chewy chocolate gingerbread cookies

Oh yum. These delicious bikkies are thanks to stalking pinterest.


I followed the trail to brownies for dinner, who had adapted it from Martha's original version here. To be honest - Martha's photos aren't nearly as inviting and I probably would have walked right by if I'd seen them first.


So, here's my Aussie version of the recipe, which worked out really well and made more like 30 than 24 bikkies:



chewy chocolate gingerbread cookies


preheat oven to 170 degrees celcius.


whip together:
125g softened salt reduced butter
1 heaped tbs fresh grated ginger


add:
1/2 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar (the darker the better)


then:
1/2 cup treacle


mix together:
1tsp bicarb soda
1 1/2 tsp hot water
and add it to the wet ingredients


sift together:
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
(you could also add the 1/4 tsp ground cloves if you have them)
1 tbs cocoa


add the dry ingredients to the wet.


then mix through:
1 cup dark chocolate chips


tip the wet dough onto a large rectangle of plastic wrap. wrap it up and shape into a 1 inch thick rectangle. put it in the fridge to firm up for at least 3-4 hours (or overnight).


cut into 1 inch squares. roll a little into balls - this doesn't have to be too perfect though as the dough melts and flattens into a circle in the oven.


roll balls in:
1/3 raw sugar
1 tsp cocoa



bake with plenty of space between each for about 12 minutes. they'll be really soft when you first take them out of the oven, so leave them on the tray to cool until moving them into your mouth. Just kidding. sort of.

it's still his birthday year

OK, so it was back in February and now it's June. June 6th to be exact and my niece's 2nd birthday today - Happy Birthday gorgeous girl! So, in celebration of her birthday and only 4 months and 2 days after my little man's birthday - here's his cake!



It's a train!

The design is from the Women's Weekly kids birthday cake book. The new one. I think the vintage reprint came out afterwards. I have it now. I made it with a chocolate cake that our nephews can eat (allergy boys). It's egg and dairy free.

a bit of sunshine

I wish I could find the time and the guts to use a platform like this blog to create and store memories of my time with my little angels, like some other bloggers out there - I'm particularly thinking of Rebekah from a bit of sunshine, when skies are grey.

Also, I wouldn't mind living in Seattle for a while. Let's be honest.

chloe's christening quilt

I can't believe I thought I could do it. And I also can't believe I actually did it. I realised on Monday night that I wasn't going to be able to get a gift for little Chloe's christening that I would like to give her.

As in, I couldn't really think of anything and the second daughter always misses out on things because there are always loads of hand-me-downs from big sister. So Monday night I thought to myself - I'll make her a quilt. And I went to the stash, pulled out a bunch of pinks and bright sky blues, shuffled them around and thought, yep, there's enough there. Then I googled to see what dimensions I needed to make a cot size quilt (100 x 120cm or 40 x 48inches approx). After that, I got a piece of paper and drew up the design (coins? I think it's called) and worked out my piece sizes.

Much to my husbands annoyance (he was trying to watch Q&A), I finished sewing up the top that night. YAY!

Today, Friday, I finished off the last of the binding.



In between, I went to both Quiltsmith AND Calico and Ivy to get wadding, bias binding (no time for DIY) and a new thimble.





I'm very pleased with myself (can you tell?). I made sure it was clear this was Chloe's very own special quilt especially for her, by quilting her name into it. I've only ever hand quilted, so this time I made sure it was simple enough to finish on time.

leftover lamb roast fritters

Wow - you know what? These were particularly tasty. I was very pleasantly surprised. We had a big leg of lamb for lunch East Sunday and I didn't want all the leftover meat to go to waste, so I did a few searches for leftover lamb and adapted the recipe I found here.

leftover lamb roast fritters

1 to 2 cups diced leftover lamb
1 egg
1 cup SR flour
140ml milk - approx
salt & pepper to taste
1 to 2 tsp herbs (I used 1 tsp oregano, 1/2 tsp basil and 1/2 tsp ground cumin)
1/4 cup fresh parsley
1 carrot grated
2 cloves garlic crushed
2 shallots chopped
butter and oil for cooking

Pan fry the shallots and garlic and put with the lamb, vegetables, salt & pepper, herbs.
Combine flour, egg and milk.
Beat with a whisk until thick and lump free.
Add more milk until batter resembles lightly whipped cream consistancy.
Fold in diced lamb mix.
Heat a fry pan to medium heat add a knob of butter and equal quantity of oil.
When hot add a ladle full of batter at a time cooking until bubbles form on top turn over and cook for 30 seconds more remove to papered plate and cook the rest adding butter and oil as necessary. Keep warm in the oven if required.

My tips - left over roast veges added to this mix would be great. You could also grate a zucchini in, but you'd have to remember to squeeze it dry before adding it to the mix.

I served it with leftover *real* gravy from the roast the other day - definitely a winner! The mash was good too! If you don't have real gravy, fake grave would probably taste OK too. But not as good.

pa's day today

ANZAC Day. Here's to my Pa. He's not out with all the oldies on ANZAC Day anymore, but he loves watching the march on the telly.



This gorgeous portrait of pa was taken a couple of weeks ago by my sister lauren.

don't choke on chokkie

Happy Easter!



Don't choke on chokkie like my little man did yesterday.... I obviously don't feed him enough chocolate because he inhaled it in his excitement...