White Chocolate Hot Cross Cakes

These Easter cakes are a real treat, and are best served with a lashing of butter in the middle. They're like a cross between a hot cross bun and a fruit loaf. Try them for morning or afternoon tea instead of your usual Good Friday hot cross buns. 

Ingredients (makes 10):

• 50grams butter
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup currants - or raisins 
• 1/4 cup of cranberries
• 50 grams of white chocolate chips 
• 3/4 cup wholemeal flour 
• 3/4 cup plain flour 
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp allspice 
• 1 tsp ginger
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 cup milk 
• 1/2 tsp baking soda 

Preheat oven to 200 degrees celsius. Grease 10 muffin holes of a muffin tray. 

Cream butter and sugar till fluffy. Beat in the egg. Stir in the dried fruit and white chocolate. 

In another bowl sift the flours, baking soda and spices. Tip the wholemeal husks into the bowl with the flour. 

Mix the baking soda and milk together. 

Stir the flour and milk into the creamed butter alternatively till all is well combined. 

Spoon mixture into 10 muffin tins. 

Bake for 12 - 15 minutes.

When cooled melt the remaining white chocolate. Spoon the melted chocolate into a clean plastic bag and snip 1mm off the corner. Pipe crosses onto the top of each muffin. 

Serve with a spread of softened butter in the middle of each. 

Fill the tins with Simon and Alison Holst

Last year I gave up junk food. Yes. Truely. 
However, I should really define what I mean by 'junk food'. 
To me junk food is all that processed packaged, often individual serving size wrapped junk. The stuff where you read the ingredients and don't know what half of it is or what the numbers mean, yes, that JUNK. Emulsifiers, acidity regulators, 'natural' flavour (what does that even mean?!?), humectant, stabiliser 223, colour 110... yes, it's in some of our favourite supermarket aisle treats. Don't get me wrong I'm no saint, the convenience of muesli bars and packeted treats are pretty neat... 
... However home baked treats are hard to beat. Home baked goodness, where you know exactly what went into them. Where they are full of actual whole ingredients, sugar, butter, flour. Where you don't add numbers, chemicals, stabilisers, or anything from the world of food-science flavouring. Where you can eat real, home-made food, that all have that secret ingredient of love and effort. Yes, you can taste it, and yes, it is good. 

Sunday baking has become a bit of a ritual lately, and Simon and Alison Holst's The Complete Home Baking Collection is a great resource for keeping those tins full. 

It has all the classic treats that Grandma used to make, plus some awesome twists, plus there are whole chapters dedicated to baking fresh bread, festive treats, and gluten free baking. 

Gingernuts were the first thing I saw when I first opened this book, late one weeknight eve. The drive to make them was overwhelming, so I whipped up a batch right there and then (that's how easy they were) and took them in for staff morning tea the next day. Check the recipe below. 

Another time saver recipe I whipped up this weekend was the Mix-in-a-minute Dark Chocolate Cake, which I filled with raspberries, whipped cream, and smothered in a dark chocolate ganache. Literally mixed in a minute, thanks to the food processor method. 

This is also great way to get kids into the kitchen, building their awareness of how food is produced and helping fill their own lunch boxes. 

But what about the sugar, the fat, the healthiness you ask? What about it?? My grandmother had a great saying, "everything in moderation, including moderation itself" so go on, make that cake, and eat it too. 

Mix-in-a-minute Dark Chocolate Cake (pp.48)
Ingredients (makes a 30 x 20cm cake):

• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup cocoa
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp canola or other oil
• 1 1/2 cups water 
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla essence 
• 2 cups of plain flour

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 (170 fanbake), with the baking rack just below the middle. Line a 30 x 20cm baking pan or small roasting pan with baking paper and coat with non-stick spray. I used a 22cm round cake pan, so it took 50 minutes to bake in total. 
2. Put sugar, cocoa, salt and baking soda in a food processor, and pulse to mix. Add oil, water, eggs and vanilla essence to the dry mixture and process for about 20 seconds to combine well. Add flour and pulse briefly about 5 times again until smooth. Pour the fairly thin mixture into the prepared baking pan. 
3. Bake for about 25 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Cook cake in pan on a rack, then turn out or cut straight from the pan. 
4. Ice as desired (there's a dozen icing recipes to choose from in the book) or top pieces with whipped cream and fruit or berries. 

