to be treated as lightly (and little as possible) to make them as light and flaky as possible, so I rubbed the butter in by hand. If you have never done this and are thinking that this sounds a very Martha thing to do, don't be too impressed - it is actually very easy. Just cut your butter into little cubes, put it into a big mixing bowl with the flour and dry ingredients and literally rub the butter between your fingers into the flour until the flour looks like bread crumbs. Then gently stir in your lightly beaten eggs and cream. Gather the dough into a ball, knead softly a couple of times then roll out gently to about 2cm thick on a very well floured board. Cut out your scones, re-roll the scraps and cut out some more until the dough is all used up.

The resulting scones were lovely and light. The flavour was great - good enough to eat without the cream and jam in fact! I have no doubt they would appeal to anyone who likes citrus-y baked goods. The traditionalists in my household are demanding a return to plain scones next time, but thanks to Em of The Repressed Pastry Chef for the choice. I loved the change.

Cranberry Orange Scones
from The Barefoot Contessa At Home" by Ina Garten

4 cups plus 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar, plus additional for sprinkling
2 tablespoons baking powder
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 tablespoon grated orange zest, or more if you like a stronger orange flavour
3/4 pound cold unsalted butter, diced
4 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup pouring cream
1 cup dried cranberries
1 egg beaten with 2 tablespoons water or milk, for egg wash
Icing:

1/2 cup confectioners' sugar, plus 2 tablespoons
4 teaspoons freshly squeezed orange juice

Preheat the oven to 200C. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix 4 cups of flour, 1/4 cup sugar, the baking powder, salt and orange zest. Add the cold butter and mix at the lowest speed until the butter is the size of peas. Combine the eggs and heavy cream and, with the mixer on low speed, slowly pour into the flour and butter mixture. Mix until just blended. The dough will look lumpy! Combine the dried cranberries and 1/4 cup of flour, add to the dough, and mix on low speed until blended.

Dump the dough onto a well-floured surface and knead it into a ball. Flour your hands and a rolling pin and roll the dough 3/4-inch thick. You should see small bits of butter in the dough. Keep moving the dough on the floured board so it doesn't stick. Flour a 3-inch round plain or fluted cutter and cut circles of dough. Place the scones on a baking pan lined with parchment paper. Collect the scraps neatly, roll them out, and cut more circles.

Brush the tops of the scones with egg wash, sprinkle with sugar, and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the tops are browned and the insides are fully baked. The scones will be firm to the touch. Allow the scones to cool for 15 minutes and then whisk together the confectioners' sugar and orange juice, and drizzle over the scones.

Blueberry Crumb Cake

I am not writing about this recipe because I think there is nothing nicer in the world than a fresh homemade cake (although that is exactly what I think). I am not writing about this recipe because this is exactly the sort of cake that is impossible to purchase (although that is true, at least around here). This recipe deserves wide acclaim because it is so good that your guests will sneak off to the kitchen to cut themselves an extra morsel or two, when you are not paying attention, so that the cake seems to miraculously disappear before your eyes (or at least my guests did). And in my opinion, that is an endorsement and a half. The cake is not too sweet to have as dessert after a heavy meal, but certainly indulgent enough, especially with some cream. It is also lovely plain for morning tea or afternoon tea.

No surprise that this recipe comes from the uber-baking book, Dorie Greenspan's "Baking: From My Home to Yours", which I find myself referring to constantly when a super-scrumptious dessert is required. Dorie has built up an enormous following of devoted bakers who are working their way through her book. I love watching out on Tuesday as each week's challenge pops up on blogs from around the world.

Blueberry Crumb Cake

from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: from My Home to Yours

For the Crumbs:

5 tbsp unsalted butter at room temp

1/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup light brown sugar (packed)

1/3 cup all purpose flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

For the Cake:

2 cups blueberries (preferably fresh, or frozen, not thawed)

2 cups plus 2 tsp all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp freshly ground nutmeg

2/3 cup sugar

grated zest of 1/2 lemon or 1/4 orange

180g unsalted butter at room temp

2 large eggs, at room temp

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 175C. Butter an 8-inch square pan and put it on a baking sheet.

