This is a book I wish I’d been able to produce.  The editors have gone on a nationwide journey and asked 100 of Australia’s top cooks, chefs and foodies for their favourite home recipes.  This book has so many stars and unsung heroes in it you will find something that suits your abilities and your palate.

eg Maggie Beer – makes something with quince (or vino cotto); Margaret Fulton – makes something with a sponge cake; Zumbo – makes something really difficult.

Read More After the Jump!

Here is a snapshot of the contents page and some photos of the stars within.

Overall I really like the layout and the photography. There are nice little vignettes from most of the chefs and a good range of voices from food writer (Jill Dupleix) to Peter Gilmore of Quay restaurant.  The contents really demonstrate what a food loving, multicultural food loving people we are.  To really test this book , I decided to go back to basics and make Merle’s / Susan Boyle (CWA champion and unexpected Masterchef star) ANZAC biscuits.

ANZAC Biscuits by Merle Parrish

Ingredients

• 1 cup plain flour
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• 1.5 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup desiccated coconut
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 tbsp golden syrup
• 2 tbsp boiling water
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 160 g butter, melted [cookmybooks “one really annoying thing about this book is that it doesn’t say salted or unsalted butter for the baking recipes]

Method

Pre-heat the oven to moderate (170C) and grease two large baking trays.  Sift the flour and ground ginger into a mixing bowl, and add the oats, coconut and sugar. Make a well in the centre.

Stir the golden syrup, boiling water and bicarbonate in a small bowl until combined.  Add to the dry ingredients, along with the melted butter.  Mix well.

Take heaped teaspoons of the mixture and roll into balls.  Place onto the trays and flatten gentle.  Leave 2-2.5 cm between each ball.  Bake for 6-7 minutes, until lightly golden.  You will probably need to bake in several batches. [cookmybooks: ” I LOVE MY HELLO KITTY BAKING LINER!!”]

Cool on the trays for 10 minutes once out of the oven, until they firm up slightly, then lift onto wire racks to cool completely.

cookmybooks: Seven minutes made for a very soft biscuit. I like them a bit more crunchy so baked them for 12 minutes.  All up a very easy and delicious ANZAC biscuit!

I received my copy gratis but you can get yours at Fishpond (click on book image) or wherever good books are sold.

I made a promise to myself to only write positive reviews about books I really love.  This is THE BEST COOKBOOK I HAVE READ IN 12 MONTHS.

It makes THE BEST CHOCOLATE CAKE I have ever baked.

Yes folks its that good.

Julie Goodwin Chocolate Slab Cake

more after the jump

The book covers take away staples from Lebanese, Chinese, Thai, Tex Mex, Indian, Italian, Corner Store, Bakery, and Chicken Shop fast food cuisines.  I like the layout more than I did her first book “Our Family Table”.  This book is similar in style and quality to a Donna Hay book. Its beautiful, clear and the recipes are accessible.  There aren’t too many exotic ingredients.

Of critical importance, Julie Goodwin had given a recipe for the Melbourne potato cake/potato scallop.  I have read a million cookbooks and I think she is the first

I loved this book so much I made three recipes in one day – chocolate cake, potato cakes and the southern fried chicken.

For review, I made this chocolate cake. This is now my definitive recipe for when a chocolate cake is required.

Chocolate Slab Cake

Serves 16-20

Prep time: 20 mins

Cooking time: 40 mins

• 1 ¼ cups cocoa
• 1 ½ cups boiling water
• 180g unsalted butter, chopped
• 2 ½ cups caster sugar
• 3 eggs
• ¾ cup sour cream
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 3 cups self-raising flour, sifted

ICING

• ½ cup thickened cream
• 250 g dark chocolate, grated
• Chopped peanuts, walnuts or shredded coconut (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease a 30×40 cm baking dish and line the base with baking paper. Sift the cocoa into a bowl and gradually add the 1 ½ cups of boiling water, stirring until smooth, then set aside to cool.
2. Using electric beaters, beat the butter and sugar until light and creamy. Add the eggs one at a time beating well after each addition.
3. Stir the sour cream for a moment to thin it out. Add the salt, 1 cup of flour and ¼ cup of sour cream to the butter mixture and stir to combine. Repeat with the remaining flour and sour cream, and then stir in the cocoa mixture. Transfer the mixture to the prepared dish.

