Mother's Day Cupcakes

We're making the trek to Canberra this weekend for Mother's Day. (Also I need to see my beautician and hair dresser and one or two other extremely important people...)

This year we're taking the easy option of going out instead of cooking, and will be going out for yum cha on Sunday morning with our mothers, our Godmother and various siblings in tow. When invited, our Godmother quickly flagged champagne drinking as a staple of Mother's Day (even at 10.45am!), noting that she couldn't possibly drink green tea. My mother went one step further and suggested that the champagne drinking should start the day before. (Notice a theme here...)

So to sop up all the champagne, I have a few treats in mind. First, I'll be making the chocolate chestnut cake I tried earlier this week. It's so good that any excuse will do to make it again, including pre-Mother's Day festivities. Second, I thought a batch of old-school cupcakes might do the trick.

This is a recipe very like the one my mother taught me as a kid so it's apt that I make it this weekend. It's a basic vanilla cake recipe; it's quick, easy and works every time. It's not too sweet, as Tim pointed out, and it doesn't have that plastic sort of taste to it that you can get with over-engineered or shop bought cake. It turns out quite robust and makes a substantial snack, although it's not quite a muffin.

Ingredients
2 cups self raising flour, sifted twice
1/2 cup caster sugar
125g unsalted butter, room temperature
3 eggs
3/4 cup milk
1 1/2 tbsp vanilla essence
1 tbsp plain yogurt

Preheat oven to 180ºC

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well between each. Add the vanilla and yogurt and mix well. Add the flour and milk and mix on high speed for two minutes.

Spoon into patty pans. Bake for 20 minutes, or until risen and golden.

This makes 12 large cupcakes.

Happy Mother's Day Mum xxoo

Gluten free chocolate chestnut cake

In the past, Tim's seemingly constant twittering used to drive me so nuts that on one occasion I physically removed his iPhone from him and threw it away. (He couldn't understand why I objected so vehemently to him tweeting people he didn't even know while we were out to dinner, in bed, or on our wedding day.) He doesn't have time for it as much these days which is excellent, and there have been far fewer phone related incidents in our home as a result.

I actually do have a twitter account. It's a fairly recent thing and I joined up initially to see what all the fuss was about. My personal experience is that it's something to do to take a break from other tasks or when I'm procrastinating from study. You can steal a moment on Twitter and read about the second-to-second happenings of people you don't know, or post your own. For example: 'Kitchenmade is bored and needs another coffee.' Thrilling stuff.

All of that aside, if you can get past the inanities, tantrums, spruiking of products and people who tweet every five seconds, there is some good stuff to be found via Twitter. It turns out that there are a lot of like-minded people out there who just love food and cooking and sharing their recipes and knowledge. For me, it's been a good way of keeping up with what's going on in the foodisphere.

The point of all of this is that a few days ago, I was on Twitter and I saw a post that caught my eye with two key words: 'chocolate' and 'chestnut'. Following the link, I found a recipe that I just couldn't go past for a gluten free chocolate and chestnut cake. I've been wanting to do something like this for ages and this looked simple and delicious. It got extra ticks because it's gluten free and because chestnut is the best nut you can eat due to it's zero fat content. In fact, as far as chocolate cakes go, this is about the healthiest I've ever seen without compromising on taste. The result is a smooth, moist texture, and just enough sweetness to make it rich without being sickly. I honestly cannot remember the last time I enjoyed a cake so much.

Now as always, I deviated slightly from the original recipe. First, I added rum. Second, I didn't have a spring-form square tin so I lined a small tray with baking paper and it worked just fine. However, I'm making this again for a dinner party on the weekend and it will be in regular round tin form. I also used a slightly different method which I've described, below. Finally, I glazed it with a dark chocolate-butter-coffee combo, but I wouldn't do that again because you just don't need it.

