Tuesday, December 28, 2021

TWD - Cheese Puffers

 

This week’s Tuesday with Dorie recipe is Cheese Puffers. 

They are pretty much what it says on the tin - cheesy eggy bites that puff up when baked.

Mine are super small as I quartered the recipe and used patty cake tins.

These cheese puffers are quite tasty - a nice side or good on their own.

To see what everyone else made this week, see the LYL section of the TWD website.



Tuesday, December 21, 2021

TWD - Hot-and-Spicy Togarashi Meringues - kinda


 This week’s Tuesday with Dorie recipe is Hot-and-Spicy Togarashi Meringues. Togarashi is a Japanese spice mix based on chilli.

While I could have bought Togarashi online, my local supermarket didn’t stock it. Knowing I’d likely never use it again, I didn’t seek it out, and instead made my own spice mixed based on most of the Togarashi flavours - 1 teaspoon chipotle powder, 1/2 teaspoon each of ginger and sesame seeds, a twist of black pepper and a pinch of orange zest.

When I baked my meringues, they really flattened out, and went darker than they were supposed to. The end product is a meringue cookie with a kick - not awful, but not something I’d make again.

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


Tuesday, December 14, 2021

TWD - Mokonut’s Cranberry-Rye Chocolate Chunk Cookies



This week’s Tuesday with Dorie (BWD) recipe is Mokonut’s Cranberry-Rye Chocolate Chunk Cookies.

This recipe is based on the cookies made at  a Parisian restaurant called Mokonut. As their name suggests, the cookies are flavoured with dried cranberries, rye flour and chocolate.

And they are absolutely scrumptious. This is the best cookie recipe I have made in a long time - I loved them so much I kept 5 for me.

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


 

Saturday, December 11, 2021

Yoghurt Pancakes


 It’s the weekend, and for me today, it’s pancake time!  I went online for a yoghurt pancake recipe, and found this one at Spruce Eats.

This is one of the best pancake recipes I have tried - the pancakes were light and fluffy and held their shape nicely in the pan.

I paired my pancakes with lemon juice, sugar and strawberries.

To make these pancakes as a serve for one, you need:

1/4 cup plain flour

1/4 tablespoon sugar

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

pinch baking soda

pinch salt

1/4 plain yoghurt

1/2 of a beaten egg

1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil

1/4 cup milk

Put your frypan on to heat.

For the batter, mix together the dry ingredients in a small bowl, then mix through the oil.

In another small bowl, mix together the egg and the yoghurt, then mix them through the dry ingredients. If the mixture is too thick, add just enough milk to loosen it.

Brush the heated frypan with oil, then add spoonfuls of batter to the pan. When the top of the pancake gets bubbles on it, flip it and leave it a couple of more minutes or until cooked.

Flip the pancakes out onto a plate and top as you like.







Wednesday, December 8, 2021

WWDH - Rum and Raisin Truffles

 


This week’s Wednesday with Donna Hay recipe is Rum and Raisin Truffles. The recipe is online here.

These truffles are, as you would expect, quite rich. I gave some to one of my neighbours abd she thought they were delicious.

To check out some more Donna Hay dishes, visit Kayte at Grandma’s Kitchen Table, Margaret at Tea and Scones, and Peggy at Pantry Revisited 


Tuesday, December 7, 2021

TWD - Mulled Wine Jammers


This week’s Tuesday with Dorie recipe is Mulled Wine Jammers - a vanilla sable topped with spiced fruit jam and streusel.

Instead of making Dorie’s jam, I used some Christmas jam that I already had. As it was also a spiced jam, I figured it was a viable substitute.

These biscuits are buttery, light and delicious.

To see what the others made this week, visit the LYL section of the TWD website.


Wednesday, December 1, 2021

WWDH - Spiced Walnut Caramels


 This week’s Wednesday with Donna Hay recipe is Spiced Walnut Caramels. They started life as Spiced Pecan Caramels, but I didn’t have pecans.

The spices are very Christmassy- cloves and nutmeg.

I was able to try these and I think they are delish! I love a caramel- and homemade caramels are even better.

To check out some more Donna Hay dishes, visit Kayte at Grandma’s Kitchen Table, Margaret at Tea and Scones, and Peggy at Pantry Revisited 



Wednesday, November 24, 2021

WWDH - Mustard and Fennel Pork


 This week’s Wednesday with Donna Hay recipe is Mustard and Fennel Pork. The recipe is online here.

