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My family kitchen has upgraded to a brand new website. All the old recipes are over there as well. So head on over and check it out. I'd love to see you there! 

The website address is: myfamilykitchen.net

Coconut Meal Biscuits

Just a quick one, as I realised I have a few recipes sitting patiently waiting to go up on the blog. This was one of my husband's favourites so far. Its a very simple flavour but also very very moreish! 

4 oz butter (120g)

¾ cup sugar

1 cup plain flour

1 level teaspoon cream of tartar

1 ½ teaspoon soda (bi-carb)

1 cup coconut

1 cup, oatmeal

1 dessertspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon golden syrup

1 egg

Cream butter and sugar. Add vanilla, golden syrup and egg. Mix well, then add dry ingredients. Put teaspoons on tray and bake in moderate oven (180 degrees C) until browned on top. 

Printable Recipe

Milk Arrowroot Biscuit Slice

I've spoken before about Grandma having incomplete recipes in her cookbook, but I think this recipe takes the cake so far in terms of just how little information is given.

The recipe in the book was just a list of ingedients (below), and didn't even include the ingredient thats in the title!

40g Butter

2 tablespoons syrup

1 tin condensed milk

Topping:

White chocolate

2 tablespoons copha

The only thing I could think to do in order to make a slice out of these was to crush the milk arrowroot bikkies and add that to the butter, syrup and condensed milk. 1 packet of biscuits added to the other ingredients made a mixture that held together, however, even after chilling for quite some time it was still far too sticky to be picked up. I ended up solving this by making a cheesecake base by crushing another half a packet of arrowroot biscuits and mixing the crumbs with melted butter. This worked well and I then just melted chocolate with the copha and added it to the top of the slice. 

The end result is really quite yummy (and really sweet!) but I have no idea whether it is actually anywhere close to what Grandma actually would have made. 

The recipe below is what I did in order to make this slice (with a couple of modifications).

Base:

70g Butter (melted)

1/2 packet of crushed milk arrowroot biscuits

Filling:

2 tablespoons syrup

1 tin condensed milk

1 packet crushed milk arrowroot biscuits

Topping:

220g White chocolate

2 tablespoons copha

Mix melted butter and crushed biscuits and press into lined slice tray. Chill until set. 

Mix syrup, condensed milk and crushed biscuits and spread of base. Chill until set.

Melt chocolate and copha, spead over slice and chill until set. 

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Scones

I finally worked up the courage to attempt scones. I'm not sure exactly why scones scared me so much. Maybe it was that I know that if you aren't careful they can come out quite heavy and tough. It is also a little intimidating trying to replicate Grandma's number one dish (well as far as I'm concerned!). However I shouldn't have been worried as it turns out that they are easy to make!

Sift 2 cups S.R. Flour and pinch of salt into a basin. Melt 1 tablespoon of butter or margarine. Beat one egg, pour into cup with melted butter then fill up with milk and pour all into flour all at once. Stir with a fork or knife. Press out and cut with a floured knife. Bake 10 minutes in a hot oven.

If liked sweet, add 1 tablespoon sugar.

Brush over with milk before putting in oven. 

Printable Recipe

The trick with these is to handle them as little as possible. There is no need to knead them at all, you just want to bring the mixture together in the bowl. 

Walnut Slice

I was typing this recipe up on the weekend and was struggling to decipher Grandma's writing on the really old paper but thought I could make out the word streusel. I had never heard of streusel before! Strudel sure, but not streusel. However wikipedia informs me that streusel is a crumb topping for cakes, breads and slices of German origin that is made from butter, flour and sugar and with nuts and spices sometimes added. Of course, it makes sense that this would be in Grandma's recipes given that both her and Grandad's heritage is German. Hopefully I will come across more recipes with such heritage along the way.

2 ozs (60g) butter, ½ teaspoon vanilla, ½ cup sugar, 1 egg, ¼ cup milk, 1 cup S.R. Flour

Cream butter and sugar, add egg and vanilla. Beat well, sift dry ingredients and add to mixture alternatively  with milk. Spoon into greased tin. Spread with streusel mixture. Bake moderate oven. Ice when cold with coffee icing.

Streusel mixture:

½ cup brown sugar, 1 pkt walnuts (I used 185g packet and this was pretty well right), 2 tablespoons plain flour or cornflour, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, 2 tablespoons melted butter, ¼ cup coconut. Mix all ingredients together.

Printable Recipe

I made a simple coffee icing just from icing mixture and an espresso shot. In the future I think I would just drizzle this icing over rather than putting a full layer as it overpowers the other flavours a bit and you also miss out on seeing the streusel effect. Chocolate icing would also be super yummy!

Chocolate Cookies

I'm a little behind on this blog at the moment. I've got quite a few recipes that I have made but just haven't had the time to write the blog posts up for them. Sorry! I will try and catch up.

I made these biscuits a couple weeks ago when I was planning to head away for work. They are super yummy and the good thing is that they travel quite well as they are a crunchy biscuit and they kept for well over a week in just an airtight container. I doubled the recipe to try and use a bit more of the condensed milk but I think you could actually get 3 batches out of a can. I've done a bit of research and it would appear that the raw dough is suitable to be frozen and used later, so that would be a great option to use all the condensed milk but not end up with a huge pile of biscuits.

