tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26982641097527687822024-03-13T23:27:18.230-07:00OOOH!cakeDessert's the whole point of the meal-really.Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12479950154835490534noreply@blogger.comBlogger71125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2698264109752768782.post-89267014360492546522008-10-02T04:39:00.000-07:002008-10-04T05:54:29.507-07:00Banana and Chocolate Chip Bread<span style="font-size:100%;">I haven't been blogging I know, but that doesn't mean I've been losing track of all the happenings going on! =) So I thought I'd make a comeback with a delicioso superdooper moist banana bread studded with chips of happiness, CHOCOLATE! =)<br /><br />Melissa over at <a href="http://www.bakingasweetlife.com/">bakingasweetlife</a> has come up with her second edition of Let It Grain and this edition's grain is millet. Understated and hardly used (by me) I thought it'd be timely to include millet flour in my banana bread. Also, the best part of this flour is that it's GLUTENFREE! whooopdeedoo.<br /></span><p style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Millet is highly nutritious, non-glutinous and like buckwheat and quinoa, is not an acid forming food so is soothing and easy to digest. In fact, it is considered to be one of the least allergenic and most digestible grains available and it is a warming grain so will help to heat the body in cold or rainy seasons and climates. </span></p><p style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Millet is tasty, with a mildly sweet, nut-like flavor and contains a myriad of beneficial nutrients. It is nearly 15% protein, contains high amounts of fiber, B-complex vitamins including niacin, thiamin, and riboflavin, the essential amino acid methionine, lecithin, and some vitamin E. It is particularly high in the minerals iron, magnesium, phosphorous, and potassium.<br /></span></p><p style="font-family: arial;">Sounds good to me. =)<br /></p><p style="font-family: arial;">I adapted a recipe from my latest darling, Carole Bloom's The Essential Baker. It's meant to be a Banana Loaf Cake with Walnuts and Dried Apricots but I'm sick so I couldn't bring myself to go to the store and getting apricots and walnuts. And I didn't feel like nuts. I just wanted chocolate. The funny thing though, because I've been sneezing and coughing my brains out, I forgot to put the starch into the glutenfree flour mix. But I didn't realize it until now...but it didn't seem to affect it much. Fred and I both agreed it tasted really good, moist, soft, sweet, chocolatey and prettydarnyummy<br /></p><p style="font-family: arial;">So here goes...</p><p style="font-family: arial;">1/4 cup brown sugar + 2 tbsp white sugar<br />2tbsp canola oil<br />2tbsp unsweetened applesauce<br />1tbsp honey<br />1 large (x-Large) egg yolk<br />1 tsp vanilla extract<br />pinch of salt<br /></p><p style="font-family: arial;">1) Whisk all together until creamy and thick</p><p style="font-family: arial;">1 egg white</p><p style="font-family: arial;">2) Whisk in a clean grease-free bowl until stiff peaks form</p><p style="font-family: arial;">1/2 cup rice flour<br />1/4 cup millet flour<br />2 tbsp coconut flour<br />2 tbsp almond meal<br />1.5 tsp baking powder<br />0.5 tsp baking soda<br /></p><p style="font-family: arial;">3) Mix this flour mixture into the egg yolk mixture.</p><p style="font-family: arial;">2 medium mashed bananas (VERYVERY ripe)<br />1 tsp cinnamon powder<br />3/4 cup dairy-free chocolate chips<br /><br />4) Stir bananas, choc and cinnamon into flour mixture.</p><p style="font-family: arial;">5) Fold whisked egg whites into cake mixture.</p><p style="font-family: arial;">6) Bake in a loaf tin at 180 degrees for 30-40 minutes (I didn't really keep track of the time)</p><p style="font-family: arial;">7) Wait for it to cool completely before cutting and serving.<br /></p><p style="font-family: arial;">NOTES: I had the cake the day after and it was AMAZING. =) I had 3 slices... so I think you should give it a shot!<br /></p>Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12479950154835490534noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2698264109752768782.post-75645528684118464552008-06-30T22:20:00.000-07:002008-12-11T13:19:37.888-08:00Strawberries in July<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jGxjtJxLI6w/SGnFC8eMfBI/AAAAAAAAAO8/DkaNwdnR-v4/s1600-h/CIMG0054.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 226px; height: 301px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jGxjtJxLI6w/SGnFC8eMfBI/AAAAAAAAAO8/DkaNwdnR-v4/s320/CIMG0054.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5217918297668615186" border="0" /></a><br />I find it strange, very peculiar indeed, to find strawberries in July. Beautiful, long-stemmed, crimson red, glossy skinned, plump and most definitely, sweet. You see, I wouldn't have a problem with this phenomenon if I were in any other part of the world. But I am in Australia. IT'S MEANT TO BE WINTER!!!<br /><br />Well, I guess it was announced that the June just past was the warmest it has been for a long time, averaging 16 degrees celcius. Is that why? It's not a good thing I bet since it's obviously a big smack in the face for us about global warming, or as they like to say it here in Australia... "climate change". Such is a euphemism for something so devastatingly horrid. I promise I will turn off the humidifier when I leave the house next time. =)<br /><br />But in any case, I did succumb to the $2.50 a punnet strawberries and bought myself 3! And all I wanted was to have them in my big bowl of granola in the morning and of course, a tart. A buttery and sweet tart crust lined with my beautiful strawberries topped with a raspberry jam glaze. No curds, custards or cremes. HAPPYHAPPY!<br /><br />Seeing that this tart would fit in snugly with Joelen's FRUIT FRENZY theme over at her <a href="http://joelens.blogspot.com/">blog</a>, I will join her in her cooking adventure! Head over to her blog to check out future events and the roundup! =)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jGxjtJxLI6w/SGnFmI-8N8I/AAAAAAAAAPE/8iergHpE68o/s1600-h/CIMG0043.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jGxjtJxLI6w/SGnFmI-8N8I/AAAAAAAAAPE/8iergHpE68o/s320/CIMG0043.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5217918902322608066" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Tart Crust adapted from Sharing Sweet Secrets by Pamela Moriarty<br />8 tbsp white rice flour<br />2 tbsp almond meal<br />2 tbsp coconut flour (may replace with rice flour)<br />1 tbsp tapioca starch<br />1 tbsp potato starch<br />1/4 cup cornflour<br />2 tbsp glutinous rice flour<br />1 tbsp gf custard powder (optional)<br />2 tbsp caster sugar<br />50g coconut oil (it will be hard, straight from the fridge)<br />30ml grapeseed oil<br />1 egg<br /><br />1) Place flours, custard powder and sugar into a food processor and whizz.<br />2) Add in coconut oil (hardened) and oil and whizz again (10-15 seconds)<br />3) crack egg into the food processor bowl and pulse until combined. It may look wet but keep whizzing. Add 1 tbsp coconut flour if too wet.<br />4) Add 1-2 drops of water IF NECESSARY<br />5) Remove pastry from food processor and press* into prepared tin. (20 or 22 cm tin)<br />6) Freeze in tin for 10-15 minutes before baking at 190 degrees celcius for 18-22 minutes or until cooked through.<br />7) Cool before filling with strawberries.<br />* My pastry was too wet from the oil to be rolled out.<br /><br />To Assemble:<br />1-250g punnet of large strawberries<br />3 tbsp raspberry jam, warmed.<br /><br />1) Remove stems of berries and halve. Arrange on top of baked tart shell and glaze with raspberry jam. Serve chilled or warm. =)<br /></div>Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12479950154835490534noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2698264109752768782.post-73853667387059275272008-06-30T00:04:00.000-07:002008-12-11T13:19:38.131-08:00CRRRUNCH.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jGxjtJxLI6w/SGiIvBdP7GI/AAAAAAAAAOs/nEkY_NZCr8c/s1600-h/CIMG0034.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 278px; height: 208px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jGxjtJxLI6w/SGiIvBdP7GI/AAAAAAAAAOs/nEkY_NZCr8c/s320/CIMG0034.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5217570509735062626" border="0" /></a><br />I'm back! =) I've been missing because my camera's been dead so I haven't been able to take ANY photos. But since my mom so kindly bought me a brand-spankin'-new one, I'm here to celebrate! Yippee!<br /><br />I had 4 egg whites leftover from a dairy-free vanilla creme anglaise I made for to go with my new-found love, sticky date pudding, and because I NEVER have egg whites lying around, I was desperate to find the RIGHT recipe since such a chance is so rare. I wanted to make this meringue pie crust, or baby meringues to crush with fresh strawberries and the vanilla creme anglaise but I reallllyy wanted to make these cookies I had a few days back. I'll describe them to you... they were flat-ish, and filled with almond silvers and chunks and chocolate bits scattered throughout it's chewy interior, all enrobed with a crunchy exterior. BUT I CAN'T FIND A RECIPE FOR IT.. I don't even know what it's called. Does anyone have any idea for a recipe? I asked the chef what was in it and she said eggwhites, almonds and sugar. Sounds simple but it's hurting my brain trying to figure it out... I settled for this recipe in the end. Both <a href="http://www.foodbeam.com/2007/07/30/sur-un-petit-nuage-en-chocolat-avec-dorie-greenspan-%e2%80%93-meringues-au-chocolat-et-aux-amandes/">Fanny </a>and <a href="http://alpineberry.blogspot.com/2008/02/cocoa-almond-meringue-cookies.html">Mary</a> have used the recipe, each with their own interpretations... =) I followed Fanny's recipe, with the addition of chocolate slivers and chopped toasted nuts (I used toasted walnuts).