With temperatures hovering in the 30s in Christchurch last week, the last thing anyone has really wanted to do is turn the oven on. We've all been baking outside the house, let alone in it. So with this in mind, I turned to the cute little book I picked up at a Vintage Market a few weeks ago, for some unbaked inspiration.
I'm not sure when it was published as it doesn't have a date, but it is full of loads of old fashioned fudgy recipes to try out. Here is a modified take on their Ginger Square. I've converted the weights to metric for you.
Ginger Walnut Fudge with Coffee Icing
115g butter
half a cup brown sugar
4 tablespoons condensed milk
250g crushed wine biscuits
half a cup crystallized ginger
1 cup walnut pieces
1 teaspoon ground ginger
Melt the butter, brown sugar and condensed milk together.
Crush the biscuits in the food processor. Once finely crumbed, add the ginger and walnuts and pulse until they are broken up but not crushed.
Pour the crumb mixture into the melted butter mix and fold together.
Press into a lined slice tin and refrigerate until hardened.
Coffee Icing
3 tablespoons condensed milk
1 tablespoon softened butter
1 shot of espresso coffee
about 2 cups of icing sugar
Blend the condensed milk and butter together. Stir in the hot espresso, followed by the icing sugar. Blend to a smooth paste and spread onto the chilled fudge slice.
Cut up into small squares once the icing is set. Store in an airtight container.
Happy baking!
Our little blossom used to be such an adventurous eater. Now, as an over opinionated nearly-7 year old, she has all sorts of ideas about what she likes and what she doesn't. Every weekend I ask the family what biscuit or slice they might like for lunch boxes for the coming week, and ever weekend she says 'Chocolate chip biscuits'. Boredom and wanting to improve the overall nutritional value has led me on an adventure of reinvention of this humble biscuit. This week's incarnation is a nut and seed version that's dairy and egg free. If you are looking for a biscuit more like your Granny might make this is not the one, and you might like to try the more traditional version.
Oat, Nut and Seed Chocolate Chip Biscuits
125g coconut oil
200g honey
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons warm water
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup coconut flour
1 cup wholemeal flour
half a cup walnuts
half a cup sunflower seeds
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 cup dark chocolate chips
Preheat the oven to 180 deg. C. Bake setting.
Place the coconut oil and honey into a small saucepan and melt together. Don't overheat; it it only just needs to melt. Set aside to cool.
In a food processor, blend the oats until they form a fine meal.
Add the walnuts and sunflower seeds and briefly process again until they are chopped, but still retail some chunks. Transfer this mixture to a large bowl, and add the coconut and wholemeal flours, and the cinnamon.
Dissolve the soda in the warm water and stir it into the cooled honey and coconut oil.
Add the liquid ingredients into the oat and flour mixture and stir to combine.
Lastly stir in the chocolate chips. It is essential that the oil and honey are cool, or else they will start to cook the flours and melt the chocolate chips once they are added.
Using a soup spoon, take teaspoon lots and place them on a lined baking tray.
Flatter the biscuits a little, then bake for 8 to 10 minutes.
These biscuits keep well and are a perfect brain food snack for school and work.
Happy baking!
I've made some cute new little Fox cushions! These ones are juveniles, and three-quarters the size of the originals.
These little foxes are looking for a new home. So if you would like to adopt one, they are waiting for you at Where the Fox Lives at The Tannery in Woolston, Christchurch.
In an effort to make more of the everyday things I bake more nutritious I've been substituting in wholemeal ingredients along with added nuts and seeds where I can. Wholemeal flour adds a new dimension to baked goods with its nutty flavour and added bite. One of my other favourite additions is chia seeds. Chia is versatile, tasty and easily added to so many recipes for an instant protein, texture and flavour boost. Here's my new take on the Chocolate Chip Biscuit. The children will hardly even notice they are healthier. This recipe makes a good double tray of biscuits, so there will be plenty to share around.
Wholemeal and Chia Chocolate Chip Biscuits
200g butter
150g brown sugar
300g wholemeal flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup chocolate chips
3 tablespoons chis seeds
Preheat the oven to 175deg. C and line a large baking tray.