I took liberties with this recipe. I left out the skewers and chose my own sides, including my own choice of fennel salad that I’d already made.

To check out some more Donna Hay dishes, visit Kayte at Grandma’s Kitchen Table, Margaret at Tea and Scones, and Peggy at Pantry Revisited   



Tuesday, November 23, 2021

TWD - Apple Pandowdy


This week’s Tuesday with Dorie recipe is Apple Pandowdy.

This dessert comprises sliced apples topped with pastry. I went off piste and used filo pastry, because it was supposed to use up pastry scraps, so I wasn’t going to make pastry.


My Pandowdy might look dowdy, but it tasted good - in the tradition of apple pie, you can’t go wrong with apples and pastry.

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


Wednesday, November 17, 2021

WWDH - Apple Yoghurt Cinnamon Scrolls


 Today’s Wednesday with Donna Hay recipe is Apple Yoghurt Cinnamon Scrolls, with miso glaze.

I made these following one of Donna’s online cooking demonstrations. They are very easy to make.

You can find the recipe here should you want to try making these. 

To check out some more Donna Hay dishes, visit Kayte at Grandma’s Kitchen Table, Margaret at Tea and Scones, and Peggy at Pantry Revisited 


Tuesday, November 16, 2021

TWD - Pecan Butterscotch Shortbreads - with Walnuts




This week’s Tuesday with Dorie recipe is Peacan Butterscotch Shortbreads. Mine are actually Walnut Butterscotch Shortbreafs.

These biscuits are flavoured with brown sugar, chocolate and nuts.

They are quite delicate, so they made the perfect icecream sandwich:
 


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

Wednesday, November 10, 2021

WWDH - One Pot Ginger Chicken

This week’s Wednesday with Donna Hay recipe is One Pot Ginger Chicken, from Donna’s new book, One Pan Perfect.

Donna was inspired by Hainanese Chicken with the flavours in this dish - ginger, chilli, garlic.



 This is a really tasty and healthy dish, and low fuss to make.

To check out some more Donna Hay dishes, visit Kayte at Grandma’s Kitchen Table, Margaret at Tea and Scones, and Peggy at Pantry Revisited.  

Wednesday, November 3, 2021

WWDH - Spiced Meatballs with Sticky Chilli Sauce

Kayte is resurrecting Wednesdays with Donna Hay on a casual basis. We may not post every Wednesday, but we will post whenever we make a new Donna Hay recipe.

This week, I made a recipe from Donna’s new book, One Pan Perfect. The recipe is Spiced Meatballs in Sticky Chilli Sauce. There are great Asian flavours in these meatballs - garlic, ginger, green onion and chilli.



 I baked my meatballs instead of frying them, and used a chilli tomato chutney in place of the Korean chilli paste in the recipe. I think these changes went well.

I served my meatballs with cauliflower rice and veggies.

I highly recommend both this recipe and Donna’s new book.


Tuesday, November 2, 2021

TWD - Cocoa Almond Thumbprints


 Today’s second Tuesday with Dorie recipe (because I am apparently a week ahead with Baking with Dorie) is Cocoa Almond Thumbprints.

These biscuits are compromised solely if ground almonds, coconut, sugar and eggwhite. They are meant to be filled with ganache, but I just baked in a chocolate chip instead.

These biscuits are rather messy and crumbly before baking, and you have to be a bit gentle at that stage to stop them from disintegrating. However, they bake up quite firmly, and are quite healthy with only fat from the coconut and almonds.

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



TWD - English Muffins



This week’s Tuesday With Dorie (Baking with Dorie) recipe is English muffins.

I  buy English  muffins occasionally but I have never made them myself. It takes a little planning to make them as the process takes 4 hours or so. If you want them for breakfast, you have to start the night before.

I was pleased with how mine turned out - here’s one with ham, egg, cheese and tomato chutney:

 


To see how everyone else went with their muffins, visit the LYL section of the TWD website.

Tuesday, October 26, 2021

Cherry-Nut Chocolate Pinwheels


 This week’s Tuesday with Dorie (Dorie’s Cookies) recipe is Cherry-Nut Chocolate Pinwheels.

These delicious cookies comprise a chocolate cookie dough filled with cherries and walnuts, and drizzled with chocolate. I used dark chocolate drizzle instead of white chocolate.

These cookies are just devine. I also like that the recipe is small batch.

