Peanut Butter, Dark Chocolate and M&M Cookies......... I know its crazy

This may come as a surprise but sometimes I'm not very good at talking about feelings. I know this may seem strange considering how much I talk about them on this little blog. From time to time however, saying the important things in life terrifies me.....as I'm sure at times it scares everyone as well.

So instead of being an adult and saying something lovely, or meaningful in a good sober way I must fall back on my default way of expressing myself.......cookies. Last week I wanted to express something to someone, but couldn't quite find the words so instead I gathered together all my favourite ingredients and baked them into a cookie.

These cookies are no light weight business. If you want to pack feeling into food these are the perfect vehicle for the job. Peanut butter get mixed in with oats, vanilla, dark chocolate chips and some m&ms just to seal the deal. I think if you gave these cookies to someone and they didn't understand the warmth packed into them......then you are obviously giving your cookies/emotions to the wrong person. However I baked these little treats, packed them into a paper bag and send them onto someone special.

The best thing about making these cookies is really the mix. I recommend you make them alone so no one is there to witness how much raw cookie dough you eat, or invite some of your most accepting friends around and unashamedly eat dough together. Whatever works for you.

The recipe comes from one of my most favourite cook books 'Baked, New Frontiers in Baking.' I think the boys who write this book are geniuses. They combine the perfect amount of chic with home-style baking and their recipes are so deliciously indulgent.

Monster Cookies

(or as I'd like to call them "I really have a big crush on you but an inability to communicate feelings at times, cookies." Thats too long for a cookie name though.)

You will need:

• 1/4 cup of plain flour
• 1/2 tsp of baking soda
• pinch of salt
• 2 2/3 cups of oats
• 95g butter
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cups of white sugar
• 2 1/2 large eggs
• 1 tsp of honey
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract
• 1 cup of peanut butter (I use crunchy........because people who eat smooth peanut butter are weird right?)
• 1/2 cup of dark chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup of m&ms (I use peanut ones because they are my favourites and that way if there is any left over I can eat them.)

What to do:

• Make a cup of tea (this step is integral to the process.)
• In a large bowl mix flour, baking soda, salt and oats.
• In an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment cream together butter and sugar until light and creamy looking.
• Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well in between each addition.
• Add honey and vanilla.
• Add peanut butter.
• Take out of the mixer and by hand mix in the flour and oat mix.
• Add chocolate chips and m&ms.
• Cover the bowl and place in the fridge for 5 hours to set. In this time you can totally watch a heap of 'breaking bad' and come and 'check on' the cookie dough every so often (aka eat it from the bowl).
• Preheat the oven to 190.
• Roll cookie dough into 2tbs sized balls and press down lightly on a baking tray lined with grease proof paper. Leave room for spreading.
• Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until slightly golden.
• Let the cookies cool on tray a little.
• Transfer cooling rack...or your mouth.

Earl Grey Tea and Chocolate Tart

I feel like I never really learnt to appreciate days off until I became a chef. Yes, it is always lovely to have a little rest and realax but a free days never really rated as a big deal for me. Being a little bit of a workaholic I even found it stressful at times having free days with nothing planned to do. Now though I cant wait for my 'two days of treats.' They really never do seem to be as relaxing as I plan for them to be, but I appreciate them so much more now. 

So this is what I do..... without fail I will always bake some sweets. It might be a cake or a tart, or cupcakes. Then I will have a friend over for dinner, or maybe six friends over for dinner and we will drink a lot of wine. I will always go out to breakfast at least once. Usually I will go to a local cafe where I know all the staff, other times one of my best friends will drive around and pick me up, so he and I can go try somewhere new. There will be a lot of coffee involved. As in multipal trips to cafes 'just for one more coffee' or I'll brew a large pot of coffee and drink it in bed while I read cooking magazines. I will talk to my parents. We may chat on the phone for half an hour to an hour, and I'll tell me mum about my dating life, a boy who I might like, a boy who I dont like, or no boy at all. She will offer simple solutions to simple problems such as "why dont you just call him?" And I will jokingly rage at her saying "I cant just call him! He will think I like him....even though I do. Things have changed mum! Things have changed. One doesn't just call someone." Then I will consider her advice.....and call the person. I will watch a movie in bed and not care that usually at this time of day I would have normally baked at least 20 cakes at work. 

