Crunchy apple cinnamon muffins

The muffins of my childhood (at least in my memory) are blueberry, with a generous topping of cinnamon sugar. Whilst I still have a soft spot for blueberry muffins, apples are considerably more cost effective, which makes them a great option for a quick baked treat - and they sing when combined with cinnamon. Even better if you have a direct-from-tree source for the fruit - we don't yet but hopefully we will get to that point in a few years.

Muffins haven't been very much on my radar baking-wise, though - pre-kids I preferred fiddlier, more sophisticated baking - or at least a higher ratio of butter and sugar. These days I'm lucky if I have 10 minutes to throw the batter together (although you can easily double whatever time it takes if I have "help") and I know little fingers will be doing their best to get their hands on the finished product.

This all means a slightly easier and healthier (marginally - everything's relative!) treat is appealing - especially to a heavily pregnant lady who feels like she should be filling the freezer with quick carby snacks but who would really rather be resting.

It's taken me quite a few batches to be happy with this recipe - it seems so simple but it just wasn't quite right. I like a good strong dose of cinnamon to amp up the flavour, and wanted the process to be as easy as possible. Getting the right crunchy sugar topping without burning the tops of the muffins also took some refinement (but I'm sure you'll appreciate it was a worthy plight).

The amount of apple you use has some flexibility, so don't panic if you have a bit more or less than the recipe calls for - one of my batches used about three cups, which did mean the muffins were a bit less structurally sound (not enough batter to hold all the apple together) but they still baked well and tasted good. And if you, as I do, have a small baking assistant who likes to quality check ingredients during the preparatory stages, and as a result end up with a bit less than planned to go in the batter, that'll work out just fine too.

You can leave the cinnamon sugar off the top, but I personally consider it essential so if you omit it you are doing so at your own peril! It's definitely worth getting some good crunchy sugar for this part - though normal white sugar will be better than nothing, a nice raw sugar with a coarse grain (demerara is my pick) will really up the ante.

Crunchy apple cinnamon muffins (adapted from Add a Pinch)
2 cups flour (+ 2 tsp for coating apples)
1½ tsp baking powder
1 cup sugar
3 Tbsp cinnamon (+ ½ teaspoon for coating apples)

½ teaspoon salt

2 large apples, diced (about two cups)
1/4 cup of sunflower oil or similar, or 115g butter, melted
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
½ cup milk
Topping
¼ cup demerara sugar
1 Tbsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 160 C on fan bake. Line a muffin tin with cupcake papers.

Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Dice apples, toss with the extra measure of flour and cinnamon, and mix through dry ingredients.

Add wet ingredients and fold to combine. Spoon into cupcake papers, then mix together topping ingredients and sprinkle over batter. Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until firm when gently pressed. Serve warm with butter.

Chewy peanut butter bites (with optional chocolate)

Snacks that have some nutritional value as well as being delicious are always a welcome addition to our recipe repertoire, and though these aren't entirely virtuous they do have a good dose of protein and fibre (at least when compared with, say, cookies) so they'll keep bellies full for a bit longer. They're similar to bliss balls in that regard, but these are cheaper to make so more practical for an everyday lunchbox treat.

They're also super easy to make, which is always welcome in this busy world of ours. They first appeared on my radar when I was looking for something quick to make for playgroup. They seemed like a crowd-pleaser that would be easy to nom on while chasing small people down, and though the baking is purportedly for the parents, kids always end up sneaking some too, so keeping the sugar levels below hyperactivity levels seemed wise.

This is just one of many possible iterations of the snack ball category - basically if you have enough of the gooey stuff to hold together the dry stuff it's all good, so feel free to add things in and switch things out as it suits you. Possible delicious additions include; different nuts; coconut; chopped dried fruit; LSA or ground chia seeds; extra chocolate (because that's always an option). Or you could use softened then pureed dates or dried apricots in place of the peanut butter (you might need a little more honey too).

We've made this recipe both with and without chocolate, and although I am always biased towards having chocolate (lately I've even been grating a little dark chocolate onto my morning porridge - that's not weird is it?) they work perfectly well without too.

I think I should stock up the freezer with these and bliss balls in anticipation of Cake Baby #2's arrival in a couple of months - they'd be perfect breastfeeding snacks. The challenge will be keeping them out of other hungry mouths in the meantime.

Have you delved into the "snack ball" category of treats? If so what's your favourite combo?

