Orange and Almond Fingers

The other afternoon I found that the kids and I had some time spare before the bath/dinner/bed routine and I've been craving sweets. I was lucky enough to have most of the ingredients (Hubby had to grab some eggs on his way home!) on hand so decided to make these and if they turned out, take them to Playgroup the next day.

For some reason I expected this recipe to have more of a biscuit texture but they're really cake-like. Which isn't a bad thing at all, just from the photos I thought they'd be a biscuit. The orange took quite a bit longer then 20 min boiling to become soft enough for me to put through the processor. I also substituted the flour for gluten free flour, but that doesn't make a difference to the end product.

I really enjoyed these fingers. They were great to cut up small and keep in the fridge for a sweet snack with a cuppa tea in the afternoon. In-fact, I had to quickly photograph them before I gobbled them all up!!

Pumpkin and Feta Loaf

I'm not a bread maker. I think I've made bread a few times in total, so I'm not that good at it. But I am good at following a recipe...

My yeast was past its 'use by' date, so I wasn't sure if this loaf would actually work. To my pleasant surprise, it did! I really liked the way the onion and rosemary were processed with the wet ingredients, I found the mild onion taste through the bread really complimented the sweetness of the pumpkin. But a warning, buy cheap feta, and the feta will be...well....cheap. The local iga does sell better feta (say that out loud!) but for an extortionate price out here. I didn't expect the cheaper version to be so bad, but it was. Rubbery and quite tasteless. But I did enjoy the bread, so if I made it again, I'd splurge and buy the good quality stuff.

The only down side was cutting it the next day it became quite crumbly. Probably cos of my old yeast. Or my average cooking schools. But, even in crumbs, it still tasted nice.

Honey Jumble Cakes

These cakes were meant to be cooked in a friand tin, but alas, I don't have one. So instead, I made Honey Jumble Muffins...

I love simple recipes. A bit of flour, a few eggs, melt some honey and butter and combine. Simple.





The muffins turn out so soft and moist from the half a cup of honey in the batter. The honey surprisingly isn't as overpowering as I'd assumed it'd be. Next time though, I'll substitute the 70g of butter for Macadamia Nut oil. A bit kinder on my hips.

Impatient as always, I iced them too early and it lovely honey based using melted everywhere, but still tasted as good. They were still soft and moist three days later in the fridge. How they lasted for three days without being inhaled first, I don't know!

Creme Carmel

I don't think I've ever even eaten a Creme Caramel, let along made one. But I was looking for a dessert one week night and found I had all the ingredients, so I gave it a go.

It's actually pretty easy, a basic baked custard recipe as well as a caramel. Creme Caramel.....bit self-explanatory really....

Custard is something I make a lot as my son Noah loves it and it's a nice way to fill his tummy at the end of the night. I usually use only milk, but this recipe included cream to make it a bit richer. The only difference is the custard I make includes cornflour to thicken it and this one doesn't, but I suppose the cream did that job. Adding an extra egg yolk so it sets well when baking, I set the made custard aside while I made the caramel.

I've only made caramel a handful of times in my life, so it's something I'm still new at. Boil sugar and water till it's golden using a brush in water to brush down any crystals that form on the sides. Check. BE CAREFUL. Boiling sugar syrup is not a nice thing to get on your fingers.

When I removed the caramel from the heat I poured it directly into the ramekins. The recipe says to let it sit for a few moments to allow the syrup to begin to set. I think this is where I went wrong. I did let it sit for the allocated 5 minutes, but when I turned them out after cooking a lot of the caramel was stuck hard in the bottom of the ramekin. Even after dipping it into hot water to loosen it up a bit. Next time I won't leave it for so long before pouring the custard in.

Bake in a bain-marie. Check.

My oven is stupid and I had to bake for an extra 5 minutes.

Refrigerate till cold. Check.

As I mentioned, they didn't turn out easily, but a lot of caramel still came out with them, so it wasn't a huge loss. I really liked them, finding the custard quite smooth and delicate. I liked that the rich caramel didn't take over the custard either.

Hubby thought they were too rich but he thinks anything with flavor is too rich. Next time I make it I'll make a single serve. Might be tonight....