Ingredients
425g chestnut puree (I used a full 439g tin)
250g 70% cocoa chocolate (I couldn't get it so used 63% which was fine)
125g butter (I used unsalted)
6 eggs, separated
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp rum
60g caster sugar
25g brown sugar

Preheat oven to 180ºC

In a food processor combine chestnut puree, butter, egg yolks and vanilla.

Melt the chocolate and let it cool slightly. Add it to the chestnut mixture, making sure it's well combined. You might need to stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl occasionally. When done, place the mixture into a large bowl.

Whisk the egg whites until doubled in volume and fluffy. Add the caster sugar bit by bit and continue to whisk until you get a glossy, stiff mixture. Sprinkle the brown sugar on top and stir through gently. I just turned the electric mixer down low for this bit.

Add the meringue mixture to the chestnut mixture a little at a time and fold through gently. I used a hand whisk. Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 40 minutes.

When it's cool, remove from the tin and dust with cocoa, icing sugar or glaze if you really want to.

See the recipe in its original form at: http://www.frillsinthehills.com/2010/05/sunday-baking-projectgluten-free.html

[Oh, and if you're wondering why the photo quality is so different this time, it's because I only had the compact camera on hand]

Pear & ginger tart

It's Monday morning and a beautiful one at that. No rushing off to the office to deal with unhappy people. No struggling into pantyhose and tottering around on heels. No stress because there are no car parks left at 7.30am. Yes, I'm still loving the country life.

This weekend past has been notable for a few things. First, we ate an excellent birthday dinner in Melbourne on Friday night for my good friend Jane. It was at a place called Gypsy's. Gypsy's takes you by surprise because it's on a suburban street in Beaumaris, wedged between two regular houses. The only thing that gives it away as a restaurant is the big sign splashed across the house. The menu isn't large and consists of five main dishes. I remember them all - slow cooked pork in cabbage, beef and pinot noir stew, roast pork, risotto and harpuki. All were served piping hot and in generous proportions. There are a few other things, including a vegetarian minestrone and a number of dessert options. Trust me, once you have a main, you don't need dessert. Oh, and the bathroom was gorgeous!

Yesterday we drove to Maffra for the markets. It's a pretty drive through Gippsland to get to Maffra and there are some stunning old homesteads to see along the way. I love that old Australian architecture, complete with long, oak-lined driveways that lead you to the main attraction. If it wasn't for the sealed roads and occasional reminder that we're in 2010, you could be driving through pre-WWII Australia. Unfortunately, the markets were not what we were expecting and one truly terrible coffee later, we left. Actually, it's the first time I've thrown a coffee out after one sip. I wanted to go get a refund, but Tim baulked at the idea and reminded me that we really should have known better. I won't explain why.

But the main thing about this weekend just gone is that Ladybug earned her keep by catching a mouse and dispatching of it so quickly and cleanly that we almost didn't realise what had happened. She'd been on guard since Friday night when we got home around midnight and one had run in from the laundry and under the fridge. Tim poked around with a broom handle for a while and it ran, over him (yuck), and took up residence behind the dish washer. The Bug has kept watch ever since and at about 2.30 this morning, she got her reward. It's a downside of living in the country - there are all sorts of creepy crawlies all over the place and it's not a question of keeping a clean house. They're everywhere!

Otherwise, I did a lot of baking with mixed results. One thing that did work well was the pear tart. I'm loving pears at the moment and they're my new snack of choice. Get them while they're just going ripe, but not too mushy, and they are beautifully sweet with a delicate texture and I find them very satisfying. Mmmmm...

Natural progression means a pear tart. This is pretty simple and can be simpler if you just use bought pastry. I made spelt pastry but won't bore you with the details.

Ingredients
Filling:
150g almond meal
150g caster sugar
150g unsalted butter, soft but not melted
2 large, free-range eggs
40g plain flour
1 tbsp finely grated lemon zest
1 tsp vanilla

Pears:
3 pears, cored, peeled and halved
50g caster sugar
2 pieces of ginger, about 3-4cm long each
1 stick of cinnamon
1 large piece of lemon zest
1/2 tsp rose water (optional)

1-2 pieces of short crust pastry.