Days of are really just bliss. I do adore them.

I made this recipe on a day off....Its incredibly good.

Earl Grey Tea and Chocolate Tart

For The Pastry:

• 280g plain flour
• 20g coco
• 200g butter
• 100g of icing sugar
• 2 eggs

For The Filling:

• 300g of dark chocolate
• 350ml of cream
• 100 ml of milk
• 2 egg yolks
• 2 whole eggs
• 4 tablespoons of loose leaf earl grey tea 

What to do:

1. First of all the pastry! Rub together the sugar butter and flower with your fingertips until it resembles almond meal or bread crumbs. This can be done by hand, with a paddle attachment of a kitchen aid or in a food processor. I like to use my fingers because its a good time to stop and think.

2. Add the eggs and mix to incorporate. What ever you do, dont overmix! The dough should be smooth, but you dont want to knead it too much or it will shrink when it is baked.

3. Wrap the dough in cling wrap and place in the fridge to rest for half an hour.

4. Once the dough has rested roll out on a floured bench and use to line a circle tart tin. Once the tin has been lined place it back in the fridge for another forty minutes to rest. 

5. Remove pastry from fridge and prick all over with a fork. Line the tin with some baking paper and add baking weights. Bake for 15 minutes at 180 and then remove the weights. Bake for a further 5 minutes and then remove from the oven.

6. To make the filling place the cream and tea in a pot and bring to a simmer. Take off the heat and leave the tea to infuse. 

7. Once the tea has infused for 15 minutes bring the cream back to the boil.

8. Strain the tea from the cream (and discard).

9. Pour the boiling cream over the chocolate. Stir so that all the chocolate melts.

10. Add the milk and mix

11. Lightly beat eggs and then add to the mixture.

12. Pour the chocolate mix into the tart shell and bake at 140 for 20 to 30 minutes or until the edges are slightly firm looking but there is still a wobble in the middle of the tart. 

13. Allow to cool and then remove from the tin.  

Green Tea Cupcakes

Life has been so beautiful lately and filled with so many treats. Im really starting to get into this whole 'winter' thing. I remember my last two years here being so miserable and just wanting to crawl into bed for six months until it was over. This year however, Im delighted with it. There are so many lovely winter things to do, and I really do like the rainy weather. 

Lately I've been inspired to make some big warming braised meat dishes and there is nothing more lovely than sitting down to a hearty meal and a glass of red wine at night. I also just really enjoy going to the butcher to purchase the meat. In my life, I have never yet met a rude butcher. They are always so very charming and helpful and give wonderful cooking tips. I dont know if this is because all butchers are just good people or if it has something to do with being a young blond haired girl? Either way its always kind of lovely. 

The highlight of this week though was a little surprise tea (and by tea we mean champagne)party I threw for one of my oldest friends. It was her birthday a couple of weeks ago and everyone got so busy it just sort of slipped by. So I decided something must be done about it and invited all the ladies around for cakes and drinks. We had such a good time. It can be so nourishing just getting together with a group of your best friends and talking about whats going on in your life. I really had the best time making cupcakes for the party and styling the table. Everything from my favourite bottle of bubbly (from Paris!) to the pretty tea cakes felt like a special treat. Its such a blessing to have wonderful people to share treats with. 

I made quite a few different sweets for the occasion, but I'll share with you the one that everyone liked the best. 

Green Tea Cupcakes 

(This recipe is from the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook)

You will need:

120 ml of milk

3 green teabags (I used jasmin because its my favourite)

100g plain flour

20g coco powder

140g caster sugar

1 and 1/2 tsp of baking powder

A pinch of salt

40g unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 egg

Half a tsp of vanilla essence

For the frosting:

250g icing sugar

80g unsalted butter

20g matcha powder (plus extra for decorating.) 

25ml of milk

Method:

1. Soak teabags in milk overnight or at least for three hours to infuse the milk with a green tea flavour. 

2. Combine all dry ingredients.

3. With a paddle attachment of a kitchen aid or with your finger tips add the butter and rub into the flour until the mix resembles sand and has no lumps of butter. 

