Hedgehog Slice

Serves: 20
Preparation: 30 min
Cooking: 0 mins
Calories: __cal (__cal per serve as per recipe)

Ingredients
180 grams butter
2/3 cup milk
1 cup caster sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
2 teaspoon vanilla essence
2 x 250 gram Arnott's Milk Coffee Biscuits
2 tablespoons desiccated coconut

Line 19cmx29 cm lamington pan with baking paper to cover sides and base.

Combine the butter, milk, sugar, cocoa, and vanilla essence in a saucepan. Stir over a low heat until sugar is dissolved, then bring to the boil and remove from heat.

Place biscuits in a large bowl and roughly break into pieces, (or place in large plastic bag and roughly crush using a rolling pin). Add the melted  butter mixture to biscuits and mix well.  Pour mixture into prepared
lamington pan and press mixture down firmly.  (Another tray pressed on top works well).  Sprinkle with coconut. 

Refrigerate until firm.  Use lining paper to remove slice from pan and then remove paper.  Cut into small pieces to serve.

Will keep for several days in airtight container in refrigerator, or freeze.

Caramel

How to make Caramel from a tin of condensed milk.

Remove label and place on side in a large saucepan. Completely cover in water and put on a low stove. Cook for 2-4 hours. Ensure you keep an eye on it and top up the water in the pan if necessary or you risk the can exploding. I've never had a tin explode if you keep it covered in water.

2 hours = light barely set caramel
3-4 hours = darker caramel

Banana Cake w/ Lemon Icing

Serves: 12
Preparation: 20 min
Cooking: 60 mins
Calories: __cal (__cal per serve as per recipe)

Ingredients
125g butter
1 cup caster sugar
2 eggs
1 cup mashed bananas
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
1.5 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon bicarb soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup buttermilk

Cream butter and sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time then add banana and vanilla. Mix together flour, bicarb, salt and cinnamon. Add dry ingredients and buttermilk gradually, alternating both.

Makes 1 cake or 12 muffins. Bake for 1 hour (cake) or 30 minutes (muffins) or until fine skewer comes out clean. Cool in cake tin for a few minutes before turning out. Cool completely before icing.

Lemon Icing
70g butter
1.5 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon vanilla essence
1.5 cups pure icing sugar

Mix all together.

Buttermilk Pancakes

Serves: 2
Preparation: 10 min
Cooking: 15 mins
Calories: __cal (__cal per serve as per recipe)

Ingredients
1 cups SR Flour
1/4 cup caster sugar
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
1 egg

Whisk all together then cook in a lightly oiled pan. 

Note: You can also use ordinary milk as well.

(I burnt them a little bit but they were still really good!)

Banana Caramel Muffins

Serves: 12
Preparation: 20 min
Cooking: 30 mins
Calories: __cal (__cal per serve as per recipe)

Ingredients
1.5 cups SR Flour
1/2 cup lightly crushed bran flakes (I used crushed oats)
3/4 cup brown sugar
90g margarine, melted
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
1 banana, mashed
3/4 cup Nestle Caramel

Combine first 7 ingredients and spoon evenly into muffin pans. Add a generous teaspoon of caramel on top of muffin mixture then swirl through.

Cook in moderate oven (180C) for 25-30 minuges until cooked. Cool in pan before turning out.

(Recipe from back of Nestle caramel tin)

They were ok, but a little on the sweet side.

Ladies' Kisses

Serves: 20
Preparation: 60 min (plus 2 hours resting time)
Cooking: 40 mins
Calories: __cal (__cal per serve as per recipe)

Ingredients
150g butter
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 egg yolk
1/2 tsp almond essence
1 cup ground almonds/almond meal
1.5 cups plain flour
50g chocolate

Cream butter and sugar, then beat in egg yolk, almond essence, ground almonds and flour. Chill for about 2 hours or until firm.

Preheat oven to 160C and line baking trays with grease proof paper.

Break off small pieces of dough and roll into balls with your hands making 40 altogether.

Place the balls on the baking sheets spacing them out evenly as they will spread in the oven.

Bake for 20 minutes or until golden. Remove from the sheets and cool.

Melt chocolate over a double boiler and use to sandwich pairs of cookies. Leave to cool and set before serving.