1. Bake for about 35-40 minutes, until the cake springs back when gently touched and pulls away from the sides of the dish. Cool in the dish for 10 minutes, then turn onto a wire rack to cool completely before icing.
2. To make the ganache icing, pour the cream into a small saucepan. Heat it over medium high heat to scalding point – almost boiling but not quite. Add the chocolate and stir until fully melted and combined. Allow to cool and thicken slightly, then spread the ganache over the cake. Sprinkle with nuts or coconut if you like. The ganache will set as it cools completely.

This is my new go to chocolate cake recipe.  In fact this is my new go to cookbook.

Buy here

This is a super slim but information rich book written by Oliver protege “Cupcake Jemma”.   I really like this book.  It’s small, simple, but delicious.  The chocolate cupcakes were divine. More after the jump!

The 50 cakes (mostly cupcakes) include: basic recipes eg Vanilla or Chocolate and then seasonal cupcakes in flavours like Toffee Apple, Caramel Mudslide, Banana Maple and Pecan, Christmas Cupcakes, Banoffee Cupcakes, PB&J Cupcakes, Hot Cross Bun cupcakes, and Buttered Popcorn Cupcakes.  Amazing!!!

For a book that only cost me $12.95 it was great value.  Also appealing was the layout which had the ingredients on one side and simple instructions on the right.  I did have some trouble with making the icing but Cupcake Jemma and Jamie Oliver are so prolific there was a you tube video to help me out! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-5NNytRLC0

But how does this book cook?

• 150g dark chocolate (70%)
• 350g plain flour
• 60g cocoa powder
• 370g caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 3 large free range eggs
• 240 ml coffee, cooled (see tip below)
• 240 ml buttermilk
• 210 ml vegetable oil

For the chocolate buttercream icing

• 180g dark chocolate (70%)
• 300g unsalted butter, softened
• 540g icing sugar
• 4 tablespoons whole milk

You need

• 2×12 hole muffin trays
• With snug fitting paper cases

FOR THE CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES

Preheat the oven to 160C fan 350F /gas 4.  Finely chop the chocolate (this is best done in a food processor), then tip into a large bowl and stir in the dry cupcake ingredients and ½ teaspoon of fine sea salt.  Whisk the wet cupcake ingredients together in a separate bowl with an electric mixer, then gradually add to the dry mix, whisking until smooth.  Transfer the mixture to a small jug (you’ll need to do this in batches), and carefully fill the paper cases just over two thirds full.  Bake for 20 mins, or until they spring back when touched.  Leave to cool, transferring to a wire cooling rack after 5 minutes.

FOR THE CHOCOLATE BUTTERCREAM ICING

Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water, making sure the base doesn’t touch the water, then cool for 5-10 minutes – the bowl should be just cool enough to handle.  Meanwhile best the butter with an electric mixer for 4 – 5 minutes or until pale and smooth.  Sift the icing sugar into a bowl, then add to the butter in two stages, beating well after each.  Gradually add the milk and beat for a further 5 minutes or until well combined.  Pour in the melted chocolate bit by bit mixing as you go, then beat for a couple of minutes or until icing is a rich even chocolate-brown colour.  Once the cupcakes are cool, decorate them with the icing and enjoy.

TIP if you don’t have freshly brewed coffee, simply mix 1 tablespoon of instant coffee granules with 240ml of hot water instead.

You can buy this book everywhere:

Easy to make, authentic cuisines adapted for the average kitchen.  This curry was AMAZING.  

4.5 stars

But how does this book cook? I made the Kari Ayam Kelapa (Chicken Curry with Roasted Coconut) and the Nasi Kunit (glutinous tumeric rice).

More after the jump.

Charmaine Solomon is rightfully credited as the author that brought authentic Asian cuisines into Australian kitchens.  A Margaret Fulton for the Chinatown set.  Her classic book “The Complete Asian Cookbook” has been updated for a modern audience.  It still includes fascinating details on how to create your own coconut milk and describes how she picked up her recipes from local chefs and housewives.  Its funny to remember that in the 1970s coconut milk was hard to find in Australian supermarkets.

The book has also been divided and sold by country (I saw these at Costco).

Internally there isn’t a lot of glamour. There are very few pictures.  This is compensated by a wealth of recipes.  It does help however to have some cooking (or eating) experience so you know what your end point is supposed to look and taste like.  The recipes are also very pantry friendly so many recipes use packet ground spices as opposed to freshly toasting and grinding your own.  That said, the curry I made was pretty tasty.

