Taste of Kiwi

Our local reality show, Nestle Hottest Home Baker has captured my attention, and I sit glued to the set each week to watch the on screen action. My favorite baker has been voted off the show, so I’ve had to shift my allegiance. I chose one of the contestant’s recipes to make for my March test recipe. They turned out really well and were delicious.

Ingredients:

1 cup dates chopped
Zest of 2 oranges
Juice of 2 oranges
1 Cinnamon Stick
A little sugar

Place these ingredients into a pot, melt and cook until it goes thick and caramelises. Note – my oranges didn’t have much juice, so I used some orange juice we had in the fridge. I added a little at a time until the dates sucked it up and I had a lovely thick mixture. Cool mixture.

4 cups self-raising flour
300ml cream (half a pint)
¼ cup sugar
1 can lemonade (Sprite)
½ tsp salt
Cinnamon sugar (make your own by mixing a few teaspoons of sugar with a little cinnamon)

Place flour and salt in a bowl. Add the date mixture and mix. Pour in cream and lemonade. Mix all ingredients into a smooth dough in a bowl. Tip out onto floured bench and cut out or shape. I just used a sharp knife and cut rough squares. Place scones just touching each other on tray. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Bake at 220 degrees Celsius (425 degrees Fahrenheit) for 15-20 mins until starting to colour pale golden. Place on a tea towel on a wire rack.

Shelley’s notes: I used a fan bake oven, which cooks quicker. My scones were ready after ten minutes of cooking. My mix was quite damp and sticky. I sprinkled just enough flour on it for me to pat it into shape and cut into smaller squares.

The recipe is a hybrid of Chelsea Sugar & Good Taste Australia & Courtney from Nestle Hottest Home Baker.

This is the final product. I ate them warm with raspberry jam or a little butter. You could use jam and whipped cream as a topping or your favorite jam or jelly. I froze the leftovers, and they tasted just as good heated a little in the microwave after I’d thawed them out. My March recipe was a big success.

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One of author Jenyfer Matthews’ resolutions for 2010 is to try a new recipe each month. I thought it was a great idea, so I’m doing the same thing. This is my recipe for January—easy and healthy ice cream.

Easy Ice Cream

Ingredients: One banana per person (not over ripe), berries (blueberries, raspberries, boysenberries, red currants etc), yoghurt or a little milk.

Peel and chop the bananas into pieces, place in a container with a lid or a ziplock bag and place in the freezer. I leave them overnight but around three hours in the freezer should do the trick.

Take bananas out of the freezer and place in a food processor. Add berries. I’ve used frozen blueberries and with this batch I used frozen mixed berries. You can also use fresh berries.

Blitz the bananas and berries in the food processor. It will be noisy for a little while. At this stage I use one to two tablespoons of plain yoghurt to help the ingredients bind together. I think you could actually use milk or soy milk at this stage, but I haven’t experimented with this.

The final product will be like thick soft freeze ice cream. Serve and eat straight away. You can actually freeze it, but you need to give it another blitz through the food processor so it isn’t hard and icy to eat. It really is better to eat the ice cream straightaway.

Do you like to experiment with new recipes or do you stick with the tried and true family favorites?

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I have a special guest today–Alisha Rai who is celebrating the release of her new book Cabin Fever. Like many writers Alisha is an avid reader and this started her journey to published author. Today she’s talking about weather, seasons and yummy treats. I definitely want to try this recipe!

I recently moved to the Midwest from Florida, where one of my chief complaints was the utter lack of seasons. Yeah, sunshine is awesome, but after a few years of nonstop heat and humidity (and sometimes hurricanes, but for the sake of my remaining property value, I’m not going to bring that up again), I found myself starting to long for some cool weather.

Let’s not get crazy. As fond as I am of the time I lived in Buffalo, I’m not exactly chomping at the bit to experience that kind of a winter again. But right now, the weather’s going through that lovely shift from summer to fall. There are too many wonderful things that make this time perfect for me: the cool mornings, the colors of the changing leaves, the slight smell of smoke in the air…and the flavors.

