Baking Butter Biscuits

A bit of alliteration and some delicious basic biscuits are the result!

Butter Biscuits
(makes 30)
Ingredients:
125g butter, softened (I used salted butter to cut down on the sweetness of the biscuit)
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg, at room temperature
2 cups plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp milk

Method:
Preheat oven to 180C. Line two baking trays with baking parchment/paper.

Using a food processor or electric mixer, beat butter, sugar and vanilla until pale and creamy. Add egg and mix well until combined.

Sift flour and baking powder over butter mixture. Add milk and stir/mix until just combined.

Using 2 teaspoons of dough at a time, roll dough into balls. Place on lined baking trays. Using a lightly floured fork, flatten biscuits slightly (remember to allow room for spreading).

Bake for 12 - 15 minutes, swapping trays over in the oven after 10 minutes, or until light golden. Allow to cool on trays for 5 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Dust with icing sugar. Biscuits will keep up to a week in an airtight container.

Pop goes the... well... popcorn

There's something so exciting about popcorn. I suppose it's the uncertainty of whether it will actually pop, and then how much of it will pop. Will you be left with only a few singed kernels at the end, or will their be an inch thick layer of unpopped kernels?

And then there's the smell... that delicious, heady mix of oil and butter, simmering gently, acquiring a nuttiness. The succulent mix coaxes the subtle aromas from the corn kernels as they go in, and the kitchen smells divine. Like warmth and sunshine, the smell of happiness and laughter and adventure.


The sound of popcorn, the gentle pfut pfut as each kernel springs into its new life; white, fluffy and inviting. It warms the cockles of my heart.

Mango Muffins

I've been reading Julia Child's autobiography/biography My Life in France on my newly acquired Kindle and it just confirms for me how much I love her. It's her openness and willingness to throw herself wholeheartedly into her new life with husband Paul in France that I find so enchanting. That, and of course, her absolute fascination with food, particularly French cuisine. I fully intend to wax lyrical about the book and about Julia herself, but not here.

This blog is purely for the fruits of such inspiration. So, duly inspired by Julia Childs and the fact that I bought two crates of mangoes yesterday and am casting around for what to do with them before they spoil, I've come up with a recipe for Mango Muffins.


Mango Muffins
Ingredients

• 1/4 cup (65ml) vegetable oil - don't use olive oil, the flavour is too strong
• 1/2 cup (125ml) milk - a little extra if the mix is too dry
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup (110g) white sugar
• 1 3/4 cups (220g) plain flour
• 1 cup (or 1 large) mango, peeled and diced - be adventurous and liberal with the mango
• spray oil

Method

Preheat oven to 190C. Oil a 12 cup muffin tin or use paper liners.

In a small bowl, combine oil, milk and egg. Beat lightly.

In a large bowl, mix flour, salt baking powder and sugar. Toss in diced mango and stir to coat with flour. This is an important step and is often missed out. When you add fresh fruit to cake or muffin mix, it's important to coat it in the dry ingredients/flour mix to stop the fruit from disintegrating when cooking.

Pour in milk mixture and fold together trying not to crush the mango too much.

Spoon mixture into muffin cups. Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes or until the tops bounce back from the touch and a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Cool 10 minutes and remove from the tin.

These are deliciously light, soft and fluffy muffins. They can be stored in an airtight container for 2 to 3 days or frozen...if they last that long!

More to come...

The absence of posts doesn't indicate any lack of cooking going on in my house. In fact, I have been feverishly cooking for DH's 40th birthday celebrations with 65 guests. So recipes will be forthcoming shortly, but as you can imagine, the pressures of organising and cooking for said birthday function has kept me away from my other love... writing.

Fear not, dear reader, I'm baaaack...and will be posting with pics again very soon.

Something's Fishy

As part of the "no red meat during the week" campaign, we've been increasing our intake of seafood. Bouillabaisse seemed like the perfect fit.

I've wanted to have a go at this scrumptious seafood soup for a long time, but have avoided it largely because my youngest son hasn't coped well with seafood. His intolerance seems to be improving now and, more importantly, he's keen to try more.

