blitzkuchen mit apfeln

Austrian Apple Cake 


4 - 6 granny smith apples, (or whatever apples you have on hand)

2 lemons, juiced

3 tablespoons of sugar

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3 tablespoons butter, at room temperature


3/4 cup castor sugar

2 egg yolks

1 tablespoon lemon juice and  lemon zest

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/2 cups flour

3/4 cup milk

1 tablespoon rum

1 teaspoon butter to grease cake pan or use baking paper

1 teaspoon brown rice oil, any vegetable oil will do

icing sugar


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Peel apples, cut in half and core. Cut 1/2 inch slits lengthwise, make sure not to cut all the way through the apple. Place in a bowl, sprinkle with the 3 tablespoons of sugar and a little lemon juice. Make sure to reserve at least 1 tablespoon of lemon juice.  Set aside.


Cream butter and sugar together, beat in one egg yolk at a rime, gradually add lemon juice and zest.
In a separate bowl, sift flour and baking powder together. Gradually fold into batter. I use a dough scraper to gently incorporate the mix, moving the bowl around as I go. Being careful to not to overwork the flour.
Blend in milk and rum.

In a small bowl beat egg whites till stiff and fold into batter.
grease and flour a springform tin, pour in batter and top with apple halves.
Brush apples with oil.

*Bake in a preheated oven at 180 deg c for 35 to 40 minutes.

Remove from oven, dust with icing sugar.

This recipe has been in my family ever since I can remember. Both my mum and her sister made this recipe and both where different. My mum added sultana's to the batter, her sister added vanilla sugar to her batter. Both where delicious!

Fresh Eggs

The joy of finding fresh eggs every day is like Easter all year round.

Meet one of our hens, Grizelda and her bodyguard Dodger. Both found dumped near our place, now living a very sweet life!

 

Bottled artichokes

I can't express just how excited I have been over our artichoke harvest this year. We just finished our last artichoke cook up last night. This year we had so many that Pig was able to bottle our excess. Here are the step by step procedure to preparing and bottling artichokes.

Prepare your work station: Before beginning make sure you have a large pot filled with water and at least two halved lemons added. A bowl for scraps and a chopping board and small paring knife.
Pull off the outer leaves of the artichoke to reveal the soft pink and yellow hues of the young inner leaves. Trim the steam to about an inch and strip off the outer parts of the stem.

Cut about an inch off the top of the artichoke. Then slice in half.

If need be remove the soft thistle starting to form near the stem of the artichoke center.

Place prepared artichokes in the water with the lemon halves, to stop them browning.

In another pot prepare the water and vinegar and wine. Add the artichokes and bring to the boil. Turn down the heat and allow to simmer for several minutes until the artichokes are cooked but still firm. Place the artichokes into sterilized jars
Place jars in cold water and bring to the boil. Boil rapidly for 7 minutes. Jars can be left to cool in the water or taken out and left to cool on a cake rack.
Bottled artichoke

Vegan - LITTLE LEMON MOUSSE PIE

 

Graham Cracker Crust:
1 ¾ cups ground non-dairy Graham crackers (10 ounce of whole Graham crackers)
3 tablespoons sugar
4 tablespoons coconut oil or non dairy margarine
1 tablespoon almond milk or non dairy milk

Pre-hat oven to 350 F (190 c)
Lightly bush a 9 inch pie dish with coconut oil
In a mixing bowl combine the Graham crackers and sugar, fold in the coconut oil,
Blend the mixture thoroughly
to moisten the crumbs.
Fold through the almond/ non dairy milk
Pour the crumbs into the pie plate. Press the crumbs into the side of the plate first, then work your way into the bottom. Bake for 8 – 10 minutes until firm. Let the crust cool before filling.

