Foxy Brownies (with peanut butter!)

Everybody loves chocolate right? And if someone says they don't, they are obviously lying!! This recipe is extremely delicious, and I tend to add so much chocolate to it, that you seriously gain about 5kg from just looking at it!

I went to a cafe with some friends of mine a while ago, and when I tasted this brownie I almost died of happiness! So I just had to get the recipe - and the awesome chef gave it to me - and I have never looked back!! (The chef also said it is the cocoa that makes the chocolate flavour - not actual chocolate - this is why he only uses good quality Cocoa for this.)

Foxy Brownies
300g butter
125g Cocoa (the best quality you can get!) - I usually do half Nestle Baking Cocoa, and half Cadbury Bournville cocoa
4 eggs
500g caster sugar
125g flour
1/4 tsp vanilla (I never add this)
75g chopped hazelnuts (the original recipe had hazelnuts, but as I have small kids, I take out the nuts and add CHOCOLATE!)

First step is to add the cocoa and the butter together, and then melt. I usually do this in my Pyrex jug, in the microwave.

While that is melting, in a bowl, add the sugar and the eggs. Beat with a whisk until it is well combined and has a ribbon like effect.

Add the flour (and vanilla) to the egg/sugar mix, then add the cocoa/butter mix, and mix well (you can keep using the whisk for this, or use a spatula. If using a spatula, you cannot go past the Tupperware Spatula. I swear by it!)

In this batch I am using Cadbury white choc chips, and Reeses Peanut butter chips:

(I got the Reese's at my local IGA for $6 (which is pretty good as I have seen them for $10 elsewhere), and the Cadbury white choc baking chips, I got from the Golden Circle outlet. I have never seen the baking chips at Woolies or Coles before - I usually use the Cadbury White Choc Melts instead.)

Once the mixture is combined - use a spatula to add the chocolate, or the nuts, or whatever you are adding.

Tip it into a lined baking tray, and then into the oven.

Bake at 170°C for 25-30mins. If you like it less "gooey" bake it for 35mins. 

Take it out of the oven, let it cool a little and then cut it up. Serve it with some double cream dolloped on top.

My husband said he loved the addition of the Peanut butter chips, as it wasnt as sweet as normal. Me? I love the sweet!!

You can alternate anything into it really - white choc, dark choc, milk choc - you can now buy Nestle Caramal bits, or go with the original hazelnuts.

You can also drizzle some melted white and dark chocolate on the top, (before you cut it up), or simple dust with icing sugar.

I made these brownies a few weeks ago for my awesome cousin for her birthday - and she loved them! (as did her friends who kept coming back for more!)

Happy Baking!

Rach

Delicious Sweet Braised Pork

I know I haven't posted in what seems like FOREVER, but although I haven't been posting up, I have still been cooking!!

The following recipe, It was originally a marinade (a really good one!) and I adapted it so I could braise the pork in it - and it is seriously delicious! My kids keep asking me to make it - so I figure they must like it! And the bonus is - it is so incredibly easy!! Here goes!

Sticky Sweet Braised Pork

1/2 cup sweet chilli sauce (add more if you like it a bit hotter)
2 tsp minced garlic
1 tbs soy sauce
1 250ml bottle maple syrup
pinch of salt
pinch of pepper
2 tsp sesame oil
table spoon brown sugar
500ml vegetable stock
1kg pork rashers

You may ask "maple syrup?" but it is the maple syrup that gives it the smoky flavour... Don't doubt it until you've tried it!!

To start, get your pork rashers, and take off the skin. I usually use my kitchen scissors to do this.

 

 (If I am using this pork for my fried rice, I make crackle out of the skin, cut it up finely and add to the fried rice.)

I have this magical thing from Maxwell Williams, called a Microstoven. It's a dish that can go in the microwave, on the stove top, and in the oven. It is awesome for cooking on the stove and then putting straight into the oven. It does cost a bit of money, (I got mine half price!) but it is very cool and makes things like this a LOT easier!

So in my Microstoven, I put some olive oil and then cook the pork rashers until slightly golden brown - it just adds a bit more flavour. (You can cook in batches, or just throw it all in.)

Once you have started cooking the pork, in a jug (or bowl) mix together the sweet chilli sauce, garlic, soy sauce, salt, pepper, sesame oil, sugar and syrup. It is very thick and gooey. Mix it together, and then when the pork is cooked on the outside, tip this in and give it a mix.

