Chocolate-Fudge Brownies (wheat and gluten free)

Ingredients

1/2 cup rice flour
1/2 cup plain gluten-free flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 1/4 cups caster sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
150g butter melted

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Grease a 4cm deep, 20cm x 30cm (base) slab pan. Line with baking paper.
2. Sift flour, baking powder and cocoa into a large bowl.
3. Add sugar, stir to combine.
4. Made a well in the centre, add eggs and melted butter. Using a metal spoon, mix until just smooth.
5. Spread mixture into a prepared pan. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.
6. Remove from oven and allow to cool in the pan. Cut into squares.

I found this recipe on Taste.com.au to make for a friend who has coeliac disease. It is a wonderfully easy recipe to make for any of your gluten/wheat intolerant friends for an Easter gift. BTW: it tastes amazing. Unfortunately I don't have a photo of the brownies so I might have to make some more :-). Clearly it was so good it got eaten before I could take the photo.

Pavlova

A few weeks ago I was having some friends over for a 'pop-up BBQ'. As it was going to be a lovely day I thought that a pavlova would be a nice and light dessert. As I had never cooked a pavlova before, I decided to google and find a recipe that looked easy. Of course I ended up on the Donna Hay website and made her version of a pavlova. I am not usually a fan of pavlova and a few of my guests said the same but we all loved this recipe.

https://www.donnahay.com.au/recipes/recipe-entertaining/pavlova

Ingredients

• 4 eggwhites
• 1 cup (220g) caster (superfine) sugar
• 3 teaspoons cornflour (cornstarch)
• 1 teaspoon white vinegar
• whipped cream and fresh fruit, to serve

Method

 

Preheat oven to 150°C (300°F).

Place the eggwhites in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until soft peaks form. Gradually add the sugar, beating well until the mixture is glossy.

Sift the cornflour over, add the vinegar and fold through.

Pile into an 18cm-round on a baking tray lined with non-stick baking paper.

Place in the oven, reduce the heat to 120°C (250°F) and cook for 1 hour.

Turn the oven off and allow the meringue to cool in the oven.

To serve, top with whipped cream and fresh fruit.

 

HINT: The recipe mentions 18cm round, to achieve this I turned the baking paper over and drew around a plate so that I can see the marking on the opposite side and it is a circle.
 

 

 

Easy fudge

Over Easter I tried this easy fudge recipe which mum emailed to me from what I can see was a website called kidspot.com.au.

Extremely easy to make and everyone loved it!!

Ingredients

125g butter, chopped
395g (can) Sweetened Condensed Milk
2 tbsp golden syrup
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup white chocolate melts

Method

1. Grease and line a 7cm x 25cm bar tin.
2. Melt butter in a medium saucepan.
3. Add the sweetened condensed milk, golden syrup and brown sugar.
4. Stir over low heat until boiling then summer for 10 minutes, stirring constantly (I found it took quite some time before it boiled).
5. Remove from the heat, stir in white chocolate melts.
6. Mix until smooth.
7. Pour into prepared tin, cool in fridge until firm (about 2 hours)
8. Curt into slices or squares.
9. I melted some chocolate and drizzled over the top. 

I am thinking of giving the recipe a go with coffee. Perhaps putting instant coffee in with the melted butter before the rest of the ingredients.

Picture below also includes Mars Bar slice. I will upload the recipe for that one soon.

Apple and Cheery ANZAC crumble

I was heading to a friends place earlier in the week and I always bring dessert. I wanted to try something different so I found a wonderful ANZAC top apple crumble but as I always do, added a little twist.

I changed this recipe in a few ways. The original was for 8 servings and 7 apples but I was cooking for 3 so I cooked 4 apples and there was about 6 servings. Once I started the ANZAC top I realised I had forgotten to reduce the qty of the ingredients but I love the crumble so I didn't try to amend the mistake. I also added pecans through the crumble but this was not necessary, I just love pecans. The biggest addition to the recipe was the cherries. I used bottled morello pitted cherries.

Hope you enjoy it like we all did. I was also terribly easy to make.

