Fluffy Pikelets

A parent requires a great deal of devious know-how. Often mind games and trickery are involved to get the goods into tiny bodies and picky little eaters. My mum used to try to disguise the left over breakfast porridge by adding it to our after school pikelets. It was a pretty ingenious way of getting more fiber into us and not wasting food. She inspires me-waste not, want not, right? Sometimes when I sweep the floor at home, my toddler and two preschoolers make sure I feel guilty at the amount of food swept from under the table and into the bin. It could feed a small army, I assume. Don't even get me started on the amount of remnants I find in the bin-bananas with one bite taken out of them, crusts from lunches that my daughter has snuck in there when I popped out of the room for a quick bathroom trip. I'm pretty sure we're fermenting various fruits under the couch, regardless of how frequently I sweep. That funky odor you may smell on entering the house? Possibly a lost orange stashed somewhere impossible, slowly rotting away.
Just kidding.
But sometimes this food wastage makes me thinking about how repetitive the snacks can become for the kids. That's when I make an emergency batch of soft, fluffy pikelets, sans the porridge. A small spread of jam on these warm little beauties and the plate is soon completely cleaned off. If you wanted, you could even make them bigger to make pancakes-they really are the same thing just in a different size. My favourite use for this recipe is making mini ones and stacking them with a fresh berry on top and a skewer through the middle-perfect appetizers and a great party food idea!

FLUFFY PIKELETS (Adapted from Taste.com)

3 tbsp butter, melted
3/4 cup milk
1 egg
1 1/4 cups Self Raising flour
2 tbsp sugar
extra butter for cooking

Place butter, milk and egg in a medium bowl. Add the flour and sugar. Beat with the electric beaters until incorporated and smooth. Heat  a teaspoon of extra butter in a large frypan; turn the heat down to low. Dollop the batter in spoonfuls onto the hot pan, leaving a little room for spreading. Flip the cooking pikelets when small bubbles come to the surface and the bottom is golden. Cook the other side until golden also. Serve with a spread of jam, or stack the small ones with a toothpick down the centre with a berry garnish on the top. The small stacks also look really pretty with a fine sprinkling of icing sugar on the top.

Makes approximately 12snack sized pikelets, or 6 snack stacks

Dark Chocolate Ganache and Coconut Tart

Being in Australia, I missed out on all the foodie enjoyment associated with Thanksgiving-but that didn't stop me from making pie! I believe it's a Martha Stewart creation originally- and so simple, delicious and gluten free just as an added bonus. I love that only four ingredients are used to create this luscious silky dark chocolate tart. It's somewhat ganachy, with a gorgeous coconut crust-sort of like a giant, chocolate covered macaroon, really. It's impressive yet takes next to no effort or skill, and feeds an army due to its glorious richness. Could there be any more perfect a dessert for Christmas? Easy, quick, delicious, festive, impressive! Perfection.

DARK CHOCOLATE GANACHE & COCONUT TART (Adapted from Marin Mama Cooks)

4 tbsp butter, room temperature
2 cups dessicated coconut
350g dark chocolate
1 1/2 cups heavy cream

Preheat your oven to 180C.
Place one third of the coconut into a medium bowl with the butter and stir thoroughly to combine. using your fingers, combine the remaining coconut with the butter coconut mix.
Line a 9in pie dish with baking paper. Press the coconut mixture firmly into the base and then up the sides of the dish, leaving the top edge more loosely packed and fluffy. Lay a sheet of foil underneath your pie dish and draw a circle around it. Cut off the edges so that you have a foil cover the size of the pie. Fold this in half and cut a half circle about two inches from the edge. Unfold to reveal a "o" shaped ring of foil. Place this on the pie so that it covers the top of the edges. This will stop it from over browning. Place the pie in the oven. You will need to carefully watch the pie, as ovens vary hence does the cooking time. Also what you cook in (glass, tin, ceramic etc) will alter the browning time. I cooked mine in a tin and it took about 12-15 minutes to start tuning a golden brown. Then remove the foil and cook for a further 4 minutes until just golden on the edges. Be careful not to let the bottom get too brown. If one area is getting too brown, cover in a piece of foil to stop the browning process in that area.
Remove from the oven and set aside to cool. When the crust is cool, chop up the chocolate and place it in a medium sized heat proof bowl. Place the cream in a small saucepan. Over a medium-low heat, bring the cream just to the boil.  Pour the cream over the chocolate, and let it sit for 10 minutes undisturbed. Mix together until fully incorporated and smooth and glossy. Pour into the coconut base and smooth the top if you need to.
Refrigerate until the chocolate has set (this will depend on the the of chocolate you use, it can take from 2 to 24 hours)

