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Caramel Apple Pie

I couldn’t tell you how I did this year with the apple pie I baked. In fact, I’m not sure anyone could. We ate so much food that it sat in the corner until about 10pm, when I caught someone eating the from the center of it with a fork. I’m not sure that person remembers much.

Scandi Foodie’s Berry Tart

I loved this dessert, not too sweet and I turned it into individual tarts to bring to work. I also cheated and used frozen dough, but really simple to put together and a great use of frozen berries. Check out the recipe here.

Passion Fruit Scones

I throw scones together a lot for a quick dessert. I don’t measure it properly, especially if I’m using fruit that’s a bit liquidy, but you can have this in the oven within 5 minutes.

Ingredients:

Insides of 1 passion fruit
1 cup of flour
1 tsp of baking powder
Pinch of salt
30 grams of butter, which is about 1/8 cup, chopped
About a 1/4 cup of milk

With your hands, mix the flour, salt and baking powder. Add the butter and mix it will, mashing it together so you don’t have any big chunks. Don’t overdo it.

Add the passion fruit, then start adding milk a few tablespoons at a time until it comes into a slightly sticky dough.

Flour a pan, split the dough in half, and bake for 15 minutes at 200C / 375F until golden brown on top.

Banana, Fig and Almond Self Saucing Pudding

I didn’t know what a self saucing pudding was until I got to Australia, I think it must be a British thing, or maybe I’m just a bit out of the loop. It’s like an awesome, no-fuss cake that all gets tossed into a pot. Everyone wins.

Ingredients (inspired from this recipe):

1.5 cups of flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup sugar
3 mashed bananas
1/4 cup chopped dried figs
1/4 cup almonds (mine were whole, but anything would do)
1/2 cup oil
2 eggs
3/4 dark brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
1 cup water
2-3 cardamon pods
1 tsp cinnimon

Preheat oven to 200C / 375F.

In a pot, mix up the flour, regular sugar, baking soda, and baking powder. In a bowl, mix the bananas, figs, almond, eggs, and oil. Combine with the flour mixture. Heat up the remaining ingredients for about 5-10 minutes on the stove, remove the cardamon, and pour on top of the rest of the ingredients. Bake for about 45 minutes, and serve.

Sweet Potato Doughnuts with Burnt Caramel Sauce

Three years ago, for Thanksgiving, we bought some sweet potatoes that weren’t yellow on the inside. While I was happy to let this slide, my good (British) friend insisted on finding “real American sweet potatoes” and went out on the hunt. She was successful, and I was determined not to let the rest go to waste. I found this recipe from Paula Dean, and have made these doughnuts every year since. Maple syrup is like liquid gold in Australia, so I went for a more cost effective glaze and tried out the burnt caramel sauce recipe here, minus the salt. I actually liked this better than the maple glaze, but go nuts and try both!

Caramel Apple Pie

I’ve made the same Thanksgiving desserts for the last 3 years, and I swear by this recipe. Tyler Florence’s Caramel Apple Pie recipe is incredible and just a bit different than your typical apple pie. Worth a try if you ever feel like baking.

Mango Granita

Simple dessert, easy to make ahead and have on hand.

Ingredients:

1 mango, pit and skin removed
1/2 cup water
1 tsp sugar
Juice of half a lemon

Puree, and pour into a flat pan to freeze, pulling it out every 30 minutes to an hour (depending on how cold your freezer is) to run a fork through it and create flakes. Served with sliced strawberries and fresh mint.

Pear and Ginger Tart

Really quick to whip this up when you have a sweets craving, and only takes a couple ingredients. You can do it in a different pan (just alter the puff pastry so you have a sheet that covers it), but I have 2 individual serve ramekins that are a good size for this.

Ingredients (serves 2):

2 pears, in thin slices
Half sheet of puff pastry, cut in half and thawed
1 tsp ginger
1 tbsp butter
Cream or ice cream, to serve

Heat the oven to 220C / 425F. In a saucepan, heat the butter and ginger and cook the pear for about 7-10 minutes to caramelize. Layer between 2 ramekins and top with puff pastry, tucking in the edges. Bake for 10-15 minutes until the pastry is golden. Run a knife around the edges to loosen, and flip upside down onto a plate to serve. Top with cream or ice cream.

Strawberry Chiffon Cake with Chocolate Ganache

I didn’t win the Blogster awards, but I made it into the top 3 for judging thanks to a lot of help from my office. I promised cake in the event I won, but with the big effort they put in to get me into the final 3 I think it’ll be great for Monday.

Ingredients:

6 eggs, separated
3 oz sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1.5 cups of flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 vanilla bean
1 cup pureed strawberries
12 oz dark chocolate
1 cup heavy cream
2 cups sliced strawberries

In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks, seeds from the vanilla bean, and sugar until smooth. Add oil and whisk until light in color, and then stir in the strawberry puree. Add baking powder and stir well, then mix in flour. In a separate bowl, whisk egg whites until they form stiff peaks, and then fold into the rest of the batter. Split into 2 9-inch round cake tins, oiled and floured. Bake at 170C / 300F for about 30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

In a saucepan, heat up cream until simmering. Pour into a bowl with the chocolate and mix until melted. Set aside and cool off.

Layer the cake with chocolate and strawberries both in the middle and on top.

Vanilla and Coconut Cupcakes with Raspberry Glaze

I think I’m in love with this cupcake recipe I found, I changed it up a bit and it’s still amazing. Add a cup of shredded coconut, and some extra milk so it’s not too thick, and bake. The glaze is just pureed frozen raspberries and icing sugar (start with 1/2 cup raspberries and add icing sugar, starting with 1 cup and then slowly add another until it not too runny). Ridiculously good.

Please please please, if you could take a second and vote for me in the Pedestrian.tv Blogster awards, I will bake more cupcakes! It only takes a second, you don’t have to sign anything, or get any weird newsletters, or sign up for an app…. just click LIKE!