Jam drops

I made these on a whim over the weekend - I had an urge to bake but hadn't been to the supermarket so I was limited by what we had at home. We had jam in the cupboard, so the decision was made! Next time I'm going to go a step further and make my own jam.


Makes about 20 cookies.


Ingredients:

• 130g butter, softened
• 1/2 cup caster sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
• 1 egg
• 2 tbs cornflour
• 1 cup plus 3 tbs plain flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/3 cup jam - I used strawberry

Method:

Beat the butter, sugar and vanilla until light and creamy.

Add the egg and beat until combined.

Sift in flours and mix until combined using a spoon. The dough will be quite soft and fluffy. Refrigerate the dough for half an hour to firm in up.

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees C (fan forced). Line two baking tray with baking paper.
Once taken out of the fridge, the dough should be firm and easier to make into cookies!

Roll heaped teaspoons of dough into balls and place them evenly spaced on the baking trays. Make a deep indentation in the centre of each ball. I used the end of a chopstick.

Place half a teaspoon of jam in each hole. Try not to overfill them, or they will overflow during baking.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, until a golden pale colour. Allow to cool before trying them, the jam will burn you otherwise!

On a slightly random side topic, I also made lemon curd the same day as the cookies. Instead of filling all the cookies with jam, I baked some without, and added a teaspoon of lemon curd to the top of them after baking. Sort of like a mini lemon tart, but in a cookie instead! Forgot to take a photo of the finished product though :(

Lemon Curd (A Martha Stewart Recipe)

Ingredients:

(Note - the ingredients below is for half the original recipe)

• 4 large egg yolks
• Zest of 2 lemons (fine)
• 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon of freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1/2 cup sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter (cold)

Method:

Add yolk, zest, lemon juice and sugar in a heavy bottomed pan, whisk to combine.

Cook over medium high heat - making sure you stir it constantly with a wooden spoon. Make sure you scrape down the sides of the pan. When the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon (after approx 10 mins), remove saucepan from heat.

Add salt, then add the butter one tablespoon at a time, stirring until smooth. Strain through a sieve into a medium sized bowl. Cover with glad wrap (press glad wrap directly onto the lemon curd to stop a skin from forming on it). Place in the fridge to set for a minimum of one hour. mine set within two hours but apparently it can take up to a day according to Martha (she did make double the qty though)

Shoeboxgirl

Chocolate cupcakes with chocolate buttercream icing

I love baking. I actually think it is addictive. The more I bake, the more I want to bake.
I made these chocolate cupcakes recently...they were super easy to make and apparently they turned out ok! 


Makes 12


Ingredients:
Cupcakes

• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 egg
• 1 and 1/4 tsp vanilla

Buttercream icing

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 2 cups icing sugar
• 2 tablespoons milk

Method:

Preheat oven to 176 degrees C. Grease and line a 12 capacity cupcake pan.

Measure all ingredients (minus the eggs) into a large mixing bowl. Mix on a low speed until just incorporated before beating on high for 1 -2 minutes. Add egg, then beat on high again for 2 minutes.

Measure out mixture into prepared pan, and bake for 15-20 minutes, and when you insert a toothpick it comes out clean.


Allow to cool slightly in the pan, before transferring the cupcakes to a wire rack for further cooling.


To make the icing, beat the butter on high for approx 30 seconds, to soften. Add cocoa and a quarter of the sugar, and beat until combined. Add one tablespoon of milk and the remainder of the sugar. Beat until incorporated. Finally, continue to add milk until to achieve your desired consistency.  For this batch, I made the icing pretty thick!


These cupcakes store pretty well - they are still good a couple of days after baking.

Shoeboxgirl

Apple crumble muffins

I am glad my husband wasn't at home when I baked these ... wow, what a mess! I blame the crumble topping! This is the first time I have used rice bran oil. The original recipe called for 2/3 cup vegetable oil, but I thought I'd try halving the oil and making up for it by adding apple puree. Rice bran oil has a more subtle taste compared to vegetable oil, and has a nutty sort of flavour.

This recipe makes 18 muffins or 12 muffins + 1 loaf cake approx. The muffins take 25-30 minutes to cook, while the cake took approx 50 minutes. Today I baked 12 muffins and 1 loaf cake. 

