Kitchen Therapy

Tag Archives: baking


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Freshwater Beach, Cappuccino and Orange Butter Drops with Coconut

It’s spring!
The weather is warming up, the days are getting longer and everything looks so vibrant and colourful.
Feels like all my senses are coming alive.
The jasmine that covers our fence is in full bloom.
Each time I step outside I can smell it. 
Hanging out the laundry has suddenly become a pleasant experience!

The track leading to Manly beach goes right past our house.
I walk it regularly. 
But suddenly it’s so alive!
The scenery I’ve taken for granted all winter has me slowing down to take it all in.

I walked to Manly and then continued on to Freshwater beach this weekend.
I stopped for a cappuccino at the kiosk attached to the very popular Pilu restaurant (upper right hand pic below) while I waited for my husband and kids to meet me.
They made my cappuccino with real chocolate flakes! 
How decadent!
(the little bit I actually got to taste was amazing!)
A perfect way to finish my walk!

The spring light and sunshine had me inspired.
After a leisurely lunch at Dee Why beach I couldn’t wait to get home and make these Orange Butter Drops with Shredded Coconut from my latest crush, my One Girl Cookies cookbook.
I’ve had my eye on these cookies for a while now and today was the perfect day to make these little bursts of sunshine!
My little monkey and I made these in no time and my friend arrived as I pulled them out of the oven.
We sat around the kitchen bench dipping them into the orange and cream cheese glaze, then the coconut and then straight into our mouths!
They were incredibly pretty to look at and tasted delicious!

ORANGE BUTTER DROPS with Shredded Coconut
(One Girl Cookies)

3 /4 cup granulated sugar
grated zest of one orange
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cold, cut into pieces
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons cream cheese, at room temperature
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
1 cup confectioner’s sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

1. Put the granulated sugar and the orange zest in a medium bowl. Using both hands, rub the sugar into the orange zest. Put the mixture in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, and add the flour and salt. Mix on low speed for 30 seconds.

2. With the mixer running on low speed, gradually add the pieces of butter. When the mixture begins to look like crumbs, add the vanilla. Gradually add 2 tablespoons of the cream cheese. When the dough starts to clump together, turn it out onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead it by hand for a few seconds until it is fully combined.

3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F or 180 degrees C.

4. Scoop out a small round of dough, about 1 1/2 tablespoons in size. Roll the scoop into a ball, place it on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet, and gently press the ball. Repeat, leaving 1 inch between cookies. Bake for 14 to 16 minutes, or until golden around the edges. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

5. Prepare the glaze: In the clean bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the remaining 1 tablespoon cream cheese, the orange juice, and the confectioner’s sugar. Mix on low speed for 30 seconds. Increase the speed to medium and mix for 2 more minutes. The glaze should be as thick as glue.

6. Spread the coconut on a plate. Dip the top of each cookie into the glaze, dip into the shredded coconut (I used dessicated coconut), and let set for 20 minutes.


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What Can You Do With Left Over Egg Yolks? Creme Brulee!

My daughter turned 15 the day she left for ski camp.
We had a dinner the night before to celebrate.
I asked her “what cake would you like me to make?”
She said “Pavlova!”
We adore pavlova in our family.
I usually make a 12 egg white pavlova and there’s never any left over for the next day.
We had a great dinner and the next morning we dropped her off at school at 6am.
She spent her birthday on a 6 hour bus ride to the snow with her friends.

I was so excited to have her back a week later, I made another pavlova to welcome her home!

I was telling my friend I was making another pavlova and she said, “You make a lot of pavlova’s! What do you do with all the egg yolks?”
Innocent enough, right?
I stared at her blankly… the egg yolks?
I’ve always thrown them out without a second thought.
Her question caught me off guard.
It made me look at my habits.
Suddenly all I could hear going through my head was Maya Angelou’s famous quote:

“When you know better, you do better.” 

My blissful ignorance was shattered and I had to change my wasteful ways.
So I turned to Google.
And Google led me straight to Creme Brulee.

I had never, ever made creme brulee or custard of any sort from scratch.
The first thing I did was go out and get myself a blow torch (which I had secretly been coveting for some time.)

Next I opened Dorie Greenspan’s book ‘Around My French Table’ and hoped there’d be a recipe in there for creme brulee. I figured one day the recipe would come up with the French Fridays with Dorie Group and I would be prepared ahead of time! A first for me!
Dorie did have a recipe for creme brulee! Yay!
However my smug happiness was short lived!
The French Fridays with Dorie group had already completed this recipe… last year!