Ingredients

4 green apples
Cherries - I used about 1/2 bottle but put however many you want.
1 cup plain flour
3/4 cup  (packed) brown sugar
3/4 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup coconut
1 tablespoon cinnamon (ground)
1 1/2 teaspoons nutmeg (ground)
2/3 butter (melted) (I used approx. 120g as I find it difficult to fit cold butter into cup measure)
1/2 cup chopped pecan nuts, roughly chopped

Method

1. Peel and core apples, then cut into rough cubes. Place in a large saucepan and cover with water.
2. Simmer (don't boil) with the lid on - medium heat for approx 5 minutes or until soft. Drain and place apples in the greased baking dish.
3. Combine flour, brown sugar, rolled oats, coconut, pecan nuts cinnamon and nutmeg in a large bowl until evenly mixed.
4. Melt butter and add to mixture.
5. Place cherries in on top of cooked apples.
6. Evenly spread the crumble over the apples and cherries.
7. Bake at 180 degrees C for 30-40 minutes or until topping is slightly browned.

Lemon Teacake with Lemon Syrup

Ingredients

60g butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
1/2 cup castor sugar
1 egg
180g (just over 1 cup) SR flour
1/3 cup milk
juice of 1 lemon (approx. 2 - 3 tablespoons)
zest of 1 lemon

Syrup
1/4 cup lemon juice
zest of 1 lemon
1/4 cup castor sugar

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 deg cel. 
2. Grease a 20 cm round cake pan, cover base with baking paper (place the cake pan on top of the baking paper, draw the base and cut it out). Grease the paper in the pan.
3. Place butter and essence in a bowl and beat on medium speed with electric beaters until light and creamy.
4. Gradually add sugar and beat until soft and creamy.
5. Add egg, lemon juice and lemon zest and beat.
6. Stir in half the flour and half the milk and combine (don't beat).
7. Stir in the rest of the flour and milk and beat with wooden spoon until combined.
8. Place the mixture into the prepared pan and cook until brown and away from the sides (around 20 minutes).
9. Cool for 2-3 minutes then turn onto cooling rack. 

While the cake is cooling, make the syrup.

1. Place the lemon juice and sugar in a saucepan on the stove on medium high.
2. Stir with a wooden spoon until boiled and the syrup will thicken.
3. Take off the heat and put lemon zest into saucepan.
4. Place cake on cooling rack and brush all of the syrup over the cake.
5. Serve slightly warm (this is a personal preference of mine but perhaps I just don't want to leave it any longer because it smells so good).

Brioche

"Brioche (pronounced: [bʁi.ɔʃ]) is a highly enriched French pastry, whose high egg and butter content give it a rich and tender crumb. It is "light and slightly puffy, more or less fine, according to the proportion of butter and eggs"^[1] It has a dark, golden, and flaky crust, frequently accentuated by an egg wash applied after proofing. "

Referenced from Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brioche

While home at on my Christmas holidays I found this recipe for Brioche in a cookbook of Mums. I have always wanted to cook it so I thought I would spoil the family for breakfast. I love dipping brioche into a strong coffee, soooo good.

Ingredients

7g dry yeast
2 tablespoons sugar
1/3 cup lukewarm milk
3 cups plain flour (I had to use plenty more)
1 teaspoon salt
4 large eggs, beaten
3/4 cup (200g) butter, cut into small pieces and softened

Egg wash:
1 large egg yolk, lightly beaten with 1 tablespoon milk (I used the whole egg, not just yolk).

