It’s Easter time and Easter time means hot cross buns!

I decided to be a little bit special with my HCBs this year and make apple cinnamon ones. Hot cross buns usually have a tiny hit of cinnamon and spice in them so the addition of apple really isn’t too much of a stretch. I found a recipe on Gourmet Traveller and have adapted it very slightly for my own version here. They are extremely delicious, not too sweet and a perfect treat this Easter.

Happy Easter baking!

Apple Cinnamon Hot Cross Buns

I’ve decided to start providing all recipes in weight now, as opposed to cup measurements. Weight measurements are more reliable for best results and I want you to have the best buns (see what I did there) and for me that means a set of scales and no more cups!

325g caster sugar

1 lemon

3 small Granny Smith apples, peeled and diced

1 cinnamon quill

700g plain flour

200g golden raisins or sultanas

14gm (2 sachets) dried active yeast

4 teaspoons ground cinnamon

grated rind of 1 orange and 1 lemon

380ml milk

100g butter, chopped

1 egg

1. Combine 260gm sugar and 375ml water in a saucepan, then squeeze in the juice of half a lemon and stir over medium-high heat until sugar dissolves. Meanwhile, cut remaining lemon half into 5mm-thick slices, add to pan with apple and cinnamon quill. Bring to the simmer, reduce heat to medium and cook until lemon and apple are translucent (20-25 minutes). Strain, reserving fruit and syrup separately. When cool enough to handle, dice lemon, combine with apple and set aside.

2. Combine 700gm flour, sultanas/raisins, yeast, 3 tsp ground cinnamon, allspice, rinds, remaining sugar, reserved apple mixture and 1 tsp salt in a large bowl and make a well in the centre. Combine milk and butter in a small saucepan, warm over low heat until butter melts and mixture is lukewarm. Whisk in egg, then add milk mixture to flour, stirring to form a soft dough. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic (8-10 minutes). Place in a lightly buttered bowl, cover and stand in a warm place until doubled in size (30-40 minutes).

3. Knock back dough, divide into 20 even pieces, then knead each piece into a smooth ball. Arrange dough balls on baking trays lined with baking paper, leaving 1cm between each for dough to expand. Cover with a tea towel and stand in a warm place until doubled in size (30-40 minutes).

4. Preheat oven to 220C. Combine remaining flour and 70ml cold water in a bowl and stir to a smooth paste. Spoon into a piping bag fitted with a small plain nozzle and pipe a cross shape onto each bun. Bake for 10 minutes, reduce oven to 200C and bake until golden and buns sound hollow when tapped.

5. Meanwhile, combine reserved syrup and remaining ground cinnamon in a small saucepan and stir over medium heat until syrupy and combined. Brush thickly over hot buns, then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Coffee is something I love to enjoy and living in Melbourne, great coffee can be found almost everywhere. I’m not the kind of person who needs a cup of joe to start my day and keep me sane, but I do love it.

I’m not traditional with what coffee I enjoy either. I know people who will always have the same drink but I like to mix it up a little. Sometimes it’s an espresso to give me a much needed wake-up jolt in the morning, or a milky latte coupled with good banter with a friend at lunchtime. If work is crazy busy and I need something to give me an energy boost, it’s a cute little piccolo! I’ve also started to dabble with the Chemex pourover which is awesome too.

Coffee ranting aside, it’s also a flavour I adore in cooking and sweets. It lifts anything chocolately like brownies or warm puddings and coffee ice-cream is one of my all time favourite flavours. As I was enjoying (aka scoffing my face) some delicious yo-yos the other day, a brilliant idea popped into my head: what would coffee yo-yos taste like? So, with this recipe, I decided to marry those three delicious elements: coffee, chocolate and shortbread!

I tinkered with the base recipe of my passionfruit yo-yos and with my very first attempt, I created these delicious cookie sandwiches. My yo-yos are usually macaron sized and whilst I hate little cutesy things, I couldn’t resist making these teeny tiny. To go with the cutesy theme, they are now called kisses :)

This recipe is a little fiddly, but after you get a whiff of these bad boys fresh from the oven then taste them with the coffee infused chocolate ganache, you’ll thank for me creating another way of getting your daily coffee fix. Enjoy!

