Mothers Day Baking Ideas

Here in New Zealand it is Mothers Day this weekend on Sunday, so why not bake Mum some treats.  Here’s six ideas that are sure to be a hit…

1. Make Mum a beautiful box of handmade biscuits.

Pictured above: Neiman Marcus Cookies, One Dough Hundreds of Biscuits, Midnight Cookies, Gluten Free Chocolate Chip and Peanut Butter Cookies, Choctastic Cookies.

2. Bake a cake!

Pictured above: Sour Cream Lemon Cake, Carrot Cake, Spiced Apple Cake, Banana Cake, Red Velvet Cake.

3. Treat Mum to brunch or afternoon tea.

Pictured above: Kumara and Bacon Savoury Slice, Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins, Mini Vegetable Frittatas, Ham, Cheese and Broccoli Quiche, Herb and Cheese Muffins, Marshmallow Brownie Cupcakes.

4. Fudge is always good!

Pictured above: Triple Chocolate Fudge, Fran’s Fantastic Fudge, Five Minute Fudge, Chocolate Hazelnut Slice, Caramel Fudge.

5. Make Mum dinner and then spoil her with a delicious desert.

Pictured above: Oreo Cheesecake, Passionfruit Custard Pots, Lemon Tart, Lemon Meringue Pie, White Chocolate Tart covered in berries, Salted Caramel and Chocolate Tart.

6. Put together a jar of sand art brownie mix as a gift for Mum.  We made these as Christmas presents and they were very popular.  Why not decorate the jar with ribbon and in colours more suited for Mothers Day?

There are heaps more brilliant recipes on the blog so have a look around.  Check out our Recipe Index for more ideas.  Whatever you end up doing, I hope you spoil your Mum and show her how much you love her.

Happy Mothers Day!

Cranberry and White Chocolate Cookies with Pecans

At coffee group today my lovely friend Cara made us all some delicious cookies that had white chocolate, pecans and cranberries in them, there is something about these ingredients that screamed Christmas to me! They were so good that I couldn’t even wait for her to send me the recipe so I could get a batch in the oven, so I googled them and found this recipe but I had to adapt it a little bit to include pecans, I also found it a little wet for a cookie dough so sifted in a little more flour and rolled oats. You can find my adapted recipe below.
Ingredients:1 cup plain flour
¼  teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
¼ teaspoon salt
⅓ cup firmly packed brown sugar
⅓ cup caster sugar
1  cup rolled oats
¼ cup chopped pecans
100g dried cranberries
130g white chocolate chips
125g butter, melted and cooled
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Method:Preheat your oven to 180°C. Line two baking trays with wax baking paper.
Place dry ingredients into a large bowl or the bowl of an electric mixer. Add butter, egg and vanilla. Stir/mix (on slow to medium) until well combined. Shape small tablespoons of mixture into balls and place on baking trays approximately 5cm apart.
Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, swapping trays halfway during cooking, or until edges are lightly browned.
Turn biscuits onto a wire rack to cool.

Photo from taste.com.au

The recipe is perfect to place in a jar for a pretty and delicious Christmas gift as you can see from the above photo, just like the Sand Art Brownies Melissa posted the other day. To do this you will need a 1L jar and to sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a bowl. Spoon the flour mixture into a 1L capacity glass jar. Top with brown sugar, then caster sugar. Top with oats, then cranberries, then chocolate chips and pecans. Seal jar and wrap with a ribbon along with a card instructing the recipient about what the wet ingredients are and the method to combine and bake.

P.S. Melissa was right, I go nuts for Christmas! My tree usually goes up in November but it won’t this year as we are selling our house. I am also more excited for Christmas than any other year I can remember as I have Max to fuss over and he is old enough to at least enjoy ripping all the paper off his presents!

Sand Art Brownies

Psst… I’m already getting excited for Christmas.  It’s my first time that I have my own home to decorate and I really want to do it right now – except it is only November and Simon looks at me at any mention of Christmas and just shakes his head (which is why my excitement for Christmas is a secret because I’m sure most people would agree with him).  However, I didn’t think he would say ‘no’ to baking.  I think I am going to channel my eagerness into some Christmas-ey baking which might seem way to early for most of you, but it does mean that when Christmas does arrive you should have a few cute recipes on here to choose from when you are feeling festive (Courtenay also goes crazy for Christmas so you will probably see recipes from her too).