I decided to put this week’s scheduled recipe on hold as my daughter was bringing a bunch of friends over after school and I was making her a third pavlova, one to share with her friends!

I then proudly used the left over egg yolks to make Dorie Greenspan’s creme brulee!

The girls devoured the pavlova as soon as they walked in the door.
There was 7 of them and the pavlova didn’t stand a chance!

After dinner I pulled out the creme brulee and we all stood around the kitchen bench talking about boys and taking turns melting the sugar on top.
The girls loved it!
I could not believe how delicious it was!
I SMS’d my friend and proudly told her I used the egg yolks to make creme brulee and thanked her for bringing something so incredibly easy to make and delicious into my life!

I can’t wait to check out this week’s recipeFrench Fridays with Dorie group, but I have to say I am so glad I caught up on a recipe I had missed. A recipe that will now be made every time I make a pavlova!


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Apple Upside Down Chiffon Cake

I really enjoyed making this week’s Tuesdays With Dorie: Baking with Julia recipe.

Life is usually chaotic.
Running from place to place.
Rushing through as many things as possible.
Thinking about what needs to be done next.

My 15 year old daughter came home from a week at the snow…
So a week’s worth of washing is what needs to be done next!
(And fixing a washing machine that broke the night she arrived home!)

Grand finals week…
So extra training sessions, gifts for coaches and managers, end of season get togethers were next!

My friend’s 50th birthday…
What to wear? Buy something new or grab something from the closet? What present to give? Working out what time I will realistically be able to get to party as the kids need to be fed and showered and ready for bed to make life easy for their grandparents who will be at home with them before I even think abut getting myself ready is next!

It’s all little things.
There’s just a never ending stream of ‘little things’!
And planning for ‘what’s next’ takes up a lot of ‘what’s actually happening now’ time!

I decided I didn’t want to rush through another recipe (or life!)
So every time I had a few moments to myself, instead of planning for what’s next, I decided to get familiar with this week’s recipe.
I read the entire recipe, from beginning to end. I read all the incredibly useful comments under the P&Q section. I took on board all the advice and experiences that other group members generously took the time to share. I found this invaluable.
I got my baking tins out and since I didn’t have a 10-inch pan I decided to use my 8-inch tube pan and used the excess mixture to make another 6-inch Apple Upside-Down Chiffon Cake (I even googled the volume of different pans to help me make this decision!)
I also googled upside down chiffon cakes to decide on a topping. The original recipe uses nectarines which are not in season here in Sydney, so I decided on Granny Smith apples.

This cake turned out amazing.
We had a BBQ for Father’s Day and this cake was the perfect ending to an amazing spring day.
(I gave the 6 inch version to my mum to take home in the pan so I have no photo!)

This cake wasn’t a chore.
It wasn’t another recipe to rush through.
It was a delightful break from the constant chatter of my monkey brain.
It reminded me why I started this blog and joined these wonderful groups.

Marlise of The Double Trouble Kitchen and Susan of The Little French Bakery are this week’s hosts and have the full recipe on their websites if you are interested in having a look…

 


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Banana Espresso Chocolate Chip Muffins

Winter is on it’s way out here in Sydney.
The days are getting longer and the temperatures are starting to average in the 20’s (degrees celsius that is).


I’m looking forward to summer fruits.
Peaches, nectarines and sweet juicy mangoes.
In the meantime, I’ve been using up left over bananas any chance I get to make banana bread.

I’ve experimented with recipes from Joy the Baker Cookbook, The Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook, Home Baked Comfort William Sonoma and the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook to name just a few.

 

What can I say… we’ve eaten our way through a lot of banana bread!
We’ve had heated debates about which one is the best, we all have a favourite.
I’ve even gone as far as making each version a variety of ways, with nuts, with choc-chips, with both and even with bourbon (thanks to Joy the Baker)!

I’m going to go off an a tangent here so bear with me… I do have an important point!

Lately I’ve found myself with the usual crazy schedule of kid related events, like the book parade at my son’s school.

 

However, in addition to all the running around I’ve also had a string of frequent visitors stopping by for cups of tea and coffee! And because I’ve been running around more than usual, I’ve taken to stopping by a cupcake bakery store that’s just opened at our mall to grab something sweet for my guests and I to share while we chat!

Aren’t they just soooo pretty!

Now these are tasty cupcakes. Some more than others. But tasty nevertheless!

 

But as I was chatting away I couldn’t help but think how much I’d prefer to be eating the Banana Espresso Chocolate Chip Muffins that I had made the night before.