Add the vegetable stock, and mix well, so it mixes in with the rest of the sauce you just added. Bring it up to the boil, and when it just starts to boil, put on the lid and put in a 200°C oven, for 2 hours.

Stir it every 30mins, just to check its cooking and is not burning etc.

When it is done, it will look like this:

The pork will be falling apart, and you will have this rich bbq smell going through your house!

Take the pork out of your dish, and cut on a cutting board. Serve with mashed potato and vegies, or add to fried rice like I do. I also add it to rice cooked with onion, capsicum, peas and corn for something different.

You can use the leftover sauce on top of your vegies, or rice. 

I have also used this recipe (minus the stock) as a marinade, on top of pork belly (cooked in the oven).

1/4 cup sweet chilli sauce

spoon minced garlic (to taste really)

Splash soy sauce

3/4 - 1 cup maple syrup

salt

pepper

splash sesame oil

table spoon sugar (I use brown sugar)

(If using pork chops or pieces)

Mix it all together, and marinate the meat in it for 1-2 hours before cooking.

OR

(For pork belly)

Baste the pork with a decent amount of the marinade and leave to sit for 20-30mins. Then baste every 20mins while in the oven. (Will take about 80mins to cook at 180°C).

I hope you like it!! It really is delicious!!

Happy Cooking!!

Rach

Fresh Fruit Salsa!

 

We were having pavlova for dessert, and I was after something different to go on top of it! My husband doesn't eat fruit, Leggy only eats some, Pops eats it like it's going out of style, and I love it all! So my love for fruit outweighed the others dislike, and so I decided to make a fresh fruit salsa.

You will need:

250g Strawberries

110g Caster Sugar

1/4 cup water (60ml)

Juice of 4 small or 2 large limes

1 Kiwi

1 medium sized green apple

1 banana

Cut up half of the strawberries into about 8 pieces, and add them into a saucepan with the sugar, half the lime juice and the water. Cook on a medium heat until the sugar is dissolved and you can smell the strawberry aroma coming out of the pot - about 5 or so minutes.

This is it about 3/4 of the way through

Once it has reached that point, take it off the heat, let it cool slightly, and then strain the strawberries out of the syrup.

You need to let it cool before you add anything to it, so you can speed up the process by either putting it in the fridge or freezer.

Cut up your remainding strawberries, kiwi, apple and banana into small pieces, about 1cm cubes, and set aside in a bowl.

When the syrup has cooled down, take it out of the fridge/freezer and taste it! It will most likely be VERY SWEET! This is where your extra lime(s) comes in. Quarter by quarter add the juice in, stir and taste. It may be a little bit tart (sour), but remember you are adding it to the sweetness of the fruit, so a little bit tart is ok.

Mix in the fruit, and then you can set aside in the fridge til you are ready to use it!

Spoon over the top of pavlova, use on top of ice cream, or even add lemonade (and some vodka?) and make a punch...

It really is easy and quick to make, and think of other fruits you can add - Pineapple? Mango? Passionfruit?

Happy Baking!

Rach xx

*When I made it I made double the sugar syrup I have recommended here - it worked, but was too much for the fruit I made. So you can easily double it - just make sure you are adding the lime to your taste still!
** After making this I am debating as to whether I shouldn't have peeled the apple - not so much for taste, but to add some colour to the overall look of the salsa... up to you!

Funky wine glasses

Hello again!

Thursday is "Mummy and Melody Day", so today we went to check out the new Spotlight store at Capalaba... OMGosh! Sooooo ridiculously busy!! But we got a few cool things to make some awesomely decorated wine glasses with!

Here is what you need:

* How ever many wine glasses you want (I used a 6 pack from Ikea for $5.99 - so it didnt matter much if they broke!)
* Fine glitter (fine will work a lot better than course!) - we used Blue and Purple
* Sticky tape
* Sponge paint brushes
* Mod Podge (there are several types, this one is a gloss that you can use as glue and as a sealer)
* Paper or something to go under it because it's messy!!



First up, you need to make sure the glasses are clean, and then stick a line of sticky tape around the glass - so you know where the glitter has to go!

(Bit hard to see sorry!)

After you've done this, you can start spreading the Mod Podge onto the glass...

And then glitter away!!

This is the glass after 1 coat of glitter...

I let it dry for abut 30mins, and then apply another coat of Mod Podge, and then more glitter. This is a picture after 2 coats...

I then let it dry for about 2 hours, just to make sure it was dried properly, and then I applied a top coat of just Mod Podge, to smoother it over and stop the glitter from coming off.