4. Remove tea bags from the milk.

5. Whisk together egg and milk.

6. Slowly add the milk to the dry mix, and stir to combine. 

7. Half fill patty pans with the mix and bake at 170 for 20 to 25 minutes

8. Allow cupcakes to cool. 

9. To make the frosting cream together the butter along with the icing sugar and catch powder until it is creamy and soft.

10. Slowly add the milk and stir to combine.

11. Pipe or spread the frosting on top of the cooled cupcakes. 

12. Sprinkle with some extra matcha powder 

Cranberry and White Chocolate Cookies.

I've just had two very blissful days off. On my way out of work before my two day rest, one of the head chefs asked me what I had planed. I felt silly to admit that I would probably spend the majority of my time in the kitchen, working on recipes and pouring through cook books. Its been such a crazy busy intense year, with so many emotions packed into a really short time.....and mainly I have been left just feeling inspired. 

 So I spent to days rolling out pastry, caramelising pears, poaching quinces, and baking cookies. Dont get me wrong, there was an awful lot of breakfasts out.....and a wee bit of wine....ok a lot of wine, with some of my favourite people. 

 I've been feeling so at home with this winter chill, but I have to admit our tiny home has been starting to get a bit cold. So to warm it up a bit today I baked a big batch of cookies. I rolled the leftover cookie dough up into logs and froze it. There is something so very comforting about having cookie dough in the freezer in winter. After two glasses of wine on a girls night its the best to be able to pull a log of dough out of the freezer and quickly bake off a batch to help with any late night sugar cravings.I also like having it there for when friends drop by.....It looks so organised to always have fresh cookies in the house....maybe thats silly, but it makes me very so happy, so I really dont mind. 

 So I'll share my recipe with you, that way you can feel inspired, and very organised (its amazing how much a cookie can do for your life.)

White Chocolate and Cranberry Cookies
Adapted from a Donna Hay Recipe.

You will need:

• 3  1/2 cups of sugar
• 300g softened butter
• 1 tbs of vanilla extract
• 3 eggs
• 3 cups of plain flour
• 3/4 tsp of baking powder
• 1 and 1/2 cups of white chocolate chips
• 1 cup of dried cranberries

What to do:

1. Cream together sugar and butter with an electric mixer until pale in colour. 

2. Add vanilla essence. 

3. Beat in eggs one at a time. Beat well between each addition. 

4. Mix in dried cranberries and white chocolate.

5. Mix in flour and baking powder.

6. Mix well. 

7. Roll into balls using a 45ml ice cream scoop. Place the balls on a baking tray lined with grease proof paper leaving room for spreading. Press slightly to flatten. 

8. Bake at 160 for 18 to 20 minutes. 

9. Eat one with a big cup of green tea while they are still hot. 

Blueberry and Orange Afternoon Cake

This whole year is rushing past me so quickly, and after five long months of running around, I've decided its time to get very serious.....about doing more of the things I love. Ife I have learnt anything so far this year, it would be that life is fleeting (and beautiful.) So many lovely things happen so quickly that at times I forget what is really really important. For example....dinner parties, and talking to your friends, calling your mum and ranting about boys you go on dates with, eating pastries for breakfast and appreciating how delicious and warm they taste while you walk in the dark to work, and just feeling free.   

(Pretty Mothers Day Cakes we made for days on end for high tea)

Speaking of important things, this week was mothers day! Its such a lovely celebration but I always feel a little sad not to be at home with my mum. The pastry chef I work with, and I spent the two days leading up to mothers day in the kitchen for 12 hours or more without time to stop for anything. We rushed around baking and decorating cakes for the mothers day feast and 200 high teas that were booked to come in. Our organised little kitchen took on this buzzed chaos as we worked away. All the other chefs kept gathering in our little nook to see what we were making, and it was so exciting to see everything come together. When it was finally over everyone seemed so light and joyful. I felt so proud of some of the creations we put out and really loved the little kitchen family feeling that is created when everyone is too busy to stop, but help each other out. I understand why chefs get addicted to the lifestyle. Yes there are downsides (someone looked at me today and said "Wow Cherry those dark lines you have under your eyes are the same as mine. You must be as stressed as me.")but there is also this wonderful community feeling as well, where a group of people work towards feeding a crowd. I like that. 

