Showing posts with label Fruit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fruit. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Tuesdays with Dorie: Chocolate-Banded Ice Cream Torte

To be honest my torte doesn't really have bands as such, more wobbles, swirls and waves!

This recipe really caught my eye when I first flicked through my copy of Baking. Dorie's torte is stunning in its simplicity, precision and colour. I guess 1 out of 3 isn't bad? Only raspberries can give you that shocking pink colour!

This happened purely because I tried to cheat by not freezing the layers as long as recommended (I was too tired to stay awake that long) and the results speak for themselves! When I placed the icecream layer on top and smoothed it out it pushed the chocolate to the edges. But if I hadn't made it when I did it wouldn't have been made at all.

The taste test ...

I LOVE the combination of chocolate and raspberries and the colour was fabulous. It just wasn't as pretty as it could have been :)

Thanks to Amy of Food, Family and Fun for choosing such a great recipe. I will definitely be making this again in the future and next time will follow the directions exactly.

Next week we have Chunky Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters. Try and say that 3 times fast!

Monday, August 11, 2008

Tuesdays with Dorie: Blueberry Sour Cream Icecream

I was really excited to make icecream this week, despite the fact that it's the middle of winter here. I felt a little ridiculous actually, preparing icecream while wearing jeans, thick socks, ugg boots and 3 layers on top including a big woolly jumper. Brrrr!

This week's recipe was chosen by Dolores of Chronicles in Culinary Curiosity.

I have to say I loved this recipe. I tasted the blueberry/sugar/lime mix as it was simmering and it tasted like the perfect base for a cocktail! It made for a beautiful colour too.

The taste test ...

Delicious. I thought it was like frozen blueberry cheesecake which can never be a bad thing! I ended up adding the juice of a whole lime and I'm glad I did because it needed that extra zing. Overall more like frozen yoghurt than icecream but big thumbs up all round.


Next week we have ... Granola Grabbers (??) No idea. Will have to wait and see what that is!

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Apple Cinnamon Muffins

I woke up this morning feeling hot and absolutely starving. Most mornings I don't eat breakfast for at least an hour or 2 after I get up but there's something about Sunday mornings. Possibly the fact I ate too much rubbish the night before?

These are my favourite basic muffins. You can easily switch the main flavours and make banana or rhubarb or blueberry or anything else you can think of.

Apple Cinnamon Muffins
Recipe from Taste.com.au

300g (2 cups) plain flour
1 tbs baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
150g (3/4 cup, firmly packed) brown sugar
2 medium (about 375g) Granny Smith apples, cored, peeled, chopped
125g (3/4 cup) seedless raisins (optional - I left these out purely because we didn't have any)
125g butter, melted, cooled
2 eggs, lightly whisked
185mls (3/4 cup) milk

Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease or line 12 muffin pans.

Sift the flour, baking powder and cinnamon together into a large bowl. Stir in the brown sugar, apples and raisins until well combined.

Whisk together the butter, eggs and milk until well combined. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir with a large metal spoon until only just combined. Be careful not to over-mix or the muffins will be tough.

Spoon the mixture into the muffin pans. Sprinkle some raw or demerara sugar over the top for extra crunch. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes or until golden and cooked through (when a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean). Remove from oven and stand for 2-3 minutes before turning onto a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature. Makes 12.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Tuesdays with Dorie: Black and White Banana Loaf

Chocolate and bananas. One of the most perfect flavour combinations ever don't you think? This week Ashlee from A Year in the Kitchen chose Dorie's Black and White Banana Loaf.

The only change I made was to leave out the rum and use maple syrup instead (which probably added a little too much sweetness). I also found it was cooked a lot earlier than the recipe said - 70 minutes instead of 90.

The taste test ...

Wow. Seriously. This cake is moist and packed with flavour. The banana and chocolate are complemented by a hum of lemon and nutmeg in the background. Perfect to enjoy with a cup of tea (which is exactly what i'm doing as I type!) I can see this becoming a regular.

Next week: Blueberry Sour Cream Icecream. The bowl from our icecream maker is in the freezer and ready to go!

