Kitchen Therapy

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Hazelnut Biscotti and Getting My Mojo Back!

You know that feeling?
The one where you know you are kind of… sort of… off track?
You can feel it.
It’s real and it’s… well… frustrating.
You try and work out how and why you got off track.
But you can’t quite put your finger on it.

There’s been all day futsal championships…
All day soccer championships.
Weekend sports.
And, oh, don’t forget the mid week training sessions for the weekend sports.
And speaking of weekends, there’s birthday parties to attend…

Concerts to get ready for…

And the endless driving!
Now don’t get me wrong… I’m not complaining.
I actually enjoy the chaos.

But I think I’ve forgotten what gets me through the chaos.
Through the swimming lessons, band, homework and the never ending housework!

Cooking.
Baking.

This is what I enjoy. What makes me happy.
But I guess when there’s so much of everything else to do, cooking, baking and blogging just feels like more work.
And here’s where I went off track!
I stopped doing the things that feed my soul! (Dramatic, I know! Sorry! Occupational hazard!)

I realised this while I was blanching and peeling the hazelnuts for this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe!
The nuts were doing my head in.
I mean, come on! I don’t have better things to do than stand here rubbing the skin off hazelnuts?!?!
And can’t you just buy these little suckers skinless???

Then it hit me and I started to laugh.
The reason I called my blog Kitchen Therapy was because my own therapist pointed out to me that cooking is my form of mindfulness training.
My way to be fully engaged and in the present moment.
Sort of like my meditation.
(And we all now know how good meditation is for you!)

So I stopped thinking about how much I’d like to cook something and I just started doing it.

It felt good!
The hazelnut biscotti smelled amazing and I felt happy!
It was that simple!!!

It’s almost midnight and I’m snacking on these as I type.
My husband is next to me watching the latest season of Dexter complaining about not being able to stop eating them cos they taste sooo good!
I will definitely make these again, my daughter requested a choc-chip filling next time!

I can’t wait to see what the rest of the Tuesdays with Dorie group thought.
If you would like to check out the recipe, head over to this week’s hosts who have the full recipe on their websites.
Jodi of Homemade and Wholesome and Katrina of Baking and Boys.


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French Strawberry Cake

We moved house about 6 weeks ago and finally, FINALLY… we have internet!
I brought over our mini modem however reception at our new place (which is only 2km from our old place but at the end of a cul de sac) is pretty much non existent.
Posting my Dr Who Tardis Rainbow Cake and Dalek Cupcakes was an act of sheer will power!
Remember dial up internet speed?
That’s what I had to work with, I’d press a button and then go and do a few jobs as I waited for the page to load.

After many many many many many many hiccups (as my 4 year old likes to say in order to emphasise his point) our ADSL modem finally arrived on Friday.
The first thing I did , was look up the recipe schedule for Tuesdays with Dorie: Baking with Julia!
And oh what a great week to return!

This cake is delightful.
It’s perfect in its simplicity.
It makes me happy! 🙂
And I will make it again and again and again!

P.S. Notes to self next time you try and make this cake…
The recipe calls for one recipe Perfect Genoise.
ONE.
Don’t think you know better and decide to quickly whip another (cos one just seems way too flat to divide into 3 equal parts) when your husband leaves to pick up your almost 15 year old daughter from a birthday party at 11pm. It’s almost midnight, you’re not thinking clearly or rationally and they will look at you with worry in their eyes when they walk in at midnight to find the house smelling delicious and you sitting on the lounge with a glass of wine and a smug and satisfied look on your face…

Two cakes look about right (for what I had imagined it would look like)…
However, the recipe clearly tells you the Perfect Genoise “is drier than most American cakes”.
I baked two, split them in half to make four, but luckily, I ran out of my sugared strawberries and ended only using three layers.

I broke bite sized bits off the fourth layer and dipped these into the strawberry juices and then scraped the last bits of cream on top before popping them in my mouth.
I kept going until both bowls were clean.
If there was more I would have eaten more.
Instead I had to wait until after dinner for more.

