Baked Churros with Chili Chocolate Sauce

Recently we have had a few casual dinners with a group of friends and to make things interesting, we chose  a country's theme for each one and everyone brought their favourite meal to share.

Our Italian dinner was a huge hit with homemade pizzas cooked on the BBQ, a fabulous antipasto platter and a tiramisu cake made by moi.

Our most recent dinner was Mexican theme and it was amazing - chicken burritos, tacos, chili con carne, vegetarian fajitas, nachos. YUM. The only Mexican dessert I could think of was churros but our past adventures in deep frying have not turned out well. But then what should pop up in my google reader but some baked churros from the fabulous Sprinkle Bakes! That, my friends, is destiny.

Heather's recipe is really detailed and has some great tips so I won't post it again here. You will find the recipe on Sprinkle Bakes here.
 

My notes:

- for fellow Aussies 1/3 cup butter is 80 grams

- Heather said if using butter they would spread more but I found they didn't spread at all. After the first tray I realised that and placed them much closer together, meaning fewer batches were required.

- not sure if we were meant to cool the mixture before piping but I almost burnt my hands trying to pipe these all out

- I doubled the recipe as it had to feed a crowd.

- I couldn't find the exact size piping tip Heather recommended anywhere (mine was 11mm rather than 14mm) so I got about 50 little churros from the double batch!

- I baked them in the afternoon then took them cold to the party. They reheated well in an oven (not a grill) and we rolled them in cinnamon sugar after that.

- I had to almost double the initial baking time to get any colour and crispiness on them

Overall these were fantastic! They tasted amazing, just as good as fried ones though perhaps with slightly less crunch. It made for a pretty special dessert for not that much effort and everyone loved them.

Chili Chocolate Sauce

250grams dark chocolate (70% cocoa), finely chopped
250ml pure cream
1 tbs brown sugar
1 ts chili powder
1 red chili to decorate

Place the cream and the chilli powder in a medium saucepan and heat until just before boiling. Add the sugar and chopped chocolate and stir gently until the chocolate has melted and the sauce is smooth. Pour into a serving dish and sprinkle with chopped fresh chilli.

Serve warm with the churros and maybe some vanilla ice cream.

BWJ - Mocha Chocolate Chips

They may not be the prettiest things but they were pretty tasty!

I made just a 1/4 batch of these Mocha Chocolate Chips because I don't need 4 dozen chocolate anythings hanging around here. I also left out the apricots as that just seemed a little odd.

Most of the batch was frozen and it was great I could eat them straight from the freezer as they didn't go rock hard.

So that's about it! Probably wouldn't make them again but they did disappear pretty quickly which is always a good sign.

Our host this week is Peggy of Galettista and you will find the recipe there.

Lime Cheesecake with Gingernut Crust

Happy St Paddy's Day! While I did make this today, the fact that it is actually St Patrick's Day was just a happy coincidence. We were supposed to be having friends over for curry but a burst water pipe (at their place) and 2 screaming kids who missed their nap (at our place) put an end to our dinner plans.

Luckily there was still a cheesecake to be eaten, and cheesecake makes just about anything better!

This is a variation on Dorie Greenspan's Tall and Creamy Cheesecake from Baking: From My Home to Yours. I first made it for Tuesday's with Dorie a few years ago and it has been my go-to cheesecake ever since, with a different flavour each time.

I love the combination of lime and ginger here. While it doesn't have the same zing as my Key Lime Cheesecake which includes a layer of lime curd, when topped with a pillowy cloud of whipped cream this is creamy cheesecake heaven. Enjoy!

Lime Cheesecake with Gingernut Crust

For the cheesecake:
500g (2 boxes) cream cheese
1/3 cup sour cream
1/3 cup cream
2 large eggs
2/3 cup rice malt syrup (or white sugar)
Juice and zest of 2 small limes
1 ts vanilla

For the crust:
1 pack gingernut biscuits
100g melted butter

To decorate:
1 cup whipped cream
Zest of 1 lime

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius / 160 degrees fan-forced. Lightly grease a 20cm springform pan and line the base with baking paper.