Chewy peanut butter bites (inspired by Not Quite Nigella)
1/3 cup / 120g honey or 1/3 cup sugar and 2 Tbsp water
1/4 cup milk
75g butter
1 1/2 cups / 150g wholegrain oats
1/2 cup / 150g peanut butter
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup / 75g salted peanuts, roughly chopped
40g dark chocolate, roughly chopped (optional)
salt to taste

In a medium sized saucepan mix together the honey (or sugar and water), milk, and butter and bring to a simmer over a medium-high heat. Once the mixture is bubbling keep it on the heat for one minute, then turn down to medium and add the rest of the ingredients, stirring constantly for another minute.

Leave to cool for 20-30 minutes, or until you're able to comfortably work with the mixture in your hands. Shape mixture into balls - any size you like is fine but 2.5-3cm diameter works well for us - and place on a tray or dish. Refrigerate for at least an hour to set.

These can be stored in the fridge for up to a week, if you can get them to last that long.

Oaty chocolate coconut slice

This week we're busy getting stuck into our downstairs bathroom reno. It's actually more a build than a reno, since the room is a shell and has never been completed. That's why things have been a bit on the quiet side around here - I'm attempting to be useful, despite having very little clue what I'm doing.

Proper labouring work calls for morning tea (not something I indulge in every day) and slice is a Kiwi classic. My all-time favourite is chocolate caramel slice, followed by ginger crunch, but both of those are fairly insane in nutritional terms (maximum butter and sugar, minimal anything else), so while nice for a treat, I reckon they're best served to a crowd so they are shared out widely and vanish quickly. This recipe is still definitely treat food, but it's a bit heartier so will keep willing workers going until lunchtime, while clinging onto the indulgent factor to make them happy too.

This is a good pantry classic, too - mostly staples that you'll hopefully have on hand. It's a forgiving recipe so if you're short on coconut or oats you can leave either of them out without much ill effect. If you don't have chocolate for the icing you can do a classic cocoa / icing sugar version (1.5 cups icing sugar, 1 Tbsp cocoa, 20g melted butter and enough water to make it spreadable).

And it's easy - one dirty saucepan and five minutes prep and you'll have it in the oven.

It seems to have gone down a treat - there's just enough left for morning tea this morning - and the framing for our bathroom is almost done, with pre-wiring and plumbing going in today so it's having the desired effect. Chocolate slice for a bathroom seems like a good trade to me. If only we could pay for the whole thing in baked goods... ;-)

Do you have a go-to recipe to provide fuel when hard labour is required?

Oaty chocolate coconut slice
250g butter
1 cup / 240g sugar
2 Tbsp / 15g cocoa
1 Tbsp / 30g golden syrup
2 cups / 340g flour
2 tsp  / 8g baking powder
1 cup / 75g coconut
3/4 cup / 90g oats
pinch of salt
Icing
150g chocolate
50g butter
coconut flakes or threads

Preheat oven to 160 C. Line a brownie or slice tin with baking paper.

Melt the butter, sugar, cocoa and golden syrup in a saucepan over medium heat. Once combined, remove from heat, add the remaining ingredients and mix to combine,

Press into pan and bake for 25 minutes.

To ice, gently melt the chocolate and butter, mix to combine and spread over the slice. Sprinkle coconut over the top. Allow to cool slightly before cutting into small pieces. (If you cut it too soon it will crumble heaps - but you can of course make your own crumbly edge vs delicious warm slice trade-offs. Maybe you're okay with crumbly edges!).

Upside down apricot cake

One of Mr Cake's favourite childhood desserts was apricot upside down cake. The version he had growing up was a microwave version, he thinks from the Edmonds cookbook (classic Kiwi fare right there) and would have featured tinned fruit.

With the plethora of apricots about at the moment (aren't they good?) I wanted to make a slightly flasher version - while Edmonds recipes are generally pretty solid, they also tend to be basic. I spent a bit of time hunting for a recipe that sounded just right, and this one, which I've adapted a bit from NZ House and Garden, met with the judge's approval (and mine).

It uses almond meal, orange zest, and a tiny hint of ginger to spice things up a bit. The almond meal gives the cake a denser, coarser crumb too, which I think makes for a perfect pairing with ice cream. The apricots cook into soft, tart, fruity perfection at the bottom of the cake. I don't know how cooking magically adds that extra tang to sweet, fresh apricots but it's a win.

If you aren't keen on the idea of having a hot dessert with ice cream (really? Are you sure?) it'd be perfectly delicious as an afternoon tea cake too. It will dry out quite quickly as there's not a huge amount of moisture in it, so if you want it to last drench it in a sugar syrup (one infused with orange zest would be wonderful).

It'd also be fine made with tinned apricots if you're making it at another time of year - or indeed many other types of fruit would translate well, so if you'd prefer, say, plums or pears go for it. Or you could even go full 80s classic and opt for tinned pineapple rings - don't forget to garnish with glace cherries at the end!

