Tag: Butter

Soda Bread

Soda Bread

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Soda Bread

On Christmas Day my family indulged in a gigantic Christmas lunch with all the trimmings. Afterwards, we sat back, entered our food coma’s and emerged from them around the same time the Griswalds realise their Great Aunt has wrapped her cat as a Christmas present. Now, I don’t know if it was jelly-soaked wrapping paper, the deflating Turkey or the flow of toxic camper-van toilet waste into the gutter, but it was at this time that my brother announced it was time for his annual Pork and Cheese toasted sandwich.

In this particular sandwich my brother attempts to fit as much leftover pork, gravy, vegetables and cheese as possible, on a sandwich without incurring the much feared toastie-blowout. The toastie-blowout is a catastrophic Australian-ism thats possible occurrence will strike fear into the hearts of even the most fierce and weathered tradies, not dissimilar to the fabled “Drop Bear”, it is where your cheese and filling squirts out of the sandwich only to bake onto your jaffle maker. Life can be so cruel.

Upon him entering the kitchen, banshee-esque screams could be heard throughout the neighborhood as he realised there was no bread he could eat, he is allergic to yeast.  DUN-DUN-DUUUUN. Being the wonderful and modest sister I am, I stepped in and decided to whip him up a batch of yeast-free soda bread. Recipe below in case you ever find yourself or a loved one in such circumstances, or if you simply want some delicious bread.

Ingredients

  • 3 cups plain flour
  • 1 cup of rice flour
  • 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp of garlic powder
  • 1 tsp of onion powder
  • 1 tsp of ground cumin
  • 2 tsp of fennel seeds
  • 60g butter, at room temperature
  • 2 cups milk
  • 1 tsp white wine vinegar
  • Butter, to serve

Method

  1. Preheat fan-forced oven to 180°C. Combine the flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt, onion powder, garlic powder, ground cumin and 1 tablespoon of the fennel seeds in a bowl. Rub the butter into the flour until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.
  2. Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture. Add the milk and vinegar and use a round-bladed knife in a cutting motion to mix until the mixture starts to come together. Use your hands to bring the dough together in the bowl. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and gently shape into a ball. Use your hands to roll the dough into a 40cm-long log. Cut into 8 equal portions.
  3. Shape each dough portion into a ball and place on a large baking tray. Use a sharp knife to score a cross into the top of each ball. Sprinkle with remaining fennel seeds. Bake in oven for 25 minutes or until the bread is golden and sounds hollow when tapped on the base. Serve warm with butter.

Enjoy!

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Apple and Boysenberry Galette

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Apple and Boysenberry Galette

Light golden layers of pastry topped with slices of sweet apple and gooey home-style Boysenberry Jam makes this French-style tart a winner!

Ingredients

  • 1  sheet of puff pastry
  • 3 tbs of Anathoth Farm Boysenberry Jam
  • 2 large Pink Lady apples, peeled, thinly sliced
  • 2 tbs melted butter
  • 2 tbs caster sugar
  • Ice cream or custard, to serve

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C and line a tray with baking paper
  2. Cut the largest circle possible from the puff pastry sheet
  3. Evenly spread the jam across the pastry, place the apples, overlapping, on top of the pastry, leaving a slight boarder around the apples to allow the pastry to puff. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar.
  4. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the pastry is crisp and golden.
  5. Serve with ice cream or custard.

Enjoy!

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Almond, Coconut and Raspberry Slice

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Raspberry, Almond and Coconut Slice 1

I am not much of a baker. It think it’s the pressure of non-success if you don’t follow the recipe. Things might not rise or bind and then you’ll be left with a pile of sweet goop. That being said, I decided to give baking another shot over the weekend and make Raspberry, Almond and Coconut Slice. Lucky I did because it is DELICIOUS! It is tasty, moist and moreish – everything you want in slice. 

This slice is gluten free and it can be dairy free with a simple recipe tweak. Also, if raspberries aren’t your thing you’re crazy you can replace them with blueberries or choc-chips.

