Baked-in-a-skillet Gingerbread

This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie (Dorie’s Anytime Cakes) recipe is Baked-in-a-skillet Gingerbread. I didn’t have a skillet, so I used an 8” pie dish instead, and only made a half recipe. It contains both ground and crystallised ginger.

 Even a half recipe made a large cake. This one was ok, but I didn’t love it. I probably won’t repeat it.

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

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas all!!

Here’s my Christmas box treats for this year. At the top are macaroons from Anja Dunk’s excellent German baking book, Advent.

And these gingerbread men are made from Anja’s gingerbread house dough recipe.

These rum balls are a perennial favourite family recipe.

These are candied nuts from a David Lebovitz newsletter recipe for candied pecans.

Here’s this year’s Christmas cake, a Sunbeam recipe snipped from a magazine.

Of course, we had to have fudge. The recipe is from The Australian Women’s Weekly Sweet.
 

And here is a gorgeous light display of Australian flora on Brisbane City Hall.

Have a wonderful and blessed festive season everyone.

TWD - Cranberry Spice Squares

 

This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe is Cranberry Spice Squares. Except getting fresh or frozen cranberries is impossible here, so I used redcurrants that I froze from Christmas. Same same, don’t you think?

These squares are a squidgy, moist (yes, I said it) gingerbread studded with sharp tangy berries. Three sorts of flour are used to give the squares earthiness (I only used plain flour and wholemeal flour because I didn’t have rye flour.) They smell like Christmas when baking.

The squares are meant to be frosted with cream cheese icing but I didn’t have any cream cheese. They are fine without it.

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

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.  

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.

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.  

Gingerbread Buche de Noel

There is no Tuesday with Dorie scheduled for this week, so instead, I will share my Gingerbread Buche de Noel that I made from Baking Chez Moi for my choir’s end of year  lunch.

I  made this recipe for TWD in 2014, so it is fun to revisit it all these years later.

This is the gingerbread sponge roll pre-filling:

and being rolled up with the pecan praline-studded filling inside:

and the snowy-frosting coated, praline studded final product:

It was just as big a hit now as it was then. I only have a photo of a half slice:

However, you can see all the marvellous complexities of this dessert.

If you are keen to try it and don’t have the book, the recipe is online here.

Gingerbread

 I need no gift beneath the Christmas tree this year

Christmas with you is all I truly need my dear.

                                                   Deborah Cheetham, "Christmas with You"  

During this year of virtual everything, ABC Classic Radio commissioned Yorta Yorta woman, Deborah Cheetam AO, to write a new Christmas carol to be recorded by a virtual choir.  The wonderful result is Christmas with You, which 1,500 people from around the world sang as a virtual choir.  You can find the video here.  I was very proud to be part of this project as a soprano (not my usual singing part but this one was within my range and I liked that part the best). 

On the topic of Christmas, another addition to my Christmas boxes this year was gingerbread, made from the recipe in the November 2020 issue of the Australian Women's Weekly. I didn't have dark brown sugar so my gingerbread don't have the same burnished hue as theirs, but they tasted great.

I decorated the gingerbread with rolled fondant that was stencilled with some beautiful Australian Christmas themed stencils by Berry Sweet from Miss Biscuit, that I airbrushed on.  I figured that having invested in an airbrush earlier in the year, I was going to make the most of it!  I also sprinkled the biscuits with some edible gold glitter.  

If you would like to try the gingerbread recipe, you will need:

350g plain flour
100g brown sugar
100g dark muscavado sugar
1/2 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 tablespoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
115g cold butter, chopped
87g (1/4 cup) golden syrup
1 egg

In a food processor, place the flour, sugars, baking powder and spices and pulse to combine.

Add the butter, and pulse to combine.  Add the golden syrup and 1 egg, and process together until the mixture the dough just comes together.  

Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and knead until the dough is smooth and the same colour throughout.  Wrap the dough in clingfilm and refrigerate for an hour.

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Remove the dough from the fridge and roll it to a 6mm thickness on a floured bench or between two pieces of baking paper.  Cut out desired shapes and place onto a baking tray lined with baking paper.   Re-roll the scraps and keep cutting out shapes until all the dough has been used.

Bake the biscuits in the preheated oven  for 12 minutes or until the biscuits are firm to the touch, rotating the trays front to back and top to bottom if you bake more than one tray at once.  Remove the trays from the oven and allow the gingerbread to cool completely on the trays.

