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 : )

Almost guilt free Biscotti

Sweet, crunchy, nutty, perfect with your cup of coffee (or dandelion brew in my case), and best of all, biscotti are so LOW in FAT, they are practically diet food.
Last week, as I began to beat eggs and sugar, I realised that I was out of whole almonds, so had to used sliced almonds.  Visually not as exciting as whole almonds, but in actual fact, tastes better with sliced almonds as the nuttiness is evenly spread out.


2 eggs+1 yolk
240g castor sugar
2 tbs olive oil
2 cup Self rising flour (or plain flour with 2 tsp baking powder)
100g nuts of your choice

Preheat oven to 170 degrees celsius.
Line a large(ish) baking tray with baking paper.
Beat eggs and sugar until pale.  Add oil, flour, then nuts.
Spread the dough evenly on the tray.
Bake for 12 minutes or so until the crust is dry enough to cut.

Slide the biscotti on a chopping board and slice into fingers.
I cut it in half lengthwise, then slice them into approximately 1.5cm wide fingers.

Line them back onto the baking tray and bake for another 10~15 minutes until they are dry to touch.  You can always sample one to see if it is nice and crunchy.

Store in airtight container for a week, but mine always disappears within a few days.

When I first learned to make biscotti 10 years ago, I went crazy and baked one after another so many times until my need for biscotti was completely satisfied which lasted a few years.  Now I am back to baking biscotti on a regular basis as I know my husband goes foraging in the pantry and would start eating my stash of cooking chocolate unless the cookie jar is filled with these.

Loaf of white bread

This, my beloved husband claims is his favourite bread for his morning toast.
I just use ordinary plain flour and dried yeast for this recipe.  Nothing fancy.

I think it is the milk in the mixture that gives it a lovely crust when toasted.

I usually sneak in about 20% wholemeal flour.  If I add anymore, he calls it 'brown bread' and is not happy about it.

Plain Flour 1kg
Malt 50g
Dried yeast 10g
Milk 250ml
Water 430ml
Olive oil 60g
Salt 20g


You know how to knead bread, yes?

For this amount of dried yeast per flour, it takes a little longer to proof.
Usually 3 hours or so.
From then on, it works as standard bread.
I divide the dough in two to bake two loaves in separate tins.

Around 40 minutes in 180 degrees celsius.

Wait till cooled before slicing the bread.

During colder months, I tend to bake this bread every week.  I slice them, wrap them and freeze them for my daughter's sandwitches during the week.

I find for this kind of loaf, plain flour works well for soft and fluffy finish.

Walnut and Caramel Tart

I baked this tart on Friday for our friends who were staying with us.

The recipe for the filling is from Skye Gyngell's A Year in my Kitchen and the recipe for the tart base is from my friend Panipopo (Japanese blogger of amazing French style patisserie).  

There is something magical about the combination of nuts and caramel, don't you think?

We were blessed with glorious Autumn weather for a few days, 

but it is looking a little gloomy this Easter Sunday morning.  

Our six year old has been living for this day, the day of the egg hunt at Everglades in Leura.

Apart from that outing, I will take it easy as I need to shake off this cold I got.