Serves: 10-12 (slice small as this tart is very rich)

Strawberry and Pear Crumbles

 It was a brown slimy substance defrosting in a ziplock bag on the counter. Brown liquid was accumulating in the bottom. My husband came home and pulled a face of disgust as he gingerly inspected it , and asked me what on earth that ungodly looking goop on the bench was. You know, when you buy too many bananas, and they start going brown on the outside and a little soft under the skin? I peel them and pop them in a ziplock bag in the freezer, ready for banana bread when I have the chance. When I told my husband that I intended to make a cake with this squelchy mess, I think he almost passed out.
He was so disturbed by it that I promised to throw it out. The next time I served banana bread, he had no idea that I used the same method for saving my bananas, and he loved that bread! I secretly chuckle and continue with the practice. What do they say-what you don't know can't kill you? I doubt that saying rings true for many cooking substances, but hey, I've worked in kitchens and seen chefs use the ten second rule and worse multiple times. Shhh...don't tell anyone I told you!
But back to over ripe fruit, it seriously carries an intensified flavour. I'm sure it doesn't apply to all old fruit and there's a fine line between old and OLD. Browning bananas always make the best banana bread, soft tomatoes make the sweetest chutney, you get the picture.
Well, I had a bruised pear and some strawberries that were looking pretty tired. I decided to slice them up and pop them into an apple crumble style dessert, without the apple. Also, being a sucker for vintage kitchen wares, I couldn't resist the opportunity to get out those pastel ramekins!
This is a really easy, go to recipe for a quick, delicious and nutritious dessert. It took as little as five minutes to assemble.
I was so surprised by how these two fruits came together in perfect harmony, topped with a delightful oat laden buttery crumble on the top with a dollop of cream. The juices of the strawberries had coloured the pear a soft pink, and it was a very pretty and scrumptious end to a meal.

STRAWBERRY AND PEAR CRUMBLES (A Lick the Spoon original)

1 large pear
1/2 cup strawberries
1 tbsp butter, melted
3 tbsp. plain flour
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp rolled oats
Cream to serve (optional)

Preheat the oven at 180C.
Peel, core and slice the pear. Slice the strawberries. Layer these two cut fruits between two oven proof ramekins. In a small bowl, pour the melted butter. Add the flour, brown sugar and oats. Combine until a crumbly dough forms. Sprinkle this mixture over the tops of the fruit in the ramekins. Cook for 15 minutes. Cool for a few minutes before serving with cream or ice cream if desired.

Serves 2

Strawberry Creme Fingers

Last night I took my little daughter on a mummy-daughter date. We went shopping and had a baby chino and mini strawberry macarons together. My husband had set a meeting point for 8pm, and while heading there after our little girlie outing, I happened across a cute kitchen store that had these lovely omelet fry-pans with a non stick finish in a variety of colours. I couldn't resist, and bought a red one for my husband, knowing he would love it. Plus, his sunday omelets are to die for, and that was to be encouraged. We've been meaning to buy new fry-pans for a while and it just hasn't happened until now. I knew he'd appreciate it.
I saw him at a distance, waiting at the agreed upon spot. As I drew nearer I noticed he had a red no stick omelet fry-pan in his hand. My son ran up to me and said "Mummy! Look what we bought for you!"
Great minds think alike, right? Even the same colour!
The women at the store had a good old cackle when I took my purchase back to the store. They couldn't believe it! And I have a shiny new red fry pan.
It sort of reminded me of the idea that people and their pets begin to look alike after a long time of being together. My husband and I now think it unison. Or something like that.
Onto more exciting things, today we have Strawberry Creme Fingers for your viewing pleasure. I've been testing out my new softbox for the first time, as well as shooting in manual mode for the first time where food is concerned, and I'm rather happy with the whole combination. For the first time I have not had to edit my photos! (maybe I should have for a few, but hey, practice makes perfect.)
These elegant little fingers are perfect for a hasty, no bake afternoon tea for when you're thinking you have nothing to serve guests. I had these left over savoiardi fingers up in the cupboard after making a tirimisu. I had no idea what I was going to do with them, so I created a strawberry filling to wedge them together, and topped them with a berry (I only had some rather wizened looking frozen berries, of course fresh ones would look infinitely better) You can purchase these firm sponge fingers crusted in sugar crystals in the specialty section of most grocery stores, and last almost forever in an airtight container until you're ready to fill them. You can also use any flavoured jam in the filling, and any berries to garnish. Decadent!

