Fruit Mince Brownies & the Cookbook of the Month

I was recently over at My Button Cake reading up on (and drooling over) Amber's latest creations when I saw her post on fruit mince brownies made with a recipe from the latest edition of this month's Delicious magazine. Today I was waiting in a supermarket queue when I picked up a copy of the special edition magazine to flip through as I waited. I am usually pretty strong willed against impulse purchases at the checkout, but with page after page of beautiful recipes and photos, I was in love!

And so, rather than having an actual book as Cookbook of the Month for December, I have decided that Delicious magazine should take the place as the featured piece of food literature for the month. My apologies for the delayed announcement - what a bad blogger I've been! I do hope Santa won't strike me off his list! ;)

At any rate, The December/January issue of Delicious It is packed with lots of fantastic Christmas recipes including vegetarian Christmas dishes and amazzzing sweets. There is also a strong focus on the use of seasonal ingredients so that you can use what's available and at its best now rather than trying to emulate European food traditions that aren't really season or climate appropriate for Christmas 'down under'.

Image courtesy of ABC

And so, with thanks to Amber for highlighting why I too needed this magazine, I bring you the Fruit Mince Brownies recipe from Delicious. Oh yes, delicious indeed, incredibly moist, and wickedly easy...

Ingredients

200g chocolate (70% cocoa solids), chopped
300g brown sugar
250g unsalted butter, chopped
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/3c (200g) plain flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/3 c (35g) cocoa, plus extra to dust
1/3 c (85g) fruit mince
1 tsp mixed spice
1 c (100g) toasted walnuts, chopped

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Grease a 22cm square cake or brownie pan and line the base with baking paper.
2. Place chocolate, sugar and butter in a saucepan over low heat, stirring until melted and well combined.

3.Remove from heat, cool slightly, then stir in eggs until well combined. Add flour, baking powder, cocoa, fruit mince, mixed spice and nuts, stirring to combine.
4. Spread into the pan and bake for 25 mins or until just set.

5. Cool in pan, then dust with cocoa. Cut into 12 squares and serve.

Brownies will keep in an airtight container for 2-3 days.

Ladybird x

Cranberry & White Chocolate Bites

Around this time last year, I made white chocolate and macadamia shortbread cookies and packaged them up and gave them away as Christmas gifts. I wanted to do something similar again this year, but this time I wanted them to taste a little more Christmasy, so the inclusion of cranberries in a cookie seemed like a good idea.

I usually follow recipes that I come across and don't spend much time developing my own recipes, but this is something I'm very keen on doing more of, especially in 2011. So, in the spirit of getting a head start of new year's resolutions, here is my recipe for these little bite size Christmas treats. Quick and easy to make, these make a great gift for friends with little notice.

The recipe makes around 60 cookies that can be kept in an airtight container for up to a week (if they last!).

White Chocolate & Cranberry Bites

An original Diary of a Ladybird recipe!

Ingredients

200g unsalted butter, softened

pinch salt

1/4 c caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 c plain flour

2 tbsp rice flour

1/4 c dried cranberries, finely chopped

Half block (90g) white chocolate, finely chopped

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celcius and line two baking trays with baking paper.

2. Cream the butter, sugar and pinch of salt. Add the plain flour and rice flour, then mix in the cranberries and white chocolate.

3. Roll small teaspoonfuls of mixture into balls and place on the baking tray, and bake for around 10 minutes or until golden.

4. Cool on the tray for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

I'll be featuring a few more Christmas recipes over the coming days, including great ideas for food that can also double as homemade gifts. Stay tuned!


Ladybird x

Nutella Cake - chocolate, hazelnut & other friends

Due to travel and the business of getting back into routine since returning from overseas, I haven't had a lot of time to discuss the Cookbook of the Month, The Flavour Thesaurus by Niki Segnit. However, I could not let the month slip by without sharing with you some of the great advice that this book offers for flavour pairings. No such book would be complete without a decent number of pages dedicated to chocolate and suitable pairings and examples of such delicious duos...

The usual and delightful suspects are there - chocolate & almond, chocolate & raspberry, chocolate & peanut, but there are some suggestions that rouse my curiosity and creativity...