To make the crust, place the biscuits in the food processor and blitz until fine crumbs. Add the melted butter and pulse until well combined. Bake for approx 10 minutes. It should smell toasty and fragrant. Remove and allow to cool, then wrap the outside of the pan in 2 layers of alfoil.

Reduce oven temperature to 160 degrees celsius / 140 degrees fan-forced.

To make the cheesecake filling, first wipe out the bowl and blade of the food processor (no need to wash it as long as there are no crumbs left). Add the cream cheese and process until smooth. Add the rice malt syrup and process for 1 minute, add the cream and sour cream and process for 1 minute, add the eggs and process for 1 minute, then add the lime juice and zest  and vanilla and process for 3 minutes.

Pour into the prepared base. Place the springform pan into a large roasting dish. Pour boiling water into the roasting pan until it comes halfway up with sides of the springform pan. It can be safer to do this once the roasting pan is already in the oven.

Bake for approximately 50 minutes or until the top is lightly golden brown and the cheesecake is set with just a slight wobble in the middle. Turn off the oven, prop the door open with a wooden spoon and leave for 1 hour. Remove from the oven, remove the cheesecake from its water bath and place it on a rack to cool to room temperature then refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight. Just prior to serving, smooth the whipped cream over the top and sprinkle with lime zest.

Serves 8-10.

Oh and as we ended up having to freeze most of this, I can personally vouch for the fact that this cheesecake tastes AMAZING frozen!

Secret Recipe Club - Chicken Tikka Masala and Garlic Chive and Mozzarella Paratha

This is my first post for the Secret Recipe Club! I was given a really interesting blog called Enriching Your Kid written by mum Shirley to chronicle the recipes she makes for her family.

The recipes all have a strong Indian vibe and given we love Indian food in this house it was a really tough choice picking just one. So I went with 2 instead!

First up was a creamy Chicken Tikka Masala with a twist, that twist being that it contains cheese! A little research showed this is actually not uncommon. I love cheese but would never have thought to use it in a curry.

I did make a few changes to the recipe, firstly using chicken thighs instead of breast for extra flavour and also to ensure it stayed moist as we were cooking on the BBQ. Secondly, I used the remainder of the marinade in the sauce so as not to waste all those delicious flavours and to make the sauce really creamy. There were a few measures missing from the original recipe, for example the amount of lemon juice needed so I have just included what I used. I also doubled the recipe and that's what you will see below. You could easily halve it.

The second recipe I chose was the Garlic Chive and Mozzarella Parathas. While we do make curries pretty often I have never really made Indian breads and this one looked too good to pass up. It didn't disappoint. We all LOVED this bread!

The chicken and parathas made a fabulous dinner. The Chicken Tikka Masala has a lovely warmth from the spices (no chillies) so it is the perfect curry for kids. My 2 year wasn't keen (but he's going through a VERY picky stage) but he did love the bread. My almost 4 year old loved both and wanted seconds. So that's a pretty big tick of approval.

There were lots of other great recipes for choose from so make sure you check out Shirley's blog!

Chicken Tikka Masala
Recipe adapted from Enriching Your Kid

8 chicken thighs

1st marinade
1 tbs ginger-garlic paste (see recipe below)
Juice of 1 lemon

Cut each chicken thigh in half, add marinade ingredients and mix thoroughly. Place in the fridge for at least 1 hour or overnight.

2nd marinade
200 ml Cream
2tbs ginger-garlic paste
50 grams cheddar cheese, finely grated
3 tbs almond meal
2 egg white
1 tsp cardamom powder
1 ts crushed black pepper
oil
salt to taste

In a large bowl, mix together the first 5 ingredients the cheese dissolves and becomes a fine paste. Add the cardamom and pepper and mix well. Add the marinated chicken pieces and mix until the chicken is well coated. Set aside in the fridge for 2 hours.

