Chocolate and Raspberry Muffin Recipe - Bourke Street Bakery Book

Admittedly, most of the time I suck at baking. But when I suck at something, I'm always determined to better myself. That is where the Bourke Street Bakery book comes in. All the times I've been to Sydney, I'd never heard of BSB until the book was released and all of my Sydney based 'tweeps' were raving about the book. So, I made my way down to the books shop and checked out the book. Turns out it's the exact Baking cook book I've been looking for, for years!
The book is loaded with great recipes on how to make PROPER bread from scratch, with detailed instructions on how to make your own white and rye starters. This is artisan baking at it's best. So many times I've tried to make bread and it has never ever, not once, turned out well. I've never been happy with a single loaf. So, at the moment I'm day 4 (out of 4 weeks) of making my own bread starter. But that's another post for later.
Along with all the amazing breads in this book, there are also lots of great pastries and cakes to make. Since I had a kilo of delicious Yarra Valley Raspberries in my Freezer, I thought it would be great to try out this recipe. Who doesn't like Raspberries and Chocolate! The recipe is really easy and the only tip you need is to just be careful not to overmix the batter. Overmixing can make the finished product toughen up and become chewy. Not what you want.
These muffins turned out perfectly. So, it looks like I'm on the way to being a star baker!!

Dark Chocolate and Raspberry Muffins
Makes 12

• 400g (2 2/3 cups) plain flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 300g caster sugar
• 310g unsalted butter
• 480ml buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 eggs
• 225g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
• 225g raspberries, fresh or frozen
• 55g raw sugar
• Icing sugar, for dusting


1. Preheat the oven to 190°C (375°F). Lightly grease a 12-hole muffin tin and line with paper cases.
2. Sift the flour and baking paper into a bowl and add the sugar, mixing well to combine.
3. Melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat, then remove from the heat and stir in the buttermilk. Using a whisk stir in the eggs to combine. Pour over the dry ingredients and whisk to combine. Use a large spoon to gently fold through the chocolate and raspberries.
4. Spoon the mixture into the prepared muffin tins. Sprinkle the tops with raw sugar. Reduce the oven temperature to 180°C (350°F) and bake for 20-25 minutes. It may be necessary to drop the temperature about 10 minutes before the end of baking time if the muffins are starting to brown on top.
5. To test if the muffins are done, push the top gently to feel that it is firm. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tins for 10 minutes before eating. Dust with icing sugar to serve.

Jam Shortbread Spirals

Whenever I visit the Yarra Valley, I pick up a jar of something made by Cunliffe & Waters. Whether it be a spicy relish, delicious real tomato sauce or one of their amazing jams. Their jam is my favourite by a mile. Better than I could ever hope to make. I especially love their Williamette Raspberry Jam, which is slightly tart, but perfectly sweet. I love this stuff on my Babka egg loaf in the mornings, I can eat the whole thing in one sitting! Ok, so Cunliffe and Waters haven't bribed me here - I just love their stuff. Just so you know, you don't have to travel all the way to the Yarra Valley to pick it up, there are a few other places you can pick up their wares.

These Jammy Shortbreads perfectly suit this raspberry jam. These are so easy to make, however the finished product looks like you put in so much more effort that what it actually takes to make these little beauties.



For mine, I chose to leave out the cinammon. You could of course choose whatever jam you like to put in here, you don't have to go with raspberry. Next time I make these I'd like to go with something like apricot, blueberry or maybe even the blood plum jam.

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
½ cup caster (superfine) sugar
125g butter, softened
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup jam
2 tsps. ground cinnamon
icing sugar to dust.

Sift flour, baking powder and sugar into a bowl. Add butter and rub in with fingertips until mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Mix in 1 to 2 tbsps. of cold water to form a dough. Add egg and combine to form a stiff but workable dough. Roll out the dough on a sheet of greaseproog paper to form a 20-30cm. rectangle. Spread jam evenly on the dough and sprinkle with cinnamon.

Roll up the dough swiss-roll style, peeling away the greaseproof paper as you go. Wrap the roll in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 mins, Preheat oven to 180c. Remove dough from the refrigerator and cut into slices ½-in. thick. Place shortbreads on a lined baking tray and bake for 15 to 20 mins. or until lightly browned. Cool on wire racks and sprinkle with icing sugar.

