Lemon Cheesecake Poke Cake

There's no escaping a love for lemon flavoured anything in this house (these jam drops with lemon curd are still a hands down favourite), so when I spotted this recipe in a recent recipe magazine I knew I had to make it.

Gingerbread Apple Pies

It's here at last! After weeks of talking about the amazingness that is gingerbread apple pies from the supermarket, I'm finally happy to share my very own homemade version with you! Believe me when I say that once you've made them, you'll be baking them for weeks to come, they're just that good!

I tried a few different recipes for gingerbread before I settled on this one. While some would say that if it's ginger, it's gingerbread, I would argue that the perfect gingerbread is dark and spicy and soft, the perfect match of flavours for apple.

creamy prawn and macaroni salad

Food has been a struggle lately. I've been fed up with eating the same things over and over, it's been hot, the kids have been fussy. One day last week, I asked Steve what he wanted to eat. "Salad" he said. "I know just the thing, but the kids won't like it"

I showed him the recipe, and then headed out to buy the ingredients. (and the kids ate mac&cheese)

Ingredients

300g macaroni

300g cooked prawns

1 capsicum, chopped

2 celery sticks, finely sliced

1/4c chopped dill

1/2c sour cream

1/3c mayonnaise

2tsp lemon zest

2Tbs lemon juice

few drops Tabasco

1/4c fried shallots

Method

- cook macaroni

- combine pasta, prawns, celery, capsicum, shallots in a bowl

- whisk sour cream, mayonnaise, juice, tabasco and dill together

- pour sauce over pasta mix and combine

- serve with fried shallots and extra zest on top

Notes

- we're not fans of celery, I'd leave it out next time

- I didn't have tabasco or fried shallots

- I didn't add all the lemon juice

- we would definitely make this again

{linking up with Create.Bake.Make., Zamamabakes and BakePlaySmile for Fabulous Foodie Friday}

cranberry lime glazed baked ham

Inside - Nothing says Christmas food like baked ham and cranberries. Here's an amazing way to join the two!

I only discovered the awesomeness that is baked ham a couple of years ago. We usually make a bourbon brown sugar glaze, but with so many great ideas in the magazines, we decide to have ham for tea one night, and try something new.

chicken caesar subs with onion rings

Lunches at home can be pretty boring. Or maybe that's just me. Anyway, I knew as soon as I read this recipe that I had to cook it, and craft day a couple of weeks ago presented the perfect opportunity. It took me ages to make, so if I was going to eat it regularly, I'd pre-prepare the chicken patties, and assemble as needed.

Ingredients

2 green onions (shallots) thinly sliced

2 cloves garlic, crushed

600g chicken mince (ground meat)

2Tbs parmesan, plus 1/2 cup

1 cup fresh breadcrumbs

3 bacon rashers

1.5 cups self raising flour

1.5 cups chilled soda water

2 large onions, thickly sliced

1/2 cup mayonnaise

4 anchovy fillets, mashed

6 long bread rolls

4 iceberg lettuce leaves

Method

* fry green onions and garlic for 1min. Cool slightly

* mix mince, parmesan, breadcrumbs, and onion together

* with wet hands, shape mix into 12 patties

* fry over moderate heat until golden and cooked

* cook bacon

for onion rings whisk soda water and flour together. stand ten minutes. heat oil. dip a few onion rings in batter. shallow fry until golden.

whisk mayonnaise and anchovies together

assemble sub spread mayonnaise on roll, top with lettuce, bacon, patties, sprinkle with parmesan, serve onion rings on side.

Notes

* I've never eaten anchovies before, so I only used two. The mayonnaise was lovely.

* I only used 500g chicken mince, so didn't get 12 patties from the recipe

* Don't thin the batter out! I ended up with a mess, but the onion rings were awesome, and on the menu again.

* I forgot to sprinkle parmesan on top when assembling. It was still lovely.

almond sugar cookies

It's no secret that cookies are my favourite thing to bake at Christmas time

This recipe is from the Christmas Cookies 2014 magazine from Better Homes and Gardens US.

