Ten in 10 Update 2 and Jam Drops

Well, another week done and it's been really up and down. We had some sad news on Thursday when we found out my uncle (Dad's brother) passed away suddenly overnight. Totally unexpected and I still can't believe it.

I'm the sort of person who cooks and cleans when I'm upset so the house looks great and I made some yummy cookies which I will get to in a moment.

First an official update for Ten in 10...

Things I did well this week:

1. Exercised 5 days out of 7. I was aiming for 7 days this week but overslept 2 mornings after being up a few times in the night with Oscar.

2. Switched workout dvds. The old one was becoming too easy so I guess that means my fitness is improving!

3. Weighed myself once! Lost 0.6kg which I am really happy with.

Things to work on for next week:

1. Eating consciously/watching portion size. I ate 4 jam drop cookies before I even knew what I was doing. Oh well.

When the urge to bake struck I was going to make Moogie's chocolate-filled poppyseed cookies but I think my poppyseeds were rancid. Ugh.

But I love these jam drops. Very homey and comforting. They are really sweet though so I would use only dark chocolate and a tart jam or marmalade. The flavour is more mellow the second day but they don't hold together as well. That's if they last that long!

Jam Drops/Choc Drops
Recipe adapted from Modern Classics #2 by Donna Hay, p18

180g (6oz) softened butter
1 cup caster sugar
1 egg
1 ts vanilla essence
2 cups plain flour
1/2 ts baking powder
jam and chocolate melts to decorate

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Place the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until light and creamy. Add the egg and vanilla and beat well. Stir through the flour and baking powder and mix to a dough.

Roll tablespoonfuls of mixture into balls. Place on a baking tray lined with non-stick baking paper, allowing room for each biscuit to spread, and flatten slightly. Press a finger into the middle of the dough to make an indent.

Fill the hole with jam (preferably something tart like raspberry or rosella) or a chocolate melt. Bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and add a little extra jam or another chocolate melt to each biscuit while they are still warm. Allow to cool completely before serving.

Makes approx 30 large or 60 small biscuits.

Homemade BBQ Sauce

We have recently discovered a super butcher near us (literally called Super Butcher) where they have wonderful quality meats like wagyu roasts at great prices. A few years ago I could have easily become a vegetarian but I've since discovered a taste for red meat. We have had the most amazing grilled steaks, pork belly and roasts I've ever eaten and they all came from the super butcher.

On the menu tonight were Black Angus beef sausages and I was looking for some way to spice them up a bit. This recipe falls into the always-wanted-to-make-but-never-got-around-to-it category. I think most of us have a list like that and while a lot of wishlist recipes tend to be extravagant, expensive or just downright decadent, this was a great addition to a weeknight meal.

I know there are a million other bbq sauce recipes out there, some sweeter, some hotter, some that take days to make in a slow cooker ... but this was perfect for us and I will definitely be making it again!

BBQ Sauce
Recipe adapted from Taste.com.au

2 tbs olive oil
1 small onion, peeled, chopped
2 garlic cloves
1 x 400g can diced tomatoes
2 tbs tomato puree
1 heaped tbs brown sugar
1 tbs Worcestershire sauce
1 tbs sweet chilli sauce (I used a tomato, capsicum and chilli salsa)
2 tbs white wine vinegar
1 tbs Dijon mustard

Place the oil in a saucepan over low heat, add the onion and cook for 5 minutes until softened slightly. Add all the other ingredients and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to medium and cook for 5 minutes, stirring, until thickened slightly. Set aside to cool slightly. Place in a blender and blend until smooth. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

Ten in 10 Update & Chocolate Self-Saucing Pudding

I realise having a diet update and a chocolate pudding recipe in the same post is a little contradictory but just go with me! I wouldn't last more than 5 minutes on a deprivation diet and while I've gone there in the past ... no more! I intend to get fitter and healthier over the next 10 weeks but I still want to have the foods I enjoy, just in moderation.

Overall it's been a great week!

Things I did well:

1. Kept track of what I ate (I'm using a great FREE resource called Calorie King which tracks calories, offers menu plans and generally helps keep me aware of what I'm eating)

2. Exercised 5 days out of 7. I'm going to try for 7/7 this week but honestly even 5 days is fantastic. Anytime I've attempted a program like this in the past, lack of exercise has been my stumbling block. It's just not something that comes naturally but I feel great afterwards and I actually miss it when I skip a day.

Things I can do better next week:

1. Late afternoon snacking. I definitely get the 4pm munchies so I need to have plenty of healthy snack options around. I tend to graze during the afternoon and seeing just how the calories add up has been eye-opening.