French Macarons

Have you noticed all those pretty little cupcake stores popping up around town over the last few years? They're very cute and very pretty, but they are SO last year! The Macaron craze has hit town and are the new big thing in town. Especially since their featuring in a few episodes of the Australian Masterchef show.

Late on Saturday night (1130pm late), I was reading up about how to make these little beauties and was surprised to find out that they're not as easy as you might think. If you are interested in learning about how to make them and how not to make them - read the most amazing guide to Macarons at Syrup and Tang. After spending an hour or so reading all the info on the page- I couldn't resist giving them a go.

I found a recipe over at Kitchen Wench's page, which is a bit easier to follow than Syrup and Tang's formula type recipes.

So by 1.30am Sunday morning and after one failed attempt, I accomplished my mission, with these pretty cool little sweet bites you see before you. The only tips I can give you, other than the ones that you will find on the links above, is that if you think your batter is too runny, add some more almond meal to the mix. Also, if you think your Macarons are stuck to the baking paper, lift them slightly at the edge and carefully slide under a palette knife. Most of mine stuck to the paper, but saved 100% of them by sliding the knife under.

I filled half of mine with Dulche De Leche and the other half with a French Earl Grey infused Chocolate Ganache. Whilst I may not be getting a phone call from Donna Hay, asking me to work as a food stylist for her magazine, I reckon they look pretty cool for a first go. And they were deliciously tasty and perfectly chewy inside. Brilliant!

Tray baked Meringue with Pears, Cream, Toasted Hazelnuts and Chocolate

This is from Jamie Oliver's latest book, Jamie at Home. I'm not going to write much here, I think the pictures pretty much speak for themselves. Let me tell you though, this Chocolate and Pear Syrup is the best stuff ever! Look at the oozing chocolate sauce - yum!
You could probably feed about 8 people with this Meringue. For a family of four, you could probably halve the recipe, you might need to adjust the cooking times though.

4 large free-range or organic egg whites
1 1/4 cups raw sugar
Pinch sea salt
100 grams hazelnuts, skins removed
2 400g cans halved pears, in syrup
2 pieces stem ginger, thinly sliced, optional
200g dark chocolate (minimum 70 percent cocoa solids)
400ml double cream
50g icing sugar, sifted
1 vanilla bean, halved and seeds scraped out
1 orange, zested



Preheat your oven to 150c and line a baking sheet with a sheet of waxed paper.
Put your egg whites into a squeaky clean bowl, making sure there are absolutely no little pieces of egg shell or egg yolk in them. Whisk on medium until the whites form firm peaks. With your mixer still running, gradually add the sugar and the pinch of salt. Turn the mixer up to the highest setting and whisk for about 7 or 8 minutes, until the meringue mixture is white and glossy. To test whether it's done you can pinch some between your fingers - if it feels completely smooth it's ready; if it's slightly granular it needs a little more whisking.

Dot each corner of the waxed paper with a blob of meringue, then turn it over and stick it to the baking sheet. Spoon the meringue out onto the paper. Using the back of a spoon, shape and swirl it into a rectangle. Place in the preheated oven and bake for 1 hour or until crisp on the outside and a little soft and sticky inside. At the same time, bake the hazelnuts on a separate sheet in the oven for 1 hour or until golden brown.

Drain the cans of pears, reserving the syrup from 1 can. Cut each pear half into 3 slices. Pour the pear syrup into a saucepan with the ginger, if using, and warm gently over a medium heat until it starts to simmer. Take off the heat and snap the chocolate into the saucepan, stirring with a spoon until it's all melted.

Take the meringue and hazelnuts out of the oven and leave to cool. Place the meringue on a nice rustic board or platter. Whip the cream with the sifted icing sugar and the vanilla seeds until it forms smooth, soft peaks. Smash the toasted hazelnuts (in a kitchen towel) and sprinkle half of them over the top of the meringue. Spoon half the whipped cream over the top and drizzle with some of the chocolate sauce (if the sauce has firmed up, melt it slightly by holding the saucepan over a large pan of boiling water). Divide most of the pear pieces evenly over the top. Pile over the rest of the whipped cream and pears. Drizzle with some more chocolate sauce, then sprinkle over the remaining toasted hazelnuts with some grated orange zest. Serve straightaway. If you're making this in advance, get everything ready and assemble at the last minute.