Beat the butter and sugar together until pale and creamy.
Add the wholemeal flour, baking powder, chocolate chips and chia seeds and stir to combine.
The mixture will appear crumbly, but should hold together when pressed.
Press and roll tablespoon lots into balls and arrange on the lined tray.
Flatten each ball, then bake for 10 to 12 minutes.
Allow to cool on the tray as the biscuits will be very soft straight from the oven.
The next time you have guests coming around, try serving this healthy and tasty Pea, Mint and White Bean Hummus. It's delicious, super easy to make and great for the summer season when peas are plentiful and fresh. Having said that, this dip is just as easily made from frozen peas. An oversupply of cooked peas left over from Christmas lunch first inspired this recipe.
Green Pea, Mint and White Bean Hummus
3 cups cooked peas
2 cloves garlic
the juice of 2 lemons
a 390g can of butter beans
a handful of mint leaves
two thirds of a cup of olive oil
a teaspoon of salt
ground pepper
Drain the can of white beans and wash them well under cold running water. Shake off the excess water and leave to drain while gathering the other ingredients.
Place the beans, peeled garlic cloves, 2 cups of the peas, the mint leaves and the lemon juice into a large food processor.
Add half the olive oil and process. Keep adding the remaining oil until a smooth, soft consistency is achieved.
Now add the remaining cup of peas and the salt and pepper. Process briefly, the aim is to retain some bigger pea chunks in order to give the spread more texture.
Check the seasoning and adjust as required.
Transfer the spread to a serving dish and drizzle with a little more olive oil before serving with crackers, lovely sliced french bread or a selection of sliced vege sticks.
The spread will keep for a few days in a sealed container in the fridge.
Eat it in the morning on a lovely piece of toasted wholemeal bread.
Happy cooking xxx
We've been enjoying a few days at the farm. The weather has been nice and there's been time to poke around the garden for things to cook with. Given the slower start to the growing season up in the high country, and being the resourceful soul I like to think I am, I've been plucking small leaves from the gone-to-seed silverbeet and using them for salads. Silverbeet is such an underrated vege. I think, as small children, many of us have been a bit put off silverbeet by being fed too many well overcooked examples at our grandmother's table: something we ate out of duty, before woofing down the roast meat and looking forward to pudding. Not only is it super tasty served raw, but it grows very easily in the garden throughout the year; it's hardy enough to withstand the hardest frost, and quickly perks up when the weather warms up.
The other interesting component of this salad is the buckwheat. Buckwheat is actually no relation of wheat. It belongs to the rhubarb family and unlike wheat, contain no gluten at all. It's starchy and nutty, quick to cook, and makes a great carbohydrate addition to any salad. I've again taken advantage of all the parsley in the garden and dressed the salad with my favourite Green Dressing. If you want to make the dressing gluten free, use wine vinegar instead of malt.
Buckwheat and Silverbeet Salad with Green Dressing
1 cup uncooked buckwheat
3 to 4 good handfuls of small silverbeet leaves
1 red capsicum
2 spring onions
1 recipe of Green Dressing with a half teaspoon of ground cumin added.
Rinse the buckwheat in plenty of cold water. Place it and 3 cups of water into a large pot and bring to the boil.
Turn down and cook, covered for 15 to 20 minutes. Try a couple of grains, they should be soft in the middle, but not mushy.
Drain the buckwheat, then set aside to cool while you prepare the remaining ingredients.
Thoroughly wash and dry the silverbeet.
Roll it together and slice thinly.
Slice the capsicum into small strips, then into small dice.
Finely slice the spring onions.
Prepare the dressing - you wont need to whole amount - the unused portion will keep for at least a week in the fridge.
Fluff the buckwheat with a fork, then place all the ingredients into a bowl and combine with as much dressing as you might like. The buckwheat soaks up quite a lot of dressing, so don't be shy about adding more if required.
Happy, and healthy cooking everyone xx
Having well and truly indulged over the Christmas and New Year break, I felt it was time to focus on some healthy salad options. Here is a super simple, tasty and nutritious Silverbeet, Capsicum, Carrot and Wholemeal Pasta salad with radish sprouts. I've used my old favourite Green Dressing.
