The recipe calls these marshmallow puffs, but, according to Reiver, these are basically rocky road. Whatever you call them, they make a surprisingly tasty low-effort dessert.

Marshmallow Puffs

Slightly adapted from Taste of Home

Ingredients

• 27-36 marshmallows
• 1 1/2 c. chocolate chips
• 1/2 c. peanut butter
• 2 Tbsp. butter

Directions

1. Line a 23cm (9") square tin with baking paper and grease the paper.
2. Arrange the marshmallows in the prepared tin.
3. Combine the chocolate chips, peanut butter, and butter in a microwave-safe bowl and heat gently, stirring periodically, until melted and smooth. Alternatively, melt over low heat, stirring, until smooth.
4. Pour the chocolate mixture over the marshmallows and allow to cool until set.
5. Remove from tin, cut into squares, and serve.

I've been wanting to make these brownies for a couple of weeks. I finally managed to get it together enough to get the ingredients for them about a week ago, but it took me another week to find the spoons to actually make them.

Having tried it, I'm not sure the raspberry jam really adds anything, but I'm glad I tried it! The brownie itself is excellent. And the jam doesn't ruin it. I'm just not sure it makes it better either.

Photo goes here.

Chocolate-Raspberry Brownies

Slightly adapted from Dessert of the Day by Kim Laidlaw

Ingredients

• 120g butter
• 120g unsweetened chocolate¹
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 3 large eggs
• 300g sugar
• 100g flour
• 1/2 c. raspberry jam

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 160°C (325°F) and grease a 20cm (8") square tin.
2. Melt the butter and chocolate over low heat.
3. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and sugar.
4. Mix in the eggs.
5. Stir in the flour.
6. Pour the batter into the prepared tin and dollop with jam.
7. Drag a knife through the batter to create a marbled effect.
8. Bake at 160°C (325°F) until a toothpick comes out with moist crumbs stuck to it (~45 minutes).

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¹ I couldn't find any unsweetened chocolate, so I just got very dark chocolate and used that. I ended up using some good-quality 72% dark chocolate. ^Back

Okay, well, technically this one wasn't a true key lime pie since I didn't make it with key limes. I just used the limes off of the tree out front. I'm not entirely sure what variety they are. But the finished pie came out tasting somewhere in between "key lime" and "Persian lime" and I quite liked it!

I found the amount of filling somewhat skimpy on this recipe. That said, it actually works quite well if you're having it without the whipped cream. The filling is quite sharp and sweet, so I think a "properly" filled pie would actually be overwhelming without the whipped cream to cut it. I've doubled the filling recipe below. But if you want to have your pie without the cream, I'd recommend just doing half the amount of filling.

Sadly, I forgot to take a photo. I guess I'll just have to make it again!

Key Lime Pie

Slightly adapted from Pioneer Woman

Ingredients

Crust

• 1 1/2 c. graham cracker crumbs
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 6 Tbsp. salted butter, melted

Filling

• 1 c. lime juice
• 2 Tbsp. grated lime zest
• 2 cans (~400mL each) sweetened condensed milk
• 4 large egg yolks

Topping

• 300mL heavy (35%) cream
• 2 Tbsp. icing (powdered/confectioners') sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).
2. Combine the graham cracker crumbs and the sugar.
3. Pour in the butter and mix until evenly dampened.
4. Press mixture into a 23cm (9") pie plate.
5. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 10 minutes.
6. Remove from oven and set aside to cool slightly.
7. Meanwhile, combine lime juice, zest, condensed milk, and egg yolks. Mix well.
8. Pour filling mixture into crust and smooth top.
9. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 10 minutes.
10. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely. Cover and chill overnight if desired.
11. Once completely cool, whip the cream with the icing sugar until stiff.
12. Top pie with whipped cream, slice, and serve.

I've made a few different feijoa cakes before, but this one is by far the simplest. No other fruits, no icing or garnish, and just a bit of vanilla to flavour it. I really like how it came out though: moist, sweet, tasty, and uncomplicated. And I appreciate that you don't need any special ingredients on hand beyond the feijoas themselves.

Reiver did suggest that a bit of chopped apple might make a nice addition and I think he's right. But it also doesn't need anything else so feel free to enjoy this cake in all of its glorious simplicity.

