Shortbread

time to start making some goodies for christmas gifts...

step one was to try this shortbread recipe. posted on Forum Thermomix by CarolineW, it originally came from lobstersquad (though i can't work out how to go back to her older posts to find it there). oh, silly me, caroline already had posted the link

300g flour
100g sugar
200g butter (cold)
pinch salt

Preparation: Put flour into TM bowl first, add everything else on top, including any extra flavourings you want to use, eg lemon rind, pecans, etc. Blitz for 20 seconds on speed 6. Turn out crumbs and either press into a cake tin (loose bottomed or lined so can get it out again) or wrap in cling film and leave to rest in fridge for 30 minutes, after which you can cautiously roll it out and cut simple shapes.

Bake for 20 mins at 170 degrees C, until pale gold colour. DO NOT TRY TO TAKE OUT OF TIN until it's cooled for at least 10 mins. I say this from bitter experience! After that you can carefully transfer it to a cooling rack.

brazen's notes: i added macadamias but next time i will add them at the end on reverse as they just became powder and didn't add a lot of taste or any texture.
I will also try ann's idea of replacing 50g of flour with rice flour (which you can make in the tmx of course) as i always preferred shortbreads with rice flour in them.
when you line your tin i suggest leaving overhanging ends to make it easier to get out of the tin, and leaving it in the tin til it's cold! otherwise it is very hard to get out!

it's been very popular in my house with everyone except ryan (who loves bought shortbread biccies but won't even touch it to taste lol). think it will look lovely in cellophane with ribbon tied on it.

Christmas Cookies

I wanted to bake some cookies today to try to get a photo for our christmas cards done. Ryan also had his friend I coming over, along with I's mum & sister. so I decided to combine the two and let the kids decorate some cookies. (i decorated the ones for the photo shoot though lol)

I used this recipe, which had pretty good feedback.

Ingredients:
* 250g butter, softened
* 65g icing sugar (or make your own as per the instructions in the tmx book)
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1 egg, at room temperature
* 440g plain flour
* 75g cornflour

Method:
1. mix butter, sugar and vanilla until pale and creamy. speed 4, 40-60 seconds. you might need to scrape down the bowl half way through.

2. Add egg and mix on speed 5 for 5 seconds.

3. Add flour and cornflour to butter mixture. Mix for approximately 60 seconds on the knead setting .

4. Divide in half. Press each half into a disc. Wrap each disc in baking paper. Refrigerate for 20 minutes.

5. Preheat oven to 160°C. Line 2 baking trays with baking paper. Roll each disc out between 2 sheets of baking paper to 3mm-thick.

6. Using biscuit cutters, cut dough. Place onto trays. Roll leftover dough together and repeat. Bake for 15 minutes or until light golden. Stand on trays for 5 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

7. decorate with icing (approximately 1 cup sifted icing sugar, 1 tspn butter or marg and a tiny bit of hot water, plus drops of food colouring until you get the colour you want) and desired decorations - we used sprinkles / 100's & 1000's, some little candy hearts and silver cachous

Buttermilk Bread

Made this for the first time tonight to go with dinner. was very impressed with it.

it's nice and fluffy inside but still crunchy on the outside. i found it cooked much quicker than the book said.

Definitely one to make again!


Full report here at my blog.

Basic Butter Cake, TMX style

based on recipe posted here

this makes a large cake (it's the original recipe doubled) so feel free to halve it :)

320g white sugar
mill into caster sugar by using speed 6 for approx 5-10 seconds
add the butterfly into the bowl

250g soft butter, cut into pieces 2 tspn vanilla essence
add and mix at speed 4 for 40-50 seconds until the mix is light in colour and a little fluffy looking

turn speed down to 2 and add
4 eggs - ONE at a time
after each egg turn speed up to 4 for 5 seconds

add 1 cup SR flour with lid off,
turn speed up to 4, mix 5 seconds

turn speed back to 2 and add
1/2 cup milk through lid, mix 3 seconds

add 1 cup SR flour with lid off,
turn speed up to 4, mix 5 seconds

turn speed back to 2 and add
1/2 cup milk through lid, mix 3 seconds

add final 1 cup SR flour with lid off,
turn speed up to 4 and mix 5 seconds
(total 3 cups self raising flour and 1 cup milk)

mix for a further 10 seconds until the mix seems light and fluffy.

pour into a greased, lined cake tin. cooking times will vary according to your oven and size of tin but start with 40 mins at around 160-180'c, test with a skewer and cook further as required.

this one is a piece of.... slice

modified from this recipe

Passionfruit Slice

Base:
125g butter, cut into chunks
170g self-raising flour
100g castor sugar
pinch salt
85g coconut

Melt butter for 1:30 mins 80'c speed 3
add other ingredients and mix 3-4 times for 2-4 seconds at a time speed 4, scraping down in between
Bake in moderate oven 10-15 minutes. Cool.


Topping:
1 400g tin condensed milk ( or skim sweetened condensed milk - tastes the same, but fewer calories!)
1 small lemon, skin, pith and seeds removed, cut into pieces
Pulp of 2 passionfruit

place condensed milk and lemon into TMX. chop lemon on speed 7 for 5 seconds
add passionfruit and mix Reverse speed 2 for 5 seconds
Cook a further 8 to 10 minutes

Whole Orange Cake

this cake was based on the recipe here at Full Bellies Happy Kids

WHOLE ORANGE CAKE

2 big oranges
2 eggs
200g cup grapeseed or other oil

270g plain flour
460g sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder

1 extra orange, halved
1 tablespoon or so of sugar extra
icing sugar - around 1/4 cup or less

heat oven to around 160-180'c *
wash your oranges well, rinse.

cut the ends off, cut into quarters. remove the white centre and any seeds, cut in half again so you have 8 pieces per orange. place in thermomix.

add eggs and oil.
blend on speed 8 for 25-30 seconds until it's mostly smooth, thick and creamy.

add flour, sugar and baking powder
mix on speed 4 for 10-15 seconds until mixed.

pour into a cake tin (greased, lined, whatever you want ;))

bake for about 30-40 minutes until a skewer comes out clean *

let cool for 15-20 minutes

meanwhile juice the extra orange and add the extra sugar to it.
either in a saucepan on the stovetop or in the micrwave heat it until the sugar is dissolved
Add some sugar to the juice and bring to a boil, stir to make sure it's well dissolved.

use the skewer to stab holes all over the top of the cake!
pour the syrup mix over the cake
sift the icing sugar over the top and serve.

* my cake ended up a bit too dark around the edges but took longer to cook in the middle, so i think i need a lower temperature for longer to cook it properly.

we quite liked this cake - it is a stronger and slightly more bitter taste than a 'normal' orange cake, because of the whole orange being used. it is sooooo simple in the TMX though and i like using the whole orange instead of wasting half of it!