 STRAWBERRY CREME FINGERS (A Lick the Spoon Original)

1 tbsp. butter, melted
2 tbsp. strawberry jam
1 tbsp. heavy/thickened cream
1 cup icing sugar
30 saviovardi sponge fingers
1 tbsp extra icing sugar to dust
15 fresh berries to garnish

Melt the butter in a small bowl. Add the jam, cream and a little of the icing sugar to the butter. Stir, gradually adding the remaining icing sugar. Beat on high with an electric beater or mixer until thick, smooth and creamy. Fit a piping bag with a small star nozzle, and spoon the filling into the bag. Pipe lines of this mixture along the centre of half of the sponge fingers. Place the uniced sponge fingers on top of the iced ones to form pairs. On one end of each pair, pipe a small star, and top with a fresh berry. Dust with the extra icing sugar before serving, if desired.

Makes 15

Step by step photos:

One Minute Self Saucing Nutella Mug Pudding for One

Movie ticket for one. Table for one. Pudding for one.
Sounds lonely.
I don't like doing those sorts of things on my own. Never really have had to fortunately. But it sounds way too lonely to be any fun.
Until last night.
I did it.
I went solo.
My husband said it was the perfect night for pudding. It was cool--the type of night you just want to roll up in a ball in front of a log fire like a cat and bask in warmth and hibernate there forever.
But what to do when you can't be bothered cooking pudding for an hour because you're way too tired and it feels like a hundred hours past your bed time?
One minute self saucing microwave mug pudding. And even better, it's choccas with Nutella. Can't really go wrong there.
I can tell you I got a little excited seeing the pudding magically rising before my eyes in the coffee mug and it made its way slowly around the microwave carousel. Nothing really beats chocolate self saucing pudding made in the oven, but this came pretty close, and considering it took so little time, it turned out to be a winner. It's a self saucing pudding, and the sauce sits awaiting at the bottom of the mug, making it fudgy the further you dig the spoon down. Ooh laa la! So good with ice cream...and perfect consolation food for those damn heartbreaks and breakups most people suffer at least once in their lives. Forget eating out of a tub of ice cream. Get to it! It will only take two minutes of your time to put together, and another in the waiting for it to cook, and voila! Better than tall, dark and handsome? Yes...it's rich too.
This decadent recipe makes one generous serve in a large mug (my mug wasn't on the large side, hence the explosion)...so if you're in a wonderfully happy loving relationship, grab two spoons and share it with your significant other. You could even add walnuts to this recipe for something really special--and I also like to add a dollop of cream for nice contrast. Dessert tonight--sorted! In less than 5 minutes from beginning to end.

ONE MINUTE SELF SAUCING NUTELLA MUG PUDDING FOR ONE (from Live Love Pasta)

1 egg
4 tbsp self raising flour
4 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
3 tbsp nutella
3 tbsp milk
3 tbsp oil

Place all the ingredients in a large mug. Thoroughly whisk with a fork until well incorporated and the egg is well broken down. Place in the microwave and cook on high, for approximately 1-1.5 minutes. Cooking time will vary due to the differences in strength from microwave to microwave. Serve with cream or ice cream if desired.