Of course, the pairing of chocolate and its good friend the hazelnut comes as no surprise. The combination is probably known in the best form of the world renowned spread Nutella. It may not be especially daring, but by golly it works... Here is a recipe for a cake that combines chocolate and hazelnut (as well as a little hazelnut liqueur) to make an easy and decadent treat that won't last long! And yes, it's no misprint - it calls for an entire jar of Nutella ;)

Nutella Cake
Adapted Nigella Lawson recipe (serves 8 very generous Nigella portions, or 10 regular portions)

Ingredients
6 large eggs, separated
Pinch of salt
125g soft unsalted butter
400g Nutella
1 tablespoon Frangelico, rum or water
100g ground hazelnuts
100g dark chocolate, melted

100g hazelnuts (peeled weight)
125ml double cream
1 tablespoon Frangelico, rum or water
100g dark chocolate
25g milk chocolate

Method

1. Grease and line a 23cm springform round tin. Preheat the oven to 180ºC/gas mark 4.
2. In a large bowl, whisk the egg whites and salt until stiff but not dry. In a separate bowl, beat the butter and Nutella together, and then add the Frangelico (or whatever you're using), egg yolks and ground hazelnuts.
3. Fold in the cooled, melted chocolate, then lighten the mixture with a large dollop of egg white, which you can beat in as roughly as you want, before gently folding the rest of them in a third at a time.
4. Pour into the prepared tin and cook for 40 minutes or until the cake's beginning to come away at the sides, then let cool on a rack.
5. Toast the hazelnuts in a dry frying pan until the aroma wafts upwards and the nuts are golden-brown in parts: keep shaking the pan so that they don't burn on one side and stay too pallid on others. Transfer to a plate and let cool. This is imperative: if they go on the ganache while hot, it'll turn oily.
6. In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, add the cream, liqueur or water and chopped chocolate, and heat gently. Once the chocolate's melted, take the pan off the heat and whisk until it reaches the right consistency to ice the top of the cake. Unmould the cooled cake carefully, leaving it on the base as it will be too difficult to get such a damp cake off in one piece.
7.Ice the top with the chocolate icing, and dot thickly with the whole, toasted hazelnuts. If you have used Frangelico, put shot glasses on the table and serve it with the cake (this is optional, of course).

If you like chocolate and hazelnut as a pairing, why not consider some of these ingredients as unusual companions to chocolate as suggested by Niki Segnit, author of The Flavour Thesaurus:
- Lemon
- Chilli
- Cardamom
- Ginger
- Pear
- Anise
- Tomato

I endeavour to one day give some of these pairings a try in my kitchen - if only there were more time for cooking in life!

But tell me readers, have you ever tried any unusual flavour combinations with chocolate? And were they successful?


Ladybird x

Chocolate peanut butter cheesecake

For my birthday on Wednesday I was tempted to make a pretty fondant decorated cake, but flicking through the cookbook of the month 'Kitchen' one night while watching TV, this recipe and Nigella's preface to it caught my eye. The fact that it also contains 250g peanut butter also caught my eye! How naughty. How very very naughty...

Some of Nigella's words used to describe this cake will give you a pretty good picture of what this cake is all about:

"overindulgent vulgarity", "unashamed indulgence", "pleasureable, palate-cleaving clagginess"

Get the idea? ;)

Chocolate peanut butter cheesecake

Adapted recipe from 'Kicthen' by Nigella Lawson

For the base:

200g digestive biscuits

50g salted peanuts

100g dark chocolate chips

50g soft unsalted butter

For the filling:

500g cream cheese

3 eggs

3 egg yolks

200g caster sugar

125ml sour cream

250g smooth peanut butter

For the topping:

250ml sour cream

100g milk chocolate chips

30g soft brown sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius then process the biscuits, peanuts, dark chocolate chips and butter for the base in a food processor. Once it comes together in a clump, turn it out into a lightly greased 23cm springform tin and press into the bottom. Put in the fridge while you make the filling.

2. Process the filling in the cleaned or wiped-out food processor bowl, putting in the cream cheese, eggs, egg yolks, sugar, sour cream and peanut butter and whizzing to a smooth mixture.

3. Pour and scrape the filling into the base in the chilled springform tin and cook for 1 hour, though check after 50 minutes. The top only should feel set and dry.

4. Take the cheesecake out of the oven while you make the topping. Warm the sour cream and chocolate with the brown sugar gently in a small saucepan over a low heat, whisking to blend in the chocolate as it melts, and then take off the heat.

5. Spoon and spread the topping very gently over the top of the cheesecake, being as careful as you can in case you break the surface of the cheesecake. No big deal if you do though, you'll just end up with more of a marbled effect. Put it back in the oven for a final 10 minutes.

