Category: Baking
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Pedro’s Scones
These aren’t just any old scones, they are extra special scones made with the helping little hands of my grandson Pedro. Scones are delicious served the traditional way with jam and cream or, as Pedro likes, with jam and peanut butter. Scones are easy to make and only need a few ingredients but, it seems…
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Raspberry Chocolate Flourless Cake
This is one of those desserts that will leave your family and friends wanting more. The combination of sweet tangy raspberries and dark chocolate is a match made in heaven. The great thing about this cake is that it is easy to make and it is gluten free. What you need 200g good quality dark…
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Mandarin & White Chocolate Cake
Not only are mandarins delightfully sweet, versatile and easy to peel, they are also packed with the vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants that our body needs to stay healthy. Mandarins are the perfect on-the-go snack and a great addition to kids’ lunch boxes. They’re fabulous in fruit salads, compotes and added to baked treats such as…
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Date and Banana Loaf
This is the cake that I will always remember as the cake I made when I visited my son and daughter-in-law to welcome home my new granddaughter Alia two months ago. I wanted to celebrate the arrival of the new addition to my family by baking something sweet, tasty and deliciously satisfying, just like the…
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Fig and Raspberry Crumble Cake
The original Fig and Raspberry Crumble Cake recipe by Diana Henry that this cake was adapted from, uses fresh figs and raspberries. But, as I often do, I decided to change the recipe and use dried figs and frozen raspberries instead because that’s all I had at the time. I must admit I was a…
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Butterfly Cupcakes
I made these cute Butterfly Cupcakes for my daughter-in-law’s surprise baby shower using a recipe from Gourmet Traveller. The cupcakes are a little fiddly to make, but they are so worth it because they look so lovely and taste great. As I was making these Butterfly Cupcakes, it suddenly struck me that I was about…
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Anzac Cookies
The last Anzac cookie recipe I shared was a healthy version that tastes delicious. But, as we are currently living in unusual times and can’t do our usual things, like celebrate special events with the ones we love, I felt the need to bake traditional Anzac cookies this year to remind myself of how life…
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Moist orange and chocolate cake
Not only is this cake moist, chocolatey and utterly delicious, it’s gluten free and really easy to bake. It’s also versatile, because you can bake it as a whole cake or as mini cakes* using paper muffin cases. What you need 2 oranges, washed 250g caster sugar 6 free range eggs 250g almond meal 1…
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Greek Easter Sweet Bread
If you are expecting to see a recipe for the most delicious, moist, light and oh-so ‘melt in your mouth’ buttery brioche-style Greek Easter sweet bread (called tsourekia), then I’m sorry to say you’ll be disappointed. It’s not because I don’t want to share the recipe. On the contrary, I love sharing recipes. It’s just that…
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Pedro’s Blueberry & Muesli Cookies
“Hurry up cookies!”, is what my little grandson said while he was waiting for his Blueberry & Muesli Cookies to bake. I can’t blame him for being impatient. The aroma wafting from the oven was enough to make anyone’s mouth water. These Blueberry and Muesli Cookies are buttery, crunchy and delicious, with a hint of honey…
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Chocolate Hazelnut Cake with Mascarpone
This family favourite flourless chocolate cake becomes just a little more fancy when topped with creamy mascarpone and dusted with cacoa. It’s chocolatey, moist and light – a perfect dessert for Sunday family dinner … or any time really 🙂 What you need 200g dark chocolate – roughly chopped 120g unsalted butter – chopped 120g…
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Double Nutella Muffins
So here they are, my Double Nutella Muffins! These Double Nutella Muffins are definitely not for the faint hearted! But…I dare you to resist making them!! What makes these Double Nutella Muffins soooo amazing is that not only do they have nutella on the inside, they are also topped with a creamy nutella and mascarpone frosting.…
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Peanut Butter & Chocolate Cookies
If you love peanut butter, but have never eaten it freshly ground, then you have no idea what you are missing out on. Fresh peanut butter is made of roasted peanuts ground to a paste – that’s it! Because nothing else is added, this is the healthiest way to eat peanut butter. Manufactured, store-bought peanut…
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What’s better than baking ‘koulourakia’ for Greek Easter?