I was afraid this was going to be a complicated dish with lots of obscure ingredients, but it turned out to be surprisingly easy.

So here's my version of a perennial favourite.

Cheat's Bouillabaisse
Ingredients:

• 2tbsps extra virgin olive oil
• 1 1/2 red onions, finely sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped
• 1 tin diced tomatoes
• 4 bay leaves
• generous pinch of saffron
• salt and pepper
• orange peel from 1 orange (use a zester)
• 1 cup good white wine
• 750ml fish stock, warmed
• 500g clams
• 250g prawns (shelled and deveined)
• 250g scallops
• 500g Spanish mackerel, cubed
• 1 smoked trout, skinned, filleted and shredded
• 1/2 cup coriander /cilantro leaves (leaves only)

Rouille:

• 2tbsps hot fish stock
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/4 cup white bread, crusts cut off
• 1 red chilli
• 1/2tsp salt

Method:

Heat the extra virgin olive oil in a heavy based pan. Add onions, garlic and bay leaves and fry till onions are translucent.

Add tomatoes, saffron and orange peel and cook gently for around 5 minutes.

Add white wine and fish stock and bring to the boil. Turn heat down to a simmer and add salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for 20 minutes.

This is a good time to make the rouille if you're using it. Put fish stock in the bottom of a blender or food processor. Add garlic, chilli, salt and bread. Blend until very smooth. With the food processor still running, add the olive oil in a slow drizzle (it's like making mayonnaise). Stop blending when the oil is incorporated. Place the rouille in a bowl ready to serve with the soup - use sparingly like you would Tabasco sauce.

When the soup has simmered for 20 minutes, raise the heat and add clams. When clams pop open (this is fun, it's a bit like watching popcorn - use a glass lid on your pot so you can see it), add the mackerel. Cook for 5 minutes.

Add scallops and prawns and cook for a further 5 minutes.

To serve, place the bouillabaisse in a bowl, sprinkle the shredded smoked trout and the coriander leaves over the top. Allow each person to add their own rouille.

Serves 4 - 6

Ebony and Ivory....

Brownies seem to be making a come back and this weekend, I offered to make brownies for my godson's birthday party. Never one to take the road most travelled, I wondered what brownies would be like with white chocolate instead.

Let me tell you, they're delicious. That's a huge admission coming from someone who divides the world into "those who like white chocolate" and "those with taste". This particular use of white chocolate has even me admitting that it may have its uses.

Needless to say, they don't come out a rich brown colour, but they are a satisfying caramel colour. My youngest son has decided that they also deserve a name change, so in our house, we're calling them "Whities".

Whities
Ingredients

• 125g white chocolate (roughly chopped or use "melts")
• 125g butter, cubed
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups caster (superfine) sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract (get the best quality)
• 1 cup plain flour, sifted
• 1/4 tsp baking powder, sifted
• 100g peanuts, roughly chopped

Method
Preheat the oven to 160C. Grease a 20 x 30cm baking tin and line base and sides with baking paper.

Melt the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of hot water, stirring until smooth. Allow to cool a little.

In an electric mixer or food processor, beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla for 3 - 4 minutes or until pale and fluffy. Beat in the cooled chocolate mixture. Add the sifted flour and baking powder and beat until smooth. Stir in the nuts.

Spoon the misture into the prepared baking tin and smooth the surface. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes or until caramel coloured and the top has formed a crust. DO NOT OVERCOOK - this isn't a cake and should be soft and moist in the middle.

Allow to cool in the tin. Remove and cut into squares or rectangles. Dust with icing sugar. Whities can be stored in an airtight container for 3 - 4 days or frozen for longer.

For the regular Brownies, substitute the same amount of dark chocolate.

Home-land cooking

Recently I've been exploring a few new avenues for food. Well, one old avenue and one new one.

The New...
We're aiming, as a family, to eat less meat...at least during the weekdays. The ultimate goal is to not eat anything with a face during the week, and paint the town red (meat) at the weekends if we feel like it. Even this small adjustment to our diet should have some nice pay-offs.