If you use a springform cake pan make sure you line it with enough baking paper to reach at least 2cm up the sides at the bottom of the pan. If you don't, you risk losing all the delicious glaze to the bottom of your oven, which is a double-edged sword; not only do you not get to eat it, but you'll get a house full of smoke and a bonus oven-cleaning chore to add to your to-do list. Not that I would have done anything so silly, of course.

(I did of course do this, as shown by the photo above, and for the record the cake is still delicious, but the glaze does improve it so heed my warning!)

I like single serve desserts so the recipe gives options to make one large cake, or do portioned ones in ramekins (or you could even use a muffin tin in a pinch). I expect these will freeze well if you want to save some for later, and I can verify that they last a few days in the fridge and reheat very well given a 30 second blast in the microwave.

Are there any classic desserts from your childhood that you haven't had for a while that might be worth dusting off?


Upside down apricot cake (or mini cakes) (adapted from NZ House and Garden)
Glaze
75g butter
1 1/2 tablespoon golden syrup
3 tablespoons brown sugar
4-6 apricots
Cake
125g butter
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 orange
2 eggs
1/2 cup ground almonds
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 cup buttermilk or 1/2 cup milk and 1 tsp vinegar combined and left to sit for 5-10 minutes

Heat oven to 180 C. Grease and line the base of a 23cm cake tin, or 8-10 ramekins or small dishes. If using a springform tin use baking paper large enough to come at least 2cm up the sides of the tin to prevent the glaze from leaking out during cooking.

For the glaze, melt the butter and combine with golden syrup and brown sugar. Spread over the base of lined tin/dishes. Arrange apricots over base, cut side down.

For the cake, cream together butter, sugar, vanilla and orange zest. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Fold in ground almonds, baking powder, ginger and half the flour. Fold in the buttermilk then the remaining flour until just combined. The batter will be very thick.

Carefully spread cake mixture over apricots. For a large cake, bake 45-50 minutes; for smaller ones bake for 15-20 minutes; or for both until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Serve warm with ice cream, cream or yoghurt.

Steak and cheese pie

I was tossing up whether to make something practical for today's recipe, or to go with an over-the-top multi-layered sugar-laden tower of awesomeness. Eventually practicality won out - sort of. This recipe, while a hearty and sensible meal (more sensible as a meal than cake, anyway) does take a bit of effort - but it's worth every minute.

Last time I was pregnant I only wanted to eat hot chips. This time around, pies are more of a theme (I'll still take chips, though!). There's a cafe near us that does fantastic pies (special mention to the one with hash brown in the filling), and I Love Pies do the best supermarket ones - but both of those options are really pricey and not exactly highly nutritious.

While this pie probably won't get the heart foundation tick, it hides a fair few veggies in its rich gravy, so you can feel a little better about the indulgence. You could further improve on the health factor by topping it with mashed potato or kumara, but I'm all about the pastry so we enjoyed ours the traditional way.

I've given the option in the recipe to make this as a fully encased pie if you want - a bit more effort but lots more pastry.

The recipe makes 10 servings, so very generous, but these will freeze well, then be nicely revived by half an hour in the oven for a quick meal. Alternatively, you could also make up just a few pies and have the remaining filling with rice for a slightly different take - we're all about multi-purpose leftovers here. Or give half to someone who's in a tough spot and save them making an evening meal. Options galore!

So, sorry it's not some incredible jaw-dropping cake, but it still hopefully scratches an itch for you like it does for me. And I'll work on the crazy sweet stuff for next time.

Do you ever have cravings? Do pies hit the spot or do you have a different panacea?


Steak and cheese pies (serves 10)
600g blade steak
4 tablespoons flour
olive oil
2 onions
2 cloves garlic
2 stalks of celery
3 large carrots
1 tablespoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon paprika

3 Tbsp tomato paste

500ml beef stock
500ml water
2 tins kidney beans
150g grated cheddar or tasty cheese
4 sheets pre-rolled short savoury pastry (optional)
2 sheets pre-rolled flaky puff pastry
1 egg
3 Tbsp milk

Chop the steak into small cubes. Put flour into a bowl and season with salt and pepper; toss the steak in the flour to coat.

Heat a splash of olive oil in a frypan and brown the steak in batches. Set aside.

Finely chop onion, garlic and celery, then saute until soft in the same frypan. Grate carrot, then add to the frypan along with thyme, paprika and tomato paste. Fry for a remaining 2-3 minutes then add the beef stock and water.

Simmer over a medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 40-50 minutes, until sauce has thickened and meat is tender. Drain and rinse kidney beans and add to sauce. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Optional step: if making fully encased pies, preheat the oven to 180 degrees grease 10 ramekins or small pie dishes (these can be done in batches if necessary). Cut the short pastry to fit the dishes and bake blind for 10-15 minutes, or until slightly browned. Remove from oven and allow to cool.