This is the perfect book for the home cook that loves Asian food. Many recipes are based on Asian home kitchens so the food is pantry and Aussie supermarket ready.  The book includes: India and Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos, Vietnam, The Philippines, China, Korea and Japan.  It’s the only book I’ve seen that has such a comprehensive list of Asian cuisines.

The curry I made was AMAZING but the rice was mushy and overdone.  For the rice I prefer the absorption and steaming method rather than the boiling method.

Kari Ayam Kelapa (Chicken curry with toasted coconut) serves 6

• 1.5 kg (3lb 5 oz) whole chicken
• 4-5 fresh red chillies
• 45 g (1.5oz/1/2 cup) desiccated (shredded) coconut
• 500 ml (17fl oz/2cups) thick coconut milk
• 2 onions, roughly chopped (I think she means shallots ie small French onions)
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1 teaspoon dried shrimp paste
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1 tablespoon ground coriander
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 stem lemongrass, sliced or 2 strips lemon zest
• 60 ml (2floz/1/4 cup) peanut oil
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 8 daum slam leaves (I used curry leaves)
• 2 teaspoons laos (dried galangal) powder

Join the chicken (see earlier page in book otherwise I used thigh fillets) and cut into curry pieces.  Soak the chillies in hot water for 20 minutes. Drain well.  Put the coconut into a wok or large heavy based frying pan over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it becomes a rich dark brow.  Remove to a plate.

Put the coconut into a food processor and process to affine powder, then add 125 ml (4floz/1/2cup) of the coconut milk and process for 1 minute (in Asia fresh coconut would be roasted over colas and the nut meat then ground to a paste on a grinding stone).  Remove the coconut mixture to a plate, and without washing the food processor, add the chillies, onion, garlic, shrimp paste, turmeric, coriander, cumin and lemongrass.  Process to a puree, adding 1 tablespoon of the peanut oil, if needed.

Heat the remaining oil in a clean wok over low heat.  Add the onion mixture, stirring constantly, until the moisture evaporates and the oil separates.  Add the ground coconut, coconut milk, salt, daum salam leaves and laos powder and stir well.  Add the chicken and stir gently, then simmer for 1 hour, or until the chicken is tender and cooked through.  Serve with rice and other accompaniments.

Nasi Kunit – sticky turmeric rice

• 450 g (1lb/2 ¼ cups) glutinous rice (pulot)
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 garlic clove crushed
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
• ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 pandanus leaf
• 500 ml hot coconut milk
• Fried onion flakes to serve

Wash the rice well and drain in a colander for 30 minutes.  Put the rice into a saucepan with 500 ml water.  Add the salt, garlic, turmeric, pepper and pandanus leaf for flavouring. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to low, cover, and steam for 10 minutes.  Uncover, add the coconut milk (which should be very hot) and stir gently with a form.  Re-cover and cook for a further 10 minutes or until the rice is tender.  Serve the rice garnished with the onion flakes

A must have book for mother’s day

The Flavours of Melbourne is the most amazing book I’ve seen all year.  It’s both a love letter to a great city, an epic photography collection and a cookbook.  It’s beautiful, charming, informative and a pleasure to read.  More after the jump!

The cover folds out into a map!!!

As a massive nerd, I loved to read the sections on the history of Melbourne.

Wonderful photos of graffiti:

A wonderful guide to Melbourne’s secret and not so secret laneways and food havens:

Recipes from the best chefs in the land:

Maha’s 12 hour slow cooked lamb

Ingredients

• 30g (1/4 cup) cumin seeds
• 2 garlic heads
• 2 tbsp sumac
• Zested rind of 3 lemons
• 2 tbsp sea salt flakes
• 1 lamb leg (2.4 kg) shank end detached

Method:

• Dry-roast cumin seeds, cool slightly, then coarsely pound in a mortar and pestle and set aside.  Pound garlic in mortar and pestle with a pinch of sea salt until a coarse paste forms, add cumin seeds, sumac, lemon rind and sea salt flakes and grind until a paste forms.  Score lamb with a sharp knife and rub garlic paste over lamb.  Place in an airtight non reactive container and refrigerate to marinate (2 days).

• Preheat oven to 110C.  Transfer lamb to a roasting pan and roast, basting occasionally, until the meat falls from the bone

Maha is Melbourne’s premier middle eastern restaurant. This 12 hour lamb is a great alternative to the standard Sunday lamb roast.  I only wish I had basted more often or cooked the first few hours under foil because the meat near the bone was much juicier than the outer portions.

