I always, always came to rest on Chinese Chews. But for some reason, another recipe always won out. It may be because we didn’t often have walnuts, dates or crystallised ginger (or all three) in the house. It may be because the tried and true chocolate cake in Alison Holst’s “What’s Cooking” was too tempting. For whatever reason, I’ve wanted to make these for nearly 20 years.

I don’t know what I expected them to be – that’s half the fun of recipe books with no photos, you have no pre-conceived idea of what they should be or look like. Turns out their like a chewy, short cross between a cake and a slice. Sort of like a brownie but much lighter and   not made with chocolate.

They’re not actually a family recipe, as most of my vintage cooking posts. These are from the Edmonds cookbook that almost everyone has. They’re a lovely wee weekend bake. As with many of these old recipes, what makes these “Chinese”? No idea.  Could be the inclusion of exotic ingredients such as dates and ginger?

Chinese Chews
from Edmonds Cookery Book

2 eggs
1 cup brown sugar
75g butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla
1½ cups plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
½ cup rolled oats
¾ cup chopped dates
¾ cup chopped walnuts
¾ cup crystallised ginger

Preheat the oven to 180°(C). Line a 23cm square cake tin (or I used a brownie pan).

Beat eggs and sugar until well mixed. Add butter and vanilla. Into a large bowl sift flour, baking powder and salt. Stir in rolled oats. Pour egg mixture into the sifted dry ingredients. Add dates, walnuts and ginger. Mix well. Spread mixture into prepared tin. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until cooked. Cut into squares while still hot.

David Lebovitz - Chocolate-Prune Cake. This looks gorgeous – and I think the inclusion of prunes makes for a very sophisticated cake.

After Taste – Lemon Biscuit Slice. This one is a classic!

Couscous & Consciousness – Baked Figs with Walnut Tarragon Cream & Rocket Salad. Gorgeous title right? I wish I had access to figs that didn’t burn a hole in my wallet…

Cupcakes & Cashmere – Strawberry Tart. Summer seems a long, long way away. But save this recipe up in the meantime. Such a perfect-looking tart!

Made By Mike – Peanut Butter – Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies. This is a new-to-me blog. These cookies just scream American-ness and I’d like to make them. Just cos.

Have a great weekend everyone! I wish the food show was on for a second week in Wellington. So, so, so much tasting. And the infomercial people talked me into buying a steam mop and some shammies. I think I might use the steam mop, and I better find a use for the shammies before I eat my own conscience.

I like to think I’m a reasonable, skeptical, analytical kind of person who scoffs at infomercials on TV. How did they do this to me???

Please, please, somebody post a comment on how awesome steam mops and/or shammies are.

This is a really easy little curry that cooks up quickly and is super tasty, plus it’s pretty healthy so ticks all my boxes. I’ve adapted the recipe below to allow for ingredients more available in New Zealand and picked the healthy substitutes where possible. Fingers crossed Nigella doesn’t mind my sharing it with you. If you like it, I recommend you pick one of her beautiful books up!

Red Prawn & Mango Curry
Serves 2
Adapted from Nigella Express

1 Tbsp canola oil (or if you prefer, a spritz of cooking oil spray)
1 spring onion, finely sliced
1-2 Tbsp red Thai curry paste, to taste
200ml light coconut milk
1 cup reduced-salt chicken stock
2 tsp fish sauce
350g kumara or pumpkin*
200g frozen prawns, thawed
1 tsp lime juice
150g mango cubes**
3-4 Tbsp chopped fresh coriander
rice or noodles, to serve

* I used pumpkin, and I think I zapped it in the microwave for a couple of minutes before starting the curry to speed the process up.
**I used a fresh mango, but I think (drained) canned mango would also work

Heat the oil in a wok or large frying pan, and fry the sliced spring onion for a minute, then add the curry paste. Whisk in the coconut milk, chicken stock and fish sauce, and bring to the boil. Tip in the pumpkin or kumara (possibly microwaved, as per above). Simmer, partially covered, for about 15 minutes, or until tender.

Drain the prawns and run them under the cold tap if you need to get any last bits of ice off. Add them to the pan, letting the sauce come back to the boil. When it does, add the lime juice and mango and cook for another minute or two, until the prawns are cooked through.

Serve over noodles or rice and sprinkle with chopped coriander.