Sheila's Pudding

Finally, Summer is upon us and with the warm weather comes my favourite fruit of all, the stone fruit. Apricots, Plums, Nectarines and best of all Peaches. Normal Peaches and White Peaches, I love them so much, I could eat them all day long.
This dessert is a little strange, because it's more of a Winter comfort type of food, rather than a light, refreshing Summer dessert. Even so, if you can deal with eating a Winter dessert in Summer, this pudding is delicious.
This recipe is a Jamie Oliver remake of an old pudding, which is actually made with Apples, rather than stone fruit. The original pudding is called Eve's Pudding.
It's quite an easy recipe to put together, but if you're going to make it, do yourself a favour and make it with proper Vanilla Beans or at least Vanilla Bean paste, it makes all the difference.

Ingredients
6 ripe peaches or nectarines, halved and stones removed
4 heaped teaspoons unrefined sugar, like turbinado
4 tablespoons water
1 vanilla pod, scored lengthwise and seeds removed
4 1/2 ounces butter
4 1/2 ounces caster sugar
2 large free-range eggs
4 1/2 ounces self-raising flourPreheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Put the peaches in a saucepan with the unrefined sugar, the vanilla seeds and 4 tablespoons of water. Simmer for 5 minutes and then place into a well greased and lightly floured ovenproof dish or bowl. Beat together the butter, sugar and eggs until light and fluffy. Add the flour, mix thoroughly and spread over the peaches.

Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve with hot custard or something cold, like vanilla ice-cream or creme fraiche.

Ricotta Hotcakes with Banana, Maple Syrup and Honeycomb Butter

I love nothing more than eating a signature dish at a famous restaurant and then finding the recipe and making it myself at home. What I love even more, is making it at home and making it better than the one I had at the restaurant.
On the weekend, I thought I'd try my hand at making my own Ricotta Hotcakes, like the ones I had at Bill's in Surry Hills.
It's amazing that Bill's has gotten so famous for such a simple recipe. To be honest, they're not all that different from regular pancakes, just slightly more dense. The Honeycomb Butter is what really makes this breakfast. Crushed up Crunchie Bars, mixed through a stick of butter. Now that's some triple by-pass creating goodness, if I've ever heard of it!
Anyway, here's the recipe for you, which is featured in Bill's Sydney Food, book.

Serving size: Serves 6

INGREDIENTS

1 1/3 cups ricotta
3/4 cup milk
4 eggs, separated
1 cup plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
50g butter

to serve

banana
honeycomb butter, sliced (below)
icing sugar for dusting

Honeycomb Butter

250g unsalted butter, softened
100g sugar honeycomb, crushed with a rolling pin
2 Tbs honey

METHOD

Place ricotta, milk and egg yolks in a mixing bowl and mix to combine. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Add to the ricotta mixture and mix until just combined.
Place egg whites in a clean dry bowl and beat until stiff peaks form. Fold egg whites through batter in two batches, with a large metal spoon.
Lightly grease a large non-stick frying pan with a small portion of butter and drop 2 tablespoons of batter per hotcake into the pan (don't cook more than 3 per batch). Cook over a low to medium heat for 2 minutes, or until hotcakes have golden undersides. Turn hotcakes and cook on the other side until golden and cooked through. Transfer to a plate and quickly assemble the other ingredients.
Slice one banana lengthways onto a plate, stack three hotcakes on top with a slice of honeycomb butter. Dust with icing sugar.

Place all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth. Shape into a log on plastic wrap, roll, seal and chill in a refrigerator for 2 hours.
Store any leftover honeycomb butter in the freezer, it's great on toast.

Lamingtons

To be honest, I never in my life thought I would make a Lamington from scratch. And here we are today and I have made my first batch and it probably won't be my last.
It's a bit of mucking around, dipping your little sponge cakes into the melted chocolate icing, but the finished product it's worth the effort. Your friends will be impressed to boot!

