Strawberry “blancmange”- CHEAT!!

As you can tell this is a cheat recipe for blancmange, but really it’s just a milky jelly. I love, love, love taste.com.au and I find a lot of my recipes from there.

All you need for this is one packet of strawberry jelly crystals (I like to use Aeroplane brand, more for purposes of nostalgia than anything else), boiling water, a few cute moulds and a can of evaporated milk (Carnation). I added a few pitted cherries to liven it up a bit.

1. Prepare the strawberry jelly in a large bowl- follow the directions on the packet.

2. Once the jelly has dissolved completely, wait for it to cool a little before adding the carnation milk and stir. [Tip:The carnation milk will thin out your jelly mixture so if you don't like squishy jelly, add some unfavoured gelatin crystals to the jelly mix before adding the milk. Add as much as you like but be careful not to go overboard! No more than one teaspoon per jelly packet!]

3. Fill your moulds with the mixture and refrigerate overnight.

4. Serve! [Here's a tip: If your jellies don't come out of the moulds float them in a large bowl of warm-hot water for a few seconds before unmoulding onto a plate]

Rhubarb Crumble

I got this from the German Bakery- Luneburger at QVB. I was expecting something like a crumb cake and as excepted, I got super excited.

Now as I eat it, I’ve come to the realisation that it’s just poorly done crumble on top of a bread bun. The crumble is soggy (from the white chocolate/icing which really looks like seminal fluid) and the rhubarb is sour and not at all appetising.

I’m really surprised that it didn’t taste at all nice. Everything else I’ve tried from Luneburger is so nice! The sandwiches, hazelnut croissants (nutella!!) and bread are to die for! Goes to show that there’s always that bad apple, even if everything else is awesome.

I’m in desperate need of a decent crumble now. I think I’ll get one from Chantilly’s in Chatswood Chase. Those are heavenly~!

Quick and easy Lemon Slice

Here’s a quick and easy recipe for lemon slice. I got this from an Australian website, taste.com.au if i remember correctly. Make sure you get the correct units of measurments and convert if needed.

I’m not much of a baker/dessert maker (much like my chef father) so this recipe is brilliant for those starting out with baking but don’t want to stick to the basic cookies starting point. And best of all, I guarantee delicious results.

Lemon Slice

125g butter
1/4 cup icing sugar
1 1/4cups plain sifted flour
3 eggs
1 cup caster sugar
2 tsp lemon rind
1/2 cup lemon juice

Preheat oven to 180/160 fan forced, Grease & line 23cm square pan

Beat butter and sifted icing sugar until smooth, stir in 1 cup sifted flour, press mixture into base of pan, bake uncovered 15min

Place eggs, caster sugar, remaining flour (1/4 cup), rind and juice in med bowl and whisk till combined. Pour mix over hot base and bake 20min uncovered

TIP: try to use fresh lemon juice where possible, you get an extra sourness without it becoming too sweet.

Happy Baking~!

SBS coffee

From: SBS studios, St Leonard’s.

This is what keeps me going on Wednesdays. For the past 8 weeks (once a week), I’ve been going to NSBHS for my teaching pracs. And while I’ve been blessed with a brilliant school, super supportive staff and the loveliest students, rock climbing supervision drains me like something fierce.

I’m pretty lucky to have the SBS studios just up the road so I can satisfy those caffeine cravings. Even better, they whip up a pretty good brew.

Tim Tam goodness

These are by far one of the best things to come out of Australia. Little chocolatey biscuits squished together with chocolate and then smothered with even more chocolate!! Really, not much comes close to these little babies. If I ever go overseas to teach I’ll be needing these in care packages.

Go buy some, dunk them into your milk, or for the TimTam connoisseur, bite the corners off and slurp up your milk through your TimTam straw. Bliss~

Mizuya favourite

From: Mizuya, George St Sydney

The beef tataki, one of my go-to’s every time I have Japanese. This is one of the better ones.

Eggs Benedict @ Houlihan’s

From: Houlihan’s, Chatswood

Omg!! Best brekkie I’ve had in ages~ Perfect poached eggs, light hollandaise and chicken&tarragon sausages. Nomnomnomnomnom