Grease a flan tin (about 20cm) and line it with the pastry. Dock and set aside. Preheat oven to 180ºC.

Place the pears in the pan with the sugar, ginger, cinnamon, zest and rose water. Just cover with water. Bring to a steady simmer and turn the heat down so it's only just simmering for 10 minutes. Remove, drain and cool.

For the filling, place the sugar and butter in a bowl and with an electric mixer, beat until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs one by one and then slowly add the almond meal. Finally, mix in the flour, zest and vanilla. You should have a fluffy, sweet sort of mix.

Spoon the filling into the tin and even it out a bit. Place the pears in a circular arrangement on top of the filling and slightly press in. Bake until it's turning a golden brown. Serve hot or cold.

Peanut butter cookies

Lately I've been baking tasty treats a couple of times a week. I have the time and I've always enjoyed baking. It's my down time and I love experimenting and creating. Tim's not complaining because he's living the dream with slices and cookies almost every day in his lunch box. In fact, I have a freezer full of goodies that should last a couple of weeks if I stopped baking today...unless Tim discovers my stash.

Recently I picked up the free Coles magazine. I've rifled through previous editions in the past for ideas, noting that the food looks accessible and family-friendly. I think that the benefit of a magazine put out by a supermarket is that it contains recipes for the average person that are generally straight forward, quick to make, good value and contain easily obtainable ingredients.

Anyway, in this year's Autumn edition, I found a recipe for peanut butter cookies. For a change I stuck to the recipe, word for word, except I forgot to chop the scorched peanuts. It didn't matter. They worked out well although I thought they were a little dry. This could be because I used light peanut butter, but if I make them again I'll probably use a little more butter or slightly less plain flour. In any case, Tim loved them, they're quick to throw together and could be a fun one for the kids to try.

Ingredients
200g butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
3/4 cup smooth peanut butter
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1 cup self-raising flour
200g scorched peanuts, roughly chopped

Preheat oven to 160ºC or 140ºC fan forced. Line two large baking trays with non-stick baking paper.

Using electric beaters, beat butter, sugar and vanilla in a large bowl until light and creamy. Beat in peanut butter. Sift flours over the butter mixture and use a non-serated knife to mix to a dough. (I used an electric mixer on low). Add the scorched peanuts and m ix through with a knife.

Roll heaped tablespoons of dough into balls and place onto prepared trays. Flatten to about 1.5cm. Bake for 15 minutes, until lightly golden underneath. They will still be soft.Leave on trays for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Chocolate Anzac slice

Over the past few days Tim and I have talked about whether to go to any of the local dawn services, memorials, parades or other events planned for today. We've both done all of that before and while both of us are fully aware of the significance of Anzac Day and respectful of those it serves to memorialise, we really wanted, and needed, a day at home.

This morning Tim and I awoke to the carry-ons of Ladybug. We leapt out of bed and went running to see what was wrong. Nothing was wrong, but the farmer had moved his cows into the paddock that runs alongside our driveway. The Bug was just letting us know. Then we remembered it was Anzac Day and we could still go to the local memorial service if we wanted to. We decided against it.

I personally find Anzac Day services moving and emotional and something that's worth going to at least once in your lifetime. I had an uncle go to Vietnam. My mother says he was never the same after that. Tim had two great uncles die in Japanese POW camps during WWII. His grandfather served in Borneo and was much affected, although people didn't tend to talk much about it then.

We're now living in a very small town with streets named for families that lived here for generations. I imagine that people still remember the names of men on the local cenotaph. I always find it sad that all over Australia, the smallest towns gave the largest percentages of their young men to wars fought almost a century ago.

To change tracks slightly, I think it's great that we have an every day reminder of something so important, albeit in the form of the Anzac cookie. These tasty morsals are something every Aussie kid has grown up with and thankfully people keep on baking and sharing them. This year, inspired by a recipe my friend Dimi shared with me, I made something slightly different - chocolate Anzac slice. It's every bit as easy as making cookies, and perfect for your lunch box.

