Buttered Grapes

So recently I had a parting of ways. I ended things, it was not mutual, it was probably not on the happiest of terms, but alas it was time for things to end. We both gave it a decent crack and put in a lot of hard work, still however things just didn't feel right. I may have said a few "It's YOU not me" comments, but this is irrelevant.

Before you go jumping to conclusions and presuming that somewhere in amongst my busy life I have managed to fit in a secret love with one of the usual suspects (actor/writer/chef/singer/wine maker/director/some ridiculous creative type) I'll set the record straight. I have not been going through a break up. I have however left a job, which I had very high hopes for.

Being the person I am, and seeing things the way I do, I treated leaving a job in the same way I often treat parting of ways with a significant other (to me food, cooking and romance are all the same so its hard for me to distinguish between any of them.)

I may have shed a few tears, I may have drank one too many glass' of wine, and I may have hashed over the details repetitively with my friends and family. Lets be honest, the whole experience shook me so much that I couldn't stand to bake a single cake, or even look at a Donna Hay magazine. I was too heart broken.

Like any good heart break, your life becomes shaken up enough to take a good look at who you are and where you are going. After three years of working pretty nonstop at culinary school, and a five star hotel, I realised that I was pretty tired. I also realised that if I kept working so much I would start to loose my love of food. Too many chefs work themselves into the ground, only to forget why they are actually in this industry.  I totally had one of those huge 'Wow maybe I've got this all wrong" moments, where I realised that life is speeding past me very very quickly, and unless I start doing the things I want, and taking time to enjoy it, very soon I will miss these moments. Don't get me wrong, Im not saying in any way that I don't love being a chef, I'm just saying I think I love being a person more.

So here is what I plan on doing. First of all I have taken a job at a really cute little cafe right down the road from my house, which means no more 4am starts and 12 hour days without a break. Next I have taken a very long nap (actually I napped for a good part of a week), and now it is time to extend all this loveliness to you, my readers. I want to take some time to actually make some food I love (simply because I love it)

and share it with you. I want to tell you about all the glorious things going on in my kitchen, be it a lovely bottle of wine I'm drinking, some flowers I've planted in my back yard, a wonderful tattoo I got on my ankle (yes mum I got another tattoo), how wonderful my friends are, all the dinner parties Im planning on hosting, and just how damn good it is to be alive. So if you're up for all this, then so am I! Welcome to my rebranded blog. Welcome to my rebranded new little life. Welcome to nonstop wonderfulness.

Doughnuts!

So this is the new year. It seems to be a year of new things too. I have happily settled into a new house, a new job, a new romance, with a couple of new cook books for inspiration and a new bike. Everything seems so exciting and fresh. I am about to endeavour on a whole year of bold adventures, and Im pretty thrilled. 

I have been promising a doughnut recipe for sometime now. I'm pretty keen on making doughnuts these days. I actually haven't made any for about two weeks and today I had such a craving for them. 

The recipe comes from a book called "Doughnuts, simple and delicious recipes to make at home." Its one of my new favourite books. I found the following recipe on a great blog called 'Leite's Culinarie' Hope you enjoy it. 

GLAZED DOUGHNUTS RECIPE

• Quick Glance
•  1 H
•  3 H, 30 M
•  Makes 8 to 14 treats

Want it? Click it.

INGREDIENTS

• For the doughnuts
• 3 tablespoons active dry yeast
• 1 cup whole milk, heated to 110˚F (43°C)
• 2 to 2 1/2 cups bread flour, plus more for the work surfface
• 2 tablespoons superfine sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 large egg yolks
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
• Vegetable oil, for frying
• For the sugar glaze
• 1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted to remove any lumps
• 3 to 4 tablespoons milk or water
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract (optional)
• For the chocolate glaze
• 1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 4 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 2 tablespoons milk or water
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract (optional)