Heat oven to 180 C. Fill prepared pastry cases, small pie dishes or large pie dish with the prepared filling, then sprinkle cheese on top. Top with flaky puff pastry. Beat the egg with the milk and brush onto the pastry. Bake for around 20 minutes or until golden brown on top. Serve immediately.

Triple chocolate ice cream

Making ice cream isn't for everyone. It's a bit time-consuming (mostly hands off, but you have to wait for the reward), requires either regular stirring in the freezer or that you own an ice cream maker, and the ingredients aren't super cheap... But oh, the glory of proper, homemade ice cream.

There's nothing wrong with regular old Tip Top (though we do have a bit of a running family joke about the "flavoured frozen dairy dessert" that some other brands try to pass off as ice-cream), and I have a thing for the Killinchy Gold salted caramel and cashew flavour (which Mr Cake calls "yucky ice cream" - more for me then!), but it's a different thing, really. Very few readymade ice-creams are still made with the traditional custard base and the flavour difference is noticeable. So while we still go through plenty of the store-bought stuff, every so often I want the real deal.

In order to appease Mr Cake I started with a recipe that he has previously proclaimed as "possibly the best ice cream ever." It's David Leibovitz's milk chocolate ice cream, from The Perfect Scoop. If you are a fan of homemade frozen desserts I highly recommend this book - all the classics and plenty of inventive options, and sections on toppings and mix ins if you want to further embellish. Which naturally I did... Because why wouldn't you?

This recipe takes the decadence to the extreme - if you're going to put all that effort in you might as well yield maximum yum-factor, right? This can be a dessert all on its own if you want, or will be the perfect accompaniment to something simple and light - a nice light spongy pud, if you prefer the cakey route, or a generous serving of chopped strawberries.

The mix ins can be left out, but they create a great textural combo - the white chocolate remains hard, while the dark chocolate truffles stay soft and chewy.

Though it takes a while to make ice cream, and with any custard you do have to watch like a hawk to ensure it doesn't split while thickening, it's pretty simple. You start by melting the chocolate with the cream, then warm the milk and sugar, temper the eggs and then thicken the custard before adding the chocolatey goodness. And then there's the waiting game - don't skimp on the chilling time, or you'll just be making life harder for yourself when it comes to churning and freezing. Give it a minimum of four hours; overnight is even better.

After churning I put mine into a trifle bowl and made sure there were plenty of yummy chocolate bits visible on top. Not a traditional way to present ice cream but if it's to serve to guests it has a bit more pizzazz than a plastic container.


So tell me - are you committed to the ice cream cause, or are you happy with the supermarket stuff? What's your favourite scoop flavour?

Triple chocolate ice cream (adapted from David Leibovitz's The Perfect Scoop)

230g good quality milk chocolate (I used Whittaker's Creamy Milk)

375ml cream

375ml whole milk

150g / 3/4 cup sugar

Pinch of salt

4 egg yolks

2 tsp Cognac (optional)

For the mix ins - dark chocolate truffles and white chocolate chunks

140g cream

3 Tbsp glucose syrup

170g dark chocolate, roughly chopped

100g white chocolate, finely chopped

Combine the milk chocolate and cream in a bowl and heat over a saucepan of simmering water, stirring frequently, until the chocolate is melted. Set aside with a sieve over the top. 

In a medium saucepan, combine milk, sugar and salt and warm over a gentle heat. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks, then gradually add the warm milk a little at a time, whisking constantly, until all is added. 

Return the mixture to the saucepan and stir constantly until the mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon. Pour through the sieve into the chocolate, add the Cognac (if using) and stir to combine. 

Chill for at least four hours, or overnight. 

Heat the cream for the truffles with the glucose syrup in a small saucepan until just beginning to boil. Remove from heat and add the dark chocolate, and stir until chocolate has melted and mixture is smooth. Transfer to a small bowl and freeze for about an hour, or until firm. 

Line a plate or tray with baking paper or gladwrap. Use two spoons to scoop small balls out of the mixture and place on the tray. Freeze until ready to add to the ice cream. 

Churn ice cream in an ice cream maker until thick and semi frozen, or put into the freezer and stir at 30 minute intervals to break up ice crystals until thick. Once thick and semi frozen, transfer to your serving dish and add most of the truffles and white chocolate. Freeze for 30 minutes, then sprinkle the remaining truffles and white chocolate on top, and freeze for at least two hours before serving. 

