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Brownies | A Lonely Girl is a Dangerous Thing

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She shrugs, unties her hair and whips it around like a dog shaking off its wet. She's clutching her helmet in one hand and extracting a Tupperware container from her shoulder bag. 'Brownies. I just baked them this morning.'
A Lonely Girl is a Dangerous Thing
Jessie Tu

My pile of to read books are slowly piling up and I’m finally making time for them. You’d think spending a year in strict lockdown in 2020 would have been a huge reading year but nope. Somehow being able to now sit in tiny cafes and bars have increased my book consumption by a crazy amount. Though I have found myself drifting back to re-reads of some classic favourites, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Secret History, and many more. In saying that though, I have also had about four more books appear in my mailbox this week as well.

A Lonely Girl is A Dangerous Thing is the perfect book for any past overachiever. Focusing on the life of a child prodigy after a fall, it delves into some dark corners. Unapologetically abrasive about what story it is telling, I pushed through this novel at some stage last year and have only recently done a re-read.

There are a number of dishes I could have made from these pages, the miso bolognese is something I definitely want to try at some stage soon, along with fish tacos. I have been wanting an excuse though to make some classic brownies. I’ve struggled a lot to find a good recipe for plant-based ones that don’t contain black beans or that need some hard to find ingredients. Not that black bean brownies aren’t deliciously fudgy, but I wanted some basic, easy to make ones that had a classic shiny and crackly top. These turned out amazing, and I’m already planning a range of different versions.

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Brownies
Ingredients
275g plain flour
1 1/2 tsp bi-carb soda
1 tsp sea salt + extra for the top
95g Dutch cocoa powder
115ml vegetable oil
240ml boiling water
100g dark chocolate, finely chopped
320g raw caster sugar
2 tsp instant espresso powder, if you use actual espresso just minus that from the boiling water
2 tsp vanilla essence
90g dark chocolate, in chunks

  1. Preheat the oven to 175C and line a pan (I used one that was 27.5 x1 7.5) with baking paper that have been lightly brushed with a little bit of oil.

  2. In a bowl combine the flour, 1 tsp of sea salt, and the bi-carb soda together, put to the side for now.

  3. In a seperate bowl combine the cocoa, 100g dark chocolate, espresso powder, and the boiling water. Stir until the chocolate has well melted.

  4. Add in the sugar, vanilla and oil. Whisk together until the sugar has dissolved. You want to make sure the chocolate mixture is still hot when you add te sugar to it - as it melting gives it that lovely crackly top.

  5. Mix the chocolate mixture into the flour mixture, stirring in the extra 90g of chocolate chunks.

  6. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan, smoothing the top out. Bake for around 35 minutes - it shouldn’t wobble in the pan when it is done and the surface should be nice and crackly. Sprinkle the extra sea salt on top.

  7. Let the brownies cool completely in the pan before removing. Enjoy!

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Honey Cakes | The Hobbit

This is what he promised to do for them. He would provide ponies for each of them, and a horse for Gandalf, for their journey to the forest, and he would lade them with food to last them for weeks with care, and packed so as to be as easy as possible to carry - nuts, flour, sealed jars of dried fruits, and red earthenware pots of honey, and twice baked cakes that would keep good for a long time, and on a little of which they could march far.
The Hobbit
J.R.R Tolkien

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It is maybe my dream to go and live in a tiny hobbit hole built into the side of a hill, and spend my time gardening, baking and generally enjoying life. I’ve been called a hobbit many times by people and to be fair, I can identify with the delights of a cozy home and multiple breakfasts.

I read The Hobbit for the first time when I was quite young, attempting to follow it up with The Lord of the Rings. That one was quite not as successfully read - I definitely read it, but understood nothing.

I definitely want to revisit the dinner Bilbo is forced to relinquish to the dwarves when they first interrupt his quiet life. But, I was gifted this incredible honeycomb cake tin for Christmas and wanted something to test out with it - it came out so beautiful and now I want to make every cake in it.

