Waffling part 2 /-/Pumpkin donut French waffle

I have waited all week before I post this recipe! Sorry but it is necessary process if you going to do French toast right.

I do not often get to make things like this namely because I am not patient enough to wait for breakfast, so toast and cereals are instant hits for my ravenous state. However I think I deserved a treat. My life right now is filled with University finals and exams; so Forgive me if this post is unusually short for me. However!!! There are still a fair number of pictures, so I still care about you guys.



I am taking inspiration from two of the recipes I first ever learn how to cook; French toast and custard. Now you might think these two things are completely unrelated be sides the fact they are both delicious. However have you ever tried to soak you bread for French toast in a very thin custard? Seriously, cook your pre-soaking milk and egg mix because the texture is amazing. Add to this the yeasty, malted goodness of these brown butter waffles; and you have one of the greatest moments in breakfast dining. I know people seem to dislike the egg taste of French toast but cooking a custard it removes a lot of this after taste.



While I may not be in America, pumpkin seems to be very cheap at the stores down under. This French toast is coated in a thin pumpkin custard, mixed with cinnamon and fried in generous amount of butter (duh!). After this is the moment you can be as indulgent as you like. Nigella Lawson has a recipe for French toast which she calls her donut French toast, with a title like that how could I resist taking inspiration from it? She coats her toast afterwards in sugar instead of sweetening the batter mix. Once again she is true to her word, these really do taste like donuts! Sweet, fluffy and very crunchy.

So here we go



Soak your waffles



Then coat in the sugar

Now EAT!!!

EATS! EATT!



Me. sugar covered, sticky fingered and gloriously satisfied. This pumpkin donut French waffle may be the mutt in the recipe world but is well worth the divination.



Pumpkin donut French waffle Inspired by Nigella Lawson for the sugar concept 
Makes 2 seves 

3-4 full sides brown butter waffles, stale

Custard

325g pumpkin puree

450ml milk

100ml cream

1 egg

1tsp vanilla extract

1tsp cinnamon

Dipping sugar

300g caster sugar

5g fine sea salt



To make your custard;

Bring milk and cream to the boil in a heavy based sauce pan, add your pumpkin puree. Whisk in a leave to steep for 20 minutes.

Crack your egg into a jug and whisk in cinnamon and vanilla.

Strain the milk mix into a jug.

Place the milk mixture back on the heat in the same pan. On medium heat stir until it is thicken. Set aside to cool



To make the toast

In a shallow, wide dish pour your custard in. Place your waffles in this mix. Allow to soak for 10 minutes then turn and soak for further 5 minutes.

Pre heat a teaspoon of butter in a fry pan on low-medium heat. Once the butter has melted and foamed, add the toast. Turn the heat to low and cook for 5 minutes on each side.

Once cooked remove the toast and place it in the sugar/ salt mix. Dust it around generously then serve right away.

Waffling/-/ Brown butter yeasted waffles

Are you are talkative person? Like the person who seems to be able to spark an engaging conversation on the train with a complete stranger on a Monday morning and end it seamlessly? If you are, jeez I envy you.



I am not sure if it was because of higher than normal shyness as a child, or my environment (I was always told to keep quite as child; school, tutoring, home etc.); I struggle a lot with conversations. The problem is not starting one but the middle and ending are the place for were my most embarrassing moments come from.

Just this week, I went to my university tutorial. In my panic stricken state, namely because I had no gasp on the concept for this sociology topic, I blurted out the most random comment when the teacher asked me a question. This not only led to a heated debate but the worst part is I was caught in the middle of it. I think a few of the students in the class hate me now. Oh well... at least I will never have to see them again after this year.



Serious question. How do you keep on topic? I cannot help feel awkward if there is a silence of longer than two seconds. This of course leads to inevitable sweaty palms, shaking and stuttering. Worst of all these is the awkward silence leads me to waffle on about the dumbest things.

I am probably doing it right now on this blog! Waffling about waffling!

In all seriousness, I hate the fact I can talk about things that do not even relate to the topic mentioned. I once had a conversation with a group of people which covered the topics of SBS (it is television station in Australia), racism, Chinese food and spam (yes I mean the ham meat)

Can you think of more jumbled set of topics? Maybe you can beat it?



Now for very relevant recipe for this post is WAFFLES!!

