Most people know it as baklava or baklawa but we call it ‘batlewa’ – a much softer sound and well suited to these sweet pastries. I’m partial to Lebanese batlewa as I find that it’s not as syrupy sweet as, say, Greek baklava. When I was first introduced to it, I would have to travel all the way to Sydney Road for pastries from either El Faiha Sweets or Balha’s Pastry. A small family-run business, El Faiha held a special place for me. Apart from the fact that I would often be handed a lady’s finger to eat on my way out, I found that their pastries were just that bit better. Balha’s is a bigger place with a wider range though and I think customers often let that sway them away from the smaller shops.

A few years ago, there was a commotion in the community when Abla’s Patisserie opened an equally large shop in Preston that also sold spectacularly decorated cakes and chocolate gifts. There was now competition for Balha’s, who then moved to a swish new location further up Sydney Road. It looked wonderful but the fact was their service was generally surly and I did not have felt comfortable walking in by myself. What a joy it was to visit Abla’s and, more recently, to have them open up a shop at Prahran Market – a 10 minute drive from me (before moving house, sob sob).

My latest venture to Abla’s in Prahran Market (after making an FB comment and winning a platter) was made last week to pick up a box of batlewa for mum to take to relatives in Malaysia – two beribboned boxes that made it safely and received gratefully. Their chocolates are not yet up to the standards of Al Baba Sweets or Patchi but, oh, the delicate crispness of the lady’s fingers (my all time favourite batlewa), mini date-filled ma’amoul (shortbread pastries) and barazi (sesame biscuits) – ahhh, heaven with a cup of tea. Now I just need to find out if they make knafe bi jibn…

Then, right after our recent house move, I went searching through my recipe archives for something to make for my new neighbour. I was reminded of the buttery delicateness of these lime-tinged treats – problem solved. I altered the recipe slightly, as I am wont to do, and threw in handfuls of white and dark Lindt chocolate, as well as some chopped almonds. Half the recipe was rolled into logs and placed in the freezer for a future date and the rest baked immediately for afternoon tea with the lovely Jeanette.

A week later, more baking ensued and these ended up travelling with me to training. Is there a better way to regain energy after a hard session?

White & Dark Chocolate, Almond and Lime Cookies

(makes 36)

225g unsalted butter
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
zest of 1 lime
2 tsps lime juice
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
340g white & dark chocolate pieces
50g chopped almonds

1. Beat butter and sugars until light and fluffy
2. Add eggs, vanilla extract, lime zest and juice and mix well
3. Fold dry ingredients into wet.
4. Bake at 175C for 12-15 minutes

We have baked this recipe many times now, with my son getting to decide what dried fruits to add each time. It’s from a newspaper clipping about Emily Rose, who like me is forever reading labels and putting things back on the shelf because they have too many (bad) ingredients. She’s created recipes that use rice bran oil instead of butter, honey instead of sugar and wholemeal instead of white flour but they don’t taste like ‘health’ foods.

This is our go-to recipe for biscuits right now and probably will be for a long while yet! Also handy for those times when you don’t have any eggs and still want to make biscuits.

In the middle of putting this post together, I decided to try Emily’s chocolate chip biscuit recipe (this one does include an egg) and I can report that it’s a winner too. I will include my adaption of both recipes below for those who have been asking for them.

Orange, Cardamom and Fig Biscuits

1 cup wholemeal self-raising flour
1/3 cup desiccated coconut
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1/3 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup rice bran oil
1/3 cup honey
1/2 tsp grated orange rind
2 tbs freshly squeezed orange juice
1/3 cup dried figs (you can substitute any dried fruit eg raisins, cranberries)

1. Mix the dry ingredients (flour, coconut, oats and ground cardamom) together
2. Mix the wet ingredients (oil, honey, orange rind, orange juice) together
3. Stir the wet and dry ingredients together and add the figs , then let the mixture sit for 10 minutes.
4. Roll into small 20 or 50c sized balls and place on lined tray
5. Bake at 170C for 15 minutes until golden brown

Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 egg
1/2 cup rice bran oil
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup warm water
1/4 cup desiccated coconut
2 cups wholemeal self-raising flour
2/3 cup chopped dark chocolate (70%)
1/3 cup chopped roasted almonds

1. Beat the egg and mix in the oil
2. Dissolve the honey in water and mix with egg/oil
3. Stir dry ingredients (coconut, flour, chocolate, almonds) in
4. Stand mixture for 10 minutes so that it’s less sticky, then roll into balls and place on lined tray
5. Bake 180C for 15 minutes until golden brown

Ever since I saw these Horlicks cookies here, I’ve been dying to make them. With Chinese New Year coming up and it being the Year of the Rat, I decided to go with a modified look to suit the theme.

Using Umbrella Cookies (also known as Pigs Ears cookies I am told) for the ears was a good idea in theory but much harder to put into practice as they didn’t want to stay on. I also tried using pink chocolate chips for the nose but they turned brown in the oven but the gel icing worked out well instead. I made a half batch of rat cookies then decided to be lazy and make normal ones with the rest of the batter!

Wishing you you very happy and prosperous year.

I almost typed in Anzac Cookies, but that would have just been SO wrong as these biscuits were originally baked during WWI by wives and mothers for the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) soldiers. Luckily I caught myself in time and wisely used the term ‘biscuits’ instead. Anyway, a rose by any other name and all…these taste pretty good!

There’s an ongoing debate as to what exactly is a brownie - a cake, a cookie, a sheet cookie, a bar, a slice? But a brownie sits in a separate category all together. It should be denser than a cake and fudgier rather than light and fluffy.

I trawled through a large handful of recipes trying to decide which would produce a great brownie but most of the recipes I came across used baking powder. How could this produce a dense and fudgey brownie? Dissatisfied with the results of my search, the only solution was to create my own recipe.

Using a few of the recipes as a rough template, I reduced the amount of flour and sugar and left out the baking powder altogether. The chocolate and butter was melted over simmering water and the rest of the ingredients mixed in with a wooden spoon. By not beating the eggs, sugar and butter, I managed to avoid aerating the batter and this resulted in a dense, fudgey, amazing brownie…oops, blondie. I forgot to mention that I mainly used white chocolate instead of milk or dark.

It was great straight out of the oven and we’ll find out tomorrow how it tastes after sitting overnight.

Cin’s Blondie

200g white chocolate, roughly chopped
150g butter
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup raw sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 1/2 cups pl flour
1/4 tsp salt
50g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
1/2 cup toasted almonds, roughly chopped

1) Melt 1/2 white chocolate & butter in bowl over simmering water. Remove from heat.
2) Stir in sugar, eggs and vanilla essence
3) Mix in flour&salt mixture
4) Fold in rest of chocolate and almond pieces
5) Bake in 20cm square tin at 160C until skewer comes out clean but with crumbs. Don’t overbake.

Of course, you can’t enjoy brownies or blondies on your own so I have to share this recipe with the rest of the Brownie Babes over at Myriam’s place.

Is there anyone out there who doesn’t have good memories of Nutella, seriously. I’m sure that I don’t know any of them. My memories of Nutella stem not only from my childhood, but from our subsequent travels in Europe.

But, we will start from the beginning when I used to bring Nutella sandwiches made with thinly sliced Sunblest white bread to primary school. In around Grade 5, a new loaf came along in the form of the extra soft, light and airy Country Split loaf. Suddenly, it seemed, every sandwiche was made with these thicker slices so, of course, my Nutella sandwiches HAD to be made with this bread too. Even at that time, I was always quite particular about how my sandwiches were made and eaten. My sandwiches had to have a thick, oozy layer of the chocolate goodness – forget that thin smear just in the middle of the bread versions that my dad preferred. Nope, it had to be spread right to the edges of the bread. When I brought out the sandwich at lunch time, I would then hold the sandwich in both hands and squish it down between my fingers and thumb until the cross section revealed equal proportions of the white, brown, white layers. Occassionally, I would then roll it into a cigar shape before nibbling away at the sandwich.

