Recipes

Banana Sheet Cake with Whipped Dark Chocolate Ganache

There are very few things I would change about my Husband Rich. He's the consistent to my rollercoaster moods, the calm to my crazy. But he has horrific taste in frosting. Unless it's what we call "shitty chocolate icing" (I've since managed to at least get him to agree to a chocolate american buttercream), he doesn't want anything to do with it. He will scrape the buttercream off cakes, chop it off the top of cupcakes, or just flat out refuse anything involving swiss meringue buttercream. Last weekend I was taking a cake for a friends birthday and he asked if he could BRING HIS OWN FROSTING. And as much as I try to not let it bug me, I always get a little bummed out when he scrapes frosting off or eats around it. My theory is that the fancier it is, the longer it took me, or the more components it has, the higher the chances are of him not liking it. Banana bread? He will eat a whole loaf in a day. Multi component choux buns? He's gonna ask me to leave him some unfilled so he can eat them plain. Luckily I have loads of friends who aren't as basic in baking preferences as Rich, but I always have to remind myself when presenting him with something that's taken me ages or is super intricate, that he's probably not going to like it because he's a monster. Is it just me? Or does this happen to other people too?

I did however manage to sneak this banana sheet cake with whipped dark chocolate ganache past him the other day. Granted, he did request an american buttercream when I made it for him for his birthday, but at least this one didn't get scraped off (I don't know what's wrong with him, honestly, because the ganache is the best part). Banana cake is a huge favourite around our house, probably because it's just banana bread in a different form.

The cake itself is super super easy, and all I have done is fancied it up a little with a whipped dark chocolate ganache. The ganache is dark and rich, and balances the sweet, moist cake. Feel free to add a different buttercream to this (Rich recommends a double batch of this one, but a dark chocolate swiss meringue situation would also be amazing), but I do encourage you to give the ganache a go. It's worth it.

A few wee tips:

The Ganache does need some time to firm up in the fridge - you want to give it a little time on the bench first to reduce the condensation when you put on the plastic wrap. I like to let it firm up, stirring occasionally, until it is thick and fudgy, and then whip it - It usually needs about half an hour on the bench and then another 60-90 minutes in the fridge.
If you have another mixing bowl that would be great for this, alternatively I like to get the cake in the oven, and then wash out my mixer bowl, and make the ganache directly in it, so when it comes time to whip it, it's already in the right bowl.
If you let your ganache sit a little too long and it gets too firm, then as you are whipping it, take a little out, heat up in the microwave until soft and slightly warm, then add to the cold mixture. Mix it in, and repeat if needed to make the ganache the right consistency.

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Cherry Chocolate Macarons

Black Forest inspired Macarons - chocolate macarons with Dark Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream and Cherry Compote Filling. #Chocolate #Macaron #Blackforest #cherry #compote #Frenchmacaron

Hiiii! How on EARTH is is July tomorrow? I swear it was just Christmas? I have been a little preoccupied around here - shooting christmas content for a magazine, which was super fun but took up a fair whack of time, particularly as I had to do the whole lot in my counter top oven. I'm not the best with pressure (highly strung / just a stresser in general) so I will be stoked once it is all submitted. I can't wait to share when the time come. We also just got new foster kittens! They are super cute, but full of worms. I've dealt with more poop in the last week than I have in a very, very long time. Who knew so much wormy poop could come out of such tiny little babies! It's gross, but all part of the fostering process. Thankfully they seem to be feeling better, so hopefully all the shitty problems clear up and I can snuggle them without having to hold my nose very soon!

Just popping by to share this month's macaron recipe! I am sure nobody else is invested in this whatsoever, but I love the fun wee challenge of coming up with a new flavour combo each month.

We kept things pretty simple this time and went for a black forest inspired situation with a dark chocolate macaron with a cherry filling - chocolate shell, silky chocolate swiss meringue buttercream, and a cherry compote. Cherry season is in full swing here now, so it only made sense to incorporate them somehow! I love the combination of cherries and chocolate - we kept the compote simple to really let the flavour shine through. Happy end of June!

A few wee tips:

All my Mac tips are here! The chocolate macaron shells can be a little finicky, particularly in the humidity, but I promise they are worth the effort!
Ideally the cherry compote will chill overnight, but if you are in a pinch, you can spread it onto a quarter sheet pan, place a piece of plastic wrap over the surface, and pop it in the freezer until cold.
You will have some Swiss Meringue Buttercream left over - you can either half the recipe if you don't want this, or it keeps super well in the fridge if you wanted to use it for another project. I find that making half a batch of buttercream can be a little tricky, depending on your mixer. Plus I think if you're going to go to the effort you might as well make lots to use again!
Good quality cocoa powder makes a difference!

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Answers to your baking questions

Over the years, many of you have asked me questions about:

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Lemon and Basil Macarons

Just sneaking in on the last day of May to share our May recipe for macs! I know each time I post a macaron recipe I say that it is my favourite so far - but these ones really take the cake. I filled the shells with a lemon and basil cream, and a lemon gel. Lemon gel is something that has been familiar to me for a while, ever since I tasted it at the restaurant my friend worked at, but it was the first time I had made it. It's super simple - you make a simple syrup, combine with lemon juice, and then add agar agar, which is essentially vegan gelatin, made from a type of seaweed (same as petri dishes!). It sets up solid, and after an overnight rest, you blitz it up and it becomes the most amazing tart gel which is perfect to balance out creamy or sweet components. Unlike a curd it is not competing with the butter or the yolks in the recipe, so it gives a super intense lemon flavour which was amazing in the centre of the macs, and stood up amazingly against the lemon and basil cream.

The lemon and basil cream is essentially just a lemon curd, but made with a slightly different method - You cook everything apart from the butter together into a custard, then emulisify the butter into the mixture using an immersion blender. The result is a super creamy, spreadable cream, perfect for filling tarts or macarons. We popped some basil in there too - safe to say i'm going to be adding basil to a lot more lemon things from here on out.

A few wee tips:

I have put all the tips and tricks I can think of for macarons in this post!
Both the lemon basil cream and gel need overnight to set properly, so make sure that you allow time for this. They can be made a few days in advance if needed - and the cream freezes beautifully.
In fact, if you can, make the lemon basil cream a few days ahead, as it matures very nicely and the basil comes out more over time.
These do tend to go a little soggy after two days because of the gel - so if you have lots leftover, then it may be best to store it all separately then assemble as needed. I often store things such as buttercream or lemon cream in the fridge, in the piping bag I was using, just with a clip to seal.
I read something the other day about Bob's red Mill Superfine almond meal not being the best for french macs because of the moisture content - I switched mine up quick smart!
You can get agaragar on Amazon, or at health food stores! Read the reviews - the first stuff I got tasted like butts.

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Answers to your baking questions

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Jelly Tip Ice Cream Pops

A homemade take on the New Zealand Childhood favourite Jelly Tips - the top of ice cream pops are filled with jelly before being topped up with creamy vanilla bean ice cream, then dipped in a dark chocolate topping.

Confession time. I made these last year. As in, I tested the recipe a few times, made them, styled them, shot them, edited the photos, exported to my computer, drafted the recipe, and then didn't post them because I never got around to it, and suddenly it was cold. And then I totally forgot about them, until yesterday when I was flicking through my computer grabbing some photos for a project and stumbled across a little folder of goodness deep in my hard drive. And i'm not going to lie, I was pretty stoked - a) because the photos look ok ish (i've found old folders of photos before and just deleted on the spot and remade) and b) because it's been an entire week that the gas has been turned off in our building, so neither the stove or the baking part of the oven works, and i'm getting close to cutting someone. I just bought a little hotplate so we can make pasta, and I have a little toaster oven, but I'm not very impressed at all. Here's hoping it gets fixed, and in the mean time you can have last years jelly tip recipe!

These are based on an ice block (ice cream pop) I grew up on / still eat whenever i'm home - the jelly tip! The concept is very simple - it's literally a jelly tipped ice cream, dipped in chocolate. It's the best thing ever. There have been a bunch of jelly tip inspired ice creams, chocolate, and trashy shots when I was at university, but nothing compares to the real deal.

These homemade versions are super easy to make, and perfect for this summer! All you have to do is make some jelly (jello for americans) with half the amount of water that you usually would. You then fill up your popsicle moulds (we spell moulds / molds different too haha) a third of the way with this mixture, stick the stick in, and freeze. The jelly is then topped off with a creamy vanilla bean ice cream - you could definitely use store bought here and re-freeze, but making your own ice cream is much easier than it looks, and extra delicious. Once they are nice and frozen, the whole thing is dipped in a chocolate magic shell situation, which hardens into a crispy, thin shell that shatters when you bite into it. The whole thing then goes back into the freezer until you are ready to serve. These would be perfect to bring out of the freezer as a dessert to finish off a summer bbq, or perfect at a party! Secret popsicles in the freezer is one of my favourite things to do if we have people over - all the work is done beforehand, you just have to hand them out when you're ready to serve!

A few wee tips:

I used Raspberry 'jello' for this recipe - I think that most packets of jelly will work, just make sure that you make it with half the amount of water required so it freezes without being too icy. The real jelly tips had a slightly bouncy texture - probably from a specially formulated recipe, but this works just as well!
You're going to have some ice cream leftover - store in a covered container in the freezer.
I made 6 pops, because that's how many popsicle moulds I had, but you will have some ice cream left over if you only make 6. Either you can make more pops if you have more moulds (you may need another packet of jelly), or you can just transfer the extra ice cream into a container and freeze for another time.
The recipe for the chocolate shell makes quite a lot - the reason for this is that you need to have enough of it to dip the ice creams into it completely. I put it in a narrow mason jar (make sure the ice cream pop will fit in), so that when I dipped in the ice cream pop, it displaced the chocolate shell enough to cover the whole pop nicely. You can keep the extra in the jar and re-heat when needed to serve as chocolate shell on your leftover ice cream 😉
I made the jelly, poured into the moulds, froze, then made the anglaise and left to cool. A few hours later, once the anglaise was cool and the jelly was frozen, I churned the ice cream and added to the moulds. They were left to freeze overnight, then unmoulded, briefly re-frozen and dipped the next day. You can make the anglaise the day before you start if you like! Just make sure you allow enough time for the different components to freeze.
I use this popsicle mold. It's a little expensive, but so worth it when it comes to getting them out of the mold. So much easier to use, and the little lids help suspend the sticks perfectly in the ice cream.

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Kaffir Lime Macarons

Happy Sunday! We are having a quiet one around here - we just did 12 million loads of laundry, and are making the most of having some quiet before things get busy for us the next few weeks! Gonna sit on my butt for the rest of the day, my friend is coming around and we are going to watch the new episodes of Handmaids tale! I am so excited.

My Mum left yesterday, after the best two weeks ever of visiting! She's still not home just yet though, despite leaving over 24 hours ago. Lol. The joys of living on the opposite side of the world. She hasn't been here since I first moved to NYC four years ago, so it was so nice to show her all of the things that we have been up to the last four years. Lots has changed since she last visited! We ate at all of the food spots, saw all the broadway shows, and she kicked my ass in the gym. Winner. I had big plans of making her all the yum vegetarian meals we have been eating recently, but in a hilariously ironic turn of events it turned out I was low on iron, so there were a few sneaky steaks in there too. How is it that Mums always know best?

I always get hugely gutted when my family leaves after visiting - i'm such a huge, huge homebody that saying goodbye really really sucks. I always throw myself into things to hide the homesickness that it dredges up, so after spontaneously getting 5 inches cut off my hair instead of a trim, booking for our couch to be cleaned on Wednesday (v v excited!) and washing everything we own, here I am popping this recipe just here for you! Or for me, because I sure as hell am going to make these again.

These are the April installment of the Macaron a Month. Sneaking in with one day to spare, although we made these a few weeks ago. I got Rich a Kaffir Lime tree for Christmas a few years ago (I am excellent at giving gifts that I want), and although it sucks at growing fruit, it is a champ at making beautiful leaves, and while they aren't as intense as the fruit, they are perfect for infusing things! I love the flavour the leaves impart in things - it really is hard to describe, so you will have to just try it for yourself! I've made a kaffir lime ice cream before that was totally bomb, so I knew that they would go so well in a buttercream too.

I used the leaves to infuse a german buttercream, adding them to the pastry cream as I cooked it out, and then we ground some leaves with sugar and added to the final buttercream too, just to add some teeny green flecks. German buttercream will be forever my fave, as it isn't too intensely buttery tasting thanks to the pastry cream base balancing everything out nicely. It is also super easy to infuse, meaning that it is super versatile. We kept the shells simple, coloured with a little gel food colouring, and then really let rip with the kaffir lime buttercream. These are probably some of my fave macarons I have had to date - the flavour is super delicate, almost difficult to put your finger on, but insanely amazing.

A few wee tips:

I have put as many tips as I can possibly think of in this post!
Most Macarons taste better after a rest in the fridge overnight, but these in particular especially benefit from a rest - the flavour of the kaffir lime gets stronger and more developed with time.
Filled Macarons freeze beautifully, if you don't eat all of them first.
You can usually get Kaffir Lime leaves at a thai grocer or spice market. If you by chance happen to get some fruit, add some of the zest to the buttercream for an extra intense flavour.
If you need a template, print two of these and stick them together to use as a guide.

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Choux au Craquelin with Caramelised White Chocolate Ganache

Choux au Craquelin (Cream Puffs) with Caramelised White Chocolate Whipping Ganache, Caramelised Bananas, and Pecan Brittle. This recipe has a few steps but is easy to break up, and these make the perfect dessert!

Choux au Craquelin

Confession time. I feel like I've been missing out for a very long time. Missing out on how insanely, amazingly, delicious choux pastry is, and how easy it is to make. For some reason it was filed squarely away in my list of 'things that are difficult to make', and i'm totally bummed out that it was there for so long. Maybe it was the french name. Maybe it's because the last time I tried to make it, I carefully piped out a whole tray of 'eclairs' before Dad pointed out I had accidentally piped out things that were definitely more phallic than originally intended. Or maybe just because I thought it was tricky. But I dunno why it was there for so long. Because not only is it fun, and easy to make, but it is ridiculously versatile. You can fill it with whatever you please, or just eat the buns as they are. Both are amazing. You need to make.

And seeing as this is the first choux recipe I have posted, it seems only fair and reasonable that I go all out, right? Why would I share a simple cream puff recipe, filled with whipped cream, when I can take a cream puff, add a layer of crunchy delicious cookie dough before it is baked, and then fill it with caramelised bananas, pecan brittle, and caramelised white chocolate whipping ganache? If we are going to have fun with cream puffs round here, we might as well do it properly.

What is Craquelin?

My mind was low key blown by a few things here. The first was the addition of the craquelin. I had seen it before, and assumed it was a super fancy technique. I was amazed to learn that it was simply a very thin layer of cookie dough, frozen, and placed in a disc on the piped out choux mound before it is baked. As the choux bun bakes in the oven, and somehow magically puffs up, the craquelin melts and spreads over the surface of the bun, creating the most beautiful crackly finish.