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


Sunday, October 24, 2021

Chocolate Mud Cake with Chocolate Fudge Icing

It is my friend’s youngest son’s birthday today. I had dinner with the family last night, and brought dessert in the form of this chocolate mud cake with chocolate fudge icing.  As with many teenagers, he loves chocolate, so I delivered!



 The mud cake recipe that I used is this one, but I used gluten free flour. 

The icing recipe is this one, which is really rich and chocolatey without using any actual chocolate.

I had a slice of this cake and it was good - I hope the birthday boy thought so too.

Tuesday, October 19, 2021

TWD - Miso- Maple Loaf


This week, we celebrate the release of Dorie’s new book, Baking with Dorie, by making her Miso- Maple Loaf (recipe published on the NYT website). 

This is a terrific plain  cake flavoured with miso paste and maple syrup, and glazed with marmalade:


I deliberately didn’t strain the marmalade glaze, as I liked the decorative addition of tge orange peel.

Dorie suggests buttering this loaf or toasting it and adding butter or jam on too, but I loved it as is.

To see what everyone else thought of this cake, visit the LYL section of the TWD website.


Tuesday, October 5, 2021

TWD - Chocolate and Walnut Bars


This week’s Tuesday with Dorie ( Dorie’s Cookies) recipe is Chocolate and Walnut Bars. This recipe is based on a Roman treat rather than the melt and mix brownie I thought it would  be.

There are quite a few steps to make these bars, including chopping and melting chocolate, blitzing walnuts, separating eggs and whipping the egg whites to stiff peaks, followed by making a chocolate glaze.

The end result is decadent and delicious. I didn’t have any cream, so instead of making Dorie’s ganache glaze, I made a glaze from chocolate, butter, glucose syrup and vegetable oil by Donna Hay. I think it worked pretty well as a substitute.

I only made a quarter of the  recipe, which was plenty for me. The full batch uses 8 eggs.

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

Tuesday, September 21, 2021

TWD - Rousquilles


 This week’s Tuesday with Dorie recipe is a Spanish cookie known as Rousquilles. These comprise a dough flavoured with orange flower water and aniseed, and cut into rings, then glazed.

I used licorice powder in place of aniseed, and my glaze didn’t work so I just dusted them with icing sugar.

I wasn’t sure about these when making them, but they actually taste pretty good. They are quite soft and break easily, but that certainly doesn’t affect the taste.

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




Tuesday, September 7, 2021

TWD - Torta Sbrisolona


This week’s Tuesday with Dorie recipe is Torta Sbrisolona. I have never heard if it before and I am sure I can’t pronounce it correctly, but it is a delicious crumbly almond cookie, made like streusel.

I made a half batch, which cut neatly into 8 bars:


 I really enjoyed these cookies, more than any we have made for a while. Thanks to Dianne’s husband for choosing them.

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

Monday, August 23, 2021

Harry the Hairy Nosed Wombat Cake - Book Week 2021


 This week is Book Week, so I thought I’d share a cake I made for the Threatened Species Bakeoff, but which also fits neatly in with Book Week. I dub this cake Harry, after Harry the Hairy-Nosed Wombat, the title character in a 1970 children’s book written by Australian author, Jill Morris.  This book was read to our class at primary school by the librarian, Mr Broom. It follows the adventures of Harry when a man comes to disturb his habitat by building a highway through it.


The basic concept for my cake design came from Willie the Wombat in Aussie Cakes.  However, Willie is a common wombat, so I made some modifications to end up with Harry. Hairy-nosed wombats have pointier ears than common wombats and squarer, almost pig-like snouts. 

To that end, I shaped the “ears” of my cake more sharply and used a Monte instead of a Mint Slice for the nose, which I gave some details in black icing writing.  Aussie Cakes doesn’t provide any templates for the cakes - you have to design your own from the photo in the book.



The book says to use packet cake mix to make it accessible and easy, but I made the Dutch Chocolate Cake from Christine McConnell’s Deceptive Desserts as my base cake.In hindsight, this light spongy cake was not ideal for shaping, but I got it to work. (It is a delicious cake, BTW.)

Once you have shaped the cooled cake, it literally is as easy as icing it with chocolate buttercream (use your favourite recipe, making sure to crumb coat it), smothering it in brown tinted shredded coconut (I used dessicated coconut because that’s what I could get) to resemble fur, piping details on with black writing icing, and sticking on a chocolate biscuit nose, two Dairy Milk rollos for eyes, and licorice claws. I used the cake that I cut off to make chocolate soil to hide the cake board.