<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jGxjtJxLI6w/SGiiIq7aXUI/AAAAAAAAAO0/ybt3D_BRp0Y/s1600-h/CIMG0015.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jGxjtJxLI6w/SGiiIq7aXUI/AAAAAAAAAO0/ybt3D_BRp0Y/s320/CIMG0015.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5217598438154853698" border="0" /></a><br />Something funny happened though. The first batch of my cookies I baked in the lowest shelf of my oven had their bottoms perfectly browned while the ones I baked in the middle shelf was still kinda..wet when I tried to peel them off the baking paper. Still yummy no doubt but... do you know why that happened??? Now those from the second shelf look like they have hollow bottoms! Maybe I should just fill the holes with chocolate icecream and be done with that! yum.<br /><br />ENJOYYYY...Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12479950154835490534noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2698264109752768782.post-50847427000508057352008-06-05T21:29:00.000-07:002008-12-11T13:19:38.735-08:00Celebrate with me<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jGxjtJxLI6w/SEjH_VTUA-I/AAAAAAAAAOU/8CcLlb1fQq4/s1600-h/P6060193.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jGxjtJxLI6w/SEjH_VTUA-I/AAAAAAAAAOU/8CcLlb1fQq4/s320/P6060193.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5208632859917812706" border="0" /></a><br />Hello everyone!<br /><br />As I keep repeating to myself that I must be happy, I have something to shareeee! I'm inviting you to my 'END.OF.ESSAYS' party. =) It's pretty lonely to celebrate it alone so I made a cake to celebrate with me. =) It's more fun feeling lonely with cake than <span style="font-style: italic;">sans</span> cake. Besides, it kept me really occupied-so much so that I forgot to each lunch. I KNOW! I NEVER forget to eat. Oh, could also be due to the fact that I ate allllllll the <span style="font-weight: bold;">scraps of fluffy cake with the leftover lemoncurd filling, all smooshed in a little ramekin, topped with the leftover icing</span>. I know I know. Could it been any more nutritious?<br /><br />I WANT TO CUT THE CAKE NOW!<br /><br />But then it'll mean what I look forward to the most will be gone: FRED'S EXPRESSION!<br /><br />must.must.i must...resist. Oh well, there are still blocks of un-iced, un-filled cake. I'll have that while I wait.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Here's what I used:<br />1.5 x Vegan vanilla sponge from <a href="http://neverbashfulwithbutter.blogspot.com/2007/04/impossibly-delicious-gluten-free-vegan.html">here</a><br />1 x lemon curd recipe from <a href="http://bakingbites.com/2008/04/low-fat-lemon-curd/">here</a><br />1 x Sugar Dough recipe (below)<br />1 x Sugar Icing recipe (below)<br />1 x Piped Sugar Icing (below)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jGxjtJxLI6w/SEjI073NzkI/AAAAAAAAAOk/2rwDUNrLM8I/s1600-h/P6060199.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jGxjtJxLI6w/SEjI073NzkI/AAAAAAAAAOk/2rwDUNrLM8I/s320/P6060199.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5208633780802014786" border="0" /></a>Sugar Dough (Recipe from Australian Gourmet Traveller August 2006)<br /><br />3/4 tbsp powdered gelatine<br />1/2 tsp cream of tartar<br />250gm icing sugar, extra 15g icing sugar for firming<br />65 gm cornflour, plus extra for dusting<br />tiny drop pink food coloring<br /><br />1) Combine 55ml warm water, gelatine and cream of tartar in a bowl, stand for 5 minutes then stir until it dissolves. (I put mine in the microwave for a minute coz it didn't dissolve)<br />2) Combine the 250gm icing sugar with the 65gm cornflour with an electric mixer with paddle attachment, add gelatine mixture and 1 drop of food coloring and beat until dough forms. (I had to add a few tbsp more icing sugar). Tip of onto a floured bench and knead for a minute until smooth. Return to bowl, cover with a damp towel and rest for an hour. Transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate overnight. Makes 300gm.<br /><br />THE NEXT DAY:<br />Process 100gm of sugar dough with 15gm of icing sugar in a food processor until its malleable. It comes together when you use a spoon to stir. Rest dough for 2-3 minutes then put on a bench dusted with icing sugar. Roll out with rolling pin until 2mm thick. Use heart shaped cutters to cut out. Place onto baking paper to dry. =)<br /><br />Sugar Icing (from Australian Gourmet Traveller August 2006)<br /><br />Beat 200gm pure icing sugar with 1 tbsp liquid glucose and 2 tbsp margarine (butter) until combined. Add in 1 tbsp boiling water and beat with electric mixer for 6 minutes until smooth and shiny. Add food coloring if desired. Spread icing immediately on cake and scatter with sugar hearts. Stand for one hour for icing to set before serving. =)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jGxjtJxLI6w/SEjIXc2cZYI/AAAAAAAAAOc/QAJ66NqMvBc/s1600-h/P6060203.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jGxjtJxLI6w/SEjIXc2cZYI/AAAAAAAAAOc/QAJ66NqMvBc/s320/P6060203.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5208633274261071234" border="0" /></a><br /><br /></div>Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12479950154835490534noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2698264109752768782.post-746675107172135652008-05-29T01:13:00.000-07:002008-12-11T13:19:38.936-08:00Heart Of The Matter: Herbal Essence<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jGxjtJxLI6w/SD55VPsMffI/AAAAAAAAAOM/QxTszlOJAZ4/s1600-h/P5290172.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jGxjtJxLI6w/SD55VPsMffI/AAAAAAAAAOM/QxTszlOJAZ4/s320/P5290172.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5205731625182985714" border="0" /></a><br />I think I've only participated once in HotM. And as much as I always try to get my entries up before then and be super organized and email all the relevant people with the relevant information, I usually fail. Either that or I just miss the event altogether. This month's HotM is all about the glory of herbs hosted by the lovely Michelle at <a href="http://accidentalscientist.blogspot.com/">Accidental Scientist</a>.<br /><br />I have always associated herbs with medicine. I suppose being Chinese, the only time i heard the word herb was when it had to do with some form of medicine or another. Then came along the cooking shows and all these Western chefs had their fancy "a pinch of dried parsley" and "roughly torn basil leaves" and they were all "fresh from my [their] backyard". Now, I lived in an apartment all my life so who had a backyard? and basil... who? But things have changed now and while I still don't have a backyard, I've become accustomed to using herbs in my cooking. The question that remains is...how often (since I rarely have a bunch of basil leaves lying around)?<br /><br />In April 08's Delicious magazine, Rick Stein did an awesome feature for the magazine by introducing some new breakfast dishes. I am a breakfast freak. I wake up with only one thing on my mind-WHATS FOR BREAKFAST?! If it's going to be a dread, I'd rather stay in bed thanks. But if there's a bag of cherries lying in the fridge with a tall glass of cold soy milk-I'm out of bed before you can say sunshine. My weird obsession aside, I made Rick Stein's "Hugo's Breakfast Fishcakes" and if you ask me, Hugo made darn good fishcakes. =) The recipe called for ONE bay leaf. But I decided that I had no use for the rest of the bay leaves, so I buy it. Instead, I added lots of coriander and chives and "a pinch of dried basil". heh. And made it gluten free-obviously.<br /><br />Hugo's Breakfast Fishcakes (makes 4, serves 2)<br />200g floury potato, cut into small cubes (should equate to one BIG potato)<br />150g skinless, boneless white fish fillet, cut into 2 cm cubes*<br />1/2 cup milk (use soy milk with a good pinch of salt)<br />pinch of dried basil<br />1 strip pared lemon rind, plus 1 tbsp juice and wedges to serve<br />1/2 onion, diced<br />1/4 cup chopped coriander<br />1 tbsp chopped chives<br />2 tbsp rice flour<br />1 large egg, beaten<br />2 slices of gluten-free bread, made into fresh breadcrumbs**<br />snipped chives and sour cream to serve<br /><br />1) Cook potatoes in salted boiling water until tender. Drain and mash.<br />2) Place fish, soy milk, lemon rind and dried basil in a pot. Cover, bring to a boil and then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 1-2 mins, until fish is cooked. Drain and reserve poaching liquid. Discard lemon rind. Set fish aside to cool.<br />3) Add 1 tbsp of olive oil to a pan over medium heat. Add onion and cook until soft but not browned. Add in potato, fish, coriander, chives, good pinch of salt and lemon juice. Mix well, adding 1-2 tbsp of poaching liquid until mix holds together but isn't too sticky or wet*. Let cool.<br />4) Place flour, egg and breadcrumbs in separate shallow dishes. Using damp hand, form the fish mixture into 4 patties. Dip each patty into the flour then egg then breadcrumbs and set on a lined baking tray. Chill for at least an hour or better still, overnight.<br />5) Splash a good bit of olive oil over the patties and bake at 200 degrees celcius for about 10 minutes, or until golden.<br /><br />*I used blue grenadier and while skinning it, the fish began to flake, but I proceeded as per the recipe instructed, came out perfect.<br />** I took 2 slices of stale gluten free bread and chopped it into very tiny crumbly bits. Since GF bread is naturally drier, it didn't pose as a problem to chop it instead of using a food processor.