Brunch– My Favourite Meal!

Cinnamon Mascarpone and Cheery Pancakes, Blackberry-Hazelnut Sticky Buns, Calabrian Scrambled Eggs w/- Jalapeno Pesto Bruschetta, Crispy Bacon and Hash Brown Quesadillas – SOURCE

Who doesn’t love brunch! Pre-Max Shane and I would often venture out for brunch at some of our fave cafes, these days it’s a little more of a treat but we do occasionally go all out at home. It was for this reason I was so excited to learn that Bobby Flay had created a TV series dedicated to my favourite meal and I was even more excited (after loving series one) when Food TV sent me a sneak peek of season two!

With a spatula in one hand and a drink in the other, Bobby goes from sweet to salty to savoury, drawing inspiration for every-occasion brunches from around the globe. From brunch fit for the Queen to havin' a lime while cooking Caribbean style! Bobby's kitchen, brunch has never been more inviting! To check out Brunch @ Bobby’s you should tune into Food TV (SKY channel 9) every Tuesday from 9 July at 12, 4 and 8pm!

Of course we have some delicious brunch ideas here on the blog, check out our Buttermilk Pancakes, Cinnamon Pull Apart Loaf, Potato Bacon and Cheese Frittata and Sundried Tomato and Cream Cheese Muffins. You can also find more inspiration on our Pinterest page, while there you could also check out what Food TV are pinning.

Feel free to leave us a comment here or on our Facebook page with your favourite brunch meals! I don’t know about you but I am certainly in the mood for a Sunday brunch now… Enjoy the rest of your weekend xx

Meet The Vintage Table…

We have been really lucky to have some wonderful sponsor supporting the work we do here with our blog.  To say thank you, show our appreciation and highlight to you awesome they are, we are going to have a couple of posts sharing a little bit more about some of the business that have jumped on board to help with the Baking Makes Things Better journey.

First up, we have The Vintage Table.  The Vintage Table was actually our very first sponsor.  They  are an Auckland based business and is a boutique hire company specialising in vintage china and tableware perfect for a high tea, party, wedding or corporate event with a vintage twist.  Their collection includes vintage china trios, tiered cake stands, hollow-stem champagne saucers, glass candy jars, silverware and cutlery, vintage vases, tea lights, candelabra and embroidered linen.  We’ve been lucky enough to borrow items from their gorgeous range from time to time too!

Who is behind the business ‘The Vintage Table’?

Me (Amanda Fergus), plus a few helpers here and there!  I've been really lucky to have friends and family help out as the business has grown.  I have 3 young daughters (who are great at matching china patterns), and my background is in marketing and natural health.

 

Where did the idea for your business come from?

I collected china and glassware for a few years, and my collection kept growing.  When my eldest daughter started school my husband told me I needed to stop buying china or do something with it! That was the start of The Vintage Table...

You have an amazing range of gorgeous collection of vintage china, what would you say is your favourite product/piece?
My favourites change as stock changes, but at the moment it would be Royal Albert Lady Carlyle trios, and a set of Crown Lynn swans.

What are your favourite things to bake?

If I'm honest, I do the cooking and Scott bakes!  His mum wrote and illustrated children's cookbooks, so he grew up surrounded by it.  I do love to bake, but the clean up puts me off.

 

What do you most enjoy about your business?

The amazing people I've met and worked with over the last few years - chefs, event planners, stylists, bakers, photographers, and loads of lovely brides and customers.

 

Where do you go for baking inspiration and ideas?

Blogs, Pinterest, beautifully styled and photographed cookbooks.

Your pieces add the special touch to events, what are your 3 must have decorations?

Vintage china is great for events - it's there to be used and enjoyed, but also adds colour and interest. I also love flowers and bunting.

You have been involved in so many gorgeous events, what has been your favourite?

There have been lots!  A gorgeous wedding in April 2012 at Highwic would be one of my favourites.  We worked with Little Wolf Catering, Raj Tent Club, and Claudia from Style Etc.  It looked amazing and was so much fun.

Do you have a favourite recipe you’d like to share?
Here’s a recipe for Chocolate Pudding.  This is a quick and easy family favourite.

Chocolate Pudding

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons butter
1 cup flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ cup white sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
½ milk
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Sauce:
¾ cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon cocoa
1 ¼ cups water

Method:
Put the butter in a small bowl.  Microwave on high for 40 seconds.
Sift flour, baking powder, sugar and cocoa into a mixing bowl.  Whisk in the milk, vanilla essence and melted butter.  Mix well.
Spread the mixture into a 20cm square baking dish.
Make the sauce by mixing the brown sugar, cocoa and water in a bowl.  Pour it over the pudding.  Don’t stir it!
Cover the dish loosely with wax paper.  Cook in the microwave on high for 10 minutes.  Stand for 10 minutes then serve.
*This recipe comes from the book ‘Jumbo Junior Cook’ by Mary-Pat Fergus (Amanda’s Mother in Law!)

