tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-43508036878999320622024-03-12T17:32:17.718-07:00Little PuddingToo much of a good thing can be wonderful... Larissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10414334346423383943noreply@blogger.comBlogger90125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4350803687899932062.post-48013409134994820762023-02-25T21:52:00.000-08:002023-11-20T21:29:48.056-08:00Margaret River With Kids<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh1C3oCM1tuXVvCLVVYPOqAhUusndJctFOs3B2qMN1YuM5e4zhMf34US2pBdVNAlfR9540rDhMctFIiCeM9m9bberuORiUK1NOo0lpVedn3KJra5rZaXk7Qz4yfiF43UwL0sgehMO9j-0y5wwB4DHOWZEX6jTqV9cB-aC4wDR9QB1YqBezMQqgmIe6PQg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2684" data-original-width="3551" height="483" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh1C3oCM1tuXVvCLVVYPOqAhUusndJctFOs3B2qMN1YuM5e4zhMf34US2pBdVNAlfR9540rDhMctFIiCeM9m9bberuORiUK1NOo0lpVedn3KJra5rZaXk7Qz4yfiF43UwL0sgehMO9j-0y5wwB4DHOWZEX6jTqV9cB-aC4wDR9QB1YqBezMQqgmIe6PQg=w640-h483" width="640" /></a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">March 2020:</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Standing at the edge of a glittering bay in southwest WA, I said to my husband: Surely passports are optional for Australians.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I was joking, but now that we are living through a global pandemic and international travel is temporarily not an option, I feel incredibly lucky to have such a huge, beautiful playground of a nation to explore. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">With two young boys, we have become experts at Australian family beach holidays. We have spent the past few summers on various coasts, from Jervis Bay in NSW to Adventure Bay in Tasmania, and last summer we took the kids to explore the Margaret River region in WA.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">We got some funny looks when we told friends our summer holiday plans involved taking the kids to a premier wine region for 10 days. But the Margaret River has so much more to offer than world-class wines. With stunning beaches and rockpools, adventure parks, ancient caves and kid-friendly wineries and breweries, it is brilliant fun for adults and children alike. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">We honeymooned in this beautiful corner of south-west WA years ago and we knew this time would be different with a 9 and 6-year-old in tow. But planning each day with a mind to entertaining and feeding two active boys saw us exploring more of the region and it opened us up to new experiences (and a whole lot of fun) that we wouldn’t have had otherwise. It was one of the best holidays we’ve had together. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Here are 10 fun family things to do with kids in the Margaret River: </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">1.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span><b>Busselton Jetty</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Break up the 3-hour drive from Perth with a stop in Busselton. Stretch your car legs with a walk along the 152-year-old jetty or catch the jetty train 1.8km to the end, where you can take a tour of the underwater observatory. One of only six in the world, the observatory is 8m underwater and gives kids a close-up view of brightly coloured fish (big and small) swimming among the artificial reef created by the jetty’s timber pylons. Fish and chips at The Goose is a must, and a crisp glass of local white or craft beer makes for the start of a great holiday, and possibly the first argument over who is driving.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">https://www.busseltonjetty.com.au</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">https://thegoose.com.au</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">2.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span><b>Stand-Up Paddle Boarding and kayaking at Dunsborough</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The calm lake-like waters along the Dunsborough beachfront are ideal for stand-up paddle boarding and kayaking, particularly for beginners. The water is clear enough for snorkelling, and those on a board can watch tiny fish darting about underwater as they glide over the top. Our boys mastered the paddle boards quickly and had a great time navigating their own way out to the sand bars and back. I fell off, fairly ungracefully, but that’s a story for another time.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">https://www.swboatsbikes.com/hire</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgtvUQith2W0DgkjoVF8lrkp286xZtrFbJccN0TxgAmliQ1Hnj2on2DFkm6H6DldkT6TFWTeHHuILzPzkrgPFIKdd-e5UwKf5HwBMYyGX7Leafq7hAMhl0CKE80sGYnsPZ5ZoJAZGzHlxT7CU2UWhQyZxu3DVsQizkpSqmj12RXKe2y55ViIKCSj4yC6Q" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgtvUQith2W0DgkjoVF8lrkp286xZtrFbJccN0TxgAmliQ1Hnj2on2DFkm6H6DldkT6TFWTeHHuILzPzkrgPFIKdd-e5UwKf5HwBMYyGX7Leafq7hAMhl0CKE80sGYnsPZ5ZoJAZGzHlxT7CU2UWhQyZxu3DVsQizkpSqmj12RXKe2y55ViIKCSj4yC6Q=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">3.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span><b>Simmo’s Ice Creamery</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">After our paddle boarding adventures, a treat was in order. Not too far away is Simmo’s, the most incredible ice cream wonderland located, oddly, in the middle of an industrial area. After choosing from 60 flavours, you walk through the shop into what can only be described as a meadowy park with flowers, ducks, bridges, a playground and a mini-golf course. It’s kid heaven. We were pretty happy too.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">https://www.simmos.com.au</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiOpgdbMJqdJvIbTPsXfjrq8RkS3cFhjF0bcDvdpl-z7qS5Ye6mMNfACL0MDtRoTOOYW1jJ-OBxKeK97vb_iMLYQ8Dp_DhzPVOSMVm_DolmpepWh-dzj3thi8OjA47CEGKctvZbQEqGdtD9b03CAi4kgILySW3OAXAKZE8RGAe_OUIgE7HVQXCrdPCRjQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiOpgdbMJqdJvIbTPsXfjrq8RkS3cFhjF0bcDvdpl-z7qS5Ye6mMNfACL0MDtRoTOOYW1jJ-OBxKeK97vb_iMLYQ8Dp_DhzPVOSMVm_DolmpepWh-dzj3thi8OjA47CEGKctvZbQEqGdtD9b03CAi4kgILySW3OAXAKZE8RGAe_OUIgE7HVQXCrdPCRjQ=w640-h640" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">4.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span><b>Canal Rocks</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I have never met a kid who doesn’t love exploring shallow rock pools and searching for tiny crabs and fish while hopping from rock to rock at the water’s edge.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Canal Rocks, an ancient rock formation connected by a network of naturally forged canals, dials the rock-jumping experience up to 11. Go early to avoid tourist buses and take a small morning tea to have on the rocks while you watch the surf crash through the stunning red boulders of the horizontal waterfall. Bring your camera; this is nature at its best.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">https://www.margaretriverwesternaustralia.com.au/locations/canal-rocks</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgBvQgiPxE6clsw_r1cpK3KwoafDF3uEWr9IW0qwC83OBV0bJaVtEmNfIkMKp0hEOrQlHOdUHJ0HhCBY7XKLrJJzbr0RTl50suMYXQfFeyvLRq1C5O8Ke8Cxb_70zz3KEVTRM8u18FkMsREnCi00gf4ibonUPqARzUPVQ4yda-RZkJDimPDJn1ZB0ZghA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgBvQgiPxE6clsw_r1cpK3KwoafDF3uEWr9IW0qwC83OBV0bJaVtEmNfIkMKp0hEOrQlHOdUHJ0HhCBY7XKLrJJzbr0RTl50suMYXQfFeyvLRq1C5O8Ke8Cxb_70zz3KEVTRM8u18FkMsREnCi00gf4ibonUPqARzUPVQ4yda-RZkJDimPDJn1ZB0ZghA=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">5.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span><b>Barnyard 1978</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">If you are after a delicious lunch of homemade pasta and local wines in a farmish, cosy restaurant setting, visit Barnyard 1978. While the kids hung out at the play equipment, we settled back into plush suede cushions with a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon and a plate of house-baked sourdough and watched the hilarious fat chickens jump to eat the low-hanging grapes from the vines. Lunch was freshly made pumpkin ravioli and pappardelle with pork and fennel ragu for the adults, while the kids had crumbed chicken tenderloins with potato bake.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">On the way out, we bought another bottle of Barnyard red for later and a jar of jarrah honey, produced by their own bees.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">http://www.barnyard1978.com.au/#home</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">6.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span><b>Next Level Monkey Business Zip Line and Ropes Course</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">This experience blew the kids’ minds. Flying through the trees on zip lines, tackling climbing challenges and negotiating tricky ropes courses was the best fun they had on the trip, they said. As the accompanying adult, I have to agree. Pushing yourself out of your comfort zone is the best way to see what you can achieve and a couple of hours here (and a few pep talks along the way) really had the kids on a high and believing in themselves. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">https://nextlevelmonkeybiz.com.au</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgYvXAMKWaWgi_7mIRUnmsvJVA5K6Z2FDErXGvKtc7NbrRDNVF-ZvJyWjPcBXYp4atBopKw2dmNbbdRZrZs8OkHKcxnfHpsus7XCEpyPWnL7w0rXq4sTQHmLyOLOOgHhSiRkx7pAVl9e8J3qbDI30nDIS6dPhXKFN4L2wZK_UCpjN8MXrEXQ1woEJS9-w" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="768" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgYvXAMKWaWgi_7mIRUnmsvJVA5K6Z2FDErXGvKtc7NbrRDNVF-ZvJyWjPcBXYp4atBopKw2dmNbbdRZrZs8OkHKcxnfHpsus7XCEpyPWnL7w0rXq4sTQHmLyOLOOgHhSiRkx7pAVl9e8J3qbDI30nDIS6dPhXKFN4L2wZK_UCpjN8MXrEXQ1woEJS9-w=w480-h640" width="480" /></a></div><br /><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">7.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span><b>Clancy’s Fish Pub</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Next door to Next Level Monkey Business is Clancy’s Fish Pub. We finished up our zip-lining adventures and walked to Clancy’s for a freshly caught lunch. Our table outside had a great view of the ropes courses and zip-lines next door, giving the kids even more to chat about.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">8.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span><b>Amaze'n</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">There are two large hedge mazes in the region. We chose to make a day of it by driving to the southern-most and oldest one, Amaze'n, about 2km from the town of Margaret River.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">If you are after an Alice in Wonderland experience, this delivers. The maze is huge and beautiful and, predictably, we got lost inside it. This was an interesting exercise for the kids in problem solving and teamwork, with each having their turn as leader, and celebration when we managed to find our way to the centre and then out again.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The maze is surrounded by manicured gardens filled with sculptures, large chess and checkers, a playground and a mini-golf course. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Our kids loved the old-school café open grilled sandwiches and ice cream spiders.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">http://www.amazenmargaretriver.com.au</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhlR1AuV9eMUMVBhxdMN9cfOEXVqizsbPqkKW52v14VztmTZqWW2F0VlituXh2jZcGWb7qLr7UA2UpbRh4sFNLZWu_6wuHYprt7yVxf_hPgSGgA9bTUb-ucnsrFu5mfScqkJtqWnIiS5U6igxADNT08nID48XeaDjbIRJJmTIZKePx0xIfmgBP2R-Naxw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="768" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhlR1AuV9eMUMVBhxdMN9cfOEXVqizsbPqkKW52v14VztmTZqWW2F0VlituXh2jZcGWb7qLr7UA2UpbRh4sFNLZWu_6wuHYprt7yVxf_hPgSGgA9bTUb-ucnsrFu5mfScqkJtqWnIiS5U6igxADNT08nID48XeaDjbIRJJmTIZKePx0xIfmgBP2R-Naxw=w480-h640" width="480" /></a></div><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">9.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span><b>Tastings – yes really!</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">After the maze, we stopped in on the way back north to a few of our favourite vineyards and breweries in the area, all of which cater for kids with outside games ranging from huge checkers and chess boards, croquet and Finska. Some also had sandpits, swings, parks and farm animals. I really hope vineyards on the east coast start to catch on to the fact that parents like wine too. For gifts and “laters” treats, the Margaret River Chocolate Company is a must. Our favourites were bullets, Turkish Delight and freckles. Sharing with the kids: optional.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">A few of our favourites: </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Pierro</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Howard Park</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Cullen</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Snake and Herring</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Cowaramup Brewery</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Eagle Bay Brewery</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">10.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span><b>Watch the sunset</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">You haven’t seen a sunset until you have experienced the intensity of a WA sunset sinking into the ocean, turning the sky from a deep burnished orange to soft inky purple. We took a picnic to the lookout at Yallingup (park in the carpark and walk about 20m along the shore tracks to a couple of benches purpose built for sunsets). We drank Cowaramup ale while the kids explored the rocks and I took a billion photos of them in the golden hour light. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiLmSbYS-fh6VgnaZ6EMRlMbhJN8zIzNjcAtRegPjd4msVwM8LNbuKTr6x9enhvpEmJjUms__vfUFi69CZHS028ubf0kcyNHOk5FPOqeYM0yjsBjvhip4C1YR5MBixC1a6Q7zj0uoicCF3zC6009-i_e3WLs65_cUF8y2JaVM8h6SFO1qhh9RyqCFuROw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1023" data-original-width="1024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiLmSbYS-fh6VgnaZ6EMRlMbhJN8zIzNjcAtRegPjd4msVwM8LNbuKTr6x9enhvpEmJjUms__vfUFi69CZHS028ubf0kcyNHOk5FPOqeYM0yjsBjvhip4C1YR5MBixC1a6Q7zj0uoicCF3zC6009-i_e3WLs65_cUF8y2JaVM8h6SFO1qhh9RyqCFuROw=w640-h640" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Other things in the area: </b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">•<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Amazing beaches</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">•<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Cape to Cape Track – a walk from Cape Naturaliste to Cape Leeuwin, there are <span> </span><span> </span>boardwalk sections</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">•<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Yallingup Caves</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Where to Stay: </b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Our boys are keen swimmers but they’re still learning to handle the surf, so we based ourselves at Bunker Bay, a crystal-clear beach with gentle waves, in Cape Naturaliste, about 40 mins north of the town of Margaret River. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">We hired a spacious holiday home, Paperbarks, through Private Properties, which was across the road from the beach. It came with the creature comforts of a large, well-equipped kitchen with Nespresso machine (and a supply of pods) as well as little luxuries like an outdoor shower for hosing off after the beach and L’Occitane toiletries in the bathrooms. It also had a fantastic games room with table tennis and fussball tables to keep us all entertained and the boys off devices.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Bunker Bay also has Pullman Resort and Spa with 2 and 3 bedroom villas for family stays.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Private Properties</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">https://www.privateproperties.com.au/destination-guides/</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Pullman Resort Bunker Bay</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">https://www.pullmanbunkerbayresort.com.au</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Getting There: </b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">We flew from Sydney to Perth with Qantas and hired a car for the 3 hour drive south to Bunker Bay</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><br /><p></p>Larissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10414334346423383943noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4350803687899932062.post-37577140895125978522019-07-19T01:00:00.001-07:002023-11-20T21:02:07.012-08:00Farm Days<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I wrote this a few months back, after our last trip to our friends' farm. It will be a while between trips as they're off abroad for work for a few years. Good luck on your adventure Mel and Percy, we will miss you but we look forward to Curryfest. Much love xxx</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Is there anything better when you’re a child than camping with friends in a paddock? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">And is there anything better as a parent than to watch your kids running in hectic circles with the children of your long-time friends, laughing, swapping intel back and forth in the funny conversations of 2, 6, 8, 10 and 13-year-olds, learning new skills like how to light a camp fire and fry sausages for elevenses, or how to cast a line in a dam?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Days at our friends’ farm are a joy to all of us. They are both an escape and a home coming, comforting and messy as a teenage slumber party; a relaxed sort of chaos. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">We bring our kids back to the city tired, with burry socks, matted hair and barely-brushed teeth but full to the brim with fresh air and night sky stories. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">They are medicine for us too, these farm days; a break from the trenches of every day parenthood and work. There is silliness, laughter, too much red wine and a fireside playlist with no skipping allowed. The old and the new are everywhere around us. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">There is cooking, lots of cooking. Sometimes baking. Skillet cookies, a quick batch of Anzacs or stone fruits roasted in rough puff rolled out on the long wooden bench. The kitchen is always crowded with people, overflowing fruit bowls, bread piles and hanging pots. Children run through, someone is making a round of cocktails and flour motes float in the afternoon light. Time slows but the days still pass too quickly.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">This trip we also made smallgoods. We dubbed the weekend Sausagefest and we made salami. Everyone had a job, cutting, mincing, picking wild fennel for the seeds, massaging in the magic (curing) salt, cranking the machine, guiding the mince through the casings, tying the knots, pinning and hanging. There was a lot of banter about best practice and the supervisor’s crook back. He had to lie down a couple of times. They warned him to stay away from the cocktails.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The salamis have been hung to age, some in the cool room and some in an old wardrobe-turned-drying-cupboard in the shed. Only two have slipped their knots. Not quite best practice but close. There are plans afoot for a tomato weekend at the end of next summer. We will turn ourselves into Italians yet. </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Maybe in Puglia. There's a 60th coming up, someone said.</span></div>