¼ lb butter (115 grams)

2 ozs castor sugar (60 grams)

6 ozs S.R Flour (180 grams)

3 tablespoons condensed milk

1 heaped dessertspoon cocoa

Cream butter and sugar. Add cocoa, condensed milk and flour. Roll into balls. Flatten with fork. Bake at 180 degrees C for approximately 15 mins or until just firm.

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Mrs Tilett's Piklets

This weekend I had the opportunity to go to my first baby shower. It was a lovely day spent with good friends and was made even more special as it was a surprise shower for the mum to be. I certainly know a lot of great cooks as the food was devine! These piklets were part of my contribution to the day and were quite tasty!

2 eggs

1 tbsp sugar

2 dessert spoons syrup (golden)

1 teaspoon butter

2 cups SR Flour

1 ½ cups milk

Pinch salt

Beat the eggs, sugar, syrup and butter. Add the flour, milk and salt and fold until just combined. Heat a frypan and melt a touch of butter. Add spoonfuls of mixture to the pan and cook until bubbles appear on the surface. Flip and cook on the other side. 

 Printable Recipe

Honey Chilli Chicken

I love honey chicken. Whenever we treat ourselves to some chinese takeaway, I always say I'm going to try something new but at the last moment change my mind and order honey chicken. The honey chicken I love isn't covered in mountains of batter, it is the one with the light crispy shell and the super moist chicken inside and I never thought it would be something that could be replicated at home. How wrong I was! This recipe tastes exactly like my favourite honey chicken but with the added flavours of chilli.

As I was typing this recipe up I realised that I forgot to put in a couple of the ingredients. Oops! I left the garlic, ginger and sesame seeds sitting on the bench. I can only imagine that those extra ingredients would add even more flavour to this awesome dish. Will just have to make it again now! 

6 chicken fillets, skin removed

2 egg whites

3 tablespoons cornflour

Salt and pepper

Sesame oil

1 teaspoon soy sauce

Sliced root ginger

1 clove garlic, bruised

2 chillies, seeds removed and cut into fine strips

2 tablespoons honey

¼ teaspoon sesame seeds, toasted

Oil for frying

Cut chicken fillets into strips. Place into a  bowl with unbeaten egg white. Add cornflour, salt, pepper, a few drops of oil and soy sauce and mix well. Heat oil with ginger and garlic in an electric wok. When hot remove garlic and ginger, add chicken (not all at once), cook until golden. Remove and drain on paper towel. Repeat until all chicken is cooked. Drain oil, leaving approximately 2 teaspoons in wok. Add chillies, cook for 30 seconds, then add honey and return chicken, toss until coated in honey. Serve with sesame seeds and accompany with fried egg noodles. 

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Russian Caramels

Warning: These little sweet treats are extremely moreish!

I tend to get put off by confectionery recipes that say you need to have a thermometer in order to get it right... sounds far too complicated for me, not to mention I don't even own a thermometer! That's why I like this recipe. Its simple and produces really good results: the caramels turn out really hard and chewy with a nice caramel flavour. Just make sure you follow the recipe.... I decided that you couldn't really need the baking paper between layers of cut caramels... well.... you do. Although, I suppose having all the pieces stuck together in a giant caramel blob do make them last a little longer! 

1 tin condensed milk

6 ozs butter (180grams)

3 tablesp syrup (golden)

1 cup sugar

Melt butter, syrup and sugar. Gradually add cond. milk. Boil for 20 minutes stirring all the time. Pour into buttered tin. Cut into squares when cold and wrap in greaseproof paper. 

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Note: Instead of buttering the tin I just used baking paper. It makes it nice and easy to get out. Also you really do need to stir the entire time, so make sure you set aside the time with no other distractions. 

Banana Chocolate Cookies

Banana is not a normal ingredient for a biscuit! I had never heard of it before but I had some bananas that needed to be used so Mum and I whipped these up over the weekend. With the dark chocolate in them they are super rich and the banana makes them moist. Really tasty little biscuit!

Dad tried one though and said that Grandma used to add nuts when she made them, (the ones that look like little brains apparently (lol!), which we decided were walnuts) so next time I make them, I will be trying that variation. I think that would add a lovely texture to them.

125g dark cooking chocolate

125g (1 cup) plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

60g (1/4 cup) butter or margarine

90g (1/2 cup) brown sugar

Egg, beaten

1 banana, well mashed

Melt chocolate in the top of a double-boiler over gently bubbling water. Sift flour with baking powder and salt on to a sheet of greaseproof paper. Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add egg and beat well. Fold in half the flour mixture, then mix in mashed banana and melted chocolate. Fold in remaining flour.

Drop rounded teaspoons of mixture on to greased baking trays, allowing room for spreading. Bake towards the top of a hot oven at 200°C for 10-12 minutes. Cool on a wire cooling tray.

Makes approx. 20

Printable Recipe

Coconut Orange Creams

My parents have a rural weekender property (the farm) and we decided to spend this weekend up there. It was a lovely relaxing weekend spent cooking, crocheting and helping put the new kitchen together (it's going to look so nice!).

