Gin and Tonic Cupcakes

My mum sent me this recipe for Gin and Tonic Cupcakes a while ago. I love cupcakes, but I don’t often eat them – the beautifully decorated ones you see at cupcake shops generally taste pretty bad, but mine are so much less attractive than the store-bought ones that it doesn't seem worth the effort to make them. But with four days off work, non-stop rain and a friend’s birthday lunch to go to, I had to give them a try.

How good is my pink sieve? Don't mind the board games in the back.

SECRET TIP: I normally use a pate knife to ice cupcakes. It’s just like a tiny palette knife and gives much better result than using a butter knife. 

But this time I wanted to make a bit more effort so for the first time in my life, I tried piping the icing on. I had a piping bag in a drawer, so I attached the fancy nozzle to it, then just held it over the cupcake and piped away. I found I got the best result by starting in the middle and spiraling out to the edges and then back toward the middle. I imagined it would be really hard but it’s actually super easy!! It was kind of hard on my hands, but the skill and coordination required is seriously minimal and each cupcake was iced in seconds.

The cupcakes were a big hit with the girls, and also with the table next to us in the pub. This was the second time I’ve had random pub-goers admire my baking so if I ever go pro I know how I’ll be drumming up business. I was so proud of my new mad skills that I made a batch of vanilla cupcakes on Easter Sunday and topped them with some of the leftover icing to take to dinner at my mum's house.  I won't share the recipe as it wasn't a very good one, but I was still pretty pleased with the result.

200

On Tuesday night I made two of my favourite things to cook:

Prawn pasta (recipe here)

And shortbread (recipe here)

I went out to our tiny local supermarket to get some ingredients but I had to buy some Thai rice flour instead of the one I normally buy. I was excited by the price ($1.50, bargain!) but I'm not convinced that the final product tastes quite as good. Though it still tasted good enough for me to eat 5 pieces before lunch the next day.

Yesterday I made another favourite of mine: Something Experimental. When I was in high school my friend Julia (hello if you're reading!) used to bring in these lovely pizza scroll thingies on special occasions, and last night I was thinking about them so I decided to have a go at recreating them. I don't know Julia's recipe so I just made it up but they turned out really well! 

I used:

Pampas puff pastry

Tomato paste

Grated mozarella

Black olives from a jar

Diced ham

I just put everything onto the pastry, then rolled it up and sliced it as you would pinwheel sandwiches or a swiss roll cake. This part was extremely messy and difficult! I almost gave up, but instead I put the slices on a tray and baked them at 180 until they looked crispy and delicious.

These would be a great make-ahead snack if anyone is planning to entertain over Easter.

And in other news this is my 200th post! Perhaps tonight I will eat 200 Easter eggs to celebrate this exciting milestone.  

Happy long weekend!

Mars Bar Baked Cheesecake

So a while ago my friend Blake (hello if you're reading!) did me a favour in exchange for a cheesecake. I don't like cheesecake that much so I'd only ever made one before in my life but it had turned out pretty well (according to my friends - I didn't eat any) so I was keen to try it again. 

I used Faux Fuchsia's baked cheesecake recipe, which you will have to google because I don't know how to do links via the Blogger app. It's pretty straightforward but I didn't have my Kitchenaid yet and had to do the whole thing by hand, so even with Emily helping (thanks again!) it took half the day. 

I guess it turned out okay though because Blake asked for another one, only Mars Bar flavoured this time instead of plain. Except he only likes baked cheesecakes, and EVERY recipe for Mars Bar cheesecake is for the kind with gelatin that sets in the fridge (apart from one that just advises stirring chopped Mars Bars through your plain cheesecake filling), so I had to come up with my own variation. And here it is:

Ingredients

250g chocolate biscuits

100g melted butter

500g cream cheese

4 eggs

3/4 cup sugar

Vanilla essence

Nestle Top n Fill caramel

1 packet Fun Size Mars Bars

Method

1. Put your biscuits in a food processor for a few seconds to turn them into crumbs, or, if you're me, put them in a plastic bag inside a second plastic bag and bash with a rolling pin for half an hour

2. Brush a springform tin with a little melted butter, then mix the rest through the biscuit crumbs and press them into your tin (base and sides) to form a crust. Refrigerate for a bit. 