Method

1. Mix the yeast, 1 teaspoon sugar, and the milk in a small bowl. Set aside for 10 minutes until frothy.
2. Combine the flour, remaining sugar, and salt in a large bowl.
3. Make a well in the center and pour in the eggs, milk and yeast mixture.
4. Gradually draw the flour into the eggs and yeast mixture with a plastic spatula. Mix until you have a soft dough (until 15 minutes).
5. (see note below) Work small pieces of butter into the dough with your hands, rubbing and squeezing the butter in.
6. Knead on a lightly floured surface for 15 minutes.
7. Form into a ball and place into an oiled bowl, cover with a clean kitchen towel and leave for 2-3 hours, until doubled in size. (Make sure the room temperature is no more than 24 degrees C).
8. Punch out the risen dough, turn out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead for 2-3 minutes.
9. Return to the bowl, cover and place in the fridge overnight.
10. Next day, divide the dough into 18 pieces (around 57g each), three quarters and a quarter.
11. Roll into balls, place into prepared muffin or brioche molds (quarter ball on top).
12. Cover and leave to rise for about 20 minutes.
13. Lightly glaze the brioche tops with the egg wash.
14. Preheat the oven to 220 deg C.
15. Bake for around 8-10 minutes. If the top starts to burn, cover with foil. Cook until when a a skewer is inserted into the center it comes out clean.
16. Remove from the mold immediately and let cool on a rack.

Note: This step was very messy and I ended up with a buttery blob. I kneaded the mixture for 15 minutes before adding the butter in case it was a mess. Next time I will roll out the mixture and place the butter in it, fold it over and roll again (like making croissants) then cover and prove for the first time.

This recipe is from The Golden Book of Patisserie, McRae Books

Cheat's Choc Mint Pudding

Here is a recipe that Julie (one of our Facebook followers and a friend of mine) has made and said it went down well with the family. I am going to make this very soon Julie, it looks fantastic.

Ingredients

Packet of chocolate self-saucing pudding
1 peppermint crisp, roughly crushed
1/2 teaspoon cocoa added to pudding mix
1/2 teaspoon instant coffee
1/2 teaspoon cocoa added to sauce
1/2 teaspoon instant coffee added to sauce
1 teaspoon mint drinking chocolate (optional)

Method

1. Make packet choc pudding mix according to directions, except for substituting milk for the 2 tablespoons of water for the pudding mix. If it is a bit dry looking, add a touch more milk or water so you can beat it with a wooden spoon.
2. Once you have mixed the pudding, add the cocoa, mint drinking choc (optional), instant coffee and cocoa, and the crushed peppermint crisp.
3. Sprinkle the sauce mix from the packet as per instructions, then sprinkle the other half teaspoon of cocoa and half teaspoon of coffee on the sauce mix.
4. Pour on the boiling water, as per the packet instructions.
5. I made this in a large glass bowl and put it in my biggest saucepan, put some foil over the top and steamed it with the lid on for about 45 mins. Alternatively, you can make the baked version in the oven, following the packet instructions.
6. Serve with cream or ice cream.

This turns an ordinary packet dessert into something truly delicious! It was recommended by the three chocolate loving males in my family.

Cheers
Julie

If you have a recipe you want to share, email it to me (the email address is on the right of the blog post).

Christmas Morning Crown (fruit bread rolls)

I made this for Christmas morning but it looked so good we started it Christmas Eve (see the 3 missing rolls in the photo). This would be fantastic to make if you want to have something yummy for guests for breakfast (not necessarily for Christmas).

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups strong flour (I used plain)
7g dried instant yeast
125g unsalted butter, chopped
1/2 cup warm milk
1 egg beaten
50g brown sugar
2 tbs chopped hazelnuts (I used pecans)
1 tsp mixed spice
1/3 cup chopped mixed peel
1/3 cup sultanas
1/4 cup glace cherries, chopped
(instead of the last 3 ingredients above, I added a cup of mixed dried fruit)

Method

1. Sift flour into a large bowl, add yeast and 1/2 tsp salt.
2. Rub in 40g butter to form coarse crumbs.
3. Mix in warm milk and egg to form a dough (I had to add more flour).
4. Place in a greased blow, cover with a tea towel and leave for 1 hour in a warm place until doubled in size.
5. Beat remaining butter and sugar with a wooden spoon until combined.
6. Add nuts, spice, mixed fruit and stir to combine.
7. Punch down to expel air, knead briefly then roll out on a floured surface to form a 30cm x 23cm rectangle.
8. Spread fruit mixture over dough, leaving a 2cm border on the long sides.
9. Roll up from one long side then cut into 9 equal pieces.
10. Place slices, cut-side up on the lined or greased baking tray so it forms a circle with the slices just touching.
11. Cover with a clean towel and leave in a warm place for 1 hour or until slightly  risen (I placed a piece of baking paper between the roll and towel as the roll is sticky).
12. Once risen, you can cover the crown and chill overnight, then bring back to room temperature before baking.
13. Preheat over to 180 deg c. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

The original recipe from the taste website made an icing with 1-2 tablespoons of lemon juice and 3/4 cup icing sugar and drizzled over the crown before serving. I didn't think it needed more sugar so I left it out.

