Mini baked cheesecakes

I had a catering job last week that called for a 1.5 kilo block of cream cheese. This is a lot of cream cheese!
I got through about a kilo of it for my function and was left with the perfect amount for a family cheesecake. The last time I made cheesecake I didn't quite get the response I was after from the boys so I decided to revisit my old recipe and see if I could tweak it some how. I can't remember when I last made a full sized cake for the family? My mini cheesecake tin is an absolute favourite of mine at the minute and I love the look of individual portions not to mention the portion control. If I'd made a regular cheesecake I would of got about 10 pieces from it, however, the individual sizes gives me 14 portions which also makes me feel less guilty when I eat one.
OK so back to making these little lovelies.....I remembered I guessed the butter-biscuit ratio for the base last time and I hadn't put enough butter, hence, this time around I followed my original recipe to the T and was very happy with the end results as you can see.....

I didn't do a lot of changing, however, I did make a much better batch than the last effort and I think that was because of two reasons:
a) I set the oven at 170 degrees and turned the fan off
b) I beat the cream cheese and sugar until it was light and fluffy, then I added the cream

Whether I am right or wrong I cannot say for sure but one thing I do know, the family are hanging out for afternoon tea time just so they can have their own little cheese cake and lick the plate clean.

These light and yummy morsels are passion fruit and blueberry flavoured, however, I know they will work beautifully with raspberries (fresh or frozen), chocolate, orange, lemon, rhubarb, apple and the list goes on.

Egg and bacon pies are always delish

I got a text from my hairdresser a couple of days ago telling me she was looking forward to seeing me this Friday as it had been too long between cuts. It's the kind of text you love to receive because somebody is actually looking forward to seeing you!
My 6 weekly hair experience is always a pleasurable one. Teneil, my hairdresser is a gorgeous lively fun 20 something who always has plenty to talk about. After we get the pleasantries out of the way it is not long before I hear what she has been creating in the kitchen for herself and partner. She is stick thin but LOVES food, cooking and eating....how could I not like her?

I once told her about my favourite meal Nic cooks (stir fry beef with red cabbage and coriander), she got so excited, she went home and made it that night and loved it so much she took a photo and sent it to me!
She made me feel special, (always a warm fuzzy feeling) so I decided to make a yummy little something to take to my 10am appointment. I made one of my all time favourite snacks- egg and bacon pies.
It takes all of about 5 minutes to prepare, 10 minutes to cook and 2 minutes to eat- delicious!!!

I flavoured these little beauties with basil and goat's feta to give them a bit of a "I didn't really use up the only things left in my fridge feel" and it worked a treat.
My three top tips when whipping these up are:
a) hot oven, about 200 degrees
b) use a 'butter' puff pastry, the flavour is ten times better. The butter puff is usually only used for desserts but it is fab with these.
c) I also find that extra cracked pepper works a treat with the egg and bacon pies.

If all else fails and you don't have the time to make these then pop on over to www.camillabaker.com.au and I'll whip you up a batch myself.

Black Forest Cupcakes

A friend of mine has been carrying on about his wife being heavily pregnant with their second child and saying out loud 'when is it going to come already?!' I know he is excited at the prospect of being a dad for the second time but the lady standing next to me listening to his whinging simply said 'Well I think you have the wrong audience for any sympathy here!' Something I am sure he knew but thought he'd try it on anyway.

I was happy to hear his wife delivered their beautiful, healthy little girl in a record 3 hour labour this week and I couldn't be happier from them. Welcome to the world Isabelle!

Instead of buying a cute little toy or a box of nappies I decided to spoil them with something sweet and home made. I sit next to Mr.T in my office job and I noticed fairly quickly he has a sweet tooth. I think it was on the second or third day that he started at the office when I noticed a massive container of melting moments sitting right next to the opened packet of gummy bears on his desk! Although I only work 2 days a week in the office, we have a lot of fun ribbing each other and talking food (what else!). I also quickly learnt his favourite all time cake was Black Forest cake. A cake I swore I'd never make again after spending two days in the pastry section of the Sheraton Hobart Hotel in my apprenticeship days where we cranked out over 100 of the bloody things in two days, (I guess that was how I honed my cake masking skills!).

So, instead of a cake I went about my business and made Black Forest cupcakes.
Firstly I made my favourite chocolate cake recipe, baked them and then cooled the cupcakes. Once cool I then cut away the centres.
Secondly I drizzled some brandy into the centres for a bit of extra punch before filling the middle with sour cherry compote.
Just before leaving to drop them off I whipped up some chantilly cream, something I also haven't made since my Sheraton days (for those who don't know what chantilly is, it's sweetened cream).
Once the cream is piped on over the cherry compote and looking all lush and yummy, I then shaved a bit of chocolate over each one and popped a fresh cherry on top for the black forest seal.

Mr T was looking pretty happy with himself when I saw him, however, when I presented him with the box of cupcakes it was the first time I'd seen him speechless for more than 5 seconds- my job was done!

I'm looking forward to hearing the stories of sleepless nights and seeing some baby photos- there is something wonderful about looking at new born babies that makes you feel good inside.

Spicy Chicken Wings

I bought some chicken drumsticks and wings last weekend with the intention of making something really yummy. On Monday I had a feeling the week wasn't going to be a relaxed one so I popped them in the freezer for later on. On Wednesday I pulled them out again and last night (Saturday) I finally got inspired to make them into tasty morsals.  We usually eat Saturday night dinners separately from the boys so we can eat flavours Nic and I really enjoy and ones that the boys aren't quite ready for. Nic usually whips up a delicious and hot eggplant and potato curry or I'll make a stir fry with plenty of chilli and greens. Saturday is a night of no arguments at the dinner table because we all get to eat the foods we like and no one has to rush off anywhere!

The boys have the same reaction to chicken wings and legs as Nic and I do and I knew they would be gutted if they missed out so I marinated their chicken bits in a soy, garlic, black vinegar, curry powder (Keen's) and brown sugar mariande. Sadly I only had about an hour to let them marinate, however, that didn't seem to matter as they ate them with their noodles and veggies at rapid speed.

Once I had their chicken marinating I started on ours. Garlic, chilli and ginger were always going to be main contenders but I hadn't yet worked out the rest. I made a rub that was inspired by Vietnamese street stalls last year and it was a wonderful flavour with peppercorns being one of the main ingredients so I decided to try another version, also adding lime leaves to this equasion. Once I had pounded about 4 garlic cloves, a good size piece of ginger, 2 birds eye chillies and a pinch of salt together with the whole peppercorns, I then added the chopped lime leaf and about 2 tablespoons of rice bran oil to combine the flavours which will also make it easier to rub into the chicken wings.

The aroma was delicious as was the thought of combing them on the grill with the smokey BBQ flavour. They would be a wonderful snack if your sitting around watching the football, for a cocktail party or to eat with a big bowl of veggies and noodles as we did.
The wings crispen up on the bbq and are incredibly morish. Max had one of the leftover ones for lunch today and said he really enjoyed the flavour and that he likes chilli now....but the ones he had last night were yummy too. I guess we will be all eating dinner together on Saturday nights if the boys are enjoying our leftovers so much.......maybe we need to feed them a bit of leftover eggplant curry to deter them, after all we all need our relaxed meal times at least once a week.