<br />***The photo I used is from the April 2008 issue of Delicious. I gobbled up the fishcakes before I could take a photo of them. =(Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12479950154835490534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2698264109752768782.post-6183171227484936812008-05-26T20:09:00.000-07:002008-12-11T13:19:39.209-08:00Gluten Free Hazelnut Blondies<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jGxjtJxLI6w/SDt_WvsMfeI/AAAAAAAAAOE/Kovjgzmzw-Y/s1600-h/blondies.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jGxjtJxLI6w/SDt_WvsMfeI/AAAAAAAAAOE/Kovjgzmzw-Y/s320/blondies.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5204893823092424162" border="0" /></a><br />There has always been a fascination between me and Nutella. My mom was not one to buy it for breakfast, I don't know why though. While peanut butter was a staple, Nutella was a treat I bought for 30cents at the corner shop in one of those individual pull-open packaging. But I suppose if we did have it at home, I would've eaten way too much. So now that I am older and <span style="font-style: italic;">wiser, </span>I am capable of practicing self control which therefore renders me worthy of having a jar of choc-hazelnut spread at home (I bought a bio-dynamic one, not Nutella). And so in the event that <a href="http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/hazelnut-blondies?autonomy_kw=nutella&rsc=header_1">such</a> a recipe catches my eye, I have all the ingredients on hand. And because it's just ONE and a half <span style="font-style: italic;">heaping </span>tablespoon spread throughout the entire batch of blondies, I suppose I am practicing self restraint when I have half the batch for lunch (maybe with a smidgen more choc-hazelnut spread on top). I mean it though, I really did have half the batch. <span style="font-style: italic;">shhh, Fred doesn't need to know.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Gluten Free Hazelnut Blondies </span> <span style="font-weight: bold;">adapted from </span><a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/hazelnut-blondies?autonomy_kw=nutella&rsc=header_1">here</a><span style="font-style: italic;"><br />It looks like alot of different flours but feel free to just substitute the flours as you deem fit. I'm sure 2 cups of G.F. all-purpose flour will work just fine.<br /><br /></span>4 tbsp grapeseed oil<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;"></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"></span></span></span>1 cup white rice flour*<br />2 tbsp tapioca starch*<br />2 tbs potato starch*<br />4 tbsp corn starch*<br />2 tbsp buckwheat flour*<br />4 tbsp almond meal*<br />2 tbsp sweet rice flour*<br />2 tsp baking powder<br />1 tsp salt<br />1.25 cup brown sugar<br />2 large eggs<br />1/3 cup chopped hazelnuts (either skin on or off, I left mine on)<br />1 tsp vanilla<br />1.5 heaping tbsp choc-hazelnut spread, like Nutella<br /><br />1) Preheat oven to 170 degrees celcius. Grease an 8 x 11 inch pan, line with parchment and grease again<br />2) Whisk flours, baking owder and salt<br />3) Mix sugar and oil until well moistened. Beat eggs and vanilla in. Add flour mix and stir (batter will be stiff at first, but it will come together). Add in chopped nuts and Nutella.<br />4) Bake for 25 minutes, or until few crumbs stick onto skewer inserted. Rest for 15 minutes and cut into squares. Serve with a dollop of Nutella. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Or really, just eat it from the pan, who wants extra dishes anyway? </span><br />* Flour mix adds up to 2 cups.<br />Photo is from marthastewart.com. I had to borrow it since I can't find my camera cable. I DID take photos though!Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12479950154835490534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2698264109752768782.post-75523282250236786232008-05-22T16:58:00.000-07:002008-05-22T17:15:08.661-07:00White wine, olive oil and polenta cakeThis recipe was the one I was talking about yesterday. It comes from June 2008's issue of Delicious, written by Rick Stein.<br /><br />It's very Italian to me, or at least Mediterranean. The taste of the olive oil is very prominent and I thought that maybe if I left it for a day, the olive oil taste might be a little more mellow. Turned out, I was wrong, I tried it this morning and it's still there. I did reduce the amount of oil called for and added a tbsp and a half of lemon juice. The lemon taste is beautiful bolstered by the white wine. Rick called for a sauvignon blanc or riesling, but I had an opened bottle of chardonnay so I used that instead. The aromas weaving through my little apartment was so promising, so I was a little disappointed by the strong olive oil taste. It made me feel like I was eating oily cake which isn't appetizing...not very anyway. The lemon and wine made things a heap better, or perhaps I'm just not used to it. Fred liked it though but it wasn't our favourite.<br /><br />Also something went funny when I tried mixing the flour into the liquid batter. It got clumpy and scary so I did something bad...I just used my hand mixer to whisk in the flour until it was homogenous. I know, I shouldn't have, especially when the eggs had been ribboned prior. But better than eating bits of flour I suppose. Do try out the recipe since it's so simple and let me know what I did wrong. It's simple enough to try again.<br /><br />White Wine, Olive Oil and Polenta Cake (serves 8)<br />2 eggs<br />250g caster sugar (I used 175g)<br />150 ml white wine (such as sauvignon blanc or riesling)<br />150 ml olive oil (i used 125ml + 1 tbsp lemon juice)<br />1 tsp vanilla extract<br />Finely grated zest of 1 lemon<br />175g plain flour (I used 1 cup rice and 1/4 tapioca and potato starch <span style="font-weight: bold;">each + </span>1 tbsp almondmeal)<br />1.5 tsp baking powder<br />1/2 instant polenta ( I used 1/4 cup polenta and almond meal <span style="font-weight: bold;">each</span>)<br />Icing sugar, to dust.<br /><br />Preheat oven to 160 degrees celcius. Grease and line the base and sides of a 24 cm springform cake pan.<br />Place eggs and sugar in a large bowl and whisk using an electric hand whisk. Whisk for 10 minutes or until thick enough to form ribbons when you trail it on the surface.<br />Gently beat in the white wine, olive oil, vanilla and lemon zest and juice. Sift over the flour and baking powder.<br />Gently fold it with a metal spoon until just conbined, then fold in the polenta and almond meal. Pour mixture into prepared pan and bake for 1 hour until a skewer inserted comes out clean.<br /><br />*oh, I just realized, I didn't sift the flour over the liquids, I merely tipped it in... oops.Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12479950154835490534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2698264109752768782.post-39251443375577983092008-05-22T04:33:00.000-07:002008-05-22T04:43:16.893-07:00coldI am going to apologize for being bad and not blogging for over a month. But it's been a busybusy time for me. For starters, I had to move out of my old apartment to my current one. So that was a really big deal and the amount of clothes and shoes (ahem) I had, made it a... bigger deal. Plus, I was bed ridden for a week, down with that dreadful thing called a flu. I never knew that you lose all sense of taste when you're out sick. The only thing I could taste amidst all the sniffling was peanut butter and apples. Luckily they go together so that was all I ate for about 3 days. Evil, I know but a girl's got to eat! =) Well it's not that I stopped baking or eating, I just momentarily stopped blogging.<br /><br />The word cold has so many meanings. It describes the weather here right about now. Cold, very icy cold. Sometimes it's a good thing especially when you're wearing new heels and the cold numbs your feet so you can't feel the pain. Sometimes it's a hindrance, especially when you have 9am classes and your jeans have been sitting on the sofa all night exposed to the cold. And as you pull them on, they bit your legs with the cold. And sometimes it's how I feel, inside. A lonely kind of cold. I realized this when I listened to an entire album by Taylor Swift and the only song I could relate to was 'Cold as You'. Hmmm... oh and I might watch Wicked alone (the Broadway musical about what went on behind the Wizard of Oz-kinda like the untold story). It might be something new for me. I've grown accustomed to shopping alone, exploring alone and eating alone.<br /><br />Okay, now that I've bared my soul and wallowed in self-pity, I've got a cake baking in the oven (I love my oven) for this month's SHF. It's from June 08 Delicious, a recipe by Rick Stein. A lemon, olive oil and white wine cake. Since it's still baking I can't really say how it turned out. I will update this post though. So stay tuned!Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12479950154835490534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2698264109752768782.post-44779898396788408372008-04-02T05:14:00.000-07:002008-04-02T05:35:27.221-07:00Swiss Roll RecipeThis is a reader request. The recipe for the swiss roll from the previous entry. Here goes!<br /><br />Swiss Roll (adapted from Nick Malgieri's Perfect Light Desserts)<br />4 large eggs, seperated<br />3/4 cup sugar divided (I would cut it down to 1/2 maybe)<br />2 tsp vanilla extract<br />pinch of salt<br />1 cup (less 1 tbsp) rice flour<br />1 tbsp corn flour (from corn)<br />1/2 tsp baking powder<br /><br />1 cup all-fruit spread, warmed<br />icing sugar, for dusting<br /><br />1) Heat oven to 170 degrees celcius<br />2) Whisk the yolks with half the sugar and vanilla. Whisk for about 1 minute or more until mixture is pale and aerated (ribbon stage)<br />3) Combine the egg whites and salt in another bowl and whip until they are white, opaque and just beginning to hold their shape. Add remaining sugar in a stream, while whipping, until they hold a firm peak.<br />4) Fold the yolk mixture into the egg whites<br />5) Stir the flours and baking powder together and sift 1/3 over the egg mixtures, carefully folding in. Repeat with each remaining third of the flour mixture.