Category Archives: Food

Brownies


Do you like your brownies dense and chewy or tender and cake like?  I like the latter, especially when they rise like these ones and here is my recipe.

  • 180g unsalted butter
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 3/4 cup cocoa
  • 1-1/2 cups caster sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup plain flour
  • 3/4 cup self raising flour

Preheat oven to 180degC and line a 20cm square cake pan with baking paper.  Combine butter, water and cocoa in a pan over a medium heat until butter is melted.  Remove from heat and cool. Beat sugar, eggs and vanilla in electric mixer until light in colour and thick.  Stir in cocoa mixture and sifted flours and pour into pan.  Bake for approximately 30 minutes until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.  Cool in the pan.  Remove and cut into 16 pieces.

I think they are delicious as they are and only need a sprinkling of icing sugar on top.  Can be frozen (if they last that long!)

Salted Caramel Choc Slice

Made this yesterday, one of my go-to slices.  I should have taken some photos when it looked perfect, I know.  But the family were too quick and now it is nearly all gone …. well, it definitely will be gone as soon as I make a coffee!

Salted Caramel Choc Slice

This is my take on a recipe which I saw on Masterchef Australia probably about 4 years ago and have  been making ever since.  If you like salted caramel + chocolate + nutty, crumbly base – you are going to  LOVE this!

Preheat oven to 180C.  Grease a 28cm x 18cm pan and line with paper  extending on short sides to help remove slice.

Base

  • 150g self-raising flour
  • 75g plain flour
  • 100g macadamias, roasted & finely chopped
  • 150g brown sugar
  • 175g unsalted butter, melted

Mix flours, nuts and sugar together, add melted butter and press over base.  Bake for 20 minutes and allow to cool whilst preparing the filling.

Caramel Filling

  • 2 tablespoons golden syrup
  • 55g brown sugar
  • 30g unsalted butter
  • 3 cans sweetened condensed milk
  • 2 teaspoons salt flakes, plus 1 teaspoon extra

Stir golden syrup and sugar in saucepan over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved   Bring to a simmer and cook for a minute, remove from heat and quickly add the butter, condensed milk and salt.  Return to stove and cook for 5 minutes until slightly thickened, stirring continuously.  Do not allow the mixture to boil.  Pour over base and bake for 15 minutes.  Allow to cool.

Chocolate Topping

  • 250g chocolate, chopped
  • 50g unsalted butter
  • 1/4 cup water

Place all ingredients into a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water, and stir until the chocolate has melted and ingredients are combined.

Pour over caramel, sprinkle with extra salt flakes and refrigerate until set.  Remove from pan and cut into slices.  Makes approximately 24.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anzac Biscuits

Anzac biscuits

Today is ANZAC day, so what better way to celebrate the day than to make a batch of Anzac Biscuits.  Well, on second thoughts, there are other ways, one of which was apparently enjoyed this morning at the local RSL Club after the dawn service, by drinking liberal amounts of rum in milk for breakfast!  Rum for breakfast – I don’t think so!

Anyway, back to the baking.  These biscuits enjoy a long history in Australia, and if you are interested to find out more, go here.

  • 150g plain flour
  • 2 teaspoons ground ginger
  • 100g rolled oats
  • 95g desiccated coconut
  • 140g caster sugar
  • 150g unsalted butter, cut into cubes
  • 1 tablespoon golden syrup
  • 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
  • 30ml water

Preheat a fan-forced oven to 175C.  Line 2 baking trays with baking paper.  Place first 5 ingredients into a large bowl and mix.  Place butter, golden syrup, bicarb soda and water into a saucepan and stir over medium heat just long enough to melt the butter.  Pour into dry ingredients and lightly mix in.  Place teaspoons of mixture on to trays leaving room for spreading.  Bake for approx. 15 minutes until golden brown.  Leave on the trays for a few minutes before cooling on a wire rack.  Store in an airtight container. 

Note that the mixture should be moist enough to form into a mound.  If it is too dry to hold together, just add a little water to bring it to the correct consistency.  Also I like to use a small ice cream scoop to get the biscuits the same size.

Finally, a word of warning – every recipe that I have ever read for Anzac biscuits says that only traditional rolled oats are to be used.  Never use anything that has the word “quick” on the packet. I have no idea why not.  Test it at your peril.  (If you are visited by the black plague, don’t blame me!)

 

 

Baking

Fruit Cake

Today I had the urge to bake a cake and here it is.  Basically just a boiled fruitcake but deliciously moist because of the secret ingredient – crushed pineapple.  This is a great recipe and I hope you will give it a try.

The only changes I made were to use a square pan (makes for easy cutting) and to lower the temperature on my fan forced oven to 150C.  It cooked in 1 hour 20 minutes.

Highly recommend.  Enjoy!

 

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Anyone for Dessert?

This is what I served up to my guests today for dessert. With such hot weather, who doesn’t love ice cream?

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This is combination of a chocolate biscuit base, chocolate ice cream, hazelnut spread, vanilla ice cream combined with crushed chocolate honeycomb, more hazelnut spread, the rest of the chocolate biscuit base and finally caramel, honey and macadamia ice cream mixed with caramel popcorn. After it was left to freeze overnight I covered it with more crushed choc honeycomb, caramel popcorn and maltesers, and just for good measure, chocolate sauce AND salted caramel sauce.

It tasted as good as it looks – everyone loved it!

This was adapted from a recipe in a Family Circle magazine.