Baking With Gab

Mini mushroom tarts and lady beetles

A lady beetle was the highlight of my morning.

I opened a bag of baby spinach to put in a breakfast smoothie and she was there. I stared at her for a second, because it’s not what you expect of baby spinach. When you buy unwashed greens you sometimes encounter slugs or a teensy snail, or something equally squeamish…but mainly they’ve just got a little soil clinging to a few leaves.

She was so still and curled up that I assumed she was dead. I contemplated how long this gorgeous little beetle had been alive before she landed on the wrong leaf and was packaged up, shipped and refrigerated. Continue reading “Mini mushroom tarts and lady beetles”

Raspberry and walnut crumble cake and rain

This rainy weather is quite persistent.

It’s torrential, inhibiting and makes me want to stay inside. I got soaked walking from the car to the grocery store, even though I’d parked right out the front!

Luckily, however, I’m still unemployed (actually, the luck of my unemployment is debateable), because I have no need to go outside!

The soaking that I received in my brief trip to the shops was worth it, because I bought mushrooms for a recipe which I’ll post tomorrow. It’s hearty and warm and full of flavour, which is perfect in this weather. Continue reading “Raspberry and walnut crumble cake and rain”

Chocolate berry tarts and sluggish weather

The weather in Sydney got a bit rubbish overnight. The Boy and I went to a Mexican themed birthday bash (check us out, we dressed up and everything!) and it started to rain as the night wore on, unfortunately. The company and food was good, despite the weather’s best efforts to dampen things.

Torrential rain is perfect indoor weather, which means I crave sweets. Comfort food.

If you’re anything like me, however, the wet weather also means that you’re lazy. I’m currently writing in my pyjamas and enjoying the sound of the rain. I had intended to go to the gym this morning, but as soon as I heard the rain I excused myself because rain. Continue reading “Chocolate berry tarts and sluggish weather”

Norman and superstardom

The moment has arrived. The blog is going to take off.

Norman has been immortalised.

He is now bound for superstardom. He will, no doubt, shed me once he’s famous enough to do a solo Norman act. For now I’ll ride on his coattails.

I’m sort of kidding. Norman would never leave me, just as long as I promise to keep feeding him off-cuts of pastry and brushing him so his fur stays unmatted.

And he has been immortalised. Unfortunately it wasn’t because he was scouted on the street and noticed for his handsomeness. I requested he have his likeness made into a cupcake topper. Continue reading “Norman and superstardom”

Raspberry Mint Iced Tea and abundance

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, there is too much mint in my garden. The mint has gone wild. Not literally, but it’s pretty abundant. So I’m going to use it up, even if it means that my family complain about the repetition of flavours.

And they probably will.

I’m going to try and switch it up though, keep them on their toes so they don’t know whether they’re going to be eating or drinking it, or whether I’ll serve it to them in sweet or savoury dishes. I’ve got to keep myself entertained somehow. Continue reading “Raspberry Mint Iced Tea and abundance”

Peanut butter cups and surprise outcomes

I intended to make something using mint today. Our garden is overgrowing with gorgeous, fragrant mint, and I had every intention of making some choc-mint creation to take advantage of it.

But I didn’t.

I got distracted and I washed Norman (check him out, bathing and being regal post-bath!) and my mint remained untouched. Continue reading “Peanut butter cups and surprise outcomes”

Chocolatey chocolate tart and leftover egg yolks

Egg yolks have so much potential.

I hate to waste a good egg yolk because of this potential. I also hate the idea of letting good food go to waste!

This is a great way to use up egg yolks after you’ve made meringues. I made some pretty spooky meringues for Halloween (as you may or may not have seen on my Instagram) so I had five egg yolks to play with. This recipe didn’t use them all up, but it got rid of four and Norman enjoyed lapping up the final yolk!

I took the meringues and this tart to a Halloween party. I say party, but it was better than that – it was a group of my friends watching Hocus Pocus and eating yummy food. The tart works with out without meringue ghosts, in case you were wondering. Continue reading “Chocolatey chocolate tart and leftover egg yolks”

Ghostly meringues and a bloody Halloween

This is my final Halloween post and it is a super easy one! This recipe is simple enough to do with kids but fun enough for adults too…my only warning is that it can get a little messy.

For these ghosties to work you need a decent meringue recipe. I make my meringues using the same recipe that I make swiss meringue buttercream with, except that I stop at the sugar and egg whites part of the instructions.

Line two baking trays with baking paper and preheat the oven to 120C.

Once you’ve got your meringue forming firm, glossy peaks, pop the mixture into a piping bag with a round nozzle on the end of it. If you don’t have a piping bag, just put the mixture in a snap lock bag and snip the end off.

For the ghosts, pipe out a fat circle as the base, then pipe out two more fat circles, making them slightly smaller each time. They may look a little bit like a white poo – this is okay, they’ll still be super cute. I Instagrammed mine once they were baking because I was pretty in love with them. See them here!
Continue reading “Ghostly meringues and a bloody Halloween”

Chocolate coconut slice and decadence

This slice is not for the faint of heart. It’s not hard to make, despite being split into three parts – the making it is the easy part… the problem is that this slice is decadent and delicious and pretty addictive too. So when you find yourself slicing of a little slither before breakfast, don’t act like I didn’t warn you!

If chocolate was at all appropriate to give to dogs, Norman could have used some of this slice yesterday. It was super windy here and he was scared. He moped around the house for so long that I had to force him to go outside and be adventurous for ten minutes. He mostly just hid behind shrubs, trees, flowers – whatever he thought might shield him from the wind. He was not a happy pup! Continue reading “Chocolate coconut slice and decadence”

Wormy jelly and healthy Halloween

What I love about Halloween is the opportunity that it presents for you to pair food in ways that you wouldn’t usually. Chocolate cupcakes and jelly eyeballs, cheesy pastry twists with capsicum fingernails, biscuits and dinosaurs… orange jelly and worms.

This isn’t the first time I’ve used these little squishy worms in preparation for Halloween – the ones I used in this recipe were left over from when I made worms in mud cupcakes. I figured rather than waste them, I should utilise them in some ghoulish way.

So Wormy Jelly was born! Continue reading “Wormy jelly and healthy Halloween”