I have been hearing a lot about whoopie pies lately, and thought I would give them a burl. Half biscuit/half cake, they are pretty damn good and very easy to make. I used a maple/butter icing for the middle. They are extremely light and pretty addictive...there are also a million different flavour combinations to try.
2 eggs
2 cups of pumpkin mashed
1 cup oil
2 cups brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups self-raising flour
1 tsp mixed spice
1 tsp cinnamon
icing sugar
butter
maple syrup
Mix the eggs, pumpkin, oil, sugar and vanilla together. Add flour and spices slowly mixing.
Dollop onto tray in smallish rounds, cook for 12ish minutes til slightly browned.
Whack on some of the icing, and snadwich them together.
I have been craving this for weeks now, but had put it off because of the disbelief in myself that I could possibly pull it off...turns out it's not so difficult, and is probably my (new) favourite pastry to make and consume. If you love the taste of croissant or flaky goodness – then give this a go, for shiz.
The all important pastry:
3 cups plain flour
250g butter, chilled
1 egg
¼ cup sugar
1 tsp salt
7g sachet yeast, dried
¼ warm water
½ cup milk
Combine warm water and yeast into a bowl, give it a mix and let it aside for 5ish mins.
Mix flour, salt and butter in the food processor til the butter is slightly mixed in. Be sure not to mix the butter in any more than, say, one 1cm, or it won't be flaky.
Mix milk, egg and sugar into a bowl. Mix. Add the yeast mix, which should be frothy by now.
Gently add the milk etc. to the flour mix, folding in VERY carefully, so as not to mix in the butter.
Put in fridge for a couple of hours (about 3ish).
Once firm, roll out into a square (about the size of a typical square baking tray). Fold over into thirds, like a letter going into an envelope. Roll again, do the same. Roll AGAIN, do the same. Place, folded up, back into the fridge.
Take out once firm again, and use to fill any kind of shape you like with whatever you wish – I used custrard and plaited it...easy once you know how. I put some almonds on the top of the custard too...
Croquettes, mini meatballs and baked stuffed cabbage rolls
I've never made tapas before – mainly because it seems fiddly and annoying...I decided to give it a go, seeing as though I have uni work to do and was feeling like procrastinating as much as possible.
This all took quite a bit of time, but was worth it.
The croquettes are like creamy, bechemel- sauce- ridden crispy little nuggets of goodness.
Croquettes
½ cup flour (plus extra for dusting)
1 egg
70g breadcrumbs
50g butter
50g cheese
bacon/ham/prosciutto
300ml milk
oil to fry
salt/pepper
Make a regular rue – melt butter, add flour, cook off flour for about 4 mins, add milk slowly and make a thick paste. Take off heat, cool in fridge for 30 mins. Add bacon etc. and cheese, stir.
Shape mixture into small batons (little logs), and coat in flour first, egg, then breadcrumbs.
Fry (shallow) in oil (sunflower ) for a few mins each until brown. Be VERY careful taking them out of the oil, as they can fall apart easily. Drain on a towel.
Mini Meatballs
300g mince (beef/pork/lamb – your choice)
1 onion
parsley
50g breadcrumbs
1 lemon
1 egg
tomato puree
sugar
Cook mince and onion til brown/cooked. Cool.
Add egg, breadcrumbs and parsley to mixture and mix well. Roll into small balls, place in fridge to set for 30 mins. Fry on high heat for a few mins, then put into an oven tray to bake in the oven for another 20 mins.
Heat puree and sugar, then add to meatballs in oven tray. Serve with squeezed lemon.
Cabbage rolls
½ head cabbage
200g mince
½ cup cooked rice
1 egg yolk
1 onion
Cut the 'v' out of the cabbage bottom – place in boiling water for 5 mins til soft (yeah, the whole ½ cabbage). Take out and cool.
Cook mince, onion til brown. Cool.
Cook rice – absorption of whatever you like. Cool.
Once mixtures are both cool, add egg yolk and mix together well. Salt and pepper.
Carefully take the cabbage leaves off, one by one. Dry well.
Roll the mince up in the leaves – about 2 tablespoons for each leaf – and place in oven tray.
I put some tomato puree on top, left over from the above meatball recipe.
