Fabulous Christmas Cake- So Simple

 This delicious super simple fruit cake has been floating around for a good long while. I remember making it years ago & not being that impressed with it but when a friend shared it recently as a Christmas cake I decided to have another go. And oh my word- it's delicious!

The first one I made we took with us to Apiti on our 44th wedding anniversary.

The second one was an "Oh my goodness we just have to make another one for Christmas" impulse. Since there are no eggs, butter or added sugar this really is a clever treat.

Since I make very few cakes in a year I decided I should fossick through the old (non working) fridge out the back where we store our "dry goods", to see what dried fruits might need using up. 

It's this simple: just put together a kilo of various dried fruits, or use a packet of fruit cake mix, up to you.

Our mix this year included golden raisins, jumbo mixed raisins, Otago dried apricots, crystallized ginger, a few prunes, dried pineapple, peel & red & green cherries plus 1/2 cup of almond slithers or slices.  

Put all the fruit in to a large bowl.

To soak the fruit either make a tea with two fruity tea bags or

Simmer 1/2 cup of dried hawthorn berries & 1/2 cup of rose hips together in 1 litre of water for 20 minutes. 

Strain and pour over the fruit so that's it's just about covered in the liquid.

Add 1 tbsp cinnamon, 1 tbsp ground ginger, 1 tsp ground cardamom & a dsp of either mixed spice or garam marsala.

Next add a pinch of salt, a dsp vanilla essence and the zest and juice of an orange & leave to sit overnight to infuse and absorb the liquid.

Add 1/2 cup of slithered almonds or chopped walnuts, or both!

Now add 1 cup of ground almonds, 1/2 cup of flour and 2 tsps of baking powder.

Mix altogether and spoon in to a tin of your choice- make it fat or thin or make several small cakes.

Line the tin with baking paper and bake the cake in a moderate oven for around an hour.

It's that simple.

Really it's just like the old boiled sultana cakes that Granny used to make back in the day.

I haven't decorated ours. It's fine just as it is, but of course you could if you'd like to.

We liked the second one best with the ginger & the mostly ground almonds.

Thanks to Cath's Kitchen for the recipe.

Pohutukawa Flower Syrup and Spice

This December we set out to spend time with the magnificence of the Pohutukawa trees in flower throughout Hawke's Bay. Along the way we discovered that the stamens of the blooms can be used to make a delightful cordial. There is very little reference to the flower being used by Maori, however, there are two contemporary foragers that have been sharing about their use of these special blossoms on social media so I went ahead to see just what all the fuss was about.  

Once you start taking notice it is amazing just how many variations of the colour red Pohutukawas bloom in. We found these trees out at Waipatiki beach in the week before Christmas.

I adore that these tenacious native trees are known as the New Zealand Christmas tree.

There's a bit of an art to gathering the stamens as they don't just nicely fall in to your hand, unless they are ready to drop. Picking the whole flower head isn't much use as they are still quite difficult to remove even when dry. So, like many foraging practises the best idea is to slow down, be patient & grateful & take your time.

The stamens dry very quickly & have a lovely berry fruity fragrance.

Pohutukawa stamens with Kawakawa fruit

To make Pohutukawa cordial simply bring a cup of water & a cup of sugar to the boil & then stir to dissolve the sugar. Add 1 tsp citric acid & 1 1/2 cups of the stamens. Make sure that you've removed any of the hard green bits first. Cover & leave to infuse all day or overnight. Strain & bottle. 

This is the best post I have found so far about making this cordial over at Kailash Herbs.

You can reduce the sugar content of the cordial but it won't keep as well & the balance will be different. Same with the citric acid- it helps to acidify what would otherwise be a very sweet syrup. Lemon would swamp the delicate flavour of the Pohutukawa flowers.

Increase quantities according to what you have & how much cordial you'd like to make. The above amounts make just enough for a 500ml bottle. White cane sugar or raw sugar both work fine.

We think that the cordial tastes much like strawberry jam. It is lovely mixed in to fizzy water.

The dried stamens can also be ground in a spice grinder until very fine & then put through a fine sieve to produce a deep red delicious "spice". The desert below is a mixture of whipped cream, thick natural yogurt, honey & a large teaspoon of Pohutukawa spice. The strawberries are marinated in a little maple syrup and the green stuff is finely ground pistachio nuts.

The same mix can also be frozen to make a very nice semifreddo. Just remove from the freezer and allow to sit for 10 minutes before serving.

I learnt about making Pohutukawa spice from this post here at Finders Eaters Foraging.