Filling:
1/2 cup whole unroasted cashews, soaked in water for 10 hours.
1 400ml can coconut milk
1/2 cup almond milk or any non dairy milk
1/2 teaspoon agar powder
2/3 cup sugar or 1/2 cup stevia
3 tablespoons coconut oil
juice of 2 lemons, makes 1/2 cup
2 tablespoons lemon zest
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Topping:
3/4 cup water
1 tablespoon arrowroot powder
1/3 cup stevia / sugar
1/3 cup lemon juice
3/4 teaspoon agar powder
pinch of turmeric
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest

Method:
Drain cashews and place in a blender . Blend with coconut milk until totally smooth, scraping down sides of bowl occasionally.
Mix together in a small saucepan almond milk, agar powder and sugar.
Bring mixture to the boil, stirring pretty consistently. Once boiled, lower heat and allow to simmer gently for 5 minutes. Add coconut milk and stir in until melted.

With the blender/food processor running stream in the hot mixture until thoroughly blended. Add lemon juice and zest, vanilla extract and pulse for a few more seconds.

Transfer the mixture to the prepared pie crust and chill in fridge for 4 hours. The filling is very thin at first but that’s how it supposed to be.
When pie has just set, prepare the topping: Stir together all the ingredients in a small pot. Bring to the boil, then lower heat and cook for
5 minutes.
Pour the topping over the pies gently but quickly. Put the pies back into the fridge, to set.

Serve!

Recipe from, Vegan Pie In The Sky by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and  Terry Hope Romero http://www.theppk.com/books/vegan-pie-in-the-sky/
http://www.theppk.com/

Vegan - CHOCOLATE GALAXY BANANA CHEESECAKE

Filling:
½ cup whole unsalted unroasted cashews, soaked in water over night
½ cup well mashed ripe banana
(about two medium sized bananas)
1 packet of silken tofu, drained
2/3 cup of sugar
2 tablespoons coconut oil at room temperature
4 teaspoons arrowroot powder
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon almond extract
pinch of sea salt
2/3 cup unsweetened chocolate chips or block chocolate broken into bits

Method:
Preheat oven to 190 deg
Lightly brush tart pan with removable base
Prepare crust and press firmly into pan. Bake for 10 minutes and move the pan onto a cooling rack.

While the base cools prepare the filling.
Drain the cashews and blend with the banana, tofu, sugar, coconut oil, arrowroot powder, lemon juice, vanilla extract and almond extract. Bend until completely smooth.
Set aside ¼ cup of batter and pour the rest into the pie crust. Melt chocolate pieces over a double boiler or in  glass bowl in the microwave.
Stir until chocolate is smooth add the reserved batter and stir through until smooth.
Spoon dollops of chocolate batter randomly onto the cheesecake. Poke the end of a chopstick into the  chocolate batter and gently swirl around the top to create a marble like pattern Repeat with the remaining chocolate blobs.
Bake the cheesecake for 50 to 55 minutes until the top is lightly puffed and the edges of the cake are golden.
Remove the cake from the oven and place on a cooling rake for 20 minutes. Cool furfer in the fridge for at least 3 hours or better over night before serving.
To serve, slice the cake with a thin sharp knife dipped in cold water.

Serve!

Varations:
Stir in a ¼ cup of Kahlua or your favorite coffee liqueur, into the chocolate batter.

Recipe from, Vegan Pie In The Sky by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and  Terry Hope Romero http://www.theppk.com/books/vegan-pie-in-the-sky/
http://www.theppk.com/

Vegan - Strawberry and Rhubarb Crumb Pie

One single pastry crust
1 ½ cups plain flour
2 tablespoons sugar (steivia)
½ teaspoon salt
1/3 cup cold non hydrogenated shortening or cold coconut oil
4 tablespoons ice-water
4 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

Method:
sift flour, salt and sugar. Cut in the shortening (using a fork, pastry cutter, fingers, food processor)
to form a crumbly dough

Stir together the ice water and vinegar and add gradually to the flour, mix together until the dough just comes together and forms a ball. Wrap in plastic or grease proof paper and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Roll dough between two pieces of grease proof paper. Roll the dough to make a circle about 12 inches in diameter. Occasionally rotate the dough as you roll, to help even distribution.
Transfer the dough to the pie plate, gently remove the top grease proof paper and slide your hand underneath the centre of the paper and quickly flip into the pie plate and remove the remaining paper. Press the dough down into the pie dish. Trim off any over hanging dough or crimp edges as desired.