Ingredients:

Sponge Cake:
6 eggs
150 g (51/2 oz/2/3 cup) caster (superfine) sugar
200 g (7 oz/12/3 cups) self-raising flour
30 g (1 oz) unsalted butter, melted

Chocolate Icing:
500 g (1 lb 2 oz/4 cups) icing (confectioners') sugar
200 g (7 oz) dark chocolate, chopped
15 g (1/2 oz) unsalted butter
125 ml (4 fl oz/1/2 cup) milk
375 g (13 oz/4 cups) desiccated coconut

Method:
Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F/Gas 4). Lightly grease and line the base of an 18 x 28 cm
(7 x 11 inch) tin with baking paper.

To make the cake, beat the eggs for about 5 minutes with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Gradually add the sugar and continue beating until the mixture is thick and the sugar has dissolved. Sift in the flour and fold in lightly. Add the butter and 3 tablespoons of hot water and stir gently to combine. Pour into the tin and bake for 30 minutes, or until golden. Cool on a wire rack.

To make the chocolate icing, put the sugar, dark chocolate, butter and milk in a heatproof bowl and place over a saucepan of simmering water. Stir constantly until melted and mixed together.

Cut the sponge into 16 squares. Put the coconut in a bowl. Dip each sponge square into the chocolate icing and then in the coconut. Leave on a wire rack to dry completely before serving. Makes 16

Happy Birthday..... Me! Nigella's Custard Birthday Sponge

Well, this is my first post in quite a while... I've managed to go AWOL from my Blogs for about a month now...sorry guys! I blame Facebook! Ugh!
Anyway... Last week was my 29th birthday....yep... only one more to go, before the big 3 - 0!
Apparently at my work, they have a tradition of making your own birthday cake! That sucks if you ask me. What makes you feel more special on your birthday than someone having gone to the effort of making you a nice birthday cake? Oh well, so I decided to make my first Nigella Lawson cake. What other Celebrity Chef would you look to for a Birthday Cake?
This recipe was surprisingly easy and absolutely delicious. Everyone at work loved it and there were mentions that they wished it was my birthday everyday!

Ingredients:

For the cake

* 200 g plain flour
* 3 tbsp custard powder
* 2 tsp baking powder
* ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
* 4 eggs
* 225 g soft butter
* 200 g caster sugar
* 2 tbsp milk

For the buttercream filling

* 125 g icing sugar
* 4 tsp custard powder
* 75 g soft unsalted butter
* 1½ tsp boiling water

For the chocolate icing

* 60 ml water
* 2 tbsp golden syrup
* 125 g caster sugar
* 175 g dark chocolate
* Hundreds and thousands

Method
For the cake

1. Make sure everything you need is at room temperature before you start. Preheat the oven to 180C, 350F, Gas 4, butter and line two 20cm sandwich tins.
2. Put all the cake ingredients, apart from the milk, into a food processor. Process to a smooth batter, and then add the milk 1 tbsp at a time to make a soft dropping consistency. Divide between the two cake tins and bake for 20 minutes. The cakes will have risen and feel spookily puffy; this is because of the cornflour in the custard powder.
3. Let the tins sit on a cooling rack for 5 minutes and then turn them out on to the rack, peeling away the paper.

For the buttercream filling

1. Process the icing sugar and custard powder to get rid of any lumps, and then add the butter, processing again to make the buttercream come together. Feed the boiling water down the funnel with the motor running to make the filling easier to spread. Then sandwich the cooled sponges together with the custardy buttercream.

For the chocolate icing

1. Combine the water, syrup and sugar in a saucepan, stirring to dissolve over a low heat. Let it come to the boil and then take it of the heat.
2. Break up the chocolate into small pieces and then add to the pan, swirling it around to cover in the hot liquid. Leave to melt for a few minutes, and then whisk the icing to make it smooth and shiny. Pour over the buttercream filled cake, letting it drip down the sides, and then sprinkle generously with the hundreds and thousands before the icing sets.
3. Prong with candles, light them and sing.

Chocolate, Mascapone, Orange and Vanilla Tart

I'd been wanting to make this tart for ages. I loved how it looked so rustic with it's lattice style pastry topping and how it's indented with chunks of chocolate. So, when I was invited over to a friend's house for lunch, I offered to bring dessert and this is what I made.


