Coffee Cake

Winter has definitely settled in and is here to stay a while. This calls for dressing gowns, thick socks, long and hot showers and cuddles! It's not a season for going out on the town so we had our friends over for home-made pizzas. I baked bread for us to munch on with olive oil and balsamic vinegar while the pizzas baked.

We have coffee beans from Campos on automatic order every month or two. However I cannot keep up with consuming our supply, as I never get time to sit down to a cuppa these dark, cold mornings before work (sleep in the warm bed is currently taking priority). So I decided to make a coffee based dessert using ingredients I have in the pantry. My hubby requested coffee cheesecake but I had no cream cheese. So instead I presented the dinner table with a simple coffee cake drizzled in Baileys-spiked coffee syrup.

COFFEE CAKE

Into a jug mix 1/2 cup sour cream and 1/3 cup fresh coffee (I used my espresso machine)

Into KitchenAid bowl beat 180g soft unsalted butter and 1 cup brown sugar.

Beat in 3 eggs, one at a time.

With the mixer running, add half of the sour cream mix.

Add 1 cup self-raising flour.

Add the remaining half of the sour cream mix.

Add 1 more cup self-raising flour.

Pour batter into a greased fluted ring pan and bake for approximately 50 minutes at 160 degrees.

(Check with a skewer at about 45 minutes)

COFFEE SYRUP

In a saucepan mix 1 cup fresh coffee, 1 cup white sugar and 2 tbsp liqueur such as Kahlua

(I used Baileys Irish Cream)

Stir on medium heat until syrup thickens.

Pour all over the cooled cake. Enjoy.

Blanket

Just a quick post to showcase my latest crochet creation. I spent the past 3 weeks or so on a granny blanket with a rainbow of pastel colours!

The pattern is simple. Start with a 4-chain ring, then make a series of 3 double-crochet and one-chain combinations and around and around and around and around and around you go! At each corner of the "square" chain two instead of one, in order to make the 90 degree turn.

Teddy has decided it's his blanket

Cornflake Cookies

The humble box of cornflakes is possibly one of the most common items found in pantries all around the Western world. Such a simple creation; these little golden petals can be used so many ways to provide that perfectly light crunch.

My hubby was feeling a little under the weather today so I decided to cheer him up by baking some cookies. He loves cornflakes so I made a batch of cornflake cookies. Cornflake cookies are normally made with raisins but I'm not the hugest fan of raisins in cookies and Paul dislikes raisins altogether. So I put chocolate chips in instead!

CHOC-CHIP CORNFLAKE COOKIES

Mix together 125g soft unsalted butter and 1/2 cup brown sugar until fluffy

Add 1tsp vanilla extract and 2 eggs one at a time

Fold in 1 cup dark chocolate chips and 1 3/4 cups self-raising flour

Using a spoon, form balls of batter, then roll in a bowl of 1 1/2 cups crushed cornflakes

Place 3-4cm apart on a lined baking tray. Bake at 175 degrees celcius for about 20 minutes.

Prior to baking

Fresh, hot and golden brown

And crunchy :)

Strawberry Conserve

I love Saturday morning breakfast. It's the only day of the week where I can sleep in, lazily shuffle to the kitchen and take as much time as I want eating breakfast. Even breakfast at 11:00! Earlier in the week I had been wondering how to use a punnet of strawberries for the coming Saturday's breakfast. I figured it out - strawberry conserve on freshly baked baguettes! This recipe however requires preparation the day before.

STRAWBERRY CONSERVE

Place 1 punnet of strawberries and 1 cup of caster sugar in a bowl

(I cut the tops off then sliced each in half)

Refrigerate overnight

The next day place the strawberry sugar into a small saucepan with

1 vanilla pod (seeds scraped out and pod thrown in) and the juice of half a lemon

Stir to dissolve sugar then place on medium heat

Bring to a slow boil for about 25 minutes, stirring constantly

It is ready when thickened

Place into a sterilised jar and refrigerate when cooled

Danish salami & brie to munch with my bread

Coconut & Oatmeal Cookies

It was one of those cold nights after dinner that I was craving something sweet, something bite-sized to wash down with a hot cup of tea. After much deliberation over the contents of the pantry I threw together a batter for cookies. The flavours are similar to that of traditional ANZAC cookies.

COCONUT & OATMEAL COOKIES

Into my KitchenAid Bowl I combined 1 block of chopped unsalted butter and one cup of brown sugar.

After mixing these I added 1 egg and a tsp of vanilla extract.

I then added 1/2 a cup each of rolled oats and desiccated coconut.

Lastly I gradually added between 1-1 1/2 cups of self raising flour

(until "cookie dough" consistency is reached)

Using a spoon I dropped balls of dough onto a tray lined with baking paper.

Cookies are baked for 15-20 minutes at 180 celcius until golden brown.