Feijoa Cake

Slightly adapted from the Versatile Feijoa

Ingredients

• 125g butter
• 200g sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 4-6 feijoas, scooped and mashed
• 1 Granny Smith apple, peeled and chopped (optional)
• 1/2 tsp. lemon zest (optional)
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 c. soft (plain/standard/cake) flour
• 1/2 Tbsp. baking powder
• 1/4-1/2 c. milk
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease and flour a 23cm (9") square pan.
2. Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
3. Beat in eggs, one at a time.
4. Mix in feijoas, apple (if using), and vanilla.
5. Sift in flour and baking powder and mix until combined.
6. Dissolve baking soda in 1/4 c. milk.
7. Mix the milk into the batter.
8. If the batter seems to stiff, mix in the additional 1/4 c. of milk.
9. Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth the top.
10. Bake at 180°C (350°F) until cake tests done (40-45 minutes).

Fall Fruit Crumble with Feijoas and Almonds

This was originally supposed to be a pear and feijoa almond crumble, but I decided to do it with a mix of apples and pears and up the feijoa content. I also reduced the almonds slightly and added in some rolled oats to give it more of the classic crumble texture.

Fall Fruit Crumble

Adapted from NZ Women's Weekly

Ingredients

Fruit Mixture

• 2 pears, peeled and chopped
• 3 apples, peeled and chopped
• 6 feijoas, scooped and sliced
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 6 Tbsp. water, divided
• 1 Tbsp. cornstarch (cornflour)

Topping

• 1/2 c. ground almonds
• 1/4 c. flour
• 1/4 c. sugar
• 1/4 c. brown sugar
• 80g butter
• 1/2 c. rolled oats
• 1/4 sliced (flaked) almonds

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).
2. Combine pears, apples, feijoas, sugar, and 1/4 c. of the water and bring to a boil.
3. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until fruit is tender.
4. Combine the cornstarch with the remaining 2 Tbsp. of water to make a slurry.
5. Stir the slurry into the fruit mixture and cook until glossy and slightly thickened (1-2 minutes).
6. Dump the fruit mixture into a 23cm (9") square baking dish.
7. Combine the ground almonds, flour, sugars, and butter and thoroughly combine.
8. Mix in the oats and almonds.
9. Crumble the topping over the fruit.
10. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 20-25 minutes.
11. Serve with cream or ice cream.

This is the long-awaited ginger version of the English cream scones that I made a couple years back.

In the original version, I swapped out the heavy cream for half-and-half. This time, I stepped it all they way down to whole milk. They were still plenty rich! So I don't think the "cream" part of these cream scones is really necessary. Honestly, they'd probably be fine with slightly less butter too. I made a double batch and used ~240g of butter this time around, but I'd be tempted to try it with slightly less -- maybe 200g -- next time.
I also swapped out the egg wash and sugar topping with a light lemon glaze. Mostly because I didn't want to burn a whole egg just to brush a handfull of scones, but also because I thought the lemon would go nicely with the ginger. I'm very happy with how it worked out!

Photo goes here.

Ginger Scones

Slightly adapted from The Breakfast Bible by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

Scones

• 4 c. (~500g) soft (plain/standard/cake) flour
• 6 Tbsp. sugar
• 5 tsp. baking powder
• 200g salted butter, cold
• 1 c. crystallized ginger, chopped
• 2 c. milk

Glaze

• 1/2 c. icing (powdered/confectioners') sugar
• 1/2-1 tsp. lemon zest
• 3-4 tsp. milk

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F).
2. Combine the flour and sugar and sift in the baking powder. Mix well.
3. Cut in the butter.
4. Mix in the ginger.
5. Pour in the milk and stir until just combined.
6. Turn out onto a well-floured surface and fold/knead very briefly (3-4 strokes), until dough holds together.
7. Pat into a flat sheet about 3cm thick.
8. Use a floured glass or biscuit cutter to cut out scones of desired size (5-8cm works well).
9. Place on a baking sheet and bake at 200°C (400°F) for 15-20 minutes.
10. Meanwhile, gather up the scraps, briefly knead/fold together, and cut out more scones.
11. Combine the sugar and lemon zest for the glaze.
12. Stir in milk until desired consistency is achieved.
13. Once scones are cooked through and nicely brown on top, remove from oven and brush liberally with glaze.