The recipe is from Jamie's Kitchen Book, but I also found it here (unfortunately in American Measurements), so I don't have to type it all up for you.
I used 80% Lindt chocolate in the mix and unfortunately I'd run out of Vanilla Beans, so I used the evil Vanilla Essence (Terrible I know, but the other flavours are so strong in this tart, that you hardly taste the vanilla anyway.)


I finally had success with making a tart shell and Jamie's recipe in his book worked a treat. Rather than blind baking it with beans or rice, I just kept the pastry in the mould, in the freezer overnight and blind baked it straight from there. This stops the tart from rising too much or shrinking. Much better than I've found blind baking with beans.
Admittedly, by the time I'd finished the tart, it did take a couple of hours to put together, but it was definately worth it. My friends were very impressed at the lunch and they asked me if I could leave the leftovers behind! (I left them half... I wanted more!!)

Baileys and Banana Bread and Butter Pudding

It's pudding season again. Those lovely, steaming hot bowls of sweet goodness that help us get through those dark and chilly months. If there was ever a video game made about me, I would want a big bowl of pudding to be my energy booster.

I was flicking through Jamie's Kitchen the other night and came across this great recipe for Bread and Butter Pudding with a twist. Instead of just your plain old Bread and Butter Pudding, for a bit of extra flavour Jamie has added some Baileys to 'adult' it up a bit and some Banana - which always goes well with bread. I love Banana Jaffles, so it had to taste great. I had some left over Babka egg loaf, so I used that in the recipe. I really should have cut off the crusts, but seeing they soaked up the custard so well, I didn't think there was any point.

The recipe below was taken from the link above:

Ingredients:

Serves about 6

1/2 a loaf of pre-sliced white bread, crusts removed

55g/2oz or 1/4 pack of butter, softened

140g/5oz caster sugar

seeds from 1 vanilla pod

8 free-range eggs

500ml/18fl oz double cream

565ml/1 pint milk

4 shots of Baileys

5 bananas

4 tablespoons flaked almonds, toasted until golden

icing sugar to dust

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4.

Flatten each slice of bread down as flat as possible.

Butter each piece thinly but thoroughly with the softened butter, then cut the slices of bread in half and put to one side.

In a bowl whisk together the sugar, vanilla seeds and eggs till pale and fluffy, then add the cream, the milk and the Baileys and whisk until smooth.

Slice up your peeled bananas and lightly toast your almonds in the preheated oven.

Take an appropriately sized baking dish (or you could do individual ones) and rub the sides with a little butter.

Dip each piece of bread in the egg mixture then begin to layer the bread, the sliced banana and the almonds in the baking dish.

Repeat until everything has been used up, ending with a top layer of bread. Pour over the rest of your egg mixture, using your fingers to pat down the bread to make sure it soaks up all the lovely flavours.

Generously dust the top of the pudding with icing sugar and bake in the oven for around 35 minutes or until the custard has set around the outside but is just slightly wobbly in the centre.

Allow it to cool and firm up slightly.

Some people like to serve it with ice cream or double cream, but if you get it gooey enough in the middle then it is nice just on its own. Feel free to take this recipe in any direction you like - using raisins or dried apricots or different types of bread like brioche or pannetone.

Ripe

376 Mount Dandenong Tourist Road, Sassafras. 9755 2100

This was our second visit to Ripe in Sasafrass. The first time we visited we were there for lunch, but this time we were there to try some of their amazing cakes. I also promised myself that I would try the hot chocolate which is made by grating Lindt chocolate and pouring hot milk over the chocolate to melt it. More on that later....
There were a huge range of cakes and desserts to choose from and it was so hard to decide. But the fresh, locally picked Raspberries in the Raspberry Mousse cake were too hard to pass up. The cake was layered with sponge slices and Raspberry Mousse. It was perfect and the tangy, slight sourness of the grapes was a perfect contrast to the sweetness of the rest of the cake.
The hot chocolate I ordered was the Lindt Dark Chocolate. I ordered this, because I thought that the milk chocolate might have been a bit full on, being too sweet. Unfortunately, this was the case with the Dark chocolate too. It was way too rich to drink, I barely drank half of it. They obviously use too much chocolate in the drink and it just pools at the bottom of the glass.
When you get down lower in the glass, you get floaty, chocolatey, jelly type lumps, which really turned me off finishing the drink.
The idea of a grated lindt hot chocolate sounds great. Stick with the meals and the cakes I think and you'll be on a winner.

Tapioca Pudding with Tropical Fruits

I'd never tried Tapioca before and since I'd seen it in most of the Asian shops I've been into recently, I thought it was time to give it a try. This is a recipe I took from Surfing The Menu Again - this is one of Ben O'Donoghue's recipes. I'd always thought this stuff looked kind of like Tadpole Eggs, but trust me if you haven't tried Tapioca before give this recipe a go, it's sweet and has a beautiful after taste of vanilla, the best thing I can liken it to is Rice Pudding.

Ingredients:

300g Tapioca
600ml Water
500ml Pouring Cream
500ml Milk
2 Vanilla Pods, split length ways
10 Egg Yolks
200g Caster Sugar
Tropical Fruit, eg Mangoes, Passionfruit, Kiwifruit, Bananas, Lychees

Method:

Place the Tapioca in a mixing bowl, add the water and set aside in a warm place for one hour. It will swell a little. Drain and rinse thoroughly.

Combine the cream, milk and vanilla pods in a saucepan over medium to high heat. Bring just to the boil and add the Tapioca. Reduce the heat slightly and cook for about 15 mins or until the Tapioca is soft and transparent and the mixture is thick.

Whisk the egg yolks and the sugar together until combined. Add to the Tapioca and stir for 5 mins over a low heat. Allow to cool until slightly above room temperature.

Served topped with tropical fruit.

Pearl's Famous Hot Chocolate

631-633 Church Street, Richmond. Ph 03 9421 4599

Email: eat@pearlrestaurant.com.au

Ok, now you might be thinking, "this guy is really struggling for something to review - he's writing about hot chocolate!"
Well, let me tell you, that this hot chocolate is too good NOT to write about!
Now that we're coming into the cooler months (although, in Melbourne you never really can tell), it's going to be time for sipping on hot drinks to get you through the chilli Autumn days.
Where better to do this, than sitting in the sleek surroundings of Pearl, at the bar on one of their new comfy couch type bar stools?
Pearl do their hot chocolate as classy as can be. You don't just get your hot chocolate and that's it - it's like a cup of tea, you get to adjust it as you like.
On your plate you'll get your hot chocolate glass which is lined with the sweet chocolate topping around the bottom and then covered in frothy hot milk. When the milk is poured over the chocolate topping, you get three layers, dark on the bottom, slightly chocolatey in the middle and frothy milk on top. (My photo was taken after I stirred the glass) With this, you also get a cup of frothy milk to adjust the chocolate to your liking and the best bit - the extended hot chocolate. Because you get a little cup of (what I think is Valrhona - I didn't check this) chocolate you can add the chocolate to your hot chocolate and make it even stronger and then add some of the extra milk and it's like having 2 hot chocolates!
I honestly haven't had a better hot chocolate anywhere in Melbourne and would like people to tell me if they know anywhere else that does a hot choccie as good as this.
At $6.50, it may be one of the most expensive hot chocolates in town, but you pay for what you get and in this case, it's perfection!!

While I'm here I'll tell you about the lamington I had there too... $5.
Nothing too different here, but I think the jam inside was home made, quite nice, but $5 was a little much for a lamington, but you do get to eat it at Pearl!

Sticky Banana Pudding with Honeycomb Ice-Cream

A few days ago, I was lucky enough to acquire one of the now EXTREMELY rare copies of Geoff Lindsay's book- Chow Down. I have been looking for this book forever and since it went out of print years ago, it's nowhere to be found. I searched second hand book stores, put my name down on a waiting list at 'Books for Cooks' and even wrote to Geoff himself at Pearl. All to no avail. I did have a search set up on ebay though, which would notify me if and when it appeared on ebay and lucky for me, it finally appeared after months of waiting!! I managed to win the auction for almost $50, a bargain if you ask me!

Since the book is out of print, I'm sure Geoff wouldn't mind me including a couple of recipes for you all to try on here (I hope!)

