Winter's not quiet over yet

There are so many delicious things people usually save for Winter. Thick, hearty casseroles, rich saucy dishes, sticky caramelized puddings! So so many mouth watering delights. One dessert I usually save for Winter is apple pie. I have no idea why though, as it is so good hot or cold. I really should make it more, as it seems simple, but you can create so many varieties of the simple apple pie. Like infusing the stewed apples with cinnamon, or other spices, or adding other fruits - not just sultanas, I like to mix pear in with the apples sometimes. I also sometimes caramelized the apples and make a type of toffee apple pie. This time though I have gone traditionally. I made a super crumbly shortcrust pastry, lined it in a tall pan, added heaps of apples and served it with cream and custard. There were no complaints (actually very few words as it was hard to focus on anything but eating it).

I recommend trying a few varieties of apple pie, and seeing how to turn it into a summer favourite also. Possibly a tart or turnover style pie instead of the warm high pie. Enjoy!
 

Julia will always make you bake!

Before we uploaded all my DVDs onto a computer connected to the TV, I had all my DVDs on display and filed them by my own categories. The unique way I categorise my DVDs was by mood. I have my horrible girly movies that I know I like to watch when I'm sick or home alone and feel like a lazy afternoon. I have some comedies. Then I have serious DVDs, ones which one might need to think about or focus on while watching. I also have an area for my son's movies, which are mostly Pixar and Disney movies. I think I need one more category - baking! There is one DVD, that every time I watch it, I feel the need to scroll through my cookbooks looking for recipes and bake something semi-elaborate. This movie is Julia & Julie. I love it! I have watched it too many times and it's at the top of my girly section, as I watch it more often than any of the others.

I recently watched it when I had a day off. I think I only got half way through before I jumped into the kitchen and made these Chocolate Rum Custard Tarts. Which was good, because then I had a delicious treat to finish the movie with. Enjoy.

OK, yes, I do watch Masterchef

So, I must admit, after not watching the past few seasons, I have been watching this year's Masterchef. I will even admit it took me until an episode in this season for a past winner to walk in and for me to realise that's who I had seen on the cover a cookbook recently, which seemed to be on every bookstore shelf (I was really confused. She had the same name as a singer but didn't really look like her, but maybe did if you squinted... see, confusing!)

I am not addicted. I am not concerned if I miss an episode and I even change over before the results are "announced" so my boyfriend can catch the start of his show. See - not obsessed. Anyway, I do enjoy watching the challenges and wondering what I'd do. Sometimes I think of something really great instantly, and then on the odd occasion I have trailed that recipe the following weekend. I've been pretty happy with myself. So when they did choux pastry recently, I thought, "easy". I bought the ingredients the following evening - that's how confident I was. Unfortunately, I found out it was much harder than I originally thought. My first attempt was eggy, flat and doughy. Not edible at all.

However, never one to give up when it comes to baking, I tried again. This time I followed my macaroon success and stumbled across a blog which gave the 1-0-1 on making choux. Like the macaroons, her reasons sounded sane, her technique pretty easy, so I gave it a go. And guess what, they worked :-). Well, half the batch worked, the other half went flat, but it was ok, we had more than enough to give us a pre-bedtime sugar high.

De-stress baking

I was just sitting at my computer, feeling a little irritated and stressed, so decided to take 5 minutes to browse some of my favourite blogs. I always find this takes my mind off being annoyed and helps me refocus. Yes, technically I am at work and should be "working", but today I haven't had a lunch break so don't believe I am being naughty :-). Also, I'm in Marketing, so any website or blog browsing can be considered research... kind of.

So, I started looking at my top 5 blogs. I started with Raspberri Cupcakes and found a delicious looking Orange Tea Cake and instantly decided I needed to do some baking tonight. That then reminded me, I haven't posted my cheesecake from my sibling's dinner last week - whoops. So here it is, along with my Top 5 de-stress baking blogs (in no particular order): Raspberri Cupcakes, Sprinkle Bakes, Bakers Royale, Sweetapolita and Tastespotting.

The taste of Summer

Summer activities* in Brisbane include going to the beach, going swimming in a friend or family member's pool, swimming in the blow-up pool in the backyard or sitting in front of the fan trying not to create a pool of your own sweat.

Summer flavours in Brisbane are pretty tropical, including mangos, passionfruit, peaches, pineapple and so on. I am generally one to bake with chocolate and heavy flavours, but in the extreme heat of a Brisbane summer, the best things to bake are cold, sweet and light (ie not turning on the oven and not using too much energy). I found the perfect dessert to accommodate these flavours and energy level - a Mango and Passionfruit Layered Pavlova. Light, sweet and easy - and better than anything else, a crowd pleaser.

Feel free to exchange the Mango and Passionfruit with a different flavour, maybe hazelnut spread or berries. Enjoy!

(* I have a toddler, so activities for me generally include something to keep a hyper-active 3 year old happy).

Dedicated to Ms Banoffee

Tomorrow is my friend Lisa's last day at work. I've mentioned her before, she's the one we through a baby shower for a week or so ago. Kinda obvious why she's leaving us... This post is dedicated to her.

I started at my current job at QPAC almost 4 years ago. I had wanted to work at QPAC for a long time and was so excited to finally get my foot in the door. Behind my excitement was that awkward feeling you always get when starting a new job and the over-hanging question "was changing jobs the right decision?". On my first day I met everyone in the team and they were all nice. Then I met Lisa and her warmth and instant friendship made me feel right at home. I was suppose to sit with her for about half an hour so she could explain what she does and show me a few things I'd be doing. Suddenly about 2 hours had flown by and we had barely touched on either of our roles. This kind of behaviour continued over the years. She sat separately from our team so I was to act as the bridge between her role and our team. We took this as permission to get a hot chocolate a few times a week and just chat - don't worry, we always took some spreadsheets in case we needed to talk about work. We'd get lost in conversation and completely loose track of time - this pretty much sums up our friendship. She is someone who is instantly accepting and backs me up 100%. I am really sad to see her leaving our team, but over the past 4 years I've developed a really strong friendship with Lisa and am excited that we've manage to be friends at and outside of work (and will continue to be). She's supported me through some really tough periods in my life and is always there when I need that little bit of extra help. I am now looking forward to supporting her and her hubby around the birth of their first baby (if they want me there or not haha). 

