Winter warmer: Apple pie

Went to a BBQ last month and was in charge of bringing a dessert! It was in Autumn but you could DEFINITELY feel the winter cold in Melbourne!! I decided to bake an APPLE PIE! It's been a while since I made my last pie!! Here's what it looked like...

my first apple pie... awww.. haha

My presentation and pastry work wasn't too good bad then.... I hope I have improved ^^

Apple Pie
Recipe adapted from taste.com.au

Pastry
1 3/4 cups (260g) plain flour
1/2 cup (75g) self-raising flour
185g unsalted butter, chilled, cut into small pieces
1/3 cup (75g) caster sugar
2 eggs
1 tbs milk

Filling
4 large Granny Smith apples
Juice of 1 lemon
45g unsalted butter
1/2 cup (110g) caster sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 180oC.Sift flours and pinch of salt into large mixing bowl. Add butter and rub into flour with fingertips till resembles fine breadcrumbs.

This takes a little bit of time but it's worth all the love and care :)

2. Add 1 of the eggs, lightly beaten, with 1 tbs chilled water and drizzle over flour mixture. Bring dough together by cutting liquid into dough with blunt knife and then using hands to make a smooth ball. (Add more water if needed). 
3. Divide dough into 2 pieces, one slightly larger than the other.Wrap in cling wrap and chill for 30 minutes.
4. For the filling, peel and core apples. Cut each into 8 pieces. Immediately toss with lemon juice.
5. Place butter and sugar in large frypan over medium-low heat. Add apples and cinnamon when butter has melted. Stir occasionally for 10 minutes or until apples have softened. Set aside to cool.
6. Roll pastry on a lightly floured work bench to a 30cm circle. Roll pastry around rolling pin, then unroll over pie dish. Gently press into dish allowing excess to overhang.
7. Place cooled filling in base. Roll small pastry out and cut into strips (~2cm width). Weave into pattern (over and under... over and under....). Cut excess pastry from edges and crimp edges with your fingers. Beat remaining egg with milk, brush over pastry. Refrigerate for 30 minutes - I'm pretty sure this is to prevent shrinkage of pastry.. I skipped this step and that's probably why mine shrunk a bit...>.<
8. Place pie dish on baking tray and bake for 45 minutes or until golden brown.
Best eaten warm with a scoop of vanilla icecream ;p..

Work catering #23: Nutella + Cream Cheese = HEAVENLY NUTELLA CHEESECAKE!

Last week I was asked to cater for two sessions (yay! so happy they asked me ^_^) so did a lot of baking! One was for a morning tea so I made Orange and Poppy Seed cake and Blackforest cheesecake, both recipes that I have tried before.

Fanned out~~~

Close up of cake - u can see the poppy seed and orange rind

So now to the next exciting recipe!!! As promised, it is another Nutella recipe =D Remember last week how I made Apple crumble cheesecake and Nutella cookies? Well a colleague at work misheard and thought I made Nutella cheesecake! XD and I thought what a great idea~ so after some blog research I found this recipe for NUTELLA CHEESECAKE! It's super easy (as the original recipe title stated xP)

Nutella Cheesecake

Recipe adapted from ChocolateSuze

Ingredients

250g Nice biscuits

100g butter, melted

1 tsp vanilla essence

2 x 250g cream cheese

100g icing sugar

1/2 cup thickened cream

400g Nutella

1. Process/Crush biscuits until fine. Add melted butter and combine. Press into base of lined baking tray (20 x 30cm) and chill in fridge for ~ 30 minutes.

2. Beat cream cheese, icing sugar and vanilla essence with electric mixer until smooth mixture formed. 

3. Beat in Nutella until smooth. Beat in cream until mixture looks shiny and mousse-like.

4. Dollop mixture onto biscuit base and smooth the surface. Place in fridge for a couple of hours or best overnight.

Bite size squares of Nutella Cheesecake

As there was no gelatin added I thought they might turn to mush but they actually held their shape after being in the fridge overnight. It was quite rich so you can't eat too much... but oh so good ;p....

