TWD - Zan’s Birthday Cookies

This week’s Tuesday with Dorie recipe is Zan’s Birthday Cookies. These cookies comprise a chocolate/coconut brownie base, a coconut pastry cream filling and a chocolate crumble topping.

 They taste OK, but probably are not a repeat for me.

To see what everyone else made this week and what they thought of it, visit the LYL section of the TWD website.

TWD - One Big Break-Apart Chipper

 This week’s Tuesday with Dorie recipe is One Big Break-Apart Chipper. As the name suggests, it is a single ginormous chocolate chip cookie, meant to be shared by breaking off pieces.

I didn’t think that the break off and share method would go down well at work, where I am taking this cookie, so I cut it into pieces straight out of the oven while still hot and cuttable.

The spices are cardamom and cinnamon; I chose walnuts for the nut component, and for the chocolate chips, I used half and half chopped dark chocolate and Reese’s pieces. I sprinkled the top of the cookie with sanding sugar for extra crunch.

To see what everyone else made this week and what they thought of it, visit the LYL section of the TWD website. 

TWD - French Vanilla Sables

 This week’s Tuesday With Dorie recipe is French Vanilla Sables. These  are little shortbread style biscuits cut out with a round cutter, but which can also be slice and bake  cookies.

I sandwiched mine  together with ganache for a  work morning tea.

They don’t look fancy but they taste good.

To see what everyone else made this week and what they thought of it, visit the LYL section of the TWD website.

WWDH - Asian Spiced Lemongrass Pork

 For Wednesday with Donna Hay this week, I made Asian Spiced Lemongrass Pork from Everyday Fresh.

This dish involves making a stir fry paste with ginger, garlic, chilli, lemongrass and Kaffir lime (the latter of which I left out because I didn’t have it). This paste is cooked until fragrant in a fry pan, before the pork mince is added and stir fried until golden. Finally, a sauce of rice wine vinegar, brown sugar and fish sauce is added to the mince and cooked until the sugar dissolves.

Donna suggests a number of ways to serve this mince. I went my own way with rice, green beans and carrots as sides.

To see more Donna Hay dishes, visit Kayte and Margaret.

WWDH - Cinnamon sugar coated maple apple cakes

For Wednesday with Donna Hay this week, I made Cinnamon Sugar Coated Maple Apple Cakes from Donna’s Seasons recipe book. This book is one of her earlier books, and it is just so darn pretty - if you like cookbooks with beautiful pictures, definitely pick up a copy of this book.

These little cakes contain cinnamon, brown sugar, grated apple and maple syrup for flavour, as well as being dipped in cinnamon sugar fresh out of the oven. The cakes are made in mini bundt tins.

I made a half batch and got 12 mini bundts (1/2 cup size) plus 2 muffin sized cakes.

I had one of these fresh out of the oven - it was so good, and perfect for autumn.

To see some other Donna Hay dishes, visit Kayte and Margaret.

 

TWD - Asparagus-Lemon Quiche

 This week’s Tuesday with Dorie (Baking with Dorie) recipe is Asparagus-Lemon Quiche.

As the name suggests, the quiche is filled with chopped asparagus and chopped lemon (including the rind). The top is decorated with asparagus heads and sprinkled with parmesan.

The flavour combination is delicate and the quiche looks elegant. I served mine with salad:

This is such a gorgeous quiche, I would definitely make this again.

To see what everyone else made this week and their thoughts on it, visit the LYL section of the TWD website.

My Mother’s “Hotch Potch” - Beef Stew

 

It’s cold here and definitely a good time for stews and hearty meals. One of my favourite stews is my mother’s hotch potch, pictured.

There is no set recipe for this - it’s about using what you have. In rough terms, to a large casserole dish, I added 500g cubed chuck steak that had been tossed in a mixture of salt and plain flour (I did this in a freezer bag for easy clean up), 500g peeled and chopped potatoes, and whatever other veg you have to hand (I used carrots and beans, but mixed frozen veg works a treat). Take a generous heaped metal tablespoon (the big spoon not a baking measure) full of plain flour and mix it with just enough water to make a paste - put that in the casserole dish with the meat and veg, and shake in some Worcestershire sauce and tomato sauce to taste. Crumble in a beef stock cube, season with salt and pepper to taste, then add enough water to the pot to just cover the meat and veg.

Cook in a preheated 180 degree Celsius oven for around 2 hours, and that’s it.

The crucial step is using enough flour to make the sauce thicken, otherwise you end up with tasteless watery stew (which I have done a number of times). 

A perfect dish served with crusty bread to soak up all of that  yummy sauce.