Espresso Cookie Kisses

125g unsalted butter, softened

60g icing sugar, sifted

splash of vanilla extract

135g plain flour

2 tablespoons cornflour

2 heaped tablespoons roasted coffee beans, freshly ground

Coffee Infused Chocolate Ganache

100g milk chocolate,  melted

100ml cream

2 heaped tablespoons roasted coffee beans, freshly ground

1. Heat the cream until boiling point and dump the coffee grinds in. Leave to infuse for 20 minutes before straining. Mix this with the melted chocolate and set aside.

2. Using a mixer or just bowl and a wooden spoon, cream the butter, vanilla extract and icing sugar until light and fluffy. Sift flours over butter mixture and add the coffee. Mix until a soft dough forms. Chill in the fridge for an hour.

3. Preheat the oven to 160C. Line two baking trays with non-stick  baking paper. Set aside.

4. Roll little teaspoonfuls of mixture into small balls. I am obsessed with my new digital scales so I actually made each dough ball exactly 10 grams (don’t judge me)Place on trays. Using a fork dipped in flour, lightly flatten each biscuit until 1cm thick. Bake for 15 minutes or until firm. Cool on trays for 10 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

5. Spread/pipe one biscuit with 1 teaspoon of filling. Top with another biscuit. Repeat with all remaining biscuits and filling.

Makes about 16 but recipe can easily be doubled or tripled.

I know what you’re thinking… You just had a “whoa, she’s actually alive and it’s a new blog post!” thought and it is completely warranted. For the last four months I have fallen off the face of the earth. Obviously I don’t mean this in a literal sense, but in the online world, I’ve been pretty non existent. No blog posts, hardly any tweets, minimal lame Facebook status updates and don’t even get me started with my Instagram where I think I’ve posted 5 photos in the last 90 days. That’s an average of 1 every two weeks! Anyway…

I’m not going to go on and on about my recent hiatus because I think we all do it every now and then. Sometimes you just need some space to think and reflect to just slow down and breathe. Some people take a few minutes of their day to do this, some go for weeks on a mind-clearing holiday. I just decided to go offline for a while but now I am back!

What better recipe to share for my comeback then the good old lamington? I know a lot of my readers (and friends who read this) are not Australian, so let me explain what the hell they are if you have no idea what I am talking about. Lamingtons are squares of light airy sponge cake, dipped in a chocolate icing then rolled in coconut. Sometimes they are cut in half before being iced and filled with jam (and sometimes even cream!!). They are as Aussie as Aussie can be!

I grew up on lamingtons but before you have visions of me running around as a kid eating freshly baked lamingtons, think again. My mum is a truly amazing cook, but she is pretty crap in the baking stakes so all the lamingtons I used to eat were the packet ones at the supermarket. Now before you judge my mum, these little supermarket cakes were quite good but they never really ever tasted like fresh homemade ones.

I have tried making lamingtons many times over the years and I always failed. Why? Because of the damn sponge cake!! All my sponge cakes have turned out dense, heavy and not very nice. I can bake a mean loaf of bread, a birthday cake or a batch of cookies, but I could never master the sponge no matter how many recipes I would try and no matter how light handed I would be when mixing. I came across this recipe from Nat Paull, the pastry chef/owner of an awesome North Melbourne cafe called Beatrix and I knew i just had to give it one more go. I’ve had lamingtons at Beatrix before and they are freaking yum (italics and underline very necessary).

So, after an afternoon of trying one more time to get lamingtons right, I finally did. The recipe worked perfectly for me and I now know why: ingredients are to be weighed, not measured using cups. Baking really is a precise art yet we still use cup measurements which are so inaccurate! Weighing out ingredients in exact quantities has resulted in super light yet firm squares of sponge cake which were sandwiched with strawberry jam, then dipped in a rich chocolate icing and finished off with a very generous enveloping of roasted shredded coconut. AMAZING! It is a little bit fiddly to make lamingtons but the time and effort really is worth it!

