This is meant to be made with fresh pears, but we had tinned pears to use up, so I just tossed them in. I've written up the instructions for fresh pears. If you're using tinned, then just omit the water and only add the pears for the last minute or two of cooking.

Whole Wheat Walnut Waffles with Maple-Pear Sauce

Slightly adapted from The Breakfast Bible by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

Waffles

• 190g whole wheat flour
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 1/2 c. milk
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 40g butter, melted
• 50g unsweetened applesauce
• 2-4 Tbsp. finely chopped walnuts

Sauce

• juice of 1/2 a lemon
• 2-4 pears, peeled and sliced
• 2 Tbsp. butter
• 1/2 c. maple syrup
• 2 Tbsp. water
• zest of 1/4 a lemon

Directions

1. Combine the flour and sugar and sift in the baking powder.
2. Beat the eggs into the milk.
3. Mix in the vanilla, butter, and applesauce.
4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir to combine.
5. Mix in the walnuts.
6. Preheat your waffle iron.
7. Pour in a portion of batter and cook according to manufacturer directions.
8. Repeat with remaining batter.
9. While waffles are cooking, toss the pears with the lemon juice.
10. Melt the butter over medium heat.
11. Add the pears and cook for a minute or two.
12. Reduce heat to medium-low, add the maple syrup, water, and lemon zest and simmer until pears are tender (5-7 minutes).
13. Transfer pears to a bowl, increase heat to medium-high and cook until sauce is syrupy (5-10 minutes).
14. Serve waffles topped with pears, sauce, and extra walnuts (if desired).

I love sticky toffee pudding, but I've never actually made it myself. This is the first recipe that I've tried, but I really like it. And so did Reiver and my mom. I think I'd like to try adjusting the proportions sometime, just because it would be nice to have even more dates in it. That said, I've written the recipe up without modifications this time because it was so good as is. I'll put my suggested modifications below.

I ran out of brown sugar when making the sauce so I ended up using some white sugar mixed with molasses. I ended up putting in way more molasses than needed to make a brown sugar equivalent, so the sauce was much darker than intended, but Reiver really liked it and says he'd do it that way on purpose in the future.

Sticky Toffee Pudding

Slightly adapted from Dessert of the Day by Kim Laidlaw

Ingredients

Pudding/Cake

• 1/2 c. chopped dates
• 3/4 tsp. baking soda
• 3/4 c. boiling water
• 1/4 c. butter, softened
• 3/4 c. brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 c. (140g) flour
• 1 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt (if using unsalted butter)

Sauce

• 1/4 c. butter
• 3/4 c. brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp. molasses (optional, for extra dark sauce)
• 3/4 c. heavy (35%) cream
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• small pinch of salt

Directions

1. Combine the dates and bakiing soda and pour over the boiling water. Set aside for at least 10 minutes.
2. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease and flour either eight 1/2-cup ramekins or one large casserole dish.
3. Cream the butter with the sugar until lightened.
4. Beat in the eggs, one at a time.
5. Beat in the vanilla.
6. Add the flour, baking powder, and salt (if using) and mix until combined.
7. Add the date mixture and stir to combine. Mixture will be fairly thin.
8. Pour batter into prepared dish(es) and bake at 180°C (350°F) until done; ~20 minutes for small puddings, 50 minutes for one large one.
9. Meanwhile, combine the butter, brown sugar, molasses (if using), and cream for the sauce and bring to a gentle simmer.
10. Cook, stirring frequently, until slightly thickened.
11. Stir in vanilla and salt.
12. Once the pudding is done, remove from oven.
13. For small puddings, turn them out onto warmed plates and pour sauce over. For a large pudding, scoop generous spoonfuls into bowls and pour sauce over.
14. Top with vanilla ice cream and/or whipped cream if desired.

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Variations

Sticky Date Pudding

Ingredients

Pudding/Cake

• 1 c. chopped dates
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 c. boiling water
• 1/4 c. butter, softened
• 1/2 c. brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 c. (140g) flour
• 1 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt (if using unsalted butter)

Sauce

• 1/4 c. butter
• 3/4 c. brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp. molasses (optional, for extra dark sauce)
• 3/4 c. heavy (35%) cream
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• small pinch of salt

Nanny's Lemon Cream

This is the lemon curd that I grew up eating. It's my great-grandmother's recipe. And we all called it lemon curd, but when we got her recipe, she had it written down as "lemon cream". It's very good. Simple. And I like that it uses whole eggs rather than just the yolks. I've now also tried it with grapefruit and can vouch for the results. I expect it would work wonderfully with limes as well!

