Baking Bread on the Weber

So it’s been a few weeks since my last blog post…… It really hasn’t been my intention but going into full time study and being a mum, a wife etc etc etc has kept me very busy. But alas all the stars have aligned and I have had a free weekend.

well almost all the stars anyway………. I am oven-less, I know right OMG NO OVEN, to me thats like having no arms 😦 . MY oven door has broken and hubby is waiting on the parts to arrive…….. waiting waiting waiting.

So this weekend I decided to improvise and I fired up the Weber to bake some bread. So for my first time baking bread in the Weber I must say I am very pleased.

Candied orange Shortbread

I definitely cannot claim this recipe as my own, in fact I rarely can, I am the recipe “High-jacker”……….Now I do like to take a recipe and tweak it to make it my own… But this recipe needed no tweaking it is perfect just as it is, and why mess with perfect?

These delicious orange shortbreads are straight out of the latest issue of Gourmet Traveller Magazine, in fact they are on the front cover, and they enticed me as soon as I picked up the magazine. Sweet crumbly shortbread gently flavoured with orange and for a little texture some roasted pistachios YUM YUM YUM oh and lets not forget a little splash of Grand Marnier just to make these shortbread really special.

RECIPE:

• 40g pistachios
• 220g butter, softened
• 375g pure icing sugar, sieved
• 60ml (1/4 cup) orange juice appox 2 oranges
• 30ml Grand Marnier
• 1 egg yolk
• 330g plain flour
• 40g candied orange, diced

METHOD:

1. preheat oven to 180ºC
2. spread pistachios onto a baking tray and roast until just golden, set aside to cool, then coarsely chop
3. beat butter, 75g icing sugar and half the zest in an electric mixer until pale and fluffy
4. combine orange juice and Grand Marnier set aside
5. add egg yolk to butter mixture and beat until combined, then mix in half the orange juice mixture
6. add flour, candied orange, pistachios and a pinch of salt, beat until mixture just comes together, turn out onto a lightly floured surface and form into a flat disc, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate to rest (1 hour)
7. roll out shortbread on a lightly floured surface to 1cm thick and cut out 6.5cm- diameter rounds
8. place onto lined baking trays and bake until pale golden on the edges 15-20 minutes (swapping trays halfway through cooking)
9. cool on trays for 5 minutes then sprinkle with remaining orange juice mixture
10. combine remaining icing sugar and orange zest, then shake through a course sieve over shortbread, dust heavily

Hamburger cake and biscuit fries

Well another week has been gone by, time goes so quickly……

This week it was my youngest son Alex’s 9th birthday, I can’t believe my baby has turned 9. So exciting to watch them grow, but I wish I could slow it down just a little!!!!!! I remember when I had my first son Aden and so many people said to me, enjoy every second because it will be gone before you know it, man they weren’t kidding……………..

So of course birthday means, birthday cake. I love making the kids birthday cakes some years they pick what they want and other years I surprise them. This year it was a surprise for Alex, one of Alex’s favourite foods is hamburgers, and I have seen some great hamburger cakes on the internet, So it was a hamburger cake and biscuit fries for Alex this year.

The look on his face when he saw his cake was priceless, that look alone was enough for all the hours I spent baking and decorating. Big eyes, a big smile and a big hug what else could a mum possibly ask for.

I didn’t really follow a recipe to create this cake, I basically made two butter cakes and one chocolate cake, the chocolate cake being for the meat patty. I used plastic icing, red for the tomatoes cut into circles and yellow for the cheese, cut into squares. For the lettuce I used butter cream coloured green, which I piped on. I then covered the butter cake in a light brown icing to make the burger roll I had two shades of the brown butter cream to add some depth. once iced I sprinkled with sesame seeds.

To make the biscuit fries, I made a simple short bread which I rolled out into squares and then scored in some straight lines the width I wanted my fries to be. I brushed with egg white and sprinkled with raw sugar, then baked. Once cooled I cut along the score lines to create my fries.