Heck, yes. The flavors of fall. It’s a full section in my recipe box. September’s here, people! It’s socially acceptable to eat pumpkin pie! Not to mention a whole bunch of other tasty things which just make you feel warm and fuzzy inside, even as the weather turns chillier.

So what’s cozier than a good cup of hot cocoa? To keep my hero and heroine warm—not that they really needed help—I featured the following drink in my new release, Cabin Fever.

By the way, the name of the drink is, you guessed it: Cabin Fever. Because I’m just that big of a nerd. I can’t help it, I must sprinkle corny, obscure inside jokes into my stories. Forgive me.

Ingredients:
One shot of Baileys
One shot of crème de menthe
Whipped cream
Cup of hot chocolate (or to taste)

Mix the Bailey’s and crème de menthe, pour in the hot chocolate and stir. Garnish with whipped cream, shaved chocolate and a cherry. Enjoy and stay warm!

Alisha Rai
www.alisharai.com
alisharai.wordpress.com
Cabin Fever Now Available!

Do you have any questions for Alisha? Do you like to have different seasons? Do you like the change of seasons? Do you like a kick to your hot chocolate?

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Whenever I have a cup of coffee in a cafe, I always check out the muffins. Any flavor will do as long as they’re fresh. If I manage to time it when they’re still warm from the oven so much the better. I think muffins are good because they’re reasonably healthy and don’t have as much fat as cream cakes. That’s my reasoning anyway. I also enjoy baking muffins because they’re quick and easy.

When I want to bake a batch I always turn to Alison Holst’s Marvellous Muffin cookbook, which contains recipes for both savory and sweet muffins. The following recipe is an adaptation of her Double Chocolate Muffin recipe. I call them Black Forest Muffins.

Ingredients

1 ¾ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup sugar
¼ cup cocoa
¼ – ½ cup chocolate chips
¼ cup dried cherries

Place dried cherries in a bowl and add a little boiling water to cover – a few tablespoons. We want to reconstitute the cherries a little. Place other dry ingredients plus chocolate chips in a large bowl. Add the cherries plus the liquid.

100 grams of butter (about 8/10 of a stick)
1 egg
1 cup plain unsweetened yoghurt
½ cup milk
½ teaspoon vanilla

Melt the butter. Beat the egg and combine with the milk, yoghurt and vanilla. Combine with the dry ingredients, folding together until mixed. Do not overmix.

Spoon into 12 well-greased medium-size muffin pans or use paper muffin cups. Bake in a hot oven at 200C (400F) for 10 – 12 minutes until centers spring back when pressed lightly.

Enjoy with good company and a cup of tea or coffee.

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Growing up in the New Zealand countryside you wouldn’t think we’d socialize much, but as a child I remember going to fetes, socials and parties on a regular basis. The invitations always came along with the instructions for the ladies to bring a plate. I remember thinking this was a silly thing to ask for. I mean, wouldn’t they be better asking for food?

My mother explained to me that “ladies, a plate” was an expression and our hosts expected us to take a plate with food sitting on it, not an empty plate. She said I shouldn’t worry. There would definitely be food where we were going. That was a big relief because I like food, and unfortunately, I haven’t grown out of my liking for sweet treats!

I thought about this expression recently because there’s a new cookbook out in our local bookstores called Ladies, A Plate. It’s by Alexa Johnston and contains recipes for cakes and biscuits I remember eating in my childhood–-recipes such as Kiwi Crisps, Anzac biscuits, Afghans, Pikelets, Neenish Tarts, Butterfly Cakes, Custard Squares and Cinnamon Oysters.

Many of the recipes were developed in New Zealand and a few borrowed from Australia. In fact there’s a good-natured rivalry between the two countries when it comes to deciding which of the two countries invented some recipes.

