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Crunchy lemon and poppy seed muffins

I absolutely love anything with lemon in it, and again it's one of those fantastic detoxing foods that makes you feel healthy when you eat it, even if it is in a muffin ;) My friend Emma and I have been having weekly bake sessions at each other's homes which makes it so much more fun, experiencing the first bite with someone else. She picked up this recipe from Alison Holst, which she had tried before and rated as pretty damn good. The muffins were moist and light with a gorgeous crunch and a lemon drizzle on top. For REAL lemon lovers you can add more lemon zest or even a little juice in to the recipe as suggested as most of the lemon flavour came from the topping.

NOTE: Remember NOT to overmix the mixture. It's really important with muffins that you fold until the ingredients are JUST combined so they are moist and not dry :)

Enjoy! xx

Crunchy Lemon and Poppy Seed muffins




















2 cups of self-raising flour
3/4 cup of sugar
75g butter
2 Tbsp poppyseeds
1 cup of milk
1 egg
Grated rind of one large lemon
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup sugar

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 200 C and grease muffin tin or line with paper.
2. Mix flour, sugar (3/4 cup) and poppy seeds in a large bowl. In another bowl, melt butter, add milk, egg, lemon ring and beat to combine.
3. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix/fold until JUST combined.
4. Spoon in to muffin tin and and bake for 10-12mins or until muffins are lightly golden and bounce back when touched.
5. Stir lemon juice and extra sugar together, without dissolved the sugar, and drizzle mixture over hot muffins.
6. Leave in trays a few mintures before topping hardens and sticks to tins.
7. EAT!

Raspberry and apple yoghurt cake

This is a really easy and delicious cake recipe that I spotted on the Coles (supermarket) website one day! It looked yummy so I waited until I had the ingredients and ended up baking it today. The house filled with the smell of berries! It was so lovely. Although it doesn't take long to prepare, it does need 60 minutes of baking so make sure you're not going anywhere in a hurry!

Raspberry and apple yoghurt cake




















Ingredients:

125g butter, softened
1 cup caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
3 eggs
1 1/2 cup self-raising flour
1/2 cup thick natural yoghurt (I uses Greek)
1 red apple, cored and thinly sliced
2/3 cup raspberries
1 Tbsp of sugar, for dusting

Method:
1. Pre-heat oven to 180 C and grease and line a cake tin with baking paper.
2. Beat butter, sugar and vanilla until creamy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
3. Fold in sifted flour and yoghurt until combined. Pour mixture in to tin.
4. Top with raspberries and apples and sprinkle with extra sugar.
5. Bake for 60-65mins or until skewer comes out clean.
6. Leave to rest in pan for 15mins before moving to wire rack to cool.

Lemon meringue pie!

So I've wanted to attempt lemon meringue pie for ever but haven't got around to it because it always looked too difficult! But I was pleasantly surprised to realise it is pretty straight forward and tastes absolutely delicious! My friend Emma also wanted to attempt making it because it was her dad's all-time favourite dessert, so it was a first time for both of us which made it even more exciting. Both Chance, myself, Emma and her husband Sean have a Game of Thrones night where we watch an episode together and enjoy sweet treats so this time we got to show off our delicious lemon meringue pie! Enjoy! X

Lemon Meringue Pie

Ingredients:

Base:
1 1/2 cups plain flour
3 tsp icing sugar
140g cold butter, chopped
1 egg yolk, beaten lightly
2 Tbsp water

Lemon filling:
1/2 cup cornflour
1 cup caster sugar
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 1/4 cups water
2 tsp grated lemon rind
3 egg yolks
60g unsalted butter