Remove the chicken from the marinade, scraping off any excess. Reserve the leftover marinade to use in the sauce. Drizzle oil over the pieces, sprinkle with salt to taste and cook on a hot grill, turning often until golden brown and cooked through, approx 10 minutes.

Sauce
1 tbs oil
½ tsp cumin seeds
1 large onion
2 large ripe tomatoes
½ bunch fresh coriander, roughly chopped
salt to taste

Blitz the onion and tomato in a blender until smooth. Heat oil in a large frying pan, add the cumin seeds and cook for a few minutes until fragrant. Add the onion and tomato mixture along with the remaining marinade and mix well. Bring to the boil then cover, reduce the heat to low and simmer for around 15 minutes. Season to taste. Toss through the cooked chicken pieces and coriander and serve with parathas.

Serves 6.


Ginger & Garlic Paste
Recipe from Hub UK

115g fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
115g garlic cloves

In a food processor blend the ginger and garlic to form a smooth paste, adding a little cold water or oil if necessary. Store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks in a glass container. Makes approximately 100ml.


Garlic Chives and Mozzarella Paratha
Recipe adapted from Enriching Your Kid

1 bunch garlic chives, finely chopped
½ cup grated mozzarella
1 cup wholemeal flour
1 cup plain flour
2 tbs olive oil
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp tumeric
½ tsp chilli powder
½ tsp asafoetida (I used 2 ts ginger-garlic paste instead)
1 ts salt
Approx 1/3 cup water

Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl and add enough water to create a dough. Leave to rest for 30 minutes.

Divide the dough into 8 equal portions and roll each portion out into a round, approx 15 cm across. Brush each side with oil and fry in a hot pan on both sides until crisp and golden brown. Serve hot.
Makes 8.

 

BWJ - Boca Negra

I'd never heard of a Boca Negra cake before so was curious to see how these would turn out. Well, let me just say that a Boca Negra cake is the most intensely chocolatey cake I have ever made. Ever.

We don't do bourbon in this house so I subbed in some coffee instead and also went for a lightly sweetened whipped cream to serve. OMG. So rich, soooo delicious.

I'm very glad I did just 1/4 of the recipe, using my little heart shaped springform pan which only sees the light of day for Valentine's Day.

So my 1/4 recipe used 100g dark chocolate (I used Lindt 85% cocoa), 1/3 cup sugar, 1 tbs strong coffee, 60g butter, 2 eggs and 2 ts plain flour. It baked for around 22 minutes and was just right. At room temperature it was silky and luscious, out of the fridge later it was like fudge.

The kids each had a bite and hubby and I polished off the rest. YUM.

To get the recipe and make your own Boca Negra visit out our host Cathy of A Frederick Food Garden.

Carrot Cake Cookies

I've had a hankering for carrot cake this week but really couldn't be bothered making a whole cake. Plus I've been meaning to make a big batch of something to stash in the freezer for after-kindy snacks and a cake doesn't really work.

I spotted some Sunflower Seed Cookies on Planning with Kids a while back and have had them bookmarked to try.

As always when I find a recipe I like I very rarely make it as written. Here I've switched around quite a few of the ingredients using wholemeal flour, carrot and pumpkin seeds which weren't in the original. I've also used dextrose instead of sugar to make them lower in sugar/fructose and added extra baking powder so they are more cakey. Think a not-too-sweet carrot cake but in cookie form.

My boys went nuts for these! They had 2 each with a glass of milk for afternoon tea desperately wanted more but mean mummy said no.

This recipe makes a huge batch so they will last for more than 5 minutes. Most of the batch is in the freezer and I'm looking forward to bringing them out for after-kindy afternoon teas. As they are nut-free they would also be suitable to pack in Oscar's lunchbox for kindy.

Carrot Cake Cookies
Inspired by Sunflower Seed Cookies on Planning with Kids
Makes 4 dozen

225 grams butter, softened
1 ½ cups dextrose (or white sugar)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup plain flour
1 cup wholemeal plain flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups rolled oats
½ cup sunflower seeds
½ cup pumpkin seeds
1 cup grated carrot (about 3 carrots peeled then finely grated)

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius /160 degrees fan-forced. Line 4 baking trays with non-stick paper and set aside.

