We got in some Christmas baking last week. Just before the tummy bug hit. While the weekend was not much fun, last week we had lots of fun making mess and eating biscuits.

I wanted to share this cheap and easy recipe from the Down to Earth website, which is what we used to bake the bikkies. The biscuit dough is just butter, flour, sugar, sweetened condensed milk. You can find the recipe here.

I actually halved the dough recipe because the original makes a huge batch. I froze the left over condensed milk; I’m not sure how it will go out of the freezer, but it will be used in baking also, so it probably doesn’t matter if it goes a bit grainy.

We rolled the dough and cut Christmas shapes from it. Just like playing with play dough but better tasting. They would be great to decorate, but they didn’t last that long in our house .

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The little fella was on a carb-fest when he was sick the other week. Toast was the only thing he would eat and he’s usually a walking garbage disposal. So as an alternative to more vegemite on toast, I whipped up these apple pancakes and they quickly disappeared.

We had them again a week later for Sunday breakfast with fresh strawberries dipped in dark chocolate (yes, while the rest of Australia is getting through the last of Winter, we are in the middle of strawberry season here in Queensland).

For little bursts of apple flavour, dice the apples rather than grate them. If you like your pancakes fluffy, add 1/2 teaspoon or so of baking powder. The batter is best if left for 30 minutes to rest in the fridge.

Method

1. Make a well in the flour and add the egg, vanilla, sugar if using, and a little milk and start to combine slowly with a fork, drawing in flour from the sides. Add more milk, a bit at a time, and continue stirring until all the flour is combined and you have a smooth batter.
2. Stir in the grated apple and set aside.
3. Heat a little butter in a pan and drop in a spoonful or ladleful of batter, cooking on both sides until brown. You can keep your pancake stack warm by placing in a warm oven until all pancakes are cooked.
4. Serve with your favourite toppings.

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This pudding is so easy to whip up in a flash: all the ingredients are basic pantry staples that can be thrown together when you want a dessert (without going out to buy extra ingredients). But don’t be fooled, this is one delicious dish! For something a little different, add some chopped nuts to the batter. Serves 4 – 6

P.S. Apologies for the photo, it turned out really, really orange. The pudding is not that orange in real life! I had to take the pic on DH’s phone, the camera didn’t have any battery charge left.

Method

1. Preheat oven to 170°C and grease a 1 litre oven dish.
2. Combine sugar and flour. Add the wet ingredients (the milk, butter, egg and syrup) to the flour and sugar and mix to a smooth batter. Pour batter into baking dish.
3. For the sauce, combine sugar and cornflour and sprinkle evenly over the pudding. Mix the golden syrup and the boiling water together until the syrup has dissolved, then pour evenly over the sugar mixture.
4. Bake for 40 – 50 minutes or until the cake forms on top of the sauce and a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.

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Mini muffins are great for a small snack on the go, you only need a small container to fit a couple in your bag. They are quick to cook and also freeze well, meaning you can have morning tea ready to defrost.

These muffins have a lovely citrus flavour, complimented by the tang of the yoghurt. Perfect for winter. Substitute the orange for any other citrus juice. Makes around 24.

Method

1. Preheat oven to 190°C and lightly grease a mini muffin tin.
2. Soak poppy seeds in the milk in a small bowl.
3. Combine the flour, sugar and rind in a large mixing bowl. Add the wet ingredients and poppy seeds and stir to combine.
4. Spoon into muffin tray and bake for 10 – 15 minutes or until cooked through. Cool on a wire rack.

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I would like to tell you that there is no photo to go with this recipe because we are having a camera malfunction (which we are actually) but the truth is we gobbled the lot up before I even thought to take a photo.

I first read this recipe in a Bill Granger recipe book, but this choc chip cookie recipe is so ubiquitous that I’m sure Bill won’t mind me sharing it.

What makes these cookies so good is brown sugar instead of white. It gives the biscuits a deeper more caramel-like flavour than the artificial flavour of white sugar. Double this recipe and freeze half for later, if you can. Makes 16

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease a baking tray (cookie sheet).
2. Cream butter and sugar. Beat in vanilla and egg. Stir in sifted flour and baking powder until just combined. Stir through chocolate chips.
3. (At this point you can form the mixture into a log and freeze for later. Just slice into 1 cm thick rounds and bake.)
4. Place spoonfuls of mixture onto baking tray, allowing room for spreading. Cook for 15 – 20 minutes or until golden.
5. Allow to cool.

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Something a little decadent for today. Red velvet cake is a popular American cake often served on Valentines Day due to it’s red hue, offset by the white icing (my poor photography skills don’t do this cake justice).

Generally red velvet cake calls for buttermilk, but I substituted sour cream instead as buttermilk can be expensive and we don’t really use it much. This cake has a lovely subtle chocolate flavour and a delicious cream cheese icing.

Method

1. Preheat oven to 175°C (350°F) and grease and line a 23cm cake tin.
2. Sift together flour, salt and cocoa. Set aside.
3. Beat butter until soft, add sugar and beat until fluffy. Add eggs one and a time and vanilla, beating well until combined.
4. Alternately add the flour and sour cream to the butter mixture, beating in each addition well. Add the red food colouring mixing well.
5. In a small cup combine the vinegar and baking soda. Allow the mixture to fizz and then quickly fold into the cake batter.
6. Pour mixture quickly into the cake tin and bake for approximately 30 – 50 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Invert onto wire racks and cool cakes completely. To make cutting and filling easier, place cake in fridge for an hour.
7. Slice cake horizontally in either half, thirds or quarters (whichever you prefer) with a serrated knife.
8. Beat cream cheese until smooth, add the vanilla and icing sugar and mix well. Whisk in the cream until thick enough to spread. Add more icing sugar to taste or to get the right consistency.
9. Spread icing between each layer of cake, the top and sides of the cake.