Happy baking! :)

Chocolate Lamingtons with Roasted Coconut

Recipe adapted from Nat Paull.

400g egg (about 7 to 8)

270g castor sugar

270g plain flour

1 teaspoon salt

150g unsalted butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Chocolate Icing

400g icing sugar mixture

50g good Dutch or baking cocoa

35g water

50g butter

150g thickened cream

Toasted Coconut

350g shredded coconut

1. Line a 10” square tin with baking paper and preheat the oven to 170°C.

2. Over a pot of barely simmering water, heat the sugar and the eggs in the mixer bowl until they are hot to the touch. Put the mixer bowl into your stand processor and whisk for 8 minutes on a medium/high speed until the egg mix is pale, fluffy and can hold a peak. The mixture will have quadrupled in volume and it should be lovely and light.

3. Heat the butter in a saucepan over a low heat until the butter starts to turn a dark toasty brown. Remove from heat, add vanilla extract and set aside.

4. Gently scrape the egg mix into a large wide mixing bowl. Sift over half the flour/salt mix and gently fold in with a whisk, turning the mix over while spinning the bowl slowly. Fold in the remaining sifted flour until it has been fully incorporated. Slowly pour in the warm melted butter mix and fold in. Scrape the mix into the prepared tin and smooth the top.

5. Bake until slightly bouncy in the centre and golden brown. This should take about 35 minutes.

6. Cool the cake and cut into desired dimensions. I just cut my big square cake into half, then each half again, then in half again and half again (basically I just explained a really long winded way to say 16 equal squares, haha). Split each in half like a sandwich and spread a generous dollop of jam in the middle. Sandwich the halves together and place on a tray and put them into the freezer for around 30 minutes. This will help them stay together when they are being iced.

7. For the icing, stir the icing mix and cocoa together in a bowl. Heat the water, butter and cream until boiling and pour into the bowl. Whisk well to make a smooth icing.

8. To ice, heat the icing over a bowl of barely simmering water. To check the consistency, dip your finger in. It should coat your finger so you can’t see your finger but adheres easily. If it is too thick, add a little extra water.

9. For the coconut, toast at about 150°C) for 10 – 15 minutes until it’s lovely and amber brown. This happens quite quickly, so stir the coconut every few minutes to get an even colouring.

10. Time for assembly! Place the following in a row on your bench in this order: sponge squares, chocolate icing (kept on top of the pot of water on the bench so it stays hot, toasted coconut in a generously sized tray, a little bowl of cold water (this is for cleaning off your hands before putting them in the coconut. It also helps if you dip your fingers in the water before picking up a dipped lamington and transferring it to the coconut as the icing will not tear off the lamington and stick to your fingers), another tray scattered with a little coconut for resting. You will also need a cooling rack to allow excess icing to drip off into the bowl and a spatula.

11. Take a sponge square and roll it in the icing until coated on all sides. Pop it onto the cooling rack, cut side down, and lightly ‘brush’ off any excess icing on top with your fingers. Do a couple at a time. Dip your fingers in the cold water and pick up the lamington and place in the coconut. Scatter lots of coconut on top and then press some coconut onto each iced side. Put the finished lamington onto your tray and continue until you are done!

* A good tip if you run out of icing towards the end: scrape the excess icing back into the bowl and pop it back over a pot of simmering water. The heat will melt the icing again and you should have enough icing to keep going :)

Makes 16.

Classic pairings; two separate aspects that are great in their own individual right, but when they come together, it’s like, “whoa, amazing!” There are awesome duos everywhere: bacon and eggs, jeans and t-shirts, strawberries and cream, Beyonce and Jay-Z (hahaha).

One of my favourite pairings when it comes to sweets is definitely dark chocolate and pear. Bittersweet chocolate and sweet, delicate pear are amazing together. There’s the classic Poires Belle-Hélène with sugar-syrup poached pears served with vanilla ice cream and a yummy dark chocolate sauce and then there is the delicious chocolate and pear tart when they are encased in buttery shortcrust pastry – ooh yeah!

