Finnish on top (haha)

You must know that in my other life I was a teacher and education is something I am passionate about...very passionate about. I have many opinions about the way that the Australian education system is going, but I will only say one thing. Why is Australia following the funding model of New York with expectations of Finnish results. Surely it doesn't take a Masters degree to see what needs to happen. 

Dukkah crusted chicken

With so many gluten free friends I've had to think outside the box for some recipes. Here's one that is as easy to make as it is delicious.

• 3 chicken breasts/thighs sliced into batons
• 15 skewers
• 1 egg and a dash of milk
• 1 cup of rice bubbles (make sure these are gluten free if you're going for a gluten free recipe)
• 3 table spoons of dukkah
• salt and chill to taste

Place the rice bubbles and dukkah into the bowl of a food processer and whizz up until most of the kernels are broken up. I added some salt and chilli at this point because I felt it lacked a bit of seasoning

Now the other day I ran out of rice bubbles so I used these instead, because they were on hand

Make up the egg wash by mixing the egg with a dash of milk

Thread the chicken onto the skewers

Dip the skewer into the egg wash and then the seasoned rice mixture

Place on a tray while you finish the rest of chicken in the same way

Freshly crumbed chicken....mmmm

These can be placed on a tray and baked in the oven for about 30 minutes

Otherwise lightly grease a fry-pan and cook the chicken skewers on a medium heat until cooked through

These are delicious on their own or with a mild tomato chutney.

Rosemary Scones (gluten free)

I've discovered during my forays into GF cooking that different GF flours work best for different recipes. Nat and I discovered for example that Redmill flour is great for cakes and strong flavoured desserts, King Arthur for pastry and this particular mix seems fabulous for scones. It's called Hodgson Mill and available at Walmart. 

Not a great picture but you get the drift right?

2 cups Gluten free flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. Xantham Gum

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tbsp rosemary (chopped)

80g butter, very cold

1 cups milk

1 tsp. cider vinegar

1 lg. egg, beaten

Preheat oven to 180ºC              Standard 12 muffin pan, greased

In a large mixing bowl, place flour, baking powder, salt, xanthan gum and baking soda; blend well.  Using a small holed grater, grate the very cold butter into flour mixture. Blend together flours and butter using two forks until the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs. Add rosemary and blend. 

In a large measuring cup, mix milk, vinegar and beaten egg together.  Pour milk mixture into the center of the dry ingredients and mix with a large spoon.  Be careful not to overmix! Batter will be moist and very thick.  Evenly spoon batter into the prepared pan and using your fingers dipped in milk, lightly flatten the tops of the biscuits.

Bake scones for 22-25 minutes or until lightly golden brown.  Remove biscuits from pan and serve warm or cool on a wire rack.

Yield: 8-12 scones

I flirted with the idea of adding parmesan but being my first try I didn't want to mess too much with the mix, especially as it was GF. I think I will dare next time. 

Coffee cake with caramel meringue buttercream and caramel chips

This is a recipe I've adapted. Credit for the original cake recipe goes to the lovely ladies at Exclusively Food and the icing is based on a Martha Stewart one.

Coffee buttercake

• 225g (1 1/2 cups) self-raising flour
• 75g (1/2 cup) plain flour
• 150g butter, chopped and softened (if using unsalted butter, add 1/4 teaspoon fine table salt with the butter)
• 226g (1 cup) caster sugar (superfine sugar)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons (7.5ml) vanilla extract
• 3 large eggs (we use eggs with a minimum weight of 59g)
• 83g (1/3 cup) sour cream (about 35 percent fat)
• 83ml (1/3 cup) milk
• 83 ml (1/3 cup) hot water
• 2 teaspoons of instant coffee

Preheat oven to 150 degrees Celsius (140 degrees Celsius fan-forced).

Grease the side and base of a 20cm diameter (top inside measurement) round cake pan.

Combine self-raising flour and plain flour in a medium bowl and set aside.

Combine the hot water and coffee until it is dissolved. Then add the milk.

Using an electric mixer or electric hand-held beaters on low speed, beat the butter, sugar and vanilla together in a large bowl.

Increase speed to medium once the sugar is incorporated. Stop the machine once or twice during beating to scrape down the side and base of the bowl with a spatula. Beat the mixture until it is pale and creamy (about five minutes).