Lemon Cream

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 c. sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1/2 c. lemon juice
• 2 Tbsp. water
• 3 Tbsp. butter

Directions

1. Combine sugar, eggs, lemon juice, and water and mix very well.
2. Cook over low to medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until thickened.
3. Remove from heat and stir in butter.

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Variations

Grapefruit Cream

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 c. sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1/2 c. (or a bit more) grapefruit juice
• 3 Tbsp. butter

This was a decent cake, but I don't feel like there was enough batter for the 23x13cm (9x5") loaf pan called for. Next time I'd try baking it in a smaller 20x10cm (8x4") pan. Also, although it's supposed to be "extra lemony" with lemon zest in the cake itself and juice in the syrup and glaze... I felt like it could've used even more lemon. I think I'd try putting a bit of lemon juice into the batter as well next time, just to really punch it up.

I cut back the sugar in the batter by 1/3 because I was worried about it being too sweet by the time I'd added the syrup and the glaze. I think it probably would've been okay with the full amount of sugar after all, especially if I end up putting some extra lemon juice into the batter, but Reiver was glad for the reduced sugar and said it would've been way too sweet if prepared as written.

Overall, I think I like my grandma's "lemon bread" better, but I'm still glad to have tried this version. And the blueberries were an interesting addition.

Photo goes here.

Lemon-Blueberry Drizzle Cake

Slightly adapted from Dessert of the Day by Kim Laidlaw

Ingredients

Cake

• 100g butter, softened
• 100-150g sugar
• 1 Tbsp. lemon zest
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 Tbsp. lemon juice (optional)
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 c. milk
• 210g (1 1/2 c.) flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 c. frozen blueberries

Syrup

• 3 Tbsp. lemon juice
• 3 Tbsp. sugar

Glaze

• 1 Tbsp. lemon juice
• 60g icing (powdered/confectioners') sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 190°C (375°F) and grease and flour a 20x10cm (8x4") loaf tin.
2. Cream the butter with the sugar.
3. Beat in the lemon zest and juice (if using).
4. Beat in the eggs, one at a time.
5. Mix in the milk.
6. Sift in the flour and baking powder and stir to combine.
7. Fold in the blueberries.
8. Pour the batter into the prepared tin.
9. Bake at 190°C (375°F) for 50-60 minutes.
10. Remove from oven and cool in tin for 10 minutes.
11. Meanwhile, Bring the sugar and lemon juice for the syrup to a boil and cook until sugar is dissolved and mixture has thickened slightly.
12. Turn cake out onto wire rack and poke all over with a skewer or chopstick.
13. Drizzle or brush with syrup.
14. Allow to cool for at least half an hour longer.
15. Combine lemon juice and icing sugar and mix until smooth and drizzle over the cake.

We have an excess of citrus right now, so I picked this out to use up some of it.

Lemon Pudding Cake

Slightly adapted from Dessert of the Day by Kim Laidlaw

Ingredients

• 1 c. sugar, divided
• 1/4 c. flour
• 3 lemons
• 50g butter, melted
• 3 eggs, separated
• 1 1/4 c. milk
• 1/4 c. cream of tartar (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and place a 20cm (8") square baking dish inside a 23x33cm (9x13") baking dish.
2. Combine 3/4 c. of the sugar with the flour.
3. Zest the lemons and mix in the grated zest.
4. Mix in 1/3 c. of lemon zest.
5. Stir in the melted butter and egg yolks.
6. Add the milk and stir to combine.
7. In a clean bowl, combine the egg whites and cream of tartar (if using).
8. Beat until foamy, then gradually mix in the remaining 1/4 c. of sugar and beat until stiff.
9. Mix ~1/3 of the meringue into the batter.
10. Fold in the remaining meringue until no longer streaky.
11. Pour the batter into the 20cm (8") pan.
12. Pour hot water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the smaller pan.
13. Bake at 180°C (350°F) until top is lightly brown and firm (~40 minutes).
14. Serve warm, room temperature, or cold.