Filling:
3 cups of rhubarb, sliced ½ inch / 2cm  thick
4 cups of strawberries, fresh or frozen
2/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons of Arrowroot (tapioca flour)
2 tablespoons of plain flour
1 tablespoons lemon juice
pinch of salt

Topping.
1 cup plain flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons stevia
pinch of salt
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup coconut oil

Method:
Pre-heat oven to 200 c
Combine all the filling ingredients in a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl combine flour, sugar, salt and cinnamon for the topping, Fold in the coconut oil until mixture forms large crumbs.

Add the filling into the prepared pie shell and top with the crumb mix. Cover loosley with aluminium foil and poke a few holes into the foil, to allow steam to escape.

Bake for about 20 minutes on high heat. Lower the heat to 190 deg and remove the foil.
Bake for a further 30 – 35 minutes or until crumb topping has browned and filling is bubbling.
Place on a cooling rack and let cool for about 30 minutes before serving.

Serve!

Recipe from, Vegan Pie In The Sky by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and  Terry Hope Romero http://www.theppk.com/books/vegan-pie-in-the-sky/
http://www.theppk.com/

Carrot Cake

This recipe make a very large cake, you will need a 28 x 23 cake tin or large kuglehopf tin

Ingredients
3 Cups of grated carrot
2 Cups of wholemeal self-raising flour
1 cup of plain flour
2 cups of sugar
3 teaspoons of cinnamon
*1 cup of raisins
grated rind of an orange
3/4 cup of walnuts
6 eggs
1 and 1/3 cup of walnut or hazelnut oil, (substitute with vegetable oil)
2 teaspoons of vanilla

Frosting
 1 x  250g packet of cream cheese at room temperature
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons of honey
1 cup toasted shredded coconut
1 tablespoon candied fennel seeds, opptional


Method

Butter and flour your  cake tin.
combine all dry ingredients, including , dried fruit, carrots and walnuts.
Make a well in the center.
Combine eggs, oil and vanilla, mix with dry ingredients.
 Pour into cake tin. Bake into a hot oven, 190 oC until cooked, this may take 45 minutes or longer.
Test with a bamboo skewer.
Let the cake rest ror 10 minutes before turning out onto rack to cool down before frosting.

To make the frosting: beat together cream cheese, honey, grated rind and juice. Use a small spatula or spoon to apply frosting.
Carefully sprinkle with coconut and finish off with a little sprinkle of candied fennel seeds if desired.

* instead of raisins, use a mix of sultanas and dates

Best Scone Recipe

Blueberry Scones

250g plain flour
1/2 tspn bicarb of soda
1 tspn ground cinnamon
5og unsalted butter
50g caster sugar
1 punnet (250g) blueberries or raspberries, strawberries or even rhubarb!
175ml butter milk

preheat the oven to hot, 200 degrees
Butter and dust with flour a square brownie tin.

Sift flour, bicarb of soda and cinnamon into a large mixing bowl.
Add the butter and using your fingertips rub the butter into the flour until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.
Stir in the sugar, berries and buttermilk, mix gently to form a dough, do not over mix!
roll or just press out the dough to form a square about 6cm high and roughly about the same size as the brownie tin.
using a scone cutter cut out enough rounds to fill the tin.
Bake in the oven for about 20 - 25 minutes or until light golden.
allow to cool, before serving with butter and home made jam and a good strong cup of tea!

a bumper crop of cherries

 Considering last year we only had 2 cherries each on the three trees we have it was quite a pleasant surprise this year when our three small trees produced so many!
 Must have been all the feeding and watering prior to fruiting.