<br />6) Scrape batter into prepared pan (I used the baking tray that comes with the oven, sprayed with cooking spray and lined with sprayed foil/parchment). Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until wellrisen<br />7) Turn cake layer out on a clean tea towel, sprinkled with icing sugar. Carefully roll up loosely and let it semi-cool in that shape. Slowly unroll and let cool completely, before spreading the warmed jam and slowly rolling it back. =)<br />8) Sprinkle with icing sugar and eat!<br />9) happyhappy in your tummy!Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12479950154835490534noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2698264109752768782.post-80889266833155721202008-03-26T05:19:00.000-07:002008-12-11T13:19:39.521-08:00Jam and Rolls<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jGxjtJxLI6w/R-o_2v18azI/AAAAAAAAANw/UKI932WoGA8/s1600-h/P3230119.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jGxjtJxLI6w/R-o_2v18azI/AAAAAAAAANw/UKI932WoGA8/s320/P3230119.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5182024531031386930" border="0" /></a>You know why I love Borders? Because every once in awhile they do something great...like give out 40% off one full-price book vouchers. And as long as you keep printing them, you keep getting them. HOW WONDERFUL!<br /><br />But seeing that I had bought 2 books 2 weeks ago, I only had reason to buy one-really. And with the looming shift to the new house approaching, I really didn't want to pack an extra book. Trust me, if you had this much stuff, you'd understand too. =) So I bought Nick Malgieri's Perfect Light Desserts and ohboy ohboy am I excited!!! I felt like something jam filled. So duh, Jam Swissroll? I used the swissroll recipe from the book, but made it gluten free by using 1 cup rice flour + 1 tbsp cornstarch as a substitute. Worked like a charm though the rolling bit was a little tough. Yummy nonetheless! A little too sugary for me, so I might cut down on the sugar in the sponge. However this time I just made a tangy sour lemon icing (juice of 1/2 lemon + 3 tbsp icing sugar) to cut the sweetness. And just because it's pretty, I HAD to sprinkle that icing sugar on top. WHOOPEE! =) I would really love to type the recipe here but I'm killing myself thinking about a deadline. So off I go... sorry guys! =)Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12479950154835490534noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2698264109752768782.post-33574925940611660782008-03-17T19:08:00.000-07:002008-12-11T13:19:39.735-08:00All toasty inside<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jGxjtJxLI6w/R98pqRMsgsI/AAAAAAAAANo/SXQ03JjP2Wc/s1600-h/P3180089.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jGxjtJxLI6w/R98pqRMsgsI/AAAAAAAAANo/SXQ03JjP2Wc/s320/P3180089.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5178903902647255746" border="0" /></a><br />I love bread. I love bread with sugar and a generous sprinkling of raw sugar crystals. I love bread with jams boasting giant sized fruit pieces. I love bread with nutella <span style="font-style: italic;">and</span> peanut butter together. I love bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I love bread smothered with baked beans and a sunny side up, with the yolk still runny. YUP! I love all of it. ALL OF IT.<br /><br />But then I became gluten free (mostly) and bye-bye bread. No more bread basket, no more buns filled with custard, no more no more no more.<br /><br />BUT THEN! A whole plethora of creative people became gluten free too. So they solved this major problem. and HELLO BREAD!!!<br /><br />I tried out this recipe from <a href="http://www.recipezaar.com/42322">recipezaar</a>, apparently it was taken from Roben Ryberg. Somehow it didn't work out for me. I didn't have the potato starch so I substituted it with sweet rice flour and tapioca starch. My mixture looked like pancake batter, goopy. So I figured why not, and I added a whole other bunch of things like cornmeal (polenta) and besan flour. Mix mix mix. Then I forgot the xantham gum. And I was kinda in a i really don't care kinda mood so I shoved it into the oven to bake and WHOAAAA it rose and rose. haha, it was pretty funny. Like the batter was creeping out of the muffin holes and kissing each other. heh. They stopped short of the edge of the pan and that's all I ask for, really.<br /><br />And it was yummy. Oh boy oh boy oh boy. YUMMY. =) I had them fresh yesterday with tuna and avocado. But as with all/most gluten free baked stuff, they taste better warmed up the day. So I cut one into half, toasted it and had it with my fig & vanilla jam on one half. And tuna on the other. I think I might've had one bite with both jam and tuna but you didn't need to know that. =)<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Ingredients:<br />2 tbsp olive oil<br />2 tbsp honey<br />2 eggs<br />1 packet dry yeast<br />1/2 cup water<br />1/4 c sweet rice flour<br />1/4c tapioca flour<br />1 cup cornstarch<br />1/2 tsp baking soda<br />1 tbsp baking powder<br />dash of salt<br />3/4 tsp apple cider vinegar (any will do)<br />1/4 cup besan flour<br />1/4 cup cornmeal (polenta)<br /><br />1) Preheat oven to 175 degrees fanforced<br />2) Mix all ingredients together.<br />3) Pour into well-oiled muffin tin (1/2 full) and bake for 10 minutes, check if cooked, if not bake further. Sorry I wasn't paying too close attention to the time. =)<br /></div><br />They look kinda like crumpets once you slice them open. yummers.Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12479950154835490534noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2698264109752768782.post-77147744048856988292008-03-11T03:59:00.000-07:002008-03-11T04:16:30.514-07:00Bad DayYou know those days, you wake up and you instantly know you're just not quite ready to meet the world. Yeah, kinda like today. Looking for apartments to rent is killing my brain and everytime I make that phone call to enquire, I'm pretty sure the property's already been leased or it's a 12 month lease only (just when I needed 6). So what do you do? You thank god that at least the muffins turned out right. And you fool yourself by saying that they're packed chock full of fibre and other good stuff. And that they're actually not too bad. So now I can admit, I've had 8 of these things since 12noon.<br /><br />I know. Don't judge me, I've had a bad day. Ending with a mighty headache.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Morning Glory Muffins</span> (makes 13-15) adapted from <a href="http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/bread/muffin_morningglory-gf.html">here</a><br />(Gluten Free and Vegan)<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Whisk Together:<br /></span></span></span>1 tub (reg. serving) vanilla soy yoghurt<br />2 tbsp soy milk<br />2 tbsp flaxseed meal mixed in 1/4 cup water<br />1/2 cup veg oil<br />2 tbsp honey<br />2 tbsp maple syrup<br />1/3 cup sugar<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Add In:</span><br />3/4 quinoa flour<br />1/4 cup almond meal<br />1 generous tbsp rice flour<br />1/2 cup corn flour<br />1/2 cup potato starch<br />2 tsp baking soda<br />2 tsp cinnamon<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Finally, Mix In:</span><br />1 cup grated carrot<br />1 1/3 cup grated courgette<br />1/4 cup dessicated coconut<br />1/4 cup sun dried muscatels/raisins<br />1/4 cup crushed pecans/walnuts<br /><br />Stir until well blended and spoon into muffin tins. Bake for 15 minutes then check for doneness. I can't remember how long mine took so check at 15 mins and estimate from there. Frost after they have cooled.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">To Frost, Mix:</span><br />1/4 cup vanilla soy yoghurt<br />1 tbsp honey<br /><br />Bad day = lazy = no photos. Sorry guys. But trust me on this, I love these muffins. I'm off to get my eighth.Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12479950154835490534noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2698264109752768782.post-59264408774027801742008-03-04T04:52:00.000-08:002008-12-11T13:19:39.950-08:00(Almost) Raw Chocolate Tartlet<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jGxjtJxLI6w/R83UUca5lwI/AAAAAAAAANg/R6ZL9PRl1jI/s1600-h/P3040070.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jGxjtJxLI6w/R83UUca5lwI/AAAAAAAAANg/R6ZL9PRl1jI/s320/P3040070.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5174024994610059010" border="0" /></a>I've been been fascinated with the different types of diets people adopt. There's the vegetarian diet, vegan diet and now, the raw diet. It's not something new and it basically revolves around the idea that food heated above 116 degrees Fahrenheit destroys the beneficial enzymes present in our food. The diet is vegan but brought to the next level. I know I'd probably never be able to live on raw food (despite it's yumminess) because I really do love my grandma's cooking, none of which, are raw. But nonetheless, it doesn't stop me from trying recipes from the wondrous pool of raw recipes out there. I was rummaging through Heidi's 101cookbooks and decided to use her raw <a href="http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/000179.html">peaches and cream pie</a> recipe, with a slight change.<br /><p class="MsoNormal"><br />I followed the pie crust recipe but had trouble with it turning as wet as I would've liked it to so I added 1.5 tbsp of water just to help reach the desired consistency. I left half of the nuts out of the food processor, while processing the rest with the water, then I added the rest in and just mixed it with a spoon so it wouldn't be too wet and still remain chunky.