3. Meanwhile, mix the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla in your Kitchenaid until smooth

4. Add the eggs and mix some more

5. Pour the mixture into your biscuit crust. As you go, plop some of your caramel in then use a knife to swirl it all about. 

6. Bake at 160-170 degrees for about 45 minutes. Once your cheesecake is baked, chill it in the fridge for several hours or overnight. 

7. Top your chilled cheesecake with heaps of chopped up Mars Bars. Serve at room temperature for maximum gooey deliciousness. 

Tips

*I wasn't that impressed with the caramel Top n Fill, it was too thick to work with plus it cost four whole dollars. Next time I'll try making my own, or I might just use ice cream topping, which I think would be fine.

* When I say cream cheese I mean like Philadelphia, not that Kraft cheese spread in a jar. I only say this because I once knew someone who made that mistake. 

I have to say, even though I'm not wild about cheesecake and I don't much care for caramel, I really enjoyed this. I can't wait to try more variations of it!

I did burn my base though which was disappointing. Any tips for avoiding this? Any ideas for other cheesecake flavours?

Spinach And Cob Castle Dip

This easy retro dip is by far my most popular dish. I'm not really sure what that says about the rest of my cooking, but people always ask for the recipe so here it is!

Ingredients

1 cob bread

1 box frozen spinach

250 ml light sour cream

250ml regular sour cream

1 pkt French Onion powdered soup mix

Grated cheese (optional)

Method

1. To prepare the bread, cut a big circle out of the top and pull the inside out until you have a sort of bowl left. Tear the inside bits into small pieces for dipping, then put all your bread on a tray and pop it in the oven for a few minutes to toast it.  

2. Mix sour creams together and add French Onion soup mix to taste. 

3. Microwave frozen spinach according to instructions and combine with sour cream mix. 

5. Add cheese if you like, and warm it up in the microwave. 

6. Pour the dip into the bread bowl and serve. When you run out of pieces of bread to dip, start tearing up the crust. 

Tips

Be careful not to make any holes in the bread! If you do, just squash some extra over the hole before you put it in the oven. 

For some reason I can never get my hands on a cob when I need one. I try to keep one in the freezer, but a Vienna bread does the job too. Just don't get sourdough!

Double Chocolate Brownies

I'm mostly a baker of biscuits, or cupcakes if someone has a birthday, but lately I've been obsessed with brownies. You can have them as a morning or afternoon snack. You can serve them with icecream for a dinner party dessert. You can use them to bribe your coworkers when you need a favour (hi Brendan if you're reading!). What's not to love?

My recipe is based on Donna Hay's Triple Chocolate Brownies from the Marie Claire 'Flavours' cookbook. 

Ingredients

185g butter

185g dark chocolate

3 eggs

1 1/4 cups caster sugar

2/3 cup plain flour

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1 1/2 cups white choc chips 

Method

1. Melt butter and dark chocolate (I use Nestlé or Cadbury) over a low heat until smooth. Allow to cool. 

2. Beat eggs and sugar in your KitchenAid, or use a rubbish Sunbeam hand mixer if that's all you have. 

3. Fold chocolate mixture into egg mixture. 

4. Add dry ingredients and stir to combine. (Donna says to sift them first but I can't be bothered.)

5. Stir through choc chips. 

6. Pour into your tin. Make sure you don't scrape the bowl too thoroughly!

7. Bake for 35-45 minutes at 180 degrees. Lick the spoon and scrape the bowl while you wait (this is the real reason I love to make brownies).

Tips

Donna uses both white and milk chocolate pieces in her brownies, and chops it all up herself, which is crazy. I just use a packet of Nestlé white choc baking chips. You could substitute nuts for some of the chocolate if you were so inclined, but brownies with nuts in them suck so probably don't do that. 

