Coming to Rotorua on holiday? Live in Rotorua? Please put the Redwoods Nightlights on your To Do List… (more…)
Baking with kids
Cookies and Cream Cheesecake
Right. This isn’t my recipe, let’s get that out of the way. Nope, this mega morsel of delicious-ness was the brainchild of my nine year old son (albeit with a little bit of help from his Mumma). He’s been on a cheesecake creation bender for the last month and he’s been churning out all sorts of cheesecake concoctions. This Cookies and Cream Cheesecake is the best cheesecake yet! Being a child that was raised well (ha), he’s happy to share his recipe. Enjoy.
Dairy Free Chocolate Brownie Recipe
My son had his birthday party this weekend and unbeknownst to me one of his little friends has a dairy allergy. Being someone who thrives on feeding people, I just couldn’t bear the thought of her not being able to join in and eat birthday cake or dessert so I whipped up this brownie for her. When I say “whipped up” I mean it: This took four minutes. I had the brownie ready to go in the oven long before the oven had reached the desired temperature! (more…)
Super Fluffy Pancakes
It was Shrove Tuesday this week and, for the first time ever, I remembered. My boys were jumping for joy at the thought of having my super fluffy pancakes for dinner as a special treat!
I’ve made a lot of pancakes in my time – these are the best. No contest. These got demolished this week with our favourite accompaniments: Bacon, banana and maple syrup. Although I’ve been known to have these with cheese, bacon, jalapenos and hot sauce, as, apparently, I’m a bit odd. No matter what the topping, these super fluffy pancakes are seriously light and fluffy as a result of egg whites folded into the batter. We reckon these are the ultimate weekend breakfast and, according to my Hubby, my pancakes are better than those he pays $16 for from our local cafe. He’s not a man prone to compliments, so I’ll take that, thank you. The kid reckons these are as good as McDonald’s Hot Cakes. Sigh.
Oh – These are also the perfect treat for Mother’s Day or Father’s Day. Or just on Saturday or Sunday. Yeah, just try ’em. (more…)
Five Minute Banana Cake Recipe
This speedy Banana Cake recipe, adapted from a vintage Donna Hay recipe, is brilliant; I’ve been making it for years. We love it in our house as it’s a moist, light and delicious cake that only requires 5 minutes prep time. It’s one of those fab recipes where you biff most of the ingredients into a food processor and turn it on. Done. No elbow grease required.
This is a brilliant standby for school lunches as it keeps really well (if you can keep the family away from it). Oh, and this is easy enough for kids to make too.
Chocolate Weetbix Slice
I love baking slices, they take less time to make than biscuits… I find all that rolling of mixture into little balls a bit tedious: Slices are (often) faster to make! This is another family favourite that’s regularly in our home baking tins. I got this recipe out of the ‘Baking for Blokes’ recipe book by Steve Joll that some well-meaning person bought for my Hot Hubby one Christmas. He’s yet to be inspired, but it’s a cookbook I regularly reach for: It’s got a delightful Kiwi feel to it, the baking recipes in are simple, the ingredients mostly require pantry basics and, critically, damn the food is good! (more…)
Hokey Pokey Biscuits
I seem to spend a lot of time looking out for new recipes that are simple so my boy and I can make them together. I’ve realised I should just stop looking and stick to using the cookbook I’ve owned for the last 20+ years: The great Kiwi Edmonds Cookbook. This is their original Hokey Pokey recipe that, frankly, you just can’t beat. You need bugger-all ingredients, it’s easy, cheap to make and everyone enjoys them. Why make things complicated?! (more…)
Handmade Easy Chocolate Balls!
My buddy Caroline and her family came over for Friday Takeaway night and we whipped these up (literally for dessert). We didn’t do it quite right, but that’s OK, they tasted amazeballs (get it?!) and in any case, you can learn from our mistakes! These are so easy – and so good. So bad. But so good. I usually don’t know the meaning of the word ‘rich’ – but these are so rich, I ate three and was happily content.