Choc Caramel Tartlets

Serves: 21
Preparation: 30 min
Cooking: 0 mins
Calories: __cal (__cal per serve as per recipe)

Ingredients
1-3 pack Arnotts Butternut biscuits (21 per packet)
1 tin Nestle caramel or Nestle condensed milk
1 pack Cadbury cooking choc

Put the biscuits onto tartlet tray and put into oven at 160C for about 5 minutes. When warm gently push into the tray with the back of a spoon. If they don't go in easily return to oven and try again.

Put a teaspoon of caramel into the bottom of the buscuits and smooth down. Then put a teaspoon of melted chocolate and work until it covers the caramel. Set in the fridge.

One tin of condensed milk and one pack of cooking choc will do roughtly 3 packs of butternut biscuits.

Related: How to make Caramel from Condensed Milk

Update: These were a change to my mums recipe which tops the caramel with cream and I've since found a very similar recipe from the Arnotts website which is just chocolate ganache.

Fruit Balls

Serves: heaps of truffle balls.
Preparation: 30-40 mins
Cooking: None
Calories: __cal (__cal per serve as per recipe)

Ingredients
8 crushed Weetbix
2 Tablespoons Cocoa
3/4 Cup Dessicated Coconut
2 Tablespoons Sherry
1/2 Cup chopped nuts (I use almonds)
1 Cup Sultanas

Extra Dessicated Coconut for rolling.

Mix all the ingredients together and roll into balls. Toss in coconut and refrigerate.

Note: Make them "kid friendly" by substituting the sherry for orange juice.

We always called these "fruit balls" and I have no idea if they have another name.

Bread without a Bread Maker

Preparation: 70 mins (50 mins resting total)
Cooking Time: 30 mins

I've had a bread maker on my wish list, but we've just discovered we don't need one. I made this using my mix master to quickly and easily make the dough. Keep an eye on time and you can make bread while doing other things as well. It only takes about 20 minutes total prep!!

For this first try I used Lauke German Grain bread mix as it came with yeast and we weren't sure if the mix master would make good bread or not. The Lauke bread kit comes with flour and yeast for 4 loaves of bread. It is so simple!

Put approximately 600g bread makers flour, 2 tsp yeast and 410ml warm water into the mix master and mix on the dough setting for about 6-10 minutes. I think I did it for about 8 minutes, or until the dough was even, the flour all mixed in and the machine was able to go through without difficulty. The box says more kneading provides better bread.

Next I pulled all the dough onto a lightly floured surface and gave it 3-4 hand kneads to form it into a ball and placed it back into my mixing bowl. I covered it with foil and let it sit for 40 minutes. Leave it in a warm, draft free place so it can rise. It says it should double in size. Mine increased in size but not by as much as I was expecting, but I still got a great end result.

Pre-heat the oven around half way through the breads resting time to 200C

Next, punch down the dough, then pull it out and knead it for 2-3 minutes on a lightly floured surface. Form into shape and place in an oiled loaf pan. Let it rest for another 10 minutes to rise again.

Pop the tin in the oven for about 25-30 minutes. If you knock on the top it should sound hollow when done. Take it out and shake it straight onto a wire rack. Try to allow it to cool before cutting as this will give a moist loaf. If you can't help yourself and have to try it straight away it will probably dry out quicker, but the temptation of warm bread is hard to resist!!

Notes: The bread was not always fully cooked. Last bread came out well - try this next time: 50 min first rise, 30 minute second rise, 35 min bake

Cous Cous with Chick Peas and Vegetables

Serves: 2-3
Preparation: 20 min
Cooking: 40 mins
Calories: __cal (__cal per serve as per recipe)

Ingredients
1/2 Onion
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp chilli, tumeric, cinnamon, ginger
Small Capsicum
1 Carrot
4-5 Mushrooms
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 tin chick peas
chopped parsley
1 1/2 cup cous cous
1 cup water
1/2 cup stock
3 tsp margarine

Cook onion until brown. Add spices until fragrant then add capsicum, carrot, tomatoes and chick peas. Cook until vegetables are soft and add chopped parsley.

Bring stock and water to boil and add a pinch of salt. Take water off heat and add cous cous. Let sit for 2-3 minutes then put back on a low heat and stir through margarine with a fork to loosen the cous cous grains.

Note: To cook cous cous use these ratios: 1/2 cup water for 1/2 cup cous cous and 1 tsp margarine.