We had a bunch of dried out bread heels and odds and ends in the cupboard, so I decided that a bread pudding was in order. I had to increase the amount of custard called for by quite a bit. But my bread was also very, very dry, so I think it needed a bit more liquid than expected to properly hydrate it. I'm also not sure exactly how much bread I used. I just kept putting in bits until it looked like a good amount for the baking dish. I also used a mix of fresh and dried apple rather than purely dried as called for in the recipe. I think I'd put even more fresh apple in next time!

Photo goes here.

Apple Bread Pudding

Adapted from Dessert of the Day by Kim Laidlaw

Ingredients

• stale bread (enough to cover bottom of 23x33cm baking dish), cut/broken into 3cm chunks
• 1-2 apples, peeled and diced
• 1/2-3/4 c. chopped dried apple
• 2 Tbsp. raisins or dried currants
• 2 1/2 c. whole milk
• 4 large eggs
• 6 Tbsp. brown sugar
• 2 tsp. ground cinnamon, divided
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• pinch of ground nutmeg
• 2 Tbsp. sugar

Directions

1. Grease a 23x33cm baking dish.
2. Scatter the bread in the bottom of the baking dish.
3. Scatter the apples and raisins on top.
4. Beat the eggs and brown sugar into the milk.
5. Mix in 1 tsp. of the cinnamon, the vanilla, and the nutmeg.
6. Pour the custard over the bread and set aside for 30 minutes, pressing the bread down into the custard periodically.
7. Meanwhile, mix the remaining cinnamon with the sugar and set aside.
8. Preheat oven to 160°C (325°F).
9. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar over the surface of the pudding.
10. Bake at 160°C (325°F) for ~1 hour.
11. Allow to cool for 20 minutes before serving.
12. Serve with vanilla ice cream and/or whipped cream.

I wanted dessert. I didn't want anything that require too much effort. Or an overnight chill. And I wanted to be able to make it with ingredients on hand. And to be tasty without being too rich.

This banana cake fit the bill. Although it looked overly sweet recipe-as-written. So I halved the sugar and honey. I also reduced the butter by 20% and replaced half of the remaining butter with unsweetened applesauce. Mostly because butter is very expensive here and I was trying not to use too much. And then, just for fun, I decided to replace 140g of the flour with whole wheat flour.

I'm happy with how it came out in the end. It's tasty without being decadent. Having tasted it, I think it probably would've been fine if made according to the original recipe, you'd just want to be prepared for a quite rich, sweet cake.

I do think that either version would benefit from some additional banana. Two bananas makes for a subtle banana flavour, but I think I'd appreciate a more intensely banana-y cake. I might up it to three or four bananas next time. It might also be nice to try replacing the brown sugar with additional honey just to double down on the primary flavours. Reiver also suggested adding some yoghurt to the recipe, which I think sounds like could make a great addition, so I've added it below.

Banana-Honey Cake

Adapted from Dessert of the Day by Kim Laidlaw

Ingredients

• 1/4 c. butter, softened
• 1/2 c. honey (or 1/4 c. brown sugar + 1/4 c. honey)
• 1/4 c. unsweetened applesauce
• 3-4 bananas
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 c. plain Greek yogurt
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 315g soft (plain/standard/cake) flour (or 140g whole wheat flour + 175g plain flour)
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease a 20cm square cake tin.
2. Cream the butter with the honey.
3. Mix in the applesauce.
4. Beat in the bananas, followed by the eggs, yogurt, and vanilla.
5. Sift in the flour(s), baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon and stir to combine.
6. Pour batter into preapared tin and smooth top.
7. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 30-35 minutes.
8. Let cool in tin for 10 minutes, then turn out onto wire rack to cool.

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

I've been making a lot of waffles lately. Mostly because they're relatively quick and easy and don't require any advanced planning. I'd like to get better about doing more nutritious breakfasts, but in the meantime... something is better than nothing. These muffins aren't really any better than more waffles, but they are at least a different form factor, so I figured I'd give them a try.

