I have a bit of a fixation with cream cheese of late. I just cannot get enough of baking recipes that use this creamy, unctuous ingredient. I also love pairing cream cheese with savoury ingredients – I am looking at you, smoked salmon – but when there is a block of cream cheese within arm`s reach I WILL turn it into a sweet treat. Continue reading
I found myself with a hankering to make scones on the weekend. I made a batch of traditional scones before I had a light bulb moment: tray bake. With chocolate. And dried cherries. And coconut. Continue reading
Sometimes you want to bake something technical, intricate and delicate. Other times you want something you can throw together with pantry staples in mere moments. Or your sugar craving needs to be address – stat. Or a child comes home with an until-this-moment forgotten about request for something sweet as a friend is coming over for a play. This is the recipe for you.
This easy to bake Nutella coconut bars / slice/ squares recipe is so delicious – the crunch of the base contrasts so well with the lush chocolate filling. Make these and try and stop at just one piece!
GATHER:
125 grams butter, at room temperature, diced
100 grams brown sugar
1 teaspoon best vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups self-raising flour
½ cup Nutella
topping:
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups desiccated coconut
1/3 cup caster sugar
LET’S GET TO IT:
Preheat oven to 180C.
Grease and line a rectangular slice pan, allowing a 3cm overhang of paper.
In bowl of electric mixer beat sugar, butter and vanilla until pale, then using a spoon stir in flour.
Scrape into pan, distributing evenly, and cook for 12 minutes or until lightly golden. Set aside until completely cool.
Meanwhile, mix all the topping ingredients together in a small bowl.
Spread Nutella over cold base, sprinkle over topping – ensure it is even.
Return to oven and cook for 20 minutes.
Leave in pan until cold, then cut into squares to serve.
Oooh, how cute are these little cakes?! I love mini individual cakes and these little loaf cakes are a nice change from cupcakes – and they are a smidge more sophisticated, too..
These mini raspberry and coconut crumble loaf cakes super easy to make using store cupboards so you can whip these up in no time at all. Because it is a Donna Hay recipe it is all simple technique with great results. Continue reading
These are the cutest incarnations of lamingtons I ever did see! For non-Aussies, a lamington is a sponge cake coated in chocolate icing then drizzled in coconut. Super yum. Continue reading
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.
So, this is a very basic recipe and the only reason I’m even posting it is that I often have a surplus of two egg whites when I’m baking or making the Hungry Dad’s favouritest ever sweet, custard. I was stashing the whites in the freezer but decided to actually bake with them recently.
This recipe is sooo simple that my kids [even Miss6] could make this without any supervision. The choc bottom takes them from meh to marvellous.
Gather:
3/4 cup caster sugar
2 egg whites
2 cups desiccated coconut
150g dark chocolate, melted
Let’s get to it:
Preheat oven to 180C and place non-stick baking paper on a baking tray.
Mix everything except chocolate in bowl using a silver spoon.
Place golf ball size mounds on the trays, leaving space to spread.
Bake for between 10-13 minutes, until pale gold.
Cool completely before using a butter knife to swipe the melted chocolate across their bottoms.
Allow chocolate to set before eating.
If you’re reading this in the northern hemisphere the title of this post may seem nonsensical. Australia readers [and maybe New Zealanders] will get it: this cake pays homage to a biscuit that many of us grew up with. Made by Arnotts it is plain vanilla bickie with puffy pink marshmallow topping and a river of raspberry jam down the centre. The whole creation is then sprinkled with desiccated coconut. Sickly? A bit. To children of a certain generation they were the ultimate in lunchbox treats.
With Australia Day looming Miss8 and I decided to do a riff on this old fav, using cake instead of cookie, as the base. Continue reading
Oh Donna, you’ve done it again. I reckon that Ms Hay’s eponymous magazine is just getting better as time goes on. There’s a wider variety of recipes and they are all just so tempting that I every time a new edition appears in my letterbox I want to race to the kitchen and bake. That’s surely a sign of a fab mag.
The recent issue 68 had a cheesecake special, which totally had me drooling. The recipe that most caught my eye was dark chocolate coconut mini cheesecakes with pomegranate syrup. Not being a pomegranate fan I omitted this but don’t think mine were any the poorer for it. Continue reading
I love, love, LOVE syrup cakes. Pouring a heap of sugared water over a warm cake and letting all the sweet, sugary goodness be soaked up? Mmmm, what’s not to love? This lemon syrup cake, by my baking hero Donna Hay, is so moist and divine that one piece will not suffice. Serve it cooled, or for mega accolades, warm with cream. Don’t mind if I do… Continue reading
the hungry mum 