Dandi Blog

Its the perfect weather for indulging in high tea, so we thought it the perfect time to share with you two of our favourite treats to bake and share, Caramel Slice and Chocolate Brownies. Not great for the waistline, but amazing for the soul!

A little secret, we made the caramel slice from scratch but the brownies are from Donna Hay's food range and they are absolutely AMAZING!

Chocolate Caramel Slice
Makes 16 Slices

Base
1 cup plain flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup dessicated coconut
125g melted butter

Filling
395g tin sweet condensed milk
2 tbsp golden syrup
60g melted butter

Topping
60g Copha
125g cooking chocolate

Preheat oven to 180°C. Line a 28x18cm lamington pan. Combine all base ingredients in a bowl thoroughly then press into prepared pan. Bake for 15 mins or until golden. Remove from oven and cool.
Combine filling ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk for 8 minutes or until caramel colours. Pour over base and cook for 12 mins until firm. Cool completely then refrigerate for 4 hours til set.
Place topping ingredients in a heat proof bowl over simmering water and stir until melted and combined. Pour over caramel and refrigerate to set before slicing. 

Caroline baked up this delicious pie to share at a lunch a few weeks ago. The pinks and greens of the prosciutto and zucchini worked perfectly with the Marshmallow and Pistachio colourings of the table setting (pure coincidence!). It also tasted so good that there wasn't much left by the end! 

Delicious Prosciutto and Zucchini Pie

(Adapted from this recipe)

This recipe is great for a picnic or lunchtime get together. It looks super impressive but is easy to make and throw in the oven whilst you do more important things – such as socializing! Can be enjoyed hot or cold. Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

4 zucchini, thinly sliced into rounds, salted for 30 mins then rinsed, drained and patted dry.
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 red onion, finely chopped
250g goats fetta, crumbled
250g fresh ricotta
1/4 cup plain flour
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1 tbs thyme leaves
1/2 cup chopped mint
8 free range eggs, lightly beaten
12 – 15 slices prosciutto (depending on width!)

Method:

Preheat oven to 180C (160C Fan Forced) Heat oil in a small frying pan and cook onion for 8-10 minutes over medium heat until very soft. Set aside to cool then transfer to a bowl. Combine all ingredients except prosciutto in the same bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper and stir until well combined. (Remember the prosciutto will add lots of salt so go easy here!)

Lightly oil a 22cm springform cake tin. Line base and sides with prosciutto slices, working in a circular fan allowing prosciutto to overhang sides by about 5cm and taking care there are no gaps. Pour in zucchini mixture then fold prosciutto over top, scrunching it slightly around edge of tin. Place tin on an oven tray and bake for 50 minutes or until pie is just set in the centre. Cool in tin for 20 minutes before releasing. Slice and serve straight away with a simple green salad or serve at room temperature. 

We've been enjoying the yummy Christmas Biscotti which was the featured recipe on our Christmas card this year. The flecks of green psitachios and red dried cranberries make it a truly festive treat. To try it yourself here is the recipe:

Christmas Biscotti

1 cup caster sugar
2 free range eggs
1 2/3 cups plain flour, sifted
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup pistachio kernals
1/2 cup dried cranberries
Preheat oven to 180°C.

Grease and line 2 baking trays. Place sugar and eggs in a large bowl and whisk to combine. Add flour, baking powder, pistachios and cranberries. Mix to form a dough.

Knead dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth, divide into two portions and shape each portion into a 30cm log. Place on trays flattening slightly.Bake logs for about ½ an hour or until golden brown.

Remove from oven and cool on trays for 20 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 140°C. Using a serrated knife, slice logs into 5mm thick slices. Place slices in a single layer on lined baking trays.

Bake for 20 minutes, turning over halfway through. Stand for 5 minutes,transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Pop the kettle on and enjoy with tea and guests, or wrap with love and give as gifts.

Yesterday the Dandi ladies sat down to a beautiful lunch together. For what reason? Because a girl's gotta eat! Mindi made a scrummy quiche (pastry and all) and we used vintage fine bone china tea cups afterwards.

It was very pish posh, very girly and very fun. It's so nice to step away from the usual work day routine and treat yourselves to a play date, and thats what we did. We were ladies who lunch, we loved it.

