A Bread Story - Fruit Loaf

Making bread - this was something inspired by the cooking channel. We always used to have shop bought bread, no-one I knew made bread at all. No-one I knew even played with yeast.  I had tried to make pizza bases for a while using yeast, but the shop bought, pre-made ones were easier and better, so why bother? I also had trouble getting the yeast to rise. Then a lady I know who had been to bread making classes gave me hints on getting the yeast to rise, and I was hooked.

 I started watching The The Great British Bake Off, and The Great Australian Bake Off, and was inspired into making bread. My first attempt was dismal, it took a lot of kneading! It tasted OK ,and was OK as toast the next day, but took so much time and effort with kneading. So my son ordered me a dough hook for my trusty old mixer and I have not looked back. It may not be the light fluffy bread sold at the bakery up the road, but it sure is good.

This is my fruit loaf, different to what we get in the supermarket. I has dried apricots, dried figs, and dates as well as the usual sultanas and currants. I can regulate the amount of spice that goes in to my taste. 

This one didn't even last 24 hours it was so good!

At one stage I contemplated buying a bread maker, but why bother? A dough hook on my near 40 year old mixer and my acquired yeast rising skills are enough.

Mango And Passionfruit Tart

I'm always looking for new takes on things. This mango and passionfruit tart is a variation of an old favourite. Found in a Woolworth's magazine, it is just a passionfruit curd with added fresh mango puré,  set into a pre-cooked sweet pastry shell.

To my taste there wasn't enough mango flavour, so next time I will add more. The recipe strained the seeds out too, but we all grew up with seeds in passionfruit curd, so i left them in. It says, "I have passionfruit in me".

Would I make it again? Maybe.

Gingerbread Christmas Trees

I've always been a biscuit maker, even as a child. Over the years though, my biscuit repertoire has grown. I've collected recipes from all kinds of places, friends, family, books, magazines, and even the internet now. As I have gone along, I have looked for and collected a variety of biscuit cutters too, and now have quite a collection.

The Christmas tree cutter has been in my collection for about ten years now. I spotted the  set of four Christmas cutters in a kitchen shop one day so quickly made them mine. The gingerbread Christmas trees have been part of our Christmas now for the last few years.

Initially I was inspired by one of my stitching friends who makes the most stunning shortbread Christmas Trees drizzled in white chocolate. So I dug out my cutter, made a batch of gingerbread, drizzled them with melted chocolate, and sprinkled over hundreds and thousands before the chocolate set.

The drizzled chocolate and hundreds and thousands add just enough sweetness, and if kept in an airtight container, the biscuits will last quite a while. A good one to have over the Christmas week.

Trifle

Back when I was a child my Mum used to make trifle, and I ate it under sufferance. As I grew older, my new M-I-L also made trifle. It was always one of the desserts of choice at Christmas time.
My M-I-L's trifle was so much better than my Mum's, and it  took me years to work out why, as I watched her make it one year. It was many years before I tried to make one for us. It involved making sponge cake, something I had never been good at so had avoided like the plague for years.

So about ten years ago I thought I would try. First to tackle was that dreaded sponge cake, so out came my trusty Women's Weekly cake book. Perfect! My mum would make sponge cakes without a recepie, and so would my M-I-L, but I found I needed the little hints written in the book. Since then I have made a few sponge cakes.

When I first started making trifle, I put strawberries in it, but a chat with my friend has led me to now use peaches, nectarines and blueberries. The strawberries go to mush too easily.

So my trifle goes like this:-

1. Sponge cake spread with home made strawberry jam, then sprinkled with coconut. Something learned from M-I-L.

2. Jelly - preferably red. Port wine is always good. I always use a packet jelly, but one day I may try one from scratch.

3. Thick home made custard.

4. Fruit - fresh yellow peaches and nectarines, added blueberries, all drizzled  with maple syrup and a touch of cinnamon.

5. Whipped cream flavoured with vanilla and with a touch of icing sugar.

The top is finally sprinkled with blueberries and coconut.

Its better left for a day if you can, then the flavours will meld together better. The sponge cake can be sprinkled with some kind of alcohol to taste too if desired, sherry is always good. Yummo!

Orange And Poppy Seed cake

A good old fashioned orange cake, what could be better? We had been given still more oranges and I was still looking for ways to use them, so I put together this orange and poppy seed cake.

I used a basic butter cake recepie that I have, added grated orange zest, used orange juice to mix it instead of milk, and added 1/4 cup of poppy seeds.

Baked in a ring tin, and iced with an orange butter cream, sprinkled with chopped pistachios and coconut. Yum!

Stuffed Tomatoes

I love stuffed tomatoes, they are a nice accompaniment to have with most meats, especially lamb.

To make them, I try to choose tomatoes that sit level in a dish, but this is not always possible. I just wash the tomatoes, cut out the core part out that attaches to the stem, then gently remove the flesh and seeds from the inside. I save this to add to my stuffing later. There should be enough flesh left to give the tomato structure.

The stuffing is made of soft bred crumbs, grated cheese, the chopped up center of the tomatoes, salt, pepper, and whatever herbs I have at the time. There is usually fresh parsley from the garden, some basil and some oregano. Just mix it all together and place spoonfuls of the stuffing  inside the hollowed out tomatoes.

The tomatoes are then placed on an oven proof dish and baked in a moderate oven for about 25-30 minutes. Yummo!

An Upside Down Tart

I've made this tart a few times now and it is delicious! It's an upside down honeyed pear and  macadamia tart. It was a recepie I spotted being made on the Lifestyle Food Channel some years ago, so Googled and found it in writing. I've tried Googling now to share the recepie, but I seem to be having trouble finding this particular one. Lucky I saved to my favourite recepie book at the time.

It's taken me a few goes to get it right, and it can be a bit tricky as it needs to turn upside down at just the right time. Too hot and it goes everywhere, too cold and it sticks and will not come out of it's cooking dish.

 Its started off with butter, honey and lime zest, melted and placed in a foil lined tart tray. Then there is the layer of pears. Finally there is the base mix of blitzed macadamia nuts, flour, eggs, butter, sugar and more lime zest. The lime zest gives it a lively zing ! It's baked in the oven, then left to sit for a while before tuning out.

I find it best served with some whipped cream and a lime syrup. Yummy!