Archive | May, 2013

Spiced roulade with vanilla buttercream

27 May

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I fell in love with the book ‘Bake – Essential Companion’ by pastry queen Alison Thompson after borrowing it from the library and my lovely hubby surprised with a copy of my own for mother’s day last year.

If you’re a baking fanatic like me you’ll have hours of kitchen fun with this book. I’d never attempted a roulade until this one and I must say, I was very nervous. I did have a few problems with cracks in my cake and totally panicked until the Hungry Dad came to my rescue [swoon] and solved the issue with some ingenious use of plastic wrap. And the finished product was utterly delectable. I omitted the original recipe’s ¼ teaspoon ground cloves as my pantry was clove-free. Continue reading

Fresh ginger biscuits / cookies

14 May

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My mum’s birthday and Mother’s Day are just one week apart, which means trying to get presents for both events is tricky. First world problem, I know, but after all my mum has done [and continues to do] for me I feel I need to give her something.

Mum adores ginger and last year I made her a jar of Donna Hay gingerbread biscuits, which she loved.

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This year I had a ginormous amount of fresh ginger so searched out a cookie recipe that used the real stuff. I found it at http://allrecipes.com/recipe/fresh-ginger-cookies/

This produces a spicy biscuit, which is perfect for ginger fans. The original recipe called for the cookie to be rolled in sugar before baking but I opted to stud mine with dark choc, and some with walnut pieces, and some with both [for those indecisive moments].

I also reduced the amount of sugar in the original recipe as I wanted something a bit tart.

You’ll need an hour to chill dough so allow plenty of time when making this [guess who didn’t?]

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GATHER:

2 ¼ cups plain flour

2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger [tip – keep your ginger in the freezer to make grating simple]

1 egg

¼ cup golden syrup

¾ cup caster sugar

170g butter

walnut pieces or dark chocolate pieces to decorate

 LET’S GET TO IT:

Grease and line 2 baking trays with baking paper.

In bowl of electric mixer beat ginger, butter, and sugar until light and fluffy.

Beat in golden syrup and egg then fold in flour until just combined.

Cover with plastic wrap and chill in fridge for an hour.

Preheat oven to 170C and roll golf ball size clumps of dough.

Place on tray, flatten gently with fork and top with walnut or chocolate [or both].

Bake for 14-ish minutes and allow to cool on rack.

Salted chocolate chip and toffee biscuits / cookies

7 May

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Hands up if you think Twitter is addictive? Now, wave your arms in the air like you just don’t care if you find Pinterest more addictive than chocolate? Just as I thought – that site is one helluva a rabbit hole. I always find inspiration and great baking ideas but I spend yonks of time going off on all sorts of fab tangents. Continue reading