You can see how excited I am to actually get a REAL waffle maker, like good quality one not the cheapie from the two dollar store. If you live in Australia, the difficulty of obtaining a Belgium waffle maker is on par with seeing the loch ness monster. Hundreds of fake ones but never the original.


Of course this purchase is totally out of necessity; at least that is what I keep telling myself. You guys in USA are so lucky to have such a big waffle culture over there. I love waffles; it is on par with bread as one the greatest carbohydrates ever. They are so adaptable; sweet or savoury it is the quickest way to carb heaven in my books. Also who has had a day when all they ate was waffles? I have! Sweet berry waffle for breakfast, waffle cheese sandwich for lunch and a waffle as a sub for bread in soup. Really you should try to do this even if you are not a waffle addict; it bound to turn you into one.




I have only had this waffle maker for about a month and I think I used it every week to date. Serious. I have yet to try this tofu waffle on iamfoodblog, but you can be sure I am looking forward to it when I do. Now these are yeasted waffles which make for an addictive start, but are made more so with the glorious addition of burnt or browned butter.

We all know about the greatness brown butter imparts on any food stuff it touches; add a well-known and trusted recipe and you got a winner. While I have no idea who Fannie Merritt Farmer is. I know she is writer of a The Boston Cooking school cook book and creator for this recipe.

Either way I hope these photographs can do her proud because these are everything you can hope for in a waffle. Buttery? Check Malty? Check Crispy edged? Check Fluffy interior? Two checks. So good you do not even need syrup!

I am going to stop gushing and link you to the recipe. I used the measurements from smitten kitchen. So I have only changed the wording of the steps and the addition of brown butter in place of normal melted butter.





Essential Overnight Raised brown butter Waffles

From Maria Cunningham via Smittenkitchen


120g warm water

7g dry yeast

450g approx. of warm milk

115g brown butter, cooled

5g sea salt

5g sugar (any will do)

250g all-purpose flour

50g corn flour (adapted to work for a round waffle maker)

2 large eggs (59g)

½ teaspoon baking soda(adapted to work for a round waffle maker)

Oil for waffle iron



The night before: Combined warm water and yeast in a large 5 litre bowl.Whisk in milk, butter, salt, sugar and flour.Cover bowl with cling film. Leave over night on the counter to proof.

Next day; whisk in eggs and baking soda until smooth. Heat waffle iron. Using an ice cream scoop, spoon one and bit (1.5) scoops into the waffle marker. Cook to manufacture instructions, mine went for 6 minutes. Repeat with remaining batter.

Anything but…./-/ Lemon macarons with salted honey and thyme buttercream.

Who hates exams? Or despises test? You would think even after 16 years of formal education I would be used to them by now. Not to mention the outside exams that I had to take when I did tutoring (shudders, bad, bad times). Honestly a test, more than ANYTHING (even being eaten alive by insects or bugs), I am horrified at siting exams. The mere suggestion that I have to sit in an exam room with questions that have set in stone answers terrifies me. I would rather write a 5000 word thesis on a topic I just learnt yesterday than do an exam. Really everything about it is terrible and painful.



Now because of this I have successfully avoided taking a sit down exam for 2 and half years. Yes, me, someone at university has managed to be selective in my subjects in order to pick ones that only require assessments or group projects in order to pass. Sneaky? yes; Cheating? Maybe; Down right cowardly? You bet




Whatever you want to call me, it was working for me. However this term, this tiny last term to my degree just had to come with an exam. Yes not just one but 4 exams written exams. The ones were you have answer an essay question are the worse. I do not mind multiple choices but that has the increased effect of after exam guilt.

The whole process gives me the chills, from the pre study anxiety to the after exam guilt hang over. What is the exam guilt hang over? In my opinion the worse part of taking an exam.

You know when you finish you get a sense of relief (good) then you see your notes. It calls you to read them to find out if you done the question right, it lures you in to a false sense of security, “oh you will be ok, I am sure you wrote that exact same thing down”. 99% of the time this is a white lie. SO you look and instantly you spot a point in your exam when you went wrong; your mind panics; You go to look more, you answered wrong; find more wrong answers etc. Basically repeat this until you cannot take anymore and reach for burning hot shower to wash way the dirty guilty feeling.



Argh….

I actually sat one today (which is why this post is a tiny bit delayed). So right now sea of woe that only time can get me out of. I am wondering if you guys have any tips for a nervous nanny like me?

