Part of our regular dinner menu rotation, this dish is great to use up a decent amount of zucchinis and eggs. Also, it is very forgiving in terms of volumes of ingredients. The below volumes are approximate. Add/subtract what you like/don't like to suit yourself. 

The original recipe comes from Pilsbury after it won a competition in 1980. Passed on from OG's grandmother to his cousin then to us, I've adapted it to suit the locally available ingredients and palettes. 

Apologies, I haven't edited any of these photos. Straight from a phone camera to you! I'll try and update when I can.
Ingredients
1 onion, chopped
3 to 4 zucchini, thin-sliced (or however many you have to use)
250g mushrooms, sliced (or however many you want to have in it) (optional)
40g butter
1 Tblspn oil for frying
Herbs (dried or fresh)
 - Parsley 
 - Basil 
 - Oregano
 - Dill
5 to 6 eggs (beaten)      
250g grated cheese (recommend using a mixture of mozzarella, cheddar and colby)
Enough puff pastry to line baking dish
Dijon mustard (~4 tablespoons)
2 to 3 tomatoes, sliced
salt and pepper to taste
½ teaspoon garlic powder or 1 clove freshly minced garlic (optional) 


Method
1. In a large skillet, saute finely diced onions in butter and oil. Add sliced zucchini and herbs (and minced garlic or garlic powder). It is also a good opportunity to also add some turmeric powder (coz why not!). Saute to soften and set aside.



2. To the same pan, recoat with oil and butter and saute mushrooms until soft and set aside to cool. (Can put into the same vessel as the cooked zucchini. 

3. In a large bowl, beat around 5 to 6 eggs, add some water to stretch it if needed. Add cooled zucchini/mushroom mixture.

4. Line pie or casserole with defrosted puff pastry. Lightly spread a layer of mustard on the pastry. Line base of pie with some grated cheese (either cheddar or mozzarella. Mozzarella was the original recipe but i use cheddar or colby). 




5. Add remaining cheese to egg mixture and pour into pie dish. Top with more cheese (if you want). Add sliced tomatoes on top. This neat little trick stops the top from over browning or burning too much on top. 

I added some goats cheese to half of this... not necessary though

6. Place in preheated 180C oven til the egg is set and pastry is browned. At least 30 minutes depending on the size and shape of your dish. Remove from oven to cool slightly then serve.

Note: you can also use chopped spinach and/or silverbeet as additions or substitutes.

Following an impulse purchase of a bundt cake tin, it sat among my collection of bakeware for months. Then I received some lemons from my mum, I thought to make use of this tin. I was a bit nervous at first - what if it doesn't come out - it will be stuck there forever! Over dramatic - just a little! After researching an few different blogs, I decided to bite the bullet and use the bundt and make lemon poppyseed cake for my weekly family dinner. It turned out PERFECT-O! Thanks to Sally's Baking Addiction. The cake is moist, not too sweet, great tangy lemon-y flavour. Made this twice more in subsequent days to use up to lemons and share the love.

Below my version of events.

Ingredients:

Cake
2 & 3/4 cups (343g) all-purpose flour
1/4 cup (30g) cornstarch
1 teaspoon salt (reduce if using salted butter)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup poppy seeds
1 cup (230g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1&1/4 cups (250g) granulated sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
zest of 2 large lemons
juice of 2 large lemons (about 1/2 cup)
1 cup (240ml) buttermilk, room temperature

Lemon Simple "Soaking" Syrup
1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
juice of 1 large orange (about 1/2 cup)

Lemon Glaze
1/2 cup (60g) sifted icing sugar
juice of 1/4 large orange or (2 Tablespoons)
At this point I actually used the leftover "soaking syrup" and kept adding enough icing sugar to make a runny paste.

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 175C. Greased bundt tin with melted butter thoroughly. Set aside.

2. Sift the flour and cornstarch together into a large bowl. Whisk in the salt, baking powder, baking soda, and poppy seeds. Set aside.