This jar of brownie ingredients looks really beautiful and would make an awesome Christmas gift.  I’ve tried baking as gifts for people in the past and it is actually stressful – late nights baking enough stuff and repeating batches of biscuits as one always gets burnt!  This idea takes the fuss out of it all; simply put the ingredients in a jar, tie it with a pretty ribbon and write up a recipe card.  It also means the recipient can bake the brownies when they feel like it instead of worrying about the baking you’ve given them going to waste because they already have heaps of food about for Christmas.

Now, if you aren’t in a Christmas mood at all you should still give these brownies a go as they are darn delicious!

Makes 16 pieces

1 ½ cups flour
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 cup brown sugar
⅓ cup cocoa
½ cup white sugar
½ cup dark chocolate bits
½ cup white chocolate bits
¾ cup walnut pieces
125g butter, melted
2 eggs, lightly whisked
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

In a 1 – 1.25 litre glass jar, place a layer of ingredients in this order: flour, salt, baking powder, brown sugar, cocoa, white sugar, dark chocolate, (then milk chocolate if you’re a chocolate fiend like me), white chocolate and finish with the walnut pieces.

Seal the lid and decorate with a ribbon and card that has the following instructions:

To Make:
Heat oven to 180°C. Line a 20cm square pan with baking paper. Pour the contents of the jar into a bowl and stir to combine. Make a well in the centre and pour in 125g melted butter, 2 beaten eggs and 1 teaspoon vanilla essence. Mix until smooth. Pour the mixture into the lined pan and bake for 30 minutes until firm. Cool in the pan and cut into 16 pieces.

You can download a printable version of the recipe card instructions and view a quick ‘How To’ guide on how to make a card like the one included in this post here.

Christmas Goodies: Coconut Ice and Chocolate Peppermint Shortbread

Before Melissa and I wound up at work for the year I made some goodies to hand out as thank you’s to colleagues.  The packs included coconut ice, chocolate peppermint shortbread and of course some mini Christmas themed cupcakes.  The cupcakes were just chocolate with vanilla icing decorated with holly sprinkles and green dusting sugar.  Coconut ice is a quick and easy Christmas gift, to make it you will need:

Coconut Ice:
395g can of condensed milk
2 ¼ cups of icing sugar
4 cups of desiccated coconut
¼ teaspoon of raspberry essence
1-2 drops red food colouring

1. Line a 20 x 20cm square cake pan with baking paper.
2. Place condensed milk in a large microwave proof bowl and put it in the microwave for 20 seconds to warm.
3. Sift the icing sugar into the condensed milk and stir, until well combined.  Add the coconut one cup at a time mixing well after each addition.
4. At this point you need to place half the mixture in the pan and spread it out to form an even base.
5. Add raspberry essence and a couple of drops of red food colouring to remaining mixture and combine to make it a pale pink colour, you may have to use your hands.
6. Place the pink mixture on top of the white in the pan so that it covers the base layer completely, use the back of a large spoon to smooth the top layer.
7. Cover with a clean tea towel and leave to dry, usually overnight is best.
8. Cut into squares and package as desired.

Chocolate Peppermint Shortbread:
After seeing these in a November issue of  New Idea magazine I was hanging out to make them and I don’t know about you, but I think there is something Christmassy about peppermint so it was the perfect excuse.  These yo-yo style biscuits were super easy to make and are bound to become an annual Christmas recipe in my house.

150g of room temperature butter
½ cup caster sugar
1 ¼ cups plain flour
¼ cup cocoa
¾ cup white melting chocolate
¼ teaspoon peppermint essence

1. Place butter and sugar in a bowl and beat with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.  Add combined flour and cocoa, beat on a slow speed until well combined and the mixture has formed a soft dough.  Wrap the mix in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 10-15 minutes or until firm.
2. Roll single teaspoons of dough into balls and place 4 cm apart on an oven tray covered in baking paper.  Press each ball gently with a fork to flatten slightly.
3. Place tray in an oven heated to 180˚C oven and bake for 15-20 minutes, leave on the oven tray for at least 5 minutes before moving on to cooling racks.
4. Combine and essence in a heatproof bowl  over a saucepan of simmering water until smooth.  Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly before using it to sandwich biscuits together.  (*Be very careful not to add to much peppermint essence as it will result in you not getting the desired texture from the chocolate).

Recipe makes 16 and can be made up to one week in advance if kept in an air tight container.