I need all the help I can get.



Macarons actually bring that same anxiety as exams do but at least there is always something tasty to eat after wards (even if they do fail). Now I have a soft spot for honey, no secret as I just did two recipes which used honey roasted veggies, however honey means more to me than just a tasty syrup. It reminds me of home style comfort. I am not sure you get told to do this when you are sick. You mix tea with hot water, lemon slices and a generous amount of honey; it is meant to cure the cold. I have no idea if it works but it taste pretty good.




I am sure you guys are tired of the description for macarons, so I will skip to the flavour combo. Lemon, thyme and honey are a classic combination but add salt and you have whole new flavour. I never tried honey with salt before, straight up it is an acquired taste but delicious none the less. The addition of thyme with its floral undertones helps the lemon mellow out a bit and means the butter cream is not as heavy tasting as it sounds. Crisp, chewy lemon scented shells with a creamy salted honey and thyme inflused filling.

What more can you ask from a French macaron?

Maybe besides doing my exams for me.

Lemon Macaron with salted honey and thyme butter cream

Macaron recipe from Tartelette

Flavour Inspired by krispie treats from Raspberri cupcakes


110gram almond meal

90g egg whites

25g raw caster sugar

200g icing sugar

½ tsp lemon zest


If you want to colour you may I used yellow

In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the egg whites to a foam, (think bubble bath foam) gradually add the sugar until you obtain a glossy meringue (think shaving cream

Place the powdered sugar and almonds in a food processor and give them a good pulse until the nuts are finely ground. Add them to the meringue, give it a quick fold to break some of the air and then fold the mass carefully until you obtain a batter that falls back on itself after counting to 10. Give quick strokes at first to break the mass and slow down. The whole process should not take more than 50 strokes. Test a small amount on a plate: if the tops flattens on its own you are good to go. If there is a small beak, give the batter a couple of turns.

Fill a pastry bag fitted with a plain tip (Ateco #807 or #809) with the batter and pipe small rounds (1.5 inches in diameter) onto parchment paper or silicone mats lined baking sheets.

Let the macarons sit out for 30 minutes to an hour to harden their shells a bit. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 280F/150C. When ready, bake for 15 to 20 minutes, depending on their size. Let cool. If you have trouble removing the shells, pour a couple of drops of water under the parchment paper while the sheet is still a bit warm and the macarons will lift up more easily do to the moisture.

Don't let them sit there in it too long or they will become soggy. Once baked and if you are not using them right away, store them in an airtight container out of the fridge for a couple of days or in the freezer.



Thyme and salted honey butter cream
From brave tart’s swiss butter cream recipe

140g egg whites

140g caster sugar

7g sea salt flakes

¼ tsp dried thyme

1 teaspoon of clear vanilla extract


210g unsalted, cubed, softish butter.

200g floral honey


In medium bowl whisk together your egg whites and caster sugar.

Place bowl over a saucepan of simmer water. Whisk continuously until the sugar is fully dissolved. Rub a bit of mix between your fingers to test.

Transfer mix to a stand mixer with the whisk attachment. Beat until it becomes a big fluffy and white. At this point it should take about 8 minutes for the meringue to come to room temperature.

Change to paddle mix. While beating the mix on medium with the paddle add the butter a cube at a time until it fully combined. GO slowly here and scrape down the bowl frequently. Once butter is all added, beat on medium high till it is fluffy and pale.

Add vanilla, salt, thyme and honey beat again.

Set aside for later use

Harsh realities /-/ Black Olive pesto crusted cheese loaf

For anyone who has been through or (currently going through) secondary education, namely University or collage, there soon comes to point where you become very depressed. Maybe it only happens to art or social science students but in my last year of education; social science has sucked out the life any kind of positive social change.



So how does it relate to food? Well I have become more depressed about the state of our food system than when I first begun looking at food politics. It is impossible to ignore issues surrounding agriculture and common resource use; it is everywhere. Your morning coffee run is most likely from a chain that sources “fair trade” beans (whatever you think it means), the cup is 100 precent recycled material from odd coffee cups and the sexy brown sugar you use is “naturally sourced”. I am not blaming you, I do this too; but what I thought was the just the normal system is always, (really always!), something bigger than what is on the surface.