This will last covered in the freezer for up to two weeks; if planning to keep it for that long it will be best stored in an airtight container rather than a trifle bowl, though! ;-) 

Couscous, grilled veg and haloumi salad

When is a salad not a salad? I'm not entirely sure where the threshold is - this recipe is more like a meal - but I'm happy to consume any delicious medleys of food that come my way, so I won't get too picky about it.

It is at least packed full of vegetables - perfect for right now, with plenty of courgettes and cherry tomatoes, and doesn't take very long to throw together - around ten minutes from start to finish.

Bonus points if you have the produce in your garden - we're working on courgettes, but they're not ready yet, and I reckon next year we'll have a crack at growing cherry tomatoes, because they're so versatile and delicious but kinda pricey in the shops.

We've also planted a lime tree and mint, but I don't think the neighbours would like it if we got a cow so perhaps we'll stop with vegetables for home-produced ingredients. To be honest, our track record with plants isn't that great, so keeping livestock is, I suspect, far too great of a commitment. Not to mention that a mountain goat would be more at home than a cow on our very Wellington section... I am glad for that supermarket down the road!

I've now made this recipe a couple of different ways so I can tell you it's also pretty good with fried feta, but haloumi takes out the prize (and is easier to fry - fried feta is amazing but fragile). I also tried it with lemon instead of lime in the dressing, which works, it's just slightly less zingy.

Do you have a productive veggie patch at your place? Or are you like me, and aspire to grow things but maybe not so green-thumbed?

Couscous, grilled veg and haloumi salad (adapted from BBC Good Food)
250g couscous
250ml vegetable or chicken stock
400g can chickpeas
2 tbsp olive oil
3 medium or large courgettes
Punnet of cherry tomatoes
200g haloumi
Dressing
75ml olive oil
juice of 1 lime (or lemon)
1 garlic clove
2 tbsp chopped fresh mint
½ tsp sugar

Bring the vegetable stock to the boil. Remove from heat, add couscous and cover for five minutes.

Drain and rinse chickpeas.

In a large frypan, heat olive oil. Chop courgette into 1cm slices and fry until golden brown on each side. Remove from frypan. Chop cherry tomatoes in half and place cut side down in the frypan for a couple of minutes, until lightly grilled. Remove from frypan.

Chop haloumi into batons about 1cm thick and 5cm long. Add a little extra oil to the frypan and cook until golden brown.

Finely chop garlic and mint, then combine dressing ingredients in a small bowl.

Toss chickpeas and half the dressing with the couscous then place in a large salad bowl. Layer courgettes, tomato and haloumi on top, then drizzle over the remaining dressing. Can be served immediately or allowed to cool.

Summer berry flaugnarde

Growing a baby in the age of the smartphone comes with the added feature of week-by-week tracking apps. Since pregnancy takes a while and it's nice to know how things are shaping up inside I quite like these. Most of the apps will make weekly comparisons to common objects so you can imagine how big the baby is - fruit is the most common, so you'll progress through grapes, apricots, and apples right up to watermelon at the end.

This time around I found an app that allows me to track the growing baby against French pastries and desserts, which is fairly arbitrary (a lot of baked goods can be made in many different sizes), but has the bonus of introducing me to a few desserts I was previously oblivious to. A bit of an odd source of inspiration ("here's this dessert I made because it's the same size as my foetus this week") but hey, if it leads to good things...

Last week the baby was apparently the size of a flaugnarde (pronounciation guide here), which I had never heard of. A quick Google told me that flaugnarde is essentially the same as clafoutis - which is to say, a sort of baked custard with fruit in it - but clafoutis should be made only with cherries, whereas flaugnarde can be any fruit. Given that my "clafoutis" used plums I guess I have already made flaugnarde - but since the chocolate one was awesome and I was keen to try a more traditional recipe I decided to whip up a summer berry version.

This is a rustic-looking dessert and it won't come out of the baking dish intact, so for maximum pretty factor a round ceramic baking dish is likely your best bet. Having said that, I used a regular cake tin and none of the eaters were complaining - it's always nice to serve up pretty food (I think) but taste definitely comes first and this flaugnarde delivers there.

It also delivers on simplicity - five minutes to combine the custard ingredients in a bowl and chop strawberries, and a two-stage (but still easy and hands-off) baking process and you're done.

You can chop and change the fruit but make sure it's not too wet - I used frozen raspberries, which worked well but they need gentle handling to keep them as intact as possible. You can also use extra milk in place of the cream, but the end result will be a smidge less rich - I reckon it's nicer with the cream but if you have everything else in your fridge already you can sub it out.

So tell me, what's the strangest place you've ever found baking inspiration?

Summer berry flaugnarde (inspired by Kitchen Riffs and ang sarap)
2/3 cup sugar
1 cup milk
1/4 cup cream
3 large eggs
zest of 1 lemon
¼ tsp salt
¾ cup flour
2-3 cups fresh berries (cut strawberries into quarters if using)

additional 1/3 cup sugar

Grease a 23cm cake tin or flan dish. Heat oven to 180 C.

