Mini german pancakes

Somewhere between a poffertje and a yorkshire pudding - a mini german pancake using this recipe.

straight out of the oven, you can see they are just beginning to collapse

only a couple of minutes later, and they have collapsed entirely

stuffed full of apple, strawberries and greek yoghurt

I made a half batch, 3 per person, which seemed to be a good amount:

1/2 cup milk
3 eggs
1/2 cup flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/8 cup butter, melted

Preheat oven to 200 degrees celcius

In food processor, mix all ingredients EXCLUDING butter

Slowly add butter in, keep blitzing

Distribute in muffin tin and bake for 15 mins, or until done (as per top picture)

Broccoli and sweet potato soup

Do you ever a craving for some fresh, rather plain vegetables?  Sometimes I get so caught up in trying interesting sauces or blending flavours that the individual ingredients can't stand out.

This soup is the remedy - a soup that really tastes of fresh vegetables and not much more.

Served with some of the world's best garlic bread, breadstick, homemade garlic butter and some parmesan.

Sticky Fingers Bakery

G and I recently tasted cupcakes from Sticky Fingers Bakery, the Americana and the Lemon.

Americana - jam and peanut butter - basically, a dribble of jam that escaped out the bottom of the cupcake, a boring vanilla cupcake and some delicious peanut butter icing.  Topped with glitter (important) and popcorn that had been on the cake so long it was soggy.  I think "so long" is probably only a minute or two, given the amount of liquid in the icing.

Disappointing that the jam did not stay in the cake. AT ALL. 

Very atttractively iced - lemon at the front, americana at the back. 

Lemon curd was lucky to avoid the jam's fate.  Not enough lemon curd.  Not lemony enough. 

But both were oh so pretty.

Baked potato soup

Yes, I did just receive 3 or 4 new issues of Jamie magazine from my mum - no idea where she finds them because they are "old" but because I am in the southern hemisphere they are perfectly in season!

This week I made the baked potato soup - which is basically liquefied baked potatoes topped with "standard" baked potato toppings.  In my case, we used sour cream, cheddar and spicy pancetta.  Maybe a bit of green would have made this dish look better, but it tasted absolutely amazing.  I wonder if the trick is the parmesan rind that is in the pot while the soup cooks?

Recipe to serve 4
4 cold baked potatoes - I cooked these on Sunday, made the soup on Tuesday
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
1.25 litres stock
optional - parmesan rind

Sweat an onion until soft, then add the garlic and cook for a couple of minutes.

Throw in the chopped up baked potatoes (skin and all) and the parmesan rind and let that saute for a few minutes.

Pour in stock and bring to boil, then reduce heat and simmer (covered) for 25-30 minutes.

Remove parmesan rind and "blitz" (food processor, stick mixer - your choice) the soup.

Return to the pan and season with salt and pepper as needed, and add extra stock to thin the soup if required.

Toppings
A dollop of sour cream
Some crumbled cheddar
Some spicy pancetta that I fried to make it crispy

A simple summer tuna pasta

A Maggie special from the recipe books that came free with the Herald Sun earlier this year, and yes, I know it is winter, but I like to pretend that the weather is still pleasant (even when I am wrapped up in a fleece jacket at home!)

the finished dish

"Recipe"
1. Cook some spaghetti
2. Slice fresh tuna into small pieces
3. Put olive oil and capers and cooked pasta into frying pan
4. Turn heat off and stir through tuna, parsley and squeeze on some lemon.  Done!

step 4

Homemade peppermint patties

Apparently, my recipe posts have been a bit lacking of late - thanks The Shy Lion! I don't think this recipe will really be up his alley, but it is a recipe and it was delicious!

This is ostensibly the recipe for peppermint patties, but it seems quite similar to the top of a mint slice biscuit too.

 
This is a very strange recipe, I mean, it's mostly dry ingredients that miraculously (by way of chemical interaction of the ingredients?) turn into peppermint patties.  But I love Sweetapolita, and the amazing website, so when I saw this recipe, I knew it was worth a try.

Ingredients

4 cups icing sugar
45 grams unsalted butter
1/4 teaspoon  peppermint oil
3/4 tsp  pure vanilla extract
4 tablespoons evaporated milk

Method
Using your mixer, preferably with a paddle attachment*, combine the butter, icing sugar, peppermint oil, vanilla, and evaporated milk and mix on low speed until it starts to come together. Then turn your mixer up!  Probably to about 6/10 and mix for 2 more minutes.  

Cover and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes and then roll out the mixture into small balls and press flat, into a patty shape.  Cover and chill again - for about an hour. 

Coating
I just used melted dark chocolate, but Sweetapolita's pastel shades are just adorable!  Your choice.

*I don't know how well the recipe would work using normal beaters (ie a whisk), if you try it let me know!

Weird but good

Brussels sprouts, parmesan, onion, garlic and pasta - surprisingly delicious!