6. Once out of the oven, let the cheesecake cool in its tin and then cover and put into the fridge overnight. When you are ready to cut the cheesecake, take it out of the fridge, just to take the chill off: this will make it easier to spring from the tin.

The Verdict
If you are a die-hard peanut butter fan, this cheesecake would be right up your alley! Whilst I do like peanut butter, I did find this cheesecake a bit too much, and a little underwhelming taste wise.. I love the idea behind it - chocolate and peanut butter make a killer combination, but to be honest I'm just not 100% convinced that it's worth all the calories that are required to make it.

I was also a bit surprised by the fact that Nigella's recipe and the accompanying picture in the book don't match. Allow me to explain ... the recipe asks for the base to be pressed into the base and sides of the tin (as I did). However, after doing this with some difficulty (as there really isn't enough mixture to do it) and reaching the stage of putting the cake into the oven, I turned the page to see a picture of the cake with only the crust on the bottom of the cake. It is for this reason that I have adapted the recipe in this post, as this is the way I would do it next time. Although... it will be some time before I tackle this cheesecake again - it is certainly not for the faint hearted (or heart conscious!).


Ladybird x

The perfect chocolate chip cookie (?)

Here is the first instalment of the featured Cookbook of the Month for October - 'Kitchen' by Nigella Lawson. I have been busy bookmarking all the recipes I'd like to try this month and there are so many that I had to get started early! What better time to start than a long weekend

These cookies seemed like a good place to start after I read what Nigella had to say about her pursuit of the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe:

I've tried. I can't tell you how often I've tried. Many cookies have been baked, and many have been eaten. What do they say? Dirty work, but someone's got to do it. And the cookie recipe that follows i happy evidence that my hard work has not been for naught.

I've tried a lot of chocolate chip cookie recipes too (but probably not as many as Nigella though!) and I'll give you my review shortly, but first here is the recipe!

Chocolate chip cookies
(from Kitchen by Nigella Lawson)

(makes approx. 14)

150g soft unsalted butter
125g soft light brown sugar
100g caster sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 egg, fridge-cold
1 egg yolk, fridge-cold
300g flour
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
326g milk chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius/gas mark 3. Line a baking sheet with baking parchment.

Melt the butter and let it cool a little. Put the brown and white sugars into a bowl, pour the slightly cooled, melted butter over them and beat together.

Beat in the vanilla, the cold egg and cold egg yolk until your mixture is light and creamy.

Slowly mix in the flour and bicarb until just blended, then fold in the chocolate chips.

Scoop the cookie dough into an American quarter-cup measure or a 60ml round ice-cream scoop and drop onto the prepared baking sheet, plopping the cookies down about 8cm apart. You will need to make these in 2 batches, keeping the bowl of cookie dough in the fridge between batches.

Bake for 15-17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to wire racks.

Make ahead note
The cookies can be made up to 3 days ahead and stored in an airtight container. Will keep for a total of 5 days.

Freeze Note
Unbaked cookie dough can be scooped onto parchment paper lined baking sheets and frozen until solid. Transfer frozen dough to resealable bags and freeze for up to 3 months. Bake direct from frozen, as directed in recipe but adding extra 2-3 minutes to baking time.

The Verdict

These cookies were tasty and I really enjoyed the texture - crisp on the edges with a slightly squidgy interior. Flavour wise they were good, a choc-chip cookie that I imagine children would devour. But for me I prefer a more grown-up chocolate taste, so I think I'd replace the milk chocolate chips with either semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips next time. Everyone's palate is different though, so you'll have to give these a go yourself!

Also, a note on the size of these cookies... If you follow Nigella's ice cream scoop tip (which is undoubtedly handy and quick, I cannot deny that), you will end up with HUGE cookies (pictured above). Some love the sort of cookies that are as big as your palm, but I myself am not a huge fan of this. I find them too much to eat, so I made some big ones, as well some smaller ones with my tablespoon scoop. Smaller ones (pictured below) of course cook quicker, and they fit a lot easier in my cookie jar :)

Stay tuned for the next instalment of Nigella's latest work!

Ladybird x

Chocolate Banana Bread

I love it when you come across a new way to use up old bananas. Regular banana bread is great, but this banana bread is a bit different and it is SO easy to make. Most important of all, it's delicious!
This is a Bill Granger recipe... He is one of my Australian food heroes not only because of his fantastic food at bills and bills2  in Sydney, but also because he is a self-taught chef, and I love that about him... very inspiring.

