Anzac Cookies

Anzac day wouldn't be the same in our home without Anzac Biscuits! I have a good recipe that I found on the taste.com.au website but thought I'd try a different one this year...










What I love about Anzac biscuits is that they're sooo easy to make! Throw in some ingredients and voila! You have bickies!! And they are one of the most delicious cookies out there!

I subscribe to the Sydney Morning Herald e-newsletter and i regularly (i think its weekly but i don't pay enough attention to it) receive recipes! Yay! This week contained Merle's (you'll know her if you watch Masterchef) tried and tested Anzac Biscuits recipe. Trusting that she must have tried a fair few in her time I have em a go!

The hint of ginger in Merle's recipe was a delicious addition but no chewiness. Just soft. It definitely doesn't beat the chewy, golden syrupy one's I usually make! I'm sticking with my old one...

Love Anzac bickies!!

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Massaman Curry

Ever since watching the last season of 'My Kitchen Rules' I've had a long list of recipes to try. On the top of my list was the Massaman Curry that the winners, Leigh and Jennifer cooked. Jennifer said it was her mums recipe and in my experience any recipe that is worth passing down is usually a good one! It also looked great and was rated very highly by the judges!
The recipe calls for oxtail which is a cheap but delicious cut. It's also highly nutritious as it contains marrow. The two downsides to oxtail is that it's high in fat (which turns to liquid when cooked then floats to the top so is easily removed) and needs to be cooked for a while... Like chuck and gravy steak which you could use to substitute the oxtail if desired.
I also made the pickled salad that the recipe called for which was a simple delicious salad offered freshness to the heavy curry. Which by the way was absolutely delicious. I cheated a little I have to say. I browned the meat then simmered it in the pineapple juice as called for in the recipe. I did it on the stove but next time I'll do it in the oven as simmering on the stove meant the juice kept evaporating and needed topping up whereas in the oven it would have been fine. The recipe calls for a pressure cooker which would be the best option.
For the curry paste (instead of making the one in the recipe) I used Volcom curry paste found in your local supermarket but I used additional ingredients to make it as similar to the mkr recipe as possible.
I cooked off the curry paste as you do, added coconut cream (coconut milk makes a thinner curry) and to that I added one onion chopped (shallots are best but i didnt have any) 4 potatoes, cubed, a cinnamon stick and 4 cardamom pods. I seasoned with fish sauce and brown sugar then let that simmer on low for a little while (approx 15 mins). Then I transferred the meat over to the curry sauce and let it cook a little longer, maybe another 15... It was the best Massaman I've ever had! The pineapple juice really made a difference! This recipe is definitely a keeper!




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Creme Brûlée Tart

I want to enter a pie recipe comp so have been experimenting with pie's lately and I wanted to replicate one of my all time fave tarts from one of my all time favourite bakery's, Bourke Street Bakery.

Anyone who visits Sydney needs to put them on their 'to do' list because they make hands down the best vanilla creme brûlée and strawberry tarts and pork and fennel sausage rolls!

Although I think my creme brulee tart recipe would be a stand out against other pie recipes in the comp ;) I decided against sending it in as the recipe was so involved... So here it is... On my blog instead...

Creme Brûlée Tart




Vanilla Custard
2 cups thickened cream
1 vanilla pod (or vanilla extract)
7 egg yolks
2 Tbsp caster sugar

Slice the vanilla pod lengthways and run a knife along the inside to remove seeds and place the seeds, pod and cream in a saucepan and heat on medium heat until its JUST at the boil (this method is called scalding)
Strain to remove the pod.
Meanwhile, cream together yolks and sugar till pale and creamy like the pic below.




Pour about half a cup of the hot cream into the yolk mixture and mix well.
Then pour the yolk mix into the rest of the hot cream
(this process ensures the yolks are warm already so don't cook when it hits the hot milk)
Mix well and continue mixing as you cook the custard over a low-med heat until thick.
(as the custard heats, it will start to bubble, then froth, then thicken. When it is cooked, majority of the froth will have disappeared but don't go beyond this point as the custard will curdle)
Below is the beginning of the frothy stage.