Also, when I make this again, I will put less butter in the fruit and nut mix as there was a lot of melted butter in the middle of the crown after it cooked. I will also add more nuts as this tasted fantastic.

Sticky Lemon Loaf

Do you still have lemons that you can't think of anything to do with? Kerry and I have been cooking this lemon loaf.

Ingredients
2 egg whites
1/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons lemon rind
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons margarine - melted
3/4 cup skim milk
1 1/2 cups SR flour
1/2 teaspoon bicarb soda

Syrup
1/3 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup icing sugar

Method
1. Beat egg whites and sugar for 1 minute.
2. Add lemon rind, lemon juice, melted margarine and milk. Mix well.
3. In one go gently fold in flour and bicarb soda to mixture. DO NOT beat.
4. Pour into greased tin (21 x 10 cm).
5. Bake 30 mins or until firm to touch.

To make syrup
1. Combine juice and icing sugar.
2. When cake is cooked, prick a few holes into the top with a fork and pour syrup over cake.
3. Leave to sit for 2 minutes then remove from tin.

This cake is very moist because of the syrup so it does not store for too long.

This recipe was from Simply too good to be true number 3. This is a great series of cookbooks that are still yummy if you are watching your weight. This recipe says there is 1.8g total fat and 0.4g saturated fat per serve (also, 553 kilojoules, Cals132).
Felicity

Caramel and date self-saucing puddings

Ingredients:

60g butter
1/2 cup milk (125ml)
1 1/4 cups dark muscovado sugar (I used normal brown sugar)
1/2 cup coarsely chopped pitted dates
1 cup self-raising flour
1 3/4 cups boiling water

Method:

1.  Preheat oven to 180 deg C.
2. Combine the butter, milk, 3/4 (155g) of sugar and dates in a medium saucepan over low heat. Cook, stirring, for 2-3 minutes or until butter melts. Remove from heat.
3. Add the flour and stir to combine.
4. Spoon mixture evenly among six 3/4 cup capacity ovenproof dishes.
5. Sprinkle the remaining sugar evenly over puddings.
6. Pour the boiling water evenly among each pudding.
7. Place puddings on an oven tray and bake in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes or until just cooked through.
8. Remove from oven and set aside for 10 minutes to cool slightly.
9. Serve immediately with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream.

This tastes amazing and I put it in 5 ramekins which was enough but not too much to have for desert. Mum made it and put it in a big oven proof dish and it worked really well too.

I found this recipe in the Notebook magazine from a few years ago.

Chocolate brownies

Method:

MELT
220g of the best dark cooking chocolate you can buy
150g unsalted butter

MIX
1 & ¼ cups caster sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp Vanilla extract
90g nuts (optional)
1 and ½ cups plain flour
Optional, sprinkle choc ‘Bits’ across the top of the mixture.

BAKE
Bake @ 150 degrees for approx 35-40 minutes. Don’t overcook!

I have not made this one yet but a friend of mine has. I can't wait to give it a try.

Self-saucing chocolate pudding

Ingredients

1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup self-raising flour
2 tbs cocoa powder
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
60g butter, melted, cooled

Sauce

2/3 firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder sifted
1 1/4 cups boiling water

Method

1. Place brown sugar in a medium mixing bowl
2. Sift together the flour and cocoa powder over the brown sugar and stir to combine
3. Use a fork or hand whisk to whisk together the milk, egg and cooled (melted) butter into a bowl or jug until combined
4. Add to the dry ingredients and use a wooden spoon to beat until a smooth batter forms
5. Pour the chocolate batter into the greased 1 litre dish and use the back of a spoon to smooth the surface.
6. To make the sauce, combine the brown sugar and cocoa powder into a bowl and then sprinkle the mixture evenly over the batter in the dish.
7. Pour the boiling water over the batter in the dish and cook for about 20 minutes
8. To test if the pudding is cooked you can put a tester in the top (remember the bottom will be a sauce). The sides should be away from the edge but the cake will be dark and possibly look burnt from the chocolate on the top.