Add eggs one at a time, beating about a minute between each addtion.

Don't rush the addition of the eggs as the mixture will be more likely to separate and develop a curdled

Add the sour cream and beat until just combined (about 10 seconds).

Make sure you're scraping down the sides of the bowl from time to time.

Sift half the combined flours over the butter mixture. Add half the milk mixture and, with the machine on very low speed, beat for about 10 seconds until just incorporated. Scrape down the side of the bowl. Add the remaining milk and sift in the remaining flour and beat, on very low speed, for 5-10 seconds to combine the ingredients. Stop beating as soon as the ingredients are combined as over-beating the mixture may cause the cake to be tough.

Spoon mixture into the prepared pan and smooth the surface with a spatula or the back of a spoon.

Bake for about 1 hour and 7 minutes to 1 hour and 17 minutes, or until a thin-bladed knife or wooden skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. The cake should be golden brown and spring back when lightly pressed in the centre.

Place pan on a wire rack. When cake has completely cooled, remove from pan.

Caramel Meringue Butter cream

• 3 large egg whites
• 1  cup packed dark-brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 sticks (1 cups) unsalted butter, room temperature

Put egg whites, sugar, and salt into a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Whisk until mixture registers 160 degrees, about 4 minutes.

Beat on high speed until stiff, glossy peaks form, about 6 minutes. Reduce speed to medium-low. Add butter, 2 tablespoons at a time, beating after each addition (meringue will deflate slightly as butter is added). Don't be freaked out by the curdled appearance, it will get better.

Beat until frosting is smooth and glossy, 3 to 5 minutes.

I like to serve this with some caramel bits on top. Just put 3-4 table spoons of brown sugar into a small saucepan and when it's all melted I pour it onto some baking paper and leave to harden. When it's hardened the caramel can be broken up into shards and placed on the cake for some tasty treats.

Raspberry and Passionfruit Marshmallows

I've been experimenting with marshmallows lately. It's something we've been making for years in my family according to the classic Doreen Peiris recipe. A simple treat to make and one that made store bought marshmallows pale in comparison.

With our influx of visitors we also have a special treat that is very hard to find in Seattle....tinned pasisonfruit! We have tons of the stuff! It amazing what a difference a bit of passionfruit can make when spooned over a tart or a pav....it tastes of home!

The original recipe goes something like this

• 375 g of white sugar
• 30 g of gelatin
• 1 cup of water
• 1 cup of pure icing sugar for dusting
• spray oil
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Having made this for years I decided to change things up a bit and see if we could flavour these marshmallows. 

So here's my new and improved recipe.

• 375 g of white sugar
• 20 g of gelatin
• 1/2 cup of water
• 1/2 cup of fruit puree (I used raspberry and passionfruit)
• 1 cup of pure icing sugar for dusting
• spray oil

Mix together the 1/2 cup of water and puree so you have 1 cup of liquid. Pour the 375g of sugar and 1/2 of the puree/water mix into a saucepan. Place on a low heat and wait for the sugar to dissolve. 

Mix together the rest of the liquid and the gelatin and leave to sit for a few minutes.

Once all the sugar has dissolved add the gelatin to hot sugar syrup.

Mix it all together and bring the gelatin/sugar mixture to the boil. Let it boil for about 30seconds and then turn the heat off.

At this point I pour it straight into my kitchen aid and put it on low. If you'd prefer, leave it to cool for a bout 10-15 minutes.

Now let the mixer run. The mixture will go from a syrup to a frothy meringue, like for a Pav. When you lift the mixer up the now opaque mixture should make a ribbon that will dissolve back into the mixture after a few minutes.

When the mixture is ready pour it into a greased, sugared tray.

Leave the mixture to set (room temperature is fine unless it's a particularly hot Sydney summer) for at least 6 hours.

Once the mixture has set you should be able to pull the mixture out and cut it into whatever shape you like. I like to place the icing sugar in a tupperware container and drop the cut marshmallows in there. Once I have a few I give it a good shake. Repeat this until all the marshmallows are coated in icing sugar.

This is a stock image, I promise to take a real picture when I make these next!

Now enjoy!

xoxox