DIRECTIONS

• Make the doughnuts
• 1. In a medium bowl, dissolve 2 tablespoons of the yeast in 3/4 cup of the warm milk. Stir in 3/4 cup of the flour to create a smooth paste. Cover and let rest in a warm spot for 30 minutes.
• 2. Combine the remaining warm milk and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the flour mixture along with the sugar, salt, vanilla, and egg yolks. Mix until smooth. Turn off the mixer and add 1/2 cup of the remaining flour. Mix on low for about 30 seconds. Add the butter and mix until it becomes incorporated, about 30 seconds. Switch to a dough hook and, with the mixer turned off, add more flour, about 1/4 cup at a time. Knead the dough on medium speed between additions until the dough pulls completely away from the sides of the bowl and is smooth and not too sticky. It will be very soft and moist, but not so sticky that you can’t roll it out. (You may have flour left over.) Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to 12 hours.
• 3. Line a baking sheet with a lightly floured dish towel. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to 1/2 inch thick. With a doughnut or cookie cutter, cut out 3-inch-diameter rounds with 1-inch-diameter holes. (Note: If making filled doughnuts, clearly, don’t cut out the holes.) You can re-roll the scraps and cut out additional holes.
• 4. Place the doughnuts at least 1 inch apart on the baking sheet and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Let rest in a warm spot to proof until they almost double in size, 5 to 20 minutes, peeking every five minutes. To test whether the dough is ready, touch it lightly with a fingertip. If it springs back immediately, it needs more time. If it springs back slowly, it is ready. If it doesn’t spring back at all, it has over-proofed, in which case you can punch it down and re-roll it once.
• 5. While the doughnuts are proofing, heat a heavy-bottomed pot with at least 2 inches of oil until a deep-fat thermometer registers 360˚F (182°C). With a metal spatula, carefully place a couple of doughnut holes or doughnuts in the oil, being careful not to crowd the pot. Fry for 1 to 2 minutes per side, until light golden brown. Remove with a slotted spoon, drain on a wire rack over a paper towel, and let cool slightly before glazing. Repeat with the remaining doughnuts and holes, keeping the temperature consistent.
• Make the glaze
• 6. Whichever glaze you’re making, place the sugar (and cocoa powder, if relevant) in a bowl and slowly stir in the milk and vanilla, if using, a little at a time, to make a smooth, pourable glaze.
• Glaze the doughnuts
• 7. Pour the glaze into a shallow bowl. Dunk the doughnuts, let any excess glaze drip off, and then transfer them to a wire rack placed on a baking sheet or over a sheet of parchment paper to rest until glaze sets. (Who are we kidding? We know these glazed doughnuts are going straight from bowl to gaping mouth.)

Doughnut time!

Life has been changing so much lately. Suddenly everything is different and I have been flung head first into the festive season. I am constantly running around at the moment, covered in flour, with chocolate on my face, just trying to fit everything in....and make time for some sneaky afternoon wines. 

I've been having so much fun working at 'Little Cupcakes' once a week baking treats and coming up with new cupcake recipes. This week I made pecan pie cupcakes which were pretty delicious. I may have eaten one or two of them while cleaning up after my shift. 

Another pretty exciting thing is that one of my friends is having a little baby pretty soon. Its so strange to think that a little version of two of my favourite people is about to come into the world and grow into being an adult. One of the chefs at work recently asked me if I wanted to have a baby anytime soon. I looked at him shocked and said "What are you talking about?! Im still a baby myself!" He laughed at me a lot. 

Today I had a glorious time making doughnuts. They are for a little project Im helping out with. They really are pretty delicious. I was so excited to cover them in sprinkles and take some photos. Im pretty happy with how they turned out and I'm looking forward to trying out a few different variations and coming up with new flavours.  

Work has recently handed over the responsibility of the 'official macaroon maker of the hotel.' This is wonderful and frustrating all at once. Who knew that a tiny cookie could bring so much joy and fear? The days I make huge batches of them, I look forward to so much, but when I put them in the oven I silent prayers of "Please do not crack! Please form proper feet! Please please work!"

Today is my day off and I have 100 recipes to practice and ideas to work on, so I must depart. I promise to put up a doughnut recipe soon. 

Much love to all my readers! 

On Life and Macaroons.

Over the last few months life has become incredibly, insanely busy. Life just got a little too large and I took a little break from writing. So I'd like to say a little sorry to my readers for not posting up and rants or recipes lately. 

So lets talk about life. Lets talk about cake. Lets talk about how funny life can be, but most importantly please lets talk about macaroons! 

My story of the macaroon is a bit of a bitter sweet one. I never felt like I quite mastered those tricky little beauties, so I decided to work on them for a month as a gift for a special someone. The macaroons where such a trial, and I made batch after batch and just as they starting looking a wee bit better life took a funny turn and I found I no longer has a recipient for all these lovely cookies. 

So what did I do? I went for some long runs, I listened to some soulful music, I drank some cocktails, I ate a huge steak tartare and talked on and on and on to my friends. My boss looked at my sternly one day and said "You must not do what most people do when faced with the end of a relationship. You must not drink, and you must not smoke. You should however eat some wonderful food." I took this

advice, as it came from one of the wisest pastry chefs I know, and took myself out to dinner. I ate at all the places I have wanted to eat out at. 

The thing that helped most of all though turned out to be making macaroons. My boss let me take charge of the operation and I made 300 in two days. Three hundred of the most beautiful macaroons I have ever made. They were lovely and glossy and smooth. So this is what I learnt...... making macaroons and dealing with your heart are both very fragile things. Both can be cracked, both are sensitive, and both are tricky to know how to handle, but if you really embrace them....there is really nothing at all to be afraid of. 