All up, this is a great book. Its a wonderful gift for Mother’s day!

More after the jump 

I recently received copies of the RIPE cookbooks by New Zealander Angela Redfern.  I absolutely LOVE (pronounced LEVE in NZ) these books.  RIPE (the red book) is the original cookbook and is unique in that its 1)  seasonal and 2) its from New Zealand. Some of the ingredients may be tricky to find like kumara, fejoias or Maori potatoes but no less than any other imported book.

The second book “RIPE – A FRESH BATCH” is their popular follow on cookbook with a healthy food angle.

Unlike other books these books have a PHOTO FOR EVERY RECIPE!!!

The books represent the type of food you’d have at your favourite cafe but also include some TRULY CREATIVE AND INSPIRING IDEAS.  For example Beet Cured Salmon, Birdseed slice, Fejoia and Apple Crumble from the Red RIPE book.  And Lemon, Passionfruit and Cardamon Delicious, Chaat Masala Potato Salad and Beetroot and Red Wine Red Velvet Cake!! from the Green RIPE book

Don’t worry, the majority of the recipes are much more familiar but I personally can’t wait to try some of the creative combinations.  Make some of these and pack in your Esky chilly bin!

Here are some pics from the inside of the book:

I am obsessed with these books and I want you to have one.  Just tell me in 25 words or less what you love about New Zealand! Entries in the comments. Competition closes Thursday 18 December.  I promise to post the books to the winner by Friday morning so they arrive before Xmas.

]]> https://www.cookmybooks.net/uncategorized/win-ripe-cookbooks-by-angela-redfern/feed/ 5 2541 https://www.cookmybooks.net/uncategorized/cookbook-review-the-pocket-bakery-by-rose-prince/ https://www.cookmybooks.net/uncategorized/cookbook-review-the-pocket-bakery-by-rose-prince/#comments Mon, 09 Dec 2013 03:30:05 +0000 http://www.cookmybooks.net/?p=2517 read more »]]> My rating: 5 stars

The best baking book for beginners

This book is the best beginners’ baking book I’ve seen in a long time.  It really is a B.A.S.I.C baking book for complete duffers.  The instructions are so detailed I got carpel tunnel from re-typing the recipes.  The benefit to the reader is recipes that seem to work! Fillings that fit the tin! Recipes that give the tin size needed!  NO SOGGY BOTTOMS WHEN FOLLOWING THE REALISTIC INSTRUCTIONS!!! (i.e. no stupid instructions saying “blind bake for 5 min” that is bu11 sh*t).  All things that experienced bakers take for granted but novice bakers need to know.  It also assumes no stand mixers nor machines so you can use this book without making serious financial investment.

More after the jump

Rose Prince started a home baking project to give her wayward kids some focus.  After going slightly off the rails, her son became a professional baker and so it seems did she.  Rose has channelled her instructive (but not patronising) voice into this wonderful book “The Pocket Bakery”.  The book is named after her own bakery which now supplies some famous supermarkets in Britain.  Rose specialises in sourdough loaves and it’s the first baking book I’ve seen that gives lengthy instructions with pictures on how to start a sourdough and knead etc.  The book also covers pastries and cakes.  The recipes are classics so don’t expect anything flashy or exotic. That said, the recipes are very pantry friendly. In fact, the recipes are detailed, well thought out and work so they will improve the self-esteem of a sulking, baking teenager.  It talks a lot about British ingredients but doesn’t go too overboard with the “treacle” etc.  It also gives recipes in metric, ounces, Celsius etc. so it’s a great book for any location.

This is the perfect book for the beginner baker.  It’s not flashy, sexy or exotic but it seems to really work.

I sampled the Lemon Tart Recipe with Sweet Short Crust Pastry.  It’s the first time I’ve baked a tart from a recipe where I don’t end up with a litre of filling left over [hello Maggie Beer : ( ]

Classic Lemon Tart by Rose Prince (adapted from The Pocket Bakery). 

For the Pastry:

Note that the book puts pastry recipes in a separate section which is cross referenced.  You need about half the quantity provided in the measures below. 

