the hungry mum

Mini berry pies on a stick, or heart pastry pops.

How much squee can one dessert hold? While scientists furiously debate the matter I’ll make a punt on saying – lots. I made these oh-so-adorable desserts at a recent family gathering, where I did my usual over-the-top baking trick.

I just couldn’t resist this treat – it was so fun and as it was quick to make [using my pastry cheat] I could dedicate my time to the [many] other bakes I was presenting.

Anything on sticks has instant appeal but these little pies would be perfect presented sans stick. They are the perfect little size for a high tea or even a lunch box treat.

I bought mini paddle pop sticks for this as I had my doubts about putting plastic lollypop sticks in the oven.

I was inspired by this recipe from http://www.cookingchanneltv.com but I cheated all the way. I used frozen shortcrust pastry (home-made pastry would inevitably taste better but to quote that hilarious meme, ain’t nobody got time for that) and shop-bought jam instead of all the from scratch options.

Gather:

2 sheets thawed sweet-crust pastry sheets

Favourite jam / preserves [I used berry]

Caster sugar

Let’s get to it:

Preheat oven to 180C and line two baking sheets with non-stick baking paper.

Use a hear-shaped biscuit / cookie cutter to cut out small hearts. Place half on the baking tray.

Place a small dollop of jam into the centre of each half – do not overfill if they will explode during baking.

Place a stick into each pop then place another heart on top. Use fork to firmly press done edges, then sprinkle with caster sugar.

Bake for 11-18 minutes, depending on the size of your hearts. Allow cooling before serving.

PS – these kept for quite a few days in a sealed contained in a dark, cool place.

Tags: berry, dessert, dessert on sticks, easy, jam, party food, pastry, sugar, sweet

Comments 56 Comments
Categories Dessert, Fast & simple, Other sweet stuff

Nigella Lawson French cake – Gateau Breton

26 May

Many, many moons ago, when I was an unfortunate-looking teenager, my dad went on a holiday to France. My envy was palpable – growing up in a run-of-the-mill Sydney suburb all one ever heard about France was the chicness of the population, the deliciousness of the food and the classic style of the clothing. Continue reading →

Tags: baking, Breton, cake, egg, France, French, from scratch, lemon, Nigella Lawson, recipe

Comments 47 Comments
Categories Cakes, Other sweet stuff, Tarts and Pies

Donna Hay easy chocolate and caramel tart for dessert

15 May

This is the ultimate after diner treat for those who live by the credo that there’s no such thing as too sweet.

I love Donna Hay, I love her recipes and I especially love her dessert and baked recipes. They are doable and punch way above their weight in terms of effort versus result. Continue reading →

Tags: baking, caramel, chocolate, cooking, dessert, Donna Hay, easy, elegant, pastry, recipe, tart

Comments 58 Comments
Categories Uncategorized

Cherry coconut and chocolate squares

8 May

Here’s a fun fact: I dislike cucumbers but love pickles. In sorta the same vein I dislike fresh cherries but love Cherry Ripes. I’m not a massive chocolate fan [it was a different story when I was a teen] but when the choc urge strikes it just HAS to be a Cherry Ripe. The makers occasionally taunt me with a ‘limited edition’ extra dark chocolate version of Cherry Ripe but once they have been discontinued I go into mourning. Every time I’m in a $2 shop I greedily search out any left-over stock but it often amounts to disappointment and heart-break.

When I found a recipe for this easy slice that contained many of the ingredients of a Cherry Ripe I was hooked. You can find it in Family Circle’s Biscuits and Slices book, which is an oldie but a goody. This is ideal for a morning tea as it can thrown together easily and you’re likely to have most [if not all] of the ingredients in your pantry. Switch the dark chocolate for milk or even white if you like – feel free to be a rebel and mix it up. As is my wont I reduced the amount of sugar and changed a few others things too.

GATHER:

base

1 cup self-raising flour

1 cup desiccated coconut

1/3 cup sugar

125g butter, melted

50g dark chocolate

topping

1 cup glace cherries, finely snipped

¼ cup brown sugar

½ cup shredded coconut

½ cup chopped almonds [the original used pecans]

2 lightly beaten eggs

LET’S GET TO IT:

Preheat oven to 180C and grease and line a 30cmx25cmx2cm shallow tin.

Place flour, coconut and sugar in a bowl and mix, then add butter and stir to combine.

Place batter in tin evenly.