To make the crumbs: Put all the ingredients except the nuts in a food processor and pulse just until the mixture forms clumps and curds and holds together when pressed. Scrape the topping into a bowl, stir in the nuts and press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface. Refrigerate until needed. (Covered well the crumb mix can be refrigerated for up to 3 days.)To make the cake:

Using your fingertips, toss the blueberries and 2 tsp of the flour together in a small bowl just to coat the berries; set aside. Whisk together the remaining 2 cups flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.Working in the bowl of a stand mixer or in another large bowl, rub the sugar and zest together with your fingertips until the sugar is moist and aromatic. Add the butter and, with the paddle or whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer, beat the sugar with the butter at medium speed until light, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs one by one, beating for about 1 minute after each addition, then beat in the vanilla extract. Don’t be concerned if the batter looks curdled — it will soon smooth out. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour mixture and the buttermilk alternately, the flour in 3 parts and the buttermilk in 2 (begin and end with the dry ingredients.) You will have a thick, creamy batter.

With a rubber spatula, gently stir in the berries. Scrape the batter into the buttered pan and smooth the top gently with the spatula. Pull the crumb mix from the fridge and, with your fingertips, break it into pieces. There’s no need to try to get even pieces — these are crumbs, they’re supposed to be lumpy and bumpy and every shape and size. Scatter the crumbs over the batter, pressing them down ever so slightly. Bake for 55 to 65 minutes, or until the crumbs are golden and a thin knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Transfer the cake to a rack and cool just until it is warm or until it reaches room temperature.

Lemon Cake - A Reason To Be Cheerful

Ten reasons to be cheerful:

1. Darling husband returned home today

2. Elder daughter is nearly out of quarantine

3. The sun is shining

4. My car will be fixed by Tuesday

5. Brother will arrive from the US on Wednesday

6. School holidays start in 10 days

7. A leisurely bath is ahead of me this afternoon

8. A long chat with an old friend

9. Younger daughter is turning 10

10. I loved this lemon cake

The lemon cake was born because I had some yoghurt in the fridge that I wanted to use up. I remembered that I had seen a yoghurt cake recipe on Pioneer Woman's website, and once I realised that I had all the ingredients on hand, I had no excuse not to get baking. For those of you who have not yet discovered Pioneer Woman, off you go quick smart! There are lots and lots of wonderful blogs that I love, but Pioneer Woman is among my favourites because she is a very talented writer and photographer as well as cook. She has the ability to make me laugh out loud at the same time as dazzling me with an incredibly beautiful photo of something as spare as an egg and a chopping board. I thought this recipe was great, although I skipped the marmalade glaze as I was trying to appeal to the younger members of the tribe and they were never going to fall for something covered in marmalade. One day perhaps, but not this day. In fact they didn't like the cake (too lemony) so I gave most of it away, but it still made me happy......

Lemon Yogurt-Marmalade Cake
from The Pioneer Woman

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 heaping cup of plain, lowfat yogurt

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

Zest of 1 lemon

1/2 cup Canola oil

1/2 cup prepared orange marmalade

1/4 cup yogurt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a loaf tine. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, mix together yogurt, sugar, eggs, vanilla, lemon zest, and canola oil until just combined. Pour over dry ingredients and mix until just combined; do not overbeat.

Pour into loaf pan and bake for 45 minutes. Remove and allow to cool slightly. Remove from pan.

While cake is cooling, pour marmalade into pan. Heat until melted, stirring occasionally. Add yogurt to pan and turn off heat. Stir to combine, then pour slowly over the top of the cake, allowing icing to pool around the sides.

Raspberry Friands On A Very Grim Day

I was going to give you an ode to summer fruits today, but have just woken to the news that more than 100 people died in the bushfires in Victoria yesterday. Entire towns are now gone: the shops, the pubs, the houses. More than 700 homes destroyed. This morning's paper says that this is Australia's worst ever loss of life outside of war. It is very hard for me to even get my head around it - and even harder to accept that at least some of the fires were deliberately lit. Apart from the constant refrain from all quarters to "hold your loved ones close", there doesn't seem much more to say.