It should improve the state of our health (and waistlines) for a start and then there's the additional benefit to the environment. So how did this all come about? From watching another episode of TED talks, of course. Graham Hill makes a good case for weekday vegetarianism, but we're not game enough to go the whole-hog just yet (http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/graham_hill_weekday_vegetarian.html). So we're doing this in small increments. We figure we can manage not eating red meat during the week. We could even manage without poultry or pork, but we need something. So what's our solution? Seafood.

Seems simple, doesn't it? The problem is, I have one child who doesn't like shellfish particularly (I'm convinced there's probably a food intolerance at play there). That limits the seafood options. So faced with the prospect of fish every week night for dinner, I've been plumbing the depths of my, admittedly shallow, repertoire of culinary knowledge. So what's my epiphany? Return to my roots.

And the Old...
My father's family comes from Ponani, one of the oldest ports in Kerala, a tiny town and an important fishing centre (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponnani). They lived and breathed fish. My memories of holidays at his home include eating fish at every meal... every meal...even breakfast. We're not talking smoked kippers here, we're talking serious fish curries...and hot. My sister remembers eating a fish curry for breakfast on the first day of her six week stay at my Grandmother's house and then having a stomach upset as a result of the chilli for the remainder of the six weeks! This is not cooking for the faint-hearted, or tender-stomached.

It is, however, a tidy solution to my week-day meat-free dilemma - eat fish and introduce the children to an important part of their cultural heritage and my childhood at the same time. It also doesn't hurt that it's a good way to acclimatise them to higher levels of chilli before an impending trip to India. So the recipes I'll be posting for the next little while will draw on my rich cultural heritage and reflect the cuisine of my father's family. I hope I do them justice...

Chocolate Hot Cross Buns

So I woke up this morning and thought "it's Good Friday...and I feel like making hot cross buns". I knew I had a recipe somewhere that I could tweak.  Since I've found a brilliant pizza dough recipe, I tend to use it as the basis for pretty much everything - including these hot cross buns.

Ingredients

• 50g castor sugar (plus 1 level teaspoon)
• 1 tbsp yeast
• 450g plain flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1.5 tsp mixed spice
• 75g currants
• 50g chocolate buttons or melts
• 50 ml warmed milk
• 1 egg beaten
• 50g softened butter
• 150ml warm water

For the Glaze

• 2 tbsps sugar
• 2 tbsps water

Method

• Preheat oven to 220C.
• Mix milk and water and heat in microwave for 1.5 - 2 mins.
• Put all ingredients except egg, milk and water into a food processor and mix. Add egg while mixing.
• Gradually add milk and water while while running the food processor. Mix until dough comes together.
• Mix for a further 2 minutes.
• Place dough into a lightly greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm spot until at least doubled in size.
• Beat down to original size, shape into 12 buns and place on baking sheet lined with baking paper.
• Allow to rise.
• While this is happening, make the dough for the crosses.
• Mix 110g plain flour and 2 tbsps of water into a dough. Roll out thinly and cut into strips.
• Dampen the buns and place the strips over in a cross pattern (tuck them just under the bun).
• Bake for 25 minutes until golden. Place a tray of hot water into the oven (this helps to keep the buns moist).
• While baking, make the glaze.
• Melt the sugar and water over a gentle heat.
• When the buns are cooked, take them out of the oven and brush with the glaze while still hot (this helps the glaze to be absorbed).
• Allow to cool thoroughly and store in an airtight container.

This recipe is very simple and quick. It's a great last-minute recipe.

Happy Easter!

Scrumptious Sweet Scrolls

Sweet scrolls make a perfect tea time treat!

I had made a Vegemite and cheese version of these delicious scrolls first and they had proved to be such a hit that I thought I'd try the sweet version. The basic dough recipe comes from an adaptation of the pizza dough recipe I use (which was from Larousse Gastronomique).