Make topping by mixing cherries, brown sugar, coconut and almonds in a bowl. Add eggs and combine then spread evenly over batter in tin.

Bake for 8-ish minutes or until top is pale gold.

Allow to cool in tin completely.

Meanwhile melt chocolate, then place in zip lock bag, cut off corner and drizzle over the top.

Cut into squares after chocolate has hardened.

Tags: almond, baking, cherry, Cherry Ripes, chocolate, coconut, dessert, from scratch, recipe, sweet

Comments 42 Comments
Categories Uncategorized

Gingerbread whoopie pies from scratch

29 Apr

You guys, I bought a whoopie pie pan! I swore I wouldn’t coz my baking paraphernalia has taken over the kitchen. When we visited San Fran last year we went to my mecca – the three-storey Williams-Sonoma kitchenware store. I went twice in two days and lugged soooo much stuff back to Sydney [via Hawaii – my poor suitcases] but decided against buying the whoopie pie pan. Continue reading →

Tags: baking, cinnamon, cooking, dessert, from scratch, ginger, gingerbread, recipe, whoopie pies, Williams-Sonoma

Comments 42 Comments
Categories Uncategorized

Easter chocolate brownie biscuits (cookies)

16 Apr

Easter is one of my favourite times of year. You get to catch up with friends and family, eat delicious food and watch the kid’s faces as they hunt for eggs. And, like Christmas, you get to go completely over the top with your baking. Or is that just me?

As I write this I am preparing to host an Easter Sunday brunch for family. My mum offered to host but all I could think was – some of the desserts aren’t moveable! So we’ll be having everyone here! Amongst my trifles and tarts and bundt cakes I realised I hadn’t hit the chocolate target so I obviously I had to rectify that.

Gather:

55 grams butter
85 grams dark chocolate, chopped
55 grams milk chocolate, chopped
2 large eggs
¼ cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Enough candy-coated mini chocolate eggs to decorate the biscuits [I used two per biscuit]

Let’s get to it:

Preheat oven to 180C and grease and line a large baking tray with non-stick baking paper.

In a large saucepan, melt the butter and chopped chocolate over low heat until smooth. Remove from heat and allow to cool for a few minutes. With a metal spoon stir in the eggs, sugars, and vanilla extract. Stir in flour and baking powder.

Using a heaped teaspoon place batter onto the sheet and decorate with two candy-coated eggs. Allow room for them to spread.

Bake for between 7-11 minutes, until just set [you want them to be moist].

Leave on tray for a few minutes before transferring to wire rack.

Tags: baking, biscuits, brownies, chocolate, cookies, Easter, easy, from scratch, recipe

Comments 30 Comments
Categories Biscuits and Cookies, brunch, Dessert, Fast & simple

The best salted caramel blondies recipe

11 Apr

I receive umpteen cookbooks to review in my day job at the Fairfax community paper where I work. It is one of the highlights of my job and I love reading through them and seeing what brilliant cooking minds are coming up with. Some books are incredible, some mediocre but the ones that stand out are the books that have that something extra. Continue reading →

Tags: baking, blondies, caramel, cookbook, from scratch, Masterchef, recipe, salt, salted caramel, sweet tooth, white chocolate

Comments 47 Comments
Categories Dessert, Fast & simple, Other sweet stuff, Slices

Hot smoked salmon rillettes

4 Apr

There is no polite way of describing how I react around smoked salmon. I like the word gourmand but feel glutton is more apt. I adore the stuff and love it served any way – on sandwiches, in pasta, wolfed straight from the packet… Continue reading →

Tags: blogging, fish, from scratch, home-made, picnic, recipe, savoury, smoked salmon, starter, Tasmania, trout

Comments 48 Comments
Categories Fast & simple, Savoury stuff

Chocolate brownie s’mores pie with caramelised marshmallow

24 Mar

You’d think by now I would have learnt my lesson regarding taking photos of my baked goods but nope – I still tend to bake then serve the item to friends before I’ve had a chance to take any photos.

Such was the situation with this ooey, gooey, decadent pie. When The Hungry Mum family descended upon America last year we hit many a supermarket, stocking up on all manner of baking goods unavailable in Australia. One of my fav purchases was ginormous marshmallows, the kind of which simply aren’t seen in the Antipodes. I’d been stashing them away, waiting for the perfect recipe and it soon presented itself. Thanks to Sally’s Baking Addiction and her delectable s’mores brownie pie my packet of behemoth marshmallows got cracked open. See her fab recipe here: http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2013/05/06/smores-brownie-pie/

I made this for a recent gathering of friends and managed to snap a few pics before it was cooked. Afterwards was a blur of people almost charging each other over in order to get a slice. As this desert is so rich a teeny sliver goes a long way.