Attn: Suzi! Donna recommends a 9 inch square cake tin. I prefer to use my rectangular brownie/slice tin because that's how my mum taught me. I don't know the measurements but it looks about the same capacity as my square tin - anything similar should do.

Prawn Pasta

Emily came over on Sunday and I made this prawn pasta for our dinner. She was really sweet saying how much she liked it so I thought I'd share the recipe because it's a super easy dinner that you can make with things you already have on hand. (Assuming you have raw prawns on hand. Which I do.)

Ingredients

Pasta (spaghetti is nicest)

Peeled raw prawns (I get these frozen in kilo bags from the fishmonger at Southgate)

Olive oil

Lemon

White wine

Cream

Chilli flakes (or fresh if you prefer)

Minced garlic

Salt and pepper

Butter

Method

1. Put your pasta on to cook

2. Heat a bit of olive oil in a frying pan. Throw in the garlic, about a teaspoon, then put the prawns in and sprinkle a bit of chilli plus salt and pepper to taste. Stir it around for a while. 

3. When the prawns are approaching cooked, add your wine, cream, some juice from the lemon and some extra olive oil. Just add a bit at a time and stir it as you go until it's nicely combined and reduced. Don't use too much! You only want to end up with maybe a tablespoon of liquid per person. 

4.  Hopefully by now your pasta is cooked, so drain it and - SECRET INGREDIENT TIME - mix a bit of butter through it. 

5. Chuck the pasta into the frying pan, wiggle the pan about and pretend you're Jamie Oliver, then mix it with a spoon or tongs so it actually gets combined. If your pan's not big enough for all your pasta, just put everything in a large bowl and stir. 

6. Gobble it all up. 

Tips

*This would be good with other seafood e.g. smoked salmon if you had it, and you could also add some fresh or frozen spinach if you were so inclined or maybe some little tomatoes. 

*If you don't have wine you could use vodka, or chicken stock, or just leave it out. I buy UHT cream in a carton so I always have some in the pantry and you should too. 

*Invite a kind friend over to share it so she will say lovely things about your cooking. 

Shortbread

I love shortbread! People always say how hard it is to make so for a long time I was too nervous to try it, but I'm so glad I finally did because it's not only delicious, but also incredibly easy. Even if you are not a baker you could definitely make this as a lovely festive treat.

I started with Jamie Oliver's Best Ever Shortbread recipe (from Cook With Jamie) but have made some changes.

Ingredients
250g softened butter
125g caster sugar
250g plain flour
125g cornflour or semolina (I prefer to use rice flour)

That's it!

Method

Prep: put your butter on the counter ahead of time so it will soften. Make sure you have rice flour or similar. Preheat your oven to 150 degrees. Find a square tin and line it with baking paper. (You can, if you prefer, use a round tin instead of square. You can not, despite what Jamie says, grease your tin instead of using paper. If you do you'll be sorry.)


Step 1: put the butter (chopped up a bit) and the sugar into a bowl.

Step 2: cream it in your pink Kitchenaid. If your mean boyfriend hasn't bought you one yet, borrow your Mum's or just use a wooden spoon. You will know it is creamed when it looks like this:

Step 3: add the flour and rice flour or similar. If you don't want to weigh out all your ingredients separately, just put your mixing bowl on a digital scale, set it at zero then add each ingredient straight into it so you are weighing them all in the bowl. Be careful though!

Step 4: mix it all up. You can't do this in your kitchenaid! It will go everywhere! Use a wooden spoon instead.

At first it will seem like it can't possibly work.

But soon you will have a lovely dough! Roll it into a neat ball.


Step 5: this is where Jamie and I really disagree. He thinks you should roll your dough out into a square then put that in your tin. I have no idea how you could do this and everyone I know seems to struggle most with this step of the shortbread process. Not me, because I have a secret: just chuck your ball of dough into the tin, then squash it about until it fits the square and is roughly level. Easy peasy!

See?


Step 6: prick your dough all over with a fork. Don't forget this step!!!