Next up is something a little fun! Colour M&M cookies ^_^

M&M Cookies
Recipe adapted from Mad cooking fusions

Ingredients
2 cups plain flour
225g butter, softened at room temp
1 egg
1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla essence
a pinch of salt
1 cup M&Ms

1. Preheat oven to 180oC and line 2 baking trays with baking paper.
2. Cream butter and sugars with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla and beat until well combined.
3. Add flour, baking powder and salt and mix with wooden spoon until combined. 
4. Roll teaspoons of cookie dough into small balls and place on lined baking tray. Gently press to flatten with the palm on your hand. Decorate with M&Ms and bake for approx. 15-20 minutes or until edges turn light brown.

so many COOKIES :D :D :D

Colourful~~~~

Sometimes if it's too hot the M&M's will crack >.<"

These cookies are a lovely snack! and not just for kids =p Big kids too!!! ^______^

Work catering #22: Crumble in my tummy

This week's catering has got to be one of my favourites!!! =D =D =D!!! I could just sit and scoff down the whole lot of the apple crumble cheesecake and a jarful nutella cookies, but of course I can't because then I wouldn't have anything to bring to work ><"

Anyways this cheesecake is a baked one, unlike my other no-bake cheesecakes and I'm really happy with how it turned out!

Apple Crumble Cheesecake

Recipe adapted from taste.com.au

Ingredients
250g Nice biscuits
125g butter, melted

Filling

500g cream cheese, chopped, softened at room temperature

2/3 cup caster sugar

3 eggs
400g canned apple slices, chopped

1 tsp cinnamon
Crumble

1 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup plain flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

50g butter, chilled, chopped

1. Grease and line 20x30cm baking pan. Preheat oven to 160oC/140oC fan-forced. 
2. Process biscuits until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add melted butter and process until combined. Press mixture over base of baking pan. Refrigerate.
3. Make filling by beating cream cheese and sugar with electric mixer until smooth. 
4. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Fold apple and cinnamon through mixture. Pour into prepared pan.
5. Make crumble topping by placing oats, flour and sugar in a bowl. Rub in butter until combined and sprinkle over filling.
6. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until just set (will wobble slightly in centre). Turn off oven. Cool cheesecake in oven for 3 hours with door ajar. Refrigerate overnight.

Delicious crumble on top!

Ready to be served!

Nutella Cookies
Recipe adapted from taste.com.au

Ingredients
125g butter, softened at room temp
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup Nutella spread
1 3/4 cups plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 180oC/160oC fan-forced. Line 2 baking trays with baking paper.
2. Beat butter and sugar with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add egg and Nutella and beat until just combined.
3. Sift flour and baking powder over butter mixture. Add chocolate chips and stir until combined. 
4. Roll teaspoons of mixture into balls. Place on prepared tray ~3cm apart to allow room for spreading. Flatten slightly with fork. 
5. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until light golden in colour. Cool on trays before tranferring to wire rack to cool completely.

Trayful of cookies! yum yum!

Ready to be served!

Can't really go wrong with this recipe hey? I mean who doesn't love Nutella and cookies!? Stay tuned for another delicious recipe using NUTELLA! :D

Work catering #21: BakingTray recognised :)

I wasn't able to make the lunchtime seminar last week but I still catered :) And I was very touched to here that the speaker's supervisor actually said thank you for the catering ^____^v really happy to hear people appreciate my baking =) =)

Then I met a friend to give her some baked goodies and she said she bumped into a work colleague who attended the seminar and said my baking was yummy ^_^" awww.. so nice to hear that =D Is this the beginning of BakingTray catering business? HAHA! who knows~

So this time I made cheesecake and cookies. The cheesecake was a bit softer than normal, maybe I didn't add enough gelatine.... I actually froze a piece for a couple of days and I have to say, tastes delicious frozen!!! Oh and if you love Cherry Ripe then I'm pretty sure you'll love this slice!

Cherry Choc Cheesecake Slice
Recipe adapted from Baker's Corner

Ingredients
200g Nice biscuits, crushed
1/3 cup (25g) desiccated coconut
125g butter, melted
250g cream cheese, softened at room temp
1/4 cup (60ml) lemon juice
1 can (395g) condensed milk
3 tsp gelatine
1/4 cup (60ml) boiling water
300ml thickened cream
3 x 55g cherry ripe bars, finely chopped