Cherries lose their flavor quickly out of the fridge, so once washed and dried and stored It was then time to search for some ultimate cherry recipes.

 

 First on the list was candied cherries in sugar syrup. I froze these to use at a later date, to garnish deserts.

Next pickled cherries in red wine vinegar with cinnamon, orange and star anise! I might use these for tarts and cherry strudels!

rhubarb, apple and raspberry studel

Rhubarb, apple and freshly picked first of the season raspberries.
recipe to follow.

Berry Tarts

11/2 cup plain flour
150g chilled butter
1 tblspn sugar
1 large egg
1/1 tblspn cold water

for the filling

1 cup of raspberries, or other berries with stems removed
3/4 heavy cream
2/3 cup sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
2 large eggs
3 tblspns flour
vanilla essence or creme de cassis, or another exotic liqueur.

Make the crust: Use a grater to grate the butter into the flour. Tip: coat the butter with flour now and again to make grating easier.
Rub the flour and butter together until mixture looks like coarse breadcrumbs.Mix in the sugar, then add the egg and water, using a dough scrapper to mix ingredients together to form a ball.
Briefly knead the to ensure an even texture. Wrap in clingfilm and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Lightly butter and flour a 10 inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Lightly flour a cool surface to roll out the chilled dough slightly wider than the pan. Line the pan with the dough, pressing gently around the edge. Remove any excess dough that hangs over the edge. Refrigerate for 20 minutes.

Heat the oven to high, 400F or 200C. Place the berries  into the tart pan. Mix together in a bowl, cream, sugar, eggs, flour and essence until smooth. Pour over berries. Lightly sprinkle with a little extra sugar.

To make a rhubarb tart, rhubarb must be cooked first. Harvest a bunch of rhubarb, cut leaves t inches off from bellow the stem.  Wash and dry stems. Cut into 1 inch pieces and place into a baking dish. Liberally sprinkle with sugar and a little orange zest on top, lightly stir through the rhubarb.
Roast in a medium hot oven until just cooked. Rhubarb should still be a little firm.

Bake for 35 minutes or until cooked,

Whats growing in the backyard today...

 heirloom variety of pumpkin...tasted some last year it was quite dry not much flavor, these guys grew from composted seeds..wonderful to look at not recommended eating...moments like these you really need a pig!

 Queensland Blue...nice wrinkles!

 The biggest Queensland Blue in the garden...I'll have to measure him!

 dwarf variety of sunflowers...

one of my favorite herbs thyme!

Semolina and wholewheat sourdough

 I love finding new items and ingredients for the pantry. A couple of days ago I purchased a bamboo bannaton from the bakery in Oatlands, imported from Germany and is used for proofing my bread ...it's used to make the pretty spiral on the outside of your round loafs.

 Both semolina and wholeground white flour came from Callington Mill in Oatlands.

The semolina sourdough recipe came from Yoke Mardewi's Wild Sourdough book....it was terrific..the crust tasted like malt and caramel..a big tick!

Photos of our new garden

Here's a few shots of what's been happening in the veggie garden...its quite different climate and soil wise to where we lived previously. This garden gets full sun all day which isn't so good for your tender leaf plants such as lettuces and basil...so shade clothes are used during the hotter parts of the day. The cloths also come in handy for frosts which we still are getting some mornings.

Compost heaps stacked in the top corner of the yard. Always good to get one of these going asap when in a new garden!

 

 Beet root is a must for us and a late planting of broad beans is proving very successful.

 A real winner in the garden has been collards and the red kale...recipes to follow!

 Lettuce and parsley growing under the shade of the red kale.

  Thyme in full flower, a great bee attractor!

The cherries are doing ok, but lost a lot of blossoms last month due to some really strong winds. Cherry slugs have started to appear but a quick spray with pyrethrum and squashing by hand seems to be working for now as the trees are still small.

Raspberries have started to fruit and ripen. 

So there you have it just a few things that are going on around here...well its back to work with me!