Spicy Apple Cake

Today we have an abundance of nearly too ripe apples, sitting on the bench … I remember making a spiced apple cake for Matt & Christine when Lucy was born, so went off in hunt of that recipe, which I remember being absolutely delicious.

Of course, it’s another Annabel Langbein!  Find the original recipe on the NZ Life and Leisure site, but here it is for the records!

125g butter
1 cup cooked apples (about 2-3 apples) or 1 x 225g can apples
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon each nutmeg, allspice and salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup sultanas
icing sugar

Preheat oven to 160 C. Melt butter in a medium-large saucepan.

Remove from heat and mix in apples and sugar. Stir to combine then stir in egg.

Sift dry ingredients and add along with sultanas to the apple mix. Stir just enough to blend ingredients evenly. Spread the mixture into a greased 20cm cake tin and bake for 45 minutes. Sprinkle with icing sugar when cool.

Serves 6-8

– See more at: http://nzlifeandleisure.co.nz/spiced-apple-cake/#sthash.RnYAsiPs.dpuf

Delightful Turkish Delight

A family favourite every Christmas is a small pottle of NZ-made Turkish Delight – inspired by our enjoyment over the holidays and spurred into action by a recipe from Julie Le Clerc (Taking Tea in the Medina), I took up the challenge of making it myself.

The recipe below is an easy (almost fool-proof?) way of making it, I then read that no Turk ever made Turkish Delight with gelatine (cornflour is the thing apparently) … perhaps there is some more experimentation to come, but in the meantime the recipe from Julie Le Clerc seemed to make all who enjoyed it very happy!

2 1/2 cups cold water
80 g gelatine powder
3 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp rose water
1/2 tsp red food colouring
1 cup icing sugar

Line a 20cm square cake tin with baking paper.

Sprinkle gelatine over water in a heavy pot and leave for 5 minutes for gelatine to absorb water like a sponge.

Place over gentle heat until gelatine dissolves.  Stir in sugar, cream of tartar and lemon juice. Bring to boil, stirring continuously until sugar is dissolved.  continue to boil gently over a medium heat for 15 minutes. (boiling bubbles will be small at first, but become bigger when the mixture is thickened and ready.

Remove from heat and stir in rose water and red food colouring (the latter just a very small amount at a time – you don’t want it too red!).  Pour into tin and stand overnight uncovered to set.

Sift icing sugar onto cutting board then turn out the slab and cut into cubes – toss squares in icing sugar – layer on waxed paper in an airtight container.

This was an amazing effort – I’d recommend using a mix of cornflour and icing sugar to toss this in – the icing sugar became quite cake within 24 hours – but nonetheless, delicious!

Birthday Sponge Cake

When there is no sign of a birthday cake, what is a girl to do but make her own?  So at 4pm on my birthday, I figure the quickest and most popular thing I could do was make a double layer sponge cake – something that I haven’t made for 20 years, but that my boys think is really special.

Out with the trusted old favourite, the Edmonds Cook Book and in half an hour (the beauty of a sponge!) two gorgeous cakes emerged from the oven.

Check out this recipe:

Edmonds Fielder’s Classic Sponge

3 eggs
pinch of salt
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/2 cup cornflour
1 tsp standard flour
1 tsp baking powder

Beat egg whites and salt until stiff.  Add sugar gradually and beat until stiff and sugar has dissolved.  Add egg yolks.  Beat until well-blended. Sift together other dry ingredients and fold into the mixture.  Pour into two 20cm greased and lined tins.  Bake at 190C for 15-20 minutes until cake springs back when lightly touched. Leave in tin for 10 minutes before turning out.

Tips in the book include being very swift once you add the flour – don’t waste any time getting it into the oven.  Spread whipped cream over bottom half, cover in strawberries and top with second cake. Sprinkle with icing sugar and serve with extra strawberries.

Chocolate Decadence with Only Goodness!

