You may be a bit tired of my Winter and Autumn range of stodgy, warming things that include root crops and apples, and trust me, I’m just tired of Winter, but this is quite a pleasing little loaf and really easy to make. Don’t be …
You know something’s a winner, don’t you, when you’ve adapted from our national treasure, Dame Alison Holst. As you’ll all know, I have a bit of a thing for old-school cook books and recipes. So you can imagine I could not leave Alison Holst’s Simply …
I am so happy it is tamarilo season once more. I love tamarillos. Not just for their cheek-sucking tartness, but also because I think they are one of the most beautiful fruits, with their plump, ruby skins and yellow flesh.
Tamarillos, which were once known as the very cute name ‘tree tomatoes’ in New Zealand, are considered by some to be the lost fruit of the incas. How exotic! These gorgeous little fruits spring from the Andes, and are now found in countries including India, USA, China, Malaysia and of course New Zealand.
And it’s not only me who loves them…one half of our recent two-cat addition to the family spent the best part of the afternoon pestering the tamarillos too.
My inspiration for this recipe comes from the New York Times plum torte. I was introduced to this delight by my good friend Sondra who, as it happens, also introduced me to our new cats the same night. I love the story behind this plum torte. It was published every Autumn for seven years until the editors decided that was plenty long enough. However, this was met with outrage and a slew of angry letters, and so now it is published every year, just in time for Autumn.
So, with many thanks to the New York Times and its plum torte-loving readers, here is my take on their classic, with my beloved tamarillos.
Ingredients:
Pre-heat your oven to 180 degrees celsius.
Halve the tamarillos and scoop out the flesh into a bowl. Add the vanilla essence, sugar and cinnamon. Combine and set aside.
In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the flour, baking powder, salt and eggs, and beat well.
Spoon the batter into a springform cake tin, between 20 – 25cm diameter. Place the tamarillos over the top of the batter and drizzle with the remaining liquid.
Bake until the torte is cooked through and springs back to the touch, approximately one hour.
This is quite lovely served warm with some yoghurt, or even better, cream.
So, bliss balls are a thing right now. Anyone who reads my blog will know that I take great joy in the retro tried-and-true; the less sexy the better (although I’m sure we all agree that Delia looks a total fox on the cover of this 1982 …
What’s not to love about a cake that you can make entirely in one cake tin? Hardly any dishes and quick to boot. Because, although I love to cook and bake, there are times when I am too greedy or impatient to fuss around. If it’s …
It is indeed a happy accident, that my arrival at ANZAC biscuits in the Edmonds Cook Book as I head forth in my self-imposed Edmonds Challenge has coincided so closely with ANZAC Day.
ANZAC Day always puts me in mind of Aud and Reg, my Granma and Grandad on my Dad’s side. Along with many others, my grandparents were part of World War II. Grandad went away with the Royal Air Force, and Granma was a WAF. The milk bottle in the picture above was once theirs, and I used it in a little homage to them.
Here’s a photo of Aud and Reg below; I think from my Grandad’s cryptic title (“four years ‘ard labour”) and the pile of paper in front of them, they are sitting in front of all of the letters they exchanged while Grandad was abroad. He looks rather Don Draper, although that’s where the comparison ends…he was a most morally upstanding man and a teetotaller to boot.
ANZAC biscuits enjoy a historical pedigree dating back to World War I, where their ancestor-biscuits of oats, golden syrup, sugar and four were sold at fetes and galas at home to raise money for the troops. After Gallipoli the term ANZAC was born, and the ANZAC biscuit followed, first appearing in a cook book in 1921.
It is of course unthinkable that Edmonds, holding its bible-like status in the New Zealand baking canon, would not have a recipe for ANZAC biscuits, and indeed I, personally, would not use any other. So without further ado, see below for Edmonds’ ANZAC biscuit recipe
Ingredients
Heat the oven to180 degrees Celsius. Mix together the flour, sugar, coconut in a large-ish bowl. Melt together the golden syrup and butter (I did this in a little dish in the microwave). Dissolve the baking soda into the water and add it to the butter and syrup. It will bubble and fizz in an awesome kind of way.
Mix the butter mixture with the dry ingredients and place tablespoonfuls on a cold, greased tray. I must confess I used a cookie cutter to shape them; I’m sure this is not authentic, but I had some new cutters and I was looking for a chance to use them. Bake for 15 minutes or until they are golden and crispy.
Every Autumn when I start spying lovely plump pears, plums and apples, thoughts of warming fruity goodies are not far behind. This particular little loaf I’m bringing you today has been a long time in the making. It first starting flitting about the corners of my mind a few …
I love walnuts. Perhaps this started with the grand old walnut tree in our garden when I was little. When I wasn’t swinging from it or chasing the chickens that lived at its feet, I was happily crushing walnuts between concrete blocks so I could prise the …
These little lovelies simply wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for the mighty Anzac biscuit, which inspired me with its comforting blend of oats and golden syrup. I shan’t be going into too much more detail on this point, because Anzac biscuits will be coming up shortly as part of my Edmond’s challenge and I’d hate to spoil anything, except to note that the Anzac biscuit is a source of national pride for many an Antipodean baker.
Whenever I feel in need of a bit of nourishing, I turn to my trusty jar of rolled oats and all kinds of delicious are never too far away. These biscuits are easy to make and although my ones have apricot and raisins, any dried fruit you had in residence in your pantry would make a happy union with the rest of the recipe. Ditto the chocolate; I like milk chocolate and dark is also most toothsome. I’ve yet to try white chocolate, but I reckon this would also be pretty fabulous.
Enjoy these with a steaming hot mug of tea, and with the oats and the fruit, I do believe they would make an acceptable breakfast. They are pretty much porridge in a biscuit, after all.
Happy Baking.
You will need:
1& 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 cup plain flour
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup coconut
1/2 cup Raisins
1/2 cup apricots, chopped
2 t fresh grated ginger
200g chocolate of your choosing, roughly chopped
150 g butter
2 T Golden Syrup
2 T hot water
In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients, grated ginger and chopped chocolate.
Melt the butter and golden syrup together in a pan over medium heat.
Dissolve the baking soda in the hot water and then add this to the melted golden syrup and butter. This will cause the mixture to bubble up. Tip it quickly into the dry ingredients and stir to combine.
Put tablespoon-sized dollops of the mixture onto greased baking trays (I get about 20 out of this recipe).
Bake the biscuits at 180 celscius for 15 minutes or until they are golden, and then cool on a baking rack.
You can tell the state of the economy by the price of a lime, or so the saying goes. What it’s meant to tell you, I’m not sure, but I can reliably inform you that limes in these here parts cost a small fortune at the …
