Cheesy Christmas Stars

I've been cooking up a storm this month. Every second or third day Tricky's advent calendar activity is baking because he absolutely loves it - he even has his own apron now which serves the dual purpose of keeping his clothes clean and looking super adorable at the same time.

I've made cheesy biscuits about five times because they don't last long. And no, I don't mean they don't keep well, I mean they're eaten by the end of the day. Can you say moreish? They're based on a recipe I found recently that I've played with a bit (read: MOAR CHEESE, less salt). 

They do keep in an airtight container for a day or two, but are best eaten straight away. When slightly warm. Oooh yeah.

Cheesy Christmas Stars

Ingredients (makes 50 stars... well depending on how big your star cutter is obviously)

• 150g self-raising flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 75g room temperature butter
• 80g grated cheese (the finer, the better - use pizza cheese for extra flavour)
• Additional grated cheese for the top
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon milk

Apron FTW!

Method

• Sift the flour, whack in the salt, give it a bit of a stir
• Rub in the butter until it looks like breadcrumbs (or cheat and melt the butter - you might have to add a bit more flour but who cares when it's easier, right?)
• Add in the grated cheese and stir it in (it's a bit thick, it's OK)
• Crack the egg in a glass, add the milk and whisk it together with a fork
• Tip almost all of the eggy milk in to the mix and stir, again, to form a dough. All this stirring burns calories, right?
• Need the dough a tad on a floured board, then roll it out about 1cm thick
• Cut out shapes. Stars taste better. I tried trees and gingerbread (or cheesebread) men and it just wasn't right.
• Place the stars on a baking sheet, put a quick flick of eggy milk on the top with a pastry brush and cover them with a bit more cheese. Go the parmesan, you know you want to.
• Bake them at 200C for ten minutes or until golden. Or, if your oven has a cold stop like mine *grumble*, turn then around half way through. GAH!
• EAT THEM ALL!    

Cheesy trees... not as good

Apple, sultana, cinnamon and oat muffins

My mother used to always bake when the weather was bad and as a result whenever it rains I always feel like having scones for afternoon tea and a roast for dinner.

Since the start of winter this has translated in to a constant hunger and lots of opportunities to play with recipes, modify them and sometimes, when I'm feeling particularly smug, create my own.

Sweet or savoury, it doesn't matter. I must bake and I must eat.

Apple, sultana, cinnamon and oat muffins

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cup of SR flour, sifted
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup oats
• 115g butter, melted
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup milk
• 2 apples, peeled and cored, finely diced
• 1/2 cup sultanas
• 1 tsp cinnamon

Really unattractive action shot

Method

• Combine flour, sugar, oats and cinnamon
• Add in the fruit and stir it around to coat the pieces - this makes sure they don't sink to the bottom of the batter
• Add in the butter, eggs and milk and stir until just combined
• Spoon in to a muffin tray and bake at 180C for 20 minutes

If you want to be a little bit more indulgent, before you put them in the oven, sprinkle them with some extra brown sugar and a few extra oats - when it melts together it creates a great little caramel crunch!

Healthy Dairy Free Toddler Snacks

So we all know I'm kinda a bit of a food nazi when it comes to Tricky, right?

I figure that I have a really limited amount of time to set him up with good eating habits so I'm doing everything I can. He doesn't get junk food, he gets very little processed food, instead, I make most of his meals from scratch.

For a snack, I sometimes make pikelets - they're quick, easy, have very little sugar and best of all they don't drop crumbs bloody everywhere! One of the munchkins in my mothers' group has an allergy to dairy, so, in order to make some food that all the kids could enjoy I started experimenting and came up with these babies.