Banana Cinnamon Puddings with Butterscotch Sauce

My kids are what I call faze-eaters or gorge-feeders. My daughter has a bird-like, grazing appetite, and my son is a heavy snacker and eats small main meals. But when they discover something new, they gorge themselves on it like they cannot get enough. I don't mind this when it's a healthy thing, and it always is, or I wouldn't let them do it. For the duration of a week it was strawberries. Now they wont look at them. For two weeks it was bananas. Now they wont touch them. It's been beans, chickpeas, pasta, mandarins and yogurt. The banana faze left me with tonnes of bananas I had to cut up and freeze, hence this recipe perked my curiosity and made me feel I could get a little condensing done from the freezer.
And who doesn't love that banana cinnamon and butterscotch combination? Its like a match made it heaven, and its also made with greek yogurt which makes it light and airy with a bit of a tang. Scrumptious!

BANANA CINNAMON PUDDINGS WITH BUTTERSCOTCH SAUCE (From Taste)

100g butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
2 eggs
1 1/4 cup self raising flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 cup mashed banana
2/3 cup greek yogurt

Sauce:
1/3 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 cup cream
25g butter, chopped

Preheat the oven to 180C. Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then add one egg at a time and beat thoroughly between each addition. Add the flour and cinnamon and mix until combined. Fold in the mashed banana and yogurt. Divide between 6 greased ramekins or 6 greased Texas muffin tins.
Cook for 30-35 minutes or until the tops are golden and a skewer comes out clean.
To make the sauce, place the brown sugar, cream and butter in a small saucepan. Heat on low, stirring for 3 minutes or until the butter melts. Increase the heat and bring to the boil. Lower the heat again and continue cooking for a few more minutes until the mixture thickens. Pour over warm puddings to serve.

SERVES 6.

Banana Cinnamon Puddings with Butterscotch Sauce

Oreo Cheesecake Swirls

I did it. I ignored my queasy stomach, listened to my heart and mind and set about to create in the kitchen again, determined. It's probably been a month or more since I ventured in to make something I didn't have to make.
It was great, because I had an idea in my mind and just went with it, and within 15 minutes it was all completed before me. Except for the washing up, of course.
The cook should never have to clean up.
Unless you're a cook like me, and it appears a bomb has gone off in that room after you've finished. No one should have to deal with that sort of explosion. So I guess it's up to me. I'm beginning to think I ought to hire cleaners of some sort. Housework gives me blisters. Seriously. My baby hands probably need to do a bit more of it, I'm guessing.
Anyway, nothing worthwhile comes at an easy price, they say. We had some dramas, however not with the cooking (actually, there's no cooking involved in this recipe, it's bake free and summer friendly!) The drama came in the transportation of these gorgeous little morsels. We were headed to my parents in law's house, and I brought dessert. My husband is an exceptional driver, but the Oreo Cheesecake Bites did not stand much of a chance in my hands on that glass plate, with frequents stops at traffic lights and crazy drivers on the road. I figured there's a technique to keeping them on the plate--after we had several go zooming across the car, cheesecake flying and smearing in unimaginable, unreachable places like aircon vents and smooshing into the carpet. We can't wait for that creamy substance to start rotting in the summer heat in that oven like vehicle. Not.
When we stopped at the in-law's place, I promptly opened the door and tossed out the ruined Cheesecake bites, in a truly "un-epic" manner. I tossed them so badly, that the cream simply splattered straight onto the side of the car (where it remains). My husband couldn't believe it. We later found cheesecake smeared over the Christmas presents in the car on the way home. Don't ask!
Anyway, drama aside, the Oreo Cheesecake bites where a hit. The recipe makes approximately 25 (give or take a few depending upon the quantity you pipe on the top), and it's one of the quickest, simplest recipes you'll ever impress your guests with. It's a smooth swirl of cookies and cream cheesecake atop a decadent dark chocolate and vanilla Oreo biscuit.
Life doesn't get much sweeter.