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Larissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10414334346423383943noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4350803687899932062.post-69780583611822364182017-11-03T22:50:00.003-07:002023-11-20T21:19:21.392-08:00Caramel Mud Cake with Salted Caramel Drip<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: georgia;"><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">My little sister was recently married in a beautiful ceremony on the north coast of NSW. </span></span><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">In typical style for us, the entire family (and one Kitchenaid mixer) traveled up for the festival of Danielle and Brian (pronounced Bree-an. He's English). I love a good family party but for outsiders things can be loud. We have a shouty kind of love. We belly-laugh a lot, give each other our opinions, solicited or not, we love to cook, drink, dance and argue. </span><br />
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">It turns out Brian's family does too. So when the UK contingent joined forces with our crew, a very fun wedding was had. It was even more special because it was the first time that many of them had met Dani and Brian's baby son, Michal (Mik-ahl. Don't call him Moo Cow. Only my 4-year-old can get away with that).</span><br />
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">There is no other day quite like your wedding day. You and your partner have all of your very best people in the same room at the same time, all there for you both. You look incredible, you are deeply in love and there is a huge party with fabulous wine, food and dancing. It's the best. The only thing not in abundance is time. You want to slow everything down so you can savour and remember every detail. Every married couple I know says that after months of planning, the actual wedding day, particularly the reception, goes by in a blink.</span><br />
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif"><br /></span>
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">With this in mind, I can give Dani two small pieces of her wedding to keep. The recipe for the base layer of her wedding cake, a caramel mud cake filled with caramel buttercream and salted caramel, and my speech.</span><br />
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif"><br /></span>
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">Thank you again Dani and Brian for a beautiful day and a fun party (my feet were happy-broken after all the dancing).</span><br />
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif"><br /></span>
<br />
</span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br />
<br />
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">***</span><br />
<br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-family: georgia;">"There
is an undeniable bond in life that comes only through sharing parents. You could be a twin or separated by a decade
like Danielle and I, but if you are raised by the same people you tend to view
life through a similar lens. Your core values are often aligned. Your sense of
humour is fed and wholly understood by your siblings, no matter how odd it may
seem to others. You get up to similar mischief. And into adulthood, you come to
know, love, often laugh at, and occasionally judge your parents through the
unique perspective that only you and your siblings have. You grow to
become...allies. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"">Allies
we are, definitely, and also best mates. But it must have been tough for Dani
growing up, because from the day she was born and me and my year 6 friends
piled into the hospital to meet her, she had to put up with me as a quasi-mother figure telling her what to do. </span><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">I like
to think this is why she is so bolshy. She learnt very early on to tell Gen
Xers exactly where to go.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-family: georgia;">It’s
no wonder I was overstepping the mark though. I was changing nappies as an
11-year-old! It was every little girl’s dream. I had a real, live baby to
mother! It was only at the 875<sup>th</sup> time playing tea parties that the
novelty began to wane slightly. Little did I know these early tea party events
were all part of a larger plan for our Bearlette.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-family: georgia;">She
has always been a people person - like, no one escaped those tea parties. I
remember her clomping around in Mum's heels with a mobile phone to her ear
bossing pretend people around as a three-year-old. This, I now recognise as
another glimpse into the future. She really has combined bossing people around
and a career in events quite seamlessly.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-family: georgia;">It was
that or fashion. Dani loves her clothes. You’d think she’d wear more of them
considering... Or maybe acting. At 17 there was a brief dalliance as a suburban Shakespearean
heroine when, coming home from a large night, she decided to take advantage of
the fact that Aunty Carol was living about halfway up Mum’s street. Unbeknown
to Aunty Caz, Dani crept in at an indecent hour and had her then boyfriend, the
famously big nosed and excellently named Gonzo, concealed in the bedroom. But
in the morning, with Aunty Carol approaching down the hall, she stealthily
shoved Romeo out the window to avoid detection. She would’ve got away with it
had Mum not been walking up the driveway and saw the whole thing, complete with
Romeo struggling out of the bushes. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"">A role not many people foresaw so soon in the
mix is her most recent one as a mummy herself. </span><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">Now,
this is a young woman who sees parking signs and speed limits as vague
suggestions, this is a lady who has actual conversations with her wardrobe
items – would you like to come out tonight, well I don’t think so with that
stain – sniff sniff, hmmm well it might be dark there, and this is a woman
who sees 9am - the start of the work day for many of us - as a moving target. A
few people, and I’m not going to name names, might have thought that an events
professional planning their own big event announcing that they were pregnant a
week after mailing out invitations was...pretty funny. So we knew we were in
for some cracking baby brain moments.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-family: georgia;">My
favourite was when, at about 7 months pregnant in the middle of summer, she
woke up in a sweat and decided to drive to Mum’s where she could sleep in the
air-conditioning. But on the way there, she noticed that the petrol gauge was
low. Actually, it was flashing empty. Dani reacts in a classic Dani way and
assesses her outfit. It’s a nightie and thongs. No, she thinks, I can make it!
Except she doesn’t. She runs out of petrol at 2am and has to call Brian to come and
get her and drive her the remaining 3 kilometres to mum's.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-family: georgia;">Maybe
it’s another dig at the smashed avocado generation, but having a baby means
getting on first terms with adulting. I was there with my hands out if I needed
to catch her.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-family: georgia;">I
didn’t. She is a great mum and Brian is a wonderful dad. They are taking it all
in their stride, the sleep deprivation, the work juggle, even the sheer daily
grind of preparing something for dinner. There is nothing like the joy of
starting a family and I am so thrilled and excited and proud of her. Of them
both. It has been a special kind of happy seeing my children hold Michal in
their arms and I look forward to many years of them playing together before my
children lead hers astray.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-family: georgia;">Now
she is a wife. What a big year she’s having! I was kind of relieved about
Michal’s arrival because it completely distracted her from any kind of
Bridezilla behaviour. She was on fire in the beginning; sent Pinterest into a
total meltdown. It’s kind of a blur now but it went something like this for me:
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-family: georgia;">D: Ok
I want red but this really obscure red, like a raspberry but more a burgundy
kind of plum claret<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-family: georgia;">Me: Ok<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-family: georgia;">D: And
you can’t cut your hair, I don’t want it changed. Nothing can change!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-family: georgia;">Me: Ok<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-family: georgia;">Then,
a couple of months later, pretty much straight after buying her dress, she
tells me to sit down.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-family: georgia;">I’m
pregnant, she says.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-family: georgia;">Such
self insight. Kind of like when she agreed to go camping with Brian on their
babymoon at the height of summer when seven months pregnant. Not one tent was
touched, let alone put up or slept in during the whole trip.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-family: georgia;">Jokes
aside, it is a beautiful thing to witness somebody you love coming of age,
stretching their talent legs, becoming comfortable in their own skin, really
living and contributing to the world. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"">Dani,
my fellow bibliophile, judgy-pants, lover of shoes and caller of bullshit, I am
so lucky to have you as my sister and friend. Kinda wish you were an events
stylist when I got married but hey... </span><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">I love
you, I love that we get each other in a way that only siblings will understand,
and I couldn't be prouder of you today.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-family: georgia;">If I
can give you some wise words from world-renowned couples therapist, Esther
Perel, most women will have three pivotal relationships in adulthood and, for
many, all three will be with the same partner. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">I see
the truth in these words in so many guises. Marriage is an evolving thing, a
slow-burn, a friendship, a partnership, a pact. It is you two against the
world, and if you face the future with your hands held, with honesty and
respect for each other, and with an open heart, you will weather whatever
comes. You will weather it together.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-family: georgia;">I wish
you and Brian a long and happy life together."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Vdr_NgvXZOk/Wf1N_zW2KyI/AAAAAAAADHY/jiNpQDNa9iAOazYtjfRlnvgPOTcgIZD0wCLcBGAs/s1600/dani%2Bbrian%2Bwed.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Vdr_NgvXZOk/Wf1N_zW2KyI/AAAAAAAADHY/jiNpQDNa9iAOazYtjfRlnvgPOTcgIZD0wCLcBGAs/s640/dani%2Bbrian%2Bwed.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Caramel Mud Cake with Salted Caramel Drip</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">(Serves 16-20)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">* You will need three 20cm cake tins for this recipe</span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">400g quality white chocolate, chopped </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">370g butter, chopped</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">2 cups brown sugar</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">160g golden syrup</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">2 cups milk</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">550g plain flour</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">150g self-raising flour</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">4 eggs, lightly beaten</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">Heat oven to 160C. Grease three 20cm cake tins and line each with non-stick baking paper. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">Place white chocolate, butter, brown sugar, golden syrup and milk in a large saucepan and stir over medium/low heat until chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth. Set aside to cool for 30 mins.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">Sift flours into a large mixing bowl and whisk in the melted white chocolate mixture, followed by eggs.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">Pour batter evenly into your three prepared cake tins, filling each to 3/4 mark.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">Bake for appx 25-30 mins until light golden and a skewer comes out clean.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">Cool cakes in tins. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">When cold, turn out onto racks. Trim each cake so that each is flat. (Reserve the off-cuts for cups of tea or freeze for later to make decadent little trifles - layer off-cuts in glasses, soak with butterscotch schnapps and top with grilled peaches, whipped cream, caramel and toasted macadamias or toasted coconut marshmallows.)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">To assemble the cake, turn each layer upside down so the bottom smooth side is facing up. Place one layer on a cake board or serving plate. For ease of evenly spreading icing, place the cake board or serving plate on a cake turn-table if you have one (you can find them at cake decorating and department stores or kitchenware stores like Victoria's Basement). </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">Top with a layer of caramel buttercream, smooth to the edges with an offset spatula (pallet knife) then drizzle generously with salted caramel. Repeat with middle layer. For final layer, place the upside down cake on top and cover cake all over with caramel buttercream. To achieve a smooth semi-naked finish, take a cake scraper (or cheap plastic bricky's trowel like I use) and hold it against the edge of the cake while spinning the cake turntable. Place the cake in the fridge for at least 10 mins. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">To finish the cake with a caramel drip, warm the remaining salted caramel in 10 sec bursts in a microwave until you have it moving in a thick syrup but not runny. You're aiming for a lazy drizzle. If it is too hot and runny, it will melt the buttercream and run onto the cake board. Pour the caramel on top of the cake while spinning the turntable and gently coax it to the edges with an offset spatula so that it drips over and down the sides like a cake in a Little Golden Book picnic.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;"><u>Salted Caramel</u>: </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">175g caster sugar</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">125g butter, chopped</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">1/2 cup double cream</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">1/2 teaspoon salt</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">Place sugar in a saucepan on medium/high heat and cook without stirring (swirl it around the pan as it begins to melt) until entirely melted. Do not leave the mixture unattended, it can burn very quickly. When the mixture begins to bubble, take off the heat and add the butter, cream and salt and stir until smooth. Set aside until cool and store in an airtight container in the fridge until needed. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;"><u>Caramel Buttercream</u>: </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">250g unsalted butter, softened</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">1 cup icing sugar</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">1 teaspoon vanilla extract</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">3/4 cup salted caramel, at room temperature (recipe above)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">Place butter, icing sugar and vanilla in bowl of electric mixer and beat until very pale and creamy (8-10 mins). Scrape down the sides of the bowl every now and then to ensure all incorporated. Turn mixer speed to low and add the caramel, stir until all mixed in and icing is fluffy and spreadable. Add more or less caramel to suit your taste. </span></div>
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<br /></div>Larissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10414334346423383943noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4350803687899932062.post-75165854591635868892017-04-25T18:09:00.003-07:002023-05-07T21:18:12.218-07:00Birthdays<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XaqdoCp0LFE/WP72cCEKiLI/AAAAAAAACxg/U2mn1fSCGIozaFqMDdk99O75ZyJDKl5tACLcB/s1600/oscar%2Bbirthday.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XaqdoCp0LFE/WP72cCEKiLI/AAAAAAAACxg/U2mn1fSCGIozaFqMDdk99O75ZyJDKl5tACLcB/s640/oscar%2Bbirthday.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Happy birthday.</span></div>
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This is the day you came into the world. A day to celebrate you. But it doesn't just belong to you. There is a flip side to every birthday that belongs to a mother - the story of the months and then the hours leading to the moment you arrived. This day, while yours from here into the future, stands still for her, indelibly etched, unforgettable.</span></div>
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<span class="x_s1" style="font-family: georgia;">Do you know your story? Growing up we don't tend to dwell on these things. But motherhood gives a unique perspective, like an opaque mirror; her on one side, you on the other.</span></div>
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<span class="x_s1" style="font-family: georgia;">In the lead up to the birth of my little sister's baby boy, I was thinking about this a lot. How every baby is carried differently, each pregnancy with its own quirks - a craving for bananas and toasted cheese sandwiches, debilitating nausea, carrying high, carrying low, carrying wide, back ache, head ache, no sleep, a sleep pillow, new marks on your body, the sudden appearance of veins just below the surface of your skin, the fluttering of something tiny but definite deep within. No matter what, you are altered, outside and in, forever.</span></div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nK_SuPHa1FM/WP75u5P3EGI/AAAAAAAACxs/WR6ZYC2R9vEzTjY9EDffDcRoJRfmjQlWwCLcB/s1600/fb%2Bupdate.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nK_SuPHa1FM/WP75u5P3EGI/AAAAAAAACxs/WR6ZYC2R9vEzTjY9EDffDcRoJRfmjQlWwCLcB/s400/fb%2Bupdate.png" width="394" /></span></a></div>
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<span class="x_s1" style="font-family: georgia;">This Facebook memory post with its little pep talk popped up in my feed recently, reminding me that seven years ago, four months into my first pregnancy, the hormones in my body went crazy. I was diagnosed with a rare breast disease which caused several large benign tumors to grow my breasts to a shocking (there is really no other word for it) size I bra within two months. After several medical opinions, it was decided the safest option was to perform a double mastectomy.<span class="x_Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="x_s1">I have not written about this before and it seems to just roll off my tongue now, like having major surgery when my unborn baby's life was at risk was nothing. At the time, I was white-knuckle, next level, frightened. It was all fine in the end. My little one was perfectly happy, true to the hardy, capable child that he is today. I came out of surgery 5kg lighter with wonky temporary fillers that did their job until my body had a second bout of crazy, six weeks after my baby was born, trying to produce milk when I had no breast tissue left. </span>I was rushed back into hospital with mastitis. I remember being in tears as the anesthetists prepared me pre-op. It's one thing to schedule a large procedure and mentally prepare. It's another thing entirely to be told you're in danger of blood poisoning and you need to have the temporary implants removed and replaced immediately. All I could think about was the chance that I wouldn't come out. You hear those stories. Sometimes, unthinkably, they happen to your best friends.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="x_s1">I came out. </span>I need to pay credit to my surgeons here. It's a worn cliche but no one fully appreciates the incredible work of doctors until the day it is you or a loved one on an operating table. I will always be in their debt. For two weeks after, I couldn't pick up my baby boy because of the stitches and drains. I needed someone to put him in my arms to feed him. I had to wear a portable intravenous antibiotic pack which a community nurse came to change several times each week. My husband had already used his parental leave in the first fortnight, so I relied on family and friends for help during the day. There was simply no choice but to get through it, and we did.</span></div>
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It's all quite fuzzy now, like something I might read about someone else. That's the upside of time; the getting there fades. So much thought and debate goes on about the way babies are birthed these days. The fact that my baby was delivered by emergency Caesarian was the very least of my worries. I was simply overwhelmed to have him. </span></div>
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Compared to the first, my second pregnancy and birth were businesslike. My younger son was booked in for a Caesarian because he was looking like another big baby, and the date just happened to be on our fourth wedding anniversary. I had committed months ago to a wedding cake and 80 caramel slices the same day, which I duly dropped off that morning, and then we drove to the hospital to have a baby, as you do. Yes, it was a bit like a transaction, but afterwards, holding my wrapped bundle, I felt just as emotional as I did with my first because it is an incredible feat to carry and birth your baby, no matter how they arrive.<span style="background-color: transparent;"> </span></span></div>
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These are my stories. All mothers have them and we carry them close.</span></div>
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<span class="x_s1" style="font-family: georgia;">So with each birthday my boys have, when I see their little faces bursting with excitement at presents and parties and cake, I remember how they came into the world and I feel their bubbly joy reflected in my own, along with a tremendous wave of pride and a mother's private thanks. This day is their day, but it will always be partly mine too.</span></div>
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Larissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10414334346423383943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4350803687899932062.post-14379304811436637902017-01-25T14:48:00.001-08:002023-05-07T21:14:26.277-07:00Plum and Hazelnut Cheesecake<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-P9TdLGwVWMg/WIkatgtp4kI/AAAAAAAACwA/YFQ2690oGvIqYTPXYcd0HG5JoqqwfblhgCLcB/s1600/plum%2Bcheesecake.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-P9TdLGwVWMg/WIkatgtp4kI/AAAAAAAACwA/YFQ2690oGvIqYTPXYcd0HG5JoqqwfblhgCLcB/s640/plum%2Bcheesecake.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif">Australia Day has taken on new meaning this year and not because of a conversational lamb ad. It means three little words to me as I limp towards the end of the week. Back. To. School.</span>
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<span class="s1"><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">I have few words this post. I am too exhausted from trying to squash work in between bouts of refereeing, listening to the virtues of 345 different Pokemon with another episode of Ninjago in the background, making 485,000 snacks daily, applying sunscreen to squirmy little faces, washing endless baskets of laundry (when will my eldest cease wiping his mouth on his collar? When??) and fending off my youngest from the freshly baked trays of brownies (I just eating this one...).</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Here is a celebratory cheesecake. This was not baked for Australia Day but for a recent BBQ with good friends. There were TBones, kids in the pool, beers from the esky, espresso martinis and this plum number at the end. A very Aussie summer day indeed. </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: large;">I used plums as they've just come into season but you could use strawberries or any other stone fruit. </span> </span></span></div>
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<span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><b>Plum and hazelnut cheesecake</b></span><br /><span class="s1"></span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">Plums:</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">500g black plums, quartered and seeds removed</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">Seeds of 1 vanilla bean or one teaspoon vanilla bean paste</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">1 tablespoon caster sugar</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">Base:</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">200g digestive biscuits</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">120g hazelnuts, skinned</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">2 tablespoons caster sugar</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">80g butter</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">Filling:</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">500g cream cheese at room temperature</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">400g ricotta</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">Seeds of 1 vanilla bean or one teaspoon vanilla bean paste</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">165g caster sugar</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">Zest of 1/2 lemon</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">4 eggs at room temperature</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">Extra 1/4 cup caster sugar for candied hazelnut topping</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">For plums:</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">Preheat oven to 200C. Line a shallow roasting dish with non stick baking paper. </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">Toss quartered plums, vanilla seeds and sugar together in a bowl. Spread in an even layer in roasting dish and bake for 20-25 mins until plums are soft and juices flowing. Set aside to cool, then store in an airtight container in the fridge until ready to use. Plums can be made up to 3 days ahead.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">For cheesecake:</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">Preheat oven to 180C.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">Roast hazelnuts on a baking tray for 8 mins or until light golden. Set aside to cool slightly.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">Place 60g of the roasted hazelnuts (keep the rest for the topping) in a food processor with the biscuits and 2 tablespoons of caster sugar. Blitz until mixture resembles wet sand. Pour into the prepared tin and press firmly and evenly over the base and up the sides. Bake for 8 mins, then remove from oven and set aside to cool.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">With an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese, ricotta, caster sugar, vanilla seeds, lemon zest until smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add eggs, one at a time, until all combined.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">Place three layers of foil around the base of the cheesecake tin to prevent water seeping in while baking in a water bath. Pour filling into the cheesecake base then place the tin into the middle of a deep roasting tin. Pour hot water into the roasting tin so that it comes halfway up the sides of the cheesecake tin. Carefully place the roasting tin into the oven. Bake for 55-60 mins or until the edges are firm and the centre has a slight wobble.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">Remove the tin from the water bath and cool on a wire rack for at least two hours before placing in the fridge, covered in plastic wrap, until completely chilled - about four hours or overnight.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">Meanwhile for candied hazelnuts, place remaining 60g hazelnuts, 1/4 cup caster sugar and 1 tablespoon water in a pan over medium high heat. Cook, stirring occasionally for 5-6 mins until the nuts are caramelised and deep golden brown. Pour onto a baking tray lined with non-stick baking paper and let cool completely before using. Nuts can be prepared up to a week ahead, stored in an airtight container.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">To serve, loosen the cake tin sides, remove cake from tin and place on a cake stand or platter with a lip in case plums drip.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">Spoon plums in a generous mound on top, then scatter over candied hazelnuts.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span face=""trebuchet ms" , sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">Note: I baked mine on the day with a layer of plums on the bottom, as in the pic below. It wasn't too bad but I found it turned the base a bit soggy and the whole thing was a bit OTT on plums. So I have gone traditional in the recipe and left them on top.</span></span></div>
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Larissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10414334346423383943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4350803687899932062.post-71019999650622333562017-01-06T22:52:00.001-08:002017-01-25T15:12:03.901-08:00Rocky Road<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">It has been so odd these past few weeks, going about being festive. That isn't to say I have been dragging my feet around - having children at Christmas leaves no time for that. But for a little while, I couldn't quite function. All the to-do lists, the orders I had to churn out, the presents to buy, they were like white noise. My family and husband stepped in and it all got done, somehow, including trays and trays of rocky road and Florentines, promised to clients weeks earlier. Life goes on. I can hear her saying it. Just get on with it, idiot.</span><span class="x_Apple-converted-space" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span><br />
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<span class="x_s1" style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">So here I am, getting on with it. Sort of.</span></span></div>
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<span class="x_s1" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">But it has been hard and I suppose it always will be. She is missing. It's immensely frustrating because I have so much to tell her and if nothing else it's downright inconvenient, the permanency of death. </span></span></span><br />
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<span class="x_s1" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I have unconsciously begun to mark time differently. Today is both the 7th of January and it is also one month and two days since Katie died. Her baby boy Francis is now nearly six weeks old and doing the most inspiring job of getting on with it. We are all learning a lot from him. </span></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">He is keeping Michael on his toes, mostly in the middle of the night, and appears to everyone else as a little angel, chugging down his bottles and being generally adorable during the day. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">He is mostly what I want to tell Katie all about, of course. Him and some of my little sister's funnier baby brain antics lately. They were tracking along together, Danielle a couple of months behind. Katie definitely would've seen the entertaining side of Dani waking up in a sweat and deciding to drive to Mum's to sleep in the airconditioning, then running out of petrol at 1am because she didn't want to stop and fill up in her nightie.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Last year went fast. We packed a lot in, particularly with the milestone birthday tour which took in Tassie, Canberra, Newcastle (twice) and Balmoral, and I'll always be happy that we saw a lot of Katie because of it. </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">But 2017 is going to be just as crazy fast. We will have a new baby in the family with Dani due in March and then we will be counting down to her wedding in October. It's the year of Danielle. She also turns 30 but I think her brain will explode if anyone adds another event to her plate. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">As for me, I'll be in my kitchen doing my thing, perhaps with a bigger oven and using an extra day of preschool to write a little more. Of all people, Katie used to say I should. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">In robot mode recently I relied on the recipes in the <a href="http://littlepud.blogspot.com.au/p/recipes.html">Christmas</a> section of this blog so much. I made the <a href="http://littlepud.blogspot.com.au/2015/12/christmas-cake.html">Christmas cake</a>, the <a href="http://littlepud.blogspot.com.au/2012/12/a-christmas-wrap.html">truffles</a>, the <a href="http://littlepud.blogspot.com.au/2013/11/hazelnut-and-cranberry-florentines.html">Florentines</a>, the <a href="http://littlepud.blogspot.com.au/2011/12/christmas-tarts.html">mince tarts</a> and the <a href="http://littlepud.blogspot.com.au/2014/12/chcolate-swirl-pavlova-with-baked.html">pav</a>, and all worked without a hitch. At the pointy end of last year, I can't tell you how nice it was when things just worked.</span>
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<span class="x_s1" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">I needed this Rocky Road recipe too, so I'm adding it now, even though everyone is probably on new year diets and thoroughly over sweets. Maybe file it for Easter. It's pretty addictive.</span></span></div>
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<span class="x_s1" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">This is my standard recipe with the secret and quite topical ingredient of rice bubbles which I added as a texture substitute one year when told teachers' presents couldn't contain nuts.</span></span></span><br />
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<span class="x_s1" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Christmas version (pictured) leaves out the snakes and adds in 1 cup sour cherries and 1 cup chopped pistachios. Scatter silver sugar balls over the top for extra bling. It boxes up beautifully as an edible gift.</span></span><br />
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<span class="x_s1" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Rocky Road</b></span></span>
<span class="x_s1" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">(Makes 1.8kg in a large lamington tin)</span></span><br />
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<span class="x_s1" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">300g quality dark chocolate</span></span><br />
<span class="x_s1" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">300g quality milk chocolate</span></span><br />
<span class="x_s1" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">3 cups Rice Bubbles</span></span><br />
<span class="x_s1" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">4 x Cadbury Frys Turkish Delight bars, chopped in a large dice</span></span><br />
<span class="x_s1" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">2 cups jelly snakes, chopped</span></span><br />
<span class="x_s1" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">2 cups marshmallows whole</span></span><br />
<span class="x_s1" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">2 cups marshmallows, chopped in halves</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">1 cup shredded coconut</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Line a large lamington tin with non-stick baking paper, so that the edges of the paper overhang the sides.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Melt the dark and milk chocolate together.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Place the Rice Bubbles, chopped Turkish Delight, chopped jelly snakes, all marshmallows and coconut into a large mixing bowl and stir.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Add the melted chocolate and gently stir until the mixture is thoroughly covered in chocolate. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Tumble the mixture into the prepared tin and spread into the corners to cover evenly. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Place in the fridge to set overnight or for at least four hours. Cut into squares to serve.</span><br />
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Larissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10414334346423383943noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4350803687899932062.post-72022794664036196652016-12-07T03:36:00.000-08:002016-12-07T03:57:16.690-08:00A Note on Friendship<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Friendship comes in many guises. Some people you meet are instant kindreds and you have a million things in common. Some can be more of a slow burn, where perhaps you work together and get to know each other’s quirks over time. Some you love for their eccentricities and some may fall away over time when life gets in the way. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">T</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">hen there are the friends you grow up with, the people who know you inside and out, who know your flaws, your secrets, your talents and your failures. They are as much a part of your structure after half a lifetime as your very bones. You may not see them as much as you see other, newer friends, but when you do, it is as easy as it is special. All of those shared experiences, the wealth of memories, the belonging – it’s like something tribal.
Katie was one of my tribe. There is a group of us in this tribe – a core five or so of us from high school. Someone said the other day that we seemed interchangeable. It is something like that, yet we are all very different women. We are like pieces of a jigsaw coming together to form one picture. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I have written about Katie before in the lead up to her <a href="http://littlepud.blogspot.com.au/2015/03/carrot-cake-with-cream-cheese-frosting.html">wedding</a>. We were so excited for her. She was in love and she was loved by a great guy in Michael. There is nothing like it and I wanted that for her so badly. She had a solid teaching career, she had travelled, she had studied. This was her time to settle down and build a family. She was so close to being a mum, heartbreakingly close.
But at 33 weeks in her pregnancy, she suffered a stroke brought on by complications due to high blood pressure.
And suddenly she is gone, without knowing that she brought into the world a beautiful, perfect baby son. What am I even writing? How can this be possible? The truth of it wallops me every few hours. Some people can just shut this stuff away and keep functioning. For some, the pain of it will make them recoil and stop reading. I have to go here, to this place, to process it. It is the only way for me. I want to get it out, get it down, before it fades. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">All the joy of welcoming a child into the world, snatched away cruelly. She was an advocate of faith but I can tell you, I am struggling this week. Any comfort I have taken has been from old photos and the memories attached. She was such a big personality. The singing, the mad dancing, the belly laughs, her acid wit, her fabulous cooking, the calling it as it is, her shoe addiction, her pride in the home she had created with Michael. </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">In the end she didn’t go quietly. There was a raging storm the evening she passed away. It was like she was kicking everything in sight on her way up. We used to joke about shitty endings to books. Well my friend, this is the shittiest ending I have ever encountered. I want to throw this one across the room, tear it to shreds and then burn it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I have so much anger and sadness at this injustice and nowhere to channel it.
And I am only her friend. As for her family and for Michael, I don't have the words. It takes an extraordinarily brave person to put one foot in front of the other at such an unimaginable time.
There is one small light anchoring him right now. And I mean literally small because this little light is around 2kg. It is their baby son, Francis. He is their tiny miracle. He has his mother’s big eyes and his Dad’s long legs and huge feet. He is doing brilliantly, not needing any help breathing and already doubling his milk intake. I have held him, talked to him, told him how proud of him his mummy would be and how well he is doing, how beautiful he is - all the things she would have said to him. We each of Katie’s tribe have done this over the past week for her darling baby boy.
And here is the thing about our friendship. We will make sure he knows her. As helpless as we feel, this is one thing we can do. Stories about this girl, we have a life time’s worth.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Rest in peace Katie-Jane. I will miss you incredibly. I wish I made you suffer through so many more of my hugs.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">xxx</span>Larissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10414334346423383943noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4350803687899932062.post-58674601447788790512016-11-04T22:45:00.001-07:002016-11-05T14:23:39.904-07:00Pumpkin Pie<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Did you get into a bit of this last week?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">We did, and if you have a glut of spooky pumpkins lying around, this pumpkin pie is an excellent way to put them to use. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I have embraced Halloween baking in recent years for my cafes with gingerbread skeletons, ghosts and the like, but this year was our first time trick or treating. Mr LP and I didn't grow up with it, having no American connections, so we were a bit clueless! Luckily, it all worked out when we fell in behind a band of mini-vampires and witches. We told the kids to be polite and we gave them a joke to tell, should they get asked for a trick. It's a personal favourite: What's the first thing witches learn at school? Spelling.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">We didn't actually decorate our house. We just mooched off the neighbours for a couple of blocks, who were all very nice, and I got to sticky beak inside their gardens and doorways which I think was the best part.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The recipe is from Simmone Logue's cookbook, In The Kitchen, which has been a great addition to my cooking library - from fresh Asian inspired salads to French patisserie, it covers the spectrum of her delicious range of wholesome food. I have been a fan since her early days in Balmain so it's a real treat to be able to cook her recipes at home.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Pumpkin Pie</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Serves 8-10</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">(Recipe adapted from In The Kitchen by Simmone Logue*)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">500g ginger nut biscuits (appx 2 packets)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">200g butter, melted</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">1/2 cup desiccated coconut</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Double cream, to serve</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Nutmeg and icing sugar for dusting</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Filling:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">185g brown sugar</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">3 eggs</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">1 teaspoon ground cinnamon</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">1 teaspoon ground nutmeg</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">1/2 teaspoon mixed spice</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">375g (1 1/2 cups) cooked, puréed pumpkin</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">300ml thickened cream, whipped to light peaks</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Preheat oven to 180C.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Grease the base and sides of a 26cm loose-based tart tin.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Blitz biscuits and coconut in a food processor and blitz until resembling sand. Add melted butter and blitz until combined. Press the mixture evenly over the base and up the sides of prepared tart tin. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Bake for 10 mins. Remove from oven and set aside.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Reduce the oven temp to 160C.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Place eggs, sugar and spices into the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until combined. Gently fold in the pumpkin and the whipped cream.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Pour the mixture into the tart shell and bake for 1 hour or until set.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Leave to cool completely.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Before serving, dust the tart with nutmeg and icing sugar, then drizzle liberally with maple syrup. To cut the tart, run a sharp knife under hot water to warm the blade, then wipe with a tea towel and slice. This will give a clean slice and help with the crisp base.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Plate up with generous dollops of double cream.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">*The main difference is Simmone uses cloves and I prefer not to use cloves ever. Also, she uses fresh nutmeg but I found the ground version in the tart just as good.</span></div>
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<br />Larissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10414334346423383943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4350803687899932062.post-38574148971442398022016-10-20T13:00:00.002-07:002023-06-06T20:52:39.912-07:00Chocolate Chip Cookies by Oscar<div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">I stand at the bench on a chair and I watch her unwrap the butter and put it on a board. She cuts it into squares and puts it into a big silver bowl. I help her pour the sugar on top and then Mummy turns on her noisy mixer.</span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">I help her crack an egg. It is clear and oozy and it gets on my fingers. <span face="'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif">We shake the sifter so the flour falls through. It looks like snow on small mountains inside the bowl. </span><span face="'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif">Mummy stirs it until the snow is all gone, then we pour in the chocolate chips. I eat some.</span></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">We roll the cookie mix into balls with our hands. It is soft and squishy. Mummy is fast.</span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">We put the balls in lines on big trays and then Mummy puts them into the oven.</span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Mummy says I am a good helper and she lets me lick the spoon. This is the best part.</span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Waiting is hard. I can smell the cookies baking. They smell so yummy. Mummy tells me to play until they are ready. I play with my planes at her feet in the kitchen and I watch the cookies spread out in the oven. When Mummy takes them out, they are shaped like circles and they are very hot. I am not allowed to touch.</span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Mummy pours milk into my favourite cup and I sit at the bench with her. The cookies are warm. "Mmmm," I say.</span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">When they are cold, I help Mummy put them into the cookie jar, one by one, until it is full to the top.</span></div>
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<b><span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif">Oscar's Chocolate Chip Cookies</span></b></span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">(Makes 16-20)</span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">125g butter, softened</span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">1 cup brown sugar</span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">1 teaspoon vanilla extract</span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">1 egg at room temp</span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">1 1/2 cups plain flour</span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">1/2 teaspoon baking powder</span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">Pinch of salt</span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">Preheat oven to 180C.</span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">Beat the butter, sugar and vanilla with an electric mixer until pale and creamy.</span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix again until all smooth and creamy.</span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">Add the egg and mix on low until combined.</span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">Add the flour, salt and baking powder and mix until just combined.</span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">Stir in the chocolate chips.</span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">Roll mixture into small balls and place on prepared baking trays, leaving room for the cookies to spread.</span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">Bake for 15-18 mins - less for chewy, more for crunchy cookies.</span></div>
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<span face="Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="font-family: georgia;">Leave trays on wire racks until cookies have cooled enough to eat.</span></div>
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Larissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10414334346423383943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4350803687899932062.post-41514014147684902172016-05-08T21:43:00.001-07:002016-05-18T03:33:16.833-07:00Flourless Orange and Almond Cakes with Candied Pistachios<div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">"I started it. I lost it and I slapped him. He just retaliated."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">"We have a volatile relationship. We're both passionate people."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">"He only yells when he drinks."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">"Am I going crazy? I must be losing my mind."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">"Stop talking. Just stop making it worse!"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">"It's my fault."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">"Oh he has a little temper, just like his grandfather."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">"I shouldn't have said that. I pushed him too far. I know better."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I have heard these words in the course of my journalism work, from ordinary women and celebrities, from my friends and family, even thought them myself in the course of growing up.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">There are few women I know who can honestly say they have never experienced abuse of some sort in their home life, be it violence in their childhood, emotional and mental cruelty, or verbal tirades in a relationship.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">It seems to be a generational scar we carry around. Except it doesn't fade. It is perpetuated in so many cases. Man-pleasers breeding man-pleasers, treading on eggshells to keep the peace. Male victims of abuse becoming abusers. It's madness. And yet it is still taboo to speak about. You mustn't air the dirty laundry! And shameful. How could anyone love someone who hurts them? How idiotic, how self destructive. Well, when they're charming and warm and loveable the other 80 percent of the time, it's easier to make excuses for the outbursts rather than confront the ugliness.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The problem is dependence. Domestic abuse crosses cultural and demographic boundaries and so often victims can feel trapped by a lack of immediate money, shelter and protection. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">But what if there was somewhere to go. And that somewhere was a discreet house offering a network of help and support for both the now and the crucial after? Would that prompt someone to leave a toxic relationship? Or at least get out of the house before being seriously hurt or worse? I hope so. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I first heard about my local parish's project to build <a href="https://maryshouse.org.au/">Mary's House</a>, a non-denominational refuge for victims of domestic violence and their dependent children, when I was enrolling my son for primary school. It touched a nerve.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I have two little boys of my own. They are kind and funny, cheeky and a little bit shy. They have an unashamed enthusiasm, an innocence that I want to bottle and drip-feed to them while they are growing into men. To arm them against the barrage and the burden of all the conflicting messages they will encounter about being a man in the world.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I want them to grow up into men who respect and value their partners. I want them to be able to talk through and process issues rather than bottle them until they combust. To have the skills to control emotions like anger and jealousy, should they flare. And to appreciate the good in their lives.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I offered to help with Mary's House in any way I could and so I was delighted to cater <span style="font-family: "helvetica neue light" , , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">nearly 200 desserts for a recent fundraising dinner.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">On the platters were salted caramel peanut tarts, blueberry ginger cheesecake bites, lemon curd tarts and my recipe offering today, flourless orange and almond cakes with candied pistachios.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">You have to allow time for the oranges but these little cakes are simple to make, really pretty on the plate and they last for a week in the fridge.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">It may seem odd to pair a post about domestic violence with a recipe, but I have two professional skill sets - writing and baking - and this is the best way I know of to help out in my small way.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">You can find out more about Mary's House at <a href="http://www.maryshouse.org.au/">www.maryshouse.org.au</a> or do your own small bit to <span style="font-family: "helvetica neue light" , , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">help the refuge raise its dollar target to open in September by donating to their crowd funding campaign at <a href="https://www.chuffed.org/project/maryshouse">https://www.chuffed.org/project/maryshouse</a> and like and share on social media with the tag #MarysHouseRefuge.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Flourless Orange and Almond Cakes with Candied Pistachios</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">(Makes 12-15)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">2 oranges</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">6 eggs</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">250g caster sugar</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">250g almond meal</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1 teaspoon baking powder</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">2 tablespoons apricot jam</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Optional: edible dried rose petals</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">*Place oranges in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil, then simmer for two hours, topping up the water where needed to keep the oranges covered. Drain and leave to cool.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">*This step can be done ahead.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Preheat oven to 160C. Spray a 12-hole muffin tin with non-stick baking spray.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Place the oranges in a food processor and blitz until a smooth pulp.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Add the eggs and caster sugar and blitz until thick and pale.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Transfer to a large bowl and stir through almond meal and baking powder.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Pour into a jug for better control when filling your tin.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Fill each muffin hole to just below the rim and carefully place tin into the oven.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Bake for 20-25 mins until golden and coming away from the edges.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Leave to cool for a couple of minutes before turning onto a wire rack to cool completely.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Prepare glaze by placing the apricot jam into a small saucepan and bringing to a boil, then sieve the jam. Use a pastry brush to spread the sieved glaze on the top of each cake. Pile candied pistachios on top, and rose petals if using.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><u>Candied Pistachios</u>:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">125g pistachios</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1/2 cup caster sugar</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1 tablespoon water</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Place a sheet of baking paper onto a large baking tray.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Place nuts, sugar and water in a bowl and toss to combine.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Pour into a frypan and cook over a medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has melted. The mixture will crystallise but continue to cook for about 5 minutes until the crystals melt into a lovely toffee. Coat the nuts in the toffee, taking care not to burn them, and pour onto prepared baking tray.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Use any left-over candied nuts on top of ice cream or as a decadent topping for muesli, fruit and yoghurt.</span></div>
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Larissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10414334346423383943noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4350803687899932062.post-4245779926894262752016-03-25T19:00:00.000-07:002016-04-07T03:06:20.447-07:00Satellite Island, Tasmania<div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">These are the years, the memory makers. Spend them with the people you laugh with so much your face hurts. Make time to cook. Travel somewhere breathtaking, even for a few days. Be in the photo. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Sideline yourself once in a while, it is good for your soul. And if you make the time, Satellite Island, a tiny private island off the east coast of Tasmania, is the perfect place to slow down. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Spend your mornings wrapped in something soft, sipping tea and watching the early sun stream across the channel and into the Summer House. Or maybe you have chosen to sleep waterside in the Boat House, where you might lift the shutters and simply lay there. How long has it been since you had a genuinely lazy morning?</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Photo: Siobhan Rogers</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Contemplate breakfast. Take advantage of the fresh eggs laid by the hens and forage in the herb and vegie garden. If you're lucky, the island's owners will leave you a gift of fresh ocean trout, as they did for my friend <a href="http://www.siobhanrogers.com.au/">Siobhan</a>, the birthday girl and the reason for our recent getaway to this remote and startlingly beautiful place.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255 , 255 , 255 , 0); font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">After breakfast, take a stroll to the back gate to feed Henry and/or Burt apples from the bucket of Granny Smiths supplied for their breakfast. They're very friendly and very photogenic.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255 , 255 , 255 , 0); font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Read about the history of the island in the notes provided and then take an hour or so to explore it on foot, either on the rock shelves or above on the cliffs, where you might catch a glimpse of the grazing deer herd or spy a pod of dolphins out in the channel.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">When you get back, take the plunge into that cold, clear water to be slapped awake. Feel every cell in your body sing as you swim out a little way to where the depths turn inky blue. You could even see a school of salmon tumbling and churning up the water just meters away. Time to go in. Maybe take a kayak out there later. Or tomorrow.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Eat a <span style="font-family: "helvetica neue light" , , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">late lunch of freshly shucked oysters (Richard, the island's manager will teach you how to cut them from the rocks around the jetty and prize them open). It will be the freshest, cleanest taste of the sea you will ever hope to experience.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Add a glass of local House of Arras sparkling, and let the world go.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Later, when the chill sets in, light the brazier and gather around. If you have caught your dinner from the jetty, all the better. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Siobhan brought her own quilts to the island</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">This is a wonderful place to take a family with teenage kids or proficient swimmers. It allows time to reconnect, to explore, to lose yourself in books and wage boardgame wars. We plan to take the boys when they're older.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">It is also a brilliant place to escape to with a small group for a relaxed break or low key event. We went to celebrate a milestone with our friend, who made us Aperol cocktails and cake, and she also made us do craft. So there were cocktails and wonky <a href="http://beaspokequilts.blogspot.com.au/2016/03/i-was-down-in-tasmania-and-i-found.html">flower crowns</a> and lots of laughing. There were photos on the rocks in our dresses, which no one was specifically asked to wear but we know her well... </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Later, marshmallows were roasted over the firepit and we played the music we grew up with, sitting around in the dark, singing badly and proving that nothing really changes when you are with your tribe. Milestones be damned.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Take a day to explore <a href="http://www.brunyisland.org.au/">Bruny Island</a>, where you can stock up on artisan bread and cheeses from <a href="http://www.brunyislandcheese.com.au/">The Bruny Island Cheese Company</a> and try the local vintage at <a href="http://www.brunyislandwine.com/">Bruny Island Premium Wines</a>. We also took a "flight" of whiskey tastings, including the celebrated Sullivan's Cove, at <a href="http://www.tasmanianhouseofwhisky.com.au/">Bruny Island House of Whiskey</a>, and we climbed the stairs to this view at The Neck, the narrow stretch of sand joining North and South Bruny.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Bruny Island has quite a few unsealed roads, so hire a car that can handle the terrain and seek out some of the more remote beaches. Or not. This photo was taken among what was considered a crowd of tourists. I had some sharing issues after having an island to ourselves for a few nights...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I urge you to try it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.satelliteisland.com.au/">www.satelliteisland.com.au</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.brunyisland.org.au/">www.brunyisland.org.au</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">* We travelled to Satellite Island at our own cost.</span></div>
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Larissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10414334346423383943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4350803687899932062.post-24090197411988590002016-03-02T03:37:00.001-08:002016-03-03T16:14:04.077-08:00Bliss Balls<div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">My little sister is getting married and I have a maid of honour dress in a very hard-to-pin-down shade of raspberry to firstly find and then fit into. This is presenting a problem right now as I'm approaching 40 and I find I can't eat carbs without them fucking hanging around on my waist. Things are thickening and I am doing nothing differently. It's catastrophic.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">That is where these two-bite bliss balls come into the picture. It's hard to escape morning and afternoon tea when you have little kids, but if I have one of these with my morning coffee instead of banana bread/bickie/hot cross bun, I feel better about things. My kids love them too, which is handy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I have developed two flavours - a date and cacao one to satisfy any chocolate cravings and a date and peanut crunch, which my husband says tastes like the inside of a Picnic bar. Do they still exist? For the younger players, Snickers with rice bubbles.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I have started selling them to my cafes, sharing around the skinny love. Cmon skinny love....</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">My my my. My my my my my my my my....</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Sorry, blame the lack of sugar.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Date and Cacao Bliss Balls - refined sugar, dairy and gluten free</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">(Makes 10)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">300g pitted dates</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1 cup natural cashews</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1 tablespoon goji berries</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">2 tablespoons raisins (dried sour cherries are nice here too)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1/2 teaspoon cinnamon</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">2 1/2 tablespoons cacao powder</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">3 tablespoons coconut oil</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1/4 cup desiccated coconut</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Blitz all ingredients except extra coconut in food processor for one to two minutes until finely chopped and a thick paste forms.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Shape handfuls into balls (slightly smaller than golf ball sized) and roll in extra coconut to coat.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Place in the fridge for at least 30 mins to set. <span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Store in an airtight container in the fridge.</span></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Date and Peanut Crunch Bliss Balls - refined sugar and dairy free</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">(Makes 10)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">400g pitted dates</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1/3 cup natural unsalted peanut butter </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1 teaspoon vanilla extract</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1/2 cup roasted unsalted peanuts, chopped</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1 cup puffed brown rice</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Blitz dates, peanut butter and vanilla in a food processor. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Transfer to a large bowl and mix in rice and peanuts.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Shape handfuls of mixture into balls (like small golf balls) and roll in coconut.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Place in the fridge for at least 30 mins to set. Store in an airtight container in the fridge.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Come on skinny loooooooove...</span></div>
Larissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10414334346423383943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4350803687899932062.post-43045322661153121872015-12-26T15:00:00.000-08:002023-12-29T20:03:59.971-08:00Christmas Cake<div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Back in our twenties, my friend <a href="http://www.siobhanrogers.com.au/">Siobhan</a> used to give out beautiful dark Christmas cakes as presents each year, well before it ever occurred to me to give anyone a homemade edible gift. I have learnt so much from Siobhan and her family over the years, but the giving of delicious things tied up with string is one of the best.</span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">It occurred to me recently, as it does sometimes in a jolt, that I am actually a grown up these days and, you know, a baker, and I should probably make my own Christmas cake.</span><br />
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;">So I had a go and the result has made me (and some LP customers) pretty happy. I have borrowed what I love of my Mum's recipe, the soaking of the fruit in rum for weeks ahead, walnuts and rich prunes, and put them together with the dark stout and chopped chocolate from Siobhan's Irish cakes, to create a cake that epitomises the best of Christmas traditions for me.</span></span><br />
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">I was going to save this post until next year, it being Boxing Day already, but my family said I was being silly. And it was good, so it needed recording with next year in mind. So here I am on arguably the best day of the year (all the fun of Christmas without the rushing around), after yet another swim and seafood lunch, writing about traditions. I have half an ear on Return of the Jedi playing in the background and Nicholas is building his third set of Lego across from me. It's up there, this type of lazy day.</span><br />
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">I am a stickler for Christmas traditions and I come from a line of them. There are arguments if a recipe is to be changed. I had to make a convincing case before I was allowed to try a whiskey glazed ham this year instead of the much loved star anise/sherry/apricot jam glaze I usually do. And Mum has been told, and I mean <i>told</i>, she can never tamper with the macadamia, sage, cranberry stuffing for the turkey. It's there for life.</span><br />
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">So it was a big deal, the making of this Christmas cake. It is saying something that it earned a tick from the family. We don't usually cut it until Christmas Eve, when we have a last cup of tea and leave a slice for Santa. And then in the days after, there is nothing better than sneaking a slice with a coffee and a dollop of homemade brandy custard.</span>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, creating and/or revelling in your own family traditions.</span><br />
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Larissa x</span><br />
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<b><span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif">Christmas Cake</span></b><br />
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<span face="'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif">3/4 cup rum</span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif"></span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif">3 cups dried mixed fruit</span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif">1 cup dried cranberries</span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif">1 cup prunes, chopped</span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif">1/3 cup glacé cherries, chopped</span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif">3/4 cup port</span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif">250g butter, chopped</span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif">1/2 cup dark brown sugar</span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif">1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda</span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif">1/2 cup walnuts, chopped</span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif">zest of one orange</span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif">4 eggs, lightly whisked</span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif">3 cups self raising flour</span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif">2 teaspoons mixed spice</span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif">1 teaspoon ground cinnamon</span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif">1 teaspoon ground ginger</span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif">3/4 cup stout</span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif">150g dark chocolate, chopped</span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif">blanched almonds, to decorate</span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif">1/4 cup brandy plus extra</span><br />
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif">Up to a month ahead: </span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif">Place rum and all dried fruit into a snap-lock container and shake around to soak the fruit. Shake once a day until ready to use.</span><br />
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif">The night before you bake the cake:</span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif">Place the soaked fruit, butter, port and sugar into a large heavy based saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Allow to simmer for about 5 mins. Remove from heat and stir in bicarbonate of soda. Set aside to cool completely.</span><br />
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif">Preheat oven to 150C. Grease and line the base and sides of a 23cm (9") springform round cake tin with baking paper.</span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif">Stir the whisked eggs, walnuts and orange zest through the cooled fruit mixture.</span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif">Add the sifted flour and spices, and stir until just combined. Stir in stout and chopped chocolate, then spoon into prepared tin. Smooth the with the back of a spoon top and tap the tin on the bench to ensure no air bubbles. <span face="'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif">Arrange almonds in a circle on the top of the cake.</span></span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif">Bake for 1 hour-1 hour and 30 mins or until a cake skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.</span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif">Liberally brush the top of the cake with brandy while it is still hot. Place a clean tea towel over the top and leave to cool completely in the tin.</span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif">When the cake is cold, remove from tin and brush top and sides with extra brandy. </span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif">Wrap the cake in plastic wrap and store in an airtight container until ready to cut.</span><br />
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif" style="font-size: small;">* This recipe also works well for six individual cakes, using 10cm springform tins. Bake cakes for 1 hour appx. Great for hand baked gifts.</span></div>
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Larissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10414334346423383943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4350803687899932062.post-10645051561906046732015-07-25T04:00:00.000-07:002015-07-25T21:50:45.246-07:00Mandarin, Almond and Ricotta Cake<div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It's Friday, so let's eat cake! I need no other excuse.</span><br>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">How has your Friday been? Mine are always brimming and they fly by. Today was spent in cake prep, deliveries, a spot of birthday shopping for my Mr Nearly-Five, lunch with Mum at a cafe we're eyeing and then more baking for tomorrow's orders. I'm looking forward to a glass or two of wine tonight! And possibly some of this delightful mandarin cake for dessert.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The texture is moist and light and almost cheesecakey. It's quite different to anything I've made before. It could be a pudding. I'm tempted to make an orange caramel, spoon it over the top and serve the whole thing warm with icecream. And maybe a glass of Botrytis. Cheers to Friyays!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Mandarin, Almond and Ricotta Cake</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">(Serves about 12)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">125g butter</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">125g caster sugar</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1 teaspoon vanilla extract</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">3 eggs at room temperature, separated</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Zest and juice of 2 large mandarins</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Zest of 1 lemon</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">125g almond meal</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">60g self-raising flour</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">200g fresh ricotta cheese</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Icing sugar to serve</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Preheat oven to 180C.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Brush the insides of a Bundt, ring or Kugelhopf tin with melted butter, then dust with flour to ensure the cake doesn't stick.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Beat together the butter, sugar and vanilla extract until pale and fluffy (about five minutes). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Add the egg yolks, one at a time, beating until combined each time before adding the next.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Add the zests, self-raising flour and almond meal and fold through.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Whisk together the ricotta and mandarin juice until frothy like a milkshake. Fold this through the cake mix.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">With an electric mixer, whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form. Stir half the egg whites into the cake batter, then gently fold through the remaining egg whites.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Spoon the mixture gently into the prepared tin (you want to preserve the air in the batter), then lightly jiggle it and give it a small tap on the bench to make it even.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Bake for 45 mins or until a cake skewer comes out clean. Cool in the tin for at least ten minutes before turning onto a wire rack. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Serve warm, dusted with icing sugar. I had some edible flowers in my fridge (of course I did!) so I kind of tore them up and scattered them around because flower confetti is a thing and everyone should have more of it in their lives.</span></div>