Sociology has sucked the life out any positive food experience; like when Pollan decided to write a book about how we are all going to hell because we buy into commercialism and grow our own food. Of course I think it is important we do pay attention to these issues, and make serious attempts of changing our food resourcing ; using guilty to change the way we purchase food is not working. In fact it makes use less likely to change, because I am pretty sure I am not the only one who has thought “Hell this system is bigger than me; so I am going to just go with the flow”



These writers fail to realise is the common Joe who lives in standard suburb is not as a privileged as they make us out to be. Our lives are more complicated than they make it out to be. We do not have the resources or time to hope down to local farmer’s market every week in order to purchase the Non-commercial veggies and fruit; and the average weekly budget of a family can hardly cover life as it is now without the added cost of Organic.

Also what about the families who have bigger issues than the food we eat? namely disability support and medical support for those who care or suffer from chronic illness. For them it is not a main issue whether or not their pork comes from a free range pig: they are trying to keep their head float with other expenses.

Should they feel guilt just because there are not buying according the sustainable living mantra?

Like I said depressing. 

 



Hopefully this bread will not be black and depressing as it looks. I fail at the kitchen science. I might love cheese with a passion but I sometime forget the melting point of cheese. What resulted in my carelessness is that the lower melting point cheese when brown too quickly before the hard cheese did, which is why the topping looks funky. 

FAIL Belinda Fail. 

The top is painted with a black olive and basil pesto. I am not sure how to describe this but it is dark, salty and reminiscent of an adult cheese and bacon bread. We all know how much we love those bacon and cheese rolls. Free to use whatever cheese you want but if you do use the ones I did, place the gruyere on first then the edam cheese. This means you will not get the weird crackle look I have; Unless you are making this for Halloween which you can then pull off a scary zombie bread. Foldable sandwich bread with a savoury cheesy pesto crust; sandwiches are calling to be made with this bread.

 


Black olive crusted cheese loaf

Makes 1 loaf




Black olive pesto

50ml extra virgin olive oil

100g loosely packed fresh basil leaves

110g pitted black Spanish olives

1 tbs grated parmesan

1 garlic clove

100 ml ish normal olive oil



Place the above ingredients in a food processor and process until it is rough chunky paste.

Use as directed in recipe



Bread

20g sugar

30g olive oil

350ml water

30g skim milk powder

7g yeast

300g bread flour

200g all purpose flour

8g salt



50g the black olive pesto

30ml oil

1 egg white

40g gruyere

40g edam



Place water, skim milk powder, oil and sugar in sauce pan. Warm gently to 30C.

Add yeast to this mix and stir to dissolve. Leave for 10 minutes

Place the other ingredients in a large bowl.

Pour the wet mix into the flour mix and knead until it becomes rough ball.

Flour a flat surface and knead your ball of dough for 25 minutes with 5 minute break in between.

Place in a large, clean well oiled bowl place dough to prove. Cover with cling film. Wait for it to double.

Line and grease a loaf tin.

Roll your dough into a rectangle which is 3 times the width of your loaf pan and slightly shorter than the length. I did this with an ikea pan so it was 6inch by 8inch rectangle.

Roll one edge of the dough inwards, being as tight as possible.

Lift into the prepared tine and cover with cling. Leave to prove for 45 minutes.

Pre heat oven to 220C.

Brush the top of the loaf with a mixture of the eggwhite, black olive pesto and oil.

Top with gruyere cheese. Bake for 20 minutes.

After wards place remaining Edam on top and bake for a further 10-20 minutes.

Remove from tin to cool on a wire rack.

Inspiration Whore /-/ Mi-so honey sweet potato ice cream

People have asked me on how I get my ideas for recipe and cakes. Even though I am not a big blogger, I feel that I should share the way I get inspired. Maybe it might help one you guys in your recipe or baking adventures.



One thing about all creative hobbies like fashion and architecture is the way it becomes a priority. Like they say “when there is will, there is a way”; even if you have other engagements and you are exhausted, you will make time to think and devote time to it. The lines between hobby and life blur, until you find yourself thinking about the ratio of baking powder to flour in muffin recipe while in shower or thinking up a new design for fondant cake while going on your morning run. The thing is you have to let it take part in your life because the best inspiration comes from the most unlikely places.



One thing to note is that I am not fussy, in fact you could say I am inspiration whore. Any time, any where and by any means. It does not have to have a deep or meaningful story behind it or come from your extensive interest in the global politics of food.