Here is the first one I cooked from the book a couple of nights ago, Sticky Banana Pudding with Honeycomb Ice-Cream. It's very much like Sticky Date Pudding, but instead of dates, you use Bananas. I have to say I like it much better than Sticky Date, it seems a lot less 'sickly' than Sticky Date Pudding but is just as delightful to eat. Geoff's version is a classic in it's own right!
The recipe asks you to make the Honeycomb Ice Cream yourself, but I cheated, in a bid to save some time and visited Trampoline again and picked up some of their delicious 'Violet Rumble' ice cream.

Ingredients:

Caramel Sauce:
200g Brown Sugar
100g Unsalted Butter
150ml Cream (35% Fat)

Banana Pudding:
2 Ripe Bananas, skins on
125g Unsalted Butter
125 Castor Sugar
2 x 55g Eggs
75 Self-Raising Flour
1/2 Tsp Baking Powder
1/2 Tsp Vanilla Essence

Honeycomb Ice-Cream
125g Castor Sugar
125ml Water
1/2 Tsp Bi-Carb Soda
500ml Cream (35% Fat)
6 Egg Yolks

Method:

Caramel Sauce
Simmer the butter Sugar and Cream together to form a rich sauce

Banana Pudding
Preheat the oven to 200c
Roast the bananas whole with their skins on for 15 mins and peel


Cream the butter, sugar and eggs, add the bananas and flour and then pour the batter into four moulds that have been lined with caramel sauce.


Place the moulds into a bain-marie filled with hot water to reach half way up the sides


Cover the tops with foil and place in the oven for 40 mins



Honeycomb Ice-Cream
Caramelise the sugar and water
When the sugar is light golden, add the bicarb soda, stir and pour onto a tray lined with foil and leave to cool.
Warm the cream and pour over the yolks.
Return to the saucepan and cook until the mixture coats the back of a spoon.
Crush the honeycomb with a rolling pin, reserve the larger pieces and mix the smaller bits with the custard mixture.
Churn in an ice cream machine, as per manufacturer's instructions, when it is frozen, add the larger pieces of honeycomb.

To Serve:
Invert the Pudding on to a warmed plate.
Pour some extra caramel sauce over and top with a scoop of ice cream.

Apple and Blueberry Shortcake with Trampoline Vanilla Ice Cream

I have so many cookbooks sitting on my shelf, good cookbooks. Cookbooks you might find on a professional's shelf. Yet, somehow I always seem to come back to Bill Granger for my breakfasts and desserts. The reason for this I guess is that they are so easy. Who wants to be slaving away in a kitchen at breakfast time? Simple is all you need. As for desserts, well I suck big time in the pastry field of things, so Bills is a sure fire way to make sure I succeed 95% of the time.
This one was a little bit tricky, simply because my kitchen was so hot, it made the pastry get hot very quickly and difficult to roll out without falling apart. The trick was to put it in the freezer for about 10 - 20 mins until it's pretty hard (but not frozen!), the butter firms up and makes it much easier to roll out.
Give this one a try, it's definately worth it. Lucky me lives right near a Trampoline store, so I went and bought some of their delicious Vanilla Ice Cream to go with the cake, it was fantastic. There's even little chunks of the Vanilla Bean itself in the Ice Cream! Yum!!

Apple & Blueberry Shortcake

4 large Granny Smith Apples
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons sugar
125g unsalted butter
125g caster sugar
1 egg
185g plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
155g (1 cup) blueberries
sugar, for sprinkling

Peel the apples, remove the cores & cut each apple into about 16 slices.
Put the apples, lemon zest, sugar & 2 tablespoons of water into a medium saucepan, then cover & stew over a low heat for about 10 minutes, until the apples are soft but not mushy.
Allow to cool.


Cream the butter & caster sugar together in a bowl until fluffy & smooth.
Add the egg and mix well. Sift the flour and baking powder into the mixture and stir until combined.
Turn onto a lightly floured surface & knead until smooth
Divide into two and place in the freezer for 10 - 20 minutes


Preheat the oven to 180c.
Roll each half of cake dough into a round approximately 22cm across.
Press one round into a 24cm non-stick springform cake tin.
Spread the apples over the dough, leaving a small border around the edge. S
prinkle with the blueberries.


Place the other round of dough on top & press the edges together.
Brush with water & sprinkle with sugar.
Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, then allow to cool in the tin for 20 minutes before removing.

