White Chocolate Cranberry Oat Cookies

Makes 20
100g butter, chopped
60g soft brown sugar
1 large egg
60g of white chocolate
60g rolled oats
150g plain flour

1/2 cup dried cranberry (rehydrated by soaking in water)

1/2 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
1/2 tsp of cinnamon/all spice powder
Optional: 1/2 cup sesame seeds

Preheat oven 150C fanforced.
Line a large baking tray with non-stick baking paper.

Cream softened butter with sugar, add egg and beat till creamy.
Sift in flour, cinnamon powder, baking powder, salt, stir to combine.
Add cranberry, oats, chocolate and combine.
Spoon a tablespoon of the dough, roll into ball and place onto tray. Place each ball of dough about 3-4cm apart.
Flour bottom of a glass, and depress on each dough to flatten.
Bake in oven for 13-14 minutes.
Remove cookies and cool on rack before storing/serving.

Bon Appetite!

Baked Orange and Cranberry Cheesecake

I adapted this from a Gordon Ramsay's recipe. It is light, a bit crumbly and citrusy.
This is a brilliant dessert to make the day before as many recipes do suggest letting the baked cheesecake set in fridge overnight. I made this the night before, and it was great the next day for a lunch party:-)

Serves 8
Butter and flour, for greasing and dusting cake tin.
400g of cream cheese ( I used Light Philadelphia cream cheese)
80g caster sugar
3 eggs, whisked till very pale and creamy
2 tsbp plain flour
1 tbsp corn flour
Zest and juice of 1 orange
1 tsp of orange or lemon oil (optional, if you want stronger orange flavour).
3/4 cup of dried cranberries (alternatively, 200g raspberries).

Preheat oven to 150 deg C (fan forced)/170 if no fan. Lightly butter a 23cm springform tin, and dust with some flour. The lower temperature plus the use of the corn flour helps to minimise the cake surface cracking during cooking.

If using dried cranberries, barely cover the cranberries with water and soak, for say 15 minutes.

Beat together the cream cheese and sugar. Fold in the flour, zest, fruit, and slowly, incorporate the juice bit by bit. (for this one, I used only half the orange juice and replaced the other half with juice from soaking the dried cranberries).

Fold in the whisked eggs say over 3 batches.

Pour the mixture into the prepared tin, gently tapping against the work surface to remove any bubbles.

Bake in preheated oven for 35 minutes. Turn off the oven, and leave in oven for another 10 minutes. Open oven door, and leave in the oven for another 5 minutes, then take the cake out of oven. Leave to cool in tin. The slow progressive cooling prevents the cake from collapsing in the middle since there is no baking powder used.

If serving the next day, just cover loosely with cling film and keep in fridge. If covered too tight, the surface may get stuck to the cling film when removing.

Bon Appetite!

Whitebread with Wholemeal, Oats, Soy and Honey.

This is probably the best bread I have baked so far. So very soft and moist, delicious! Make sure you have at least 2 1/2 hours. Prepping and proving takes about 2 hours, baking another 30-35 minutes. 

Medium loaf 

280g white bread flour (I used Lauke)

80g Atta flour (wholemeal)

40g either bread/atta for kneading and dusting

1 1/2 tsp dry yeast

260ml lukewarm soy milk

1 tsp of soft brown sugar

Pinch of salt

1 tsp of honey

50g of instant oats

30ml of hot water

About 2 tbps of olive oil for kneading.

Prep loaf tin, lined with baking paper, and dust bottom with flour. 

Mix yeast into soy milk and leave covered for 20 minutes. 

Separately, mix honey, oats and hot water, leave aside.

Using a large mixing bowl, mix flour, salt, sugar, create a well in center.

When yeast is proven, pour yeast soy liquid into flour.

Use a fork to stir, combine, into a lump of dough. 

Leave yeast to prove, cover the bowl with cling film or wet teatowel, for about 20 minutes. 

When yeast proven, pour oil on working bench surface.

Gently using hand scrape out all the dough on top of the oil and move the dough around to evenly spread oil all over the dough.

Gently knead with palm of hands for 2-3 minutes, stretch all parts of the dough, then form a ball, and leave covered to prove for 20 minutes. (15 in summer)

Lift dough up and lightly dust bench with flour. Knead for another say 2-3 minutes. Leave to prove another 20 minutes.(15 in summer)

Lift dough up and dust bench with flour. Knead for another say 2-3 minutes. Leave to prove another 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 230 deg C fan force. Place a baking tray at bottom of oven. And another rack above it, in middle of oven. 

Lift dough up and dust bench with flour. Using palm of hands, gently flatten out dough into a triangle, about 2 cm thick, then slowly pull/stretch on both ends simultaneously, till dough almost double in lenght (to stretch the gluten), it is about 1 cm thick now. Then take 1 end, fold in both sides, pull, and roll in, repeat this action bit by bit, till dough is rolled up tightly into a long bun. 

Place seam down into prepped loaf tin. Cover and leave to prove for 1 hour 10 minutes, or until almost double in size. Dough would have risen and filled the loaf tin by now. You can also see the dough is stretched. 

At  this point onwards, you have to work quickly. 

Dust the surface of the dough lightly with flour. 

Steam the oven by throwing about 5-6 cube of ice into a tray in oven. Close the oven door quickly. 

Meanwhile, using a sharp knife cut a line about 1 cm deep lenghtwise across surface of dough. You should see the dough has pocket of air bubbles when cut.

Quickly put the loaf tin onto the rack in the middle of the oven, and add another 5-6 cubes of ice onto bottom tray. Close oven door gently.

Baked 15 minutes at 230 deg C fan force. 

Lower temperature to 180 deg and bake for another 12 minutes. 

Open our door by 1 cm, and stick a wooden spoon door in between to keep door open, and bake for final 5 minutes (this releases the steam, and helps to crisp the crust). 

Remove loaf tin from oven, and bread from tin, and cool the bread on a rack.    

Combination of soy milk, oats and honey keeps the bread soft and moist for a few days. 

Bon Appetite!

Rigatoni with skinless pork sausages, tomatoes, oregano, tumeric, wine

For 2 p
120g of pasta
8 pork sausages
1 can of Italian tomatoes (just tomatoes)
2 tsp of oregano
1 tsp of tumeric powder
Pinch of salt
1 tsp of brown sugar
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 Spanish onion, diced
1 cup of white wine, or sparkling wine.
Olive oil for pan

Use a heavy based pan with lid

Heat a bit of olive oil in a pan.
Add salt, onions and garlic, leave till softened.
Meanwhile, with the sharp tip of knife, cut across the sausage, to open skin.
Peel off sausage meat from skin and throw into pan.
Break the sausages up into smaller pieces, and cook for 1-2 minutes till rawness dissappears.
Add sugar, oregano, tumeric.
Add tomatoes and juice, and wine.
Stir through.
Cover lid and simmer for 15-20 minutes.

While the sausages are simmering, cook pasta for 11 minutes.
Add pasta to sausages when cooked, and stir through.
Serve.

Bon Appetite!

Soy Multigrain Bread

Bon Appetite!