From plain greed, impatience or even drawing connections between your bowl of morning cereal and a possible cake; where ever you can get, use it. My normal range of inspirational places include gawking at those food porn sites, looking at recipes hubs, cook books, old gourmet travel magazines. However I find the inspiration comes from things that aren’t related to food at all. Namely, you know those granola pancakes I did, came from a journal article about how food become commodities.



The weirdest and (best) way I actually came up with cake designs or recipes is to be half sleep at night. I stay up quiet late finishing assignments, so I definitely get the Uni student munchies. During my bowl of late night cereal I stumble upon a recipe for ice cream which I just had to try.

I am not sure if you know this girl but her Name is Mandy and her website Lady and Pups is one of highlights on my blog roll. ANY who…. She does to recipes what Heston does to a carrot, mutatuates it into a better even devilish treat for any of your 7 deadly sins. I have been waiting a long time to try this namely because I did not get an ice cream maker for decent price in Australia. Yes we have the worst economic market for kitchen appliances, curses!!!



I am shying away from pumpkin recipes until we have pass October. I know that once you guys in the USA finish Halloween, you are going need to use up those craving pumpkins. That’s when I will unleash hell on pumpkins! But until then I am suck on Sweet potato. Yes another one but! It uses the same puree as I post on the bagel recipe here. So not only did I give you lunch and dinner possibilities I am giving you dessert to! #WINNING



This is slightly different but interring mix of sweet potato, honey and miso. Yes, you read it right miso paste, the white soy fermented bean stuff. We all know how delicious it is in savoury but the salty depth of miso means it can also be applied to things that require balance. Sweet potatoes are not a heavy flavour but roasting them in a honey, then counting the floral sweetness with earthly miso; Yep it is taste bud explosion!

This ice cream is smooth, creamy and unlike most veggie/fruit base ice creams, does not try to “fool” you into believing it is a dessert *cough* Frozen banana puree *cough*. It can stand on its own, but feel free to add nuts or seeds to your ice cream.

PS Forgive for the name, I just had to do it Mi-so- Honey, hehehe, (yes I am immature about the birds and bees)




Mi-so honey sweet potato ice cream Makes 1 litre 
Adapted from Lady and pups here and here 

300g honey roasted pumpkin puree(you can find the recipe here)

270ml whole milk

5g grated ginger

10g shiro (white miso)paste

2g nutmeg

60g brown sugar

100g caster sugar

10g corn strach

120ml cream

In food blender place milk, pumpkin, ginger, nut meg, miso, brown sugar and caster sugar. Blend until very smooth.

Place this mix on medium heat in large sauce pan. Simmer for about 5 minutes until sugar is fully dissolved. Make a slurry with the cornflour and cream. Pour this in to simmer milk pan. Whisk until it becomes thick and custardy, Note that the remaining heat will cook it further: SO!! Take it off a bit earlier than you would normally.

Transfer to fridge and cool overnight tightly covered in cling film. Once chilled, place in you ice cream maker and churn to the manufactures instructions. Store in a flat air tight box

So messy/-/ Honey Roasted Sweet potato bagels

I am person who lives in organised chaos and honestly I love it.



When I say organised chaos, It is hard to describe without being clumsy. It is the way you have things that looks disorganised and chaotic to others, but to you it is perfectly placed because you definitely KNOW where everything is. I am pretty sure a few of you guys can relate to what I am saying. Even if you do not have a messy kitchen collection like me, I pretty sure most people’s clothing collection can go by this concept. Your favourite sweater might be shoved with your jeans and t shirts but at least you know where it is all the time.



While I might relish and gawk at the notion of having a kitchen which looks like the pages of IKEA magazine or one as vintage as you see on thekitchn; I do not think I can live in world where my kitchen remains perfect. I know this is against every cooks code of conduct but I am a tad ( ok more than tad) muddled in the kitchen and honestly I try to keep it that way. It is not that I mean to be messy in the kitchen it is just that I work better when I not concerned that I am going to disrupt the “perfectness” of my kitchen organisation.



That’s the thing with being perfect, once it is perfect the anxiety of getting it wrong or messing up is enormous (at least for me). So If I did have a kitchen like those, I would be scared to cook in it simply because I think I will never be able to make it just the way it is again. The plates would not be clean enough, the glasses will not be stack actually right and those neatly fold clean towels. Sure they are great to look at but I think I would spend more time obsessing over keeping the kitchen neat than cook in it!



