A quick and simple raspberry coulis, great to serve with desserts.

Ingredients:

350 g fresh raspberries
8 tbs caster sugar
1/4 cup water
1/4 tsp table salt

Method:

Place raspberries, caster sugar, water and salt in a saucepan and simmer over heat until sugar has dissolved. Do not boil.
Transfer mixture to your thermocook and mix on speed 6 until smooth.
Using a mesh strainer, strain mixture into a bowl, then continue pushing residue of mixture through. Discard seeds.
Transfer bowl of puree to fridge and leave at least 1-2 hours before serving.

Tip - Freeze any leftover puree in ice cube trays, great for that time when you only need one or two cubes.

Tip - Add a mixture of berries to create a unique flavor.

National 'Mustard' day is coming up and to celebrate i've created a dish using my favorite mustard 'dijon'. This recipe was well received when i created it for my in laws, when they came over for dinner. Chicken breasts smothered in a paprika and mustard sauce, cooked with bacon, mustard and chicken stock... mmmm my mouth is salivating again! Anyway back to the topic Amber.. This chicken is tender and juicy and will please everyone. I serve mine with some mash potato with a spoonful of pesto through it.  Warm and comforting, just what a family meal should be.

Ingredients:

1/3 cup Dijon mustard
1/4 tsp Paprika
6 Slices of bacon, chopped into lardons
1/2 Onion, chopped
1 tablespoon Olive oil
3 chicken breasts
1 1/2 cups chicken Stock
Chive to serve (optional)

Method:

Combine Dijon mustard, paprika and salt  in a small bowl to make a paste. Spread the paste on both sides of chicken breasts, making sure it's well rubbed in . Set aside.
In a large frying pan, cook the bacon until it starts to brown and go crispy. Remove and place onto a plate, leaving the bacon fat in the pan. To the same frying pan, add the chopped onion and cook until softened. Remove and add to the bacon.
Add 1 tablespoon olive oil to the same hot frying pan. Cook chicken breast (with mustard paste on it) for about 2 minutes each side. Remove chicken to a plate.
Into the frying pan add chicken stock, bring to boil, scraping the bottom of the pan. Add back in the bacon and onions, mix well. Add back the chicken breast, reduce the heat to low-medium and cook for about 15-20 minutes, turning chicken once, until chicken breast is fully cooked and no longer pink in the center ( i cut my chicken into thick chunks towards the end to make it easier to make sure it's cooked). Serve with a sprinkle of chives.

Today it's national Raspberry cream pie! I must be living under a rock because i have never heard of the creamy pud. The base is a crunchy biscuit base, with a savory note as it has a hit of salt, filing with a creamy sweet vanilla set custard. Topped with whipped cream, icing sugar and frozen berry bit. Delicious! Any fruit could be substituted for the raspberries. I use frozen raspberries as they are alot cheaper, but fresh ones would taste just as good.

Ingredients:

Biscuit Base
15 Nice Biscuits, finely ground
70g Butter, melted
1/4 cup Sugar
1/4 teaspoon Salt
Filling
4 Egg yolks
3/4 cup Sugar
1/4 cup Cornflour
1/2 teaspoon  Salt
2 3/4 cups Milk
1 Vanilla bean, split and scraped
40g  Butter, room temperature, cut into chunks
20 Frozen Raspberries, thawed ( or fresh if available)
1 cup Thickened cream
2 tablespoons Icing sugar

Method:

Biscuit base:  Preheat your oven to 175'c. Pulse Nice biscuits in you thermocook until it looks like crumbs add melted butter, sugar, and salt and process on speed 4 until combined. Press mixture into bottom and up sides of a 22/23cm pie dish. Freeze for 10 minutes. Bake until slightly darker, around 15mins minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack.

For the filling: To your thermocook bowl add the sugar, salt and cornflour mix n speed 10 for 10 secs. Add egg yolks, milk and vanilla. Mix on speed 4 at 90 degrees for 7mins 30secs. Sieve custard into a  bowl and stir in butter until melted. Let custard cool, stirring occasionally for about 10 Minutes. Pour custard into cooled base. Scatter 1 cup of raspberries on top of the custard evenly ( or you can stir the raspberries straight into the custard). Refrigerate until set, at least 3/4 hours.
Whip cream with icing sugar until soft peaks form, then spoon over filling. Top and serve with remaining berries (the frozen left over little bits work well here). Dust with icing sugar for the extra sparkle.