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Today is Australia day and what better way to celebrate it than with some classic Australian food. We’ll be munching on some hot fresh damper bread along with our barbie (for our non-Aussie readers, not the doll but colloquial for barbeque).

Damper is the traditional soda bread of the Australian swagman who spent weeks at a time in remote areas with only basic rations. It uses baking soda as a leavening agent rather than yeast and was cooked in the ashes of the camp fire. Damper is a true frugal bread.

‘Cocky’s joy’ refers to golden syrup which is also traditionally eat with damper (and tastes great, by the way). On brownie camp, we made damper and wrapped it around a stick before cooking it over an open fire. The hole left when the stick was removed was filled with butter and golden syrup. This beats fine dining any day!

To Australian readers: Happy Australia Day! I hope your day is relaxing and enjoyable.

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They were last minute arrangements. We were having people over for morning tea. I didn’t have a thing in the house to serve and only two hours until the guests arrived. That’s what makes small cakes great: they are quick to bake, quick to cool and easy to serve.

But what to make?

I had one banana that desperately needed using up – but not enough for a banana cake. I had yoghurt getting close to its used-by date – but not enough for a yoghurt cake. I had cream that needed finishing before it went bad. And plain chocolate? Plain boring. So this was my creation: banana, choc, yoghurt cake with cream filling. And the taste?

Yum, yum, yum.

This is the great thing about having a decently stocked pantry: lots of options and always a means of using up food and avoiding waste. The other option could have been to rush out and buy a cake, but that would have meant more money spent and the banana and the yoghurt possibly going to waste.

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease 12 capacity muffin or cup cake tins.
2. Cream butter and sugar by beating the butter until soft and light then beat in the sugar until well incorporated.
3. Beat in the banana, vanilla and eggs.
4. Sift together the flour, cocoa and baking powder and mix into the banana mix. Stir in yoghurt until well combined.
5. Spoon mixture into muffins tins, smoothing the top of the mixture. Bake for 15 – 20 minutes or until cooked through. Turn onto wire racks and leave to cool.
6. Beat cream and icing sugar (if using) until soft peaks form. Cut circles out of the centre of the cup cakes and fill with the cream. Cut circles in half and place back into the cream as shown above in the picture.
7. Dust with icing sugar and serve. Makes 12.

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I know, I’m not the best food photographer ever, but this frittata tastes so great that I know you will forgive the photography. The original recipe was to make a quiche so if you prefer, line a pie tin with pastry for a quiche. It also included prosciutto, but I’ve always eaten this vegetarian.

This is a really easy and inexpensive dish, but the onions do need some time to caramelise. Most recipes with caramelised onion give times of 30 minutes or so, but I find that it takes well over an hour to get the onions the way I like them. For extra taste, add some crumbled Greek Feta to the egg mix.

A frittata or quiche makes a great picnic dish, which is what I cooked it for, served with a side of salad.

Method

1. Heat the oil in a frypan over a medium low heat. Add the onions and cook gently stirring occasionally. You don’t want the onions to brown. The longer they cook, the sweeter they will be.
2. Add the sugar and cook for a further 10 – 20 minutes. Allow to cool slightly.
3. Preheat oven to 180°C (360°F). Grease a baking dish with a little oil or butter.
4. Beat the eggs and cream. Add the cheese and thyme and season with salt and pepper. Stir in the onion.
5. Pour into a greased baking dish and bake for 20 – 40 minutes or until set.

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I found this recipe at Tammy’s Recipes (who got it from A Mummy’s Blessings) after a reader recommended Tammy’s website. This slice made it to our family favourites list without any discussion, it was immediately loved, and I’ve made it dozens of times in the last few months (Hmm, I think I’ll go and make some now).

I baked this slice and froze it when I was still pregnant, in order to have something to give guests after the little fella was born (it defrosts well by the way). After tea one day, I watched my dad surreptitiously transfer the leftover pieces to his own Tupperware container while he thought nobody was watching. Later, he gave me back our container saying ‘Here. I washed it up for you!” Hmm, thanks. It’s a popular slice.

I’ve altered the recipe a little bit to suit our tastes (and I’ve written it up here in metric and Celsius). I use wholemeal flour, raw or rapadura sugar (if I have it in the cupboard) as both have a much nicer flavour than white sugar, and I chop a chocolate bar rather than use choc chips. Choc chips are less work and still taste great, but choc bits that you cut yourself are smaller and mix through the slice better. And then there is all the chocolate crumbs that make the whole slice yum.

This looks like a ‘health’ bar as some people have commented when I’ve served it. You will notice that it has quite a lot of sugar though, so not exactly healthy, but we eat it a lot anyway and at least it’s got real ingredients in it.

Check out Tammy’s Kitchen for the original version of this recipe and lots more great recipes.

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease a lamington tray with a little butter.
2. Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until combined.
3. Sift in flour and baking soda. Add the meal left in the sifter and combine.
4. Stir in the oats and the chopped chocolate. This is a pretty stiff mixture, too stiff, I think, for electric beaters. A wooden spoon is good for this job.
5. Press the mixture into a lamington tin spreading evenly over the base of the tin.
6. Bake for 30 – 35 minutes or until golden and set in the middle.
7. Cut into 24 squares and cool (or eat).
8. Hide leftovers.

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