Christmas Time Again….

Christmas Cake

I’m not hosting Christmas this year, in fact I have a very relaxed and slack time planned, which is good as my social life is currently over the top and full on! It is nice to leave the planning and organising and most of the cooking, to others for once, although I will be contributing by probably making a dip or some other nibbles. The weather is stinking hot where I live, but right now freezing and horrible where I’ll be on Christmas Day – I hope that changes as we always like to have our Christmas dinners outside.

The only specific Christmas baking I’ve done this year is my dairy-free, low-fat (no fat in fact!) Christmas cake – sooooooo simple. Only 3 ingredients, although I did then liberally pour brandy over the top to soak in afterwards, but you don’t have to do that!

Here is the cake recipe, and below are a few other Christmas recipes in case you’re in need of some last minute inspiration:

Christmas Pudding (microwave)

Christmas Truffles

Christmas Turkey (crockpot)

Stuffing

Gingerbread

My little tree!

Happy Christmas Fooding!

 

Relishing Royalty

Finally Summer has hit with a vengeance, and I’m loving it. My social life is crazy right now, as everyone is just happier in the warmer weather and there are so many outdoor things to enjoy in Perth when the sun is shining :), not to mention the silly season is upon us – Christmas parties, lunches, concerts, street festivals – so much is going on right now and I’m really having a ball.

I was recently reading historian Kate Williams‘ book Young Elizabeth : The Making of Our Queen, which mentioned the dish created by royal chefs to be served at the Queen’s coronation lunch in 1953. Aptly titled Coronation Chicken, this dish has become an iconic British chicken salad dish, with many variations.

Basically this is poached chicken, dressed with a mixture of mayonnaise, curry powder and fruit chutney.

You can see both the original recipe and a healthier, modern take by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, here. I made mine above by taking elements from both – I used low-fat mayonnaise and Greek yoghurt for the dressing base, and fruit chutney rather than apricots, but I did poach 2 chicken breasts rather than use leftover cooked chicken. I also topped with shaved parmesan to cut through the sweetness, but actually it was still too sweet for me – too kind of “fruity” in an overpowering kind of way.

I like the concept, and it was easy to make, but I will try it again with just yoghurt and no mayo next time, and chopped dried fruit instead of the very strong fruit chutney.

Happy Summer Fooding!

 

Fruitilicious Muffin Break

I am amazed at how great these dairy-free Fruit Cocktail Muffins taste – this recipe is from the 4 Ingredients: Kids recipe book, and in fact only has 3 ingredients in it! I wasn’t expecting too much of this, but it turned out brilliantly. Mind you, the blurb in the book says “these are ideal for breakfast when in a hurry” …..well, considering the sugar content from the caster sugar and the fruit/liquid, I’m not sure I’d encourage children to eat this in place of other breakfast options – but certainly as a supremely easy morning tea or after school snack this is ideal.

Kids could easily make these themselves with very little assistance, and all you need is to have a can of fruit cocktail in the pantry and you can whip them up and have them in the oven in literally 2 minutes.

For a more decadent version, I might add some choc bits next time. And a bit of cinnamon in the mixture would be good. Or if you have any leftover tiny Easter eggs lying around (unlikely I know!), you could press one into the centre of each muffin before cooking – caramel-filled eggs would be even better.

I’ve frozen some to see how they taste when thawed – possibly they’ll be quite dry and might need butter or jam spread on them. And I’ve realised just how similar this recipe is to the Pineapple Cake I’ve made before – in fact, almost identical – so that means you could easily substitute a particular fruit in this (or the cake recipe), rather than the mixed fruit cocktail. Lots of scope!

Fruit Cocktail Muffins

2 cups SR flour

1 cup caster sugar

410 gm can fruit cocktail, undrained

Preheat oven to 150C (140C for fan forced). Grease or line a 12-capacity muffin pan.

Sift flour and sugar into a large bowl and stir well.

Add the undrained fruit cocktail an stir until just combined (if a little dry, add 1 tbsp milk).

Spoon into muffin pan and bake for 20-25 minutes or until tops of golden and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Makes 12.