1. Grease and line 20x30cm baking pan with foil. 
2. Combine biscuits, coconut and butter in bowl. Press mixture firmly into base of pan and refrigerate for around 30 minutes.
3. Beat cream cheese, lemon juice and condensed milk with electric mixer until smooth. Dissolve gelatine in boiling water. Fold into cream cheese mixture. 
4. In separate bowl, whisk cream until soft peaks form. Fold into cream cheese mixture.
5. Fold in chopped cherry ripe bars. Pour mixture over base. Refrigerate for 2 hours or until set. Cut into squares and serve~

Stretched out! haha they weren't that wide

Close up of cherry choc cheesecake slice - the bits of Cherry ripe oozing out

Chocolate Caramel Fudge cookies
Recipe adapted from Baker's corner

Ingredients
65g butter
1/2 cup (75g) dark chocolate chips
2 eggs
120g caster sugar
150g brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla essence
2 cups (300g) plain flour
1/3 (35g) cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup (140g) caramel choc chips

1. Preheat oven to 180oC/160oC fan forced. Line 2 baking trays with baking paper.
2. In a small saucepan over low heat, add butter and dark chocolate chips. Stir occasionally until melted. Remove from heat and cool for 5 minutes.
3. Stir in eggs, caster sugar, brown sugar and vanilla essence.
4. In a separate bowl, sift flour, cocoa powder and baking powder. Stir in chocolate mixture and caramel choc chips. Mix until combined. Roll teaspoon dough into balls and place on prepared trays. Bake for 10 minutes. Stand cookies on trays for 5 minutes before  transferring to wire rack to cool.

MMmm big pile of delicious cookies!

Close up of cookies! YUMMYYYY!

The cookies were indeed FUDGEY! :D Mmm.. could dig into some right now~~
Oh and OOPS on the labelling xD

Work catering #20: Bad baking days....

Just like when you have a bad hair day or a bad day at work, you can also have a Bad Baking Day! I'm sure many of you bakers have experienced this. When you just run out of ingredients, when you accidentally forget about a cake in the oven or when you misread a recipe and add too much sugar or don't add it at all! You get what I mean... >.<

Anyways so this week I had a bad baking day.
#1: Ran out of baking paper/forgot to buy some - had to use foil
#2: Although the recipe said I could use foil to line the baking tin, it managed to get stuck to the sides and bottom of the tin so I couldn't get the lemon slice out.
#3: As i tried to get the lemon bars out of the tin, the top dislodged from the biscuit base. Had to stick it together...
#4: Wanted to make Orange and Poppy seed cake but ran out of poppy seeds/couldn't find them

DESPITE all the mishaps, I managed to make something for this week's catering =) I found it quite funny/ironic that the recipe was called "Perfect Lemon Bars"! haha especially when I was having so much trouble with it!

PERFECT LEMON BARS
Recipe adapted from Princess in the Kitchen

Ingredients
Crust
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1/3 cup icing sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbs lemon zest
1/2 cup (113g) butter, softened at room temperature

Filling
4 eggs
1 1/3 cups caster sugar
1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
zest of 2 lemons
3 tbsp plain flour

1. Preheat oven to 180oC and line a 20x20cm baking pan with baking paper (NOT FOIL XD)
2. Make crust by whisking flour, icing sugar, salt and lemon zest in large bowl. 
3. Cut butter into chunks and add to flour mixture. Blend with electric mixer on low speed until mixture resembles crumbs (or you can just use your fingertips to rub the butter into flour mix). Press mixture into prepared pan with back of spoon. Bake for 16-19 minutes until lightly brown around the edges.
4. Make filling by whisking all filling ingredients together in large bowl. When crust comes out and still hot, pour in filling mixture. Bake for 20-25 minutes until filling is set (and does not jiggle when pan is gently shaken). 
5. Cool completely before slicing. Sift icing sugar on top and serve =)

Lemon bars.. or squares

Close up of lemon bars - melted icing sugar....

So it just so happened I got the ALDI catalogue in my mail and came across this easy no bake slice recipe =D I had all the ingredients at home as well ^^

Marshmallow Slice
Recipe adapted from ALDI

Ingredients

250g sweet biscuits, crushed (I used Marie biscuits)

3/4 cup (35g) mini marshmallows (or bigger ones cup up)

3/4 cup (60g) desiccated coconut

3/4 cup (135g) choc chips

1 tbsp cocoa powder

1 can (395g) condensed milk

100g butter, chopped

1 tsp vanilla essence

200g milk chocolate, melted

1. Grease and line 20x30cm baking pan.

2. In large bowl combine biscuits, marshmallows, coconut, choc chips and cocoa powder.

3. In medium saucepan combine condensed milk, butter and vanilla essence. Stir over low heat until butter is melted. Pour over biscuit mixture and mix well. 