Beat together the first measure of sugar, milk, eggs, lemon zest, salt and flour until well combined. Pour about 2/3 of the mixture into the prepared tin or dish and bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle fruit and remaining sugar over the top, then add the remaining batter.

Return to the oven and bake for a further 50 minutes or until set (if you wobble the dish and nothing moves it's ready).

Dust with icing sugar just before serving; serve warm with ice-cream or cream.

Salad days: firecracker chicken noodle salad

January: month of packed gyms and plentiful summer produce - it must be salad season. I'm not really a big New Years' resolution person (I'll make a resolution any old time!) but always embrace lighter summer meals at this time of year, so I've got a few salads to share over the next few weeks. 

This one is a fairly versatile combination of flavours that could be a light meal in its own right, or served on the side. We had it for lunch with friends with a particularly delicious quiche, but I can imagine it as my lunch any day, or even dinner on a hot summer evening when cooking a full meal doesn't appeal. 

I'm a big fan of South East Asian cuisine. I haven't spent any time in that part of the world (yet) so haven't experienced the real thing first hand, but I love the abundant use of crunchy vegetables with sweet and spicy sauces, and the just-so textural combinations. We got My Food Bag for a while and many of Nadia Lim's recipes have a Malaysian or Thai bent to them, and that helped pad our pantry out with the relevant ingredients, as well as bolstering my confidence. 

This salad will survive well for three to four days in the fridge, so it's perfect for lunches - just keep the dressing separate and dress each portion as you come to eat it. You can leave the chicken out if serving as a side - but it's great protein if going for the meal option. You could also omit the rice noodles if you want a purely veg salad - though you'd probably only need half the dressing if leaving both out. 

I used large flat rice noodles but the tiny angel hair ones would work just as well - follow the cooking instructions on the packet to hydrate them since it varies on size. 

The dressing is simple but effective - we use an extra spicy sweet chilli sauce but if you prefer a milder flavour just use a less punchy sauce and you'll be grand. 

Do you make New Years' resolutions, or just go with the flow? 

Firecracker chicken noodle salad (adapted from Jamie Oliver)

100g rice noodles

200g cooked chicken

1/2 telegraph cucumber

2 carrots

2 heads of baby cos or 1 bag of baby cos leaves

100g sugar snap or snow peas

1/4 cup mint leaves

Dressing

2 Tbsp sweet chilli sauce

1 Tbsp soy sauce

1 Tbsp runny honey

Juice of 2 limes

1 tablespoon sesame seeds

Cook the rice noodles according to the instructions on the packet. When cooked, rinse in cold water then drain. 

Shred the chicken. Thinly slice the cucumber. Shred the carrot into ribbons using a vege peeler. Roughly chop the cos and peas. Finely chop the mint. 

Toss the salad together in a large bowl. Combine the dressing ingredients then toss through the salad. Sprinkle the sesame seeds over the top. 

12 Days of Christmas: Christmas tree rocky road

There's a bit of a link party going on among some local blogs - a 12 Days of Christmas collaboration. I am the official day 9 candidate (I'm still waiting to get my badge in the mail but I promise I'm legit) and am hereby offering you this decadent yet easy (and pretty) gift idea: Christmas tree rocky road.

Each of the bloggers in the collaboration is sharing a Christmas related post. Yesterday's was dorothy nada with some great gift-wrapping ideas (I'm a big fan of brown paper for gift wrapping so love her inspiration) - and the full list of blogs is at the bottom of this post so you can check them all out. 

With that in mind, if you're new around here, firstly, nice to meet you! Thanks for popping by. If you want to stay in the loop you can sign up for my weekly emails (links to the week's posts plus a bonus super simple recipe) and follow me on Facebook, Pinterest and Bloglovin'.

Secondly, you should know that although I occasionally venture into the territory of things that are weirdly complex, most of the time I am focused on getting maximum deliciousness for minimum effort. This rocky road is a prime example: very easy to throw together but will have the recipients raving for months to come.

The recipe is pretty mammoth, but it will make eight generous gifts for all those wonderful people who deserve to be celebrated at this time of year. Don't let the pictures fool you; these are pretty decent wedges of chocolatey goodness, weighing in at around 250g each. If you want to scale it back you can cut the recipe in half and use a 24cm cake tin to make smaller trees - you might want to use mini M&Ms if you go that way but otherwise the method will remain unchanged.

It's also very flexible - the quantities I've given work well but if you happen to have a little more or less of a given element it's all good. And if you want to put jubes in instead of Turkish delight, or change out the nuts that's sweet too. Options galore!