<br /><br />For the filling, I decided I really needed a chocolate hit and my peaches weren't in the best condition so I did this:<br /><br />In a food processor, place 1 cup cashews (soaked in water for 30 mins and drained), 1.5 tbsp honey, pinch of cinnamon, pinch of salt, 2.5 tbsp cocoa powder, juice of 1/4 lemon. Process for 2-3 mins. Add 1 teaspoonful of water and process again, continuing the adding of water until you get a paste like, spreadable consistency. My tartlet is ALMOST raw because I added choc soy milk instead. Use chocolate spread to fill tartlet shell/s.</p>And because I'm a greedy giant, I placed my tartlet in the freezer for 10 minutes before transferring it to the fridge. It held VERY well, much better than some of my gluten free tarts and was incredibly yummy although I would use a milder tasting honey or maybe maple syrup instead. I halved the recipe and got 2 bountiful tartlets. It serves about 4. =)<br /><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12479950154835490534noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2698264109752768782.post-83870208990644881722008-02-26T16:08:00.000-08:002008-12-11T13:19:40.293-08:00Diners, Pancakes & Lisa Loeb<div style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;"> Now she sits in a booth in a diner,<br />Waiting for someone to take her order,<br />Waiting for someone to come and sit down.<br />She rubs the smudge off the photograph, puts it back into her purse.<br />The grey sky was romatic cause he was holding her hand,<br />He was her man.<br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jGxjtJxLI6w/R8S2VDJPN9I/AAAAAAAAANY/zuo2IrSylIw/s1600-h/P2270060.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jGxjtJxLI6w/R8S2VDJPN9I/AAAAAAAAANY/zuo2IrSylIw/s320/P2270060.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5171458744865732562" border="0" /></a><br />I'm so bummed, I typed out this gorgeously long entry only to foolishly delete it. FUMBLING FINGERS! And, word from the street is that my boyfriend is out having dinner so he can't rush here in time to have icecream with me (it's NOT dairy-free but I promise I'll be ok). It is better to always have your own cuppa icecream but in this case, it's just too big a task for me to do and my tummy will agree (so will the thighs and hips and...) SO ANYWAY, let's talk about something good.<br /><br />Apart from the new job (hiphipHIPHOORAY!), I made pancakes for breakfast this morning. Somehow, when I spend my last few thoughts before i go to bed thinking really hard about something (in this case, PANCAKES), I wake up craving it. AND I MUST HAVE IT! So I did. =)<br /><br />I used GlutenFree Girl's recipe for <a href="http://glutenfreegirl.blogspot.com/2005/08/they-say-its-your-birthday_06.html">Blueberry-Polenta Pancakes</a> but I didn't have any blueberries so mine shall just be called Polenta Pancakes. They were yummy but I didn't realize that they would actually border on the salty side. Not that I minded it much since I was having a savoury treat craving and the awesome maple syrup & fresh cherries balanced it out. But for those who'd prefer a sweeter pancake, just follow her instructions and use 2 tbsp of sugar (I only used 1 tsp). Also, I was unsure whether the gluten free flour called for in the recipe was for a mix or just any flour so, I made up a quick mix. =)<br /><br />Also, because pancakes remind me of diners and jukeboxes, waitresses in pink striped uniforms and plump chefs with greasy sausages, I thought of the song Falling In Love by Lisa Loeb, that's where the lyrics from the top of the entry came from (fear not, I am not heartbroken) sooo I think I'll enter this entry into <a href="http://ellysaysopa.vox.com/library/post/eat-to-the-beat.html">Eat to the Beat!</a> hosted by <a href="http://ellysaysopa.vox.com/">Elly Says Opa!</a>. All entries have to feature a dish that is inspired by a song/artiste/album. So here's my contribution. Pancakes & Diners<br /><br />Polenta Pancakes<br />2 tbsp rice flour<br />1 tbsp potato starch flour<br />1 tbsp cornflour<br />1/2 cup cornmeal<br />1 tsp baking soda<br />1/4 tsp xantham gum<br />1 tsp cinnamon<br />1 tbsp flax meal<br />2 eggs, whisked<br />1 cup soy milk + 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar to sour, let sit for 10 minutes<br />1 tbsp veg oil<br /><br />1) Mix all dry ingredients together<br />2) Whisk soured milk & oil into eggs<br />3) Add dry ingredients into wet ingredients and mix to just combine<br />4) Oil a skillet and drop batter by 1/3 cupfuls, cook until bubbles appear on the surface or until desired brown-ness<br />5) Serve with real maple syrup and whatever else that floats your boat (ICECREAM!!!)<br /></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jGxjtJxLI6w/R8S19zJPN8I/AAAAAAAAANQ/kXolzQGmkUM/s1600-h/P2270057.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jGxjtJxLI6w/R8S19zJPN8I/AAAAAAAAANQ/kXolzQGmkUM/s320/P2270057.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5171458345433774018" border="0" /></a>Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12479950154835490534noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2698264109752768782.post-16118092688774447112008-02-25T03:40:00.000-08:002008-12-11T13:19:40.788-08:00like, OH WOW!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jGxjtJxLI6w/R8Ks0TJPN7I/AAAAAAAAANI/EAvtqC6DfN4/s1600-h/P2250046.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jGxjtJxLI6w/R8Ks0TJPN7I/AAAAAAAAANI/EAvtqC6DfN4/s320/P2250046.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5170885336666945458" border="0" /></a><br />HELLO! I have finally returned. I have a thousand excuses as to why I've been missing but I think I'll pick the best few I could come up with.<br />1) I've been busy travelling to Singapore, Hong Kong and Dubai<br />2) I've been too busy eating and since my mouth works so fast, the food gets devoured before I can take photos of them<br />3) I have been quite lazy.<br /><br />Yeah, I think I'll settle for that. Laziness, the disease many of us suffer from. Fortunately though, the other wonderful bloggers have no such illness so the rest of us are lucky, because we'll always have something yummy to read about. =)<br /><br />But I am back. And i will blog often, or at least make a big effort to. =) So how has everyone been? Today I officially baked the first sweet treat since my return to Melbourne. Gluten free sugar cookies. I got the original recipe from <a href="http://glutenfree.wordpress.com/2007/12/13/gf-christmas-roll-out-cookies/">here</a> but I had no shortening or baking powder or gluten free flour mix. And i was too lazy to pre-mix the flour blend so I changed the recipe almost entirely. and I'm glad to report that this is probably the first gluten free sugar cookie that I actually like. I used expeller pressed coconut oil and normal veg oil to substitute the shortening. Replaced sugar with half icing sugar and half raw vanilla sugar (for crunch and coz I had no other sugar). I also added 1/2 tsp of xantham gum and 1 tsp lemon juice for added 'flair'.<br /><br />I don't know how it'll settle tomorrow since alot of cookies are so promising when they first step out of the oven but then loses all their sparkle after sitting around for abit. I used my new cookie cutter that I got from the Harvest Picnic at Hanging Rock yesterday. It was really eye opening, bought some gluten free plum pudding (since Easter is coming) and this amazingamazingamazing peach and vanilla chutney thing. Ohgosh it's absolutely stunning, with notes of apple and thick luscious syrup just dripping off the edges of the chunks of peach.<br /><br />Here's Spot trying to get friendly with the cookie! Spot fits snugly in the middle of my palm, so you can pretty much imagine how darn big the cookie is. I realized we didn't have a container big enough for the cookie so I had to snap it in two before packing it away. Least I got a photo of it.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jGxjtJxLI6w/R8KsMTJPN6I/AAAAAAAAANA/-QD__s0CUv8/s1600-h/P2250045.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jGxjtJxLI6w/R8KsMTJPN6I/AAAAAAAAANA/-QD__s0CUv8/s320/P2250045.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5170884649472178082" border="0" /></a>Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12479950154835490534noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2698264109752768782.post-69340766175014591132007-10-24T06:13:00.000-07:002008-12-11T13:19:41.046-08:00Needin' some Puddin'<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jGxjtJxLI6w/Rx9IBeEIuYI/AAAAAAAAAMw/X0pqB-euoJQ/s1600-h/PA240285.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jGxjtJxLI6w/Rx9IBeEIuYI/AAAAAAAAAMw/X0pqB-euoJQ/s320/PA240285.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5124894091058395522" border="0" /></a><br />I could re-tell the story for the...tenth time, about the horrible start of the day but it's allright. I think the previous nine times sufficed. 'Nuff with the whining, on with the pudding.<br /><br />I'm a religious reader of Delicious. I read it every month without fail and will proudly announce that it is the best food magazine I've come across. *YAY!*. This month just made their status skyrocket when they rocked up to the newsagent's shelves with a gluten-free special (and the awesome <a href="http://winterskieskitchenaglow.blogspot.com/">Shaun</a> wrote me a note just in case I missed it). So I flip through it every other morning over breakfast, dog-earring the pages holding recipes I just <span style="font-style: italic;">have</span> to try. I usually don't end up trying them because when I have a craving I forget...forget to look through my stash of mags. Luckily this time I remembered! CHOCOLATE SELF-SAUCING PUDDING. Exactly what a girl needs when shes down with somesort of sickness, feeling slightly ghostly and neck high in assignments. oh and plus, she doesn't know what to dress up as for Halloween.<br /><br />Pirate, anyone?