How to Create the Ultimate Cheese Platter

This is my idea of the best cheese platter. Whilst still very much a savoury affair, there are definite sweet notes that keep me and my sweet tooth very happy. You don’t have to make your own biscuits, though these Quinoa Flake Biscuits taste one hundred times better than they sound (just ignore the fact they have quinoa in them!). You must, however, include the sweet pickled strawberries. They are the nicest way I have ever eaten strawberries and go so well with the goats curd in particular that I think they end up being the hero of the whole platter.

The real honeycomb is also a real winner here, and this cheese platter has finally given me an opportunity to utilise it. I have searched for recipes that incorporate honeycomb, only to find cakes or sweets that are based on the lolly made using sugar and bicarb soda. 

I read online during my search for recipes that used honeycomb that some people don’t like the texture of it. Maybe it’s the fact it tastes like honey but has a softly crunchy and chewy texture that throws people off, as if they are expecting to eat honey, the crunchy texture may seem strange. I had no problem with the texture and accompanied with some soft goats curd and the pickled strawberries and the crunch of the biscuits, added a welcome sweetness and chewy-ness. I would suggest buying a plain honeycomb, not a eucalyptus or lavender (etc) variety as any other flavours would overpower the rest of the cheese platter. 

I have left off quantities for the actual cheese platter, as it depends how many people you want to feed. The quinoa flake biscuits last at least a week in an air tight container and the pickled strawberries last one week in the fridge, so they don’t all have to be consumed right away. I found we nibbled all week on the biscuits, goats curd, honeycomb and strawberries in particular, once we were home from work (and ruined our dinner appetites every time!), and were quite disappointed when we had eaten it all. This cheese platter would be a nice thing to bring out over the upcoming Easter long weekend to enjoy with guests, or just for a quiet evening to yourselves. 

To Create My Ultimate Cheese Platter You Will Need: 

Mejool dates, pits removed 

Pears (I used the small paradise pears as they were in season)

Honeycomb

Goats curd (goats cheese would work well too)

A nice blue cheese

A hard cheese such as parmesan or a nice aged cheddar 

Quinoa flake biscuits 

Shop bought wafer biscuits (or any other flavourless biscuit)

Pickled strawberries

Serve with drinks, as an casual entree or even as an after dinner cheese course (in place of dessert). 

Quinoa Flake Biscuits

Ingredients: 

50g butter

125g quinoa flakes (found in the health food/gluten free section of the supermarket)

2 eggs, lightly beaten

250g caster sugar

2 tbsp plain flour 

2 tsp baking powder

zest of one small/medium (or half a large) orange 

Method: 

Pre heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius, and line three baking trays with baking paper. 

Melt the butter, then mix in with the quinoa flakes, sugar and eggs. Sift in the remaining dry ingredients and orange zest and mix until combined. 

Using a teaspoon, place small balls of the mixture on to the trays, ensuring there is enough room for them to spread, because they will! I found I could have made mine even smaller after they spread so much in the oven! 

Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until biscuits are golden. Remove from the oven and leave to cool on the trays or on wire racks. 

Pickled Strawberries

Pickled Strawberries

Ingredients: 

500g strawberries 

185ml verjuice (Maggie Beer has a good verjuice in her range of products, many independent grocers and delis sell it) 

100g caster sugar 

115ml water  

1 vanilla bean

1tsp pink peppercorns

rind of one small/medium (or half a large) orange, peeled in larger chunks 

Method: 

Put the verjuice, sugar, water, orange rind and pink peppercorns into a small saucepan. Split the vanilla bean and add to the saucepan. Place on medium-high heat and bring to the boil. Stir occasionally to ensure the sugar dissolves. 

Set verjuice mixture aside for 10 minutes or so to cool a little.

Hull and halve the strawberries (quarter if they are particularly big) and place into a large jar (about 1l capacity) or two smaller jars (about 500ml each, I used two 1 pint (around 470ml) Ball Mason jars). 

Pour over the verjuice mixture and store pickled strawberries in the fridge. 

References: Sophie Hansen of ‘Local is Lovely’ - http://local-lovely.com/sweet-pickles-the-whey-to-go/

Easter 2015

For this post I wanted to do a little re-cap of the Easter weekend, particularly the baking! Any recipes mentioned will be or are posted on the blog. 

This year I made it my mission to try as many different types of hot cross buns as I could. I didn’t get to every bakery I wanted (fingers crossed for next year), but I tried a few, as well as making my own. 

Homemade Hot Cross Buns - Recipe Here

I went to Black Star Pastry at the Powerhouse Museum a couple of times, and tried their Frankincense glazed hot cross buns. They were full of fruit and flavour, and well worth the walk to get them! 

Some Easter eggs and the Hot Cross Buns from Black Star Pastry.

I also bought a few from Baker’s Delight, because how could you not? These are probably my favourites, as while they have fruit in them, they are not quite as jam packed with it, which I prefer. I think I also like them because they are very easy to go and buy! 

On Easter Saturday, whilst braving the shops with every other person in this part of Sydney, I managed to get some of Jamie Oliver’s Stem Ginger Hot Cross Buns from Woolworths. I had heard about these, but had never managed to get any. They were nice, and I’m glad I got to try them! I found the ginger quite subtle whilst I eating the bun, but then after the spiciness of the ginger really hit me! 

Hot Cross Buns from Baker's Delight (left) and Jamie Oliver's Stem Ginger Hot Cross Buns from Woolworths (right).

Over the Easter long weekend I decided to make some Easter biscuits. I had a couple of Easter themed biscuit cutters, that I had never used, so I thought it was time to use them! I had also not long been gifted the book ‘Cookies’ by Peggy Porschen, so it was also a great chance to continue with my cookbook challenge! 

The recipe for the biscuits and icing will be posted over on the blog soon. 

Easter Biscuits.

I also adapted my favourite scone recipe (originally posted here), and made them into ‘hot cross scones’ for Easter. The full post and recipe can be found here. 

Hot Cross Scones.

Here are a few snaps from the long weekend, including one featuring the newest addition to the cookbook collection, thanks to the Easter Bunny! 

Hope everyone had a lovely long weekend.

All baking, styling and photography for this post by Kathryn Vincent of Kulinary Adventures of Kath.

Coconut & Passionfruit Pancakes

Happy long weekend! 

It seems to me that here in Australia, we love nothing more than a good long weekend. So to celebrate, I am posting this recipe for coconut and passionfruit pancakes. Mostly because, if you can’t take some time making a leisurely breakfast on the long weekend, when can you? 

If you don’t like the thought of doing all the preparation and cooking in the morning, you can prepare the passionfruit syrup and the batter (up until the egg whites stage) the night before. Before whipping up the egg whites and adding them to the mixture, just make sure the batter has been out of the fridge for a little bit. 

This recipe comes from Bill Granger. I have consciously attempted to lessen the amount of his recipes that I make and blog about on here. At one stage, a few months ago, I had made so many of his recipes from various books, that it was going to look like I wasn’t capable of doing anything else. While I think that is a compliment to Bill, I thought that variety was also probably a good idea. 

I went about making these pancakes, firstly because I had frozen so much passionfruit pulp it would really be ridiculous not to use it, and I had been following the hype surrounding Bill’s new restaurant opening in Bondi. I figured if I couldn’t get to Bondi to eat at his restaurant, I would just have to make a recipe of his myself. 

Luckily for me, a week or so after making these pancakes, I got to visit bills in Bondi. I absolutely loved it. There were so many great options to chose from on the lunch and drinks menu, I had real difficulty making a decision. It is definitely a must visit if you are in Bondi or nearby. 

Ingredients: 

1 1/3 cups plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tbsp caster sugar

3/4 cup coconut, desiccated or shredded

pinch of salt

4 eggs, separated

1 cup milk 

1 cup coconut milk 

50 g butter, melted

butter, for cooking

banana slices, to serve

Ingredients for the Passionfruit Syrup:

1/2 cup caster sugar 

1/4 cup passionfruit pulp

Method: 

To make the passionfruit syrup, mix the sugar and pulp in a saucepan. Place on a medium heat and bring to the boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce the heat and simmer for ten minutes. Remove from the heat, and set aside to cool until needed. 

To make the pancakes, combine the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and coconut in a bowl. In another bowl, combine the egg yolks, coconut milk and milk. Whisk until combined. Add this mixture, and the butter, to the flour and mix lightly until just combined. 

In the bowl of a electric mixer, whisk the egg whites until they form stiff peaks. 

In two batches, gently fold the egg whites in to the batter. 

Using a large fry pan, heat some of the butter. To cook the pancakes, place heaped tablespoons of the batter, on to the pan and cook for about two minutes a side. The first side will be cooked when the surface of the top side of the pancake has formed small bubbles. Don’t overcrowd your pan with pancakes. If you can only do a couple at a time, turn the oven to a low heat and place cooked pancakes on a tray to keep warm. 

Serve pancakes with slices of banana and the passionfruit syrup. 

Original recipe from ‘Bills Open Kitchen’ by Bill Granger (2003, Murdoch Books), p. 23. 

bills in Bondi can be found at 79 Hall St Bondi Beach, NSW.

Originally Posted October 3, 2014.

All baking, styling and photography for this post by Kathryn Vincent of Kulinary Adventures of Kath.