Decorate as desired.  I rolled out fondant and cut out shapes the same size as the biscuits, and using a paintbrush dipped in water, lightly moistened the top of each biscuit and pressed the fondant shape gently on top.  After the fondant had dried, I stencilled the biscuits using an airbrush and red and green airbrush colours, then before the colour dried, lightly sprinkled edible glitter on the top of each biscuit for that festive shine.

     

Creamy Caramels

 It’s nearly Christmas, so I have been busy making Christmas treats for gifts.

I love caramels, so couldn’t resist making caramels for my gift boxes. These are Creamy Caramels were made from a recipe in The Australian Women’s Weekly Sweet. To make these caramels, you will need:

1 cup sugar

90g butter

2 tablespoons golden syrup

1/3 cup glucose syrup

1/2 cup condensed milk

Butter a 19cm square cake tin.

Put the butter, sugar, syrups and milk into a large heavy bottomed saucepan. Stir the mixture over the heat, without boiling, until the sugar dissolves.  Bring the mixture to the boil, then boil while stirring constantly for 7 minutes, or until the mixture has turned golden in colour.

Pour the mixture into the buttered cake tin and stand for 10 minutes before marking squares in the caramel with a metal spatula.

Allow the caramels to cool completely before cutting right through into squares and wrapping in cellophane.

Christmas Puddings - Martin Bosley Cooks

Have yourself a merry little Christmas 

Let your heart be bright

Next year all our troubles will be out of sight.

                                                   Hugh Martin

 I am starting to get excited about Christmas. It is my favourite time of year, with many of my favourite songs, favourite foods and favourite activities in my favourite season (summer), with some of my favourite people.  I hope to be allowed to go home to my family - fingers crossed.

I made my Christmas cake months ago, but decided to turn my hand to Christmas puddings next.

I have owned Martin Bosley Cooks for years, and have always meant to make his Christmas pudding recipe but never quite gotten around to it.  Well, now I have!  Martin’s recipe makes 4 x 12cm puddings - I halved it to make 8 x 4cm puddings.

Instead of using muslin to cover the puddings while steaming in the oven, I made pleated baking paper covers:

I have no idea what they’ll taste like, but hopefully good!

To make a half recipe my way, you will need:

1/2 cup raisins

75g sultanas

75g currants

50g blanched almonds, chopped

90g vegetarian suet

juice and zest of half an orange

juice and zest of half a lemon

1/2 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored and grated

1/2 carrot, peeled and grated

60g flour (I used a gluten free flour mix)

1 1/2 eggs

pinch of salt

pinch of ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon mixed spice 

60ml brandy

75ml stout

Put all the ingredients in a bowl and mix thoroughly. Cover and refrigerate for 48 hours. (I skipped this due to time constraints.)

Preheat your oven to 150 degrees Celsius, and grease 8x 4cm pudding moulds.  Divide the pudding mixture evenly between the moulds. Press the mixture down firmly. Place circles of baking paper that have been lightly greased  over the top of the mixture. 

Cover the top of each mould with a circle of damp muslin tied with string (or do as I did - use baking paper with a steam “pleat” instead).

Line a large roasting dish with baking paper and put the puddings on top. Put the dish in the preheated oven, and pour in enough water into the dish to come halfway up the side of the pudding moulds.

Cover the dish with foil, and cut a small hoke in the centre of the foil to release the steam.  Bake in the oven for 4 hours.

Remove the puddings from the oven and allow them to cool completely before unmoulding them and wrapping in baking paper then foil.

On Christmas Day, reheat the puddings and serve with custard and cream or brandy butter.

Merry Christmas 2019!

Arts Centre, Melbourne

David Jones Menswear, Melbourne

Federation Square, Melbourne

Work choir singing Christmas carols

Southgate Complex, Melbourne

Fleischer Cafe, Melbourne

State Library, Melbourne

Merry Christmas to you and your family!  May you have a blessed Christmas and a bright and happy New Year.

Matcha and Cherry Financiers

The holly and the ivy,
Now both are full well grown.
Of all the trees that are in the wood,
The holly bears the crown.

                                                   

                                                                               The Holly and The Ivy, Traditional

It is  nearly Christmas, and we are in full swing with the season of red and green festivities.  In keeping with the red and green theme of the season, I decided to make the Matcha and Cherry Financiers that I had a hankering for.  I had opened my bottle of Morello cherries to raid the juice for Karen's birthday cake, and needed to use the cherries themselves, so what could be better than using them in these delicious little cakes.

I used this recipe for Matcha and Raspberry Friands from Jo the Tart Queen, as I was unable to find a recipe for Matcha and Cherry Friands, and baked them in a financier tin rather than a friand tin.  The end result was 8 cute, perfectly formed cakes: 

These cakes have the lovely red and green colour combination which is reminiscent of the Christmas season, so are perfect for right now.  They are also a breeze to make - no mix master required.