A pre-Christmas dinner with friends tonight and a last-minute call for a dessert – to be honest, didn’t feel like anything rich or sweet, so turned to Eleanor Ozich (of Monday’s Wholefoods fame) – her book has an amazing Chocolate and Raspberry Torte, which has also been published in the NZ Herald.

The torte has frozen raspberries, lots of cocoa, some maple syrup for sweetening and coconut flour for some interesting texture – check it out here.

Delicious, and very popular (especially with a dash of (less wholesome) cream on the side!

(Photo from NZ Herald article)

Food for Hungry Tradesmen

It’s the kind of thing our mothers used to do – feed and water the tradesmen when they were working in your home.  Well most tradesmen I know aren’t that interested in stopping for food (probably all about billable time!) but a couple of blokes working here earlier in the year were mightily pleased with a plate of warm Cheese Puffs which arrived for them to enjoy in the middle of the morning.

Cheese Puffs are a very light cheese scone which can be whipped up in minutes and much more bullet-proof than your standard cheese scone in terms of likely failure rate.  So far zero failures (and I’ve been making these for ages!) as opposed to a somewhat less successful score for a standard scone.  I leave those to my friend Fiona who is the scone queen.

Cheese Puffs

1 c standard flour
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
pinch cayenne
2 pinches ground ginger
1 1/2 c tasty cheddar grated (125g)
1 large egg
1/2 c milk
1 tbsp mild oil

Preheat oven to 200C. Sift dry ingredients together and stir in the grated cheese. Break the egg into a small bowl, whisk in milk and oil. Add to the dry ingredients and mix with a fork until just mixed. Drop tablespoonfuls of the mixture onto a baking tray. Bake for about 8 minutes until puffed and golden brown.

Makes 12 small puffs.

Source: Lois Daish (NZ Listener)

Baking Inspiration – Uncooked Slices

Trawling through Annabel Langbein’s book for something completely unrelated, I happened across these recipes and remembered some old summer favorites, which will get unearthed again once we are on holiday with a bit more time on our hands. These uncooked crushed biscuit slices are real treat food, and generally saved for holidays for that reason.

Ginger and Apricot Biscuit Slice
100 g butter
3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk,
1 cup dried apricots finely chopped
1/2 cup crystallised ginger finely chopped
1 cup desiccated coconut
1 tsp ground ginger
2 tbsp lemon juice
375 g plain sweet biscuits, crushed

Melt butter and condensed milk in a pot.  Combine with all other ingredients, press into a 30x 24 sponge roll tin and refrigerate until set.

Make lemon icing with 50g melted butter mixed with 3 tbsp boiling water, 1 tsp lemon juice and 3 1/2 cups icing sugar.

Spread over base and sprinkle with chopped pistachios and crystallized ginger.

Source: Annabel Langbein Free Range in the City

This second slice is extraordinarily rich, but delicious – only for very special occasions!

Chocolate Coconut ice Slice

150 g melted butter
1 cup sweetened condensed milk
2 tbsp golden syrup
1 1/2 cups desiccated coconut
1/2 cup cocoa
3/4 cup icing suagar
2 tsp vanilla extract
375 g plain sweet biscuits, crushed

Chocolate Coconut Icing

200g dark chocolate
40 g butter
1 1/2 cups icing sugar
3 tbsp boiling water
1 1/2 cups desiccated coconut

Melt butter, condensed milk and golden syrup together. Mix in remaining ingredients and press into 30×24 cm tin and refrigerate until set.

Source: Annabel Langbein Free Range in the City

To make icing, melt chocolate, stir in butter, icing sugar and water then add coconut last.  Spread over base and leave to set

It’s a Fishy Business

For a family with a long history of fishing off beaches and kayaks, it is strange that in Auckland we don’t eat very much fish.

All the nutritional wisdom points to the goodness of eating two oily fish meals a week, but it seldom happens.  Tonight was an exception, with a beautiful meal of salmon and green veges, inspired by Annabel Langbein.