<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Chocolate Self-saucing Pudding by Sue Shepard from October 2007 Delicious Magazine<br />(This is the half the recipe) serves, 3-4<br /><br />45g fine rice flour (from Asian Grocers)<br />1.5 tbsp soy flour<br />1.5 tbsp g.f.cornflour<br />1/2 tsp bicarb soda<br />1 tsp g.f. baking powder<br />1/2 tsp xantham gum (optional)<br />70g caster sugar<br />1/4 cup cocoa powder<br /><br />1) Triple sift the ingredients in a bowl<br /><br />95ml soy milk<br />1 tsp vanilla<br />1 egg, lightly beaten<br />2 tbsp olive oil<br /><br />1) Mix all together in a bowl and pour into the flour mixture<br />2) Pour mixture into a 3 cup capacity baking dish<br />3) If it is too shallow it might overflow<br /><br />215 ml hot water<br />70g brown sugar<br />2 tbsp cocoa powder<br /><br />1) Mix altogether<br />2)Pour over the chocolate cake mixture, do not mix!<br />3)Bake at 180 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until a crisp spongy top develops (I baked mine until the fudge sauce started bubbling over the edge of the pan...think I overfilled)<br /></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jGxjtJxLI6w/Rx9Kg-EIuZI/AAAAAAAAAM4/ZCopi0ToJV8/s1600-h/PA240267.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jGxjtJxLI6w/Rx9Kg-EIuZI/AAAAAAAAAM4/ZCopi0ToJV8/s320/PA240267.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5124896831247530386" border="0" /></a>Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12479950154835490534noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2698264109752768782.post-76792663897507697452007-10-12T00:53:00.000-07:002008-12-11T13:19:41.264-08:00Waiter There's Something In My...Lemon Curd Cake (Glutenfree & DairyFree)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jGxjtJxLI6w/RxH5xuEIuXI/AAAAAAAAAMo/XStdY0Xk8pM/s1600-h/PA120236.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jGxjtJxLI6w/RxH5xuEIuXI/AAAAAAAAAMo/XStdY0Xk8pM/s320/PA120236.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5121148883871250802" border="0" /></a>I like lemons. My first lemon meringue pie experience was at Darling Harbor in Sydney. I was there on a trip with the mother, the father and the sisters. I don't remember quite how old I was, but I think I had fully developed my set of sweet teeth and greedy eyes. The greedy eyes saw the many beautiful cakes all lined up neatly in the glass window. Never seen cakes quite that tall before, I stood there, absolutely still, hoping the parents would get the message. Me Want Cake. I don't think I had even seen meringue before, I probably e made didn't even know how to pronounce it really. FUNNY.<br /><br />So I asked for that one, I pointed and insisted. And I got it. You'd think I'd sink into glorious heaven and announce that I had found a replacement for chocolate. Nah. The crust was really thick and the meringue was just, too much of a good thing. Couldn't they have made the crust a little thinner, a little more delicate and the meringue just enough to allow the lemon curd to shine through just a little bit more? Overload-in a bad way. But hey, for what it's worth, it was a pretty cool first lemon meringue pie to have, it was THAT tall!<br /><br />So back to me loving lemons, I went completely nuts at the market the other day and bought 10 lemons for 2bucks. So you know, I had to use them up, soon. So when '<a href="http://www.spittoonextra.biz/waiter_theres_something_in_my_10.html">Waiter, there's something in my ... layered cake' </a>was announced, I thought I might do something lemony. I've been feeling all sorts of fruity lately. I was adament on using my new gluten-free cookbook 'Gluten-Free Baking' by Rebecca Reilly so I decided on a simple sponge cake and a lemon curd recipe I scrounged from Cooking Light. I'm fussy, I don't like recipes with fat or too many eggs or this or that. So this combination was light AND tasted rich and beautiful, like a lighter lemon cheesecake. But oh so good. I'm not being biased-REALLY!!! It's not a fancy schmancy cake, guess you could always dress it up with strawberries and kiwi. Maybe you could add some matcha powder into the sifted flour for a green tea sponge and layer it with a dark chocolate + ginger ganache. That was my second plan if I didn't have enough eggs. Luckily I had 5, so I halved the lemon curd recipe. It was just right.<br /><br />Sponge Cake from Gluten-free Baking by Rebecca Reilly (pg 106)<br /><br />4 eggs, seperated<br />1 cup sugar (I think 3/4 cup will suffice)<br />1.5 tsp g.f. vanilla<br />2 tbsp plus 1/4 tsp lemon juice<br />pinch of salt<br />1 cup rice flour<br /><br />Preheat the oven to 325degrees (160 C). Lightly grease 2 8-inch cake pans or jelly roll pan<br /><br />Ribbon the egg yolks and sugar until pale yellow (it will look kinda grainy-ish, just ribbon until a thick uniform thread forms on the surface of the mixture, when whisk is lifted). Add the vanilla and 2 tbsp of lemon juice.<br /><br />Whip the egg whites with the salt and 1/4 tsp lemon juice until soft peaks form. Gently fold in 1/4 of egg whites into the ribboned base. Slide the remaining egg whites on top and sift the flour over. Fold in until homogenous.<br /><br />Gently spoon the batter into the prepared pan. Tap the bottom of the pans once to remove any air pockets. Bake the cake layers for 20-25 minutes, 12-15 for the jelly roll.<br /><br />If making the cake layers, invert onto a cooling rack. If making jelly roll, invert onto a tea towel dusted with icing sugar, trim edges and roll up lengthwise. When completely cooled, unroll, fill and decorate.<br /><br />Lemon Curd recipe from <a href="http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=524037#">here.</a><br />I made half the recipe, yummers! I could've just eaten it with a spoon. =)Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12479950154835490534noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2698264109752768782.post-9794397195400153402007-10-09T21:10:00.000-07:002007-10-09T21:29:05.509-07:00Sometimes you just need butterSorry for the previous terribly sad post. I promise I'm all sparkly again. Dedicating one day a week at least to baking sometimes I want to eat, I've decided that this week's should be the cashew recipe that I saw on CookieMadness a while back. It's been on my mind for awhile-I mean anything that combines sweet and salty is a winner by me. It's sad how there isn't sweet popcorn here in Melbourne. The people here are definitely missing out, there's nothing better than ordering a bucket of popcorn and having it half sweet and half salty. The best part is rummaging through the layer of sweet to get to a salty popcorn cluster which gets you started on that sweet sugar trip all over again. CAN YOU SAY YUMMY? Too bad, they know not of such pleasures in life. =)<br /><br />BACK TO COOKIE...<br />It was from the Betty Crocker round up and while I don't have photos to show because mine are so unfortunately UGLY, you can head over <a href="http://www.cookiemadness.net/?p=869">here </a>to take a look. I halved the recipe and made it gluten free and omitted a whole lot of things because I'm such a freak when it comes to 'fat'. I suck the fun out of cookie eating don't I? I wish Anna would send some over so I could try it in all it's glorious yumminess. I like my version, don't really miss the chocolate or the pretzels I left out to make it G.F. I'm not sure but I think I shouldn't have added the baking soda, or maybe halved the already-halved amount because it became too light for me. It is definitely also due to the gluten free flour used. Sometimes I miss normal baking. And I didn't use butter either in an attempt to cut out diary. OHWELLS. here's my version.<br /><br />1.5 cups raw/dry roasted cashews<br />2 tbsp white sugar<br />1 tbsp egg white<br />2 tsp salt<br />>The method is all on Anna's blog.<br /><br />1 cup white rice flour<br />1/4 cup tapioca starch<br />1/4 potato starch<br />2 tbsp almond meal<br />1 tsp baking soda (I might try 1/2 tsp)<br />1/2 tsp xanthan gum<br /><br />>Sift all together, set aside<br /><br />4 tbsp expeller pressed virgin coconut oil, softened<br />4 tbsp natural peanut butter<br />3/4 cup white sugar<br />1 tsp vanilla<br />1.5 eggs<br /><br />75g dark chocolate, chopped<br /><br />>Cream the coconut oil, peanut butter and sugar together, until veryvery well combined<br />>Add in the eggs and vanilla<br />>Mix in the dry ingredients with a very sturdy spoon, drop by rounded tbsp on a cookie sheet. This part is VERY tricky, because the batter is VERY STICKY. But it puffs up well, and doesn't spread much.Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12479950154835490534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2698264109752768782.post-33621743556263433512007-10-06T22:00:00.000-07:002007-10-06T22:05:51.149-07:00<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">it matters, only when</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">you think too much</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">too little about what you have</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">too much about what you don't</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">otherwise, it doesn't.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">because it doesn't bother them</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">and you're all alone if</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">you do. So it doesn't</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">and then i'll never be alone.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">besides. I have everyone else.</span><br /></div><br />I might bake later on, because right now I suddenly lost all inspiration. Silly me.Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12479950154835490534noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2698264109752768782.post-34169324496877229282007-10-05T17:46:00.000-07:002008-12-11T13:19:41.460-08:00Sugar High Friday: Drunken Apples<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jGxjtJxLI6w/RwbgwOEIuWI/AAAAAAAAAMg/CM4f5NdN5gU/s1600-h/PA060211.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jGxjtJxLI6w/RwbgwOEIuWI/AAAAAAAAAMg/CM4f5NdN5gU/s320/PA060211.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5118025145566935394" border="0" /></a><br />I hardly drink alcohol and what I've got lying around does not directly belong to me. Let's see...I've got Kahlua but it's my sisters (yet I use it) and I've got Vodka, the remnants from a girls night in some 4 months ago? And it's still sitting there, in all it's half-drunk glory, untouched since then. So when <a href="http://www.spittoonextra.biz/sugar_high_friday_drunken_appl.html">this</a> SHF rolled around, I was practically spoilt for choice. Vodka or Kahlua? =P And I wasn't about o go out and buy more alcohol only to use 1/2 cup at most and leave the rest of it sitting on top of the fridge. There's a war going on there-and right now the cereal boxes are winning. 4:1.<br /><br />So I typed in 'vodka + apples' and did a little google search for possible inspirations. All I got was apple flavoured vodka, not much luck there. Sat around and thought about buying some other form of alcohol, cointreau maybe, or maybe a little wine but decided against it when I chanced upon Smitten Kitchen's <a href="http://smittenkitchen.com/2006/12/new-years-day-2001">Boozy Baked French Toast</a>. I could work with that!<br /><br />I went to the market after uni and got me some apples and craisins. Got home, took my gluten free bread out of the freezer and warmed it up on the jaffle maker. Ever notice how bread never turns crispy in there, only the edges, while keeping the middles moist and squidgy? Might be because of the steam created by the icy bits on the frozen bread, which is a good thing for this sorta 'lazy-i-just-cant-be-bothered-leaving-my-bread-to-thaw-slowly' things. So I decided to halve the recipe, used 2 eggs instead of said 1.5 and hid apple slices & craisins between the bread layers. Left it in the fridge overnight and this morning I had a no-effort-sweet-as brekkie. YUMS! I don't know if I'm drunk yet, but I think you could definitely add more Kahlua (3 tbsps maybe?)<br /><br />The french toast bordered on the line of bread-and-butter pudding but a lot alot ALOT less fat and alot less sweet, which is why I suggest maple syrup or maybe a kahlua syrup? I tried but failed, luckily I didn't need it too sweet. I reckon gluten free bread soaks up alot more liquid so if you were using normal bread I suggest you stick to Smitten Kitchen's quantity of ingredients. Otherwise, It's really yummy. =)<br /><br />Baked Drunken Apple French Toast (adapted from Smitten Kitchen)<br /><br />Ingredients:<br />6 slices gluten free bread<br />2 eggs<br />2 small apples, sliced thinly (I used Sundowner, just because.)<br />handful of Craisins<br />1 tsp cinnamon<br />1.5 cups fat-free soy milk (that's all I had on hand)<br />2 tbsp raw sugar + 3 tbsp extra<br />3 tbsp Kahlua<br /><br />Pyrex Loaf pan<br /><br />1) Whisk the eggs, sugar, milk, kahlua and cinnamon together<br />2) Line 2 slices of bread in the pan, and slice another up to fill in the gaps<br />3) Place the sliced apples onto the bread and sprinkle with craisins, top with one tbsp of sugar<br />4) Top with remaining bread and pour egg/milk mixture over<br />5) Let sit for 3 hours or overnight in the fridge. Sprinkle remaining sugar over the top before baking<br />6) Bake at 190 degrees for 25 minutes and drizzle with maple syrup if desired. YUMMERS!Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12479950154835490534noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2698264109752768782.post-14391912728940448222007-10-02T20:45:00.000-07:002008-12-11T13:19:42.683-08:00Fresh Strawberry Tart<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jGxjtJxLI6w/RwMUe-EIuTI/AAAAAAAAAMI/GAff6GdEqXo/s1600-h/tart_1.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jGxjtJxLI6w/RwMUe-EIuTI/AAAAAAAAAMI/GAff6GdEqXo/s320/tart_1.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5116956123911993650" border="0" /></a><br />I did it, after whining all week about how I missed baking non-fat-reduced treats and delicious traybakes and whatnots, I decided-I love baking too much to care. Seriously, all this no fat this and less fat that and I will get fat things are sucking the fun out of EVERYTHING! And nothing makes me happier really, except a good shopping spree oh and <span style="font-weight: bold;">going home. </span><br /><br />On another happyhappy note, I got my birthday present (albeit 2 months late) from the girls! 'Breakfast, Lunch, Tea- Rose Bakery' by Rose Carrarini. The book is a striking green with the title in bold right down the middle. No extra fancy schmancy photo or 'melted chocolate dripping down the side of the jar' shot. Just green and black. =) I love the book so much I hugged it to sleep in lecture (SHHH...the video was boring). I was ever so inclined towards this book because it was all about my three favourite meals-breakfast, lunch and tea! No dinner for me, dinner is my least favourite meal-I have issues with it, don't get me started. =) It just goes along the lines of the fact that I really dislike going to bed with a full stomach, makes me feel...<span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">heavy</span>.<br /><br />Back to the tart, I was inspired by the many blogs I have been drooling over and decided that I should bake one myself. I used to have problems with pastry and what's more, this was gluten-free, which made it alot more daunting. Ariana Bundy's book made it simple though and I felt composed and confident which probably helped. Most things go wrong when you're running around the kitchen for ingredients like a headless chicken.<br /><br />I adapted the recipe a little and instead of using <span style="font-weight: bold;">1/3 cup of margarine, I used 2 tablespoons of Melrose spread, left in the freezer for 10 minutes to harden a little, and 3 tablespoons of expeller pressed coconut oil (from the fridge so it was hard) and blended all the ingredients in a food processor. The flour mix I used was 1 cup white rice flour, 1/8 cup tapioca starch and 1/8 cup potato starch.<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jGxjtJxLI6w/RwMVBuEIuUI/AAAAAAAAAMQ/Md2_YEO5fR8/s1600-h/tart_2.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jGxjtJxLI6w/RwMVBuEIuUI/AAAAAAAAAMQ/Md2_YEO5fR8/s320/tart_2.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5116956720912447810" border="0" /></a><br />The strawberries I got were from Driscolis and being the end of the strawberry season, the strawberries weren't very strawberry-y or sweet but they were big and so I just added a little more glaze to sweeten it up. The crust was pretty good, obviously lacking that rich buttery taste but I'm sure it can be fixed with a butter flavouring (?). It was flaky which could possibly be due to how I rolled it. I rolled it out then folded it in and re-rolled. It was pretty sturdy and didn't crumble too much. OVERALL I say, I'm glad I changed my mind about baking. Else I would be a sad little person. =) Also, I'll be submitting this to <a href="http://sweetnicks.blogspot.com/">Sweetnick's ARF/ 5-a-day roundup</a> so head there to check it out on Tuesday!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jGxjtJxLI6w/RwMWGuEIuVI/AAAAAAAAAMY/Gq-QqWx6s_Y/s1600-h/tart_3.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jGxjtJxLI6w/RwMWGuEIuVI/AAAAAAAAAMY/Gq-QqWx6s_Y/s320/tart_3.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5116957906323421522" border="0" /></a>Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12479950154835490534noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2698264109752768782.post-52644392321838263382007-09-30T23:54:00.000-07:002008-12-11T13:19:42.896-08:00ITCHYITCHY<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jGxjtJxLI6w/RwCc8eEIuSI/AAAAAAAAAMA/9c6-CyIZxEc/s1600-h/P9290160.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jGxjtJxLI6w/RwCc8eEIuSI/AAAAAAAAAMA/9c6-CyIZxEc/s320/P9290160.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5116261739369380130" border="0" /></a><br />My sister got me my icecream maker for my birthday 2 months ago, and I made one batch of coconut icecream and left it packed on top of the refrigerator since. I feel terribly guilty. Problem is, I find using 5 egg yolks in my icecream slightly excessive and to be honest, a little scary. Needless to say I had been rummaging through countless vegan blogs hoping to find something dairy free and egg free. Might have been me being fussy but I didn't want a sorbet and other recipes I found asked for soy cream and fancy soy milk powders but I didn't know where to get them. Frustrated I declared- I GIVE UP!<br /><br />But you know there is a cookbook about practically everything out there now. A book all about fish, a book all about chocolate (no, make that MANY books all about chocolate) and whatnot and Vice Cream is probably the IT book I needed. =) Decided to just close my eyes and pick out a recipe, I ended up making a 'raw' strawberry ice cream and mmmmmmm, it's pretty darn good. Different from what I expected since there was no sugar that was used instead, pureed dates stood in as a sweetener. Needless to say the icecream tasted like dates and strawberries which somehow made the flavour deeper. The texture was somewhere in between an icecream and a sorbet. Next on my list is peanut butter with chocolate. Gotta be good huh.<br /><br />Here's the recipe (modified) from <span style="font-weight: bold;">Jeff Rogers' Vice Cream</span>, short sweet and simple.