Switched Off!

Yesterday I had the overwhelming desire to make cake. This longing is typical of me on a Sunday. I love nothing better than drinking tea and eating cake. Not just any old cake mind you.....Chocolate cake in particular is high on the list of most wanted in this household.

So, out came all the ingredients. As per usual I used my slap-dash method of cooking. Sort of a half hearted measure and in it goes. I know that contradicts all the golden rules of baking, but hey, it works for me.

Once I had chucked all the dry ingredients in one bowl, I then threw the butter and sugar in the other. Then I prepared to get busy with the hand held beater.

Trouble is.....it wouldn't work.

Damn....Bugger....Blast

I undid the whirly thingos and then plugged them back in. I fiddled with the button whatsit on top. I shook it. I whacked it on the kitchen bench. I swore profusely at it.

Crap, crap, crap I muttered in fury. My third damn mixer this year. This is what I get for buying cheap rubbish, I reasoned.  I yelled out to Hubby that if he expected half decent food he was going to have to buy me a kitchen aid for Christmas. It's either that or divorce, I informed him in a temper.

So, 15 minutes of me cursing and yelling and then I finally resigned myself to mixing the darn cake by hand. While I used my puny arm muscles to beat the butter and sugar into oblivion, I had a moment of blinding clarity, one that made me just a bit shameful of the preceding 15 minutes of pure and utter stupidity.

I picked up the beater......and I plugged it into the wall.............!

Kids in the Kitchen.

Cooking is a huge part of my life. I can devote endless hours to this favourite passtime. Occasionally I will spend an entire day in the kitchen pottering around, making, creating, tasting. Then the family will gather around, pots of tea, biscuits brownies, cakes and then a big home cooked meal in the evening. My idea of heaven.

Something that has always been hugely important to me is getting the children involved in the kitchen. I know a lot of people balk at the idea.....there is mess and a lot of it. But they begin to understand and learn so many things. Ingredients and how they work. Measurements, Weight, Nutrition, Flavours, Safety, Hygiene. Every time they cook with me they are learning these life skills and mostly importantly they are learning that food is something to be enjoyed. It is bonding, life giving. It brings families together.

My fondest memories are of gathering around the large island in the middle of the kitchen and helping and watching my Mother to cook. The food she created was (and still is) legendary. I always felt honoured when she would take me under her wing and teach me something. One of the first things I ever made was a white sauce. I was probably around eight years old. It was a proud, defining moment when Dad licked it off the spoon and declared it 'Delicious!'

So encouraging my children in the kitchen has become second nature with me. Mr 10 and Miss 8 can cook meals entirely on their own ( with just a teeny bit of supervision) Mr 5 chops up ingredients, mixes things together and loves measuring. He is an eggspert (sorry, that is terrible, couldn't help myself) at cracking eggs. Miss Two has just started learning the family 'trade'. On the weekend she cooked her first batch if biscuits - with a whole lot of help mind you. She is particularly talented at licking the spoon.

They make a HUGE amount of mess, which I might add is completely hereditary. They get that wonderful ability from me. Hubby is of course, chief taster.....and chief cleaner-upper.

My children may not be Scholars, Athletes or Rocket Scientists. But I tell you what, they will know how to cook......And that's fine by me.

The best part of cooking is tasting!

A night off for Mum!

mmmmmmm!

For the love of....Cookbooks.

Today I'm going to start sorting out my collection of Cookbooks.......And when I say collection, I mean it, I've probably collected about 60 of them ...so far.
     I love Cookbooks - reading about food is one of my all time favourite pleasures. I research meals and treats for my family and I dream. Dream of the food I could be cooking, I should be cooking, the food I would love to cook. Despite not having the ability to create some of the items presented in these gorgeously photographed and created books, despite not having the funds necessary to achieve this dream......dream I do. But I find the books I love the most are the ones that are practical and achievable and that is why they are my favourites.

I adore Nigella Lawson; there is something about her attitude about food and her cooking philosophy that I just "get". Most of her dishes are just good, traditional food - tasty, easy, yum! The Cookbooks that I currently have in my possession of the lovely Miss Lawson aren't technically mine though...they are kind of on an extended loan thanks to a good friend of mine (I will return them, I promise, soon!)

I have quite the stack of books by the ever-enthusiastic Jamie Oliver, whom I also love. I love his verve and passion. I love that I can flick to almost any page of one of his books and find something that a) I have the ingredients for & b) is easy and delicious. I started compiling his books ten years ago....and I'm still going!

The remainder of my hoard is an eclectic mass of various books by various cooks/chefs. I've picked them up here and there; garage sales. op shops, cheap shops, book stores, online and handed down from my Mother and Mother In Law. From the vintage 70's and 80's books - full of the typical 'retro-cool" fare from that era that I love; to the newest, shiniest, prettiest offering from the latest 'celebrity' I love them all.

So, what are your favourite Cookbooks and why? (So I can secretly covet them!)

Lemon Meringue Pie

There is something incredibly homely and comforting about a Lemon Meringue Pie. It's old fashioned, a little bit frumpy and that's what makes it so damn appealing. Every mouthful is like a little piece of heaven, it is one of those things that make you happy simply because you're eating it and that is -to me- one of the most important things about good food.