These honey cakes aren’t quite what I think would have been packed by Beorn for the dwarves journey. Bryt from In Literature has created what is probably the most accurate representation of them, more of a biscotti, hard cake that could be packed and would last for days. Mine is much more of a - eat it fresh from the oven in a cosy hobbit hole, kind of cake.

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*Note: I don’t use honey in my cooking as it is not plant based. I generally use replacements like rice malt syrup or maple syrup which are just as good. If you do use honey, reduce the amount by about 20g, as it is quite a bit sweeter than rice malt syrup.

Honey Cakes
Ingredients
250g plain flour
200g butter
100g muscovado sugar
200g rice malt syrup OR honey *see note
1 tsp bi-carb soda
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
2 tsp ground ginger
180ml milk
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
Oil or butter, to grease the cake tin
20g cornmeal
Syrup
140g rice malt syrup OR honey
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
20g muscovado sugar
Sea salt

  1. Preheat the oven to 180C, and grease your cake tin. This can be be done in muffin tins also - but reduce the baking time by ten minutes and keep an eye at them so they don’t overcook.

  2. Combine the milk and apple cider vinegar together and leave for around 5 minutes to curdle into a buttermilk.

  3. Heat the butter, muscovado sugar, and rice malt syrup/honey on a low heat - until the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved in.

  4. Combine the flour, bi-carb soda, baking powder, ground spices, adding in the butter mixture and buttermilk and combining until all lumps of flour have been mixed in.

  5. Before you pour the cake batter into the tin, sprinkle the cornmeal across the greased surface of the tin - this will help have it not stick - and also look quite nice when it comes out of the oven.

  6. Bake for around 30 minutes, checking it after 25 minutes with a skewer to see if the middle is cooked.

  7. While the cake is baking, combine all the syrup ingredients into a small saucepan and cook on a low heat until the sugar has dissolved into the rice malt syrup/honey.

  8. Pour the syrup across the cake to serve - I served mine with an oat cream and it was delicious!

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Egg Muffin | The City We Became

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‘Right,’ I say, biting into the egg sandwich and damn near wetting myself. Actual egg! Swiss cheese! It’s so much better than that McDonald’s shit.
The City We Became
N.K Jemisin

This entire recipe is possibly a touch ironic considering the sandwich within The City We Became is lorded for having real egg and real cheese! My version basically had the opposite to real egg and real cheese. Or real bacon for that matter. However, it is still so delicious and according to my dedicated taste tester - genuinely has the texture and taste of omelette.

I picked up The City We Became a few days ago, half because I had seen a few great reviews floating around, and half because the cover jumped out at me from the shelves. I know many say to not judge a book by its cover but, come on, look how great that cover is.

If you’re looking for an almost subdued sci-fi/fantasy this novel is fantastic. A world in which certain cities when they become a size become sentient. Their spirit and force envelops a human avatar who becomes the city. It’s a weirdly fun read - and I can only imagine that native New Yorkers could only love it more.

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Egg Muffin
Makes approx. 8 - 9
Ingredients
Muffins
2 tsp instant yeast
1/2 tbsp white sugar
400g plain flour
120ml warm milk
120ml warm water
2 tbsp butter, melted
50g polenta
Sea salt
Eggs
100g chickpea flour
80g firm tofu
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp black salt
1 tbsp nutritional yeast
120ml water
Seal salt
Cracked pepper
2 tsp butter
+ bacon/plant based bacon of your choice
+ cheese of your choice
+ sauces of your choice, tomato and hot sauce is particularly delicious

Muffins

  1. Combine the warm water and yeast in a bowl, leave to sit for around 5 minutes or until it becomes frothy.

  2. Once the yeast mixture is nice and frothy add in the warm (not too hot!) milk and melted butter. Also add a pinch of salt and two cups of the flour - mix until it becomes a dough. You will likely need to add more flour as you go along.

  3. Lightly flour a clean surface and turn the dough out onto it, kneading it until it becomes smooth. Place the dough into a clean bowl and cover with a damp tea towel (this will help stopping the dough drying out) and leave in a warm place for around an hour or until the dough has doubled in size.