The second was the whipping ganache. When I was planning out this recipe, I turned to my amazing friend Lisa, who is a pastry chef in London. Not only is she insanely talented, but she puts up with me bombing her with questions about flavour profiles, recipes, and plating on the regular, and still hasn't told me to go away. This time in particular, she sent through a recipe for a whipping ganache, which I hadn't heard of before. It is similar to a regular ganache, except it is stabilised with a little corn syrup (or glucose), and a second measure of cream is added after the chocolate and cream have been melted together. Once it has rested in the fridge, it is whipped up. The result is amazingly light, and almost mousse-like. I'm hooked. Gonna add whipping ganache to everything now.

Caramelised White Chocolate Whipping Ganache

When I started planning this, I knew that I wanted to find a way to incorporate my current obsession - Valrhona's Dulcey Chocolate. It is a caramelised white chocolate, which is one of the most amazing things I have ever come across. They describe it as "creamy and toasty", which is the perfect description. I am not typically a white chocolate fan, but I am full-on addicted to this stuff. I used it in the whipping ganache, and it gave it the perfect flavour - not too sweet, and not too overpowering. It was the perfect base to add to, which I did - adding a layer of caramelised banana, and a pecan brittle in the bottom of each choux bun, before topping with a big swirl of the ganache.

And OH MY. The result was insane. The crispy cream puff, the smooth silky whipping ganache, the delicate banana flavour, and the crunch from the pecan brittle, all combined to make the perfect mouthful. I will definitely be making these again. I know they look ridiculous and intimidating, but I promise that when you break down all the steps, it is 100% worth it and they aren't as scary to make as they look! I hope you give them a try! Let me know if you have any questions at all!

A few wee tips for Choux au Craquelin

I have included an extra 'just in case' egg in the ingredients. The reason that this is in there, is that sometimes you need to add extra egg to the pastry if necessary. You want the mixture to be at a consistency where if you dip in the beater of the mixer, the batter will form a 'v' shape and eventually break off. If it is too stiff, and breaks off very quickly, you may need to add another beaten egg, and mix again, before performing the test.
I made the pecan brittle and the ganache the day before, as the brittle needs time to set, and the ganache needs overnight or 12 hours to mature.
Leave all the components separate until just before you serve. If you have leftover components, store them all separately, and then assemble as needed.
My oven really only takes one tray at a time, so I piped out both trays of choux, then only topped them with the craquelin when I was ready to bake. Store the craquelin in the freezer until you are ready to use.
Choux Freezes! Freeze the cream puffs just after they have been piped out, then once solid, place in a ziploc bag in the freezer. Bake off as usual.
These can be filled with anything you like! The Choux au Craquelin is the perfect vehicle for any filling you like. I filled some with mascarpone whipped cream, and they were amazing!

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Answers to your baking questions

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I've curated and answered them all for your easy reference in this frequently asked questions post!

Spinach, Feta, Red Pepper and Fennel Seed Scones

One of the things that gets super confusing when you move countries is holidays. Christmas and New Year etc are always the same (mind you I got asked the other day if when it's July in America, if it's also July in NZ, so go figure), but things like Father's day etc are often at very different times. This leads to some frantic googling every now and then, just to make sure you haven't missed anything back home. I've found buying my diary from NZ helps with this too, but the internet still catches me out every now and then when I see all the Dad pics and then realise the dates are different.

Just to make things more confusing, our Mother's day is the same as in the US. So I figured seeing as it's a worldwide celebration of sorts, I will add my contribution of food ideas to the internet. It seems as if 'Mother's day brunch' is a thing over here - for our Mum it was always just a cup of tea in bed with a piece of badly buttered toast, but brunch is always something that I can get behind. My own Mum is actually here in NYC with me right at this very second! She hasn't been here for close to four years, so I am having the best time showing her all of the things that have changed since she was last here. It's the best.

Scones for breakfast are one of my fave things! I grew up in a house where emergency scones were whipped up on the regular - our house was somewhat of a community train station with people popping in to say hi or to have a cup of tea all the time. Savoury scones are so under rated - you can add whatever you like to them, they come together fairly quickly, and are perfect to whip up in the morning for a morning tea or a light lunch. That goes for scones in general, but I do think that Savoury scones need a little more loving.

I love the combination of Spinach, Feta, Red Pepper and Fennel seed, although it happens less than I would like around here, because I am married to a staunch cheese and bacon dude. However I figured these were too good not to share with you, and so Rich had to suck it up just this one time. The process for making these is very similar to regular scones, except you fry up all the delicious things first, leave them to cool slightly, then incorporate them in just before you add the milk. They are so delicious fresh out of the oven, but will be just as awesome the next day, warmed slightly and served with loads of good quality butter. Happy Scone-ing!

A few wee tips:

These are super versatile - feel free to play around with the fillings, but just be aware that you may have to adjust the amount of milk accordingly - for example if you left out the feta, you would need a little more milk to replace the moisture.
With that being said - you may need more or less milk depending on the water content of your feta, the size of your red pepper etc. I like to add most of the milk and give it a mix, then see if I need the rest, just to prevent them being too wet.
I find that freezing the butter in little cubes works best for me! Make sure that your scone contents are fairly cool before you add them to the flour and butter mixture, in order to reduce the amount of melting that happens. I either cool the mix in the pan, stirring frequently to release heat, or I spread into a shallow dish.
These keep in an airtight container fairly well! They are best eaten fresh, but if you want to have them the next day too, send them for a spin in the microwave first.

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Answers to your baking questions

Over the years, many of you have asked me questions about:

I've curated and answered them all for your easy reference in this frequently asked questions post!

Creme Egg Macarons

These Creme Egg French Macarons are filled with a super smooth Creme Egg Ganache and have a speckled Creme Egg French Macaron shell. These are super cute and the perfect Easter recipe!

Original recipe from 2018, post reformatted April 2021

Creme Egg French Macarons
Tips and Tricks for Foolproof French Macarons
For more Macaron Recipes, Check out:
Recipe For Creme Egg French Macarons

Creme Egg French Macarons

These Creme Egg French Macarons are super cute and the perfect Easter project if you are in need of one! The French Macaron Shell is filled with a super delicious Creme Egg Ganache which is balanced out with a little extra chocolate and butter. These taste just like a creme egg but in macaron form! I have a bunch of homemade macaron recipes on my site, which all use the same shell recipe from my How to make French Macarons post. Mix and match as you like, or make some other Easter Macarons to go alongside them!

Tips and Tricks for Foolproof French Macarons

I put allll of my tips and tricks into this post about French Macarons - it is the ultimate guide.

There is some butter and milk chocolate in the filling of these macarons as the filling of creme eggs alone makes things a little sloppy.
You can fill these with anything that you like! The best part about macarons is that you can make just one batch of shells and then mix and match all the fillings.
If you want to freeze the shells, that works great - just freeze them in an airtight container Unfilled then bring them back to room temperature when you are ready to fill them.
Ideally macs need overnight in the fridge to meld flavour but if you skip that step I won't tell anyone, promise.
Add the speckles after the shells have baked and cooled if you like, by just flicking some watered down food colouring over the shells.
If you don't want to make creme egg ganache, this buttercream would be yum too!

Check out my ultimate guide to French Macarons for all the tips and tricks for making your own French Macarons at home!

For more Macaron Recipes, Check out:

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Answers to your baking questions

Over the years, many of you have asked me questions about:

I've curated and answered them all for your easy reference in this frequently asked questions post!

Recipe For Creme Egg French Macarons

Milk Chocolate Mini Egg Cookies

A couple of months ago, I jokingly renamed Sarah Kieffer's amazing "Pan Banging" cookies, referring to them as FOMO cookies (I just renamed what I called them, they are still called Pan Banging cookies IRL). FOMO, or 'fear of missing out' seems to be a real thing these days on Instagram. Someone makes a recipe, usually gram worthy and delicious, someone else gets FOMO, also makes the recipe, and from there it is a swift chain reaction of FOMO baking. Alison Roman's Salted Chocolate Chunk shortbread, which is currently taking over the internet (because it's super yum and you should probably make it right after you make these), falls squarely in the FOMO category too.

My good friend Brian Hart Hoffman jumped on the FOMO bandwagon fairly quickly (this is how it works!), and we started throwing ideas around about cookies to try. The idea is that we essentially give in to peer / internet pressure and make all of the FOMO worthy cookies that we can, and share as many as we can along the way. I hope that you can join in! Let's all be super lame and use the #fomocookies tag!

And now we have a new cookie to add to the FOMO list. Well, at least we think so anyway. When I first made them I immediately texted Brian, saying "Holyshittheseareamazingineedthemall". They are THAT GOOD. These are Milk Chocolate Mini Egg Cookies, from the latest issue of the Bake from Scratch Magazine. These cookies are fudgy and chewy, and loaded up with those candy coated mini eggs that are already addictive enough on their own. These are the type of cookie where you sneak a little bite, then another little bite, and then suddenly you have eaten three. They are amazing with the mini eggs, but I rolled some in chocolate chunks too, in the name of research, and I can confirm that they are also almost just as good.

A few wee tips:

I have tweaked the method of the recipe just slightly - it calls for an hour to overnight rest in the fridge. I found that an hour was too short, and overnight made them too hard to scoop, so somewhere around the 3 hour mark is great. I then froze them before baking just to help with spreading.
Weigh your ingredients for best results.
If you are a little pressed for time, you can rest for an hour, roll and scoop and cover in eggs, then bang them in the freezer for 20 mins or so before you bake them - I jammed them all onto one tray, then transferred to the baking sheet I was using them as needed.
These do tend to hold hands in the oven a little, so 6 per half baking sheet works best for me
The recipe has you smush lots of eggs onto the top of each cookie, and then bake it - they do spread A LOT in the oven, so I jammed a few more chopped eggs onto the top of each one after they came out of the oven. Two 10oz (285g) bags seem to work best for me, once you account for snacking on the eggs as you bake these.
The mixture will seem very wet, but it will firm up in the fridge!
Because my oven isn't the best, I bake these one tray at a time, but you could probably do two at a time - rotate the trays halfway through.
The recipe includes almond extract, but I left it out because I don't like it, and they were still insane, so i'll leave that one up to you whether you want to ruin your cookies by making them taste like almond extract or not. (Juuuuust kidding!)

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Chocolate Hazelnut Babka

Chocolate Hazelnut Babka - fluffy brioche dough is rolled out and spread with a homemade hazelnut chocolate spread, sprinkled with chopped toasted walnuts, and rolled into swirly chocolatey loaves. The result is perfect for a coffee break, or an indulgent wee breakfast.

Chocolate Hazelnut Babka

Hiiiiiii! I'm coming to you from the middle of a gross snow day to share this Chocolate Hazelnut Babka recipe. Somehow NYC missed the memo that it's daylight savings this weekend so it should be sorting it's shit out weather wise by now, but as someone who loves to stay inside, I'm not too mad.

Sorry sorry - I've been meaning to share this for the longest time, and I just haven't gotten around to it. This year has been really kicking us in the butt, in a super busy and stressful but also exciting kind of a way.

This Chocolate Hazelnut babka was the product of one of my fave ways to spend a day - a baking day with Jill. After both getting tied up in life and not seeing each other for close to a month (some sort of record which i'm more than happy not to ever break), we intended on baking a couple of times but ended up sitting on the couch lying under blankets talking (also a fave way to spend a day), so when we finally managed to bake, we wanted to make something super delicious. And oh man, we sure did.

I still had some of the chocolate hazelnut spread from these cupcakes leftover, so it only made sense to slather it all over a brioche dough. Babka is one of my favourite things to make - you can fill it with all sorts of things, and it keeps well, not to mention that it makes the best french toast ever. This Chocolate Hazelnut Babka recipe makes two loaves, so enough to make one, and share one, or one to pop into the freezer for later.

A few wee tips for Chocolate Hazelnut Babka

If you would like, you can make this the night before and do the first proof in the fridge overnight. If you do this, you can skip the step where you chill the sausage of dough, as the dough will already be firm enough.
We used pre chopped hazelnuts, but coarsely grinding some in the food processor or chopping them will work just as well.
The recipe for the chocolate hazelnut spread does make a little extra - but I promise you it's worth having around for very little extra effort

More Babka Recipes:

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Brioche Doughnuts with Tahini Chocolate Pastry Cream and Halva

Brioche doughnuts filled with chocolate tahini pastry cream and topped with Halva

Hoooooly crap. The last few days / weeks / months have been ridic. I feel like I can only every now and then manage to get my head above water to take a big breath. We have been working on some SUPER exciting things at the studio which I can't wait to share with you very soon! I spent the last few days running around town with the team from Bake from scratch and the lovely Edd aka The boy who bakes. They were on a promo tour for the latest issue of the magazine, which is all about British cooking! Seeing as they didn't have a kitchen, I did all the food for the shoots - lots of scones, two 'chocolate biscuit cakes' which were very stressful but thankfully turned out pretty on the inside, and an amazingly delicious chocolate passionfruit bundt cake. I always have the best, best time when they are in town.

I made these wee guys a week or so ago. I had breakfast with my lovely friend Rachel of Seed and Mill, and she sent me home with some of their amazing products - the best tahini ever, and a wee package of Halva! If you haven't had halva before, you should try some ASAP - it's made by adding tahini to a sugar syrup and then mixing until it crystalizes. Different flavours are then added. If you are ever in NYC make sure you stop by Seed and Mill at Chelsea Market - their soft serve is one of my fave things ever.

I have been meaning to incorporate tahini into a dessert / baked good ever since these cookies, and so here you go! I took my fave brioche recipe, and turned it into doughnuts, then loaded them up with a pastry cream that I gussied up with some dark chocolate and tahini. Tahini and chocolate are great friends - the chocolate really plays on the nuttiness of the tahini, and stirred into a pastry cream is always going to be a good time. I rolled the freshly fried doughnuts in a cocoa sugar mix which tastes like that shitty chocolate icing your mum made as a kid, before filling them with the pastry cream and topping with a chunk of halva. If you're going to do decadent, you might as well do it properly.

A few wee tips:

If you can, make the pastry cream the night before or a few hours before you start, so that it has time to cool in the fridge. If not, and you're in a time pinch, no worries - just line a shallow baking sheet (I usually use a quarter sheet) with plastic wrap, spread the cream in, then put another piece of plastic wrap on top, and leave it to cool in the fridge, giving it 5 minute blasts in the freezer occasionally if needed. More surface area = quicker cooling time!
If you can't find Halva, you can definitely leave it out! I just used it as a wee topping.
The first rise for these can be done overnight in the fridge - they may just need a little more time on their second rise once you have shaped them.

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Custard Square with Homemade Puff Pastry

The perfect custard square recipe - sheets of crisp homemade puff pastry sandwich a creamy rich vanilla bean custard. The whole thing is then loaded up with a vanilla bean icing. Custard Slice is a delicious take on a classic New Zealand childhood favourite.

