French Macarons - take 1

Inspired by Lisa's French baking and my workmate Anita's delicious macarons of the pistachio variety - I decided to have a go at the infamous French macaron (with Tilly's help of course!).

To say I was nervous about making these is an understatement! Googling "French Macarons" reveals a multitude of pages about the intricacies of baking these gorgeous biscuits. So I read and read and read. I found many different recipes and even pages on troubleshooting. Then I decided to give it a shot - and I was pretty stoked with the result! Their 'feet' were a little splayed, and the inside a little sticky, but otherwise they were great. The troubleshooting guide tells me that my oven was probably a little too warm - file that away for next time.

I used the basic recipe from macaron extraordinaire Tartlette, with no colouring or flavouring in the biscuit. And I made a chilli chocolate butter cream with which to fill them.

FIngers crossed I can perfect them next time.

Here is the recipe - brownies with peanut butter chips!

Let me start with a warning - this has to be one of the most unhealthy treats I have EVER made! Although, my husband declared "there is no doubt that these are the best brownies in the world. You are a total baking legend".... I guess that speaks for itself!

I dare you not to make them! The recipe is a little more involved than a normal brownie recipe, but it is so worth it.

1 cup plain flour
1/2 tsp fleur de sel (normal salt is fine too)
225g butter, chopped
230g dark chocolate, chopped or broken into pieces
2 cups white sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 large eggs
1 cup peanut butter chips (or I would use white chocolate chips - or none at all and stick by the original recipe, Aussies - you can purchase peanut butter chips here)

preheat the oven to 180º C (160º C fan forced). Put a 9 inch square baking pan on a baking sheet and spray lightly. Line with baking paper if you wish.

Whisk flour and salt together in a bowl.

Set a heat proof bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water, put the butter and chocolate in. Stir frequently until the ingredients are just melted-you don’t want them to get so hot that the butter separates. Add 1 cup of the sugar and whisk gently just to incorporate it, then remove the bowl from the pan of water. Stir in the vanilla and transfer to a large bowl.

Lightly whisk together the remaining cup of sugar and the 4 eggs. Then add half of this sugar-egg mixture to the warm chocolate, stirring very gently, but without stopping so that you don't end up with scrambled eggs in your chocolate!

Beat the reaming sugar and egg mixture on medium-high for about 3 minutes, or until it doubles in volume and is nice and fluffy. Using a spatula, gently fold the whipped eggs into the chocolate, stopping just short of blending them in completely.

Sprinkle the flour/salt mix and the peanut butter or chocolate chips over the batter and delicately fold them in, working only until they disappear. Scrape the batter into your prepared pan.

Bake for 30 minutes, or until the top looks dry (warning - I cooked mine for 40 mins and the centre pieces were still gooey and quite uncooked - similar to this, which I am assured is actually ok, but you might want to cook it a little longer)

Allow the brownies to cool in the pan and refrigerate before cutting.

Makes 16-20

Recipe from Baking from my home to yours, Dorie Greenspan (Rick Katz's brownies for Julia)

Enjoy (and don't blame me when you can't stop eating them - I warned you!)

apologies for the not so great photos - we couldn't wait to tuck in!

have you seen my sewing mojo?

It is missing. Gone. Hence the lack of posts around here.

So I did a little baking yesterday instead. This is one of my favourite biscuit recipes which I make quite often. I haven't gotten used to the new oven yet, so they came out a little dark - but still great nonetheless.

But this time they had a little something extra in them along with the chocolate chips. My sister-in-law brought me these during her recent trip trip to the US. I not only have peanut butter chips, but butterscotch chips and cinnamon chips as well as toffee pieces. Seriously yummy!

Right now all I want to do is read. I've read two wonderful books in the past few weeks - The Book Thief, By Markus Zusak and The Road, by Cormac McCarthy. Great great stories.

However today is officially my first day back at Uni - so this is how I spent last night. I found my first readings really interesting, but my first assignment is due in four weeks! Eek! It's full steam ahead now.

Please meet Tilly!

My shiny new pink KitchenAid!


She came out of the box for a photo, but then went straight back in ready for our move this weekend. I think her first test will be Karen Martini's pizza dough.

I hope we will become good friends.

chaos

Chaos and hot weather - not a nice combination! We are moving in a week and a half, not too far, just a few streets down in fact, but the packing and organisation is still the same as a big move. Our lounge room looks like a cardboard monster threw up in it and my sewing room...let's not go there.