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Larissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10414334346423383943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4350803687899932062.post-41469152070828253892015-07-06T14:00:00.000-07:002015-07-05T21:30:51.632-07:00Winter Is Here White Vegetable Soup<div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It was such fun to say Winter Is Coming in the lead up to June, especially when Game of Thrones was actually screening. Unfortunately Monday nights are plain again and winter has arrived with a vengeance.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It is time for huddling in the kitchen around steaming cups of tea, reaching for one more just-baked biscuit and craving nothing but soup for lunch.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I have been doing just that, baking daily, warming the house with the oven, tunes on, or listening to the odd podcast. My favourites at the moment are Salesy and Crabb prattling about books, food, politics and movies in <a href="http://www.chat10looks3.com/">Chat10Looks3</a>, and Andrew Daddo and Holly Wainwright on the hilarious ups and downs of parenting in <a href="http://www.mamamia.com.au/parenting/mamamia-parenting-podcast/">This Glorious Mess</a>. I also love Lee Tran Lam's <a href="http://theunbearablelightnessofbeinghungry.com/category/podcast/">The Unbearable Lightness of Being Hungry</a>, and the best edu-tainment going around, <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/local/sites/conversations/">Conversations </a>with Richard Fidler. Do you love podcasts too? Any recommendations?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">This soup has been on high rotation in my house lately. It has all of the good things, plus a pear for sweetness and crunchy hazelnuts on top. Try not to skip the hazelnuts - they make it extra delicious. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Winter Is Here White Vegetable Soup</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Serves 4-6</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">30g butter</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1 tablespoon olive oil</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1 teaspoon fennel seeds, ground in a mortar and pestle to release flavour</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1 leek, finely sliced</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1 clove garlic, crushed</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">50g speck, finely chopped</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">2 parnsnips, peeled and chopped</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1 Beurre Bosc pear, peeled, cored and chopped</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1 large potato, peeled and chopped</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">250g (about a quarter) cauliflower broken into florets</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1L chicken stock</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">50g roasted hazelnuts</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Dash of cream, to serve</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Fennel fronds or dill sprigs, to serve</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In a large heavy, based soup pot or casserole dish (like a Le Creuset or similar), melt the butter and olive oil together over medium to low heat and gently fry off the fennel seeds with the sliced leek until the leek is very soft. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Add the garlic and speck and cook, stirring, for a couple of minutes to lightly fry the speck.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Add the parsnips, pear, potato and cauliflower, and stir.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Pour over the chicken stock and turn up the heat. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 20-25 mins or until the veggies are buttery soft. Leave to cool slightly then purée the soup with a stick blender until smooth.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Preheat your oven to 200C. Place the hazelnuts on a baking tray and roast for 5 mins until lightly golden. Cool slightly then roughly chop.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Reheat the soup and ladle into bowls topped with a dash of cream, a scattering of hazelnuts and a few fennel fronds (or dill sprigs work nicely too). Serve with a big chunky sourdough.</span></div>
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Larissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10414334346423383943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4350803687899932062.post-38842931780315740792015-05-05T08:00:00.000-07:002015-05-13T03:34:04.892-07:00Chocolate Buttermilk Cake<div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">This is my little black dress of cakes. It is reliable, crowd-pleasing and versatile. It can be dressed up or down, depending on the occasion, and it goes with almost anything. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It has paired beautifully in the past with chocolate mousse, mocha buttercream, cookies and cream ice cream, chocolate ganache, vanilla bean cream and berries, and spiced cherry compote.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;">Most recently, I dressed it up in salted caramel buttercream for Master O's 2nd birthday. I know, two!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Everyone should have a go-to chocolate cake in their life skill set. This one's a keeper. It is based on the cake recipe <a href="http://thevanillabeanblog.com/2011/06/the-chocolate-cake.html">here</a>, with a few tweaks.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Chocolate Buttermilk Cake with Salted Caramel Buttercream</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1 3/4 cups self-raising flour</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1 teaspoon baking powder</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">3/4 quality cocoa</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1 3/4 cups caster sugar</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">2 eggs, at room temperature</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1 cup buttermilk</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1/2 cup vegetable oil</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1 teaspoon vanilla extract</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1 cup espresso, cooled slightly</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">First, make your coffee and leave to cool.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Preheat oven to 180C.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Grease and line the bases of two 8" cake tins with non-stick baking paper.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Mix together the dry ingredients with an electric mixer on low speed until combined.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Whisk the eggs, buttermilk, vanilla and oil in a bowl and add to the dry ingredients. Mix until just combined.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Add the coffee and mix again until just combined. The batter will be quite wet.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Pour into prepared cake tins and bake for 35-40 mins or until a cake tester comes out clean.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Cool cakes completely in tins and then turn out onto wire racks.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Trim tops with a bread knife to level.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Spread buttercream icing on top of one of the cakes and top with the other cake. Spread icing on top and sides of the cake with a pallet knife. (I use a gyprocking trowel to obtain a really smooth look. Get them from Bunnings for about $8).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Salted Caramel Buttercream</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Caramel:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">170g caster sugar</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">125g cold butter, cut into cubes</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1/2 cup double cream</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1/2 teaspoon sea salt</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Buttercream:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">250g unsalted butter at room temperature or softened</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1 cup icing sugar</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">For the caramel, have your ingredients measured and ready. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Place the caster sugar in a saucepan over medium high heat and melt it without stirring. Swirl it around the saucepan until it is molten and all the sugar has dissolved, taking care not to burn it. Adjust the heat as necessary.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">When small bubbles appear on the surface, wait a couple of seconds (to take it just a little further into a complex rather than purely sweet taste) and then add your butter, cream and salt. Take care here as the mixture will spit. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Turn off the heat and stir quickly with a wooden spoon until everything is combined and you have a smooth, glossy caramel. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Pour it into a heat proof bowl or container and set aside to cool.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">You will only need half for the buttercream. Keep the rest for ice cream sundaes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">For the buttercream, beat the butter with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl once or twice. Add the icing sugar and vanilla and beat for a further 5-8 minutes until very pale and fluffy. Add half the caramel and beat until just combined.</span></div>
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</script>Larissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10414334346423383943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4350803687899932062.post-78903911926279912022015-03-27T04:12:00.000-07:002015-04-21T21:00:50.499-07:00Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting and Candied Pistachios<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-_XqKZyLHI-M/VQ6jiBrp1aI/AAAAAAAACds/MlUB_rrTMGU/s640/blogger-image-92759611.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-_XqKZyLHI-M/VQ6jiBrp1aI/AAAAAAAACds/MlUB_rrTMGU/s640/blogger-image-92759611.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>"And think not you can direct the course of love, for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course." Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">One of my besties is getting married this weekend. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">She moved, with her coffee machine and barely enough shoes, to take a teaching post in the middle of Australia a bit over two years ago. I didn't tell her, because she's not the huggy type, but I was pretty proud of her at the time. I knew it would be an incredible experience, and that she would learn loads and come back possibly changed. She certainly came back wiser and emotionally stronger for having lived and taught in such a remote community. But she also came back with a man. A man with a liking for craft beer who cooks her pasta from scratch with the attachment on his Kitchenaid. He also comes with the added benefit, being a fellow teacher, of matching holidays and looking a lot (like, really a lot) like Tim Rogers. <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">They are now home owners and newly minted Novocastrians and, holy moly, about to get hitched!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I am looking immensely forward to this wedding. There is a group of us who hark back to school days, and I know they are too. We will charge our glasses to our friend and her husband, our new friend God help him, remembering days of swilling a far lesser vintage on the rooftop of a certain Sydney boarding school. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">I kind of nagged her into letting me make her wedding cake, so in honour of passion pop, I am layering the top sponge tier with passionfruit curd (she thinks it's because they're abundant at the moment). </span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The bottom tier will be a traditional fruit cake, thankfully made by the groom's mum, as I haven't made a single one in my life. Shhhh! And the middle tier will be carrot cake with orange cream cheese frosting. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I made a test carrot cake for Mr LP's birthday recently, using my favourite recipe with pecans and raisins, which my Mum has been asking me to post here for a while. This is the cake in the pictures. I thought it was fairly good but as usual I have tweaked here and there, added some crushed pineapple on good advice and a bit of shredded coconut, and the recipe below is the result.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I hope it's a cake to remember and that it adds an extra layer of happy to a brilliant day.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Carrot Cake with Orange Cream Cheese Frosting and Candied Pistachios</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">(Serves 12-16)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">3 cups self raising flour, sifted</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1 teaspoon baking powder, sifted</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1.5 teaspoons each of ground cinnamon and ground ginger</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1/2 teaspoon nutmeg</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1 1/2 cups dark brown sugar</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">6 eggs</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1 1/2 cups sunflower oil</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1 teaspoon vanilla extract</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">500g grated carrots (about 5)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">200ml crushed pineapple</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1/2 cup shredded coconut</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1/2 cup raisins, chopped</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1/2 cup pecans, chopped</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Cream Cheese Frosting:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">100g unsalted butter, softened</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">500g cream cheese, at room temperature</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">2 cups icing sugar</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1 teaspoon orange zest</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Candied Pistachios:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1/2 cup pistachio nuts</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1/4 cup caster sugar</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1/2 tablespoon water</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Preheat oven to 170C.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Grease and line the base and sides of a 10 inch cake tin with non-stick baking paper.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Place the flour, baking powder, spices and sugar into a large bowl and mix thoroughly to combine.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Whisk together the eggs, oil and vanilla in a bowl and stir into the flour mixture.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Add carrots, pecans and raisins and stir until just combined.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Pour into prepared tin and bake for 50-60 mins or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Cool in tin at least 30 mins before turning onto a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">To frost the cake, carefully cut it in half using a bread knife. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">For frosting, place all ingredients into the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until pale and fluffy. Spread a layer of frosting on bottom half of cake. Top with the other half and then cover the cake in remaining frosting, smoothing with a pallet knife or spatula as you go. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Scatter the candied pistachios on top and serve. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">* Because it was a special occasion, I fancied Mr LP's cake up a little more with vanilla meringues, crushed crystallised violets, fresh figs and bright Gerberas. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Candied Pistachios:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Place all ingredients in a frypan, toss together, and cook over medium heat for about 5-6 mins, jostling occasionally until caramelised. Pour onto a baking tray lined with non stick baking paper and leave to set. When cooled and hard, break or chop into pieces.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">A couple of snaps from the day. Congrats Katie and Michael!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">(Photos by <a href="http://beaspokequilts.blogspot.com.au/">Siobhan Rogers</a>)</span></div>
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Larissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10414334346423383943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4350803687899932062.post-30951197518633147872015-02-13T15:00:00.000-08:002015-04-21T03:05:17.454-07:00Chocolate Hazelnut Cheesecake<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
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<a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-pnV9yv741ow/VN2GnjE-FYI/AAAAAAAACcI/dTjtwIctQZc/s640/blogger-image--1851961018.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-pnV9yv741ow/VN2GnjE-FYI/AAAAAAAACcI/dTjtwIctQZc/s640/blogger-image--1851961018.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">There was once a girl who followed a boy to the other side of the world to win back his heart.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">On a cold, clear night she kissed him on a bridge and cried all the way back to her hotel because it was rather perfect and it always had been.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Then she broke her ankle at the top of an icy mountain, flew all the way home with her foot up - thank you travel insurance - and when she arrived she sent the boy a note.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Real love stories never have endings, she wrote. And she got lucky, because she is the luckiest. Except on French black runs in the late afternoon.</span></div>
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<a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-MZr3mrJqgTU/VN2GqqwGx4I/AAAAAAAACcQ/fepYsxvB_ks/s640/blogger-image--697525476.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-MZr3mrJqgTU/VN2GqqwGx4I/AAAAAAAACcQ/fepYsxvB_ks/s640/blogger-image--697525476.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Ever have a sliding doors moment? That fall was probably mine. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Eleven years later and love these days feels like a second skin, simple, raw, the most comfortable, easy presence. It is a million tiny moments, some charged, some furious, some silent, many not acknowledged or even designed to be.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It is a cup of hot coffee placed in my hand in the morning. Fresh sheets on the bed without telling me. A new dress, bought for me online after a passing comment. A Ben Folds song. Learning my recipes and churning out orders beside me. The sight of him wrapped up in a book, or up to his elbows in flour kneading pizza dough, or sitting in a sea of Duplo with our boys building helicopters.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-UaowQhFJzZ8/VN2GtBoo07I/AAAAAAAACcY/KSrI-OzAPlg/s640/blogger-image-61311774.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-UaowQhFJzZ8/VN2GtBoo07I/AAAAAAAACcY/KSrI-OzAPlg/s640/blogger-image-61311774.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It is licking a wooden spoon clean of caramel every time I make it. A shared memory of Venice. Calling me Snuffy in the supermarket. Enjoying Great British Bakeoff as much as I do. And Grand Designs. Being my test guinea pig for things like this Chocolate Hazelnut Cheesecake - because they don't always turn out this good.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">A lot of people tell me that our story makes them believe in fairy tales. I tell them yes. And to always buy travel insurance.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Here is the recipe, in case you want to spoil your love this weekend. The original is from Nigella Lawson's book Nigellisima. I have replaced the crushed hazelnuts on top with hazelnut praline, because, toffee!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Chocolate Hazelnut Cheesecake</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Serves 8-12</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">250g digestive biscuits</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">75g soft butter</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1 x 400g jar of Nutella or another smooth chocolate hazelnut spread, at room temperature</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">100g roasted hazelnuts, chopped</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">500g cream cheese, at room temperature</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">60g icing sugar, sifted</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">170g caster sugar</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Break the biscuits into the bowl of a food processor, then add the butter and one tablespoon of Nutella</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And blitz until the mixture starts to clump. Add 25g of the roasted hazelnuts and continue to blitz until you have a damp, sandy texture.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Tip the mixture into the base of a 22cm round springform cake tin. Press evenly into the base of the tin using the back of a spoon. Place in the fridge while you prepare the filling.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Beat together the cream cheese and icing sugar until smooth and soft, then add remaining Nutella and beat until combined.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Pour the filling over the chilled base and smooth it evenly. Place back in the fridge overnight to set, or for at least four hours.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">To make the praline, scatter the remaining chopped hazelnuts on a flat baking tray lined with non-stick baking paper. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Place the caster sugar in a saucepan with 1/4 cup of water. Stir over medium high heat until the sugar dissolves. Brush down any sugar crystals around the inside of the pot with a damp pastry brush. Bring to a boil and stop stirring. Boil mixture for five to eight minutes, without stirring, until it is amber coloured. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Pour the toffee over the hazelnuts and place the tray in a cool, dry place until the toffee sets hard.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">When it is cold and hard, break the toffee into pieces and place it in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until the toffee is broken up into small nutty shards. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">To serve, remove cold cheesecake from tin <span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">and scatter praline generously over the top (keep any leftover praline in an airtight jar or container for sprinkling over chocolate ice cream).</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Serve immediately. For best results, cut the cake with a hot knife.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">***</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">If you are in Sydney, you can pick up my retro sugar heart cookies at <a href="https://www.facebook.com/WildBasketNeutralBay">Wild Basket</a> Neutral Bay this weekend.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Happy Valentine's Day. Especially you, Mr LP. </span></div>