Ingredients
2 cups self raising flour
2 cups rolled oats
1 cup coconut
1 cup sugar
250g butter
4 tbsp golden syrup
4 tbsp hot water
4 tbsp cocoa
2 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp bicarb soda
melted chocolate - optional

Preheat oven to 160ºC. Line a flat baking tin or lamington pan with baking paper.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, rolled oats, coconut, sugar an cocoa.

In a medium sized pan, melt the butter with the golden syrup. Add the vanilla. In a cup, mix the bicarb with the water and add to the completely melted butter mix. It will froth up. Add this to the dry ingredients and combine well.

Press the mixture into the tin and bake for 15-20 minutes. When cool drizzle melted chocolate across, cut into squares and keep in an airtight container. Oh, and enjoy!

Frangipane jam drops

Another winner from my little freebie recipe book - Frangipane Jam Drops. Is the frangipane thing about the almond meal and butter? I should check my Larousse, but it's pretty late and I just can't do it. Whatever the case, I really, really liked the cookie dough this time around. I just can't go past almond meal. It makes for such a rich, textured mix and goes beautifully with butter. So that's the first good thing about this.

The second thing is it's a really easy recipe. Those good folks at Woman's Weekly have the easy, 'anyone can do it' recipe down pat. And, these cookies are lovely. Very old fashioned, to be enjoyed with a good cup of tea. Tim calls them 'jam spots'.

The one thing I didn't rate was making a hole with a wooden spoon handle. The dough was too sticky for that, so I just sort of pressed the jam in with a teaspoon. It worked fine and didn't stop my cookie thief who didn't think I noticed the mound slowly diminishing...

Ingredients

125g butter, softened

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup (110g) caster sugar

1 cup (120g) almond meal

1 egg

2/3 cup (100g) plain flour

2 tbsp raspberry jam

Preheat oven to 180º C/ 160ºC fan forced. Grease oven trays; line with baking paper.

Beat butter, extract, sugar and almond meal in small bowl with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add egg, beating until just combined; stir in sifted flour.

Drop level tablespoons of mixture on trays 5cm apart. Use handle of a wooden spoon to make small hole (about 1cm deep) in top of each biscuit; fill each hole with 1/4 tsp jam. Bake about 15 minutes; cool jam drops on trays.

Super energy slice

I don't have a lot to say about this one. Tim rides a bicycle. A lot. So do his mates. They are constantly hungry, especially before, during and after big rides. Where most of us would be worried about fat and sugar content, these guys insist on cramming in as much of both as physically possible without throwing up. Anyway, apparently my last effort wasn't nearly energy-dense enough. Specific feedback included that it needed chocolate. So here I go again.

This is the new and improved version, dubbed iSnack2.0 by Tim, who incidentally thinks it could have been sweeter. Sigh...

Ingredients:

1 cup coconut

1 cup spelt flour

1 cup fresh apple juice

1/2 cup craisins

1/2 cup muscovado sugar

1/2 cup rice puffs

1/2 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup sunflower seeds

1/4 cup sesame seeds

1 egg

100g melted butter

1 tbsp cinnamon

It's simple - mix everything together really well. Press into a greased or lined tin and bake at 180º until golden brown, but don't let it go hard. This should take about 20-30 minutes.

Melt 375g white chocolate in a bowl over a pan of boiling water. Add a half a cup of chopped craisins and stir. Spread over the cooled slice. Allow the chocolate to set and then cut into slabs.

Chocolate caramel slice

What a weekend it has been! Lots of cooking and photos and running around generally. I've had a few flops and a few successes. It's all a learning experience and this afternoon it's perfect weather to stay inside and tell you all about it.