*When you are applying it, make sure it spreads out evenly, otherwise you will end up with dried blobs of it on the outside. If this does happen, gently sand it with some sand paper.

Let that dry for a couple of hours, and then apply another top coat. I then let this one dry overnight, and then I did another coat.

I ended up doing 4 coats of the Mod Podge all together, and then letting it dry for a few days.

To remove the tape evenly, I (carefully!) used a stanley knife and cut along the edge where the tape meets the glitter. Once I had gone around the whole edge, I peeled it off, and then used the stanley knife to tidy up any rough edges.

Melody was after me and after me to use them at dinner - so we did. Here's how they looked:

 Very pretty and cute I reckon!

Other ideas are you can use different colours for Christmas, to match table clothes, do a lot of different colours so you know which glass belongs to whom, so many ideas!

Happy creating!

Rach xx

Caramel Apple Cheesecake Macarons

I know that I've just posted Macarons, but because I nailed them - I have decided to experiment a little! So in this post I will be showing how I changed it up and made Caramel Apple Cheesecake Macarons!

I used the same recipe as last time:
4 egg whites
200g caster sugar
75ml water
200g icing sugar
200g almond meal
(This time I added green food colouring)

(Here is the macaron page from last time with all the instructions)

And I added:
250g cream cheese
1/2 cup icing sugar
1 large (or 2 small) green apples
1-2 tbs flour
1-2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup cream
100g butter
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 golden syrup

Once you have the macarons made and cooled etc, then you get onto the filling!!

Cut up the apple(s) into small pieces, and coat in the flour (just as much as you need to over them lightly) and add the cinnamon to taste (if you like more add more etc). I had about 1 tsp.

Then make the caramel, put the butter, cream, golden syrup and brown sugar in a sauce pan. Cook it on a medium temperature until the butter melts and the sugar is dissolved (to check if the sugar is dissolved, have a little taste and if it feels smooth and not grainy, it's dissolved). Once it has all dissolved, turn the heat up a little bit and let it start boiling for 3-4minutes - stirring occasionally.

Once it is finished cooking, take it off the heat and add the apples - this will allow them to cook just a little bit, but not too much to make them mushy. Allow this to cool to room temperature.

Make sure the cream cheese is soft, and then beat it with an electric mixer to make it nice and smooth. Slowly add the icing sugar to make it just a little bit sweeter - this is a personal taste thing - but remember you are adding the caramel to it so that will sweeten it as well!

Using a spatula, mix the cooled caramel / apple mix in with the cream cheese icing. Once it is pretty well incorporated, you can decide how much you mix it - if you want to leave little spots of caramel, or if you want to have it all mixed in together.

Match up all the macarons in pairs with similar sized macarons.

Then get your piping bag and then start piping and joining them together!

I got my lovely husband to help me, and we joined them all together with the cheesecake filling.

You can se in this one how the cheesecake filling isnt mixed in completely so there is bits of caramel, bits of cream cheese, and then some bits of it all mixed in...

I am seriously loving the macarons - so many ways to change them - colours, flavours - it's so exciting!

My sister in law is a huge Zumbo fan (like I am) and she has had his macarons, and so I took it as a compliment when she closed her eyes and smiled as she ate them! She had to stop herself from eating more... It's things like this that make want to make more and more food!!

Happy Baking!!

Rach

Macarons!

Macarons are one of those things that I have wanted to try and make, but after 2 tries have been unsuccessful! Seriously, how hard is it to make cookies??!! VERY HARD... apparently!

I have googled and google so many different kinds of tips and techniques, and I combined all those ideas into 1 batch to hopefully see if they work. Even as I have started typing, the batch I am writing about, hasn't been cooked yet, so I am still too see whether they are good or not!!

First up, the difference between a macarOn and a macarOOn. There is a difference! Not just some people saying it wrong! The best description is found here, but basically a macarOn is the one you sandwich together, in different colours etc, the ones you would probably see most. A macarOOn, is more like a bickie that you add coconut too, dip in chocolate etc. If I have just confused you (sorry!) click on the link and go read for yourself!

Some of the crazy tips I picked up that I used I will list here, you can pick and choose for yourself which ones you want to use as well...

• use old eggs - pretty much crack your eggs, seperate the yolk and white, and let the white sit on the bench (in a cup and covered of course!) from 1 hr to 1 day before using.
• I've also seen in some recipes, use OLD eggs for the ones you beat for the meringue, and NEW eggs for the ones you make the paste with
• let them sit on the bench before baking for 30min-1hour to let them get a skin on top - this will help prevent cracking when baking. You know they are done when you touch them and your finger doesn't stick to it.
• Make sure you sift the flour and almond meal.
• Macaron's don't like humidity! So if it's raining, probably not a great idea to try and make them!

