Week 8 Christmas Cookies

Pecan Blondies (gluten free)

First make sure you have some gluten free flour mix.. this makes just less than 2 cups, and you only need 1&1/4 for the recipe.  I couldn't be bothered working out the exact measurements, I'll use the mix for something else instead.

Gluten Free Flour Mix:

1 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
2 tablespoons tapioca flour/starch
1 1/2 teaspoons xanthan gum

Mix all ingredients together until well blended.

Ingredients for Blondies:

•170g (1 1/2 stick) salted butter, melted
•1 cup brown sugar (firmly packed)
•4 teaspoons vanilla extract
•2 eggs
•2 teaspoons coconut milk
•1/2 teaspoon baking powder
•1 1/4 cups flour mix (see above)
•1/2 cup chopped pecans

Method
Preheat oven to 170c (350f) degrees. Lightly grease an 7x11 inch pan with coconut oil.
Mix melted butter and sugar together in a medium sized bowl. Beat in vanilla, eggs and milk until well blended.
Mix remaining ingredients into the egg mix until well blended. Pour into prepared pan and smooth the top out.

Bake blondies until golden brown, about 20 minutes.

 Week 8 Twelve Weeks of Christmas:

Week 7 Christmas cookies

Mulled Wine cookies

Ingredients:

140g raisins
75g dried cranberries
150ml red wine (I used a shiraz)
100g redcurrent jelly
pinch of chilli power
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
50g walnuts, chopped
50g blanched almonds, chopped
100g plain dark chocolate, finely chopped
4 tablespoons coconut flour
2 tablespoons tapioca flour
finely grated rind of 1 orange
50g unsalted butter, melted
1 egg
icing sugar for dusting

Method:

put raisins, cranberries, wine, redcurrent jelly and spices into saucepan and simmer till jelly has disolved, bring boil and boil for 2-3 mins until syrup is reduced by half, set aside to cool.

in a bowl add chopped nuts, chocolate, flours, orange rind, butter and egg, add cooled fruit mixture and stir till combined, place spoonfuls onto baking sheet and bake in oven at 170c for 15-20 mins, cool and dust with icing sugar.

these are so easy and so delicious!!  my room mate is commissioning me to make them for her families christmas baskets this year.  that good!  yup.

Week 7 Twelve Weeks of Christmas:

12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies - Week 6

Snowman and Reindeer Cake Pops

I have been dying to try my hand at Cake Pops.  I have a baking friend, who is also my gym friend, and I like to call her my vodka friend too, after the slightly crazy evenings we have had whilst drinking vodka... another one is due soon, and since its almost Summer down this way, I'm sure there will be one or two. 

So Reindeer and Snowman were the cake pop adventure of the weekend.  We had a blast, we laughed so hard our sides hurt.  I baked a Chocolate cake from the Edmonds cookbook.  (A New Zealand icon and almost every NZ woman has at least one edition in her cookbook collection) The chocolate cake was delicious.  We followed instructions from Bakerellas blog for basic cake pops.

Chocolate Cake:
175g softened butter
1&3/4 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla
3 eggs
2 cups white flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup baking cocoa
1 cup milk

Cream butter, sugar and vanilla till light and fluffy, add eggs, one at a time and mix well.  in separate bowl, sift dry ingredients together.  alternately add flour mixture and milk to butter mixture till all mixed, pour into greased and lined 22cm round cake tin and bake in oven 180C deg for 30 mins or until cake tester spike thingy comes out clean.  rest on wire rack until cooled.

Our chocolate melts were not viscous enough, so we had to add some cacao butter so we could dip and coat properly.  The edible pens I bought were useless, so we improvised with toothpicks and food colouring.

next we decorated.

Snowman:
orange coloured white chocolate rolled into small noses
licorice sticks for the hats
black food colouring

Reindeer:
dark chocolate piped into antelors on wax paper then cooled
M&M minis
Glace cherries, halved

Voila!  super cute cake pops!