If you are lucky enough to be sitting with your loved ones, enjoying the last of the summer fruits, these friands are a very simple treat. They also freeze well, so box up any leftovers, for days when stunned silence is as much cooking as you can manage. PS The recipe comes from Donna Hay's Modern Classics Book 2 - which is always simple but reliable. Feel free to play around with the fruit according to what needs using in the fruit bowl.



Raspberry Friands
from "Modern Classics 2" by Donna Hay

125g butter
1 cup almond meal
1 2/3 cups icing sugar sifted
3/4 cup plain flour sifted
1/2 tsp baking powder
5 eg whites
1/3 cup fresh or frozen raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, peaches, etc

Heat the oven to 180C. Grease and flour a regular sized friand tin or a muffin tin. Melt the butter over low heat and allow to bubble just until it starts to go slightly gold in colour. Set aside.

Mix almond meal, icing sugar, flour and baking powder in a bowl and stir to combine. Add the egg whites, and stir until just mixed in. Add the melted butter and stir again until just mixed in. Spoon 2 tbls of the mixture into each muffin tin, then sprinkle berries on tp. Bake 15-20 mins or until golden and springy on top.

Easy Sticky Buns or Snails and A Return From Holidays

A long time between posts... so Happy New Year to all. Since I last posted, I have been thoroughly blessed with the holiday of a lifetime. But now, a return home and a return to normalcy, marred only slightly by chicken pox! Darling husband and darling daughter have both come out in spots, and both are suffering with them too.....

Being a little housebound made it easy to get the sticky buns made for this month's Barefoot Blogger Challenge. (If you haven't been following before now, the Barefoot Bloggers are a group of keen cooks working through the assorted wisdom of Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa. Each month, a couple of recipes are selected and the group posts results here. I love it because I am always being pushed to do something I would never usually make). Thanks to Melissa from Made by Melissa for the choice.

These buns are quite popular in Australia and are called snails (for the obvious reason). I had all ingredients on hand, but decided to halve the recipe as there is a limit to how much of this type of pastry our family is ever going to eat. They turned out well although a little small - about the size of a smallish cupcake. I think the problem may have been the difference in the size of a sheet of puff pastry. I am not sure that one sheet of puff pastry here = 1 sheet of puff pastry in the US. Our sheets are about 20cm x 20cm, so if you are making this in Australia and want larger buns, join an extra half sheet by brushing the joins with a little water. If I make this again, I may play around with the add-ins - maybe some apple would be good?

Easy Sticky Buns from "Back to Basics" by Ina Garten

180g unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/3 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed

1/2 cup pecans, chopped in very large pieces

2 sheets frozen puff pastry, defrosted

Filling:

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

2/3 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed

3 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 cup raisins

Preheat the oven to 200C. Place a 12-cup standard muffin tin on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the 12 tablespoons butter and 1/3 cup brown sugar. Place 1 rounded tablespoon of the mixture in each of the 12 muffin cups. Distribute the pecans evenly among the 12 muffin cups on top of the butter and sugar mixture.

Lightly flour a wooden board or stone surface. Unfold one sheet of puff pastry with the folds going left to right. Brush the whole sheet with half of the melted butter. Leaving a 1-inch border on the puff pastry, sprinkle each sheet with 1/3 cup of the brown sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoons of the cinnamon, and 1/2 cup of the raisins. Starting with the end nearest you, roll the pastry up snugly like a jelly roll around the filling, finishing the roll with the seam side down.

Trim the ends of the roll about 1/2 inch and discard. Slice the roll in 6 equal pieces, each about 1 1/2 inches wide. Place each piece, spiral side up, in 6 of the muffin cups. Repeat with the second sheet of puff pastry to make 12 sticky buns.

Bake for 30 minutes, until the sticky buns are golden to dark brown on top and firm to the touch. Allow to cool for 5 minutes only, invert the buns onto the parchment paper (ease the filling and pecans out onto the buns with a spoon), and cool completely.

Orange Chocolate Chunk Cake

When I first saw the recipes for this month's double-header bonus for the Barefoot Bloggers, I was thrilled to have a cake to make. Not only do I love chocolate and orange as a flavour combination, I had the perfect opportunity to serve it up, with a gorgeous old friend coming from the country for morning tea.