The sauce in the above desert I made by simmering a few wild cherries for 20 minutes in a little water, (Prunus padus var padus) that we discovered out at Sacred Hill, & then adding a little honey.

Such a rich delicious flavour.

For Christmas I made a Spanish Cream using this recipe & adding a large teaspoon of Pohutukawa spice. I would leave out the vanilla next time as it overwhelmed the fruity flavour of the flowers. 

Charming served in pretty teacups.

Delicious served with roasted strawberries. When the strawberries are cooked but still have a little liquid left I mixed in a little honey & some Pohutukawa spice. The wafer was some Speculaas that Dutch friends gave us- perfect combination!

Katie x

Strawberry Yoghurt Cheesecake

Sometimes it's nice to follow a recipe & go out & buy the ingredients especially & other times, it's fine just to use what you have & make it up as you go along. This, around Christmas time "cheesecake" was one of those make it up jobs & it was so delicious.

I have decided that the only base worth making for an uncooked cheesecake is this one. It is so good.

 1/3 cup each of broken cashews, walnut pieces (toast these first if you like) and coconut, 

add 4 or 5 soft dates (remove the stones first) 

Add a tbsp of melted coconut oil and briefly combine in a food processor until mixed to a fine crumb. Press in to a greased springform tin. 

The middle part is super easy- I had a kilo of strawberry Greek yoghurt in the fridge that I bought from Reduced to Clear for $2.50!

In a small saucepan soak a large rounded dsp of gelatine in a little juice, or water.

Let stand for 5 minutes & then stir over low heat until the gelatine is dissolved. 

Stir in a large dsp of honey.

Once cooled, stir in 1/2 cup or so of the yoghurt & stir again.

Now pour the gelatine in to the yoghurt & stir through thoroughly.

Pour over the base. Pop in to the fridge.

The topping is so flavoursome & a great way to make use of an abundance of gorgeous strawberries at this time of the year. I had a large punnet of juicy fat strawberries (seconds are brilliant for this) in the fridge that I washed & sliced & spread out in a roasting pan. Sprinkle a dsp of raw sugar over the fruit (actually I did this part the night before). Cook at around 130o until well roasted & syrupy, but not dry.

The process is the same again- 1 large rounded tsp of powdered gelatine soaked in the liquid of the roasted strawberries, once bloomed, gentle heat to dissolve. Stir through the strawberries add a splash of rose water & once the yoghurt part has started to set, gently pour over the cheesecake. 

Cover & refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or overnight.

Back in the day, when no one even knew what they were, my grandmother Edna would serve bowls of whole strawberries & tinned lychees for dessert. These Japanese wineberries are ready in our garden over summertime & are equally as good with lychees & especially this strawberry cheesecake.

A cheesecake that is light & still nourishing yet feels like a celebration food. It also lasts well in the fridge.

Katie X

Elephant Milk!

Last Christmas, there was an unexpected stall at our Farmers' market run by some parents from Napier Central School. They were selling a book called Neighbourhood Eats. It was so beautifully presented & entirely made by the parents & PTA as a fundraiser. It's a gorgeous book, so we bought a copy. We love to support local endeavours. So.. this Christmas we decided to make the Elephant Milk, from the desserts section.

The recipe was provided by Cameron Huckle- a family favourite from Granny in Zimbabwe.

 Elephant milk has in fact been known to me for quite some time. Only, 40 years ago we called it Lemon Crunch Pie. You can find that recipe just here. One of the easiest dessert recipes ever & almost certainly universally loved. The only difference between Lemon Crunch Pie & Elephant milk is two egg whites & a tweek on the method- so just go with whatever works best for you.

Simply pour a can of sweetened condensed milk in to a bowl, add 300mls of cream, half a cup of lemon juice (preferably a Lisbon type- better flavour & setting effect) & the finely grated zest of the lemon. You can skip the zest if you prefer.

Beat altogether until thick, like whipped cream.

Beat the two egg whites to soft peaks & then fold those through the lemony mixture.

 Now pour in to bowls, tea cups or a large bowl  if you prefer & pop in to the fridge to set, or freeze for a couple of hours or overnight to make ice-cream, or pour over a biscuit base & there you have Lemon Crunch Pie- the easiest cheesecake you will ever make. The mixture can also be layered with crushed biscuits, nuts & custard.

 Since I made this at Christmas I have served this ice-cream with lychees, fresh shredded coconut (that I recently discovered in the freezer at the local Asian shop) White Soul strawberries, a ripe Kawa kawa fruit pulled off the stem & finally a drizzle of Linden honey.

