Caramilk Dried Cherry and Pistachio Cookies

These cookies came about as I have had in my mind for the past year that a dried cherry and pistachio nougat would be an excellent Christmas recipe, but as it always does by this time of the year, time did not allow for a thorough testing of the recipe. 

As it started to become clear that my nougat Christmas dreams weren’t going to come true, I decided my Plan B for a new Christmas recipe would be a cookie with the same flavours. 

Of course, a cookie and nougat are hardly comparable, but what cookies lack in finesse and wide eyed compliments on how much effort you went to, they gain on the fact that they don’t take much effort but are extremely delicious. 

Like the Caramilk Cookies I posted this year on which this recipe is based, these cookies require very little prep, and need no time to chill in the fridge. You could make these in about half an hour. Which at this time of year, sounds pretty good to me. 

You can swap the dried cherries (also labelled as sour cherries sometimes) for dried cranberries and you can use any type of chocolate you wish if you don’t have Caramilk - though I do highly recommend Caramilk for baking as it tastes so good and is considerably cheaper to buy than better quality caramelised white chocolates which I personally find can be a bit lost in baking (save those ones for snacking!). 

So if you have unexpected guests this festive season, or want to drop off homemade goodies if you are socially isolating still, these cookies will have your back and won’t eat up all your time!

Caramilk Dried Cherry and Pistachio Cookies

Ingredients:

120ml canola oil

225g caster sugar 

2 tbsp golden syrup

1 tsp vanilla bean paste

1 egg, beaten

290g self raising flour

120g Cadbury Caramilk, roughly chopped

120g dried cherries, roughly chopped

1-2 tbsp slivered or roughly chopped pistachios

Method:

Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius and line three large baking trays with baking paper.

In a large bowl whisk together the oil, sugar, golden syrup, vanilla and egg.

Then add the flour and the chopped Caramilk and cherries, and mix to combine with a wooden spoon.

Roll heaped teaspoonfuls of the dough into balls and place on the trays. The cookies will spread as they bake so leave enough room in between. 

Sprinkle the tops of each cookie with some of the pistachio, pressing it in gently so they don’t fall off. 

Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. Rotate the trays in the oven about halfway through to ensure the cookies cook evenly.  

Allow to cool on their trays, then store in an airtight container (they will last 5-7 days). 

Makes about 30 cookies.

Cherry Pavlova Ice Cream

This recipe came about as a way to use up some leftovers from a Christmas shoot I did for Little Big Dairy Co recently. I had a lot of milk (20 litres to be precise!), and some additional Christmas-y things like cherries and pre-made mini pavlovas that were used for the shoot. I hate things going to waste, especially good quality produce like Little Big Dairy Co milk and Australian cherries so I decided I would go on a ice cream making spree in an attempt to at least use up some of the milk that had been sent to me for the shoot. 

I bought some Little Big Dairy Co cream to use with my ice cream, and I made one lot of this ice cream plus some vanilla ice cream at the house I was staying in for the shoot. I then brought back one 300ml jar of the cream I had left, and needed to make it last for 4 different types of ice cream I wanted to make (all in an attempt to thoughtfully use up some of the delicious milk I had!).

So for this recipe I have split the amount of cream needed between pouring cream and plain Greek style yoghurt. Greek style yoghurt works well in homemade ice creams along side cream, however if you have enough cream you can just use that (250ml total). 

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

Cherry Pavlova Ice Cream

Ingredients:

165ml milk

5 tbsp caster or white sugar

150ml pouring cream

100ml plain Greek Style Yoghurt

1 tsp vanilla extract or paste

365g cherries (unpitted weight), pitted and roughly chopped

70-75g pavlova*, roughly chopped, plus extra

Edible dried rose petals, optional

Method: 

In a large bowl, whisk together the milk and sugar until the milk is frothy and the sugar has dissolved. I use an electric hand held mixer for this, but you can also use a stand mixer if you prefer. 