Mum and I had fun baking a couple of Grandma's recipes. This biscuit is so cute and my Dad said that Grandma used to make it in both lemon and passionfruit as well (passionfruit would be super yummy I reckon!). Grandma hasn't noted how she did those variations but I have made a note below the recipe on how I would imagine the variations would be done.

Biscuit Ingredients:

6oz butter or margarine

1/3 cup sugar

2 egg-yolks

Grated rind of 1 orange

1 ½ cups S.R Flour

1/2 cup coconut

Egg white

Extra coconut

Filling Ingredients:

1 oz butter

1 dessertspoon orange rind

1 cup sifted icing sugar

 Method:

Cream shortening and sugar. Beat in egg-yolks and rind. Fold in sifted flour, then coconut to make a fairly stiff paste. Roll into small balls. Place on greased biscuit tray, flatten with a fork. Brush top with a fork. Brush top with lightly beaten egg-white and sprinkle with extra coconut. Bake in moderate oven 15 minutes. Cool on rack. Just before serving join together with orange butter cream. 

Variations: 

For Lemon: swap orange zest in both biscuit and filling for lemon zest. 

For Passionfruit: Use either lemon or orange zest in biscuit and then add some passionfruit pulp to the filling mix. Add extra icing sugar until filling is thick enough to hold its shape as the biscuits should not slide off one another when stuck together.

Strawberry Dessert Cake

Firstly I want to wish my Mum a happy birthday! I hope she is having a wonderful day! 

We went around to my Mum and Dad's place last night for a family dinner for Mum's birthday and we made this beautiful dessert cake. I wasn't sure what I was going to make for mum's cake (she had only told me that she didn't want chocolate, so that didn't narrow it down very much), but then I had some strawberries for breakfast a few days ago and they were so sweet that I decided I wanted to use them in mum's cake. I went trawling through Grandma's recipes and stumbled across this one. 

There's a couple things that I've noticed about cooking all these old recipes. Firstly, sometimes its really hard to work out what they will look like when they are done. We are all so used to recipe books having photos of all the finished products these days! And also, on a number of occasions I have read a recipe and thought, "that can't be right" or "can't see how that is going to work" but every time the recipe comes together and surprises me! This recipe did both of these things. As we were making it last night (yes, I had to get Mum to help me make it as I have a cold and didn't want to contaminate the rest of the family, so thanks Mum for making your own cake!), Mum and I really couldn't picture how it was going to turn out. Mum kept asking "is it supposed to be like this" and I kept answering "I think so. We just have to follow the recipe and see what happens". Anyway, I'm pretty sure we got it right! It looked great and tasted even better and I'm really excited to share this recipe! 

And once again, happy birthday Mum! 

2 cups Self Raising Flour

½ teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons sugar

3 tablespoons margarine

1 egg, well beaten

Two-thirds cup milk

Sprinkle ½ cup sugar over 4 cups sliced fresh strawberries, cover and let stand at room temperature. Sift flour, salt and sugar into basin. Work in the margarine finely. Combine the egg and milk, and stir into the flour mixture. Blend well. Spread this dough in a well greased 7 x 12 x 1 ½ inch cake pan. Spoon the berries and juice over the top of the dough. 

Now blend together ¼ cup sugar, ¼ cup butter and 3 tablespoons of self-raising flour. Drop this mixture evenly over strawberries. Bake 35 to 40 minutes in a moderately-hot oven (400 deg F). Serve warm with cream or ice-cream. Makes 8 to 10 servings.2 cups Self Raising Flour

Note: we cooked it at 180 degrees C

          The mixture that goes on top will be a similar consistency to a crumb. 

          We baked it in a round dish as we didn't have a rectangle one the right size.

Blackberry and Macadamia Nut Biscuits

Mmmm... Macadamia nuts. Probably up there as my favourite nut, so I was dying to try these out. Turns out they are very similar to a jam drop. I would actually describe them as a jam drop on steroids! I ended up taking some of these on a work trip and they were a great snack while on the go.

Another easy recipe, but it took a bit of effort to get these to come together and then when they did come together the dough split a bit when putting the indent in the top so I had to sort of shape each one. Totally worth the extra bit of effort though!

Makes 18.

Preparation 30 mins

Cooking 15mins.

This recipe can be made up to a week ahead.

125g butter, chopped

½ cup castor sugar

1 ½ cup plain flour

½ cup chopped macadamia nuts

¼ cup blackberry jam

Preheat the oven to moderate (180°C). Line two oven trays with sheets of baking paper. Beat butter and sugar in a small bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Stir in sifted flour and nuts. Roll level tablespoons of mixture into balls; place on prepared trays, allowing 5cm between each biscuit. Using the end of a wooden spoon, make an indent in the top of each biscuit, fill with the blackberry jam. Bake in a moderate oven for about 15 minutes or until biscuits are firm. Stand for 5 minutes; transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Suitable to freeze. 