I went through a phase of making these on a very regular basis a few months ago, my daughter took them to school and she and her friends were absolutely obsessed with these and kept asking me to make more!

 

They come from one of my most flicked through books, Baked ‘New Frontiers in Baking’ by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito.

I cannot recommend these enough…

 

BANANA ESPRESSO CHOCOLATE CHIP MUFFINS 

 

1 1/2 cups mashed, very ripe bananas (about 4 medium bananas)
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup whole milk
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon instant espresso powder (sometimes I put up to 3 teaspoons, other times I just leave it out)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (6 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips (I use Cadbury Baking Chips and I can’t help wonder if this is what takes them to the next level irresistibility!)

 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (or 180 degrees Celsius).
Spray a 12-cup muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, stir together the bananas, sugars, butter, milk and egg.

In a another medium bowl, whisk together the flour, instant espresso powder, baking soda, and salt. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients into the well and stir until just combined. Fold in the chocolate chips.

Fill each cup about three-quarters full. Bake in the centre of the oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the centre of a muffin comes out clean.

Move the muffin pan to a cooling rack, and let cool for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, remove the muffins from the pan and let them finish cooling on the cooling rack.

 

Muffins can be stored in an airtight container for up to 2 days.

These are honestly amazing!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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Popovers – TWD: Baking with Julia

I lost track of time and realised my only opportunity to make this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie: Baking with Julia recipe was going to be Monday morning, before school. Definitely not an ideal time!

I read the recipe and realised all I had to do was put some flour, milk, eggs, a little bit of melted butter and a touch of salt in a blender and process! Once I wrapped my head around what I needed to do to make this happen, I was ready! I could actually pull this off!

I made these in my mini muffin pan and they were soooo cute!

Popovers are not Aussie thing (or at least I don’t think so!).
I’m glad I made them, they’re ridiculously cute!
But I don’t really “get” them.
They tasted a bit eggy and custardy inside.
I liked the crispy exterior.
I tried them with butter, honey and even jam.
They were ok… But I just didn’t ‘get’ them… I’m not even sure what I mean by that!!!
The kids tried them, one wrinkled her nose and the other said he’d rather eat his Weet-Bix.

I’m glad I made them but I don’t think I’ll be making them again.
Despite their cuteness!

I’m keen to check out what the rest of the TWD group thought!

If you’d like to try them for yourself Paula of Vintage Kitchen Notes and Amy of Bake with Amy are this week’s hosts and have the recipe posted on their sites.


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Donna Hay’s Ham, Cheddar and Leek Pie with Cafe Style Grated Carrot Salad

Winter sports are winding up here in Australia, with semi finals and finals either already played or being played on upcoming weekends. Last week was busy with both school and weekend sports being played in extremely unpleasant conditions! It was freezing cold, windy and rainy!

My son’s (last kid on the right!) school soccer team won another badge to sew on their shorts!
(The rain and wind came in wild spurts during the game, then a brief flash of sunlight came out while I took this photo. Within minutes we were all running to our cars as the rain poured down on us again!)
The following day his weekend soccer team played in more rain and wind to secure a place in the semi finals.

My daughter’s netball team also secured a spot in the semi finals on the same day (she’s fourth from the right). The horrible weather forgotten after a close win!

Oh, I forgot the long, long day at the state futsal championships …

Between trips to training sessions and games (and parties, sleepovers, get togethers and so on)
I would pick up one of my beloved cookbooks and longingly, lovingly caress the pages.
Seriously, I did that.
Making a mental list of what I would make as soon as I had the time gave me butterflies.
These stolen moments of pleasure fed me.
So while I dreamed of spending hours playing in the kitchen.
I was relieved to see that this week’s French Fridays with Dorie recipe was a quick and simple cafe style grated carrot salad.
I served this salad with Donna Hay’s equally quick and easy Ham, Leek and Cheddar ‘Impossible’ Pie.

The saltiness of the pie contrasted beautifully with the sweetness of the carrot side salad.

I made Dorie’s carrot salad with all the extra options. I added the raisins, walnuts and parsley.
My husband and I thoroughly enjoyed it! It was simple, light and delicious. Just what we needed!

I made a greek salad for the kids (it was too long a week to be fighting over what sort of salad would have raisins and nuts in it!). However they asked if they could add the vinaigrette to the greek salad! A compromise was reached and we were all happy!

To check out what the rest of the French Fridays with Dorie group thought of this carrot salad, click here!

