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GIVEAWAY

November 30, 2009 by Celia @ Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

Thank you all for your support!

Fig Jam and Lime Cordial has just had its 50,000th hit and to celebrate, we’re going to do what the big bloggers do and have a giveaway.  But unlike the big bloggers, our is just a little giveaway – since I don’t make any money from this enthusiasm**, I can’t really offer you a Kitchenaid mixer or a full set of All Clad cookware (no, read that again, I’m NOT offering either of those, sorry to get your hopes up).

However, I do have a few things to share which are very special to me!

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For my fellow Aussies, I have two sets of the following to give away :

A copy of my favourite cookbook,  Mrs Fields’ Best Ever Cookie Book…

…AND a pair of my FJALC welding gloves, the best thing ever for pulling hot trays of cookies out of the oven.  They’re a gorgeously bright orange leather,  and sport Fig Jam and Lime Cordial hanging loops.

May you never burn your forearms on an oven rack again!

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For my international visitors, I have :

A pair of of the aforementioned welding gloves….

…AND a tin of these fabulous bronze Book Darts (100) – perfect for marking up recipes in cookbooks.

Enter by leaving a comment (one only, please!) – making sure you let us know whether you’re in Australia or overseas.

We’ll take comments until 12pm, 14th December 09 (Sydney time), after which time we’ll put all the names in a hat and get the boys to draw out some winners.  Make sure you include your contact details in the email box (it won’t be published), so we can get in touch with you.  Good luck and thank you again for all your support!

To all my friends who already have cookbooks and/or welding gloves, please leave a comment anyway, but understand that you won’t be getting another set.  If we do pull your name out, I’ll buy you lunch next time we get together.

Edit: Pete just pointed out that it’s easier for people to leave a comment if they have a question to answer.  So…completely optional, but if you feel like telling us, we’d love to know what your favourite cookbook is!

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**In the Wind in the Willows television series, there’s a  scene where Toad’s eyes glaze over as he becomes entranced with a new obsession, and Badger deadpans to Rat and Mole, “I fear, my friends, another enthusiasm..”.

That’s how Pete refers to this blog, as my enthusiasm…

Posted in Food & Friends | 58 Comments »

Christmas Gift Tags

November 28, 2009 by Celia @ Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

Here’s a little present for you – some Christmas gift tags.

They’re based on the ones we use every year, and work particularly well with gifts from the kitchen.

I’ve put together two versions – one with “Merry Christmas” and one with just the graphic, in case you’d prefer a different greeting.  You could also just cut around the picture, then write your greeting on the back. The files are in pdf format.

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Christmas gift tag – with greeting

Christmas gift tag – blank

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I like them printed on white cardboard, trimmed to size (with a guillotine, if you have one) and then decorated with a colourful ribbon.

The tags were created with our old copy of Printmaster Deluxe – fantastic software for creating your own cards and stationary.  We’ve used versions of this programme for more than ten years, and haven’t bought a single greeting card or gift tag in that time.  Because they’ve been so many updates, the older versions of Printmaster are often heavily discounted (ebay has several versions listed for under $20), but even at full price, it’s a bargain compared to the current cost of greeting cards.

Less than four weeks to go until Christmas!  I hope that sentence fills you with excitement rather than dread, as there’s still plenty of time to make some wonderful Christmas gifts.   Hopefully these festive tags will get you started.  Have fun!

Posted in Food & Friends | Tagged , , | 2 Comments »

Chocolate Fudge Cookies

November 26, 2009 by Celia @ Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

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Debbi Fields is a genius.  Her recipes are foolproof, wickedly good and just perfect for the festive season.  The Mrs Fields Best Ever Cookie Book is used more than any other cookbook in our kitchen – I’ve made more than thirty recipes from it. Watch this space, as I’ll be giving away copies of this cookbook before Christmas!

These Fudge Cookies with White Chocolate – a recent addition to our baking lineup – have instantly become one of Pete’s favourites.  They’re very grown up, very dark and very moreish.  Here’s our take on the recipe, which makes about three dozen cookies.  They freeze well, so don’t feel the need to eat them all at once!

  • 360g (12oz) semisweet chocolate callets (I use Callebaut 54% cocoa)
  • 2 cups plain flour
  • ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
  • 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda), sifted
  • ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 250g (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
  • 1½ cups (packed) dark brown sugar
  • 3 large (59g) eggs
  • 2 teaspoons homemade vanilla extract
  • 120g (4oz) white chocolate callets
  • 1 teaspoon vegetable oil* (see topping instructions below)

1. Preheat oven to 150C (300F) with fan.

2. In a small pyrex bowl, melt the semisweet chocolate by microwaving on high in short bursts, taking care not to scorch the chocolate.  Stir frequently.  Set the melted chocolate aside to cool slightly.

3. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sifted cocoa, sifted bicarb soda and salt.  I don’t sift much, but cocoa and bicarbonate of soda are two ingredients that really need it, or you’ll end up with bitter lumps in your finished cookie.

4. In a large mixing bowl, use an electric mixer to cream the butter and sugar, then beat in the eggs and vanilla until just blended.  Mix in the cooled semisweet chocolate, then the flour mixture until just combined.  Be careful not to overbeat.

5. Scoop rounded tablespoons of the dough (I use a small icecream scoop) onto a baking tray lined with parchment, leaving room for the cookies to spread.  Bake for 18 to 22 minutes, or until set.  Cool on the tray for a minute, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

Topping:

The original instructions are to melt the white chocolate and oil together in a double boiler, then to drizzle this mixture over the top of the cooled cookies with the tines of a fork.

I usually temper the white chocolate, omitting the oil, and then pipe the tempered white chocolate over the top of the cookies.  Enjoy!

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Posted in Recipes | Tagged , , | 4 Comments »

Moghrabieh

November 25, 2009 by Celia @ Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

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I’ve learnt two things tonight.

Firstly, moghrabieh, or Lebanese couscous, needs to be precooked before it’s added to a dish.  I boiled these little pearls for 20 minutes in salted water, before draining and adding them to the Römertopf curry I was preparing.   Even after the extended boiling, the moghrabieh wasn’t cooked through and as a result, kept their shape and texture beautifully over the following hour and a half in the oven.

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Secondly, spice mixes from Pakistan are seriously hot.  But also very  delicious!

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Posted in Recipes | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment »

Shortbread Cookies

November 23, 2009 by Celia @ Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

One clever way to prepare for Christmas gift giving is to have a few batches of cookie dough in the freezer. This shortbread recipe, created by Ming Tsai, will keep for a week in the fridge or a couple of months in the freezer, provided the logs are well wrapped.

Having frozen cookie dough on hand is very empowering – you can have a freshly baked gift ready to go in under an hour.  Package these in homemade origami boxes, and you’ll feel like a true domestic goddess!

Butter Shortbread Cookie Dough
(adapted from Simply Ming, Episode 120)

  • 375g (1½ cups) unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 290g (1⅓ cups) sugar
  • 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 3 large (59g) egg yolks
  • 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
  • 550g (3¾ cups) plain (AP)  flour
  • scraped seeds from half a vanilla pod (optional)

Note: our homemade vanilla extract has a sprinkling of black seeds in it, so I don’t usually bother with the vanilla pod.

1. You’ll need a big mixer for this recipe. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, sugar and salt on medium until well blended (about two minutes).  Add the egg yolks one at a time, mixing until incorporated.  Add the vanilla extract and seeds.  Stop the mixer and scrape down the bowl.

2. While the mixer is off, add all the flour.  Turn the machine onto its lowest setting and mix until the flour is completely incorporated.  Do not overbeat.  Remove the dough and divide it into four, then shape each piece into a log about 25cm (10″) long and 3cm (1¼”) in diameter.  Wrap each log in parchment paper (roll it up, then twist the ends to seal) and chill in the fridge for at least one hour.

To store rolls in the freezer, overwrap the top of the parchment paper with a sheet of foil, seal tightly to prevent freezer burn, then label with a permanent marker.  When using the frozen dough, allow it to defrost slightly before slicing.

3. To bake a standard shortbread cookie – preheat the oven to 160C /320F (with fan).  Slice the chilled dough into 1cm (½”) discs, then dip each cookie into a small bowl of raw or Demerara sugar.  Lay them out on a baking tray lined with parchment, sugar side up.  Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until lightly brown, then allow them to cool on a wire rack before serving.  Make sure you don’t overcook these, or they’ll lose their crumbly buttery texture.

Click here for a printable version of this recipe

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You can do all sorts of clever things with this dough!

Here are some of our favourites:

Chai Shortbread Cookies – chai lattes are the latest café trend in Sydney, and our local coffee shop was selling bags of chai tea blend.  I added a little of this powdered mix to the Demerara sugar and dipped the cookies in it before baking – the result is a sophisticated cookie with hints of cardamom, cinnamon, ginger and cloves.  Chai mix is also readily available at Indian spice stores.

Linzer Cookies – my friend Christina, bless her, brought me back these snazzy cookie cutters from the US.  I rolled the dough out onto a sheet of parchment to a thickness of about 5mm, then cut tops and bottoms with the cutters.  These were baked for ten minutes each and allowed to cool, before sandwiching with some of Pete’s delicious raspberry jam.

Tarts – roll the dough out thinly and bake it in a small tart pan for a crisp base.  Once cooled, fill it with some homemade lemon curd (which only takes a few minutes in the microwave) or chocolate ganache and you’ll have an instant dessert.

More freezer dough recipes to come!

Posted in Recipes | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments »

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