Chocolate Crunch Sultana Slice

We are off camping early tomorrow morning so I have been busy preparing all the food and the like. Since I will have lots of strapping young men to feed I thought it would be a good opportunity to try one of Grandma's more decadent sounding slices as I could then palm them all off the guys and not consume too much myself (not good for the waistline this recipe!)

90 grams unsalted butter

4 x 65gram mars bars (I don't think they even make them this size anymore, I just got a bag of mini ones and weighed them out)

3 cups just right

½ cup sultanas

250 grams dark chocolate

1 tablespoon coconut

Combine butter and mars bars in saucepan. Stir over low heat until melted. Combine cereal, sultanas and melted mixture in a bowl. Press evenly into lamington tray. Melt chocolate. Spread over slice. Sprinkle with the tablespoon of coconut. Refrigerate until set and cut into pieces. 

Note: Mine took a long time to set and even when they did set they were a bit sticky but I was a little heavy handed with the butter and I think that could be the culprit, so my piece of advice: weigh the butter!

Phillis' Jam Drops

Flipping through Grandma's recipes and I notice that occasionally the recipe isn't complete. Some of the recipes are just a list of ingredients, without a method. This is one of those recipes, except that not only was it missing the method it was also missing one of the main ingredients! The Jam! Luckily that is pretty self-explanatory from the name and the mix is an easy one to put together.

These jam drops are so good too! Crisp on the outside with a soft centre and the biscuit is not too sweet so the jam becomes the main flavour. Definitely going on my list of baking regulars!

So the recipe from Grandma is below and then below that is the method I used tonight when I made them.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter

¼ cup sugar

1 egg

1 cup S.R Flour

Method

Cream butter and sugar. Add egg and beat together. Mix in flour and then roll teaspoonfuls of the mixture and place on a greased baking tray. Press down in the centre of each biscuit to make a well. Spoon a little jam into each well (I used raspberry).

Bake at 180 degrees for about 12 minutes or until cooked through and browning on top. 

Edit 9/7/2012: After storing them in an airtight container overnight they have lost their crisp outside but they are sill really nice

Mexican Stuffed Peppers

I was surprised by the results of this recipe. Usually when I cook I use lots of different herbs and spices to pack my food full of flavour. This recipe however was the complete opposite of that. It only used one spice and relied on the flavour from the capsicum and the cheese sauce. It was quite a nice meal but I think I would add a bit of garlic and Worcestershire sauce next time I made it though, just because I can't help myself.

4 green peppers (capsicums) (I used red ones and only 2 of them, as there's only 2 of us)

1 tablespoon oil

500g minced steak

1 onion chopped

½ teaspoon chilli powder

½ teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons raisins

30 grams butter

30 grams flour

2 cups milk

30 grams grated cheese

Part boil the peppers until slightly soft. Cut in half lengthways. Remove seeds.

Fry mince and onions in a pan. Add salt and raisins and chilli powder. Fill the peppers and hold together with toothpicks if necessary.

Make a cheese sauce by melting butter in a pan. Add flour and milk, stirring well over heat to thicken. Stir in the grated cheese. Place peppers in a baking dish. Pour sauce over and bake 180°C for half an hour (approx.)

The capsicums when they came out of the oven.

I served it with rice, cherry tomatoes and cucumbers slices.

Raspberry Cake

I've had a really crazy week this week with work, so I took a bit of time out last night and baked a cake!

This is a really nice recipe however next time I would make a double batch of the mixture so that I can put more on the bottom as the raspberry jam did come out the bottom in some parts of the cake. It would also show off the different colours between the top and bottom layers better.

4 oz butter (120 grams)

4 oz sugar (120 grams)

6 oz plain flour (180 grams)

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 eggs

1 tablespoon cornflour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon mixed spice

Milk  (I just used a good splash of milk)

Raspberry jam.

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, then flour, cornflour and baking powder. Put half the mixture into a prepared slice or sponge roll tin. Spread with layer of raspberry jam. To the remaining mixture add the cinnamon, spice and milk. Spread carefully over jam layer. Bake about 30 minutes in 350°F oven. When cool ice with lemon icing and sprinkle with chopped nuts. 

Maori Kisses

WOW! It was so cold this morning. I really didn't want to get out of bed, but alas, holidays are still a few days away, so off to work it is. I think the only way I'll make it through today is by drinking copious amounts of hot tea. Luckily the biscuits I made last night will be the perfect accompaniment to my cup of tea at morning tea time.


These were the first biscuits I've made that are 2 biscuits joined together, I love them. They are so cute and not to mention yummy and somehow comforting (I think its the dried dates). Its a really simple recipe to put together so enjoy, everyone (and keep warm)!

½ cup butter

½ cup sugar

¼ teaspoon vanilla

2 tablespoons milk

1 cup S.R flour

1 tablespoon cocoa

½ cup chopped walnuts

1 cup chopped dates

Cream butter and sugar, add essence and milk. Add sifted dry ingredients, fruit and nuts. Roll into small balls, flatten fork on cold grease tray. Bake in moderate oven for 15 minutes. When cold join together with vanilla icing. 

Note: These do get a lot bigger while baking so its important to make the balls quite small (unless you would like huge kisses!). I used a teaspoon as a pretty good measure.