For more information and to keep up to date with The Vintage Table, check out The Vintage Table on facebook, twitter or their website.  Alternatively, you can contact Amanda on 021 705 822 or via email: amanda@thevintagetable.co.nz

Thanks Amanda for answering our questions and all the support you have given us!

 

5 Minute Microwave Fudge Brownie by Kenrick Rhys Photography

Hi, I’m Kenrick Rhys and I am pretty stoked to be able to share my love for food with you all!  I’ve been good friends with Melissa and Simon for a few years now and was lucky enough to meet Courtenay (and Lydia) at the Picnic High Tea that they held.  I’m going to be sharing a couple of recipes while Melissa is on holiday.

I love good food, I guess I always have.  When I left school at 18, I trained as a chef and worked for a few years in various kitchens. I was usually in the entree and dessert section but another passion was baking, mostly breads and pastries.  When my wife and I sold everything and travelled around the world, I ended up working in a big international kitchen in central Amsterdam.  While there I also spent time developing my other passion, photography.  I carried my camera and took photos whenever I could.  We are now settled back in New Zealand and I am the name behind Kenrick Rhys Photography.  Check my wedding and portrait work out, and if you love it, I’d love to buy you a coffee and have a chat.

 

Today I am sharing a recipe that my Mum used to make, for a quick and easy, moist, American-style brownie.  It’s so easy I’d bet I could make it in 10 minutes from start to finish!

 

Ingredients:
100g butter, melted
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
¾ cup flour
¼ cup cocoa
1 teaspoon baking powder

 

Method:
Melt the butter in the microwave.
In a large bowl, mix together the butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla.  Sieve flour, cocoa and baking powder into the bowl.  Mix gently until just combined.
Pour the mixture into a microwave safe dish and place in the middle of the microwave.  Cook on high for 4 - 7 minutes depending on your microwave.
Let cool and sprinkle with icing sugar.

Kenrick’s Tips:

• The brownie should have risen and be not overly wet on top, although slightly moist on the sides.
• It may take a few attempts to get the cooking time perfect for your microwave power/wattage, but you will soon see how you like it.  I like my brownie soft and sticky so go for a lesser cooking time.
• I have successfully cooked this brownie in glass Pyrex dishes, silicon flan dishes, and plastic bunt pans.
• You can add chocolate chunks or buttons to this recipe, they will sink to the bottom during cooking.

Check out the Kenrick Rhys Photography website and like them on facebook.

Sandwiched Sprinkle Cookies

These cute wee things were my contribution to the cookie swap Mel and I attended a couple of weekends ago. They are a melting moment type biscuit covered in sprinkles before baking and sandwiched together with a vanilla buttercream. I also put a few on lollipop sticks and made sprinkle cookie pops!

Ingredients:
Cookies
250 grams butter, softened and cut into cubes
⅓ cup icing sugar, sifted
½ teaspoon vanilla essence
1¾ cups plain flour
⅓ cup cornflour
1 cup sprinkles

Filling
75 grams butter, softened
1-1½ cups icing sugar, sifted
½ teaspoon vanilla essence

Method:
Preheat oven to 160°C. Line a baking tray with non-stick baking paper.
Beat butter until light and fluffy in the bowl of an electric mixer or a medium sized mixing bowl.
Sift in icing sugar and add vanilla essence and beat until pale and creamy.
Sift together the flour and cornflour, add to the butter mixture and mix with the beaters on a low speed until just combined and a soft dough has formed.
Place the sprinkles in a shallow bowl or a small plate.
Use a teaspoon to take mixture from the bowl and roll the mixture into small balls.
Place the ball in your sprinkles and use the palm of your hands to press down so that the ball is still at least half a centimetre thick.
Place your cookies on to the prepared baking tray about 5cm apart.
Bake in your preheated oven for 12-15 minutes or until cooked through.
Cool on baking tray.
To make the filling, beat butter until light and fluffy. Add vanilla essence and icing sugar beat  until pale and creamy.
To assemble biscuits, pipe or spoon the icing into the centre of the cookie and sandwich together. If you want to make cookie pops I used some melted white chocolate to attach the lollipop stick and let it set before putting the icing on and sandwiching the cookies together.

A quick note from Mel…

Image found here.

Simon and I off are off on adventure around Europe at the end of this week and will be gone for five weeks!  We are both really excited, neither of us have been to Europe before and we’ve been planning and saving for this trip for quite some time.  I would be totally lying if I said I am not looking forward to trying out lots of different food and visiting famous bakeries!  I’m pretty sure I will be totally over-sharing on instagram, so if you want, you can follow our trip along on there.