I am pretty happy with this cake.  It looks deceptively simple, but it was actually quite time consuming to make. I think Harry is rather handsome, and he tastes delicious! 

Are you celebrating Book Week? I would love to hear if you bake any literary themed goodies.


Tuesday, August 17, 2021

TWD - Baby Buckwheat Bars


 This week’s Tuesday with Dorie recipe is Baby Buckwheat Bars. As the name suggests, these bars are made with buckwheat flour, and flavoured with vanilla, rum and chocolate.

Dorie recommended caramel chocolate so I used Caramilk. I have to say I didn’t really taste it though.

These bars were not really my cup of tea. They were ok, but the overwhelming flavour of buckwheat flour made them a bit meh for me.

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


Tuesday, August 3, 2021

TWD - Three-ways Sugar Cone Pizzelles

This week’s Tuesday with Dorie recipe is Three-Ways Sugar Cone Pizzelles. The recipe is what it says on the tin - pizzelles moulded into cones, or bowls, or just left flat.


I don’t have a pizzelle press and don’t intend to invest in one, so I used my jaffle maker to make my Pizzelles.



 I wanted to try out moulding the Pizzelles, so I used cream horn cones and a glass to make cones and bowls respectively. I found the cones challenging to mould and had holes in the base of my cones - not so great for icecream but still delicious.

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

Friday, July 23, 2021

Bridget Jones’ Pan Fried Salmon with Pinenut Salsa


 

"Bridget, this baby situation threw me initially. We squashed an entire relationship into one night and skipped straight to the starting a family phase. We never even had a real second date, but just so you know I would have taken you to Ottolenghi’s, an amazing place in Notting Hill. You would have had the grilled salmon and pine nut salsa. It’s unbelievable AND healthy." Jack in Bridget Jones' s Baby

In the movie, Bridget Jones' Baby, Jack tells Bridget that he would have taken her to Ottolenghi's restaurant for their second date, and that she would have ordered the grilled salmon and pine nut salsa.  That dish did not exist  on Ottolenghi's menu, but to fill the gap, Ottolenghi developed a recipe for this dish for his cookbook, Ottolenghi Simple.

I have Ottolenghi Simple, and I am also a Bridget Jones fan, so I had to make this salmon dish for myself.  And I am glad that I did.  It is tasty, with a mix of sweet (from currants) and savoury flavours.

If you fancy bringing a little movie magic into your life by making this dish, you will need:

100g currants
4 salmon fillets, skin on
100ml olive oil
4 celery sticks cut into 1 cm dice
30g pine nuts, roughly chopped
40g capers + 2 tablespoons of their brine
40g large green olives cut into 1cm dice
a pinch of saffron mixed with a tablespoon of hot water
20g parsley, roughly chopped
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon lemon juice
salt and pepper

Cover the currants with boiling water and soak for 20 minutes.

In the meantime, mix the salmon with 2 teaspooons olive oil, salt and pepper.  Set aside.

Put 75ml olive oil into a large frying pan over high heat.  Add the celery and pine nuts and fry for 4-5 minutes.  Once the nuts have browned, remove the pan from the heat, and stir in the capers, the brine, the saffron in its water, the olives and a pinch of salt.  Drain the currants, then add them, the parsley, the lemon juice and lemon zest to the mixture.  Stir through, then set aside.

Put a tablespoon of olive oil into a fry pan, and once hot, add the salmon, skin side down, and fry for 3 minutes or until the skin is crisp.  Flip the salmon and cook for another 2-4 minutes, dpeending on how you like your salmon.  Remove from the pan and set aside. 

Place each of the salmon filets onto a plate, and spoon over the salsa.

Enjoy!  

Tuesday, July 20, 2021

TWD - Caramel-Sugar Pufflets


 This week’s Tuesday with Dorie recipe is Caramel-Sugar Pufflets. 

These yeasted dough biscuits are made from the same dough as last fortnight’s savoury biscuits, but instead of being blended with seeds and spices, the dough is blended with sugar. I used cardamom pistachio sugar from Gewurzhaus, because I could.

These biscuits were ok, but not as good as the savoury ones.

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


Saturday, July 17, 2021

Lemon and poppy seed meringue cheesecake

My mum has sent me some very nice recipes out of her local paper recently.  One that particularly caught my eye was for a lemon and poppy seed meringue cheesecake, by Phoebe Wood.  