Remove from the heat but continue stirring for 2mins to start the cooling process.

Place cling wrap directly on top of the custard (so its touching) and place in the fridge till set (mine needed overnight)

Sweet Shortcrust Pastry
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1/2 cup icing sugar
1 cup cold butter chopped
1 egg
Dash of milk if necessary

In a food processor, mix together the flour and sugar, add the cold butter and mix till it resembles breadcrumbs. Add the egg then mix. If the pastry hasn't come together add a splash of milk an mix till the pastry JUST starts to come together. Turn out onto a floured bench (I line mine with cling wrap first) then knead with the heels of your hands gently. (too much kneading will destroy the flakiness in the pastry) Wrap in cling wrap and rest in the fridge for half an hour.
When ready to use, remove from fridge, roll as needed, line your pie dish, prick the base with a fork all over to prevent pastry from puffing up and let rest again for another half an hour (this will reduce shrinkage when the pastry is baked)

This is what my pastry looks like. You can see specks of butter through it, that's what you want.




When ready to bake place a sheet of baking paper on top of the pastry with some rice or pie weights on top and bake at 200 for 10 mins, remove the paper and weights and continue baking for another 8-10mins (till browned as desired)

Notes:
For flaky pastry make sure to use cold butter and don't over knead!
Make sure to rest the pastry both after kneading and after rolling to avoid shrinkage

Cool pastry on cooling rack.

Spread the set custard in the cooled pastry case and level with a knife. Sprinkle 3 Tbsp of white sugar on top and brûlée!




Enjoy!




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Cinnamon Rolls

My boys (including the biggest one of all - my hubby) love it when I decide to bake up a batch of cinnamon rolls!

After trying many cinnamon rolls, scrolls and buns whilst traveling in the United States; from the all famous Cinnabons to the frozen supermarket types, I decided that I needed to find myself a recipe.

We ate cinnamon rolls every week for a few weeks (yikes) so I could search, try, tweak and retry recipes. Finally, I settled on a favourite. A recipe from the allrecipes website that claims to be a Cinnabon copycat.

On Saturday we attended a 'kindy family's get together' at a local park and my contribution to the food was (you guessed it!) cinnamon rolls!

I started off by prepping the dough in the bread machine. I add an additional tsp of yeast to the recipe. I find it doesn't rise quick enough otherwise.

When the doughs ready, I cover my work bench with cling wrap for easy cleaning, dust it with a little flour then pull my dough out.




I basically follow the recipe spot on but I just have to stress the importance of using ALL the butter called for in the recipe and maybe even a little more, otherwise you'll end up with dry buns!




Sprinkle with the sugar mix, roll, cut, place in a baking pan and let rise again




When they've risen (they haven't yet in the pic above), Bake in the oven for the 15mins and 15mins ONLY! They can easily be over cooked and they're not good when they are...

Make the icing while they're baking and spread it on the rolls while they're still warm and devour right away!




And they were - devoured - at the park :)

btw... As for the clean up... Too easy!





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Hot (from my oven) cross buns!

Finally got my act together and baked those hot cross buns I found on the SMH website last week. I've been meaning to make them since good Friday but didn't get around to it till today. It was our Sunday dessert.

As I prepped the dough and chucked in the 1/2 cup of sultana's, a protest began... The kids were flabbergasted at the thought of fruit hot cross buns instead of choc chip ones. So I removed the sultana's, picked them out is what I should say whilst thinking to myself how glad I was the recipe had only called for a 1/2 cup. (although it needed more). I divided the dough in half. One half choc chip and the other traditional.

Firstly it took a lot longer to bake in the oven than the suggested time... More like 25 mins (could just be my oven) and it wasn't spicy enough. In fact it wasn't spicy at all which was fine for the choc chip ones but the traditional ones deserved a little more cinnamon. At least another teaspoon. They also needed a 1/4 cup more of sultanas (as I stated above) and I'm not normally a sultana fan but they needed the sweetness.

Overall with its chewy crust and light an fluffy inside it was a definite keeper! Bill said it was one of the best he's had and with a few tweaks of my own I plan on making it THE best!

Happy Easter!

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