Once the sugar has dissolved into the milk, add the cream, yoghurt and vanilla. Whisk on medium speed until everything is combined and the cream has thickened to form soft mousse like peaks. 

Transfer the mixture to your ice cream maker, and churn according to your machines instructions.  I use the ice cream bowl attachment to my KitchenAid stand mixer and I find this ice cream takes about 5-10 minutes to churn. I find the ice cream is ready once it has frozen/thickened and is clinging to the paddle of the machine. 

Once the has been churned fold through the cherries and pavlova using a spatula. Transfer the mixture to a freezer safe container (about 1.5L capacity). Sprinkle any extra crushed up pavlova over the top, and sprinkle over some dried rose petals if desired.

Allow ice cream to freeze for a few hours before serving. 

*I used about 6 pre made mini pavlovas (I got mine from Woolworths). You could also use pre made meringues. 

Christmas Gift Guide for Foodies 2020

For the past couple of years I have put together a small Christmas gift guide aimed at the foodies in your life.

This year I have curated a list of gifts, cards and stationary that are predominately by small businesses or creatives. I don’t know about you, but I think Christmas and gift giving generally is a great time to shop small and support cool people (especially women) doing really fun and interesting things.

Enjoy!

. . .

For more ideas check out my previous gift guides: Gift Guide 2018 & Gift Guide 2019.

Books

View fullsize

Everyday Bakes

View fullsize

Olive and the Larder

View fullsize

The Art of Cake

1. The Art of Cake by Alice Oehr - I have fallen in love with Alice’s illustrations this year and this book contains so many of them! And they are all of cake! Perfect for a cake loving friend. This book contains a short history of each cake along with the colourful illustrations, plus a few recipes from Alice at the end of the book too.

2. Everyday Bakes by Kath Vincent (me!) - I couldn't not recommend by own recently published cookbook Everyday Bakes! I really believe in the usefulness of this book and the recipes inside. They are all fairly simple and many can be made in an hour or less. These recipes will see you through busy weeks, tough times and sweet craving time and again, great for yourself or as a gift to a avid baker or baker to be. Select the Everyday Bakes Bundle to get the cookbook and Everyday Bakes tea towel (and save $5!).

3. Oliver and the Larder by Bianca Tzatzagos - my friend Bianca created this all ages picture book this year (along with a gorgeous set of cards too) with illustrator Inga Campbell. The short story follows Olive, a gentle food loving lady who has the most amazing larder (and garden!).

4. Graziher Magazine - I discovered this magazine this year, and have been really enjoying it. The stories from the bush are engaging, the photography and design is stunning and each issue I have has excellent recipes too. You can buy Graziher as single editions or as a subscription.

5. The New Way to Cake by Benjamina Ebuehi - This book by UK based Benjamina, has a stunning collection of cake recipes. I haven’t had a chance to bake any myself yet, but I have multiple post it notes marking the pages of recipes I desperately want to try. I love the way the book is set out, each section is based on a type of ingredient e.g. spices, floral and citrus. This is a great gift for yourself or for a cookbook loving friend.

Foodie Gifts

View fullsize

Fairy Bread Iconic Tea Towel

View fullsize

Everyday Bakes Tea Towel

View fullsize

Bikkies Iconic Tea Towel

1. Garlic from Longview Garlic - sign up to Lee’s newsletter and you can then place your order with her once the garlic is ready. Great for an avid cook and lover of all things organic and Australian.

2. Fairy Bread and Bikkies Iconic Tea Towels from Add to Cart by BabyMac - These are so fun, and extremely nostalgic if you grew up eating fairy bread at birthday parties and assorted Arnott’s biscuits like I did.

3. The Somewhere Co Picnic Cooler Bag - I bought one of these earlier in the year, thinking it would make a great work lunch bag. I was very wrong about that (besides working from home most of the year, this bag is very much a large sized cooler bag, not a lunch bag!), however it has come in handy when I’ve been taking food to a gathering or transporting shopping home. If you know someone who loves a good picnic or outdoor event, this is the gift for them!

4. Baked Goods from the Sweet Chick, Sydney - While I am yet to get to this bakery in Sydney’s Surry Hills, the Christmas menu looks amazing. If you aren’t into baking or just don’t feel like it/have time this year you can get a selection of things from a bakery like Sweet Chick and give them as gifts or use them as your Christmas Day dessert. Keep an eye out in your area for independently run bakeries and delis, you will find some great food gift ideas in there whilst supporting a local business.

5. Everyday Bakes Tea Towel - My tea towel! 100% cotton tea towel screen printed here in Australia, with the Everyday Bakes motto ‘bake share eat repeat’. A trusty and sturdy piece for your kitchen, or a great addition to a gift for a baking loving mate. Select the Everyday Bakes Bundle option if you would like to buy the teat towel and Everyday Bakes cookbook together (and save $5).

Cards and Stationary

View fullsize

Cards by Borrow Street

View fullsize

Cards by Tilly's Table

1. Christmas Cards from Borrow Street - I stumbled across this brand recently which is designed and printed in Adelaide. I love the fun, very Australian designs and bright colours. Borrow Street also prints wrapping paper with the same designs, which I know I will have trouble giving away it’s so nice!

2. Cards by Tilly’s Table - Lovely stylist and creative Tilly has these wonderful botanical cards, some Christmas themed some that would suit any occasion. I adore Tilly’s styling and photography and was so happy to stumble across these cards in the Blue Mountains recently. Tilly also sells tea towels with the same prints, which would also make a lovely gift.

3. Xmas Cakes Cards by Alice Oehr - As soon as I saw these cards by Alice I ordered some. These are the perfect cards for all your food loving friends and family, featuring Alice’s illustrations of plum pudding, ice cream bombe, pandoro, panettone and classic fruit cake. Printed in Melbourne.

4. Bespoke Letterpress - There is nothing Bespoke Letterpress does that I don’t like. I love their classic and rather romantic style, and they have a great range of cards and paper for your Christmas presents. Printed in Bowral, NSW.

5. Farmers Market Food Calendar by Naomi Bulger - This is the perfect gift for any avid market goers in your life, or anyone who is new to cooking and wants to know more about seasonal produce. Naomi has illustrated the calendar herself, and I think it would make a lovely addition to any kitchen wall.

Honey Jumbles with Pomegranate Icing

I always enjoyed honey jumbles as a child, mostly the store bought ones from Arnott’s that I’m sure a lot of Aussie kids grew up with too. But like many things I liked as a child, the store bought version just doesn’t seem as good now. So it was time to make my own. 

Honey Jumbles are a spiced biscuit shaped in a log, with either pink or white icing. Oddly, lots of honey jumble recipes don’t use honey, but golden syrup. While golden syrup can give baked goods a great flavour, I don’t see why honey jumbles wouldn’t actually have honey in them. So for my attempt I have used honey, and I think they taste great - and do what they say on the tin so to speak. 

I had the idea to make honey jumbles with pomegranate icing many months ago. A friend gave me a 2020 planner for my birthday late last year and since I had already bought myself a diary, I decided to use the planner for blog, recipe development and photography work. It’s been great to use (even if having a planner/diary for 2020 has been a little ironic and redundant at times!), and around Christmas last year I sat down and in the notes page before each month listed what holidays etc fell in that month. 

I like using holidays (both ones I celebrate and ones I don’t) as recipe inspiration, and when it came to September, a few honey based recipes for Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, came to mind. Including this one. Both honey and pomegranates are important foods at this holiday, and I thought the combination of the two would be great. Especially considering honey jumbles traditionally have pink icing, and let’s face it the pink ones were the best anyway (everyone fought over them in our house anyway!). 