Custard Square with Homemade Puff Pastry

Hi! Just popping in to share this recipe with you for Custard Square. Often also called Vanilla Slice in Australia, Custard square is two layers of puff pastry, surrounding a creamy, smooth custard. The whole thing is then topped off with a vanilla bean icing. It's a New Zealand Classic, and something I always used to get from the bakery growing up. Making custard slice from scratch takes a little more effort, but it is so, so worth it. Whether to you it's a custard square, a custard slice, or a vanilla slice recipe, it's just the best.

Components of a Custard Square

Custard square can be a wee bit labour intensive, but it is always, always worth it, and i'll pop a few shortcut steps along the way to help you out!

Puff Pastry - I used a recipe from my friend Erin's book to make puff pastry from scratch, but you can do a rough puff, or you can use storebought pastry too. I'll add in tips in the FAQ section!
Custard Filling - The filling of a custard square is a rich, creamy, set vanilla bean custard. I used custard powder for mine which I get online or sometimes can find in grocery stores in the US. I use it quite often in recipes that call for custard!
Vanilla Icing - You can either ice these with a simple vanilla icing, or you can skip it and finish these with a bit of powdered sugar if you would like.

What is Custard Powder?

Custard Powder is similar to what is used to make instant pudding here in the states. It is corn starch based, then uses other flavours and thickeners. The taste is super nostalgic so I used it in these custard squares. You can grab some online - I use it to make my Nanaimo Bars too! If you can't find you should be able to sub corn starch. I haven't tried it but it should work just fine.

How to Break Up the Workload for Custard Square

Homemade Custard Slice is a little labour intensive if you choose to make your own puff pastry, but here is a good way to do it if you would like to break up the workload:

Day one - make the puff pastry, wrap tightly and store overnight in the fridge.
Day two - Bake the puff pastry sheets, make the custard filling, assemble the custard square, and chill overnight.
Day three - Finish off custard square with icing and serve.

Alternatively you can do day two and three all in one day - the custard square needs about 4 hours to set up and chill down in the fridge.

Puff Pastry vs Rough Puff Pastry

I used a homemade puff pastry for these custard squares. It is a little labour intensive but once you get the hang of it, it is super fun and simple to make. The recipe comes from my friend Erin's book (she has a new one out VERY soon and it's amazing), and you can watch a great video here of her making it. The puff pastry recipe here makes enough for two batches of the custard squares, so you can store some pastry wrapped tightly in the freezer for another time.

I haven't tried this recipe with rough puff, but I am sure that it would work just fine! Rough puff pastry is made by just incorporating the butter into the pastry and then performing folds, rather than locking in a butter block like you do with a traditional puff pastry. Erin also shows that recipe in the same video! (Skip to about 22:30 for it!, and do 1 ½ or double the recipe. You need 700g pastry approx for this recipe)

Steps for rolling out Puff Pastry.

There are a few steps for making puff pastry. It does take a little time but the actual hands on time isn't too bad - just lots of chilling time!

Make the dough, and make the butter block, and chill both down.
Roll out the dough and 'lock in' the butter block
Perform four folds (explained in the recipe)
- #1: 4-fold turn
- #2: 3-fold turn
- #3: 4-fold turn
- #4: 3-fold turn
Then the pastry gets rested in the fridge until it is baking time, or stored in the freezer until you are ready!

How to make small batch custard square

I tested a small batch custard square with this recipe and it worked just great. I used a 9x5" loaf pan and worked out quantities needed using my pan size calculator. I did 0.56x the recipe needed and just calculated it that way. Instead of scaling the egg I just did one egg and one yolk.

Filling quantities for a 9x5" loaf pan are:

405g whole milk
265g heavy cream
½ teaspoon vanilla
40g custard powder ( I upped this just a little as it could have been a tiny bit firmer)
112g sugar
1 egg plus 1 yolk
40g unsalted butter

For the icing:

210g powdered sugar
25g unsalted butter
pinch of salt
¼ teaspoon vanilla
whole milk to mix

Please note that those are just the quantities that worked for that exact pan! The custard layer was a teeny bit thicker but worked great. The good thing about this recipe is that you can just pop extra custard into another bowl and have with some of the pastry scraps!

Custard Square with Store Bought Pastry

This can absolutely be made with store bought pastry - I tested it recently and it worked just fine. Just ensure that you have rolled out the pastry enough to account for any shrinkage when it bakes. You will need about 700g of pastry for a full batch of custard square. When I tested it with the small batch I used a 500g packet and had a little left over / probably could have rolled it a little thinner. It is much better to have a little too much pastry than not enough! Watch the bake time as it may be different with a different pastry - mine was done in 35 minutes then I gave it a further 5 minutes with the top tray off. To use store bought pastry, follow the steps from 12-16 for the pastry recipe.

Frequently Asked Questions about Custard Square

Can Custard Square be made with store bought pastry?
You can absolutely use store bought puff pastry in this recipe. - you will need about two sheets. Just make sure it is rolled out to a square about 12"x12" so that you have enough to fill the tin - it shrinks a lot when baked. I do encourage you to try making your own - I promise it is much less scary than it looks!Add image

How long does this take to chill?
It needs AT LEAST 3-4 hours to chill. You need the custard to be completely set and cold right throughout. If you cut into it before it is properly chilled, you're going to have a bad time.

How to do you keep the pastry nice and even when making it?
I found that when making my own pastry, obsessively squaring off the edges helped, along with measuring the temperature of the butter and the dough before I started the folds to ensure that they were a similar temperature.

What is the best way to neatly cut custard square?
Use a bread knife. Gently saw the top layer to cut through, then you can cut through the rest of the custard square. It might seem wobbly, but if your bread knife is sharp, you will be fine.

For more Custard Recipes, Check out:

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Recipe for Custard Square

Milk Chocolate Earl Grey Tart with Ombre Dark Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream

My goodness. We made it. Well, I made it anyway. The last couple of months have been totally hectic in the lead up to the silly season. I am so, so happy I finally made it to Friday. I'm going to clean my bombsite of a kitchen tonight, and then tomorrow begins a couple of days off! There is Christmas meal extravaganza Christmas eve at Jill's, then we are heading there for Christmas day too. It's always a time I get a little bummed i'm not home with my family, so I am so grateful we have somewhere to go to spend with our second family!

I'm going to keep this short, but I wanted to pop the recipe for this chocolate tart up before the madness kicks in and I forget about it. This is a riff on the chocolate peanut butter situation I made a few weeks ago - I had a zillion messages asking for the recipe so I figured I had better listen and get it up here!

This is a simple chocolate tart - there is a press-in crust made with home made chocolate sugar cookies. It gets chilled for a hot second, then filled with a silky ganache (seriously, I can, and do eat this stuff with a spoon). You can keep it plain, but I infused it with a little earl grey because I couldn't help myself. The taste of the tea is very subtle, but I love it. You can stop here if you like, and have an epic chocolate tart, or you can keep going and get all fancy with some swiss meringue buttercream ombre blobs, which take it up just a notch. The ombre is made by making one batch of buttercream, then removing some, adding a little dark chocolate, removing a little more, more chocolate, etc etc. It's all piped on using a star tip (my secret weapon), and then we have ourselves a show stopping dessert! It can be made well in advance, and would be perfect for a holiday dinner party or dessert table. Merry Merry from Me and Mine to You and Yours! Stay safe these holidays! xx

A few wee tips:

If you are making a riff of this and not using the tea, you will only need to use 270g (1 cup plus 2 Tbsp) of cream - I account for some of the liquid being absorbed by the tea leaves.
The original recipe I made was a peanut butter chocolate tart. You can absolutely make it peanut butter if you want - just sub the milk chocolate for a peanut butter variation! Same goes with dark chocolate etc.
I made this in a rectangle tart tin (14" x 4") - if you want to make it in a round, use a 9" removable bottom tart tin and use 1.5 cups cream, (start with 2 cups, infuse, then re-measure and use 1.5 cups), 550g chocolate and 6 tablespoon butter. This recipe is a good guide.
I made the base for this using a home made cookie. The cookies themselves are epic, and you should make them. They are also very moist so only needed a tiny bit of butter. If you use a drier cookie, you may find that you need to increase the amount of butter needed - you can always add a little more as you are mixing up the base if you think it needs it. You can use whatever base you like - just tweak the butter amount as needed.
I use a french star tip for this - I have a bunch in all different sizes. They are amazing for piping, and make easy blobs look super pro!

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Christmas Cookie Box

toThe ultimate Christmas cookie box - with something for everyone. Coconut ice, Honey Caramel Corn, sugar cookie marshmallow sandwiches, marshmallow and sugar cookie rocky road, piped roll out sugar cookies, and a DIY S'mores kit. What more could you wish for - this would be the perfect gift this holiday season.

THE ultimate holiday cookie box - with something for everyone. Coconut ice, Honey Caramel Corn, sugar cookie marshmallow sandwiches, marshmallow and sugar cookie rocky road, piped roll out sugar cookies, and a DIY S'mores kit. What more could you wish for - this would be the perfect gift this holiday season.

Today I did something I've been looking forward to for LITERALLY an entire year - I made a Christmas Cookie Box! I have had on my to-do list for a few weeks now, with a little post-it note in my diary with ideas of what I wanted to put inside, but I suddenly realised that Christmas is just around the corner and I was going to have to get a serious wiggle on if I wanted to pull this off in time!

So the entirety of yesterday was spent baking my little heart out in order to make all the little things I wanted to include in the box! (Plus a bonus batch of chocolate sugar cookies because Rich tried one and couldn't stop eating them). It all went fairly smoothly, I stayed up WAY too late tempering a giant bowl of chocolate, and then today I did a little happy dance in the kitchen when it all came together far better than I ever could have imagined!

I bought a photo box from a craft store, and then drew up a little pattern of how I wanted the dividers to look, and rich cut them all for me on the laser cutter, then etched a little pretty pattern on the top! I kind of wish that I had done this a little earlier, as I would have made loads of them to give as gifts! I made full batches of everything I made, so our coffee table is currently drowning in sweet food, but I am planning to take it all to Jill's where it will hopefully get eaten by the Christmas crowd!

I wanted to do a mixture of cookies and other little treats that I associate with Christmas in New Zealand, so I went with a couple of cookie recipes that I already had, and then added in a couple of my faves - honey caramel corn (aka one of the most addictive things I have ever made), coconut ice, which is a coconut fudge made with condensed milk, and Rocky Road, which is marshmallows and other goodies (I used sugar cookies and cranberries) folded through tempered dark chocolate and set into a bar.

I haven't made coconut Ice or Rocky Road since I was a kid, so it was so fun to re-live all those excited for christmas memories that making them brings! The Caramel Corn and the Rocky Road recipes were based on recipes from The Cook and Baker, which is one of my fave books to bake from! The treats were the perfect balance of things to go alongside my cookies - I did a DIY S'mores kit, Roll-out sugar cookies, and then sugar cookies with vanilla bean marshmallow. In the end the Christmas Cookie box contained:

Coconut Ice
Marshmallow and sugar cookie Rocky Road with Cranberries
Honey Caramel Corn
Chocolate and vanilla sugar cookies, sandwiched with vanilla bean marshmallow
Roll-out sugar cookies, some piped, some sandwiched with jam
Components to make S'mores - graham crackers, vanilla bean marshmallows and dark chocolate
Two sprinkles compartments!

To make it a little easier on myself, I wanted to make some of the recipes for this cookie box usable in a number of the components. The Marshmallow for the S'mores kit was also piped between some of the sugar cookies, and also used in the Rocky Road. The sugar cookies were used in the marshmallow cookie sandwiches, but I also used them in the Rocky Road too because of how delicious and chewy they were. Little steps like this meant that less components overall were needed. The Christmas Cookie box came out amazingly, and I can't wait to make more! Any aspect of this would make great gifts for the holiday season. Merry Merry!

Some of the recipes are new, which I will share below, and some are already from this blog. Overall, I made:

One Batch of these Sugar cookies
One batch of the same sugar cookies, but subbing 50g of flour for 25g black cocoa and 25g regular cocoa to make chocolate sugar cookies
One large batch of vanilla bean marshmallow (this, but without the peppermint) for S'mores Kits, and the Rocky Road. I also piped a little between some of the sugar cookies to make sandwiches. Once I had piped out some to make sandwich cookies, I set the rest in a 9" x 13" tin
One Smaller batch (these quantities) of vanilla bean marshmallow, which I tinted with pink gel food colouring and set in a 9" x 9" tin
A batch of Graham Crackers for the S'mores Kit
Rocky Road
Coconut Ice (recipe to follow)
Honey Caramel Corn (Recipe to follow)

I hope that you give some of these a try to put together your own Christmas Cookie Box! You can mix and match, or make just one component, or a couple, or add in your own things - it's so much fun to put together! Please let me know if there are any Recipe Questions!

For the Rocky Road, I tempered the chocolate, which made it stable at room temp, and beautiful and shiny. If you don't want to do this regular chocolate will work just as well, but ensure that you store in the fridge.
Rocky Road is often made with turkish delight, but I subbed that this time with 500g of chopped sugar cookie (I used a mix of chocolate and vanilla). They added a nice chewy texture.
You can add whatever you like to this - dried fruit, nuts, the options are endless.
The Honey Caramel Corn Recipe makes loads - but just watch it disappear quickly.

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Gingerbread Brioche Doughnuts with Spiced Brown Sugar Diplomat Cream

Gingerbread doughnuts with a spiced brown sugar diplomat cream. Pillowy brioche dough, spiced lightly with ginger and molasses, are stuffed with a light and creamy filling which is loaded with christmas spice. A perfect little package of holiday cheer

I'm finally feeling semi Christmassy. And if semi Christmassy means very stressed and a little Christmassy, then i'm feeling that too. So I took all the very stressed and semi Christmassy I am feeling, and I jammed it all into these doughnuts. It was a great idea if you ask me - doughnuts are the ultimate comfort food in my book. They sound daunting to make but are really very satisfying - I love watching them puff up in the oil as they fry. I happily spent an afternoon ignoring adulting, and whipping these wee guys up, and they turned out far too good to just keep the recipe to myself.

I wanted to have some warming christmas spice in there, to keep it extra holiday-ish, so I adapted my favourite brioche dough (it's amazing in scrolls, burger buns, babka, and now turns out it can be fried!), and added a little ground ginger and molasses. I then filled them with a brown sugar spiced diplomat cream - which is really just a fancy name for pastry cream / custard which has been folded through whipped cream. I spiced the pastry cream with the regular suspects - cinnamon, allspice and a little ginger to help carry the flavour through. Once it was folded in with the whipped cream, it made for a beautiful filling - not too sweet, and lovely and light against the fluffy doughnut. (My friend said that she though that it was 'refreshing' which I though was a nice way of putting it!)

I'm not going to tell you what to do - but I think you should make these for your christmas gathering. The dough can be prepared ahead of time - you can give it its first rise in the fridge overnight, and the filling can be made in advance too. They are the perfect wee twist on a regular filled doughnut - just enough spice to make you think of the holidays, but also a welcome change to all of the cookies and desserts you are likely to encounter. Plus. Doughnuts.

A few wee tips:

A thermometer is going to be your friend here, as it is very important to keep the oil at a specific temperature. Too cold and the doughnuts will soak up oil, too hot and the outsides will cook before the inside does, and you will have a gooey mess. (if you don't have a thermometer and a set of scales, then I suggest you self-gift ASAP this holiday season, both are game changers)
Along the same lines of specific oil temperature, cast iron is great to fry in because it maintains heat very well.
The Dough can be made the night before you want to make these, and given its first rest in the fridge. Just increase the second rise a little once you have cut them out to allow the dough to warm up.
Pastry cream can be made ahead too, but I suggest, if possible, folding through the whipped cream the day you are planning on using it. You may have a little diplomat cream left over, but it is awesome on fruit / desserts / straight out of the piping bag into your mouth.
I measure the amount of pastry cream I have, then use ⅔ that amount (multiply the amount of pastry cream by 0.66) of cream, hence the 'approximately' in the method - you will need to do some quick maths to work it out when the time comes.

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Vanilla Sandwich Cookie with Vanilla bean Marshmallow and Dark Chocolate Ganache

I have an obsession with marshmallow. And I'm not sure why. Somehow it makes its way into lots of things that I make - on top of tarts, inside s'mores, and of course into hot chocolates. I only made it for the first time a year or so ago, and have been hooked ever since. There's something about adding hot syrup to the mixer, and coming back in five minutes to a pillowy cloud of magic. Just as amazing cured and torched as it is straight off the mixer. Anything I make with Jill also has a high possibility of having marshmallow added to it - not only is it fun to make, but it adds another dimension and texture that you can't get from a buttercream filling.

So when Feedfeed and Bob's Red Mill asked us to come up with a holiday cookie, I instantly knew it was going to include a marshmallow component. We started with a chewy sugar cookie - not too sweet, and rolled in sugar to give the outside the perfect crunch. Once they were baked off, we piped a fluffy ring of vanilla bean marshmallow onto the cookies, then added a blob of silky dark chocolate ganache in the centre. We then sandwiched them with a second cookie, drizzled them in white chocolate, and finished off with a heavy dose of snowy sprinkles. The result was the perfect take on a s'more - each component delicious enough to stand alone, but incredible once they were all married together. Quite possibly some of our best work ever - this one is going to be a favourite for a very, very long time Happy Holiday baking!

A few wee tips:

The recipe here is in grams. The amount of flour used will change the amount that the cookies spread dramatically, and depending on the way you scoop flour your cup measurement can vary but up to 20g, so to ensure accuracy, use a scale to weigh if possible.
If you don't want to make the marshmallow or the ganache, the cookies are perfect just on their own. Feel free to make them a little larger, but make sure you leave room for spreading and adjust the cooking time accordingly.
I bake the cookies one tray at a time - with 11 on each tray, I get about five trays worth. The cookies will come out of the oven very puffy, but will start to sink down and crackle as they cool.
Prepare everything you need for making the marshmallow before you start the process. Pair up the cookies and lay them out, fit a piping bag with a tip, and grease a small pan to have to put the extra marshmallow in (you will likely have a little). Once the marshmallow is done, it's all go to get it into the bag and piped before it sets too much
Make the ganache just before you start the marshmallow, and leave to cool a little in the piping bag before you use. It should be thick enough that you can use it soon after making. I like to use a kitchen clip just above the nozzle to help keep everything sealed off until I am ready to go.
Get yourself a couple of french star tips - they are my secret weapon!

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Chocolate Sandwich Cookies with Tahini Marshmallow

I'm just going to keep it short here because November seems to be kicking me in the butt a little - there is a pre-christmas rush at the studio, a zillion things on, more foster cats, and the holidays to plan for. Maybe it's the light - it gets dark here around 4.30 now, which means I can't really shoot past 3, so maybe the days have felt a little more stressful because I feel the time pressure. It's so, so busy, but the best kind of busy. The sort of busy where you go to sleep exhausted. I have managed to keep somewhat of a routine, and getting up at 6am to have some me time as the sun rises seems to be helping a lot. I can chill out for a little bit with just me awake, and prepare myself a little for the day ahead. I have lots of exciting things coming up here so watch this space!

These cookies are ridiculous. Most things I make with Jill usually turn out to be ridiculous. We made these a couple of weeks back but didn't quite get things right. They were delicious, but ugly AF, so we tweaked them a little last week and I think we have nailed it. We used the TKO recipe from the Bouchon Bakery book, which yields super rich, not too sweet, thin crispy cookies, and we sandwiched these with a tahini marshmallow. Tahini marshmallow is every bit as magical as it sounds, and you need it in your life. It's literally just tahini folded into my regular marshmallow recipe, but it somehow cuts the sweetness of the marshies, while perfectly complimenting the chocolate. These are great. You should make them.

Jill and I actually shot these separately because we lost light on the day we made them - but pop over to her site and have a look, because we ended up with some very similar images! Great minds 😉

A few wee notes:

Make the tahini marshmallow first - this will give it time to cure while you do the cookies.
I have included in the marshmallow instructions to whip until you see strands forming round the edges of the bowl - this may seem like you have taken it too far and it will be quite stiff, but the structure is needed for when the tahini is added.
We used Honey for the marshmallow because it compliments the tahini very nicely, but corn syrup or glucose will work too!
If you don't like tahini - just leave it out.
The dough for the cookies can be made the night before if you would like - sometimes it takes more than an hour for it to really firm up.

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Chocolate Cream Pie

The best Chocolate Cream Pie Recipe. This Chocolate pie has a homemade chocolate pudding pie filling, a buttery flaky homemade pie crust, and is topped with peanut butter whipped cream. This easy chocolate pie is a great make ahead dessert.

Hi! Just popping in to share this chocolate cream pie recipe! I love making homemade pies, and this easy chocolate pie is a favourite of mine. We start with my homemade pie crust, then add a smooth chocolate pudding, then you can finish it either with mounds of whipped cream topping, or take it one step further and add a peanut butter whipped cream. Chocolate Cream Pie is a great addition to a dessert table, and is super easy to make ahead of time! You really can't go wrong with a pie with chocolate.

This is my first ever chocolate pie I've ever made! They aren't really a thing in New Zealand. And what better recipe to use than one from my lovely friend Erin's new book, 'The Fearless Baker',.

Despite only having met Erin IRL a handful of times, (2021 note: turns out we became besties, and I miss her millions!) I am super lucky to be able to call her a friend, and am so proud of this amazing book! It's full of all kinds of incredible gems to help you overcome any fear you may have in the kitchen. There's foolproof tips, and recipes for almost every baked good you can imagine. I definitely see a chocolate puff pastry dough happening very soon in my life. Congrats Erin, the book is AMAZING! If you don't have a copy already, you can get your hands on a copy here!

How to Blind Bake a Pie Crust
How to make chocolate pie filling
How to line a pan with pie dough
Frequently Asked Questions

The process for blind baking a pie crust is pretty simple. It takes a little practice to get the crimp on the crust right, but par baking is a great skill to know how to do!

The reason we blind bake a pie is for a pudding pie like this chocolate cream pie, you need the pie crust to be fully baked as it is obviously going to go in the fridge with pudding inside. Blind baking is similar to par baking, but differs in that a blind bake cooks the crust fully, whereas a par bake partially bakes it so that it is set before going into the oven at a lower temperature.

Fill with beans or weights - Prick the crust all over, then cover with a crunched up piece of parchment paper. Fill the crust right to the edges with either weights or beans.
Bake with parchment paper - Bake the pie crust for 15-18 minutes with the weights in, until the edges are beginning to golden, then remove the weights and return the crust to the oven. This second bake is just for a few minutes and will set up the crust that was covered by the paper. Bake until the crust is evenly golden brown. Do not worry if it puffs up here - it will sink back down.

You can blind bake crust ahead of time - just leave it to cool then store lightly wrapped in plastic wrap in an airtight container for up to a day.

To get all my tips and tricks for a foolproof homemade pie crust, check out my post: How to make pie crust

How to make chocolate pie filling

Once the crust has been blind baked it is time for the chocolate pie filling. This chocolate pudding pie was the first I had ever made and there's really no point in making my own chocolate pudding recipe, as Erin's is very, very perfect and super easy to make.

Melt chocolate with milk and cream. A hot milk mix is the base of this chocolate cream pie recipe. Chocolate, cream and milk are melted together. Using chocolate rather than cocoa powder gives a super intense delicious chocolate flavor.
Combine egg yolks, sugar, and starch. A game changer tip Erin taught me is to combine the sugar and the starch together ahead of mixing with the yolks. This helps remove any lumps that may be in the corn starch.
Temper the egg mixture. This is done by pouring the hot milk mixture into the egg mix, giving it time to come to temperature more slowly than if you added the egg to the milk. This helps prevent lumps - make sure that you are whisking the whole time!
Cook until thick. Pop the chocolate pudding pie filling back onto the stove and cook until thick - you want it to come to a 'first boil' which is where there are single large bubbles in the middle of the pot rather than lots of small ones. Cook the filling until it is nice and thick.
Add to the crust. Add the chocolate pudding pie filling to the blind baked pie crust. If you are worried about there being lumps, you can strain it through a sieve into the pie crust just to make sure.
Leave to chill. Press a piece of plastic wrap against the edge of the filling, and leave to set completely.

How to line a pan with pie dough

Make sure you start with nice cold pie dough - ideally it will have been chilling for at least two hours or up to overnight.

Roll out your crust - I like to use a wooden french rolling pin for pie crust but you can use whatever you like! Roll to a circle a little larger than your pie pan.
Transfer your pie dough to the pan - Flop the dough into the pan and make sure to settle it within the pan so that it doesn't slump.
Trim if needed - If you have loads of overhang, or your dough isn't a perfect circle, you can trim the edges with some kitchen shears
Fold and tuck the edges under - Tuck the edges of the crust under themselves to form an edge on your pie dough - this will be what you crimp.
Chill - At this point, pop your pie dough into the fridge just for a wee bit to allow it to chill down before you crimp.
Crimp - I like to keep this pretty basic and just do a thumb and fingers crimp, but you can do whatever you like here.
Chill again - You can freeze your crust here if you want, but I prefer to chill it for about half an hour instead, which I find helps it to keep its shape well in the oven when baking.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can this be made ahead of time?
Yes. This chocolate cream pie can easily be prepared ahead of time. Make the pie dough up to two days ahead, and you can add the chocolate pudding filling the night before. Put the peanut butter filling on the day you serve.
What did you use to pipe the peanut butter cream?
I used a large french star tip - ateco #867
Can I leave off the peanut butter?
If you aren't a peanut butter person, regular old whipped cream on top would be delicious too.
Which pie weights do you use?
I have a couple of sets of these. It is important to make sure you have enough so that they go right to the edges of the pie crust. Dried beans or rice work too.

For more Homemade pie recipes, check out:

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Apple Slab Pie

It's a great feeling to come home after a long period of travelling on and off, and knowing that you have some time to just be at home. To get back into routine, and not live out of a suitcase, wearing the same things you wore on the last trip because it was easier to just wash it all and throw it back in your suitcase for the next trip. There's time to do things you have been meaning to get done for a long time, and time to organise a baking day with a friend that spans the whole day, because now there is time. There's time to take on baking projects that may span a few days, to test out new recipes, and cook from new books. And there's time to make apple pie.

I have partnered with the FeedFeed and Autumn Glory Apples to bring you the perfect Autumn pie using the new variety of apple from Superfresh Growers. The Autumn Glory apple is sweet and firm, with notes of caramel and cinnamon, which makes it perfect in a pie! I kept the filling of the pie very simple without any extra flavouring, which allowed the taste of the apple to really shine through. If you are using quality fruit in your pie, all you really need is something to sweeten the filling, a little starch to bind it together, a great crust, and you are well on the way to a delicious pie!

I decided to make a slab pie - they are quickly becoming my favourite, as they allow for a solid crust to filling ratio - if the crust is your favourite part of a pie, I highly suggest giving a slab pie a go! I have been meaning to try a herringbone lattice on a pie that wasn't round for a while now, and it worked out far better than I could have imagined! The herringbone looks tricky but as long as you have enough pastry and follow the tutorial carefully, it comes together easily. You could put whatever top you like on this pie - even just a flat top with a crimped edge would look great!

A few wee notes:

I made this in a quarter sheet pan (9" x 13") - you could definitely scale it if you wanted, but I would make it in two quarter sheets rather than one big half sheet if you did.
Because of the herringbone lattice I chose, I used quite a lot of pie dough. If you were wanting to do a different lattice with spaces between the strips, you could cut down on the amount of dough you make a little.
Pie freezes beautifully! If you were wanting to make your pie ahead of time, pop it in the freezer once you have assembled (do NOT egg wash until you are ready to bake), and allow it to freeze solid before wrapping well and storing until ready to bake. You will have to adjust the baking time a little to allow thawing time, but just transfer straight from the freezer to the oven and bake from frozen, do not thaw first.
Pie dough is best if made the night before you need it, to give it sufficient time to rest. It works best if you make it in two batches.
If you prefer your apples peeled by all means go ahead, but I prefer to leave them unpeeled, and I like to use a microplane to slice them!

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Miso Caramel Apple Pie

It doesn't feel at all like autumn, even though there are already apples and pears at the green market. The days are still hot and humid, and it's all too tempting to flick on the air conditioning and pretend that it isn't boiling outside. I am right in the middle of a bunch of travel (we leave for the Saveur awards TODAY and I am v nervous but also v excited! You can follow along on stories!), so hopefully once we make it back it will be well and truly warm clothes weather.

I head to San Fran the day after getting back from the blog awards, and then we are going to PARIS!! I am in the middle of an epic planning list, and spend my free time reading up on other bloggers who have been there, just to plan out the list of the eats. I can't wait! We used to travel heaps when I was little, but it was mainly to Canada. Europe is crazy far from New Zealand, so we are going to hopefully make the most of living on this side of the world and visit as many places as we can while we live here!

I'm just going to pretend that it's sweater weather though, because there is pie to be made! I riffed on the traditional salted caramel apple pie, by adding a little miso to the caramel.

A few wee tips for Miso Caramel Apple Pie

Both the pie dough and the caramel can be prepared the day before you make the pie - the dough is best if you can give it an overnight rest.
Have everything all ready to go when you make the caramel, because things move quickly.
I added a braided border to the pie, and covered up the little joins by using stamp cut-outs, which are my fave way to fancy up a pie with very little effort.

