Little Flutters

Aunty Doreen in Sri Lanka used to make these kisses every time I visited. I visited her often. Kisses, or macaroons, as my mother-in-law likes to call them, are essentially flavoured meringues. If you don’t like rose, substitute with vanilla, almond, peppermint or choc chips. The opportunities are endless. I feel almost blasphemous making these without A. Doreen.

Prep time – 1/2 an hour.

Cooking time: 1 hour.

Ingredients:

• six  room temperature egg whites
• 1.5 cups caster (super fine) sugar.
• 1 tsp white vinegar
• 1.5 tsp rose-flavoured water
• pink food colouring

1. Make sure your beaters and bowl is free of oils and stains. Preheat your oven to 120c (250F) with two wire racks placed evenly in the middle. Put baking paper on two flat baking trays.
2. Whisk the egg whites until foamy. On medium, start adding the sugar, three tablespoons at a time until soft peaks form.
3. Whisk on high once all the sugar is added then start playing around with the colour until you get a level of pink you’re happy with. Keep whisking until high peaks are created when the whisk is removed from the bowl.
4. On low, fold in the vinegar and rose water.
5. Using two clean tablespoons, spoon the mixture onto the prepared baking trays, making sure there’s a 2.5cm (1 inch) gap between meringues.
6. Place the trays into the oven and close the oven door very slowly to prevent the hot air from escaping.
7. Check on them in an hour or 50 minutes if your oven runs hot. Now, you have a choice. You can either take them out; the rush of cold air causes them to contract and get crunchy and cracked in some places. Or, you can turn the oven off and leave them to cool in there for six hours. I take them out because the cracks don’t affect the flavour and I’m impatient.
8. Enjoy! Store in an air tight container.

I found myself cooking for twelve strangers last Thursday. Amanda fucking Palmer was in town. A couple of months ago, she asked if any fans had

a) a living room that could fit 12

b) food that could feed 12 bellies

and well, my apartment is tiny. So I sent off an email and thought nothing of it until I got a reply. This is what I cooked for a woman that continues to inspire me.

Zucchini slice, that I had previously blogged about and hadn’t pictured. Fred from the Nervous Cabaret thought it was a bread of some sorts. I was stoked that he didn’t realise it’s main ingredient was (drum roll please) a vegetable.

Pumpkin and tatsoi pasta. A uber healthy shot of baked pumpkin (butternut squash), tatsoi sauteed with garlic, pine nuts, sliced sun-dried tomatoes, olive oil and goat cheese. Substitute a cream sauce with olive oil and the left over oil from the sun-dried tomatoes. I know you think that the prep work is crazy but I roasted the butternut a couple of days before and sauteing the tatsoi took 5 minutes tops. You can use spinach or any leafy green.

Roasted mushrooms in tomato and chickpea sauce. Easy as. Two cans of pureed tomatoes, one can of drained and rinsed chickpeas, washed mushrooms with the stalks removed. Oven at 180 C (350 f) for half an hour. Garnish with basil. Done!

And at midday, I had this:

And at the end of the day, it was gone.

This took around two hours to make, including cooling time. I thought that wasn’t too bad, I had plenty of time to run around and do my thing.

First things first, take out three eggs and two sticks of butter (225g) so they get to room temperature by the time you need them.

Ingredients for cake:

• 2 large eggs, at room temp.
• 1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cups good cocoa powder
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup buttermilk, shaken
• 1/2 cup vege oil
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup hot black coffee

Ingredients for buttercream icing:

• 6 ounces (170g) semi-sweet chocolate, either in chips or broken up
• 2 sticks (225g) unsalted butter at room temp
• 1 large yolk, at room temp
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups sifted icing sugar

1. Butter and flour the inside of your two 8 inch cake tins. Line the bottom with baking paper and preheat the oven to 350 F (175 C).
2. Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, sugar and cocoa into a mixer bowl and mix quickly with a wooden spoon for 30 seconds.
3. In a medium bowl pour the buttermilk, oil, eggs and vanilla.
4. Using a mixer on slow, add the wet ingredients into the dry. Add the coffee and stir just to combine. It’ll have a runny consistency, don’t freak out.
5. Scrape the bottom of the bowl with a spatula and pour the batter evenly into the two cake tins. Bake for 40 mins or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 30 mins then turn it onto a wire rack. Make the frosting during this time.
6. For the frosting: Put the chocolate into a glass bowl and blast it in the microwave for 15 second intervals. Mix thoroughly after each blast, otherwise the chocolate will burn. Once it’s melted, set it aside so it reaches room temp. Boy, we’re loving things at room temperature, aren’t we?
7. Using the mixer, beat the butter on medium speed until it becomes lighter in colour, should take around 3 mins. Add the egg yolk and keep on a-mixing for another 3 mins.
8. Turn the mixer to low and add the sifted icing sugar in four intervals. Scrape down the side of the bowl occasionally. Add the chocolate on the mixer’s lowest speed and when just combined, start spreading it on the cooled cake immediately.