Here is where the lesson comes in.
This cake is dense (as the recipe says!).
There was too much sponge for the amount of strawberries and cream in it.
So (in hindsight) one genoise split into three (as the recipe says!) would have tasted better.

I can not wait to see what the other members of Tuesdays with Dorie thought of this recipe.

And if you would like to check out the actual recipe and give this cake a go for yourself, head over to Sophia’s Sweets or Think, Love, Sleep, Dine.
And follow the recipe!


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Tardis Rainbow Birthday Cake and Dalek Cupcakes

In 1979 we left Yugoslavia and boarded a Qantas flight to begin our new life in Sydney, Australia.
My mum’s sister greeted us at the airport, she had immigrated many years earlier and we stayed with her family for a couple of months until we got on our feet.
I was 7 years old and I have two very distinct memories of this time.
1. I remember wondering how people could eat Kentucky Fried Chicken with Coleslaw! I thought it was the strangest and most unpleasant tasting thing I had ever tried (strangely enough, it didn’t take long to develop a taste for this food phenomenon!)
2. My 10 & 6 year old cousins had a small tv in the play room at the back of the house where they would go and watch Dr Who episodes every night after dinner. This is the Dr I was introduced to…

                                                                                        The Fourth Dr Who

I have to tell you, we were terrified watching some of the episodes! I remember many times hiding under sheets while we waited for the scary bits to be over! But as soon as the show was finished our bravado returned. I remember wrapping my younger cousin from head to food in toilet paper trying to re-create one of the show’s creatures!

I’m not sure where Dr Who and I parted ways? I’d like to say it was the long hours spent studying as I got older and had less and less time for tv. This is true (seriously!) But if I’m to be totally honest, I have to acknowledge that along with this was an ever growing interest in boys and spending any free time I did have, going out with friends.

However,  in the last few months the Dr entered my life again, thanks to my now 12 year old son and his friends!
I listened to their in depth conversations about the latest episodes as they dissected each event and argued about their absolute favourite episode!

We had some sleepless nights when they discovered the weeping angels and thought it was funny to replay the scary bits of the episode again and again on You Tube! It was okay doing that when they were all together at someone’s house and in a big group, but they soon learnt it wasn’t that great when they had to come home and get ready for bed! At night! By themselves. All alone in their room!
Thankfully the more they watched the scary bits on You Tube, the more immune they became!

(Can you believe every photo I have of my son’t 12th birthday is blurry! How to make them stand still long enough to take a decent photo is beyond me!)

So with his 12th Birthday approaching I told the boys I would make a Tardis birthday cake!
To be honest I was all talk.
But they told everyone and got so excited I realised at some point my credibility was at stake!
Once I stopped fighting the idea, I relaxed and had a lot of fun.

I decided I would take this opportunity to incorporate a number of recipes I’ve been wanting to try for a long time and to be honest, without accountability and a looming deadline they would probably have been on my “one day” list for years to come.

I’ve been wanting to try Marshmallow Fondant.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE MARSHMALLOWS!
I found a recipe one of the prettiest blogs I have ever come across! Bakingdom .
If you click here it will take you straight to Darla’s marshmallow fondant recipe!

Now I’ve never made, let alone used marshmallow fondant before. So I was pretty happy with the results…


My other “one day” recipe was from a blog I stumbled upon recently that is indescribably stunning Sweetapolita.

I saw Rosie’s Rainbow Doodle Birthday Cake and it’s been on my mind ever since.
So I decided, since I was expected to produce a Tardis birthday cake, I was going to go all the way!

We sang happy birthday (which included strange word additions and a lot of wresting) but eventually my son cut into his birthday cake…

To say the boys were blown away would be an understatement!

I followed Rosie’s recipe for the Rainbow Cake with Lemony Swiss Meringue Buttercream and made as many layers as I thought a Tardis would need in height. I spread her lemony swiss meringue buttercream between each layer and finished it off with a crumb coat before covering the whole thing with the coloured Marshmallow Fondant.