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Earl Grey Layer Cake with Vanilla German Buttercream

Earl Earl Grey Layer Cake with Raspberry Filling and Vanilla German Buttercream - A delicate earl grey infused cake, filled with a tart raspberry filling, and finished with a creamy vanilla bean German buttercream

Earl Grey Cake with Raspberry Filling and Vanilla German Buttercream - A delicate earl grey infused cake, filled with a tart raspberry filling, and finished with a creamy vanilla bean german buttercream

Earl Grey Layer Cake

I'm going to keep this one short - I have been meaning to share this Earl Grey cake with you for the longest time, but haven't gotten around to making it to post. This is one of my absolute faves, and always seems to wow even the most skeptical of cake eater. This cake holds a special spot in my heart - it was the top tier flavour of our wedding cake, and I made it again two weekends ago to include in a friend's wedding cake!

How to make Earl Grey Cake

The Cake itself is flavoured with an earl-grey infused milk, reinforced by ground tea leaves in the cake itself. The result is a beautifully coloured, delicately flavoured cake, which serves as the perfect canvas for whatever you would like to pair it with. For this version I actually took the filling of the vanilla cake that I made, which was a quick raspberry jam situation, and used it in this Earl Grey cake - the slight tartness of the raspberry offsets the bergamot flavour of the cake.

Vanilla German Buttercream

Creamy silky German Buttercream finishes off the flavour profile and pairs so well with the Earl Grey Cake. German buttercream is most definitely my favourite - it is pastry cream based, so doesn't have that intense buttery taste of swiss or italian buttercream. You can infuse it with all sorts of things, and it's nice and stable at room temp which makes it perfect for using in things like wedding cakes!

Decorate this Earl Grey Cake any way that you like - I had been eyeing up those pretty yellow flowers that I added to the cake every time I walked past them at the corner store, so I paired them with some rice flowers and a little greenery for a super simple semi naked finish.

A few wee notes for making Earl Grey Layer Cake

Both the pastry cream for the buttercream and the raspberry filling will need time to cool completely, so allow time for this - either make them first and cool in a shallow dish (more surface area = faster cooling), or prepare the day before.
Make sure that the cakes are completely cool before assembling - if possible I like to make them a day ahead or early on in the day so that they can have some time wrapped in plastic in the fridge before assembling.
Stems of flowers need to be taped before they touch the surface of the cake - florist tape is great for this

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Individual Steak and Mushroom Pies

Hi! I'm back! I've only been gone for two weeks, but loads and loads has happened in that time! We got back from the wedding / our road trip up Cape Cod, both of which were SO AMAZING. I had planned on getting a few posts up while we were up at the place we were staying for the wedding, but got all caught up in making an army of wedding cake / food / winery tours / catching up with everyone I hadn't seen in forever! I hauled some serious ass to get a bunch of things shot before we left (salted caramel apple babka and home-made Jelly tips, uhhhh hello!), so I have a couple of delicious recipes coming your way very soon! We got back a few days ago, but i've been having some me time / hiding from the internet for a little bit just to have a wee break!

I have been sitting on this recipe for a while, waiting for it to cool down a little before I shared it. Having your oven on for 3 hours in the middle of summer isn't the most ideal of situations, and I endured a very sweaty few days testing and re testing these when it was well over 30˚ outside. Don't do it.

While most food in the States is fairly similar to what we have back home, one of the things that they haven't seemed to catch onto very much is individual meat pies. If I asked you if you wanted a pie in NZ, this is what I would be referring to - a flaky crusted pie, filled with a savoury meat filling. You can buy pies at almost every bakery / corner store / petrol station in New Zealand, and as far as I am concerned, they are they ultimate comfort food. They are hugely popular as lunch for tradesmen / builders back home, or as a quick hungover pick me up.

You can get pies at a couple of places here in NYC, but I have found that they aren't quite the same - they don't quite hit the spot, so I set out to make something for myself! I went with a fairly simple filling - a classic steak and mushroom. The filling is totally cooked down to a meaty rich gravy situation, before being assembled along with the pastry crust and lid. These can be made in bulk and frozen, or they would be perfect for a dinner party served alongside a side salad. Enjoy!

A few wee notes:

If possible, give your pie filling time to cool completely in the fridge - it makes the assembly process much easier when everything is cold!
You will need to re-roll some of the dough to make enough lids for the pies - pop it in the fridge for 10 minutes or so before re rolling
I made this in my dutch oven which meant I could sear the meat etc on the stove and then transfer, but you can easily do it in a frying pan / casserole dish set up!
Cooked pies freeze really well, just reheat them in the oven!
I used these mini pie dishes - they are super cheap, and my fave!
This mixture would likely make 1 - 2 larger pies.

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Overnight Cinnamon Buns with Cream Cheese Frosting

These overnight cinnamon buns are made with an overnight brioche recipe. They are filled with cinnamon sugar and pecans. These Easy Cinnamon Rolls are the perfect make ahead cinnamon roll recipe.

Breakfast time is the part of my birthday that I look forward to the most. I almost always end up awake before everyone else (which is predictable when you wake up at 6am every morning anyway), and I like to take a little second with just me before everyone else gets up.

This year I popped out for a quick walk on the beach, then woke Rich up and made him come for a walk into Montauk Town to buy a rolling pin, because cinnamon rolls were the first order of the day. An hour later the house was filled with the amazing smell of freshly baked cinnamon rolls, which I loaded up with cream cheese frosting as soon as they came out of the oven. We ate them straight out of the tray, as soon as they were cool enough to touch. It was an awesome start to what would be an epic birthday.

The best part about these rolls were that the dough was made the night before and left to rise in the fridge overnight, meaning that the working time in the morning was kept to a minimum. The house we were staying at didn't have a mixer, so I mixed these by hand - it took a little longer, but still worked just as well! Once they had gone to bed with the rest of us, the next morning I rolled them out, then I filled them with a simple mix, melted butter, cinnamon sugar, and a solid dose of pecans. They then have a quick rest in the pan while the oven is preheating, before being baked until they are golden brown. Total time from waking up to cinnamon rolls in your belly is only about an hour and a half. More than ideal. The dough is light and fluffy, the filling sweet and flavoursome, with a little crunch from the pecans, and the cream cheese frosting can't be skipped.

A few wee notes:

A stand mixer comes in handy, but you absolutely don't need one, plus you get a solid arm workout to boot
Leave out the pecans if that isn't your jam.
The frosting makes enough for a generous layer, and it is quite sweet, so feel free to cut back a little on it if you don't want it as intense (it's good though, you should keep it all on there)

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Salted Caramel No Churn Ice Cream

Our oven broke this weekend. Without any warning. I went to put in a batch of cinnamon rolls, and opened the oven to realise that there was zero heat in there. NOT ideal when you spend your life using the oven, but also not surprising that it kicked it seeing as how hard I work it. This is the second time it's broken this year, so I am secretly hoping the landlord offers to replace it, in which case I have a load of links ready to send him with my requests. Dreams are free. Luckily we have a little convection oven at the studio which Rich popped over and picked up (he went willingly, the man does love cinnamon rolls), so we were still able to have cinnamon rolls, and the oven got fixed today. All is well.

Ice cream is the perfect "my oven is broken" food. Ticks all the boxes. And as much as I love my Ice Cream maker, there is something extra awesome about no-churn Ice cream. I was totally blown away the first time that I made it - apart from being a bit more melty than regular ice cream, the texture and taste is pretty spot on when you compare it to a churned ice cream. It's a teeny bit sweeter, but just as easy (if not easier) to customise than churned ice cream, and definitely much less effort - you can have a batch whipped up in 5 minutes, and it will be ready to go as soon as it has frozen!

I kept it pretty simple this time around and added in a salted caramel drizzle between the layers of the ice cream. The Caramel is a super simple recipe - sugar is cooked until it is a lovely toasty amber colour, which you then deglaze with butter, before stirring in some cream, and a healthy dose of salt.

A few wee notes:

The recipe I have included for the caramel makes much more than you need, but in my opinion, if you are going to go to the effort to make caramel, you might as well make a good sized batch - it keeps for a really long time, and is so good on everything!
You don't need a stand mixer for this recipe - electric beaters work just as well, or a whisk if you are feeling energetic!
Have everything ready to go when you make the caramel, as things can move quite quickly!
Watch the sugar for the caramel very very carefully as it can turn very quickly
The Salted Caramel needs time to cool fully before you use it, so make sure you account for this.
Remaining salted caramel can be stored in the fridge - just allow it to stand at room temperature to soften slightly before using, otherwise you can microwave it in 15 second bursts to soften.

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Blueberry Rhubarb Slab Pie

Blueberry and Rhubarb Slab pie - the ideal summer dessert for feeding a crowd! Flaky homemade pie crust is filled with a blueberry rhubarb filling before being topped with fun pie dough decorations then baked to perfection. #blueberry #rhubarb #slabpie #familypie #blueberryrhubarb

It was my Birthday on Monday and I couldn't think of a better way to spend it than at the beach. I've raved about Jill and her family many times before, but I honestly don't have enough words to explain how grateful I am that we have found an little family extension in this crazy city, and that I was able to spend my birthday with them! As the biggest home body, having something that feels like home and people that feel like family in a big city so far from home just means the world to me. It's hard to get back to NZ as much as I would like (it's super far away), so being able to join in on some family action every now and then is just the best ever. I had an amazing day Monday - we went to the beach and watched the eclipse, then had an amazing dinner right on the water.

Carrying on from last year's yesterbirthday pie, I figured it was only fair that we make it happen again and it become a birthday tradition! On our expeditions around the farm stands we picked up some blueberries, and I was super excited to find some rhubarb, so a blueberry rhubarb pie was definitely on the cards. I have been meaning to make a slab pie for a long time now - they are pretty quick and easy to throw together, and are perfect for feeding a crowd. We got a little fancy and added a braided edge and some stamped cut-outs, but it would be just as amazing with a simple lattice on the top. We fluffed around in the kitchen making and shooting this yesterday, then ate slices of it, still warm, loaded with vanilla ice-cream. The best. The filling was jammy and not too sweet, and set up perfectly. Deffo making more slab pies. You should too.

A few wee notes:

Apologies for being that guy who posts a rhubarb recipe so late in the summer, but it still seems to be available! If you can't get your hands on any, sub in some extra blueberries. You may have to dial back the sugar content a little.
We managed to make this with a 1.5x recipe of my usual double pie crust. It made a base, a braided edge and lots of pastry stamps. However there was a lot of re-rolling scraps, so if you would like to do a lattice top, or not have to worry about scraps, I recommend using the quantities listed here (which is a double of my regular recipe). I like to make it in two batches just to help keep things cold!
We made this in a Jelly Roll Pan (10" x 15"), but if you don't have one, a quarter sheet pan (9" x 13") will work too - just adjust the amount of filling slightly! We made the stamped cut-outs with these and these! Pie stamps are one of my fave things - quickest way to add a little fancy to a pie! I find that freezing the rolled out dough for 10-15 mins before you stamp it helps get a nice clean cut.
Pie dough is best if made the night before!
Top this bad boy however you want - with pie stamps, braids, a lattice, the choice is yours!

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Peach and Blueberry Pie

Does looking at a certain set of photos evoke certain memories for you? For me, I can look at a photo and be transported right back to the moment it was taken. Whether it be a wedding photo, a quick iphone snap during christmas chaos, or a day spent making pie in a close friend's kitchen.

When you have good fruit, making a pie should be a formula rather than a recipe. Fruit + pastry + starch + sweetener. All of these factors can be adjusted depending on the fruit - adjust the starch if your fruit is particularly juicy, tone down on the sweetness if the fruit is particularly ripe and sweet. Taste as you go, and adjust to what feels right - once you have made a few pies, you get your eye in, so you can look at the filling and know whether you need to add something to help soak up the juice, or leave some of the liquid behind when you transfer to the dish so that the bottom doesn't go soggy. I have included a recipe here, but if you are using fresh fruit, feel free to adjust both the starch level and the sweetness depending on the sort of fruit you are working with - sour berries can change the amount of sugar you need by up to half a cup. I suggest sticking with this crust though - it's a winner, my absolute fave.

A few wee notes:

Pie dough is best prepared the night before - I find that it makes it much easier to work with.
I peeled my peaches by boiling a large pot of water, and preparing an ice bath. I then scored a cross in the bottom of each peach, placed them in the boiling water for 20 seconds, then transferred immediately to the ice bath. The skins should slide right off.
Feel free to add whatever lattice / top to this you want - we went with a simple 'fattice'. (Fat lattice)

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Mixed Berry Meringue Stacks with Mascarpone whipped cream

Meringue stacks with vanilla bean mascarpone whipped cream and fresh berries. The perfect, simple, throw together dessert that can be easily made ahead and is easy to feed a crowd

We have zero space for a BBQ, which bums me out on the regular, because having people round for a BBQ is one of my FAVE things ever to do. Granted, I'm not that great at the actual BBQ part, but there's something about having people around, cooking outside, and keeping things simple. I grew up in a house which was somewhat of a railway station - there were always a few extras here and there most of the time, so grew up with communal meals happening almost more frequently than just us sitting around the dinner table. Mum and Dad have a swimming pool at their house, so in the summertime our house becomes a hub for our friends and family, and most evenings end with a bbq meal outside. Having a BBQ is one of the things I look forward to when I finally have a house one day of my own, along with grass, and a washing line.

My favourite thing about having loads of people around all the time when I was younger, was the desserts. Always an opportunity to make something to be shared. I usually just rotated through the few things I knew how to make, sometimes trying something a little different. Sometimes Mum would make a giant pavlova, topped with cream and berries.

These meringue stacks are a little nod to summer desserts and the BBQ I wish I had. The meringues themselves are super easy to make, and can be made ahead (they are actually best made ahead so that they have time to fully dry out). That way when it comes to serving, all you have to do is set out some berries, quickly whip some cream, and pop it all on the table for people to build their own desserts. It is quick and easy and relatively fuss free, while still being crazy delicious. It's a great way to use up that jar of egg whites in your fridge (maybe that's just me that always has that - I'm sure not everyone tests a custard recipe requiring 6 yolks, four times in a row), and you can tailor them to however you like, or whatever is on hand - they would be amazing with roasted or fresh stone fruit, or some quickly poached rhubarb.

A few wee notes:

Meringues can be kind of finicky - you want to dry them out rather than baking them, so low and slow is the way to go. I like to bake them the night before I need them, and leave them in the oven with the door cracked a little to let them cool overnight. Once they are done, store them in an airtight container because they will get sticky with moisture.
The meringue recipe I have used here is super scaleable - It's just 1 part egg whites to 1.5 parts sugar by weight, so to adjust it accordingly if you have a certain amount of egg whites, simply multiply the amount of egg by 1.5 to give you the sugar quantity!
This recipe (it's a swiss meringue) is enough to fill 2 baking trays with meringue - I used an Ateco #828 tip to pipe them, but you could use whatever you have on hand - or even just spoon little mounds onto the baking tray. Because you are just drying them out, rather than baking to a certain stage, you can have a range of different sized meringues on the same tray - I made mainly nests, then piped some kisses too to go alongside.

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Answers to your baking questions

Over the years, many of you have asked me questions about:

I've curated and answered them all for your easy reference in this frequently asked questions post!