Blueberry Muffins with Almond Streusel

Slightly adapted from The Breakfast Bible by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

Topping

• 2 Tbsp. butter, softened
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 1/4 c. flour
• 45g sliced almonds

Muffins

• 140g all-purpose flour
• 140g whole wheat flour
• 150g brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 1/2 c. blueberries
• 1 1/4 c. buttermilk
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 c. butter, melted
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F) and grease a muffin tin.
2. Work the butter into the sugar and flour until crumbly, then mix in the almonds. Set aside.
3. Combine the flours and sugar.
4. Sift in the baking powder and baking soda and mix well.
5. Add the blueberries and toss to combine.
6. In a separate bowl, combine the buttermilk, eggs, butter, and vanilla.
7. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir to combine.
8. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tins and sprinkle with streusel topping.
9. Turn oven down to 180°C (350°F) and bake for 20 minutes.
10. Turn out onto wire rack to cool.

Short post today because I am typing one-handed while holding a baby.

These were good. Decadent, but nice as a once-in-a-while treat.

Grilled Cheese with Bacon, Tomato, and Egg

From The Breakfast Bible by Kate McMillan

Ingredients (per sandwich)

• 2 slices of streaky bacon
• 1 large egg
• freshly ground pepper
• 2 slices of bread
• 4-8 thin slices of cheese
• 2-3 slices of tomato
• butter or margerine

Directions

1. Cook bacon until crispy, then cut in half crosswise.
2. Season egg to taste with pepper and fry until whites are set and yolk is thickened.
3. Layer half of the cheese onto a slice of bread.
4. Top with bacon, tomato, egg, the remaining cheese, and the other slice of bread.
5. Butter the outside of the sandwich.
6. Grill in a panini press or a frying pan with a heavy weight compessing the sandwich. If using a frying pan, flip to toast the other side.
8. Once both sides are golden brown, remove from pan and cut in half.

I've made a few different chocolate waffle recipes before, but I hadn't tried this one yet. Honestly, it wasn't even really a recipe. It was just a suggested mix-in for the waffle batters in the Breakfast Bible. In theory, I was meant to add 1/2 c. sweetened cocoa powder to the standard batter and then top the resulting waffles with fresh cherries and cherry syrup. In practice, I have never heard of sweetened cocoa powder and I didn't have any cherries on hand. So, instead of that, I did my best to approximate when it came to the cocoa. And for toppings we tried homemade mandarin marmalade and whipped cream as well as bananas and chocolate sauce (with a little peanut butter on mine as well). Delicious!

Whole Wheat Chocolate Waffles

Adapted from the Breakfast Bible by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 190g whole wheat flour
• 6 Tbsp. sugar
• 2 1/2 Tbsp. Dutched cocoa powder
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 1/2 c. milk
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 90g salted butter, melted

Directions

1. Combine the flour and sugar.
2. Sift in the cocoa powder and baking powder and mix well.
3. Beat the eggs and vanilla into the milk.
4. Stir in the melted butter.
5. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry until just combined.
6. Allow batter to rest while waffle iron preheats.
7. Scoop a portion of batter into the preheated waffle iron and cook according to manufacturer directions. Repeat until all batter is used.
8. Serve waffles with your preferred toppings. Fresh berries, whipped cream, bananas, peanut butter, marmalade, and chocolate sauce all work well.

Plain Waffles (Waffle Maker Recipe)

It turns out that finding a waffle maker that I actually like in NZ is relatively difficult. Most of them seem to make thin, American-style waffles. Or be vertical waffle makers (which don't really work well if you like to put inclusions in your batter). Or they're underpowered. And so on and so on. And rotating waffle makers? Forget about it!

The best option I'd managed to find in all my searching was a very expensive Breville model. But, aside from being pricey, it was also huge. And it still didn't even rotate. So I couldn't quite bring myself to pull the trigger on it. Luckily, Farmers miraculously started stocking some new waffle irons that actually looked somewhat reasonable. So when one of them went on sale for $40, how could I say no? It was a little less powerful than I'd like and had removeable plates, which I generally feel are more of a hinderance than a help. But... for $40, it seemed worth a shot!

And, I have to say, having tried it... it's not half bad! I do miss the rotation. And I wish it were a little more powerful (1200W doesn't seem to be quite enough for some batters). But, overall, it does alright. Especially for the price!

So, after testing it out on some banana-oat waffles (which came out slightly soggy, but were able to be perked up in the toaster), I decided to give it a go with the basic waffle recipe given in the manual. It's very plain, but tasty nonetheless. And it does cook up much better than the oat waffles did. It's pretty similar to my other basic waffle recipe, but I wanted to include this one as well. Just for the sake of completeness.