Unfortunately, my circumstances mean that it was not realistic to make the whole cheesecake.  Instead, I quartered the recipe, and made two 6" tart versions.  They are not as visually stunning as the whole cheesecake, but they tasted great.

The cheesecake is comprised of a pastry base, with a lemon curd and poppy seed flavoured filling, and topped with sour cream and meringue.  The meringue was also meant to contain poppy seeds, but I forgot. 

I think the mini tarts are cute:



 To make this cheesecake (full recipe), you will need:

Pastry

1 cup plain flour
1/4 cup sugar
75g butter, chopped

Filling

150g sugar
350g cream cheese, at room temperature and cut into cubes
350g ricotta 
200g lemon curd (I used this Donna Hay recipe to make some)
3 eggs
1 tablespoon poppy seeds
180g white chocolate, melted and cooled
200g sour cream (I used Greek yoghurt)

Meringue

3 egg whites
3/4 cup sugar
3 teaspoons poppy seeds

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius and grease a 22cm springform pan

To make the pastry, put the flour and sugar into a food processor and blitz to combine.  Add the butter, and blitz until crumbs form.  Add 2 tablespoons or so of cold water, a little at a time, until the dough just comes together.    Press the pastry into the base of the prepared springform pan.  Put a few prick marks in the pastry with the tines of a fork. Line the pastry with a piece of alfoil, shiny side down, and cover with baking beans or rice.   Bake for 25 minutes in the preheated oven, then remove the baking beans and foil, and bake for a further 5-10 minutes or until the pastry is golden.  Remove it from the oven and allow it to cool.

Reduce the heat of the oven to 150 degrees Celsius.  In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth.  Slowly beat in the sugar, then beat in the ricotta and lemon curd until smooth.    Beat in 2 eggs and the poppy seeds until combined, then pour the mixture over the cooled pastry base.  Bake for 1 hour or until just set with a slight wobble in the centre.

Whisk the melted chocolate, sour cream and remaining egg together in a bowl until smooth.  Pour it over the top of the baked cheesecake, and bake the cheesecake for a further 10 minutes.  Turn off the oven, leaving the cheesecake inside and the door slightly ajar, until the cheesecake cools completely. 

Remove the cooled cheesecake form the oven and chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours.

For the meringue, put the eggwhites and sugar in a heatproof bowl and set over a pan of just simmering water, whisking by hand until the sugar dissolves.  Remove the bowl from the heat, and beat with a handmixer until the meringue is thick, glossy and completely cooled.  Whisk in the poppy seeds, then transfer it to a piping bag fitted with a 7cm plain nozzle and pipe in a spiral over the top of the cheesecake, piping form the centre outwards.

Using a kitchen blowtorch, brown the top of the meringue.  Serve immediately or chill the cheesecake in the fridge until needed.

Tuesday, July 6, 2021

TWD - Sour Cream Everything Seed Knots



 This week’s Tuesday with Dorie recipe is Sour  Cream Everything Seed Knots. The sour cream refers to the pastry, the everything seed refers to the seed mixture blended through the dough, and the knot refers to the shape of these yeasted dough biscuits.

I subbed Greek yoghurt for sour cream in the pastry, and onion flakes for dukkah in the seed mix. I enjoyed these biscuits - they are a really tasty snack.

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


Monday, June 28, 2021

Banana, Pineapple and Coconut Bread


 Recently, Mardi posted a recipe for Banana, Pineapple and Coconut Bread on Instagram. I was intrigued by the combination of banana and pineapple, and the fact that this cake is made with buckwheat and coconut flours.

For reasons that I could no longer remember, I had both buckwheat and coconut flours in my pantry, so all I needed to buy was pineapple. Instead of using tinned crushed pineapple, I cut fresh pineapple and crushed it in the food processor.

This banana “bread” is rather delicious, with a slightly grassy nutty flavour from the buckwheat. The fruit makes the cake moist.  

For those with dietary constraints, this bread is gluten free, and the only sugar is in the fruit. 

I really enjoyed this change from the run of the mill banana bread, and it is very easy to make. Give it a go!



Tuesday, June 15, 2021

TWD - Coconut Patties


This week’s Tuesday with Dorie tecipe is Coconut Patties.  As you’d expect, these are flattened coconut macaroons shaped in a biscuit cutter, and flavoured with lemon, lime and vanilla.

I was underwhelmed at the thought of making these, but they were actually very tasty.