I made this gingerbread a few Sundays ago. It didn’t turn out quite as dark as I’d like (I’m still thinking about this black, sticky gingerbread from 101 Cookbooks), but the recipe is definitely a keeper. The demerara sugar gives it a kind of crunchier texture than plain old white or brown sugar, and the ginger sprinkled on top makes for a delicious crusty edge.

I lowered the fat in it by replacing butter with fruit purée and low-fat spread. It’s still high really in sugar, so you couldn’t call it exactly healthy… but it is better than a lot of gingerbread recipes out there. I baked it as a cake, but I’m also thinking about halving the recipe and making it into a loaf.

I recommend it for a grey weekend afternoon. By the way, if Mother’s Day slipped past you this year, it’s not too late! You can make this for an afternoon tea for your mum

Low(er) Fat Gingerbread
Loosely based on a recipe in Food magazine

3½ cups flour
1 Tbsp ground ginger
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp mixed spice
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1¼ cups demerara sugar
75g low fat table spread
½ cup treacle
½ cup golden syrup
100g fruit purée*
½ cup milk
2 eggs, lightly beaten
¼-½ cup crystallised ginger, finely sliced

*either bought apple sauce or pie filling, or I suggest homemade apple purée. You could also try mashed banana.

Preheat the oven to 180°(C). Line the base and sides of a square or round tin – I made this one in a 20cm square tin, but this cake was probably too big for it. I’m planning on using my 23cm round springform next time.

Sift the flour, ground ginger, spices, baking powder, baking soda and salt together. Stir in the sugar and make a well in the centre.

Microwave the spread gently until it has JUST melted (it’s fine if there are still a couple of lumps of unmeltedness), and stir in the treacle and golden syrup. Stir in the fruit purée too. Beat in the milk and eggs. Pour into the dry ingredients and stir to make a smooth batter. Pour it into the prepared cake tin and sprinkle the crystallised ginger over the top.

Bake for about 70 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean. Leave it in the tin for 20 minutes before turning on to a rack to cool.

Firstly, it’s Friday! That means only a few hours until wine time and the weekend. And the Food Show’s on in Wellington this weekend; even better. I’m planning in earnest this year, last year I couldn’t carry all my things back to the car. I’m thinking that a backpack, although geeky, will be the way forward this time. Maybe I’ll see you there?

Secondly, I have found some excellent posts from various blogs for you. How about:

101 Cookbooks – Rhubarb & Rosewater Syrup – Rhubarb from my market is pretty good at the moment. I’ve been stewing it with brown sugar to have on porridge at the weekends, and I had a rhubarb fool in mind for this weekend. Might pick up an extra bunch to make this syrup, what do you think?

Something Else to Eat – Lazy-Cook Dinner for One – I think this meal looks such a nice little dinner, as Anne puts it. I find pork kind of dry on its own, but love it with apricots. Winner!

Sweetapolita - La La Lavender & Lemon Cloud Cupcakes – this is a bit la la, but these cupcakes are really cute. And I love the lavender and lemon colour combination. Could be a good mother’s day present if you haven’t already got that sorted!

Two Spoons – Clean out your nutella jar, and have your hazelnut hot chocolate too – cute idea from Zo! And you can spot her in Taste magazine this month too!

Raspberri Cupcakes – Tim Tam Cake – I came across this via Cake Girl Abroad, so some credit should go there, too! This looks truly incredible. Great idea and brilliant execution!

Have a lovely weekend, hope the weather is good wherever you are!

Ugh.

At least I had some cheery soup for lunch and didn’t have to leave the office. So today’s a good day to share the recipe.

I don’t have a lot to add to that short introduction today! Time to make a hot chocolate and turn the electric blanket on. Sometimes it seems a long stretch until September doesn’t it?

Ginger, Carrot & Kumara Soup

1 Tbsp olive or canola oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cup good quality chicken stock (or vege stock for a vegetarian soup)
1 cup water
1 medium kumara, peeled and chopped
4-6 carrots, chopped
5cm piece of fresh ginger, chopped (or about 1 Tbsp minced ginger)
plain yoghurt and rolls to serve

Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Gently cook the onion for 3-4 minutes, until soft. Add the stock and water, and the kumara, carrots and ginger. Bring to the boil and simmer until the vegetables are tender, probably about 20 minutes.