The dalek cupcakes were simply chocolate cupcakes.
I made a dozen regular sized cupcakes and topped them each with mini cupcake.
I then made and tinted buttercream in the colours of the newest dalek models and covered the cupcakes.
From what I can gather, the different coloured daleks have different qualities, so the boys put quite a bit of thought into which dalek they wanted to eat!

Then back to their skateboards… on their stomachs…as you do…
I guess riding upright got boring?!?


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Hungarian Shortbread with Rhubarb Jam

I think I have food ADD. Is there such a thing? Well if there is, then I’ve got it!
Too much of any single taste and you’ve lost me. It could be the most amazing tasting thing ever. BUT…
if it’s just sweet, just salty, just sour… then after about 2 or 3 bites, I am bored. I don’t want to eat it anymore.

I blame my mother for this! She used to serve all our meals with grapes or cantaloupe “to break up the taste”. She rationalised that by having a few bites of something sweet between mouthfuls of dinner it would encourage you to eat more. Is that weird?

Who would have thought something so simple would shape my entire approach to food… FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE!

Black forest cake and pavlova are my absolute favourite! I need those plump tart cherries to cut through the chocolate cake and the sour passionfruit, strawberries and kiwi to compliment that sweet meringue. The balance of sweet and sour is what makes it exciting. The food comes alive for me.

I love to dip salty pretzels in nutella (especially late at night as I’m watching TV!) and as my husband looks on at me shaking his head. But I don’t care. I am in taste heaven!

Which brings me to this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe.

I combined the rhubarb with the sugar, vanilla bean and water to make the jam filling.

And the hit of sourness that greeted me amongst the sugary sweetness of the jam excited me! This was going to be good!

I made the dough. Chilled it in the freezer. Then grated half of it into the pan. (I’ve never, ever grated dough before!) I then spread every last drop of the rhubarb jam over the grated dough before grating the other half of the dough over the layer of jam.

I baked it for 40 minutes and then sprinkled a generous amount of icing sugar over the top.
I have to admit I couldn’t wait for it to get cold before I dove into it!

My daughter (who has inherited my eating habits) loved this as much as I did.
The smooth, tart, rhubarb jam cut nicely through the sweet shortbread.
My husband, who has tamer taste preferences when it comes to his food, loved the shortbread but found the rhubarb jam a bit too sour for his liking. He fixed this easily by scraping off half the jam before going back for more, again and again!

To get the full recipe head on over to this week’s hosts, Cher from The not so exciting adventures of a dabbler… or visit Lynette at  1smallkitchen .

You can also visit Tuesdays with Dorie and check out what the rest of the group thought!


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Lemon Loaf Cake

This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe was perfect for Easter!
For two week’s, since 1823, Sydney plays host to Australia’s largest event, The Sydney Royal Easter show.

It’s when city meets country.
Australia’s rural industries showcase their finest produce and livestock.

Districts from Queensland and New South Wales display their primary products in creative and imaginative ways…

 Livestock of every kind is displayed and judged.
Sheep, pigs, goats, horses, poultry and cattle of many breeds.

There are also dog shows, cat shows and animal nurseries.
The kids get to see chicks hatch and feed and hold farmyard animals.

And of course there are the rides…

We finish the day by loading up on show bags and settling in to watch the nightly show before the fireworks.

It’s a long and expensive day.
But there’s something for everyone.
Did I mention the woodchopping, show jumping, tent pegging and precision driving?

Or my all time favourite reason for going to the show…
Food!
The farmers sell tubs of freshly cut pineapple and watermelon.
Stalls sell sausage sandwiches, potato on a stick, chocolate covered berries, vienna almonds and gozleme.

There are also arts and crafts displays and competitions.
Woodwork, leatherwork, lacemaking, embroidery and toy-making.
One of the most popular categories since 1960 has been cake making and cake decorating.
Sugar crafts are judged and displayed along with cakes, biscuits, slices, jams and preserves.