On this cold winter’s day I had some ripe Corella pears and dark chocolate to play with, but I really couldn’t be bothered with anything time consuming (I love to cook, but I am also a lazy cook) so I came up with these tasty little cakes to satisfy my chocolate and pear cravings. Not only are they delicious, they only took about 30 minutes from start to finish!

Little Dark Chocolate and Pear Cakes

200g dark chocolate

100g almond meal or almonds (or any nut, really)

125g butter, room temperature

125g caster sugar

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

100g plain flout

pinch of salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 ripe pears, peeled and chopped

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Grease and line with non-stick baking paper either a 22cm/10-inch cake tin or an 8 x small loaf tin tray.

2. In a food processor, blitz the chocolate and meal/nuts until coarse pebbly crumbs form.

3. In a standing mixer, cream the butter and sugar together for a few minutes until creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, making sure the mixture is well combined after each egg. Throw in the vanilla extract at the end.

4. Stir through the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the pears.

5. Spoon the batter into your prepared pan and bake for 15 minutes (if making little cakes) or 30 minutes (if making one big cake) or until the tops are golden brown and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

6. Let them cool on a wire rack, but eat them warm with tea. It’s the only way to go :)

Makes about 12 little cakes or one big one.

[Print recipe]

A week ago, my dad turned 56 and this is the cake I made for his birthday.

My dad loves coffee flavoured things and he also loves snacking on nuts so I thought I’d marry the two together in this simple, but really delicious cake.

To many, summer is their favourite season because it means sunshine until 9pm, warm sticky days, sunbaking on the beach and lazy afternoons drinking beer with friends. These are the same exact reasons I love summer too but the main (and kind of pathetic) reason why I love it is because peaches are in season!!

The humble peach is one of my top three favourite fruits ever (with mango and watermelon rounding out the lucky selection) and the sheer love I have for peaches is quite ridiculous. I start anticipating their arrival in about December, like a little kid looking forward to Santa on Christmas Day, quietly hoping I see them each time I do my weekly market shopping. When I do see them, I squeal like a silly 13 year old girl and proceed to buy a few kilograms no matter how much they cost (a bit like how some girls splurge on shoes) (and yes, I know peaches are much cheaper than the latest Louboutins, but it’s the same principle: buy buy buy).

I love to eat peaches just as they are and yellow clingstone peaches are the perfect eating peach for me. Sweet, fragrant and slightly crunchy! Freestone peaches are better to use in cakes and sweets just because it is easier getting the pip out and usually the pinky tinge in the middle offers a pretty end result, especially for jam.

Today I am sharing a recipe that involves many delicious ingredients: peaches, almonds, yoghurt and cinnamon (oh yes). It is a really simple and versatile recipe as you could make it with any type of fruit you want and to be honest, it’s one of those “you can’t really stuff this up or else you’re an idiot” kind of cakes.

So, whether it be peaches or not, give this little beauty a spin. You won’t regret it, I promise! :)

Peach Almond Yoghurt Cake

100g unsalted butter, softened

100g caster sugar

100g brown sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 eggs

200g natural yoghurt

100g self raising flour, sifted

200g almond meal

3 medium yellow peaches (about 400g), peeled, diced

Topping

50g flaked almonds

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 heaped tablespoon caster sugar

icing sugar, to dust

1. Preheat the oven to 175°C. Grease and line a 23 centimetre springform tin with non-stick baking paper (the easiest way to do this is to rip off a piece of baking paper that covers the base of your tin, then simply clip the ring directly over the base and paper and you’re good to go; no need to actually cut out a circle to fit!)

2. Beat butter, sugar and vanilla extract until very light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well between additions. Add the yoghurt and mix until just combined. Add the flour and almond meal and lightly mix.

3. Gently fold in the fruit and pour the batter into the prepared tin. Mix the topping ingredients in a small bowl and then sprinkle over the batter.