I started the weekend with a chocolate caramel slice from the Donna Hay Simple Essentials: Chocolate cook book (p32). It's something I've wanted to try making for years. I remember school fetes and morning teas when someone's mum made caramel slice. I was fascinated every time. I thought it was this magical, mystical creation that took much more skill than I had. Well it turns out that it's not actually that hard, even when converting the base to wheat free. (There are some things I'm not prepared to forgo taste testing of!)

The recipe worked well although I'll use more chocolate on top next time. The one thing I found was that the base can dry out quite quickly and become a bit hard. I think this is because the base is baked twice - once with and once without the caramel filling. Or perhaps it's just because I don't have a feel for this recipe yet? Whatever the case may be, it hasn't deterred Tim and I've had to hide a large portion of it. I want him around for a long while yet and I fear that if he gets his hands on this and acts with his usual abandon, it will go in a flash and may cause a little artery hardening. Yes, there's a fair bit of butter in this one.

Ingredients

base:

1 cup plain flour (I used spelt flour)

1/2 cup desiccated coconut

1/2 cup brown sugar

125g butter, melted

caramel filling:

1/3 cup golden syrup

125g butter, melted

2 x 400g cans sweetened condensed milk

topping:

200g dark chocolate

3 tsp olive oil

Preheat oven to 180ºC. Place the flour, coconut, sugar and butter in a bowl and mix well. Press the mixture into a 20cm x 30c slice tin lined with non-stick baking paper and bake for 15-20 minutes until brown.

To make the caramel filling, place the golden syrup, butter and condensed milk in a saucepan over low heat and stir for 7 minutes or until the caramel has thickened slightly. Pour over the cooked base and bake for 20 minutes or until the caramel is golden.

Refrigerate until cold, then melt the chocolate and oil and pour over the top.

Angelina's lemonade scones

Scones are a unique part of any Aussie childhood. They're one of those things that every kid remembers someone in particular being pretty good at. Often it's grandmothers who do the scone thing well. I had ethnic grandmothers and neither were into scones. Well, one wasn't into cooking much at all, but the other one was and I guarantee she never cooked a scone in her life. Mum, on the other hand, has always made a killer scone. She says her secret is sour cream. Let me confess that I've tried the sour cream trick and it's not that simple.

The problem is that the humble scone is so deceptively simple looking. Made from a few basic ingredients, it doesn't seem like anyone could ever possibly get it wrong. Well I've had the unfortunate experience of trying many a hard, or dry, or bicarb laced scone in my time. These versions of the humble scone are rarely pleasant and often barely edible.

It seems to take a special touch to have a scone come out with a light texture that lets it break open from the middle, properly risen without half a box of bicarb, and just sweet enough without being sickly. A good scone involves getting some air into the flour and not over-working the dough. In my experience, very few people manage this.

One young lady who can is Angelina, the daughter of a friend of mine. Angelina's mum kindly shared her recipe for lemonade scones with me, assuring me that they work every time. Now I can't eat them, but last weekend I had a houseful of Canadians keen for the Aussie experience. I gave them a go and true enough, they worked beautifully with minimal effort. But then maybe that's the thing with scones - keep it minimal? Whatever the case, I recommend this brilliant little recipe. Thanks Angelina!

Ingredients

4 cups self raising flour

300 ml cream

1 can lemonade

1/2 tsp salt

It's simple - mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl. Once properly combined, turn the mixture out onto a floured bench and gently knead until everything is sticking together well. This should not take long. Don't over-work the mixture or your scones will come out tough.

You can roll the dough out, although I just eased mine gently into a flat shape. Using a cookie cutter, cut rounds out and place on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Cook at 200ºC for about 15-20 minutes until brown. Serve hot with butter and jam, or cold with jam and cream.

Note: I glazed mine with a little milk & egg but it's not strictly necessary.

Poached mandarins

Mandarins are in season and boy are they nice at the moment! They're sweet, compact and smell gorgeous. They're also such a convenient fruit - no need for a washing or a knife, no drips or spills even with a juicy one, and each little segment always comes away so beautifully in a bite-sized piece. Altogether a satisfying design.