Later on, I discovered that Nutella paired beautifully with both vanilla or chocolate ice cream. I would soften the Sara Lee Ultrachocolate ice cream in the microwave until it had the consistency of soft serve, then swirl in teaspoonfuls of Nutella – how’s that for a chocolate hit! What a joy it was then to spoon the creamy concoction into my mouth and pressing the hardened Nutella chunks with my tongue against the roof of my mouth causing it to melt gradually.

There was then a lull in my Nutella enjoyment until my first trip to Europe, when my memories of it again come into sharp focus. Paris and the ubiquitous crepe stalls – need I say more? The wafting, glorious scent of hot crepes spread with nutella…the thought of which can still cause me to swoon. Needless to say, A. & I had a few of these during our time in France. It seems that Nutella is not only enjoyed in France but also in Italy, where large families (or so I assume) can purchase 3 kg jars of this stuff from the supermarket. You should’ve seen the amazement in my eyes when I first came across one of these bottles. I cradled it in my arms with hopes of carrying it away with me, but alas, the (im)practicality of lugging a 3 kg jar of Nutella across Europe wouldn’t allow for this.

There is one memory of Nutella that makes me laugh instead of drool however. We were having a chat with some American friends during our time in Italy about Nutella. As with many othe words (like Adidas), they had a way of pronoucing it that quite clashed with everyone else’s and one friend insisted on pronoucing it as new-tella rather than nut-ella. There was no way she was backing down from this being the correct pronouciation until A. asked “So do you eat hazel-newts?”

Nowadays, we often have a tiny bottle sitting in the fridge as A. likes to have a spoonful every now and then (I prefer it at room temp myself). In honour of the many happy memories that Nutella has provided, I’m celebrating World Nutella Day with these chewy macaroons in which Nutella plays a starring role. I was actually after a slightly lighter cookie with a crispier shell but these Gordon Ramsey macaroons did well enough…all gone now.

Technorati Tags:nutella day, nutella, macaroons

The most recent was a limited-edition, strawberry cream-filled ‘Pink Wish’ Tim Tam, launched to coincide with Breast Cancer month. Most stores have run out of this version although I still spot it from time-to-time. I had two packs stashed away and now only one remains after I gave the other to a work colleague when she lamented the fact that they were no longer available.

Well, the folks at Arnott’s have done it again with these two new ‘Love Potion’ flavours: Sticky Vanilla Toffee and Double Chocolate & Raspberry. Actually there is a third one in range, Chocolate Mud, which my local supermarket didn’t stock. The Double Chocolate & Raspberry one sounds suspiciously like the cherry-filled Black Forest version. I guess these must be for the Valentine’s Day rush, but I say ‘Why wait?’

Here are my Christmas trees!

I’m not going to post the recipe, which is from the special Christmas Cookies edition of Better Homes & Gardens, because although I love the way they look the cookies themselves are too sugary sweet. You can use any recipe that allows you to make cookie-cutter cookies, then all you have to do is ice them and decorate. I used the usual silver ball bearing-looking decorations that you find in supermarkets as well as some pearl sugar which I picked up from The Essential Ingredient in Prahran. The sugar does not absorb moisture and therefore will retain its shape. Reminds me of snowflakes and Christmas in Europe – sigh!

A forest of Christmas trees…

Next year, I have to find some of these cutters…unfortunately so many of these are not imported into Australia and most companies will not send out of the US

I promised, in my previous post, that I would write about some chocolate desserts that I recently made so here they are. I’m also hoping that these two recipes will prompt some of you to buy a ticket for the $100 koko Black voucher that I’m offering as part of the Menu for Hope campaign. As Neil has urged in a recent post, we should support the companies that have generously donated their products to help make this event a success. To date, we have already exceeded last year’s efforts by more than US$4,000 and still have almost a week to go. Isn’t that fantastic? Anyway, who wouldn’t want to make a dessert that looks this beautiful? Especially with the berries that we have in season at the moment.

