Caramello brownies and Australian desserts

I dreamed these brownies up in the middle of the night. I literally woke up, like a mad genius, and thought “brownies and Caramellos – who wouldn’t love that?!”Caramello brownie

When I lived in England I took any opportunity to tell people about how great Australia was – I ADORE England and I love travelling to different countries, but I’ve inherited this goofy patriotism from my mama. Jacarandas are out at the moment and I love being reminded of how stunning a place can be. I just love Australia. Continue reading “Caramello brownies and Australian desserts”

Smooth Festival of Chocolate and eleven chocolate recipes

I’m going to the Smooth Festival of Chocolate over the weekend and I could not be more excited. I may have to leave my wallet in the hands of someone I can trust, because there are too many stalls that I could send myself bankrupt at! Maybe I’ll see you there too?

I think I actually have a problem with my chocolate consumption – WAY too many of my childhood memories revolve around chocolate.

Every Easter at my house there is tonnes of chocolate (don’t believe me? Check out my Easter post!) and I have vivid memories of one of my cousins showing me, with great excitement, that leftover Easter eggs could be melted and spooned over icecream or eaten molten. That was a game changer. Continue reading “Smooth Festival of Chocolate and eleven chocolate recipes”

Chocolate brownie pie and cause for celebration

slice aboveThe last couple of weeks have been crazy and tumultuous and completely out of the norm for me. How out of the norm, you ask?

Pretty abnormal.

I tried out for reality television (and almost made it!), I got made redundant, and I struggled to motivate myself to bake.

BUT there is no time for wallowing, because fabulous things are in the pipeline. As much as I hate to revert to cliches, I truly feel that doors are opening. There is cause for celebration! Continue reading “Chocolate brownie pie and cause for celebration”

Choc pear brownie cake and accomplishments

tea and brownieI’ve been testing this recipe for a little while. I kept making it and liking it, but not loving it. I like to love all the recipes that I produce. In between making the various mediocre chocolate and pear brownies I managed to do some other cool stuff. For example, I made a milo mudcake, which I’ll post soon. I broke several peoples’ diets with a gorgeous white chocolate peanut butter cheesecake (for real, get the recipe here) and I went to Groovin the Moo and danced away a day that I would usually have spent baking. Continue reading “Choc pear brownie cake and accomplishments”

Peanut butter brownies and procrastinating

flowersI’ve had a crazy few weeks. Work has been busy, I’ve been baking with renewed gusto (and trying to get the recipes posted, rather than just consume the finished product) AND trying to have a social life.

It’s like I can only have two out of three – I can either work and socialise, and leave my beloved blog to gather dust, or I can socialise and blog, and get fired from a job that I love. Neither of these options are ideal!

I need to plan my life. Continue reading “Peanut butter brownies and procrastinating”

Egg hunts and ten essential Easter recipes

Easter is a fantastic time of the year. No matter how much a person may dislike religious celebrations or the hype that supermarkets create months beforehand, nobody can argue with days off and an excuse to eat life-endangering amounts of chocolate.

trowelI don’t think I could possibly rate my favourite holiday (I don’t discriminate, I love them all), but Easter is pretty great. Every year, regardless of location or participants, my family holds an Easter egg hunt. It started when my brothers and I were little – we would go to our cousins’ farm in Orange and the Easter bunny would visit in the night. Easter morning, all the kids would wake up bright and early, line up and wait for permission to begin the race, much to the delight of the adults.

jackMy cousins’ farm was the best place for the Easter bunny to secret away little chocolate Easter eggs; there were gnarled tree branches, lavender bushes, paving stones, fence posts and garden beds. We spent every Easter at the farm pretty much from when I was born until I was about 18.

chicksClearly the tradition continued way past our youth, because nobody wanted to give it up.

In recent years, we’ve not been able to go to the farm, so we’ve started an Easter egg hunt in Sydney. Now, thankfully, there is a new generation of kids who can partake in the Easter egg hunt, and while I’m slightly jealous of them for being able to join in the hunt, I love their enthusiasm and wild-eyed bemusement at seeing that Easter eggs have been delivered, and scattered throughout the garden by the Easter bunny.

Last year’s Easter was adorable (I spammed my Instagram followers with all of the cuteness), I can only assume that this year’s Easter, which is going to be at the farm again, will be equally as cute.

If you’re not excited about Easter yet, maybe I can entice you with some delicious Easter-appropriate recipes.

Simple Sunday cinnamon scrolls

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Easter pavlova

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Vanilla fig tarts

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Honey jumbles

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Caramel egg browniesbite

Citrus hot cross buns

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Traditional hot cross bunstear


Nutella raspberry puffs

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 Crème eggs

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Chocolate blueberry friands

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Happy baking, and happy Easter!!

Mini caramel egg brownies and excitement

Is anyone else getting super excited about Easter? I am. I walk through supermarket aisles and have to physically restrain myself from buying Easter eggs.

sceneI used to be one of those people who hated how early seasonal foods came in – “Halloween sweets out in August?!” or “Christmas stock out in October?!” – I used to be shocked at how quickly in-store merchandising would roll over. I would refrain from buying my holiday-related products until a week or so before the actual event.

Now I kind of like it, because Baking with Gab means that I have to start recipe planning before everyone else is thinking about the next holiday/event. Continue reading “Mini caramel egg brownies and excitement”