I've put a recipe in here, that really isn't anything too fancy. Its just a simple 'home cake.' The sort you have sitting on your bench incase you fancy a piece with a cup on tea in the late afternoon. The original recipe comes from a cook book called 'Apples for Jam' but I tweaked it a little because I didnt have all the ingredients and wanted to change a few of the flavours. 

I hope you had a lovely Mothers day. 

Blueberry and Orange Afternoon Cake

You will need:

315g of plain flour

3tsp of baking powder

90g caster sugar

1tsp of cinnamon 

1tsp of allspice

2 eggs

250ml of buttermilk

60g butter

Zest of one orange

150g fresh blueberries (not frozen)

2tbs of Demerara sugar

What to do:

1. Sift together baking powder, flour, sugar, and spices.

2. In a small pot melt the butter and cook until nut brown (this gives it extra flavour.

3. Beat together eggs, zest and buttermilk.

4. Mix wet ingredients (egg mix and butter) in with the dry (flour mix.) and stir until combined. Dont over mix! 

5. Pour into a lined cake tin. I used a baking dish....because I thought it looked prettier. This is really meant to be a rectangle cake not a pretty circle one.....it just changes the feel. Ideally use a 30 x 20 cm one.

6. Poke in blueberries and sprinkle with the demerara sugar. 

7. Bake at 200 degrees for 25 minutes or until a skewer somes out clean when the cake is pricked.

Hazelnut and Chocolate Cupcakes

Im just going to start this blog post by saying: CAKE and NUTELLA.

Interested? 

I've had another crazy few days getting ready for a little catering job I had this week. It was so lovely to have the work......but I still have a head cold so the whole ordeal was just a little draining. Goodness I'm so board of being sick. I just want to put on my runners and go for a big 5k run, but instead Im stuck at home.

Yesterday when I went into my local coffee shop to get a latte one of the waitress' ran out the back to get me some cold and flu tablets. It was such a lovely gesture, and nice nice to think that even my local coffee shop is looking out for me, with coffee and flu drugs. Its so lovely when you realise that you have built a little community of people around you, who know, and care for you. 

Even when I went to get a haircut today my hairdresser was friendly and happy to see me. It was kind of lovely. (Ok just as a side note, I totally cut my hair today because thats what I do when I'm stressed or emotional or anything along those lines. Anyway, I have this really lovely hairdresser. I think its a mans barber shop, because I've never seen any ladies in there. They do do girls hair cuts and they only cost $15 but no girls go. I think I'm the only lady customer, but I love the place. Firstly because its crazy cheap. Secondly because its hilarious, because no one speaks english, so I just point to a picture of what I want while they yell at each other in Lebanese. Thirdly because the guy who cuts my hair is lovely and always assures me "I will make you look nice." At first I think he thought I was really strange because I would make him cut my hair really short at times, or shave one side of my head, but now he is used to me, and kind of views my hair ideas as comedic value. The place is great.)

Anyway.....I have veered way off topic. Lets talk about cake. Lets talk about Nutella. Lets talk about Nutella cakes. I got this recipe from the wonderful hummingbird bakery cook book. 

Hazelnut and Chocolate Cupcakes

Ingredients:

• 100g plain flour
• 20g coco powder
• 150g caster sugar
• 1 and 1/2 tsp of baking powder
• 40g butter at room temperature
• 120ml milk
• 1 egg
• 120g hazelnuts and chocolate spread

Frosting:

• 250g icing sugar
• 80g butter, at room temperature 
• 25ml milk
• 80g hazelnut and chocolate spread

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 170.

2. In an electric mixer or kitchen aid with paddle attachment mix together the flour, sugar, coco, baking soda and butter until the consistency is like sand.

3. Slowly pour in the milk and mix on a low speed until incorporated.

4. Add the beaten egg and mix until incorporated.

5. Scoop mix into patty pans in a muffin tip and fill up to 2/3.

6. Bake for 20 minutes. 

7. Remove from oven and allow to cool.

8. To make icing beat together the butter and icing sugar until fully mixed and light in colour. 

9. Slowly pour in the milk and beat for another five minutes on a low speed.

10. Fold in the chocolate spread.

11. Cut a small hole in the top of each cake and place a dollop of chocolate spread inside each hole. 

12. Ice the cakes the the frosting. 

Spiced Peanut butter and Chocolate Cookie Sandwiches

I always intend to write so many more blogs in a week. I plan to do it. I think about doing it.....but lets be honest, as high as this is on my priority list, so is making myself a cocktail and watching cougar town (that was a hard one to admit.) But honestly.....life is going by so very fast and very soon I will be finished pastry school for good! Im already researching other pastry courses overseas to do next (when I'm rich.)