Lisa from Lime in the Coconut had chosen mini-chocolate chunk cakes as her reward for designing our very pretty Barefoot avatar (well done Lisa). Unfortunately, I felt that a platter with a few mini-cakes would look odd at morning tea (even for me, although my friend has known me long enough not to worry), so I decided to revert to the original recipe in "Barefoot Contessa: Parties" for a large bundt cake. There was a bit of work involved and a lot of washing up (a total of about 12 pans, bowls and measuring cups), however this cake will be revisited because it has a great flavour, is lovely and moist, and the ganache is so shiny and beautiful. (Trap for young players - if you are chopping up your own chocolate to make the chunks, make sure you chop it into relatively small pieces, as too large a chunk is definitely too much of a good thing).

Orange Chocolate Chunk Cake

from "Barefoot Contessa Parties" by Ina Garten

Ingredients
250g unsalted butter at room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 extra-large eggs at room temperature
1/4 cup grated orange zest (3-4 large oranges)
3 cups all-purpose flour plus 2 tbls
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
3/4 cup buttermilk at room temperature
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 cups good semisweet chocolate chunks
For the syrup:

1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
For the ganache:
4 ounces good semisweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 tsp instant coffee granules

Directions
Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease and flour a large bundt pan. Cream the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment for about 5 minutes, or until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, then the orange zest.

Sift together 3 cups flour, the baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. In another bowl, combine the orange juice, buttermilk, and vanilla. Add the flour and buttermilk mixtures alternately in thirds to the creamed butter, beginning and ending with the flour. Toss the chocolate chunks with 2 tbls flour and add to the batter. Pour into the pan, smooth the tops, and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until a cake tester comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the syrup. In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, cook the sugar with the orange juice until the sugar dissolves. Remove the cake from the pans, put them on a rack over a tray, and spoon the orange syrup over the cakes. Allow the cakes to cool completely.
For the ganache, melt the chocolate, heavy cream, and coffee in the top of a double boiler over simmering water until smooth and warm, stirring occasionally. Drizzle over the top of the cakes.

Blondies (for Brunettes as well...)

The Christmas Concert season is beginning. Mothers everywhere (as well as a father here and then) are whipping up something sweet or savoury, and delivering it with their offspring to church halls and school auditoriums. I'm not being unkind when I say that these concerts always seem to go forever, the halls are always hot, and someone tall inevitably takes the seat in front of me so I spend the night ducking and weaving to try and see the kids performing. Once the formalities are over, everyone gets to have a drink and a nibble (even a light meal of you are lucky). The arrangements are generally no more formal than "bring a plate", and there are always stories of newly arrived expats, who arrive with an empty plate, rather than a full one.

If you have been told to "bring a plate" to your kids concert, this slice from Dorie Greenspan is perfect. It is not going to collapse in warm weather, or melt or go funny. It tastes delicious, so the kids will wolf it down. You can also tailor it depending on personal preferences - any of the usual stir-in ingredients would work (nuts, dried fruit, etc). It is also scrumptious with a cup of coffee. You might even decide it is too nice for the concert, and keep it at home, while you stop for something else on the way..... (and by the way, if you are thinking about asking Santa for a recipe book, Dorie's book, "Baking: From My Home to Yours" is worth putting on your list).


Chewy, Chunky Blondies
from "Baking: From My Home To Yours" by Dorie Greenspan

2 cups flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
250g butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups (light) brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
1 cup butterscotch chips or toffee bits (because we don't get these here, I smashed up Werthers toffees)
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 160C. Grease a 9×13-inch baking pan.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Using a mixer, cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, waiting until each is fully incorporated to add the next, then beat in the vanilla. With the mixer on low, gradually add in the flour mixture, stirring only until no streaks of flour remain. Stir in the chips, nuts and coconut by hand. Spread batter into prepared pan. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a tester comes out with only a few crumbs. Cool blondies in the pan, but turn them out (and then reinvert them so the top is facing up) before slicing into 32 bars.