Canberra squares

Not sure why this recipe has this name, maybe its because the coconut layer looks like ice and Canberra gets so cold in the winter, haha. I'm sure there would be a story behind it but Grandma's books gave no hint of it. I must make a note to ask her about it.

This is a simple recipe and produces a yummy soft slice but it took me a little while to work out how to get the mixture to spread across the tin. Eventually I got it done but the only way I manged it was to make sure I was working with damp hands and then get a small portion of the the dough, flatten it with my hands and lay it in the tin. The dough is so soft that trying to spread it with a spoon just doesn't work. In the future I would probably make a double mix of the dough so that I didn't have to try and get the mix so thin to get it across the tin, that might make it easier and I don't think it would affect the balance of flavours between the dough and the coconut filling.

Dough:

½ cup butter or margarine

1 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 ½ cups S.R Flour

1 heaped tablespoon cocoa

Filling: 

boil for a few minutes. Leave to cool

1 ½ cups coconut

2 tablespoons icing sugar

1 cup milk

Method: 

Beat butter and sugar, add egg. Sift flour and cocoa together, add & mix to a soft dough. Put half of mixture into a tray 12 x 9in, smooth. Cover with cooled filling. Top with rest of mixture, bake in moderate oven for 30 mins. Ice with chocolate icing. Cut into squares. 

3 minute (cup)cake

The last few weeks have been really busy for me as I have been doing my end of semester exams for university. Which meant that things I normally like to do, like this blog, have had to be put to the side for a little while, but I've finished the exams now and I have some time back. yay! Hopefully with 4 weeks of uni holidays I can get a heap of recipes cooked!

I did get to cook 2 of grandma's recipes while I was studying, I just didn't have the time to post the recipes, the first of these was 3 minute cake. I thought this idea suited my crazy busy schedule whilst studying ... i mean... it says it in the name: 3 minute cake, and it really was very simple and quick! I decided I wanted cupcakes however, so simply divided the mixture into patty pans.

Grandma's recipe didn't say how long it should be baked for, but I think the cupcakes took about 12 minutes and I imagine a cake would take about 30 minutes or so. They should be baked in a medium oven (180 degrees) until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. 

1 cup S.R Flour

Pinch of salt

2 tablespoons of butter

Vanilla

2 eggs

¼ cup sugar

¼ cup milk

Place all ingredients in a basin and mix together for 3 minutes. 

For orange add grated peel. Use juice for icing. For chocolate add 2 dessertspoons cocoa. 

Carrot Cookies

I'm coming up to uni exams over the next few weeks so the amount of baking I can do will probably drop, as such I decided I wanted to bake something today so we have snacks for the week. I was looking through the recipes and Carrot Cookies jumped out at me. I had never heard of carrot cookies before. Carrot cake; sure... (and yum!) but never carrot cookies. I was intrigued.

Well, the result is a biscuit that's more like a mini cake than a biscuit. The mixture was very wet and made it quite messy to roll in the coating but they are worth the messy hands!

2 oz butter

½ cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 egg

1 large finely grated carrot

½ cup currants

½ cup chopped mixed nuts

¼ cup milk

1 cup S.R Flour

Pinch salt

Pinch bicarbonate of soda

Coating:

1 teaspoon cinnamon

½ cup crushed cornflakes

Cream butter and sugar. Add egg and beat well. Stir in the carrot, currants, nuts and milk. Add flour, salt and soda which has been sifted. Mix together coating ingredients and drop teaspoonfuls of the biscuit mix in the coating and bake 12 minutes (375°F/180°C)

1 oz = 30g

Note: I ended up using around 2 cups of cornflakes and 4 teaspoons of cinnamon for my coating. 

Butterscotch Pie

I finally cooked a recipe tonight that my husband has been asking for since he first saw Grandma's recipes. This butterscotch pie looked easy enough but once again there was no recipe for the pie crust. I tried a different shortcrust recipe to my last attempt and it worked quite well. Also looked a lot prettier than my last attempt thanks to my new tart tins (thanks Mum and Dad!).

Filling

1 egg

½ cup brown sugar

3 tablespoons plain flour

1 cup milk

3 tablespoon cold water

2 tablespoon butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

Pinch salt

Prepared tart shell

Put egg yolk, sugar, milk & flour which has been mixed to paste with the cold water, and all the other ingredients into a saucepan & stir over heat until thickened. Pour into tart crust. Beat egg white & 3 tablespoons sugar, spread over top and brown in oven.

Pastry 

125g unsalted butter, chilled

1½ cups plain flour

¼ cup icing sugar

1-2 tablespoons iced water 

Process flour, butter and sugar in a food processor until mixture resembles breadrumbs. Add water and pulse until dough begins to come together into a ball, do not overmix.

Scoop mixture into a plastic freezer bag and gently press into a smooth disc. Refrigerate for 15-20 minutes.

Roll out pastry between 2 sheets of baking paper to a 3mm thickness. Line a loose based 24cm flan tin with pastry, trimming the excess. Prick base with a fork and push a large sheet of foil into the pastry shell, pressing it up and over the sides.

