ANZAC Cookies

With ANZAC day tomorrow I thought it would be appropriate to whip up some ANZAC cookies. These were one of my favourite cookies to bake as a kid. There was no waiting for butter to come to room temperature, no eggs, and no creaming of butter and sugar. I just wanted hot buttery cookies as soon as possible. 

For ANZAC's you simply gather your dry ingredients, mix up your wet ingredients and combine. They're that easy. Oh, and it's a bit of fun watching the syrup bubble up and fizz like a mini volcano when you add the bi-carb soda.

This particular recipe results in a chewy golden brown cookie with that desirable sweet salty bite from the addition of bi-carb soda. If you like crispy cookies just bake a little bit longer than recommended below. Remember to watch your cookies carefully towards the end of baking as they tend to burn very quickly and will continue to cook on the tray once removed from the oven. 

How do you like your cookies - soft and chewy or hard and crispy?

Recipe: ANZAC Cookies

Adapted from Donna Hay Magazine Dec/Jan 2013

Makes 13 large cookies

Oven Temp: 160°

Ingredients

2 cups rolled oats
1 cup plain (all-purpose) flour
2/3 cup sugar
3/4 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup golden syrup
125g butter
1 tsp bi-carb soda
2 tbsp boiling water

Process

1. In a large bowl combine oats, flour, sugar and coconut.
2. Place butter and golden syrup in a saucepan. Melt over low heat stirring occasionally.
3. Combine bi-carb soda and water and stir into butter and syrup. The mixture will froth up quickly. Pour over the dry ingredients and stir to combine.
4. Spoon mixture onto prepared trays and flatten slightly. Bake for 10-12 minutes (for large cookies) or until lightly golden. Allow to cool on the trays for about 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Notes:

• Ensure you give the cookies plenty of space on the tray as they tend to spread. 
• I usually weigh all my ingredients but didn't in this case to keep things simple.
• I used a 2" (5.5cm) cookie scoop to make 'large' cookies.

Apple Almond Spice Cake and Some Bundt Cake Tips and Tricks

The apple season is coming to an end at Old Farm New Farm with only some of the late season varieties still on the trees, namely red delicious and granny smith. I'd been ignoring the red delicious as they tend to be quite thick skinned and floury, and definitely my least favorite on the farm. However, on tasting a couple I was a bit surprised at how nice they actually were this season. They had quite an enjoyable mellow flavour and a notable almondy character. 

Though red delicious aren't traditionally a cooking apple I used them in this recipe as I was looking for an apple that was going to break down easily through the cooking process. And having already baked to many apple cakes this season I wanted a cake that wasn't immediately recognisable as apple and thought the lack of acidity in the red delicious would help hide the apple in this apple cake. 

Inspired by classic tea cakes I used cinnamon for spice and almond liquor to enhance the almond notes of the red delicious. The almond meal and grated apple added texture and moisture. The apple all but disappeared resulting in a cake with a very moist and delicate crumb. The most notable quote from the testers was 'Delicious!'.

Recipe: Apple Almond Spice Cake 

Oven Temp: 180°

Equipment: I used a Nordic Ware 6 cup Bundt tin

Ingredients

150g Cake Flour

2 tsp Baking Powder

60g Almond Meal

1/2 tsp Cinnamon

200g Sugar

125g Butter

1 Egg

170g Apple - Peeled, cored and grated

1/2 tsp Lemon Zest

1 tbsp Amaretto (almond liquor)

125ml (1/2c) Milk

Process

1. Whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon and almond meal. set aside. 
2. In a separate bowl cream butter and sugar for 2-3 minutes. Add egg and continue creaming until homogenized and fluffy. Stir in Amaretto, apple and lemon rind.
3. Add flour mixture and milk. Stir briefly to combine.
4. Pour into a prepared bundt tin* and smooth out the surface. Bake for around 30 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
5. Invert cake*, cool and serve withing a dusting of icing sugar.

*See Tips below

Bundt Tin Tips and Tricks

1. To ensure your cake doesn't stick to the tin carefully grease or spray your tin getting into all the nooks and crannies. Then lightly dust with flour, tapping out any excess.
2. After taking the cake out of the oven releasing the cake is make or break. To increase your odds of a good release, wait about 5 minutes before trying to invert the cake. This window allows the cake to 'set' so it doesn't break apart but don't wait to long as as it cools the sugars harden and will stick to the pan. 
3. Another tip to help release your cake is to gently push the cake away from the sides of the tin with a small plastic spatula before inverting. 
4. When cleaning your bundt tin don't use anything abrasive, warm soapy water should do the trick.

I've been a bit slow getting the momentum going on Old Farm New Farm, but there's a very good reason. There's a baby on the way. Oh and we're renovating a house as well. 

I'm about 38 weeks now and have finally decided to wind down and limit myself to light duties. So crafting it is. 

I had a go at my first quilt, a bassinet blanket. It was a bit spare of the moment but fell in love with the fabric on a recent trip to Spotlight.

 Can you tell we're having a girl?

Design features include two layers of wool wadding because I'm paranoid the baby's going to be cold coming into winter. I'm also putting a layer of wool over the mattress for extra warmth.

Mums been busy too, madly knitting. I've shared some of her creations below.

So the count downs on, who's gong to come first the baby or the new bathroom. My bet is on the baby, they tend to be unpredictable.