4. Bake for around 30 minutes, cover with foil and bake for a further 20 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

5. Allow the cake to cool in the tin and turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Dust with icing sugar and serve. Amazing!

[Print recipe]

They weren’t the healthiest of breakfast items, but as a child, my absolute favourite thing to eat were strawberry Pop Tarts. I just LOVED those magical doughy rectangles filled with a fake sugary red goo that always burned my tongue because I was too impatient to wait for it to cool down before devouring. The best part for me was the icing on top, a thick layer of sugar covered in even more sugar in the form of colourful sprinkles.

I had a hankering for a Pop Tart the other week, but they aren’t readily available in the supermarket in Melbourne anymore, so I thought I’d make my own. Recipes for pop tarts online are readily available and after trialling a few, I think I’ve perfected it! The dough can be a little fiddly, but it’s so worth the extra effort.

PS. These pop tarts are naked because I forgot to take pictures of them with the glaze and only realised after they were all eaten, haha :)

Jam Pop Tarts

2 ¼ cups plain (all-purpose) flour

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

225g unsalted butter, very cold and cubed

iced water

1 large egg plus 1 tablespoon of milk, for egg wash

¾ cup jam (I used raspberry and blueberry)

1 ½ tablespoons cornflour, mixed with 1 tablespoon water

caster or granulated sugar, to sprinkle

1. Whisk together the flour, sugar and salt. Work in the butter with your fingers, pastry blender or food processor, adding iced water a tablespoon at a time until you see pea-sized lumps of butter and the mixture clumps together. It should hold together if you squish some dough together with your fingers. Tip out the dough onto a floured surface. Divide into two, kneading each half briefly and shaping it into a disc. Wrap in cling-film and allow to chill in the fridge for 60 minutes.

2. Mix together the jam and cornflour mixture. Set aside.

3. Remove both the dough from the fridge and allow to sit at room temperature for about 10 minutes so it makes rolling it out a bit easier. Roll out dough with a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface in the shape of a rectangle with so it is 0.5cm thick. Using a knife, cut the dough into a 22cm x 30cm (9? x 12?) rectangle. Repeat with the second disk of dough and cut each piece into thirds so you end up with nine 7.5cm x 10cm (3? x 4?) rectangles.

4. Preheat the oven to 180C (350F). Line a baking tray with non stick paper.

5. Place nine of the dough rectangles on the prepared tray. In the centre of the nine dough rectangles, spoon a big tablespoon of jam filling. Using a pastry brush (or just your fingers), dip it in water and run it along the edges of the dough rectangle and place another dough rectangle on top, pressing firmly ensuring they stick. Then, using a fork dipped in flour (to prevent it sticking), crimp the edges all around.

6. Brush each pop tart with egg wash and sprinkle liberally with sugar. Prick each with a fork three or four times and bake for about 20-25 minutes until golden brown.

7. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Icing

If you want to have these iced, don’t bother sprinkling the pop tarts with sugar before baking. To make a simple glaze, mix together 1 cup of icing sugar and a dash of milk. Top the pop tarts with the icing when still warm.

Makes 9.

[Print recipe]

You know the list where you write down everything you want to do before you die? The Bucket List… yes that one. I am currently composing my very own right now. I think we always have things we want to do or places we want to see in the back of our minds, but who actually writes it down? I seriously want to have a physical written list and be able to cross them out, one by one, as each gets fulfilled (knowing me though, I’d probably lose the list and I’ll most likely use an online list like Evernote instead to keep track of all my pre-death wishes*).