Ingredients

  • 1 ½ cups of almond meal
  • 1 cup of caster sugar
  • ¾ cup of desiccated coconut
  • 4 eggs
  • 2 tsp of vanilla extract
  • 150g of butter – melted and cooled (use Nutalex if you are making it dairy-free)
  • 1 cup of McCain Season’s Choice Raspberries – thawed

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 180C and line a 20m baking tin with baking paper.
  2. In a large bowl combine the almond meal, coconut and sugar; using a whisk to remove all lumps.
  3. In a medium bowl, whisk the butter, eggs and vanilla until well combined.
  4. Add the butter mixture to the almond meal mixture and stir until smooth and free from lumps.
  5. Slowly pour the mixture into the prepared tin and dot the top with McCain Season’s Choice Raspberries.
  6. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until golden and a test skewer removes clean from batter.
  7. Remove from oven and allow to cool in pan for five minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!

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Chocolate and Peanut Bon Bon’s

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Today’s recipe is dedicated to a friend of mine celebrating their birthday today.. She is also an avid reader of Daily Gluttony so I thought it fitting that I should make her a special birthday post – Happy Birthday Bon Bon!

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups of peanut butter – I recommend Pic’s Famous Peanut Butter or Woolworths Macro Crunchy. They are both made with just peanuts so it cuts out all the nasty sugar and preservatives of other brands.
  • 1 tsp vanilla essence
  • 1/2 tsp of salt – this is optional, if you don’t like salty peanut/chocolate snacks then don’t put it in!
  • 1 1/2 cups of icing sugar
  • 1/2 cup of softened butter
  • 1/2 cup of brown sugar
  • 260g of dark choclate – you can use milk if you prefer, but I find it a bit too sweet.

Method

  1. Place the peanut butter, vanilla essence, salt, icing sugar, butter and brown sugar in a bowl and mix until combined.
  2. Roll them into balls 1-2cm big, no larger, and place on a lined tray.
  3. Place in the fridge for an hour to cool or more, overnight is preferable.
  4. Melt the chocolate in the microwave or over a bain-marie, keeping a careful watch that it doesn’t burn with frequent stirring.
  5. Remove the balls from the fridge, place a toothpick in them and dip into the chocolate one-by-one. When removing from the melted chocolate be sure to leave them over the bowl so the excess chocolate can drip back in.
  6. Place onto a lined tray and place in the fridge to set until you are ready to eat them!

NOTE: These are in no way healthy and are bite sized for a reason. If you like your heart pumping away as it currently is, then don’t hide in the corner and eat every last one.

BON BON appétit! xx

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Banana Nomcakes, I mean Pancakes

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Happy Saturday! If you have a loved one having a lazy sleep-in this morning I recommend you win some extra brownie points by whipping up a batch of these delicious Banana Pancakes. This recipe was created after our honeymoon in Bali where Banana Pancakes are as common as Bintangs. Every morning we would wake to freshly cooked pancakes, topped with ripe banana and drizzled with honey – YUM!

Ingredients

  • 2 cups of self-raising flour
  • 1/2 cup of plain flour
  • 2 tbs raw sugar
  • 2 1/3 cups of milk
  • 80g of melted butter, cooled
  • 1 egg, lightly wisked
  • Canola spray oil
  • 3 banana’s chopped
  • Honey to serve

Method

  1. Sift flours into a bowl, add sugar and stir to combine.
  2. Add milk, melted butter and egg; and whisk to combine.
  3. Heat a large pan over medium heat and spray with canola spray oil.
  4. Add as many of a 1/3 cup of mixture to the pan as will fit. Cook until bubbles appear on the surface on the pancake, around 2 minutes. Turn over and cook for another minute. You can vary the sizes of the pancakes which makes is great for presentation but be mindful that the cooking time will also vary.
  5. Transfer pancakes to a plate and top with either another plate or a clean tea towel. I don’t recommend putting them in to oven to keep warm as they can dry out and become rubbery which isn’t fun for anyone.
  6. Wipe out the pan, spray with a little more oil and repeat until the mixture is finished. If you find the pan is getting too hot, which it probably will, turn the pan onto a low heat. This should be enough heat to cook the pancakes as you get to the end of the mixture.
  7. Serve the pancakes stacked on a plate, topped with fresh banana slices and drizzled with honey!