2. Plan my meals. I not only need healthy and filling dinners but also leftovers for N to take the next day, where possible. So steak and salad might be a great dinner but it's not great second time round. I will hopefully plan better for next week.

3. Throw away the scales! I know I said I wasn't going to get stuck on the scales but I ... weighed myself every day. *hangs head in shame* The number yo-yo'ed up and down all week to finally settle a measly 200 grams down from last week. So. I will weigh in once a week (on Saturday). The end.

And now onto the good stuff!

By Friday I was really craving something sweet. N reminded me of my 'no bake' policy for January so he decided to whip up dessert for us!

We thought this recipe originally came from his grandmother but now we're not so sure. Wherever it came from it's easy to make at a moment's notice and is absolutely sublime with a big scoop of ice cream!

N's Chocolate Self-Saucing Pudding

1/2 cup self-raising flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
90g (3oz) sugar
1 tbs cocoa powder
1/4 cup milk
1 tbs melted butter/vegetable oil

For the sauce:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 rounded tbs cocoa powder
210ml (7 fl oz) very hot water

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.

Place the sauce ingredients into the bottom of a 1 litre casserole dish and stir to combine. Set aside.

Sift together the flour, sugar, salt and cocoa. Add the milk and melted butter and mix until just combined. Spoon the mixture over the sauce. It does not have to placed evenly as the cake will rise to the top and the sauce will remain underneath.

Bake for approx 45 minutes. Remove and allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving with cream or icecream.

For a larger quantity, double the amount of pudding mixture but only 1 1/2 times the sauce is sufficient.

** Update - Thanks to Liss who directed me to the recipe calculator at Spark Recipes, I can now offer the following nutrition info for my chocolate pudding.

Enjoy! :-)

TWD 2nd Anniversary - Tarte Tatin

This week marks the 2nd anniversary of Tuesdays with Dorie! Two years ago I didn't have a blog and had only just discovered that food blogs even existed. It didn't take long for me to stumble across the Tuesdays with Dorie bakers and to want a piece of the pie. And shortbread. And cheesecake. (Oh, the brown sugar apple cheesecake!)

Laurie's idea to bake her way through Dorie Greenspan's Baking From My Home to Yours was a great one. So many of us have cookbooks that sit on the shelf despite our best intentions to use them regularly. Baking and blogging together has been a fabulous experience for me and I am looking forward and letting us all have a turn selecting a recipe was inspired. I am number 133 in the list (we are up to 96 now) so I still have a little wait for my turn.

In honour of the anniversary we voted for our recipe this week and I was thrilled the Tarte Tatin won out! (I made the Cocoa-Buttermilk Birthday Cake for my 30th last year). As I mentioned a few days ago I am taking a baking hiatus for January, but I couldn't let this one slip by so I made it for our New Year's Eve dinner.

First off, the actual dinner was spectacular! We made a slow roasted pork belly with caramelised vinegar, sauteed pears and potatos and baby broccoli. Honestly if I ordered this in a restaurant I would have been thrilled. The photo really doesn't do it justice. You'll just have to trust me!

I was a little worried about making the tarte tatin but it was a breeze. I used a square baking dish so I didn't even have to trim my pastry sheet. The caramel cooked up beautifully, nothing burnt and it turned out of the dish easily as well. The only problem came with the eating...

The taste test

It was SOOOOOOO sweet. As in tooth-aching, I-don't-think-I-can-eat-my-whole-piece sweet. Which is such a shame! I did in fact manage to eat my piece but I didn't have any for breakfast the next day as I was hoping to. Hubby didn't mind though, he polished off the rest in no time flat.

Still, I can say that I have mastered the Tarte Tatin and now I know I can do it, I will be making it again, just with less sugar! (I have since looked at some other tartin recipes and they all use less than half the amount of butter and sugar as this one).

Thank you Laurie! I am proud to be a part of this fabulous group of bakers and I'm looking forward to another great year!

Healthy Bread in 5 - Soft Whole Wheat Sandwich Loaf

We eat a lot of toast in this family. My dad has even been known to have toast with jam for dessert! But to make good toast you definitely need good bread and this recipe fits the bill perfectly.

This was the second recipe I made out of Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. I was looking for a more standard loaf (I made a boule the first time). Something that would hold up for both sandwiches and toast.

This loaf is a honey and egg-enriched, wholewheat bread with a lovely sour/sweet flavour. As it contains eggs it doesn't keep in the fridge as long as the other recipes, just 5 days as opposed to 14. But really when it tastes this good I defy you to have it last even that long!