I am heading to Melbourne at the end of the month for a baby shower and I really wanted to have my present finished to take with me. So I can't pack my sewing machine, or the fabrics I need, which is fine - but now I have no room to baste the thing because the floor is covered in boxes! We get the keys to the new place late one afternoon, so I wonder if I can convince my husband that before we move in, that I need to use the wide open floor to baste my quilt??

I am a bit nervous about this quilt. I let my friend choose the fabrics as our tastes are so very different. As I was sewing the blocks together I started to get very worried, individually, some of them are not so pretty at all. However I am hoping (and crossing everything), that when they are all together that it will look ok.

Last night in the heat I decided it would be a good idea to do some baking. The apartment is still about 10 degrees warmer than it is outside, but I do have some beautiful salted chocolate cookies to show for it.

Craft room girls - these are for tonight!

World Peace Cookies

1¼ cups plain flour

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa

½ tsp baking soda

155g unsalted butter, at room temperature (it really does need to be soft for this recipe as there are no other wet ingredients)

2/3 cup (packed) light brown sugar

¼ cup sugar
½ tsp fleur de sel or ¼ tsp fine sea salt

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

140g dark chocolate, chopped

Sift the flour, cocoa and baking powder together. Beat the butter until soft and creamy. Add both sugars, the salt and vanilla extract and beat for another 2 minutes. Pour in the dry ingredients and mix just until the flour just disappears into the dough- don’t be concerned if the dough looks a little crumbly. Add the chocolate pieces and mix just to incorporate. Turn half the dough out onto a piece of cling wrap on the bench. Shape the dough into a log of 4cm in diameter. Wrap the cling wrap around the log and refrigerate or freeze for at least 3 hours.

Preheat oven to 160˚C. Using a sharp knife, slice the logs into rounds that are 1 cm thick. (The rounds are likely to crack and break as you’re cutting them- don’t be concerned, just squeeze the bits back onto each cookie.) Arrange the rounds onto baking paper lined trays, leaving about 3cm between them. Bake for 12 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack to cool.

recipe from Baking From My Home To Yours by Dorie Greenspan

no sewing?

because there has been too much cooking...!


This is the second Sunday in a row that I have spent almost entirely in the kitchen. My goodies from the last 2 weeks have included a couple of loaves of seeded light rye bread

Pizza

Banana toffee pie

Coconut and dark chocolate bread

and lemon polenta cakes

And there's still a veal and mushroom pie for tonight's dinner and lemon meringue pie for dessert.

The diet starts tomorrow...!

Lebanese Stuffed Zucchinis in Tomato Sauce

Most people double take when I tell them I am half Lebanese. Sometimes they don't believe me. Often I have to get out photos of my family to show them. I think it has something to do with the blond hair, pale skin and blue eyes...


My Dad was born and raised in Lebanon, and came to Australia when he was 21. My Mother is Australian. We were raised on a mixture of Lebanese and Australian food. Christmas dinner can be roast lamb with potatoes and pumpkin, with a side of hommus and kibbi. The food is one of my favourite parts of my Lebanese heritage.

Mihshi kousa b'banadoura (or stuffed zucchinis in tomato sauce) is still one of my favourite Lebanese meals. Most of my absolute favourites are those cooked by my Aunt or Grandmother (Teta) which I have no idea how to make! One day I hope I can learn these recipes so that I can share them with my future family. Thankfully my husband adores Lebanese food!

The only tricky part of this dish is hollowing the zucchinis. I use a special scoop that I got from a Lebanese bakery. It looks like a thin pipe, cut in half lengthwise. However you could use an apple corer instead. The zucchini pulp is not used in this dish, but we keep it to add to soups, or to make fritters. However this time, my husband used it to make zucchini and sultana muffins (recipe in the Handmade Help cookbook)

Stuffed Zucchinis

Serves 6

Meat filling

1 med onion, finely chopped

1 tbs ghee or olive oil

2 tsp salt (or to taste)

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp cinnamon or mixed spice (I use a combo of cinnamon, ground clove, nutmeg and a little ground ginger)

1 1/4 cups white rice, washed and drained

500g minced lamb

1/2 cup water

18 small or 12 medium Lebanese zucchinis

2 med onions

4-5 tbs ghee or olive oil

4 garlic cloves, sliced

1 1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)

2x 455g cans chopped tomatoes

2 cups water

1 teaspoon of dried mint

To make the meat stuffing, saute 1 of the chopped onion in the ghee/oil until soft. Mix the onions, along with the spices, salt and pepper into the rice. Add the lamb and the water and mix with your hands until well mixed and a smooth consistency is reached.