3. Using a cake mixer, beat the butter on high speed until smooth and creamy. Add the sugar and beat on high speed for 2 minutes until creamy and pale. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Add the eggs and the vanilla. Beat on medium-high speed until combined. Beat in the lemon zest and lemon juice. 

4. With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients in three additions alternating with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients, and mixing each addition just until incorporated. Do not overmix. The batter will be slightly thick.

5. Pour/spoon the batter evenly into the prepared bundt pan. Bake for 40-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Cover the cake loosely with aluminum foil if you begin to see the top browning quickly. Once done, remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes inside the pan. Then turn out onto cooling rack.

6. During this time, make the simple syrup. Combine the granulated sugar and lemon juice in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stirring constantly, cook until the sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat and set aside.

7. Place warm bundt cake on a large plate or serving dish and spoon the syrup on top of the cake. Allow cake to cool completely.

8. With the leftover syrup whisk in icing sugar to form a thick and runny paste. Do this a tablespoon at a time. Drizzle over cooled cake. Slice and serve.

When someone says "profiteroles" it's usually followed by a "Yum!" reaction from me. Seeing profiteroles (even a picture of one) is usually followed by salivation. Yes I LOVE profiteroles! However, every time I've tried to make it, I'd fail miserably. I had never successfully made choux pastry. I've been through numerous recipes, even a Gordon Ramsey recipe where I watched his video on YouTube! Granted after every failed attempt, I'd sulk until I'd forgotten about my failure. 

In recent times, I've resorted to just buying it or getting others to make it. Especially at Christmas, my cousin Evelyn would bring a batch to the family gathering. Secretly, it was probably the one thing that motivated me to come to these functions.

During the year, my friend's mum would kindly make us a batch occasionally for our dinner parties / board game nights. Impressed every time we saw that platter of cream-filled chocolate covered sweet morsels, I finally got my hands on her recipe. I tried it out and SUCCESS! It was taken from a recipe book supplied with a kitchen electrical appliance of some sort. Who would have thought those picture-less books would have such good recipes!? Oh well, I'm not complaining. In fact, I'm grateful! I'm not going to try any other recipe. I'm not going to try and modify this recipe. That's it! It works and here it is, drop the mic, shut it down. The search ends here!

Huge thank you to Pete and his mum for this recipe! 

Makes about 30 (but this will vary depending on how big/small you like them)
Choux Pastry
Ingredients
80g butter
1 cup water
1 cup plain flour, sifted
4 eggs

Method
1. Preheat over to 220C. Line two oven trays with baking paper.

2. Place butter and water in a medium saucepan over medium heat and bring to just a boil slowly. 



3. Add flour to the butter water mixture all at once and beat/stir with a wooden spoon until dough forms and leaves the side of the pan. 



Note: Using a wooden spoon doesn't fluctuate the temperature of the mixture. This is important for this recipe.

4. Remove dough from heat and cool slightly. Place dough in a large mixing/stand-mixer bowl. and beat with the paddle attachment on medium for about a minute. This will further cool the mixture. 

5. Add eggs one at a time. Beat well after each addition. You will notice the texture of the mixture change after adding each egg. After the fourth egg, it will be stiff and shiny. Increase the mixer speed to high and beat for another minute.



6. Fill mixture in a piping bag with a large nozzle (or no nozzle). Pipe rounds of dough onto prepared baking trays. Using wet fingers, push down the peaks of the rounds to avoid them getting more burnt than the rest. If you don't have a piping bag, you can drop tablespoons of dough onto the tray.



7. Bake for 15 minutes at 220C. DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN DURING THIS TIME. Reduce the heat to 160C and make for another 15 minutes. Turn oven off and make a small slit in each puff and leave in the oven to cool, keeping the oven door open a-jar. 



Creme Patisserie (custard filling)
Ingredients
2 cups milk
1 tsp vanilla essence
4 egg yolks
1/3 cup caster sugar
1/3 cup corn starch

Method
1. Place milk and vanilla in a medium saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil.

