The 109th Bake: Apple Treacle Tart


This was not a hard bake. With only 5 bakes to go, it feels like the end of a marathon and everything is a bit of an effort. I’m trying to grind on and get a second wind because I do still have some quite complicated bakes to do!!! Ahhhhhh. So this was a pleasant treat, a wee treacle tart with just a few ingredients. It’s actually one of those tarts you could whip up at the last minute if you needed a dessert because there are very few ingredients. The filling is just grated apple, lemon zest and juice, homemade breadcrumbs(!!) and golden syrup. It makes a nice textured, a little bit zingy filling and you know it’s good for you because its got apple.

To make the pastry, I added

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The 98th Bake: Lemon Biscotti


This year I have decided to save money on coffee purchases. I worked out we may spend triple figures each year buying coffees sometimes daily. Well that’s a lot of money, so I have purchased a Delonghi Expresso machine, using only fly-buys points! Lots of good coffee and savings. It all adds up, bank fees, etc. This was brought to my attention by a book I am reading and would highly recommend called the Barefoot Investor https://barefootinvestor.com/ An amazing insight into how better to manage your finances and plan for your future, quite a fun and light read, as well as enlightening.

This recipe wasn’t hard and neither was the biscotti. Homemade biscotti is quite different to bought biscotti, it doesn’t break your teeth and is very moreish. Here’s a recipe that looks just as good as the one I made https://owlbbaking.com/lemon-biscotti/ To make the biscotti I beat the butter in a mixing bowl until

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The 96th Bake: Mum’s Sunday Tea Lemon Curd Swiss Roll

I always grow tomatoes in the garden in summer. I love planting them, but am not great at watering them. This year I decided it might be quaint to have cherry tomatoes growing in a barrel on the deck. Well look at how that turned out!!! With all the rain over Christmas, the roots became water logged and the plants died, then next minute, fruit!!!! -the plants last ditch effort to reproduce. That’s nature for you – a veritable miracle, (not quite the lucky haul of previous seasons!)

I have never made lemon curd. I’ve threatened to, but never actually ventured to do it. I’m pleased now that I finally have and what a great recipe, full of butter, sugar, lemon juice and zest, it tasted like lemon meringue pie filling, just divine. To make the lemon curd, I simply

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The 84th Bake: Mary’s Lemon and Raspberry Eclairs

I haven’t been baking for a week as I had to sew dresses for my market stall on Saturday.  And then it rained!!!   So today I baked, and choux pastry was the order of the day.  I saw choux being made on the Australian Bake Off recently and apparently when it falls off the spoon in a triangle shape it is the right consistency.  I was watching Food TV while I baked these eclairs.  Jaime Oliver was “unlocking the secrets of the world’s healthiest diets.”  He was in Icaria in Greece whose population live longer than most, the key being homegrown fruit and veges and daily physical activity.  Walnuts too were one of their secret ingredients to provide energy to keep going all day, a source of copper which helps the immune system and folic acid and magnesium to reduce tiredness.  Didn’t know that.   And even better, a handful of nuts a day is said to increase life expectancy by two years.  His savoury muffins full of sweet potato and cheese looked like the perfect solution for my daughter’s vegetarian dish for dinner so I made them.  They turned out fabulous.  I will post that recipe next. The choux pastry was quite easy to whip up. To make it I (more…)