Marg Low Designs

cake or fresh fruit

This time of the year you'll find me with a pile of recipe books looking for a new cake or slice that will become a family favourite. The thing is they're not interested in trying anything new. When asked, all they want is the Layered Garden Salad, Lumberjack Cake and Pavlova. Now I am not complaining, I am very fortunate to have such easily pleased family and friends. The fact I've been making them for years, means they are pretty much fool proof. So when my youngest brother rang and said he'd be dropping in on Thursday, it was the perfect excuse to try something new, after all I've been testing recipes on my brothers all their lives!

I spent ages looking at the glossy pictures, reading through ingredient lists but kept returning to this book and the Hummingbird Cake.

I've wanted to try the cake for ages but you have to get the timing right since one of the ingredients is overripe bananas. It was an anxious wait to see if mine would be overripe in time. (How ridiculous is that? Well it is the silly season!) Bronwyn came to my rescue with one and by then mine were almost there. 

It's very yummy and I've been very good and placed the left over pieces in the freezer.

This bowl of strawberries and handpicked blueberries, by Bronwyn, was delicious too.

Cake or fresh fruit, it's impossible for me to choose.  

date & lemon slice

A side benefit, or is it a drawback, of teaching is I get to sample lots of delicious home baked cakes and slices. On my first visit to The Material Girl, Leanne had made a Rhubarb Cake. I thought about it on the trip home, all the next day and the ones after that, until I decided to make one. I went through all my recipe books, cut out recipes and scribbled notes. I googled. I hadn't done so much research since my Uni days!

Last weekend, I was tempted by the Date & Lemon Slice, Krys made. Luckily I found this recipe almost immediately.

I made it with Gluten free flour, 1/2 the grated lemon rind and dusted it with gluten free icing sugar. Yummy! 

Next weekend the Christmas workshop is on at Avonleigh. There is always a very tempting array of delicious things made by Sharon and Kay. Hopefully the sun shines all week, I'll need to fit in as much excercise as I can!

Easter baking

Today I popped out for milk and came home with cornflakes, choc bits and sultanas. Why, because  a few weeks ago I read a recipe for cornflake and choc chip biscuits. This got me to thinking about the ones I made as a teenager. The recipe was on the side of the cornflakes pack and it soon became the family favourite. Of course the recipe was never written down and lost when it was superseded with another on the side of the pack. I guess by that time, having made and eaten hundreds we were ready for a change too! 

But that hasn't stopped me, over the years, keeping an eye out for that elusive recipe. None have ever seemed quite right. Today I decided to try this combination. I've used Gluten Free ingredients so Bec can eat them too. 

GF Cornflake Biscuits

125 gm butter

1/3 cup caster sugar (plus just a tad more)

1 egg

1 cup GF SR flour

1/2 cup Choc bits (milk)

1/2 cup sultanas

1 cup GF cornflakes

Cream the butter and sugar together, then mix in the egg. Stir in the flour, choc bits and sultanas. Finally stir in the cornflakes (I try not to crush them).

Drop spoonfulls onto a tray covered with baking paper. Bake at 160C(fan forced) for 15 mins. Makes approx. 20

 

They taste pretty good, but are they same as the ones I made all those years ago? I can't tell, they're yummy and that's all that matters!

new year & pickles

Well it's that time of the year when we reflect on the things we did or didn't do and start thinking about what to do in the New Year. I have never been good at making or keeping New Year resolutions and like to keep any goals very general. This way I can focus on what I did achieve no matter how small or inconsequential they may seem!

One of the things I wanted to try this year was Pickled Zucchini Slices - yes, I've eaten it many times courtesy of the other Friday Girls, but I've never made it. I'm more of a cake or dessert girl, possibly because Mum baked them effortlessly. Preserves were never a great success no matter how closely Mum followed the instructions. An accident with the pressure cooker put a halt to any more attempts. So preserves have always been a mystery to me. 

 
These things cannot be rushed. The recipe book was purchased over 12 months ago and suitable jars collected all year. I was determined to make them the week before Christmas (your supposed to let the flavours infuse for a week before consuming them). I sliced everything up and realised it would not fit in my saucepan. Yes, I had to buy a bigger one. My pickles may not look gourmet but they do have a gourmet price tag!

This year I've managed to finish quilts started ages ago and made a collection of little red and white ones, but right now what I am most excited about, is the pickles.   

I guess it's no surprise one of my 2011 goals will be to make more.

Wishing you a year of much laughter and many achievements.

a little cooking

  Don't ask me to explain, but each Christmas I have a need to bake!

There was a time when I tried new recipes but for the last couple of years nothing tempted me so I stuck to a couple of old requested favourites - Lumberjack cake and Pavlova.

Thanks to Michelle I have this fabulous new recipe book. I want to make, well almost, everthing!

Careful consideration is given to the recipes we chose as they must be gluten-free (no wheat). Now this is not a gluten free book but there are many recipes which can be successfully made by sustituting the wheat flour with gluten-free flour. I think the trick is to select recipes that don't depend on the flour for flavour but rely on other ingredients e.g. Lumberjack cake with dates and apple. 

This is the banana butterscotch syrup cake (page 203) that I made. Much yummier than it looks. Too late to take another photo as it's already been eaten!

The very very ripe bananas, destined for the compost heap, were perfect for this recipe.

The great thing is you wouldn't have known it was made with gluten-free flour. It's so good to bake something that can be enjoyed by everyone!