Kids in the kitchen :: meringues

Both our kids love helping out in the kitchen.
They are ace mixers, pourers and measurers.
But they have come to the stage where they want to do more — in fact, do it all. By themselves. So I've handed over the pot holders and let them at it.
Wait! Put the phone down. Do not call DoCS. I am not going to completely turn my kitchen over to a five-year-old and just-turned-four-year-old. Although it quite often looks as if I have.
We have discovered that meringues are something kids can do pretty much solo (well with a mama hovering close by but not touching — much). It's great for encouraging independence and growing confidence in young children.
All you need are two egg whites and 100 grams of caster sugar.
And the only utensils they need are a large mixing bowl, electric mixer, lined oven tray, spoons and pot holders.
I usually have leftover egg whites and I freeze them in pairs for future use. Just thaw them and let them sit at room temp for about half an hour before use.
Preheat the oven to 100°C. Oh excuse me. Let your littles turn the dial to the 100 mark.
Next let your little hands whisk the egg whites with a hand held mixer until they form soft peaks.
Then they can measure the sugar out, add half to the egg whites and use the mixer again to get them thick enough to be able to turn the bowl upside down without anything falling out (our kids are always amazed by this but I do have to encourage them to keep mixing as they want to turn the bowl very early in the piece).
Next get them to fold the rest of the sugar in with a big metal spoon. I have shown them how to fold ingredients gently quite a few times and I was very impressed with their efforts (I have given this step a bit of help with our daughter a few times).
Then let them spoon blobs onto a lined tray using two teaspoons. Again I was most impressed with their technique. To get the little peaks you just need to swirl the tip of a spoon in the top of the blob — our son has become a master at this and likes to add the finish to each blob as our daughter plops it on the tray. Team work. Love it.
Then comes the "grown up" part they love. Putting the tray in the oven without mama. Just make sure they are gloved-up.
The meringues will take about two hours to set and then get a gloved-up little to retrieve them (the tray will really only be warm).
Then all that's left to do is eat them and well, like all kids ours are total experts at that part of the process.

PS :: It's school holidays in our little world (yay!) so I'll be a bit of a scarce blogger for the next couple of weeks. I will be back this Friday with another fantastic giveaway.

A biscuit to please littles AND biggies

I am really enjoying Bill Granger's new cookbook, feed me now!. It's packed with fantastic family-friendly recipes. This week we gave the chocolate and pistachio biscotti a whirl. I've never made biscotti before and I was really pleased with how it turned out.
Perfect with a hot chocolate or glass of milk for the littles and fantastic with a coffee/tea for the grown-ups. Everyone satisfied with one bake. I love it. Oh and you can make a nice Jenga stack with it too.
If you want to give it a go he also published the recipe online for SMH's Good Living here.

There's a pear in there

I have always been quick to spout off about how much I dislike Winter. Maybe a little too quick and I think it's even about time I said sorry to the frosty fellow. Because you know what, whilst I don't like feeling cold and I miss wearing singlets and thongs (or flip flops — I don't want anyone on the other side of the world to think I hang out all summer in a singlet and pair of barely there underpants), there is a whole lot that comes with the season of chill that I do like. In fact, love even.
:: I love sitting in front of a fire sipping hot chocolate
:: I love wrapping my littles in lovely knitted beanies, scarves and mittens before we head out for a brisk walk to school
:: I love family board games
:: I love it that the littles sleep until at least 8am most Saturdays
:: I love rainy afternoons around the fire reading chapter books
:: I love snuggling on the couch catching up on all the movies I've wanted to see for the last year
:: I love misty mornings
:: I love the smell and taste of slow-cooked food
:: And I really, really, really love baking
Last week I had a lot of ripe pears so gave the Pear and Almond Pudding Cake from The River Cottage Family Cookbook a go. It was so delicious we ate the whole thing and I got up and cooked it again the very next morning!
And I just have to tell you that this is one of the.best.ever cookbooks. Seriously. It's not just that the recipes are great. They are that. But they are not just recipes. This book celebrates families in the kitchen by including the hows and whys of food science and history (it's answered a lot of our kids' and my questions). It's like having a totally fun and friendly home-ec teacher in your house to make simple sense of everything for you. There's even food experiments to try and instructions on growing your own produce. It really is the bees knees.
Oh okay, I know, the recipe already:

What you will need:
150g unsalted butter, softened (but not melted)
25g unsalted butter (this can be straight from the fridge as you will be melting it)
1 tblspn granulated sugar
125g caster sugar
2 eggs
1 tspn almond extract
75g almond meal
75g self raising flour
3 ripe (but still a little firm) pears
How to make it:
Preheat the oven to 160°C. Grease and line a 20cm cake tin (springform is best to release this cake as it is very moist).
Peel and core pears and slice each pear into four large wedges. Put in a small saucepan over medium heat, add butter and sugar and stir gently to coat pears. Cook for just a few minutes and then remove from heat.
Mix butter and sugar well with a wooden spoon then beat in eggs one at a time following with almond extract. Add almond meal and flour and fold into mixture.
Scrape mixture into pan and spread evenly and gently with a knife. Arrange pears on top and bake for about 45 minutes.

What are you finding to love about winter?

Ode to Autumn

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness!
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run;
To bend with apples the mossed cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has o'erbrimmed their clammy cells.
[1st verse, Ode to Autumn, John Keats]

There's nothing like Keats' lovely tribute to ease my passing of the season mourning.
I'm holding on so tightly to the last leaves that cling to our big old Manchurian pear tree. I've told myself that when they are all gone I must embrace winter. I figure I have about a week left (unless I get so desperate I super glue a few leaves to a branch...
The littles have been paying their respect to the lovely colours of the season with a bit of leaf frolicking.

And we've also been bringing the colours inside the kitchen and our tummies through some sweet and salty and seriously delicious pistachio biscuits.



See you next year friend.

White Chocolate and Pistachio Biscuits
Nigella Lawson :: How to be a Domestic Goddess
100g soft unsalted butter
125g caster sugar
100g brown sugar
1 tspn vanilla extract
1 egg
150g plain flour
1 tspn bicarb
100g ground pistachios
125g whole pistachios
125g white chocolate
Preheat oven to 180°C. Cream butter and sugars. Add vanilla, then egg, then flour and bicarb. When you have a smooth, thick dough add the nuts and chocolate and mix to combine. Roll walnut-sized balls and place on greased and lined baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Leave on baking sheet to firm for a few minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Berry baby cakes

We had a little birthday in this house recently and the cake request was for "little garden fairy cakes". I came up with these and she was delighted. They are simply vanilla cupcakes topped with whipped cream, strawberry halves, a choc ball for the head (I dipped a toothpick in some cream to draw on the faces) and a strawberry leaf hat. Couldn't be easier.

Loafing around

As the chill descends it's important to focus on the good things that winter will bring.
Number one for me is baking. Lots of baking. It warms the house and tummies. Double the good deed.
There is nothing like warm sweets and a cup of tea to put me in the right frame of mind.
I'm trying to pace myself and haven't started on the puddings yet. Soon. I'm trying to hold off until June 1 to bust them out.
Right now I'm using up all the bananas in my freezer to make the age-old crowd-pleasing banana loaf. This is one recipe that never lets me down. It's quick to whip up (you don't even have to get the mix master out), I always have the ingredients on hand, you can add spices, nuts and even chocolate to bling it up a bit, it makes the house smell nice and while it is delicious warm (especially with some vanilla icecream) it tastes even better on day two (if it makes it that far). Here's my take:

Banana Loaf
1 cup plain flour
1 cup wholemeal flour
2 tspns baking powder
1 cup raw caster sugar
pinch ground cinnamon
pinch ground cloves
3 bananas mashed
125g butter (melted)
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease and line a loaf tin. Sift flour and baking powder into a large mixing bowl (tip the wholemeal husks left in the sieve in too). Stir in your caster sugar and spices. In a separate bowl combine melted butter, mashed narnies and whisked eggs. Now add it to your dry ingredients and mix well. Bake for about an hour or until a skewer comes out clean. Dust with icing sugar.

A tip I learnt from my nanna: add a piece of folded newspaper to the bottom of your loaf tin (put it under the greaseproof) to stop loaf cakes burning on the bottom.

Added extras I love: 1/2 cup chopped pecans, walnuts, milk choc chips or white choc chips.

Easter baking :: get nesty

Hot cross bunnies, Easter is almost here! How did that happen?
As this is our first Easter in this house the littles have been very excitedly pointing out to each other all the new places the big-footed bunny might like to hide eggs for them. Of course I have been eavesdropping (just so I can make sure that bunny gets it right, you know).
I'll be spending this weekend in the kitchen whipping up as many batches of chocolate nests as I can humanly manage. I first made these little nests four years ago for our immediate family. It didn't take long for the secret to get out and the list of who I make these for has grown quite considerably. Our son even asked me this week if I would be making one for EVERY kid in his class. Ummmm... perhaps not. I do love making and giving them and they are so super easy and very delicious (a little bit Golden Roughish even).
The recipe is from my much-loved copy of Nigella's How to be a Domestic Goddess. Only I use shredded coconut instead of shredded wheat.
Ingredients:
200g milk chocolate
25g dark chocolate
25g unsalted butter
100g shredded coconut
Make it:
Break the chocolate into small pieces and put it in a glass bowl with the butter. Melt in the microwave on medium heat for about a minute and a half. Stir and then mix in the coconut. Now simply form small handfuls of the mixture into nest shapes and place on a tray lined with baking paper. You can make your nests whatever size you like, I get about six out of the above mixture. Leave overnight in a cool place to set. Then fill with some little speckled eggs (I use the Cadbury's ones). Chicken is optional and a bit twee but our kids love it. They say it hatched out of one of the eggs (cute). I wrap each nest in cellophane and tie with a nice ribbon.
Tip: If you are looking for preservative free shredded coconut Willowvale Organics do one. I got my local health food shop to order some in or you can get it online here.

Edible love

Get your minds out of the gutter people, I am not about to direct to you to a kinky store.
Do you celebrate Valentine's Day? Yes, it's a commercial cash-in for the likes of Hallmark and Lindt but it's also kind of nice to have a day that reminds us to show our love. Life does get in the way and the daily grind can make even the most loved-up of us a bit narky to our close ones sometimes.
We don't do lavish gifts like diamonds or champagne breakfast in a hot air balloon in our house because that would be succumbing to the Lurve-Day marketing gurus (oh yeah, and we can't afford it) but that doesn't mean we won't be feeling the love. And one of the best ways I can show two little people how much I love them (after I have held them down and kissed every little digit and nibbled on their ears and noses and squeezed and squished them silly) is to serve them CAKE!
This is the quickest and easiest chocolate cake recipe I have EVER made. It ALWAYS works and is nice and moist. It's one of those can't remember where I found the recipe favourites.
Ingredients:
1 cup self-raising flour
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 cup caster sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
90g butter (melted)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Make it:
Pre-heat oven to 180°C and grease your tin (a heart-shaped one if you have it). Sift flour and cocoa into a large mixing bowl. Add remaining ingredients and beat in mixer for five minutes. Pour and scrape into tin. Bake for 30 minutes and then turn onto wire rack to cool.
Icing:
125g butter, softened
1 and 1/2 cups icing sugar
1/3 cup cocoa
2 tablespoons milk
Beat butter in small mixing bowl until pale. Sift cocoa and icing sugar together then gradually beat half into the butter. Add milk. Now beat in remaining icing sugar and cocoa. Spread with a knife over your cake.
For a bit of extra oomph I like to sprinkle with Haigh's Drinking Chocolate Flakes.

Christmas eve baking: reindeer cookies

We made these cookies last weekend for a Christmas-themed picnic with some extended family and we'll no doubt be baking another batch today with a few reserved for the jolly fat man himself... I remembered seeing a picture of some reindeer cookies somewhere but couldn't quite locate it so I decided to use my basic peanut butter oat cookie recipe and decorate with choc buttons (eyes), jaffas (nose) and pretzels (reindeer antlers). Here's the biscuit recipe (I have had this written down in a note book for years and I think it just came off the back off a sugar packet!)
Ingredients:
125 go butter
1/4 cup peanut butter (I like Sanitarium Natural Peanut Butter — 100% roasted peanuts)
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
3/4 cup self raising flour
3/4 cup plain flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius. Line 2 trays with baking paper. Combine butter and peanut butter in saucepan and melt over medium heat while stirring. Transfer to large bowl and let cool a little. Add brown sugar and egg, mix with wooden spoon. Add combined sifted flours and oats and mix. Roll tablespoons of mixture into balls and flatten slightly on trays. Bake 10-12 minutes and transfer to cooling rack. Add decorations while still warm. Makes approx 16 cookies.

Weekend baking: Christmas cookies (but of course)

Cookies are one of those great foods that can be tweaked to suit any occassion. And what can be more perfect for the Christmas season than cookies that can be hung on the tree? These cookies come from Nigella Lawson's fantastic baking book, How to Be a Domestic Goddess. I use her Butter Cut-Out Biscuits recipe as (like she says) they really do hold their shape and taste good. Anything of the shortbread variety is just too crumbly I find.
175g soft unsalted butter
200g caster sugar
2 eggs
1 tspn vanilla extract
400g plain flour (organic really does a make a difference)
1 tspn baking powder
1 tspn salt
Cream the butter and sugar in your mix-master until pale and mousy then beat in eggs and vanilla. In another bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt, add to mix-master and mix gently. The mixture should be a sticky dough that can be handled. Form into two fat discs, wrap in clingwrap and refrigerate for at least an hour. One of the batches can be frozen for later use (when the tree needs refilling).
Place one of the discs on a floured surface, sprinkle the top with a good bit of flour and roll out to about 1/2 cm thick. Use assorted Christmas themed cookie cutters to cut out shapes. We got 30 shapes out of our batch. Make a hole in the top centre of each shape with a chopstick or skewer and place on a baking tray lined with greaseproof.


Bake for 8-10 mins or until lightly golden around the edges. Transfer to a wire rack and once cool ice however you like (if your hole has closed up during cooking redo it while the cookies are still warm). This year we went for plain white icing (150g icing sugar and a couple of teaspoons of near boiling water mixed to form a smooth paste) and little silver balls for a bit of Christmas bling. To string cookies you can use any type of ribbon. To go with the traditional Christmas decoration look we used silver Japan thread (from Spotlight). Let the kids decorate the tree and voila a Christmas decoration and snack in one.