  4. Once the dough has doubled in size turn it back out onto a floured surface. Roll it out to about 1/2 inch thick and use either a biscuit cutter or a jar/glass to cut out your muffins. Ball up the scraps of dough and roll them out again, continue to cut them out and roll the scraps until you’ve used it all.

  5. Scatter the polenta over a baking tray, placing the cut out muffins onto it before covering with a damp tea towel again. Leave the prepared muffins for another hour to rise again.

  6. Heat a heavy bottomed frying pan on a medium heat, once the pan is hot carefully transfer a few of the muffins into the pan. You want to cook them for around 5 minutes before flipping them to cook another five minutes on the other size. Once each side is a golden brown place them onto a cooling rack.

  7. Repeat the process with the remaining muffins and leave them to the side to cool.
    Egg

  8. Combine the chickpea flour, water, tofu, black salt, nutritional yeast, turmeric, a pinch of sea salt and some freshly cracked black pepper into a blender. Blend until the tofu has been well blended and all you have remaining is a yellow-y mixture. It shouldn’t be too watery but also not super thick. Add a little more water if necessary.

  9. Melt the butter into a frying pan, moving it around to coat the surface. Once the pan is hot pour in the ‘egg’ mixture. It will take a few minutes to cook, try and avoid touching it or moving it until it firms up.

  10. Once the ‘egg’ mixture has solidified and you can easily get a spatula beneath the edge, flip it over in the pan and leave it to cook for another 30 seconds on the other side before removing it from the pan.

  11. Either use a biscuit cutter to cut out exact circles from the ‘egg’ or just cut it up into squares to assemble the egg muffins.

  12. You can really do whatever you want from this stage. I cut up my muffins and lightly grilled them with cheese before adding on bacon, egg, tomato sauce and hot sauce. Enjoy!

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Hot Dogs | A Confederacy of Dunces

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'Then why don't we stop and eat something?' Ignatius pointed to the cart at the corner. It was shaped like a hot dog on wheels. 'I believe that they vend foot-long hot dogs.'
'Hot dogs? Honey, in all this rain and cold we gonna stand outside and eat weenies?' '
It's a thought.'
A Confederacy of Dunces
John Kennedy Toole

It’s taken me so very long to finally read A Confederacy of Dunces. I found a copy at a secondhand store years ago, and I’m just slightly disappointed at myself that I didn’t read it the moment I got it. The history of the book is fascinating, only published eleven years after the author’s death - it went on to earn John Kennedy Toole a posthumous Pulitzer Prize. Nearly every list of 100 Books to Read before you die has it appear somewhere, and it’s one of the books that I’ve made more people comment on than anything else, every time I read it in public.

Hot dogs felt like the item I had to create from the pages of this novel - a food item that is referred to and focused upon many times. I really didn’t have the patience to try and attempt to make my own hot dogs for this as well - plus my googling for any potential recipes to see what others had done left me in the possession of far too many pages of ‘carrot’ hotdogs as a vegan alternative. I do love a good carrot, and I’m all for good substitutes but there are so many good plant based hot dogs out there, do we really need to just use a carrot instead?

Instead I decided to make the hotdog buns, and the toppings. I did attempt a mustard but unfortunately it turned out particularly vile and basically inedible. I invited some friends over and we spent a sunny day in the front yard munching on hotdogs as they waited for my approval to take a bite once the photos were satisfactory.

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*Note: yes I could have attempted to make the hotdogs but I honestly couldn’t be bothered. I had some plant based hot dogs from Moving Mountain in my freezer and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to use them.

Hot Dogs
Ingredients

Makes approx. 5 -6 hot dogs
Buns
500g bread flour
150ml warm milk + extra for a wash
120ml warm water
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp dry active yeast
Sea salt
3 tbsp butter
Sauce
2kg ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped up
1 onion, roughly chopped, 2 garlic cloves, sliced
10 whole cloves
1 tablespoon paprika
2 tbsp salt
1 cinnamon stick
130g white sugar
500ml apple cider vinegar
+ hot dogs of your choice *see note

Buns

  1. Start by preparing the dough for the hot dog buns. Combine the flour, sugar, pinch of salt, and yeast together in a bowl. Add in the warm milk and water and mix together until a dough begins to form. If it’s too dry you can add a little more water as if necessary.

