Winter woes + delicious apple shortcake

//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.jsWinter is not my favourite season when the weather is wet and cold but when the sky is blue, the air is crisp and the sun gently warms as it delivers a dose of Vitamin D, I can’t complain.  In fact, I get a little antsy sitting inside…… I need to be out in the garden …

On the menu: Toffee Apple M&M Brownies

Last week I was out scouring the shops in Gisborne for the new Whittakers artisan chocolate range.  I tried the supermarkets (big and small) and after searching high and low and not finding any, I decided perhaps The Warehouse might have some.  Desperate measures call for desperate moves and anyhow, I needed to go back …

Searching for the ultimate bran muffin: Home Style Bran Muffins

My mum made the best bran muffins I have ever tasted – moist muffins with plump raisins, utterly …… well I was going to describe them as unctuous as unctuous goes so well with utterly but I thought I should make sure the word meant what I thought it meant. Turns out not…. the muffins …

Baking with Feijoas: Wholemeal Feijoa & Ginger Cake

Feijoa fruiting season is eagerly anticipated by most people in the New Zealand and many backyards have a tree or three that drop the green fruit in a thick carpet from the trunk to the drip line.  Feijoas drop when they are ripe although they can be picked to help prevent bruising. Feijoas are also …

Food Foraging: Apple & Caramel Muffins

Food Foraging As mentioned before, anytime we travel to another town or city in New Zealand I have a strong urge to visit the supermarkets, markets and specialist food shops to search out new and interesting products.  As we hadn’t been away for a while, I decided to mooch around our local food establishments and …

Easter baking: Hot Cross Muffins

Hot Cross Muffins These muffins have all the flavour of hot cross buns without the effort of rising & kneading the dough (and without the waiting for the buns to be ready).  Cinnamon, mixed spice & ground cloves add plenty of spice.  I have used currants but you can use raisins or sultanas or even …

Peppered Zucchini Sausage Scrolls

Zucchini, courgette, marrow – whatever you like to call them – are very useful vegetables to have a surplus of. It is possible to serve zucchini every night of the week without really noticing that it’s zucchinis for supper again. Cooked simply as a vegetable side – grilled, barbecued, roasted – they are a tasty …

Honey Roasted Banana & Wholemeal Cake

One of the reasons I love Pinterest (actually that should probably be LOVE Pinterest) is that other people share their absolutely inspired and awesome ideas.  Ideas such as Roasted Bananas….. I have roasted all sorts of fruit: apples, rhubarb, apricots, peaches, pineapple….. but the idea of roasting bananas had never occurred to me.  Then I …

Update: Apple & Cinnamon Wholemeal Panettone

Having purchased a commercially baked panettone and compared it to my baby panettone (see here) I could see that the few issues I had had with my rising and baking had impacted on the texture of my bread. The mini panettone were delicious but more like regular fruit bread than proper panettone.

Panforte with White Chocolate

Panforte, an Italian Christmas cake of Siena, Italy, is more confection than cake. A variety of nuts & fruit are coated in heady spiced flour then enrobed in honey-caramel.  The result is a rich chewy treat, delicious when cut into thin slivers and served with coffee.  In Italy, each village has their own variation of …