Adapted from a wonderful Ina Garten recipe.

ANZAC day is today in the States and was celebrated yesterday in Australia. Traditionally it’s a public holiday to remember the Australian and New Zealand troops that fought in World War I. There are two things you can count on in Australia this weekend. The first is a BBQ with beer, the second is a serving of ANZAC biscuits.

The bikkies were originally made so that they could survive the long sea trip over to the Australian and New Zealand troops without going stale but don’t assume they’ll be dry and tasteless because of it. Sweetened coconut and crunchy oats keep this biscuit alive and the flavour of butter tickles the tastebuds. For all the rebels out there, you could sultanas (raisins).

Gather for your soldiers:

• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup porridge (rolled oats) uncooked
• 1 cup desiccated coconut (if you can only find sweetend, like I could in my local D.C store, only use 3/4 cup of sugar in the mix)
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
• 2 tbs golden syrup (ok, honey will do)
• 1 tsp bicarb soda (baking soda)
• 2 tb boiling water, straight from the kettle
• Pinch of salt

1. Grease a baking tray and preheat your oven to 180 C / 350 F.
2. Sift the flour into a medium bowl, add the porridge, coconut and sugar and mix well with a wooden spoon.
3. Melt the butter and honey in a small saucepan over low hear.
4. Mix the bicarb soda with the hot water. Watch it fizzle. Add to the butter and honey. The quicker you mix, the more bubbles you’ll see, which is always cool.
5. Pour the warm liquid into the dry ingredients and mix until everything is combined. Don’t stress if it looks really dry and isn’t forming a dough. Add sultanas or anything else you want in there.
6. Using your hands, make little compact balls with the dough, about the size of a tablespoon and press them onto the tray, leaving 4 cm gaps between the biscuits.
7. Bake on the top shelf of your oven for 10 minutes. Check at 8 minutes, your oven might be hotter or cooler and I don’t want it to burn.
8. When they’re slightly brown, take them out of the oven and carefully transfer onto a wire rack. They’re going to be crumbly and delicate so be gentle.
9. Store in an airtight container. Serve with a glass of milk, or if you want to be really Aussie, a cold hard beer.

If you know someone who doesn’t like overtly sweet baked goods, this is the thing to make them. Mixing the sugar in at the last minute ensures that the muffins have a crunchy, crisp outside with a cinnamon scented scone inside.

This is a very slip slop mix it all together kind of batter until the last five minutes. But once you add the blueberries you have to treat this with love otherwise the whole batter turns blue and not that many people will eat it.

Once baked, this is on the verge of savoury, I’ve been eating them with unsalted butter.

• 3 cups plain flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 & 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 1/4 cups milk
• 2 extra large eggs, slightly beaten with a fork
• 225 gm unsalted butter, melted
• 1 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 cup fresh blueberries
• Diced strawberries or raspberries if you like them.

1. Preheat oven to 190 C/375 F. Line a 12 holes muffin tray with paper liners.
2. Put the butter in a medium bowl and blast in the microwave until melted.
3. Sift the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and baking soda together in a fairly large bowl. Stir with a wooden spoon to combine.
4. Mix the milk and eggs with the melted butter. Make a well in the middle of the dry mixture and pour the wet mixture in.
5. Stir until just combined. Lumps are all good. Add the sugar until it’s well mixes.
6. Add the berries and fold them in very gently. Don’t over mix unless you want to look like Violet from Willy Wonka.
7. Spoon the batter into the muffin liners and bake for 20 – 25 minutes. Check with a skewer to make sure it’s cooked all the way through. If it comes out clean, you’re good to take the muffins out and let them cool.

This is adapted from the wonderful Ina Garten’s cookbook, barefoot contessa at home.