Truffle Treats

This isn't a recipe really

it's me bragging about my lunch last Friday



Today is just another Winters day in Canberra, except it's snowing!

Not a terribly common occurrence here. Sure we get dustings of snow on the mountains, but not usually here in the suburbs.
And today's snow is not sleet, not gritty little almost tiny hail like stuff, but big fluttery fat flakes. It almost looks 'real'!

Snowy days are such a treat that I decided I would celebrate with a Wintry treat of my own. I've had my little stash of truffle goodies hiding away for a while now and what a great reason to go-for-broke in the Winter Indulgence stakes.



I wish you could smell this!

A while ago I made a Truffle compound butter


I used a good quality butter and folded through some finely chopped gorgeous fresh truffle that I got at the local farmers market. I softened the butter, mixed through the truffle, formed it into a log, wrapped it very firmly in wax paper then plastic wrap then froze it. How handy in case of truffle cravings! This is lovely smeared under the skin of a chicken before baking,dotted on a perfectly poached egg, spread on some toasted bread, or with a dollop melting over a lovely medium rare steak- yummo

I also had some yummy truffle oil, and some Truffle Salami that I found at Aldi of all places!

Now to build the ultimate Winter Sandwich!






I started with a Scharr brand focaccia

Spread with some fabulous truffle butter

Generous amounts of truffled salami

Topped with a delicious French style goat cheese

Popped into a warm oven for about a minute- just until the fridge chill is off the ingredients

Freshen it all up with some nice peppery rocket and earthy beet leaves, drizzled with decadent truffle oil and a touch of white balsamic to cut through the extra richness of it all

Nearly ready!

Top with the rest of the roll, serve with a side salad drizzled with more truffle oil and white balsamic

AND DIG RIGHT IN!

I curled up on the couch with a furry rug, a purring kitty, a good book, and watched the snowflakes fly. All I needed was an open fire and it would have been perfect indeed








Now for the extra extra special bit:

Would you like to see the perfect end to my pretty perfect lunch.....

that's right... A Gold Dusted Truffle Macaron!

Jealous much?




So Dear Readers, do you think that was a lunch worth bragging about, and do you enjoy truffles?

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Slice Of Heaven

In the hope of encouraging an early Spring, I'm sticking with my botanical theme today and creating light-as-air Angel Food Cakes flavoured with Jasmine.

The air outside my window is full of the scent of Daphne at the moment, and in a few weeks it will be heavy with the smell of blossoms competing with fresh cut lawn on the weekends. It will be a couple of months until my jasmine blooms, but if I close my eyes and eat one of these little cakes, I can imagine myself away from frost and freak snow showers and basking in the sunlight of Spring.

I collect weird and wonderful flavour bases, I've recently acquired this lovely Monin syrup in some great flavours like violet, jasmine and cucumber, and I found this great concentrate at an Indian Supermarket. Perfect for my baking needs

Angel Food Cake isn't one I've ever actually tried to make before, or one I've actually ever eaten before, but the name is so lovely and the idea of a fat free-gluten free-dairy free cake was just too hard to pass up, I would really be doing us all a favour by taste testing this recipe- wouldn't I? I thought so, so I will!

I did learn some lessons along the way that will make my next attempt at heavenly snacking a bit easier: don't use fancy-pantsy cake tins just because they look cute, it's the same with shoes- sometimes function over form actually is important; don't forget the flavouring ingredient until after you have mixed the cakes- it's not as easy to re mix without losing air bubbliness as you might think; don't infuse stain inducing berries on your favourite blouse just because you think it would make a pretty backdrop for your photo and you don't have anything else those colours to use.

Words of wisdom People


The recipe for today actually comes from a ratio

I got this recipe from Michael Ruhlman's aptly named cookbook- Ratio. 'The simple codes behind the craft of everyday cooking' 
It breaks down a variety of recipes into their simplest form, a ratio that works every time if you just follow a few simple rules. It's so handy, and much easier to remember than a full recipe when you're in a hurry and don't have time to muck about finding a full recipe.