 

Donna Hay’s Ham, Leek and Cheddar ‘Impossible’ Pie
from her annual kid’s issue, number 9
(I made double the recipe)

1 tbsp olive oil
2 leeks, trimmed and thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, crushed
sea salt and cracked black pepper
3 eggs
1/2 cup self raising flour sifted
1 1/2 cups milk
150g double smoked ham, shredded
1 cup grated cheddar

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees celsius.
2. Heat the oil in a non-stick frying pan over high heat. Add the leek and garlic and cook 5-7 minutes until golden and softened. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and set aside.
3. Place the eggs and flour in a bowl and whisk well to combine.
4. Gradually add the milk and whisk to combine.
5. Place the leek, ham and cheese in a lightly greased 24 cm round ovenproof  baking dish.
6. Pour over the milk mixture, sprinkle with salt and pepper and cover loosely with aluminium foil.
7. Cook for 30 minutes, uncover and cook for a further 30-35 minutes or until cooked through.


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Apple Galette and Redemption

Last week I decided Blueberry Pie was going to bring me unparallelled blissful happiness! 
(remember?!)
Well… it didn’t.
I begrudgingly knew that life didn’t work that way.
I’ve even read all the research that clearly states that all the stuff we think will make us happy such as money, posessions, social status and blueberry pie…
(yes, pie is a legitimate category!)
((ok, maybe I made that last bit up, but it should be up there with the rest!))
… they don’t necessarily lead to happiness.

So this week I was prepared.
I wasn’t going to let any doe-eyed Kristen Stewart, gazing longingly at me from the supermarket magazine stands, foil my galette!

I turned my back on scientific research (and logic of any kind) last week and there were consequences! I wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice (at least not in such a short time!)

So what does psychological research on happiness tell us?

Finding joy in the present moment increases life satisfaction.

So this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe was approached with curiosity, openness and independent of judgement or expectations.

Disappointment was not an option under these circumstances!

I also decided to work with the seasons rather than against them, so I used apples to make my galette since it’s winter here in Australia.

The result was pure delight and delicious pleasure!

The recipe is incredible easy and can be found by visiting Lisa at Tomato Thymes in the Kitchen or Andrea at The Kitchen Lioness!


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Tomato and Bocconcini Tartlets

 


About a year or so ago, I went to my friend’s house and as the kids ran around and jumped in and out of the pool we sat in her back yard, chatted and caught up on each other’s lives.

She laughed at me because I had grabbed my Amazon package the postman has just delivered and was opening it at her house.

While I ripped at the box, she went inside and brought out little tomato tarts she had made from a recipe in the  latest Donna Hay magazine. They we bite size squares of golden puff pastry topped with olive tapenade, a slice of tomato and fresh bocconcini cheese.

They were so incredibly simple and delicious we ate the entire tray as we flicked through my new book, Dorie Greenspan’s ‘Around My French Table’ and she listened to my plans about joining an online cooking blog I had read about.

 

The next day, I bought the magazine, and the ingredients, and I made the delicious little tarts for my family.
They were a huge hit and I’ve been making them on a regular basis since then.
They are a great after school snack!

 


When I saw this week’s French Fridays with Dorie recipe it brought back my memories of that lazy afternoon.

 

So much so, that I kind of went on automatic pilot mode.
I didn’t follow Dorie’s instructions. They seemed a little bit complicated for something so simple.
I just cut the puff pastry sheets into little squares.
Smeared a dollop of black olive tapenade and put a slice of tomato on top.
I baked these in the oven until golden brown.
I then took them out of the oven and topped them with fresh slices of bocconcini cheese and basil leaves.

I followed Dorie’s suggestion and sprinkled some balsamic vinegar on top of some of the squares and I have to admit, I loved the taste.

 

Simple and Perfect!

I’m looking forward to seeing what the rest of the French Fridays with Dorie group thought of this week’s recipe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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How a Cheating Kristen Stewart ruined my Blueberry Pie

This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe was Blueberry Nectarine Pie.
It’s winter here in Australia, so there are no nectarines to be found.
I replaced them with strawberries.
What could go wrong…?

Now please indulge me for a second as I digress…
While buying the ingredients for the pie I saw this magazine sitting on the shelves as I sat in the grocery line waiting to pay. The look on Kristen Stewart’s face caught my attention.