We had to clear some things out of the freezer when we swapped the fridge over and that left me with a batch of sourdough pastry that needed using. In theory this pie is meant to have a spiced almond-spelt pastry, but I figured the sourdough pastry would work just fine. And I took the spices that were meant to go into the pastry and added them to the filling instead.

The result was okay, but not great. That said, it was the filling, not the pastry that was the issue. The recipe called for "apple purée". I had a can of unsweetened applesauce on hand, so I used that and then added a sliced apple to make up the missing volume. I don't like how mushy the filling came out though. I think next time I'd just use sliced apples rather than sauce or purée. The recipe also didn't make enough filling, so I ended up having to chop up a couple of extra feijoas to add to the mix. I also feel like it could've done with more spices and a little extra sweetener as well. So, all-in-all, probably not one that I'd bother making again. At least not in this form. But I'm glad that I tried it.

Apple-Feijoa Pie

Adapted from NZ Women's Weekly

Ingredients

Pastry

• sourdough pastry
OR
• 125g butter
• 1 1/2 c. ground almonds
• 1 1/2 c. spelt flour
• 2/3 c. sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 Tbsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 2 large eggs

Filling

• 2 c. chopped feijoa flesh
• 2 c. sliced apples
• 1/3 c. honey
• 1/4 c. brown sugar (optional)
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract (if using sourdough crust)
• 1/2 Tbsp. ground cinnamon (if using sourdough crust)

Topping

• 1 egg, beaten
• 2 Tbsp. sesame seeds or sugar

Directions

1. For spelt pastry, add butter, almonds, flour, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and baking soda to a food processor and pulse until mixture looks sandy. Then, with processor running, add eggs, one at a time, and process until mixture comes together. For sourdough pastry, follow instructions for that recipe.
2. For either pastry, chill for ~30 minutes before continuing.
3. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).
4. Roll out 1/2 to 2/3 of the pastry and use it to line a 23cm (9") pie plate.
5. Combine the feijoas, apples, honey, brown sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon (if using) and dump into the pie shell.
6. Roll out the remaining pastry and use it to make either a plain or a lattice top for your pie, then crimp the edges.
7. Brush with egg and sprinkle with your choice of sesame seeds or sugar.
8. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 35-40 minutes.
9. Serve with cream or ice cream.

I made this a few weeks back, but I didn't get around to writing it up at the time. It's ideally made with nectarine halves grilled on the barbecue, but you can also roast them in the oven for a few minutes to achieve a similar effect. Very simple, but quite tasty!

Photo goes here.

Grilled Nectarines with Brie

Slightly adapted from Dessert of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 4 nectarines, halved and pitted
• olive oil
• 150g brie or camembert

Directions

1. Prepare grill for direct heat cooking and brush the grates with oil or preheat oven to 230°C (450°F).
2. Brush the nectarines with olive oil.
3. Grill nectarines for ~5 minutes, turning once or twice, or place in a baking dish and roast for 5-8 minutes, turning once or twice.
4. Arrange cheese and nectarines in a serving dish or plate and serve.

I haven't gotten much baking done this year, but I really wanted to try a few more feijoa recipes and I finally found a little time and energy to do so today. I haven't had a chance to try it yet, but it smells delicious!

Photo goes here.

Feijoa Slice with Coconut Crumble Topping

Slightly adapted from NZ Women's Weekly

Ingredients

• 220g salted butter, softened
• 200g sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 c. soft (plain/standard/cake) flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 c. dessicated (fine shredded) coconut¹
• 1/2 c. thread (coarse shredded) coconut
• 10 large feijoas², peeled and sliced
• 1/4 c. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Grease and line a 18x20cm baking tray and preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).
2. Cream butter with first measure of sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Beat in vanilla.
4. Sift in flour and baking powder and stir in with spatula.
5. Stir in dessicated (fine) coconut.
6. Separate out ~1/3 of the mixture into a separate bowl and set aside. (This was ~245g for me.)
7. Press the larger measure of dough into the prepared baking tray.
8. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 10-12 minutes (until just starting to brown).
9. Meanwhile, mix the thread (coarse) coconut into the remaining dough and chill for 10 minutes.
10. Toss the feijoas with the remaining sugar and cinnamon.
11. Once the crust is par-baked, dump the macerated feijoas on top of it and spread into an even layer.
12. Crumble the coconut mixture on top.
13. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 25 minutes.