Angel Food Cake= 3 parts egg white: 3 parts sugar: 1 part flour (in this case, gluten free of course)

The only other ingredients needed are a dash of flavouring essence, a pinch of salt and a few drops of lemon juice to help stabilise the whites when beating. Easy Peasy

Instead of whole eggs today I used just egg whites, available at Woolies etc. in the refrigerated section. Much handier for these type of recipes that don't need the yolks

Divide the sugar in half, then mix one half into the flour and mix together

Now the tricky bit.... beat the egg whites on medium then add the salt, lemon juice and flavour essence. Once the mixture is opaque, start to drizzle in the half measure of sugar

According to Ruhlman, 'the egg white and sugar mixture should not be whipped feverishly; it should be whipped on medium to medium-high in order to prevent over mixing. If it's whipped to hard and becomes to stiff, it won't rise properly. There's a point in the mixing when it's white and fluffy but still pourable, and then a few moments later it's just stiff enough that it won't quite pour but neither is it so stiff that it holds a stiff peak'
Got all that?

Sift the rest of the sugar and the flour over the egg whites, then gently fold it in

Pour into your un-greased pan. The traditional pan is a tall straight sided tin with a central core that leaves a hole in the middle of the cake. The centre tube means the batter can raise from the middle as well as the sides and allows a larger surrounding edge for the cake to stick to as it rises.

As I didn't have a proper Angel Food cake tin, and wanted individual sized ones anyway, I  used some pretty little heart shapes that were just to intricate with all the ridges on the sides. Next time I'll use my straight sided individual push-up tins with a removable base, or even cupcake pans, they should work much better

I baked these little lovelies for 20 minutes at 180*, or until a skewer comes out nice and clean when stuck in the middle of one of the cakies

After baking, the cake pan should be inverted while cooling to prevent the cake from falling in on itself, then left until completely cooled down so the sugar-protein network can completely set. The purpose built cake tins have little feet on the rims so that the cooked cake actually hangs from the base of the pan as it cools.

One of the little lovelies. Just stuck a little at the sides, but I promise you it will still taste good!

Angel Food Cakes are usually served with syrup and fruit, like berries or a coulis. I really tried to to come up with a fruit that I thought would compliment the jasmine flavour.... pear? nectarine? blackberry! I don't find blackberries as assertive as raspberries or even strawberries, but love their sweet earthiness and thought they would match up well.

So pretty and ready to fill:




















I macerated some frozen blackberries in the jasmine syrup while the cakes cooled, then filled up the centre of the hearts with the fruits while letting the juices dribble down and soak into the cakes- Yummo!

Such a nice cake indeed! A real cross between a meringue and sponge cake- so light and airy, not too sweet at all.
How can you resist this? Gluten free, dairy free, fat free.... Guilt free!!!

So Dear Readers, what is your favourite type of cake, and do you have any good tips for removing blackberry stains?
















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Afternoon-Tea Tea Cake

I am a tea lover


MiddleC is very well trained and puts the kettle on as soon as she stumbles into the kitchen in the morning so it's ready for when I stumble into the kitchen in the morning. I don't feel ready to start the day until I've had at least one cup of my favourite Dilmah Earl Grey...... or maybe two.

I have a fancy-pantsy De Longhi coffee machine that does everything a coffee machine should do and more, but it sits there on the bench while I dunk my little baggie into my mug of hot water and wait for the magic to happen.




I needed to make a cake for afternoon tea, for when littlej stumbles into the kitchen after a hard day at school. This one has dried fruit, fresh fruit, and Tea. Just what you need mid-afternoon to keep you going until dinner, with a bit of an extra kick from the tea.

Afternoon Tea Tea Cake

2/3 cup dried Dates
2/3 cup Sultanas
2 Apples
1 1/2 cup SR gluten free Flour
150g Butter or dairy free alternative
4 Eggs
3/4 cup strong Tea
3/4 cup Brown Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla
1 tsp Bicarb Soda


First things first, boil the kettle and brew a good, strong cup of tea. I used Dilmah Earl Grey, my absoloute favourite tea in the world. So fragrant and refreshing, perfect for a pick-me-up any time of the day or evening

Put the dates, sultanas, hot tea and bicarb in a bowl and let steep for about 10 minutes. This will soften the fruit and help break down the fibres

Blitz in a food processor/blender/ or even easier use a stick blender to whizz it all up until nice and smooth

Add in the eggs, butter, vanilla and sugar and beat well

Grate the apples- I don't bother to peel them,

then add in to the mix with the flour and mix through until thouroughly combined

Pop into a greased loaf pan and bake at 160*C for about 50 minutes until nicley browned and cooked through all the way