OREO CHEESECAKE SWIRLS

3 packets of original Oreo biscuits
1 cup cream
250g cream cheese, room temperature
1/3 cup caster sugar
Chocolate chips to decorate (optional)

Beat the cream cheese in a medium bowl until smooth. Add the sugar and mix to combine.
In a separate, smaller bowl, whip the cream until firm peaks form.
Take one packet of Oreos and split the biscuits in half, removing and reserving the cream in the centre, by using a butter knife. Place the biscuit halves in a food processor or blender, and blitz until it all resembles fine crumbs.
Add the whipped cream, Oreo crumbs and the reserved Oreo cream into the cream cheese mixture, and fold through until well combined. Set out the remaining two packets of Oreo biscuits on a large serving platter. Fill a piping bag, set with a large star nozzle tip, with the creamy mixture. Pipe swirls of the mixture onto the top of each biscuit. Serve immediately or refrigerate until serving.

Makes approximately 25-30

NOTES: It is easy to make your own caster sugar if you don't have it in your pantry. Simply place the required amount of sugar in the blender and blitz for a few seconds until it becomes finer.For a less rich Oreo bite, you could omit the cream cheese.

Strawberry Oreo Kulter Hund Chunks

It literally translates to "Cold Dog", but that conjures up images of jellied, chunky canned pet food to me. Have you ever wondered how dogs and cats could like eating that stuff?
Well, if eating this German Kulter Hund makes me a dog, so be it, and if it makes me a cold dog, well...maybe I am?
This German favourite is usually made with plain baby biscuits. The plain, rectangular milk biscuits that would be given to babies in the first year or two of life are the ones I'm talking about. The ones that are always the last to go from the family selection pack of biscuits.
So here's a wonderful way to use up those more plain biscuits that can accumulate in the bottom of the tin. I've used strawberry oreos for this recipe to add extra decadence. Who knew oreos have been around for 100 years? I only heard of them about two years ago...I must have been living under a rock. I suppose they're not as common in Australia as they are in America, but I decided to give them a go. After all, just about every cooking blog has something oreo. They must be good!
Truth is...they're delicious. Chocolate ripple biscuits are still my favourite all time biscuit for recipe additions though. Both biscuits have been known to make fabulous pie crusts and fillings for various desserts.
Now just a quick note about these Oreo Kulter Hund Chunks. They're so easy to put together that a child could do it, and there's no cooking involved (just the chocolate melting which can be done in the microwave). They can be a bit messy to make, especially as I made this lot in a 20x20cm bundt tin, but it's so worth it when it's set, and you cut off those lumps of chocolatey-oreoey goodness. It can be a little crumbly between cuts, so grab a zip lock bag and sweep up the crumbly bits...it's fantastic over ice cream! So...even for those of you who don't bake, there's no excuse not to whip this up for your mum on Mother's Day! It's child's play.

STRAWBERRY OREO KULTER HUND CHUNKS

450g good quality compound chocolate (I used Nestle)
250g strawberry flavoured oreo biscuits

Grease and line a pan of your choice. (I used a 20x20cm bundt tin, but a loaf pan is fine as well). Melt half the chocolate very gently in a microwave proof bowl, stopping at 30 second intervals until the chocolate is almost melted and can be stirred smooth. pour a layer of chocolate into the pan to cover the bottom. Cover the chocolate in a layer of oreos. Smooth on more melted chocolate over the oreos. Melt the remaining chocolate.
Layer again with oreos, and repeat with the remaining oreos and chocolate, finishing off in a layer of chocolate. Refrigerate to set, before cutting into rough chunks.

Wrap in cellopane and tie with a ribbon for a budget friendly and delicious Mother's Day gift!