Place the butter and dextrose a large bowl and beat with an electric beater until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time followed by the vanilla, beating well after each addition.

In another bowl add all the dry ingredients and stir to combine then pour over the butter mixture. When roughly combined add the grated carrot and enough milk to make a thick and slightly sticky batter.

Roll heaped tablespoons of dough into balls and place them onto the trays (12 per tray), leaving plenty of room for spreading.

Bake for approx 12 minutes, rotating the trays halfway through, until lightly golden brown. Leave the cookies to cool for 5 minutes then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely. Cookies will be soft but will firm up when cooled.

Makes approx 48. Suitable to freeze.

BWJ - Foccacia

It must be said that we love foccacia in this house so this was always going to be a winner. It didn't disappoint!

I made a mix of crushed garlic, dried Italian herbs and a good slug of olive oil and brushed most of it over the foccacia before baking. The I brushed the remainder over as soon is it was baked and wow, it smelt amazing!

We just happened to be having lasagne for dinner the day I made this and it was perfect accompaniment. Both boys kept asking for 'more bread please'. Gotta love that.

Our host this week is Sharmini of Wandering Through so make sure you visit her blog for the recipe and visit the LYL section of the Baking with Julia website to see how everyone else did.

Lamington Cupcakes for Australia Day

 Happy Australia Day! The rain has put an end to our normal Australia Day activities of bbqs and catching up with friends so we are instead we at home just hanging out, watching kids movies and of course, baking!

Last year I made real lamingtons with the kids but it was a bit fiddly for little fingers. This year I decided lamington cupcakes were the go. Much easier. We did most of this while Charlie was having his nap. We still ended up with 1 smashed plate and 3 smashed cupcakes but such is the joy of cooking with kids!

At almost 4 years old Oscar loves to help in the kitchen. He can pour in ingredients, stir and is even getting quite adept at cracking eggs! For these cupcakes he also placed the paper cases in the muffin tray, spread icing and sprinkled on coconut.

Some of my fondest memories of childhood are helping to cook and of course licking the spoon. I really hope to pass on such memories to my boys.

One of my goals for this year is to get both boys more involved with daily tasks. They both help a lot but don't really have any little jobs that are always just for them. I have already started getting them to help set the table with their own plates, bowls and cutlery. They have been their things in the sink almost since they could walk.

Anyway, back to the cupcakes. I won't bother posting a recipe here as it is a basic vanilla cupcake with chocolate icing, raspberry jam and dessicated coconut. A quick google search will give you a recipe.

These lamington cupcakes were absolutely delicious and the perfect sweet treat this Australia Day. Hope you're all having a good one!

BWJ - French Apple Tart

I'm not off to a great start with BWJ this year, seeing I completely forgot about the last one (seriously how did the 8th of January come around so quickly?!) and only just scraped in with this one!

I knew there was an apple tart coming up so I bought 2 bags of green apples assuming they would last. When I got ready to bake however, I realised there was just 1 lonely apple left and this recipe would require some major tweakage (that's totally a word).

I think the beauty of this tart lies in the swirled apple slices on top so that's what I save my apple for. Rather than trying to sub another fruit for the filling, I went with a frangipane filling as I happened to have some almond meal. Apple and almonds are a great combination so I knew whatever happened this tart would at least be edible!

The taste test ...

Flaky buttery pastry topped with smooth almondy frangipane and fragrant apples. There really is no way this could be bad. I'm really keen to try the original version with the apple filling but this was a great substitute. Seeing as this tart bears little resemblance to the original I have included my recipe below.

My apologies to Gaye of Laws of the Kitchen for not making the actual tart. It's now on my to-bake list!