Dairy Free Fruit Pikelets

Ingredients:

• 1 cup flour 
• 1 egg 
• 1/2 cup poached and pureed fruit - or, cheat a little bit and put in a pouch of baby food!
• 1/2 cup water

Method:

• Sift flour in to a medium sized mixing bowl
• Add egg, fruit puree and water
• Whisk until well combined
• Place a spoonfulls of mixture in to a hot pan (greased lightly if you wish)
• Flip over when small bubbles form or the top loses it's shine
• Cook on the other side until golden brown

I serve these without any toppings because the mild fruit flavour is enough. We've experiemented with a lot of the baby food pouches because I got tired cooking up all the fruit. My favourite would have to be apple, pear and cinnamon!

They store really well in an airtight container for a few days, but I tend to make a huge batch and freeze some for the days I'm not in a cooking mood.

Homemade Nut Free Muesli Bars

I've jumped on the nut free wagon since Tricky's anaphylaxis reaction. Whilst he can handle peanuts I wanted to try my hand at some nut free muesli bars for two reasons:

Firstly to see if they tasted as awful and bland as they looked... they did.

And secondly so I could give them to him to take to his little nut allergy parties where all the anaphylaxis kids get together and compare EpiPen carriers or some shit.

So, as always, I threw out the different recipes I'd seen and decided to take what I'd learned to create my own... and they're pretty damn tasty if I do say so myself. The Wonder Couple have declared them "better than the shop bought muesli bars". High praise indeed!

Nut Free Muesli Bars

Ingredients

• 120g of margarine
• 1/2 cup of honey
• 1/4 cup of firmly packed brown sugar
• 3 cups of oats
• 1 cup of crushed cornflakes 
• 1 1/2 cups of mixed dried fruit* - this is the important bit so make sure you have a variety, I use a combination of currants, sultanas, cranberries, blueberries, cherries, apricots and even a little peel. This is where the total nom factor comes from! If you just use sultanas it is BOR-ING!
• 1/4 cup sesame seeds

Method

• In a big bowl combine all your dry ingredients and the super awesome selection of dried fruit
• Combine margarine, honey and sugar in a saucepan and melt together, bring to the boil for 3-4 minutes stirring continuously - it will froth and thicken slightly
• Pour the contents of the saucepan in to the bowl and stir until the whole mix is wet and sticky
• Dump the mix in to a lined slice tray, push down as firmly as you can and bake at 180C for 15-20 minutes
• Remove from the oven and allow to cool (whack it in the fridge to speed it up) then cut to size - bars or squares, I ain't fussy

It is slightly crumbly so make sure you wait until it's completely firmed in the fridge before cutting - if you get impatient because it looks so amazing then you'll end up with crumbs everywhere. If it happens though, scrape them all together form little balls - the honey means they'll still stick together. Muesli balls FTW!

Happy baking!

*I go to the local bulk food store and get a little scoop of all the dried fruits I want so I don't have to pay for giant packets of dried fruit that will take forever to get eaten

The best damn banana bread you'll ever taste

So is it banana bread or banana cake? It's a little trickier than the cake or death question.

It's most definitely not like any bread I've ever tried. But it's not quite cake either.

The important thing is that it tastes so damn good. The bad thing is that it's completely moorish and you will inhale it within an hour a day if you're not careful.

This has been adapted from about four others that I tried and didn't like - after some experimenting I've come up with this gorgeous recipe with just the right amount of spice (not too much) and a perfect amount of sweetness!

The Best Damn Banana Bread Ever

Ingredients

• 125g margarine
• 1 1/2 cups caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 over ripe bananas (When the choice is between bin and cake, cake always wins!)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups plain flour
• 1 tsp bi carb
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/16 tsp allspice
• 1/2 cup milk

My 20 year old mixer still going strong

Method

• Cream margarine and sugar
• Add in eggs, vanilla and the mushed up bananas
• Sift in all the dry ingredients
• Stir gently, gradually adding the milk until all combined - if you spill the milk, make sure to make a lame joke to your partner about not crying
• Bake at 180C for 55-60 minutes (do the skewer trick to make sure)

The result is a super moist, dense cake. Or bread. Whatever.