While we are away, Courtenay will be running the ship here by herself.  We have heaps of great things lined up for you.  We’ve been working on guest posts and a couple of new feature posts which I’m looking forward too – I’ve got them all lined up and ready to go, and I think you will love them!

We also are going to be welcoming two new sponsors to our blog; Kenrick Rhys Photography and Mrs Beatens Baking Pre-Mixes.  Both do awesome work.  Kenrick has been a friend of Simon and I for a few years now and he takes the most beautiful photographs.  We would love to have him as our wedding photographer one day but are torn between that and having him as part of the wedding party and our guest as he really is a great friend (that proposal is happening while we are away, aye Simon?!).  Mrs Beatens Baking Pre-Mixes is a great online store selling pre-mixed ingredients for lots of tasty treats, great when you are in a rush or feeling lazy, but still want to bake!  Look out for their sponsor images which will be popping up on the right shortly, and make sure you click through and check them out.

Lastly, some things will still be staying the same; Courtenay and I will still be sharing some great recipes with you (I’ve tried to squeeze in a bit more baking than usual so I can still share some recipes with you) and our Billington’s monthly prize pack competition will still be running.  Please get your entries for June in before  12pm (mid day) on Sunday 30th June.  We will be announcing June’s winner later that afternoon.  Any entries received after that will be kept for the July draw.  Keep sending in those pics of your baking – we love seeing what you’ve created.  Happy baking!

Ciao xx.

Monte Carlo Biscuits

I made these Monte Carlo biscuits to take to Lydia’s Cookie Swap basically because of their name.  Simon and I are heading off for a trip around Europe (at the end of this week actually – exciting!) and Monte Carlo is one of the places we will be visiting (albeit for only a day).

Internet research tells me that Monte Carlo biscuits have actually been made by Arnotts since 1926.  I don’t know if I’ve ever tried them before; if I have they weren’t that memorable.  However, these home made ones are delish!

Ingredients:
375g butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla essence
2 ½ cups self raising flour
1 ¼  cups plain flour
2 cups desiccated coconut

Filing:
125g butter, softened
1 ½ cups icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
4 teaspoons milk
200g raspberry jam (I heated mine for 20-30 seconds in the microwave and then passed it through a sieve because I didn’t want the pips)

Method:
Preheat the oven to 150°C.  Line a couple of baking trays with baking paper.
In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.  Beat in the eggs and vanilla essence.
Stir in the flours and coconut until thoroughly combined.
Roll tablespoonful's of the mixture into balls, place on the baking tray and flatten with a fork.
Bake for 15 – 20 minutes or until they are just starting to go golden.  Leave to cool on the tray for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

For the filling, cream the butter and icing sugar together until light and fluffy.  Stir in the vanilla, then gradually add the milk, beating well.  Spread half the biscuits with the jam (but not right up to the edges, or it will ooze out too much!) and the other half with the icing.  Sandwich lightly together.

Chocolate Sprinkle Refrigerator Cookies

I made these Chocolate Sprinkle Cookies to take to Lydia’s Cookie Swap and I was really happy with how they turned out.  I think the fluro sprinkles (which I bought from The Pretty Baker) look awesome!  I had the idea for them, but thought executing them would be hard.  I wanted a smooth cookie that I could coat with chocolate and I didn’t know where to start.  I ended up making refrigerator cookies which are super simple; mix, roll and refrigerate, then slice and bake.  You could ditch the cocoa from the recipe if you don’t want chocolate cookies and you could leave off the sprinkles if you want something slick and sophisticated looking.

Ingredients:
For the cookies:
250g butter, softened
1 cup icing sugar
2 ½ cups flour
25g cocoa powder

To decorate:
300g chocolate melts
Sprinkles or your choice

Method:
Beat the butter and icing sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy.  Stir in the flour and cocoa in two batches.
Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth.  Divide the mixture in half and roll each half into a 25cm log.  Wrap in cling film and refrigerate for an hour.
Preheat the oven to 180°C.  Line baking a couple of baking trays with baking paper.
Cut the logs into 1cm slices.  Place about 2.5cm apart on the trays and bake for 10 minutes.  Leave to cool on the trays for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. 

To decorate:
Melt the chocolate in a microwave safe bowl on high; stir every 20 –30 seconds until it is smooth.  Pour your sprinkles into a small bowl.
Dip half of the cookie into the chocolate.  Give the cookie a bit of a shake to remove and excess chocolate, and scrape the chocolate off the bottom of the cookie too.
Press the top of the cookie into the sprinkles, then roll the side around in the sprinkles until the chocolate has been coated.  Place on a wire cooling rack to set.