For the last couple of weeks I've been experimenting with growing sprouts; it was last trendy during the '80s and I remember my mother sprouting mung beans when we were children. It's actually very simple and takes no time at all. Just rinse and drain them twice a day and in a few days you have a great salad addition.
I got the mesh lid and the seeds from Oderings Garden Centre. Obviously the seeds need to be intended for consumption - not heat or chemical treated. I got the Mrs Fothergills sprouting seeds. When they say only put one tablespoons in at a time, they mean it as once those babies start to sprout they quadruple in size!
Silverbeet, Capsicum, Carrot and Wholemeal Pasta Salad with Radish Sprouts
300g wholemeal penne pasta
2 good handfuls of baby silverbeet leaves - or any other green like spinach or kale.
1 red capsicum
1 yellow capsicum
2 medium carrots
1 cup radish sprouts
1 recipe of Green dressing with half a teaspoon each of ground cumin and ground coriander added.
Cook the pasta in a large pot with plenty of boiling salted water until it is firm to the bite. Once cooked drain and rinse with cold water. Set aside while preparing the vegetables.
Slice the capsicums into neat sticks. Wash and peel the carrots, then use a peeler to slice them into ribbons. Thoroughly wash and dry the silverbeet leaves, roll them together and slice thinly. Rinse the sprouts.
Combine all the vegetables and the pasta in a large bowl or dish. Pour in as much dressing as you would like: start with a small amount and add more if required. Toss the salad to combine and serve with whatever protein you might like, we had ours with left over roasted pork!
Happy, and healthy, cooking everyone xx
This dessert is a family tradition for all types of occasions and get-togethers. My Grandmother, Mother and Aunties always made it when we were children. My siblings, cousins and I always called it Grog-log, a nickname we were always scalded for using. Over time this nickname took over, and now without our Grandmother to clarify, no one is now quite sure what it was originally called. A kind friend recalls a similar recipe from the '60s called Sherry Log; over the years it has had many incarnations using whichever spirit or liqueur happened to be on hand. I always make a non-alcoholic version using orange juice, for the children and those that prefer it. Given the Christmas season, I've combined the two versions in a cross; vertical for sherry, horizontal for orange juice; but if crosses aren't your thing, a log is the most usual interpretation, or you can get creative and make whatever shape you fancy.
It's so simple to make, it feels like cheating: more of an assembly than actual cooking, but the outcome is universally well received. The quantities are more or less approximate depending on how much you want to make, how long the biscuits are dunked for, and how much cream is used between each biscuits. I've made a gluten free version before using store bought GF Ginger biscuits. Just make sure your liqueur isn't grain based.
Sherry Log
one and a half packets of store bought ginger biscuits
2 cups cream
2 to 4 tablespoons of icing sugar according to taste
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
about one cup of sherry or orange juice
Beat the cream until it holds firm peaks. Fold in the icing sugar and vanilla.
Find a suitable serving tray or platter for the dessert. Place the sherry or orange juice into a small bowl or tray. One at a time, dunk the biscuits into the liquid.
The alcoholic liquid will quickly soak into the biscuits so don't leave them too long, but the orange juice isn't so absorbent and requires more of a dunking to soften the biscuits.
I usually make two versions, one alcoholic, one not. Making a cross allows you to combine the two sections and easily be able to determine which is which!
Place a blob of cream on the plate, and a blob on the first biscuit.
Now stand the biscuits up on the plate using the blobs of cream to hold them.
Continue to place a blog of cream onto each biscuit before lining it up on the plate.
Keep going until you have the quantity required.
I put all the sherry biscuits on the upright of the cross.
Then five orange juice biscuits across the horizontals on each side.
Now without overworking the cream (or it will curdle) cover the log completely, smoothing out the sides and top.
Decorate with whatever fruit and nuts you have at hand. I used raspberries and chopped walnuts, but in winter, glace ginger or cherries and slivered almonds works well. Finely grated chocolate is also a good option when fruit is not seasonal.
Belated Season's Greetings everyone. Maybe I'll make this one again at Easter.
