Tag Archives: easy

Chocolate peppermint squares

1 Dec

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I admit: chocolate peppermint is my least favourite flavour combo. I know, I know – I can hear your howls of protests from here. This unorthodox position has lead to at least two people questioning the fact that we could possibly be friends. On the plus side, I am the best person to share a box of choc with, as I will insist that you have the peppermint filling. No really – it is all yours…

These squares, or slice as we Antipodeans call it, are chock full of pepperminty pleasure. You can, of course, adjust the mintiness by adding more or less flavouring. Continue reading

Donna Hay Christmas cinnamon sugar cookies / biscuits

24 Nov

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Ho ho ho – it is getting very close to all that is festive… the ‘where has the year gone?’ conversations, the ‘what am I going to buy Aunty Carol?’ questions, the musings on when to bake to avoid the heat of the day…

Here in Sydney December is always a bazillion degrees. Often humid, too. And very often followed by a thunderstorm late in the day. As I type we are experiencing a house-shaking, sky-piercing, ear-throbbing thunder and lightening spectacular.

I used a snowflake cutter to make these cookies / biscuits as it is the newest member of my constantly expanding cookie cutter collection. We don’t get snow, so I don’t understand the fascination with all things frozen. Having said that, I’m not sure what a Southern Hemisphere festive-season cutter would be shaped like – a sun? A huge fly? A sunburnt tourist on Bondi Beach?

Maybe we’ll stick with tradition then…

Continue reading

How to make chocolate dessert cake

17 Nov

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So the internet is awash with chocolate cake recipes. Dark chocolate cake. Flourless chocolate cake. Fudgy chocolate cake. Full fat with whipped cream chocolate cake. Low fat chocolate cakes. Mud cake. Chocolate and fruit/nuts/booze/ cake.

In my time I have baked and eaten many, many chocolate cakes. Many are not worthy of the time or calories. Often they are insipid. Or dry. Or forgettable.

This is the chocolate cake that you have been waiting for.

Continue reading

Donna Hay honey cake recipe

10 Nov

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Sometimes you want an easy-to-throw together cake that isn’t vanilla or chocolate. Sometimes you have a pantry full of honey as every time you’re at a fair or farmers market and you see another variety of honey you just can’t help yourself and end up buying yet another jar. Sometimes you just want to watch the hypnotic sensation of honey oozing from a spoon and falling lushly into a bowl of cake batter. Or maybe that’s just me.  Continue reading

Donna Hay caramel maple cupcake recipe

28 Oct

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Caramel is a favourite flavour in the Hungry House. I’ve always been a fan and Misses 6 & 8 adore it, too. I made these cupcakes and instantly knew I was on to a winner when Miss8 told me there was no way she would be trading this cake for one of her friend’s lunchbox treats. Trust me – my gal trades home-made cakes and cookies most days in exchange for mass-produced, supermarket-bought, multi-national owned treats #theHorror Continue reading

Passionfruit bars

1 Oct

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Nothing says fresh and zingy like passionfruit. Those who know me know that I have a dislike of fruit bordering on the pathological but for some reason I do enjoy passionfruit in baked goods. Misses 6 and 8 are my opposite – they adore fresh fruit, but actively dislike passionfruit in baked goods. Sigh. Continue reading

Orange madeleines with Cointreau

27 Sep

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Does anything spell afternoon tea more than a madeleine? These pretty little delicacies never fail to impress, although they are embarrassingly easy to make. I’ve got a few madeleine recipes on my site as I love making them and they are always well received. To make the real McCoy you will need a traditional pan, readily available from home ware stores. Continue reading

Baked chocolate donuts with chocolate glaze

22 Sep

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I am utterly enamoured with my mini donut baking pan. The holes are teeny tiny, resulting in a fairy-sized morsel that it irresistible. Whenever the baking urge strikes I often start with the pan and work backwards, searching for a worthy recipe. I have now found my ‘go to’ recipe for mini chocolate donuts, thanks to the lovely blog mysanfranciscokitchen.com

Continue reading

Vegan popcorn fudge: The Sweet Swap 2014

8 Sep

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I recently took part in the second annual The Sweet Swap, run by the lovely Belly Rumbles and Chewtown. This is an Australia-wide even where bloggers create a batch of something, are matched with three other food bloggers, and send their parcels of yumminess to those three bloggers. In return you receive three lots of sweet teats form three different food bloggers.

Imagine all the behind the scenes work done by Sara (Belly Rumbles) and Amanda (Chewtown) in putting it all together! Continue reading

Easy raspberry and almond squares recipe

25 Jul

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It is so cold in Sydney at the moment that I’m spending most of my time in the kitchen baking. Standing in front of a lovely warm oven is the best way to while a way a bit of time. The downside is I’m burning through flour, milk, eggs and butter at a rate of knots! Oh well…
Recently I flicked through some of my so-huge-it-needs-to-be-culled cookbook collection and landed on a recipe from The Australian Women’s Weekly book, The Baking Collection. This marvellous book is, as they say in certain circles, all thriller – no filler. Page after page of tempting bakes to make and I could think of no happier way to spend a day than creating some of these treats.
I chose the recipe for raspberry and walnut slice, though I used ground almonds instead of ground walnuts. I think any ground nut [or nut meal] would work here so feel free to experiment. The recipe called for ½ teaspoon of ground cinnamon but I am such a lover of this scented spice that I just freehanded a massive amount.

 

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GATHER:
150g butter, diced and softened
2/3 cup icing sugar
1 ¾ cup plain flour
at least one teaspoon ground cinnamon [more if you prefer]
½ cup ground almonds
300g frozen raspberries

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LET’S GET TO IT:
Preheat oven to 180C and grease and line a 20cm x 30cm rectangular slice pan.
In bowl of electric mixer beat butter and icing sugar until pale [you may need to scrape down sides of bowl a few times]
Stir in sifted flour, cinnamon and nut meal until mixture is crumble [do not over-mix].
Set aside one cup of crumble mix, then place the rest of the crumble mix in the pan and use the base of a glass to firmly pat down. Sprinkle over raspberries, then sprinkle over remaining mix.
Bake for around 20 minutes or until golden.
Inhale – the smell is amazing.
Allow to cool in tin before slicing into squares.

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