This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe, lemon loaf cake, would be a perfect fit here.
Simple, yet tasty, old fashioned home cooking.
Food you would serve at afternoon tea with the neighbours…

We all loved the taste and texture of this cake, I can’t wait to see what the other Tuesdays with Dorie group members thought!

And if you would like to see the recipe and try it out for yourself, head over to this week’s hosts, Truc from Treats  and Michelle from The Beauty of Life.


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Pizza Rustica

It’s been almost a month since I last posted anything!
One of my kids picked up a bug and then generously shared it with the rest of the family.
So for the past few weeks I’ve either been unwell or been looking after unwell kids.
Even as I write this, I can hear the chesty cough of one of my boys coming from upstairs.

This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe, Pizza Rustica, almost didn’t happen.
It was easy enough to motivate myself to take part in this week’s recipe.
I really enjoy being a part of the group!

I picked the day to bake.
I organised myself and planned things so the day would be relaxed and leisurely.
I had three loads of washing done and hanging before 8.30am.
I was feeling good and on track!

As we walked out to the car to leave for school, we could hear a loud engine starting next door. We sat in the car and watched workmen with generator powered hoses strip the paint off the house next door and land all over my three loads of washing.

It’s okay, I kept telling myself.
No big deal.
You’ll just run the clothes through the wash again…

Then, my 4 year old, who seemed like he was finally getting better, began vomiting.
When we arrived at the doctor, he told me we had to go back home “NOW” so he could go to the toilet.
We made it back home just in time!
Then back in the car and back to the doctor!
But it’s okay!
REALLY!

Finally, after a stop at the chemist for medication, we were back home and I was ready to cook!

I made the dough, it was incredibly easy.

I opened the ricotta to prepare the filling and  quickly realised I picked up a tub with an expired date.
It smelled bad!
BUT REALLY, IT’S OKAY!!!

I raced back to the store and picked up the last two tubs of ricotta, yay!
They had just the right amount of ricotta I needed!
Raced back home to find the seal on the second tub was broken!
Seriously!?! 

After a minute or two of contemplating giving up, I decided to just add the block of Philadelphia cream cheese I had in the fridge.
As the kids say, booyah!
Problem solved!
I was feeling pretty pleased with myself!

All the running around meant my pizza rustica was ready much later than planned.
Which was no big deal.

Until I realised it was the first day of daylight savings in Sydney and by the time it came out of the oven it was pitch black outside and I had no chance of taking a decent photo of the finished product!

I wasn’t happy with my photos and I honestly contemplated not posting at all!

But I really enjoyed the taste of the pizza rustica and felt it would be crazy to have gone through all that and not post!

The dough was so deliciously sweet. I loved it.
The filling was incredibly salty and cheesy. .
Whoever thought of putting the two together was a genius!
What a wonderful balance of sweet and salty!
I am so glad I persevered!

If you want to try it for yourself, Emily of Capitol Region Dining and Raelynn of The Place They Call Home, are this week’s hosts and will have the full recipe on their blogs.

If you would like to check out what other members of Tuesdays with Dorie thought of this week’s recipe, head on over!


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Rugelach

I was very excited when my Baking with Julia book arrived!
And in plenty of time to join in on this week’s recipe scheduled for Tuesdays with Dorie!

I planned to enjoy making this recipe.
I set aside the last weekend of summer to take my time and play in the kitchen.
And this recipe fit the bill perfectly as it could be stretched over a couple of days.
No rush.

I made the dough and placed it into the fridge.
I had a two days up my sleeve until I had to cook it, so how easy was step 1!

In fact, it was so easy and stress free I decided to start on the prune lekvar.
(The prune lekvar is made with walnuts while the apricot lekvar has almonds. Two of my children are allergic to almonds while only one is allergic to walnuts, so prune lekvar it was!)
Harm minimisation!

We went on to have a great weekend at the beach with the kayak and the kid’s various boards.
Relaxing and leisurely!

It’s amazing what kids can do with boards when there are absolutely no waves around!
Creativity can be expressed in so many ways!