Step 7: put it in the oven for about 50 minutes.  The good thing about biscuits is that it is pretty hard to get the cooking time wrong - too little and they're extra soft and moist, too long and they're extra crunchy and perhaps a little too golden.  Either way they're still edible so don't worry too much.


Step 8: Once the time is up, sprinkle some extra caster sugar over it all and leave the tray to cool.  After it's cooled, lift out the whole thing by the edges of the paper and cut it into pieces.  Jamie recommends twelve gigantic chunks but I do about twice that.  You can always have a second (or third or fourth or tenth) piece.

 



Sweet And Salty And A Little Bit Nutty

Last weekend Em came round and we made Nigella's Sweet and Salty Crunchy Nut Bars.  Here is how:

We melted 300g of dark and milk chocolate (I think it was 200 milk and 100 dark, but you can do it however you like) with 3 tablespoons of golden syrup and 250g of butter.  The recipe said 125g.  Oops.

I smashed up about 160g of Crunchie bars.

We chucked that and 250g salted peanuts into the pan and mixed it all up.

Then we put it in a lined tray and let it set in the fridge for a few hours.  Easy!

It's super delicious, but because of the extra butter it was even more delicious but also very rich, so I chopped it into pretty small pieces.

Which is great because that means there are heaps more pieces for me to enjoy!  I've been snacking on it every day and there's still a bit left.

Thanks Em for coming over and showing me this lovely recipe!

Ad Break Apple & Rhubarb Crumble Recipe

Last night while watching MasterChef, I spied an apple pie and was hit with a craving for apple crumble.  I talked Mum into helping me make one, since she makes the best crumble in town, plus I'm lazy.

This apple crumble is the best thing a person can make or eat.  It's amazingly delicious; the juxtaposition of textures (soft filling, crunchy topping) and flavours (tart fruit, sweet crumble) is perfect.  It's very quick and easy and you don't need to stand over it, so you can make during the ad breaks of your favourite show.  It probably keeps well, though I've never had the self control to test that out.  It's a warm and hearty dessert, but it also makes a lovely breakfast (fruit = nutritious start to the day).  And since it's not proper baking, you don't need to worry too much about precise quantities so you can experiment.

Anyway, here is how you do it.

1. Make your crumble topping.  You need plain flour, caster sugar and butter; you can just guess the quantities but your ratio of flour:sugar:butter should be 2:1:1.  Mix it all together with your fingers or food processor (careful if you use a processor, you don't want to make it too fine). 

Lots of people add things like oats, almond or coconuts* to their crumble but these people need professional help.  Plain crumble topping is the nicest thing in the world. 

2. Into a square Pyrex dish or similar, empty a 500g tin of apples.  I used Woolworths Select, which is the best in my experience, but any will do.

Allegedly you can also peel, core, slice and cook your own apples.  Why would you?  It tastes awesome like this and you'll save like 10 hours.

3. Add another kind of fruit if you feel like it.  In a true TV chef moment, I had some "here's one I prepared earlier" stewed rhubarb in the freezer, which I got v. cheap at the greengrocer (Best Fresh, hi Lara!) one day.  Ordinarily I would use frozen raspberries, as we always have these in the freezer.  If anyone knows where I can buy frozen rhubarb, leave me a comment and I'll give you a crumble for yourself.  You could use pears in lieu of apples, if you hate yourself.

You don't need any sugar!

4. Put it in a 200 degree celsius oven and cook it until the top is golden.

5. BONUS ROUND! While it cooks, make some custard. This is super easy.  Just take some custard powder (Bird's is the best but Foster Clark's is what I used this time) and 2 cups of milk and follow the directions on the packet.  Don't do it in the microwave though; it only takes 5 minutes in the saucepan anyway, and it's quite fun.

And tada, you have a super delicious dessert made from pantry staples and you didn't even miss the Immunity Challenge.

It looks more glamourous when you don't pour thirty litres of custard over it, but then what would be the point?

Okay, now off you go to make a crumble.

*Naturally I meant to say shredded coconut, not whole coconuts!  But I couldn't bring myself to correct it after I realised my mistake.