Kate's Crazy Culinary Creations

My Grandma gave me a cookie maker that she has had since my Mum was little. It came with it's own instruction/cook book, and amazingly is it is in English which was a bonus. I wasn't sure how they would turnout but they came out really good. Now that I know what the consistency of the dough needs to be I will be able to make all sorts of biscuits. The machine comes with 26 attachments and endless options. I can't wait to see what else I can make with it. So for my first try I made Chocolate Shortbread. Preheat your oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Prepare a baking tray, line with a baking mat or baking paper.They were surprisingly easy to make. Beat the butter until fluffy and pale. In another bowl mix together the sugar, cocoa and vanilla essence. Add the egg to the sugar mixture. Add to the butter until it comes together. It was then that I put it in the machine and piped out the biscuits. If you aren't as lucky as me to have a cool cookie maker you can form the dough...

I made this one for a welcome home present a couple of weeks ago. It is a slight variation on the traditional banana bread that is perfect for breakfast, afternoon tea or just a snack. Preheat your oven to 160 degrees Celsius. Place the butter, sugar and vanilla extract in the stand mixer and beat for 8-10 minutes until pale and creamy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the eggs. Beat well until combined. Add the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon, peanut butter, banana and golden syrup. Stir to combine. Prepare a 26 cm x 11 cm loaf tin, lightly grease and line with baking paper. Spoon the mixture into the loaf tin. Bake for 60 - 65 minutes or until cooked through. Cool in the tin for 20 minutes. Remove from the tin and allow to cool completely on a wire rack. Sift over some icing sugar and serve with soft butter. The picture doesn't really do this one justice. It looks a little dark in the photo but trust me it wasn't this dark in real lif...

Another week and another birthday cake. This week it was for my sister. She doesn't eat chocolate so it tends to reduce the options but I found this recipe and it sounded amazing. I had seen a similar decorative design on a blog and wanted to give it a try and this cake had the blank canvas that I needed. I made it over two nights as I made it during the week but you could make it in 1 day if you timed it right. On the first night I made the cheesecake. First off preheat the oven to 150 degrees Celsius. Prepare a 20 centimeter springform pan by lining the base with baking paper and spraying the sides with non-stick spray. Now for the cheesecake mixture. In your strand mixer mix the cream cheese until smooth and creamy. Add the sugar and salt and blend for 2 minutes on a medium speed. Scrape down the sides of the bowl if required and add the eggs and mix until combined. Now add the sour cream, cream, jam, vanilla and flour. Mix again until smooth. Remove from the stand mixer a...

Today is my Dad's birthday and of course I had to make him a special cake. I saw this cake a few weeks ago on one of my favourite blogs, The Sugar Hit . I thought it would be perfect. It combines all the elements of the traditional ice cream and I must say it tasted pretty good. So firstly to make the cakes. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees celcius. Prepare 3 20 centimeter cake tins, line the bottom of the tins with baking paper. Place all the dry ingredients for the cake into a large mixing bowl. Stir with a whisk to combine and get rid of any lumps. In a measuring jug whisk together the buttermilk, oil, eggs and vanilla. Combine with the dry ingredients and stir to combine. Finally add the water and stir to combine and the mixture is smooth. Divide evenly into the 3 cake tins. Place in the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Allow to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before removing them from the tin and allowing them to cool completely on a...

As I have mentioned before I don't like to eat pork. I not opposed to cooking it and I thought that this was a different way of cooking pork belly that I would give a go. I like to cook pork belly because it is easily adaptable to suit the size of your dinner party. This recipe is different to any pork belly recipe that I have cooked before because as it doesn't have a crispy skin. It was well received and really pretty easy to make. Firstly in a bowl combine all the ingredients, except for the pork belly. Stir together. Place the pork belly in a baking dish skin side down. You need the pork belly to be a tight fit in the baking dish. Pour the marinade over the pork and place in the fridge covered for 1 hour. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius.  Cover the baking dish with aluminium foil and roast in the oven for 2 hours. After the 2 hours remove the foil and cook for a further 30 minutes. Remove the pork from the pan and allow to rest for 5 minutes. Slice...

I had a couple of oranges from my fruit and vegetable delivery this week so I though I would make some cupcakes to take to work tomorrow. I went to my trusty PMWU Cookbook to find this recipe. It is great cookbook and hasn't stirred me wrong yet. The recipe was for a single cake but I just made the mixture into 18 cupcakes. Preheat your oven to 220 degrees Celsius. Line the cupcake pans or grease a 20 centimeter cake tin. Melt the butter in the microwave. Allow to cool while you prepare the other ingredients. In a large bowl or your stand mixer place all the other ingredients. Add the cooled butter and mix well for 3 minutes. Pour batter into your prepared tin. Place in the oven and reduce the temperature to 175 degrees Celsius. If making cupcakes cook for 10 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 160 degrees Celsius and cook for another 8-10 minutes. If making 1 cake cook for 30 minutes at 175 degrees Celsius. Then reduce the temperature to 160 degree Celsius and cook for...

I have tried to make these once before and they were a disaster. So I was little hesitate to try again but I really wanted to get them right this time. They are a little bit fiddly but relatively straight forward. Place the butter and sugar into the bowl of your stand mixer. Beat for 8-10 minutes until pale and creamy. Add the vanilla, egg yolk and lemon rind. Beat until combined. Add the flour and beat until a smooth dough forms. Cover the dough and refrigerate for 30 minutes or until firm. Preheat your oven to 160 degrees Celsius. Roll a tablespoon of the mixture into a ball. Press your finger in and create an indent in the biscuit. The indent needs to be big enough to fill with 1/2 a teaspoon of strawberry jam. Be careful not to overfill. This is one of the mistakes I made last time. Place on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden. Allow to cool on tray for 5 minutes before moving to a wire rack to cool completely. Well this time...