Gingernuts 
Ingredients (for 80 small biscuits):

• 100g butter
• 1 rounded household tbsp golden syrup
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 - 2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 1 large egg
• 1 3/4 cups plain flour
• 1 tsp baking soda

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 (170 fanbake). Line baking trays with baking paper. 
2. Melt the butter in a medium-sized pot, or microwave safe bowl. Remove from heat when melted. Dip an ordinary tablespoon into hot water, then measure the syrup with it. Add the syrup, sugar, ginger (use more for a stronger flavour) and vanilla essence. Add the egg, then mix well with a stirrer or wooden spoon. 
3. Sift in the flour and baking soda. then mix everything together again. 
4. Stand pot or bowl in cold water to cool the biscuit mixture so it is firmer. With wet hands, roll teaspoonfuls of biscuit mixture into small balls. Put these on the prepared baking trays, leaving room to spread. Bake one tray at a time, for about 10 minutes, until golden brown. While biscuits are still warm, lift them onto a cooling rack. When cold, store in an airtight container. 

Note: if biscuits don't spread, you have used too much flour. If they spread too far, you have not used enough. 

Cupcake Burgers with French Frie Shortbread

I made these a couple of years ago for my friends 35th birthday. They were a great hit. Though a little confusing to eat as they really did look like burgers and fries. I found the idea on a website which included making paper cup packaging for the chips, which you could theme to the birthday person if you wanted. Or make them just for the sake of it. 

For the ‘Burger Bun’

• 1 and 1 / 2 cup flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 / 2 cup plain yogurt
• 3 large eggs
• drops of vanilla
• 1 / 2 cup canola oil or sunflower
• sesame seeds

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Place 12 paper muffin cups in a form for muffins or pies.

Sift flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and set aside less.

Cooked burger buns, cupcake cases removed and sliced

Add the sugar, yogurt, whole eggs and vanilla and mix well until thoroughly uniform. Add the flour mixture and stir, until blended. Then add the oil and incorporate gently with a large spatula.

Place dough in prepared muffin cups, filling only halfway. Sprinkle a bit of sesame seeds and bake for approximately 20 to 25 minutes, or until they pass the toothpick test. 

Remove from pan and cool on a rack until warm. Remove the paper muffin cups.

For the ‘Meat Pattie’ aka Chocolate Brownie (this is the same brownie I used in my Icecream recipe I blogged last year) 

• 100g unsalted butter
• 1 cup flour
• 1 / 4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 / 2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 pinch of salt
• 220g dark chocolate, chopped. Whittaker's 82% Dark Ghana is best, but any chocolate over 50% cocoa will suffice
• 1 1 / 4 cup sugar
• 3 eggs

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Butter and flour a 20x30cm baking dish.

Sift the flour, cocoa, salt and yeast. Reserve.

In a heat resistant bowl, melt in a double boiler (or microwave at 30 second intervals) the chocolate and butter. 

Mix sugar and eggs, one at a time. Add the flour mixture and mix gently until smooth.

Proceed to the prepared pan and bake for about 25 minutes (stick a toothpick, is ready when go out with crumbs clinging). Let cool.

For the Cheese, Lettuce & Tomato Sauce

• Prepared fondant or royal icing.
• Red, Green & Yellow food colouring.

For the “cheese“ a dye portion of the fondant with a few drops of the yellow dye. Knead well, roll out with a rolling pin & cut into squares

For the “lettuce“ dye a portion of the fondant with green dye. Rol to very thin slices and cut with the help of a round cookie cutter. Press edges with fingers to irregular shape.

For the “ketchup“ mix  with red food coloring until desired color. Place in a plastic bag and cut the tip to use.

For the “meat” with the help of a round cookie cutter, cut the brownie slices carefully.

Cut the vanilla muffins in half and assemble the burgers as you like.

French Frie Shortbread

Shortbread going into the oven

• 2 cups (260 grams) all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon (2 grams) salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) (226 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup (60 grams) powdered (confectioners or icing) sugar
• 1 teaspoon (4 grams) pure vanilla extract

Shortbreads: 

In a separate bowl whisk the flour with the salt.  Set aside.

In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the butter until smooth and creamy (about 1 minute). 

Add the sugar and beat until smooth (about 2 minutes).  Beat in the vanilla extract. 

Gently stir in the flour mixture just until incorporated.  

Flatten the dough into a disk shape, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill the dough for at least an hour or until firm.  

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) with the rack in the middle of the oven.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

On a lightly floured surface roll out the dough into a 1/4 inch (.6 cm) thick circle.  Cut into slices and remove alternate ones so they can spread.  

Place on the prepared baking sheets and place in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes. (This will firm up the dough so the cookies will maintain their shape when baked.) 

Sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 8 - 10 minutes, or until cookies are very lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack