Lemon Myrtle Biscuits - my unique creation

There is a lovely retired man who walks his terrier late every afternoon past my home.
We have had many pleasant conversations and I know his dog's name is Tubby.
I asked my husband what the man's name was and MOH (my other half) replied "I can't remember if it is Bill or Ted as when he told me I remembered Bill and Ted for name association ".
I therefore assumed it had to be Bill.
Yesterday we were having a very long discussion on the footpath and I invited Bill to look at our tiled floor as he was considering re tiling his floors.  His wife, who ambled along later came to introduce herself, then MOH joined us as well.

I bravely referred to Bill by name during this conversation, only to find his wife slapped him on the shoulder and said, loudly, Ted here ...

See the little lemon myrtle specks in these cookies.

Outside of my kitchen window is a beautiful Lemon Myrtle Tree which has a gorgeous and strong fragrance.  The leaves are divine in both tea, cookies, yoghurt and cakes.  The flowers are delightful.

Soft, light mixture.

Roll the balls into walnut sized pieces.

Lightly golden, firm and slightly crispy.

(P.S.  Next time I see Ted I will explain why I called him Bill by accident.)

Lemon Myrtle Cookies

1 lemon, grated zest and juice

3/4 teaspoon dried lemon myrtle leaves

(I dry 2 leaves in the microwave for this then crumble them in the coffee grinder)

1 cup castor sugar

pinch of salt

120g unsalted butter, softened but not melted

1 1/2  tablespoons  olive oil

2 eggs

1 egg yolk

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 cups plain flour

1 cup fine semolina

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon bicarb soda             

1/2 cup extra castor sugar for dipping

Whisk together in an electric mixer; the lemon zest, lemon myrtle, sugar and salt, beat for 1 minute to help the flavours permeate the sugar.  

Add the butter, olive oil and lemon juice then beat until white and fluffy.

Add the eggs one at a time, then the egg yolk, beating until well combined.  Scrape down the bowl with a spatula and whisk again until it looks shiny.  Add the vanilla extract and mix through.

Remove from mixer, add the flour, semolina, baking powder and bicarb of soda then mix with a wooden spoon lightly, until just combined.

Cover tightly with glad wrap and refrigerate for one hour.

Preheat oven to 170 Celsius (340 Fahreneit) and cover two trays with silicon or baking paper.

Roll pices of dough into balls roughly the size of walnuts, dip into the extra castor sugar and place slightly apart on the baking trays.

Bake in the preheated oven for 12 minutes until lightly golden.

Leave on trays for 2 minutes then remove to a wire rack to cool.

Bon appetito, enjoy Merryn

Chicken, Leek and Mushroom Pie

Full of flavour Chicken and Leek Pie

I often plan dinners ahead, although food being an emotional enjoyment is also often decided daily.

On this Monday I had planned to cook a chicken and leek pie that evening, after work.

On this day while having my morning caffe latte and browsing the day's emails 

I was fortunate to find and read Billy Law's latest post featuring 

a game-of-thrones-faux-pigeon-pie and I highly recommend you have a look as well.

I was not quite inspired enough to cook all of the trimmings, time is precious after work!

Billy's recipe was adapted to suit my ingredients and the time available.  It was a huge success.

Short crust pastry with Lard
500g all-purpose plain flour, extra for dusting
150g cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
100g lard
1/4 cup cold water

Place flour, butter and lard into a food processor.  Blend until it just looks like breadcrumbs.

Lightly pulse, adding the water in a stream until it comes together as a ball.  

Place in bowl, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Chicken and Leek Filling

2 tablespoons butter

2 big leeks, white part only, thinly sliced
350g  white mushrooms, thinly sliced

900g chicken thigh fillets, diced into 1 - 2cm cubes

2 tablespoons butter, extra

¼ cup all-purpose plain flour200ml Chicken Stock

200ml cream

1 tablespoon flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
1 tablespoon dried oregano
2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme (or 1 tablespoon dried)

salt and white pepper
1 egg

Melt butter in a large heavy based  frying pan over medium heat, add 2 tablespoons butter, the leeks and mushrooms, sauté for 5 minutes.  Add the chicken pieces and fry another 10 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.  Sprinkle the flour over this mixture and cook for a further couple of minutes. Gradually stir in the hot stock sitrring constantly, then add the cream. Add herbs and simmer gently over low heat until the mixture has thickened.    Season with salt and white pepper.  Allow to cool slightly.