  2. Bring the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, using the heel of your hand to press it down and away from yourself. Knead the dough for around 10 minutes or until it becomes smooth and malleable.

  3. Lightly oil a large bowl and place the dough it in, ensuring that the surface of the dough is also spread with oil. Cover with a clean tea towel and leave in a warm place for around an hour or until the dough has double in size.

    Sauce

  4. While the dough is rising you can make the tomato sauce. Place the tomatoes, onion, cloves, paprika, garlic, cinnamon and salt into a saucepan on a medium heat.

  5. Bring to the boil and then reduce to a simmer. You want the tomatoes to break down almost completely - this will take around an hour of cooking.

  6. Once the tomatoes have broken down into the sauce, you can add in the sugar and vinegar. Continue to simmer until the mixture reduces and thickens into a sauce consistency. Make sure you stir occasionally.

  7. When it is ready you can strain the mixture through a sieve to remove the bits of cloves and tomato skin residue. I ended up doing this, getting the cloves out and then blending the tomato pieces in with the sauce I had gotten out, I prefer a much chunkier sauce. Bottle your sauce and seal until ready to use.

  8. Your dough should be well and truly ready at this stage. Bring it out onto a lightly floured surface and roll it into a rectangle. Here is a good guide to the various ways you can shape the rolls as well - I ended up just shaping each individually.

  9. Place the shaped buns onto a baking paper lined oven tray and cover with a clean tea towel. Leave for another hour to rise again. You can preheat the oven to 180C when you have about 30 minutes left of the second rise.

  10. Once the buns have doubled in size using the remaining milk to glaze the tops of them before placing them int the preheated oven. Cook for about 15- 20 minutes or until the tops have turned a light, golden brown. Leave to cool before cutting into them.

  11. Cook your chosen hot dogs however the directions say, and enjoy with your homemade buns and tomato sauce! Also delicious with mustard, pickles or onion!

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Cherry, Vanilla & Spiced Rum Jam | In Cold Blood

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The cider-tart odour of spoiling apples. Apple trees and pear trees, peach and cherry: Mr Clutter's orchard, the treasured assembly of fruit trees he had planted.
In Cold Blood
Truman Capote

It feels like this year has passed within a single week. In comparison to the rest of the world Australia is quite lucky at this moment in history. We’ve successfully implemented lockdowns to stop the spread of COVID19 and are now slowly returning to a somewhat state of normality as Summer has begun. I have to admit that there is a hint of joy in this for me, while I am at heart a lover of Winter, the appeal of breezy Summer days has its appeal to me. Excuses to go on impromptu picnics, trips to farmer’s markets to stock up on whatever is in season.

In Cold Blood from Truman Capote is not exactly a Summer novel - but the language within it feels as though it has hints of warm, sweltering months within its pages. I didn’t expect to love this book quite as much as I did. I had little prior knowledge of the plot before I picked it up - I perhaps wasn’t quite expecting a crime thriller. Which feels a little silly now knowing that it is one of the most prolific crime novels of all time.

There are a range of different foods mentioned within the pages of this novel, cinnamon buns, pancakes, or even the last meal consumed by the two titular characters. With the days heating up however, and the cloyingly sweet smell of summer fruits beginning to drift across the streets as one makes their way to the local market, it was hard to pass by the table full of cherries.

This jam is delicious - the addition of the spiced rum takes away the overly sweetness that can be overpowering in a lot of fruit jams. Instead the rum emphasises the taste of the ripe cherries and the vanilla laced throughout it. It is so good, and anyone you gift this jam to will be in your debt.

