Caramel-filled Chocolate Cakes

Melted butter, for greasing
plain flour, for dusting
200g dark cooking chocolate, chopped
200g butter, chopped
4 eggs, separated
200g sugar
1 cup SR flour
12 soft caramel lollies


1. Preheat the oven to 200C. Brush 12 standard muffin tins with butter and dust with flour.


2. Put chocolate and butter into a medium heavy-based pan and stir over low heat until chocolate and butter are melted and smooth. Remove from heat. Stand until lukewarm.


3. Beat eggwhites until soft peaks form. Beat egg yolks with sugar until pale and creamy. Carefully stir into chocolate mixture. Fold in eggwhite. Sift over flour and fold in carefully.


4. Divide half the mixture between muffin holes, add a caramel to each and cover with remaining mixture. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Remove from oven and stand on a wire rack to cool.

Blueberry Lemon Muffins

1/2 cup brown sugar

4 tbs butter

250g  ski lemon meringue yoghurt

1 cup fresh blueberries

1 egg

2 tsp fresh lemon juice

1 tsp lemon rind

2 cup plain flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 170C. Coat a muffin tin with cooking spray or line with paper cups.
In a large bowl, beat the sugar and margarine with a wooden spoon. Stir in the yoghurt, blueberries, egg, lemon juice and zest.
Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stin just to combine, but do not overmix - the batter is supposed to be lumpy.
Divide the batter among the muffin cups. Bake until the muffins are lightly browned and a toothpick inserted comes out clean, 13-16mins. Turn the muffins out onto a rack to cool.
Store in an airtight container at room temp for 2 days or wrap individually and freeze for up to a month.

To be a bit sneaky and make them healthy for the kiddies....
1/2 cup yellow squash puree can be added to step 2.

Peanut Butter Cookies (version 2! )

Courtesy of my sister


1 cup crunchy peanut butter
1 cup caster sugar
1 egg
1 tbsp flour


Mix together and bake on medium for about 12-15 mins.


Don't let them go brown in the oven or they will be too hard! :)




EASY and TASTY!!

Peanut Butter Cookies

200 g butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
3/4 cup smooth peanut butter
1 1/2 cup plain flour
1 cup self raising flour
200g packet scorched peanuts, roughly chopped


Preheat oven to 160C (140 fan forced) and line 2  large baking trays with non-stick baking paper. Using electric beaters, beat butter, sugar and vanilla in a large bowl until light and creamy. Beat in peanut butter.
Sift flours over butter mixture and use a non-serrated knife to mix to to a dough. Add scorched peanuts and mix through with the knife.
Roll heaped tablespoons of dough into balls and place onto prepared trays. Flatten to about 1.5cm. Bake for mins, until lightly golden underneath - they will still be soft.
Leave on trays for 5 mins, then transfer to a wire rack to cool. 

Tomato and basil lasange

50 g butter, chopped
1/3 cup plain flour
2 cup milk
400 g can chopped tomatoes, drained and juice reserved
2 tbsp basil pesto
4 fresh lasagne sheets
1 1/2 cup grated mozzarella
1 cup grated parmesan


Preheat oven to 180C (160C fan forced). Grease a 23cm square baking dish.
Melt butter in a small saucepan on medium heat. Add flour and stir until mixture comes away from sides of pan. Gradually add combined milk and reserved tomato juice, stirring for 5 mins until sauce thickens. Season to taste and simmer for 2 mins.
Spread 1-2 tsp pesto over each lasange sheet. Spoon a quarter of the sauce  over base of prepared dish. Top with a lasange sheet. Add another quarter of sauce  and top with half of mozzarella, half of drained tomatoes, 1/4 cup parmesan and another lasange sheet. Repeat layers once more finishing with sauce and parmesan.
Bake for 35-40 mins, until golden and cooked through.

Play Dough

2 1/2 cup plain flour
2/3 cup salt
2 tsp cream of tartar
2 tsp vegetable oil
1 1/3 cup water
food colourings


Mix the flour, salt and cream of tartar in a bowl. Add oil and water to the bowl.
Stir contents until dough is firm.
Turn out dough and knead until smooth.
Divide dough into 4 portions and add a few drops of colouring to each portion. Knead until colours mix through.
Store in airtight containers in the fridge.

Herb and Bean Falafels

Falafel
2 x 400g cannelloni beans
1/2 onion
2 cloves garlic
1 cup parsley
1 cup mint leaves
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground coriander
rock salt and black peppercorns - freshly ground
1 1/2 cup besan flour
700ml vegetable oil for deep frying


Yoghurt Sauce
1 small lemon
1 cup mint leaves
1 cup greek style yoghurt
1 tsp cumin


Drain the beans thoroughly. Transfer to a large bowl and roughly mash.
Finely chop the onion, add to the bowl with the garlic that has been minced/ crushed.
Finely chop the parsley. Add to bowl.
Finely chop the mint. Add to bowl.
Stir in spices, freshly ground salt and pepper and 1/2 cup of Besan flour. Combine well, then form into small balls (1 flat tablespoon amounts) with your hands that have been lightly floured with the remaining flour.
Heat the oil until hot. Cook falafels in batches of 4-5 for about 3 minutes or until a dark golden brown colour. Remove from hot oil and drain on paper towels.


To make the yoghurt sauce, finely grate the lemon rind. Chop mint to a desired consistency.
Combine lemon rind, mint, yoghurt and cumin. Season with salt and pepper and serve with falafels.


Notes:
Cannelloni beans can be substituted with any other white bean.
Besan flour is available from health food and asian food stores. It binds the falafels and doesn't make them gluggy.






Chef's idea:
My husband made these the other night (YES! He was in the kitchen!). He didn't use the mint leaves, used only ordinary plain flour, and put enough oil in a deep fry pan to cook. Still tasted good!! We ate these with just greek yoghurt, and it was delish!