El Fayha Sweets

648 Sydney Road, Brunswick Ph 03 9386 9674

After visiting A1 Bakery, we decided to cross the road and pay a visit to El Fayha Sweets. Their window claims that they have the “best Lebanese sweets in Melbourne.”
And you know what? I think they’re right. Inside this quaint shop, you’ll find a little Lebanese man sitting behind a counter, covered with various, Lebanese pastries.
Having never tried Lebanese sweets before I asked a lady who was waiting, which were the best to try. She said that she swears by the Pistachio version. Now to me, all the sweets basically looked the same; pastries, smothered in honey and sprinkled with nuts, the only difference being the shapes. From what I could tell, you are actually charged by the weight of the cakes you purchase. Some people before us actually bought $100 worth and another $50 worth! We asked for $10 worth of mixed pastries. The little man looks like he has been there for years- so much so, he didn’t even need to weigh our purchase.

When we got home and finally tasted the sweet little treats, there was little difference between the flavours of each different shaped pastry. One of them had some Turkish delight at the bottom, which was the main difference. Another had a little more honey than the other. Even though they all tasted almost all the same, they were all delicious. Very sweet, sticky, yet crunchy at the same time. The little old Lebanese man seems to have this sweet treat making thing down pat!

Bill Granger's Coconut Pancakes with Passionfruit Syrup and Banana

Since it was Rach's Birthday on the weekend, I thought I'd make her breakfast in bed. I came across this recipe for Bill Granger's Coconut Pancakes and thought it was great birthday breakfast food. They take a little bit more effort and have a few more ingredients than your standard pancakes, but are well worth the effort. Rach was very impressed and the pancakes were much more of a success than our dinner at Verge!

(recipe sourced from http://www.foodreference.com)

Makes 18

215 g (1 3/4 cups) plain (all-purpose) flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 tablespoon caster (superfine) sugar

65 g (3/4 cup) desiccated coconut

a pinch of salt

4 eggs, separated

250 ml (1 cup) milk

250 ml (1 cup) coconut milk

50 g (1 3/4 oz) unsalted butter, melted

butter, for greasing the pan

6 bananas, sliced in half lengthways

passionfruit syrup (below)

Preheat the oven to 120°C (250°F/Gas 1).

Place the flour, baking powder, sugar, desiccated coconut and salt in a bowl and stir to combine. Place the egg yolks, milk and coconut milk into another bowl and whisk to combine.

Add the milk mixture and butter to the dry ingredients and mix lightly with a metal spoon until just combined.

Place the egg whites in a clean, dry stainless steel bowl and whisk until stiff peaks form.

Using a large metal spoon, fold the egg whites through the batter in two batches.

Heat a large non-stick frying pan over a medium heat and brush a small portion of butter over the base.

For each pancake, drop 3 tablespoons of batter into the pan.

Avoid overcrowding the pan with pancakes.

Cook for 2 minutes on one side, turn and cook for another minute.

Transfer to a plate and keep warm in the oven while you make the remaining pancakes.

Serve the pancakes in stacks of three with the banana and passionfruit syrup.

PASSIONFRUIT SYRUP

115 g (1/2 cup) caster (superfine) sugar

60 g (1/4 cup) passionfruit pulp

Combine the sugar, passionfruit pulp and 125 ml (1/2 cup) water in a small saucepan over a medium heat and bring to the boil, skimming any scum from the surface.

Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.

Yarra Valley Ice Cream

So, we all know I'm obsessed with the Yarra Valley. "Why don't you just move there" I hear you all say. Well, unfortunately, I'm not here to tell you that that's what I'm doing. I'm here to talk up Yarra Valley Ice-Cream! If you haven't tried it before, try to get your hands on some. I know that you can get it from a few places around the Yarra Valley; Harvest Cafe-Healesville, Ripe-Sassafrass, Yarra Valley Dairy-Yering. I'm not sure who stocks it in Melbourne, but it's definately worth tracking down! It's not cheap, usually around $6 for a little noodle box type tub that serves one. Here I'm eating the Tiramisu flavour which is my favourite so far. The chocolate is actually from the amazing Chocolate makers at Kennedy and Wilson. I'm not sure of what other flavours there are, but they always use locally sourced flavours and the ice cream is made with free range eggs. Get your hands on some!