Meringue:
3 egg whites
1/2 cup caster sugar

Method:
1. Lightly grease a flan/pie tin.
2. For the base I cheated and used my food processor which worked brilliantly and is much more efficient. Just put all the base ingredients in and mix until a dough forms. If you don't have a processor then simply sift flour and icing sugar in to a bowl and rub in butter. Add yolk and enough of the water to make the dough cling together.
3. Press dough in to a ball, knead gently on floured surface until smooth. Wrap in gladwrap and refrigerate for 30mins.
4. Preheat oven to 200 C. Roll dough on floured surface until large enough to line tin. Lift pastry in to tin, ease in to side and trim edges.
5. Line pastry with baking paper and fill with beads. Bake blind for 10 mins. Remove paper and beads and bake a further 10 mins or until browned lightly. Cool. Reduce oven to 180 C.
6. Meanwhile make lemon filling by combining cornflour and sugar in a medium saucepan. Gradually add juice and water, stirring until smooth. Stir over heat until mixture boils and thickens. The mixture should be very thick. Reduce heat, simmer and stir for 30 seconds. Remove from heat and quickly stir in rind, yolks and butter. Stir until butter has melted and allow to cool to room temperature, covered.
7. Make meringue by whisking egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar, beating until dissolved after each addition.
8. Fill pastry with lemon filling. Top with meringue. Bake for about 5 mins or until meringue has browned lightly.
9. Allow to sit for 5 mins before gobbling it all up!

Eton mess!!! Delicious, easy and cheap dessert

So I hosted my first dinner party in our new house last night. Not sure if I had mentioned our move in previous posts but it's a much bigger, family home with a big open kitchen and we are inlove with it! So I had all the family and a few friends over last night as a Mother's Day get together as well as mum had been in Perth on Mother's Day and I wasn't able to share my first mother's day with her! :( I decided to go all out for the dinner party and made some gorgeous little canapés for entree and delicious creamy salmon pasta for dinner and to finish off with our light and healthy menu I followed with a super easy eton mess which is great when you've got quite a few people! Even my brother ate it, and he is not a sweets tooth AT ALL! and I finished off licking the bowl ;)

Start off earlier in the day with making your meringue so that it has time to cool and the rest of the ingredients just get chucked together when it comes time to serve! Plus you can use whatever fruit you have in the house. I have a thing for raspberries at the moment so that was my theme and even better that I had a tin of passionfruit pulp in the pantry. Scrummy!

Eton mess

Ingredients:

For basic meringue:
4 egg whites, at room temperature
Pinch of salt
1 cup caster sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla essence

For mess:

150ml thickened cream, whipped
150ml natural yoghurt
225g raspberries (or whatever fruit you have)
Tin of passionfruit pulp

1.Preheat oven to 120 C and line baking tray with baking paper.
2.Whisk egg whites and salt until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar, 1 Tbsp at a time, making sure sugar dissolves after each addition.
3. Continue to whisk for 3 minutes until meringue is glossy and smooth. Whisk in vanilla essence.
4. Spoon mixture on to baking tray with a Tbsp, making a circle shape.
5. Bake for 40-45mins or until meringue is lightly golden. Leave to cool in oven completely.
6. Once cooled, break in to pieces.
7. Meanwhile place raspberries in saucepan with 1/4 caster sugar on medium heat and stir until sugar dissolves and a pulp-like juice forms.
8. In another bowl, whip cream and add in natural yoghurt. Pour in broken bits of meringue and mix all together.
9. Start to layer dessert in desired glasses by placing a spoonful of raspberry at the bottom. Top with meringue mixture and then spoon a layer of passionfruit pulp, before repeating the layers again.
10. Eat!!

Marshmallow fondant for cake decorating!

So, I have talked about making Finn's 1st birthday cake in previous posts, and have really wanted to try making fondant so that the cake has that lovely smooth finish and you can make awesome designs out of it! However, I have been putting it off because every recipe for fondant looked way too hard and intimidating and everyone I know who makes/designs cakes always said they just bought there's from the supermarket etc (cheaters ;). However, a friend of mine whom I studied journalism with had the best recipe for marshmallow fondant, which although is still a bit of work, is much easier than the traditional fondant and tastes 10x better! Marcia is actually the person who encouraged me in to decorating when she made my beautiful baby shower cupcakes. She is so talented and it seemed like an absolute breeze for her. lol. So I thought I would pass on this wonderful recipe so that anyone who is a total amatuer at cake decorating like I am, could give it a go. Also, be sure to follow Marcia's blog at http://creativeacorn.wordpress.com/ for recipes and inspiration on decorating. My marshmallow fondant recipe is about half of hers because there were only two bags of marshmallows left at the supermarket! Here's the link the Marcia's recipe http://creativeacorn.wordpress.com/recipes/ or my similar version is below which covered one 23cm sized round cake.