Plain Waffles

Ingredients

• 2 c. (~260g) flour
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 4 tsp. baking powder
• 1 1/2 c. milk, warmed
• 1/3 c. salted butter, melted
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs

Directions

1. Combine the flour and sugar and sift in the baking powder. Mix well.
2. Combine the milk, butter, and vanilla and beat in the eggs.
3. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry until just combined. (Some small lumps are okay, but try to avoid any large ones.)
4. Let batter stand while waffle iron preheats.
5. Pour a portion of batter into the waffle iron (mine takes ~1/2 c. per waffle), close lid, and cook until done (~5 minutes on highest setting for me).
6. Remove cooked waffle(s) from machine and repeat process with remaining batter.
7. Top as desired 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).

Migas (Big Book of Breakfast)

I've made migas before, but the Big Book of Breakfast contains a slightly different version, so I decided to give it a try. This is a milder migas, without the jalapeños. And it swaps out the bell pepper for tomato. Which was convenient, since I was then able to use canned diced tomatoes instead of fresh to make it Reiver-safe. It also omits the onion in favour of green onion, which I do think is a better fit. That said, I wouldn't be opposed to using both in the future. And I think the cilantro garnish is something that you can take or leave depending on what you have availale at the time.

Migas

Slightly adapted from the Big Book of Breakfast by Maryana Vollstedt

Ingredients

• 1-2 Tbsp. butter
• 1 onion, chopped (optional)
• 6 green onions, chopped
• 8 large eggs
• 2 Tbsp. milk or water
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1/2-3/4 c. diced tomato
• 1/2 c. frozen corn kernels
• 1 c. grated cheese
• 1 c. crushed tortilla chips

Directions

1. Melt the butter over medium heat.
2. Add the onion and cook until softened (~5 minutes).
3. Add the green onion and cook for another minute or two.
4. Beat the eggs with the milk, salt and pepper.
5. Pour the egg mixture into the pan with the onions and reduce heat to medium-low.
6. Cook, stirring occasionally, until soft scrambled.
7. Stir in the tomato and corn and cook for another minute or two.
8. Add the cheese and tortilla chips and stir until just combined and cheese is melted.
9. Serve as-is or with sliced avocado and radish and/or a sprinkle of fresh cilantro.

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.

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.

Unfortunately the avocado that I got for this wasn't quite ripe yet, so I had to make it without that particular ingredient. It was still tasty though! A bit more involved than most scrambled eggs, but good if you have the ingredients on hand and want something particularly hearty for breakfast.

Photo goes here.

Elegant Scrambled Eggs

Slightly adapted from The Big Book of Breakfast by Maryana Vollstedt

Ingredients

• 4 tsp. butter, divided
• 100-150g mushrooms, sliced
• 1 shallot, chopped
• 1 c. chopped cooked chicken breast
• 1 avocado, diced
• 1 tsp. lemon juice or red wine vinegar
• 8 large eggs
• 1/2 c. milk
• 1 Tbsp. dry white wine
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/8 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• chives and/or roasted red pepper, to serve
• sour cream, to serve (optional)

Directions

1. Melt 1 Tbsp. of butter over medium heat.
2. Add the mushrooms and shallot and cook until softened (5-10 minutes).
3. Add the chicken, avocado, and lemon juice/vinegar, remove from skillet, and set aside.
4. Beat the eggs with the milk, wine, salt, and pepper.
5. Melt the remaining 1 tsp. of butter over medium-low heat.
6. Pour the eggs into the pan and cook for a couple of minutes.
7. Add the chicken-mushroom mixture and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until eggs reach desired doneness.
8. Serve garnished with red pepper and/or chives and a dollop of sour cream.

This is a great breakfast. Maybe just don't try to bake the potatoes from scratch first thing in the morning. Bake them the night before and just warm them back up and finish off the prep in the morning. Or "bake" them in the microwave.

Timings aside... I really like this as a breakfast. It's very satiating. You get starch, protein, healthy fats, and a bit of dairy. The only thing it's missing is a bit of veg! I half-wonder if you could get away with mixing a bit of spinach into the potato. I actually think that would be really nice. And Reiver suggested that some chopped chives or green onions would be a nice addition as well.

