Category: Just Recipes

Strawberry Buttercream Icing

Ingredients

  • Icing mix
  • Butter
  • Fresh strawberries
  • Milk

I have no idea of the quantities I used. Maybe 2 cups icing mix, 125g butter and a handful of strawberries? A dash of milk to improve consistency.

Method

  1. Mix icing mix and butter together (turns out you should actually cream the butter first. This causes a lighter colour and texture)
  2. Mash and strain strawberries to remove seeds.
  3. Mix it all together and check consistency. Add a little milk if needed. If you can’t spread it, it’s too thick (add milk), if it runs off your spatula, it is too thin and needs more icing mix.

Condensed Milk Strawberry Icecream

Total time: 6 hours; Prep time: 20 minutes (unless you have to run to the store and get cream); Setting time: 5 hours

Ingredients

  • 1 can condensed milk (I used Nestle skim)
  • 300mL whipping cream
  • Approx 250g frozen strawberries (juice and all)

Method

  1. Whip condensed milk in standmixer for what feels like forever.
  2. Give up and whip cream instead (take out the condensed milk first).
  3. Chop up strawberries into small pieces (no bigger than 5mm cubed)
  4. Fold all together and freeze for a few hours
  5. Serve frozen (unless you just want cream, not icecream)

Moroccan Beef with Couscous

Ingredients

Mince

  • 1 onion (accidentally omitted)
  • 500g beef
  • 400g mushrooms
  • 2/3 cup pitted dates
  • 1.6kg diced tomatoes (I used canned)
  • 1 can chickpeas
  • 2 tsp garlic
  • 1 tbsp cumin
  • 1 tbsp nutmeg
  • 1 tbsp allspice
  • 1 tbsp cinamon
  • 1 tbsp corriander
  • 1 tbsp ginger
  • 1 tbsp cloves
  • 1 tbsp paprika (accidentally omitted)

Couscous

  • 500g wholemeal couscous
  • 3 cups boiling water

Method

  1. Dice mushrooms, dates and onion (set aside separately)
  2. Soak dates in enough boiling water to cover them, in order to soften them
  3. Drain and rinse chickpeas.
  4. Brown meat and onions then add in mushrooms and dates (include soaking water).
  5. Boil off the liquids
  6. Add all other mince ingredients (tomatoes, chickpeas and spices)
  7. Reduce until slightly runnier than spaghetti bolognese sauce
  8. Make couscous by combining ingredients, stirring and letting sit for 6 minutes. Fluff with a fork and serve

Notes:

Maybe use 1 cup dates, 1 TSP corriander and add in the onion and paprika… Also may need an extra can of tomatoes (800g). Trying to replicate a friend’s recipe…

Choc Banana Cake/Bread

Total Time: 50 minutes; 20 mins prep; 30 minutes cooking

Adapted from The CWA Cookery Book and Household Hints 55th edition.

Ingredients

  • 90g olive oil
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla essence
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/4 cup milk
  • 4 ripe bananas (about 2 cups)
  • 1 1/2 cups self raising flour
  • 1/2 tsp bicarb soda
  • 2 tbsp cocoa

Method

  1. Beat oil, sugar and essence together.
  2. Beat in eggs and milk.
  3. Beat in mashed banana.
  4. Fold in flour until just combined.
  5. Separate into 2 bowls and add sifted cocoa to one. Fold in until just combined.
  6. Alternate spoonfuls of the 2 mixtures into 2 lined loaf tins.
  7. Swirl with a skewer to create a marbled effect. Don’t swirl too much or you’re just mixing it.
  8. Bake at 180 degrees C for 30 mins or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
4 mashed bananas
Mix, mix!
Not the prettiest marble, but tastes darned good!
When one loaf looks beautiful and marbled while the other looks… partially mixed . I had to remove some of the mix from the marbled one as it was almost overflowing, which made the second loaf super duper marbled.

Honeycomb Cheesecake Recipe

Total Time: 6 hours 30 mins; Prep 30 mins; Set approx 6 hours

Adapted from TRTLMT.

Ingredients

  • 250g packet scotch fingers
  • 100g butter, chilled
  • 200g violet crumble (4 bars), plus decoration
  • 750g cream cheese
  • 90g sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla essence
  • 70g cream

Method

  1. Blitz biscuits in food processor until crumbed. Cube butter, add to the crumb and blitz till mixed.
  2. Press into desired tin. I used a springform tin with baking paper on the base.
  3. Crush violet crumbles in the food processor. Try and leave some larger chunks for that extra oomph of taste. Set aside.
  4. Mix cream cheese using a hand mixer (not the food processor) until creamy and smooth.
  5. Add in the sugar and vanilla essence, mix till smooth. You may want more or less usgar depending on your taste and how much violet crumble you use.
  6. Add the cream and mix till smooth. Honestly, not sure why 4-6 are separate steps, it’s just how I was told to do it. Might try doing it all together next time.
  7. Mix the violet crumble into the cream cheese mixture.
  8. Pour onto biscuit base and smooth out (or don’t, that’s just for aesthetics and ease of serving). Set for a long time (mine set for almost 36 hours, although apparently 6 would be long enough)
  9. Decorate just before serving, to avoid melting violet crumble (due to moisture from the cake and fridge). I used whipped cream for the swirls and just piled chopped violet crumble on the top.

Honey Crackle Recipe

Prep time 10 mins, setting time 1+ hour.

Adapted from Bargain Mum.

Ingredients

  • 125g butter
  • 3 tbsp honey
  • 1 tsp vanilla essence
  • 4-5 cups of rice bubbles

Method

  1. Melt butter, honey and vanilla essence in a saucepan over medium heat. Simmer until mixture thickens and goes a darker honey colour. Remove from heat
  2. Add the rice bubbles and mix to combine.
  3. Line a baking tray with baking paper and spread mixture evenly. I wanted to press it down with my hands, but it seemed too hot, so I chickened out and used the spoon.
  4. Refrigerate until set. Mine only took an hour, but was quite thinly spread.