Miso-Glazed Salmon

4 salmon fillets

Miso Glaze

1 1/2 tbsp miso paste
1 tsp sesame oil
2 tbsp water
2 tsp brown sugar

Japanese Style Rice

2 cups sushi rice
4 tsp soy sauce
4 tsp (or less) butter
2 cloves garlic, crushed
3 cups water

Bring rice and all other ingredients to boil and cook on lowest heat for 10 minutes or until cooked.

Mix glaze ingredients, spread over salmon and BBQ (I place on some wet baking paper to save the oil on the BBQ).

Serve salmon on rive with green veges (tonight we had asparagus and courgette cooked in the grill pan)

Inspired by Annabel Langbein Free Range in the City

Ginger Deliciousness

One of my favorite baking flavors is ginger, and generally goes down really well with the rest of the family.

There are a couple of favourite ginger recipes for sharing:

The first is a recipe that comes via the Listener and Lois Daish – a ginger crunch from a Takaka Cafe which has an amazing oaty base – always delicious!

Takaka ginger crunch – Recipes – Bite.

The second is a recipe from my friend Clare, an old family recipe passed down to her – these ginger nuts are amazing, always crunchy and with the real crackle top you see in bought gingenuts.  Incredibly, because they are not flattened they form a perfect circle when they are baked.

Ewington Gingernuts

122g butter
226 g sugar
1 tbsp golden syrup
1 egg
226 g flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
3 tsp ginger
2 tsp mixed spice

Melt butter, sugar and golden syrup in microwave for 1 minute.

Mix in egg, then dry ingredients.  Leave mixture in fridge for 30 minutes to harden.

Roll 1 tsp balls – these will expand a lot on the tray – bake at 160C for 15 minutes.

More Quick and Easy Chicken

This is another dish I adore for it’s “throw everything in a pan and bung it in the oven” wonderfulness.  Ray McVinnie is one of my food heroes for his easy no-fuss approach to food, and this is an extremely tasty dish which takes minimum effort.

Chicken Baked with Olives

Enough chicken pieces for 4 people (i usually use chicken thighs for this)
3 tbsp olive oil (or often much less)
3 cloves crushed garlic
1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
1 1/2 cups green olives (I love the big buckets of olives from Nosh)
1 tsp toasted coriander seeds (these really make this recipe rock)
1/2 cup sultanas
1/4 cup pine nuts
250 ml white wine
salt & pepper to taste
250 ml chicken stock (you may not need this)
1 3/4 cups orzo (or rice will also work well)

Place chicken in roasting pan skin side up (though I often use skinless, doesn’t seem to make a difference). Sprinkle everything except stock and orzo over top. Marinade if you have time (and if you don’t, don’t worry).

Pour stock over top anyplace in 200C oven for 30-40 minutes until chicken cooked.

Serve with orzo (or rice)

Adapted from Ray McVinnie Everyday Sunday

Summer Dessert to Die For

Christine has declared her intention to make ice cream for her kids this summer … and what about the adults, I say!  It reminded me of the stunning Frozen Yoghurt that can be whipped up in an instant when you just need something sweet and rewarding (and not chocolate!) on a summer’s evening.

Quick Raspberry and Nectarine Frozen Yoghurt

3 large, ripe nectarines
20 g frozen raspberries
finely grated zest of one lime
1/3 cup caster sugar
1 cup thick plain yoghurt, well chilled

Chop nectarines into small pieces and freeze in single layer in the freezer (this is the only pre-prepared part of the dessert, or just keep a stash in the freezer for just this purpose).

Put the frozen fruit, lime zest and sugar in a food processor and blend until fruit is roughly chopped.  Add the yoghurt and process until the mixture is smooth.

Spoon into glasses and serve immediately with fresh fruit.

Source: Dish Feb/Mar 2012

I’ve used this with all manner of different frozen fruits – it never fails to please!