don't choke on chokkie

Happy Easter!



Don't choke on chokkie like my little man did yesterday.... I obviously don't feed him enough chocolate because he inhaled it in his excitement...

ho ho jingle jangle

Thanks for your comments and thoughts about my hair-dorama's. I decided to delete those 2 posts, because I really don't want negative posts here, and I really really didn't want to see myself each time I looked at my blog! (I don't post very often, so I forget what I've done...)

I am finished with swapping this year! YAY! This is what I sent to Silvia for the Christmas Kaleido-swap. Silvia has 4 cats and is a huge cat fan!



Yesterday I received the mini christmas card swap from Anne. Anne made me a sweet little stationery set. The swing tags are great! So are the envelopes!! I have never been so successful making my own, but Anne has the technique down pat. Can you tell from this photo?


My lovely friend Annette surprised me the other day with these 2 little embroidered ornaments. Aren't they fantastic! I love the colours and the beading.


I've been spending the last couple of days cooking and getting ready for Christmas. Here's this years rocky road - I put silver balls on top to make it look more festive. This is wrapped and ready to take to my sister's tonight. I posted the recipe last year.


I've also made my normal Christmas cake too. Not photos this time - they look remarkably similar to last year!

I've tried a new recipe today. It's spiced biscuits or gingerbread, I suppose. The recipe is from this months (i.e. Dec 07/Jan 08) Delicious magazine. I may be inspired to share the recipe soon - but not today.

I can vouch that they're very tasty indeed.

Jamie and Fran's chocolate biscotti

This recipe comes from a book I bought in a second hand book store in Berkeley CA many years ago. It's called Cooking with Friends, as in the TV show friends (published 1995). Here it is on Amazon.

There's loads of yummy looking recipes, but mostly I love the fancy photos of the cast and quotes from the tv show. This recipe is described as follows:

When the women from Mad About You walk into Central Perk, they mistake Phoebe for Ursula and think she's working a second job. They tell Phoebe they want two lattes and some biscotti. Phoebe says "good choice" and sits down. Eventually Jamie and Fran find a waiter and get some of the biscotti with macadamia nuts.

2 cups plain flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
6 tbs (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup macadamia nuts (I used pistachio)

Preheat oven to 350 (180 celcius). Grease and flour a large baking sheet and set aside.

Mix flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt together. set aside. cream butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla until smooth. Stir in the dry ingredients until well combined. The dough will be stiff and fairly dry. Stir through the nuts.

Turn the dough onto a floured surface. Divide into 2 and roll each half into a log that measures about 12 inches long and 2 inches wide. Transfer the logs to the prepared baking sheet, leaving room for them to expand.

Bake until firm to touch. About 35 minutes.

Remove from the oven. Where an oven mitt to hold the logs in place. Use a serrated knife to cut them on the diagonal into 3/4inch thick pieces.
lay them on their side on the baking sheet and return to the oven for abut 5 - 10 minutes or until crisp.

Cool on racks and store in airtight containers for weeks. If they last that long.

Makes about 28 biscotti.

Other favourite quotes from the book...
Ross: I just thought we'd go out to dinner. And then I'd bring her back to my place and I'd introduce her to my monkey.
Chandler: And he's not speaking metaphorically.

Rachel: I'm not just waitressing. I... I... also write the specials on the specials board and... and I take the dead flowers out of the vase... and sometimes Auturo lets me put the chocolate blobbies on the cookies.

Monica: Hey, great skirt. Birthday present?
Rachel: yeah.
Monica: from who?
Rachel: From you. I exchanged the blouse you got me.

chocolate meringues with bailey's cream

Bill Granger, Aussie Chef. Worth keeping? YES!

As always, when trying this recipe I recommend using the freshest ingredients you can get hold of, and the best quality chocolate. I used Green & Black's 72% cocoa baking chocolate. This recipe makes 8 and the meringues can be stored in an airtight container for a few days.

All your utensils must be really clean and free of grease or this won't work!

4 eggwhites
1 cup (220g) caster sugar
100g good quality dark chocolate, grated
(careful of your fingers, they don't taste as good)
pinch salt

Preheat your oven to 120C.
Line a large baking sheet with grease proof paper.
Use an electric beater to whisk eggwhites and salt in a bowl until soft peaks form.
Add the sugar 1 large spoonful at a time and continue to whisk until stiff and glossy.
Gently fold through the grated chocolate.
Spoon onto baking sheet into 8 portions.
Bake for 1hr 15mins until dry and crisp.
Turn off oven and leave the door ajar for the meringues to cool.


(Pre-baked meringues. I didn't get a photo of the finished product!)

Bailey's cream
Simple stuff! 300ml of the thickest, dollopy cream around (like King Island double cream) and carefully stir through about 30 - 50mls of baileys.

Serve a meringue with a big dollop of cream and a couple of strawberries, or other berries on top. It's sure to be a hit! (Well it was for me anyway).

The meringue recipe was sourced from April 2007 Delicious. magazine.

Donna Hay's choc-malt brownies

This recipe is from issue 11 - Spring 2005. I make it whenever I can find an excuse. I'm pretty good at finding excuses to make things cakey and chocolate. Don't think about the ingredients too much, just make it and eat it - ok?

250g dark chocolate, chopped
310g butter, softened
2 cups brown sugar
5 eggs
1 1/4 cups plain flour (all purpose)
1/4 tsp baking powder
5 tbsp cocoa powder
1 cup malt powder
extra malt for dusting
(note: Donna also adds 1 cup choc chips - but I think that's going too far..)

Preheat the oven to 150C. Place chocolate and butter in a saucepan over low heat and stir until melted and combined.
Place sugar, chocolate mixture and eggs in a bowl and stir to combine.
Sift together flour, baking powder, cocoa and malt and stir into the mixture. (Add the choc chips here if you want them)
Spoon the mixture into a greased and lined 20 x 30cm (8 x 12in) baking tin. Bake for 50 minutes or until set. Cool the brownies in the tin. Cut into squares and dust with extra malt at the time of serving. (It dissolves into the brownies if you store them that way).

This recipe gets a rating of 5/5.

Raspberry cheesecake brownies

Ooh lala!

before...

after....

The recipe is from my favourite magazine - delicious. The original recipe is right here.

I screwed it up of course - and put all the sugar in the brownie instead of saving the right amount for the cheesecake. I put less sugar in the cheesecake instead. In fact, it tasted good with less sugar, so next time I make it I'll use less sugar all round.

This is what I'll try:
# 200g best quality dark chocolate (I used black and green's organic 70% cocoa cooking chocolate)
# 200g unsalted butter
# 300g sugar (200g for brownie base, 100g for cheesecake)
# 5 eggs
# 110g plain flour, sifted
# 400g cream cheese
# 1 tsp vanilla extract
# 120g raspberries (I used frozen because fresh ones are too expensive here)

I'm going to try setting the oven at 160C. Grease and line a 20 x 30cm lamington pan.
# Place the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water until melted. Set aside to cool slightly.
# Cream the butter and 200g of the caster sugar until pale, then add 3 of the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in the melted chocolate, then fold in the flour. Spread three-quarters of the mixture into the lined pan.
# In a separate bowl, beat the cream cheese, remaining sugar and eggs and the vanilla extract until smooth, then spread over the chocolate base.
# Dollop the remaining chocolate mixture over the cream cheese layer and use a fork to swirl the chocolate. Poke the raspberries into the top and bake in the oven for about an hour or until it doesn't wobble when you jiggle it.
# Set aside to cool, then cut into squares and serve.

It was still good with too much sugar, but I'm sure it'll be heaps better next time...mmm.