Makes enough for 2 large tarts, 20 cm in diameter, 4 c m deep or 24 x 8 cm tartlets 2 cm deep

Ingredients

• 350 g/12 oz. plain white flour, plus extra for dusting
• Pinch salt
• 125g /4.5 oz. cold butter
• 125 g/4.5 oz. sugar
• 2 eggs plus 1 egg yolk

Put the flour and salt into a bowl.  Take the butter from the fridge, put it between two pieces of greaseproof paper and bash it firmly with a rolling-pin until it is 1 cm/0.5 cm thick pliable but still cold.  Put the butter into the bowl with the flour and tear it into pieces.  Try to keep the butter coated with flour so it doesn’t stick.  Gently flake the butter into the flour, with your fingers, rubbing lightly then delving back into the mixture to lift and rub.  Stop flaking when the pieces of butter are the size of your little fingernail.  Scatter the sugar over.  Tip the eggs and extra yolk into the flour and mix everything together thoroughly with a spoon until you have lumpy dough.  Turn the dough out onto the worktop then squeeze with your hand and push it with your knuckles until it’s a heavy smooth paste.  Do not over work the dough  the high butter and egg content mean it could become greasy.  Form the dough into an oblong, wrap it in cling film and leave to rest in the fridge for 30 mins.

Lemon Tart Recipe 

• Serves 6-8
• Equipment: 25 cm/10 inch tart tin, 4 cm deep with a loose base, placed on a baking sheet
• A butane blowtorch (optional)
• Ingredients
• Flour, for dusting
• 300g/10.5 oz. Sweet Pastry (above) at room temperature
• 1 egg, beaten
• For the Filling:
• 6 eggs
• 300g/ 10.5 oz. caster sugar
• 300ml/1.5 pint freshly squeezed lemon juice
• zest of 4 lemons
• 185 g/6.25 oz. double cream
• To seal the tart case:
• 1 egg beaten with a few grains of salt
• To serve:
• Icing sugar
• Whole filaments (pulp of the lemon, carefully cut out of lemon segments left on a cloth to dry

Lemon Tart Instructions 

• First roll the pastry and line the tart tin.  Make sure, when rolling, that the worktop is well dusted with flour and, as you roll it thin, check that it is not sticking.  If it does, add more flour.
• Put the pastry on the floured worktop and tap with a rolling pin to flatten it a little.  Roll the pin backwards and forward over the pastry once, then turn the disc 30 degrees.  Roll back and forth again then turn again.  Repeat this action several times, checking regularly that there is enough flour under the pastry and on the rolling pin to prevent sticking.  At some point the pastry will be too thin to turn, so just adjust the direction you roll, checking that it is not sticking.
• Once the pastry is 1.4 cm/1/10 inch thick (or a little more if you are not confident), it must be very carefully picked up.  Roll it onto the pin, keeping the rolling pin very close to it.  Do not worry if there is any splitting; this pastry repairs easily once in the tin.  Unroll it over the tin, quickly tucking it into the tin with your other hand as you go.  Press the pastry into the corners of the tin, and against the sides.  Allow it to fall over the top edge but do not trim; this can be done after cooking.  Repair any holes or cracks with spare pastry , pressing it with your fingers.  Do not prick with a fork ,, or the filling might escape.  Put the tart case in the fridge for 20 minutes.

• 

• Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4.  Line the tine with baking paper and then fill with dry rice, beans or baking beans.  Bake for 15 minutes, remove from the oven, take out the paper and beans, brush the inside with beaten egg to seal it and bake for another 5 minutes to crisp the base.  Turn the oven down by 10 degrees.
• Meanwhile make the tart filling: whisk all the ingredients together, sieve them, and put them in a saucepan and heat, stirring until warm.  Pour into the tart case and bake for about 20 minutes until the lemon filling sets.
• Take the tart out of the oven and allow to cool completely in the case.  When cool, use a very sharp of fine serrated knife to trim the pastry – try hard not to get crumbs on the surface of the lemon tart.  Before serving sift a little icing sugar on to the surface.  Light the blowtorch (this is optional) and torch it in places to caramelise the sugar  just a touch here and there.  Finish by placing the lemon filaments on the surface.

I received my copy gratis but found good prices here http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Pocket-Bakery-Rose-Prince/9780297869382/?a_aid=COOKMYBOOKS

An accessible food and body workout ‘Paleo-Style’
Luke and Scott were the Bondi loving personal trainers from 2013’s series of My Kitchen Rules.

Much like the authors, this is a slim, beautiful book about paleolithic eating and functional training.  As a cronut fan I was naturally very suspicious.  Fortunately, the recipe section of the book is exciting, fresh and uses superfoods in a very appealing way.  50% of the book is about exercise and has lots of detailed instructions and pictures on how to work out right.  I wish though, that the boys had put up some you tube videos on how these exercises are done.  I enjoyed looking at the pictures of people exercising while I sat on my couch.