Now to blend the soup – with either a stick blender or a food processor. I don’t have a stick blender so you’re on your own for instruction there! I just spoon my soup into the food processor and puree it in batches. Pop all the blended soup back in the saucepan and let it heat through again. Season to taste.

Serve with a spoonful of plain yoghurt and a grainy roll.

And set spoons on the table so your reflection makes it into the photo. That’s hot.

We also used to go to Titri every spring to pick daffodils – nobody knows when or why they were planted, but an enormous field of daffies cropped up in front of the house every single year.

I don’t know when the old house at Titri was built, but this photo was taken sometime around 1900. You can see its amazing garden – a huge vege patch to the side of the house, and flowers, trees and shrubs in front. It also would have had an orchard. Just in the background at the left you can see the dairy shed where the family made their butter.

My great-grandparents, Charlie and Mary farmed here. Sadly, Charlie died suddenly in 1945, when their four children were still teenagers, and from then on, Mary ran the farm with the help of the boys. My grandmother moved to another farm in 1953 when she married my grandfather.

This is Mary (seated) in front of the old house – my grandmother is standing beside her, and the little baby is my mum!

A new farm house was built at Titri in the 1960s, but Ben and Max never really got around to pulling down the old one. This photo was taken around the late 80s or early 90s, and you can see the old house in tumble-down form.

I have a recipe from Titri for you today. You might have read my previous Vintage Cooking posts – I’ve been working on a project to make recipes from my grandmother’s and great-grandmother’s recipe books.

This was actually one of the first recipes I tried from Mary’s book – how could you go past a name like Goldenglow Cake?

It’s quite lovely – it’s really a vanilla cake, but has just a tablespoon of cocoa, which gives it quite an interesting colour and flavour. The real discovery was in the icing, which is boiled. Actually, it’s like an unset/unbeaten caramel fudge that you pour over the top of the cake. I took some liberty and sprinkled with walnuts and pistachios, of which I’m sure Mary would have approved.

Goldenglow Cake

¼ lb butter
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1½ cups flour
1½ baking powder
1 Tbsp cocoa
3 Tbsp milk

Icing:
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup white sugar
3 Tbsp milk
vanilla
pistachios and/or walnuts, to decorate (optional)

To make the cake:
Preheat the oven to 180°(C). Grease a 20 or 23cm round cake tin and/or line with baking paper.

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and beat again. Sift the dry ingredients and add them to the  butter mixture in three lots, alternating with the  milk.

Pour the batter into the cake tin and bake. Now I unfortunately didn’t write down how long mine took, but I imagine it was about 45 minutes. Unfortunately Mary has a habit of only leaving lists of ingredients, so she can’t help us, either. I’d say go for 45 minutes but check it frequently. It will be cooked when the sides start to come away from the tin, and a skewer comes out clean.

Leave the cake in its tin for a few minutes before turning out onto a rack to cool. I cut mine through the middle and spread with plum jam before icing – I think I was worried I’d slightly overcooked the cake and it would be dry without it – so that’s an option if you like jam. And who doesn’t?

To make the icing:
Put the sugars and milk in a small saucepan and place over medium heat. Bring slowly to the boil, boil for three minutes, then remove from the heat, add the vanilla and beat until creamy. Quickly pour over the cake (or it will set like fudge), and sprinkle with roughly chopped pistachios and walnuts.

Difficult choices this week! So many delicious blog posts. All locals on the list… enjoy!

At Down Under – A Fall Picnic. You must visit this post – Viviane has outdone herself with this picnic and photography!

Baking = Love – How you like them apples? Apple & Olive Oil Cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting. Nessie always has the most amazing baking treats – don’t these look incredible?

Heartbreak Pie – bathe in feijoas, bathe in glory. I’m loving feijoas at the moment – I feel they help with the transition into colder weather! Love feijoas, love little mini-loaves, love ginger, love cream cheese… it’s a deal.

Grace Cakes – Pretty in Pinterest – Movie Cakes. Check these cakes out that Lydia found on Pinterest. I’m still trying to work out how the ‘Up’ cake works…??

Pease Pudding – Turkish Silverbeet & Feta Gozleme. This really is the most mouth-watering post. I’m going to make it this weekend.

Have a tasty weekend everyone!