Sunday, August 3, 2008

Sunday Brunch at Home

We've been going out for breakfast a bit lately and as nice as it is, it's becoming a bit expensive. This week we decided to do our own version of a 'big breakfast' at home and invited N's mum and my dad to share it with us.

The menu:
  • Eggy crumpets with crispy bacon and real maple syrup
  • Waffles with strawberry compote and icecream
  • Fresh juice
Jungle Juice
Any combination of tropical fruits you like! We used:

1 large pineapple
4 pink grapefruits
1 lime
2 cm piece of ginger

Eggy Breakfast Crumpets
adapted from Jamie at Home by Jamie Oliver, p30

This is essentially french toast made with crumpets instead of bread and it's absolutely brilliant! Because of all the air bubbles, the crumpets soak up the egg mixture like a sponge so the end result is incredibly light and fluffy.

3 large eggs
1/2 cup milk
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
6 round crumpets
6 rashers of bacon
olive oil or butter
maple syrup, to serve

Lay out the crumpets in a single layer in a large baking dish. Whisk together the eggs and milk and season with salt and pepper. I usually add 1/2 ts vanilla and a glug of maple syrup as well. Pour the egg mixture over the crumpets and leave to soak, overnight if possible, or as long as you can (we always do ours the night before and by morning they have absorbed virtually all the liquid). If you are using them immediately make sure you turn them several times and really push them into the egg mix.

Heat a frypan over medium heat and fry the bacon until crispy. You shouldn't need to add any fat here. Remove and keep warm. Add a blob of butter and swirl the pan to coat.

Add the crumpets to the pan (we need to do 2 batches because of the size of the pan) and fry them for a few minutes until they are golden brown. Turn and fry on the other side until cooked through.

Serve topped with bacon and a genererous drizzle of maple syrup.

Crispy Waffles

We received our waffle maker as a wedding present just a few months ago and haven't gotten very adventurous with the recipe. We're still using the one that came with the instruction manual! Thank you Breville.

2 x 60g eggs, separated
2 ts sugar
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1 ts vanilla
1/4 ts salt
2 cups (300g) self raising flour
2 tbs cornflour
80g g butter, melted

Beat the egg yolks and sugar together, then add the milk, water and vanilla and mix well.

Sift the dry ingredients into a bowl, add the egg mixture and melted butter. Beat mixture well into a smooth batter.

Beat the eggwhites until stiff and fold into the batter.

Allow to stand for 10 minutes before use.

Use 1/2 cup of batter per waffle. Makes 6.

Strawberry Compote
recipe from Taste.com.au

250g strawberries, washed, hulled and halved
1 tbs icing sugar (I used caster sugar)
1 ts balsamic vinegar (I used a delicious caramalised balsamic from Flaschengeist)

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and simmer over medium heat for 8-10 minutes or until pulpy and syrupy. Remove from heat and cover until required. Perfect with waffles, french toast or just over ice cream.

After eating all that we went to the movies and saw The X-Files. I loved it when it was on tv and have seen every episode. Despite not being very hungry we then went to lunch at Chill on Oxford St. Now i'm absolutely stuffed!

All in all a lovely Sunday.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Tuesdays with Dorie: Inspired by Summer Fruit Galette

I love fruity desserts so i'm really enjoying the last couple of picks! This week Michelle of Michelle in Colorado Springs chose Dorie's Summer Fruit Galette. As I don't have Dorie's book I have been relying on either finding the recipe online or waiting until it is posted by the host. Given the host is on the other side of the world that wasn't going to happen until Wednesday my time. And that wasn't gonna get us any dessert tonight!

So I have made something inspired by this week's recipe. It is a cross between a galette and a pizza but with my own twist and using ingredients I already had on hand.

I decided to use Dorie's Good for Almost Everything Pie Crust which I haven't made before. Even though the recipe uses some lard, I went with all butter as it's what I had and I thought it would be dangerous having a pack of lard in the fridge waiting to be used for something else!

Apricot and Raspberry Galette

1 quanity of Dorie's pie crust (I found it on South in Your Mouth)
1/2 cup apricot jam
100g ground almonds
1 x 400g tin apricot halves
2/3 cup raspberries (I used frozen)
Demerara sugar to decorate

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C.