Ingredients:

Muffins

• 1 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/3 cup rice bran oil
• 1/3 cup apple puree
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
• 2 1/2 cups self-raising flour
• 1 tsp bicarb soda
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 cup butter milk
• 2 cups grated apple (approx 3 large apples)

Crumble topping

• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/3 cup plain flour
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter
• 1 tsp cinnamon

Method:

Preheat oven to 176 degrees Celcius (fan-forced oven). Grease and line muffin pan.

Muffins

In a large bowl, whisk together brown sugar, oil, apple puree, egg and vanilla until smooth.

In a separate bowl, sift together flour, soda and salt. Add cinnamon. 

Add the oil and sugar mixture to the flour mixture, then add in the buttermilk.

Fold in grated apple until just combined.

Spoon mixture into prepared muffin pan.

Crumble topping

Mix butter, sugar, flour and cinnamon in a small bowl.

Sprinkle crumble mixture over muffins before popping them in the oven to bake. Bake them for around 25-30 minutes or until golden brown and tops spring back.

For the loaf cake, I greased and lined a standard loaf pan, and poured remaining mixture into it. I sprinked the remaining crumble topping onto it, and baked it for approx 45-50 minutes.

shoeboxgirl

Banana cake with cream cheese icing

This cake is tried and tested, I've made it many times. If making it for my husband, I ice it thickly with cream cheese icing as that's the way he likes it. When I make it for my brother and Dad, they like it without icing.


This cake is a great way to use up the over ripe bananas often left over in the fruit bowl at the end of the week. I freeze them and when I have a few I'll make a cake.


Ingredients:

Cake

• 125g salted butter, softened 
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 slightly rounded cup of very ripe, mashed banana (approx 2-3 large bananas)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract or 1 teaspoon natural vanilla essence
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon (this gives a mild cinamony flavour - use more if you prefer!)
• 2 large eggs
• 100ml (1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon) buttermilk
• 1 1/2 cups self-raising flour
• 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

Cream cheese icing

• 100g cream cheese, softened
• 50g butter, softened
• 1 2/3 cups icing sugar
• 1 3/4 teaspoons lemon juice

Method:

Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius (fan-forced) / 180 degrees Celsius (if oven not fan-forced).

Grease the side and base of 22cm diameter round cake pan and line base of the pan with non-stick baking paper.

Mix butter, sugar, banana, vanilla and eggs in a food processor for approx 1-2 mins, scrape down sides of processor and ensure all ingredients are evenly mixed. 

Add buttermilk and mix to combine.

Add ground cinnamon, sifted flour and bicarb soda to food processor and process until just combined, being careful not to over-mix the batter. 

Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake for between 50-60 minutes, or until a skewer or knife inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean. If during baking time you see the top getting overly brown, lightly cover it with al foil to prevent burning.

Cream cheese icing

Beat cream cheese and butter by hand or using an electric mixer until creamy. Sift in icing sugar and beat until smooth. Add lemon juice and beat to combine. 

Spread icing over top and sides of cooled cake.

shoeboxgirl

The start of something new

Hi, I live in a small unit (shoebox size) in a Melbourne beach side suburb with my husband and our dog. 

We recently got married and as most brides-to-be do, I organized our wedding. I like being busy, planning and organizing things and always having something to work towards. So after all the wedding planning I was left scrambling to find a new project to work on.

I have always been interested in food and enjoy researching and experimenting with cooking ideas and recipes. Specifically flavour combinations, differences in methods, and ingredient substitutions/additions really fascinate me. 

The fascination probably stems from cooking and baking memories I have from my childhood. Baking pancakes from a long ago memorised recipe with my Dad on weekends. Making them runny and under-cooked - just the way we liked them. Or memories of baking cinnamon pinwheels with my best friend during school holidays from a basic scone recipe with jam, cinnamon and pink icing. Yum!

My favourite book is “Beach Music” by Pat Conroy. I first read it when I was 12 years old, and I re-read it every year. I find I read it in times when I need something comforting or comfortable - the pages are well worn and dog eared (I have read it more than 14 times so far). I picked it up again to read last night and I realized that even this book features a strong connection with food. 

So hear I am, starting my own blog. I’m not sure anyone will read it, but that’s not the point. I have a few goals that I am setting before I get started.

• Recreate or find a similar recipe to our wedding cake (chocolate brownie cake with a hard, white, fabulous tasting thick white icing). It was fabulous and addictive!
• Master the art of sweet pastry baking
• Find a fabulous ginger and lime cake or muffin recipe (I have been having serious cravings for this flavour combination lately)
• Strive to make healthy alterations to favourite recipes without compromising taste!

Hopefully I'll succeed!

From shoeboxgirl :)