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¹ I didn't have any of the fine dessicated coconut, so I just used "tread" coconut for both coconut portions. It didn't mix into the crust as well, but I think it'll still be fine. ^Back
2 My feijoas were very large indeed and I still found that I needed all 10 to make enough filling for my slice. If you have average-sized feijoas, I'd recommend using up to 20 for your filling. ^Back

It's feijoa season again! So I'm taking the opportunity to try to tick off a few more recipes.

This sponge was very unusual. It starts with making an Italian meringue! You then beat the egg yolks into your marshmallow-y meringue, followed by the dry ingredients. It also contains a somewhat alarming amount of ginger. And uses mostly corn starch (cornflour), rather than regular white (wheat) flour, as the main component of the dry ingredients.

I've made a lot of cakes that incorporate beaten egg whites. And a few that incorporate a French (uncooked) meringue. And I've seen icing and pie recipes that call for cooked meringues (like Swiss or Italian). But I've never seen a cake that uses a cooked meringue before. It was unusual, but did seem to work quite well. The Italian meringe was very stable and took the egg yolks nicely without a noticeable loss of volume. And the resulting sponge was very very light. Reiver noted that it had a very slight graininess to it, but I'm not sure whether that was down to the meringue, the cornflour, the ginger, or something else entirely.

The original recipe calls for splitting the sponge and filling it with whipped cream and feijoas. And, while there's nothing wrong with this approach, it does mean that you need to eat the whole cake fairly promptly. So, as an alternative, Reiver suggested that we just cut and top individual wedges of sponge to make it easier to enjoy over the course of a few days.

Photo goes here.

Ginger Sponge with Feijoas and Cream

Slightly adapted from NZ Women's Weekly

Ingredients

• 4 eggs, separated
• 6 Tbsp. sugar
• 2 Tbsp. water
• 7 Tbsp. cornstarch (cornflour)
• 1 Tbsp. soft (plain/standard/cake) flour
• 5-6 tsp. ground ginger, divided
• 1/2 Tbsp. baking powder
• 300mL heavy (35%) cream
• 1-2 Tbsp. icing (powdered/confectioners') sugar
• 2 c. feijoa flesh, chopped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and line the bottom of a 23cm (9") springform pan with baking paper. Do not grease the sides of the pan!
2. Beat the egg whites to soft peaks.
3. Beat in the egg yolks.
4. Sift in the cornstarch, flour, 4-5 tsp. of the ginger, and the baking powder and gently fold to combine.
5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top.
6. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 25 minutes.
7. Remove from oven and drop onto counter or floor once or twice (to help prevent it from sinking in the middle, apparently).
8. Allow to cool in tin for 10 minutes.
9. Run a knife or spatula around the sides of the tin, then remove the sides.
10. Turn cake onto a cooling rack and carefully remove the bottom of the pan and peel off the baking paper. Allow to cool completely.
11. Add the icing sugar and the remaining ginger to the cream and beat until stiff.
12. Either split the cake and fill it with the cream and chopped feijoas, dusting the top with icing sugar as desired, or top individual slices with cream and fruit.

Cream Cheese Icing (Breakfast Bible)

I've made a few different cream cheese icings before. But, since I've been working through The Breakfast Bible, I figured I'd try out their cream cheese icing recipe. I mean, I'm still somewhat dubious about any dish with icing that claims to be breakfast. But it was tasty nontheless. Especially on the cinnamon bus (also from The Breakfast Bible) that I made to put it on.

Cream Cheese Icing

Slightly adapted from The Breakfast Bible by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 180g icing (powdered/confectioners') sugar
• 60g cream cheese, room temperature
• 2 Tbsp. butter, softened
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• grated zest of 1 orange
• ~1/4 c. whole milk

Directions

1. Sift the icing sugar into a bowl.
2. Add the cream cheese, butter, vanilla, and orange zest.
3. Beat until crumbly.
4. Continue beating and gradually add milk until a thick, but pourable icing forms.

Cocolate-Raspberry Torte

This is basically a flourless chocolate cake. It's incredibly rich and dense with no leavener whatsoever and only the tiniest bit of flour. It then gets filled with a mixture of jam and mashed raspberries and "iced" with ganache. And garnished with whole raspberries and toasted almonds. It is delicious!