Preheat oven to 200 celsius.

Take 2/3 of the lard pastry and roll pastry out until it is wide enough to cover the bottom and sides of a 20-cm springform tin. Place a sheet of baking paper on top of the pastry and fill with baking beans (weights to stop pastry rising) then cook for 20 minutes.  

Remove and take away the paper and weights.  Bake for another 10 minutes.  Remove from oven.

Fill pastry case with chicken, leek and mushroom filling.

Roll out the remaining pastry and cover the pie with this lid, squeezing the lid to the sides to seal the pie.

Beat an egg with a little milk and brush the pie with this egg wash.

Place the pie on a baking tray, bake pie in oven for 35 - 40 minutes. 

Remove and let rest for 5 - 10 minutes.

Buon appetito, enjoy. Merryn

Macadamia and Honey Cookies

Macadamia and Honey Cookies

A bonus of keeping bees is their gorgeous by-product - HONEY.  

Fresh honey extracted straight from the hive is incomparable in flavour, aroma and texture.

Combine this with macadamia nuts and you have a winner.

My mother recently returned from a holiday in northern New South Wales, bringing freshly picked macadamia nuts from a macadamia nut farm.  These were delicious and quickly sealed to keep in the freshness.  Some had been tossed in different seasonings from Italian to Australian bush flavourings, but all I wanted was the plain variety.  Along with the last of the honey harvest for the season, I was tingling with anticipation and reached for the flour and sugar to combine away.

I like to prepare biscuits, slices or cakes on the weekend.  As long as the cookie jar is filled every Sunday with a different offering - which usually lasts for about 3 days - I, and therefore the family, am happy.

Cookie baking is to be done quickly, as opposed to a gallant dessert which one can labour over for hours.

Beat butter, honey and  sugar until creamed.

Macadamia Honey Cookies 

125 butter, softened

2 large tablespoons honey

1/4 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1 1/4 cups plain flour

3/4 cup shredded coconut

1/4 cup macadamias, finely chopped

2 tablespoons raw sugar (for dipping) optional

Cream butter, honey and sugar in a bowl with electric mixer until well combined and smooth.

Stir in flour, sifted bicarbonate of soda, coconut and macadamia nuts.

Roll into small balls, flatten slightly and dip one side into the raw sugar if desired, 

before placing on a silicon or baking paper lined tray.  

Bake in moderate oven 180C for 10 minutes until lightly browned.

Cool on trays for a few minutes before placing on a wire rack to cool.    Yield 35 biscuits.

Freshly baked biscuits.

Enjoy with a cappuccino, a cup of steaming black tea or a glass of milk.
Perfect for our Autumn weather when on some days, all you want to do is bake and cook.
Buon appetito, cheers Merryn

White Chocolate and Macadamia Cookies

White Chocolate and Macadamia Cookies

My son came bouncing into the room, he had just returned from a holiday with friends at Byron Bay.
 "I had a great time" he said, "we stayed across from the beach and had pancakes every day for breakfast with bacon and maple syrup.  We also had the best cookies I have ever had, here I brought you one" and promptly gave me a White Chocolate and Macadamia Cookie ceremoniously wrapped in a serviette. 
You can imagine, my heart somersaulted with love - and the cookie was good.

The cookie was so good I had to make my own.
That is, after we had pancakes - well crepes really but don't start me on what is a pancake or pikelet.
This is a much debated subject in our house.   My Other Half is convinced what I call a pancake is actually a pikelet, so I prefer to cook crepes and avoid the whole subject.  

We cooked crepes with crispy bacon rashers and maple syrup, topped with a  little sifted icing sugar -

apparently very Byron Bay.     After shopping for macadamias and white chocolate buttons I managed to contrive some White Chocolate and Macadamia Cookies that were quite good.  In fact they were better than the original cookie after journeying 7 hours in a serviette to reach me.

I made two batches that day, each slightly different but totally acceptable. 

The orange rind helped soften the sweetness of the chocolate.

