These are my two basic frosting/icing recipes. I don’t usually measure the ingredients but here is a basic method:

 About 400g cream cheese, softened
 4 cups sifted icing sugar mixture
1 cup (about 230g) unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
 

In a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or with a hand-held electric mixer in a large bowl, mix the cream cheese, sugar, and butter on low speed until incorporated. Increase the speed to high, and mix until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.

 Reduce the speed of the mixer to low. Add the vanilla, raise the speed to high and mix briefly until fluffy (scrape down the bowl occasionally). Store in the refrigerator until somewhat stiff, before using. May be stored in the refrigerator for 3 days.

 Buttercream Frosting

 250g butter, softened
 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
 Icing sugar mixture

For this year’s Girls Night In, we had vegan coconut cupcakes with buttercream frosting and I also made a gluten-free version. The gf version was a wee bit dry, but I’m sure some tweaking of the recipe will sort that right out. I had a great night with some of my wonderfully funny and clever female relatives AND we raised $325 to fight women’s cancers. Woo!

Edit: These got the thumbs up all around. People were still talking about them a day after I shared them at work. This recipe is highly recommended!

According to Wikipedia

“A whoopie pie is a baked good made of two round, mound-shaped pieces of chocolate cake, sometimes pumpkin cake, with a sweet, creamy frosting sandwiched between them. While considered a New England phenomenon and a Pennsylvania Amish tradition, they are increasingly sold throughout the United States. According to food historians, Amish women would bake these and put them in farmers’ lunchboxes. When farmers would find these treats in their lunch, they would shout Whoopie!”

I used this recipe from Baked NYC. Martha Stewart featured it on her show and website last year. I halved the recipe (and used the other half of the can of pumpkin for choc-chip pumpkin loaf) and still ended up with about 18 whoopie pies of various sizes. I don’t have an ice-cream scoop so my pies aren’t perfectly shaped like the ones pictured in the book. Adding ice-cream scoop to my Christmas wish list. The baked parts of the pie are quite soft and sticky, more like cake than a cookie or biscuit.

Hubby will taste test these for me and then I will report back. Go to Martha Stewart’s website for the recipe and video demonstration.

Loved it!

Oh. My. Goodness. “To die for!” is how co-worker Yasmin described them. Hubby says they are “da bomb”. The truffles are basically a cookie mixture with sweetened, condensed milk replacing the usual eggs. Balls of the mixture sit in the freezer for three hours or so, until you take them out and dip them in melted chocolate.

You only need to eat one of these at a time. I promise, one is enough! I ate two to make sure. Or was it three? Either way, sugar overload.

Thanks to Alicia for pointing out this recipe!

Coconut cupcakes

Vanilla cupcakes with buttercream frosting

On November 8th I will be running a 10km fun run to raise money for the Breast Cancer Network Australia. Today is Pink Ribbon Day so at work I organised a fundraiser with proceeds going to the BCNA. I made kitchen sink cookies, coconut cupcakes , vanilla cupcakes and cookie dough truffles. (Info on the truffles coming soon) My co-worker Eve made beautiful orange and almond cupcakes. We sold them for $2 each or 3 for $5 and raised $100. Better yet, my boss is going to match the amount we raised! Thank you to my co-workers for alway supporting my fund-raising efforts.

Kitchen Sink Cookies
Adapted from recipe by Martha Stewart
Makes about 40

Ingredients

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed light-brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 cups milk chocolate chips
1 cup coarsely chopped dark cooking chocolate
1 cup mini M&Ms

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius. Line baking sheets with baking paper.
2. In a large bowl with a wooden spoon or hand mixer, beat butter, sugar and brown sugar together until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until well blended. Stir in vanilla.
3. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Gradually stir into butter mixture until well blended. Add oats, M&Ms and chocolate
4. Drop batter by heaping tablespoons trays about 2 inches apart. Press tops down with the bottom of a glass to flatten cookies evenly. Bake until golden, about 16 to 18 minutes. (Mine needed only 9 minutes) Cool on pan for 2 minutes. Remove from pan, and finish cooling completely on wire rack.

How good do I have to be to see one of these under my tree?!

I love these even though I added too much flour by accident. I love orange M&Ms and Jaffas. And cookies with orange M&Ms and Jaffa cupcakes. The recipe is from a Donna Hay magazine but you can find a version of if on RecipeZaar. The original recipe called for sour cream rather than yoghurt.

Most people have foods that remind them of their childhood. For me, salmon rissoles is a big reminder of my mum’s cooking. How is it I remember the taste of her roast dinners and salmon rissoles but not the sound of her voice? As a kid we ate home cooked dinners five days a week. On weekends dad would prepare “little tea” for dinner – eggs or baked beans on toast or crackers and devon with some fruit perhaps.

My mum would often cook spaghetti with tomato sauce, shepherds pie or salmon rissoles on week nights. I’ve modified her way of making the rissoles by using sweet potato instead of white potatoes. My grandmother uses rice. I rarely measure the ingredients, I just throw them together for an easy dinner. They consist of one can of salmon, one mashed sweet potato, one egg, one diced onion and about 1/4 – 1/2 cup breadcrumbs. Parsley and pepper optional. Shape the mixture into patties and cook them in a pan until they are crisp and browned on both sides. My mum was good at not browning them too much, but still getting them to have a nice crust. The things we remember – 21 years on.