Wash the zucchini and cut off the tops. Scoop out the pulp, being careful not to break the skin. Rinse and drain the zucchini.

Fill each zucchini with the meat and rice filling, only to about 3/4 full to allow for the rice to expand during cooking. Make any leftover meat mxture into meatballs to be cooked with the zucchinis or save it for another day.

Lightly brown the 2 chopped onions in the ghee/oil (do this in the pot you will cook the zucchinis in). Add the garlic and cook until fragrant. Spread the onion mix evenly over the bottom of the pot and place the stuffed zucchinis on top in closely packed rows and layers. (Add any meatballs around the zucchinis). Mix the canned tomatoes with the water and salt and pepper and pour over the zucchinis. Sprinkle over the dried mint.

Cover the zucchinis with an upturned heat proof plate to keep the zucchinis from floating. Cover the saucepan. Bring to the boil and then turn down to a simmer and leave to cook for 60-90 mins.

Serve the zucchinis piled on a platter with the juice poured over the top. Make sure you have lots of pita bread to serve it with!

a food porn close-up!


Recipe from The Lebanese Cookbook, by Dawn, Elaine and Selwa Anthony.

Strawberry Rose Cupcakes and a Girls Night In

I found these pictures recently of some cupcakes I made a while ago and thought I would share them with you. They are quite girly and I think they would be great for the Cancer Council's Girl's Night In which is happening in October. It's a great excuse to have a night with your girl-friends and raise money for an important cause.

To join in the fun you simply register as a Girls Night In host and then invite your friends, workmates and/or family to a get together one evening. Guests are then asked to donate the equivalent of what they would have spent on a night out if you had gone to a club, restaraunt or show.

Perhaps you could have a crafty night in?

Strawberry Rose Cupcakes

165g butter
100g white chocolate, chopped
1 1/3 cups (290g) caster sugar
2/3 cup (170ml) water
1 teaspoon rosewater
Pink food colouring
1/2 teaspoon strawberry flavouring/essence
1 cup (150g) plain flour
2 tablespoons self raising flour
1 egg

1. Preheat oven to moderate 170degrees/150 fan forced. Line 12 hole standard muffin pan with paper cases

2. Combine butter, chocolate, sugar, the water and flavours in small saucepan, stir over low heat until smooth.

3. Transfer mixture to large bowl; cool 15 minutes and then add colouring to get a vivid pink shade. Whisk in sifted flours, then egg. Divide mixture among cases.

4. Bake for 30 minutes. Cool in the tin for 5 minutes before turning cakes onto wire rack to cool.

I iced these cupcakes with either a vanilla buttercream (which was lovely) or a rosewater buttercream (which I thought was a little too much with the rosewater in the cupcake, but my friends liked it).

Buttercream Icing
125g soft butter
1 1/2 cups icing sugar
2 tablespoons milk
a few drops of the flavouring of your choice (vanilla, rosewater, etc)

Beat the butter in a mixer until very pale. Gradually add 1/2 the icing sugar, then the milk and flavouring, then the rest of the icing sugar. Pipe or spread onto cupcakes. Top with sprinkles or other ready made decorations if you wish.

Adapted from the Women's Weekly Cupcakes book.

Homemade

Have you seen the Homemade cookbook?


It's a wonderful collection of recipes from people who wanted to help out after the Victorian bushfires earlier this year. The contributers include well known chefs such as Margaret Fulton and Greg Malouf along with families, homecooks and craft bloggers that you probably know including Kate, Lara and me! It's pretty damn cool to have my name listed alongside Ms Fulton's and Mr Malouf's!

Half the copies of Homemade will be given as gifts to those affected by the bushfires, while the other half will be sold and the money raised donated to the Salvation Army. Currently I have the apple and sultana cake by Leonie in the oven and it smells divine! It should be perfect for morning tea tomorrow.

You can order your copy of Homemade here


Edit: My contributions to the book included my quick mix chocolate and coconut cake and my beans and rice. Thanks for the reminder Ann!

