Quiche

Quiche, easy peasy and no recipe needed? I think yes.
Don't think too hard about quiches, just think scrambled eggs with some additions.

Blind bake your puff pastry, then bake for another 5 mins.

I like to leave a nice pastry overhang for extra goodness.
Add your ingredients and cook for a good 30-40 mins on 180 degrees.

Ingredients guide:

About 4-6 eggs depending on the size of dish

A good pour of cream and a teaspoon of Lemon Pepper and a bit of salt

Meats: Ham, Bacon, Salami, Prosciutto 

Veg: Red/White Onion, Shallots, Spinach, Capsicum, Olives, Chives

Additional: Chopped Cream cheese, pine nuts, other herbs

I love using my Maxwell & Williams Microstoven dish. The quiche, or whatever you cook, does not stick to the dish, so I don't need to grease. If you have never seen Microstoven, you must look it up. You know how Jamie Oliver always cooks in a dish and then puts it into the oven? This is the stuff you can use. Which is the only reason why I bought it. Can be used in the microwave, on the stove top and in the oven. Genius!

To see the Microstoven range click here

Scandinavian Apple Cake

I bought a big box of apples. Too many to eat on their own, so found an amazing recipe for an amazing cake. A Scandinavian apple cake to be precise. I have a soft spot for all things Scandinavian so this was a must try.

I was bought up with "coffee and cake", so when Finnish baking comes to mind it is filled with lots of sugar, cream, spices of cinnamon, vanilla, cardamon and so on... This recipe doesn't disappoint.

I used 5 small to medium sized apples for this recipe. Simply cored and cut.

The result is a deliciously sweet light to medium density cake strewn with soft melt in your mouth apple pieces and topped off with a toasty caramalised hit of sugar and spices. Yum!

Well worth a try and very easy. Tip: I was concerned about the apple skin because I find it off putting when I get apple skin from those tins of baking apples. But they were as soft as butter, so leave the skin on, it is the healthiest bit you know.

This recipe was found on [Cook Almost Anything]

If you want this delicious recipe, click on the picture below and it will take you straight to the page. Enjoy!

Do you notice how I rarely have a photo of my whole cake? It seems we (meaning I) am too excited to cut in and see how it tastes before I think about taking my photos.

Peppermint Mocha Cupcakes

Anything with crushed candy canes in the batter at this time of the year is a good thing. Plus earlier this year I fell in love with mocha cupcakes. So when I saw this recipe, I just had to try it.

 

Mocha Chocolate Goodness

Candy Cane Fun

 

Ready For The Oven

Lots Of Little Goodness

Super Sweet Treats

I found the recipe here. And by no means went 'all out' as you will see if you click on the link. I did a simple butter icing with peppermint essence. Sprinkled crushed candy canes on top with a M&M to top it off.

They were lovely. I guess we are always our own worst critic. The only thing I would change is to make them in bigger paper cups. They were about a 2 to3 bite size, but not big enough to really enjoy the cake underneath the icing. I like to have the mocha flavour come through more, so next time I would use less peppermint in the icing, if any. Or a stronger coffee in the mix. 

Cookies For Santa

I saw these at Christmas 2010 and have waited a year to be able to make these gorgeous homemade gifts. A jar labelled 'Cookies For Santa' filled with the ingredients to make delicious and truly American Christmas cookies. I think they might be called cowboy cookies... You need Christmas M&M's, so as soon as I found some at the shop I stocked up.

I will be honest, they were time consuming and after all that effort you really only want to give them to those who will appreciate it. But that is what gift giving is about: giving your time and effort to show your appreciation to those special people in your life.

I am so pleased with the result and look forward to handing out these special gifts. I will put a post up with my Christmas cookie results and the recipe. With 2 types of sugar, choc chips, m&m's, these are a real treat if you manage to save any for more than a day once they get out of the oven.

Gingerbread House

To celebrate the forth coming Christmas season of 2011, I thought I would share some photos of the gingerbread house which I made last year, Christmas 2010.

The gingerbread was made from scratch. I have never been a committed biscuit baker, especially in our 30+ degree heat summers. You need the gingerbread to be nice and firm for the house. Mine was just ok, just a little soft but it made it to the Christmas party without collapsing. I guess the secret is all in getting the thickness of the biscuit just right. 

This was also my first play with royal icing, Got the hang of it pretty quickly and was well underway. Great for concealing any flaws. This stuff is great, I love the roof shingles.

I really loved decorating the house. I love the holly effect and the bunting with m&m's. I also saw the candy canes on the angle from another picture and thought it was such a fun effect. Candy cane light posts, who didn't love the thought as a child? Marshmallow snowmen, complete with orange jelly lolly 'carrot' nose. And how cool are a ice-cream candy ice poles from the roof?

And fancy having to actually take the constructed piece of lollie art on a 20 minute car ride. I must have been crazy. lol.

Chocolate Brownies Round 2

It was only a few months ago that I made chocolate brownies for the 1st time. Unsuccessful and dry. This is the 2nd time I have made chocolate brownies and there is a little story to my success.

Fresh from the oven these were gooey and moreish. Chilled and served the next day the inards had a fudge like consistancy (so maybe just a little undercooked?). I added hazelnuts and used milk chocolate instead of dark. I am not 100% convinced that I have achieved the perfect brownie though.

Or am I?

There is a little story to go along with these little devines. This was a Jamie Oliver recipe. With my mixed butters* already melting, I had already committed to the recipe when I realise that I did not have all the ingrediants to complete the recipe to the 'T'. So this was a balls up and the result were uncertain, but the taste testers over the weekend were impressed; so maybe a balls up gone very well.

*The recipe required unsalted butter, which I was only able to use half unsalted, the rest regular. Caster sugar = ran out after half the quantity... so caster sugar and then topped up with white sugar. Dark chocolate - ah no, so milk chocolate this time.

Jamie Oliver Bloomin' Brilliant Brownies

Here is the link for the recipe, after reading others reviews it seems that substituting for this recipe is normal. I think I might add some cherries and chocolate chunks next time. Too much?