Elkanah sweets

These were made in Elkanah’s kitchen, Marysville while I volunteered cooking up there for MMM.  You meet the most amazing people.  Most of them are roughly between the age range of 60-110 but still as fit as a fiddle!  They were the most loving and lively people I have met!

The kitchen was fabulous; it had everything you wanted.  No need to buy additional ingredients.  Simply choose a recipe and cook.

Clockwise from top left: Sultana coconut biscuit, Anzac biscuit, Teddy’s butter-free muffin, Hazelnut slice, Apple-walnut cake.

fruit salad trough

Called it a ‘trough’ cos Mum made so much of it and proceeded filled up a huge reglangular bowl to the top, it looked like something pigs would eat out of!

Anyway, not entirely sure what’s in it.  But it tasted good with strawberry yoghurt and my plum honey & cinnamon syrup.

peanut butter crunchy choc-chip cookies

Made these for Prerna’s youth group BBQ in Warragul… which is starting in 10 minutes as I write.  Unfortunately I’m not a fatty foods detox regime at the moment so I didn’t get to eat any of these scrumptious cookies.  Well, I snuck one in anyway.  Warm with milk: it was enough to make you fall over as it melted in your mouth.

Above: cookies basking in the golden rays of evening light
Below: stacks and stacks of cookies…

fruit salad w/ honey plum sauce

Thought of a great way to use my honey plum sauce.  One was to marinate pork in it and grill it (I once had a delicious cranberry pork dish prepared by my landlord in Townsville.  He put other herbs and spices in it.  But it tasted great with rice).  The other way was to use it as a sauce on top of fruit salad!  Judith, Lilian and Roxanne from ROAR came to have lunch in my backyard today and really enjoyed it.  I’m glad

bournville angel cake

Wow, what a name I just invented!  Made this at Danielle’s house.  It was so much fun catching up and baking together.  She made choc-chip & banana muffings, which were superb.  We had all that and stone fruit salad, home-made curry puffs, a crumpet and chinese vegies w/ tofu.  What a morning!

What’s more is that this is my first layered cake!!!  I’m moving up-market.  The chocolate coating is made from Cadbury Old Gold.  It’s worth choosing a good quality chocolate for such things.  Fudgalicious.

Above: How good does that look? Beautifully iced by the hands of Danielle.
Below: Last two slices after a weekend away in Marysville and hanging out with seriously amazing Chritians from seriously broken households.

plum cobbler

Plum cobbler is like a freshly made plum jam with a deliciously buttery scone on top.  It’s addictive!  It’s fun making it cos you actually put the ’scone’ mixture over the sauce and watch it rise as it sits on the syrup.  Really yum.

banana & grated chocolate cake

Modified recipe from the last time I made a sour cream banana cake with cream cheese chocolate topping. They really liked that last cake, especially the topping, but I decided not to make that this round.

Instead (as always), this cake is sugar reduced – by more than 1/2 the suggestion – but I grated chocolate into the mixture at the end. Sour cream also gives it a really nice consistency.

Cake actually fell apart into three pieces as I was trying to take it out of the tin (oh well, at least I didn’t need to slice it) cos I was rushing to Dan’s house. Took a third of it to Eltham and came back home seeing only one slice left! If my mum could gobble it down, it means it was really good.  Even better when people like Beryl and Graham think it’s good too!

stone fruit salad

Liked this one cos it needed no extra sauce!
It’s plum season right now. We have three varieties of plum in our garden, all of which bear fruit one after the other: how convenient!

home grown plum, deliciously sweet!
mango
white apricot
yellow peach
pineapple

plum syrup

Beginnings of a plum, cinnamon and honey syrup, to be eaten with crepes, pancakes, ice-cream or toast (if you really want!).  Plums are straight off our tree.

nut brownies

Sugar reduced brownies with macadamia and hazelnut.