So that is my story of the macaroon, and it turns out to be not such a bad tail at all.  

Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies

At the moment life is a wee bit busy. I'm working two jobs and getting up before the sun. I'm practicing recipes and reading cook books. I'm trying to stay on top of everything......but really enjoying it all. Designing new cupcake flavours at Little Cupcakes has turned into such a fun job, as I experiment with new flavours every week and then get to go and make them for the stores.

When I do get a few free minutes though, I've been eating late breakfasts with someone lovely, drinking wine late into the night and discussing the things that matter. Cooking feasts, and packing treats into boxes.

These stolen moments are the things that keep you going when you're getting up at 4am. So I decided to bake some cookies to celebrate another lovely month of a relationship between a cake maker and a wine maker, because let's be honest, I think the best way to tell someone you like them is with cookie.

Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies

You will need:

• 3/4 cup of plain flour
• 1/2 tsp of baking soda
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 1tsp of cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp of all spice
• 125g butter
• 1/2  and 1/8 cup of brown sugar
• 1/8 cup of caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract
• 1 and 1/3 cups of oats
• 1/2 cup of dried cranberries
• White chocolate to drizzle

Method:

• Beat together the sugar and butter until pale.
• Sift together flour, baking soda, and spices.
• Slowly beat the egg into the butter, scraping down the sides of the bowl. 
• Add vanilla. 
• Add the flour mixture. Mix
• Add oats and cranberries and mix by hand.
• Place the mix in the fridge to set for at least four hours.
• Preheat oven to 180 º C
• Roll dough into balls the size of a tablespoon, flatten and place on a tray lined with baking paper. 
• Bake for 12 to 14 minutes or until the cookies just begin to brown.
• Leave on tray to cool, remove after five minutes.
• Melt white chocolate (over a double boiler, or in the microwave) and drizzle over the cooled cookies. 

Chocolate Avocado Cake

I wrote a really long blog post last week, that I did not end up posting, about making a sourdough culture. To say I was excited would be an understatement. The post was full of exclamation marks and long passages of me gushing about how easy it is to make a sourdough starter at home. I talked to all my friends about my sourdough starter. I talked to all the chefs at work about my sourdough starter. At events I would find a way to casually weave the topic into conversation (which can be hard if you’re standing around talking to a group of girls. Nothing is a subtle as "Hey I like your dress, you know what else I like? Sourdough starters.)

All this is to say; when the time came to make my bread I was pretty excited. I had just worked eight days in a row, and was exhausted, but instead of getting into bed and watching episodes of 'Breaking Bad' back to back I carefully weighed out my ingredients and set about making my first loaf. Everything looked great. The starter was bubbling nicely and had a pretty pungent smell. I impatiently waited for my bread to rise.........it never did. Something, somewhere along the way went wrong and my sourdough just wasn't meant to be. I was pretty crushed and banned everyone from using the words 'yeast', 'starter', or even just talking about bread.

So this week I've started my second stater with a different method. I'll keep you updated on how it comes along, and if it works out I'll share the recipe with you.

Some other exciting new is that this week I officially started working at 'Little Cupcakes' as their flavour designer. It’s a really fun job, where I get to go in once a week, come up with a new flavour of cupcake, and test it out in the shop to see how well it sells. I had such a fun time baking my first batch of Banoffee Pie cupcakes, which were pretty delicious.

Another fun thing that happened this week was one of my best friends birthdays. I’m pretty keen on birthdays because it a great excuse to bake a cake (not that you need an excuse of course.) I wanted to make something a little fun and different that reflected her personality, so I tried out an avocado chocolate cake recipe that I've been meaning to try for ages. It was delicious, and didn't taste strange at all. Don't be put off by the quirkiness of it, it’s actually pretty great. The recipe came from one of my favourite cook books called 'Sweet Tooth' by Lily Vanilli.

Chocolate Avocado Cake

You will need:

• 200g dark chocolate
• 1tsp of instant coffee
• 200g plain flour (sifted)
• 2tsp of baking soda (bicarb soda)
• Pinch of salt
• 200g unsalted butter
• 200g brown sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 100ml of natural yoghurt.

For the frosting:

• 1 ripe avocado
• 3/4 tbs of lemon juice
• 250g icing sugar (sifted)

Method:

• Melt the chocolate and coffee together over a double boiler.
• Cream together the butter and sugar for at least five minutes or until pale white.
• Whisk together the eggs.
• Slowly add the eggs, stopping to scrape down the sides of the mixer.
• Combine baking soda, flour and salt.
• Fold in half the flour mix, the yoghurt, and then the remaining flour mix.
• Slowly fold in the melted chocolate mix (once it has cooled)
• Divide the batter between two cake tins that have been lined with baking paper.
• Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C for 25 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
• To make the frosting blend the avocado with the lemon juice in a bar mix or blender.
• Add the icing sugar and blend until there are no lumps.
• Once the cake has cooked down you can add a layer of frosting between the two cakes and one on top of the cake.
• Decorate it with little statues of birds.....or whatever you can find that’s fun.