These days baking seems to be a dying art. My mother taught my brother, sister and I how to cook and at the weekends, we’d all choose something to bake, filling the cake tins for the following week.

Do you have the expression ladies, a plate where you live? Do you have childhood memories of baking or special sweet treats? What were/are your favorites?

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My special guest today is Leah Braemel, another blogging friend who comes from Canada. Her very first book, Private Property is out with Samhain Publishing on 27 January 2009. Meanwhile today, Leah is talking about family rituals and she has a very yummy looking recipe for us. Over to Leah…

I want to thank Shelley for inviting me today, it’s my very first ‘guest blog’ so I’m thrilled. Oh, and Happy Birthday, Shelley!”

I love Christmas, I always have. I love the lights and the carols and the joy in watching someone else open a present you’ve chosen specifically for them. So when I had my boys, I wanted to pass that joy on to them.

Every year, we drove to a tree farm to choose ‘the perfect’ spruce or pine to bring home. Every year, our beautifully decorated tree fell down in the middle of the night at least twice, soaking the carpet with gallons of water.

Every year, the boys would write letters to Santa that they would hand deliver to the postmen and -women who collected them at the Santa Claus parade.

The first week of December, I’d bake a gingerbread house and spend the next week assembling it. Every Christmas day, my husband and boys would eye it hungrily, waiting for my approval to bash the heck out of it and retrieve the candies I’d so carefully ‘iced’ to the roof.

Every year, after we’d set out home made cookies and milk for Santa, and spread hay and carrots in the backyard for the reindeer, the boys would sit down for the traditional reading of “The Night Before Christmas” before scurrying upstairs. Then my hubby and I would wait until they were asleep before bringing down the carefully hidden presents to place beneath the tree.

Unfortunately most of those traditions have died off. The Christmas tree farms got edged out as the cities took over the rural areas. Even the pre-cut lots run by the Boy Scouts in the local A&P parking lot and other enterprising tree farmers who would take over empty lots haven’t sprung up in the past few years. But that’s okay because about five years ago, tired of having to mop up after our dog once again toppled the tree, we gave in and bought an artificial tree. Now instead of having to run around the week before Christmas to guarantee a fresh tree Christmas Day, we drag out the boxes and put it up on the first weekend of December and decorate at our leisure.

The letters to Santa and the annual trek to the Santa Claus parade stopped long ago, replaced with Christmas lists that would make Donald Trump’s accountant cringe.

I stopped making the gingerbread house when my eldest suggested, “why don’t you just put the candies out for us to eat?” Since making a gingerbread house from scratch and assembling it are a lot of work, I must admit that was one tradition I was glad to see end. But still, I miss the final product.

Our cherished “Night Before Christmas” book has disappeared, and the cookies we used to set out are now served as an evening snack for everyone to enjoy. The presents are still brought down around midnight, but now the boys (who tower over us) assist in that chore, since my dear hubby and I stash our presents for each other in their rooms.

But even though some of those cherished rituals aren’t observed, others have evolved and flourished. Back when my eldest was about ten, he’d begged and pleaded for a rather pricey remote control car. Santa was naughty that year. Instead of placing the car under the tree, he left a card in my eldest’s stocking with a clue as to where another gift could be found. So began the traditional Christmas Treasure Hunt. We don’t hold a treasure hunt every year – only for those extra special gifts. A brand new computer for the boys one year, another for my hubby a few years later. The whole family gets into the spirit – the ones hiding the present rub their hands in glee while writing obscure poems. The recipient rubs their head in confusion trying to decipher the clues while wanting to open every closet and peer under every bed until they found their carefully concealed present.

The one tradition that hasn’t stopped has been my baking. I love the way the house smells when I’m done, I love the anxious faces waiting until I give the okay to help themselves to the bounty. Usually I spend two days in the kitchen making peanut butter cookies, peanut butter logs, peanut brittle (sensing a trend?), chocolate macaroons, cherry jewel bars, coconut ice, oatmeal cookies, oatmeal squares, shortbread and Nanaimo bars. I’m already getting sideways looks from both the boys and my hubby as they whisper, “When are you making the macaroons?”