2. I a separate bowl, whisk egg yolks and sugar together until thick and pale. Add corn starch and whisk to combine.

3. Slowly pour in hot milk mixture to the egg mixture and continue to whisk. Pour mixture back into pan and keep whisking over medium-high heat until thick. This may take about 10 minutes or so. Remove from heat, cover surface with plastic wrap and set aside to cool. 

Ganache
Ingredients
150g Dark melting chocolate, roughly chopped
70ml thicken cream

Method
1. Heat cream in a small saucepan over medium heat until just boiled. Remove from heat and add chocolate. Stir until all chocolate has melted. Set aside to cool slightly.

Assembling the Profiteroles
Once both custard and choux puffs are cool, fill custard in a piping bag and pipe to fill the choux puffs using the slits you made earlier. 



Gently spoon chocolate mixture over the top of each puff. Set aside or in fridge to allow the chocolate to set. 

Serve fresh! 

Growing up, if someone offered me "mac n’ cheese", I would get a highly processed, neon orange dish that came out of a blue packet. The smell of that instantly turned me off. 

Hi readers, I sincerely apologise for being so absent with my posts. I have been busy in the kitchen but also busy in my life, to find the time to blog, which is no excuse I know! It's been since August! Wow! I'm terrible! hopefully I will make it up with a series of quick posts. 

1/3 cup cocoa (35g)

One of the best things about Australia is the lamington. It's one of my all time favourite desserts, ever since I was a kid. Because it's so easy to find and relatively cheap, I've actually never made lamingtons before. According to SBS food, recently it was national lamington day. They put together a lamington recipe collection that has a slight twist on the ol' fav. One in particular caught my fancy - the Chocolate and Raspberry lamington. Mmm sounded delicious! It really wasn't such a stretch as lamingtons sometimes comes with jam and cream. This recipe just used raspberry jam and chocolate sponge (instead of regular vanilla). 

One evening when I was home alone, I made this recipe. Well... I started making it. I did it in stages. 1) Bake the sponge 2) whipped the cream and stir in the jam 3) prepared the ganache 4) construct the lamingtons. Verdict? Yes they were delicious and ridiculously big as I sandwiched together two pieces of sponge. The cake was pretty dense so eating it was a staged process too. 

This is my first attempt at making lamingtons

I chose not to blog it though as I think I could make it better. "How so?" I hear you ask. Well this is why I'm blogging this particular recipe. This is my take on the Chocolate Raspberry Lamington - I made it into a swiss roll. I decided to change the sponge cake recipe and used the "Chocolate Roulade with Coffee Cream" recipe from Australia's Sweet Baking Favourites (ISBN: 9780646580050) (Published by Nestle and Pacific Magazines). This cake is definitely for the sweet tooth folks out there. Enjoy!

Ingredients
Sponge
6 egg whites
1/2 cup (110g) caster sugar (I reduced to about 90g)
1/4 cup (25g) cocoa powder
2 Tblspn plain flour
2 Tblspn boiling water

Chocolate ganache
200g good quality dark chocolate, chopped
300ml thickened cream
Filling and construction
100 ml thickened cream 
1/4 cup (85g) raspberry jam (1 reduced to about 70g)
1/2 to 1 cup shredded coconut

Method
Sponge
1. Reheat oven to 170C. Grease a swiss roll pan or shallow baking tray (~35 x 25 cm). Line pan with baking paper.

2. Using an electric mixer, beat egg whites until they form soft peaks. Gradually add sugar, beating well after each addition to ensure the sugar dissolves. Sift cocoa and flour over egg mixture then pour in hot water. Fold gently. 

3. Spread mixture into prepared pan evenly. Try get this as levelled as possible. Bake for about 15 minutes or until cooked through and springy to touch.

4. Meanwhile, lay a clean tea towel on the table and cut a sheet of baking paper the same size as your baking pan, and lay the paper over the towel. When cake is cooked, remove from oven and turn the hot sponge onto the paper and peel away the lining paper. This maybe tricky, I used a chopping board to help me flip out the sponge. Working quickly and using the tea towel as a guide, roll the sponge into a swiss roll and allow to cool on a cooling rack.