To make these cakes, you will need:

95g butter, cut into cubes
135g egg whites
150g white sugar
100g almond meal
60g plain flour
12g matcha powder
16 fresh, frozen, tinned or jarred cherries

Spray an eight hole financier tin (or use a friand tin or muffin tin) with olive oil spray. Preheat your oven to 190 degrees Celsius.

Put the butter into a small saucepan over low heat and cook until golden brown (ie browned butter).  Remove the saucepan from the heat and allow the butter to cool while you continue with the remaining ingredients.

Whisk the sugar, flour, almond meal and matcha powder in a large mixing bowl.    Whisk in the cooled brown butter.  Slowly add the egg whites and whisk until combined.

Divide the mixture evenly between the holes of the financier tin, and decorate each financier by pressing two cherries lightly into the top.  Bake the financiers in the preheated oven for 15 minutes or until cooked through.  

Remove the financiers from the oven and allow them to cool in the tin for a few minutes before running a knife carefully around the edge of each one and unmoulding onto a wire rack to cool completely.   

Donna Hay's Christmas Cake

This year, for my Christmas boxes, I decided to make Donna Hay's Christmas Cake recipe from her book, Christmas Feasts and Treats.  I chose it because the fruit component was easy to obtain - raisins, currants, dates and sultanas.  This meant that the cake itself was not as pretty to look at as the cakes with colourful fruits in them, but I am erring on the side of practicality these days.

The cake was straight forward to make, and contains brandy as the booze of choice to flavour it.  I used a commercial gluten free flour mix in the cake, as I was sharing the cake with a number of people who are gluten sensitive.

I did not ice the cake, as I find that people pick off the icing anyway.  That was another time saver which enabled me to concentrate on other things in my life. 

Here is a peek inside the cake:

One of my friends said she really enjoyed the cake with fresh cream, and she had not had Christmas cake for five years.  I'll count that as a win.

If you would like to make this cake, you will need:

450g raisins
240g sultanas
160g currants
160g Medjool dates, pitted and chopped
140g slivered almonds
180ml brandy
250g butter, softened
220g brown sugar
4 eggs
335g plain flour
1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground allspice
2-3 extra tablespoons brandy

Put the fruit and the almonds into a large bowl and pour over the larger quantity of brandy.  Cover the bowl with cling film and allow to steep in a cool place overnight.

Preheat your oven to 140 degrees Celsius.  Line  a 20cm square cake tin with  a double thickness of baking paper.

Cream the butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer.  Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well between each addition.  

To the bowl of fruit and nuts, add the flour, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon and allspice and combine well. Add the creamed butter and sugar to the bowl of fruit and nuts, and mix until well combined.

Scrape the batter into the prepared cake tin and bake in the preheated oven for 2 hours or until cooked through.

Remove the cake from the oven and while it is still hot, pour the extra tablespoons of brandy evenly over the top of the cake.  Allow the cake to cool completely in its tin before turning it out to serve. 

Caramilk Fudge, Spiced Nuts and Gingerbread Bells

It is Christmas box time again, and together with rum balls and apricot balls, plus some Tuesday with Dorie goodies, I made Donna Hay's Christmas Cake (recipe to follow), Caramilk Fudge and Spiced Nuts for the boxes.

The Caramilk Fudge, made from this recipe, is pictured at the top of this post.  It is smooth, creamy and delicious.  As the name suggests, it is made with Cadbury's Caramilk chocolate (caramelised white chocolate), which has made a return to shelves this year.

This super easy recipe is as follows:

2 x 180g blocks Caramilk chocolate
1 x 395g can condensed milk
40g butter

Grease and line a small baking tin (my 8" square tin was a bit too big - use something smaller if you have it to get taller fudge).  Break the Caramilk chocolate up into squares, and place these, the condensed milk and butter into a microwave safe dish.  Microwave the ingredients for short periods (30 seconds or so at a time) until they have completely melted.  Pour the melted ingredients into the prepared baking tin, then put in the fridge to set.  Cut into squares to serve. 

 The other new recipe I made was this recipe for Spiced Nuts:

Again, this is another super easy, quick win recipe.  To make these nuts, you will need:

1 1/2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 crushed clove garlic
1/4 teaspoon chilli powder
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon salt flakes
4 cups mixed raw, shelled nuts of your choice

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Put the honey, olive oil, garlic, chilli powder, paprika and salt into a small frying pan over low heat, and stir until the honey is melted and everything is well combined.  

Scrape the spice mixture into a large mixing bowl, then add the nuts and stir them until they are well coated with the spice  mixture.