Most of the recipes are ones that have been passed down from my mother, but a couple are new – the Nanaimo bars, and the peanut brittle. And the one I’ve sent for Shelley to put up today. I got the recipe for pizza-pan cookies from my youngest’s kindergarten teacher when I helped them assemble a gingerbread house to help raise funds for a family in need. They’re easy to make, and not your usual type of cookie. Instead of rolling the dough into balls or dropping it from a spoon, you fill a pizza pan with the batter and let it cook as one big round cookie. Then when you take it out of the oven and it’s cooled down a while, you slice it just the way you do a pizza. (I usually buy the tin foil pizza pans just for these)

Pizza Pan Cookies

1 cup butter or margarine, softened
¾ cup granulated sugar
¾ cup packed brown sugar
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
2 ¼ cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 package (or 1 ½ cups) semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)
(You can get inventive and try raisins or M&M pieces, etc.)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly grease two 12-inch pizza pans. Cream butter, sugars, cream cheese and vanilla in a large bowl. Add eggs; beat until light. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl. Add to creamed mixture; blend well. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts. Divide dough in half; press each half evenly into the pizza pans.

Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges. Cool completely in pans on wire racks. When cool, the cookies may be decorated with icing, icing sugar or other toppings. To serve, cut into slim wedges or break into pieces.

Leah
http://www.leahbraemel.com

PRIVATE PROPERTY – January 27, 2009
Excerpt
PERSONAL PROTECTION – May 2009

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Yellow Cupcakes
The Fannie Farmer Baking Book by Marion Cunningham

Yields about 10 cupcakes

Ingredients:
6 Tablespoons (3/4 stick or about 1/3 cup) butter, melted
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
Confectioners’ sugar or Chocolate Butter Frosting

Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease the muffin pans for 10 cupcakes, line them with fluted paper baking cups, or spray with no-stick coating.

Combine the melted butter, eggs, milk, and vanilla in a mixing bowl and beat well.

Put the flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt in a sifter or strainer and sift them over the butter-and-egg mixture. Beat until the batter is perfectly smooth and thoroughly combined. Spoon into the prepared muffin pans, filling each cup about two-thirds full.

Bake for about 15 to 18 minutes, or until a toothpick or broom straw inserted in the center of a cake comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and let them cool in the pan for 2 minutes, then turn out onto racks to cool completely.

Sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar or frost with Chocolate Butter Frosting.

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Stained Glass Cookies
Simply Recipes

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon molasses
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
30-40 hard candies (such as Life Savers), preferably in several flavors/colors

1- Pre-heat oven to 375°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpat.

2- In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, cream together butter and sugars until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add molasses and vanilla extract, mixing until incorporated. Add egg and mix until light and smooth, about 1 minute on medium speed.

3- Sift together flour, salt, and baking powder. Fold dry ingredients into wet mixture. Use electric mixer to blend just until flour is incorporated. Divide dough in half and flatten into two disks. Wrap disks in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least an hour and up to 2 days.

4- Remove any wrappers on candies and separate them by color into plastic bags. Using a mallet to crush candies.

5- Place one disk between two large sheets of waxed paper and roll to 1/4-inch thickness. Use cookie cutters to cut dough into desired shapes. Transfer cookies to prepared baking sheets, about 1 inch apart. Using a smaller cookie cutter or a knife, cut shapes into centers of cookies, reserving these center bits to add into extra dough.

6- Use a spoon to sprinkle the crushed candy into the hollowed-out centers of the cookies, filling to the edges. Try to keep the candy within the centers. Any candy specks that fall on the cookie will color the cookie.

7- If cookies will be hung as ornaments or decorations, poke a small hole in the top of each cookie before baking.