Happy Sweet Fooding!

Christmas Truffles

What a busy time! I can’t wait for tomorrow, when I break up from work at lunchtime (and we have an afternoon Christmas bbq at the beautiful Kings Park) for a two week break. I’m off to Melbourne next week for Christmas with my family – haven’t seen my kids since March so am really looking forward to it.

As promised the other day, here is the recipe for the chocolate balls I made to take to my work Christmas bbq.

These are rich, chocolately, boozey and gooey. Just the things we all love at this time of year!

Fruity Christmas Truffles

500 gms bought Christmas cake (the “dark” variety seems to give a richer flavour)

200 gms good quality dark chocolate (I liked to use Lindt 70% cocoa)

60 gms butter

2 tbsp cream

2 tbsp brandy or sherry

dessicated coconut, cocoa or chopped nuts, to coat

Crumble the Christmas cake into a bowl. Combine the chocolate, butter and cream in a separate bowl and microwave until chocolate is melted and smooth. Pour melted mixture over the cake and add the brandy.

Stir until well combined and refrigerate for about 20 minutes, until firm enough to handle.

Roll into small balls and then roll in desired topping (above as you can see I have done half with coconut and half with cocoa).

Refrigerate until firm.

Makes 40-45 (depends how big you like your balls lol!).

If you buy a Christmas cake that is a bit bigger, cos’ they vary, use it all and just slosh in a bit more cream, butter and brandy (hic!) – it will still work just fine with a bit of “fudging”.

Happy Christmas fooding!

Still Sharing Christmas With You….

Although it is now January and I am fully expecting Easter eggs to arrive in the supermarkets any minute (!), I am still half in Christmas mode (why doesn’t it go for longer than 1 day??!!)……here is the microwave Christmas pudding recipe that I have been making for about 20 years – I was given the recipe by a nurse where I worked, many years ago. Actually I haven’t made one at all for the last few years, so I wondered if I still had the knack, but never fear it did turn out very well!

I make this on Christmas Eve, and then on the day itself just cut slices and reheat them individually.

The Parisian essence is included to make the pudding a lovely rich chocolatey-brown colour, like a baked one – you can get this where the vanilla essence etc is in the cake baking section of the supermarket. Failing that, you could actually leave it out altogether, as it won’t affect the flavour but the pudding will be paler in colour.

Microwave Christmas Pudding

4 slices of plain white bread, crusts removed

4 tbsp brandy, sherry or port

125 gms butter

125 gms brown sugar

pinch of salt

3 eggs, beaten

2 tbsp Parisian essence

375 gms mixed dried fruit

50 gms blanched almonds, chopped

1/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground mixed spice

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1/2 cup plain flour

Finely chop or crumb the bread; soak in the brandy (or sherry or port) for a few minutes. Cream the butter with the sugar and salt; add the eggs and Parisian essence. Add the bread mixture, then fold in the dried fruit and almonds alternately with the sifted dry ingredients.

Spoon into a greased, 18cm microwaveable pudding-shaped basin (Starmaid used to have one in their range, and Pyrex make a glass one). Cover with plastic wrap.

Microwave on REHEAT for 7 minutes, then reduce to MEDIUM for a further 8 minutes. Turn out onto foil and completely enclose until cold.

Slice and reheat as needed, and serve with brandy sauce, cream or custard (or all 3!!).

Happy Post-Christmas Fooding!

Flavour Combination From Heaven!

We had this divine “horse’s doover” the other day at a friend’s bbq, so I had to replicate it for our NYE party. Amazing combination of flavours. The feta is a mushy soft Persian style one – I don’t know if it would work as well with the firmer type fetas. Thinly sliced pears, topped with the soft, creamy feta on a water cracker……this must be tried to be believed.

Below is what mine looked like -not as good as Jodie’s but I couldn’t find the same brand of the Persian feta, so I had to use a different one. I think I drained too much of the oil out of it. Still amazing, but you know sometimes things are never as good as the person who first made them, makes them!

My blog is exactly a year old today, so happy blog birthday to me, and Happy Fooding!