I like the efficiency of making trees out of a cake; it means very little waste, just enough to trim off around the edges so that you and yours can properly taste test before you give it all away. Although you might not want to give it away once you've tasted it so perhaps that's a bit risky.

Assuming we manage to restrain ourselves from eating them ourselves, some of these will be winging their way to daycare teachers, a couple to neighbours, and the remaining couple I'll hold aside as just-in-case gifts, because there's always someone I've forgotten.

If you're not a rocky road fan (if that's a thing - is it a thing?) I have a few other edible gift options here that might tickle your fancy: 

• Tim Tam truffles - always a crowd-pleaser, and can be kept simple or made into pretty bouquets
• Lime shortbread - a zesty take on a festive classic, with sparkly sugar edges
• Salted caramel sauce - this stuff is highly addictive, so it's safer to give it away ;-) 
• Almond, orange and chocolate biscotti - very Christmassy and lasts for ages
• Cherry chocolate meringues - a big package of these would look (and taste) amazing

Will you be baking for gifts this year? What are you planning to make? And who's on your thank-you gift list?

The 12 Days of Christmas Kiwi Mummy Bloggers Collaboration

Day 1 (1st December) – Teacher by trade, Mother by nature 

Day 2 (2nd December) – Mummy Do It

Day 3 (3rd December) – Sweet Mama M

Day 4 (4th December) – Lisasaurus

Day 5 (5th December) – Girl on a Mission

Day 6 (6th December) – Misses Mac 

Day 7 (7th December) – Always Made With Love

Day 8 (8th December) – Dorothy Nada

Day 9 (9th December) – Mrs Cake

Day 10 (10th December) – Nesting in the Country

Day 11 (11th December) – Outdoorsy NZ 

Day 12 (12th December) – A Kiwi Mumma

Chocolate cheesecake Bundt cake with dark chocolate ganache

My loyal Bundt cake pan has been sitting desolately in the back of the cupboard for quite a while, so I went on the hunt for interesting Bundt cakes, and spied this cheesecake-filled version. My recipe is a three-part hybrid. The original cheesecake filling made the cut (with slight measurement alterations). For the cake I opted for a new-to-me chocolate cake recipe, which is going to be used again in this house because it's awesome. Very easy to put together, moist and chocolatey good. And then ganache, because I couldn't leave it bare, and because, well, chocolate.

The original cake ingredient list included sour cream, but in baking sour cream and thick natural yoghurt are often interchangeable. We always have The Collective Straight Up yoghurt in the fridge (I reckon it tastes better than the other natural yoghurt brands you can buy from the supermarket - some of them are too tangy to be good on their own), so that was an obvious switch. Always good when you don't have to buy special ingredients *just* to make cake...

The gentle tang of the yoghurt in the cake works well together with the cheesecake, I reckon - that was my logic in straying from my go-to chocolate cake, and I'm pleased I did. And as I mentioned earlier, it's very easy to put together, so I think we're onto a winner.

The trickiest part is getting the cheesecake filling spread around the tin - I started with a spoon, but switched to a piping bag midway through and found it much easier. Either way will work but if you have the choice go with the bag.

The cheesecake would work equally well with flavour added - I'm thinking a teaspoonful of Fresh As powder in the fruit of your choice would change it up nicely.

To top it all off I whipped up a quick ganache, though I was distracted while making it and added too much chocolate (a phrase I never expected to utter - I mean, is "too much chocolate" even a thing?), which meant it was spreadable rather than drizzly. Even after using the hairdryer to try to make it run down the sides of the cake.

If you follow my recipe (a feat I am apparently incapable of) yours should pour nicely, though. Which will benefit you, especially if you go to the effort of perfectly prepping a fiddly Bundt tin beforehand.

The more detailed your cake tin is the more it matters how you prep it - a smooth ring tin might be fine with a quick spray, but a Bavaria one like mine has many niggly little grooves that want to hold on tightly to cake, so careful prepping is key to getting the cake out intact.

My process is this: first I spray the pan liberally with non-stick spray. Then I turn it over and hold over the sink for a minute, to allow any excess spray to run out. Next, I add flour (about a tablespoonful) and shake it all about until the surface is coated. Finally, I upend the tin over the sink again and tap it a couple of times - quite firmly - to knock out any extra flour.

This adds a very small amount of flour to the surface of the cake. Taste-wise you can't tell, but it does make the crust slightly paler. If I'm not icing a cake (Bundt cakes are so pretty it can seem a waste to ice them) I still would usually put some kind of glaze or syrup over it, which tends to darken the cake up a bit so if you're concerned about it looking pale then glaze is your friend.

