Cinnamon-Fig Jam by Eating Out Loud
Photo by Eating Out Loud
The recipe and beautiful accompanying pictures are giving me tingles. What an amazing use for figs! If you're in Australia grab them quick before they go out of season and make this divine looking jam. I'm sure this will be fabulous added to an autumn cheese platter.
Blood-Orange Yogurt Cake from Picky Cook
Photo by Picky Cook
It is no secret that I love the lightness and texture of yogurt cake and this one looks fabulous. Moist, light and an amazing colour - what more could you want? STOP PRESS: You could also want a great grapefruit version!
Especially for easter:
Iron Chef Shellie's Hot Cross Buns
A classic looking recipe, adapted from Donna Hay's but with extra fruit, just the way I like it. Shellie's photography is always gorgeous and these buns look soft and glazed-shiny.
Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Hot Cross Buns by Not Quite Nigella
Photo by Not Quite Nigella
Oh oh .. cimmamon, chocolate and the soft butteriness of a hot cross bun? Diet? What diet? Not Quite Nigella's take on the standard looks fabulous and I can almost taste them already.
What are you cooking this Easter? Share your recipe ideas or links in the comments below!
Related posts:
]]>This is the bit where I get all accountable. I had some small wins. I haven't been snacking just for the hell of it. I have however been snacking for sheer pleasure. When I'm not hungry. So while that isn't perfectly ideal from a health perspective, it is totally ok from a greedy pleasure perspective. I think I've enjoyed my snacks more too - because I'm thinking about it more. I also really know which likely over-processed snacky treats I will NEVER GIVE UP:
- Cadbury drinking chocolate. While Five Senses has an awesome premium drinking chocolate range yes, I said RANGE - that includes white chocolate(!) and Bannister Downs has excellent iced cafe au lait and chocolatte that makes me weak at the knees, there will always be room in my heart (and on my nose) for the cadbury classic.
- Cascade Ginger Beer and Sparkling Apple Juice. Ooh my lovely non-alcoholic friends. When you have the alcohol tolerance of a mosquito sometimes it is handy to be armed with something non-alcoholic. These two float my boat and look beer-ish enough to stop people pointing at the loser who isn't drinking. And no, I WILL NOT BE THE DESIGNATED DRIVER. One or two glasses of wine is probably enough to make me hurt Mr Kerb and Mr Silly Overpriced Car Rim Wheel Thingos and we don't want that do we?
- Lindt Lindor Balls (dark chocolate or mint). Need I say more?
I have no idea whether I have lost any weight or not because I was too gutless to weigh myself. I still don't pass the last year's jeans test though.
I have also been swimming which could almost count as exercise if there was a bit more lap swimming and a little bit less lazing about on an oversized blue thong. Yes. Thong. For those in the US I mean a giant flip flop. Yes I understand that still doesn't make any sense. Um. Anyway. I promise there is a giant inflatable blue thong and I DID NOT IMAGINE IT.
At any rate I am making an effort and (hopefully) not turning into a carrot-bore.
BTW: lovely happy grateful thanks to the very awesome Flying Taco who satisfied my salty cheesy craving with sheer awesome enjoyment in mere minutes without having to resort to a drive-thru or a second mortgage.
Related posts:
]]>
Wild Raspberries by mrwi
There is something special about the combination of white chocolate and raspberries. Tart, sweet and indulgent. Combined into a muffin or cupcake, they are elevated into something great.
This muffin is one I pinched from Delicious magazine.
The muffins have a light buttery crumb and are studded with sparky raspberries and chunks of white chocolate. As a bonus, they're super easy to make, present beautifully and are delicious warm from the oven, softly collapsing in your fingers as you push them into your mouth.
Photo by minato
Ingredients
- 440g plain flour
- 1 tbs baking powder
- 250g caster sugar
- 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
- 1 1/2 cups (375ml) milk
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 200g white choc, roughly chopped
- 200g fresh or frozen raspberries
Method
Preheat the oven to 180C.
Line a 12 hole muffin pan with paper cases.
Sift the flour and baking powder into a large bowl, add the sugar and stir to combine.
Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients, then add the oil, milk and beaten eggs.
Mix gently until just combined, then carefully fold in the chopped white chocolate and 150g of the raspberries.
Spoon the muffin mixture into the paper cases and place in the oven for 20 minutes.
Remove the muffin pan from the oven and garnish each muffin with the remaining raspberries.
Return to the oven and cook the muffins for a further 10-15 minutes until golden brown.
Best served warm.
photo by minato
For more raspberry and white chocolate goodness try Iron Chef Shellie's raspberry and white chocolate brownies, which inspired this post. Or for more of my baked treats, check out the links just below.
Related posts:
]]>
photo credit: Had a bad day, dear?
The best bit is that cupcakes are as easy (and as inexpensive) to make as you want.
My never-fail recipe for coffee cupcakes follows. If coffee isn't your thing (shame on you) then you can use the recipe as a base for a multitude of different variations. Let me tell you how.
My recipe is heavily inspired by Nigella Lawson, whose cupcake recipe can be found in her classic book How to be a Domestic Goddess. My variations involve substituting coffee for milk, homemade buttercream for packet icing and cutting down the sugar to a less sickly level.
Even though this recipe cheats and uses a food processor instead of creaming the butter and sugar in a mixer, the cupcakes turn out beautifully light and fluffy. I don't know how it works but it does, you'll just have to trust me.
This recipe uses pantry basics and costs almost nothing to make. The tiny portions mean that there will be enough to go around in the staff room and you will impress everyone with barely any effort.
Ingredients (cake)
- 125g unsalted butter, softened and chopped
- 125g self-raising flour, well sifted
- 100-120(ish)g caster sugar (adjust to taste)
- 2 eggs
- pinch of salt
- 2-3 TB fresh espresso, cooled
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- pinch of cinnamon
- pinch of allspice
Ingredients (icing)
- 125g unsalted butter, softened, chopped
- 220g pure icing sugar, sifted
- 2-3 TB fresh espresso, chilled
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
- food colouring (optional)
Method (cake)
Pre-heat oven (not fan-forced) to 190 degrees celcius.
Prepare mini-muffin tins with tiny paper muffin cases. This recipe will make 36. (Alternatively you can make 12 regular sized cupcakes, just adjust the cooking temp to 200 C and cook for 15 minutes.)
Combine all cake ingredients other than the espresso in the bowl of a food processor. Whizz until combined. Pour the espresso down the food processor's funnel and process on 'pulse' until the mixture forms a smooth, dripping consistency.
Use a teaspoon (and an extra one to push the mixture out) to evenly fill the mini-muffin cups.
Cook the cupcakes for about 7-8 minutes or until lightly browned and the tops spring back when gently prodded. Allow to cool on wire racks while you make the icing.
Method (icing)
photo credit: buttercream
Beat butter and vanilla extract in an electric mixer until as white as possible (this will take a while).
Beat in icing sugar and espresso in two batches (I usually add 100g of sugar and 1 TB of espresso each batch, adding more to taste).
Add food colouring if desired, and mix through.
Pipe buttercream onto cupcakes. If you don't have a piping bag and can't be bothered making one out of greaseproof paper, smoosh the icing onto the cakes with a butter knife or palette knife.
Serve. The cupcakes won't last long!
Have you tried my recipe for orange and poppy seed cupcakes with passionfruit butter cream yet?
Related posts:
]]>