4. Firmly press into prepared pan. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until set. Spread melted chocolate on top of slice. Refrigerate until set and cut into squares.

Stretched out... whoa..

Close up of marshmallowy goodness

It tasted like a cross between a rumball and rocky road!

Anyways... Here's to having better baking days in the future :)

Death by Salted Caramel!!!

As soon as I saw this cake recipe, I knew I HAD to bake it! Just had to find some time because it would take a little while. So when ANZAC day came around.. it was time to bake!!! =D =D

This was my first time making salted caramel - it's always been on my to do list but I had a fear of burning it >_< Surprisingly, this recipe was simple and straightforward so I didn't end up having burnt caramel ^^"

There were about 2 tablespoons of the salted caramel leftover so I thought to myself, 'I'll just finish it off with some icecream'... BAD IDEA! It was SICKENLY SWEET!!!! >_______<" but I finished it off, to my regret! Never doing that again!
So lesson learnt - Just take one piece of cake! It will be enough :)

Chocolate Salted Caramel Layer Cake

Recipe adaped from Baker's Corner 

Ingredients

1½ cups (225g) plain flour, sifted
1½ cups (330g) caster sugar
1 ½ cups (180g) Cocoa powder, sifted
2 tsp bicarb soda
1 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
¾ cup (190mL) buttermilk or milk
¾ cup (190mL) warm water
¼ cup (60mL) vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla essence

Salted Caramel
1 cup (220g) caster sugar
1 tbsp glucose
½ cup (125mL) thickened cream
2 tsp salt
70g cold butter, chopped

Chocolate Ganache
100g dark chocolate melts
80ml thickened cream

1. Preheat oven to 180°C/ 160°C fan forced. Grease and line two 20cm round cake tins with baking paper.
2. Combine flour, sugar, cocoa powder, bicarb soda and baking powder in large bowl. Add eggs, buttermilk, warm water, oil and vanilla essence. Beat on low speed with electric mixer until well combined.
3. Divide batter between pans. Bake for 45 minutes or until skewer inserted into middle comes out clean. Allow cake to cool (~20 mintues) before turning out onto wire rack.
4. For caramel, combine sugar, glucose and 1/2 cup (125ml) water in medium saucepan over high heat. Cook, without stirring, for 15 minutes or until sugar is golden.
5. Remove from heat and carefully pour in cream, whisk until smooth. Return to heat and cook for further 2 minutes.
6. Pour caramel in medium bowl, whisk in salt, cool for 15 minutes. Slowly whisk in butter and cool completely.

Salted caramel!!!! =D

7. Make ganache by placing chocolate and cream in heat proof bowl over pot of simmering water. Stir until smooth and allow to cool.
8. To assemble, cut each cake in half horizontally to form 2 layers. Transfer 1 layer to serving platter, spread 1/3 of caramel on top. Top with another cake layer and repeat with remaining cake layers, leaving top uncovered. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until set. Frost tops and side of cake with chocolate ganache.

2 layers of chocolate cake~

Assembling the cake! The caramel drips into all the small crevices for a deliciously moist cake

Completed cake!!!

DIG IN!!!!!! =D =D

I also made a mini version for my supervisor who was going away on maternity leave ^^

Mini chocolate and salted carmel layer cake

Work catering #19: Cookie Fix

The theme for this week's catering was COOKIES! I made Cookies and Cream slice and White Chocolate and Cranberry Cookies. 



Delicious white choc and cranberry cookies ^^

I used the same dough recipe as the Green Tea and White chocolate cookies but left out the green tea and added 1/2 cup cranberries. You can find the recipe here. I love the flavour and texture of these cookies because they taste a bit like short bread. The dough is really simple to make and the great thing is you leave it overnight in the fridge and the next day all you have to do is SLICE and BAKE! One thing I learnt from my previous batch is to roll the dough out into a thinner tube so you can slice more cookies :) This time I made around 40-50 as compared to 30 something last time.

Tray of cookies!

The chunks of white choc and cranberries! YUM!

You can also customise the flavour! Any flavour combination suggestions? :D