I do also have a box of the legendary graham crackers which this recipe called for but decided to keep these for another day. I used plain sweet bickies so didn’t need the sugar as called for in the original recipe used. I also reduced the amount of sugar in the brownie as I knew the marshmallows would make the pie very sweet.

In any case this was such a hit that I reckon I’ll be called upon again to serve this delish creation.

GATHER:

*Crust

10 plain biscuits [such as Marie], snapped in half

90grams melted butter

Place biscuits in bowl of food processor and wizz until it looks like big crumbs. Add butter and combine until it resembles wet sand. Press into a glass pie dish and place in fridge while you prepare the brownie filling.

*brownies

150g diced butter

¾ cup caster sugar

¾ cup sifted cocoa powder

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs

½ cup plain flour

25 large marshmallows

LET’S GET TO IT:

Melt butter, sugar and cocoa in a microwave-safe bowl for 30 seconds at a time until melted and smooth when stirred. It will look gritty. Allow to cool for a few minutes.

Stir in vanilla, then eggs, one at a time.

Add flour, gently stirring, until fully incorporated. Ensure you don’t overbeat.

Tip into pie crust and use a spatula to level the top.

Bake for about 25 minutes, then remove from oven and neatly decoare the top with marshmallows. Bake for a nother two minutes but watch closely to ensure it doesn’t burn.

Allow to cool before serving.

Tags: baking, brownies, chocolate, dessert, from scratch, marshmallows, pie, recipe, sweets

Comments 52 Comments
Categories Dessert, Other sweet stuff, Tarts and Pies

Apple crumble semifreddo otherwise known as easy apple ice cream

11 Mar

A recent excursion to Bilpin in NSW introduced me to the exquisiteness of fresh apples. When I say fresh, I mean picked from the tree moments before eating. I am guilty of popping into the supermarket on my lunchbreak to stock up on apples for my daughters’ lunchboxes but after trying these amazingly fresh apples I won’t be doing that again.

I was lucky enough to be invited recently on an ‘apple adventure’ day in Bilpin, a pretty little hamlet outside of Sydney, by the lovely Belly Rumbles. Check out her blog here: http://bellyrumbles.com/

Isn’t it great?

Anyway a group of food bloggers did a tour of an orchard, where it was all systems go in the packing sheds.

Then we visited a pick your own orchard, which was so much fun. We were given delightful little straw baskets to fill with produce, and I felt quite relaxed and happy as I chose the most wonderful apples from the tree.

The difference between freshly picked Australian apples and the often floury, picked-months-ago-and-kept-in-cold-storage numbers from the supermarket couldn’t be more stark.

Greengrocer 1, big chains 0.

I used some of these beauties to create an easy apple ice-cream by the fabulous Donna Hay. The Hungry Dad declared it one of the best he’s ever had, which is strong praise indeed.

The best thing is, you don’t even need an ice cream maker – pretty cool, huh?

GATHER:

2 cups grated apples [Donna specified Granny Smiths but I used red delicious]

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest

3 eggs

2 egg yolks, extra

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

¾ cup caster sugar [I reduced Donna’s quantity of 1 cup]

2 cups pouring cream

crumble

½ cup slow cooking rolled oats

1 cup plain flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

100g chilled butter, chopped

2 generous shakes of cinnamon and allspice

LET’S GET TO IT:

Place apple, cinnamon, lemon zest and juice in a non-metallic bowl, toss and set aside.

In a large ceramic or glass bowl put eggs, extra yolks, vanilla and sugar and place over a pan of simmering water.

Using hand-held electric beaters whip for six to eight minutes, until pale and thick.

Remove from heat and cool slightly.

Place cream in bowl of electric mixer and whip until stiff peaks form. Using a big silver spoon gently fold in the egg mixture, stirring until incorporated.

Gently fold in apple.

Pour into two litre metal cake tine, cover with foil and freeze overnight.

Serve, then top with crumble.

crumble:

Place flour, sugar and oats in a bowl and rub in butter until it is the texture of lumpy sand. Sprinkle over a dash of cinnamon and allspice.

Tip onto baking pan & bake for around 15 minutes at 150C or until golden. Cool before using.