Bake pastry at 190°C for 15 minutes. Remove foil and bake for a further 10 minutes until crisp and golden. Cool, then use as required.

(recipe from Masterchef website: http://www.masterchef.com.au/recipes/sweet-shortcrust-pastry.htm)

Peanut Butterscotch Bars

I fell over today while walking my dog and rolled my ankle and was feeling a bit sorry for myself so decided to do some baking to cheer myself up. This resulted in a batch of Peanut Butterscotch Bars.  If you like peanut butter... you will LOVE these!! They are creamy yet crunchy and with a yummy peanut flavour. But be warned, they are very moreish!

Base:

4 oz butter

½ cup brown sugar, lightly packed

¾ cup plain flour

½ cup S.R Flour

Pinch salt

Topping:

2 oz butter

3 tablespoons golden syrup

3 tablespoons peanut butter

2 cups lightly crushed cornflakes

Base Method:

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add sifted dry ingredients, mix well. Press into lamington tin. Bake in moderate oven 20 to 25 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes. Press topping evenly over base. When almost cold, cut into bars.

Topping Method:

Place butter and syrup into medium size saucepan. Stir over heat until butter melts and mixture boils. Reduce heat, simmer 5 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in peanut butter and cornflakes. Mix thoroughly. 

German Potato Salad

A nice warm potato salad with a great bite. The recipe gives the option of using either paprika or mustard to flavour. I chose the mustard and it worked well. 

8 medium red potatoes

4 rashers bacon

1 small onion, chopped

1 stalk celery, chopped

1 dill pickle, chopped

¼ cup water or stock

½ cup vinegar (or ¼ cup vinegar and ¼ cup white wine)

Pinch sugar

Salt to taste

¼ teaspoon paprika or mustard

Scrub potatoes and place in saucepan. Add enough water to cover and cook until tender. Peel, slice while still hot and add to a salad bowl.

Remove rind from rashers and slice into thin strips. Fry in its own fat until golden and scatter over the still-warm potatoes. In the pan the bacon was cooked, fry the onion until golden, using the remaining fat.

Add the chopped celery, dill pickle and remaining ingreaients. Heat and pour over the potatoes and bacon. Toss gently and when ready to serve dust with chopped parsley

Crunchy Pork Grill

This was amazing! It had the perfect flavour combination of peanuts, coriander and chilli and complemented the pork perfectly. It would be lovely on chicken or steak as well.

2 pork loin chops

Freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons crunchy peanut butter

½ teaspoon ground coriander

Pinch chilli powder

1 teaspoon sesame seeds

1 teaspoon curry powder

Season pork with pepper and cook under a medium hot griller for about 5-7 minutes each side, depending on thickness. Combine the remaining ingredients and spread lightly over each side of pork during the final cooking stages. Serve with potato salad and tossed green salad.

Note: I only spread the mixture over one side as I didn't want it to fall off when turned. I served it with Grandma's German Potato Salad (post to come). 

Corn Fritters

Fritter - noun: a small mass of fried or sauteed batter often containing fruit or meat

Well Grandma's corn fritters certainly follow that description. These were delicious and easy to make, however I did have to adjust the recipe slightly (I think I was a little generous with the filling and the batter wasn't quite enough). The good thing about this recipe as well is that you can use it as a base and change the filling ingredients to whatever you happen to have on hand. We have already decided that our next batch of these will have bacon and garlic added. Yum!

440g can corn kernels

4 shallots, chopped

½ cup grated cheese

½ cup chopped red capsicum

½ cup plain flour

1 egg

¼ cup cream

¼ cup milk

1 tablespoon chopped parsley

Salt and pepper

Oil for frying

In a bowl mix together well drained corn, shallots, cheese, parsley and capsicum. In another bowl, sift flour and seasoning. Make a well in centre. Beat egg, milk and cream together and pour in, mixing until smooth. Add corn mixture and mix well. Heat oil in pan and drop in tablespoons of mixture. Cook until golden brown on one side then turn and cook other side. Drain on absorbent paper. 

Note: As I said above I didn't have quite enough batter in my mix. I worked that out when I went to cook my first fritter and it wouldn't hold together. I mixed up another egg and half a cup of cream and the rest of them held together perfectly. Its just a matter of testing and adjusting the mix to get it right. 

Marble Cake

It was my birthday yesterday and I was spoilt with lots of lovely presents including a couple for the kitchen. One handy little thing is this ipad kitchen stand and stylus so that I don't get messy hands all over my ipad. I love it!!

The other things were a set of 4 mini tart/quiche pans and a new huge round cake tin. I couldn't help myself, I just had to try something out so I decided to make a marble cake. Well, the cake tin was a success, and even though the icing ended up a little more pink than I wanted (little bit heavy handed with the dye... oops!), I think the cake was a success as well.

125g butter

¾ cup castor sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

2 cups S.R. Flour

Pinch salt

¾ cup milk

2 tablespoons cocoa

2 tablespoons boiling water

Red colouring

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Cream butter and sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. Beat eggs lightly and add to creamed mixture. Gradually fold in sifted flour and salt alternatively with milk. Divide mixture into 3 portions. To one add the cocoa blended with the boiling water. Add red colour to one. 