I took this out of a magazine years ago, I think it would have been 'Good Taste'. I have cooked this heaps of times because it is a quick recipe to cook in winter when friends are coming over for dinner. I have also cooked individual serves and served with ice cream.

Felicity

Apple crumble with pecans

Ingredients

3/4 cup plain flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
75g unsalted butter
1/3 cup pecans, chopped
1/4 cup rolled oats

1 tsp ground cinnamon

400g tin of pie apples or apple slices (or experiment with different fruit)

Method

1. Mix plain flour and brown sugar, using your fingertips, rub in the butter until it looks like coarse breadcrumbs.
2. Add almonds, cinnamon and combine. Set aside.
3. Place the pie apple in greased dish.
4. Sprinkle crumble mixture over apples to cover and bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes or until crumble is golden.
5. Serve with ice cream or cream.

I found this recipe on Taste.com.au and changed it a little. They cooked apples (5 cooking apples) instead of tin fruit and I think there was a typo as it said 175g butter and 75g is more than enough. The pecans give this apple crumble a wonderful extra crunch.

I made this at home with Mum and Dad for lunch when they had a friend over and it was a huge hit. Super easy, super yummy.

Felicity

Super Yummy Lemon Teacake

Ingredients

Cake

250g Philadelphia cream cheese
1 1/4 cups of caster Sugar
2 teaspons vanilla
2 eggs
1 cup oil
2 cups self-raising flour
Grated rind of 2 lemons
Juice of 1 lemon

Icing
1 cup icing sugar
Juice of 1 lemon

Method

1. Grease a pan and pre-heat the oven to 180 c
2. Beat Philly, sugar and vanilla with an electric mixer until smooth. Gradually beat in the eggs and oil. Then stir in the flour, lemon rind and juice. Mix well.
3. Pour Mixture into the pan and bake for 45-55 minutes. Allow to cool for 5 minutes then turn cake out onto a wire rack
4. Combine lemon juice and icing sugar and drizzle over the cake. Serve.

Julie Murray-Lewis

Easy easy easy easy fruit crumble

Ingredients

Tin of fruit (tonight we used apple and raspberry)
1/2 packet butter cake mix
Approx 5 desert spoons butter
Handful of almonds (chopped)

Method

1. Divide the butter cake mix and put half into a bowl
2. Rub butter into butter cake mixture until you make a crumble
3. Put the tin of fruit into a greased pie dish (we used a round cake tin)
4. Mix crumble mixture and chopped almonds together
5. Put the crumble mixture over the fruit in the pie dish
6. Cook in a moderate oven for around 20 minutes or until the crumble is brown.

Tonight I made this while camping because we needed to warm up in the caravan while in Canberra. Mum and I were not sure if the crumble would work with the cake mixture but it tasted great and was really really easy to make.

Felicity and Pamela

Fudge Cake

Ingredients

60g low fat margarine
3/4 cup caster sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 cups SR flour
2 tablespoons cocoa
1/2 cup low-fat milk
1/4 cup boiling water
1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

Chocolate Icing

1 cup icing mixture
1 tablespoon cocoa
1-2 tablespoons boiling water

Method

1. Preheat oven and grease 20cm deep round cake pan
2. Cream marg and caster sugar with electric mixer until smooth and light
3. Beat in egg into mixture
4. Sift flour and cocoa into creamed mixture alternating with milk, starting and ending with flour
5. Combine water and bicarbonate of soda and fold gently into mixture
6. Pour into prepared pan
7. Bake 35-40 minutes, until a skewer inserted comes out clean
8. Cool on wire rack
9. Make chocolate icing by combining all ingredients until smooth and spread over cooled cake.

