At this time of year I find my fridge buried beneath Christmas parties invites and the calendar bursting the seams with catch-ups. Not for me, silly – for I am but a mum. It is Misses 10 and 12 for whom the invites appear and at this time of the year it is at a rate of at least one each per day. Continue reading
Last Christmas, I discovered eggnog. You so thought I was going to write… `I gave you my heart`, didn`t you? Or am I the only Wham! Fan in the house? #surelyNot
I digress… as summer in Sydney is usually 35C we are more likely to drink juice or champagne (or both…) rather than a heavy, custard-type beverage.
But I love baking with eggnog. The slight rummy taste and notes of nutmeg make it such a festive concoction that every year, come December 1, I am stalking my local supermarkets for the first appearance on the shelf. Continue reading
I am not a fan of fruit cake. There, I said it. I know it is a tradition, especially at Christmas time, but I find fruit cake heavy and cloying and overbearing. I once made a Christmas cake from scratch, spending the GDP of a small nation on pricey dried and glace fruit. It went pretty much untouched on Christmas Day, and after storing in the pantry for a month or so I ended up throwing it out.
Never again. Continue reading
The weather is warming up here in Sydney, which means picnics and barbecues are the mainstays of eating. We Sydney-siders love a chance to eat in the great outdoors, whether its on a towel at the beach, on a friend`s verandah or in the park. Summer is when Sydney is at its showy-off best: hot days, blue skies, balmy nights when the sun takes forever to set, festivals, long days at the beach…
Reading this, you wouldn’t actually realize that summer is my least favourite season. The heat and I are enemies. I only have to look out the window on a summer day and I am burnt. My Anglo Celtic skin demands broad-brimmed hats, long sleeves, SPF 50-plus and shade. Give me a shady spot with a tall glass of something cool and spiked and a slightly breeze and I am happy.
The best part about summer is eating fresh, healthy food. As a pescetarian of some 25 years it is the perfect opportunity to indulge in salad with a protein hit.
This salad is the perfect meal or side dish for Christmas Day – it has crunch, luxury items like macadamia nuts, greenery, and some protein. It takes minutes to throw together but looks and tastes amazing.
It would also be a perfect Boxing Day meal, an ideal antidote to the previous day`s eatfest.
I recommend assembling this salad right before serving so it doesn’t wilt – you really want the crunch of the cabbage leaves. This salad serves 4 so feel free to multiply it to serve the number of guests on Christmas Day. I always serve salad dressing on the side rather than pouring it over.
GATHER:
One Chinese cabbage (wombok) shredded finely
Two packets hot smoked salmon, roughly broken up – I prefer the pepper fillets
One bunch flat leaf parsely, leaves removed and stems discarded
300 grams roasted macadamias
freshly ground sea salt and black pepper
dressing:
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup lemon juice
2 teaspoons minced garlic
LET`S GET TO IT:
Place all ingredients, except the dressing, in large salad bowl and toss. Serve with dressing on the side.
Dressing: place all ingredients into a glass jar with screw top lid and shake until combined. Place in glass serving jug. If making dressing in advance remove from fridge about 20 minutes before serving.
Christmas in Sydney is a hot and humid affair. There`s none of the snow and ice skating and roasting things by a roaring fire. Here it is a swim after a cold seafood lunch and trying to avoid the flies and sunburn. Continue reading
Regular readers will know that popcorn is one of my very fav foods. I am somewhat obsessed with it – I even named my mini schnauzer after it! I have an air popper machine at home and it gets quite the work out. If I am out and see popcorn for sale I buy it. I have even been known to go to the movies, buy popcorn, and leave.
Usually I just have salt and butter – mmmm, butter – but this morning I was thinking of how I could `Christmas-ize` popcorn. A quick pre-school-drop-off trip to the supermarket later and I had some M&Ms and a plan.
In Australia the array of Christmas confectionary is very poor compared to what my friends in the US have. You can buy single colour M&Ms here but they are tricky to find. I bought a pack of mini M&Ms and set Miss9 to work, segregating all the reds and greens. I also bought a pack of mint M&MS which were mainly green, with a few whites. I am trying to think of a Christmassy way of using these.
This fun and easy Christmas snack is a cinch to make. Please do not use microwave popcorn. It is coated in so many very weird chemicals and it tastes like a bucket of chlorine.
I found this recipe on the fabulous Two Sisters Crafting website, which is packed with so many cool recipes. I just reduced the quantities. Check it out: http://www.twosisterscrafting.com/
This recipe makes heaps and is perfect for sharing at Christmas picnics, BBQs and school Christmas gatherings, which is where this batch is destined to end up. I also think Santa would love a dish of sweet and salty Christmas popcorn to eat on Christmas Eve.
