Less guilt, more joy croissants

I love croissants.  Who doesn't?
But if you knew precisely how much better goes into it (if you are buying an authentic one that is), and  unless you are trying to fatten yourself up before you embark on a stint in Antarctica, you couldn't really enjoy it.
That is why I don't buy croissants anymore.  What I do is to make my version at home whenever I feel the urge.

The base dough is a plain one with just flour, yeast, water, a little sugar and salt.
I roll out the dough as thinly as possible, I line the middle part with sliced cold butter, fold the dough till all the butter is hidden and seal well.  Roll out the dough, fold, roll out the dough fold, repeat this a few times.  Then cut the dough into triangles.  Roll from the wide end towards the pointy end.

Let it proof for 40~60 minutes depending on the temperature.

Bake till golden brown.



I don't weigh the butter when I make them.  I just put as much as I feel my family can safely consume without causing them to have a cardiac arrest.  Generally , I probably use about one third of the butter in the standard recipe.  


It still tastes pretty good.

Easy Tart Tatin

Usually, I am guilty of using bought frozen pie sheets for tart tatin, but for some reason I felt virtuous a few days ago and decided to make quasi real pie dough.

I just blitzed 125g of cold butter (reduced salt) with 125g of plain flour and added 60ml of cold water.  That's all, but I have got to say that the flavour of the real butter made this pastry such a joy to eat.

From now on, I think I will almost always make my own pastry.

Pear and Yogurt cake

It has been a stressful week and when I'm stressed, I bake even more than usual as I find it therapeutic.  The act of measuring, mixing, baking, transforming something into a delicious treat for friends and family.  The extra warmth the oven releases into the kitchen is also welcome.

This cake doesn't have alarming amount of butter or sugar.
It's a light and moist everyday kind of cake.


Butter 120g
Brown sugar 100g
Eggs 2
Yogurt 200ml
Self Raising Flour 210g
Cinnamon and or cardamon powder 2 tsp

Pear
Raw sugar 2 tbs
Icing sugar

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius.

Beat butter and brown sugar till fluffy and beat in the eggs and yogurt.
Add flour and spice last and mix till well combined.

Bake in a lined 20cm cake tin with sliced pear on top with a sprinkle of raw sugar to finish.
It depends on the oven, but it takes 30~45 minutes.

Powder some icing sugar on top when cool.

I was expecting a friend to arrive mid-morning the other day.

I began to bake a cheesecake for our morning tea, but after it went in the oven I realised that it was never going to be ready in time, because it was one of those cheesecakes that tastes better when chilled.  So, I baked granola as it is nice and quick to make.

Basically you need roughly the equal portions of melted butter, honey and condensed milk.  Warm them up together in a bowl in the microwave to make the honey and condensed milk runny, but not boiling hot.

Put some rolled oats, shredded coconut, walnuts, and dried cranberries into the bowl until the mixture sticks together but not too wet.  If it's too wet, keep on adding more oats bit by bit.

Line a baking tray with baking paper, tip the dough onto it, use a back of a spoon to spread over until it is about a centimetre thick.  Bake in the 180 degrees celsius oven until the edges are nice and brown.

It is chewy in the middle and crisp on the edge.  You will not be able to stop eating it till it is all gone.

Cheese Crescent Bread

Last month, I was contacted by one of my readers of my Japanese blog.  

This lady lives and teaches belly dance in Japan, but her dance teacher lives in the Blue Mountains (in New South Wales, Australia) where I also live.  She was travelling from Japan to get a week of intensive lessons from her teacher and was going to be staying in the mountains for the duration.

By coincidence,  I was learning belly dance again after a break of 12 years (from another teacher).  Given the synchronicity, I had to invite her over for lunch when she was here.  

I made a zucchini soup and this cheese bread.

This also happens to be my signature bread.

The dough is quite rich with egg, butter, olive oil and milk.

I rolled out the dough, sprinkled some chopped garlic and rosemary, and plenty of grated cheddar cheese all over.  I then rolled it up and bent it like a horse shoe to proof for the second time.

Once it has risen ready to be baked, I used my kitchen scissors to snip the top of the roll all along the length.  Into the 180 degrees celsius oven for approximately 30 minutes or until you can see melted cheese bubbling out of the vents.  


This bread goes beautifully with vegetable based soup for lunch.


Anyway, back to the belly dance teacher from Japan.
She knew quite a lot about me having been my reader for over two years and she recognised the sections of my house (where I take photos of my food), my daughter and even Merlin the cat.

She kept saying that she couldn't believe that she was here and meeting me.

It was a little strange to be an object of such wonder, but also very flattering. The main thing was that she enjoyed my food.

Blueberry Yogurt Cake

Because I'm always feeling responsible for the size of my husband's waist, I often try to substitute calorific element of a cake recipe with something lighter.
Using yogurt in a cake gives you an impression that it is healthy and consequently eat too much, so the trick probably isn't all that effective.

However, this recipe was very popular amongst my Japanese blog readers.

Butter 180g
Castor Sugar 180g
Eggs 3
Yogurt 200ml
Self Raising Flour 250g
Blueberries 200g

Mix butter and sugar for several minutes with electric mixer.
Add eggs and yogurt and continue to whisk.
Mix flour in then lastly add blueberries.

I baked this cake in a square silicon mould, but it can be baked in any old cake tins.

Bake in 180 degrees celsius oven.

Depending on the oven and the size of the mould, the baking time would vary.
Basically it needs to be golden on to and as long as the middle bit does not wobble when you shake the mould, it should be done.

Flattened calzone with pesto

I had some left over pizza dough.
I also had some left over pesto I made with my home grown basil.

You can't let these things go to waste, can you?

I rolled out the pizza dough and smeared the pesto, shredded cheddar cheese directly over the pesto,
sprinkled some diced ham off the bone and sliced black olives, folded the dough in half and sealed the edges.

If you are an Italian, don't crucify me, but I then used my kitchen scissors to snip some holes on top to let the steam out and baked in a hot oven until it was golden on top with molten cheese erupting out of the steam holes.

I congratulated myself as I ate this exceptionally yummy creation : )