Christmas Pudding Trial

Christmas is 23 days away! No longer months, but weeks and days! Im trying to be organized (if you call leaving it to late nov/early dec) before the mad rush of christmas sales, the crowds and being in lovely company of friends & family. Finding table stuff e.g servingware (since i have very little), more wine glasses, placemats, bon bons, probably another dinner set?!, cheese knife) At least this year! Being that we are usually guests and do the mad shopping on christmas eve or the days before as prezzies dont normally fit in suitcases (altho theres always room for a xbox 360 and laptops?!!) This year we will be at home with family visiting! Whoot!

Ive got all the sweets sorted; Pistachio & cherry macaroons but will change to almonds & cherry?, gingerbread men, white christmas version of choc crackles, little choc balls that look like puddings, gingerbread house, shortbread, christmas bark (white choc and smashed candy canes), stained glass effect cookies, rum balls, perhaps a hedgehog slice), the pudding & cake worked out. (might settle for bought custard?! lol!)

I have one smoked salmon on a herb frittata (i dont eat fish but others do) little appetizier recipe(recipes+ dec 08 mag), a jar of semi dried tomatoes, 3 jars red, white, green of cocktail onions (gee i hope someone likes cocktail onions lol!) so im working on a deli meat/cheese/antipasto? platter.

Some sort of roast meat, gravy, potatoes, carrots, green salad.
Some sort of undecided cocktail? Punch, Wine(not in charge of) & soft drink..

BHG Issue Dec2004 The pudding above
(my modified recipe for a 5cup pudding tin)
530g of mixed dried fruits (currants, sultanas, minus the peel)
100g of extra glace cherries chopped
3/4 cup of brandy (not halved like rest of ingredients! if u dont like do orange juice?)
1tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup of brown sugar (meant to be dark brown)
1 tsp of golden syrup (meant to be treacle)
2 eggs
125g soft butter
3/4 cup plain flour
1/3 cup self raising flour
bit of cinnamon, mixed spice n nutmeg

grease tin/basin/bowl with butter & line.
Add fruit to bowl (look for sultana stalks) add brandy & let sit for 20mins
add cherries, vanilla, gsyrup & mix.
add sugar, butter, eggs & stir.
Sift flours & spices. Stir well.
Spoon into basin/bowl/tin.
place basin/bowl/tin in a larger pot/pan so the water comes up half way. place in oven 160deg cel for 3hrs.

*Very nice pudding. Hubby says its very sugary, i think thats due to all the sultannas/fruit etc! As i dont remember even adding the sugar?! I somewhat wanted more 'pudding' and less fruit in this! The pudding is lovely and soft when warmed!(not rubbery or crumbly) Obviously the pudding would have been darker if i used the dark brown sugar and treacle (both i didnt have) Also if you add the cherries in with the alcohol and leave to soak the colour will bleed out, which doesnt effect the end result at all.. just weird seeing red coloured brandy!

The thing is i dont want the cake & pudding to be basically the same e.g both dark or both light. I am a fan of store bought light fruitcake over the dark... perhaps coz its not so strong and i can eat more of it?! lol! (oh thats sad!)

My kitchen was in such a mess with ingrediants everywhere on this day.. or night rather these pics were taken at 11pm. (with one downlight working in the kitchen!)

I dont think it needed the greaseproof paper. And if your a dill like me and try to up-end it on a plate after spending hours in the fridge.. let it come to room temperature as the 'greasing' kinda chills it into place! ROFL!

Picnic Cob & dinner pic

As usual i changed it a bit..
the recipe called for zuchini, eggplant, sweet potato, basil leaves, bocconcini.. none of which i have and in the case of the zuchini & egglplant both i dislike! I was going to get some bocconcini to try out.. but i forgot!
I substituted the bocconcini for some pepato cheese (pretty waxy, hard but crumbly) & some normal cheddar. I substitued the chunky red chili dip for pizza paste sauce, the semi dried tomatoes for fresh tomato and the veggies for triple smoked ham, mild italian salami & pepperoni... and i forgot about adding any salad greens to it.. thinking about it now wouldn't have done well anyways (considering in the recipe, which i didnt read to the end) they cook it.. i put 1 quarter in the oven, was yummy and the other quarter for 1min in the microwave and it was just as yummy, if not more melted and hot..
the next morning while clearing the bench i realised i left out the leftover salami & pepperoni! whoops!!!! Worked it out to be roughly the same cost as the veggie version, i found that the deli was cheaper than buying 100g packs from the over-packaged fridge deli section.. but then thats probably normal.. however the over packaged deli meats probably last longer in the fridge unopened..

finish up with a dinner pic, veal chop or cutlet.. with some salad.. i did add some addictive whole egg mayo to this..

