VARIOUS CHRISTMAS GOODIES

I have wandered a bit away from outdoor cooking but will get back to it.  I wanted to stock up my freezer for the holiday period and made some cheese triangles and more spring rolls to go straight from the freezer to the oven be it camp oven or house one. I find some batches of filo just stick and arent easy to use and this was one lot of it. I ended up with about 50 triangles which will be ok but I should have got 60. Its summer here and sometimes fire restrictions would make using the camp oven not possible.

I have had some great bogs in my reader and followed a link to a link to Dining with Julie and made an adaption of her Cranberry Hazelnut Raincoast Crisps. The adaption I followed used maple syrup instead of honey, cranberries instead of raisins and hazelnuts instead of pecans. I loved the idea of this recipe as once the bars are cooked you can freeze them and slice them and do the second baking when needed. They have a great flavour. You should get 48 from each bar but I am not that good at thin slicing and I only got 36.  

I also made some Maple Brown Butter Shortbread Cookies which are very nice and we will eat now.  The recipe is at Zoe Bakes The cranberries and citrus peel were optional and I put both in the mixture.

No Knead Bread using Wild Yeast Sourdough Starter

I have been feeding a Wild Yeast Sourdough Starter for a couple of weeks and decided now was the time to try it out.  I got the recipe at The Fresh Loaf

I have a bad habbit of just jumping in and doing and then when it goes wrong working it out backwards.  This was a very sticky dough and I decided I would tip it straight from the basket into the cast iron pot.  I tried to grab it to steady it but it stuck to my hand and went in crooked.

I forgot to turn down the oven from the initial heating and the bottom caught a bit.  Nevertheless its probably the best bread texture wise that I have made.

SPRING ROLLS/LUMPIA

I am stocking up for the christmas holiday period and casual eating after a swim.

These freeze well and can then be baked (sprayed with oil) or preferably  deep fried.

I ended up with 50 from the mixture.  They could have been made half size for party finger food.

We serve them with soy sauce or sweet chilli sauce.



Ingredients:

400 grams raw prawns (chopped)
500 grams minced pork
1 medium cabbage shredded
1 large carrot grated
1 red capsicum finely diced
6 shallots finely sliced
2 cups riced noodles broken into small bits
2 teaspoons garlic granules
1 Tablespoon onion powder
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce
1 Cup Oyster sauce
salt and pepper
1 Tablespoon oil.  More oil if you deep fry.
60 Spring roll/lumpia wrappers defrosted.

Brown pork in tablespoon oil, remove, fry raw prawns until slightly pink (with garlic) remove.  Fry carrot, capsicum and shallots until softened about 5 minutes.  Add cabbage a handful at a time until all incorporated and wilted.  Add dried rice noodles, sesame oil, oyster sauce, soy sauce, mine and pork.   Put aside to cool.

Put wrapper diagonally.
Put l tablespoon mixture across just below the middle of wrapper.
Fold bottom corner over
Roll to centre then pull in sides
Brush top corner with water to help sealing
Roll up.
Place on tray with go between paper.   If not cooking freeze until wanted.  They can be fried or baked (sprayed with oil) till brown straight from the freezer.

Server with soy or chilli sauce.

NANNA'S RUM BALLS

A lot of us have hand written recipes from our relatives which come out this time of year.  I have only verbal recipes from my Mum who got some of her lessons from her mother the same way. One of our family traditions on Christmas Day is to have rum balls after lunch has gone down a bit.   These were always made for us by my mother in law. They are better made and left in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks to mature.  There are a few things you must do, you must use butter and OP Rum.  I doubled the recipe and as Nanna did doubled the OP Rum (the handwritten amount in the recipe on the side).  I never could see the benefit of the cake crumbs but she swore they wouldnt work the same without them.  Dont forget to buy the chocolate sprinkles they run out often in the shops around here at Christmas time.  I used 3 packets 125g size for the double batch. They are great with coffee.  I used a tablespoon measure and it made 50 maybe they should have been a bit smaller.

In case you cant read the writing here is the recipe doubled.

250 grms butter (must be real butter no substitues)

500 grams icing sugar

4 Tablespoons Cocoa

Mix these together then add:

4 rounded tablespoons coconut

1/2 cup stale cakecrumbs (approx l muffin)

1/2 cup chopped almonds

1 cup sultanas

4 tablespoons OP rum 

Roll into balls about chocolate size and roll in chocolate splinters.  Refrigerate until eaten.

 LORD HOWE ISLAND (NSW)

Just had a perfect week at Lord Howe Island - didnt cook at all.  Had beautiful Sour Dough Bread at one of the combined shop/restaurants and have put some starter on which should have me cooking by the end of the week.

I took a lot more photos of foods we ate and the scenery if you like looking at holiday photos you can find them at Lord Howe Island Holiday November 2010

100% Whole Wheat Christmas Stollen 
from Healthy Bread in Five Minutes

I decided to skip the next listed Bread Braid and do the following one instead.  My family all like mixed dried fruit in cakes, scones, dampers etc. so I knew it  should be popular.
I didn't have any marzipan or almonds so I omitted them and I did use brandy.

I had seen a five braid dough and thought I would try that shape as I was cooking it in the kitchen oven and could use a long tray.

The shape looked good initially. I didnt photograph it though and I decorated it with cherries and walnuts. This was a mistake as it opened up and the cherries were very crooked.  I overcame this by putting more cherries on it and adding some vanilla icing.

The family all enjoyed eating it and as I used a full half quantity in the loaf it went a long way.

ROCKMELON (CANTALOUPE) WITH CINNAMON PRESERVES

I finished the process of making these this morning and am uncertain as to whether I like it or not.  Its simply rockmelon, sugar, lemon juice and a cinnamon stick.This was a large 2K melon before I cut it up and I didnt get much from it.  As suggested it would probably be nice on good quality ice cream.The original recipe I comes from breadmakingblog.breadexperience if you want to give it a try yourself.

There are lots of really good photos of bread making at this site and I like the idea of making toppings for the bread.  I dont have a proper canning kit but for something this small I simply boil the jars and keep it in the refrigerator.

I decided the next day to try it with philly cheese on toast..