So, to send Lisa off properly I have created my own style of her favourite dessert - Banoffee Pie. My version is in a portable and easy to eat form of a cupcake. Enjoy!

The team eating some cake: Kate, Leisa, Dave and Lisa

Rhubarb Rhubarb Rhubarb

My brother and his girlfriend returned from four weeks overseas today. I was really excited to see them and hear the stories of their amazing adventure. Dad forwarded me an email about a week ago from my brother in Portugal informing them of their arrival home, not to worry about picking them up from the airport and that we'll all have dinner the night of their return. He then threw in a cheeky, "and looking forward to one of Cathy's desserts - can you tell her to bake" hahaha. Thanks bro ;-).

Because I was so excited about them being back, I couldn't decide on what to bake. Do I do something topical and make something from one of the cities on their travels (aka France, Spain, Portugal and London)? Or do I make something seasonal to remind them of home? Or do I do my signature over-the-top and chocolate? 

To help with this decision, I went to the markets yesterday morning. We had a great time picking all the fresh fruit and veg and going through the rows of gourmet treats. I found a bunch of rhubarb and thought a nice crumble would warms their bones, so decided on that. 

At home that night, I scrolled online and went through multiple cookbooks to find the perfect rhubarb recipe. I found some pretty exciting posts, however went with a recipe from Maggie Beer's book. I adore Maggie Beer and thought this recipe would be perfect, especially since they bought me the book on their last trip to the Barossa - fitting. ENJOY (we did!!).

Ladies who afternoon tea

On Friday, my friend at work was nice enough to share a lemon tart her boyfriend had made. The pastry was so delicate and the filling subtle and smooth. It made me want to bake tarts again. I had an old friend come for a visit on Sunday afternoon, so thought that would be the perfect time to make some tarts. The toddler was strangely behaving himself in the morning, so I started baking. I wanted a crumbly shell, something that wasn't too sweet, so went with the amazing Maggie Beer's sour cream pastry (I didn't roll it out as thin as I would have linked, but no worries). Then for the filling I had a massive bowl of fruit, so thought I'd do a creme anglaise with caramelised apples and pears.Accompanied with a nice hot cup of tea, they were the perfect afternoon snack to catch up over!

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.

Mixing ideas to make pie

I remember going to school fetes as a child and always wanting to get either fairy floss or toffee apples. If I ever did get the fairy floss, it wasn't until I started eating it that I realised I didn't like it. If I ever got the toffee apple, I would lick all the toffee off and then have a soggy apple on a stick. Not amazing, should have had the caramel popcorn.

With this in mind, I thought I'd have a play with the ideas of toffee and apples (as I am no where near advanced enough to make fairy floss). I was given a Maggie Beer cookbook for Christmas (I LOVE Maggie!) and have been wanting to try her sour cream pastry. This little pie seemed like the perfect excuse. 

After making the pastry, I can tell you I love Maggie even more. It was a delicious buttery pastry which had the perfect crumble to it. And, best of all, it stayed crumbly even after having apples in it for a day.

An Easter dessert

The one thing I can always rely on at Easter is Hot Cross Buns. They are everywhere and my family eats them as if they are going out of fashion. So, I thought I'd try using the humble Hot Cross Bun in a basic dessert, Bread and Butter Pudding. And as it is Easter, I added chocolate - Mmmmm.

Show off cheesecake

There are some desserts that I know are going to make a good impression. I generally bust these out when I want to show off or when I can't think of anything new and I want to make something I know will be delicious.

My friend invited me to lunch today. The other people at the lunch included her parents who had just arrived from Ireland and some other friends who I have heard about heaps of times but think only meet once (and that was at a Halloween Party so everyone was in costume). I said I would bring dessert and I wanted something that would impress and knew that this cheesecake would definitely hit the mark. I also wanted to use the rest of the salted caramel sauce from Thursday night's Whoopie Pies. The result, a superbly creamy cheesecake with a salty/sweet cream topping.

No bake baking

I saw a recipe online about a month ago and have been waiting for my chance to make it. My baking motivation has been a little low over the past month, but last weekend my brother and his lovely girlfriend came over for dinner so I dusted off my mixing beaters and got back into the kitchen.  

This recipe comes from My Baking Addiction. The first thing that caught my attention was the use of Nutella. I've seen so many Nutella recipes lately, but this one was too hard to pass. Also, it was a cheesecake - no challenge.

So here it is. I recommend you try it. It was silky smooth and beautifully rich. I could only manage to eat half of mine, an absolute shocker for me, but it was amazing. 

Starting the week off right

Before I properly planned my Christmas baking, I bought a few punnets of blueberries from the markets, thinking without a doubt I would use them. I didn't. So I froze them until I felt like baking with blueberries.

I'd also like to reveal my not-so-secret secret of loving something sweet during the week. Actual, any night will do. Often I'll finish dinner and that tingling will start on my tongue and a little voice will tell me to find something sweet (then a mean voice will try and stop me, but now it sounds like I'm a little crazy. I am). Last night I was rummaging through the fridge and found the frozen blueberries. I had seen a recipe in the recent Coles supermarket in-store magazine for a layered mango panna cotta and thought I could experiment using my frozen blueberries.