I burnt mine juuuust a little, but nothing that a quick trim and flipping the cake over can't fix.  My excuse is that I was trying out my new Convection/Grill/Microwave Oven and it was the first time I baked anything in it. I think I've figured it out now, and next time will know to pop it on the rack to allow for even cooking instead of opening the door all the time to fiddle with it :)

Serve your cake with, of course, another lovely cuppa for a lovely afternoon tea snack. A smear of butter is yummy, but not strictly necessary- I'll leave that to you and your wasteline to decide. I think I'll sit in the sun and read a good book while I nibble and sip my steamy cup of Earl Grey, then I'll be ready to take on the rest of the day.

So Dear Readers, are you a tea or coffee fan, and which blend is your favourite?







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Lavender Lemonade Scones

Remember my stash of lavender goodies?

Proper culinary lavender in dried, oil and honey form. Yummo!

Lavender to me is sweet and wholesome, a bit old fashioned even. So what better match for it's subtle scent than scones?


Reminiscent of tea with Nanna, and a bit of a whiff of Nanna's scented hanky too. I figured a bit of nostalgia was perfect for this afternoon tea treat.

My favourite scones are simple- Lemonade, cream and gluten free flour. No mucking about, no rubbing in, just mix and cook, easy peasy.

The traditional butter is replaced with the fat in the cream, and the sugar is made up for by the lemonade with the bonus fizzy bubbles helping with lift and lightness.
The lavender is just for gratuituos yumminess. Don't worry if you don't have any, it's not at all necessary, sometimes I use ginger beer for a spicy change... but I would certainly draw the line at using cola, or other types of soft drink/soda.

For these scones, I'm going off my lovely BigSisters magic ratio

1kg gluten free Self Raising Flour
375ml can of Lemonade
600ml bottle of lactose free cream




To give my scones their Lavender kiss, I used 1 tablespoon of dried lavender flowers and 2 drops of culinary lavender oil. This is different from essential oil that might not be pure enough and might be mixed with a non-edible base oil. Please don't use any oils that are not specifically sold as culinary.

I halved the ingredients just to keep temptation in the form of too many goodies at bay. The amount of scones made really comes down to how large you cut them. I made mine quite small to nibble on, but sometimes a big fluffy cloud is just the right size for a hearty afternoon tea.

Preheat the oven to nice and hot, about 200*C
You want the scones to get a quick blast of heat to make them puff up quickly


Put the cream, oil and dried lavender in a saucepan and bring to the simmer. Turn off the heat, then allow to cool. The flavour from the flowers will infuse through the liquid flavouring it beautifully. I chose not to strain out the little buds as I think they're mild enough to chew, but you can if you like.

Instead of sifting the flour, I just whisk it about a bit to lighten it up and fluff it up.

To the flour, add the cream and lemonade. It will froth up quite a bit but don't worry.
Now somehow I've lost this photo, sorry guys!

Mix the liquids into the flour carefully, handling it as little as possible to keep light.
Pull it together and pat out evenly until it's just a few centimetres thick

Using a scone cutter or a straight sided glass, cut rounds out of the dough without twisting. This makes sure the scones rise evenly and straight. You might have to flour the cutter if the dough is sticky

Place the scones on an oven tray, either spaced out which will allow the edges to crisp up a bit, or tucked up together to keep them nice and soft
You can brush the tops of the scones with lactose free milk for a nice brown top if you like,

Bake for about 10-15 minutes, or until the scones are lightly browned and sound hollow on the bottom when tapped

For soft scones cover them up with a clean cloth or tea towel, so as they cool down the steam they release is trapped inside. For crustier scones, let them cool down on a rack so the air circulates around them freely

If the scones are still warm, the best way to split them is to pull them apart gently so they stay nice and fluffy without compacting and making them dense

Slather on some lactose free spread/butter/ lavender honey, breath deeply to inhale the sweetness, and enjoy!



So Dear Readers, what scent makes you think of sweet old fashioned things, and perhaps your Nanna or Grandma?

As a lucky co-inky dink, Sweet Celia from Fig and Lime Cordial is hosting an International Scone Week. So here's the link and hopefully we can generate lots of buzz in the Blogisphere about these lovely baked goodies!
http://figjamandlimecordial.com/








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