Serve with my Berry Coulis (Click here for the recipe) 

My daughter Lelah is obsessed with watermelon (actually my whole family, apart from me is watermelon crazy). I had a massive chunk of watermelon in my fridge that i wanted to do something with, but something different. I have read about making sorbets in the thermocook and how easy it is, and yep it sure is! 2 ingredients and 2 min is all you need. The watermelon in this recipe was weighed out chopped into chunks and frozen in a plastic ziploc bag the night before. Enjoy this refreshing sorbet.

Ingredients:

70g Raw Sugar
700g Frozen Watermelon

Method:

Place raw sugar into the thermocook and put on speed 9 for 20secs (this creates icing sugar). Add half the frozen watermelon and slowly bring up to speed 10 for 30secs and then add the rest of the watermelon and mix for 30secs until light and fluffy (It will be super loud). serve and enjoy!
​

My homemade smoking rub is amazing! Its got heat, sweetness and a smokey flavor. We use this rub for meat when we smoke it in our homemade smoker, but it would also be great for chicken, fish or as a seasoning for hot chips. 

Ingredients:

5 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
2 Tablespoons White Sugar
2 Tablespoons Paprika
1 Tablespoon Onion Powder
1 Tablespoon Garlic Powder
1/2 teaspoon White Pepper
1/2 teaspoon Black Pepper
1 teaspoon Smoked Salt (optional)
1 Tablespoon Salt

Method:

Combine all the above together. Use generously to season meat or sprinkle lightly over hot chips.

Today 21st July is international Lamington Day!

An old school favorite. Lamingtons resonate with Australians as it's named after a Queensland governor. For those who aren't Australian and are wondering what the heck is a lamington., its sponge cake filled with cream and jam, covered in a chocolate icing and rolled in desiccated coconut.

When my husband tried this cake he instantly reminisced about being in primary school and that made all the hard work i do worth it, to take someone back to their childhood and bring back the joy they had when eating such a simple cake, is such a heartwarming feeling.... enjoy!

 Ingredients:

Cake
4 Eggs
150g Caster Sugar
150g Self Raising Flour
35g Cornflour
25g Butter, softened
80ml Boiling Water
Icing
500g Icing Sugar
50g Cocoa Powder
20g Butter, softened
180ml Milk
Decoration
250g Desiccated Coconut
Whipped Cream
Strawberry Jam

Method:

Preheat oven to 180'c. Grease and line a 18cm x 18cm x 8cm cake tin with baking paper (or you can use a lamington tin).
Beat eggs in a kitchenaid with whisk attachment until light in colour. Gradually add in the sugar, beat for 5mins or until you have thick ribbons when you lift the beater.
Meanwhile sift together the flour and cornflour together a few times. Combine boiling water and butter in a separate bowl. Add the flours to the egg mixture and using a metal whisk mix gently, then add butter mixture and fold into mixture is combined.
Pour mixture into your prepared cake tin and bake for 45mins or until an inserted knife comes out clean. Once baked remove from the oven and turn cake onto a wire rack, remove baking paper, let cool and cut cake in half horizontally.
To make the icing, combine the icing sugar and cocoa together. Add milk and butter and mix to combine, place into the microwave for 30sec bursts until icing is thick and glossy and coats the back of your spoon.
Place cake halves onto a wire rack crumb side down ( i put a tray under the wire rack to catch the excess chocolate) and coat  completely with icing. Evenly cover chocolate with desiccated coconut. Sandwich halves together with whipped cream and strawberry jam. 

Delicious!

Pokemon GO is such a massive sensation atm so it only seems fitting Lelah and I make something pokemon related! We have created these awesome pokeball Macarons. Crispy on the outside, chewy in the middle these macarons are simple to make (even though they have a stigma for being hard) and great for any occasion. 

Ingredients:

120g Almond meal
200g Icing sugar
3 Egg Whites
50g Sugar
Red gel colouring
Black icing for decoration
White icing for decoration

Method:

