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
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
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
Recently, well actually several months ago, my lovely friend Jane had a birthday. Jane had requested a Tim Tam cake [for my non-Aussie friends, Tim Tams are our national treasure chocolate biscuit] but I spied a recipe in my beloved book ‘Lily Vanilli’s Sweet Tooth’ that I knew she would love. And boy, was I right.
In the book it is referred to as margarita drizzle cake but I am calling it simply margarita cake. Or, as many of my work friends commented after sampling it, the best cake I’ve ever made. Or, tequila cake with lime, if we want to keep things simple. All are true. Trust me on this – you NEED to have this cake in your life. Continue reading
Going through my stats recently it occurred to me that you all love Donna Hay. This makes me incredibly happy because – as you may have guessed – I too love Donna. I have mentioned it many MANY times here before so it is wonderful to see that we are in simpatico 🙂 Continue reading
I was unaware of the tarty deliciousness of lemon bars until about a week ago. I had seen umpteen recipes on international blogs but it wasn’t until my mother-in-law presented me with a bucket filled to the brim with lemons from her tree that I decided to make them.
Hello, tastebuds. Continue reading
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.
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
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.
I have written before about how lucky I am to receive copious of amounts of cookbooks to review in my day job as a journalist. It seems every blogger and his dog has a book these days and some tomes are waaaay better than others. Putting my professional impartiality to one side for a moment I must confess that the books I enjoy reviewing the most are those published by the venerable Australian Women’s Weekly. I have been using their books for decades, as have my mum and nana. Their recipes always work and recently their books have undergone a stylish transformation. Continue reading
So as you may have noticed I quite enjoying baking 🙂 I especially love sharing my baked goods with family and friends – despite my adoration of turning sugar, flour and eggs into cakes and biscuits I’m not such a sweet tooth. #teamSavoury.
As is my wont I made these Donna Hay white chocolate and macadamia bickies [or cookies, for my American friends] and took them into work this week. My friend Jane declared these morsels to be some of my best work. When I relayed this compliment to the Hungry Dad he agreed.
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
the hungry mum 