Scones with Roasted Peaches and Vanilla Bean Whipped Cream

For notes on cheese or date scones, please see the note below the recipe in the recipe card. Separate how to on these recipes is coming soon!

I have a wee list in the back of my head that I keep adding to - the list of 'New Zealand things that have the same name, as something American, but are definitely not the same thing'. Scones are the latest thing to land squarely upon this list. When I think of a scone, I think of buttery, flaky layers, and something that isn't too sweet.

I was surprised, on arriving in America, that scones here were, in fact, nothing like what I had grown up on. They tend to have a crumbly texture, much less tender than what I would expect, and are often intensely sweet. Similar, but not really. Still yum, but just different. What we refer to as a scone probably draws more similarity to an American 'biscuit' in that the insides are tender and flaky, the result of butter being rubbed into flour until it is just combined, which produces lovely layers when baked. I am actually yet to try an American scone recipe myself

Mum makes the best scones. Hands down. They are yet another thing that she can somehow pull out of thin air to feed a crowd. This recipe is based on hers, which is very much a guideline of ingredient quantities. Hers are always super consistent, but I figured for my own sake I would put some numbers next to the ingredients so mine bear a resemblance to the batch before them.

Seeing as we are smack bang in the middle of stone fruit season, I topped these with some of my favourite things - roasted fruit, and vanilla bean whipped cream. Roasting fruit, particularly when it is at it's peak, brings out the most amazing flavour, and really allows the fruit to shine. I love to do a big batch after a visit to the farmer's market, and use it on lots of things throughout the week - over yoghurt with granola, in smoothies, and straight off the spoon. The roast peaches pair perfectly with the pillowy vanilla bean whipped cream, and stand up perfectly against the fairly savoury scone. This is a perfect morning or afternoon tea treat if you have guests - or if you like, the scones are just as amazing with some butter and good quality jam.

A few wee notes:

Roast the peaches slightly ahead of time to give them time to cool.
I peel my peaches by cutting a cross in the bottoms, then putting them in boiling water for about 30 seconds, then transferring to an ice bath - the skins should slip right off! Alternatively you can use a veggie peeler.
This recipe makes 8 large scones - feel free to cut them smaller if you would like, just make sure that you adjust the baking time accordingly.
To make cheese scones, add in about 200g grated cheese after you have rubbed in the butter. To make date scones, add in 260g chopped dates after you have rubbed in the butter.
This recipe halves super well to make 4 massive scones or 6 slightly smaller ones!

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Answers to your baking questions

Over the years, many of you have asked me questions about:

I've curated and answered them all for your easy reference in this frequently asked questions post!

Rhubarb Almond Crumble with Kaffir Lime Ice Cream

Hiiii from where i'm still desperately clinging onto rhubarb season! Rhubarb doesn't have a season in New Zealand - it grows year round. Mum and Dad have a big plant in their garden that kind of looks after itself, aside from getting the odd dose of sheep poo on it every now and then (makes it grow so well), and getting almost entirely trimmed back whenever I am home. It's there whenever we need it, which is mainly in the winter, when the stone fruit is long gone until the next summer, so it's always a little strange to find myself in the middle of rhubarb hysteria every summer at the greenmarket. They are still selling it in our local supermarket, so as far as I am concerned, it's still here!

One of my favourite ways to use rhubarb is to pop it into a crumble. It is quick to prepare, and it really allows the flavour of the rhubarb to shine through. This particular crumble was made with my Mum in mind - every time I go home I buy far too much almond meal with great plans of making batches upon batches of macarons. Of course I never get around to it, so she is left with a pantry full of almond meal. So Mama bear - this one is for you! The almond meal gives the crumble a lovely dense toastyness, which is a nice change from the standard oaty crumble you often see. It pairs perfectly with the rhubarb, but would also make the perfect topping for any seasonal fruit. It can easily be prepared ahead, and is the perfect adaptable year-round dessert.

The obsession with my ice cream maker continues here too. I've just come out the end of 12 weeks of obsessively following Masterchef Australia, where they turn everything imaginable into ice cream, and clearly it has rubbed off on me. I wanted something delicate to pair with the rhubarb, so turned to the kaffir lime tree that Santa brought for Richard last Christmas. I was initially unsure about the flavour kaffir would give to ice cream, but was extremely surprised to find that it was just perfect - the flavour was extremely delicate, but still held its own against the tart rhubarb. I will most definitely be making it again, as it was a huge hit. We have a tree on our balcony, but you can buy kaffir lime leaves in most asian markets - look for the distinctive double leaf. If you are in a place where you can grow your own tree I highly recommend it - they do well inside in a pot, and the leaves give such amazing flavour to all sorts of dishes, both sweet and savoury.

A few wee notes:

This crumble is fairly topping heavy, which is how we like it - if you prefer a higher fruit to topping ratio, feel free to make less topping
This would work perfectly with whatever fruit you have on hand - peaches, plums, apples and berries, etc. You may need to adjust the sugar level to suit the fruit you are using.
This can be made ahead - assemble the topping, cover in foil, and store in the fridge until you are ready to bake.
Leftovers make the best breakfast!

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Answers to your baking questions

Over the years, many of you have asked me questions about:

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Sour Cherry, Blueberry, and rhubarb hand pies

Are you a pie crust, or a pie filling person? I am a big fan of a well-filled pie. A solid amount of fruit with each bite. Richard on the other hand, is squarely in the crust camp. His favourite pies of mine are the ones with intricate lattices (and therefore more crust), or individual pies. The heavier the sugar coating on the top, the better.

That is, until I made hand pies. A great measure of how much Rich likes something is how fast it disappears. If it's earl grey flavoured he won't touch it, if it's chocolate chip cookies he will make them himself off the blog if they aren't already in the house. Zucchini and banana bread last less than a day. If only I had his metabolism. Life isn't fair sometimes. Pie he is a bit take it or leave it on, but these bad boys disappeared REAL quick - to the extent that I had to hide some to take to a friend the next day.

We have just started getting fruit from our CSA over the last few weeks. It's been mainly blueberries and sour cherries. This was my first time baking with sour cherries - they are yet another thing we don't really get in New Zealand. I was a little skeptical at first because these ones in particular were VERY sour, but they baked down and gave the filling a lovely brightness, requiring much less sugar than I thought! Much to Richard's delight, these were a little heavier on the crust than most hand pies, because I used a rectangle of dough, then added a lattice on top, unlike the folded over or pocket form that pies usually take. I held back on the filling a little to reduce leakage (they still leaked a little bit, but it was worth it for the pretty lattice!) The blueberries paired beautifully with the sour cherry. I also had some rhubarb in the fridge (I can't resist buying it whenever I see it), so I filled half of them with rhubarb and blueberry. This might be my new favourite way to use up summer fruit - they were a huge hit with everyone who tried them!

A few wee notes:

I didn't purposefully leave the sugar off half of the pies - I just forgot to add it after I egg washed. They are definitely better with a sugary crust, but it was a quick and easy way to tell apart the two flavours!
A good cherry pitter is your friend - I use this one, and it's the best ever.
I used tapioca starch to thicken the filling for these. It works really well for pies that have a juicy filling. You can substitute corn starch in a pinch, but if you make pie often it's really worth picking some up - it will last forever, and is a little less gummy than corn starch or arrowroot.
Halve the recipe if you only want 7 pies - one batch of dough, and one of the fillings. Once you're on a roll though, it's easy to make lots.
If you don't want to muck around with the lattice on the top, just cut out 14 pieces of pastry, and make plain hand pies - place the lid on, seal with a little water, and press down with your fingers.
Fill these with whatever you like! This is just a guide really - I used what we happened to have on hand. You can just all cherries, all blueberries, etc. Just taste your fruit, and adjust the sugar as needed.
The lattice top is very much a quide. Go nuts and make them however you like - re roll scraps to make extra lattice if needed. I did a huge range just to see how they all looked!

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Answers to your baking questions

Over the years, many of you have asked me questions about:

I've curated and answered them all for your easy reference in this frequently asked questions post!

Chocolate earl grey ice cream sandwiches

Every now and then, my little mind is blown by something food related over here. Things that we just don't have in New Zealand. Strawberry shortcake, s'mores (we sometimes make something similar ish, but it's just not the same), and most recently, ice-cream sandwiches. I had never eaten an ice cream sandwich until I moved to America. The closest we have is two pink wafers, surrounding a slab of pre-wrapped ice cream. Totally pales in comparison to what an ice-cream sandwich over here is. The weird thing is, it's not like they are tricky to make, or require ingredients you can't get hold of in New Zealand, they just aren't a thing. That goes both ways though - there are so many New Zealand foods that haven't caught on here, things like our version of shortcake, tan square, louise cake, and savoury pies. More on the pies later - I have spent the last few days fine-tuning an epic steak and mushroom filling for pies which I will share very soon. In a classic me move, I have decided to do this right in the middle of summer, which of course involves the oven on for hours at a time. Not the most ideal, but it's going to be SO worth it, because meat pies are the best, and everyone needs them in their lives. I promise. Your hangovers will never be as bad again, because meat pies are the magic cure.

More on ice cream sandwiches - specifically, these chocolate and earl grey ice cream sandwiches. These are something special. My theory is, that if you take two things that are amazing on their own and combine them, you've hit a winner. Here we take a chocolate sugar cookie. The sugar cookies are everything you ever want in a cookie - crispy on the edges, chewy on the inside, and perfectly flat. We pair them with perfect circles of earl grey ice cream - ice cream that isn't too sweet, and has a lovely subtle hit of the bergamot flavour of earl grey, and the slightly bitter tannins of tea. I have been obsessively buying the Van Leeuwen Earl Grey ice cream for a few months now (it's a great choice because Rich doesn't like it, so it's all mine!), and I can safely say, that as an earl grey enthusiast, this tastes just like it. Sandwiched between two chewy chocolate cookies, the earl grey flavour bounces off the cookies in the most amazing way. This is the dessert you didn't know you needed.

A few wee notes:

The Chocolate sugar cookie recipe I used here is from the amazing Sarah Kieffer's book, the Vanilla bean baking book. I have made these maybe 10 times already - they never last longer than a day because they are so amazing, so when it came to finding a cookie to pair with earl grey, I knew these would be perfect. If you want a book filled with solid, reliable no fail baking recipes, pick a copy up. It's THE BEST.
If you don't like earl grey / don't want to make your own ice cream / can't be bothered with any of that carry on, you can absolutely use store bought ice cream. Simply allow it to soften (you will need 1 to 1 ½ quarts, or about a litre), spread it into a 9x13 pan lined with wax paper, and freeze until hard before you cut out using a cookie cutter. Alternatively, scoops of ice cream between cookies would also work perfectly. Don't like ice cream? Make the cookies anyway. They are epic.
I used a mixture of black cocoa and regular cocoa to amp up the chocolate flavour in the cookies. Using only plain cocoa is perfect too.
The cookie recipe makes about 24 cookies, if you use a 2 tablespoon scoop. The ice cream makes about enough for 9 circles, so you will have a few cookies left over. There will be some left over - store in a freezer safe container for scooping later.
The Ice cream base needs at least 2 hours to chill completely before churning, and then an additional 3-4 hours to solidify in the pan, so allow time for this! Don't forget to freeze your ice cream bowl!

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Answers to your baking questions

Over the years, many of you have asked me questions about:

I've curated and answered them all for your easy reference in this frequently asked questions post!

Mini peach pies

It's finally, FINALLY bbq season! Not that there will be much of it happening at our house - our building drew us in with an 'awesome outdoor space and amazing communal rooftop' when we were moving in, only to pull the roof off and close the outdoor space within a few months of us moving in, rendering this 'amazing space' essentially just a place to put everyone's crap from the roof. Luckily we have a few friends with nice back yards and bbqs, who are yet to be opposed to us showing up to their house with food.

BBQ season means stonefruit, and stonefruit means epic pies! Peaches are hands down my favourite things to put into pie. I made a whole load of mini pies to take to a friends birthday bbq on the weekend, and they were a total hit. The fun with mini pies is that you can play around with lattice combinations, so they all end up looking a little different. They are easy to eat, and everyone loves the idea of having their own individual dessert. Next on my list of mini pies is definitely something savoury - meat pies are everywhere in New Zealand. For some reason America hasn't caught on yet, which I am always surprised seeing how terrible they are for you!

These pies are super simple, but super delicious. I went with my favourite dough recipe, then kept the filling easy - beautiful ripe peaches, just a touch of sugar, some cornflour to help the filling set up, and some vanilla bean paste. Easy as that. The pastry bakes up to be amazingly flaky, providing the perfect base for the peaches to shine through, enhanced by the teeniest bit of sweetness and fragrance of vanilla. Because I over commit to almost everything I do, I spent a fair amount of time coming up with individual lattice designs for each one, but you could easily just do a simple lattice top on all of them, or even just a plain circle lid on each one with a few vents cut in to let out the steam. I went with a mixture of lattices, cut-out tops and shapes cut out with stamps.

This recipe is part of a fun blogger collaboration organised by the lovely Annie, Ruth and Rebecca! Check out their pages for the full list of bloggers participating, or the hashtag #summerlovespeaches on Instagram!

A few wee tips:

I used these mini pie dishes to make these - they are the perfect size for individual pies. I also made two in little rectangular pans, but you can use whatever size dish you have on hand!
I also used one of these to cut my lattice - highly highly recommend. It's super satisfying and you get lovely even strips.
I didn't peel my peaches, but if you are the sort of person who doesn't like peach skin, by all means go for it.
I lined all of the pie dishes first with pastry, and kept them in the fridge until I was ready to use each one. I filled them individually with the fruit mixture as I went, and did the lattices one at a time so that the others could stay cold in the fridge. This worked quite well, but if you are going with a quick lattice on the top you could definitely fill then lattice them all at once - just transfer them to the fridge as soon as they are done so that the pastry doesn't get too soft.
Because I was filling them individually as I went, I made up half of the filling, then once it was used up, made up the second half and kept going. The reason that I did this is because as the filling sits, the fruit releases some of it's moisture, which means that it gets a little juicy in the bowl. If you wanted to cut up all the fruit at once, transfer half to a bowl, squeeze a little lemon over to stop it going brown, and store in the fridge until you are ready to go.
I tripled my usual pie dough recipe, making it in 3 batches, and there was a little leftover once I was done. I like to end up with a little bit of dough left rather than not having enough - I roll out the bottom crust, then use the rest of the fresh unrolled dough for lattice, then go back and use the extras for stamps. Just make sure that you put the extra dough in the fridge, tightly wrapped, to have a chance to firm up before you use it again.
This recipe is easily scaleable to suit your numbers! If you were wanting to make just a single regular sized pie, use the one batch quantities for the dough, and use approximately 2-3 pounds of fruit.

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Answers to your baking questions

Over the years, many of you have asked me questions about:

I've curated and answered them all for your easy reference in this frequently asked questions post!