Ingredients

• 3 cups plain flour
• 2 1/2 tsps yeast
• 1 1/2 tbsps sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 4 tbsps olive oil
• 300 - 350 ml warm water (I microwave for 1.5 - 2 mins)
• 3 cups mixed sultanas, raisins, cranberries (dried) and candied peel
• 2 tbsps brown sugar (Muscovado sugar adds a really rich flavour)
• Strawberry or apricot jam (for glazing)

Method

• Preheat oven to 200C.
• Place flour, yeast, sugar, salt and olive oil into food processor with dough hook and mix.
• Add warm water slowly while mixing (don't turn the machine off) till dough comes together and is smooth.
• Continue to mix for a minute or two longer (this means you won't have to knead it afterwards).
• Place the dough into an oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap.
• Leave in a warm spot for an hour or until at least doubled in size.
• While dough is rising, mix the brown (or Muscovado) sugar and fruit and allow to macerate.
• When dough has risen, divide in half and roll each half very thin into a rectangle - I find rolling between two sheets of baking paper works well.
• Sprinkle the fruit-sugar mix over the dough and roll the rectangle into a log from the long end. You should end up with a long log of dough.
• Seal the edge and cut into 4cm pieces.
• Arrange the pieces close together (not touching) on a baking tray lined with baking paper.
• Bake for 20 - 22 mins until scrolls are puffed and nicely browned.
• Remove from the oven. Heat the jam and brush onto the scrolls while warm (not hot - DON'T BOIL THE JAM).
• Allow the scrolls to cool thoroughly, store in an airtight container and enjoy!

Here's a tip about the bowl you place your dough in - if it's too wide, your dough won't rise nicely. Aim for a deep bowl instead, this will allow your dough to rise beautifully.

Love and Cupcakes

I decided this week to make cupcakes. Those of you who have read previous posts know how deeply I love to cook; how it nourishes my soul as well as my appetite. So making cupcakes is as much an expression of my love as it is a tasty treat for B1 and B2.

If only the cupcakes had known this and cooperated, all would have been well. This week was one of cupcake disasters. I made three successive batches of cupcakes following the recipe to the letter. Baking is exact science and cakes are not forgiving of any deviation from the recipe. The ratio of solids to liquids to fats is precise. Knowing this, I scoured through my cupcake recipe book, double-checked Michael Ruhlman's Ratio book and made sure the butter and eggs were at room temperature before I started.

Three batches of cupcakes were made. Three batches of cupcakes went sailing into the rubbish bin. Well, ok, two batches went into the bin. The third was rescued by B1 who threw himself in the path of the exiting cupcakes and barred their path with his person. His view of food borders on obsessive and the thought of  losing another batch to the bin was more than he could bear.

Then came the four-day-migraine which put paid to any notions of repeating the cupcake experiment. Today, heart in mouth and courage pinned, I went at it again. I threw aside my Cupcake Recipes book, Googled some good recipes and used the principles I'd learned in Ruhlman's Ratio. With all of this, I came up with a scrumptious, lightly chocolate, fluffy cupcake. So if you're in the mood for cupcakes, here's the recipe (and yes, that's them at the top of this post).

Slightly Lightly Chocolate Cupcakes

Ingredients

• 150 g softened butter
• 150 g superfine (castor) sugar
• 175 g self raising flour
• 1 tbsp cocoa powder
• 3 eggs lightly beaten
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Method

• Preheat oven to 180C. Line a 12 cup muffin pan with cupcake papers (use the good ones, they hold their shape better).
• Measure butter and sugar into a bowl.
• Measure and sift flour and cocoa into another bowl.
• Crack eggs into separate bowl and beat lightly with a fork.
• Beat sugar and butter with electric mixer until light and creamy.
• Add vanilla extract and beat again.
• Add eggs a little at a time, beating well between each addition (this is an important step and will stop the mix from curdling).
• Add flour mix and milk alternately and continue beating during additions till all ingredients are well mixed.
• Divide mixture evenly between the patty cases. Do not fill - 2/3 to 3/4 is plenty!
• Bake for 20 mins or until well risen, firm and springs back to the light touch.
• Allow to cool in the tin for 5 mins.
• Transfer to wire rack and allow to fully cool before icing.
• Ice as prefered (though they're delicious without icing too).

The key to this recipe is to work quickly and not overwork the mix. Overworking the mix will result in flat cupcakes (it ruins the raising agent in the SR flour).

Enjoy!