Cherry, Vanilla & Spiced Rum Jam
Makes approx. 4 300ml jars of jam
Ingredients
3kg cherries
1kg jam sugar
1 lemon, juiced and zested
130ml of spiced rum
3 tsp vanilla paste OR 3 vanilla beans, sliced open

  1. The night before, place a small plate into the freezer - you can use this to check when the jam is ready! Now is a good time to sterilise all your jars as well.

  2. De-pit all the cherries - this may take a good few hours, and yes - it’s incredibly tiresome but worth it!

  3. Place all the ingredients into a large saucepan on a medium heat. As it begins to boil make sure you give it a stir every 5 minutes or so to prevent any sticking at the bottom. It should take around 50 minutes to an hour to cook properly. You can test when it’s done by dropping a spoonful onto the plate from the freezer. Let it sit for 20 seconds before dragging the spoon through it. If it wrinkles - it’s ready to be jarred!

  4. Carefully jar your hot jam into the prepared jars, label and date it and enjoy! It should last for around 6 months in a cool, dark place. If you can keep your hands off it that long.

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Baklava | Middlesex

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Desdemona went up and down the line, adding walnuts, butter, honey, spinach, cheese, adding more layers of dough, then more butter, before forging the assembled concoctions in the oven.
Middlesex
Jeffrey Eugenides

Has it taken me close to a month to get through Middlesex? Yep. Life has been crazy (I feel as though this is a common thought I’ve been writing for the last six months). This is not to say it’s not a good book - it’s absolutely incredible. If you’re a fan of generational novels then this is a must to pick up.

The story follows the life of Calliope, or Cal, and his family throughout the years and the growing strength of a gene in their bloodline which grows stronger as the generations pass. I was so hooked to this book. It may have taken me a day and an age to finish it, but I spent around a month sneaking in pages during coffee and lunch breaks on workdays, struggling to keep my eyes open on late nights as I pushed through more of the novel late at night.

Also, there is an incredible amount of food mentioned throughout the pages. I’ve made baklava a few times already this year, with pistachios, chia seeds and an assorted of different types of nuts. This one I made purely with walnuts - an incredibly good choice when paired with the maple syrup and lemon. Also - learn from my mistake and leave the baklava to cool completely before serving it. I perhaps dug in straight away and made an absolute mess of the warm, syrupy walnuts and pastry. Delicious - yes. Just not that aesthetically pleasing.

*Note: I use maple syrup as I eat a plant based diet. You can either use maple syrup, honey, or agave for this with no issues.

Baklava
25 sheets of phyllo pastry (give or take - depends on the size of the dish you need, as you’ll likely need to trim it to the right size)
450g walnut, finely chopped
200g butter, melted
1 tsp ground cinnamon
50g caster sugar
7 tbsp maple syrup *see note
150g caster sugar
Zest of one lemon + juice

  1. Preheat your oven to 160C. Using a pastry brush, cover the bottom and sides of a 25cm baking dish with the melted butter.

  2. Making sure you have trimmed the sheets of phyllo pastry to to the size of your pan. Take one sheet and place it onto the buttered bottom of your baking dish and brush it with butter. Repeat with ten more sheets, brushing butter between every layer.

  3. Spread half the walnut mixture into the pan on top of the buttered phyllo sheets. Layer another 5 sheets of phyllo on top of the walnuts, buttering each layer in-between.

  4. Add the remainder of the walnut mixture onto the top layers of phyllo and spread it so it covers it all evenly. Layer the remaining 10 sheets of phyllo on top of this, buttering each layer in-between and the top sheet. Using a sharp knife, slice the baklava into a square or diamond pattern. Place into the preheated oven for around 25 - 30 minutes, or until the top has turned a golden brown.

  5. While the baklava is in the oven, you can make the syrup. combine the maple syrup, sugar, cinnamon, lemon zest and juice into a small saucepan. Heat on low until the sugar melts fully and it reduces a little - around 10 minutes. remove from the heat and leave at the side.

  6. Remove the baklava from the oven once the top has turned a golden brown. Pour around half of the prepared syrup on top of the baklava and leave for about 5 minutes while the syrup soaks in. Pour the rest of the syrup over and leave it to cool before serving. Enjoy!

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