Chocolate-Raspberry Torte

Slightly adapted from The Perfect Cake by America's Test Kitchen

Ingredients

Cake

• 240g dark chocolate
• 12 Tbsp. butter
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp. instant coffee
• 1 c. almond flour
• 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 5 large eggs
• 3/4 c. sugar

Filling

• 1/2 c. raspberries
• 1/4 c. raspberry jam

Decoration

• 150g dark chocolate
• 1/2 c. + 1 Tbsp. heavy (35%) cream
• 1/2 c. sliced almonds, toasted
• ~24 whole raspberries

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 160°C (325°F).
2. Grease two 20cm (8") round cake pans, line bottoms with parchment paper, grease the paper, and then flour the pans.
3. Melt the chocolate and the butter over very low heat.
4. Remove from heat and add the vanilla and coffee.
5. In a separate bowl, combine the almond flour, all-purpose flour, and salt and mix well.
6. Beat the eggs until lighter in colour and increased in volume (~3 minutes).
7. Gradually beat in sugar.
8. Add the egg mixture to the chocolate mixture and whisk until not quite fully combined.
9. Sprinkle in half of the almond mixture and stir to combine.
10. Add the remaining almond mixture and finish mixing.
11. Divide the batter between the prepared pans.
12. Bake at 160°C (325°F) until done and toothpick inserted in centre comes out almost clean (16-20 minutes).
13. Allow cakes layers to cool in tins for 30 minutes.
14. Turn out onto wire racks, then flip one layer onto a serving platter right-way-up.
15. Mash the raspberries and mix with the jam.
16. Spread the raspberry mixture over the top of the right-way-up cake layer.
17. Place the second layer on top upside-down.
18. Combine the chocolate and the cream and heat over low heat until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth and homogenous.
19. Pour ganache over cake and spread evenly across the top and down the sides.
20. Crush the sliced almonds and press into the sides of the cake.
21. Decorate the top of the cake with the whole raspberries, placing them evenly-spaced around the perimeter.
22. Chill for at least 1 hour before serving.

Cinnamon Rolls (Breakfast Bible)

This is far from the first cinnamon roll recipe that I've made. But... I hadn't made this recipe yet. And I had the (digital) cookbook with me in NZ. And I needed something for breakfast. I mean, this isn't the healthiest option and should probably be more of a dessert, especially if you include the icing. So, definitely not something to indulge in often, but a nice treat once-in-a-while.

Cinnamon Rolls

Slightly adapted from The Breakfast Bible by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

Dough

• 1 c. milk
• 100g sugar
• 75g butter, melted
• 3 large eggs
• 2 1/4 tsp. instant yeast
• 620g all-purpose flour, divided
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt

Filling

• 100g brown sugar
• 90g butter, softened
• 2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Topping

• cream cheese icing

Directions

1. Combine the milk, sugar, butter, eggs, and yeast.
2. Add ~550g of the flour and mix well.
3. Gradually add salt and more flour until a very soft dough forms.
4. Knead the dough, gradually adding in more flour as necessary, until smooth and supple (~10 minutes).
5. Shape the dough into a ball and place in a covered bowl to rise (1 1/2-2 hours).
6. Meanwhile, beat the brown sugar, butter, and cinnamon until combined.
7. Knock back the dough and roll it out into a large (35x40cm) rectangle.
8. Spread the filling evenly over the surface of the dough, leaving a 2-3cm border along the longer sides.
9. Starting with a long side, roll up the dough, jelly-roll-style.
10. Pinch the edges to seal the seam.
11. Cut the rolled dough crosswise into 8 or 9 equal slices.
12. Grease a 23x33cm (9x13") pan.
13. Arrange the rolls in the prepared pan, cover, and let rise (60-90 minutes at room temperature; up to 12 hours in the fridge).
14. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).
15. Uncover and bake at 180°C (350°F) until golden brown (~30 minutes).
16. Let cool in pan for ~15 minutes.
17. Meanwhile, make the icing.
18. Spread the icing over the rolls.
19. Allow to rest for another 15 minutes before serving.

I messed up getting this cake out of the tin. So the photo is a mess. It would've been nice to have an intact cake -- especially since I spent so long trying to arrange the pear slices prettily. But despite its dramatic self-destruction upon unmoulding, it still tastes delicious! So, definitely a keeper. Just be very careful getting it out of the tin.

[Update from 2026: it came out of the tin much more nicely this time!]

Pear Upside Down Cake

Slightly adapted from Dessert of the Day by Kim Laidlaw

Ingredients

Topping

• 5 Tbsp. butter, softened
• 1/3 c. brown sugar
• 2 Tbsp. maple syrup
• 2-3 pears, sliced
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. cardamom seeds, ground

Cake

• 6 Tbsp. butter, softened
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 225g all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 3/4 c. milk
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 6 Tbsp. unsweetened applesauce

Directions

1. Peheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease a 20-23cm (8-9") round tin.
2. Beat the 5 Tbsp. of butter with the brown sugar and maple syrup.
3. Spread the butter mixture evenly over the bottom of the prepared pan.
4. Toss the pear slices with the sugar, cinnamon, and cardamom.
5. Arrange the pear slices in the bottom of the pan.
6. Beat the 6 Tbsp. of butter with the sugar until light and fluffy (2-3 minutes).
7. Beat in eggs, one at a time.
8. In a separate bowl, combine flour and salt and sift in baking powder. Mix well.
9. Combine milk, vanilla, and applesauce in a measuring cup.
10. Add the dry ingredients in three additions alternating with the milk mixture in two additions.
11. Give a final stir to ensure that everything is well-mixed.
12. Pour batter over pears.
13. Bake at 180°C (350°F) until cake is done (60-70 minutes).
14. Run a knife or spatula around the edge of the pan and then invert onto plate and carefully lift off the pan.
15. Allow to cool for at least 30 minutes before serving.

I still had a few passionfruit left over from the discount bulk bag I picked up last week and these passionfruit-banana soufflés looked great, so I obviously had to give them a try!

They were wonderfully easy to put together. And they rose beautifully! (Three of them also deflated dramatically pretty much instantaneously, but they still tasted good. Even if they were no longer as light and fluffy and wonderful as the ones that stayed more inflated.)

Passionfruit-Banana Soufflés

Slightly adapted from Delicious.com.au

Ingredients

• 3 large eggs, separated
• 1/2 c. sugar, divided
• 5 passionfruit (~100mL of pulp)
• 1 banana, mashed
• 1/4 tsp. cream of tartar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 190°C (375°F).
2. Grease six ramekins and dust them with sugar.
3. Beat the egg yolks with 1/4 c. of the sugar until light and creamy.
4. Stir in the passionfruit pulp and mashed banana.
5. Combine the egg whites and cream of tartar and beat until foamy.
6. Continue beating while gradually adding the remaining 1/4 c. of sugar.
7. Beat until stiff peaks form.
8. Stir ~1/3 of the meringue into the base to loosen it.
9. Fold in the remaining meringue.
10. Gently pour or scoop the mixture into the prepared ramekins.
11. Run your thumb around the edges of the ramekins to form a small "moat".
12. Bake at 190°C (375°F) for 14-15 minutes.
13. Dust with icing sugar (if desired) and serve immediately.

I picked up a huge bag of discount passionfruit the other day! Seriously, there were probably a good dozen-and-a-half beautiful looking fruit in one of the discount produce bags for $2. Very exciting!

Of course, now I needed to figure out what to do with that many passionfruit. I found a lot of promising looking recipes. But, in the end, it came down to a choice between this posset and a banana-passionfruit soufflé. TF voted for the posset though, so that's what we went with.

I love how easy this posset is. Although, I did make it slighlty more difficult for myself by straining all the seeds out of the passionfruit when I didn't actually need to. I'd been reading so many passionfruit recipes that I just got my wires a little crossed. Whoops! Oh well... I just reserved the seeds, stirred a few back in, and saved the rest to use as a garnish. Next time, though, I'll just scoop the pulp directly into the pot and save myself a lot of time and effort.