And I haven't forgotten about my Italy photos - they are coming soon!

Gosh work can be tough...

My workmate is a Masterchef fan, as am I. So have a look here to see what I had to deal with on Monday for morning tea...

It was sooo good - she did a fantastic job! Gosh work can be tough sometimes!

why can't every weekend..

be a long weekend?

My weekend really started on Thursday night when my husband and I went out for dinner for our wedding anniversary. And yes, we did meet Manu! My husband also got me some gorgeous flowers - and they smell wonderful too. Then on Friday I met Delta at a fun run to raise money for the new Cancer Centre at work.

I decided not to go to spotlight on the weekend as I wanted to save my money for the craft and quilt show this coming weekend. So instead, I worked on some WISPs. I put together another angel block - only 3 to go now! (Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can stop my fabric from fraying? These blocks are becoming a bit of a hassle)

I now have a bunch of bodies waiting to be stuffed.

Started on a another One Red Robin pattern I have been wanting to make for ages (and practised some grid quilting too).

Made Pea and Ham soup for dinner

And made some pumpernickel fruit and nut loaf for morning tea

And that was just yesterday! Phew! I wish I had three days off every week!

pumpkin muffins

This week I made some pumpkin muffins for our weekday morning teas. These muffins are very moist and have a spicy sweetness which goes well with a scraping of butter (especially the cultured stuff if you can get it!).

ready for the oven!

Pumpkin Muffins

makes 12

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
pinch of ground allspice
115g softened butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup (packed) light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup mashed pumpkin
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup plump golden raisins (or 1/2 cup sultanas, soaked in hot water for about 30mins, then drained)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans or flaked almonds
1/3 cup sunflower seeds or pepitas, for topping.

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 200C. Line a cupcake tray with paper liners.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices. Set aside.

Beat the butter until soft. Add both the sugars and continue to beat until light and smooth. One by one, add the eggs, beating for a minute after they are incorporated, then beat in the vanilla.

Mix in the pumpkin and buttermilk. Add the dry ingredients , along with the raisins and the nuts and mix only until they disappear. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups and sprinkle sunflower seeds or pepitas over the top of each muffin.

Bake for 20 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer.

Enjoy!

recipe from "Baking, from my home to yours" by Dorie Greenspan.

Fresh Ginger and Chocolate Gingerbread

mmm...ginger and chocolate! My husband and I often nibble on uncrystallised ginger along with a piece of dark chocolate, so the thought of combining the two in a cake sounded fantastic.


This is my favourite of all the new recipes I have tried lately and will definitely get another run in our house. Soon!

Fresh Ginger and Chocolate Gingerbread

For the Cake
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh ginger
1 tablespoon sugar
2 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
160g unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup (packed) brown sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 cup treacle
150g dark chocolate – 50g melted and cooled and 100g chopped
1 cup buttermilk (or 1 cup milk soured with 1 tablespoon of white vinegar)
1 tablespoon finely chopped stem ginger in syrup (available in Asian supermarkets - although I only found this after I made the cake, so I chopped up some uncrystallised naked ginger and threw that in instead)

For the Icing
75g dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon strong coffee
45g unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 tablespoons icing sugar
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9-inch square baking pan and put it on a baking sheet (I made half the recipe and it was the perfect amount for a loaf tin).

Put the fresh ginger and sugar in a small bowl, stir and set aside.Sift the flour, baking soda and spices together.

Beat the butter and brown sugar and butter together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each egg goes in. Pour in the treacle and beat until smooth. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the melted chocolate, along with the sugared ginger. Still on low speed, add the dry ingredients, alternating with the buttermilk (begin and end with the dry ingredients), mixing the batter only as much as needed to blend the ingredients. Fold in the chopped chocolate and the ginger in syrup.
Spread the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake for about 40 minutes, or until the cake starts to pull away from the sides of the pan and a thin knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer the cake to a rack and cool for 10 minutes, then remove from pan. Cool to room temperature before icing the cake.

To Make the Icing: Set a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water, put the chocolate and coffee in the bowl, and stir occasionally until the chocolate is melted. Remove the bowl and, using a small whisk, stir in the butter one tablespoon at a time. Sift the confectioners' sugar over the chocolate and stir in. Transfer the bowl to a counter and let the icing sit for about 10 minutes.