A trade off between having better skills in the kitchen and keeping the kitchen impeccably clean; I am choosing the skill thank you very much. I know some of you might think this my excuse (and it is a little) but I am too focused on getting my skills up to scratch.

For example, I might be the only person who does this. I make macrons at least twice a month. Not because I want to eat them, as delicious as they are, but the anxiety of “losing” the ability to make them with feet, not cracked, smooth tops etc. makes me stay awake at night.





What do you prefer great skill or clean kitchen? I think the answer is pretty clear if you think about it.

The great thing about baking bread is that clean up is something easy that I even I can manage.


While most people have hopped on to the pumpkin train and travel to overload spice-vile, I have stopped at the station before it got too much. Yes pumpkins are delicious, but I think seasonal veggies have got more to offer than just that. So these are not orange because they are made with pumpkin, they are made with sweet potato.


We do not get a huge range of bagels flavours in Australia, I think I can count 5 in commercial supermarkets and 8 if you lucky enough to go to bakery to get your bagels. However when I see other getting pumpkin bagels, onion bagels, bacon bagels; I cannot help but feel jealous. I love a good bagel; Like I have said before here and here one of my favourites in the bread world. While sweet potato does not make it taste like sweet potato; it does make It fluffier than the traditional all flour bagel and slightly sweeter ( not because it was roasted in honey before hand!)

Yes This recipe does require you to roast the sweet potato beforehand in a honey mix but you can make a big batch and use in salads or even for dinner. Who doesn’t love a recipe with two uses?



Roasted honey sweet Potato bagels

Makes 10 large sized bagels

For your honey roasted sweet potato
700g raw, peel and cubed sweet potato (2-3cm cubes will be fine)

40ml rice bran oil

40g honey

½ tsp salt

½ tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp nut meg



Pre heat oven to 220C. Line a baking tray with foil.

In a jug combine all ingredients but sweet potato. Whisk well till combined

In large bowl combine the sweet potato cubes and wet jug mix. Toss well.

Place on baking tray and bake for 40 minutes, stir every 20 minutes for even browning.



To make the bagels

10g dry yeast

280ml warmish water

45ml rice bran oil

30g sugar

7g salt

400-450g bread flour

200g Roasted sweet potato puree (just measure your left overs from above)

4 tablespoons of black sesame seeds

Corn meal



In a large bowl combine your water, oil, sugar and yeast. Stir to dissolve and leave to bubble and foam for 10 minutes.

Add you flour, sweet potato and salt to the large bowl. Knead to combine or use your stand mixer. During kneading you will need to manage the amount of flour, if you potato dough is sticky add 30g batches of flour until it foams a rough ball. The firmness will come when you really knead it.

Knead the dough for 10 minutes on stand and 15-20 minutes by hand until it becomes very firm dough like rubber.

Divide you dough into 10 balls. Roll each ball into a sphere then poke your index and middle finger in the middle of the ball to form a hole. Gently stretch this until you get a large enough hole. Place on a lined baking tray sprinkled with corn meal. Repeat with all balls.

Cover and rest for 20 minutes. Bring a large pot of water (4-5 Litres) and 30g baking soda to the boil. Pre heat oven to 220C. Line two trays with corn meal.

To test if bagels are ready to go, get out a small bowl of water and drop one in. If it floats it is ok, if doesn’t give it another 20 minutes.

Once ready to boil, place 2 bagels at a time in your boiling pot and boil each side for 1 minute. Using a slotted spoon transfer to a baking rack to dry a bit. Sprinkle your black sesame seeds on now.

Place each bagel on the tray and bake for 12-15 minutes. Turn down the oven to 200C and bake for a further 8-10 minutes. They should be golden brown.

Breaking hearts/-/Red Berry ice cream with Raspberry Coulis

The month of October is different to the other months somehow. During this month we have seem to deem it as that annoying gap in between party season, holiday preparations (Xmas stuff is the supermarkets people!!!!) and in Australia the long deserving break we all need.