It was great knowing that whenever I was ready, my dough and lekvar were there, waiting for me.
No pressure.
And breaking the steps up like this, made what initially looked like a daunting recipe, into something manageable.
Easy even!

Processing the nuts, cinnamon and sugar was where I seemed to fall apart…
My food processor was sealed but somehow I ended up with a fair amount of this nut dust all over the kitchen.
It was a deliciously nutty, sugary, cinnamon-y mixture.

Unless you’re somewhat allergic to nuts!
Then it’s just a nerve wracking experience with kids coughing and complaining of heavy chests.

I used a mixture of hazelnuts, walnuts and pecan (the least allergic of all the nuts to our family).
But I guess with 3 kids, all allergic to various degrees to different combinations of nuts, it was going to be disastrous to some degree!

So after dosing kids up on antihistamines, I decided to skip the dried fruit and finish as quickly as possible!

I loved these!
I’m kind of glad I skipped the dried fruit.
I could really taste the prune butter and it was balanced beautifully with the nuts. Any more dried fruit and I think it would have been too sweet for my taste.

Granted, they’re not the prettiest looking things, but I loved these.
You can find the full recipe at Jessica of My Baking Heart and  Margaret of The Urban Hiker blogs. Our hosts for this week!

To see what others thought of this recipe head over to Tuesdays with Dorie and check them out!


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Bubble Top Brioche

I’m not sure how other countries format their school year but here in Sydney, Australia we have 4 school terms that go for 10 weeks each. The kids have two weeks off school at the end of every 10 week term. Except for Christmas, when they have 6 weeks off school.

We are half way through our Christmas school holidays and next week we leave for 2 weeks in Hawaii! Yay!
I can’t wait! It’s been about 15 years since I was last there and I have such great memories from that trip and now I get to make new ones with my children!

My husband is excited for the opportunity to have a break and spend time with his family.
My 14 year old daughter (who couldn’t wait until January 1st so she could announce that next year she’ll be 16) can’t wait to go to Hawaii so she can get a tan her friends will be jealous of.
My 11 year old son has decided he wants to learn to surf (and befriend the penguins that are at the resort).
And my 4 year old son is just outraged we chose to go to Hawaii over Queensland, where all the theme parks are!

I am looking forward to going to the beach, just like we do here at home…
Without having to clean the sand out of my car or wash the endless stream of beach towels!

So I really wanted to do one last French Fridays with Dorie before we take off for a few weeks.
And as usual I picked the least practical day.
We had a great, but very late night, at an Irish/Italian wedding…


Followed by an early to start to meet friends at the water slides. They slid non stop for 8 hours…

And then, to top it off, a bunch of the boys came back to our house for a sleepover.
At 10.30 that night they settled down to watch Batman so I took this opportunity to start the dough!

I was exhausted but I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed making the dough.
It felt incredibly good and satisfying.

The next morning I finished the recipe and they returned from the park having discovered new ways to ride their scooters and skateboards…

They ran inside demanding to know what smelled like croissants!

The brioche rolls were fresh out of the oven and they really did smell like freshly baked croissants.
When I pulled one apart it was incredibly soft…

And light. And fluffy. And totally delicious!

They shoved them in their mouths.
Some with jam and cream…
Others with Nutella.

They all agreed Dorie’s Bubble-Top Brioche tasted great!
I can’t wait to see what the rest of the French Fridays with Dorie team came up with!


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2012 – Resolutions and Peach Jelly and Vanilla Panna Cotta

I am a sucker for New Beginnings.
A Fresh Start.
Hope and Possibilities.

To me, a New Year is like buying a new Journal.
The pages are crisp, clean and waiting to be written on.
I get butterflies in my stomach in anticipation.

I love setting New Year Resolutions.
(I forget most of them by mid January).
But my goodness I love setting them!

So with New Year’s Eve approaching, I was not going to let my favourite time of year slip by me in a blur of busy-ness!

