Monday 29 October 2012


Ingredients:

- Pumpkin seeds
- Olive Oil  (15ml)
- Pinch of Salt 

*Optional Spicy: Tabasco Sauce (1ml), Cayenne Pepper (5ml), Cumin (1ml), Chili powder (15ml)
*Optional Sweet: Sugar (15ml), Cinnamon (1ml), dash of nutmeg, dash allspice

Method:

1) Preheat oven to 350°F or 180°C.
2) Wash and slightly dry pumpkin seeds with paper towels.
3) In a small bowl, toss together pumpkin seeds and olive oil; season with salt.
4) Evenly spread pumpkin seeds on a baking sheet and transfer to oven.
5) Cook until toasted and fragrant, 10 to 12 minutes.

Ingredients:
375 ml flour
300 ml cocoa powder
2 ml salt
185 ml margarine
300 ml sugar
1 egg
3 ml vanilla

Royal icing:
250 g icing sugar
2 ml cream of tartar
15 ml whip powder
50 ml water

Directions
1. In a bowl, sift together flour, cocoa, salt. Set aside mixture.
2. Use an electric mixer to cream the margarine and sugar until fluffy.
3. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Add flour mixture; mix on low speed until thoroughly combined.
4. Divide dough in half; wrap in plastic wrap. Chill for ten minutes on the freezer.
5. Heat oven to 350°F or 180°C.
6. Roll the dough out between two pieces of wax paper until about 5 mm thick.
7. Cut out a tracer out for the web shape from scale paper. Cut out each cookie.
8. Place cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 8 to 10 minutes.
9. Cool completely on wire racks.
10. To make royal icing whip together the icing ingredients in a medium bowl.
11. Begin icing cookies with white royal icing. To 50 ml of the icing sugar ass 30 ml melted chocolate chips or use black icing paste.
12. Pipe out a spiral of back icing starting from the center to the edges of the cookies.
9. Draw a bamboo skewer or use the tip of a sharp knife and drag it from the center to each point of the cookie, then from the inner curves back to the center.

Friday 12 October 2012

Ingredients
375 ml cake flour sifted
5 ml baking powder
1 ml salt
220 ml granulated sugar
85 ml margarine
1 egg
5 ml vanilla extract
150 ml milk

Directions
1. Preheat oven 350°F or 180° C
2. Line a muffin tin with paper liners
3. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside
4. Cream sugar and butter together until light

5. Add the egg and vanilla to creamed mixture and beat until thoroughly mixed
6. Add flour mixture to the creamed mixture alternately with milk, beating well after each addition. Continue beating one minute
7. Pour into prepared pan. Bake 18 to 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean
8. Cool for 10 minutes in pan or rack; remove and cool completely before decorating

Wednesday 3 October 2012


Ingredients
250 ml sugar
250 ml margarine
2 eggs
5 ml vanilla
625 ml flour
5 ml baking soda
10 ml cream of tartar
2 ml salt

Directions
  1. In a large bowl. Cream together margarine and sugar. Add one egg at a time. Beat until well incorporated. Add the vanilla.
  2. Sift together dry ingredients in a medium bowl.
  3. Slowly stir the flour mixture into the creamed mixture.
  4. Divide the dough into 5 unequal amounts.
  5. Mix in 2-3 drops of food colouring to each amount. You will need to use blue, green, yellow, orange and red food colouring.
  6. Start by rolling the smallest ball ( blue ball) into a snake.
  7. Surround the snake with the next largest ball (green) until all dough is used up. OR roll each ball into a snake place each side by side and shape into a rainbow.
  8. Put in the freezer for 10 minutes or until the dough hardens.
  9. Slice the cookies in half and place on an uncreased cookie sheet.
  10. Bake in a 350o F for 8-10 minutes.
  11. Let sit on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes and then move them to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Monday 1 October 2012

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
2 eggs
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 cup apple
125 ml rolled oats
60 ml almonds
1/2 vegetable oil
2 eggs

Frosting: Brown butter
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup icing sugar
1 table milk


Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350°C/ 180°F.
2. Lightly butter one  9 x 5 inch loaf pan or four small loaf pans.
3. In a small bowl, prepare an apple shredded and squeezed dry.
4. In a medium bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, nutmeg, cinnamon, baking soda, rolled oats, almonds and salt; set aside.
5. In a different medium bowl, whisk the eggs. Add the oil and plain yogurt.
6. Stir in the apple, 1 teaspoon vanilla and citrus zest to the egg mixture. 
7. Fold into the dry mixture until just combined. 
8. Spread batter into the pans.
9. Bake for about 35-40 minutes. Cool for 30 minutes in the pans on a rack.