Happy Birthday Lori!

B'day gift sorted. Venue selected. Matina in charge of the main! All that's left is the cake and dessert...Well great company, nice welcoming comfortable home and divine Moussaka (made by Matina) is hard to match. So i aimed for being almost as good as all that! I settled on a chocolate creme caramel for the dessert and Raspberry-iced cupcakes for the b'day cake..and yes both are Karen Martini recipes... (and yes i do cook other people's stuff as well lol!!)

For the cupcakes (makes 18):

250g unsalted butter (softened) 160g icing sugar, sifted

200g caster sugar 40g frozen raspberries defrosted

4 eggs silver cachous (balls), for decorating

250g S.R Flour 18 raspberries for decorating

2tsp baking powder

1tsp vanilla extract

5tbsp milk

Preheat oven to 180 (fan forced). Place butter, sugar, eggs flour, baking powder & vanilla extract in food processor, process till smooth. Gradually add milk till its smooth and combined. Line muffin trays with paper cases, evenly spoon mixture up to 3/4 full. Bake 15-20mins. Cool on wire rack. For icing, place icing sugar in processor with defrosted raspberried process till smooth. when cupcakes are cooled decorate with icing, cachous balls and raspberries!

Lvl Difficulty : Can watch tv at same time

Time: Flight from Syd to Melb.

End Result: Hi 5's all 'round.

Choc creme caramel (sorry Patty!)

1 orange, zest finely grated

160g dark choc - chopped

600ml milk

250g caster sugar + 3 tbsp extra

120ml water
4 large eggs
3 egg yolks

Preheat oven to 160 (fan forced). Combine zest and choc in small bowl. Bring milk to simmer then pour over chocolate.Stirtill smooth set aside. Combine 250g caster sugar & water in small saucepan, stir till sugar dissolves then leave on heat to boil and cook until becomes caramel colour. Pour caramel into 20cm ceramic ovenproof dish, swirl around so sides get some coverage. Whisk eggs, yolks and extra sugar until well combined. Add milk mixture stir till smooth. Pour egg mixture through strainer into dish. place dish in baking tray and carefully pour in hot water until reaches halfway up side of dish. Bake for 75mins or until just set. Remove, cool then refigerate min 6hrs or overnight. To serve run hot dry knife around edges of dish and invert onto plate.

Lvl difficulty: Can watch tv at same time

Time: syd to melb with baggage hold up!

End result: hi 5's all 'round.

Special guest critic Tom said: "choc creme caramel gets 6/6 for taste and depth pf choc with the perfect level of just delectable orangeness and the consistency was slightly grainy for creme caramel so i can only take .5 of a point off for that so it's 5.5 :).

The muffin was good but sli oily (or moist?) texture the topping was yummy, presentation was so so compared to last ones. but the raspberry on top was the bomb! overall 4/6."

pasta with crushed peas and mint

so, i found this recipe in a delicious magazine but as per usual, i tweaked it a little...

ingredients:

400g rotelle pasta (i searched high and low for this but couldn't find it so used orecchiette instead)

4 cups frozen peas

1/2 cup pure thin cream

1 small bunch mint leaves

1 1/2 cups grated parmesan

cook pasta as per instructions. drain liquid and add a little olive oil.

meanwhile, cook peas in salted boiling water until tender and drain.

place 1 1/2 cups peas into food processor with cream, 1/2 cup parmesan and half the mint.

pulse briefly till coarsely crushed.

add pea mix to pasta along with rest of peas, parmesan and mint. mix on high heat for 1 minute and serve.

optional: place vine-ripened cherry tomatoes on a tray with baking paper. drizzle with a little olive oil, season with salt and pepper and bake in preheated oven (180) for 15mins... place on top of pasta to serve

optional: chop up small pieces of bacon or pancetta, fry in fry pan and stir thru pasta with rest of ingredients.

level of difficulty: can watch tv at the same time

time: flight from sydney to melbourne

end result: hi fives all 'round

gingerbread men

for christmas this year, a client mailed me some home made gingerbreads in the shape of a christmas tree.... i didn't think that i was a fan of gingerbread so i took them over to my boyfriends place that afternoon. whilst i was waiting for him to get off the phone so we could go snorkelling, i decided to open the pack and try them just cause that's what i do when there's food around and i'm bored!.... and to my surprise - i devoured 4 right away before my boy came back and said 'hey - i thought they were for me!'

so, with my new found discovery that i actually LOVE gingerbread, i decided to try and make it. this recipe is from the exclusively food website.... and you'll have to excuse my dodgey decorating as i was trying to work and bake these at the same time!

ingredients

375g (2 1/2 cups) plain flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
2 teaspoons mixed spice (ground spice mixture consisting of cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg)
3 teaspoons ground ginger
140g butter, softened (if using unsalted butter, add 1/4 teaspoon fine table salt with the butter)
130g (1/2 cup, very firmly packed) brown sugar
125ml (1/2 cup) golden syrup or treacle
1 large egg, separated into yolk and white (we use eggs with a minimum weight of 59g)

Icing
186g (1 1/3 cups) pure icing sugar, sifted
1 large egg white or 20-30ml (1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons) water
Food colouring, optional

sift flour, bicarb, mixed spice and ground ginger together in a bowl.
beat butter and brown sugar together in a large bowl.

beat until the butter and sugar are well combined and the mixture is creamy.

add golden syrup/treacle and egg yolk to the mixture.

Bbeat for about 30 seconds, until the ingredients are well combined.

using a spoon or the electric mixer/beaters on very low speed,gradually add the flour into the butter mixture.

preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius (160 degrees celsius fan-forced).
line a large baking tray with baking paper.

using your hands, bring the dough together into a ball.

divide the dough in half. place one piece of dough between two large sheets of baking paper and roll out until 4-5mm thick.

leave dough between sheets of baking paper and place on large tray put in the freezer for at least 15 minutes

repeat the rolling and chilling process with the second piece of dough.

once dough is cold and firm, remove from freezer, transfer to kitchen bench or leave on chopping board, and remove top sheet of baking paper. working quickly, use a 12cm long gingerbread man cutter and cut out men from the dough.

transfer the gingerbread men to the lined baking tray, placing them about 2cm apart.

place it in the preheated oven. it's best to bake one tray at a time. bake for 10mins.

remove from oven and let it rest for mins before transferring to rack to cool.

when gingerbreads have cooled, make icing mixing all ingredients together and decorate!

level of difficulty: read a few times and make notes before you try

time: free parking in shopping centre almost up

end result: hi fives all 'round