Enjoy!

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Malteser Cake

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Let me start this by confessing that I am in no way a baker. I dread the thought of having to accurately measure quantities, sit by the oven until the skewer comes out clean and pace the kitchen nervously wondering if it that flour was self-raising or plain.

So when my hubbies birthday rolled around I knew that along with it came the birthday cake. With the infrequency of my baking I decided to go hell for leather and make a version of Good Taste Magazine’s Amazing Maltesers Cake.

Cue sweaty palms and heart palpitations. Now as much as I love Maltesers and the malt flavour I knew there was no way we would use enough malt powder to warrant buying an entire jar. Coffee on the other hand is a completely different story, as was the prospect of including delicious coffee cream as the layer filling. I also couldn’t bring myself to include the three layers of cream in the cake, though I am sure my arteries would have found it delicious so I opted for a mere one layer of heaven. Although, if you feel like adding the full three layers I am sure the cake would be polished off in one sitting.

Without further ado the recipe for the best cake I have ever made, or had for that matter is below. This comment was seconded by my hubby, although I guess he kind of had too, and by the ladies at work who are avid cake bakers and eaters with the recipe requested and made on the same day – so hey, I must have done something right.

photo (2)

Ingredients

CAKE

  • 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
  • 3/4 cup milk
  • 125g butter, chopped
  • 3/4 cup self-raising flour
  • 1/2 cup plain flour
  • 1/2 cup cocoa powder
  • 3 eggs, lightly whisked
  • 2 x Jumbo bags of Maltesers – I had some leftover for snacking

COFFEE CREAM FILLING

  • 1 tbs instant coffee granules – add more or less depending on how strong you would like your coffee. I am not a regular drinker or fan of instant coffee, however I have recently found Maccona Gourmet Range – Indulgence which I don’t mind. 
  • 2 tbs boiling water
  • ½ tbs cocoa powder
  • ½ cup icing sugar – add more or less depending on how sweet you would like it
  • 300ml of thickened cream

GANACHE

  • 300g dark cooking chocolate, finely chopped
  • 1/2 cup thickened cream
  • 30g butter

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 160°C. Grease a 20cm round cake pan with butter and line base and side with baking paper. I did’t use a 20cm cake pan so you will notice mine isn’t as tall as the Good Taste cake, however this wasn’t a problem as I didn’t need to cut it into four layers.
  2. Place the brown sugar, milk and butter in a microwave-safe bowl. Cook in microwave on high, stirring every minute, for 3-5 minutes or until the butter melts and the mixture is smooth.
  3. Use a balloon whisk to whisk the combined flour and cocoa powder into the butter mixture. Whisk in the egg. Pour into the prepared pan. Bake for 55 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Set aside in the pan for 5 minutes to cool before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
  4. To make the ganache, place the chocolate, cream and butter in a microwave-safe bowl. Cook in microwave on high, stirring every minute, for 2-3 minutes or until the chocolate melts and the mixture is smooth.
  5. Place the boiling water, coffee granules and cocoa powder in a bowl and mix until smooth.
  6. Pour in the cream and icing sugar. Use an electric beater to beat the mixture until fluffy.
  7. Set the ganache aside for 1 hour 30 minutes or until thick, glossy and spreadable.
  8. Meanwhile, use a large serrated knife to cut the cake horizontally into layers. Place the cake base on a platter. Spread the layers with the cream. Cover and place in the fridge for 1 hour 30 minutes to chill.
  9. Spread the ganache evenly over the top and side of the cake. Decorate with Maltesers. To get even rows when decorating, first make a strip of Maltesers straight down the centre of the cake, then add in rows on either side.

Enjoy!

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