Mum brings Macadamia Nuts!

So my mum brought a massive vacuum packed bag of Macadamia nuts from Australia and I had to use them (also because they are delicious). So I altered a Chocolate Pistachio Biscotti recipe from the Martha Stewart's Cookies cookbook to use up some of the Macadamias.

The result were a huge hit at a BBQ I took them to. Best served with coffee after consuming various meats :)

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
  
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
  
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup macadamia nuts coarsely chopped
  
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F and have your Silpat ready.

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy (KitchenAids are helpful at this point). Add eggs; beat until well combined, scraping down sides of bowl if necessary. Add flour mixture, and stir to form a stiff dough. Stir in nuts and chocolate chips.
2. Transfer dough to silpat/baking sheet; form into a slightly flattened log, about 12 by 4 inches. Bake until slightly firm, about 25 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for about 5 minutes.
   
3. Reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees.
4. On a cutting board, using a sharp serrated knife, cut biscotti diagonally into 1-inch-thick slices. Arrange biscotti, cut sides down, on baking sheet, and bake until crisp but still slightly soft in the center, about 8 minutes.
5. Endulge your chocolate craving until horrible guilty feelings take over...

So many plums, so little time...

An excess of plums and imminent cold weather make me want to make a plum and apple crumble. Crumble = Crisp for all those the non-Australian types.

Crunchy yummy Top:
3/4 cup of flour
1/4 cup of oats
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 stick of cold cubed butter (accept NO substitutes)

Juicy sweet filling:
about 2 lbs of plums
1-2 large apples
1/4 cup of brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375 F. Then mix all the filling ingredients and pour into a buttered oven proof dish. Mix the butter into the other topping ingredients and scatter on top of fruit. Bake for 40-45 minutes until your whole house smells like heaven. Then walk to store while crumble cools to buy essential accompaniment (Ice Cream)

Elvis was fat...for a reason

This little (I use the word very loosely) baby is called "Elvis Presley's favorite pound cake". I got the recipe from www.epicurious.com and tweaked it by adding the zest of one (preferably organic) lemon. It is the all time most requested from my old secretary Sherice.

How can you go wrong with that much butter, sugar and heavy cream??

Chocolate raspberry cake

I made this double layer chocolate fudge cake with raspberry filling and chocolate butter cream frosting for a chocoholic...YUM. The extra chocolate adorning the top was a special treat for the Birthday girl.