This recipe was shared with me by a friend, and now I'm passing it onto to all of you. So go forth, and spread the chocolate banana bread love amongst your family and friends!

Chocolate Banana Bread
(recipe from Bill's Food by Bill Granger)

2 c (300g) plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 c caster sugar
3 bananas, mashed
125g unsalted butter, melted
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 c dark choc-chips
icing sugar, to dust (optional)

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celcius. Grease a 24 x 13 x 7cm loaf pan.
2. Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl and add the caster sugar.
3. In a separate bowl, combined the bananas, butter, eggs, vanilla and choc-chips. Add to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined.
4. Pour into the loaf pan and bake for 1 1/4 hours. Dust with the icing sugar, serve warm.

Tip

If the bread is browning too quickly, cover with foil and continue to bake.

Ladybird x

White Chocolate & Raspberry Cheesecake

One of my foodie dreams (of which there are many) is to one day visit a raspberry farm and pick and eat my own berries. Oooh how I long to pluck those beautiful, swollen, ripe jewels straight from the cane. Little capsules of flavour, just waiting to explode in my mouth. One day, my pretties. One day...

Although fresh raspberries are available in shops here, they are rather expensive. Lucky for me it's possible to buy quality frozen raspberries that are a fraction of the price, and are great for creating delicious sweets at home. This lovely cheesecake is one of my favourite ways to use raspberries. White chocolate and raspberry - a marriage made in heaven. This recipe is an oldie, but a goodie :)

White Chocolate & Raspberry Cheesecake

Adapted recipe from Good Taste magazine - July 2005

Ingredients

melted butter, to grease

250g plain sweet biscuits (I used Digestive biscuits)

100g hazelnut meal

150g unsalted butter

3 x 250g packets cream cheese, at room temperature

140g (2/3c) caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla bean paste

3 eggs

180g good quality white chocolate (I used Plaidstow), finely chopped but with some bigger chunks too - they really are a joy to come across whilst eating this cake

150g frozen raspberries

icing sugar, to dust

Method

1. Brush a 20cm (base measurement) round springform pan with melted butter to lightly grease. Cut out a round piece of baking paper and line the bottom of the pan. Lightly brush the paper with a little melted butter.

2. Place the biscuits in a food processor and  blitz until finely crushed. Add the hazelnut meal and melted butter and process until well combined. Transfer mixture to prepared pan and use a straight-sided glass to spread and press mixture firmly over base and side of pan. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 30 minutes to chill.

3. Preheat oven to 160 degrees celsius. Use an electric mixer to beat the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla bean paste until smooth. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Using a large spoon, fold in the chocolate and then the raspberries.

4. Pour mixture into the biscuit base and use the back of a spoon to smooth the surface. Bake in a preheated oven for 1 hour, or until just set in the centre. Turn the oven off, and leave the cheesecake in the oven with the door ajar for 2 hours, or until cooled completely. This will prevent the cake from cracking. Cover the cake with plastic wrap and transfer to the fridge for a few hours to chill. Before serving, dust with icing sugar.

Nice and simple, huh?! You're sure to win compliments when you make this for your family and friends.. You'll be blushing like a little raspberry in the sunshine :)

Ladybird x

Rockabilly Cupcakes

Rockabilly
(noun) Pronunciation:/ˈrɒkəbɪli/
a type of popular music, originating in the south-eastern US in the 1950s, combining elements of rock and roll and country music

Origin: 1950s. Blend of Rock and Roll and Hillbilly.


This was the Oxford dictionary entry I referred to when a dear colleague of mine asked me to do a 21st birthday cupcake job for her. I really had no idea what rockabilly was, but I was certainly honoured to be asked to create cupcakes for such a milestone occasion in someone's life and it was lovely to know I put a smile on the birthday boy's face :)

So what sort of imagery is appropriate if we're talking about rockabilly? Think Betty Page and Johnny Cash. Think pinup girls in red lips and vintage bathing suits, dashing rockers in suits with greased hair... Think nautical stars, cherries, dice, and LOTS of red and black. The more I researched, the more I grew to like the edgy-vintage feel of all things Rockabilly!

Chocolate & Nutella Macarons

I think it's fair to say that 95% of the world's population likes nutella, so how could nutella filled chocolate  macarons not be delicious?! If you feel the way that I do about nutella, you will understand my reluctance to keep it in the pantry cupboard. Why? Because it simply doesn't last. Nutella on warm bread, nutella on crepes, nutella on a teaspoon, nutella on a dessert spoon, nutella on a finger and then, suddenly, it's all gone!