I’ve come across that look many times in my career.
Reason and caution go out the window.
You are fully immersed in your drama and all your senses are alive!
Ideally people would be striving to achieving this mental state in a healthy way by identifying what is missing in their lives and setting goals that would satisfy these needs.
Unfortunately, through my work,  I’ve come to understand achieving this in a healthy way  is really hard work!
So the distractions of choice are usually affairs and drugs!
(Or in my case, food!)
So with this all going through my mind, I somehow decided that this pie would be so mind blowingly great I too would lose sense and reason!
Yes, in hindsight I can see it’s bonkers and what was I thinking!
But I wanted the pie to be that good!!!

My husband and kids enjoyed it.
I thought it looked good, but I really didn’t like it at all!
My husband thought I was crazy until I told him of my expectations.
After he stopped laughing, he assured me no pie was going to live up to those expectations and to try it with ice cream! We need someone sane in the family!

To check out the recipe visit Liz at That Skinny Chick Can Bake or Hilary at Manchego’s Kitchen.


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The Pioneer Woman’s Knock You Naked Brownies

Every three or so months my husband and I book flights to Melbourne and run away for the weekend.


The first time we went was about 2 years ago.
I spent the first trip tormenting myself for leaving the kids with their grandparents.
The two nights however went by quickly and we were home before I knew it.
I rushed home to find three very happy kids who had clearly spent a great weekend being over indulged by their doting grandparents.
Hmmm….
Clearly I needed to get a more realistic perspective on my kids’ resilience.
So when my husband and I booked our next trip to Melbourne, I was in a much better place and ready to actually  give relaxing a go!
This time I did start to relax… on the day we were scheduled to fly back home to Sydney.
It’s many trips down the track now and I can honestly say these day I switch into ‘Melbourne’ mode the minute we start our drive to the airport. By the time we land in Melbourne, I can feel the tension leaving my body and as we sit down to lunch at our favourite restaurant, Movida, I’m feeling giddy with joy!

We are like two teenagers as we choose dishes we want to eat!
We don’t have to try and find things that the kids might like, we can actually choose dishes with chillies and strange sounding names and ingredients! We giggle with excitement!

We then walk over to my favourite cake shop for dessert…

Before heading out to the sea-side town of St Kilda to check into our hotel. I open the curtains, we take in the views and do absolutely nothing! Nothing! We talk, read and relax until dinner.
Then we get dressed and walk down to St Kilda’s main street for dinner.
And we get to walk past Luna Park without arguments and tears about why we can’t go inside!

So. What does all this have to do with brownies?

The thing about living in Australia is that there are many recipes I see online or in books that have ingredients I can’t find here. I’ve found some after a lot of searching in specialty shops and I’ve managed to substitute others with what we have available here. However, in the back of my mind is a list of ingredients I’m always on the lookout for.

Melbourne is known for it’s shopping and it’s amazing restaurants. So I’ve always thought if I’m going to find these ingredients anywhere, it will be here in Melbourne.

And I was right!!!

A few months ago, I was looking for a brownie recipe to use up my stock of chocolate I had built up over time.
I came across The Pioneer Woman’s Knock You Naked Brownies.
Now these weren’t going to solve my chocolate stock problems as they were made with a German Chocolate Cake Mix, but they looked so good I couldn’t get them out of my mind. I went straight to our local Woolworths supermarket, and of course, there was no German Chocolate Cake Mix. I was tempted to substitute with a plain chocolate cake mix but I remembered Ree Drummond emphasising the importance of using the German Chocolate Mix.
Aghhhh!
So another ingredient went on my list of things to keep a lookout for.

Until last weekend that is!
I have now crossed German Cake Mix off my list! Yay!
I found it in Melbourne and couldn’t wait to come home and make Ree’s brownies!
I had my son and four of his friends running in and out of the house with skateboards and soccer balls.
Then my daughter  sent me an SMS on her way home from school asking if 5 of her friends could come over and hang out at our house since it was Friday.
Sure! Yeah! Whatever!!
I was making Knock You Naked Brownies!

I really wanted the kids to enjoy these so I left the nuts out of the recipe.
And I have to say these really are a knock out.

My husband ate them hot out of the oven. He ate them cold out of the fridge before I had the chance to dust them with icing sugar and cut them. And as we ran the kids to soccer, netball, umpiring duties, parties and get togethers he sent me texts to tell me he just ducked home and ate more brownies and that I was never, EVER allowed to make these again because he can’t stop eating them!

I cut them into bite size pieces and I left them on the kitchen bench. I have to say I like them best at room temperature. The plate is almost empty now. Less than 24 hours since I made them.

I think that says it all!

If you want to check out The Pioneer Woman’s photos (which are way better than mine!) and the recipe, just click here!