Sift icing sugar and almond meal together 3 times in a bowl, discarding any large lumps. In a kitchenaid bowl (or in a bowl with an electric whisk) with the whisk attachment, whisk egg whites until soft peaks, add sugar gradually and whisk until firm peaks. Fold egg whites into the flour mixture until just combined. Separate mixture into 2 equal lots. Add 2-3 red food gel drops into one mixture and mix until mixture flows back into the bowl and is glossy. Mix the other mixture together so it's the same consistency as the red. Place mixtures into 2 separate piping bags ( i use plastic ones that you have to cut the end with scissors, as this helps me control what size nozzle i cut ( see pic below)
On a large baking tray line with baking paper and trace 4cm diameter circles using a round cookie cutter ( you can use a small glass base, or anything round for the size macaron you want). Pipe a semi circle of the red batter onto your traced circle and fill it in, then use the white batter to complete the other side of the circle ( see pic below) the end result you should have a full circle with half red and half white batter. Continue until all batter is used up ( i got a few extra little ones with the leftover batter)
Let macarons sit on the kitchen bench for 30mins to create a film over the top, once macarons are dry to touch bake in a preheated 160'c oven for 20mins. Remove  from oven and let them cool before removing from the baking paper.
To decorate on half of the macarons place a line through the middle of the shells (the joining line is a great guide!) Put a dot of white icing in the middle to create the middle white ball, then using the black icing trace around the white ball. 

There you have it! A pokemon pokeball!

We have this amazing little kebab shop up the road that have these amazing gozlemes. Filled with spinach and feta all wrapped up in a half pizza half bread textured dough, pan fried till crispy, it is seriously delicious. I wanted to create a recipe that i could whip up at home quicker than it took me to drive down to the shop , wait, and drive home.
I put ham in mine as my kids were eating them (leave it out for a vegetarian option) , but the options are endless as to what you want to put inside. I also add a stock cube for seasoning but this is optional.

Ingredients:

250g Self Raising Flour
1 small tub (200g) Plain Greek Yoghurt
1/2 teaspoon Salt
extra flour for dusting
1 bunch English spinach or a bag of baby spinach, washed and dried
1 block feta 
8 slices Ham
1 Chicken Stock Cube (optional)

Method:

Place yoghurt  and salt in a bowl and mix till combined. Slowly add the flour and mix (it will seem like it won't combine, but have faith, it will) it will be a firm sticky dough. Knead for a minute and form into a ball, place in a bowl and cover with cling film, leave for 15mins to rest.
Once rested divide the dough into 4 pieces. One at a time roll into a paper thin circle. 
In a bowl mix together spinach, feta, ham and crumbled stock cube. Spread quarter of the mixture over half of the dough. Fold the sides of the dough in and wrap up to enclose filling. Repeat for remaining 3 gozlemes.
Place a little olive oil in a large frying pan and fry gozlemes on each side until golden ( have a peek inside to check the bread is cooked) and serve. 

​These are awesome with a squeeze of fresh lemon!

A simple pulled beef recipe great for sliders, tacos or even to have with your roast dinner.

Ingredients:

1 small Beef roast
1 Small pork shoulder, cut into chunks
1 Large Onion, chopped 
Small handful Peppercorns
1 teaspoon Paprika
1 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
1 teaspoon Onion Powder
1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
2-4 Litres Chicken Stock
1/4 cup Apple Cider Vinegar
2 cups BBQ Sauce
3 Tablespoons Texas BBQ seasoning (optional - any bbq seasoning will substitute if wanted)

Method:

To make pulled beef place all the ingredients except for the bbq sauce and bbq seasoning into a pressure cooker for 2hrs (slow cookers for 6hrs on high) or until meat can be pulled apart with a fork. Drain all but 1 cup of liquid. Place meat with bbq sauce, seasoning and remaining cup of liquid back into pressure cooker with the lid off (or transfer mixture to a large pot) and cook on a low heat for 20mins. Keep warm until serving.

Nanny sue made these tasty little treats for a mother day high tea for my sister in laws and myself. They are the perfect bite and perfect for a party or if you're like me... a late night snack!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 sheets Shortcrust Pastry or 1 batch of my homemade shortcrust
1 Egg
 1 Egg yolk
 1/3 cup Caster sugar
 1 teaspoon Lemon rind, grated
 2 tablespoons Lemon juice
 50g Butter, chopped
Icing Sugar and lemon rind to serve (optional)

Method:

Grease a 12 hole mini muffin baking tray with butter. Using a large glass or round object (around 6 1/2cm diameter) cut 12 circles into the pastry. Press pastry into the greased pan holes.
Whisk together egg, egg yolk, sugar, lemon juice and lemon rind in a heavy based saucepan. Add butter and cook for 8mins or until it coats the back of a spoon. Sit to the side for 5mins and then place in a bowl and cover with cling film to cool completely.
Preheat oven to 160'c. Bake pastry for 15mins or until lightly golden brown, cool and top with lemon curd mixture. Sprinkle with icing sugar and top with lemon rind before serving.