I bought Alice Medrich’s ‘Bittersweet‘ cookbook at least 6 or 9 months ago and it’s been sitting on my shelf instead of my kitchen bench. I was reminded of its existence at the opening of the new DFO at the renamed Southern Cross station. The bookshop had it on sale for measly $25.00! And I had paid $75 for it at Borders – don’t you hate that! Having tried out a couple of recipes now, I can tell you that it’s worth the price because these desserts will knock your socks off.

This roulade consists of a a thin layer of flourless chocolate souffle rolled up like a jam roll and simply filled with whipped cream, shavings of white and dark chocolate, and fresh raspberries. The recipe for the souffle sheet calls for a 70% bittersweet chocolate so I visited Koko Black to get their 74% house dark chocolate. As you will see from the recipe below, the souffle sheet is easy to make and don’t worry about the cracking as you roll it up. This produces the most pleasing effect, especially when dusted with some icing sugar and surrounded by the most luscious-looking selection of summer berries. The Koko Black chocolate was absolutely perfect for creating a dessert that was big on chocolate flavour but not overly sweet due to the high percentage of cocoa solids.

Bittersweet Roulade

185g Koko Black 74% chocolate, coarsely chopped, 1/3 cup freshly brewed espresso, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 6 large eggs, separated, 1/4 tsp cream of tartar, 3/4 cup sugar, 2 tbs unsweetened cocoa powder

1. Melt chocolate with water in a bowl set over a pot of barely simmering water, stirring frequently until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Stir in vanilla and set aside to cool slightly.
2. Whisk egg whites with cream of tartar until soft peaks form. Gradulally sprinkle in sugar and beat at high speed until whites are stiff but not dry.
3. Whisk egg yolks into melted chocolate then fold 1/4 of egg whites completely into chocolate mixture to lighten it. Add the remaning egg whites and fold in gently but completely.
4. Spread batter evenly into lined jam roll tin and bake at 190C for 8 to 10 minutes until cake springs back when pressed lightly with fingertips and skewer comes out moist but not gooey. Cool completely in the pan on a rack.
5. Unmould cake by inverting pan onto a piece of foil dusted with cocoa powder and peeling off baking paper.
6. The recipe suggests using a cocoa bean cream or whipped chocolate ganache in place of cream but I thought this would be too rich. Instead, I filled it with whipped cream and shavings of 74% Koko Black chocolate (just to add a little more chocolatiness, sprinkled with fresh raspberries then drizzled swirls of melted white chocolate because I like the combination of white chocolate and raspberry. Using the foil to help, start rolling up the cake from one long edge. The cake will crack but, don’t worry, this decreases as the roll gets fatter. Place seam side down on platter, dust with icing sugar and surround with fresh summer berries of your choice.

This is the sort of cake to make for friends you love. It looks great and has just the right level of bittersweet flavour to not be overpowering.

I had enough of the Koko Blakc chocolate to try my hand at the Bittersweet Decadence Cookies as well and am I glad that I did (and more importantly, so is A.). As described in the book, these are ‘ultrachocolatey…crunchy on the outside with a divinely soft center…irresistable.’ I have tried to capture the gooeiness of the chocolate chunks inside but the photo probably doesn’t do it justice. Of course, this means that you will just have to try it out yourself!

Bittersweet Decadence Cookies

1/4 cup flour, 1/4 tsp baking powder, 1.4 tsp salt, 250g semisweet chocolate, 30g unsalted butter, 2 large eggs, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 2 cups pecans (chopped), 185g 74% Koko Black chocolate (chopped into chunks)

1. Melt semisweet chocolate and butter together over a pot of simmering water, stirring frequently until just melted and smooth. Remove from heat and set aside.
2. Whisk eggs, sugar and vanilla well together and set bowl over pot of simmering water. Stir mixture until lukewarm to the touch. Stir eggs into the warm (not hot) chocolate.
3. Mix flour, baking powder and salt together and stir into the chocolate mixture. Add nuts and Koko Black chocolate chunks.
4. Spoon rounded tablespoons of batter onto baking tray and bake at 175D for 12 to 14 minutes until surface of cookie looks dry and set but center is still gooey. Cool on rack.