 It tastes absolutely amazing together! But as Felicia was want to say- "If you like that sort of thing!"

 These Linden flowers are from a Silver Linden tree & we found them flowering on Christmas day. Their scent is like nothing else on earth- heady Linden plus deep jasmine notes- steeped in a light honey (I used Tawari) for a day or so & you have a truly magical elixir.

So...either keep it simple, or let your imagination run wild. I did!

Katie X

Raw Strawberry Macaroons

I think these have to be one of the yummiest little sweet treats that I have ever made!

They are so easy to whip up & healthy too.

In my usual style I have tweeked the original recipe that I found just here.

~ 1/3 cup of cashews or almonds
~ 3/4 cup shredded coconut
~ 2 1/2 tbsp coconut flour
~ 1/4 cup diced strawberries
~ 2 large tbsp honey
~ 1 tsp vanilla extract
~ A good squeeze of lemon juice
~ A tiny pinch of salt
~ 2 tbsp of melted coconut oil

Blitz the cashews or almonds in a food processor until finely ground.
Add all other ingredients & process until well combined.

If you don't have coconut flour on hand then begin by whizzing 2 1/2 tbsp coconut to a fine powder before adding the nuts.
I had some slow roasted strawberries in the fridge so I used some of those too.
The flavour of them is intense but probably made the colour a little darker.
I had been given some freeze dried strawberry powder (but never managed to use it) so added a 1/2 tsp in to the mix to intensify the strawberry flavour & then sprinkled a little over the finished macaroons. The addition of the lemon juice really helped to bring out the lovely flavours.

Add a little more coconut flour if the mixture seems a bit soft.
They will harden up further as soon as they are put in the fridge.
I am sure that there are lots of other flavours that would work well with the same recipe too.

Perfect for summer sharing & celebrations.

Best left in the fridge.
My mixture made 18 decent sized balls despite the bits I ate along the way.

Passionfruit & Mango Version for Autumn

Use the basic recipe above to your own taste.

Chop 3 or 4 dried mango slices in to bowl.

Scoop out 3 ripe passionfruit & add the pulp to the mango pieces

Add 1 dsp chia seeds & the 2 1/2 tbsp of coconut flour (as above)

Juice of a lemon

1 tsp of vanilla essence

2 large tbsps of honey

& a pinch of salt

Let sit for 20 mins or so until all the liquid is soaked up.

Whizz the 1/3-1/2 cup of cashews or almonds in a food processor until fine

Add 1 1/2 cups coconut pulse again

Add everything else & work together

Pour in 2 large tbsp melted coconut oil or ghee or unsalted butter

Pulse together one last time

Roll in to small balls & in to coconut

Store in the fridge

Delicious!

Catherine x

Quark Stollen for Christmas ♛

This is a wonderfully easy way to make stollen without yeast, yet it is still utterly delicious & keeps very well.

Soften 125g chopped butter
Add 350 g quark- a smooth, low fat soft white cheese. Ricotta would be a good substitute.
1 cup brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla essence
Freshly grated nutmeg
Beat together till smooth
Add 2 eggs
Zest of an orange or lemon
then, 500g mixed fruit...or any combination of dried fruit, peel, almonds etc that takes your fancy
3 cups flour & 3 tsps baking powder. Or- 1 cup ground almonds, 1 cup coconut flour & 1 cup of spelt flour (or whatever you like to use) & the baking powder.
Mix it all in to a softish dough & using wet hands shape in to oblongs on a greased baking tray (or line with baking paper)

 Bake for 55- 60 mins at 180 degrees C & when partly cooled brush with a little melted butter & drench with icing sugar.

It's soo easy to make some smaller ones to give away out of this recipe too which is nice : )

If you'd like to have a go at making stollen using yeast then pop in here to David Lebovitz living the sweet life in Paris.

  much

for a wonderful Christmas ♥

Apricot & Honey Balls

These are so quick & easy to make, full of flavour & really healthy too!
Soak 2 cups of dried apricots in 1/2 c of orange juice for at least a couple of hours or overnight until the fruit has plumped up & the liquid has been absorbed. I have used 1/2 c of organic dried mango in this batch.
Tip in to a food processor & add 1/2 to 1 cup of ground almonds
1/2 cup of nice honey & a dsp of rosewater
pulse until it all comes together in to a ball

make in to balls with wet hands, 

rolling in coconut as you go

in warmer weather keep in the fridge

they are not too rich or sweet & have a lovely tang to them

 Feel free to adjust the recipe to suit your own taste.