I have been wanting to do the Bondi to Bronte walk for a few weeks now.
So I convinced my husband and kids a 7 km, cliff walk, was exactly what we all needed!
The cliffs, the ocean, the crashing waves, it all feels so… cleansing!
But at the same time it’s Bondi beach.
It’s fun and exciting and a place where anything can happen!

So as we walked from Bondi beach…

Past the Bondi Icebergs…

And made our way to Bronte…

Where we stopped and had lunch…

I FELT the frustrations, the regrets and the limitations I had wittingly and unwittingly imposed on myself and exposed myself to.
The hurts, humiliations and embarrassments.
The worries that kept me up at night.
The people that let me down (again and again) as I turned a blind eye.
And those that were always there and I shamefully took for granted.
I didn’t run away.
I wanted to!
But that’s not what today was about!
Today was about new beginnings and making resolutions.
And I couldn’t get to the fun part until I worked through the messy bits.

On the walk back I thought of all the good stuff of 2011.
The achievements, successes, joy and love.
I tried to pinpoint what I was doing around the times that I felt at my best.

I also starting to think about a story I read by an author (no idea who it was). They said one year they set themselves one resolution. To not tell a lie. Sounds simple! But this one little resolution led to the dissolving of friendships and relationships and incredible turmoil. In hindsight, they said they could see it was a necessary step to finding what they’re about in this life.

So rather than making my usual list of resolutions, I too have only picked one resolution for 2012.

To be PRESENT.

Science has now confirmed that our mind can change the brain’s circuitry and change the connections our brains make. We filter input in our own unique way based on the life experiences we have had. As a result we can get into a rut, making the same choices again and again.
Choices that are familiar and comfortable but not necessarily good for us.

Being present means we remain open to ourselves and others.
It means, when stuff comes up for us, we don’t react in our usual ways.
It means sitting with unpleasant feelings, like uncertainty and vulnerability, without reacting.
And when the need to run, fight, please, or plead subsides, we have clarity.
We are open to the present moment without judgement.
We are open to all the possibilities of life.

And what could be more exciting than that?

A clean slate to write on for 2012.

We came home and made this Peach Jelly and Vanilla Panna Cotta.

I saw this dessert in Issue 6 of the Donna Hay Magazine a few years back.
It looked so festive and elegant I couldn’t resist it.
I have been making it every year since.
It’s become tradition.
We all look forward to it.
As the panna cotta sits on the stove cooling, we stand around, chatting and dipping our spoons into the silky smooth mixture.
We all look forward to it.
For our family this dessert signals the holiday season is here.

PEACH JELLY AND VANILLA PANNA COTTA
(pretty much as it appears in Issue 6 of Donna Hay Magazine) 

Peach Jelly

1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup sugar
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
3 peaches, halved and stoned
1 tbsp gelatine
1/3 cup raspberries

Vanilla Panna Cotta

2 tbsp gelatine
1/3 cup warm water
3 3/4 cups single or pouring cream
1 cup icing (confectioner’s) sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. To make the jelly, place the water, sugar and vanilla bean in a saucepan over medium heat and stir until the sugar is dissolved.
Add the peaches and allow to simmer 3-5 minutes or until soft. Remove the peaches, slip off skins and set aside. Place 1/4 cup of the peach liquid in a bowl, sprinkle over the gelatine and set aside for 5 minutes. Add the peach and gelatine mixture to the remaining peach liquid, stir and simmer for 2 minutes or until the gelatine is dissolved. Remove the vanilla bean. Place the peaches cut side up in a well greased loaf tin, sprinkle with the raspberries and pour over the liquid. Refrigerate for 2 hours or until firm.

2. To make the panna cotta, sprinkle the extra gelatine over the extra water and set aside for 5 minutes. Place the cream, icing sugar and vanilla in a saucepan over medium heat and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Add the gelatine mixture and simmer over low heat for 4 minutes or until the gelatine is dissolved. Remove from the heat and allow to cool to room temperature. Pour the panna cotta mixture over the set jelly and refrigerate for 6 hours or overnight. Invert and slice to serve.