Using pomegranate juice in a glaze icing like this is also a great way to get a fantastic natural colour in an icing. It doesn’t add much to the taste, but I think it’s well worth it for the amazing natural colour. You could do half the honey jumbles with pomegranate icing, then make a lemon glaze for the rest if you wanted some pink and some white. 

When I first tested this recipe the honey jumbles baked into a jumbo size biscuit. And while everyone said the size was fine, I still felt I needed to perfect the recipe! So this is the final recipe, with honey in like it should, and a bit more regular sized too. If you want to make jumbo ones use all self raising flour instead of the self raising and plain combo, and roll the dough into slighter bigger logs - and leave lots of room in between each on your baking trays as they will be massive (and make a few less than the recipe below)!

NB. You will need three or four large trays to cook these all at once. If you don’t have that many trays or the oven space, bake half and leave the remaining dough in the fridge until you can bake it.

View fullsize

Honey Jumbles with Pomegranate Icing

View fullsize

Jumbo Honey Jumbles

Honey Jumbles with Pomegranate Icing for Rosh Hashanah

Ingredients:

120g unsalted butter

175g caster sugar

50g dark brown sugar 

50g (2 tbsp) honey

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 egg, beaten

190g self raising flour

100g plain flour

2 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp mixed spice

1/2 tsp ground cloves

Ingredients for the Icing: 

250g icing sugar (confectioners)

3 tbsp pomegranate juice

Method:

Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius and line three large baking trays with baking paper.

In a small/medium saucepan over low heat, mix together the butter, sugars, honey and vanilla extract. Mix until everything has melted and is well combined. Remove from the heat and allow to cool down a bit. 

In a large bowl combined the flour and spices, whisk to remove any lumps.

Once the butter mixture has cooled a little, mix in the egg. Then add to the flour and mix with a wooden spoon until combined.

Cover the bowl and place in the fridge for at least 30-45 minutes so the dough has time to chill and firm up.

Roll small teaspoonfuls of the dough into balls, then shape into a small narrow log and place on the trays, about 3cm long and no more than 1cm wide. The cookies will spread as they bake so leave enough room in between. 

Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. Rotate the trays in the oven about halfway through to ensure the cookies cook evenly.  

Allow to cool on their trays. 

Once the honey jumbles have cooled, make the icing by mixing together the icing sugar and 2 tbsp of the pomegranate juice. Continue to add pomegranate juice a little at a time until you have a thick, smooth spreadable icing. If the icing is too runny it will run off the biscuits, so add a little more icing sugar if needed. 

Spread a thick layer of icing over the middle of each biscuit, and leave to set for 2-3 hours. 

Makes about 40-42 biscuits. Store in an airtight container

Rose Petal and Pistachio Cake

The idea for this cake came about as my lovely Instagram friend Lauren (@foldgently)had an idea for a week of floral inspired cakes to mark the beginning of Spring - check out #fgfloralweek on Instagram for more gorgeous floral cakes.

As I’m sure is quite obvious, I jumped at the chance to create a floral inspired cake - it doesn't take much (or any) persuading for me to add rose to just about everything! I had an idea to use a pistachio cake recipe I’ve been using a lot over the past year or so, then ice it in rose icing then completely cover the cake in edible rose petals (I used some from Simply Rose Petals).

I think this could be the ultimate celebration cake, though while I am celebrating absolutely nothing (except maybe finishing a new series on Netflix), it was still a joyous cake to eat. I don’t think there are any small problems or bad moods that can’t be helped with a slice of cake like this one (and a cup of tea).

I have added links to some of the ingredients I have used in case you have trouble finding them. You can also make your own pistachio butter by lighting roasting 120g raw unsalted or blanched pistachios then blitzing them in a food processor until it becomes a nice nut butter consistency.

A light pink food colouring can also be used instead of the rose powder to add some colour to the icing.