I’m still very young and I know I have plenty of time in my life to do all that I desire, but sometimes life throws a curveball and many of us aren’t as lucky to live as long as we wish we could. My bucket list is prompting me to try and live my life to it’s fullest as much as I can now instead of later (or at least actively keep it in the back of my mind instead of just writing things down and putting it away). So, what’s on my list? I’m constantly adding to it. Here are a few:

International travel

I want to explore so many amazing countries in this world! I want to snowboard down the slopes in Switzerland and gorge myself on Swiss chocolate (note to self: learn to snowboard); have sangria and paella in Spain, explore the crazy spice markets in Turkey; drink cocktails whilst tanning on the gorgeous beaches of Tahiti – I could literally spend hours listing what I want to do/see in each city/country in this world! I particularly want to visit Vietnam as I would love to see where my parents and family came from. This looks likely to happen in the new year, so I am very excited about that! :) Germany is also high on my list as my mum spent three years of her adolescent years there!

I also want to visit France, Prague, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Singapore, Austria, Mexico, Italy, Thailand, Croatia, Portugal, Brazil, Greek Islands, Ireland, Fiji! So much to explore! If only travelling wasn’t so expensive, especially from Australia.

Learn another language

I have always wanted to learn another language fluently, both verbally and in written form. Learning languages isn’t easy and it requires real dedication and time. I always change my mind between learning French and Spanish, but I am leaning more towards French. I think once I settle in my new job, I will finally look at saving for classes and finally begin!

Skydive

I know jumping out of plane and hurtling straight down to earth doesn’t sound like much fun to most people, but I think it would be an absolutely exhilarating experience! The adrenalin rush from free-falling and the perspective would be amazing!!

Become a parent

This one probably sounds odd to list as something I want to achieve, but not everyone wants to be a parent. There is something truly magical about being a parent and the number one reason why I want to be a mother is because it will finally give me the opportunity to really understand what real selfless love is. I know love with a partner is very special, but the love between mother and child is something much different. I want that one day.

My own book/feature in a magazine

I would absolutely love to have my own work featured in a magazine and/or have my own book of recipes and photography. I love sharing my work online but the tangibility of having a printed book that can sit on people’s bookshelves that can be used and passed on is so appealing to me! Scoring a publishing deal would be brilliant!

So what do these blondies have to do with my bucket list? Well, one thing that I have written down is that I wish to continue this food blog for as long as possible. I want to build a library of recipes over the years, but also have an online depository for all of my random thoughts and musings. I don’t want to be the biggest and best blog in the world, I just want to continue contributing to the site not only for my own reference but for all of you that seem to enjoy reading it and trying out the recipes. I love all the feedback that I receive and the messages of encouragement are always greatly appreciated :)

These blondies are definitely something you should give a go soon! If you are a big fan of peanuts then you must make this ASAP. They are sweet, chock a block full of nuts and the chocolate is just an added bonus. I accidentally overcooked mine and they ended up a little dry but I discovered that a huge scoop of vanilla ice cream was the perfect solution.

Make a batch of these blondies and write a bucket list of your own. Dream big!! Anything is possible! :)

Peanut Butter Chocolate Blondies

Adapted from Dorie Greenspan’s ‘Baking From My Home To Yours’

1 cup plain flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon baking soda

¾ cup peanut butter (I used smooth, but crunchy will be fine)

100g unsalted butter, room temperature

¾ cup caster sugar

¾ cup brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

120g dark chocolate roughly chopped

1 cup salted roasted salted peanuts, roughly chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 180C and line a 9 inch baking tin with non stick baking paper. Set aside.

2. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.

3. Using a stand mixer, cream together the butter and peanut butter until smooth. Add the sugar and brown sugar and continue beating for about two minutes until it is all very smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the 2 eggs (one at a time), beating for about 1 minute each. Beat in the vanilla extract.

4. Scrape down the sides of the bowl again and turn the mixer back on low speed. Gradually add the dry ingredients, mixing just until the flour disappears. Add the chopped peanuts and chocolate into the bowl and mix on low speed  until it is just combined. Don’t overmix!

5. Pour into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a spatula. Bake for about 45 minutes. Bake until the top is golden brown and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool the pan on a wire rack.

6. Cut into squares or bars and you’re good to go!

Makes 16 squares or 24 bars.