White Chocolate and Macadamia Cookies

 

125g butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1 teaspoon grated orange rind

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 free range egg

1 1/2 cups plain flour

1 cup white chocolate buttons or pieces

1/3 cup finely chopped macadamias

Beat butter, vanilla essence, orange rind, sugar and egg in a small bowl with electric mixer until smooth.  

 

Finely chop the macadamia nuts in a food processor 

or mortar and pestle.

Roughly chop the white chocolate buttons in the same food processor or mortar and pestle.

Stir flour, nuts and chocolate into the mixture.  Roll level tablespoons of mixture into balls and place onto greased or baking paper lined baking trays placing them about 5cm apart.   Bake in a preheated moderate oven (180 C) for 15 minutes approximately or until firm and just starting to brown.  Cool on wire racks.

Store in an air tight container when cool.  They will last a week, if they are any remaining by then :D
White Chocolate and Macadamia Cookies -  not just for kids.
Buon appetitio, Merryn.

Merryn's Peking Duck

Merryn's Peking Duck

My simple and delicious version

I am very lucky to have relatives on a dairy farm.  

Cattle, horses, chickens, pigs, lambs, dogs and ducks abound.

I love to walk in the green pastures, and hear the gentle moo of cows and neighs of horses.
It is relaxing and refreshing to meander on country time.

 The other day my Uncle kindly gave me a duck.  He has recently purchased a 'feather pluckier' to make his life easier.  You put the fresh duck that has been humanely killed into boiling water for one minute, place it into the feather pluckier and in quick time, the duck comes out featherless on one side while all feathers come out of the other side.
My Uncle is over 70 so you imagine how many hours he has spent plucking feathers from birds his entire life.
More astonishingly it never ceases to amaze me how many people have not yet tried Peking Duck.  


This could be put down to the expensive price restaurants command for this dish but it is relatively simple to cook at home.  Here is my easy recipe and after you try it, you will find it is delicious.

Firstly wash the duck then place in the sink and pour a jugful of boiling water over the top.

Place duck onto a plate and brush with a mixture of;
1/4 cup molasses with 2 Tblspns honey and 2 Tblspns boiling water mixed together.

After 5 minutes brush with the remaining mixture that has dripped onto the plate.

Wrap foil around the wings and legs to protect them from burning in the oven.



Pull the excess fat away from the cavity entrance, this is pure fat and can be burned down in a small saucepan. The pieces of fat will almost entirely dissolve and can then be strained to store in a jar in the refrigerator to roast tasty potatoes with later.

Stuff the cavity of the duck with three lemon slices, a cinnamon stick and two star anise.

Spray a roasting rack with olive oil to stop the duck sticking, place duck on top and put in a roasting tray filled with 1 cup water .

Bake at 180 degrees celsius for approximately        1 1/4 hours for 2.2kg duck. It will be browned and crispy all over after this time, but moist on the inside.

While the duck is roasting, make the pancakes.  Place flour, cornflour, eggs, butter, water and milk into a food processor and blend until combined.  Cover and stand for 20 minutes before using.



Heat a non stick shallow frying pan, a crepe pan if you have one, add 2 Tblspns butter and 1 Tblspn batter, swirling to cover pan, cook 1-2  minutes then turn and cook the other side for 1 minute until lightly brown.
Remove and store on a plate, repeat with batter, storing on top of each other, until they are all cooked.

(N.B.  If you are lucky enough to live near an Asian supermarket, you can buy frozen peking duck pancake wrappers and defrost before using or heat for 1 minute in the microwave in the opened plastic bag.)

We swapped the convenience of great shopping for a greener lifestyle and stock up on supplies and herbs from Asian supermarkets when in the city.  Our peking duck wrappers usually run out between city visits so I often make my own.

While the duck is still happily roasting away, you could turn it after 50 minutes if your oven is not fan forced to brown the underside.

Take 2 cucumbers; peel them, cut in half lengthwise and remove the seeds.  Then slice into 4cm long matchsticks, place in a serving bowl.

Wash and chop 8 green shallots into similar lengths and place in another serving bowl.

Place 1/2 cup hoisin sauce in a small serving bowl, mix with 1/2 tspn five spice powder and 2 Tbs soy sauce.

Place the duck onto a wooden serving board and rest for 10 minutes.