Eggs in Baked Potatoes

Slightly adapted from The Big Book of Breakfast by Maryana Vollstedt

Ingredients

• 4 large baking potatoes
• 4 tsp. butter
• 1/4 c. sour cream
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1/2 c. chopped frozen spinach, thawed (optional)
• 1/2 c. grated cheese, divided
• 4 large eggs
• 1-2 green onions, chopped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 190°C (375°F) and pierce the potatoes all over with a fork.
2. Bake at 190°C (375°F) for ~1 hour. (Or microwave on high for ~10 minutes.)
3. Split the potatoes lengthwise. Do not cut all the way through! Press on the ends to force them opem a bit.
4. Add 1 tsp. of butter and 1 Tbsp. of sour cream to each potato.
5. Use a fork to break up the flesh of each potato and mash in the butter and sour cream.
6. Season to taste with salt and pepper, 1 Tbsp. of the cheese, and ~2 Tbsp. of spinach to each potato (if using). Mix well.
7. Make a well in the centre of each potato (pushing the flesh to the sides).
8. Transfer the potatoes to a greased baking dish.
9. Crack an egg into each potato and sprinkle with the remaining cheese.
10. Bake at 190°C (375°F) for 18-20 minutes (or until eggs reach desired doneness).
11. Sprinkle with green onions and serve.

These waffles were good, but for the amount of effort, I probably wouldn't bother them again. There are other waffles that I like better for similar amounts of effort or less.

White Chocolate Waffles

From Cakelove in the Morning by Warren Brown

Ingredients

• 4 large eggs, warmed
• 6 Tbsp. sugar, divided
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 c. half-and-half (10% MF), warmed
• 225g white chocolate, melted
• 200g soft (plain/standard/cake) flour
• 1 Tbsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground

Directions

1. Preheat the waffle iron.
2. Make sure the eggs and half-and-half are slightly warm so that they don't cause the chocolate to seize when you mix it in.
3. Separate the eggs.
4. Beat the egg whites to soft peaks.
5. Gradually beat in 4 Tbsp. of the sugar until sugar is dissolved and whites are stiff.
6. Transfer meringue to another bowl.
7. In the original bowl, beat the egg yolks with the remaining 2 Tbsp. of sugar.
8. Beat in the vanilla and the half-and-half.
9. Reduce speed and mix in the white chocolate.
10. Sift in the flour, baking powder, and salt and mix well.
11. Mix in ~1/3 of the meringue.
12. Carefully fold in the remaining meringue until just mixed.
13. Scoop a portion of the batter into the preheated waffle iron and cook according to manufacturer directions. Repeat with remaining batter.
14. Top with fresh raspberries, yogurt, or fruit of your choice.

This was the last savoury waffle in the book that I hadn't made yet. I had been holding off on making it initially since we were still avoiding shellfish for the Kidlet. But Reiver had put in a request for waffles and I was vibing with a savoury option, so I decided to finally give these ones a try. And they were really good!

Salt and Pepper Waffles with Clam Dip

Slightly adapted from Waffles: Sweet, Savory, Simple by Dawn Yanagihara

Ingredients

Dip

• 115g bacon
• 1 (185g) can baby clams, drained
• 6 Tbsp. mayonnaise
• 6 Tbsp. sour cream
• 2 green onions, chopped
• 1 tsp. lemon juice
• 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/4 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1/8 tsp. celery seeds, ground

Waffles

• 140g all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1 large egg
• 1 c. milk
• 3 Tbsp. butter, melted
• 1-2 green onions, green parts only, sliced

Directions

Dip

1. Cook the bacon until crisp and chop.¹
2. Combine the clams, mayo, sour cream, green onions, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, and celery seed.
3. Mix well, taste, and adjust seasonings as desired.
4. Cover and chill for at least an hour.

Waffles

1. Combine the flour, sugar, salt, and pepper.
2. Sift in the baking powder and mix well.
3. Beat the egg with the milk.
4. Stir in the melted butter.
5. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir until just combined.
6. If you have a "standard"/American waffle iron, you can put 2-3 tsp. of batter into each quadrant and make mini waffles to serve as an appetizer. Otherwise, you can use a normal quantity of batter to make full-sized waffles.
7. Cook according to manufacturer directions.

Assembly

1. Top the waffles with the clam dip.
2. Garnish with sliced green onion (and chopped bacon if you forgot to stir it into the dip like me).

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¹ I forgot to add the bacon to my dip, so I just sprinkled it on top at the end. ^Back