While the need for October is puzzling, this month makes me fearful or at least anxious about what I have done with my life or at least the year. Only two months to go before a new year, and I start to calculate what Have I done this year to make it worth it. Now I think most people would calculate this like I do. You know like, how much money have I made? Did I learn something new this year? Was I at least nicer to my common man? (over all, we all know it is hard to be nice on Mondays)



However even though I am 20 something years old, I cannot help but fear the prospect of being single and stuck in rut forever. I might not think of talk about love much but on occasion I fear myself becoming the crazy cat lady (however I hate cats, so…)

Yes people will tell me “oh you have plenty of time to go out and meet someone” or “21? Girl you have forever to accomplish something”. A majority of the time I do believe them, being the “super positive” person that I am; none the less something reminded me that I have not had an kind of relationship for over two, three years. Hell so bad I cannot even remember the last time I thought of someone as potential date.

The reason this is came up is because I recently played a song on my iphone that not only reminded me of my absent love life but also reconfirmed that yes, you will be alone forever. This why I do not like to keep sad, break up, Bridget jones’ diary songs on my computer; makes me think of my horrific love like. Like pandas I do not think about the issue of procreation over food and sleep; hey why do think I have food blog?



This realisation really does a number on my mood, especially when you can “feel” your heart “breaking” or “bleeding” as the sad love songs put it. I wonder if any of you young people (sorry I do not know what to call my social group) or even the single ladies out there; how you deal with the feelings of panic over the lack of dating scene or love in your life?



Now comforting foods is what I need right now. It is soon summer in Australia which means that I have to stock up on the ice cream. Yes the combination of end of year exams, social fails and simple gluttony means ice cream is one of the staples of the kitchen. I have only recently got myself an ice cream maker which does make it easier to churning up instant comfort. Yes I have eaten ice cream straight from the churning bowl, sue me.

In an effort to at least make my life or my doctor a bit happier, I decide to try and make yoghurt based ice cream. I love yoghurt, if you could see my fridge I have at least 4x1kgs tubs of Greek in it. Every day I will at least use more than half in my eats, so seems only natural to try it out. Also it adds an ice tang to the ice cream, much like the sour cream trick I have seen.



Now yes this recipe is made my frozen fruit. However do not be fooled by the “cheapness” of frozen food ; I find the berries you get frozen are better than the ones in the store (especially after hundreds of people have touched and felt them before you did) While my hypochondriac nature is being to show, I recommend you try making fruit ice cream yourself. At least you can try to justify it as healthy when you are depressed and down about love as I am. Oh be hold my red berry “bleeding” heart ice cream! The tartness of the mix of strawberries and cranberries means the raspberry coulis works wonderfully to high light the freshness of this dish. I am not trying to sell food as a good way of comforting yourself, but If you are like me and only experience this once a year; get yourself a spoon and sit with your churner filled with ice cream.



Red berry ice cream with Raspberry Coulis. Adapted from The Tart Tart, originally from the Gourmet 

Cranberry and strawberry sauce

100g frozen cranberries, defrosted

100g frozen strawberries, defrosted

150g caster sugar



For the ice cream
450g full fat Greek yoghurt

230ml semi skimmed milk

25g milk powder

100g caster sugar

120ml pure pouring cream

1 zest of a lemon

1 vanilla bean, scraped of seeds

2g salt

For the sauce, in a medium sauce pan. Place your berries and sugar over medium heat. Cook these berries, pushing down on the as you go to create a rough puree. Allow to bubble for 10 minutes; reduce the original sauce by half.

Strain to a glass bowl over a sieve and transfer to fridge. Make sure it cold before use.

Warm up your milk, cream, milk powder, sugar, lemon zest, vanilla bean, and salt in a medium pan. Allow to cool. Whisk in your Greek yoghurt and half the sauce transfer to the fridge to cool over night

Churn to your ice cream makers instructions, in the last 2 minutes pour the rest of the sauce into the mixer. Fridge in air tight overnight before eating.

Raspberry coulis

300g frozen defrosted raspberries

1 vanilla bean

140g caster sugar

120ml water

30ml of black raspberry liquor

2g salt

Place your berries, water, sugar, and salt in medium sauce pan. Over medium heat, cook until the sauce is combined and melted together.

Strain it through a fine sieve, being careful not to push too hard on the fruit, to avoid small seeds.

Place back in the clean pot and add the Liquor. Reduce it by 1/3 and transfer to a container to fridge over night before use.

Cook's hands, Baker's arms /-/Spelt banoffee pudding cakes with pancake crumbles.