I made this on the weekend for cousins and iced with the chocolate icing and cut strawberries. Everyone loved it and it was so easy to make. Although it is called a 'Fudge Cake' it is not too heavy and a nice cake to have seconds of!

Felicity

Choc chip pancakes

Ingredients:

1 cup SR flour
1 teaspoon bicarb soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 cup (250ml) milk
1/3 cup small choc chips - plain label are fine!

Method

1. Make well in centre of dry ingredients and break egg into it. gradually add milk and stir in with wooden spoon (if it's too lumpy, use a wire whisk to get lumps out!)
2. Stand for an hour if you have time - less if you don't!
3. Pour about a quarter of of mixture into a greased frying pan so the pancake spreads to about 15 cms or so (6 + inches!).
4. Cook on medium high heat till bubbles form. Flip over and cook for 30 secs on other side.
5. Serve plain, with ice cream or a smear of butter!

To be really decadent, whack some more choc chips in a microwave safe just or cup, mix in half a cup of cream, heat gently and stir to make a choc sauce. Pour some choc sauce over choc pancakes!

This recipe is good enough to serve to guests, but is a sure winner with a family with boys in it because after all - it's chocolate!

Julie Houghton

Lemon cheesecake

Ingredients

Base:
1 cup plain sweet biscuits, crushed
1/3 cup butter, melted

Filling:
3/4 cup cream cheese, softened
2 tbsp brown sugar
3 tsp finely grated lemon zest
6 tsp lemon juice
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
2 tbsp double cream, whipped

Method

Base:
Place the biscuits and butter in a bowl and mix to combine. Press the biscuit mixture over the base and up the sides of a well-greased 23cm flan tin with removable base. Bake for 5-8 minutes, then cool.

Filling:
Place the cream cheese, sugar, lemon zest and juice in a bowl and beat until creamy. Beat in the egg, then mix in the condensed milk and fold in the cream. Spoon the filling into the prepared biscuit case and bake for 25-30 minutes or until just firm. Turn the oven off and cool the cheesecake in the oven with the door ajar.

Chill before serving.

This recipe was adapted from one that used half orange and half lime zest and juice instead. I have made it a couple of times, and once substituted raw sugar for the brown sugar, and it turned out fine, possibly even a little firmer. It can be topped with toasted dessicated coconut (as per original recipe), but I made passionfruit butter to put on mine:

Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
pulp of 4 passionfruit

Method

Place butter and sugar in the top of a double saucepan, mix. Blend in egg, then passionfruit pulp. Place over water simmering in the base of the double saucepan. Stir occasionally until mixture thickens, approximately 1/2 hour. Cool.

Naomi Absalom

Hedgehog

Ingredients

1/2 cup (125g) butter
2/3 cup caster sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
2 tablespoons coconut
1 egg, beaten
3/4 cup chopped walnuts and glace cherries (I never put these in but you can if you really want to)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups crushed sweet biscuits (just buy a pack of marie biscuits or something and throw them all in, it doesn't really matter how much there is)

Method

1. Collect ingredients.
2. Melt butter and sugar, add cocoa and mix well.
3. Remove from heat and stir in coconut and egg.
4. Add walnuts, cherries and vanilla.
5. Stir in biscuit crumbs and mix well.
6. Press into greased pan and chill.
7. Cut into fingers.

From 'Cookery the Australian Way'

Naomi Absalom

Meringue Smash (also known as Eton Mess)

Meringue smash is also pinched from my Mum, but I have seen it sometimes in restaurants known as Eton Mess....presumably it was served at that illustrious boys' school!!

Meringue Smash (also known as Eton Mess)

Serves 6

1. Crush 6 meringue nests (or any equivalent quantity of any meringues, bought or home made)
2. In large bowl, mix 250 mls of thick pure cream, or whipped cream, plus 200 mls of plain low fat yoghurt.
3. Mix half a punnet of strawberries and half a punnet of raspberries, sprinkled with sugar.
4. Combine the whole lot, and then spoon into dessert dishes.

Variation

Use any berries you fancy! (and reduce or increase quantities to suit your needs)
 
Julie Houghton