Lemon Bread

Adapted from TastyOven.

Total time: 1 hr 15 mins; prep 15 mins, cooking 1 hr.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups flour
  • 3/4 cup white sugar
  • 1 tbsp baking powder
  • 3/4 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup coconut (optional)
  • 3/4 tsp ginger, minced
  • 7/8 cup milk OR yoghurt
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • 1 tsp vanilla essence
  • zest of 1 lemon (approx 1 tbsp)
  • juice of 1 lemon (approx 3 tbsp)
  • 1 1/2 cups strawberries (optional)

Method

  1. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder (don’t forget this), salt and coconut, if using.
  2. Add in all other ingredients (besides strawberries if using) and mix.
  3. Fold in strawberries (if using).
  4. Pour into lined baking tin (I like square ones for ease of serving)
  5. Cook for 50-60 mins at 180 degrees C until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
  6. Allow to cool before serving.

Creamy Tomato Pasta

Adapted from 365 Days of Slow + Pressure Cooking.

Total Time: 45 mins, 5 mins prep, saute 5 mins, cook 5 mins, heating/cooling 30 mins

Makes a lot!

No pics, sorry! Just needed to get this yummo recipe down!

Ingredients

  • 2 small onions, diced
  • Heaped teaspoon garlic
  • 2 cups chicken stock
  • 500g Pasta
  • 1kg diced tomatoes
  • Sprinkle of basil and oregano
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 can Evap milk
  • Handfull of Spinach (more or less as desired)
  • Mozerella

Method

In a Multi-cooker Crockpot:

  1. Turn on saute function. Saute onion, then add garlic and saute for 20 seconds. Turn off saute function.
  2. Add chicken stock.
  3. Add pasta, tomatoes and herbs, do not stir. Pressure cook for 5 mins on high. Allow to naturally drop pressure for 5 minutes, then use quick release.
  4. Stir in evap milk, spinach and mozerella.
  5. Yum

Strawberry and White Chocolate Swiss Roll Recipe

Adapted from Taste.com, Sugar Geek Show and Carve Your Craving.

Total Time: Sponge: 30 minutes; Cream 5 minutes making, 15 minutes resting.

Ingredients

Sponge:

  • 4 eggs, separated
  • 125 g caster sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla essence
  • 1/2 cup plain flour
  • Icing sugar to dust (I forgot to do this, do not forget!)
  • 4 tbsp strawberry syrup (Sally’s baking Adiction’s recipe)

Cream:

  • 300 mL whipping cream
  • 100 g / half a block of white chocolate

Method

Sponge

  1. Separate the eggs and whip the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Set aside.
  2. Strain the strawberry syrup through a sieve to remove chunks and seeds.
  3. Add the egg yolks, caster sugar, vanilla essence to the syrup and beat until light.
  4. Gently fold in the egg whites and then the flour.
  5. Pour into a long baking pan lined with baking paper and oil. You may need to encourage the batter into the corners
  6. Bake for 15 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
  7. Cool for 5 mins then sprinkle with icing sugar. Roll along the long edge (as in, tuck the shortest side under for your first roll), keeping the baking paper on the sponge. Roll it firmly. A tight roll here gives a tight roll when you add the cream.
  8. Set aside to cool on top of the edge of the sponge.

Cream

  1. Melt the white chocolate and about half a cup of cream in the microwave. Be careful not to overdo it 30 sec burst at first, white chocolate burns easily. Mix between heating until chocolate is smooth.
  2. Allow the chocolate and cream mix to cool (I left it for 8 hours, probably only really needs 30 mins).
  3. Add in the rest of the cream and whip. Be careful not to over-whip, as it is very easy to do with the white chocolate incorporated. I over-whipped it twice…

Assemble

  1. Allow for both the cream and the sponge to be at room temperature (if not cooler).
  2. Carefully unroll the sponge and slather on the cream. Make sure to go all the way to the edge.
  3. Roll the sponge back up without the baking paper. Serve and enjoy!!
Completed product

Orange and Almond Cake Recipe

Adapted from Robyn Russell’s recipe on Taste.

Total Time: 2 hours, 1 hour prep, 1 hour cooking

Makes 1 thick cake or 2 thin cakes (about 3cm deep)

Ingredients

  • 3 medium-small oranges, unblemished
  • 5 eggs
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 1/2 cups almond meal
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • sliced almonds for the top.
Orange and Almond Cake straight from the oven!

Method

  1. Wash the 3 oranges and place them in your pressure cooker with enough water to cover the oranges (the oranges will float, but that’s fine). Cook for 30 minutes until soft.
  2. Preheat oven to 170 degrees celcius.
  3. While boiling the oranges, beat the eggs until thick and lighter in colour.
  4. once oranges are cooked, remove and slice into quarters, removing any seeds. Place into a blender and puree until smooth.
  5. Add all other ingredients except the sliced almonds and mix until combined.
  6. Line a pan with baking paper and grease. Pour the cake mix into the pan, sprinkle the sliced almonds on top for added texture and bake for 1 hour. The cake shouldn’t rise (or only a tiny bit).
  7. Once cooked, the cake should bounce back slowly from being pressed. This is a very moist cake, but it shouldn’t be runny.
  8. Let the cake sit for 20 minutes and turn out onto a cooling rack to fully cool. Store in an airtight container for… a long time. Mines is still 2 weeks strong in the fridge. Note that the cake is best prepared in advance (2 days is good), as I found it sweetened over time.