We've been eating a lot of them au naturale of late, but I thought I'd try something different for dessert and poach them. Now these worked really well and are so simple to make, but I learned two important things in the process:  first, star anise may be small but it packs a punch in the flavour and aroma departments so go easy on it; second, mandarins can be surprisingly delicate creatures. 

My solution is not to use more than one star anise at a time, and not to poach mandarins for longer than about 15-20 minutes, at a gentle simmer only. They can sit in the warm syrup for a while and infuse longer that way. Also handle with care when serving. 

Now about the spice in this - star anise is that little bit edgier and different and lends a whole other dimension to a dish, but I  appreciate that it is an acquired taste. Even the fragrance is quite strong and can be overwhelming. If you're definitely not a star anise fan, cinnamon would go just as well with these flavours. If you don't know, just try it. You may be very pleasantly surprised.

Ingredients:

4 whole mandarins, skins off

3/4 cup caster sugar

1/2 cup dry vermouth

1/4 cup orange blossom water*

1 star anise (or one cinnamon stick if you hate star anise)

tiny pinch of saffron threads

In a pan that's big enough to hold four mandarins without cramping them, but not too big, place all of the ingredients except the mandarins. Stir for a minute or two over medium heat to dissolve the sugar. 

When the sugar is dissolved, or mostly so, turn the heat right down, place the mandarins in and pour over enough water to just cover. Very gently simmer for no more than about 20 minutes. The fruit should be soft, but not the mushy consistency of baby food or in danger of falling apart when you lift it out.

Gingerly remove the mandarins and star anise and set aside. (Actually, you can thrown the star anise out unless you want to use it as a decoration and photograph your efforts.) Bring the liquid to a boil and boil it rapidly until it reduces and thickens into a decent syrup. 

Serve mandarins cold or hot with syrup poured over the top, and a dollop of double-cream or scoop of vanilla ice cream. Or on their own if you like.

*You can find orange blossom water at Middle Eastern grocers. There's a good one in Mawson if you're in Canberra. 

Smarshmallows

What the?

Yes, smarshmallows. It's what you get when you dip marshmallows in chocolate and top them with a smarty. Believe me, they're surprisingly good and lots of fun. They even look like fun. How did these come about?

Well yesterday, Tim and I were looking for a place to vote where we wouldn't have to wait for ages or be bombarded by advertising on the walk to the polling place. Despite the 100m safe-zone that's meant to exist around polling places in Canberra, somehow you still wind up running the gamut of election freaks with their 'how to' cards, which given you had about 40 options yesterday, could have been helpful in some circumstances. But that aside, we thought we'd head over to the north (dark) side to drop some stuff off to a friend, and find a place to vote along the way. In doing so, we went past St John's Church in Reid.

For those non-Canberrans reading this, St John's is the oldest church here, and very pretty with lovely grounds. Every year, they have a spring fair that looks like it belongs in an episode of Midsommer Murders. In fact, it's more quaint and English than the supposedly traditional English church fete that Tim and I ventured to last year whilst in England. For the cost of one pound each, we saw exactly nothing but some left over sausages and some sort of highland dancing troupe that wasn't very good. It has to be said that the event was a total flop and we left feeling totally ripped off, and tempted to ask for our pound back!

But I digress...

In the hall at St John's, we found several food stalls. From one I purchased Orange Seville Marmalade for my mum who goes nuts for marmalade. Points for me were gained. Second, I got a few ideas, including for Smarshmallows.

The principle is easy: dip marshmallows in chocolate - I used a good quality milk chocolate - and top with smarties. For one packet of marshmallows, I used a decent handful of chocolate buttons. Simple.

Now in addition to being delicious and looking bright and fun, they photograph so well that it was a joy to play around with the styling of them. The very top photo is my all-time favourite and a good idea for a fun display - very practical storage too - and the one below is what you can do if you're planning to be a bit cheeky and serve these to 'proper' grownups at a dinner party or something.