First of all I'm going to give you a recipe for the pastry base. Making pastry is incredibly easy and the taste is amazing, full of buttery goodness. Please, give it a try.......
 Pastry;
1 1/2 Cups of Plain Flour
1 Tablespoon of Icing Sugar
140grams cold butter, chopped
1 egg yolk
2-3 tbsps cold water

Place the flour, sugar and butter in a food processor and blitz until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. With the motor running, add yolk & water and mix until the mixture comes together. Scrape it out of the processor, wrap it in cling wrap and refrigerate for approx 20 mins.

Preheat the oven to 240C

Grease a flan or pie tin. Roll out pastry (flour the rolling pin and surface if the pastry is a little sticky) until it is large enough to line the tin. Gently ease the pastry into the tin and trim the edges. Prick the bottom of the pastry shell all over with a fork and then bake in the oven for 20mins or until the pastry is golden.

Lemon Filling;

1/2 Cup Cornflour
1 Cup Caster Sugar
1/2 Cup Lemon Juice
1 Cup of Water
60grams Unsalted Butter
3 Egg Yolks (save the whites for the meringue)

Combine the cornflour and sugar and place into a medium saucepan, gradually stir in the lemon juice and water until smooth. Cook over high heat while stirring until the mixture boils and thickens. Take off the heat and whisk in butter and egg yolks. Cool the mixture and then spread it into the pastry case.
Now at this point you are supposed to cool the half assembled pie in the refrigerator for an inordinate amount of time. I am of course a notoriously lazy and impatient cook so I shove mine in the freezer for 20 mins or so. I'm probably breaking some sort of "cooking law" here but, hey, it works for me!
While you're waiting for it to cool make the meringue.

Beat the egg whites - that I hope you saved from before -  in a small bowl until soft peaks form, gradually 1/2 Cup of extra sugar until it dissolves. Be very, very careful not to over mix (as I have done on many occasions) you'll end up with a curdled mess and stuff up your Pie Perfection!

Retrieve your pie case from the freezer (if you cheated) and heap the glossy and gorgeous egg white mixture on top. Place in the oven and watch carefully - it will probably only need a couple of minutes and the top will be a lovely golden brown.

Homemade Heaven!

Raspberry & White Chocolate Muffins.

I adore raspberries, their intensely sweet flavour bring back evocative memories of my childhood; carefree days spent on (one of the many) properties my gypsy parents owned. We would pick the wild raspberries and blackberries that bordered the creek where my sisters and I played. The juices would run down our faces as we gorged ourselves on these beautiful and exquisite fruits.
This is one of my favourite recipes involving raspberries, as with all muffin recipes it is essential that you do not over mix the batter, a lazy stir is all that is needed.
3 cups of plain flour                                                   
3/4 cup of caster sugar                                               
3/4 cup of brown sugar                                               
1 1/2 tsps baking powder                                           
4 eggs    
1 1/2 cups of milk                                                                            
120grams melted butter
1 tsp vanilla essence                                             
1 cup raspberries 
3/4 cup chopped white chocolate
Raw sugar for topping                                                                                                   

Line a muffin tin with patty cases and preheat the oven to 180c.
Sift flour, caster sugar, brown sugar and baking powder into a large bowl. In a separate bowl combine eggs, melted butter, vanilla & milk, whisk until combined. Add wet ingredients to the bowl of dry ingredients and stir until just incorporated. Very gently fold in the raspberries (use frozen if you like)and white chocolate. Scoop batter into the patty cases until each one is 3/4 full. Sprinkle a little bit of raw sugar over the top of each. Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes.

Just the perfect thing to sit, relax and have with a cup of tea.....I think I'll do that right now.

I Love Sundays!



Mostly because it's the only day of the week that the whole family is together. Although if I am being entirely truthful it is because The Man Of The House is home, therefore children are occupied with tormenting him. This in turn leaves me to do something I enjoy sans children....baking.
    Usually I will be super-organised and bake healthy treats for the week ahead but today I made an exception.......it was decided that something artery-cloggingly fabulous was needed after my week of sleep deprivation. Sometimes nothing will soothe away the trials and tribulations of being sleepless in suburbia better than a calorie laden chocolate cake; this cake my friends, is one of the best.........
                            Golden Chocolate Cake
100grams dark chocolate (break into pieces)
275grams brown sugar
225grams soft butter
125mls golden syrup
2 eggs
200grams plain flour
1tsp bicarb soda
1tbsp cocoa
250ml boiling water

Preheat the oven to 180c, butter and line a springform cake tin (23cm)
Melt the chocolate either in the microwave (watch carefully!) or over a pan of simmering water. Set aside to cool.
Beat together the sugar and soft butter until light and creamy and then add the golden syrup. Add one of the eggs, beating it in with a tablespoon of flour, and then the other egg with a tablespoon of flour. Fold in the melted chocolate, the rest of the flour and the bicarb soda. Sieve in the cocoa (please, no lumps!) and last of all beat in the boiling water ( I just boil the kettle and pour the water straight out of this) Mix everything until smooth and pour into the baking tin. Bake for approximately 1 hour, although I would check it after 45 minutes as it tends to brown on the top very quickly.

You can serve this un-iced but as I was going all out with the decadence today so I topped it with a delish golden syrup & chocolate icing;
Whip together 80grams of butter with 60 grams of icing sugar until fluffy. Whisk in 30 grams of cocoa (a bit at a time or else it flies everywhere) Then add 2 teaspoons (be generous here) of golden syrup and 2 tbsps of milk. Beat until you have a lovely, smooth icing.






The cake...just before I ate it.

 I like to ice mine slightly messily, so it has that lovely, homemade, rustic look....or it could be that I'm just lazy........