Brown butter rhubarb streusel tart

I have always, always loved recipe books. Books in general, really. When I was younger, I would cycle through the huge shelf of books on my bedroom wall, starting again at the beginning once I had made my way through all of them. I would happily lock myself away for hours at a time, lost in a book. I often carried one with me wherever I went, and I used to read in the car on long trips (I can’t even look at my phone in the car anymore, so I’m not quite sure what happened there).

Recipe books were no different. I remember spending hours sitting at the kitchen table reading recipes and looking at photos. My parent’s recipe book collection isn’t huge, but the ones they do have are now hugely familiar to me. There was one in particular which had full spread photos of different types of beans, seeds, grains etc, with a key on the following page indicating the corresponding names. I would sit and learn them all, until I had memorised every type of grain, bean or chicken drumstick coating.

When I started to take food more seriously than just making and eating the recipes that were familiar to me, the recipe book obsession became more serious too. As soon as I knew that we were going to be staying in NYC for at least the foreseeable future, I slowly started acquiring cook books - buying those recommended to me, getting sucked in at book shops, or sneaking them into the amazon cart for Rich to buy by mistake, so I could deny responsibility for the purchase (if you haven’t tried this before I highly recommend, it’s great fun).

One of the early books that I got, which is still one of my favourites, was the bouchon bakery book. It’s massive, with huge pages filled with beautiful pictures and intricate detailed recipes. I use it often to refer to for basic recipes such as pastry cream, but it also has some insane pastry recipes. If you are looking for a book that challenges you a little, but also is filled with amazing recipes, I highly recommend this! The recipes are super detailed, and the recipes are measured in grams, which makes it super easy to follow. If you haven’t got a kitchen scale yet, just do it. It will change your life. Seriously.

One of the recipes I have been eyeing up since I got the book was one for this brown butter rhubarb streusel tart. The picture in the book is insanely beautiful - a thin layer of rhubarb, cured in grenadine, sits on a thin sweet short pastry. It is surrounded by a brown butter frangipane, and topped with a toasted almond streusel. The moment I saw it I knew I had to try it. And it wasn’t a fail! It turned out amazingly - the brown butter taste is super subtle, the pastry not too sweet, and the streusel rounds it all off and adds a little crunch. Although it seems like a lot of work and different elements (the rhubarb has to cure for 24 hours), most of them can be prepared the day before, meaning you can assemble all the elements and bake the tart on the day you are wanting to eat it. It is slightly time consuming, but totally worth it. I promise.

A few wee notes:

This recipe looks super intense, but with a little preparation, it is pretty easy to break up the steps. Allow yourself at least 24 hours for the rhubarb to cure and the pastry to rest
I put the rhubarb on to cure, made the pate sucree, and made and toasted the streusel the day before
I made this in a quarter sheet pan, as the recipe recommended, but if you don't have one you could most likely use a 9" x 13" baking tray. Quarter sheet pans are a great investment if you don't already have one!
I prepared the tart in the following steps:
1. Put the rhubarb on to cure
2. Make the pastry, and rest in the fridge
3. Make the streusel
4. The next day, Line the tin with the pastry, rest in the fridge, then blind bake
5. While the pastry is blind baking, drain the rhubarb and prepare the brown butter filling
6. Assemble and bake

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Answers to your baking questions

Over the years, many of you have asked me questions about:

I've curated and answered them all for your easy reference in this frequently asked questions post!

Apricot Shortcake

I had my first strawberry shortcake last fourth of July. I was blown away for a few reasons - one being that it was amazing, but the second being that I hadn't had it before. It's just not a thing in New Zealand. We have scones, which are different to American scones, in that they are more like a biscuit. We call cookies biscuits. It gets confusing fast. The closest we probably get to a strawberry shortcake is a scone with jam and cream, but that isn't the same.

What we refer to as 'shortcake' in New Zealand is two layers of short pastry, filled with some sort of fruit filling. Generally this is apple, and most New Zealand Grandmas have a banging recipe for it. It is drowned in icing sugar, and perfect for heroing seasonal fruit, or using up fruit that is a little worse for wear.

I have subbed the traditional apple filling for apricots, which have just started to pop up in NYC! Yaaaay for stone fruit season! Finally. Finally I can think about fruit without having to consider the over-wintered apples and pears, and start to incorporate fresh stuff into my recipes! Going to make all of the pies this year. All of them. The great thing about this recipe is that it is super versatile - i've had it with rhubarb before, and am definitely going to try it with plum or peach this season!

This is a fairly quick thing to throw together, if you don't count the 45 minutes needed for resting the dough. A quick short crust, with a hint of vanilla bean is mixed together, rolled out and placed in a pan. We then add a layer of apricots, with just enough sugar to take the edge off, and cover it with a second piece of pastry. It is then baked until golden brown, and soon after cooling, is ready to enjoy! It's the best, I hope you try it!

A few wee notes:

The pastry can seem a little fragile / crumbly. If you do get a little tear or hole in it, don't worry too much, just patch it up, it will all bake up nicely in the oven!
If your peaches aren't quite ripe, add a little more sugar in the filling. With that being said if they are very ripe, hold back a little on the sugar.
Make sure this is cooled completely in the tin before you remove it for slicing!
If you store this in an airtight container the shortbread will go soft, so if you would like it to stay a little crispy, store this out of a container lightly covered with a paper towel.

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Answers to your baking questions

Over the years, many of you have asked me questions about:

I've curated and answered them all for your easy reference in this frequently asked questions post!

Strawberry ripple and shortbread ice cream

Happy, happy Wednesday friends! Life has been a little quiet around here for us lately, which has actually been really nice. Quiet in that we haven't done much aside from work - caught up with a few friends, occasionally left the house, you know how how it is. We spend most of our time head down, butt up, working hard to play catch-up now that design week has finished. We are back in a nice routine - up at 6 every morning, a day of work, then in bed nice and early. Rinse and repeat. It's important for me to keep a pretty strict routine otherwise my old friend homesickness will bite me in the butt. We are also coming up on 9 weeks of fostering a mama and her 5 kittens, who are slowly being adopted out to forever homes! We got them when they were 3 days old, so to say I am attached is a bit of an understatement. It's equal parts heartbreaking and happy to see them go off to new homes! I'll miss them SO much, but it's been one of the most rewarding things ever to watch them grow from tiny little rescue worms to the cute little nuggets that they are now, ready to be big cats! I can't recommend it enough, if you have space in your home or time in your schedule to take in a foster, it's an amazing thing to do!

But let's talk about ice cream. Specifically, strawberry ripple and shortbread ice cream. I am somewhat of a newbie to making my own ice cream, but I can see how addictive it can be. The sky is literally your limit when it comes to flavour combinations, and it tastes so much better than the store bought version, particularly when you use fresh, seasonal ingredients. Strawberries are just starting to come into full swing here in NYC, so it made sense that they would be next on my list of ice cream additions! I love an ice cream that is interesting enough to be a dessert on its own, rather than just an accompaniment. So to help elevate the flavours and add a little texture, I added in some homemade shortbread. The crunch of the shortbread against the creamy vanilla ice cream base and the sweet strawberry ripple is pretty awesome if you ask me. This definitely isn't going to be the last time that I add cookies to ice cream. This would make the perfect summer dessert. Or anytime dessert. I had it for breakfast yesterday. It has fruit in it, so therefore it's healthy, right?! Right.

A few wee notes:

I used an ice cream maker for this recipe. I recently purchased it (I got the attachment for my mixer) and was slightly skeptical to begin with, but i'm totally in love with it now! Ensure that you freeze the bowl overnight before making this.
I have included a recipe for a full batch of shortbread - you only use 200g of shortbread in this recipe, so if you were wanting to only make enough for the ice-cream, I would halve the recipe, which will make more than enough. However, shortbread tends to get eaten in the space of 24 hours around here (it's really good!), so I highly recommend making the full batch. You won't regret it. Promise.
If you wanted to leave out the shortbread and just have a strawberry ripple ice-cream, that would work well too!
I like to make the custard, strawberry sauce and shortbread the day before I churn the ice-cream just to make sure everything has had a chance to cool completely.
Get the freshest, nicest looking strawberries you can. The strawberry really shines in this recipe, so making sure you have good ingredients will really help this!
I made mine in a loaf tin, which tends to work best as when it comes to assembling the ice cream, you need to layer the ice cream and the strawberry sauce.

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Answers to your baking questions

Over the years, many of you have asked me questions about:

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Peach and rhubarb crumb cake

And not just any cake. This here is a Peach and Rhubarb crumb cake. It starts with a soft vanilla cake, slightly tangy and dense from the addition of sour cream. It is then covered with a mixture of fresh peach and rhubarb, tossed in sugar, and finished off with a brown butter streusel, which is quite possibly one of the best things I have ever tasted. The fruit cooks down and lightly soaks the top of the cake, and each bite is lifted by the addition of the crunchy brown butter streusel. We ended up testing this recipe 5 or 6 times, each tweak improving the recipe slightly, experimenting with different fruit and quantities of streusel. And I think we are onto a winner here. This is going to be my go-to this summer, topped with whatever fruit is in season. It is fuss-free, you can transport and serve it from the tin that it is cooked in, and it is amazing either fresh and warm from the oven, or at room temperature.

A few wee notes:

This cake is extremely versatile - you can use whatever fruit you have on hand. I made it with frozen rhubarb as a test - keep the rhubarb frozen and adjust the cooking time slightly so that you don't lose the moisture it gives while the fruit defrosts.
If you don't have sour cream on hand you can sub greek yoghurt
It can be kind of tricky to tell when the cake is cooked, as the fruit and streusel tends to hide things slightly, and the fruit can coat your cake tester. If you notice cake batter on your tester, leave it in the oven for a bit longer, but make sure you are not mistaking fruit juice for uncooked batter.
If you are using ripe, sweet peaches, you will likely only require about 2 tablespoon brown sugar, however if they are slightly tart, adjust the sugar by adding an additional tablespoon

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Answers to your baking questions

Over the years, many of you have asked me questions about:

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Roasted rhubarb brioche doughnuts

Brioche doughnuts, roasted rhubarb, vanilla bean pastry cream, and vanilla sugar

Let's just take a moment to talk about doughnuts though. As much as I love cake, I think I quite possibly love doughnuts more. There is something about a perfectly fried dough, either glazed with an interesting flavour or stuffed with some sort of exciting filling that really gets me going. The contrast of the sweet filling or glaze against an enriched fluffy dough is the best. And I love how versatile they are - you can make an entire batch, and finish them off in as many ways as you would like.

Rhubarb season has just started here in NYC, and I almost feel a bit panicked to put it in as many things as I possibly can before it disappears from the greenmarket again. It grows year-round in New Zealand so I am used to having constant access to it, so this limited time period thing is kind of balls. I'm definitely going to make the most of it though - there are a few rhubarb recipes coming your way in the next few weeks so that you can make the most of it too! Including these doughnuts.

These doughnuts are really something else. A fluffy brioche dough, a vanilla bean pastry cream, roasted rhubarb, and then finished off with a vanilla sugar. The combination of flavours compliments each other perfectly. The sharp tart flavour of the rhubarb stands up to the sweet custardy pastry cream, and the vanilla sugar highlights the vanilla paste that is tossed with the rhubarb and stirred through the pastry cream. It seems like a lot of elements, but each one has a well-deserved place.

Rhubarb is notoriously sour, so I roasted it with a little vanilla bean and sugar to help take the edge off. It also makes it the most beautiful colour, and any leftover is perfect stirred through yoghurt, eaten with granola, or just straight up spooned into your mouth.

A few wee notes:

The pastry cream is best made the day before or at least a few hours before you begin to make the doughnuts, so that it has time to cool completely.
Rhubarb can be roasted while the doughnuts are proofing - just make sure that it is cool before you fill the doughnuts with it
I made these using a stand mixer - you can most definitely do it by hand, but it will take a serious amount of elbow grease, and you will need to ensure that the butter is extremely well incorporated when you add it in.
The vanilla sugar ideally needs a little time to dry out, so make it just after you put the brioche dough on.
Ensure that you do not over proof the doughnuts once they are cut out. The sign of a well proved doughnut is a small ring of pale dough around the middle of the doughnut.

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Cheeseboard with zucchini relish

It's happened. It almost happened overnight. New York has become a smelly, sweaty puddle of angry people, AKA summer. Yesterday I was wearing leggings and a long top (as per usual - I look like I have been dragged through a bush 90% of the time), and today I am all of the sweaty. So gross. I closed the windows and snuck the aircon on today 'for the kittens', because mama cat gets too hot and crazy stressed as soon as I even think about turning on the oven, so I gotta keep it pleasant for her. That's what i'm saying anyway. The kittens are suddenly almost 6 weeks, and have grown up so fast from teeny little squirmy sausages to the cutest things IN THE WORLD. I am low key obsessed with them, and I am already scared about saying goodbye to them. Does anyone want to adopt them? Ideally you will be ok with me coming around every day to snuggle them. I'll bring treats. I promise!

One of the only good things about this gross hot weather, aside from day drinking and excessive amounts of rosé, is cheese boards! Actually, that is a lie, cheese boards are amazing all year round, but there is something about sitting outside with friends and having an epic cheese board!

I usually have at least 5 types of cheese in my fridge at any given time, because I am often hungry when I go to whole foods and therefore have zero control, which results in excessive cheese purchasing. The number of cheese I have at any given time has only increased since I started spending time with my New York Mum, who is the cheese wizard. Every time I go around to her house I try a new crazy sort of cheese that she has, get addicted to it, and have to immediately make a special trip just to buy it. We went on a little adventure yesterday and ended up at a whole foods, where I got even more types to try! The best.

I tend to just throw whatever I have in the fridge on the board. I usually try to go for something soft, something harder, something interesting, and something goaty, and then just some interesting add-ons, something sweet, and some sort of relish. This time I went with a cumin seed gouda, a marinated sheep and goat feta that I am OBSESSED WITH and you must try immediately, and a Vermont Creamery Coupole. I had plans to also pop on a bit of sharp cheddar, but I think I got hungry and carried away, and found it on the bench after the shoot. I also added some almonds for a bit of texture, a really nice salami, and some preserved lemons, because they go on / in everything these days since I made a giant jar a few months ago. Then there was a little brick of home-made quince paste, which I inadvertently made a GIANT TRAY of back in quince season (will share the recipe this season), so we are still working our way though it 6 months later. Luckily it keeps well. I finished the board off with some crackers, a little fresh mint, and a home-made zucchini relish, which has become a total fave in our house!

The relish is a cheese board game changer. When we have guests round for dinner (which is usually 2-3 times a week because I much prefer having people round than going out), I plonk whatever cheese I have in the fridge on a board, and pop a jar of the relish next to it, so everyone can just make their own snacks. The relish is a lovely combination of sweet and tart, and is crazy easy to make. I always, always get asked for the recipe, so figured I would finally pop it up here! Provided you grate and sweat the zucchini and onion ahead of time, the actual cooking process is only about 20 minutes, and is super easy to scale if you were wanting to make a bigger batch. It's also great on sandwiches, sausages, scones, stirred into quiche, anything that needs a little lift in flavour.