Amaretto mud cake

I made a interesting mud cake for Jamie's 31st Birthday!!! :)
Here is the caramel mud cake recipe that i tweaked:
Caramel Mud cake
From AWW Cook

Prep time: 30 mins (plus cooling time) Cooking time: 2 hrs 10 mins Serves: 12

This cake is so moist and dense that it can be difficult to determine if it is cooked. The baking times given are your best guide, and when cooked, the cake should have a thick, sugary crust. If you like, cut the crust off the cake, although the frosting will soften it.

250g unsalted butter, chopped
200g white eating chocolate, chopped coarsely
2¼ C (495g) firmly packed brown sugar
1½ C (375ml) water
2 C (300g) plain flour
2/3 C (100g) self-raising flour
1 tspn vanilla extract
3 eggs, beaten lightly

1. Preheat oven to slow (150°C/130°C fan-forced). Grease deep 22cm round cake pan; line base and side with baking paper, extending paper 5cm above edge of pan.
2. Stir butter, chocolate, sugar, and the water in medium saucepan over low heat until mixture is smooth. Transfer mixture to large bowl; cool 15minutes. Whisk in sifted flours, then extract and eggs.
3. Pour mixture into pan. Bake, uncovered, about 2 hours. Stand cake 10 minutes then turn onto wire rack to cool.
4. Make caramel frosting. Place cake, top-side up, on serving plate, spread with frosting.

Caramel frosting
125g butter, chopped
1 C (220g) firmly packed brown sugar
1/3 C (80ml) milk
1½ C (240g) icing sugar

or
MY caramel glaze
(doesnt keep for longer than 3 days or in high heat)
2C icing mixture
1/2C brown sugar
dash of amaretto & water to right consistency

Melt butter in small saucepan. Stir in brown sugar and milk; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, 3 minutes, cool 10 minutes. Gradually stir in sifted icing sugar until frosting is of a spreadable consistency.


I had just only came back from shoping before i made the cake, so i wasnt about to go out again. i had just about 100g of white chocolate... for some reason i thought some cream would make up for the difference.. the cake was moist, dense.. very dense.. very sweet..
I used 1/3cup of amaretto tasted the mixture.. and tasted some more.. lol needed more amaretto and tested some more.. yummm .. lol do u see a pattern?
the recipe makes alot of cake batter! I baked mine in a large loaf tin that i have.. i wasnt keen on putting it in a round cake tin or 2 slice trays.. i measured out my loaf tin and my round tin and found my loaf tin was larger in capacity and its a good thing it did too! Either because the recipe uses mainly plain flour or because its so rich with sugar.. it does not rise much at all.. nevermind that it cooks for 2hrs! The most expensive part was no doubt the amaretto! In the end i made a $15 mud cake.. lol.. just with the alcohol!

i also added some thickened cream & some extra flour to get the consistency right. (mine was too runny thanks to the cream & amaretto) I also brushed some extra amaretto on top of the cake, to soften the crust and add more flavour..

It was a great cake, terrible served cold from the fridge... but great at room temperature! Very easy to make in very little time. * i used choc thins in a lazy attempt to decorate the cake..

The lazy stirfry

This is a super stirfry for lazy or busy people. Its very quick and easy and requires little cooking ability.

Ingredients:

a type of meat or tofu.
whatever stir-fry-ish veggies you have e.g carrots, onions, capsicums, shitake mushrooms!
Noodles or rice.
Sweet chilli sauce
Soy sauce
pepper/salt to taste

First fry up your meat, then the onions. Have your rice either cooked or the water boiling for the noodles. Add the rest of the veggies. You dont need a wok. sure they help. but a big frying pan or pot will do the trick. When all is cooked add perhaps 3-4tbs os sweet chilli sauce and 1 tbs of soy sauce. add pepper and salt to taste. Stir thru the meat n vegs. and serve on a bed of rice/noodles.
yeah i dont bother to julienne carrots.. its a lazy stirfry recipe!
We love the Hakubaku noodle range. Particularly the soba (buckwheat) In australia find it in the asian section in both Coles and Wooloworths $2.40-ish one packet does 3 meals for 2-3 people.