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</script>Larissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10414334346423383943noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4350803687899932062.post-90707942930275532112015-01-22T09:00:00.000-08:002015-04-21T03:27:16.055-07:00Lazy Lamington Sponge with Muddled Raspberries<div>
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<a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-ssgGrGgteOw/VL8oxNUpuNI/AAAAAAAACao/B-U7iJK2bnQ/s640/blogger-image-685321793.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-ssgGrGgteOw/VL8oxNUpuNI/AAAAAAAACao/B-U7iJK2bnQ/s640/blogger-image-685321793.jpg" width="480" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It feels odd to have been working these past few weeks. Usually I manage to convince Mr LP and my cafes to let me flit off to the beach with the kids and Mum for a while each January. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">But in what may be a sign of the year ahead, we were straight back to business after New Year's, and I feel a bit smug and serious, like I have a jump start on the sandy crowd.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We have a busy year ahead. We are scouting for commercial sites, taking on more corporate work and I am very excited to be designing more wedding cakes in the coming months - including for one of my besties. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Bring it 2015!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Now, to matters of the upcoming long weekend. Straya Day (Australia Day to our northern friends) is nearly here. This means lamingtons are in my immediate future.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">You could make <a href="http://www.littlepud.blogspot.com.au/2012/01/excuse-to-make-lamingtons.html">these</a> but they're fiddly. So for anyone pressed for time or motivation, I have a lazy version, in the form of a sponge cake with a thick layer of chocolate ganache on top and muddled raspberries with whipped vanilla bean cream in the middle.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-rrLp2K0-yRs/VL8oz7hzQcI/AAAAAAAACaw/wwo7gmHqKj4/s640/blogger-image--177186821.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-rrLp2K0-yRs/VL8oz7hzQcI/AAAAAAAACaw/wwo7gmHqKj4/s640/blogger-image--177186821.jpg" width="581" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I'll concede that the sponge concept is not so lazy that it involves going to the shops and buying a packet of lamingtons. You'll still have to turn the oven on, but you won't have to deal with a coconut bomb exploding in your kitchen, which is the deal whenever I make lamingtons.</span></div>
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<a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-PpXKJKIEznI/VL-NjLJ6WDI/AAAAAAAACbA/FTqQPkIGNAM/s640/blogger-image-1449617496.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-PpXKJKIEznI/VL-NjLJ6WDI/AAAAAAAACbA/FTqQPkIGNAM/s640/blogger-image-1449617496.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In the spirit of this lazy cake, this is a lazy post in that said sponge was knocked up in 90 minutes from start to finish and the photos were quickly snapped at my sister's table before the family fell on it like the animals they are. This, however, does demonstrate the point of just how easy it is. And doesn't she have a lovely parquet floor?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Happy Straya Day, whatever you are up to. May there be blue skies and water involved. And lamingtons in any delicious form.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Larissa x</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Lamington Sponge Cake with Muddled Raspberries and Vanilla Cream</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">(Serves 10-12)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Sponge Cake:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">6 eggs at room temperature</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">3/4 cup caster sugar</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">3/4 cup plain flour</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1/4 cup cornflour</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1 teaspoon baking powder</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">75g butter, melted</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Ganache:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">100g dark couverture chocolate</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">120ml single pouring cream</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Vanilla Cream:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">180ml single pouring cream extra</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1 teaspoon icing sugar</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Seeds scraped from 1 vanilla bean (or 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The rest:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1 punnet fresh raspberries </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Shredded coconut for top</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Preheat oven to 170C.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Grease and line two 20cm round cake pans with non-stick baking paper.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Triple sift the flour and baking powder.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Place the eggs in bowl of electric mixer and begin whisking on low speed. Gradually add the caster sugar then turn to high speed for 10-12 minutes until the mixture has tripled in volume.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Sift over half the flour and baking powder and fold in gently with a metal spoon, followed by remaining flour. Add the melted butter and carefully fold in until all incorporated.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Spoon the mixture evenly into the two prepared cake pans.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Bake for 15-18 minutes or until golden and a cake tester comes out clean.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Remove sponges from cake pans immediately and leave to cool completely on wire racks.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">For the ganache, break the chocolate into pieces and place in a bowl.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Heat the cream in a saucepan until just boiling then pour over the chocolate. Leave for 2-3 minutes then gently stir until the mixture is glossy and smooth. Set aside at room temperature to thicken a little before it is needed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">For the whipped cream, place the extra cream in bowl of electric mixer with the icing sugar and vanilla bean seeds. Whisk on high until soft peaks form. Place in the fridge until needed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">When the sponge is completely cool and you are ready to assemble, place the raspberries in a bowl and use a cocktail muddler or a fork to muddle or mash the raspberries to a lumpy paste.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Place one half of the cake on a cake stand or plate. Top with the raspberries, spreading to the edges. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Spoon the whipped vanilla cream over the raspberries and top with the remaining sponge layer.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Pour the thickened ganache over the top of the cake, guiding it with a pallet knife so that it drips ever so slightly over the edges, like a cake in a Disney picnic. Sprinkle the top with shredded coconut and serve. If you are making it ahead of time, store it in the fridge and get it out an hour before you are ready to serve, to allow the ganache and cake to soften.</span></div>
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Larissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10414334346423383943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4350803687899932062.post-66990450459693342992014-12-26T21:04:00.001-08:002015-04-21T03:34:34.944-07:00Chocolate Swirl Pavlova with Baked Cherries<div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">What is Bat Man's guilty pleasure? Hard to choose from a selection of hilariously depraved answers like 50,000 volts to the nipples, mason jars, Daniel Radcliffe or Lady Gaga's special bits. Perhaps it might be this pav, if the caped one has a sweet tooth?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">These and other non-pressing questions were pondered late into the afternoon on Christmas Day when the decks of Cards Against Humanity hit the table. The red wine flowed, everyone had thirds and fourths of dessert, and it was all down hill from there.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Ahhhh family. They know the best and worst of us, which probably makes them the most fun to laugh with. All of that shared history and the collections of stories, repeated so many times and just as funny with each telling.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Gosh it felt good to be silly. To wrap myself up in my children's excitement and splash around with them in the pool for three hot days in a row. To make plans and dream a little. To allow myself to be distracted from the sadness of this past week in Sydney, which, for a mother's reasons, I have been unable to shake.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It truly is the most wonderful time of the year. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I hope your Christmas was just as joyous and full of laughter, surrounded by family, friends and loved ones. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We served this pavlova for dessert on Christmas Eve, but the cherry/chocolate/vanilla combination will work all summer long. It is light and marshmallowy inside with chocolatey hits of cocoa and the cherries baked with cinnamon are so delicious. Make all the elements a day ahead so all you need to do is assemble and serve. It takes the stress out of entertaining - my gift to you.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Larissa x</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Chocolate Swirl Pavlova with Vanilla Bean Cream and Baked Cherries</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">(Serves 10-12)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Pavlova:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">300g caster sugar</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">5 egg whites</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1 teaspoon vanilla extract</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">2 tablespoons quality cocoa</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1 small carton single pouring cream</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1 teaspoon caster sugar</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Baked cherries:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">600g cherries, pitted</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">50g caster sugar</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1 teaspoon ground cinnamon</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1/4 cup of Pedro Ximinez Sherry or port</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Preheat oven to 170C. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Mix the cherries, sugar and cinnamon together. Place in a baking dish and bake for 20-30 mins until the cherries are soft. Cool slightly and mix in the sherry or port. Place in a container and refrigerate until ready to use.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">For the pavlova, preheat oven to 200C. Trace a 22cm circle on a piece of baking paper and place on a large flat baking sheet. Set aside.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Spread sugar in an even layer over a baking tray lined with baking paper. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Bake for 8 minutes until sugar is hot and beginning to melt at the edges.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Place egg whites in bowl of an electric mixer and, when the sugar has been in the oven for 7 minutes, begin whisking on high speed for one minute.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Take sugar out of the oven and turn mixer to slow speed. Add sugar gradually and when all added, turn mixer to high and whisk for 15-20 minutes until the meringue has cooled.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Add the vanilla extract and cocoa, stirring by hand only a few gentle turns, so that a swirl effect is created and you preserve as much air in the mixture as possible.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Place large spoonfuls of meringue in the centre of the circle on your baking paper and ease out to the edges, creating a large free-form meringue. Using a spoon or spatula, make a shallow basin or well in the centre and tease up the outer rim to make pretty peaks.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Turn the oven down to 110C.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Bake pavlova shell for 1 hour and 20 minutes. Turn the oven off, place a wooden spoon in the door to hold it ajar and leave the pavlova in the oven to cool completely (overnight is ideal).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">When cool, take it out of the oven and carefully move it from the baking paper to an airtight container or serving plate covered with a glass cloche.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">To assemble, whip the cream, sugar and vanilla until soft peaks form. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Spoon whipped cream into the shell of the pavlova and gently top with the cherries and sauce, letting them drizzle over the sides.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Serve immediately. </span></div>
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Larissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10414334346423383943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4350803687899932062.post-34980643067939636242014-12-11T10:00:00.000-08:002015-01-10T19:40:37.190-08:00Butterscotch Brownie Truffles<div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Someone has played a bad joke on me and it is already December. Deep into Christmas time. Suddenly it is hot and stormy every night, there is a tree in our lounge room and I am baking like a mad woman with barely enough time to scoff a mince pie for lunch.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The past few months have been a bit of a blur so here are some numbers, Bridget style, to fill in the blanks:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Number of months my toddler has been going to daycare: 3</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Chest infections he has bought home: 86</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Bouts of gastro: 2</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Bouts of pneumonia: 1</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Hospital stays: 1 </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Nights in: 5 !!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Solo parenting stints while husband globe trots for, ahem, work: 10 long days' worth</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Emergency escapes North to the beach: 1</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Barossa Valley weddings: 1</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Read, flights with two kids under five: 4</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">New cafes stocking LP cakes: 2 (welcome <a href="https://www.facebook.com/WildBasketNeutralBay">Wild Basket Neutral Bay</a> and Two Penny on Park)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">All of which amounts to blog posts: 0 </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Grey hairs: 367 and </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Red wine needed: pass me the bottle and a straw...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Given my slightly panicked, reindeer in the headlights (how is there only two weeks until Christmas??) variety of festive cheer, this recipe is perfect. It takes no time, it has a kick of schnapps and the result is quite fancy. I'm going to box them up pretty for my client gifts this year but they'd be an impressive take-along thingy for any party or Christmas do you have coming up. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">L xxx</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Butterscotch Brownie Truffles</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">(Makes about 30)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">4 cups of crumbled brownie</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">100g quality dark chocolate </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">100g quality milk chocolate</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1/2 to 3/4 cup Butterscotch Schnapps</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">200g quality dark chocolate extra</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">200g quality milk chocolate extra</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Gold leaf *</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Place crumbled brownie in a large bowl.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Melt dark and milk chocolate together gently over a saucepan of simmering water.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">When melted, add to the brownie with the schnapps and mix it all together.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Roll generous teaspoonfuls into balls and place on a baking tray lined with non-stick baking paper.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Place in the fridge for several hours or overnight to firm up.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Melt the remaining chocolates over a saucepan of simmering water. Dip truffles into the melted chocolate and place on baking tray lined with a fresh sheet of baking paper. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Place back into fridge for at least an hour or until set.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Using food tweezers and a small food paintbrush, place a small fleck of gold leaf onto each truffle and paint into place to secure.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">*Gold leaf available from specialty food stores. In Sydney, I source mine from <a href="http://www.essentialingredient.com.au/">The Essential Ingredient, Rozelle</a></span></div>