Slice the duck, placing the skin to one side so it can be finely chopped.  Shred the remaining duck meat.
You can also buy an excellent inexpensive Peking duck knife/cleaver from an Asian supermarket, designed specifically to slice the duck finely.  As you can see, Peking duck is a serious tradition :D

                    

                       Take 1 pancake, 

                      spread a spoonful 

                  of hoisin sauce over top,            

              2 cucumbers and1 shallot slice, 

               then some duck meat and skin.  

                Roll up to enclose and enjoy!

Peking Duck Recipe

1 x 2.2kg muscovy or pekin duck

Basting Mix

1/4 cup molasses

2 Tblspns honey

2 Tblspns boiling water

Mix together and baste over top of duck until it is dry.  You can use a hair dryer to speed up the process.

Cavity Flavourings

3 slices lemon

1 cinnamon stick

2 star anise

Peking Duck Pancakes

1 cup plain flour

4 Tablespoons cornflour

1/2 cup tepid water

1/2 cup milk

4 eggs

2 Tablespoons butter, melted

Blend together in a food processor.  Cover and stand 20 minutes then cook 1 Tblspn batter as for crepes.

Extras

2 green cucumbers, sliced into 4 -5 cm lengths

6 - 8 green shallots, sliced into 4 - 5cm lengths

1/2 cup hoisin sauce

(Optional, you can add 1/2 teaspoon five spice powder and 2 Tablespoons soy sauce to hoisin sauce)

This recipe will serve 5 people, a 2.5kg duck will serve 6.
Please, if you like my recipe, try it and let me know if you found it easy and divinely delicious.

Very Berry Good Cupcakes

Berry Good Cupcakes

Monday mornings are usually my morning for baking.  The children are at school, MOH (my other half) is out working and the house is peacefully quiet.  I had bought a punnet of blueberries on Saturday and was planning to pop them into moist cupcakes.  Gathering together the essential ingredients, I noticed the blueberries had disappeared, most likely on top of the pavlova offered on Sunday.  Luckily there was a packet of frozen mixed berries in the freezer, for exactly these moments.

 
Today when I was creating these berry cupcakes, I was reminded of our neighbour when we were still in infants school.  She was an amazing baker of sweet goodies, going on to train as a home economics and craft teacher for high school children.  Back then though, she was simply 'Barbara' Mum's friend who would occasionally baby sit my brother and I after school at her home when my mother had to work.

What I particularly remember is that when she mixed delightfully yummy sweet treats in a bowl, she would never let us get a spoonful of uncooked mixture.  Thereafter I always played in the back yard looking forward to when her sweet delights were cooked and we were invited in for afternoon tea.

 Wash a home grown lemon, or at least an unwaxed one and grate the zest into a large bowl.
 Mix the zest with 1 1/4 cups of caster sugar, rubbing the mixture with your fingers to agitate the zest and envelope the sugar with the amazing aroma of lemon zest.

 Add plain flour, sifted baking powder and salt along with ground almonds.

Mix all together with spoon and place the frozen berries on top.

In another, smaller bowl,   place the eggs, yoghurt, vanilla and almond essences.  Lightly mix together.

In another small bowl, melt 4 tablespoons of butter and add rice bran oil.

Lightly stir the berries into the flour bowl to coat them with the dry powder.
Pour the egg mixture and butter mixtures into the combined flour with berry bowl.
Lightly fold until the mixtures are just combined.

Preheat oven to 175 degrees celcious.
Grease and line cup cake pans with paper wrappers.
Fill to the top of the paper with mixture as these do not rise very much.

Bake in middle of oven for about 20 minutes, rotating half way through to help evenly brown them.
When cupcakes are gently risen and light brown on top, remove and place them to rest for 2 minutes before turning them onto a wire rack to cool.

This quantity makes 16 berry delicious cupcakes.

Berry Good Cupcakes

1 lemon, zest finely grated
1 1/2 cups fine caster sugar
1 slightly raised cup of plain flour
1/2 cup ground almonds
2 teaspoons baking powder
pinch of salt
1 1/4 cups mixed berries, fresh or frozen
3 eggs
1/2 cup natural yoghurt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/3 cup rice bran oil (or similar flavourless vegetable oil)
4 tablespoons melted butter

Bake at 175 degrees celcius for about 20 minutes.
Makes 16.
Enjoy!