So here is the recipe I used (it is actually from My Kitchen Rules) so we'll see how we go!

Ingredients:
200g caster sugar
75ml water
4 egg whites
200g almond meal, sifted
200g (1 1/4 cups) icing sugar, sifted
Food colour (if you so desire - I chose PINK!)

To start off sift your almond meal and icing sugar together into a bowl, and then mix in 2 of the egg whites, and form a paste. It will be a stiff paste. If you want to add colour, add it in now into the paste.

Then you need to combine the water and caster sugar in a sauce pan to make a sugar syrup. It needs to reach 118 degrees celcius. If you don't have a Candy Thermometre, you can use this as a guide. When it is done it will look like this:

 

When you have started the sugar syrup, you need to whisk your 2 remaining egg whites. Whisk until they form stiff peak. 

When you have done that, and the sugar syrup is done, start slowly pouring the sugar syrup into the egg whites - make sure you continually mix it. 

One of the other tips I picked up was, once you have integrated all the sugar syrup, keep mixing it until the mix has cooled down. The sugar syrup will heat it up, so beat it until it cools down again. It will look like this when it's done:

Now you need to add the meringue mix into the paste mix, and start slowly folding and incorporating together. About 50 folds is usual for this, but if it is still peaking and not settling (meaning if it does not come flat on top of the mix) give it a few more folds and it should do it. It will look like this when it's done:

Fill a piping bag with the mix. The easiest way to do this is putting the piping bag into a glass:

*You can get piping bags in the cake section at Woolies, by Multix. Or you can just use a big zip lock bag.

Pipe them onto a tray, about 20c-50c size pieces. Make sure they are far enough apart not to touch when they bake.

Make sure that they develop a "skin" on the top, leave them for 30mins-1hr. When they are dry to touch, they are ready. I let them sit for over an hour (because it clashed with picking the kids up from school!), but they were perfectly ready to go.

When you have piped them, and they are sitting, turn the oven on now - at 200 degrees celcius. When the macarons are ready to go into the oven, turn it down to 140-150 - depending on your oven.

Bake them for 15minutes, and when they are done they will look like this:

I am SO happy with them! they turned out so well! They have a "foot" on them (the ring around the base is the "foot") and none of them cracked! Put them on a rack to cool.

To stick the together I made a basic white chocolate ganache:

150g white chocolate

1/3 cup cream

Heat the cream in the microwave until hot, and then pour over the white chocolate. Stir smoothly and slowly until it is all combined. (if it still has some white choc chunks in it, microwave in 10 sec intervals, stirring in between, until they are all gone. Let it set (you can speed up the process by putting it in the fridge - but dont let it set too hard or you wont be able to spread it!)

Match macarons to similar sizes, and when the ganache is of a thicker consistency, sandwich them together. 

They are so gooey and delicious! I am very excited about the next step, which will be flavouring them!

Thanks for reading - and questions or comments feel free!!

Happy Baking,

Rach

Mojito Genoese

For my husbands family birthday dinner, I am making Lorraine Pascale's Mojito Genoese, because he just LOVES mojitos! (if you don't know, a Mojito is a lime and mint, rum based cocktail) Seems pretty easy, although there are a lot of elements! I'll try and break them down to see if it is easier!

Sugar Syrup
150g soft brown sugar
40ml Water
80ml White Rum
Finely grated zest and the juice of 2 limes
Bunch of Mint Leaves


Put the sugar, water, lime juice and rum in a medium pan over a low heat. Cook until the sugar dissolves, then boil for 2–3 minutes until the syrup thickens. Add the mint and lime zest and set aside. (I made the sugar syrup a day ahead, so I strained it out after about 30mins, and then put it in the fridge.)
It looks like this:

 It's gooey, sweet, definite lime taste with a mint after taste - delish!!

Next I made the Pecan Praline. I had never made praline before, I was always too scared to try it I think, but it was a lot easier than I thought.