Pumpkin Bread

The first signs of spring are in the air and today for the first time in six months I was able to wear a dress without thick stockings to keep me warm. It's so nice to feel the sun on your skin after being wrapped up in so many layers all winter. It's crazy to think how quickly this year is passing, as it only feels like the other day I was writing a blog post lamenting how autumn was slipping into winter. I was so worried that this winter would be dreadful, since I had to get up at 5am everyday in the dark, but instead of being a season of drudgery it really was a very romantic winter. I really got into the cold season this year and filled the house with the smell of freshly baked breads, pies and braised meat dishes. When it got too unbearably cold I just turned on the oven to warm the house and used it as a good excuse to cook something delicious.

Now that Spring is here I've started to think a lot about all the warm weather things to do. I'm pretty excited to start picnicking in parks and taking trips to the beach.

To celebrate my first day of spring where I wasn't cooped indoors at work I decided to bake some pumpkin bread. Making bread feels like such a celebration and is such a great skill to have. Lately I've been thinking a lot about how when I was living at home my mum would always jokingly quote the line from 'Napoleon Dynamite' where his friend says "girls like guys with skills." We always used to laugh at it, but in all seriousness, I love a man who has skills. Stock brokers, bankers and any kind of corporate man hold no interest to me in comparison to a man who can grow a garden, fix a faucet, make some cheese, build a table, or forage for wild herbs and mushrooms. But why should my love of skill stop with the men? Let's be honest, anyone who has an excellent skill is pretty awesome. People who just 'do things' are my favourite kind of people, and I think it's so important to learn skills of how to be more self sustainable. I've been reading a book lately about how our generation is making a move towards relearning traditional skills that previous generations have disregarded in preference for an easier more luxurious life. The thing is though, there is no point in having a luxurious life if you are missing out on all the beauty and satisfaction that comes from making something with your hands, watching something grow, or creating something beautiful.

So I've decided to launch a new segment of my blog that will hopefully run weekly on little life skills. Just nice old fashioned things, or cooking tips that are easy to miss out on in life, if you weren't raised by an artist and a nursery man and home schooled on a farm (purely a hypothetical there.)

This week however I’m going to share my pumpkin bread recipe with you.

Pumpkin Spice Bread

You will need:

• 1/4 cup of luke warm water
• 7g of yeast
• 1/3 cup of milk
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup of steamed mashed pumpkin
• 1 tbs of olive oil
• 4 cups of bakers flour
• 1/4 cup of brown sugar
• 1tsp of salt
• 1 tsp of paprika
• 1tsp of rosemary (fresh or dried)
• Semolina for dusting
• Seeds or nuts of your choice for garnish

What to do:

• In a small bowl combine the water and yeast and sit aside until foamy.
• In a separate bowl combine half the flour, herbs, spice, salt, and sugar.
• Mix in the pumpkin, egg, oil, milk and yeast mix. Stir until combined.
• Slowly add the remaining flour, you may not need it all. Just keep adding it and mixing until you have a smooth consistency that is easy to knead and not too sticky, but not too tough.
• Place the dough on a floured surface and knead for ten minutes.
• Place the dough in a large oiled bowl, and cover with a damp cloth. Place in a warm spot and allow to double in size.
• Once the dough has doubled in size punch the dough to knock all the air out and then leave to rise again.
• When the dough has risen for the second time take the dough and shape into an oval. Place on a dray dusted with semolina. Cover with a damp cloth.
• Heat your oven to 250 degrees with a pizza stone or flat tray inside.
• Once the dough has grown by at least 2/3 slash three times across the top with a sharp knife. If you want you can also sprinkle with some seeds or nuts for garnish. Carefully transfer the bread onto the hot tray and place in the oven. Try not to knock the bread around too much so as not to loose the aeration.
• Steam the oven 3 times in the first ten minutes. This can be done by either spraying water into the oven, pouring 1/2 a cup of water into a tray into the bottom of the oven, of my favourite technique of just throwing 1/2 a cup of water into the bottom of the oven and quickly closing the door (it also helps to clean the oven)!
• After the first ten minutes turn the oven down to 200°.
• Turn the bread after another ten minutes so that it cooks evenly.
• Bake until golden all over and has a hollow sound when you tap the bottom.
• Cut off a big chunk of fresh bread and burn your mouth while eating it.