One batch of this recipe was enough for 2 full loaves (made in a 9 x 4 pan). It sliced up beautifully and we are still enjoying it toasted, straight from freezer.

I won't post the recipe here as I think you should get the book! You'll find it on p78 of Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day.

Ten in 10

Lori aka Recipe Girl has started a wonderful challenge for the new year called Ten in 10. The aim? To get healthy, whatever healthy means to you! I had already decided I was going to make January a detox month, now I am committed to a full 10 weeks of getting healthier, fitter and stronger.

I SO need this challenge. I am still 10 kilos heavier than I was pre-pregnancy which means my clothes don't fit, I get tired more easily and I have pudgy bits that are getting me down. Not cool. While I desperately want to lose those 10 kilos I am keeping my goals health oriented. I know the weight will come off in the process and I won't get fixated on the scales.

My goals are:

1. To eat consciously (watch my portion size, only eat when hungry, stop when I'm full and keep track of what I eat)
2. To exercise for 30 minutes daily
3. To live like a healthy, active person ie. getting up off the couch and out of the house!

To help kickstart my Ten in 10 I will be taking a break from all baking groups for the month. That means no TWD, Daring Bakers or Daring Cooks. But make sure you check back on Tuesday - I couldn't miss the TWD 2nd anniversary!

I will be posting every Saturday with an update. There are over 200 participants from around the world so to join or check in and see how everyone's going, click here.

Fridays with Dorie: Low and Lush Chocolate Cheesecake

I've always thought if you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all. Could that be the reason I am 3 days late in posting?

I had really high hopes for this recipe. I mean, chocolate and cheesecake? How can it go wrong? Ummm. Sorry to say but this was bad. BAD. I always make cheesecakes in a waterbath. It keeps the temperature consistent, cooks evenly and ensures a silky, luscious texture. The fact that this recipe did not require a waterbath had me nervous from the get go.

I had the temperature slightly lower than stated and also gave it less time. Still I ended up with a very, very, very solid cheesecake. Something like a block of cheddar cheese. The taste? Not good enough to make up for the fact it was so damn hard. That I was serving this on Christmas Eve and not one of us could even finish a piece? Not happy, Jan.

On the plus side the crust was fabulous! One of the best ever. I used crushed granita biscuits and brown sugar which resulted in a caramelly flavour that I loved.

Another huge plus was the Spiced Cranberry Sauce I served with the cheesecake. This was its saving grace and I will definitely be making it again. And again. And again. You get the idea!

Spiced Cranberry Sauce
Adapted from here

300g frozen cranberries
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups water
Juice and zest of one orange (remove the zest in wide strips using a vegetable peeler)
1 cinnamon stick
1 x 2 inch piece fresh ginger, peeled
Juice of 1 lime

Place all ingredients except the cranberries into a medium saucepan over high heat. Bring to the boil. Once the sugar has dissolved, add the cranberries, reduce heat to low and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes, until the cranberries are soft but still mostly whole.

Remove from the heat. Discard the cinnamon stick, ginger and orange zest. Can be served warm or cold.

Option - strain the the liquid, squashing the cranberries to remove all the juice. Cool completely. Add 2 tablespoons to a champagne flute and top up with sparkling wine.

My apologies to The Tea Lady for stuffing up her pick somehow. I was so disappointed. Make sure you check out her blog for a successful version. I adore chocolate cheesecake so am tempted to have a go again, this time using a waterbath. Fingers crossed!

Daring Bakers December - Gingerbread House

The December 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to you by Anna of Very Small Anna and Y of Lemonpi. They chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ everywhere to bake and assemble a gingerbread house from scratch. They chose recipes from Good Housekeeping and from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book as the challenge recipes.

Wow, what a great challenge for December! I chose Y's recipe and it was an absolute breeze to put together. I will let my photos do most of the talking for this post :)

My house plan - found of recipelink.com Click above for all the details

In progress

My little helper guarding the pieces

Welcome to my home!

Step on down the tic tac path to be greeted by the gingerbread zombie

Do you like what I've done with the place? These chuppa chup shrubs are all the rage!

A little snow dusting the freckle covered roof and wonky chimney

Thanks for stopping by!

And thanks to Anna and Y for a fabulous festive challenge for December! You can find the recipes and instructions on each of their blogs.

I had a lot of fun doing this and it didn't take nearly as long as I thought it might. If you haven't made a gingerbread house before I challenge you to have a go!