Filling
5. Place cream in a medium bowl and whip til soft to medium peaks form. Stir in raspberry jam. 

6. When cake is cooled, gently unroll it and spread the cream evenly along the inner side of the roll. Gently re-roll the cake, this time using the baking paper as a guide. Place on serving dish, cover and place in fridge for about 15 to 30 minutes.

Ganache
Construction
8. Remove roll from fridge and pour ganache over roll to cover. Sprinkle with shredded coconut. Keep in fridge until ready to serve. Serve with fresh fruits.

Walking past cafes with lovely jumbo muffins, it takes me back to winter in high school. I used to love getting a jumbo choc chip muffin that's been over heated in the microwave with choc chips melting between your scorching fingers as you juggle muffin between your hands and mouth. 

This week I dropped into a kitchen outlet store and picked up my first jumbo muffin tin. Being super excited, I couldn't wait to use it. I had a bunch of leftover pizza ingredients in the fridge so I decided to make these jumbo pizza muffins. The recipe was inspired by Leonie's instagram post and based on Donna Hay's recipe with some ingredient changes - (seriously guys - pineapple belongs in a pina colada! Yes! I'm one of those people). 

The other dilemma I encountered was how do I line these muffin hole! Online - everyone seems to just use baking paper cut into squares and folded. Here is a good video on how to do it yourself. I literally cut a big square and shoved the paper into the hole and used a little ramekin to hold it down as I didn't have a tumbler that fit as per the video.

Of course, you can make this recipe vegetarian by omitting the meat. You can make this carnivorous by adding more meat (bacon, chicken, mince beef...). It's really how you like your pizza, but the basis is pretty simple - mix dry ingredients together, mix wet ingredients together then combine, fill muffin cases and bake.

A couple of learnings. 1) best put the mushrooms on top of the muffin before baking as they get soggy (unless you like it like that). 2) Cut up most of the ingredients small but not too small.

Makes approximately a dozen jumbo muffins or more smaller ones.

Ingredients
3 cups self-raising flour
1 tspn baking powder
2/3 cup oil (I just used olive oil and a little less)
2 eggs
2 Tblspn tomato paste (or pizza sauce)
1 cup milk
1 1/2 cups grated cheese (I used a pizza mix, however, Cheddar and mozzarella are best)
1 tblspn dried oregano
1 clove garlic, minced

Filling (use what ever you like from this list - this is just what I used)
chopped pepperoni
fresh basil, chopped
mushroom, diced
sun dried tomatoes, roughly chopped
80g chopped spinach (I defrosted some frozen ones)
red onion, diced

Other filling suggestions
Capsicum, diced
olives, sliced
ham or bacon, diced
anchovies (you crazy kid)
artichoke hearts
prosciutto, small pieces
bocconcini, small pieces

Method
1. Preheat oven to 180C (moderate). Line muffin tin with cases or baking paper.

2. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, oregano, 1 cup of cheese, garlic and your filling (perhaps leave out the mushrooms if you intend to have it). Mix to combine. Set aside.

3. In a medium bowl, add eggs, tomato paste, oil and milk. Whisk to combine. 

4. Pour egg mixture into flour mixture. Stir to combine. Fill prepared muffin tin. Add mushrooms on top and distribute remain grated cheese on top of each unbaked muffin.

5. Place muffins in preheated oven and bake for 20 to 30 minutes (less if using smaller muffin tins) or until cooked and golden brown. When pricked with a toothpick or skewer it should come out clean.

6. Remove from oven. Allow to stand for 5 to 10 minutes and remove from tin onto a wire rack to cool further. Serve warm - perhaps top with some aioli or pesto for that little bit extra. 


  

8.     Drizzle glaze over warm cooked rolls. 

Ingredients
Custard
1 litre milk
175g white sugar
1 tspn vanilla essence
50g butter
2 eggs plus 4 egg yolks
95g cornflour, sifted (I ran out of cornflour while making this so it was a 50/50 cornflour and custard powder)

Base
1 1/2 cups almond flour/meal
1 1/8 cup plain flour
1/3 cup caster sugar
135g butter, chilled and chopped

Topping
200g strawberries
5 kiwi fruits
Whatever other fruit that takes your fancy. Suggestions include: raspberries, passion-fruit, blueberries, peaches, rock-melon, honey dew, mango, pineapple, figs.