If you are a baker, a cook or even a mum, I think you can relate to the situation I faced the other day. After a few years of cooking and baking I have developed a fair amount of concealed muscle from hand kneading bread and my hands show the battle scars of sugar craft and knife work gone wrong. Anyone who cooks has some mark on their hands and arms that shows that they have been in kitchen. If you don’t, you have not been the kitchen long enough or you are some freak of perfect nature.



I am talking about the phenomenon I like to call developing baker’s muscles and cooks hands. I am sure there is more correct term for it but in short it is the physical traits you obtain from your hobby or job that signifies you are a part of social group. So for baker’s kneading gives you very good muscles and cooks have very scarred hand from their work with fire and knifes. I am a little of both, so I unfortunately have the worst of both worlds. So where ever I go people automaticity look at me weird.

Anyway this means I am hesitant when I have to show my arms and hands to people. I am not sure if they think I am just really clumsy but you never know; people tend to make a big deal out of scars and burns. Believe me, being called “emo” one too many times has caused me to rage on people. Right now spring has dawned upon Australia and we just had to lose an hour for day light savings; this tell me that I can no long cover up my arms anymore. Great….



On this particular day I was buying white rice, and in an Asian family white rice is staple of everything (as much as I hate it). My family buys rice from the local Asian store down the road, normally in 10-15 kilo bags. On this occasion I had to go, and let’s say I have learnt my lesson about being absent minded about my baker’s muscles and cooks hands. I am not a big person (5 foot 1’ to 5 foot 2’ ), so to the shop keepers surprise I picked up the big bag of rice with one hand and processed to walk around the store with it (I cannot help it, I like walking around food stalls) Cause my absentmindedness because a minute later I was told in Chinese (translated to best of my knowledge), “My gosh you have lots of strength and so many scars like a man”

Like really, I am already Self-conscious about my body, let alone a complete stranger telling me I have arms like man. The perils of being in an ABC (Australian born Chinese), your fellow older Asians have no filter when it comes to opinions.



A least these pudding cakes do not have anything to hide. I made these on the off day it was hot then cold in Australia. Now these are not the American Style pudding cakes but the English kind often served warm with sauce and double cream. So very comforting and it is hard to resist the toffee sauce from Nigella Lawson.

While I made mine with light syrup, I have made it before with molasses, treacle, maple etc. and it turn out fine too. I am sure I am not alone in preferring wholegrain whenever possible, so for denser cakes I do like to use grain flours. Not to mention it add to the flavour, nuttiness without the nuts.

Now, you WANT a big crack in your cakes for the sauce but if you do not have one you can poke a skewer a few times into the cake to help the toffee sauce get in. The crunchy topping is something I added after having a wild idea to turn my stale pancakes into croutons. It is like pancake flavour times 100X, who is going to complain about that?




Banoffee pie is such a loved classic, try your hand at turning it into a warm dessert for those times you need extreme comfort ( like me after being called a man…)



Spelt banoffee pudding cakes with pancake crumbles. 

Adapted from Taste.com


Make 6 large Texas muffin sizes cakes



250g spelt flour

50g brown rice flour

160g brown sugar (light)

2 tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

1tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp nut meg

2 cups of mash banana ( about three bananas)

130ml vegetable oil plus 50g melted butter

2 egg yolks plus 2 eggs, whisked together

1 scraped vanilla pod

80ml golden syrup or (treacle- deeper, heavier, slightly bitter syrup)



Pre heat oven to 180C, Grease a texas muffin tin with butter and then flour the sides.

In a large bowl shift your flour, rice flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg.

In a large jug combine the bananas, sugar, oil and butter mix, egg mix and vanilla bean.

Make a hole in the middle of flour mix and pour our wet mix in to the hole. Fold in the two mixtures with a wooden spoon until just mixed.

Pour into prepared muffin tin, with the batter coming up to ¾ of the tin. Smooth out the surface and place in oven,

Once in the oven turn it down to 160C and bake for 30-40 minutes or until skewer comes clean. Allow them to cool in trays for 10 minutes once baked then transfer to wire cooling rack.



Pancake crumble

4-6 medium stale wholemeal pancakes



Crumble up your stale pancakes into small pieces about 5mm to 1cm big.

Lay on a lined baking tray.

Bake at 120C for 30 minutes, stirring every ten minutes for even browning.

Turn off oven and leave to dry overnight. Store in air tight container until use.


Serve warm with Sticky Toffee sauce (I used this one here from Nigella Lawson) and Pancake crumble.