Rose Petal and Pistachio Cake

Ingredients: 

200g unsalted butter, softened

200g caster sugar

1 tsp rose water (I use this one)

120g pistachio butter (I use this one)

60g white chocolate, melted

3 eggs

120ml buttermilk or 120g plain Greek style yoghurt

200g self raising flour

Ingredients for the Icing: 

200g icing sugar (confectioners)

125g unsalted butter, at room temp

120g cream cheese, at room temp

2 tsp rose powder (I use this one)

1 tsp rose water 

Fresh, dried or freeze dried rose petals for decoration

Method: 

Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius and line a 20cm round cake tin. 

In the bowl of a stand mixer beat the butter, sugar and rose water until pale and creamy. Mix together the pistachio butter and melted white chocolate, then add to the butter mixture and mix until combined. 

Add in the eggs one at a time, then add the buttermilk/yoghurt and mix until well combined. Add the flour and mix on low speed until combined and the batter is smooth.

Transfer the batter to the prepared cake tin and bake for 50 minutes. Then cover the cake with foil and bake for a further 20-25 minutes, or until the cake is cooked through. 

Allow the cake to cool in its tin for a few minutes, then turn out on a wire rack to cool further. I like to keep the bottom side of the cake at the top as it is nice and flat to put the icing on a little later. 

Once the cake has cooled completely, make the icing by mixing together all the ingredients (except the rose petals) in a stand mixer or with a hand held mixer, until the icing is smooth. 

Spread over the top and sides of the cake, and decorate with the rose petals if using.

Serves about 8, store in fridge if using the cream cheese icing.

Reference: ‘A Table for Friends’ by Skye McAlpine (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2020) p.232.

Caramilk Cookies

My blog feels very cookie heavy right now, but honestly that’s a pretty fair indication of what I have been baking in the last few months. Apart from revisiting old favourites from my recipe eBooks and testing recipes for my new eBook (and a little bit of recipe development for clients too), versions of this particular recipe have been what I am making when I just want something nice to eat - that doesn’t take much time to make. 

Like the Chai Cookies in the post before this one, these cookies are based on the recipe for Gingernut Cookies from my Grandma. It is a simple cookie recipe, that lends itself to multitudes of adaptations. You can change up some of the ingredients (just keep the quantities the same). A different oil or melted butter can be used instead of canola oil, treacle instead of golden syrup, white sugar instead of caster for a crunchier cookie (just don’t use brown sugar, when I made them like this the oiliness of the oil in the cookie was very noticeable and not as satisfying to eat). And of course a mixture of plain flour and baking powder can be used to make your own self raising flour (see here for a good explanation on how to make it).

Caramilk (a caramelised white chocolate) is my chocolate of choice for these, but you can use whatever you prefer (up to 200g).  And if you would like the recipe to be dairy free, make them using an oil (not butter) and pair with a dairy free or super dark chocolate. Or use something else completely instead of chocolate like some chopped dried fruit or nuts. 

I know a lot of people are using the time we have this year to embark on more involved baking projects, but I am finding that recipes like this one, that are endlessly adaptable and very quick and effortless to make, provide just the kind of instant gratification I am looking for - a little bit of time in the kitchen, and something very tasty to eat not long after. 

Caramilk Cookies

Ingredients:

120ml canola oil

225g caster sugar 

2 tbsp golden syrup

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 egg, beaten

290g self raising flour

180g block Cadbury Caramilk, roughly chopped

Method:

Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius and line three large baking trays with baking paper.

In a large bowl whisk together the oil, sugar, golden syrup, vanilla and egg.

Then add the flour and the chopped Caramilk and mix to combine with a wooden spoon.

Roll heaped teaspoonfuls of the dough into balls and place on the trays. The cookies will spread as they bake so leave enough room in between. 

Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. Rotate the trays in the oven about halfway through to ensure the cookies cook evenly.  

Allow to cool on their trays, then store in an airtight container (they will last 5-7 days). 

Makes about 30 cookies.