Mini Apple Frangipane Tarts
Makes 2 x 4 inch tarts

Pastry
1/2 cup plain flour
1/2 cup wholemeal flour
1 pinch salt
1 ts sugar
120g cold butter, diced
1-2 tbs cold water

Filling
25g almond meal
25g sugar
25g butter, at room temperature
1 egg yolk
1/2 ts vanilla extract

Topping
1 granny smith apple
1 tbs melted butter
1 tbs honey, warmed

To make the pastry - combine the dry ingredients in a bowl, add the butter and rub in with your fingertips, being sure to leave some pea-sized bits. If the butter starts to get too soft, place the bowl in the fridge for a few minutes. Once the butter is rubbed in add 1 tbs of the cold water and start to bring the dough together. If the mixture is too dry add extra water just a few drops at a time. Shape into a ball, wrap in plastic and leave in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Roll out the dough to approx 5mm thick and fit into 2 x 4 inch tart pans (there will be dough left over). Place the pans in the freezer for 20 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsisus.

To make the filling mash the butter together with the sugar and almond meal then stir in the egg yolk and vanilla. Set aside.

Bake the tart shells for 20 minutes or until dry to the touch and very lightly golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 15 minutes before spooning in the filling and smoothing the tops.

Slice the apple into thin wedges. Lay the slices across the top of each tart and brush with melted butter.

Reduce the oven temperature to 170 degrees and bake the tarts for approx 25 minutes or until the pastry and frangipane are golden brown and the apples are tender. Remove from the oven and brush with warmed honey.

Serve just warm.

New Year, New Name!

I can't believe after making such a major change I then promptly forgot to tell anyone! oops.

After much deliberation food.baby finally has it's own URL and a slight name change to foodbabylife.

Over the past few years I have started to feel constrained by the old name and wanted a new name to take the blog in a slightly different direction. It will still be predominantly a food blog but with more family and lifestyle posts tossed in to the mix.

The old blogger address does redirect to the new site but please subscribe using the new URL so you don't miss anything! Thank you :-)

Sistema Quaddie Lunch Box Review

Well it's almost back to school time! I always loved this time of year when I was a kid. The holidays had dragged on long enough that I was looking for something to do and it was exciting getting new books, uniforms and stationery.

Oscar starts kindy at the end of this month (sniff) and I am just starting to get organised. Luckily he has a bag already, leftover from his daycare days, and doesn't need sheets etc now that he no longer has a daytime nap. What we really needed were labels to make sure all of his things come home and of coure, the all important lunch box.

My baby loves his food so finding something practical that he also really liked was important.

My requirements:
- BPA free
- easy for him to open and close
- big enough to hold both morning tea and lunch
- dishwasher safe

We are lucky that our kindy stores all lunchboxes in the fridge so we don't need an insulated lunch bag and special cold bricks. That narrowed our choices down to a few but the Sistema Quaddie (Itsy Bitsy Lunch range) in blue and yellow was a clear winner.

It has 3 compartments on top, one of which fits an included bottle which can be frozen to keep lunch cold. I plan on using the largest compartment for some sliced fruit, then separating out either cheese, crackers, carrot sticks or a homemade treat in the other 2.

Underneath there is plenty of space for a sandwich, muffin, tub of yoghurt or whole apple/orange. We saw lots of lunchboxes which had space for a sandwich but not much else. For the sake of variety I would like to be able to include a savoury muffin instead of a sandwich or include a proper tub of yoghurt rather than those small-but-full-of-sugar tubes of yoghurt with cartoon characters on them. Those things simply wouldn't fit or would be pretty squashed in some of the other lunchboxes.

We have had a few trial runs and Oscar found it easy to open all the individual lids and we have already made it a rule that it will be morning tea on the top and lunch in the bottom.

Not to be left out, Charlie has an identical quaddie lunchbox and I'm planning on packing his lunch up the same as Oscar's on kindy days. This should be a bit of a timesaver and also be special for Charlie who is going to miss his big brother terribly.

We bought our Sistema Quaddies at Kmart but they are pretty widely available. You can find stockists and more information here.

Note - this is not a sponsored post and no brand associations exist with Sistema or Kmart. I just wanted to share something that I like!