Grandma's recipe ended here so I did a bit of reading to try and work out how to make the marbling effect. This is what I found out: put spoonfuls of mixture into the cake tin alternating the colours. Then swirl a knife through the mixture. This will give the marbled effect. 

Bake for 60 mins in a moderate oven or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Nut Loaf

Wow, its been a little while since I've done a post. Time got away from me a little bit but I'm back into it again.

Last week I put together Grandma's nut loaf recipe. This was so simple. It didn't make a lot though so next time  I'd probably double the recipe so that it filled my loaf tin a bit better.

1 ¼ cups self raising flour

Pinch salt

1 teaspoon mixed spice 

45g butter

¼ cup castor sugar

½  cup chopped walnuts

½ cup raisins or sultanas

1 egg beaten

½ cup milk (approx.)

Grease loaf tin thoroughly. Sift flour, salt and spice together, into a mixing bowl. Rub in butter. Add sugar, nuts and fruit. Mix lightly. Stir in beaten egg and sufficient milk to make a dropping consistency. Bake in moderately hot oven 190°C for 50 to 60 mins or until cooked.

Serve sliced, with butter. 

Notes: I used cinnamon as I didn't have mixed spice and the loaf only took about 35 mins to cook rather than 60. 

Caramel Cookies

A couple days ago I got an email from my husband to say that he had heard that it was his colleague's birthday the following day and could I bake something. Of course, I agreed and he went on to ask her what she would like me to make. Well, it turns out, it wasn't her birthday after all but it has since been decided that we will have to celebrate her "birthday" every month so that I can send in a new recipe for them all to try. This month's "birthday" recipe was Caramel Cookies. A simple but fairly sweet biscuit.

These only have a few ingredients but they do take a little while to prepare as the caramel mixture needs to cool before the flour is mixed in. I had a little trouble getting the mixture to come together with the flour so I had to add a touch of milk. Another tip, when rolling these, damp hands really help to stop the mixture from sticking!

¼ lb butter

½ lb sugar

1 tablespoon golden syrup

1 tablespoon milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

8 oz S.R. Flour

Put butter, sugar, golden syrup, milk, vanilla into saucepan and boil gently for 5 mins. Cool. Then add flour. Roll into balls and flatten with fork. Bake in moderate oven for 10-12 mins.

Conversion -       1/4 pound = approx 115grams 

                           1/2 pound = approx 230 grams

                           8 oz = approx 225 grams

I also decided to drizzle a little toffee over some of the biscuits. This addition gives a bit of textual interest but is definitely not a neccesity as the bikkies are nice enough without. 

To make the toffee I used a recipe from allrecipes.com.au ( http://allrecipes.com.au/recipe/499/everton-toffee.aspx ) I simply halved the mixture and then drizzled it over the biscuits quickly before it cooled and set. 

Zucchini Slice

It's always good when you find a recipe that can serve a number of purposes. This is one of those recipes. It makes a nice dinner (we had it with pork chops and salad tonight) but it would also be great cold at a picnic or baked into individual moulds for a easy canape for a party. It's definitely going to be a regular for us, that's for sure.

315g zucchinis (approx. 1 large zucchini)

1 large onion

3 bacon rashes

1 cup grated cheddar cheese

1 cup S.R Flour

½ cup sunflower oil

5 eggs

Salt and pepper

Grate zucchini, finely chop onion and bacon. Combine with flour, beaten eggs, oil and cheese. Pour in greased dish. Bake 30-40 minutes in moderate oven to brown.

Note: In future, I will probably saute the onion before putting it in the mix as I like my onion really soft and just putting it in raw it still had a bit of bite. 

Pecan Pie

Pecan Pie is a dish that is often associated with special occasions, especially in the USA and is quite commonly served at Thanksgiving and Christmas, but it hasn't got the same reputation here in Australia. Consequently it had been quite a few years since I had eaten pecan pie. I remember having it in a little country cafe when we went to visit my Grandparents once and thought that it was really tasty. I'd never contemplated making it before, but when I saw the recipe in Grandma's book I thought I might give it a go. Mother's day seemed like the perfect opportunity.

Grandma's recipe was just for the filling and so I did a quick google search for a shortcrust pastry recipe, however, the one I used wasn't perfect as it needed to be blind baked and then after it was then baked for an hour with the filling it became very crunchy. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't quite right. So I'm still on the hunt for the right pastry recipe and would love suggestions if anyone has them. As such, I'm only going to post the filling recipe today.

½ cup brown sugar

1 level tablespoon butter

1 cup corn syrup (substitute golden syrup)

3 eggs well beaten

Pinch of salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup chopped pecans

1 unbaked pie shell

Mix well, adding pecans last. Pour into unbaked pie shell. Bake at 325°F (160°C) for approximately 1 hour or until set.

Serve with cream and chopped pecans

Coconut Slice

Had a big night of baking last night in preparation for Mother's Day today (Happy Mother's Day, Mum!). One of the recipes I decided to try was coconut slice. I think I was a little heavy handed with the condensed milk for the topping, however, as it is really sticky and slides off the slice a little, but even still, it tastes yummy.