The idea behind these macarons came from meeting a lovely French girl named Sandra. Sandra is a friend of a friend and has since moved overseas with her partner. However, in the relatively little time that she and I spent together, she opened my mind about French cuisine and became somewhat of a reference point for all things French. An avid baker and home cook as well, Sandra would tell me fantastic stories about food and wine in France, and wonderful recipe ideas. She taught me how to say 'macaron' properly. She informed me that no one in France really buys Moët Chandon because it is considered to be a rather inferior product in France. Most importantly, however, she told me of the Nutella Cookbook. A cookbook filled with hundreds of recipes using the delicious chocolate hazelnut spread - sweet and savoury. Nutella spaghetti.. Nutella Cake... The list goes on. I was speechless. I was in nutella dreamland. It was time for Nutella to feature once again in my pantry.

Alas the cookbook she referred to is in French, and with my Francophone friend now living on the other side of the world, my quest to source a version in English continues.. Until then, I will have to be a bit creative. Not that sandwiching macarons with nutella is outlandishly creative, but it is wickedly decadent :)

Chocolate Macarons
Adapted recipe from The AWW Macaroons & Biscuits

3 aged egg whites (I left mine out overnight in a bowl covered with clingwrap)
1/4 c (55g) caster sugar
1 c (160g) icing sugar
1/4 c (25g) cocoa powder
1 c (120g) ground almonds
2 tsp cocoa powder, extra
Nutella, for the filling

1. Grease heavy oven trays and line with baking paper.
2. In a food processor combine the almond meal, icing sugar and cocoa powder and pulse briefly in a few 2 second bursts. Then sift the mixture twice and set aside.
2. Beat eggwhites in a small bowl with electric mixer until soft peaks form, starting slow then gradually building to full speed. Add caster sugar a little at a time, beat until sugar dissolves.
4. Fold in the almond meal, sugar and cocoa mixture in two batches.
5. Spoon mixture into a large piping bag fitted with a 1 cm plain tip. Pipe 4cm rounds about 2cm apart onto the trays.
6. Tap trays once on bench firmly to remove bubbles and so the macarons spread slightly.
7. Dust macarons with extra cocoa powder through a sieve; stand 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 150 degree celsius.
8. Bake macarons between 15-17 minutes. Remove and allow to cool completely on trays.
9. Sandwich the macarons with the nutella, and be transported to nutella heaven!

Tell me readers, what is your favourite way to eat nutella?

Ladybird x

Classic Chocolate Ice Cream

When food blogging I am conscious of hyperbole, and try to use it sparingly. On this occasion, I simply cannot restrain myself - this is the best chocolate ice cream ever! It is rich, decadent, and oh so velvety... almost too good to share! I admit, I do hesitate when serving this to guests at home.. I think it's my inner ice cream demon saying "No! It's mine!" To counter the demon's taunts, I make sure I have a stash of this ice cream in the freezer at all times :) Then everyone's happy!

This is an adapted recipe from the instruction booklet that came with my Sunbeam 'Snowy'. In don't usually try recipes that come in appliances' instruction manuals, but I have found these recipes to be very reliable. This makes approx. 1 L and there's no telling how long it will last...

Ingredients
1 cup full cream milk
2 cups double cream
150 g dark chocolate (I used Lindt 70% cocoa)
4 egg yolks
130 g caster sugar

Method
1. Stir milk, cream and chocolate in a saucepan over a medium heat until the chocolate melts; increase heat and almost bring to the boil.
2. In a large bowl whisk egg yolks and sugar until well combined. The mixture should become creamy and pale in colour, as depicted below.

3. Slowly whisk hot chocolate mixture into yolk mixture until well combined.

4. Place the bowl of a pot of simmering water (water not touching the bowl), and cook over a low heat until the mixture has thickened and coats the back of a wooden spoon.

5. Transfer to a large bowl and allow to cool before covering and placing in the fridge to chill for several hours.
6. Churn in ice cream machine for about 30 minutes then transfer to a container and place in the freezer.
7. To serve, transfer to the fridge about 20 minutes prior to serving.

If you don't own an ice cream machine, I would recommend considering getting one. You really can't compare homemade ice cream to the bought stuff... It's superb! Hand on heart, getting an ice cream machine is probably the best $50 I have ever spent. Again, sorry about the hyperbole, but it's true!!!


Ladybird x