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Larissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10414334346423383943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4350803687899932062.post-75279564335684404232014-09-06T05:52:00.001-07:002015-01-10T19:40:58.207-08:00Pasta Class - Pappardelle with Lamb Ragu<div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It's poor form on my part, but last night I allowed Mr LP to cook his own Father's Day eve dinner - bread pappardelle with lamb ragu.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">You know why? He handles our pasta machine like a boss. And it's still a freezing, very non-Spring temperature outside. There's no way I was passing up home-made pasta and slow cooked lamb on a Saturday night!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Let me tell you about this recipe Mr LP has nailed. We learned it from chef Danny Russo at a pasta making class we went to at Mosman's <a href="http://www.accoutrement.com.au/">Accoutrement</a> a few weeks back. And I'm allowed to share it with you, you lucky ducks!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We have trotted it out a few times now at family things because it is so damn impressive and relatively easy if you make the pasta ahead, or even if you don't. Mr LP whipped it all up yesterday afternoon. He's good, that man.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">If you're intimidated by making pasta, I say have a crack anyway. It's much easier than you think. You just need a bit of clear bench space and to be prepared to get your hands in there. It's quite therapeutic, the kneading process. Nothing dainty, like pastry. Get in and work it!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Accoutrement class was the first time (gasp) I had ever made pasta, so everything was new and exciting. I was a bit enthusiastic! I took a lot of photos that all looked awful but at least the pasta was delicious.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Danny does a class each year and I highly recommend it. He was patient and easy to follow, and we left with three types of our own pasta, containers of pesto and Parmesan, and full from a three course lunch.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We made our own cavatelle, linguine, and pappardelle made with breadcrumbs. Danny served the cavatelle (like a small, half tube of penne) in a light and super tasty chickpea soup, perfect for this cold snap. The linguine, he tossed gently in a large bowl with raw swordfish marinated in lemon juice, fennel and sea salt. So fresh and delicious! But my favourite was the pappardelle with lamb ragu. The breadcrumbs in this recipe give some texture to the pasta and the sauce is rich and warming. It is all the things you want in a food hug.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Thank you Danny for sharing your tips and your recipe, and thank you Mr LP for mastering it (promise I'll make breakfast xx).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Bread Papardelle with Lamb Ragu</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">(Recipe by Danny Russo)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">300g pasta flour</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">150g dried breadcrumbs</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">4 eggs, large</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">2 egg yolks</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Pinch salt</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Combine flour, breadcrumbs and salt in a bowl or on a clean bench. Create a well in the centre. Whisk the eggs and yolks together and add to the well. Stir with two fingers, gradually bringing the dry ingredients into the eggs, then increase fingers to whole hand stirring. When the dough starts to come together, knead until smooth. Divide dough into four pieces, wrap in cling wrap and leave it to react for at least 30 mins. Flatten your dough into a rough rectangle and flatten as much as possible before rolling it through a pasta machine until smooth, elastic and approx. 2mm thick. Cut into 15mm ribbons and your pappardelle is ready.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Lamb Ragu</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1kg lamb shoulder, diced into 3cm chunks (ask your butcher)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">200g finely diced onion</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">4 stalks of celery, finely chopped</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">3 sprigs rosemary, finely chopped</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">500g tinned tomatoes</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">100ml white wine</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1L chicken stock</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">50ml olive oil</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Salt, pepper</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">2 bay leaves</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">100g pitted black olives</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Extra olive oil </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Parmesan to serve</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Parsley to serve</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Grated lemon zest to serve</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Preheat oven to 160C. Heat a large oven proof casserole pan and sear the lamb until browned all over. Remove from pan and fry off the onion, celery, rosemary and garlic. Add the white wine and reduce by a third before adding the lamb back into the pan with the tomatoes and chicken stock. Bring to the boil, add salt and pepper, then bake for 3 1/2 to 4 hours until the lamb is falling apart. Stir in olives.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Bring a large pan of water to the boil, add salt and cook pasta until all-dente. When the pasta is ready, drain and add to the ragu. Serve drizzled with extra olive oil, shaved Parmesan, scattered parsley and grated lemon zest.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Happy Father's Day to all the Dads, especially Mr LP, who is a great one. xxx</span></div>
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Larissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10414334346423383943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4350803687899932062.post-72488039893093832942014-08-13T01:40:00.000-07:002015-01-10T19:41:17.031-08:00Rhubarb and Rose Bundt Cake with Vanilla Glaze<div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Roses again! A lady never tires of roses, shoes or chocolate. Or sparkly things or $40 blow dries for that matter. I certainly never tire of pretty cakes. And that's a good thing, as I'm smack in the middle of <a href="http://www.littlepud.blogspot.com.au/2013/07/petal-ombre-cake.html">cake month</a>. Hold that thought - I have an epic chocolate cake recipe to share with you soon.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">But for the moment, given Winter is giving it one last crack, let's talk rhubarb and edible flowers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It's very hip at the moment to scatter edible flowers over everything and I'm so on board. I don't bother with extra long tweezers and fussy placement like a TV chef but I do love the way a liberal scattering of petals can transform a plainish cake into something beautiful, while giving a pop of colour and flavour. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The combination of almond, vanilla and rhubarb with a hint of orange and rose in this cake is lovely, and it's an easy hand-mix.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It's inspired by this <a href="http://www.cannellevanille.com/gluten-free/rhubarb-rose-cake-flower-class/">recipe</a> from a favourite blog, <a href="http://www.cannellevanille.com/">Cannelle et Vanille</a>, and it's a kind of variation on the friands I bake for my cafes, like a winter version in a cake. It can be also be made gluten-free by swapping in rice flour for the plain flour.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Tempting though it may be to cut into it fresh from the oven, because it smells all gorgeous and looks all golden and inviting, I urge you to stop and wait until it is cool so you can drizzle over the thick vanilla bean glaze and then attend to the all-important petal bling.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I have used dried edible rose petals by <a href="http://pariya.com/">Pariya </a>but you could use any edible flowers to decorate the top of the cake. Buy them from your nearest farmers markets or specialty food store.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Rhubarb and Rose Bundt with Vanilla Glaze</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">(Serves 12-16)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">350g rhubarb, sliced thinly</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1 teaspoon caster sugar</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">285g butter, melted</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">2 cups almond meal</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1 cup icing sugar</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1/2 cup plain flour</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1 teaspoon baking powder</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Zest of 1/2 an orange</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">8 egg whites (store the yolks in the fridge and use them within a few days to make custard/ice cream/pasta/lemon curd etc)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1 tablespoon edible dried rose petals plus extra for the top</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><u>Vanilla Bean Glaze</u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1 cup icing sugar</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Seeds from one vanilla bean or one teaspoon of vanilla bean paste</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Preheat oven to 160C. Brush the inside of a 1.5L (22cm) Bundt or kugelhopf tin with melted butter and then dust with flour to ensure the cake doesn't stick.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Place rhubarb slices in a microwave safe steamer with the caster sugar and a dash of water and cook on high for two minutes or until just cooked and maintaining shape. Set aside.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Whisk the egg whites, icing sugar and orange zest together in a large bowl.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Add the almond meal, flour and baking powder and stir until just combined. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Add the melted butter and stir carefully until all mixed in.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Pour the cake batter into the prepared tin and scatter with rhubarb and rose petals.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Using a skewer, gently marble the rhubarb and rose petals through the cake mix.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden and a cake tester comes out clean.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Leave to cool in the tin for at least 10 minutes before turning onto a wire rack to cool completely.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">When the cake is cool, make the glaze by mixing the icing sugar and vanilla bean seeds with one tablespoon of boiling water until you have a thick, glossy icing. Add a dash more water if needed but be careful not to make the glaze too thin.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Drizzle spoonfuls of the glaze over the cake and let it drip down the sides in pretty rivulets. Scatter with rose petals and serve. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">* For an extra beautiful touch, add some flecks of gold leaf on top of the roses. You may need those long tweezer thingys for this though, and try not to love yourself too sick when you look at the result. Others will do this for you.</span></div>
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Larissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10414334346423383943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4350803687899932062.post-26391913750672244852014-07-24T10:00:00.000-07:002015-01-10T19:41:33.342-08:00Vanilla, Raspberry and Rose Marshmallows<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It's not Valentine's Day, nor is there a wedding anniversary any time soon. We have been going about life, heads down, hard at it, bake after bake. And that is when hearts and sweetness are most welcome, in my book. I have been holding my little family close this week. A little tighter. A little more aware of how very lucky I am. I have been, for lack of a better way of saying it, more present.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I made these marshmallow hearts for my mum a while ago. They're sweet and a bit sassy, just like her. In just over a month, we'll be flying to beautiful Broome to celebrate her birthday. For most of the year it has seemed like a far-off hazy something-to-look-forward-to. But now it's nearly here. Our calendar is stacked almost every week until we go, and I'm going to be more swamped with work than ever, but it's nearly here! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">A week in paradise with the people I love most in the world - I am beyond excited. It's these times, when we get to laugh together and let our hair down, the sharing of old stories and the making of new ones. This is what it's all about. It's how I can counter the fear of this random world and the fragile balance that holds everything dear to all of us in place.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Vanilla, Raspberry and Rose Marshmallow Hearts</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">(Makes 16-20 depending on size of heart cutter)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">250g caster sugar</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">2 teaspoons liquid glucose</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">6 titanium strength gelatine leaves</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">2 egg whites</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Scraped seeds of one vanilla bean</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Two tablespoons freeze dried raspberries*</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Two tablespoons dried edible rose petals*</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Icing sugar and cornflour for dusting</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Line the base and sides of a rectangular baking tray with non-stick baking paper, making sure it overhangs the edges.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Soak the gelatine sheets in cold water for five minutes. Squeeze the water from the sheets and melt in a bowl over simmering water. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Place egg whites in bowl of an electric mixer.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Place 175g of the caster sugar, liquid glucose and 100ml water in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Simmer for three minutes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Start whisking egg whites on high until they reach a soft peak, then turn the mixer to a lower speed and gradually add the rest of the caster sugar. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Continue simmering the glucose syrup for a further five minutes or until it reaches 127C on a sugar thermometer. Add the melted gelatine and the vanilla to the glucose syrup, then, with the mixer still on a low speed, pour the mixture carefully into the egg whites.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Turn the mixer up to high speed and whisk for 10 minutes or until the mixture is cooled and thick and glossy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Combine equal parts icing sugar and cornflour in a small bowl. Dust the inside of your prepared tin with the mixture and reserve the rest.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Spread half the marshmallow into tin and scatter with freeze dried raspberries and rose petals, then cover with remaining marshmallow. Smooth top with a pallet knife and place in fridge to set for at least two hours. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Lift the marshmallow from the tin by the overhanging baking paper and place on a board or flat surface dusted with the icing sugar mixture. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Dip heart shaped cookie cutter into the icing sugar mixture before cutting hearts from the marshmallow. Dust marshmallows in the sugar mixture before serving. If you don't have a heart shaped cutter, simply cut the marshmallow into squares using a hot, sharp knife.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">If doing a chocolate version, skip the dusting step and dip your hearts into your favourite quality melted chocolate (about 200g should do it) and leave them to set on sheets of non-stick baking paper.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">* Freeze dried raspberries and dried edible rose petals are available from <a href="http://www.essentialingredient.com.au/">The Essential Ingredient</a> and other specialist delis and food stores.</span></div>
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Larissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10414334346423383943noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4350803687899932062.post-35319996048668841932014-07-13T15:00:00.000-07:002015-01-10T19:41:55.667-08:00Sugar-Free Pear and Pecan Cookies<div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Biscuits are the best. If I give my kids a bickie, all is right with the world and I have two solid minutes of quiet (them) and productivity (me) guaranteed. So it's tempting to give them out a lot! Well, at least twice a day. I'm talking milk arrowroots or those apple bars from Heinz, but I still worry about the sugar factor.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I guess I'm lucky that my boys love most fruit and can eat nuts, so I gave these sugar-free cookies using grated pears a go and cheered to myself as they disappeared at bickie time. Then the next day, I drizzled a few with chocolate and had them with a cuppa. I can quit sugar no problems, but quitting chocolate is cruel!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">My cookies are inspired by these carrot ones I saw on the wonderful cooking site for mums, One Handed Cooks. They are kind of like a fruit and nut Anzac and pleasing in a wholesome, I'm-being-an-excellent-mother-right-now way. But I'll be honest, they were vastly improved by the chocolate.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I used Beurre Bosc pears, because they're my favourite to bake with, but any variety would be fine and they're all in season now.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">If you buy your pears from Woolworths this month, you can pick up a copy of this lovely new cookbook from Australian Pears, <i>Rediscover Australian Pears: Volume 2. </i>It's free with a purchase of 1kg of pears while stocks last and features recipes from loads of my foodie heroes like Maggie Beer and Karen Martini. Don't fret if you miss out at Woolies. The cookbook will be available from selected retailers from July 28, 2014.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I was lucky enough to be sent a copy and it is full of delicious winter goodness. The Bosc Pear and Almond Butter Cake by Karen Martini is on my kitchen agenda this week!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Pear and Pecan Cookies</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">(Makes about 16)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1 cup wholemeal plain flour</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1/2 teaspoon baking powder</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1/2 teaspoon ground ginger</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">3/4 cup rolled oats</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1/2 cup chopped pecan nuts</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">2 Beurre Bosc pears, peeled, cored and grated</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1/2 cup sultanas</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1/4 cup desiccated coconut</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1/2 cup pure maple syrup</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1/4 cup coconut oil or vegetable oil</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Preheat oven to 180C and line a baking tray with non-stick baking paper.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In a large mixing bowl, combine all dry ingredients, then stir in the maple syrup and oil.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">With wet hands, shape mixture into small balls and place on the baking tray, leaving room to spread. Flatten each cookie slightly with a fork.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Bake for 18-20 mins or until golden. Leave to cool on trays.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">*Mummy/Daddy option: when cookies are cool, melt 50g dark chocolate and drizzle over with a teaspoon.</span></div>
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Larissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10414334346423383943noreply@blogger.com0