5 Minute Strawberry Cream Sponge Cake

Are you a time-poor or super distracted cook? I often find myself with the intense desire to cook and create something beautiful, but can't find the hours to spend baking and decorating as I would like. Interruptions in the kitchen don't suit at the best of times, and often I have found myself called away to rescue the baby from our frisky cat Poe, or to change a stinky nappy, or to make an unscheduled feed for a baby who has hit her head and needs comforting.
These are major cooking-mojo killers, for often you return to the kitchen to find the bottom of something overcooked, the custard lumpy, or a pot over boiling on the stove.
A failed attempt to create something awesome is enough to kill off my cooking passion for weeks. It's ridiculous, I know. But more than anything, I hate failing.
You don't have to worry about failing with this delicious sponge cake though. I've made it several times now and I'm almost at the conclusion that it's fail proof and idiot proof. There's really nothing to it skill wise and it's quick and fabulous, and looks particularly impressive with the use of a stencil or doily to help decorate the surface in icing sugar powder. That is also something that takes no skill what so ever, but looks super pretty and detailed without the effort. No longer fear thy sponge! You can assemble it in as little as 5 minutes. In fact, the thing that took me longest concerning this recipe was lining the cake tins. So here's one for time poor cooks or those who cant seem to get 10 minutes straight in the kitchen. It's the perfect recipe to whip up when guests are about to pop over and you find the cupboards bare. So little effort, so little time, and such a winner all around.

5 MINUTE STRAWBERRY CREAM SPONGE CAKE (adapted from Better Homes and Gardens, April 2010)

1 cup self raising flour
1 tsp cornflour
1 cup caster sugar
3 tbsp milk
2 tbsp melted butter
3x 60g eggs
finely grated zest of 1/2 lemon
1 tsp. baking powder
1/3 cup strawberry jam for filling
1/2 cup whipped cream, for filling
1/4 cup icing sugar to decorate

Preheat the oven to 190C.
Grease and line two 20cm cake pans with butter and baking paper. Sift the flour and cornflour into a large bowl, then add sugar, milk, butter, eggs and zest and beat with the electric mixer on high. Beat until light and fluffy, approximately 3 minutes. Fold the baking powder into this mixture.
Divide the mixture evenly between the two cake pans. Bake for 18-20 minutes until golden in colour and cooked through when tested with a skewer.
Leave to cool in pan for 5 minutes before removing to complete the cooling process on a wire rack.
Spread the top of one of the cakes with strawberry jam.Whip cream and spoon onto the top of the jam layer. Top this with the remaining sponge cake. Decorate with a sprinkling of icing powder, and serve.

NOTES: This sponge cake is best eaten on the day it is made, for maximum softness. I used a stencil on the top of the cake when decorating with icing sugar for the pictured effect. For other serving suggestions and pictures try our individual strawberry cream sponge cakes or our popular easy sponge cakes with fondant roses.

Super Easy Peanut Butter Biscuits

Okay this post comes with a little warning. I'm about to get a bit ooey gooey about my husband.
Besides being able to cook, he's a fabulous cook. That's a quality I always wanted when I thought of a husband, before I was married to this gem. I'm a firm believer of men cooking, especially when there's a wife and family to look after. It's wonderful to not "have" to cook, and my husband is more than happy to get in there--in fact, he loves it!
So all my boys as well as the girls will be able to cook, at least the basics. How to fry and boil an egg, cook pasta, bake a cake, cook a roast, you name it, they will be capable when they move out of home. I'm going to make great catches out of my kids--they can thank me when they're happily married. (Besides, who is going to make my birthday cake and Mother's Day cake every year?)
Anyway, my son Ben is almost two years old now, and has already shown an interest in cooking. Mind you, he cooks up army men stew, a cake made of dinosaurs and toy cars. He stirs it with a spoon from the kitchen and then goes around asking the other members of the house to "taste".
He often asks to "cook".
So this morning Ben and I took a large glass bowl and put it on the kitchen floor, and got cooking. It was the perfect recipe to make with him because he has such a short attention span, and it was quick and easy. You should have seen the pride on his face when he saw the tray come out of the oven with biscuits on it! This is what we made.

SUPER EASY FLOURLESS PEANUT BUTTER BISCUITS (from cooks.com)

1 egg
1 cup sugar
1 cup peanut butter
1  tsp honey (optional, but recommended if your dough it too dry)

Set the oven at 180C. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and stir until well incorporated. Place spoonfuls on a greased and lined baking try, and gently press with a fork. Cook for 8-10 minutes or until beginning to brown. Remove from oven and let cool on the tray for 5 minutes before removing to a rack to finish cooling.

Makes 12-16, depending how much dough the kids eat!

NOTES: this recipe can turn out a little differently depending on the peanut better brand and type used. If you find your mixture is dry, add a spoonful of honey and stir through to give a little life and some extra flavour.