Spiced Sugared Nuts

With all the Christmassey fare I've made over the years, I can't believe I've never made nuts. Until now, that is! I saw the recipe for these spiced sugared nuts in the December/January edition of Super Food Ideas magazine and knew they would be perfect as a gift.

They have a crisp, crackly coating of sugar and spices and the chilli adds just enough heat to cut through the sweetness. These nuts are definitely moreish!

Spiced Sugared Nuts

3/4 cup icing sugar
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon chilli powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
400g assorted, unsalted mixed nuts
1 eggwhite, lightly whisked

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C (350F). Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl. Place the nuts and eggwhite in a large bowl. Stir to combine. Add the spice mixture to the nut mixture and mix well.

Line a large baking tray with baking paper. Spread over the nut mixture in a single layer and bake for 10 minutes or until golden. Remove from oven and cool completely on the tray. Break up any large clusters. Serve immediately or wrap in a cellophane bag tied with ribbon for a lovely Christmas gift.

Makes 4 cups.

Tuesdays with Dorie: My Favourite Pecan Pie

I have to admit I wasn't that excited about making pecan pie this week. I've been in Christmas baking mode for weeks now and have been snacking on lots of goodies. Pecan pie is SO sweet that just the thought of it made me want to eat a truckload of veges.

BUT this pecan pie is a little bit different. First of all there is way less sugar/corn syrup than in some versions plus it has a few extras like chocolate and coffee powder. To boost the chocolate factor I decided to do a chocolate crust as well (using Dorie's Chocolate Shortbread Tart Dough from p 476 of Baking).

The taste test ...

Oooh boy, this is one hell of a pecan pie! While it's definitely rich it's not too sweet, with the coffee and chocolate notes providing the perfect balance. The chocolate crust was fantastic! It got a little browner than I planned (but not at all burnt even though it appears that way in the top photo). We served it with a big scoop of Cappucino Indulgence icecream. Yummmmmm.

Coming after one of the best Sunday dinners I think I've ever made (chargrilled Angus beef with avocado bearnaise sauce and mashed potato), it was a wonderful end to a great weekend!

Thanks to Beth of Someone's in the Kitchen with Brina for this week's pick! You can find the recipe on her blog under today's date.

Individual Rum Christmas Cakes

I have to confess, I am one of those people. Those people who actually like fruitcake! There is a lot of anti-fruitcake sentiment out there, particularly at this time of year, but around here we are in fruitcake heaven.

In addition to making the full size cakes I make every year, I decided to try a new recipe and make some smaller cakes to go in our gift hampers. These little beauties are rich and moist and fragrant. And oh yeah, they are also packed with rum!

Individual Rum* Christmas Cakes
Recipe source TBA

840g mixed dried fruit (apricots, cherries, figs, raisins, currants, cranberries, sultanas or whatever takes your fancy)
3/4 cup rum
250g unsalted butter, chopped
1 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup treacle
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups pecans, chopped
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1 1/2 cups self-raising flour
2 ts ground nutmeg
2 ts ground ginger
2 ts ground cinnamon
12 tbs rum, extra

Chop all the dried fruit into small pieces. Place in a large bowl with the rum and mix well. Cover and leave overnight (I left mine for a week), stirring occasionally.

Preheat the oven to slow (150 degrees C). Lightly grease 12 x 1 cup muffin holes and line the bases with a circle of baking paper.

Beat the butter, sugar and treacle in a large bowl until just combined. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in the soaked fruit mixture, pecans and then the sifted flours and spices and mix well.

Spoon the mixture evenly into the tins, smoothing the surface of each with wet fingers. Bake for 1 - 1 1/4 hours, or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cover the tops of the cakes with foil if over-browning. Once cooked and still hot, brush the tops the cakes with half the extra rum, cover with baking paper, then seal firmly with foil and cool completely in the tins.

Once cool, remove from the tins, brush with remaining rum and wrap firmly with cling film and leave for 2 weeks before decorating.

Decorating Options

1. Soft Icing - Roll out 100g of soft, ready made white icing the the size of each cake. Brush the cakes with warmed apricot jam, then lay the icing over the top and smooth down. Decorate with ribbon.

2. Royal Icing - Beat 1 egg white with a wooden spoon, gradually adding 2 cups of pure icing sugar, beating until smooth. Drizzle in 2-3 ts lemon juice until the icing becomes a little runny. Spread a tablespoon of the icing over each cake, allowing it to run down the sides a little. Top with holly and berries before the icing sets hard.

* The original recipe called for bourbon. We're not big bourbon drinkers in this house so we used good old Bundy Rum instead!