Passionfruit Posset

Slightly adapted from Delicious.com.au

Ingredients

• 1 packet (~1 1/2 Tbsp.) unflavoured gelatin powder¹
• 1/4 c. cold water
• 2 c. heavy (35%) cream
• 160g sugar
• 1/4 c. boiling water (optional)
• zest and juice of 1 lemon
• 1/2-2/3 c. passionfruit pulp (from ~8 fruit)

Directions

1. Add the gelatin powder to the cold water and set aside to soften for ~5 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, combine the cream and sugar and heat until just barely simmering. Do not boil!
3. Add the boiling water (if using) to the gelatin and stir to dissolve, then pour it into the cream mixture. Otherwise, just add the softened gelatin to the hot cream and stir to dissolve.
4. Remove from heat and stir in the lemon zest, lemon juice, and passionfruit pulp.
5. Pour into custard cups, cover, and chill until set (at least 2 hours).
6. Garnish with additional passionfruit pulp and serve.

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¹ The original recipe called for 1/2 a sheet of "titanium-strength" gelatin. The gelatin was to be soaked for five minutes and then have excess water squeezed out. I had powder, not leaves/sheets. So I just followed the package directions on the packet. It said to soak the gelatin in 1/4 c. of cold water, then dissolve it in 1/4 c. of boiling water, then stir it into whatever liquid you were trying to set. This worked fine. That said, I think I'd skip the boiling water next time and try just dissolving it in the simmering cream directly. I'd think either way should work though, so follow your heart. ^Back

I've been meaning to make this for over a week now. But I just kept not quite getting to it. I bought all the apples for it, but then either didn't have the wherewithal to make dessert or ended up making something else instead. But! I finally did it! And it was both easy and delicious!

It also made a great way to use up some of our "sweet" bits of stale breadstuffs. (We've used up all of our savoury/neutral bread heels and odds and ends, but we still have a lot of fruity or otherwise slightly sweet stale breads in the freezer.) In this particular instance, I decided that stale chocolate-orange scones would be a good fit. And they were! The chocolate and citrus complemented the other flavours quite nicely. And although the texture of the chopped up scones was different than breadcrumbs, it certainly wasn't a difference that I minded.

I think the only change I'd make next time is cutting back the sugar slightly. This was excellent, but at bit over-sweet for my tastes. (And I doubt that making it with savoury breadcrubs would've made that much of a difference.) The original recipe called for half a cup each of white and brown sugar. But I think I'd be tempted to leave out the granulated sugar next time and just make it with brown sugar. Thath seems like it should be plenty sweet enough!

Apple Brown Betty

Slightly adapted from Dessert of the Day by Kim Laidlaw

Ingredients

• 200g fresh breadcrumbs, toasted
• 1/2 c. brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 6 Granny Smith (or similar tart apples), peeled and sliced
• 6 Tbsp. butter, chopped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease a casserole dish.
2. Combine the breadcrumbs, sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg and mix well.
3. Add the apples and toss to combine.
4. Add ~1/3 of the apple mixture to the prepared dish and dot with 1/3 of the butter.
5. Repeat layers twice more, ending with butter.
6. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 1 hour.

Chocolate Soufflé

This can be made as either one large soufflé or several small ones. I opted for the small ones today. Mostly because they don't take nearly as long to bake.

I really liked this soufflés. They were deeply chocolate-y and very light (as you would expect). I will say that I found them ever so slightly on the sweet side. I think I'd be tempted to either reduce the sugar or use unsweetened chocolate next time. I've written them up to use a bit less sugar than originally called for, but feel free to use unsweetened chocolate either instead or as well.

Chocolate Soufflé(s)

Slightly adapted from Dessert of the Day by Kim Laidlaw

Ingredients

• 6 large eggs, separated
• 1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
• 1/8 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/2 c. sugar, divided¹
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract or 1 Tbsp. Cointreau
• 250g dark chocolate, melted
• whipped cream, to serve

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F) for several small soufflés or 190°C (375°F) for one large one.
2. Grease your soufflé dish or ramekins and dust with sugar.
3. Combine the egg whites with the cream of tartar and salt and beat until soft peaks form.
4. Gradually beat in 1/4 c. of the sugar. Set aside.
5. Beat the egg yolks until pale.
6. Add the remaining 1/4 c. of sugar and beat vigorously until very pale and thick and mixture makes "ribbons" when beater is lifted out.
7. Beat in the vanilla or Cointreau.
8. Fold in the melted chocolate.
9. Add ~1/3 of the meringue and stir to combine and loosen the mixture.
10. Add the remaining meringue and gently fold it into the mixture until no longer streaky.
11. Spoon the mixture into the prepared baking dish(es).
12. Run a finger around the top edge to make a small "moat".
13. Bake at 200°C (400°F) for 10-12 minutes for small soufflés or 190°C (375°F) for ~30 minutes for a large soufflé. Soufflé should be well-risen and slightly crisp on the outside, but still very soft and slightly wobbly in the middle.
14. Cut a circle of the "crust" off the top and spoon a generous portion of whipped cream over it.
15. Serve immediately!