My pro-tip: wash the saucepan the instant you have finished making this recipe – you do not want melted marshmallow congealing on your pan. Trust me on this.
GATHER:
6 cups popped popcorn
freshly ground sea salt
3 cups of white marshmallows
45 grams butter, diced
1 cup red and green M&Ms or Skittles
Here`s Popcorn the mini schnauzer looking unimpressed at her Santa photo 2016 🙂 She hated having her photo with Santa but look how cute she is! Squee! 🙂
LET`S GET TO IT:
Spread cooked popcorn on a large baking tray lined with non-stick baking paper and remove any unpopped kernels.
In a large pan over low heat melt together the butter and marshmallows. Stir constantly. It will become a really sticky, weird science-experiment texture but continue on. When it is 90 per cent melted turn off heat and keep stirring until there are no lumps of marshmallow left.
Immediately pour the mixture over the popcorn, then use a fork or tongs to stir popcorn to coat as much as possible. Sprinkle over the M&Ms, and stick some to the marshmallow sauce. Grind over the sea salt to taste.
Set aside to cool then break into chunks to serve.
I can’t believe I haven’t blogged this recipe yet! I have made this shortbread for every Christmas for years and years and have always had perfect results. Continue reading
Everyone loves a cute cupcake and Christmas is the best time to get all ‘squee’ with your baking.
I have been baking for friends, family and neighbours as long as I can remember and these mini Rudolph mini cupcakes are always a hit.
This year Misses 8 and 10 took over baking and decorating duties for the neighbours as I attended to last minute Christmas duties. They were gratefully received by everyone, and after delivering them the gals came home clutching a giant box of chocolates
And aren’t the tins adorable? My friend from work, Stephen, frequents op shops and always stocks up tins for me. I use them to package up baked goods.
These cakes best made on the day of serving, or you can bake then freeze the uniced cakes. Bring to room temperature before decorating.
GATHER:
1 cup self-raising flour
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup marsala
125g melted, cooled butter
2 heaped tablespoons sifted cocoa
2 eggs
red M&Ms
choc bits
coloured M&Ms or choc drops for eyes
pretzels, broken in half, for antlers
LET’S DO IT:
Line 2 mini muffin tins with mini muffin wrappers, pre-heat oven to 175C.
Add all ingredients into bowl of an electric mixer and mix on low speed until combined. Increase speed to high and beat for three minutes.
Spoon into wrappers, bake for 15-ish minutes/until a skewer instead comes out clean.
Place on wire rack. When totally cool ice with ganache {RECIPE BELOW}.
CHOCOLATE GANACHE:
In a small saucepan over low heat melt 125g dark chocolate [broken into chunks] with 1/2 cup cream. Stir until melted, thick and glossy. Allow to stand 15 minutes until thick. Use knife to spread over cakes. Decorate the cupcakes to resemble reindeers.
This was the first Christmas I have ever tried eggnog and let me state for the record – I am in love!
In Sydney Christmas is a hot’n’humid affair, with temperatures usually in the mid 30C so our drink of choice on the big day is beer or champagne. I don’t know anyone who has tried eggnog – many people I mention it to haven’t even heard of it.
But big supermarkets start stocking it in December and this year curiousity got the better of me. I bought it, tried it, loved it. I created eggnog cupcakes, which you can see here https://thehungrymum.com/2015/12/07/one-bowl-eggnog-cupcakes-for-christmas/
I wanted to play around a bit more so I found this recipe for eggnog cookies at http://www.cookingclassy.com/2013/11/melt-mouth-eggnog-cookies/
I tweaked it somewhat, including reducing the sugar by half. And replacing the rum extract with real rum. And doubling the amount of cinnamon 🙂
I also didn’t bother making the butter topping, as lovely as it looked, cause it was just too hot to spend another minute in the kitchen.
These eggnog cookies were packaged up in pretty tins and given to neighbours for Christmas.
GATHER:
2 1/4 cups plain flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
170 grams unsalted butter, at room temperature, diced
1/4 cup caster sugar
¼ cup brown sugar
2 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 teaspoons dark rum
1/2 cup eggnog
LET’S GET TO IT:
Preheat oven to 180 C degrees.
In a large bowl use a fork to whisk together the flour, baking powder, nutmeg and cinnamon – set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer beat butter and both sugars until pale and creamy.
Beat in egg yolks one at a time, then stir in vanilla, rum and eggnog.
Turn to low speed and add flour mix, one tablespoon at a time, until just combined. Roll dough balls the size of a ping pong ball and place on tray, then gently flatten paper lined baking sheets. Allow space for them to spread.
Bake for 13 – 15 minutes.
When cold sprinkle with icing sugar.
If, like me, you associate Christmas with baking, stars and cinnamon, you are going to love his recipe. Continue reading
the hungry mum 