Roll out the pastry into a large round and scrunch/fold in the edges to form a rough pie. Spread the base with apricot jam then sprinkle over the ground almonds. This will absorb some of the juice from the fruit and prevent the crust from getting soggy. Layer the apricots over the top, cut side up, and fill in the gaps with raspberries. Sprinkle with demerara sugar.

Bake for approx 45 minutes or until the fruit is bubbly and the crust is cooked and golden brown.

I also made my own custard to serve with it.

Stirred Custard
From The Original Cookbook by the Australian Women's Weekly, 1977, p220. This is my go-to recipe and it's never failed me yet!

3 eggs
2 tbs sugar
1/2 ts vanilla extract
2 cups milk (reduced fat works fine)

Beat eggs, sugar and vanilla together in the top of a double boiler. Warm milk in a separate pan then stir into egg mixture. Stir constantly over simmering water until custard thickens slightly and coats the back of a spoon. This could take 15 minutes or longer. Remove from heat IMMEDIATELY. (Sorry, don't mean to shout there but honestly it will start to curdle if you're not really quick).

Makes 2 cups (I normally do a double batch).

The taste test ...

This was absolutely delicious and after years of stomping and swearing, I have finally found a pastry that works for me! It was easy to throw together in the food processor and after a long rest in the fridge it rolled out to perfection. The texture was great too - crisp, buttery and flaky. It looked more like a fruit pizza when it came out of the oven but whatever you call it, it's a keeper!

Next week we have The Black and White Banana Loaf thanks to Ashlee of A Year in the Kitchen. Yum!

*I am not an official member of Tuesdays with Dorie - just playing along at home!

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Lemon and Blueberry Pikelets


I love pikelets. Partly because they're delicious little mini pancakes so what's not to love, but also because they take all of 15 minutes from getting the frypan out of the cupboard to sitting down and eating.

This is the type of thing I'm looking forward to cooking with my own kids. But as we are just starting the TTC rollercoaster that is clearly a little while away yet!

Lemon and Blueberry Pikelets
Recipe adapted from the Original Cookbook by the Australian Women's Weekly, 1977, p178

1 cup self-raising flour
pinch of salt
1/4 ts bicarbonate of soda
3 tbs sugar
1 egg
2 ts melted butter
2/3 cup sour milk (made by adding 1ts vinegar or lemon juice to the milk and letting it stand in a warm place until it sours ie. goes squidgy and lumpy - I do this first thing and it's ready by the time everything else is assembled)
Zest of 1 lemon
approx 1 cup blueberries, either fresh or frozen

Sift dry ingredients together and add sugar. Mix to a smooth batter with beaten egg and milk, then fold through the melted butter and lemon zest.

Heat and grease frypan then drop in dessertspoonfuls of batter (I do 5 or 6 at a time but it depends on the size of your pan and flipping skills). Top each with a scattering of blueberries.

Cook until bubbly on top and golden brown underneath. Flip each one to cook other side. This second side may take a little longer than the first if you have used frozen blueberries.

Remove and repeat. Makes approx 12 pikelets. Delicious served hot from the pan with butter, maple syrup or just a dusting of icing sugar.


Note to self - next time wear gloves when handling blueberries to avoid freakish blue fingernails!

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Tuesdays with Dorie: Cherry Rhubarb Cobbler

Another Tuesday, another dessert! I'm really going to have to start exercising more often to burn off all this sweet stuff. At least there is fruit in this one so I can pretend it's healthy! (We won't talk about the huge scoop of Sara Lee vanilla ice cream on top).

Amanda at Like Sprinkles on a Cupcake chose this week's recipe. I found it online at Cook Almost Anything, and this was a really lucky find because the recipe had been converted into 'Australian'. I completely agree with Haalo's observations there about how Dorie's (and a ton of other cookbooks) are written purely for the American market. We don't measure butter in sticks or cups. It's so much simpler to measure/weigh everything and then you KNOW it's accurate. Particularly when baking is an exact science and requires exact proportions of ingredients. This is actually one of the main reasons I haven't purchased Dorie's book*. Anyway, you can find the recipe at the link above.