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¹ The original recipe called for 3/4 c. of sugar total: 1/4 c. in the meringue and 1/2 c. in the base. I found this a bit too sweet for my tastes, so I've scaled back the sugar somewhat here. You could also try swapping out the dark chocolate for unsweetened, either instead of or as well as reducing the sugar. Try it and see which you like better! ^Back

I've made cakes that rely on dates for sugar and/or flavour before, but this is the first time I've used prunes for that purpose. It works really well though! Especially with all the spices.

My mom shared this recipe with me. And we both agreed that it didn't need anywhere near the full amount of sugar or oil called for. She also omitted the glaze. It seemed unnecessary given how sweet and rich the cake already was.

The original recipe called for 1 1/2 c. of sugar and 1 c. of oil. My mom cut the sugar back to 1 1/4 c. the first time she made it. And cut the oil all the way back to 1/4 c. (adding 1 c. of applesauce to make up for the missing oil).

I scaled back the sugar even further, to 1 c. I still found the cake plenty sweet enough. You could probably knock the sugar back even further if you were so inclined. And I would be tempted to swap out some or all of the granulated sugar with brown sugar next time. I think that the slight molasses flavour of the brown sugar would go really well with the fruit and spices.

Prune Cake

Slightly adapted from Allrecipes

Ingredients

• 1 c. pitted prunes, chopped
• 1/2 c. water
• 2 c. all-purpose flour
• 1 c. sugar
• 1 Tbsp. allspice berries, ground
• 1 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 c. oil
• 3/4 c. unsweetened applesauce
• 1 c. buttermilk
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 c. pecans, chopped

Directions

1. Bring the prunes and water to a boil over medium-high heat.
2. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
3. Combine the flour, sugar, allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt.
4. Sift in the baking soda and stir to combine.
5. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease and flour a Bundt pan.
6. Combine the oil, applesauce, buttermilk, and eggs and mix well.
7. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry until just combined.
8. Mix in the prunes along with any residual liquid.
9. Stir in the pecans.
10. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
11. Bake at 180°C (350°F) until done (~45 minutes).
12. Allow to cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto wire rack to finish cooling.

This purports to be a breakfast. But I would definitely class it as more of a dessert. It's very tasty. But it's basically all starch (with some sugar and fat thrown in for good measure). So I definitely wouldn't normally want to serve it for breakfast. Especially not as the sole offering. It's simultaneously too rich and yet not filling enough. But it does make for a lovely treat along with or after a meal.

Photo goes here.

Orange Marmalade Bread Pudding

Slightly adapted from The Breakfast Bible by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 3 Tbsp. butter
• 1 loaf (~450g) bread (preferably brioche or challah), ends trimmed and sliced
• 5 large eggs
• 1 large egg yolk¹
• 2 c. milk
• 3/4 c. heavy (35%) cream
• 70g sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/2 c. orange marmalade
• whipped cream, to serve (optional)

Directions

1. Grease a 23x33cm (9x13") baking dish.
2. Spread the butter over the bread slices, then cut the slices in half and layer them (overlapping slightly) into the prepared baking dish.
3. Beat the eggs with the yolk, milk, cream, sugar, vanilla, salt, cinnamon, and nutmgeg.
4. Pour the egg mixture over the bread slices.
5. Let stand for ~30 minutes, pressing the bread down into the custard periodically.
6. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 160°C (325°F).
7. Bake at 160°C (325°F) for 30-35 minutes.
8. Meanwhile, gently warm the marmalade over low heat, stirring often.
9. Remove the pudding from the oven and brush it with the warm marmalade.
10. Return to oven and bake for another 10-15 minutes.
11. Remove from oven and let stand for 10-15 minutes before serving.
12. Serve with fresh fruit and/or whipped cream.

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¹ The original recipe called for making a richer custard using 3 large eggs and 5 yolks. I didn't want to have to deal with that many surplus egg whites on this occasion though, so I adjusted it to use more whole eggs and just the one extra yolk. ^Back