Line a baking tray with baking paper.  Spread the nuts out in an even layer over the baking sheet, and bake for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Remove the nuts from the oven and allow them to cool on the tray before serving.

I also made over 100 gingerbread bells from the Bourke St Bakery gingerbread recipe that I have used before (but this time using the full recipe):

I then packaged the gingerbread up and handed them out  to advertise our choir performances at work:

I made bells because we were going to sing Carol of the Bells - but then we didn't.  Oh well, I now own a bell cookie cutter to go with my snowflakes, snowman, Christmas tree, angel and star cutters.

I am not sure what effect the gingerbread had on audience numbers (if any!), but they were fun to make.

Are you baking for Christmas?  And if yes, what is your favourite thing that you like to bake for Christmas?

TWD - Honey-Nut Nougat

This week's Tuesday with Dorie recipe is Honey-Nut Nougat.  I used cranberries and almonds to flavour my nougat.

Making nougat involves heating honey and sugar to 150 degrees Celsius then pouring it into a whirring mixmaster, so I found the risk of maiming myself with hot liquid a little scary.  However, everything went fine, and I have lived to tell the tale.

The nougat is very pretty, and of course tasty.  I am surprised that nougat is so expensive to buy when it is easy and not that expensive to make (if you take away the optional rice paper, which cost $12 for 10 sheets).  

I have made nougat once before, 11 years ago - my post about it is here.  In retrospect, I believe that on that occasion, I did not overcook the syrup, but rather, did not beat the nougat for long enough.  I am also amazed at how chatty I was on my blog back then - my how times have changed.

This nougat will be distributed to my friends and colleagues in my annual Christmas boxes.  Cook's privilege was to eat the offcuts! 

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

Nigella's Italian Christmas Pudding Cake

Way back in February, it was my friend Vanda's birthday.  To celebrate, she held a gathering of family and friends at her house.  Vanda's family is Italian, so they always put on an amazing spread.  Although we didn't have to bring anything, I decided to contribute a dessert to the spread.

Being an Italian gathering, the natural choice of dessert for me to make was Nigella's Italian Christmas Pudding Cake, recipe in Nigellisima, but also published online here. 

I had bought a panettone at Christmas time and kept it, so it came in handy as panettone is a key ingredient in Nigella's Italian Christmas Pudding Cake.  Slices of panettone are brushed with marsala, and layered with marscapone, chocolate chips, nuts and candied chestnuts (or candied ginger, in my case).  The top of the cake is decorated with more nuts, chocolate chips and pomegranate seeds:  

How pretty is that!  And it tastes devine.

To make your own Italian Christmas Pudding Cake, you will need:

625g panettone (I used the whole 900g panettone!)
6 tablespoons marsala or coffee liqueur
2 eggs
75g sugar
500g marscapone
250ml cream
125ml marsala
 74g candied chestnuts or other glace fruit of your choice
125g chocolate chips
100g chopped pistachios
2 tablespoons pomegranate seeds

Line the base of a 22cm springform pan with baking paper.  

Cut the panettone into 1cm thick slices.  Line the base of the springform pan with 1/3 of the panettone slices.

Sprinkle the panettone in the base of the pan with 2 tablespoons marsala (or other liqueur of your choice). 

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the eggs and sugar until creamy and thick.  Slowly whisk in the marscapone and the cream.  Add  the 125ml marsala and whisk thoroughly.  Put a cup of the marscapone mixture into the fridge.  

Add the chopped glace chestnuts or fruit to the remaining marscapone mixture.   Add 100g of chocolate chips and 75g of pistachios, and fold through until well combined.  Spread half of this mixture over the panettone lining the springform pan.

Top the marscapone in the pan with another 1/3 of the panettone slices.  Sprinkle over another 2 tablespoons marsala.

Spread the remaining half of the marscapone over the top of the panettone layer, then top with the remaining 1/3 of the panettone slices.  Sprinkle over the last 2 tablespoons of marsala.  

Cover the pan with cling film, put a weight on the top of the cake, and chill for up to 2 days.

When ready to serve the cake, unmould it from the springform pan and place on a cake plate.  Spread the top of the cake with the reserved cup of marscapone mixture, and sprinkle it with the remaining chocolate chips, cjopped pistachios and pomegranate seeds.  

Slice and serve - enjoy!

Merry Christmas from Melbourne!!

Mitre Tavern

St Collins Lane

Federation Square

Federation Square

St Collins Lane

Auburn Hotel

Malvern Town Hall

Work choir (Photo credit: Anh Nguyen) 

Arts Centre

Federation Square