I think I have made a cobbler exactly once before. We tend to stick to crumbles in our house because they're easy and always delicious. The cobbler was also incredibly easy to put together - the filling just stirred together and the topping blitzed in the food processor.

As I mentioned last week N loves rhubarb so this was always going to be a winner. I had to use frozen fruit for both the rhubarb and the cherries. They actually did have fresh cherries at the supermarket but it's completely the wrong season so they've been imported (which makes me cranky) plus they were ridiculously expensive.


The only changes I made to the recipe were the proportions of fruit. I used a 350g box of cherries and a 450g box of rhubarb. I also added some extra sugar (approx 1-2 tbs) to account for the acid from the extra rhubarb.

The taste test ...


Well it tasted great but the presentation was lacking - the balls of dough on top didn't spread out at all which was a bit odd. I would also prefer a greater ratio of fruit to topping. Overall we enjoyed it but would definitely tweak the recipe if we were making it again.

Next week we have Summer Fruit Galette!

*Remember I am not officially a part of TWD, just playing along at home!

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Peach and Cardamom Trifle


Are you sick of cake and cream yet? I nearly am and that's saying something!

I made this trifle for a Christmas in July dinner with the family this weekend. Trifle was always my favourite dessert when I was little - filled with bought jam roll, lots of red and green jelly and artificially yellow custard. These days I have (slightly) more sophisticated tastes.

This trifle is built around homemade sponge cake with a filling of dried peaches and orange slices which are poached in a sugar syrup subtly spiced with cinnamon, cardamom and brandy. Yum! The kitchen smelt absolutely divine with this bubbling away on the stove. And quite Christmas-y too I think.

It also gave me a chance to use one of our gorgeous wedding presents - a Krosno glass salad bowl - which works really well for this. (Thanks Beth!)

Sponge Cake
From Modern Classics Book 2 by Donna Hay, p75

1 1/4 cups plain flour
6 eggs
3/4 caster sugar
60g butter, melted

Preheat oven to 180 deg C (I did 160 deg fan forced).
Grease two shallow 20cm (8in) round cake tins and line the bases with baking paper.

Sift flour 3 times and set aside.

Place the eggs and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat for 8-10 minutes or until thick and pale and tripled in volume.

Sift the flour over the egg and sugar mixture and gently fold through using a metal spoon. Then fold through the melted butter.

Pour half the mixture into each tin and bake for 25 minutes or until the cakes are springy to touch and come away from the sides of the tin.

Cool on wire racks. Decorate as desired (I would normally fill them either jam and cream or lemon curd and dust with icing sugar). Serves 8-10.




Peach and Cardamom Trifle
Recipe from Notebook Magazine, Sept 05, p158 (as seen on Taste.com.au)

1 plain unfilled sponge cake (in 2 layers)
200g Dried Peaches, cut in slices
1/4 cup (60ml) brandy
3 cardamom pods
1 cinnamon stick
1 tsp orange rind, finely grated
1/2 cup (125ml) orange juice
1/2 cup (100g) sugar
2 oranges, peeled, sliced
500g Pauls Premium Vanilla Custard (or any custard you like - I would have made it myself but we had run out of eggs)
flaked almonds, toasted

Place one cake layer in the base of a 2-litre (8-cup) capacity glass serving bowl.

Place the dried peaches in a medium saucepan with brandy, cardamom pods, cinnamon stick, orange rind, orange juice, sugar, and 3/4 cup (185ml) water. Place over high heat and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes or until peaches soften. Add orange slices and then set aside for 10 minutes to cool.

Spoon half the peach mixture over the oranges and top with vanilla custard. Repeat layering with remaining cake, orange slices, peach mixture and custard.

Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 3 hours or overnight to develop the flavours.

To serve, top with lightly whipped cream and sprinkle with toasted flaked almonds.


(Sorry for all the condensation on the bowl - it doesn't make for great pics!)

The taste test ...

Overall it got a big thumbs up from everyone. I think next time though I will make double the syrup and simmer the spices in it before adding the fruit. The cinnamon and cardamom flavours weren't as pronounced as I hoped they would be. But it was still delicious and a great end to the meal.
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