Month: December 2008

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2008

It’s been a rough year and for weeks now I’ve been highly excited about ringing in 2009 and saying good riddance to 2008.    So much so, in fact, that I was rather taken aback when the below collage of this year’s blog pictures made me smile so much. 

Lesson learnt:  don’t let the grim blot out the great. 🙂

 

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Cranberry and White Chocolate Cookie

Busy. 

With fun stuff though.

Made biscuits.

Crap photo.

Great cookies.

Trust me.

White Chocolate and Cranberry Cookies (adapted from Ottolenghi)

100g salted butter, room temperature

1 tspn vanilla essence

60g caster sugar

60g soft brown sugar

1 egg, beaten slightly

80g plain flour

1/2 tpsn baking powder

1/2 tspn bicarbonate of soda

100g finely ground oatmeal

75g white chocolate, chopped into small pieces

100g dried cranberries

  • Cream together the butter and sugars and vanilla.  Add the egg little by little and combine gently.
  • Sift the flour, baking powder and bicarb into the creamed sugar and butter.  Add the oatmeal and chocolate and cranberries and stir until just combined.
  • Chill the mixture in the fridge for at least 1 hour.  Pre-heat the oven to 170 oC
  • Roll into gobstopper sized balls and place onto baking paper lined trays at least 5 cm apart.
  • Bake in the oven for 7-10 minutes until golden.  Cool on a baking tray.

* This recipe makes at least 30 cookies.  Dough keeps well in the fridge for a couple of days.

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Root Vegetable Crisps

Bah.  Not amused.  I have a sore throat. 

I could grumble and moan for some time about how unhappy I am about this but I have to admit there is a slight bright side:  I have an excuse to eat one of my very favourite foods.    Crisps!

I know that many people suffering from sore throats crave cooling, soothing ice-cream to ease their pain but I don’t.  Scratchy foods make me feel better.  Dry toast, crackers, cereal and, most of all,  rough salty crisps.

The following root vegetable crisps are a little healthier than the average potato chip for not only are they made from a colourful selection of different vegetables, they are also oven-baked. 

That means I can eat more, right? 😉

Root Vegetable Crisps

Selection of root vegetables (I’ve used carrots, parsnips, beetroot and turnip)

Vegetable oil (I used sunflower)

Salt

  • Pre-heat oven to 200 oC.
  • Unless you are a sushi chef, you’ll need to use a mandoline to very finely slice the vegetables – length-ways for long vegggie, width-ways for rounded ones.
  • Spray or brush the vegetables with the oil and lay out on baking sheets.
  • Bake in the oven for 15-10 minutes until golden, turning halfway through. 
  • Remove from oven and spread out on a rack.  Crisps will crisp up as they cool.
  • Sprinkle with salt to serve.