Which colour would you choose?

Cookie Swap

Over the weekend we met up with some very talented bloggers at a cookie swap hosted by the lovely Lydia of Lydia Bakes!  It was fantastic meeting Kirsten of High Tea With Dragons, Danelle of A Couple of Night Owls and who also runs a personal blog; Danelle Bourgeois, and Amanda of Here Comes The Sun.



What is a cookies swap you ask?  Cookie swaps are generally held at Christmas time, the idea is that you invite a group of friends, and have each person make enough of one kind of cookie to share.  The cookie swap is a chance to catch up with friends during the busy holiday season while you sample the treats, then trade and get an assortment of delicious treats to take home.  Everyone leaves with a lovely gift and plenty of new recipes (great for when people pop over at Christmas).  We were lucky enough to have some cute boxes to take home our cookies in courtesy of Little Ink.  Because of the cookie swap’s link to Christmas Lydia set everything up with a mid winter Christmas theme, it was so cute!



Since we all blog we didn't share the recipes at our swap, we will all be posting them on each of our own blogs, but we will link everyone’s recipes into this post as they appear.  Over the next week or so you will see our recipes for Monte Carlo Biscuits, Chocolate Sprinkle Cookies and Sprinkle Sandwiched Cookies.  Lydia made some Browned Butter Snickerdoodles, Kirsten made White Chocolate and Raspberry Crinkle Cookies and Danelle made some decadent Chocolate Truffle Cookies - so there is plenty to look forward to.


Have you hosted a cookie swap before? Maybe you are keen to give it a go... remember, if you do we'd love to see your photos.  Also if you bake something from our blog and send us a pic we will enter you into the monthly Billington’s competition.

Thanks for hosting us Lydia – it was a great afternoon!

Check out these links for event round-ups and recipes from the Cookie Swap (we will add them as they pop up on the internet):

• Recipe post for Mel’s Chocolate Sprinkle Refrigerator cookies
• Recipe post for Mel’s Monte Carlo biscuits
• Recipe post for Courtenay’s Cookie Pops / Sprinkle sandwich cookies
• Danelle’s Chocolate Truffle Cookies and post about the Cookie Swap
• Lydia's Brown Butter Snickerdoodles
• Kirsten’s post about the cookie swap and her White Chocolate Raspberry Crinkle Cookies recipe
• Photos and a quick write up about the Cookie Swap by Amanda on Here Comes the Sun

Pizza Muffins

These are yum.  And pretty healthy for baking too.  I like the pineapple in them.  Simon loved them too and we both enjoyed taking them to work as snacks to have at morning tea.

Ingredients:
2 – 3 rashers of bacon, cooked, rind removed
2 cups self raising flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon dried rosemary
½ teaspoon dried basil
1 cup grated cheese
1 cup milk
3 teaspoons tomato sauce
1 egg, beaten
100g butter, melted
225g can pineapple pieces in juice, drained

Method:
Preheat the oven to 200°C.  Grease or line a 12 muffin tin.
Cook the bacon, remove the rind, then cut into small pieces.  Set the bacon aside.
In a large bowl combine the dry ingredients, including the cheese.
Roughly chop up the pineapple pieces.  In a medium bowl, mix together the wet ingredients, including the pineapple and bacon.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix lightly until combined. 
Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin.  Bake for 15 minutes or until the muffins are lightly golden.  Leave to cool in the pan for five minutes before leaving them to cool completely on a wire rack.

Cinnamon Pecan and Oat Cookies

A couple of weekends ago I took a trip to Martha’s Backyard (aka the American store) as I was told they had Hershey’s cinnamon chips in stock. I was also told that the cinnamon chips are fantastic in oat cookies. I whipped these up and was not disappointed!

Ingredients:
Makes approximately 40 cookies
225 grams butter, softened
⅓ cup sugar
1 cup light muscovado sugar (I used Billingtons)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1½ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups rolled oats
1⅔ cups of Hershey’s cinnamon chips
1 cup roughly chopped pecans

Method:
Pre-heat your oven to 180°C and line 2-3 baking trays with baking paper.
Beat butter and sugars in a bowl until creamy.
Add eggs and vanilla, beat well.
Sift flour and baking soda into the butter mixture, and beat together on a slow-medium speed until combined.
Stir in oats, cinnamon chips and pecans (batter will be stiff).
Drop heaped teaspoons onto your lined baking trays and bake for 10-12 minutes, until golden and starting to set.
Remove from the oven and transfer to wire racks after a couple of minutes to cool completely.

These are delicious as is but to change it up a little I dipped about a third of my cookies in some dark chocolate to make them extra indulgent!