So tell me - have you ever used a hairdryer, or other unlikely appliance, in the kitchen? Or is that just me?

Chocolate bundt cake with cheesecake filling and chocolate ganache icing
Filling (recipe adapted from Handle the Heat)
250g cream cheese
1/2 cup / 110g sugar
1 egg
2 tsp / 8g flour
1 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
Cake (recipe adapted from Two Peas and Their Pod)
225g butter
1/3 cup / 45g cocoa
1 cup water
2 cups / 365g flour
1 3/4 cup / 450g sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
1/2 cup Greek yoghurt
1 tsp vanilla extract
Ganache (my own recipe)
150g chocolate
125ml cream

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees C. Spray and flour a large bundt pan, tapping any excess flour out.

Prepare the filling. Beat the cream cheese and sugar together until sugar is dissolved. Beat egg, flour and vanilla in, then set aside.

Prepare the cake batter. Combine butter, cocoa and water in a saucepan over a medium heat, stirring occasionally until butter is melted and ingredients are combined.

In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar and baking soda. Add half the cocoa mixture and beat until  just combined, then repeat with the other half. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition, then add yoghurt and vanilla and mix to combine.

Assemble the cake: pour half the batter into the prepared bundt tin. Using a piping bag or a spoon distribute the cream cheese mixture around the cake, keeping it away from the edges of the tin. Pour the remaining cake batter on top.

Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until a knife inserted shows the cake batter has cooked (the cheesecake batter will stay gooey so don't worry if this comes out; if the chocolatey part is cooked you're good).

Cool for 30 minutes then turn out carefully onto a plate (if it has risen substantially or unevenly you can trim the top first so that it sits flat).

Heat the cream in a small saucepan until just on the edge of boiling. Remove from heat and add the chocolate, and stir until smooth. Drizzle over the cake. Serve warm or chilled - it's good both ways!

The Collective kindly provided the yoghurt for this recipe, but I wouldn't recommend it to you if I wasn't a fan. 

Audacious, outrageous ice cream cake

Well. It's December. Summer. Season of barbeques and gatherings, complaining because it's too muggy and not the holidays yet, or complaining that it's not hot enough yet (it's always one way or the other). 

I mentioned in my email last week that it's all about ice cream for me right now - I struggle to let a day go by without at least a small dose. I'm quite enjoying sharing ice creams with the Little Monkey because although he has well and truly mastered most foods, he still always forgets about temperature so every mouthful of frozen goodness comes with an expression of complete shock. He loves it, but it's hilarious to watch. 

This cake is great for sharing, even with little people - the medley of flavours and textures make it more of a complete dessert than ice cream is on its own (I have a special set of criteria for dessert... That's not weird is it?), and it'll definitely please all ages. And even though it's pretty simple it looks flash so is perfect for taking to parties or gatherings. 

And the nature of it means you can substitute ingredients to your heart's content - anything that you think will taste good in ice cream should work. This is my personal holy grail - raspberries for flavour, maltesers for malt-factor and chocolate, marshmallows for chewiness, Turkish delight for more different chewiness, and meringues on top for crunch. But you may have a different formula. You know, I reckon chopped up Snickers bars would work pretty well in place of the Maltesers... 

I should also note that quantities are approximate, so if the odd Malteser or marshmallow accidentally falls into waiting mouths during construction the cake will be fine. I have thoroughly tested this and am confident it will stand up to the stress. ;-) 

Are you in ice cream mode yet? What's your favourite dessert to take to a BBQ or potluck at this time of year? 

Audacious, outrageous ice cream cake

1 litre vanilla ice cream

155g Maltesers

2 cups frozen raspberries + 1 cup for topping

180g marshmallows

200g chocolate covered Turkish delight (I used bars this time but the blocks also work)

2-3 meringues

Scoop the ice cream into a large bowl and allow to soften slightly. Line a 24cm cake tin with baking paper, tin foil or glad wrap. 

Using the side of a knife, partially crush the Maltesers and spread them over the bottom of the cake tin. 

Chop the marshmallows in half. Chop the Turkish delight into small chunks. 

Add the first two cups of raspberries, the marshmallows and most of the Turkish delight into the bowl with the ice cream. Mix until well combined then scoop into the cake tin and gently spread to fit the tin, taking care not to push all the Maltesers to one side. Cover and freeze for at least 6 hours. 

To serve, gently heat the remaining cup of raspberries, mashing with a spoon, until pulpy. Set aside. 

Unmold the cake by running a hot cloth around the perimeter of the tin, and then turning the cake onto a large platter. Gently crumble the meringues over the top, then sprinkle on the remaining Turkish delight, and dollop on spoonfuls of the raspberry puree. Serve immediately.