More after the Jump!

The other 50% of the book is a collection of healthy recipes with a big emphasis on quinoa.

I really loved this section of the book.  It’s the first book I’ve seen that has an Australian approach to using superfood ingredients (quinoa, coconut oil, activated almonds) in ways that represent excellent junk food substitutes and other such yumminess.

For example, sweet potato gnocchi! (a revelation), sweet potato fries, pancakes, sweet corn fritters, and coconut roughs.

I found the section on snacks and sides especially helpful with recipes on how to make your own activated almonds, how to cook quinoa, walnut sauce and chimichurri.

The back has a three week plan on how to put it all together and change your life (if you want to).

But how does this book cook?

Banana and Quinoa Porridge (serves 4, gluten free)

• 500 ml almond milk
• 1 cup quinoa flakes
• 1 ripe banana, sliced
• 1 vanilla bean, scraped
• 1 tbl chia seeds
• pinch cinnamon
• toasted activated almonds, crushed, to garnish
• 1 tbl rice malt syrup)

1. Combine the almond milk and 500 ml water in a saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat
2. Add the quinoa flakes, banana and vanilla.  Cook until thickened, stirring often
3. Add the chia seeds and stir through
4. Sprinkle with some cinnamon and crushed almonds, and drizzle with the rice malt syrup.

   

   

   

This is the first time I’ve eaten quinoa porridge. The recipe is quite loose which I like. Quinoa makes it slightly grainy and it lacks the gluey yumminess of oat porridge.  Its fairly neutral in flavour but the banana, vanilla, syrup and almonds all come to the fore.  I’m not sure if I would rush to make it again but it was easy and I did get that wholegrain smugness of knowing I had a healthy breakfast.

I recommend this book for anyone wanting to improve their overall health or to those wanting to explore new superfood ingredients in familiar family type meals. Its more of a total lifestyle book so if you aren’t interested in exercise then this may not be the book for you.

It’s a really good book for fans of MKR and as a gift for the man in your life that may have lost some motivation.

To buy from Fishpond click here

Clean Living: A 3-week Healthy Lifestyle Plan to Help You Change Your Life

I had always sworn to keep my blog purely about cookbooks.  However, sometimes an epic change in the culinary landscape occurs and all the rules shatter.

The tectonic plates of the carbohydrate universe have changed with the introduction of the Cronut.

More after the jump

Sucrose legend Adriano Zumbo opened his sugar hut in Melbourne last week and at last, Melbournians have access to his legendary choux-maccas, zumbarons and his version of the cro-nut: The Zo-Nut!

Down the road, the former Movida bakery (now re-branded the Tivoli Road Bakery) has their version called The Do-ssant.

My lard cells rejoiced and like a zombie from The Walking Dead I was called to South Yarra on a Saturday morning, slack-jawed and drooling.

The Zo-Nut: Tastes exactly like a croissant that’s been deep fried.  The layers of laminated pastry are all distinct and have a yeasty butteriness.  The choc crem pat is punched in at good intervals.  The topping is particularly special – chocolate pop-rocks, a gentle frosting and little chocolate balls and shards.  It’s not too sweet and not too oily.  If you love croissants then this is a great option for you.  Apparently, flavours change weekly.

The Do-Ssant: Tastes more like a flakey, yeasted donut than a croissant.  The choc crème pat fills the hole in the donut rather than the layers of the donut.  The top has a freeze dried raspberry.  It has a delicate crispiness on the outside and is quite sweet.  It’s sweeter but smaller than the Zo-nut.  Chocolate and vanilla flavours available.

Verdict: I loved both. I loved The Zo-nut because its more like a croissant and less sweet.  But I also loved The Do-ssant because its more like a small donut.  I ate the whole thing very comfortably.  The Zo-nut needs a bit more pace.  Overall they are both worth sampling.  Have to call it a happy draw.  Have you had your cronut today? Let me know your thoughts! xxx

The first half details “how to” raise chickens and farm eggs.  The second half is all chicken and egg recipes.  Its a charming and curious book.

You can win your own copy of this book by re-tweeting, FB posting, or by subscribing to this website! Please let me know via comments how you’ve entered.

Entries close 14 October 2013.

River Cottage Chicken & Eggs by Mark Diacono