Harveys At Home » Cooking

Proof is in the second baking

Meegan — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 01:25:59 +0000

Last night I made a second batch (yes, already…!) of those all too yummy cheesecake-marbled brownies from smitten kitchen…

And I remembered to take photos this time, just to show you how good they look.

The mixtures tastes as good uncooked as it does after it finished becoming bownie -d in the oven…!

I resisted cutting it up last night, while it was still warm so that I wouldn’t eat it all at once!

It’s much easier to cut up if it’s been frozen or left in the fridge overnight…

The glad-wrapped finished product – it all has to go straight in the freezer for lunches now!

An afternoon spent…

Meegan — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 00:23:57 +0000

the banana yogurt mini muffins

[1 Sunday afternoon + 4 new recipes to try] – [2 complete flops + 2 edibles + 3 hours] = 4 scrapped recipes…

Not to mention:

the waste of ingredients
the trip to the shops that Marc kindly made for me, equipped with a very detailed list
all the effort and nothing yummy to eat at the end of it!

A new sweet toothed favourite

Meegan — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 00:42:57 +0000

Last night, while the veges were roasting for dinner, I tired out a new recipe – Cheesecake Marbled Brownies from over at smitten kitchen. The picture from Deb’s website, as I forgot to take a picture of my end result. My effort looked almost exactly the same, but already cut up and glad-wrapped in single pieces! I was so impressed with this recipe. It was so easy to make. Really! It took less time that my veges took to roast. And the taste? Let me just say YOU NEED TO MAKE THESE BROWNIES!!!! They are smooth, and rich, and creamy, and not too chocolate-y (if there ever was such a thing!) and just plain GOOD. Seriously, if you are in need of a Sweet Thing Fix, make these brownies! Now, I need to go and put mine in the freezer straight away so I don’t make myself sick on all the brownie goodness :)

Crazy Lemon Meringue Pie

Meegan — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 22:10:40 +0000

Yesterday afternoon all I could think about was lemon meringue pie. And making one. So I could eat it all. Marc may have one serve. But that is all. Owen and Reuben may have have a taste, but no more.

While procrastinating about lemon meringue pie, I came across this recipe on taste.com.au and decided that even though 4pm is not the greatest time to start making pies from scratch, including the pastry, I was going to have a go at it. At this point, I would like to tell you all that I have never made pastry before or blind baked anything for that matter, and I had both boys at home with me and no Marc to keep them occupied while I made a mess in the kitchen. And just to add a little bit more effort on my part, I decided that I didn’t have a pie dish quite the right size so I made individual pies instead…

So here is a picture from the Taste recipe:

And here is a picture of one of the six pies that I made:

They were easy to make and delicious! Crisp pastry, tangy filling and fluffy on top. Perfect. I did read the comments before I started and added 1/2 cup of cornflour instead of the 1/3 cup the recipes states, and the filling was awesome.

Would I attempt to make these again so late in the afternoon when kids need feeding and bathing and dinner needs to be prepared? Probably not! I should have started them in the afternoon when I only had Reuben at home and plenty of time to muck around and clean up before starting on the next meal for everyone! But I will definitely be making these again sometime soon.

Anyone for afternoon tea?

Not sure who likes me best (when I’m baking that is)

Meegan — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 23:07:24 +0000

I haven’t made a chocolate cake for months and months. Marc has been hinting that morning tea at work just isn’t the same without his usual piece of cake. Both Owen and Marc were hanging around like a bad smell while I piled the mixture into the cake tin, waiting to see if I would hand over the beater or be really mean and throw it straight into the sink. I let them fight over it… :)

Meritt’s cookies

Meegan — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 10:37:07 +0000

This afternoon I decided to have a go at the Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies from Meritt at It’s Just the Coffee Talking. A super easy and pretty tasty recipe for a lazy Sunday afternoon… Here’s two pictures of my finished product.

Reviving the old

Meegan — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 03:43:21 +0000

Since I’ve got more time on my hands available to maintain our blog among other things, like doing the washing more baking/cooking I’m going to start posting recipes on The Cookbook blog again.

I’d rather keep (and share) all my tried and loved recipes in one place, and what more convenient spot that on a blog that was built specifically for that purpose! Even though we (all the contributors) haven’t posted anything new for a very, very long time (more than twelve months in fact!) I still find I use the blog as a reference for all the recipes that we have previously posted.

My first new post on the old blog is Sultana Lunch Cake, complete with picture of finished product :o)

Pikelets and Baking Powder

Meegan — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 23:09:07 +0000

This morning, in an attempt to maintain the Domestic Goddess flow around here, Owen and I have been making pikelets. Well, OK, I’ve been making pikelets while Owen “helps” by making a mess :o) The recipe stated that it would make 36 but I’m sure we’ve eaten nearly half of them – as soon as they come out of the pan all nice and warm – so there won’t be many left for afternoon tea, let alone tomorrow!

Anyway, the recipe we used today called for 1 teaspoon of Baking Powder. Of course, I didn’t have any so I Googled it and this is what I found out, from the ever reliable Australian Women’s Weekly.

Baking soda, bicarb soda, baking powder – what’s the difference?

Question
What is the difference between baking powder, baking soda and bicarbonate of soda? What are their different applications?

Answer
Baking soda and bicarbonate of soda are different names for the same thing; in Australia, we mostly refer to it as bicarbonate of soda, but overseas, especially in America, it is referred to as baking soda. They aren’t interchangeable, but bicarbonate of soda and baking powder are both leavening agents. When included in a batter, the leavening agent causes air bubbles (produced by stirring, whipping or beating) to expand when cooked – causing it to ‘rise’.

Bicarbonate of soda is a pure leavening agent. It needs to be mixed with moisture and an acidic ingredient for the necessary chemical reaction to take place to make food rise. Because it needs an acid to create the rising quality, it is often used in recipes where there is already an acidic ingredient present, such as lemon juice, chocolate, buttermilk or honey.

Baking powder, which contains bicarbonate of soda, comes pre-mixed with the acidic ingredient for you – so all you need to add is the moisture. The acidic ingredient most often used in baking powder is cream of tartar. You can make your own baking powder: simply mix two parts cream of tartar with one part bicarbonate of soda. Baking powder has a neutral taste and is often used in recipes that have other neutral-tasting ingredients, such as milk.

In Australia, we usually just cook with self-raising flour when a leavening agent is required, unless the specific qualities of bicarbonate of soda are required. Bicarbonate of soda imparts a slightly different quality to that of baking powder when used in cooking. It can have a slightly “tangy” taste and it makes a lovely golden colour. It also makes a very specific texture not achievable with baking powder. It is very important to sift bicarbonate of soda well as it gets lumpy and to use very exact measures as the “tangy” taste can quite easily become bitter or soapy if too much is used.

So I tried the cream or tartar and bicarb soda mix, and the pikelets turned out wonderfully!

Owen wanted three pikelets on his Shrek plate (yup, very specific!) for morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea, and finally not for dinner. Dinner was reserved for a weetbix with honey request… Unfortunately, his horrible mother and father made him eat vegetables!

The cake that Mum baked

Meegan — Sun, 11 May 2008 08:52:04 +0000

This is the cake I baked this afternoon – Blueberry and Vanilla Cake. It’s delicious! And you could put whatever fruit you have on the top if you didn’t have any frozen blueberries. I thought it was similar to an Apple Tea Cake in texture and flavour… Not bad for a lazy Mother’s Day afternoon :o) If you want the recipe, you can get it here.