In the past when I tried to roast a pork belly, I could never get the crackling nice and crunchy! Fast forward to 2019 with Covid, my hubby and brother both found separate recipes that guaranteed crunchy crackling every time. I liked part of both recipes so have combined them here. Ingredients: 1kg pork belly white vinegar 1 tsp raw sugar 2 tsp salt Spice Mix: 1/4 tsp Chinese 5 spice powder 1/4 tsp sea salt Method – Part 1: With skin side down, cut into pork meat 1/2 – 3/4 of the way down but not through the fat and skin! In a frying pan, add enough water to half fill the frying pan, 1 tsp salt and sugar and heat on medium to high heat. Once boiling, add the pork belly skin side down and cook for 8 minutes. Repeat on other side. Once done, remove the pork belly and let it cool on a wire rack with skin side up. Pat skin dry with some paper towel when it is cool enough to do so. Using a metal meat skewer, punch holes into the skin of the pork belly. DO NOT PUNCH TOO DEEP THAT IT REACHES THE MEAT. This usually takes 5 – 10 minutes. Brush the pork skin with vinegar and then sprinkle 1/4-1/2 tsp of salt. Let it rest for 10 minutes and repeat the process. My pork belly came with pre-scored lines in the skin. Put the pork belly into the fridge uncovered and allow the skin to dry for a minimum of 12 hours. If you can, check on it every now and then to wipe off any moisture that comes to the surface. Method – Part 2: Take your pork belly out of the fridge and apply the spice mix on the sides and meat of the pork belly. Place the pork belly on a flat piece of foil and wrap sides up to make a foil boat around the meat part of the pork belly. Hope that makes sense! This is...
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This recipe is fast becoming one of our favourites and it’s fairly quick to make. The one I’ll be sharing is actually a combination of 3 recipes. The base was inspired by the “Apple and Sour Cream Slice” using a packet of butter cake mix. The topping was a combination of 2 recipes because we were not happy with either one so I varied and combined them both. Base Ingredients: 340 grams butter cake mix 1/2 cup desiccated coconut 125 grams butter melted Topping Ingredients: 1/4 – 1/2 cup of raspberry jam 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla essence 2 cups desiccated coconut 1/2 cup caster sugar 2 extra large eggs (100 grams) Method: Mix all the ingredients for the base. This will give a crumbly biscuit-like texture. Press firmly down into a slice tin. Bake the base in a 160 degrees C oven for 10 minutes. Bring out of the oven and let cool for a few minutes. Microwave the raspberry jam for about 30 seconds or until warm. Once the base has cooled a little, spread the jam gently over the base. Mix the rest of the ingredients for the topping and drop small chunks all over until the slice is all covered. Bake for 35-40 minutes in a 160 degrees C oven. Hope you like the recipe!...
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Yes I’m baking again! This time it’s Raspberry Coconut Slice. My son made it at school and forgot to get a copy of the recipe. We have emailed the teacher to see if we can get a copy. In the mean time, there’s always google. I found a few recipes but only one is close to the recipe my son used at school. The recipe is called Jam and Coconut Slice and can be found on Food to Love website. We wanted it to be as close to the recipe from school as possible so I used all Self-Raising (SR) flour instead of a combination of SR flour and plain flour. We also used less jam as we did not have enough jam and I added extra coconut to the topping as it looked too moist. The Raspberry Coconut Slice was not exactly the same but it still tasted delicious!!! Definitely a recipe I will make again but I think next time I will use all SR flour, use more jam and not add extra coconut to the topping....
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My son decided to do Home Ec in high school this semester and have been bringing home some yummy baked food. This has rekindled my interest in baking. One of the first things he made at school was a Cheese Damper. It was yummy so I decided to give it a go. I made a Cheese Damper and a plain damper (sorry no pics). The plain one reminded me of scones so I googled for some quick scones recipes to try. I found some recipes using thickened cream or double cream instead of butter. The recipe using thickened cream is called Ultimate Scones and can be found on Delicious website. This recipe was really easy to do and the scones were yummy straight out of the oven. They were really light and fluffy. Sorry for the mismatched shaped scones! My daughters decided to help with the rolling and cutting out of the scones. The other recipe using double cream is called Cream Scones Recipe and can be found on UK Telegraph website. I didn’t have any double cream so I used thickened cream instead. My poor scones didn’t rise at all but they were still yummy and really light! Sorry about the pic. My girls started eating them before I could take a pic of them all! I tried this recipe again but this time I added some baking powder. They rose more this time and tasted just as yummy. These were also really light and fluffy! Sorry about the pic. Again my girls attacked the scones as soon as they came out of the oven. Next to try is this Vanilla Scones recipe from Taste.com.au that uses thickened cream and vanilla essence. Can’t wait to try it as it sounds and looks yummy!...
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Another family favourite recipe. These are yummy on their own or with icing on top. These would be perfect as Christmas gifts. Again this is not my recipe but one we found and modified to our liking. Ingredients: 125 grams butter 110 grams brown sugar 1 small egg beaten 225 grams wholemeal plain flour pinch of salt 2 teaspoon of mixed spice Steps: Cream butter and sugar together then slowly mix in the beaten egg. Add sifted flour, salt and mixed spice and mix to form a firm dough. Roll out dough until 1/2cm thick and cut out shapes using cookie cutters. Combine scraps. Repeat Step 6 until all the dough is used up. Bake in oven for 12-15 minutes at 190 degrees C or until pale brown. Enjoy!...
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My 4yo daughter did some baking at Kindy yesterday and loved the choc chip cookies they made. Luckily the Kindy sent the recipe as part of the Kindy’s Newsletter last night. This is not my recipe and I do not know where it was sourced from except it was provided by a mother at Kindy. We tried the recipe today and we love them! We have tried a lot of choc chip recipes but they always harden after they cooled down. These stayed soft after they cooled down – soft and chewy! They were too yummy not to share the recipe with others :). Ingredients: 125 g melted margarine ½ cup caster sugar ½ cup brown sugar 1 egg ½ teaspoon vanilla ½ teaspoon salt 1 ¾ cups of sifted self raising flour (OR sifted wholemeal self raising flour) 125g choc chips Steps: Melt margarine in microwave for 30 seconds. Add sugars and cream the suger with the butter. Mix in egg, salt and vanilla essence. Add sifted flour and chocolate chips. Mix until ingredients are combined. Roll into balls, place on baking trays, flatten and add extra chocolate chips on the top. Bake in a moderate oven (180 degrees C) for 10-15 minutes Leave on trays for 5 minutes after taking out of oven before placing on cooling racks. Enjoy!...
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