A few wee notes:

If you are planning to store this, make sure that you have sterilised jars. I tend to use pint-sized mason jars, and I give the glass jars 15-20 minutes in the oven to kill any bugs. Make sure that you always use new lids - these can be bought separately.
Use a larger pot than you think you will need - this has turmeric in it, so splashes can stain easily. I like to also use plastic or metal utensils rather than wood to avoid turning them yellow.
Provided you get a good seal on your jars, this can be kept at room temperature until you are ready to use it. Once it is open, store it in the fridge.

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Carrot cake with cream cheese icing

Easter weekend!! We don't really have a huge amount planned - work as usual! We are meant to be getting some foster kittens tomorrow (!!), but they have cancelled on us so many times that I'm not letting myself get excited until they are actually here. Aside from that we might make a few photography surfaces - we are having a surface making weekend soonish with some friends, so Rich and I just want to have a sneaky wee practice first to make sure there aren't any big hurdles that we haven't thought about before we get to the real deal!

I did however make a carrot cake yesterday, which to me is the perfect easter cake! (I'm not sure why though, maybe because rabbits eat carrots? Who knows). I just went with my standard carrot cake recipe, baked into 3 six inch tins. The thing that I really like about this recipe is that it bakes very flat, so there is minimal leveling to be done once it comes to stacking time!

I also had a play around with some cream cheese icing recipes. In the past my cream cheese icing has been super floppy and soft (yummmmmm hahah), which makes it hopeless when it comes to piping and transportation. However if you add too much butter or sugar, it loses that punchy cream cheese flavour and you end up with something that tastes more like American Buttercream. So I made three different batches, each with different ratios of cream cheese : butter : icing sugar, and I think I managed to come up with a happy medium! This recipe still has a cream cheese taste, isn't too sweet or grainy, and sets up nicely in the fridge. It also pipes well, which to me is a huge win.

I was originally going to decorate this with a few blobs here and there, but once I got started I realised that it was far too fun piping the blobs, and I had icing to use up, so I went for it! Mini eggs somehow made their way on there too at some point. This method of decoration is super easy and crazy effective - I just filled four piping bags with different coloured buttercream. Each was fitted with a different size french piping tip, and from there I just piped blobs all over the cake, adding in mini eggs here and there! I used an ateco 866 tip, and three wilton tips - the 32, 4b, and 21, but you could really use any size here, these were just the ones that I pulled out of my decorating box first! You can't go wrong with this decorating method - it's a great way to use up excess buttercream, you don't have to worry too much about a super smooth under coat, and it would be a fun project to make with kids! Plus. Carrot cake and cream cheese. Can't go wrong really.

A few wee things:

I made this in 3 6-inch cake tins. I totally understand that not everyone will have these, so you could also make it in two 8-inch tins, or just do it all in one 10-inch tin and slice it in half before filling! Just ensure that you adjust the cooking time accordingly if you make it in a larger tin - approx 45 minutes for 8-inch tins, and 50-60 minutes for a 10-inch. Check it with a skewer in the centre of the cake - you want it to come out clean.
The blobs use up a fair amount of buttercream. If you were just wanting to do a standard carrot cake with cream cheese icing and not have the blobs, I have included two quantities of ingredients down below. It would also look nice with just a super rustic coat of icing, and topped with some easter eggs.
I found that the trick to a nice firm cream cheese icing which was best for piping was to use cold cream cheese, and butter that is only just at room temperature, to make sure that it stays nice and firm. I also popped it in the fridge while I was waiting for the crumb coat of the cake to chill down, and just gave it a good stir before using it again. If at any time you find it is getting too soft, just return it to the fridge for 10-15 minutes. The icing in the piping bags was at room temp for well over two hours, along with being handled, and still held its shape well though, so you should be fine!

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Earl Grey Buns

An earl grey infused dough, filled with an earl grey and brown sugar mixture, baked until caramelized, then finished with an earl grey infused glaze. A slightly different take on the classic cinnamon roll.

This week has been kinda weird. We have had three weeks straight of visitors. Which has been amazing, particularly as 10 days of that was my Dad! We had the best time ever. The downside though, is that going back to reality isn't really a whole lot of fun, particularly with Dad leaving. I am TERRIBLE at saying goodbye to him.

I have been struggling with really bad homesickness the last year or so. Like, REALLY bad homesickness. Which is kind of strange and hard to explain, because living on the other side of the world is definitely finite for us, and plans are in place to move home in the next two years or so (When the L train shuts?). Something will set me off, and it becomes a pretty quick downward spiral to being a non-productive shit. I find leaving New Zealand super tricky, and the slightest thing at home or in my life here can trigger it, which in turn triggers this weird anxiety. While staying home and hiding is the easiest option, it's not productive nor helpful for the situation. I have found that keeping busy, and sticking to a really strict routine helps. A 7am gym class that I force myself to go to regardless of how shitty I am feeling. Dinner at approximately the same time each evening. A time period that vaguely resembles a bedtime. All these little things really help to keep me grounded. And tired enough that I sleep well.

That and friends here in the city, who are always down to hang out! Living in a big city and working from home can get mighty lonely, but it seems a lot of us are in the same boat. I have met some incredible people through the food community, who have become IRL friends as well as instagram friends. Special shoutout to Jill, who has let me adopt myself into her family, and is always there with the hugs, cats, delicious food and the comfiest couch ever when it is needed. We have the best time totally trashing her kitchen, and some happy messes always come out at the end of the day!

A plus side of staying at home a lot is that you can obsessively recipe test. These buns were made in my kitchen on three different occasions throughout the week. The best. I dunno about you, but earl grey buns three times in a week is definitely something that I can get behind.

If you haven't had earl grey in a baked good / dessert before, you are seriously missing out. Unless you have a serious aversion to the flavour (mum reckons it tastes like swamp water?!?), it is a lovely addition, which takes the flavour profile up a notch. Personally I think it should be added to everything that can be infused - does it have milk or water in it? Yup? Infuse with earl grey? Does it have coffee? Yup? Sub it out with strong tea! I also like to add Bergamot extract to help enhance the flavour a little more.

I incorporated the earl grey into these in a few ways. I made an earl grey infused sugar, which went into the dough, filling and glaze. The milk in the recipe was infused with tea, which lightly coloured and flavoured the dough and glaze. I also added a little bergamot extract into the dough, which just helped pick the flavour up a notch. Even with the earl grey in all these forms, it's still not a kick-in-the-face flavour, just nice and subtle. The filling melts down to make a sticky earl grey situation at the bottom of the buns, which is just the best ever. Perfect straight out of the oven, with a hot drink.

I baked these in a 10" cast iron skillet, but they would work just as well in a lined cake tin or baking dish. I rolled out a 21 x 16" rectangle of dough, which resulted in a fairly long, skinny roll, which yielded 10 buns. If you wanted these a little bigger, I would make the rectangle of dough a little smaller (to make them a bit fatter), and cut into fewer pieces. Either way you can't go wrong.

If you were wanting to make these ahead of time, you can either do the first proof in the fridge and then roll out, fill, roll out and proof the next day, or you could get them to the filled and rolled stage, then do the second proof overnight. Just be sure to give them an hour or two on the bench to warm up slightly, and make sure they have puffed up and expanded in size before baking.

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Triple Lemon Cake

Zesty lemon yoghurt cake, lemon curd, and lemon curd swiss meringue buttercream

Are you a new years resolution person? I used to be. I would carefully make myself a secret list, and then would head into the new year with great intentions and expectations, only to of course drop the ball about mid February (about the same time the gym starts to empty out after the January 'resolutioners' rush), and end up disappointed in myself. I tend to be way way too hard on myself, and end up working myself up into a big mess. This year I'm just going to try and do more of the things that make me happy. Which involves staying in on a Saturday if I want to (who are we kidding here, thats not an uncommon occurrence), and spending all day crocheting endless piles of wool while binge watching terrible shows when the need strikes. It also involves dinner parties on a Friday (possibly my favourite activity in the world), making more things, worrying less about what people think, and concentrating more on what I want. (Maybe I am still a resolution person?) I have also set myself a little goal of making an attempt to be more on time for things. I hate rushing, and somehow always end up putting myself in a situation where I am scrambling to get somewhere on time. I've started getting up five minutes earlier than I usually do, which means that I arrive at my 7am spin class with enough time to not be rushing in stressed. And damn, it is a good feeling!

This year also involves going a little easier on myself. I feel like the need to not have huge expectations of myself and the inevitable disappointment is even more important now that I live far away from home. It's a really weird feeling living a country so removed from home, and knowing that for at least the next few years, this is where you are going to be based. I've been here for two and a half years, and I feel like I'm still not used to parts of it. It's even more weird when you outstay lots of your friends - a lot of them come on one year visas, which then expire, and they head home. It's a very strange cycle of people entering your life, having an amazing time with them, and all of a sudden it's time for them to go home, and you are still here, still doing the same thing, just without those people in your life. It means that there are phases when there are a lot of people around and it is amazing, and then also phases when it feels as if theres nobody left here. Of course there are still friends here, it's just different.

Especially in winter. We all seem to just put our heads down and try and get through winter, myself included. And it gets quiet. It's when it's quiet that the homesickness sets in. I am a HUGE homebody. There's nothing I love more than hanging out with my family. We are all incredibly close knit, and I have a huge extended family who I am very very close with. I always find that during the winter when communication from home is filled with people enjoying the beach and the summer, things start to feel a little weird. Nothing seems exciting anymore, I get really really sick of the cold, and I have this underlying feeling of just wanting to be back in New Zealand. It also just happens to be a solid 25 hours of travel to get home, so it is times like that when the distance really becomes obvious. I usually end up trying to ignore it, and slowly just reverting into a little hole filled with all the things that I can find to make it bearable, followed by a minor meltdown, realising that I am homesick, and then making an effort to snap myself out of it. And then, I rinse and repeat. So this year is about recognising all of this early, and taking the steps to try and prevent the inevitable. We head home in two weeks for a good month at home, which is going to help a lot.

I am so, so lucky to have some amazing friends here though who really, really feel like family, and of course Rich, who is everything I could ever ask for. I spent the day yesterday with my amazing friend Jill. She has taken me under her wing a little and made me feel a part of the furniture at her place, and I honestly can't be more grateful. I always feel a little silly when I get upset about being far away from home (I'm 25, time to put on my big girl pants), but sometimes it just happens, and you need your Mum. Yesterday was exactly what I needed - we made pie and fluffed around in the kitchen chatting, then Rich came around for dinner with her and her family. When you are so used to a full noise family, you really miss being surrounded by people and food, and it was the most amazing feeling being back in that environment.

Cake always gives me a sense of family - I often make it to take to events. There are few things that are more comforting than providing food for others to enjoy. It's what I grew up associating with family.

This cake was a birthday present for a close friend of ours. The cake within is a dense lemon yoghurt cake that is a favourite of mine (it was the second tier of our wedding cake!) and the layers are sandwiched with punchy lemon curd, and fluffy swiss meringue buttercream which has more of the curd beaten into it, giving it a light and delicate lemon flavour. Curd and meringue based buttercream are the ultimate dream team - the curd uses egg yolks, while the buttercream uses up the whites, eliminating leftover whites or yolks that inevitably get thrown out despite your best intentions.

This recipe makes a large 8 inch cake, which would do you well for 12-14 servings, so perfect for a party. You could easily halve the cake recipe and bake the mixture in 6 inch tins, yielding a smaller cake. I finished this cake with a texture which came from an icing comb on the edge of one of my cake scrapers, but it would look amazing with a smooth finish, or with a rustic coat of buttercream. This cake actually did end up with a rustic coating - I rushed out the door with it before cooling it properly, meaning the buttercream was still a little soft, and the layers slid around a little on themselves while we were in the uber, making for an interesting re-structure once we arrived at our friend's. I managed to put it back together and gave it a quick rustic finish, and it looked like it had never had a fail!

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Gluten Free, Dairy Free Peanut butter cookies

My goodness, this week has been a shit show. Both Rich and I got hideous colds. Not just bad colds but the In bed for a week colds. THE WORST. Thankfully early January isn't too busy for us so we were able to hide away in our apartment until we weathered the sick storm. Of course now it is safe to come out it's bloody freezing outside. Can't win.

Today I finally felt better, so of course it was time to make cookies! I have made these a bunch of times but never gotten around to sharing them. bought a few sometimes from our local smoothie shop without realising that I had the recipe sitting at home. They are from the Ovenly cookbook, which is one of my faves, but I also took a lot of notes from the Queen herself, Deb of Smitten Kitchen. These cookies only have four ingredients - Peanut butter, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla. You simply whisk it all up, scoop them out, and bang them in the oven and it is a done deal! They are fudgy on the inside, and a lovely level of sweetness, balanced out by flaky sea salt on the top. They also happen to be dairy and gluten free, by some sort of happy accident (which in my opinion is the best way!). THE BEST EVER AND YOU HAVE TO TRY THESE.

Ovenly suggests that you use Skippy peanut butter, which is, for those not from America, a smooth, more heavily processed peanut butter, as it helps them hold their shape well (For NZers, Kraft Smooth would work really well, otherwise any smooth peanut butter will work perfectly! I'm a big Eta or sanitarium fan)

I converted both the peanut butter and sugar measurements into grams because I dunno about you, but measuring peanut butter with a cup seems to be a recipe for disaster. If you don't have scales, I highly suggest spraying the inside of the cup measure with a little baking spray before you start so that the peanut butter slides out nicely. Trust me on this one, it makes things much less sticky. And there is far less chance of getting it in your hair (Trust me on that one too)

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Answers to your baking questions

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Choux au Craquelin

What is Craquelin?

Caramelised White Chocolate Whipping Ganache

A few wee tips for Choux au Craquelin

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Table of contents

Creme Egg French Macarons

Tips and Tricks for Foolproof French Macarons

For more Macaron Recipes, Check out:

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Recipe For Creme Egg French Macarons

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Chocolate Hazelnut Babka

A few wee tips for Chocolate Hazelnut Babka

More Babka Recipes:

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Custard Square with Homemade Puff Pastry

Components of a Custard Square

What is Custard Powder?

How to Break Up the Workload for Custard Square

Puff Pastry vs Rough Puff Pastry

Steps for rolling out Puff Pastry.

How to make small batch custard square

Custard Square with Store Bought Pastry

For more Custard Recipes, Check out:

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Recipe for Custard Square

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The Ultimate Christmas Cookie Box

The best box to use for a Christmas Cookie Box

How to put together a Christmas Cookie Box

How to break up the workload for the Christmas Cookie Box

A few wee tips for Christmas Cookie Box:

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How to Blind Bake a Pie Crust

How to make chocolate pie filling

How to line a pan with pie dough

Frequently Asked Questions

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Miso Caramel Apple Pie

A few wee tips for Miso Caramel Apple Pie

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Earl Grey Layer Cake

How to make Earl Grey Cake

Vanilla German Buttercream

A few wee notes for making Earl Grey Layer Cake

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