Method
Custard
1. Combine the milk, a quarter of the sugar, vanilla and butter in a large saucepan and heat gently until hot (not boiling), then remove from the heat.
2. Whisk the remaining sugar with the eggs and egg yolks in a large bowl until pale. Add cornflour and a little of the hot milk and whisk well. Whisk this mixture into the hot milk and return the saucepan to medium heat, whisking constantly. Cook for around 3 to 5 minutes, until thick, smooth and glossy. Transfer to a clean bowl to cool.

Base
3. Preheat oven to 160C. Grease base and sides of a large tart tin with melted butter.
4. Place almond meal, flour, sugar and butter into a bowl. Rub mixture with your fingertips. You can also use a cake mixer with the dough hook attachment. The mixture will form coarse breadcrumbs. You know this mixture is ready when you squeeze a handful in your hand and it stays that shape.
5. Place the base mixture in the tin and press gently with fingers to line the tin until even and then smooth out with the back of the spoon. I suggest doing the sides first before you press down the base. Bake for about 15 minutes or until light golden. Remove from oven and set aside.

Constructing tart
6. Pour cooled custard into baked base. Smooth out with a bake of a spoon or spatula.
7. Slice up fruit and arrange accordingly. Some like to pile the fruit high. Others prefer more custard, so less fruit.
8. Serve with a dusting of icing sugar.

Note:  I had a little leftover pastry and custard, so I make a few little ones too.

Passionfruits on sale means melting moments time! As it's close to Valentine's day, I decided to experiment and make heart shaped red velvet melting moments. I used my previous melting moments recipe and added red food colouring and cocoa, then used a small heart shaped cookie cutter and the rest is pretty much straight forward.
These turned out pretty tasty and as it was an experiment, I've added some tips and adjustments along the way.
Happy Valentine’s Day 2014 everyone! May your loveliest dreams come true!

Ingredients
Biscuit
250g butter, softened
1/2 cup icing sugar mixture, sifted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
1/2 teaspoon lemon essence
1 1/2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 1/2 tablespoons red pillar box food colouring
2 cups plain flour
1/3 cup corn flour

Filling
125g white chocolate, roughly chopped 
125g block cream cheese, roughly chopped
Pulp of 3 passionfruit

Method
Biscuit
1. Preheat oven to 160°C. Line 2 to 3 baking trays with baking paper. 
2. Using an electric mixer, cream butter and icing sugar mixture until light and fluffy.

3. Mix flours into butter mixture.

4. In a small bowl, mix cocoa powder, essences and red food colouring to form a smooth paste. Add to butter and flour mixture and mix well. Mixture will become thick.

5. Roll out mixture to about 1cm thick and using a small heart shaped cookie cutter, cut out heart shaped cookies. Lay them on prepared baking tray. Repeat for remaining dough. Make sure there is an even number of biscuits.

Note:
a) If you find things get stuck, dust some plain flour.
b) Caution on where you roll out you mixture, it may stain table tops etc. I suggest getting a large baking tray and working on that.
c) I try to use disposable gloves, stainless steel or dark coloured tools and utensils so prevent stains.


6. Bake in preheated oven for 10 to 15 minutes or until slightly firm. Cool on trays for 5 to 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.



Filling
7. Meanwhile, place cream cheese in a small pot and over medium to low heat until melted and smooth. Stir occasionally. Remove from heat and add white chocolate. Keep stirring until chocolate has melted and mixture is smooth. Stir in passionfruit pulp. Cover and refrigerate to cool. The mixture will then form a thick spreadable paste.

Construction
8. Spread flat side of 1 biscuit with a thick layer of filling. Top with another biscuit. Repeat with remaining biscuits and filling.
Note: It maybe easier to use a piping bag instead of spreading with a spatula or knife.

Serve!

What to do with a broken heart - EAT IT!