It’s definitely baking koulourakia with my grandson P! There is nothing that gives me more joy in my life than spending time with my family and, in particular, spending every Thursday looking after my grandson P. Yesterday was no exception and it was so much fun! Watching P rolling the dough with such a determined look…
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Velvety Chocolate Mouse
Chocolate Mousse is one of the very first desserts I ever made using a recipe from my Women’s Weekly Recipe Card Collection – OMG, am I really that old! If you were born after the 1970’s, then you probably have no idea about what I am taking about, but let me tell you, back then, the…
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Choc Dipped Oat Cookies
Do you like Anzac Cookies, but wish they were a little more exciting? Well I do, so I decided to try jooshing them up a little and came up with these Choc Dipped Oat Cookies? These Choc Dipped Oat Cookies are my “naughty but nice” version of the Anzac Cookies. If you’re thinking you shouldn’t have…
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Raspberry Ripple & Coconut Cheesecake
Picture this…creamy, smooth, light cheesecake, rippled with delicious sweet raspberries and topped with crispy coconut flakes toasted to perfection, sitting on a coconut biscuit base. Doesn’t that sound sensational? Wouldn’t you love to have a piece? Well then…here it is! My Raspberry Ripple & Coconut Cheesecake!I will confess that even I found it difficult to resist…
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Sugar Challenge Week 6 – Chocolate Cookies
Six weeks ago I decided to challenge myself to replace highly processed, refined sugar with healthier alternatives in everything I cook. Now that I’ve come to the end of my 6 week commitment, I wanted to share with you what I have learned along the way and leave you with a final delicious (refined sugar…
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Healthier Anzac Cookies
With Anzac Day around the corner, I thought I’d share my healthier version of Anzac Cookies. Anzac cookies have long been associated with the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) established in World War I. These biscuits were sent by wives and women’s groups to soldiers fighting overseas because the ingredients last and the biscuits kept well…
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Cacao Chip Cookies – the healthier option
Who doesn’t love choc chip cookies – right? The delicious little chunks of sweet chocolate embedded in the soft buttery cookie is a taste hard to beat. I especially love eating them while they are still quite warm and the chocolate oozes out when I break one in half – YUM! But…and there is a big…
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Sugar Challenge Week 6 – Healthy Muesli Cookies
It’s now week 6 of my challenge to replace white sugar with healthier alternatives in my cooking and this week it’s all about creating healthier cookies! So stick with me and I’ll tell you all about it. Now, like most young parents these days, my son and his wife are very careful about what they…
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Blackberry & Coconut Muffins
Well hello and thanks for visiting! Now, I’m sure you’ve had a busy day and deserve a break, so why don’t you kick off your shoes, make yourself a coffee or tea, then let’s sit down and talk Blackberry and Coconut Muffins.I really wish you could have one of these Blackberry and Coconut muffins RIGHT NOW with…
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Sugar Challenge Week 2 – Choc-Hazelnut Raspberry Tart
It’s been almost two weeks since I started my sugar challenge and I can honestly say that I have not used any refined sugar in my cooking during that time. Not only have I not used refined sugar, but I have also managed to reduce the amount of sugar I eat overall and that’s got…
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Chocolate Espresso Mousse
Hi reader, welcome back! If you’ve been following my posts, you’d know how much I looooove smooth creamy chocolate mousse. Well, now I have another flavour to share with you – Chocolate Espresso Mousse, which I made quite by accident one day. So what happened on this particular day, was that I was running really…
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Chewy Fruit & Nut Bars
Have you used Amaranth grains to cook with? If so, how do you use it and what do you think about it?Recently, I came across a packet of Amaranth grains that my daughter-in-law gave me some time ago. It’s been sitting in my pantry for ages mainly because I wasn’t sure what to do with…
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Just follow the recipe!