Put the gingerbread, still on the rack, on a piece of baking paper or foil. Pour the icing onto the centre of the cake and spread it evenly over the top. Allow the icing to set for 30 minutes before cutting the cake.

recipe from Baking, From my home to Yours. By Dorie Greenspan.

Enjoy!

Very Chocolatey Ovaltine and Malteser Biscuits

This week it was my turn to bring morning tea for our meeting at work. Knowing that a number of my workmates are chocoholics, I thought it was a good time to try out these biscuits.

It looked a bit like icing at this stage!

With Ovaltine and Maltesers as well as chopped dark chocolate, these biscuits had a rich chocolate flavour with a malt undertone. The original recipe called for malted milk powder, suggesting Ovaltine as a substitute. If I was to make these again, I would probably use malted milk powder to tone down the chocolate a little and increase the malt flavour which was a little overwhelmed in my biscuits.

mmm...

However, while I thought they were perhaps a little too chocolately, my workmates loved them and I came home with an empty container!

Ovaltine and Malteser biscuits

makes ~30 biscuits

1 3/4 cups plain flour
1 cup Ovaltine
1/4 cup cocoa
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 teaspoon table salt
150g unsalted butter at room temp.
2/3 cup white sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
1/4 cup milk
2 cups Maltesers, halved
160g dark chocolate, chopped

Line two baking trays with baking paper. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F.

Sift together the flour, Ovaltine, cocoa, baking powder, and salt.

Beat the butter and sugar together on medium speed for about 3 minutes, until very smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for about a minute after each addition. Beat in the vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add half the dry ingredients, mixing until they just disappear into the batter. Then mix in the milk followed by the remaining dry ingredients, taking care not to overmix the batter. Fold in the halved Maltesers and chopped chocolate by hand

Using a tablespoon as a guide, drop batter in mounds onto the baking sheets, leaving room for the biscuits to spread. Bake for 11 to 13 minutes, rotating the sheets from top to bottom and front to back after 6 minutes.

When done, the cookies will be puffed and set slightly, but still soft to the touch. Let them rest for 2 minutes before using a wide metal spatula to transfer them to wire racks to cool (if you can wait that long!)

Recipe from Baking, from my home to yours, by Dorie Greenspan (Chocolate malted whopper drops)

I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter break!

Lamb shank soup with pearl barley and lentils

I love my Chasseur pot. My husband gave it to me for my birthday last year. I have been waiting for the weather to turn a little cooler so that I could pull it out of the cupboard and start making some soups and casseroles. So, when the rains hit last week, I decided it was time.

This soup has everything I want in a hearty, healthy winter meal – meat, pulses and vegies and loads of flavour. Plus it freezes beautifully which is always good in my book. The recipe comes from Karen Martini who I know I've gushed over before, but she is the queen (in my opinion!) of hearty meals, and this recipe is another of her best. I know the ingredient list looks a little daunting, but it is worth it – trust me!

Lamb shanks with pearl barley and lentils

Serves 4-6

50ml extra virgin olive oil
2 large lamb shanks – cut into 3cm pieces (ask the butcher to help!)
Salt flakes and cracked black pepper
1 ½ brown onions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2-3 small red chillies, finely chopped and seeds left in (or to taste)
1 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp freshly cracked black peppercorns
½ tsp ground coriander
½ tsp caraway seeds
Generous pinch of saffron threads
150g celeriac, peeled and chopped
2 carrots, peeled and sliced
3 sticks celery, sliced
1x 400g can tomatoes
8 cups water
1 tsp beef stock powder (or 1 cube)
½ cup (100g) pearl barley
50g red lentils
100g canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed
30g fresh or frozen peas
Natural yoghurt, lemon and extra virgin olive oil to serve

Heat olive oil in heavy bottomed pot over medium heat. Add lamb, sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper and brown on all sides. Add onion, garlic, chillies and spices and stir well.

Add fresh vegies and cook, stirring occasionally for 5-6 minutes. Add tomatoes and water, stock powder, barley, lentils and chickpeas. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cover the dish and reducew heat to low and simmer for 2 ½ - 3 hours or until meat is very tender and falling off the bone.

Stir in peas and check seasoning. Serve topped with a dollop of yoghurt, lemon wedges and a drizzle of olive oil.

Recipe from Where the Heart is, by Karen Martini

Enjoy!