Orange Berry Muffins and Mental Gymnastics

Baking for me is always a balancing act, and I'm not talking about getting the recipe or the oven temperature right. The balancing act is all in my mind. On the one hand, I hear the constant refrain of: should I really make this? / do I want the calories? / who is going to eat it? On the other: it looks so good! / I so love baking! / It has to be healthier than bought baked goods! (oh yes, dear readers, I used to be in spin). And a new justification has now appeared since I am doing this blog: the pictures will look so pretty on my page!

These muffins didn't really need that much mental gymnastics to get me to make them. Store-bought muffins around here tend to be the size of a small planet and taste like Play-doh. I am never tempted to buy one. It is a sad fact that if you want a decent muffin, you really need to make it yourself. I spotted this recipe in my Dorie Greenspan cookbook ("Cooking From My Home to Yours" by Dorie Greenspan), and was immediately entranced by the addition of orange flavours to the blueberry muffin batter. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Dorie, in the blog world, she is the queen of baking. A group called "Tuesdays With Dorie" is working their way through her cookbook; I love keeping an eye on what they have been up to. Meanwhile she has her own blog about her life in Paris and the US (here) that is completely charming. And in case you were wondering about the muffins: light and fluffy and beautifully flavoured, the orange definitely adds something special.

Orange Berry Muffins
from "Baking From My Home To Yours" by Dorie Greenspan

Grated zest and juice of 1 orange
About 3/4 cup buttermilk
2 large eggs
3 tablespoons honey
8 tbls unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/3 cup sugar
2 cups flour
2 1/2 tsps baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup fresh blueberries


Preheat the oven to 200C. Fit a 12 hole muffin tin with paper muffin cups. Place the muffin pan on a baking sheet.


Pour the orange juice into a large glass measuring cup and pour in enough buttermilk to make 1 cup. Whisk in the eggs, honey and melted butter. In a large bowl, rub the sugar and orange zest together with your fingertips until the sugar is moist and the fragrance of orange strong (the more you rub the more orange oil is released from the zest). Whisk in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.


Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and, with the whisk or a rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend. Don’t worry about being thorough - the batter will be lumpy and bubbly, and that’s just the way it should be. Stir in the blueberries.


Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups. Bake for 22 to 25 minutes. When fully baked, the tops of the muffins will be golden and springy to the touch and a thin knife inserted into the center of the muffins will come out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin from its mold.

Perfection Pound Cake

Simplicity is often a great virtue in itself, but it takes a certain amount of confidence to opt for something basic and unadorned. This cake made me reflect on the pleasure of not decorating, not icing and not flavouring. The pleasure of just letting a cake be.... It has a really wonderful flavour, and would lend itself to being paired with all sorts of toppings. But perhaps it is better to just appreciate it as is? Unfortunately it disappeared too quickly for much experimenting, so I can't really tell you.

This recipe comes from Dorie Greenspan's baking bible "Baking: From My Home To Yours". I followed her recipe very closely as experience thus far has shown that her cookbook and her advice is worth following. At Dorie's suggestion, I bought the best butter I could find. I then followed her recipe to the letter, especially the room temperature ingredients and the mixing times. I also used the foil tent for the last 20 mins to stop the top getting too dry. I don't have an insulated baking sheet, so my one eccentricity in this recipe was placing the loaf tin on a folded section from the Sydney Morning Herald. Don't worry - I kept a close watch for any fire risk! This was a bit of a tribute to my non-baking grandmother (I also had a baking grandmother) who once gave me a fruit cake recipe that began: "Line tin with 3 sheets of the Sydney Morning Herald...". I am not sure whether the choice of the Herald impacted on the flavour of this cake, but I would definitely make it again.

Perfection Pound Cake
(Source: "Baking From My Home To Yours" by Dorie Greenspan)

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

250g unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup sugar

4 large eggs, at room temperature

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter a 9×5-inch loaf pan or an 8-1/2 x 4-1/2-inch loaf pan. Put the pan on an insulated baking sheet or on two regular baking sheets stacked one on top of the other.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar on high speed until pale and fluffy, a full 5 minutes. Scrape down the bowl and beater and reduce the mixer speed to medium. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 1 to 2 minutes after each egg goes in. As you’re working, scrape down the bowl and beater often. Mix in the vanilla extract. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour, mixing only until it is incorporated - don’t overmix. In fact, you might want to fold in the last of the flour, or even all of it, by hand with a rubber spatula. Scrape the batter into the buttered pan and smooth the top.