Pecan Praline
200g Pecans (I only used 130g and I thought it was enough - but if you like pecans add more!)
200g Caster Sugar

Put the sugar in a medium pan over a low heat and leave to melt, stirring as little as possible. If any sugar sticks to the sides of the pan, dip a pastry brush in water and brush it off. Once the sugar is melted bring the mixture to the boil and cook for 1 minute making sure it does not burn. Add the nuts and pour the mixture onto the prepared baking tray (instead of adding the nuts, I put the nuts on a lined tray, and then covered them in the sugar). Leave to cool. Once this has cooled right down, blitz the praline in an electric mixer or put it in plastic bag, smash it with a rolling pin and think of your boss. (I used a food processor)

After blitzing it will look like this:

I also made this a day ahead, and it was a very rainy day, so it was a bit moist! If making ahead, make sure you keep in an air tight container.

Next we move on to the Genoese itself! A genoese is a special cake, it has no raising agent in it - other than the eggs. You only use plain flour in it, and don't add any Baking Powder etc...

Genoese
260g Caster Sugar
6 eggs (room temp preferably)
115g butter (melted)
260g plain flour

Fill a large saucepan around a third full of water. Place over a high heat and bring to the boil, then remove from the heat. Set a large heatproof bowl over the pan, making sure the base isn’t touching the water. Add the sugar and eggs to the bowl and whisk. This causes them to foam up and gives a lighter, fluffier cake. The egg mixture should be whisked for about 10 minutes, then remove the bowl from the pan and continue to whisk for a further 5 minutes. The mixture is ready when it holds itself well in the bowl and, you can draw a ribbon of the mixture on top, and it takes 3-4 seconds to sink back in.

Once you have reached this ‘ribbon stage’, pour the melted butter into the bowl, around the sides (pouring it into the middle knocks out all the air). Fold the butter into the egg mix, (using a spatula or similar) moving the bowl around and scooping down to the bottom to fold the mixture over itself, using as few movements as possible to retain the air.

Next, add the flour and fold in until the mixture is uniform and smooth. I found that a lot of the flour and butter sunk and sort of got stuck to the bottom of the bowl, so make sure when you are folding you scrape the bottom as well to make sure it's all incorporated!

Pour gently into the prepared tin and bake in the centre of the oven for about 30–35 minutes. When cooked, the sponge should spring back when pushed lightly, will be a light golden colour and a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake will come out clean. Leave to cool for 10 minutes or so, then remove from the tin and place on a wire rack to cool completely.

 Now on to the buttercream!

Buttercream
100g softened butter
Juice and zest of 1lime
200g icing sugar
    (I used probably about 500g because I wanted more icing! for this I also added some milk to make it smooth and creamy)
Vanilla to taste (I didn't add this)

Beat the butter until it is coming together nicely, and is smooth and creamy. Add the lime juice, and some of the icing sugar (2 spoonfuls at a time), and keep mixing. If the mixture is looking a bit dry, add a splash of milk. If it is too runny, add some more icing sugar. When you are finished, add in your lime zest, and mix. I also added some green food colouring (as a Mojito is green!) to make it add some vibrance!

Here is what it looks like:

Smooth, creamy, sugary and tastes like lime!

Now onto the assembly! You need to cut your cake in half, across it, to make 2 even halves. You can either use a knife, some string, or a cake cutter. Try and get the 2 halves as even as you can.

Once you have cut the halves, cover both on the "inside" halves with the sugar syrup. If you dont have a pastry brush, you can just use a spoon and drizzle it on, and then "rub" in.

Once you have done that, use some of the awesomely green icing, and cover the BOTTOM half with it (this is to help hold the 2 halves together).

Join the 2 haves together, and then transfer to your serving plate. Cover it all in the icing. It may be easiest to blob the icing onto the top of the cake, in the centre, then using a palette knife (of just a regular knife will do if you dont have a palette knife), and spread around and around on top. It will then start to go down the sides of the cake, so then start to cover them, and go around and around. Add more icing as necessary, making sure the whole cake is covered and you can't see any of the bare cake underneath.

Be as fancy or as boring as you wish! After you have iced it, put the crushed up praline over the sides of the cake, using your hands. It will get messy, but it will look awesome!

Decorate with cut up limes, or leave as is... Be as creative with the limes as you want! Quarters or slices, put evenly around on pieces, or in a clump like I did... You can even squeeze the lime over a piece of your cut cake.

I'd love to know if you make it! It looks delish - and I'm sure it will taste it too!

Happy baking!
Rach

** After tasting this amazing cake, it really does taste like Mojito! One tip after eating it is don't be stingy with the sugar syrup in the middle, it doesnt make it soggy or anything. I wasnt sure how it would go, so I didnt go crazy, but if you put a fair bit in there, it shouldnt go soggy.


Click here to go to Lorraine's recipe...