Pinch and a punch... etc

Pinch and a punch for the first day of the month. White rabbit. Slap and a kick for being so quick. This is generally how every first-day-of-the-month started while at school. I'm yet to teach my son these games, mainly because he is still figuring out what the days of the week are, introducing dates and months would through him a little too much... So to celebrate the first day of May (HOW DID IT GET TO MAY ALREADY???!), here's a little morning tea treat which many would have experienced in their lunch boxes growing up, with a bit of a delicious, buttery addition. Enjoy.

Muffins in exchange for cuddles

I belive it's important to bring something to share when going visiting. It might not be shared while you're over, but the gesture is there and it makes you feel like a good guest. When I don't have time to bake, I always stop by a bakery. More often than not though, I'm disappointed with what I buy. The taste is either boring or it isn't fresh enough. So, I generally try to make something myself, which gives me the feeling that my gift is more genuine. 

Today I am meeting my Manager's baby for the first time. We through her a Baby Shower recently and I got to bake super sweet and decadent treats. However, now I need to take breatfeeding and windy babies into consideration and I've scaled my baking back. Today I've made her White Chocolate and Coconut Muffins. Coming into Autumn with the air cool and crisp, the lovely warmness of these fresh muffins with a light sweetness to them is not just comforting, but feels perfect for a first baby meeting.  

Showering a friend with sweetness

A few weeks ago we through a baby shower for my manager at work. She has been an inspiration to me and many others I work with and we wanted to show her how special she was by throwing a party for her and bub. I've been saving this post until Baby Stalley was born... and we just got the news that he arrived. So a BIG congratulations. We cannot wait to give him cuddles.

Life needs a ganache topping!

Some say, "when life gets you down, make lemonade"... wait, that's not right. Try again... "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade".  That's it. Well, when life gives me lemons next time, I'm going to add blueberries for a burst of sweetness and cover it all in a silky white chocolate ganache! Why drink lemonade when you can eat cake, that should be the new proverbial phrase!

I was served a few lemons in 2012, but also a lot of blueberries and... I need another food metaphor to complete this sentence, how about coconut for joy... coconuts. It was my hardest year to date both professionally and personally, but like everything, I made it through in one piece feeling stronger than ever.

The cake below isn't beautiful in it's appearance, it is what it is - a tasty treat with a few surprises peering through the glaze with honesty. I like to think of the white chocolate in my cake metaphor as the icing on the cake, literally, a way to coat last year and close it off. 2013 is a new beginning, a new flavour, a new adventure filled with new experiences. I wouldn't dare forget or wish away a moment of 2012, I am grateful for all I learnt and for the amazing people in my life, however I am also happy to look into the future and discover what awaits for me.

Reuben's cookies

It has rained the whole weekend. Not that much you can do when it rains. Luckily, baking is something you can do anytime! So Reuben and I spent some quality time together in the kitchen. I love baking with Reuben. The constant trying to eat the ingredients is annoying, but I love how much he wants to be involved. He pours everything into the bowl and always has to use the mixer (he's pretty good at it as well).

When deciding what to bake today, I thought back to my childhood and what it was that I liked eating. I instantly thought of iced vovo biscuits. Mum and Dad always bought biscuits for school lunches and to eat with coffee after their dinner. The iced vovo's were regulars in our cupboard. I didn't feel like sticking with tradition today, I thought we needed something a bit pretty to brighten up such a dull weekend, so we went with a flower shaped biscuit. Reuben didn't care either way, he just loved eating them!

Spotless

Helping Mummy

Easy baking sure to impress

I was given a new cookbook on Monday by a work friend who is moving to Melbourne. Lucky for me he deemed this particular book not worthy of taking with him. It's called cakes & slices from the Murdoch Books Test Kitchen. As I flipped through the pages, I had an urge to bake. I picked out two recipes to try first and then bought the ingredients on the way home. For the past few months, I've had oodles of caster sugar in my pantry. Unbeknownst to me, I used most of it up so only had enough sugar to make one of the slices I'd chosen from the book. Oh well, a treat for another day.

The recipe I choose was super easy and had minimal ingredients, so if you want a really rich, chocolately treat to impress someone, try this.

Attempt at a classic

There are always foods that hold special memories, or even just remind you of a feeling, when you eat them. Cupcakes remind me of visiting my grandma when we were little and eating her "little cakes". They were just a basic vanilla cupcake recipe, but to us they were a little bit of magic that melted in our mouths. Whenever I have a salmon sandwich I get the urge to cut it into as many tiny squares as possible, like we use to do when we stayed at my other grandma's house. My sister and I would sit around her table and squeal with excitement as she manged to squeeze in an extra row. And trifle is not trifle unless my Dad's cousin makes it, and only at Christmas. Every Christmas we would all stuff into our already full belly's Ray's trifle, which was soaked in port with rich custard and homemade sponge. Thinking of it now makes me smile as I remember all the delicious Christmas' we spent together as a family.

Another food which spurs memories for me are Kingston biscuits. My Dad use to buy them to have with coffee after dinner. Anything with chocolate we devoured as children, so of course we would sneak as many Kingston's as possible. I was browsing some of my favorite blogs recently and found this recipe on Raspberri Cupcakes for Oat Cookies with Coconut Milk Ganache. It was a must to attempt. I have much to learn about properly rolling biscuits and not over filling the centers, but they still tasted amazing - a biscuit which resembled an Anzac with a chocolaty coconut filling. If you loved Kingston's as a child, or even now, I recommend you try these biscuits and the amazing revelation of using coconut milk instead of cream in the ganache.