Slice:

4 oz butter

½ cup sugar

1 tablespoon golden syrup

1 cup S.R Flour

¾ cup coconut

Cream butter and sugar. Add syrup, then flour and coconut. Blend well. Spread into a 11x7 inch tray. Bake 15-20 minutes in moderate oven.

Topping:

½ cup condensed milk

2 oz butter

1 cup icing sugar

1 cup coconut

Melt butter and mix altogether. Spread over slice. 

1 oz = approximately 30grams

Date loaf

I love dried dates! Whether they are in baking, on my porridge or just eating them as they are for a snack. Luckily this recipe satisfies my date cravings. It takes a little longer than some recipes as you have to soak the dates but it's worth it, especially when you serve it warmed and with a scoop of icecream.

1 cup dates
½ cup brown sugar
2 tablspoons butter
1 teaspoon baking soda
200ml boiling water
1 egg
¾ cup plain flour
¾ cup S.R Flour

Put dates in bowl. Add sugar, butter and baking soda. Pour boiling water over and mix well together. Allow to stand until almost cold. Add beaten egg and add sifted dry ingredients gradually. Pour into a greased, floured loaf tin. Bake in moderate oven for 40-45 minutes

Asparagus and Corn Ramekins

I made the first savoury meal from Grandma's recipes tonight: Asparagus and Corn Ramekins.

Easy and tasty!

2 oz shortening (use butter as alternative)

2 tablespoons plain flour

1 ¼ cups carnation evaporated milk

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

One 10 ½ oz can asparagus cuts (approx. 300g)

One 8oz can cream style sweet corn (approx. 230g)

2 hardboiled eggs

Soft breadcrumbs

Grated cheese

Melt the shortening, add the flour and cook for a minute. Add the carnation milk and stir until smooth, then cook until thick. Season with salt and pepper. Add the asparagus, corn and sliced eggs.

Place in the ramekins and sprinkle with breadcrumbs and cheese. Dot with butter and bake in a moderate oven 350°F until heated through and golden brown on top.

Serves 4-6

Afghan Biscuits

As I have been going through the recipes, occasionally I have noticed there are little marks next to some of them. Ticks, stars and crosses (not sure whether that's a 'good' or 'bad' cross yet). This recipe however, had something a bit different. Grandma had written "very good" next to the title. Well that was enough for me, I just had to try it next.

These biscuits are really pretty to look at and are yummy as well. Lots of different textures and not overly sweet. Enjoy! 

Ingredients:

Biscuits- 

250g butter or margarine

125g castor sugar

1 tablespoon cocoa

1 tablespoon desiccated coconut

250g (1 cup) plain flour

Pinch of salt

60g (2 cups) cornflakes

Icing -

125g (1 cup) icing sugar

1 tablespoon cocoa

1 teaspoon softened butter or soft margarine

2 teaspoons warm milk

Walnut pieces for decoration

Method:

Biscuits - 

Cream butter and sugar together until soft and creamy . Stir in cocoa and coconut, then stir in sifted flour and salt. Finally stir in cornflakes (I ended up using my hands to bring the mixture together). Drop rounded metal teaspoonful of mixture on baking trays, allowing plenty of room for spreading. Bake in a moderate oven at 180°C for 12-15 minutes. Cool on a wire cooling tray. 

Icing -

Sift icing sugar and cocoa into a mixing bowl, add softened butter and warm milk and beat well until icing is smooth. Spread a little icing on each biscuit immediately and top with a piece of walnut.

Makes approx. 48

Milo Slice

I was reading through the list of recipes I have typed so far and one name jumped out at me and I just had to try it; Milo Slice.

I tend to think of milo as a superfood. It's yummy on icecream, microwaved in the middle of a doughnut (sounds strange but it works; thanks Karl), mixed into milk or eaten straight out of the tin (come on, I know you've all done it!). One thing I've never tried, however, is to bake with it. I think this recipe is an instant favouite though. Its quick and easy to make and its oh so very scrumptious! The golden syrup in the icing just adds that little extra something.

I have deliberately kept all of the recipes as they were written in the books, which means that some of them are not structured as a typical recipe is or has measurements that are no longer used, such as ounces. Where needed, I will include conversions.

Milo Slice

Melt 4 oz margarine and mix well into 2 oz sugar, 1 cup S.R Flour and 2 dessertspoons milo. Press flat into 11x9” greased tin. Bake 20 minutes in moderate to low heat. Ice whilst hot, a couple of minutes after it comes out of oven.

Icing: In saucepan. 4 tablespoons icing sugar, 2dessertspoons milo, 2 oz margarine, 3 teaspoons golden syrup. Keep stirring on low heat for a few minutes. When all is nice and smooth, pour on slice and spread evenly. Cut into squares a couple of minutes later and leave in tin until cold.

1 oz = approx. 30 grams

Moderate to low heat = 160-170°C

The icing was fairly runny and remained a little sticky even after it had set. A little extra icing sugar may help stop this, but personally I liked the sticky consistency. I also lined the tin (and allowed some of the baking paper to come over the edges) as well as greasing. This made it really easy to pick up out of the tin.