Ingredients
250g butter (1 cup)
1.5 cups granulated sugar
.5tsp baking powder
.5tsp slat
2 eggs
.25cup milk
1tsp vanilla extract
.5tsp almond extract
.5cup ground almonds
3 cups all purpose flour

Method
* cream butter, sugar, baking powder and salt
* mix in eggs, milk, vanilla, almond
* mix in almonds and flour
* refrigerate about 2hrs, until chilled
* roll out and cut with 2.5" cutter
* bake 7-10min at 180ºC/350ºF

Notes
* I used self-raising flour, because I ran out of plain flour
* the day was too hot to roll out the dough, so I formed logs and froze them
* I baked for 12min, but they were a bit soft, 14min is perfect for choc chip cookies, so I'll try that next time
* then I quickly iced with a glaze.
* the almond flavour is milk enough that the kids loved these biscuits (probably for the icing)
* I think I'll add these to the cook-again-list

pumpkin zucchini & feta damper

You know when you land on an idea that you love, and you finally launch it into the world, and then you get performance anxiety? That's what happened to me this week - I love the idea of Cook the Magazine, it's exciting, and something I haven't seen before. But I spent hours and hours pouring over my magazines in the last week, trying to decide what to cook next, and I couldn't.

I really struggle to make craft without a purpose, and I think that's why I was frozen - cooking without a purpose is kind-of wasteful in my book. Inspiration struck last night when I stumbled on this recipe - it's got veggies in it, so I can pretend that Natalie and Riley will eat it; it's got cheese, and who doesn't love cheese; and it was easy to make.

Ingredients

1.5 cups grated pumpkin

2 cloves garlic, crushed

3 cups self raising flour

75g cold butter

2 zucchini, grated

100g feta

3/4 cup milk

Method

- cook pumpkin and garlic 3 minutes over medium heat. set aside to cool

- rub butter into flour until it resembles breadcrumbs

- squeeze liquid from zucchini

- add zucchini and pumpkin mix to flour, combine

- pour milk into a well in the middle, combine with a flat-bladed knife

- turn out of bowl and knead gently

- place dough onto lined baking tray

- bake 40min, 190ºC

Note - I forgot the feta.

Review

My fussy children hate it. I knew they would. I've eaten 3 slices just today (and no chocolate), it's just hit the spot with a good burst of sweetness from the pumpkin and garlic. Steve and Douglas liked it, too. But I'll have to make it again soon, so I can see how much better it would have been if I'd remembered the feta.

{linking up with Create//Bake//Make for Fabulous Foodie Friday}

honey almond & ginger slice

I asked a couple of months ago what people wanted to read here, and the resounding response from facebook was recipes. But as much as I love baking, I'm a long way from a recipe developer (baking works for me because it is precise, you follow the recipe or it fails, and I've had very few fails in my life), so I've had this idea floating around in the back of my head for a while. I had to do a bit of research to see if it was ok (and I'll share that research later in the week), but meanwhile, I'm launching "cook the magazine" today.

The idea is that I'll finally put those magazines I buy every month to good use, and actually cook recipes from them, and then share them here. It will force me to try new things, and you'll know that the recipe works. win win, in my books.

Ingredients
200g softened butter (1.75 sticks)
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup honey
1/3 cup almond meal
2 tsp ground ginger
1 3/4 cup self raising flour
1/2 cup milk
extra 2 tsp honey
extra 2 tsp milk
flaked almonds

method
cream butter and sugar
add eggs one at a time, mix well
add honey and almond meal
beat in ginger, flour and milk
pour into lined slice tray
combine extra honey and milk, microwave 20sec, brush over top of batter
sprinkle flaked almonds on top
bake 40min, 180°C

review
my slice tray was too small for this batter, so it overflowed a bit.
nice, light ginger and honey taste
especially good warm from the oven
kids loved it

Do you regularly cook from the magazines you buy?

cook the magazines

If you follow me on instagram, you might have noticed me sharing photos of magazines. I don't buy many physical magazines any more, preferring to read digital mags, but Christmas mags are an exception to this.

I love Christmas magazines for the fun new craft and recipe ideas they share, and often get gift ideas from them as well. My favourite thing to do in the lead up to Christmas is decide what recipes I want to try this year, and have a go at whipping them up.

I'm partial to cakes and cookies, fudges and truffles, but I've been known to try new vegetable recipes, glazes for hams, and dipping sauces for prawns. Last year, one of the blogs I follow via facebook ran a series of posts where they trialled the magazine recipes, and wrote reviews. I cannot remember who it was, but I've been waiting all year to run a series myself.

Of course, when I got the idea in my head I didn't plan for a baby who only likes to sleep in mum's arms. Or a husband working away from home. So I'm still going to drool over magazines, and share the love via facebook and instagram, but I might not actually write a post here. I'm just excited to start doing some Christmas baking!

Do you buy too many Christmas magazines?