Mini Marzipan Easter Eggs

It was the last day of school, before the summer break. My daughter's teacher requested that I do a little workshop for Easter. She suggested I show the children how to make marzipan eggs. I showed them how to make a simple marzipan recipe and then, they each got a piece of marzipan to colour, mold and decorate and then pack to take home to mum and dad. I made mini eggs for the kids to taste in school itself, so they would refrain from tucking into the egg before they got home. When the teacher asked the 40 little girls, "why do you think Christina has made these little eggs for you", one little girl said, it's because she loves little children. And so I had a great time with the children. I also gave them a little recipe card to take home, so the mummies and daddies can have a great time with their kids in the kitchen as well. It was fun fun fun.

 Recipe: Marzipan Easter Egg (makes 8x50 gram eggs)

Ingredients

ground almonds – 200 grams

Icing sugar – 200 grams (sifted)

Egg white – 1

Whole egg – 1

Few drops of almond essence

Food colour

Sugar flowers to decorate

Method

Whisk the egg, egg white and icing sugar in a heat proof bowl over hot water, till thick and creamy.

Add in the ground almonds and essence and mix well. When cool enough to handle, knead in the

desired colour. Make 50 gram balls and push into the egg mold.  Remove and allow  to dry and firm up.

Decorate with sugar flowers. 

Gooey Chocolate Brownie

I've tried a lot of brownie recipes over the years, and they've all been good...but not great. I came upon this recipe in a 'woman's weekly' recipe book gifted to me by my aunt Margaret and I must say, it's a gold winner. Sarah put the batter together, once I had everything weighed. She wanted to make them for her pediatrician because he did not give her a poke, the last time we visited him when she had a fever. Unfortunately, it never made it to the doctor’s room; it was walloped before it could even get cold to cut.

Here is the recipe!

Chocolate  Brownies

Ingredients

Butter – 250 grams

Chocolate – 250 grams (chopped)

Caster sugar – 550 grams

Eggs – 5

Cocoa powder – 50 grams

Self Raising Flour – 150 grams

Method

Grease and line a 9” square tin with baking paper. Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Sift dry ingredients together and set aside. Bring butter to the bowl in a saucepan, lower heat and dissolve chocolate in it. Transfer to a mixing bowl, add in sugar and mix till almost dissolved. Add in eggs and combine well. Fold in the dry ingredients. Pour into the prepared tin. Bake for about 30 minutes, till the crust forms, but center is still wobbly. Allow to cool completely in the tin before removing. Cut with a warm knife. Dust with icing sugar.

This is a great melt and mix recipe, so it's really quick and easy to make. Something you must remember when you are making brownie... the baking time. Too long in the oven and the brownie, will turn out "biscuity" and dry.

Banana and Walnut Bread

When I lived in Perth, one of the jobs I worked, was as a Catering Coordinator, where I catered to 90 children 5 days a week; 3 meals a day. Preparing Afternoon Tea was my favourite, because it involved baking yummy things. Banana Bread was one of the children's most looked forward too, treat. After trying and testing over a hundred recipes in the last eight years, I must say this is my favourite. Quick and easy to make and great to taste.

Here's the recipe!

Banana and Walnut Bread (makes a 1 kg. loaf)
Ingredients
Over ripe bananas - 4
Walnuts - 50 grams roughly chopped
Plain Flour - 200 grams
Milk - 40 ml
Caster Sugar - 100 grams
Brown Sugar - 70 grams
Baking powder - 1 1/2 tsp.
Baking Soda - 1/4 tsp.
Cooking Oil - 170 ml.
Eggs - 4
Method
Set the oven to 180 degrees C. Grease and line a 1 kg loaf tin with baking paper. Mash the banana and both the sugars together in a bowl. Drizzle in the oil, constantly beating with a balloon whisk till the mixture is emulsified. Add the eggs in one at a time and mix well after each addition. Beat in the sifted flour, soda and baking powder and stir in the nuts. Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 45 minutes or till a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.

Just a few tips.
1. Make sure the bananas are over ripe, because thats what gives the bread a beautiful flavour.
2. I say beat in the flour and not fold it in, like in other cake recipes, because I want the banana loaf to have a "bready" texture.

Caraway Seed Cake

 A close friend of mine, who lives in my building, cooked us Mutton Dhansak for dinner on Navroze, and brought it over. It was absolutely delicious. I had to return her utensils, so I decided to bake a seed cake for her family. So, that's what my daughter and I did, Friday evening. It was great fun and I am so glad I baked a small one for my family because the beautiful aroma of the Caraway seed toasting in the oven was wafting through the house and tickling by taste buds.

Spring Jam Sandwiches

Spring Jam Sandwiches

Makes 25 to 30 cookies

Ingredients

Plain flour – 150 grams

Butter – 150 grams

Caster sugar – 100 grams

Almond meal – 150 grams

Finely grated zest of 1 lemon

Lemon juice – 1 tsp.

Any Fruit jam or preserve (pineapple, marmalade, berry)

Method

Beat softened butter and sugar in a bowl. Fold in the flour, almond meal and lastly the zest. Divide dough in half. Cling wrap, flatten and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Roll out dough to 3mm. Use a 4 cm flower shaped cookie cutter to cut out the cookies. Place 1 inch apart. on a tray lined with baking paper. use a 2 cm flower shaped/round fluted cutter to cut the centers out of half the cookies. Repeat till all the dough is used up.

bake cookies for 6-8 minutes, or just golden brown around the edges. let it cool.

Heat jam to thin it. Place a little softened jam in the center of the uncut cookie and then stick the cookie with the hole, on top. Leave to set and stick together.

I promise you there will be none left for storing!