Marshmallow fondant

4 cups of loosely packed of white mini marshmallows. The only ones I could find were white and pink mixed but I was colouring my fondant so it didn't matter, however it's best to get all white if you can find them.

2 Tbsp water
4 cups sifted icing sugar
1 block of copha (found in the margarine/butter section of your supermarket)

Method:

1. Put marshmallows and water in microwave-safe bowl and microwave for 30 seconds. Take out and mix well before putting it in for another 30 seconds. Mix again until mixture has completely melted. If there are still some lumps, put it back in for 30 seconds and mix until smooth.

2. Put your block of copha within reach as you will need it often. Fold in 3/4 icing sugar in to mixture. Coat hands generously in copha and turn dough out on to board lightly dusted with icing sugar. Knead the fondant as if you were kneading bread for about 7-8 minutes, adding the remaining icing sugar as needed. Continuously coat your hands in the copha to stop the fondant from sticking. The fondant is done when it is smooth and elastic.

NOTE: If the fondant starts tearing then it is too try. Add a little water gradually until you get the right consistency. If it is too sticky (like mine was) add icing sugar little by little.

Once the fondant is ready, shape it into a ball and cover in generous amount of copha. Wrap in glad wrap then snap-lock bag and store overnight at room temperature. This is the best way to use fondant as it needs that resting time to get an even better consistency.This is also how you store it when not using or making in advance.

After that the fondant is ready to use. If your wanting to colour it, then put a drop of food colouring in the middle of the fondant and fold both sides over to cover it. Stretch and squeeze the fondant (the fun part) until the colour evens out. Add food colouring bit by bit until you get your desired colour. If you want to do a few different colours then break up into pieces and colour each one.

NOTE: You may want to wear plastic gloves to avoid getting dye all over your hands like I did. My kitchen ended up pink. If you don't have a baking mat or anything to roll the fondant on then I suggest placing some newspaper down underneath your board to avoid getting dye all over your kitchen bench (from experience ;)

Once the fondant is the colour you want it then roll it out to the size you want it and carefully place over your cake then smile in satisfaction at the job you have just done! Good luck! xx

Here's my first attempt.

and here's a pic of my gorgeous baby shower cupcakes that Marcia made me!

Gingerbread!!

I LOVE ginger and it has amazing health benefits...maybe not so much when it's made in to gingerbread but it is so tasty as an afternoon treat (served with some butter if you're feeling extra naughty!). I had never made gingerbread until today but had eaten it A LOT and was one of my favourite cakes growing up. The only downfall with it is that it does take 1 1/4hr to bake but the result will be worth it! Note-this recipe makes a large square tin worth so if you're using a loaf tin, you could halve it.

Gingerbread

Ingredients:
1 cup golden syrup
1 cup water
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
250g butter
3 1/2 cups plain flour
1 tsp of baking soda
2 Tbsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 140 C fan-forced (160 if not). Grease tin and line base with baking paper. This recipe fills a 23cm tin.
2. Combine syrup, water, sugar and butter in large saucepan and heat until butter has melted. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 10mins.
3. Meanwhile sift all dry ingredients in to bowl. Add dry ingredient to butter mixture in two batches, beating until smooth.
4. Pour mixture into prepared tin and bake for 1 1/4hrs. Leave in tin for 5 mins before removing from tin and putting on wire rack to cool.

You can also add a lemon icing if you like although I much prefer it without. For the icing beat 60g softened butter and 2 tsp of grated lemon rind in bowl. Gradually beat in 2 Tbsp of lemon juice and 2 cups of sifted icing sugar. Spread on when cake is cold!

Indulgent chocolate hazelnut mousse with raspberries

We had some friends come around for dinner tonight so I thought I would make dessert. I had never tried mousse before and I'm so glad I did! This was beautiful. The raspberries broke up the sweetness and the little chunks of hazelnuts gave it a great texture! It's also easy to make and you can make it look really elegant by putting it in a martini glass.