Mum and Dad live in the country, and Dossy’s always loved the rural life – coming and going as she pleases, and bringing home all sorts of impressive hunting trophies (well, impressive to her, anyway). She’s a haughty old girl – while she’s cuddly and affectionate, you’re somehow left with the feeling that she sees you as a member of her staff, rather than a respected equal.

Sadly, Dossy’s age caught up with her this year, and she had to be put to sleep a couple of weeks ago. We all wanted to end her suffering, but I have to say it was devastating! Pets like Dossy truly become members of the family and it’s very hard to say goodbye, even long after you’ve “grown up” and left home.

It may seem odd to create a dish in honour of a pet, but hey, this is a cooking blog, and anyway, there are weirder things than this on the interweb. And venison was Dossy’s favourite food.

My dad and brother are hunter-gatherer types so we occasionally get treated to wild venison, and Dossy used to go bananas for it. Even if Dossy was fast asleep in another part of the house, she’d know when Mum was cooking it or even defrosting it in the microwave and nearly have her paws up at the microwave door trying to get to it. So Dossy, this one is for you!

Pets aside, this is the tastiest way of cooking venison I’ve come across. The dark beer makes for a bitter, almost chocolate-y casserole, and the venison cooks to a tender, tasty filling. Dumplings make a nice addition, although they’re still new to me (and they make me think of eating chicken and dumplings when she – of she’ll be coming ’round the mountain – comes).

Venison Casserole with Herb & Mustard Dumplings
loosely based on a recipe from Country Living

800g venison, cut into casserole-size pieces
fresh thyme, if you’ve got it
1 bay leaf
500ml dark ale or stout
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, finely sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 Tbsp plain flour
1 tsp dried oregano
½ tsp ground coriander
250ml beef stock
sprig rosemary
100g  plain flour
1½ tsp baking powder
large pinch English mustard powder
pinch salt
1 tsp horseradish cream (or more to your taste)
30g low fat spread
¼-½ cup trim milk

If you’re reading this the day before you want to make this casserole, good news! You can get a head start by marinating your venison in a non-metallic bowl with the thyme, bay leaf and ale in the fridge overnight (or for up to two days).

If you want to eat it tonight, good news! You don’t need the thyme or bay leaf after all.

Whichever way… on the day you want to eat the casserole, start by preheating the oven to 170°(C). If your venison’s been marinating, drain off the marinade, reserving the ale but discarding the herbs. Get a stove-top-proof casserole dish ready.

Pat the meat dry with paper towels, and season well by rubbing with salt and pepper. Heat a dash of oil in the casserole dish and quickly fry the venison in batches to brown it nicely. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Heat another small dash of oil in the casserole and gently cook the onion and garlic for a few minutes, until softened. Stir in the flour, oregano and coriander, and cook for 1 minute, coating the onion. Gradually add the hot stock and then the ale, ½-1 cup at a time, stirring until it’s thickened before you add the next lot. Do this over med-high heat (not so hot it sizzles and evaporates as soon as you pour it in!). Once all the liquid’s aboard, return the venison to the pan with the rosemary. Season well, cover and bring to the boil. Once it’s at a simmer, move the casserole dish to the preheated oven and cook for 1½ hours.

To make the dumplings, sift the flour, baking powder and mustard powder into a bowl. Add the salt and horseradish cream. Melt the spread and pour this over the top. Mix with a knife, and add just enough milk to make a soft but not-too-sticky dough. You can add more flour if you find you’ve put too much milk in. Using floured hands, shape 10-12 dumplings – I make mine slightly smaller than golf balls. Add these to the casserole, put the lid back on and return to the oven for 15-20 minutes. Take the lid off and cook for a further 5 minutes.

Serve the casserole with simple steamed veges like carrots and green beans.

If you’d like to enter, follow the details below. I’ll do a round-up of all entries at the end of May. Looking forward to seeing everyone’s creations!

Sweet New Zealand

1 This blogging event is open to all bloggers living in New Zealand and Kiwis living and/or blogging overseas. This is not a competition and there are no prizes or winners: it is just a way for Kiwi bloggers to connect and share recipes.

2 You can take part with anything sweet: cakes, fruit salads, biscuits, slices, desserts, ice creams, drinks…You can write a new recipe or send the link for an old recipe, up to you. Multiple entries are also accepted and welcomed.