Mindi's Tuna and Pea Quiche

- 1 Qty Shortcrust pastry (recipe follows)
- 100 gms peas (frozen is fine)
- 200 gms tinned tuna in springwater (or whatever you have)
- 1 cup milk
- 1 cup grated cheddar cheese
- 4 eggs
- Handful of chopped mint (or basil or dill etc)
- 1 tbsp mustard (wholegrain or dijon)

Preheat your oven to 180ºC. Roll out your pastry to 0.5cm thick and place into a 22cm loose bottomed tart tin. Trim excess, and prick base with a fork. Line pastry case with greaseproof paper and baking weights (use rice or dried beans if you don't have baking weights) and pop in the oven for 10 minutes. Remove baking weights and paper and bake blind for another 10 minutes.

Meanwhile prep your filling. Whisk eggs and milk gently to combine, then add all the other ingredients and stir. Add salt an pepper if you feel fancy. Fill baked pastry case with mixture and bake for 30 - 40 minutes until set.

Serve with a simple salad on the side.

Shortcrust Pastry

150 gms butter
2 cups plain flour
Iced water

Chop butter into cubes and place with sifted flour into an electric mixing bowl. Mix on low until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Slow add iced water, a tablespoon at a time and increase speed to medium. When the mixture forms a ball pull out, wrap in cling film and refrigerate for 1/2 an hour. 

(Note: you can use your hands to mix the pastry dough but we are lazy!)

For Mother's Day lunch Mindi baked this Pecan Pie with a recipe adapted from the SBS cooking show, Food Safari. Unfortunately is got gobbled up so quickly that she could only photograph it halfway through it being devoured, crumbs and all! The Bamboo chopping board made an excellent serving and cutting platter.

Hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day too!

Chocolate and Cranberry Hot Cross Muffins

Makes 18

1 ½ cups dried cranberries
1 cup dark chocolate chips

21/2 cups self-raising flour
1/2 tsp bicarb soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
2/3 cup vegetable oil 
1 cup milk 
2 eggs
I cup caster sugar, plus 2 tbs extra 
2/3 cup icing sugar
1 tsp lemon juice

Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease muffin tray/s and line with paper cases.
Soak cranberries in just enough boiling water to cover for 10 minutes. Drain well. Pat dry with paper towel. 
Sift the flour, soda and spices into a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the oil, milk, eggs and sugar until combined. Add to the dry ingredients and stir to combine. Gently stir in the fruit. Divide the mixture among muffin cases, then bake for 15-20 minutes until lightly browned and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool completely on a wire rack.
Place the extra 2 tbs sugar in a pan with 2 tbs water and simmer over low heat, stirring, until sugar dissolves. Brush the glaze over the muffins.
Sift icing sugar into a bowl. Add lemon juice and just enough hot water to make a thick, pipable icing. Use a ziplock bag with the corner snipped off draw a cross on each muffin, then serve.

To make good use of the yummy preserved lemons Leezar cooked up this simple spaghetti dish for her lunches.

Preserved Lemon, bacon and basil pasta

Serves 4

Ingredients:

Packet of spaghetti 500g
4 rashesof bacon
1 Tablespoon of Preserved lemon rind
1 clove of garlic
A handful of fresh basil leaves
Olive Oil
Salt

Cook pasta in a pot of boiling water with a pinch of salt til al dente. Slice bacon and garlic into small pieces and fry in a tablespoon of Olive Oil. Slice preserved lemon rind and add to frying pan, stir until combine then take off heat. Drain cooked pasta and leave in sauce pan. Add bacon mixture and roughly cut fresh basil to spaghetti. Pour in a good amount of Olive Oil until the texture is nice and liquid.

Season with Salt and Pepper to serve

Caroline makes the most delicious preserved lemons and swears by how easy they are to make!

This yummy batch has been getting taste tested by the Dandi ladies this week.

Caroline's Preserved Lemons

6 lemons, quartered
Sea Salt
4 Cardamom Pods
Cloves
4 sterilised jars, around 200ml size

Place a couple of table spoons of salt in the bottom of each jar. Bruise cardamom pods and add one to each jar, scatter over a few cloves. Push lemon quarters into jars, packing as tightly as possible and allowing the juice to come out of the lemons as you go. The lemons should reach the top of the jar. Scatter over more salt and seal. The lemons will be ready to use after one month.

Be careful! Very Alcoholic!

Christmas Cheer

350 ml Cointreau

450 ml Vodka

200 ml lime juice

800 ml cranberry juice

200 ml icy cold water

Mix together ingredients and chill in freezer one hour before serving. Serve with ice and a twist of lime. Makes 2 litres - around 20-25 drinks.