In the mean time, I have been throwing dinner parties, having picnics, and baking cookies (oh and working, studding, doing work placement, and running.....but that stuff isn't so interesting.)

Last night I decided to throw a three course dinner party for two of my very good friends. Its so rare I have the time (and pennies) to do a three course meal these days, so it was such bliss to spend the day pottering around the house baking. I had my first go at curing salmon.....and it was so so so very yummy. I served it with pickled asparagus and ricotta cakes. It was one of my favourite things I've eaten in ages, so I ate it again for breakfast the next day. I also make some very yummy cocktails with a lime sugar syrup, cucumber, and mint. They were much much too easy to drink!

(My new favourite meal)

(Goodness I really really loved this gluten free chocolate pecan pie! There is something so comforting about pie is there not?)

Anyway I promised to give you recipe to the cookie sandwiches I took on my sunny picnic earlier in the week. I made the recipe simply because it used everything I had around the house when I needed to make a quick desert. I had a few left over cookies from a batch I hadn't got around to icing.They are really very easy, but such an indulgent treat.  I love them because they feel so childish, but you can serve them for a desert to your grown up friends, and still feel impressive.

(These left over cookies from this batch is what inspired the cookie sandwiches.)

Cookie sandwiches.

One batch of this sugar cookie recipe
1tsp of mixed spice
1tsp of cinnamon
Crunchy peanut butter
200ml of cream
200g of dark chocolate

What to do:

• Make one batch of sugar cookies from the link provided. However when you are mixing together the dry ingredients add the mixed spice and cinnamon. Cook as directed.
• Let the cookies cool!
• Break up the chocolate and place in a bowl.
• Bring the cream to a boil.
• Pour the boiling cream over the chocolate and leave to sit for a minute. Stir the mix until smooth and all the chocolate has melted.
• Set the chocolate mix aside to cool. I usually put it in the fridge to let it set, and take it out every so often and give it a stir. You want the consistency to be smooth and spreadable. 
• Spread half the cookies with one teaspoon of peanut butter and the other half of the cookies with the chocolate mix. 

• Sandwich the cookies together and eat them all up at a sunny picnic. 

Pink Lemonade Slice

Lately I've been starting to wonder if this Melbourne winter is ever going to end? Today I had a little afternoon nap, and wondered if maybe I should just hibernate and sleep through until the warm weather is back! I am a wee bit grumpy today after a five am start. When I finished work and got home at three I found that I was exhausted.... but there was still more day left to be had. I just couldn't seem to wrap my head around the idea, that despite the fact I had already worked a full day and been into the city, it was not yet time to cook dinner, pour a huge glass of wine and have a relax!! I contemplated pouring a huge glass of wine anyway, but 3pm felt a little early........I went for a nap instead.

The moral of the story is.......I had the grumps today. Work placement always puts me a little on edge. You have to get up before the sun, and bake recipes you have never made before....and hope hope hope you don't make a mistake. It can be a tiny bit Extremely  scary. Today when I was working with another young pastry chef who was waiting for instructions on what to do next, the executive chef walk into the kitchen, looked down at her and said "DONT PUT YOUR HANDS IN YOUR POCKETS!!! AT LEAST TRY TO LOOK A LITTLE BIT INTERESTED." Goodness I felt bad for her. I wanted to turn to her and offer a word of comfort or say something like "Don't mind him, he's a jerk," but honestly I was too scared to incase he heard me.

So my plan of action is this:

1. Never ever ever stand in that kitchen with my hands in my pockets!
2. Drink a huge bowl full of tea.
3. Go and pick up my box of organic vegetables that are being delivered today! (We are very excited!)
4. Strop having the grumps!
5. And share a Lovely recipe with you!

Over the weekend I tried out this recipe of lemonade slice. Its from a blog called 'Smitten Kitchen.' The recipe is a bit like a lemon slice.......but with raspberries in it for an extra little kick. I meant to make it to take to a girls night I had on......but it all got eaten at my house at an impromptu dinner party. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Lemonade Slice

For the bace:

50g of caster sugar

1/4 tsp of lemon zest

1/8 tsp of salt 

115g of butter

125g plain flour

1. Cream together the butter, sugar, salt and lemon zest until light in colour.
2. Add the flour, and stir together until a dough forms.
3. Oil and line a square baking tin, and press the dough with your fingertips into the tin. Don't worry if it isn't completely even.....no one will know! Bake this crust in a preheated oven at 180 for 15 to 20 minutes of until lightly golden.
4. Take out oven and let cool.

 Lemonade Filling:

140g of raspberries

2 large eggs 150g of sugar 

1/4 cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice

40g of plain flour

1. In a food processor blitz the raspberries until they are all mashed. Then pass them through a sieve to remove any seeds (You will need 3 tbs of this in total.)
2. Beat together the eggs and sugar until the sugar dissolves.
3. Add lemon juice.
4. Add raspberry puree.
5. Mix in flour (mine went a little lumpy from the flour so I passed it through the sieve again.)6.
6. Pour the mix on top of the bace you made earlier and bake in a preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes until set......it shouldn't have too much wobble when you take it out.
7. Let cool in the tin for several hours and then slice!
8. Eat it all at a little dinner party you weren't planning on having. Drink too much wine. Gosh dance on the table!

Chocolate and Raspberry Gluten Free Tarts

This week I have been thinking a lot about creativity. I believe there is a fine line between just making a mess and learning technique so you can channel creative energy. Sometimes you can get so very caught up in the technique that you can forget to be creative though.......its all about balance I suppose.

Life feels so much more lovely when I am consciously spending time doing creative things..........but sometimes its not so simple. Creativity for me often takes on a very solitary role and being so crazy social I really have to force myself to sit down and internationalise it. Its so lovely when something beautiful comes out of this though, and so worth while.

So I have been baking away, trying out new recipes, inventing recipes and icing cookies for hours and hours on end........

Also I stayed up half the night last night 'redecorating' my friends furniture......because we badly needed to have a creative outlet......It was so lovely.

I made a tart recipe with gluten free pastry as I was getting frustrated with not being able to find any gluten free treats to eat. I hope you enjoy them, and I hope they make you feel creative.....and full of life.

Gluten Free Chocolate and Raspberry Tarts........ I could seriously eat these all day. Makes 8 small tarts.

For the pastry:
 85 g of melted butter
2/3 cup of shredded coconut
100g almond meal
1/2 cup of brown sugar

• Mix everything together and press mixture into some small tart shells.
• Place the tart shells in the fridge to set for half an hour or until firm.
• Cook in a preheated over with baking paper and baking weights at 160 for 10 minutes.
• Remove the baking weights and cook for another 10 minutes or until starting to turn slightly golden.
• Remove tart shells from the oven and let cool slightly. Using your fingers press the pastry flat into the shell if it has risen at all, so that it is compact and smooth.

For the filling:

1/2 cup of raspberries

1 egg

110g dark chocolate

2/3 cup of cream

2 tsp vanilla essence

• Place a couple of berries into each tart shell
• In a pot bring the cream and vanilla to the boil. Take of the heat and add the chocolate, stirring until smooth.
• Whisk the egg and slowly pour the chocolate mix over the top while whisking.
• Divide the mix between the tart shells and bake at 160 for 20 minutes or until set around the sides but still slightly wobbly in the middle. 
• Let cool.

Meringue topping:

2 egg whites

110g caster sugar

• With and electric whisk beat egg whites until bubbly.
• Slowly rain in sugar and continue to beat until thick and glossy.
• Pipe swirls or meringue on top of the tarts.
• Place under a grill (watch them carefully) until they become slightly brown and the meringue is a little firm on the outside. 

Raspberry and Lime Cake

Over the last few days I have been stuck in bed with the flu. So you will understand that I haven't much felt like cooking or writing.......or walking for that matter. Its been really quite awful. Mainly I've been watching lots of trashy t.v. shows and napping. I've discovered a lovely show called Miss Fishers Murders, thats all about a lady detective from Melbourne in the early 1920's (I've got a little girl crush on her.) She runs around solving crimes, all in lipstick and heals.