<br /><br />1 vanilla bean<br />1.5 cups almond milk (I used fat-free soy milk)<br />1 cup organic pitted dates<br />1.5 cup packed hulled organic strawberries<br /><br />1) Place the dates in boiling water to cover and let sit overnight (I chucked mine in the microwave for 4 minutes since I'm not fussed about being 'raw')<br />2) Remove the skins off the dates if you mind the specks in the final product, else leave it.<br />3) Blend the dates with the milk and the strawberries and vanilla seeds until silky smooth<br />4) Chill well before preparing according to ice-cream machine manufacturer's instructions.<br />5) Serve immediately or freeze and thaw 10 minutes before serving.Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12479950154835490534noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2698264109752768782.post-23606817259428169312007-09-25T17:42:00.000-07:002007-09-25T17:53:43.032-07:00stickydate weird puddingToday's the sort of day that you want to stay indoors- no going out for lunch, no going to get some groceries and definitely no going to the Melbourne Show. Luckily I've already done that on Monday so there, no dreadful 'i-wasted-a-good-day' feeling. =)<br /><br />I spent the better part of yesterday tossing ideas in my head. I had a baking itch and since I haven't baked for a week or more (I was in Sydney on a girls trip!), I felt slightly guilty I had been neglecting the oven. So was it going to be coconut macaroons or stickydate pudding (more like a cake if you ask me) and I went with the stickydate, just because I had been wanting to bake it for a while now and if you ask me, I much like baking things that take a wee bit more effort. Makes you feel all sorts of happy and contented, none of that 'whip it up in 10 minutes' for me. Besides, my theory is that if you wanna bake, do it properly. So i used<a href="http://womansday.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=277974"> this </a>gluten free recipe from Women's Day and was hoping for the best. I was attracted to it because it used such a wide variety of flours and I really wanted to try out the soy flour I had gotten awhile back.<br /><br />So after I got back from dinner (INDIAN!), I decided to do the first bit which was to cook the dates and water for 5 minutes then add the bicarb soda and let sit for 20. After i did that, I went to get DVDs (Tuesday night special at videoezy) and came home to do the rest. It looked good in the mixing bowl, looked good rising in the oven but taste wise, it was really off.<br /><br />I might blame it on the fact that I used Melrose instead of butter (I'm trying to be dairy free) or that I added cinnamon instead of nutmeg. Whatever it was, the texture was good, soft and sticky and today it remained moist even though I just left it sitting on the counter top. I don't know about this one...I suppose a large part of the problem MIGHT be that I didn't make the butterscotch toffee sauce to drench it in but hey, shouldn't a cake taste good on it's on without the added fancy schmancies? =( BUGGER. Now I feel like my baking itch hasn't been well satisfied. Oh well, I've got a few more days til school starts so til then, I'll think of something new to bake. =)Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12479950154835490534noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2698264109752768782.post-85626303344815683172007-09-04T23:56:00.000-07:002008-12-11T13:19:43.460-08:00Holy...<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jGxjtJxLI6w/Rt5UWBw5I4I/AAAAAAAAALo/LbxfMSSmO4M/s1600-h/DSC_0250.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jGxjtJxLI6w/Rt5UWBw5I4I/AAAAAAAAALo/LbxfMSSmO4M/s320/DSC_0250.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5106611764892083074" border="0" /></a><br />Holy! It's been a full month since I've blogged. I have good reason for missing out on the world-uni! Oh wells, I haven't stopped baking, if that's what you're wondering. I have just been everywhere at once, just not here =)<br /><br />Siew and I have embarked on our multimedia project for uni and we had huge plans for it. Started with using Director to make me a cake catalogue, then decided that we should do an aesthetic piece about food and friendship and we ended up with a interactive photo collage thingy. Don't ask. I'm confused myself. Good thing though, I got some nice photos out of it! =) Here's some...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jGxjtJxLI6w/Rt5U9Bw5I5I/AAAAAAAAALw/pNPV1994dpE/s1600-h/DSC_0262.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jGxjtJxLI6w/Rt5U9Bw5I5I/AAAAAAAAALw/pNPV1994dpE/s320/DSC_0262.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5106612434906981266" border="0" /></a> and more...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jGxjtJxLI6w/Rt5VsBw5I6I/AAAAAAAAAL4/4gewhdM6hFw/s1600-h/DSC_0357.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jGxjtJxLI6w/Rt5VsBw5I6I/AAAAAAAAAL4/4gewhdM6hFw/s320/DSC_0357.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5106613242360832930" border="0" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Allrighty, now it's back to working on my presentation! I promise I'll have more brownie photos up soon! =)<br /></div>Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12479950154835490534noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2698264109752768782.post-62678431177114203852007-08-06T17:34:00.000-07:002008-12-11T13:19:43.660-08:00A cookie that tastes like a cookie<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jGxjtJxLI6w/RrfCTzM4weI/AAAAAAAAALg/AJikuB0gj4w/s1600-h/P8060064.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jGxjtJxLI6w/RrfCTzM4weI/AAAAAAAAALg/AJikuB0gj4w/s320/P8060064.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5095755148810568162" border="0" /></a><br />I know I haven't been updating much, much less talk about the liver detox which, by the way, I'm still trying to follow (whenever possible). Well I threw the detox to the wind last week seeing that it was my LAST *teen which calls for much mourning and therefore, the overload of sweets and salties and ahem, more sweets. The previous post has already addressed the first of my birthday collection of sweets: brownies! And with regards to the birthday cake, it's been made and devoured, and I couldn't find the time to take a photo. Too busy scarfing the lovely moist orange almond cake.<br /><br />Orange almond cake seems to be th favourite choice for flourless or gluten-free cakes. Everytime I see a gluten-free cake at a cafe or restaurant chances are it's an orange almond cake. Don't get me wrong, i LOVE orange and almond, put them together and you've got me hooked and so when I baked this orange almond cake from Sweet Alternative by Ariana Bundy, I half expected it to be the same dense, dense cake, similiar to the one I had at Cafe Trevi on Lygon street. Somehow it was a whole heap lighter and I'm guessing the Cafe Trevi one, as with the other flourless orange almond cakes around town, are made by creaming butter and sugar, while mine had no butter or oil but tasted more like heaven than anything else really. Reminds me of the orange cake made at The Raffles Hotel which was sensational (coz i got to pick at some while working there) and the method was the same. Immerse an orange in boiling water and simmer for 2 hours, puree and use. =) MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM. But let's move onto cookies now.<br /><br />Baked my birthday cookies yesterday, added a whole ton of chocolate chunks and chips and walnuts and I'm all smiles. Recipe was adapted from <a href="http://www.cookiemadness.net/cgi-sys/cgiwrap/ginsberg/managed-mt/mt-tb.cgi/817">here</a> because I needed a cookie that didn't use butter (because I have none and butter makes me feel guilty). I thought to myself that if I didn't use butter, I could add more chocolate and feel less bad. =) The cookies were good, but somehow they puffed up too much, despite me flattening them before baking so I had to flatten them once more while they were in the oven and it created a cool marbled effect from the melted chocolate chunks I added in, but somehow they were still a little too light for my liking. I think I'll add in 1/4 cup almond meal next time and remove the baking powder from the mixture. The recipe isn't vegan anymore because I had to add an egg to bind the ingredients as gluten-free mixtures are usually stickier than wheat flour ones. But I loved the taste and they're a whole heap better than many gluten free cookies I've had so here's the recipe that I used, with my adaptations.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">chocolate chunka heaven cookies<br /><br />1 very generous cup rice flour<br />3 tbsp tapioca starch flour<br />1/2 tsp xantham gum<br />1 tsp baking powder<br />1/2 tsp baking soda<br />4 tbsp white sugar<br />1/2 tsp salt<br />1/4 cup oil<br />1/3 cup maple syrup<br />1 egg<br />3 tbsp water (or so)<br />1 tsp vanilla extract<br />75 g walnuts, chopped<br />150g dairy-free dark chocolate (or any you prefer), chopped<br /><br />1) Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius<br />2) Sift flours, xantham gum, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar together<br />3) Whisk egg, oil, maple syrup, vanilla extract together in a seperate bowl<br />4) Add liquid mixture into the flour mixture and stir to combine, adding 1-2 tbsp of water<br /> if mixture is too sticky<br />5) Stir in nuts and chocolate until well mixed, again, adding 1 tbsp water is needed<br />6) Drop by huge tablespoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet and flatten<br />7) Bake for 8 minutes or until puffy, then using the back of a spoon, flatten the cookies a little<br />8) Bake until brown (5 more minutes)<br />9) Cool completely or eat it while it's warm<br />10) Makes 20 kinda giant chocolate chunka heaven cookies</div>Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12479950154835490534noreply@blogger.com1