I have had a bit of a love affair with lemon myrtle for a few years now.  First discovered at a local growers’ market.  The stall holder had made up a cheesecake to showcase this Australian native herb.  Very clever marketing, It worked, I purchased a packet of dried ground lemon myrtle leaves from her without hesitation.  Lemon myrtle has been a staple amongst my dried herbs ever since.

Lemon myrtle would be Australia’s most popular native herb.  It has a creamy lemon/lime fragrance and taste.  I adore it.  Extremely versatile, can be used in both savoury and sweet dishes.

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It’s quite funny when you think about it.  I married into an Irish family but I don’t think Mac and I have ever celebrated St Patricks’ Day the entire time we have been together.  It has been talked about, but the day seems to come and go and we don’t do anything for it.  Generally I don’t even realise it is St Patrick’s Day unless I am in town and see a group of inebriated people in green.  Actually next Sunday, 17th March, is St Patrick’s Day.  In fact, I already know that once again this year I won’t be celebrating St Paddy’s Day.  Instead I’m heading out to enjoy lunch with a group of very un-Irish friends. Read more →

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I will admit I am not into the commercialism of Valentine’s Day.  If you want to buy me roses, then please do any other day of the year, don’t waste your money on the 14th February.  Even though I don’t celebrate in a commercial way, in other words, paying big bucks for flowers, chocolates etc, I do like to play with the ‘Valentine’ concept in the kitchen.

Last year I made Robots bearing hearts biscuits.  So cute and quirky, who doesn’t love a robot with a love heart, all together now, aawwwwe.

This year I wanted to play with my new small love hearts cake tin.  Very cute and picked up at a steal.  With a nice supply of green tea powder from a recent visit to Tokyo Mart, left over almond meal from Christmas baking, financiers (or friands) seemed a logical baking move on my part. Read more →

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Zucchini is one of my favourite vegetables.  Actually, even though you will find the humble zucchini in the vegetable department of your green grocer, it is indeed a fruit.  Such a versatile fruit it is too.  It lends itself so easily to both savoury and sweet dishes.  Is used perfectly in a range of cuisines and you can even use the flowers.

I cook with zucchini quite a bit in my kitchen.  It always seems to make its way into a stir-fry, my green curry wouldn’t be the same without it and flowers are stuffed with cheeses or crab then deep fried.  Zucchini fitters with tzatziki and salad are the perfect summer dish.  I love them even just simply steamed.

I recently came across some old home economic notes from back in high school.  A big smile crossed my face when I spied the recipe for my first baking effort in class.  It was also the first time I had used a ‘vegetable’ in a sweet capacity.  The other dish being cooked on the day was carrot cake, but I wanted to do something I had never attempted before and chose the zucchini loaf. Read more →

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Firstly it is my pleasure to announce the winner of the Wonderful Pistachio Giveaway.  Congratulations Brad Iverson.  I will be in contact with you shortly.

One more sleep and Christmas will be here.  Time has flown and I can’t believe how quickly it has crept up on us.  Did it creep up on you too?  Here are five festive ways to use fruit mince.  All very quick and easy.  You can use your own fruit mince, I did make some earlier this month.  Alternatively grab a jar from the supermarket, either way, quick and easy festivity at your finger tips.  Perfect for that last minute baking. Read more →

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I experiment in the kitchen all the time, I can’t help myself.  I’m always tweaking recipes, adding this, taking away that, using different flavours.  One of my favourite recipes is one that was handed down to me by my mother, Biscotten Torte.  She does not claim fame to its invention, and we aren’t sure where the recipe was originally sourced.  All I know is that when I make it the boys go bonkers, they love it.

I have never played around with this recipe.  I have thought on the odd occasion of how I could make it more ‘Christmassy’, but never went any further than that.  That is, until I was seeking out Spekulatius cookies for Christmas.  Having Spekulatius in the pantry at Christmas time is a tradition in our household.  Come to think of it, they are always bought, never made.  May have to change that next year.

As I picked up the packet of Spekulatius to purchase, a giant light bulb appeared on top of my head, bells went off, an idea was born.  Why not use Spekulatius in my Biscotten Torte?  With that thought I picked up another packet and added it to my shopping basket.

Spekulatius were an obvious substitution in the original recipe.  The cookies are rich in spices, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger and cardamom.  The filling of the torte is almond, and I feel a perfect match with those flavours.

I was right, the Spekulatius worked perfectly.  I did add an extra layer of filling to the torte, to  give a denser texture than the original.  The filling is slightly different, but all the key ingredients are there. Read more →

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When my home fills with the smell of baking gingerbread cookies, I know Christmas has arrived.  Of course in my household the cookies disappear as quickly as they are baked.  Therefore I tend to put off baking until a few days before Christmas.  The ones in these pictures have been greedily devoured already and we still have a week to go until Christmas.  Looks like I will be busily baking more.

I like to use treacle as well as golden syrup to give more depth to the flavour of the biscuits.  The addition of allspice brings a little more ‘Christmas’ to their taste.  Use your favourite cookie cutters and decorate as you desire. Read more →

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I hadn’t heard of the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap (GFBCS) until it was bought to my attention via a tweet from Julie of Gourmet Getaways.  I must admit, I didn’t immediately jump at getting involved.  Mainly due to the time of the year, right when you are running around like a goose for Christmas.  Curiosity got the better of me, and I signed up.

This was the second year for GFBCS.  A USA based event, which includes a few countries, like Australia.  There is a US$4.00 charge to participate and that money is donated to charity.  The charitable cause is Cookies for Kids’ Cancer.  Money well spent as far as I am concerned.

So how does it work?  You sign up on the GFBCS website.  Once you confirm your participation you are instructed to make a US$4.00 taxable donation (if in the USA) directly to Cookies for Kids’ Cancer.  100% of your donation goes to the cause.

Once the deadline for signing up has passed you will receive the names and addresses of three other participants who you will send your cookies too.  It is all hush hush, they have no idea you are their cookie provider, and you have no idea who you will be receiving cookies from. Read more →

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You may remember my first road test of Adriano Zumbo’s new macaron mix, which is now available in supermarkets around Australia.  It was a great success.  I ended up with awesome looking macarons.  Sadly not the case for my second road test.

Even though the salted caramel macarons looked great once made, I wasn’t happy with the flavour.  They tasted a touch too artificial for my liking.  Decision was made to give the other flavour in his range, passionfruit, a try.

shells just out of the oven, hit and miss, they tried hard to have feet

I followed all the steps as with my first road test.  Unfortunately this time my macarons didn’t work out.  They were a bit of a disaster.  No feet and the shells were thin and flat. Read more →

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