Dorie had made a pink, rose flavoured version of these as well. That version could be made into a Cherry Ripe flavour by adding finely chopped glace cherries. These patties are a coconut blank canvas, so you could flavour them any way you like.

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


Tuesday, June 1, 2021

TWD - Natasha’s Mum’s Fruit and Walnut Bread Bars



This week’s Tuesday with Dorie recipe is Natasha’s Mum’s Fruit and Walnut Bread Bars - quite a mouthful!

These bars are not bread, but an egg white based biscuit filled with dried fruits and nuts. I used figs, apricots and glace cherries as the fruit - Dorie and Natasha are keen in crystallised ginger but I didn’t have any.
 


A quarter of the recipe yielded 5 largish bars - fine with me, even if slightly bigger than the originals.

These are good biscuits - and I love the fact that they have an Australian connection.

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

Sunday, May 23, 2021

Spiced Chocolate Pear and Hazelnut Torte - The Cook’s Pantry


Currently there are a lot of pears around, so it is a perfect time to make the most of them. I was watching The Cook’s Pantry this weekend when Courtney Roulston made a Spiced Chocolate, Pear and Hazelnut Torte - a perfect way to celebrate pears.
 

This moist torte contains both hazelnut and almond meal. When combined with dark chocolate, cardamom and cinnamon, and topped with sliced pears, you have a nutty, winning dessert.


To make this easy, gluten free dessert, you will need:

120g chopped dark chocolate, melted

2/3 cup olive oil

3/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup hazelnut meal

1/2 cup almond meal

3 eggs, separated

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon cardamom 

2 pears, cored and thinly sliced

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius and grease and line a 9” fluted tart pan with a removable base.

In a large bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients and the egg yolks with the olive oil, then fold through the melted chocolate.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold the whites through the chocolate mixture.

Scrape the mixture into the prepared tart pan and smooth the top. Arrange the sliced pears on top.

Bake the torte in the oven for 45-50 minutes or until cooked through. Remove the torte from the oven and allow it to cool in the tin before slicing and serving.



Tuesday, May 18, 2021

TWD - Pecan Brown Sugar Crack -Ups


 This week’s Tuesday with Dorie recipe comes from the land of pre-COVID, being a cookie designed to share. The recipe is for Pecan-Brown Sugar Crack-Ups, so named because you are meant to crack off pieces from the single large cookie.

Toasted pecans are whizzed up with brown sugar, butter, flour, eggs, sugar and salt to form a cookie that is warm and earthy in flavour. I wasn’t sharing, so I made a quarter of the recipe. My cookies were probably a bit thick as a result of the pan I used, but they suited me.

To see what the other Dorie’s Cookies bakers made this week and what they thought of it, visit the LYL section of the TWD website.



Saturday, May 15, 2021

Simple Apple Cake - Helen Goh’s recipe


 Happy Saturday everyone! I hope that you are having a relaxing weekend.  It’s freezing here today,  but perfect weather for cooking and baking because it warms up the house.

Last Sunday was Mother’s Day. My mum is too far away to bake for, but that did not stop me from baking Helen Goh’s gorgeous Simple Apple Cake to celebrate the day.



This lovely cake is soft and moist on the inside, studded with apple pieces, and has a nice brown crust on the outside that is coated with a citrus glaze. The cake also has a hint of rose flavour. I thought it was delightful.

If you would like to make this cake for someone special in your life, you will need:


2 small apples

Zest of 1 lemon

225g plain flour

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of sofa

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

100g sour cream (I subbed Greek yoghurt)

160g sugar

150ml olive oil

2 teaspoons rosewater

Glaze

1 cup icing sugar 

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon orange juice (I just used all lemon juice)

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius and grease and line a 20cm round springform pan.

Peel and core the apples and chop into 1cm pieces. Toss the apple pieces with the lemon zest and set aside.

Sift the flour, ginger, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and salt into a large bowl.

In a jug, whisk together the eggs and sour cream. Add the sugar, olive oil and rosewater and whisk until smooth.

Fold the apples through the flour, then pour over the egg mixture and fold together until just combined. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, and bake in the oven for 55-60 minutes or until cooked through.

Remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool for 10 minutes in the tin.

In the meantime, make the glaze while mixing together all of the glaze ingredients until smooth - it should be thick but pourable, so add more lemon juice if necessary.

Pour the glaze over the warm cake and spread over the top of the cake with a metal spatula. Allow the cake to cool completely in the tin before unmoulding. 

Serve the cake decorated with edible flowers.