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Gingerbread Christmas Cookie Tree

I remember someone telling me that the purpose of meditation was to give us a break from our daily lives. While meditating we are focused on other things, our breath, our body, the present moment. Anything but what has been consuming us and occupying our thoughts. At the end of our meditation time we step back into our lives. But we do so refreshed. We’ve had a break from all our worries, duties and roles. And now we return recharged and the time away has, hopefully, given us a new perspective. A more detached and objective way to see our lives, and with fresh eyes, we can tackle our concerns with new ideas that were hidden from us while we were caught up in the story that was our life! I honestly cannot remember where I picked up this broad definition of meditation, but it’s stuck with me.

That’s what I love about cooking and in particular, baking. My way of being in the world can be very much in my mind and not much happening in the body! My mind can be a hive of activity, sometimes it feels like it’s home to a loud, chaotic, formula 1 race track. You’d never know what’s going in there by watching me, my body goes through the day doing it’s thing and not getting in the mind’s way. Actually it’s learnt to stay out of the mind’s way! And that’s where baking and cooking come into play.

Doing something that is physical and new requires me to focus fully on the activity at hand. My mind tries to gloss over instructions so it can get back to solving the latest drama, but I’ve learnt the more active my mind, the more complex the recipe I need to pick needs to be. I have to concentrate on what I am doing and force myself to take a break from the tapes playing in my head. And when the business and dramas are big, like at Christmas time, doing anything complex is the last thing I want to do! That’s how I new it was time to undertake a challenge. I have been wanting to make a Gingerbread House, but I have been sick with the latest bug the boys brought home and when I saw Gingerbread Christmas Trees I was sold! They looked amazing and somehow not as daunting as the houses, to me.

I made the dough using the recipe below from Gourmet Traveller. I also had five 11-year old boys in the house having a sleepover, friends dropping in and still feeling weak from the bug. The combination wasn’t great. After many hiccups, I took my first batch out of the oven and then dropped them!
At this point my 14-year old decided to step in. My goal was to spend some mother daughter time while the boys were destroying the house. She was reluctant to begin with, but I stepped back fully and other than making the dough and destroying the first batch of stars, she did everything. 

She is also an “in her head” sort of person. 
So it was great to sit back and watch the meditative process of baking in action.
She was in “flow”.
She had purpose and an incredible sense of achievement at the end of it all.
And while she took pics of her creation to post on facebook and tumblr, I took pics of her to post here.

Remember to take a break from the busy-ness of the season, whatever form your ‘meditation’ takes, take time to do it and you will be rewarded with a renewed sense of perspective, love and joy!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Gingerbread Recipe (as it appears in Gourmet Traveller for their gingerbread house recipe)

700g plain flour
190g each light brown sugar and dark muscovado sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tbsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cloves
220g cold butter, cubed
180g golden syrup
2 eggs

1. Process half of each of the flour, sugars, baking powder and spices in a food processor to combine well. Add half the butter, process to combine, then add half the golden syrup and 1 egg and process until mixture comes together (3-4 minutes). Turn onto a work surface, knead until mixture comes together, wrap in plastic wrap and repeat with remaining ingredients. Refrigerate to rest for at least 1 hour.

2. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius. Roll our each piece of gingerbread on a lightly floured surface to 3mm thick. Cut decorative shapes out and place on trays lined with baking paper and bake in batches until darkened around the edges. About 10 minutes. Cool on trays for 5 minutes then cool on wire racks.

Royal Icing Recipe (as it appears in Gourmet Traveller for their gingerbread house recipe)

2 egg whites
450g pure icing sugar

Whisk egg-whites in a bowl, gradually adding icing sugar to the mixture until it is smooth holds a stiff peak. Leave white or colour what ever shade your desire the spoon into piping bags fitted with desired piping tubes.

To assemble:
Pipe icing onto each star in whatever pattern you fancy and we dabbed icing in the middle of each star to stick the tree together.