Let’s Get Fruit-Cake-y

Soaking the fruit...

Well here is the super dooper EASY Christmas cake I made last week. It tastes very, very fruity – not surprising when you read what’s in it! I’ve cut a bit up already, as it was so easy I think I’ll just make another one at the last minute if we need it. Also I may splosh a bit of booze over it a few days before Christmas, to give it some alcoholic pepping up!  It is yummy just as it is anyway.

The cake is dairy-free, and I guess it is low-fat, although to be honest I am not really sure what goes into making dried fruit – apart from loads of sugar that is.

Christmas Cake

1 kg mixed dried fruit

500 mls (2 cups) orange or apple juice

2 cups self-raising flour

Place the dried fruit in a bowl; mix through the orange or apple juice. Cover and leave overnight in the fridge to allow the fruit to soak up the juice.

Combine the flour with the fuit/juice and mix well.

Place mixture in a greased/lined 25cm round baking tin.

Bake in 150C oven for 2 hours (cover loosely with foil after about an hour if the top is looking cooked/browned enough).

Happy Christmas Fooding!

Heavenly Dessert

The original recipe for this simple dessert, actually called for it to be served as a salad, during a main meal! I don’t really get that as it is totally a sweet, dessert type dish. Although there aren’t many ingredients, it does make quite a large bowl as I’ve pretty much doubled it from the original. If you can’t get shredded coconut, you can use dessicated coconut instead.

Heavenly Hash

2 x 200ml cartons sour cream (I use low-fat – or you could try it with Greek yoghurt instead)

2 x 250gm pkts of marshmallows (any colour)

2 x 310gm cans mandarin segments

2 x cans pineapple chunks OR crushed pineapple (can’t remember the size but it is slightly larger than the mandarin cans)

1 cup shredded coconut

Cut the marshmallows in half (using a pair of kitchen scissors is easier than a knife). Drain the pineapple and mandarin segments.  Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl, and refrigerate until serving.

On a savoury note, this week my boyfriend made a shepherd’s pie for dinner one night, and it was the BEST one I’ve ever had in my life! I totally forgot to take a photo, and he just makes it up without a proper recipe. Next time I will watch and take notes. It was divine.

Happy Fooding!

Apricot Cake

I got this from the Internet about 5 years ago, but I’ve no idea exactly where from so can’t acknowledge the source unfortunately.  This cake, which comes out quite flattish, is dead easy, low-fat, not TOO sweet/rich, freezes well, and is very more-ish. No need to say more!

(I assume it would work with gluten-free SR flour – if anyone tries it that way, please let me know how it turns out)

Apricot Cake

1 cup SR flour

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup dessicated coconut

1 cup dried apricots, chopped

1 cup milk

icing sugar for dusting

Preheat over to 160C. Place all ingredients except milk and icing sugar, in a mixing bowl.  Mix until apricots are coated with flour.  Add milk; stir until well combined.  Spoon mixture into greased (I line with baking paper) loaf tin.  Bake for 40 minutes, or until cake is golden and cooked through.  Cool for 5 minutes; turn out onto a wire rack, and dust with icing sugar when ready to serve.

(optional – spread with butter to serve)

Happy Fooding!

The Easiest Cake You Will Ever Make!

I got this Pineapple Cake recipe in an RSS feed from Best Recipes this week, and just had to try it out – 3 ingredients for a cake??? Had to be tried to be believed.  I am pretty impressed with this recipe – I mean, how much simpler can you get!

I did not like the sound of the icing – thought it would be too sickly and runny – so I didn’t bother with icing at all, but I will next time – just a regular icing mixture or a cream cheese one would be better I think.

Easy Pineapple Cake

2 cups self-raising flour

1 cup castor sugar

1 x 450gm can crushed pineapple

Combine all ingredients and mix well.  Pour mixture into cake tin (as the recipe didn’t specify what size/shape, I chose to use a loaf tin, lined with baking paper) and bake at 180C for 40 minutes.  Allow to completely cool.

Happy Fooding! and have a great weekend. I’m going to a boat show, should be fun.