Chocolate hazelnut mousse with raspberries

150g milk chocolate
150g dark chocolate
300ml of thickened cream
3 eggs, separate
1/3 cup hazelnuts, chopped finely
2 Tbsp caster sugar
Raspberries to decorate

1. Melt chocolate together in heatproof bowl on pot of simmering water, stirring gently with a spoon until it's melted. Set aside to cool slightly
2. Mix in egg yolks to chocolate mixture.
3. Beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Sprinkle caster sugar over top and continue mixing until glossy and thick. Fold in to chocolate mixture in two batches
4. Beat cream until soft peaks form and fold into mixture along with hazelnuts.
5. Sprinkle a handful of raspberries in bottom of martini glass ( or any glass you have at home). Spoon mousse on top of raspberries an garnish with another few raspberries.
6. Put in fridge to set for a few hours before eating!! Yummy!

Homemade pizza dough

Chance and I lurrrrve our pizza and often make our own ones at home but have always bought the dough so this time I decided to make mine! I say it again, there is nothing better than your own homemade bread! This was delicious and the fact I had made it myself made it that much tastier! It's nice and easy and the only hassle is the resting time, which gave me some time to catch up on the house work while Finn was asleep ;) we topped ours with chicken, brie, rocket and cranberry sauce. My personal favourite! Give it a go! You'll be pleased with the result!

Pizza dough

Ingredients

Large pinch of caster sugar
250ml lukewarm water
2 tsp dried yeast
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 1/3 cups of plain flour
1 1/2 tsp salt

Method
1. Combine sugar and half of water (1/2 cup) in a bowl. Sprinkle yeast over top and set aside for 7 minutes or until foamy.
2. Stir in oil and remaining water then add flour and salt.
3. Use your hands to mix in to a coarse dough and then turn out on to lightly floured work surface.

4. Knead for 8 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic. (I timed it)

Final result after kneading

5. Transfer dough to lightly oiled large bowl, turning to coat in oil. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and set aside in warm place for 1 hour (dough should double in size)

6. Knock back dough with one punch to expel air then turn out on to lightly floured work surface again. Divide in to about 3 portions (shape into ball). Using one ball at a time, roll out into desired shape with rolling pin. We made ours into rectangular shapes.
7. Transfer to lightly oiled baking trays. Top with your favourite ingredients and bake for 12-15mins at 220 C until dough is golden.

Tips:

You can freeze pizza dough in balls for up to one month in airtight freezer bags.

Knead with one palm on the edge of your dough and with your other palm push the dough out and back in to get that lovely elasticity.

Lemon chiffon pie

Sorry I haven't posted on here for a while, we have been moving house!! We are finally all in now and are slowly unpacking (which is the fun part). I am so in love with our new home and it's amazing how having more space can make you that much happier! Finn has his own little playroom and I have a big kitchen so I can make more mess while baking! ;) I have wanted to make a lemon dessert for a while now, in particular a lemon meringue pie, but this chiffon pie seemed a lot easier and because Finn was upset with his teething today, I didn't have much spare time! I was quite delighted with the result. Unsure as to what chiffon really was, I would describe it as a very light, fluffy texture almost like marshmallow. . The Lenin flavour was strong and the biscuit base gave it that lovely crunch! Enjoy x

Lemon chiffon pie

Ingredients

180g plain biscuits (use any plain, I used marie)
125 butter, melted

4 eggs, separated
1/3 cup caster sugar
1/3 cup lemon juice
1/3 cup water
3 tsp Gelatine
2 tsp lemon rind
1/3 cup caster sugar, extra

1. Blitz biscuits in a food processor until they resemble fine crumbs. Mix in melted butter and press mixture firmly into a round or fluted tin. Chill in fridge for atleast 30mins.
2. Meanwhile in heatproof bowl combine egg YOLKS, sugar, gelatine, lemon zest and juice and water. Place bowl over saucepan of simmering water and stir until mixture JUST slightly thickens. Take off heat, transfer to larger bowl and glad wrap. Leave to cool down to room temperature
3. Beat egg whites until soft peaks form and gradually add second batch of caster sugar (1/3 cup) making sure its dissolved each time before adding more.
4. Fold egg white mixture into lemon mixture in two batches.
5. Pour mixture on top of chilled biscuit base and refrigerate for a few hours until set.
6. Eat!

You can also make this dessert the day before if you cover and store in the fridge!