Put the cake into the oven to bake, and check on it after about 45 minutes. If it’s browning too quickly, cover it loosely with a foil tent. If you’re using a 9×5 pan, you’ll need to bake the cake for 70 to 75 minutes; the smaller pan needs about 90 minutes. The cake is properly baked when a thin knife inserted deep into the center comes out clean.

Remove the cake from the oven, transfer the pan to a rack and let rest for 30 minutes.
Run a blunt knife between the cake and the sides of the pan and turn the cake out, then turn it right side up on the rack and cool to room temperature.

Storing:Wrapped well, the cake will keep for 5 to 7 days at room temperature (stale cake is great toasted) or up to 2 months in the freezer.

If I Knew You Were Coming I'd Have Baked .... an Apple Cake

We're as deeply into the Olympics here as anyone, with the swimming a particular highlight. Back in 2000, dearest husband and I were very spoiled and got to the final day of swimming at the Sydney Olympics, when Grant Hackett won his first 1500m gold. Ever since, I love watching these hard men of the pool as they churn through the swimming equivalent of a marathon. So there was no question that we would be glued to the box to see if he could take out his third consecutive gold. And seeing the amazing Michael Phelps crowned with his final gold was another highlight - if only he were swimming for Australia! Too bad Hackett just missed out (although silver is great too), but it was a fantastic race. If only it went for 1550m I think Hackett might have won...

A friend dropped in to help us cheer, and I decided that cake was required. Mid-winter means lots of lovely crunchy Granny Smith apples, and as the Granny Smith apple is Australian, it felt a good way to support the Hackett campaign (OK I'm stretching; I just like the cake). So here is an easy peasy apple cake adapted from "Modern Classics 2" by Donna Hay.



Apple and Cinnamon Tea Cake
adapted from "Modern Classics 2" by Donna Hay

185g butter, softened

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

2/3 cup caster sugar

3 eggs

1 1/2 cups plain flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/3 cup milk

4 small Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and halved

1 tbl sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Line the base of a 22cm (8 inch) springform tin with baking paper.

Preheat oven to 160C. Beat butter, sugar and cinnamon until light and creamy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each one. Sift the flour and baking powder over the butter mixture, and add the milk. Stir to combine.

Spoon mixture into tin. Cut a row of deep slits into each apple, and arrange the apples on top of the cake. Combine the sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle on top. Bake for 1 hour or until cooked when tested with a skewer. Serve warm with cream.

Bananas about Chocolate Banana Bread

If you were that way inclined, you could tile most of Sydney with the slabs of banana bread that appear on almost every cafe counter. Too often they are bland, soggy and old; saved only by toasting and slathering on the butter. This banana bread, from Sydney's unofficial cafe king, Bill Granger is better. Much, much better. The slices do not need buttering (but go ahead if you are that way inclined), and the loaf stays fresh and moist for at least 3 or 4 days. Or, I imagine it would if only it lasted that long in our house. The recipe comes from "Bill's Food" by Bill Granger, a great cookbook, beautifully laid out and photographed. And I think this bread is a great way to use up bananas that are starting to look a little old, as well as any odd bits of chocolate floating around the house.

Choc Banana Bread

adapted from Bill's Food by Bill Granger

250g (2 cups) plain flour

2 tsps baking powder

125g softened butter, unsalted

250g (1 cup) caster sugar (superfine)

4 ripe bananas mashed

2 eggs lightly beaten

1 tsp vanilla extract

175g (1 cup) good quality milk or dark chocolate chips (I chop up whatever is around)

Preheat the oven to 180C. Sift the flour and baking powder into a large bowl. Mix the butter, sugar, banana, eggs, vanilla extract and choc chips in another bowl. Add to the dry ingredients and stir to combine being careful not to overmix.

Pour the batter into a non-stick, or lightly greased and floured 19cm x 11 cm loaf tin and bake for 1 hour 15 minutes, or until bread is cooked when tested with a skewer. Leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool. Slice and serve.