[Print recipe]

Holiday. Vacation. Getaway. Whatever you want to call it, that’s what I have recently just come home from. I spent four weeks in the United States and it was just wonderful. It was so nice to travel, to catch up with old friends, have a break from work and simply escaping the daily grind of normality. Although I was in the US for a whole month, I only visited two cities, San Francisco and New York City (the best two cities in the States, in my opinion!)

In San Francisco I was lucky enough to stay with my lovely friends Cindy and Seth for almost a week. I had envisioned a lot of yummy baking for my friends, but with so much exploring, shooting and eating (oh so much eating), I only managed to make two treats for them: a tasty loaf of banana chocolate chip bread and a delicious mixed fruit crumble.

Crumbles are one of my most favourite dishes to make. You can use whatever fruit you have on hand and the entire dish from start to finish is as easy as can be! Try it with apples, pears, apricots, plums, strawberries, cherries – the options are endless. Cin and Seth had blueberries, blackberries, pluots and a lone peach at the time so that is exactly what I used here.

You can eat it fresh from the oven all lovely and warm or even at room temperature the next day for breakfast!

Cin and Seth, hope you liked the crumble. Thanks again for letting me stay with you xo

Fruit Crumble

2-3 cups mixed fruit, chopped

2 tablespoons of caster sugar

Crumble

1 cup rolled oats

½ cup brown sugar

4 tablespoons plain flour

80g of unsalted butter, softened

good sprinkle of ground cinnamon

1. Preheat the oven to 180C.

2. In a baking dish, toss together the fruit and caster sugar.

3. In another bowl, mush together all the crumble ingredients until you get a lumpy mixture. I find it easiest using my fingers for this. It’s messy, but fun!

4. Sprinkle the crumble mix over the fruit and bake for around 30 minutes or until the fruit is soft and the crumble is golden brown. (If you use fruit such as apple and pears, the crumble topping may be cooked before the fruit is ready. If this is the case, cover the crumble with foil and bake until the fruit is soft. The foil stops the crumble topping from getting burnt!)

Serve warm with ice cream, custard or cream. Or eat it at room temperature. Or cold. Whatever tickles your fancy.

Serves 4 -6.

[Print recipe]

She was so surprised that it only took me about twenty minutes to prepare a fresh batch of these delicious crispy doughnuts. I shared the recipe with her and she reported back the next day with excellent results. This recipe is so simple, I wanted to share it here too.

For the doughnuts, I have a recipe that I’ve been using for years, and it never fails me. Over time, I have changed the method slightly, but the ingredients and quantities have always been the same.

It really is as easy as 1, 2, 3. Preparation takes hardly any time at all and it’s the perfect dish to whip up for dessert, or even as an indulgent snack. Churros can be enjoyed simply dusted in cinnamon sugar or served with dulce de leche or chocolate sauce. I’ve decided to share my chocolate dipping sauce recipe with you today, since I was in a chocolatey mood :)

Churros with Chocolate Dipping Sauce

2 cups plain flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

pinch of salt

500ml of boiling water

2 tablespoons of olive oil

vegetable oil, to fry

cinnamon sugar, to dust (just combine caster sugar with ground cinnamon)

Chocolate Dipping Sauce

150g milk chocolate, chopped

100g dark chocolate, chopped

300ml of cream

For the sauce:

1. Combine all ingredients in a double boiler and mix until melted and smooth (alternatively, you can pop it in the microwave and blitz it in short bursts of 20-30 seconds, mixing thoroughly at each interval. Repeat until all is melted and smooth).

For the doughnuts, it’s easy as 1, 2, 3:

1. Fill a deep, heavy based saucepan with vegetable oil. Place on medium-high heat and allow to heat. In a bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking powder, water and oil. Mix with a fork and make sure there are no lumps.

2. Spoon the mixture into  a piping bag with a star tip. When the oil has reached 170 degrees, pipe 12cm lengths into the oil, using scissors to snip them from the bag. Be careful not to splash the hot oil.

3. Fry until golden brown and dust in cinnamon sugar.

Serve warm with the sauce. That’s it :)

[Print recipe]