8- Bake 9 to 10 minutes. The candy should be melted and bubbling and the cookies just barely beginning to brown. Remove baking sheets from oven and place on wire racks to cool. Allow cookies to cool on pans at least 10 minutes; otherwise, the candy centers may separate from the dough. When cookies are completely cooled, remove and store in an airtight container. String with ribbon if you want to hang as an ornament.

Makes 2 to 4 dozen cookies, depending on how large you make them.

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I promised Gabriele a pumpkin soup recipe. There are lots of variations of pumpkin soup. I make a vegetarian version and leave out the bacon. I replace the chicken stock with vegetable stock.

knob of butter and a little olice oil
1 onion chopped
3 – 4 cloves of garlic minced
1 tsp grated fresh ginger
2 tablespoons mild curry paste (I use curry powder)
3 – 4 rashers of bacon, rind removed and chopped
1/2 cup buttercup pumpkin pieces, peeled and seeded
5 cups chicken stock or 4 cups stock and 1 of water
light seasoning of salt and fresh ground black pepper
coconut cream to garnish (I use plain greek yoghurt)
fresh herbs such as coriander or thyme for garnish

Place the butter and oil in a large saucepan. Add the onion, garlic and ginger and cook until softened with a gentle heat. Add curry paste and when fragrant (allow about 30 seconds) add the chopped bacon and pumpkin pieces.

Constantly turn the pumpkin to avoid catching. Add stock and cook until the pumpkin softens. Once cooked process with a kitchen whizz until smooth. Season and garnish with coconut cream and fresh herbs.

Note – this soup always tastes better the next day so make it in advance if possible.

And in totally random news – I saw an ad for some new pots. The knobs come off the pot lids. The handles also come off and this allows for easy stacking in cupboards and also the dishwasher. They also have these nifty plastic lids so you can stick them in the fridge. They also come in frypans. I saw some in our local kitchen soup. Man, I’m in love. I’m lusting after these pots, and unfortunately, they’re expensive. I’m not big on kitchen gadgets, preferring to do most things by hand, but I really want these pots!

Do you like kitchen gadgets? Kitchenware shops?

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Pumpkin is a member of the Cucurbita family, which includes squash and cucumbers. Pumpkins are grown in most parts of the world. It’s rich in potassium and Vitamin A and contains 90% water. In the USA 80% of the pumpkin supply is available in October.

This is a shot of a small pumpkin market Mr. Munro and I discovered during our visit to Maine a few years ago. (The photo was scanned, hence the black surrounding).
We were fascinated because we don’t have anything like this in New Zealand. We don’t carve pumpkins or eat pumpkin pie (as a rule). As a child, we ate pumpkin whenever we had a roast dinner or sometimes we’d have mashed pumpkin. These days our favorite way to eat pumpkin is in a salad.

Here’s the recipe:

Pumpkin, peeled and chopped into 2-3cm pieces
2 tsp oil
300g can of Chickpeas, well drained
250g round green beans, blanched
1 small red onion, peeled and finely sliced
8 black olives (optional)
1/4 cup of your favorite vinaigrette dressing (we like a balsamic dressing)
150g feta cheese, diced
1/4 cup roughly chopped parsley

Method

1. Combine prepared pumpkin and oil, toss well until lightly coated, season with salt and pepper. Arrange on a baking paper lined oven tray.
2. Cook at 200°C for 25-30 minutes or until golden and tender.
3. Combine the chickpeas, cooked green beans, slices red onion, olives, add warm roasted pumpkin and vinaigrette dressing. Toss gently until well combined.
4. Arrange salad on a platter, scatter with feta and parsley leaves. Serve immediately.

My husband and I like this salad hot but it’s equally good cold, after the pumpkin and green beans have cooled. To vary the salad we sometimes use a can of mixed beans (with kidney beans, chickpeas etc) rather than straight chickpeas.

Do you like pumpkin? What’s your favorite way to eat pumpkin? If you’re in the US, have you carved a pumpkin this year?

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