When you have more than one female in the same kitchen at the same time, there’s bound to be fireworks. That’s exactly what happened when two cooks decided to bake a Greek New Year’s cake.They agreed to use a recipe one of them found online because “it looks good”, but when they started making it,…
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Baklava – nutty, sweet & very delicious
It’s been a few years since I hosted Christmas, so I’m pretty excited about hosting this year. My youngest son said that I’ve gone over the top and a bit crazy with my decorations, but I can’t help myself – I just love Christmas! I’ve decided to cook mostly Greek dishes for our family Christmas…
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No Fuss White Chocolate and Raspberry Muffins
Hello, thanks for popping by! Summer has arrived and that means beautiful sweet RASPBERRIES and lots of them – yay! Right now, raspberries are plump, sweet and juicy, making them ideal to eat in all sorts of ways. One crowd pleaser that I’d like to share with you are my NO FUSS WHITE CHOCOLATE AND…
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Cranberries and White Chocolate Cookies
These Cranberries and White Chocolate cookies are buttery and delicious. They have fruit and 2 cups of rolled oats in them, which makes them almost healthy, so you won’t feel too guilty eating them. This is a recipe I found in the Bill Granger Holiday Cookbook, but I have made them a little less sweet. Wrap them up in cellophane…
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Chocolate Hazelnut Minicakes
I made these little beauties for dessert at yesterday’s Sunday family dinner and let me tell you, one each was definitely not enough because, I’m sure you’ve worked out by now, my entire family is obsessed with anything chocolate. These Chocolate Hazelnut Minicakes are so deliciously scrumptious, they are impossible to resist. They are flourless…
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Peanut Butter & Chocolate Muffins
If you’ve been following me on Instagram, you’ll know I’ve had some dramas with perfecting my peanut butter & chocolate muffins. Well … After “adding a little more of this and a little less of that”…my PEANUT BUTTER & CHOCOLATE MUFFIN recipe is “now perfect” and that’s according to my home food critics, who always tell…
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The Bitter and Sweet of Christmas!
This morning I woke up to realise it’s only 4 weeks to Christmas, so today is the day I started preparing to cook all things Christmas for this special time of the year. I love Christmas and everything it represents: the decorations, the birth of Christ, giving more than receiving, forgiveness, family time, food, holidays,…
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A Cake for Lydia
Hi Reader, Thanks for taking the time to visit. I know your time is precious, so I’ll do my best to make good use of it by sharing something I hope you will enjoy or find useful. Once you’ve read it, I’d love to know what you think because, as someone who is new to…
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Not just another cheesecake
Rhubarb and Almond Cheesecake This is one of those cheesecakes that you will never forget once you taste it the first time. It has a sensational tangy flavour that makes you want to eat more than you know you should.
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Luscious Gooey Chocolate Minicakes
Are you are a lover of chocolate desserts? If you are, then I guarantee you will love these luscious gooey centred chocolate minicakes because they are quick to make and so delicious to eat. The only catch is that they must be eaten straight out of the oven. They are great for a dinner party…
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Everyone Loves a Little Chocolate Sometimes
Chocolate should be a ‘sometimes food’ and not eaten all the time. If you are going to eat chocolate then opt for dark chocolate instead of the sugary ones like milk and white chocolate, because dark chocolate is made from the seed of the cocoa tree and is one of the best sources of antioxidants…
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Spanakopita with a twist
Greek ‘pita’ (or ‘pie’) is a popular savoury dish made with filo (phyllo) pastry, feta cheese and eggs (as the base ingredients) and baked until golden and crispy. It makes a healthy addition to any lunch box, a delicious anytime snack or served as finger food with drinks when family or friends gather. Although Spanakopita…
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Too many is never enough
Sunday is the one day of the week that everyone in my family indulges in ‘sometimes food’ and this week I made banana and chocolate muffins. When it comes to these BANANA & CHOCOLATE MUFFINS, my family say that “too many is never enough” especially when they are topped with cream cheese frosting. This is one…
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Nuts, dates, coconut and cocoa
With nuts, dates, coconut and cocoa as the basic ingredients in this delicious slice, you don’t have to feel so bad about eating it. However, this CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER SLICE will test your willpower, because stopping at one slice is almost impossible – just ask Cath and Bree – haha! What you need For the Base…
Meatballs and Muffins 