Secretly I would love to do the same with my career (the lipstick and heels part not the solving crime part.) One of my friends always says I will be the 'chef who wears Chanel.' One can only hope.

Until then though, I will leave you will this delicious lime cake recipe which I made last week. Its so very moist.....and just a wee bit stylish (like a chef in Chanel.) I wish I had a picture of this lovely to cake to show you....but well we ate it all before I got the chance.

Raspberry and lime cake.

Ingredients:

• 225g soft butter
• 225g caster sugar
• 4 medium eggs
• grated zest of 2 limes
• 5 tbs of lime juice
• 250g self raising flour
• pinch of salt
• 25g almond meal
• 200g of raspberries

• For the syrup
• Juice of five limes
• 150g of caster sugar

What to do:

1. Cream together butter and sugar in electric mixer.
2. Slowly add one egg at a time, beating well in between each addition.
3. Add lime juice.
4. Fold through dry ingredients
5. Fold through 2/3 of the berries.
6. Pour cake into a lined cake tin and sprinkle over the remaining berries.
7. Cook at 180 for one hours.
8. While cake is cooking mix together lime juice and sugar in a small pot. Cook on a low heat until sugar dissolves (be careful not to boil mixture.)
9. When the cake comes out of the oven prick it all over with a squire, and pour over the syrup. 
10. Let cool in the tin for one hour before serving. 

Sugar cookies

Lately I've been caught up thinking about two ideas............change, and sugar cookies. They are the two foremost ideas floating around in my mind, and I cant stop thinking about the both of them.



Lets start with change. What I really really want to understand is, do people ever change? Optimistic me likes to think you can change. You can break old habits, and start new ones. You can become a better person, or change people's ideas of who you are. You can break out of old ruts and evolve into something new. But the realistic me knows that I have been trying to quit biting my nails since I was fourteen (because I had a date) but still they are tiny stumps, and that no matter how often I determine to run every day and fit into my skinny clothes, there is still a dress that hangs in my closet and only fits me about one month out of every year, and will I ever stop being a little bit in love with someone I used to know? Will people always tell me I'm cute and sweet, but not strong and brave. I wonder if I will ever really be everything I want to be. Will I always have such bad taste in men? Will I always have one cigarette ever month? Can we as people ever really change who we are? Or are we just 'doomed to be ourselves'? Stuck in a rut of who we are.



The second think I have been thinking about is sugar cookies. Yes this is a bit of a jump in ideas (but this is how my mind works, intense thoughts, and cakes....and thats about it.) I have been experimenting with all different designs of sugar cookies and spending hours icing and decorating them. Its so very rewarding when your left with beautiful ornate little pictures that you can eat.






I've been loving it so much because to me these cookies are a representation of change. They are so neat and tidy, and at times like can feel so messy. When I sit down and ice these cookies I can see the improvement every time I make them and it makes me think some things are changing. Some things are evolving and it gives me hope.





Every single little dot you pipe of a sugar cookie makes up the picture, and its a little like life. Every single little decision shapes our lives and directs us towards and away from change. Hopefully things are changing. Either way, my cookies are just lovely, and I'm pretty happy about that.

This is the base cookie recipe I used. I found it on taste.com.au and so far it has been the most reliable one. Hope you enjoy it.




Ingredients

• 125g butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup (115g) caster sugar
• 1/4 cup (60ml) milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups (225g) self-raising flour
• 1/2 cup (70g) custard powder
• Silver and gold sparkling cachous, to decorate




Method






1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Line two baking trays with non-stick baking paper.
2. Use an electric beater to beat the butter and sugar until pale and creamy. Beat in milk and vanilla extract. Fold in the flour and custard powder.
3. Press the dough into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to rest.
4. Divide the dough into manageable portions. Roll out one portion on a sheet of non-stick baking paper to about 1cm thick. Use Christmas cookie cutters to cut shapes and place on the trays. Decorate with cachous.
5. Bake for 10 minutes or until light golden. Cool for 5 minutes on the trays before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough.