Recently in Recipes Category

I recently checked out a couple of cookbooks from the Kilbirnie Library in an attempt to familiarize myself with local recipes. Of course I instantly turn to the desserts section. This recipe is from Simple Cafe Food by Julie Le Clerc. It has loads of great recipes and I've made several of the savory items for antipasti and they were delicious.  But this was the first thing I knew I would make when thumbing through the pages.  It's a take on carrot cake using the very available parsnip which I have come to love and appreciate.  Plus, we had our first (and second) guests coming in for a visit and wanted something yummy for dessert.

Cake:
1 cup caster sugar
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla
3 large eggs
1/2 cup crushed pineapple, drained
4 cups grated parsnip
1 1/3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup currants
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 160ºC.  Grease a 20 cm springform cake tin.

Whisk sugar, oil and vanilla together to combine.  Add eggs one at a time, beating until mixture is creamy.  Stir in pineapple.

Place grated parsnip, flour, salt, baking soda, currants and cinnamon in a large bowl.  Pour in the wet mxture, stur to combine.  Spoon cake mixture into prepared tin.  Bake for 1 1/2 hours or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.  Once cold, ice with lemon cream cheese icing.

Lemon Cream Cheese Icing:
1 cup cream cheese, softened
50 g butter, melted
1/2 cup caster sugar
grated rind and juice of one lemon

Beat all ingredients together until creamy.  Spread over cake.

I have finally conquered my fear of yeast.  Sure, I wasted 6 cups of flour the other day making failed honey banana rolls because I didn't get the water warm enough to activate the yeast but do you think I'll make that mistake twice?  Well, probably, yes, but I'm just looking to make progress here people.  Forward ho!

This recipe is from Joy of Cooking and was delicious.  I started it in the evening and it wasn't in the oven until the girls were in bed and, to be honest, I have no idea how they slept through with the delicious scent that this bread let off as it is baking.  It was as if each time I inhaled, I ate a spoonful of honey.  It was maddening.

Combine in medium saucepan:
1 1/2 cups water
1 cup steel-cut or rolled oats
1 tablespoon butter
3/4 teaspoon salt

Cook, stirring occasionally, over a medium-low heat until the oatmeal is soft, smooth, thick and free of lumps.  Let cool, stirring occasionally, until tepid and no warmer than 115ºF.

Combine in a large mixing bowl and let stand until the yeast is dissolved, about 5 minutes:
1 package (2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm (105º to 115ºF) water

Add to the yeast the oatmeal mixture along with:
1/2 cup room-temperature water
1/3 cup molasses (I used Golden Syrup which is apparently an acceptable substitute)

Stir until well blended.  Gradually stir in until the dough is moist but not sticky:
3 3/4 cups to 4 cups flour

Knead for 10 to 15 minutes by hand until the dough is smooth and elastic.  Transfer the dough to an oiled bowl and turn it over once to coat with oil.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.  Punch the dough down and knead briefly.

Grease a baking sheet or two 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch loaf pans.  Divide the dough in half.  On an unfloured work surface, roll each piece into a ball, loosely cover with plastic wrap, and let rest for 30 minutes.  Form into 2 free standing round loaves or loaves for the loaf pans.  Place seam side down and well spaced on the baking sheet or in the loaf pans.  Cover loosely with oiled plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 375ºF.  Slash the round loaves before baking.  Bake until the bottoms of the loaves sound hollow when tapped, 40 to 50  minutes.  Remove from the pans to a rack and let cool for at least 30 minutes before serving.  (PS Jake thinks this part is just to torture poor, hungry husbands)

I have been lusting over the picture of this recipe for years in the Happy Days With The Naked Chef cookbook and finally decided to try it out. I used a pan that was smaller than recommended and thus ended up with a deeper, less chewy tart than I was hoping for. What I imagined when looking at the picture was something similar to the consistency of a panforte but this was much more cake-like. Still delicious. Just try it out with the larger tart pan.

For the Filling
9 oz pine nuts
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons butter
1 cup minus 1 tablespoon sugar
3 large eggs
4 tablespoons good honey
3/4 cup flour
a pinch of salt

For the Pastry
1/2 cup butter
2/3 cup powdered sugar a pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups flour
2 egg yolks
2 tablespoons cold milk

Cream together the butter, sugar and salt then rub in the flour and egg yolks. When the mixture has come together, looking like coarse bread crumbs, add the milk. Gently pat together to form a small ball of dough. Wrap and leave to rest for an hour.

Carefully cut thick slices of your pastry (or you can roll it out) and place in and around the bottom and sides of a 12 inch tart pan. Push the pastry together and level out and tidy up the sides. Cover and leave to rest in the freezer for about 1 hour. Preheat your oven to 350ºF and bake the pastry for around 15 minutes until lightly golden. Reduce the oven temperature to 325ºF.

While the pastry is in the oven, toast the pine nuts under the broiler (how do you do this? I toasted them first). Whip the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in your pine nuts, add the eggs one at a time and then fold in the honey, flour and salt. Spoon into the tart shell and bake for 30-35 minutes. Best served at room temperature.

 From Wikipedia:

Suet (/ˈsuː.ɪt/) is raw beef or mutton fat, especially the hard fat found around the loins and kidneys.

Yummy. Also marketed as "shortening" here in NZ. This is my first hard lesson in not paying attention at the grocery store. I had talked with several other ex pats who hadn't been able to find shortening and when I saw the little tub of Shreddo labeled as shortening at my favorite new store Moore Wilson, I was rather pleased with myself. "Haha, Chris has been here 6 years and I found this before he did." I'm really not a nice person and this is what they call Karma, or in my friend Matt's family, Bachi.

I have to admit that I did actually read the ingredients before making this large batch of Monster Chip cookies (my husband's favorite) and saw that the ingredients were Suet and Rice Flour. Suet seemed vaguely familiar so I just rolled with it. Plus it said "no refrigeration required" so I assumed (you know what that does folks) that it wasn't animal product. I opened my tub of Shreddo and it looked like shortening that had been cut into some rice flour. After mixing the floury mixture in with my cookie dough and placing the first sheet in the oven I wasn't happy with my ignorance so I looked up Suet. Oh how I wish I wouldn't have.

So here I have a huge batch of cookies full of fat from the kidneys of some cow or lamb. My children each had some (Dawn, avert your eyes) cookie dough before it was baked so not only did I have them ingest raw egg but raw kidney padding. Jake is convinced that we'll eat all of the cookies and I do feel a little better now that they've been baked but not much. I tried one and they are no where near as good as my mother in laws at home. Plus there's this faint smell of roasting meat while I am baking them. I could just be imagining it. But hey, they are browning nicely! :)

I guess it's back to the drawing board with the cookie making. Just say no to Shreddo!

This recipe is from Brandie's Aunt Kathie, whose masterworks have appeared on our site before. Thanks for sending it, I can't wait to try it out!

Feeding four:

Since being here I've been going crazy wanting to try every single new pastry, biscuit, candy bar that I see. Thankfully for the few pairs of jeans I brought, I haven't been giving in to that urge as often as I have it. I did however, try a Ginger Crunch at the Empire Cafe shortly after we arrived and it has remained one of my favorite things in recent memory. It's a ginger shortbread with a dense, smooth ginger icing. I shared it with my children and Sophie was literally licking the crumbs off the plate once she was done.

I decided to try and make them last night. Of course, I hadn't planned ahead so I was short two ingredients. That didn't stop me from substituting and improvising though! The result was not the ginger crunch I was looking for but the bars were something decadent that we'll make again. If I am good.
 
Crust (base)
200g flour
100g sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground ginger
125g softened butter
40g crystalized ginger (I didn't have this last night but really wish I would have)

Icing
150g butter
4 tbsp honey (the original recipe called for golden syrup which I don't have but will pick some up)
270g powdered sugar, sifted
1 tbsp + 1/2 tsp ground ginger (I think this could be doubled next time)
Juice of two small lemons

Preheat oven to 180º C. Line a 9x9 inch pan with parchment. Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and powdered ginger. Then cut in the butter until the mixture looks like rough breadcrumbs. Mix in the crystalized ginger. Press this mixture into the prepared pan and bake 30 minutes or until the crust is golden brown. Remove from oven and place on wire rack.

Before the crust is out, melt the butter, lemon juice and honey in a medium sized sauce pan over medium heat. Add the powdered sugar and ginger and continue to cook for 1 minute. Pour this over the recently removed crust while it is still hot. Shake the pan to make sure the icing is distributed evenly. Allow the crunch to cool and the icing to set before slicing. I placed mine in the fridge over night then sliced it in the morning.

Our girls don't like tomato sauce on their pasta so I remembered that I used to make Carbonara pasta before we were married.  I dug out my old recipe and it was as delicious as I remember.  We've been using this recipe maybe twice a month now because it is so darn easy.  Throw in some peas if you like (my kids won't eat them).

This recipe is from Jamie Oliver's Happy Days with the Naked Chef cookbook.

1 pound dried penne
10 slices of pancetta or bacon (I've used prosciutto as well and it's great)
olive oil
5 egg yolks
7 tablespoons heavy cream
4 1/2 ounces Parmesan cheese, grated
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Cook the penne in salted boiling water until al dente.  While the pasta is cooking, slowly fry the pancetta in a little oil until crispy.  Break it up a bit, then put it to one side.  In a bowl big enough for the cooked pasta, whisk the egg yolks, cream and half the Parmesan.  When the pasta is cooked, drain it and immediately toss it with the warm, crispy pancetta and egg mixture.  Make sure you add the pasta immediately as it's the residual heat that will cook the egg yolks but still leave the sauce silky and smooth.  Season well using the salt, pepper and remaining Parmesan.

This recipe is from my husband's godmother. He remembered her making them when he was a child and asked for the recipe. I made them the day after Thanksgiving and we ate the whole batch with my sister-in-law and her family! It was delicious! As the recipe suggests, these are best eaten when warm if you want a soft cookie. They harden after they cool.
 
2 cups sifted flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ground cloves
1 tsp. ginger
3/4 cup butter 
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup molasses

Sift dry ingredients and set aside. Cream butter & sugar until fluffy. Add egg and beat again. Add molasses beat until fluffy. Add dry ingredients - it will form a soft dough. Roll into balls and roll into sugar. Place on cookie sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes at 375 degrees. This may be too long. The cookies should look soft in the middle and light brown underneath. If you bake them too long, they will be hard.

Sophie really wanted a strawberry cake for her birthday and I didn't want to use a mix for the cake.  Most of the recipes I found used strawberry Jello in them and I didn't want to go that route either.  After poking around for a while, I found this recipe.  The reviews mentioned that it didn't taste very much like strawberries so I decided to substitute some of the strawberry puree with strawberry preserves.  It tasted great and was very moist.  I made cupcakes out of this as well and I thought the cupcakes were the better than the cake.  Jake did most of the decorating on this cake and I thought it turned out pretty cute.  We used rice krispy treats for the bed then covered it in chocolate.  Yum!

Whole Foods Strawberry Cake
Serves 12

2 cups unbleached organic flour*
1 cup natural cane sugar
1 TB baking powder
1 tsp sea salt
4 eggs
1/2 cup unsalted organic butter, melted
1 cup pureed strawberries, fresh or frozen, thawed (I used 1/2 cup pureed strawberries and 1/2 cup strawberry preserves)
1/2 cup organic milk

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter (or spray) and flour 2 9-inch round cake pans or one 9x13 cake pan. Set aside. Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, beat remaining ingredients together. Add to dry, beating with a wire whisk. Pour into prepared cake pans. Bake the cake for 30-35 minutes or until done when tested with a toothpick.

Meringue Buttercream

This recipe was from Baking with Julia.  It was originally for a chocolate buttercream but I substituted strawberry preserves for the chocolate and it tasted delicious.

4 large egg whites
1 cup sugar
3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
5 oz good quality, seedless strawberry preserves

Using a whisk and working in a large heatproof bowl, whisk together the egg whites and sugar.  Place the bowl directly over medium-low heat and whisk constantly until the sugar dissolves, a layer of foam forms over the liquid portion of the eggs and the mixture is hot (really hot) to the touch.  (Other recipes recommend bringing the egg whites to 160 degrees F).

Transfer the whites to the bowl of a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and whip on high speed until the meringue forms glossy peaks.  Unlike ordinary meringue, this meringue will not double in volume; it will, however, firm up.

When the peaks have formed and the meringue is still ever-so-slightly warm, reduce the mixer speed to medium and start adding the butter 2 tablespoons at a time, waiting until the last of the butter is incorporated each time before adding the next batch.  When all the butter has been added, stop the mixer, remover the bowl, pour in the preserves and use a hand whisk to incorporate it completely.  At this point, the buttercream needs to firm a little before it can be used.  Cover the bowl and put it in the refrigerator until it reaches a spreadable consistency.  Give the buttercream a few turns with the whisk to smooth it before use.

You can chill the buttercream for up to 3 days, but it will have to be warmed before it can be used.  Put chilled buttercream over direct heat for a minute or so to soften and then beat until smooth.  (I refrigerated my buttercream then placed the mixing bowl in a sink filled with warm-hot water and whisked it until it was spreadable.

This wheat and dairy free dessert is from The New Enchanted Broccoli Forest cookbook. I made it for Thanksgiving as there were some folks with food allergies.   I thought it was pretty good and added a nice variety to the dessert table.  I had a hard time spreading the chocolate over the preserves at the end so I ended up making a swirl pattern which didn't look great. 

6 eggs
1 1/3 cups almonds, lightly toasted
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup shredded unsweetened coconut, lightly toasted
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons grated orange rind
1/2 cup raspberry preserves
3/4 cups chocolate chips
fresh raspberries for garnish

About 1 hour ahead, separate the eggs, placing the whites in a large bowl and the yolks in a smaller bowl.  Cover and let come to room temperature.

Lightly grease the bottom of a 9-inch spring form pan.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Place the almonds in a food processor with 1 tablespoon of the sugar.  Use a series of long pulses to grind the almonds to a powder.  Transfer to a medium-sized bowl; stir in the coconut, salt, and orange rind and set aside.

Measure out another tablespoon of the sugar, add it to the egg whites and beat until the form stiff peaks.

Add the remaining sugar to the egg yolks  and beat with a fork or a small whisk until the sugar is incorporated.  Fold this mixture into the beaten egg whites.

Sprinkle the dry mixture over the beaten, folded eggs and finish folding.  Transfer to the prepared pan and bake in center of the oven for about 35 minutes or until a sharp knife inserted in the center comes out clean.  Remove from oven and cool completely.

When cake is cool release the spring form sides and transfer the cake to a plate.  Spread raspberry preserves over the top.  Melt the chocolate and spread it over the preserves.  Decorate with fresh raspberries.