Bake for 25 mins.
This was a bit of an accident – adding rice milk. I had run out of normal cows milk, so substituted it with rice milk. It turned out pretty yummy, and is good if you're intolerant to cows milk.
The recipe is easy – apart from the pastry – but I love making pastry so it wasn't a bother for me ;)I used packet custard powder to make it simpler, though you could make your own if you like.
Pastry
1 ½ cup of plain flour
125g butter
¼ cup caster sugar
1 tablespoon water
1 egg yolk
Put flour, butter and sugar into a food processor – process til it looks like crumbs. Add the water slowly and the yolk til it comes together. Knead til soft (about 2 mins). Wrap and place in fridge for at least 30mins.
Once firm, use a cup upside down to make small rounds – I used a cup cake tray. Or else, you could make a big tart. Blind bake the shells for 10mins with weights in it, then 5 mins without in an oven at about 200 degrees. Cook til slightly brown. Let cool.
Custard
4 tablespoon custard powder
11/2 tablespoon sugar
100ml rice milk
500ml rice milk
vanilla essence/extract
nutmeg
I used Poppy brand custard powder – which is made in QLD and is very tasty indeed.
Put custard powder into 100ml of milk, whisk. Set aside.
Bring the 500ml of milk to the boil, with the sugar and vanilla to taste (I used ½ teaspoon).
Once boiling, remove milk from heat, and whisk in the 100ml of milk and powder.
Place back on heat and whisk til thick.
Allow to cool for a few mins, then place into pastry shells.
Refrigerate til cool and firm. Sprinkle on nutmeg.
¼ pumpkin, diced
¼ cup cream
Spring onion (3-4 strands)
Sage leaves, shredded
Spinach, cut finely
1 tablespoon parmesan
Roast pumpkin til browned and soft, allow to cool slightly; fry spring onions and add spinach to soften; add all ingredients together, making sure to mash the pumpkin well.
I don't have one of those fancy ravioli trays, so I used my own fancy brain to work out the spacings between each 'rav'. Use a bit of egg yolk and some water to seal the edges, and a pastry cutter to cut the edges, too. Cook in boiling water for around 5 mins, depending on the size of your rav's.
For a sauce, you can pretty much use anything. I made a cream, precorino and spinach sauce. But it would work with maybe a tomato based sauce, too.
2 cups plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
3 eggs
220g butter
1 cup caster sugar
About 4 passion fruits, pulp
70ml milk
2 tablespoons honey
1 cup sour cream
Preheat oven – 180 deg.
Whip butter and sugar together, til light and fluffy – add eggs slowly. Beat again between each.
Add in sour cream, honey, passion fruit and milk. Stir in.
Cook for 15-20 mins. Cool. I put on some cream, lemon thyme and vanilla. Mmmm.
Sounds odd, but this is a very lovely combination. It actually tastes more like carrot cake than anything else. I whacked on some cream and a dash of maple, too.
400g pumpkin, cooked + mashed
2 cups self raising flour
1 teaspoon bi-carb soda
1 teaspoon all-spice
2 eggs
1 cup chopped dates
½ cup finely chopped almonds
Cook/steam pumpkin (I used the microwave) until soft. Mash, then cool.
Add all the other ingredients, then the mash. Mix well.
Put into the paddy cups (or you can make a big 'ol cake) and bake in a 160-180 oven for about 15mins. Easy.
*Special thanks to Mr.N for the cup cake holders :)
I love upsidedown cakes. I got this recipe from here, but again, changed it a little. Turned out really well - it's a good light batter, which rose beautifully.
For the bottom:
2 medium firm-ripe pears
1 recipe basic caramel sauce
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
For the cake
6-3/4 oz. (1-1/2 cups) unbleached all-purpose flour
1-3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1/2 cup whole milk
1-1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
For the caramel:
1/4 cup water
1 cup sugar (white)
1/4 teaspoon lemon juice
Mix altogether in a heavy saucepan, careful not to touch the sides with the sugar (this will make it crystalise and it won't work!). Use a cup of water with a pastry brush, and brush the sides of the saucepan every now and then to get rid of the sugar if it comes up the sides. Simmer on medium-high for about 8 mins – maybe more, depends on your stove top. DO NOT STIR ! When it starts to brown, give it a little swirl so it doesn't cook in one spot. Once it's brown, poor some on a tray with the crushed walnuts, and the rest add the butter and whisk. Pour over the pear at the bottom on the ramekins. Whack the walnut toffee in the fridge.
Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 190 degrees. Butter and line small ramekins or a big cake pan – whatever you like.
Make the topping:
Peel, core, and cut the pears lengthwise into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Arrange the pear slices on the bottom of the pan in a circle around the edge, overlapping them slightly, with the pointed ends towards the center. If necessary, cut a little off the pointed ends to make the slices fit better. Or if the pear slices don't reach all the way to the middle, arrange a few of the shorter slices in the center to cover the bottom of the pan.
Make the basic caramel sauce according to the directions. Immediately remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the 4 Tbs. of butter one piece at a time, until they are completely melted. Carefully pour the hot caramel evenly over the pears (it should spread over the pears and onto the bottom of the pan).
Make the cake batter:
Sift the flour, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon, and salt into a medium bowl. Stir to combine. In a small bowl, stir together the milk and vanilla.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 1 minute.Turn the mixer to medium and slowly add the brown sugar. Increase the speed to high and continue to mix until lightened in texture and color, 2 to 3 minutes total. Reduce the speed to medium and add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
Reduce the speed to low and alternate adding the flour mixture and milk mixture in five additions, beginning and ending with the flour. Mix each addition just enough to incorporate, as overmixing will lead to a tougher cake. Scrape down the sides of the bowl one last time and mix briefly to blend well.
Bake the cake:
Spoon the batter in large dollops over the pears and smooth it into an even layer with an offset spatula. Bake the cake until the top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 35 to 45 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the pan. Turn a cake plate upside down on top of the cake pan and, using pot holders, carefully invert the cake pan onto the plate.
For a regular, 4-6 person lasagne ( or 3 servings of fresh fettuccine/spaghetti), use the following quantities:
1 cup of plain flour
I tablespoon of olive oil
1 egg
(good) pinch of salt
Cold, cold water (depends on temp of air, flour used – add as needed)
Add all ingredients together in a bowl, and roll together til they form a loose dough. Turn out onto a board and knead for a good 8-10 mins, or until a). it bounces back when pressed, or b). is silky and pliable.
Refrigerate for at least 20 mins. Cut up into 4 (ish) equal sections and begin to run through setting 7 on your pasta machine. Run it through 7 a few times, then take it down gradually til you get to about setting 2 ( I use 2 - setting 1 is kind of thin and doesn’t really cook as well). Make sure to flour your machine AND the dough between rolling. Lay out the rolled pasta sheets on a damp tea towel, or else a floured surface. It should cook in 3-4 mins in a pan of boiling water, or about 30 mins as part of a lasagne.
I have been trying to find a great earl grey tea cake recipe for ages, so decided to create my own.
I have used a basic cake base (see below) which is my fail-safe, fall-back-on cake base I've been using for years, and added some earl grey tea infused water and milk, and maple vanilla cream. I have fresh thyme growing in my garden, so thought it might add another element of earthiness to the cakes along with the tea. I also have rosemary growing too, but was unsure whether it might be a little too overpowering. I also grated some orange zest over it too, to go with the earl grey bergamot flavour. Don't add any earl grey tea leaves to the cakes – I find them gritty and they ultimately take away from the delicate tea taste.
Basic cake recipe
2 Earl Grey tea bags
60ml (1/4 cup) boiling water
80ml (1/3 cup) milk
100g butter, at room temperature
2 eggs
160g (2/3 cup) caster sugar
190g (1 1/4 cups) self-raising flour
Preheat oven to 180c and place 24 cupcake patty pans into a tray.
Infuse the tea with the water for 3 mins, discard teabag and add milk.
Add the tea mixture to the flour, butter, eggs, and sugar, and beat on low for 2 mins then medium for 2 mins.
Add to patty pans, cook for around 20 mins, but check after about 18.
Allow to cool, then dollop on the cream, thyme and orange rind.
Cream
Whip all together until soft peaks form. Grate orange zest and place thyme leaves on top.
"I was 32 when I started cooking; up until then, I just ate."
Julia Child