Chocolate chestnut caramel cupcakes *gluten free*

I made these for a Halloween morning tea we had at work, but they could easily be made for Christmas, with the chestnuts, its kinda christmassy, and they are good!

ok I confess, the cupcakes were from a packet mix, its a new packet mix made with chestnut flour, I didn't have enough time to make any from scratch, I have a recipe, but I have to order chestnut flour on line as its not in the shops yet. sooo..

make 1 batch of chocolate chestnut flour cupcakes.
1 marshmallow per cupcake
red food colouring
black food colouring
chocolate melts
can of condensed milk turned into dulce de leche
150g cream cheese
1 cup icing/powdered sugar

using the cone method, cone out your cupcakes and fill with caramel replacing the top.
mix cream cheese, icing sugar, 2 tbsp caramel. put 3 tbsp of mixture in another bowl and add red food colouring to desired colour.
top cupcakes with the caramel icing, then red icing.
with a toothpick, dip into red food colouring and make squiggly vein lines on your marshmallows
melt chocolate and add a few drops of black colouring, pipe small round for the eyeballs pupil on wax paper, and pop in freezer for 10mins to set.
using a small bit of melted chocolate attach choc pupil to marshmallow eyeball and set onto top of cupcake nestled inside the red icing. voila!!

Week 5 Twelve Weeks of Christmas:

Amaretto Cookies

12 Weeks of Christmas cookies - o what a joy baking for Christmas is!! I heard on the radio this morning one of the DJ's horrified that Christmas decorations and displays were already up, reminding us that Christmas is 2 months away.. are you kidding me? I wish the decorations started last month!

Amaretto cookies

225gm blanched almonds, finely ground (almond meal)
4 drops almond extract
3/4 cup sugar
2 egg whites
1 tablespoon powdered sugar


Combine almonds, extract, sugars, and lightly beaten egg whites in medium bowl.
Knead mixture until dough is firm.
Moisten hands and form dough into 1" balls.
Place balls on cookie sheet and bake at 250F (120C) for about 60 minutes, on bottom rack in oven.
Place cookies on cooling rack and dust with powdered sugar while still warm.

Tip: these cookies don't expand - they cook in the size and shape you made them. don't make them flat though as they will lose that chewy centre.

Also Gluten free.

Thai Chicken and Galangal soup

I got this from a slow cooker cook book, but its an easy one to do in a pot.

Ingredients:
2x5cm(ish) piece of Galangal, thinly sliced
4 kaffir lime leaves - scored
1 tablespoon finely chopped coriander root (this is literally the root on your coriander bunch)
1 teaspoon finely chopped red chillies
500ml coconut milk
250ml chicken stock
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1.5 tablespoons fresh lime juice
3 teaspoons grated palm sugar or brown sugar
500g sliced chicken breast

In slowcooker or pot, place galangal, 2 of the lime leaves, coriander root, chillies, coconut milk and stock and simmer over low heat or on medium for 1.5 hours. Add chicken, fish sauce, lime juice and sugar and cook for a further 10-15mins or until chicken is cooked through. Stir through remaining lime leaves and serve. I added some thai eggplants as I found them at the supermarket - if you get yoru hands on some, add them after an hour of cooking to ensure they are soft when serving. garnish with coriander leaves.

soooo good!!!

Ratatouille

Ratatouille is a traditional French Provençal stewed vegetable dish, originating in Nice. Traditionally the vegetables are sauted and most recipes call for it as such, I prefer to bake it in the oven, fewer recipes instruct this method.

I love Ratatouille, I make it regularly, a large batch to last me a week or so. I made one tonight and put it with my baked turkey breast to last me for lunch for the week. I hope you enjoy !

Ingredients:
3 zucchini cut into slices
3 long thin eggplants cut into slices (or you can use a medium size regular one chopped into chunks)
red or yellow capsicum (bell pepper) I used a mix of baby ones, cut into strips or chunky pieces
4 large tomatos (I use organic truss tomatos) chopped into wedges
garlic finely chopped
2 thick slices of red onion chopped finely (I don't like alot of red onion in this dish, but a little is ok)
a sprig of rosemary or herbs de provence if you have some.
sea salt
olive oil

Put the vegetables into a bowl, sprinkle salt, garlic and rosemary on top and pour in about a tablespoon of olive oil, toss well and place in casserole dish and into an oven, preheated to 200c for 45 mins.

I like to pour a little balsamic on before serving. I've also used carrots in this dish before too. v.yummy.